Chapter 174: Retaliation.

Chapter 174: Retaliation.The vast majority of disciples were thrilled to hear the announcement that the Nethermoon Sect was about to retaliate against the forces who launched the sneak attack on that tragic night. Lee was not one of them.

Not only he had no deep attachment to the sect and didn’t intend to lay down his head for it, he was not a big fan of large warfare in the first place. It was no secret that during a war mostly the little people died, and currently he was one of them.

Unfortunately, Lee had no other options but to join the rest. Even going to Shen Rouya to tell her that he finally regained his memories and wanted to use the promised time in the Ascension Tower didn’t help.

In fact, he felt lucky he was literally thrown out of her office and was still alive. This time, the impressive lady was particularly short tempered. The only bonus Lee got to experience was bumping into her nature’s gifts face first when she grabbed him by the shoulders and angrily shook.

Seeing it was better to not antagonize any of the higher-ups, Lee went to Han Li and requested a set of clothes that would conceal his identity as much as possible. Of course, he couldn’t walk around with a mask, thus a hooded cloak had to do. He also needed a decent weapon since he didn’t intend to bring Soulcleaver along to an open war.

Once again the old artificer showed off her skills completing the order overnight. The clothing was already of high quality, but the sword turned out to basically be a replica of his. Except it was something he could lift without effort.

***

Three days later, the forces of the Nethermoon Sect stepped through the rift and arrived in the middle of a swamp, half a mile from the Blackwater Sect.

Elder Wang insisted that the retaliation must go according to the rules, and the rest of the elders agreed. Even though they had been sneak attacked during the night, they would crush the Blackwater Sect in a direct confrontation.



Lee was long past any bad premonitions – he was back in the hated swamp and cursed the decision of the elders that the Nethermoon sect had to be the one who attacked here. Their two allies, Azuremist and Moonshadow, got to deal with Shattered Sigil and Iron Maw sects.

Not only they were smaller, they were located in neat and clean mountainous areas, void of insects and smelly gasses.

It was as Lee remembered – there was only one road with marshes on both sides, creating a great geographic advantage to the defending side. And Lee was baffled why Elder Wang didn’t open the rift directly inside the sect, behind the tall stone walls.

Qin Yujian explained that if the defender knew about the attack, there were multiple ways to disrupt the rift and even kill large amounts of attackers in one sweep. At that Lee could only mumble something about why they didn’t do it back in Nethermoon, and the case was closed.

Right, once again they were in the small group of five – Lee and Xiao Lian, and his sweetheart with the two friends. The two lovebirds were mostly busy blushing and awkwardly looking at their toes, while Ling Xiaotao and Shu Ying decided it was their job to annoy Lee.

The worst part was that the two girls, similar to thousands of Nethermoon sect’s disciples didn’t take the current operation seriously at all. To them it was clear that behind the walls were at most two thousand people, but they arrived with seven times numbers at least. In fact, Elder Wang had to keep the rift gate open for half a day until everyone got through.

The old man’s abilities were remarkable, but Lee could only shake his head in disappointment. Given the duration the rift was opened, the scourge forces of similar numbers would’ve gone through it at least three times, and that is – both ways. Besides, they would probably stomp the enemy army while they were at it.

’Right! The rifts!’ Lee was struck with realization.

He himself didn’t see it, but according to what people said, there were multiple rifts opening across the Nethermoon sect during the attack. And if such tactics could be used, there was no reason to not deploy a deadly unit as a surprise gift while defending.

After reminding Xiao Lian to try to stay closer to an elemental master in case anything happened, Lee went to find Chi Yanzhen. None of the junior elders had time or were in the mood to speak to a nobody like him, but he needed to know what tactics they would follow. At least he could choose the best method of self preservation.

"Don’t worry!" Chi Yanzhen said, after listening to Lee’s worries, "If you can think of it, the elders can for sure. This is an open confrontation and no side is allowed to use underhanded tactics. Otherwise they will bear the wrath of the Celestial Abyss sect and that means the destruction of the evildoer."

"So we don’t use any formations, nothing at all?" Lee asked, his bad premonition becoming a living nightmare.

"Of course. We don’t need anything. We’re much stronger." Li Hanchen proudly said.

"So it doesn’t matter where the two of you are deployed?" Lee asked.

"Yea!" Li Hanchen said with a shrug.

"Good. In that case there are two little girls who need your protection." Lee said, "Could you please be so kind and follow me?"

"Are the two girls you and Xiao Lian?" Chi Yanzhen asked, and the bored crowd around them burst into loud laughter.



Maybe Lee would’ve blushed at the tease if he cared or if he didn’t feel the butcher’s knife hanging above his neck. The whole thing didn’t make any sense, and remembering the old expression all is fair in love and war only made Lee feel worse.

What the younger generation didn’t understand was that this war was one of the trials for the junior elders who intended to become an elder. There were over forty junior elders, but only two vacancies, and everyone wanted to prove themselves the best way possible.

This was the reason for Shen Rouya’s short temper back in the sect. Not only this was a rare opportunity to skyrocket her own status, she had to use this chance to secure the support for her mentor, Elder Wang.

If she became one of the elders, he was almost guaranteed to become the next sect master. Elder Wang would have his own and her support, and that of his old friends Elder Luo and Elder Xiao. Healing Hall’s Elder Jiu was his long time ally and thus they would’ve secured five votes out of nine. It was enough.

Lee hated politics, but hated the swamp even more. But since he and Xiao Lian had been here before, the two immediately picked the driest spot in the area to position themselves – the road.

Together with dozens of other lucky ones, they didn’t have to wet their feet. The only downside was that they kind of stood in the forefront, but the common sense dictated that the charge would be led by elemental masters, if not the elemental lords.

In fact, it would be the most ridiculous attack in the history of warfare if helpless footmen like them were sent against the fortified walls that surrounded the Blackwater Sect.

Chi Yanzhen’s and Li Hanchen’s presence and relatively leisure attitude allowed Lee to calm down a little. Unfortunately it was only until the whole disciple army was ordered to proceed to take attacking positions closer to the fortress.

After covering at most fifty yards, tens of people stepped on formations hidden under the cover of grass and at some places – layer of water, and thick green clouds enveloped hundreds of disciples.

The affected people began to cough, and within moments many fainted, some weaker vomited uncontrollably, falling to their knees while bleeding from their orifices. The biggest problem, though, was the panic that overtook the previously relaxed crowd.