1781 Battle Outside the Headquarters

"We were attacked by the Empire's soldiers. I nearly died. My wife was poisoned and nearly killed as well. She…"

Long Huan continued broadcasting his side of the story while Whisker and Shan Wangjiu stood outside, ready for the imminent collapse of the barrier.

"We might actually end up dying now," Shan Wangjiu said as he looked up and counted the number of people. "Damn, when did it become 17? Weren't there just 12 not even a minute ago."

Whisker watched another person join in and start attacking the barrier. The barrier flickered on and off with many of the attacks slipping in through the cracks. Whisker had to use the three puppets with him to protect himself from the attacks that came past the barrier.

"King Alex's subordinate was killed by my father," Long Huan's voice rang through the sky. "And her only crime was that she dared to stop my father from killing me again."

"Damn!" Shan Wangjiu said. "Did that really happen? Did one of Master's subordinates die?"

"Yes," Whisker answered. "She died protecting brother."

"That sucks," Shan Wangjiu said. "She must have been an incredible woman for Master to—"

The barrier shattered entirely as specks of broken energy that formed the barrier showered upon Shan Wangjiu and Whisker.

The two of them looked to the sky with a look of both horror and acceptance as they saw the nearly 20 soldiers slowly descend down toward them.

Shan Wangjiu immediately took a record of them all and was sad to see that the weakest two of the group were the only ones he could possibly take.

And the possibility that he would get to fight only these two cultivators in a fair round of combat was incredibly slim. It was pretty much impossible.

"Well, time to pay back Master," Shan Wangjiu said and his sword glowed bright as he filled his giant sword with Sword Qi.

Whisker got into one of the three puppets which he brought back to protect the entrance to the second prince. The remaining two he immediately sent to fight.

The puppets jumped into the sky and punched toward two of the cultivators.

One of the cultivators managed to dodge out in time. The puppet quickly turned around to attack, but the momentum it could create while descending was nowhere near strong enough to make use of its Immortal grade.

Due to the lack of place to push itself off of, the puppet was near enough useless in front of all these high-ranking soldiers.

The puppet tried to go for a punch again, but the soldier managed to send out a sword slash and struck back the Immortal puppet.

The other of the two puppets, however, managed to land a solid blow on the chest of one of the cultivators who were the first to enter.

When the punch connected with the cultivator, everyone, including the cultivator himself, could feel the force behind the punch of the attack as the sound of bones cracking was violently loud.

The sound came first and then the pain as the body of the cultivator was flung to the sky, quickly disappearing from sight.

It was unlikely that the man who had just been attacked was in any way hurt enough for the wound to be fatal. However, it was also hurtful and damaging enough that it was unlikely that the man would return to fight at all.

Both of the puppets quickly returned to the ground to continue fighting.

Shan Wangjiu locked in on one of the weaker cultivators and immediately sent out a sword slash. The young woman who was his target barely managed to react in time to be able to block it.

Another cultivator right next to her sent out a ball of fire toward Shan Wangjiu who immediately had to use up the skill of his sword to create a golden barrier that stopped the attack.

With just the first instance of battle, he had to use his sword's hidden technique. How was he supposed to survive this in any way?

"Master, are you really not going to send anyone to defend this place at all?" Shan Wangjiu softly murmured as he used the opportunity of the shield's activation to protect himself from the barrage of attacks.

Long Huan noticed that the fight had begun outside. He could hear the sounds of clashes and explosions all around him, the shaking ground making him shiver with each shockwave as every other one could be the one that hurt him.

He was getting close to finishing what he was talking about. He had to continue.

Whisker sent out the two puppets to fight for a while. As long as they were fighting on the ground, the puppets showed more potential as they were entirely physical, and having something to work off of gave them a great boost in strength.

Up in the air, they were only as strong as the Qi of the person that controlled them. But down here, they were untouchable.

The two puppets swam through the remaining 17 cultivators as though they were adults playing against children.

A skull cracked open from one of the kicks, and another person had his chest blasted open from another punch.

Another man had his shield broken in half and tossed away, while the other one used his Qi to stop the puppet in place and failed.

The group of cultivators began fighting the two puppets and tried their best to survive.

Seeing the situation, Shan Wangjiu thought he had some hope. However, that hope was lost the moment some of the cultivators began ignoring the puppets entirely and leaving their comrades to deal with them.

Shan Wangjiu prepared to fight, but he knew he would only die.

"Leave!" Whisker shouted at him. "Brother said to leave everything and run away if we are losing. Go."

Shan Wangjiu turned around toward Whisker while in a sort of dilemma. But survival quickly won over.

"I'm sorry," he shouted and ran away from the place, leaving Whisker alone behind with the puppets to deal with them.

Whisker let the two puppets fight them out and stop them from entering the door while he and the final puppet rushed into the room with Long Huan.

Long Huan turned to look at Whisker. "Is it time to go?" he asked.

Whisker nodded. "We must leave," he said.

Three soldiers managed to sneak through the door and arrived inside. They saw the prince and retrained their weapons a little while still showing hostility.

"Your Highness," the two said softly.

Long Huan's eyes showed anger and annoyance. He was so close to finishing it all. He just had the oath to speak to prove to everyone that everything he had said until now was true.

And yet, it was too late.

He pulled out the Ebony sword. "Let's—"

His words were drowned by a large explosive sound as dust filled the room they were in.

Sounds of more battle filled outside, and before the dust had even settled in the room, someone had entered.

"I'm glad I made it in time," an older voice spoke as the man turned toward Long Huan. "How have you been doing, Your Highness?"

Long Huan's face glowed up in surprise.

"Senior Yan!"