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"Not too stupid, huh..."

At the White Tiger Palace, Shenyue clutched her chest and coldly watched the distance. By then, the formidable aura of the Four Saints Army had receded, heading clearly towards the Vermilion Bird Palace.

Now, the battle raged on all sides, the Four Holy Ritual had nearly concluded, and the four chosen ones had already received their inheritances, their bodies infused with the bloodline concentrated by the Four Saints.

That was the top-tier demon bloodline of the fourth iteration, whoever seized it signified their future direction, grabbing even one more was an advantage.

This was the fundamental situation at present.

Having been wounded, the powers of the Northern Territory were the least systematic.

Although the Celestial Serpent Palace’s demons were formidable individually, they couldn’t form a structured army the way other powers could, otherwise, with the size of the Celestial Serpent Palace, the Dragon Palace would have been swallowed whole long ago.

Logically speaking, after being wounded and losing deterrence, one would normally deduce that my side would be easier to bully, but unexpectedly, those bastards chose to target the Imperial Court first.

Quite clever, indeed...

"President." A ghostly voice spoke, "What should we do then? Should we deploy *that*?"

"There’s no rush..." Shenyue drew a breath, "That is our last resort. I’m seriously wounded right now. As long as the Ancient Demon Clan doesn’t come looking for trouble, we’ll stay put and observe the situation. Besides... we need to be cautious of that side too."

"That side?" The shadow in the darkness followed Shenyue’s gaze and saw the location of the Western Sea Army.

He didn’t understand for a moment. What was there about the Western Sea Army’s situation that warranted caution? Although their military strength was not weak, they almost completely lacked top-tier commanding officers. Such an army, no matter how strong, what could it really do?

A truly strong force, like the Western Sea Army, would have all the soldiers be Transcendent, and the leading officer would need to have six or seven Transcendent top Deputy Generals, plus a first-rate Commander to form up.

Without the officers, just having soldiers, is akin to a seemingly strong cow or sheep, meat on someone else’s dining table, under the current mode of warfare.

"Is the President concerned about the Otherworldly Demon Statues?"

"That thing wouldn’t appear without reason," whispered Shenyue, "And the Tian Xiang specifically used Outer Demon robes to hide its features, preventing me from discerning its breed.

Its identity is thus suspicious, the deliberate concealment suggests something fishy, that guy.

.. is likely a piece on the board of some power. "

"The Ancient Demon Clan?"

"Possibly..." Shenyue’s voice trailed off as she looked in that direction, "But it could also be...."

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The fierce battle of the Vermilion Bird bow soon began, two forces that could be said to be the strongest of the age!

The Ghost Army of the Imperial Court came from a combination of the Emperor’s elite forces and King Xiang’s Ferocious Ghosts.

They possessed not only formidable strength but also extremely terrifying combat experience, far beyond the nascent Ghost Army of the Southern Border.

Even Chen Qing, at his peak with the Warrior Army and Western Sea Army, held great apprehension towards the Siao Family’s Ghost Army and dared not confront them directly.

And the Four Saints Army was another matter entirely – using some unknown method to create perfect physical bodies imbued with Transcendance and inherent elemental powers equivalent to each soldier being versed in both demon and combat arts.

The key was that their combat consciousness was also strong, all being ancient demons with bloodline memories.

The host bodies, impervious to pain and fearless of injury, made retreat an impossibility, turning this army into the most terrifying war machine in the world. Their clash was unimaginably brutal.

Flesh flew, elements splattered, not a single soldier showed fear. They were immediately engulfed in a rage, the impact of violent battle formations, selfless combat, creating the most primitive and gruesome warfare!

Chen Baifeng watched everything from a distance, his heart filled with profound emotions.

The era had changed so rapidly that he felt as if he were in a dream.

Transcendent beings, just a few years ago in the Mortal World, not to mention carving out their own empires, were at least nobility that even Emperors would not dare to offend lightly.

Now, they were everywhere, even reduced to the lowest-ranking soldiers, killing each other. If the major families did not keep up with the times, they would become less significant than ants before they knew it.

"General Tian..." Chen Baifeng looked at the Deputy General and asked in a low voice, "What do you think, which side has the stronger army?"

"It’s hard to say..." When it came to matters of war, the usually indecisive Deputy General became professional, frowning as he seriously analyzed, "They’re both strong. The Imperial Court has more numbers, while the Four Holy Army has better quality. Though their strengths are worlds apart from when we used to fight, the principles on the battlefield remain the same. High-quality elite forces looking to win against numbers must break through the enemy’s formation, or else over time, their opponents can wear them down with their numbers. "

Chen Baifeng nodded upon hearing this. The battlefield was not suited for small skirmishes.

With the ruthless nature of weapons and the interference of powerful vitality disturbing the sensitive senses, everyone moved with the formation.

This fighting style lacked flexibility, meaning that even superior combat power could not easily take on hundreds as in normal fight.

Both sides were transcendent. If they could not dominate with vitality, once in close combat the indiscriminate nature of blades and spears meant that even if you were individually stronger, it was limited.

You couldn’t walk away unscathed, and in the midst of this great vitality formation, you had to constantly activate your vitality without reservation.

This meant that once you were injured, your stamina would decrease very quickly due to the wound.

This was why in previous battles, bloodline soldiers needed the cover of ordinary soldiers.

Bloodline soldiers were incredibly precious; losing even one would pain the commanders.

When the clash of vitalities reached a balance, then exchanging the lives of ordinary soldiers for injuries on the opponent’s bloodline soldiers was the most cost-effective tactic in attrition warfare.

The vast number of ordinary soldiers was an advantage of the Central Plains, due to its large population.

Of course... there were more than one type of tactics. In the past, the Northern Wasteland couldn’t muster as many ordinary soldiers as the Central Plains, not even one-tenth, yet the historical wars were not one-sided because attrition was not an unsolvable problem.

The foundation of attrition was to ensure the formation remained unbroken, maintaining a balance of vitality to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. But once the enemy successfully charged the formation, it was a different matter altogether.

The main tactic used by the Northern Wasteland to counter the Central Plains was charge tactics, deploying the most elite soldiers with the strongest charge leaders to shatter the Central Plains soldiers’ formation in a very short time, leading to a crushing defeat.

The army of the Central Plains had the numbers to form an overwhelming attrition war.

However, it had a clear disadvantage: with more people came bulkiness, requiring complex formations to maintain the overall vitality without being broken.

This meant that changing formations was not easy, providing opportunities for the people of the Northern Wasteland.

The Wind King Murong Yunji was best at charging formations. He once led the Murong Family’s three thousand Beilang riders to break through the formation of a hundred thousand Central Plains forces, becoming world-renowned for it.

The Central Plains and the North had been in a standoff for many years, constantly pitting large formations against elite charging forces, an endless struggle for a millennium.

And now, it was the same.

The Four Holy Guard only numbered eight thousand, while the Emperor’s Ghost Army had eighty thousand!

Despite the tenfold difference, they were able to create the same intensity of vitality clash, showing the individual strength of the Four Holy Guard must be equivalent to that of a thousand-man Colonel in the Fighter Army.

If such an army had capable generals leading them, their ability to charge would be incredibly powerful. Meanwhile, the Emperor’s Ghost Army originated from the once strongest Flying Dragon Army of the Central Plains, with the top defensive capabilities of any formation in the world!

Which was mightier, the strongest spear or the strongest shield?

No one could be sure...