Chapter 152: As Tales Collide Beneath One Banner!

Xie Xiu's POV:

That little shrimp is insane.

After she helped me avenge my little chicken, she somehow managed to transfer the cultivation from all the elders of the sect over to my disciples. And after I had finished solidifying my position as the leader of the sect, she somehow managed to turn every golden core cultivator we had into a nascent soul. We now have a small army of nascent souls on our side, but what shocked me even more was how she somehow managed to unite every major power not under the Dark Empires control under her feet.

She threatened the Chou Emperor, overthrew the Ryu Emperor, blackmailed the Emperor of Lin, manipulated the Emperor's court in Hi, incited the king of Kai, and rigged the successor to the Hollow sect.

I know all this because she briefed all of us on how her subordinates managed to get control over our souls. Aside from the little chicken and his fox colleague, her subordinates included a Santa Claus thief, a clown nurse, two floating fish, a Hi empire city lord and Liu the newly crowned leader of the hollow sect.

Her reason for doing all of this was simple, yet crazy none the less. She wanted us to go and kick the ever living shit out of the strongest country on the continent, the Dark Empire. Even with the army of nascent souls we possessed, there is no guarantee it will go as smoothly as she thinks.

The Dark Empire uses something called a spatial gate for large scale spatial transportation throughout its territory. It costs a crapload of money to construct one even if you have the knowhow to make it in the first place, which is why the Dark Empire is the only country who can afford to have a bunch of them strewn around its territory. This makes it so they can swiftly respond to any attack on their territory. However, that girl somehow managed to acquire the only one of those gates that are not located within its borders, conveniently placed in the city of Latnos, which is also under her control.

Her plan was to send our nascent soul army through the gate to swiftly take over the city where all their spatial gates intersect. That way we can interfere with any request for reinforcement or supplies. Meanwhile, our foot soldiers will launch an all-out assault on their border, while their communications are down.

Once we cease the spatial gates, we will take our time using their spatial transport to launch surprise attacks from within the fortifications that are already under siege. We will pick them off one by one until nearly every major city of the Dark Empire crumbles.

…

Things were going according to plan until we reached the Dark Palace.

*Battle Cries*

It was a bloodbath on both sides. Around the time we were getting ready to finish this, one of the prisoners managed to escape through the portal leading to the capital, alerting them to our plans. As a result, we had to move ahead of schedule before they managed to close the gate.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"

The Dark Palace is covered by a powerful barrier which makes it difficult to attack from the outside, which is why we couldn't afford to wait until our foot soldiers arrived to divert their attention like with the other cities. If they turned off the spatial gate from their end we would have to try and break through their defenses from the outside, which would make the battle so much more of a pain in my ass. And so, the bloody battle for the Dark Palace began.

"AAAAAAHHHH!"

*BANG*

*Squelch*

I had just finished cutting down one of the palace guards as I saw the pink-haired empress of the Ryu Empire turn another one of the enemy soldiers into a paste with that giant hammer of hers. I am honestly impressed.

When we had selected this taskforce, I had been against bringing her along thinking she would only slow us down, but I see now I couldn't have been more wrong. That little girl has been hopping all over the place with that giant hammer, smashing skulls left and right with incredible speed. Out of all the people here, she is one of the few people who can keep up with me on the battlefield, while her kill count is only second to my own. I already respected her as there are precious few female monarchs in the world, but I never could have expected a mortal girl to hold the second highest kill count amongst our group.

*BOOM*

And looking over at the exploding building in the distance, I could spot the guy in third place, sect leader Liu. I heard he used to be an elder in the Hollow sect, but at some point, last year after the previous sect leader abruptly died, without naming a successor, he suddenly took charge of the sect.

"Whoa!"

*Swoosh*

Suddenly, while I was distracted, a crimson slash came hurdling in my direction. I barely managed to jump out of the way last second as it sliced through several men and buildings behind me. Looking over, I saw one of the Dark Empire executives, Mr. Fuji, and he was staring at me with his bloodred eyes as droplets of a red liquid could be seen floating in his open palm.

"NO! DON'T!" I tried to warn the two men who came flying at him from the sides, but it was too late.

As his slit pupils remained focused on me, the droplets in his hands suddenly shot out, piercing through their dantiens, before circling back to pierce through the back of their skulls and returning to his palm in greater numbers.

"Shit!"

*Swoosh**Swoosh**Swoosh*

*Clang**Clang**Clang*

*Sizzle*

He then sent a barrage of those droplets towards me, and I desperately blocked them with my blade, using my new legendary-grade weapon 'Pinky' or 'Li Hua' which is what I have been trying to change its name to. Li Hua has an incredibly high temperature, it can slice through iron like its butter, and it can even melt adamantit, which is why it evaporated the projectiles upon contact.

"Hm? That's a surprise! That's a mighty fine blade you have there, miss! You wouldn't mind giving me a look! I mean, we are friends and all, right?" He said while staring directly into my eyes with his glowing red gaze.

I could feel my mind growing a little hazy as I felt disoriented and confused as I suddenly wanted to show this guy my prized possession.

"Sure! WHY DON'T YOU TAKE A LOOK WHILE I SEND YOU TO HELL YOU FUCK!" I screamed as I launched my attack.

*BOOM*

This isn't my first time dealing with demonic arts on the battlefield, so I know what to look for when someone is messing with my head, and me feeling the need to give some bastard I just met my weapon is definitely a red flag. Fortunately, with more than half a decade of alcoholism under my belt, I didn't have any trouble targeting him while being disoriented. Not that accuracy mattered to begin with since I just demolished an entire street with that one attack, though it didn't hurt that I managed to put him in the center of that inferno.

*Swoosh*

"Shit!"

*Clang**Sizzle*

I let my guard down. Thinking he was dead I was about to move towards the castle, when suddenly, one of his projectiles came flying out of the smoke, piercing my leg. I managed to barely block it as it went for my dantien next.

As the smoke cleared, I spotted him with barely a scratch.

"Wait, no, that's wrong."

"That's some quick ass regeneration you got there boy!"

"Oh? I guess you noticed my little secret! Whatever shall I do?"

It was so quick I almost didn't notice, but I caught a glimpse of a small wound on his face fixing itself at a visible speed through the smoke. This guy wasn't unaffected, he just recovered before the smoke fully cleared up.

*Clang**Clang**Clang**Sizzle*

"Tsk!"

Thinking I was distracted he launched a surprise attack, using the smoke and debris to hide the projectiles he sent at me from both sides. Fortunately, the senses of a nascent soul can let me detect movements in my surroundings if I focus hard enough. Even if they're hidden I can still sense it's movements, which is why I managed to block it this time.

"Tricky bastard! I'll have to make sure I grill you all the way through this time!"

"Such a nice body is wasted on such a crude woman! Oh well, I guess I can get a little serious!"

"You cocky little shit!"

Just as I was getting ready to turn this guy into charcoal, he suddenly relaxed his stance and turned to look off to the side. Wondering what the hell was so interesting he would let down his guard in the middle of a battlefield I gave it a quick glance. In that moment I felt a chill run down my spine.

"It would seem we've won this battle! I believe it would be in your best interest to surrender before he gets here!" That arrogant prick said.

"Fuck! What happened? She was supposed to keep them busy!" I muttered to myself.

"Hm? She?"

Our plan to conquer the Dark Empire had one major flaw, aside from the million other things that could go wrong. The big fat obstacle in our way was the dark lord himself.

The guy was a monster even back in qi refinement, and last I heard, he was a nascent soul now. If we are using his strength as a golden core as a basis, his projected power even just as a red stage nascent soul would be enough to turn the tides of battle. He is basically a pseudo-immortal.

The entire premise of our plan relied on that twerp keeping him busy until we finished. She had explained nothing as to how she would do that exactly before fucking off three days before we launched our assault. And sure enough there wasn't a trace of him until just now.

In the distance, heading our way was none other than the flying load of cash that was that beast's favorite aerial craft, 'The Crimson Eye'. However, upon closer inspection I noticed something.

"Huh? Pft! HAHAHAHA!"

"Hm? Lost your mind with your hope I see!"

"Haha! No! Why don't you take a closer look at that floating can of shit and gold!"

"What is! Holy mother of-!"

As I heard that calm piece of shit, lose his cool and curse for the first time today, I couldn't help but feel the anxiety from mere moments ago melting away. The reason for that was because of two things.

First, the buckets of fancy bolts that were heading our way were barely keeping themselves afloat. Thanks to my enhanced vision I could even spot a hole going straight through the ship. It was questionable if it would even reach the city before it crashed to the ground.

The second and more important reason was the thing that ship was fleeing from. At first it just looked like a mountain in the background, but upon closer inspection I realized that thing was no mountain. It was the floating island of the sages that disappeared last year, Walpurgis. It is one of if not the largest aerial crafts in the world, and it belongs to the strongest magicians in the world. Even just one of those guys would be able to match the dark lord if not surpass him in power. And judging by the fact the dark lord's ship is the one running away, odds are he won't have much time to deal with us once he gets here.

*Swoosh*

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" I screamed as I struggled to fly after my opponent who suddenly grew batwings and jetted towards the Crimson Eye.

"I HAVEN'T THE TIME TO DEAL WITH YOU! UNTIL NEX-!"

*BANG*

Suddenly, just as he was about to fly out of the city, the pink-haired empress came running across the wall. She jumped several meters into the air before using her hammer to smack the guy so hard, he flew straight past me and into the castle at the center of the capital.

"Thanks for the assist! You showed that prick whose boss!" I said after catching her before she plummeted to the ground.

"Thank you, for stopping my descent!"

I've been thinking for a while now. This super cute little girl is a powerhouse. I wonder if…

"Hey, ever considered becoming a cultivator?" I asked.

"Uh, me? Is it not a bit too late for me? I hear it is required to be trained from a young age!"

"Well, it's best to start early, but there are exceptions! Just think how strong you'd become if you reached golden core!"

"I suppose so, but I wouldn't know how to start!"

"Why don't you become my disciple then! I could teach …!" I just realized how stupid this is.

The girl is the monarch of a neighboring superpower. Even if she found the time to cultivate in between her duties as an empress, she could just ask and a tutor from any nearby sect would come running to give her pointers. She would have no need to lower herself by becoming someone's disciple.

"I would like that!"

"Hm? Whoa! Sorry are you okay?" I said as I nearly dropped her in surprise.

"Y-Yes! Thank you for your concern!" She said, looking a bit flustered as she clung to me.

Holy shit, she is cute. I pray to the heavens that my sword spirit picks up on this cause I would love to have such an adorable looking daughter. It's a struggle just to hold myself back from pinching that soft looking cheek of hers.

"Uhm! So, master Xie!"

"No, need to be so formal my new disciple! You can call me by my given name!" I said as I could feel my heart melting while looking at the small dainty girl fidgeting nervously in my arms.

"Then master Xiu, shouldn't we be heading towards the battlefield?" She asked, bringing me back to reality.

"Uh! Yeah! Of course! I was just about to take you over there!"

I had been too distracted by my new disciple's cute little reactions, I had momentarily forgotten we were in the middle of a war.

"Actually, I think it would be faster if you let me down! My running speed is faster than this, and I believe the added weight is slowing you down!"

"Uh! Well! Okay!"

I felt kind of sad I didn't get to pinch the girl's cheeks at least once before letting her down on a rooftop. That said, the girl got some strong legs! The moment her feet touched the ground, she flew like an arrow towards the battlefield. I could probably match her speed, but it would be difficult for me to make all of those complicated maneuvers she is pulling off as she parkours around the city.

"Huh? What? Why now? Aren't we winning?"

"Master Xiu!"

"*Sigh* Yeah, I heard!"