On the Blood River Battlefield.
Inside a tent, Lance Xuanyuan was listening to a report from his informant stationed in Blood River City.
After hearing the report, he waved his hand to dismiss the informant, but his face showed a look of confusion. For the past few days, he had been roaming the battlefield with Special Patrol Team Two.
But the Strongarm Bull Devils refused to give him any chance to earn points—none of them tried to sneak across, which left him feeling very frustrated.
What annoyed him even more was that while he was stuck out on the battlefield eating dry rations, his rival Leon Huang was living it up in the city. Did Leon really think he'd already won?
Yet, somehow, that guy's points were still more than two thousand higher than his.
"No way, I can't let this go on. I have to find a way to surpass his score!"
Just looking at the surging Blood River made him feel extremely troubled.
Unable to think of any solution, he simply called in his four trusted subordinates.
After some discussion, one of them suggested getting a few flying-type spirit beasts and using them to fly across the river to ambush Strongarm Bull Devil patrols on the other side.
When he heard this, Lance Xuanyuan's eyes lit up—maybe this really was a workable idea.
So he decided to send that subordinate back to Sanctum Martial Academy to try and acquire some flying spirit beasts.
Late at night, Leon Huang returned to his courtyard from a banquet, and not long after, Yoon Zhengyang knocked on the door and came in.
"Brother Huang, when can we finally see battle?"
"What, can't wait any longer?" Leon Huang asked with a smile.
Yoon Zhengyang said, "Yeah, mostly it's the other soldiers. They've almost spent all their silver and are eager to get out there and earn more by killing Devils!"
Leon Huang thought for a moment, then looked at Yoon Zhengyang and said, "Brother Yoon, I'll be honest with you—even if we go to the front, it's pointless. There haven't been any Strongarm Bull Devils sneaking across at all."
"Why not?" Yoon Zhengyang asked, puzzled.
Leon Huang explained, "Because three of the Strongarm Bull Devil ten‑thousand‑man commanders across the Blood River have already been assassinated. The entire Devil camp is in chaos, so there won't be any Strongarm Bull Devils coming over for a while!"
"How do you know that?" Yoon Zhengyang looked completely shocked.
Since they'd gotten this far in the conversation, Leon Huang didn't bother hiding it anymore: "I killed the first two. The third was taken out by a Martial Saint senior!"
Yoon Zhengyang was utterly shocked. "You killed them? A Strongarm Bull Devil ten‑thousand‑man commander is at least Great Grandmaster level. You could really take one down?"
Leon Huang just smiled and said nothing. Without using Spatial Stasis, he could probably kill an early-stage Great Grandmaster and match a mid-stage one in combat; if he had to face a late-stage Great Grandmaster, he'd be outmatched. But with Spatial Stasis, he could instantly wipe out several late-stage Great Grandmasters at once.
"You really killed them?"
Leon Huang finally nodded.
Yoon Zhengyang's expression grew complicated. He and Leon Huang had trained under the same master, but now, the gap between them was growing wider and wider. Especially now, hearing that Leon could even assassinate Strongarm Bull Devil ten‑thousand‑man commanders, he felt that his junior was someone he could only look up to.
Leon Huang could sense Yoon Zhengyang's change in mood and secretly shook his head. He said, "Feel free to tell the others about this, but don't spread it outside. Also, let everyone know that a big battle is coming soon, so everyone should focus on training and get as familiar as possible with the three battle formations!"
Yoon Zhengyang nodded. "Okay, I'll pass your message on to everyone!"
After Yoon Zhengyang left, Leon Huang began to study the sword technique notes from the Venerable Dragon Sword.
The next day, Lance Xuanyuan and Special Patrol Team Two also returned to the city.
When Leon Huang heard the news, he didn't pay it much mind.
Lance Xuanyuan figured his merit points should only be around four thousand.
But in reality, after slaying four Great Grandmasters and several thousand-man commanders of the Strongarm Bull Devils, Leon Huang's points were already close to fifty thousand. So Lance Xuanyuan would have a hard time catching up.
Three days passed in a flash.
During those three days, Leon Huang spent all his time cultivating and secretly probing the Strongarm Bull Devil camp across the Blood River.
Prince Darius Ironhorn didn't send any new ten‑thousand‑man commanders or Martial Saints, which left Leon Huang a bit disappointed.
But on the fourth night, he discovered that two more ten‑thousand‑strong Strongarm Bull Devil battalions had arrived across the river.
"Could it be that Prince Darius Ironhorn is planning a major war?"
On the fifth night, Leon Huang probed again and found three more battalions had arrived, bringing the Strongarm Bull Devil army's total to nearly sixty thousand.
With a flicker, he disappeared.
He went straight to the Assassin Camp's base and had Shawn Tu, who was on duty, call everyone in.
In less than fifteen minutes, all six members of the Assassin Camp had assembled.
"Boss, do we have another hit job lined up?" Jason Song piped up, all hyped. Lately, life was sweet—ever since the Military Council dumped a few million silver on them, he'd been living large, blowing cash at the brothels in town every night and only picking the number one courtesan.
Ian Song nodded.
"Great! How many Martial Saints have shown up across the river this time?"
All six Martial Saints' eyes lit up.
"Our target this time isn't a Martial Saint," Ian Song said.
"Huh? Not a Martial Saint?"
Everyone looked a little disappointed.
Ignoring their mood shift, Ian Song continued, "The Strongarm Bull Devil army across the Blood River has already reinforced with fifty thousand more troops. Over the next while, even more of their forces will probably arrive!"
Fiona Li, who commanded a hundred thousand patrol troops, was especially sensitive to this. She blurted out, "Is Prince Darius Ironhorn trying to start a major war?"
"That seems likely!" Ian Song nodded.
"No, I need to report this to the commander!"
As she spoke, Fiona Li started to head out.
"Hold on, Fiona. Prince Darius Ironhorn will need at least half a month to gather his forces, so there's no rush to report it yet," Ian Song reminded her.
Hearing this, Fiona Li looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, Commander, I was too hasty!"
"No problem!"
Ian Song waved it off and looked over the group. "Even if there aren't any Martial Saints, if we assassinate more Strongarm Bull Devil Great Grandmasters, we'll rack up plenty of merit!"
"Hell yeah!"
Ian Song's disappointment quickly turned to motivation.
Pretty soon, everyone was on board with the plan to take out the Strongarm Bull Devil ten-thousand-man commanders.
Ian Song led them straight to the other side of the Blood River.
Except for the battalion they'd nearly wiped out last time, there were six Great Grandmaster-level Strongarm Bull Devils spread across the other five ten-thousand-man battalions.
Ian Song spoke in a low voice: "In a moment, I'll send each of you into one of the five camps. Lie low for now and wait for my signal before you make a move!"
"Roger!"
All six nodded—message received.
Ian Song then teleported each of them into one of the five camps, pointing out the commanders' tents and those of the ten thousand-man squad leaders.
The last person he sent was Fiona Li.
He told Fiona Li, "Fiona, act in ten breaths!"
Then he teleported to another camp and told Shawn Tu to move after nine breaths.
He kept teleporting three more times, telling each person a different timing for their attack.
Finally, ten breaths after Fiona Li's signal, all six Martial Saints burst out from hiding in the darkness across five Devil camps at the same time...