Sect Master’s Immortal Journey

Chapter 177: Declaration of War

The Taiyi Sect, Forest Mountain School, Qiaoshou Sect, and Golden Blade Sect have formed an alliance and agreed to unite against a common enemy. Faced with the relentless advance of the Liu Family and Green Bamboo Mountain, the four factions have devised a strategy and immediately put it into action. All four forces are located west of Singing Sand City, while the Liu Family and Green Bamboo Mountain approach from the east. Once they have taken control of Singing Sand City, they could potentially move westward at any time.

Ruan Yuan, the Sect Master of the Golden Blade Sect and representative of the four factions, has traveled to Singing Sand City to meet with Liu Dahai, the head of the Liu Family, and Azure Bamboo, the Sect Master of Green Bamboo Mountain. In order to hold positions of power within forces like the Liu Family and Green Bamboo Mountain, the head or Sect Master must be a cultivator at the Foundation Building stage. Otherwise, they would not be able to gain the trust and support of their followers. If these forces fail to produce Foundation Building stage Sect Masters, it would signify their decline.

After the downfall of Twin Success Valley, the elders and disciples stationed in Singing Sand City received news and fled voluntarily. Forest Spring Watch also closed its operations in the area and withdrew its personnel. In the past few years, the Flying Swan Sect had already ordered the blockade of Singing Sand City, leading to a decline in business and the gradual loss of the Shang Family. Numerous shops have closed down as a result.

The Flying Swan Building was the first to close and withdrew all its personnel. The Four Seas Building followed suit, shutting down and recalling its staff. Over the years, Singing Sand City has become desolate and devoid of people. What was once a bustling trading market has turned into a ghost town.

However, Singing Sand City still possesses a Second Rank spirit vein and enjoys a favorable location. After years of careful cultivation by Twin Success Valley, even in its current state, the foundation remains. If it were to change hands and no longer be opposed by the Flying Swan Sect, with proper management, there is a chance to restore the city to its former glory.

Both the Liu Family and Green Bamboo Mountain have set their sights on this lucrative opportunity. After undisclosed negotiations, they have agreed to jointly manage Singing Sand City. The coalition of the Liu Family and Green Bamboo Mountain encountered little resistance and successfully occupied Singing Sand City.

The hasty retreat of Twin Success Valley's people prevented them from causing any damage to the various buildings in Singing Sand City. They were unable to destroy the sect-protecting great formation and only managed to deactivate it, taking the core formation disc with them. After a busy period, the Formation Masters of the Liu Family and Green Bamboo Mountain managed to create a makeshift replacement to control the great formation. They then reactivated the formation, restoring the city's defenses.

Subsequent cultivators from the Liu Family and Green Bamboo Mountain have since moved into Singing Sand City, transforming it into a forward operating base.Because the next target is Forest Mountain School and other sects, Liu Dahai, the head of the Liu Family, and Azure Bamboo, the Sect Master of Green Bamboo Mountain, personally arrived in Singing Sand City to plan their next actions. Upon learning of the alliance formed by the four factions to counter their forces, Liu Dahai and Azure Bamboo began to deploy their troops and make strategic arrangements.

Facing two Foundation Building stage leaders like Liu Dahai and Azure Bamboo, Ruan Yuan remained composed. He withstood the pressure from the Foundation Building stage cultivators and presented the prepared letter of challenge. The letter stipulated that one month later, the two sides would engage in a decisive battle in the desert not far west of Singing Sand City to determine the ownership of the region west of Singing Sand City.

After discussing it, Liu Dahai and Azure Bamboo agreed to the terms of the challenge in the letter. Ruan Yuan promptly left Singing Sand City with their response and returned.

Liu Dahai and Azure Bamboo agreed to the challenge because they wanted to defeat their opponents in a fair and decisive battle. This would reduce resistance to their conquest of the western region of Singing Sand City and facilitate their future rule.

The four factions proposed this challenge because even with their alliance, they still lagged behind each other in terms of resources and accumulation. If the conflict dragged on with guerrilla warfare and a protracted battle, they would likely struggle to sustain their efforts. Additionally, with the factions joining forces, there would be internal power struggles and conflicting interests, even in the face of a common enemy. If the conflict dragged on, internal strife could arise.

After Ruan Yuan returned with the responses from Liu Dahai and Azure Bamboo, the four factions immediately began to deploy their forces. Not far from Singing Sand City, less than 300 miles away, there was a small oasis situated on a First Rank spirit vein. It was originally owned by a small cultivation family.

In recent conflicts, this small family was annihilated by the Golden Blade Sect, and the oasis became their spoils of war. Now, the armies of the four factions gradually arrived at this location to gather and prepare for the upcoming battle against a formidable enemy.

Of course, the so-called "armies" consisted of just over 600 people. Apart from Taiyi Sect, which had a smaller number of members, a little over a hundred, the other three sects each sent nearly 200 disciples. For these four factions, this was their maximum effort, with their elite members fully deployed.

Cultivators were not comparable to ordinary people. Even with just a few hundred individuals, they could display a formidable aura that surpassed the might of a hundred thousand ordinary soldiers.

The alliance between the four factions was only a temporary measure, and there was certainly no high level of trust among them. Therefore, the forces of each faction gathered separately and conducted individual drills.

In battles of this scale between cultivators, there could be no disorganized and undisciplined brawls like street fights. Each faction had their own methods of coordinating their disciples to fight together against the enemy. Larger sects like the Flying Swan Sect even possessed secret techniques for deploying large-scale war formations.

While the four factions did not possess such capabilities, they each had their own means. Well-trained and disciplined cultivators could form various formations to achieve victory against superior numbers or stronger opponents.

Except for Taiyi Sect, the other three sects had inherited their respective sect's commonly used formations. However, they had never experienced such a large-scale battle before and lacked sufficient experience.

With just one month left before the battle, they seized the time to sharpen their skills and conduct intensive training.

Meng Zhang found himself facing a headache. Originally, Taiyi Sect had only a few dozen disciples, but in recent days, they had recruited a large number of wandering cultivators, nearly doubling their numbers. The advantage was that they now had more people, which increased their deterrence. Without this temporary expansion, Taiyi Sect would not have been able to deploy so many personnel.

The downside was that most of these new recruits had their own agendas and lacked discipline. They had no experience working together and lacked a sense of cooperation. Leading this motley crew into battle and enduring the brutal bloodshed would be an impossible task.

No matter how difficult the task, it had to be done, and it had to be done well. Fortunately, Meng Zhang had anticipated this situation and made preparations in advance.

Among the inheritances he obtained in the Trial Ground, there were several formations suitable for large-scale battles in the Cultivation World. He selected one called the "Qiankun Rotation Formation" and organized the disciples to practice it for the upcoming battle in one month's time.

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