1785 Coordinating the Battlefield

Yan Yating stood close to the giant ship that flew outside of the battlefield, as he overlooked the battle.

Whisker had immediately taken control of the Hell Emperor's Divine Battle Array and was now the one leading the entire army by himself. "Let me know where you wish everyone to go. I can tell them what to do."

"Just a second," Yan Yating said as he took a quick count of the soldiers he could see.

There were upwards of 9 thousand soldiers that were brought by Alex, a few hundred beasts, and around 500 Oathbreakers.

On that count, he could see that the strength of the 9000 soldiers wasn't that high when compared to the opposing soldiers, but the array that was being used had somehow improved them all.

"So we have 9000-something soldiers in total huh? A lot less than I would've hoped for," Yan Yating said.

"We have over 10 thousand," Whisker said quickly. "Even without counting your soldiers."

"How can you be certain?" Yan Yating asked.

"Because of the array," Whisker said. "I can tell the total count. It's just over 10 thousand, but it is 10 thousand. I'm counting those beasts in that though."

"I see," Yan Yating said. "9 or 10 thousands, makes little difference. The Empire seems to have close to 20 thousand and more are still coming."

"20 thousand," Whisker said softly. "How are we not losing just yet?"

"Thank your stronger fighters," Yan Yating said. "They're forcing many of the battalions to form an array to help their leader. So not all the soldiers are fighting. But we have to be quick about it."

Immediately, Yan Yating started giving out orders on how to attack. He was more used to commanding armies that were fighting on multiple fronts, but this one would do fine as well.

The army pulled back a little to reconvene and advanced forward together to attack as a single unit instead of everyone fighting at their own pace.

Even the elders started following Yan Yating's orders, doing as he said.

Yan Yating gave special focus to the strong individuals on the battlefield as they had to be taken extra care of. A single Immortal attack that caught anyone off guard would be a devastating blow to the entire army.

The group of 10 thousand soldiers split into 10 different groups, each led by one of the 9 elders and Zhou Linfan who hadn't managed to break through to the front.

He started setting coordinated attacks to get through the enemy formation that was in somewhat of a shamble. Despite his disappearance nearly 70 years ago, the empire hadn't bothered finding a new Head of War, it seemed.

Even then, Yan Yating could tell that the battle wasn't going in their favor. New soldiers were constantly joining, adding to the number on the opposite side.

Thankfully, a lot of them had decided to join their side as well and were happily helping them fight the other side. The numbers were little, but every single help counted.

"What is happening?" Long Huan asked suddenly as he looked to the side. He had witnessed something rather strange, and it was happening all around the battlefield.

Soldiers were leaving the battlefield, one by one, walking far away to the side and simply sitting there, watching the battle from afar.

"Tsk!" Yan Yating made a little sound in disgust. "We're giving them two choices. Join us and help fight your father, or stay out of the battle altogether. They are choosing to stay out of the battle."

"Your soldiers are persuading the Empire's army to stand down?" Long Huan asked.

"Yes," Yan Yating said. "Thanks to what you did, the process seems to be going much more smoothly than I could have done so by myself."

"Oh… good," Long Huan said.

Long Fangyu stood to the side, watching the battle with blank eyes. Everyone who was fighting on the other side was his soldiers. And yet, here he was doing nothing. He wanted to do nothing.

Wouldn't it be so easy if he could just stay out of the battle too?

But no, that would be too simple. For the past few years, he had known his life was anything but simple.

"I'm going to go and try persuading the others too," Long Fangyu said and moved ahead.

Long Huan thought for a bit and nodded. "I'll go do the same," he said and followed his brother to the battlefield.

Yan Yating returned to governing the battlefield, constantly giving out orders which Whisker helped make easy to transfer via the connection he had through the Array.

The battle continued with many getting wounded in the process, having to move back from the battlefield. When they were injured, the soldiers usually flew back into the giant ship that floated in the sky.

Yan Yating was quite curious about what was happening inside the ship since everyone went in there. "What are they doing in there?" he asked Whisker.

"Resting and healing," Whisker answered.

Yan Yating tried peering in, but strong formations blocked all spiritual senses from entering, so he couldn't see through it.

Time passed as he focused all of his attention on dealing with the battle as more and more soldiers continued piling on the other side.

Even though many knew the truth and were being persuaded by their colleagues and comrades to fight against the Dragon Emperor, only a few accepted to switch entirely to the war.

A good chunk of them decided to sit on the sidelines and watch the battle unfold, while the majority still decided to fight on the side of the Emperor.

Yan Yating took a quick count of the field and realized that while their side had grown by about 2000 more soldiers, the enemy's side had instead increased by 1000 soldiers. And that was including the soldiers that had died, or had left the battle entirely.

"Dammit!" Yan Yating cursed softly. "Even though we are converting many and causing many to step out of the war, there are still many that continue joining. And more keep coming on too."

Soon the enemy would have about 25 thousand soldiers, nearly double of what they had.

The Oathbreaker's arrival on the battlefield had been crucial, but unfortunately not as critical as Yan Yating might have hoped.

"We need something more," he said softly. "Something stronger."

He quickly turned to the side, Qi ready to shoot out an attack when he realized that the person approaching them wasn't there to attack him.

"How's everything going on?" Graham asked, arriving next to the two.

He was bloodied from head to toe, some of which were his wounds, but more of it came from the people he killed.

Yan Yating sensed the weak cultivation base on Graham and was surprised, but what he was more surprised about was the fact that he was even here in the first place.

"Why are you here? Weren't you the one dealing with the teleportation building?" he asked, looking down to where they should have been.

"Alex told me to stop guarding it," Graham said. "So, I left."

Yan Yating's face was a mask of confusion at first. However, when he saw a group of people walk out of the teleportation formation, his eyes widened in surprise.

"A risky choice for sure," he said. "But not a bad one."