Chapter 761.1: Attack and Conquest: Unstoppable!(Part 1)
The winds blew hard, the land was covered with snow no matter which way the eyes looked. The huge mutant trees were bathed in the cold of the nights, the night frost froze their leaves, and the snow began to cover part of their trunks; however, they were still as strong and firm as ever, swaying before the world as if they were announcing that they would never give up in despite of the difficulties.
The roads had almost completely disappeared, everything was covered by snow. With the ground dyed pure white, the skies tinged with gray, and with fog covering the surroundings, it would be a miracle not to lose the path.
Amidst the howling wind, the sound of footsteps soon broke the natural silence. In the distance, partially covered by the fog, a team of what seemed to be about 20 silhouettes appeared, bringing some life to the desolate snow-covered desert.
Some of them carried rifles, others carried swords or iron spears. However, they all wore coats that covered practically the entirety of their shivering bodies.
"Shit! Those bastards from Squad 2 must be enjoying the Flower Palace while we have to shit ourselves cold and go out to get some fucking meat!" cursed aloud a soul evolver of the group as he pulled tighter the woolen cloak covering his body.
"We too can enjoy the Flower Palace if we find some good prey, so we'd better pay attention in case any mutant beasts cross our path so they don't get away from us." Said another as he tightened his grip on the sword he held, trying to stop himself from shivering out of cold.
All the others remained silent, especially the militants with firearms that were suffering the most in this cold so they had to conserve as much energy as possible to avoid freezing to death.
"Hey, there are people ahead!" shouted suddenly one of the soul evolves.
The group stopped immediately, swords were drawn and the militants raised their guns with arms trembling not from fear but from cold.
The man who appeared to be the leader had his head shaved to his great dismay, but thanks to being a level 41 soul evolver he was able to handle the cold well. He stepped forward and shouted loudly, "You three, stop immediately or you will be shot dead!"
The other party had also seen them, and perhaps thanks to the warning as well as the numerical difference between the two sides, they stopped more than 40 meters ahead.
The group of 20 men approached cautiously, and when they finally managed to break through the obstruction of the fog, they realized that the group was composed of 3 men who appeared to be in their early 20's but whose actual age was unknown.
The leader of the group immediately noticed the leather chestplates and treasure rings on the fingers of the other three men, as well as the swords clearly of better quality than theirs. A glint of greed flashed in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it and introduced himself in a deep voice:
"My name is Hong Yan, leader of New China Exploration Team Number 9. I wonder who you are and where you are headed?"
The leader was a wise man, he knew that a group of three people who had managed to survive so far in the midst of this environment could not be normal. Besides, the colored rings were clearly treasures from the Soul Record, which identified them as probably high level soul evolvers.
The three people looked at each other for a moment, seemingly unaware that there were more than 5 rifles pointed at their heads and 15 soul evolvers whose level was descent slowly surrounding them.
One of them finally looked at the bald leader and said in a deep voice, "My name is Su Lei, soul evolver of the advanced soul evolvers of the Blood Spear Legion belonging to the Transcendent faction under the leadership of our Leader Bai Zemin."
Blood Spear Legion?
Transcendent Faction?
... Bai Zemin?
The expression of the twenty men abruptly changed when they heard these three points. The militants subconsciously put their fingers on the triggers of their weapons while the soul evolves stiffened as they glared at the three men in front of him.
Hong Yan's expression turned tremendously ugly but he quickly regained his composure. Trying to inquire normally, he carefully asked, "I see.... So it's brother Su Lei. I wonder what are you doing in these lands? You are quite a ways south of your territory, and I'm afraid that might cause some misunderstandings..."
It had been a week in total since Bai Zemin and his four hundred men departed from the southernmost base of the Transcendent faction. Although they had only arrived in Haidian District three days ago, the name of the Transcendent faction had already been heard in the plains north of the district.
Su Lei's expression was serious, and as he looked at the leader of the other party, he said in a grave voice: "Brother Hong, I am sure that you have also heard the transmission sent by our faction. One of New China's forts has already fallen into the hands of our Transcendent faction and our Leader is currently raiding a new establishment located to the west... if he hasn't taken it down while we are talking."
What?! These guys attacked again?! Hong Yan's pupils contracted to the size of a needle and his men's expression turned ghostly white with the word disbelief written all over their faces.
The faction under the name New China was a giant colossus that not only ruled Haidian District but were also the kings and lords of Chaoyang District, Shijingshan District, and Xicheng District! The lord president, Xuanyuan Wentian, was even currently leading a small army in the direction of Xicheng District that would probably fall into their hands completely within the next few days at most!
With over 3,000,000 survivors under New China's control, over 700,000 well-armed troops, countless weapons of war, and a large troop of soul evolvers; the New China faction was undoubtedly the top dog to regain the lost lands! Their enemies almost always surrendered obediently and those that did not were slaughtered mercilessly!
With several establishments around the four districts under their control, some of them counting above 400,000 survivors and at least 50,000 armed troops, as well as at least 1000 soul evolvers, the faction established by President Xuanyuan Wentian was rapidly expanding in all directions. However, just as they were smoothly expanding northward, one of their bases was attacked and crushed in a single night by an unknown group that later learned they called themselves the Transcendent faction.
"Brother Su, your Transcendent faction really wants to go against President Xuanyuan's faction?" Hong Yan's voice became serious and a glint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes as he subtly gave a signal behind him.
One of the soul evolvers standing next to Su Lei laughed out loud, and as he looked at the other team, he sneered mercilessly, "President Xuanyuan? When your president whatever comes face to face with our Leader Bai let me see if he pisses his pants first or if he explodes in blood mist like everyone always does!"
Bang!
Followed by the sound of a gunshot, all the militants opened fire with the intention of ending the lives of the enemies before them. Although they were all wearing soldiers' uniforms, it was clear that they had not been receiving military training for a long time from their movements.
"It looks like the negotiations have failed." Su Lei said indifferently as the bullets ricocheted as they hit the yellow-colored magic barrier surrounding his body.
"Su Lei, were you really trying to negotiate?" Another laughed as a broken bronze bell floated above his head protecting him from any damage.
"Tsk, since they attacked us with killing intent then Deputy Leader Shangguan won't give us a hard time when we return to base." Su Lei charged towards the enemy group and shouted loudly, "Kill all of them except the leader and three others!"
Several magic skills flew in a straight line in the direction of the trio, but even though their level was only around 35, the three soul evolvers of the Transcendent faction showed superiority in all aspects immediately.
Bullets bounced off the magic barrier but magic skills and physical attacks were not stopped. Still, with Agility clearly higher than someone at level 35 should possess and comparable to the Agility of level 40 soul evolvers, the three moved in irregular patterns as they decapitated the soldiers or cut the mages in two halves with their sharp swords.
The warriors on the other side tried to keep up, but after three minutes, all the mages and soldiers had fallen. Two minutes later, the only one standing was Hong Yan but his body was riddled with wounds and he was panting heavily as he stared in horror at the three soul evolvers whose bodies were thin compared to his.
"Fucking monsters..." Hong Yan muttered as he clutched at a bloody wound on the left side of his abdomen and collapsed onto one knee.
"Monsters?" Su Lei raised an eyebrow before looking at his two teammates and saying with a strange smile, "Hey, guys. This dude is calling us monsters, what do you guys think?"
"Well..." One of the two looked at Hong Yan and the corpses, as well as the other three who had lost consciousness, before saying indifferently, "Compared to these guys I'd say we're monsters."
"The Soul Power of these people is too bad." The last of the three shook his head and shrugged, "Thank god and Leader Bai stopped us from killing useless zombies to level up or else we could never have made it this far."
While it was true that one of the main reasons they had won was due to the three Broken Bronze Bells the three of them possessed, the purity of their Soul Power was undoubtedly what allowed them to take on almost three times as many enemies as they did.
"However," The soul evolver who had spoken regarding the comparison narrowed and his eyes glistened slightly as he said in a chilling voice, "We only rank in the bottom 30 when it comes to strength among the main assault troop we brought along this time."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Hong Yan roared, ignoring the blood running down the corner of his lips. His eyes were bloodshot as he shouted helplessly, "I am one of the 100 strongest soul evolvers in base number 5 with over 2000 soul evolvers!"
Su Lei and the others exchanged glances for a brief moment, thanking the idiot for sharing such good quality information.
"Believe it or not, that's the truth." Su Lei shrugged and moved forward, stopping only a few steps away from the collapsed Hong Yan. He looked down at him and said in a cold voice, "Let's hope your great chairman has better warriors, Brother Hong. Otherwise... it will be a great disappointment."
Bang!
Hong Yan's world went dark after receiving a fierce kick to the head and he immediately lost consciousness before he could say another word.
"Two thousand soul evolvers..." One of the soul evolvers in Su Lei's group frowned at the realization of the enemy's power.
And that was just one of their bases!
"Meh, so what if it's 2000 or 4000?" Su Lei took out several mutant beast tendons from his bag and tied Hong Yan's hands and feet tightly as he sneered, "Those really strong ones can annihilate entire armies of tens of thousands while leaders can annihilate hundreds of thousands. Our Leader Bai can even annihilate millions with his fire skill.... The downfall of these fellows is only a matter of time."
"If that old thing surnamed Xuanyuan knows what's good for him, then he will obediently surrender, otherwise..." Su Lei's eyes flashed like lightning in the middle of the night and he said coldly, "I'm afraid that the former president of China will learn the hard way that times have changed and that his previous position is no longer more than a joke in the face of the supreme might."
The other two looked at each other after hearing Su Lei's words, both seeing relief in each other's eyes. Shrugging their shoulders, they too pulled tendons from a First Order rhino and bound the limbs of the other three enemy soul evolvers.
After collecting what could be collected without hindering their journey, the three disappeared into the fog once again without even bothering to bury the corpses of their enemies after tearing the Soul Stones from the heads of those who had one.
After witnessing the one-sided massacre and subsequent surrender of the enemy base two days ago without losing a single man in the process, they were all certain that the advance of their Transcendent faction was unstoppable, and soon China would be crowning a new lord for the first time in centuries.