‘This is just like that one time… will it be as easy though? The scale is a lot different, they did bring a lot more people… and what is this, I think they actually thought things through…’

Zhang Dong was looking at some rocks after digging himself into an underground cavern. Above ground, there was a storm coming and along with it a bunch of enemy cultivators from the Emerald Phoenix Empire. He had decided to prepare a few traps beforehand and the underground tunnel he dug himself into was a part of it.

His finger moved around in a strange pattern before a magical symbol appeared. The symbol embedded itself into the rocks while making them glow with energy. Many were pushed to the side of the wall and they produced a pentagram-like symbol with many strange rune-like symbols around it. Just as fast as these magical letters appeared did they vanish again and the glow died down.

The plan wasn’t that intricate, just a few formations boosted by his knowledge of mana from the other world. This knowledge he intended to use to get one over the enemy cultivators that weren’t versed in ways of mana. They would have probably had ways of countering formations that used traditional knowledge from this empire as their own wasn’t that different.

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While the effect that was produced was similar, the way of going about it was different. It was like saying the same words in a different language. Without knowing the language a person wouldn’t be able to decipher what was being said. Perhaps they could vaguely read into the situation but the true meaning behind the words wouldn’t be able to go through. It was the same with these altered formations, before they figured out how to go around them it would be too late.

He had hoped to just wait here until the enemy armada was on top. With his current powers, he could hide his presence from all conventional means. It wouldn’t be strange to assume that the only thing that could pick him up would be an Emperor-Level threat that was close to his power. However, a problem appeared, the enemies had decided to go below ground and it was not a small force at all.

‘Hm, they are quite bold. Going this deep underground in a location they don’t fully know could be very disadvantageous… Though they did capture this area for a moment, did they take the maps with them to learn about all these natural tunnels?’

Zhang Dong had his system which could pierce through the ground to show him all the various tunnels down here. Some of them were eroded through millennia by underground streams while others were dug through by large beasts. Such corridors as the one he was in weren’t that uncommon but maneuvering through them without a map like he had wasn’t easy.

‘Hm… this is a chance, but if I start killing them then the guys on top will know that they are moving into a trap, I will have to be careful.’

With the help of his mapping system, he could easily follow after his enemies. First, he needed to figure out what they were up to down here. Only after that would he make a decision on what he would do. Thanks to his high cultivation level and some higher knowledge he gained in the Dao of Earth, he sunk into the hard rocks and began to swim through them.

While it looked as if he was diving into water in reality his body was surrounded by a thin layer of spiritual energy. This energy would push the earth in front of him out of the way as he flew forward. Then after all the rocks and soil were out of the way, more spiritual energy would connect everything back into place. It was a constant process of disassembling the earth and then assembling it right behind him that made it seem as if he was swimming through it. No tunnel was left behind in his wake which would make following him quite a troubling task.

‘There they are, around twenty people but some other groups are in other directions… I see, they had a similar plan as me.’

After waiting for a few minutes he rose out of the ground in a location previously occupied by people from the Emerald Phoenix Empire. They had traveled through these tunnels doing the exact same thing as him. At the spot that he was in he could see hidden formation pathways in the walls and even a flag was left embedded in the rocks.

‘Hm… what a peculiar formation… when activated it will start affecting spiritual energy of a certain wavelength… I see so that’s what they are up to.’

At first, he assumed that they were planting some traps just like him but this wasn’t their battle strategy. Instead, this formation would create a large area that would only affect the denizens of this empire and their spiritual energy. In simple terms, it was a kind of spiritual energy-dampening formation, not something people of the Azure Dragon Empire would really ever use.

It wouldn’t really make sense as this affected every person in the same fashion. It would lower the power output of any Qi-related skills by about twenty percent. Only people from the Emerald Phoenix Empire would be safe from the effects as their cultivation methods and how they used spiritual energy were slightly different. In short, they wouldn’t be affected by the formation while his allies would suffer a long-lasting debuff.

‘Wait a minute, I can probably use this to my advantage, I don’t even need to take them out… if I change it around a bit… then this will be quite the surprise when they activate the formation.’

Zhang Dong started grinning as he realized that this gave him a better chance at winning than his own previous plan of activating trap formations. His enemies would do all the work for him while he just slightly altered the formations. After they realized what was happening it would already be too late. If all of their people remained alive and healthy they would not be aware of the subterfuge.

Thus his plan started to be implemented, following these people wasn’t hard. Even though they had some powerful experts with them, no one was able to detect his presence. At critical junctures, he would pop out from a wall of the ceiling to change a few things around. There wasn’t even that much for him to do besides keeping to the shadows.

…

“Faction Leaders, the enemies are upon us!”

“Where is the Golden Dragon? Wasn’t he supposed to lead the charge?”

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Asked Leader Zhong when looking at Leader Shen.

“He said that he wanted to prepare something for them but don’t forget that he had left some of his own forces behind.”

The two nascent soul elders decided to leave the tent where they were deciding on a strategy for this battle. Their forces were all on one side while the enemies from the Emerald Phoenix Empire were on the other. In their eyes, they were on the losing side, at least if Zhang Dong wasn’t with them. To bolster their forces they were aided by new allies, one was a large army of strange metallic warriors and pyramids. The other was a small group of armored men riding on winged horses. Each group was radiating power worthy to call themselves their allies and with them, they could see victory.

“They do seem capable…”

“They do, don’t worry while the Golden Dragon is powerful I will not stand idle if our sect members are slaughtered, we must be ready for all possibilities Leader Zhong.”

“I agree…”

Both men that usually weren’t on good terms nodded at each other. To them the survival of their sect was very important, if victory became shaky they were ready to abandon their newfound allies and even use them as a shield while they retreated. They were still on the fence about the whole situation but the treasures that could be gained seemed worth the risk that they were taking.

“Heavenly Crane Sect, advance!”

“For the Sect!”_{ƒ𝓇e𝙚𝔀𝐞𝚋𝓃𝐨𝘷e𝙡.𝒄𝗼m}

“Long live the Heavenly Crane Sect!”

The warriors started shouting while moving to the skies. Their fleet was composed of flying ships and various attacking formations created by core formation cultivators. Many nascent soul masters were also on their side, all ready to push in when the time for them to act arrived. There wasn’t much strategy involved in this clash, just two large forces meeting each other in an open field.

A clash between spiritual energies caused the ground to rumble. With these many flying vessels and powerful cultivators around the whole atmosphere started morphing before finally, everything exploded into a frenzy. First, the ships started to fire their spiritual cannons from afar, the defensive formations were the first line of defense.

White spirit bullets shot away from the Heavenly Crane Sect and collided with a bright green shield. In response, cannon bolts of green spiritual energy were shot right back and collided with a semi-transparent defensive formation on the other side. It was a race now, the defensive shield that broke first would be the first devastating blow and a sign of the tides shifting in one direction. Only after both shields were unable to offer any defensive advantages would the place erupt into a massive brawl.

Both sides seemed to be somewhat equal without anyone being able to advance. That was before it appeared, a massive beast clad in golden scales and surrounded by the lightning of the same hue. It was a massive golden dragon, presumably the soul best of the man with the same title. It gave out a massive roar before gathering golden light within its maw. A beam of condensed energy soon appeared from within and collided with the green defensive shield of the Emerald Phoenix Empire.

“Their defensive formation is crumbling, everyone attack!”

The tide started shifting, and with the help of the giant dragon the Heavenly Crane Sect felt invigorated. Their forces started pushing inside while the Emerald Phoenix Forces were in disarray. With the dragon pushing in first and the metallic angels following after it the others followed soon after. It didn’t seem that they would need to weaken their enemies with their ranged attacks anymore, the golden dragon was just this strong.

The enemy forces were retreating and trying to escape. It seemed that they were actually too scared to continue fighting. While some saw this as a chance to show their might others with a more keen eye for strategy found this strange.

“Leader Zhong, doesn’t this look strange?”

“Yes, why did they abandon their formations this easily… wait, what if they… tell everyone to halt their attack, this is a trap!”

Just as Zhong had shouted out the orders a strange field of energy appeared all around them. It was then quickly followed by the appearance of a beauty of unprecedented proportions that started laughing.

“Haha, Is this really all you can do? Just like little flies inside of my spider web~”

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