Before going to war, Chu Mo had already known the exact locations of the five armies of the Great Qi. Therefore, Chu Mo prepared to lead the miners' corps, enter the territory of Great Qi, and ambush one of the armies from the rear.

And that army of Great Qi corresponds to the army of his grandfather, Senior General Fan Wudi!

That army of Great Qi has more than 80,000 men, known as the Tiger Head Army of 100,000.

The Tiger Head Army is well-known in Great Qi, with a large number of elite fighters gathered within its ranks. It is considered the strongest of the five armies in terms of combat capability.

On the other hand, the army led by Fan Wudi also numbers one hundred thousand. Thus, at first glance, both sides seem evenly matched.

Before anything happened at Skybreaker Mountain, the Tiger Head Army and Fan Wudi's army had probed each other in a few skirmishes, having victories and losses on both sides. They had roughly understood each other's combat powers.

The initial plan of the Tiger Head Army was to wait for news from the Skybreaker Mountain. Once the one-million-strong army successfully crossed the Skybreaker Mountain, then this Tiger Head Army would initiate an attack on Fan Wudi's army at the earliest possible time.

"Hold them off at all costs!"

This was the order given by the higher-ups of the Great Qi Army to Leng Hu, the commander of the Tiger Head Army.

Leng Hu, in his forties, was a strong Iron-Blooded Realm warrior at Yellow Rank fifth tier. At his age, a martial artist is in his prime, at peak condition in all aspects.

Leng Hu was determined to increase his status through this war.

Unfortunately, fate did not give him that opportunity. Bad news arrived from Skybreaker Mountain: the entire million-strong army had fallen.

This news devastated Leng Hu. He couldn't believe it. A million elite Great Qi soldiers had silently perished within the belly of Skybreaker Mountain.

As soon as the news arrived, Senior General Fan from Great Xia personally led five thousand elite soldiers and launched a surprise attack on the camp of Great Qi.

In this battle, Great Xia achieved a complete victory!

They exterminated over three thousand of the Great Qi forces and injured more than a thousand.

For the Tiger Head Army, this was adding insult to injury.

By the time Leng Hu reacted and led reinforcements, Fan Wudi had already led his victorious soldiers away.

In this battle, Leng Hu was completely defeated by Fan Wudi.

Since both sides received the news almost simultaneously, Leng Hu had anticipated that Fan Wudi would send men to launch a surprise attack. However, he hadn't expected... that Fan Wudi would act so decisively and swiftly!

Therefore, in the past few days, Leng Hu retracted his line of defense, raised a white flag of ceasefire, and gave no reaction to the provocation from Great Xia!

On one hand, Leng Hu needed to adjust the morale of the Tiger Head Army. He couldn't hide the news of the million-strong army being wiped out at Skybreaker Mountain. He might be able to conceal it on his end, but Fan Wudi... certainly wouldn't help him to hide anything.

What's Fan Wudi doing? His personal combat power might not be very strong, but he has a wealth of experience in leading troops in battle.

The situation at Skybreaker Mountain was widely publicized by Fan Wudi at the first opportunity.

Thus, the whole Tiger Head Army is now in a state of great anxiety!

This is not a situation that Leng Hu, as the commander, wishes to see.

Meanwhile, the royal family of the Great Qi issued another military order to Leng Hu.

"At all costs, hold the line strictly, don't confront Great Xia head on. Regardless of the method used, the war... must be indefinitely delayed!"

The two military orders were both about delaying… but their nature and significance were as different as heaven and earth!

As a commander, Leng Hu didn't understand this military order at first.

Either fight, or retreat. What does delaying… mean?

But later, another secret order was delivered to Leng Hu. After reading it, he understood.

Chu Mo... a youth in his teens, turned out to be the mastermind behind the annihilation of the million-strong Great Qi army.

Also, he has an incredibly terrifying master!

Although his master might not interfere in such worldly conflicts between nations, nobody could guarantee that he wouldn't.

If he did, then Great Qi... even if the million-strong army hadn't been wiped out, they wouldn't be able to resist him!

Once one's battle power reaches a certain level, the fate of worldly dynasties can indeed be dominated by them.

"We are now awaiting, awaiting the day when Chu Mo's master ascends to immortality! According to the speculations of many, it won't be long before Chu Mo's master ascends. When that happens... it will be our Great Qi's day of counterattack?"

"Don't doubt whether we have the ability to do so after losing a million-strong army. As long as Chu Mo's master leaves, then… almost all the sects on the Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird continents will come to help us."

"By then, even if we, for the sake of respecting immortals, do not annihilate Great Xia, at least... we can ensure that not a single inch of Great Qi's territory is lost!"

"As long as not a single inch of Great Qi's territory is lost, we are not criminals of Great Qi!"

"Give us ten years to recuperate and regroup, by then... our Great Qi will still be invincible! Still the one and only hegemon of the Azure Dragon Continent!"

This long secret order was written by the Emperor of Great Qi, Jiang Hengyu himself. His words were earnest and sincere.

After reading it, Leng Hu was deeply moved. He secretly pledged in his heart to share life and death with Great Qi!

In the subsequent days, Leng Hu did just one thing — boost morale!

The morale of the Tiger Head Army had deteriorated to such an extent that it had to be revived through encouragement.

This was not an easy task.

Anyone can lead the troops when victory is within reach. But, it is difficult to recover from adversity.

Luckily, Leng Hu, being able to be a military commander, is naturally not lacking in ability.

After these days of adjustment, the morale of the Tiger Head Army was gradually recovering.

Facing the provocations from Great Xia, they could handle it calmly now.

However, Leng Hu didn't know when these days of barely holding onto the line would come to an end.

In his heart, only one conviction remained: hold the line at all costs!

...…

"The commander over there, Leng Hu, is a formidable general, a warrior at the Iron-Blooded Realm. He is a brave and cunning man who is a standout among the new generation of Great Qi leaders."

"However, he has recently been severely beaten by Senior General Fan. Especially these past few days, he has been flying the flag of truce, tolerating all sorts of provocations from Senior General Fan's side, but refusing to engage in combat."

"It's likely that they changed their strategy within Great Qi... after learning about what happened at Skybreaker Mountain. They've started to think about using delaying tactics."

He Xu, standing next to Chu Mo, whispered, "Our current advantage is that the other side is not aware of our existence. We can catch them off guard! However... this advantage can only be used once at most! You need to think carefully about whether to use it this time."

Chu Mo thought for a while, then asked, "What do you think?"

"I think... you should use it now! Let's make a name for ourselves first!" He Xu replied.

As for how much of He Xu's sentiment was due to his considering that Senior General Fan was Chu Mo's grandfather, Chu Mo didn't know. But in Chu Mo's innermost heart… he too thought the same.

Wipe out the Tiger Head Army first!

This is not only for his grandfather. More importantly... just as He Xu said, they needed to win the first battle in this counter-offensive for Great Xia!

They needed to make a show of force on behalf of Great Xia!

You want to delay, don't you?

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