The War Begins

"There was an accident in the city, and the powerhouses who were in there waiting to ambush have been ambushed instead!"

The silver-masked messenger let out a sigh.

The plan had failed.

The Lin family was more deeply involved in the operations of Lin City than they had thought. 

Their powerhouses had sneaked in since long ago. 

Inside, they had led the lives of ordinary people. 

Just waiting for the right moment to make their move. 

Unfortunately, judging from the current situation... 

They had thought wrong. 

Their plan to coordinate both outside and inside forces had failed, and it was no longer possible for them to destroy Lin City with minimum loss. 

The only thing they could do next was to attack at full force. 

"Everyone, execute Plan B! Gather the Precelestial Grandmaster powerhouses and climb the city walls by force," the silver-masked messenger said. 

Everyone nodded without objection. 

This had been their plan from the start. If the Xianghuo Faction had not suggested combining both outside and inside forces, the army would have attacked at full force a long time ago. 

...

"It's about to begin!"

In the book depository, Chu He quirked an eyebrow as he raised his head.

It was a rare sight to see tens of thousands of people fighting in a melee.

He could enjoy the sight of the excitement, and could even regard it as some semblance of balance to his uneventful life. 

He placed the book in his hand down, stood up, crossed the area in one bound, and was at the top of the Lin family's tallest pavilion, staring at the spectacle. 

At this distance, an ordinary person might not be able to see anything. Even a Precelestial Grandmaster would have a hard time spotting it.

However, Chu He could see it all very clearly. 

With his chin propped in his palm, he let his gaze sweep across both camps, comparing the advantages and disadvantages they had against each other. 

On one hand, the Anti-Lin Alliance's advantage was the sheer number of their people and powerhouses.

Their disadvantage was also obvious. They were a chaotic mess. If it were not for the fact that their individual strengths were abnormal, they would be nothing more than a regular mob. 

On the other hand, the Lin family's advantage was that they had the aid of the city walls and were well-trained. Their martial artists were trained in the ways of the military! 

Unfortunately, the Lin family's Zhennan Military Troop had been wiped out in Annan. Otherwise, the Zhennan Military Troop would have been there. Even if news regarding the death of the Lin family elder had been spread, it would still have been impossible for the Xianghuo Faction to gather enough people to fight against the Lin family if that were the case!

Currently, only those from the reserves were left defending the city. There were only twenty to thirty thousand of them, and the number of their powerhouses could not be compared to those of the Anti-Lin Alliance. 

"Judging from the situation, it seems like the Lin family is playing with fire! Spreading false news to attract these thugs was good in theory, but to attract so many of them… even if things were to be resolved, the Lin family would still suffer a great loss that would not be worth the gains." 

Chu He shook his head. 

He felt that if the Lin family did not have a countermeasure prepared, then their actions were too brash and unsafe. 

However, after careful deliberation, it seemed excusable. 

Lin Zhennan knew that he only had five more years to live. 

He did not have the time to play hide-and-seek with these rats in hiding. 

No matter what, there was no way to avoid a head-on confrontation. 

The longer they dragged it on, the more unfavorable the situation might become. 

Therefore, he might as well let it happen sooner.

Where only one party can survive—a fight to the bitter end. 

Very soon. 

Amidst the screams of the massacre, the Anti-Lin Alliance launched an assault on the city wall.

A black mass shrouded the area like a dark cloud. 

Among it, there was a group of people who were especially conspicuous. 

With incredible speed, they broke away from the large group and gracefully weaved through thousands of arrows. Once they neared the city wall, they used various maneuvers to avoid all kinds of attacks from the city wall and used Light Body Technique to climb the city wall.

They were all Precelestial powerhouses.

And not just regular Precelestials.

Against such people, ordinary martial artists and military weapons would have minimal effect, even more so when the powerhouses formed a group like this. 

Soon, a group of Precelestial powerhouses stood atop the city wall.

At the same time, the Precelestial powerhouses of the Lin family also quickly leaped into action in order to kill them.

A brutally bloody battle began.

A terrifying wave of essential qi wreaked havoc, the city walls were constantly being slashed, and there were figures fighting against each other everywhere, from the sky to the ground.

Soon, some of the Precelestial martial artists had fallen. 

A person who was able to become a Precelestial martial artist and earned the title of Grandmaster was someone who could defend an entire region. 

However, right now, they were like tiny little soldiers fighting a skirmish. 

At this level of battle, ordinary people could not join in at all. They would only get hurt or killed if they even tried. 

One figure, in particular, was fully clad in armor and had their face obstructed, but Chu He recognized at a glance that it was the Lin family elder.

He blended in with a group of Precelestial powerhouses from his family and secretly attacked, weaving around the battlefield and using underhanded tricks wherever he could. He did his best to make up for the shortcomings of the Lin family's Precelestial powerhouses, and defeated the Precelestial powerhouses of the Anti-Lin Alliance in the blink of an eye.

"No, we can't fight like this. This war to overthrow the Lin family was led by you guys from the Xianghuo Faction, but you all haven't even done anything yet. This won't do."

Seeing the fierce battle unfolding atop the city walls, as some of the invading army watched the fall of their allied Precelestial powerhouses, they finally could not hold it in any longer.

They did not expect the Lin family's defense to still be this strong. 

The Lin family had undoubtedly been weakened and even the powerful and almighty Annan Military Troop is gone! (TN: We believe that this was a typo on the author's part and it should be Zhennan Military Troop instead of Annan Military Troop. However, we have opted to translate it as is.)

They had initially planned to use this to their advantage and make off with some easy spoils, but now, a few too many of their own Precelestials were being killed off, so they were obviously not happy! 

"That's right! How can we fight like this? Didn't the Xianghuo Faction say that in this battle against the Lin family, a demi-king will help us suppress them!? Well, where is he?"

"Exactly!"

"What he said!"

"The Xianghuo Faction are the ones leading us, so why are you guys only passively watching on right now? You guys said that you'd combine the inside and outside forces, but we don't even see a shadow. Could it be that you've deliberately deceived us?"

The battle at the top of the city wall became even fiercer. The Precelestials were knocked down from the city wall like dumplings, and it was impossible to tell if they were alive or dead. 

Furthermore, most of the people who had fallen were those from the Anti-Lin Alliance.

The major forces were unable to stay still any longer, and some people had even begun to ask their families to withdraw.