Chapter 1428 - Hidden Ulterior Motives
Even for someone like Guo Cheng who had been in the army for many years, he couldn’t help but feel unsure at that moment.
The soldiers suffered a crushing defeat, and the morale had drastically decreased. They were already on the losing end even before they’ve faced the enemy directly.
He looked hesitant. He was thinking if he should either retreat fully to reserve their strength so that the troops would not be destroyed, or if he should persist and fight to the death.
While he was hesitating, one of his soldiers suddenly walked over to him in a sluggish manner. The soldier had an empty look in his eyes, which were shrouded in a dull grey mist.
Guo Cheng’s gaze became serious. “Sorcery. Possession Technique?”
After he spoke, he assumed a fighting stance and was about to kill the possessed soldier.
The soldier suddenly moved his mouth, and the voice that came out belonged to the Saint!
“General Guo, please wait! I am here to present you with a great gift!” The Saint said.
Guo Cheng stopped his attack but remained extremely cautious. He sneered coldly and said, “Who are you? When did you possess the body of my subordinate? He recently left my supervision probably two days ago, so did you possess him then?”
The Saint said, “It doesn’t matter who I am, nor does it matter when possessed the body! What matters now is that I have brought you a great gift: Su Yu! Won’t there be a generous reward for anyone who captures or kills him?”
After hearing that, Guo Cheng’s eyes shone sagaciously. “What do you mean by that?”
“What I meant is simple! The chaos that you are looking at now was a setup that we made. The guards in the seven directional positions were not attacked at all, and we just blocked the communications in a special way! They are all well, and there isn’t any absolute master!”
Guo Cheng’s eyes had a shrewd gleam; he believed only half of it.
He linked up information that was sent from the southwest position. Only the body of the Wizard Phoenix that was shot down was found, but no remains of the live spirit it carried were found along with it.
It was clear that they were trying to test the waters!
If they had the power to destroy them easily, what is the point of testing the waters? Wouldn’t it be more straightforward if they just barged through with force?
“Su Yu, his two companions, and a puppet that I am secretly manipulating have launched an attack at you. It is up to you to decide whether or not you seize this golden opportunity!” The gray color in the soldier’s eyes gradually receded, and the effects of the possession gradually disappeared.
Before it ended, the Saint said, “Let me remind you of one last thing. Su Yu is not who he used to be. You and the rest of the soldiers may not even be his opponent at all!”
After that, the possession was completely lifted.
At the same time, the messages from the guards at the other seven positions were coming in slowly. All the messages mentioned that the enemies retreated after a single attack, warning the guards in the south to not be fooled.
Guo Cheng calmed down and he looked firmly at the four figures in the sky.
Among them, he focused primarily on the young man with long silver hair.
This person was the main wanted criminal listed by the Four Great Empires. If someone were to capture him alive, they would be rewarded generously.
With fire in his eyes, he planned to be the sole person involved with Su Yu’s capture.
However, he did not forget how Elder Huang ended up having to commit suicide a few days ago. He wanted to capture Su Yu for his own personal benefits but ultimately failed.
“If I failed to take him down alone, the chief commander would think that I was trying to monopolize the situation but failed. But if I join forces with the rest and Su Yu still managed to escape, then he is just too powerful. The commander cannot blame us for that.” Guo Cheng’s many years of experience in the army told him that although this was a great opportunity, it was best not to monopolize the situation when the consequences would be severe.
Motivated by this, he sent messages to the guards at the nearest southwest and southeast positions.
“I have discovered Su Yu. He is breaking out from the southern side, so lead your troops over quickly! I will try to stop him while I wait for your assistance.”
There was no doubt that it was the wanted criminal Su Yu on the other side of the jade pendant. Both guard commanders knew who he was. That will be a great reward for getting a meteoric rise in life!
With hesitation, the commander of the southwest troops said, “But we have duties too. What if someone slips away from our side while we are assisting you?”
“General Guo, don’t you remember what happened to Elder Huang? We wouldn’t dare to repeat the same mistake!” The commander of the southeast troops was hesitant too.
Seeing that Su Yu was getting closer, Guo Cheng’s eyes got redder as he said anxiously, “Alright! If Su Yu breaks out and escapes from me, then I am doomed. Even if I am to die, I will make it clear to the chief commander about your refusal to assist us! Both of you should know how determined the chief commander is about killing Su Yu. Even if everyone in the outpost escaped, he would never let Su Yu escape!”
By the time Guo Cheng finished speaking, both guard commanders were persuaded.
It was true that everyone knew how much the chief commander wanted to kill Su Yu.
If he found out that they hindered the operation to intercept and kill Su Yu, it would be impossible for them to get away with it.
With a sigh, both guard commanders said, “Alright, hang in there! We will send our troops over immediately.”
Guo Cheng’s heart settled down upon hearing that. He raised his voice and shouted, “Did all of you hear that? The enemies are not as scary as you think they are! The troops from the southeast and southwest positions are on their way and will be here soon to assist!”
The soldiers’ morale was raised. With weapons from the ancient civilization, they will have the power to fight as long as the enemies were not powerful beings capable of annihilating a whole troop!
“Prepare the Superior-Extermination Cannon!” Guo Cheng commanded with fire in his eyes.
The soldiers immediately pushed out four three-hundred feet tall Superior-Extermination Cannon. With twenty soldiers in each team, they began charging the cannons with divine power, fully replenishing the power of all four cannons.
Threatening waves of destruction power wavered in the Superior-Extermination Cannon. They would fire the deadly attack once Su Yu and his companions entered its range of attack.
At that moment, the guards from the southwest and southeast position sent half of their troops to rush over.
Among them, even the guard commander of the southeast troop personally rushed over.
As the guards from the southeast position passed by hurriedly, a human figure dressed in a black robe appeared from the shades of the trees at the foot of the mountain. That person was Zhao Tianyin.
He sneered ruminatively. “Su Yu, oh Su Yu! As smart as you are, you were still fooled! No matter how perfect my plan sounded, there will be risks in my plan eventually. I wouldn’t want to risk being bombarded by their weapons and barge through with force together with all of you!”
The Saint looked satisfied at the reduced number of guards at the southeast garrison. “Su Yu, only your appearance would divert the remaining guards. My real plan is to make use of you as bait to sacrifice for my goals.”
When he was exploring the area two days ago, he captured a scout who came down the mountain to survey the area and used the possession technique on him.
He had originally planned to use this scout to attack Guo Cheng when he least expected it at the most critical moment.
However, Su Yu’s appearance forced Guo Cheng to change his plans. With this, the guards at the other positions were diverted away, further increasing the chances that the Saint would break out
The Saint sneered and leaped up to the loosely defended garrison.
At the same time, Su Yu, his two companions, and the Saint’s puppet finally began attacking Guo Cheng’s troops while they still weren’t discovered.
Guo Cheng commanded the four Superior-Extermination Cannon and locked on firmly at the four people as the target. He said, “Su Yu! I already knew that you were creating a diversion in other places to attack us, trying to incite panic so that we would escape! I’ve already learned about your ruse, so don’t pretend anymore! Surrender now, or otherwise perish under the Superior-Extermination Cannon!”
Su Yu, Xueying, and Cailin remained indifferent to what was happening. They charged towards the southern direction disregarding anything. It seemed as if they were preparing to use force to barge through!
Remaining calm, Guo Cheng said, “Since that’s the case, then don’t blame me for leaving no one alive! Superior-Extermination Cannon, Fire!”
“Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!”
Four earth-shattering blasts sounded across the skies and lands.
The mountains quaked while the streams seethed. The small and weak live spirits within a vicinity of a hundred thousand square meters were all shocked as they were blasted to death by the power of the cannons.
The group of four people, including Su Yu who faced the four Superior-Extermination Cannon directly, were blasted into pieces just as Guo Cheng planned. Their blood and flesh had splattered all around the place!
The wanted criminal of the Four Great Empires was killed so easily that Guo Cheng was stunned for a moment. It seemed like he was not as difficult to deal with as rumored, was he?
Just to be sure, he still led the troops over to where the bodies had fallen for an inspection.
When they reached the location, they found that blood and flesh splattered onto everything, creating a pungent smell of blood in the air.
Guo Cheng felt relieved and said, “Gather all the blood and flesh. Separate the pieces of Su Yu’s body from the rest and hand them to the chief commander!”
Guo Cheng was in a wonderful mood, getting excited as he looked at the busy soldiers.
In reality, he was the one who caught hold of this great opportunity.
“If I knew it was going to be that easy, I would not have notified the other two troops. Now, they’ll be rewarded as well!” Guo Cheng said in regret.
At that moment, the guards from the southwest had just arrived. Under Guo Cheng’s command, they started gathering Su Yu’s blood and flesh.
After an hour, most of the blood and flesh on the ground were gathered and placed in a container. This included Su Yu’s flesh and blood.
“Sir, we did not find the body of the black-robed man!” The soldiers said.
Guo Cheng thought to himself, ‘So the black-robed man was a puppet after all!
“Don’t look for him anymore, I think I know what’s going on,” Guo Cheng said. He smiled and praised the guards from the southwest position. “Let your commander know that they will also receive credit for capturing Su Yu.”
Until now, the guards from the southeast have not arrived yet!
Guo Cheng couldn’t stop himself from sneering. “It’s better that they are not here. We can keep the rewards to ourselves!”
“Someone come over. Hand this container to the chief commander…” Guo Cheng commanded.
However, he glanced over at the container and suddenly noticed something strange. Upon closer inspection, he saw that Su Yu’s blood and flesh quickly dimmed and became transparent before disappearing completely.
The container soon became empty!
Dumbstruck, Guo Cheng’s expression changed instantly. He took out the containers with the blood and flesh of Xueying and Cailin only to find that they were empty as well!
As for soldiers who were gathering the blood and flesh, the blood on their hands also disappeared without a trace!
“Swish!”
Suddenly, Guo Cheng looked up into the sky as if he felt something above him. A huge eye hidden far away among the clouds was gradually fading away.
The bizarre light radiating from the eye had a subtle psychedelic effect!
Having seen this, Guo Cheng felt as if he was struck by lightning. He said, “This is bad! We have been deceived! Southwest troops, return to your post immediately!”
There was no doubt that the Saint was a puppet, but Su Yu and the other two people were phantoms too!!
The large eye projected an illusion that was so vast and realistic that it fooled everyone!
Su Yu and his two companions did not appear in the southern area at all!
As of now, the defense at the southwest and southeast positions were at their weakest!
Those two areas were Su Yu’s real point of breaking out!!
At the southeast garrison…
Feeling complacent about successfully scheming against Su Yu, the Saint leaped up the mountain and was prepared to take off and fly away.
Much to his horror, he leaped up only to find that the mountain top was lined with four Superior-Extermination Cannons that were fully charged, and all aimed the Saint.
