A Chaotic World 236 Advance of the Scarlet Moon Army

The first light had yet to even dawn upon the Rockfall Plain when the Scarlet Moon Army made its move.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers marched down from the small mountain that they had been occupying for the past week or so, streaming into the grassland below under the cover of darkness.
But even that was not enough to hide them from the eyes of the Dragon Cauldron Army.
Seeing that the Scarlet Moon Army had chosen to mobilise their forces instead of staying to defend their position, Marshal Shengding of the Dragon Cauldron Army was taken by surprise.
"It is really as you have predicted," Marshal Shengding turned to the young man beside him in genuine admiration.
"They think that this will catch us off guard, little do they know that they are playing right into our hands," Wenqin smirked. "To think that I have actually been worried about the invasion of the Scarlet Moon Army initially…"
"Pass down the orders, we are moving out as well!" Marshal Shengding bellowed, mobilising his troops to enter the Rockfall Plain as well.
By the time the sun finally rose high enough to shine upon the sea of grass, the Dragon Cauldron Army was already standing in position on the western end of the plain.
Origin Core realm martial artists littered the sky, with two figures facing each other right at the top.
"Finally decided to stop hiding like a turtle?" Marshal Shengding scoffed. "But what good is rushing out here anyway? You are just hastening your own deaths."
"There is no need for such childish taunts," Marshal Xianming smiled nonchalantly. "If you wish to fight, we will gladly oblige. But if you are just here to talk, then it might be safer for you to do so in the safety of your fortress."
"Oh? Are you saying that my life will be in danger if I were to remain out here?" Marshal Shengding let out an amused smile. "I guess what they say is true, people do get more humourous as they age!"
Marshal Shengding was not exactly being overconfident here.
As a Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, he had already reached the pinnacle of the Origin Core realm.
Even if he was facing another Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist in Marshal Xianming, it was far from easy for the other party to threaten his life.
After all, at their current level, killing someone was completely different from defeating the person in battle, with the former being infinitely more difficult.
"We shall see," Marshal Xianming let out a confident smile before turning to his subordinates below. "Attack."
"We are attacking as well!" Marshal Shengding echoed.
The two armies charged forward under the commands of their respective marshals, signalling the start of the battle.
In the backlines, Beimu Fei clenched her fists in nervousness.
She was not usually the kind who would be intimidated by the thought of battle. In fact, it was more of the other way around. She loved the exhilaration of combat.
However, things were different this time.

After all, the fate of the Scarlet Moon Army depended on her actions!
"Let's start as well," Lu Tianzi's voice came from beside her.
Beimu Fei turned to look at this junior of hers, at the face that exhibited an air of absolute calmness.
Seeing how composed Lu Tianzi was, Beimu Fei seemed to be infected by it as well, and her nerves immediately loosened up a little.
"Don't you dare screw up," Beimu Fei remarked.
"Good luck as well," Lu Tianzi answered. "See you in the middle of Rockfall Plain."
With that, the two of them led their respective squads and moved in opposite directions.
For the start of the battle, they would be converting the rocks nearer to their end of the plain into formation nodes. Since these rocks were not located in the thick of battle, the situation around them would be relatively calm, allowing them to convert them easily.
Thus, it would be more efficient for them to split up and convert the rocks separately.
It was those nearer to the centre of the battleground that posed a greater difficulty. For those, they had planned to work together to cover for each other, and Formation Master Beimu had agreed as well.
"All the best," Nanlan Qianxue's voice sounded out in Lu Tianzi's head just as he was about to leave.
Lu Tianzi turned around to take a look at Nanlan Qianxue, who smiled in response.
"Yeah, stay safe," Lu Tianzi sent his voice over as well before going on his way.
This time, Nanlan Qianxue had been assigned free reign over how she wanted to participate in the battle.
Elder Mingxin had recognised that Nanlan Qianxue's strength had already grown to be extremely high among Essence Condensation realm martial artists, and thus trusted her to make her own judgement call.
Because of that, Nanlan Qianxue was still hanging back, intending to observe how the battle played out before deciding where she should strike.
It sounded like she got the long end of the stick to have obtained such freedom, but this decision was actually extremely dangerous for her.
After all, while she would be attempting to tilt the balance of the battle by striking where it hurts for the enemy, the enemy was more than likely to respond by focusing their forces there as well.
This meant that she would be right in the thick of battle, focused upon by the enemy.
Even though Nanlan Qianxue was strong, she was still nowhere near the same level as Lu Tianzi, and facing attacks from numerous Essence Condensation realm martial artists was still relatively risky for her.
Despite that, she still decided to do so, simply because she needed to challenge her limits in order to reach greater heights as a martial artist.
If she remained contented with what she had achieved, she would only be left further and further behind by Lu Tianzi, destined to never catch up to his footsteps!
Before long, the battle had descended into a scene of violence as the two sides clashed.
Skulls were smashed, flesh were torn, and the red of blood dyed the ground.
Up in the air, Origin Core realm experts clashed, sending powerful shockwaves in all directions.
"Hmm?" Marshal Shengding let out a look of surprise as he observed the battle below.
Why did it seem like the Origin Core realm martial artists of the Scarlet Moon Army were putting in far more effort than usual?
In the previous battles, Origin Core realm martial artists had always taken a more passive approach, hoping to bait the other party into a disadvantageous position before truly taking action.
But this time, the Origin Core realm martial artists of the Scarlet Moon Army were actually aggressively pushing forward, as though they were really intending settle things here and now!
"So this is your strategy? Brute forcing your way through?" Marshal Shengding eyed Marshal Xianming doubtfully. "Do you really think that just by fighting with all your heart, you will be able to achieve victory? Why did you even bother leaving the safety of the mountain?"
"Seems like despite your high status, you are still unaware of the workings of this world," Marshal Xianming shook his head as a show of disappointment. "Sometimes, the heart can allow one to overcome limits, realising miracles that others deem to be impossible."
"Is that so? Let's see just how you realise your miracles today then!" Marshal Shengding scoffed.
But despite his tone, Marshal Shengding could not help but feel slightly worried.
With how fiercely the Scarlet Moon Army Origin Core realm martial artists were attacking, his subordinates were being pushed back further and further by the minute.
Even though the Origin Core realm martial artists on his side would not suffer many injuries in the process, it was still demoralising to have their lines pushed back in such a manner.
At this rate, he might have to consider making some adjustments to the battle plan.
Given how aggressive the enemy was at the moment, perhaps it was the best chance to lead them into a trap!
"Advance and give it your all! Marshal Xianming is watching!" General Mojian shouted as he led the Origin Core realm experts in their charge.
Seeing how the battle in the sky was playing out in their favour, the soldiers on the ground felt invigorated as well.
However, that alone was insufficient to allow them to advance.
Unlike Origin Core realm martial artists who fought passively, the battle on the ground had always been fierce and brutal.
Unless there was a tangible catalyst, the fight would remain in a deadlock, with significant amounts of casualties on both sides.
As expected, Nanlan Qianxue alone was insufficient to tilt the balance of the battle.
She had acted decisively, striking the moment she spotted an opening in the enemy's defence. Even so, the Dragon Cauldron Army had responded immediately, plugging the hole with more soldiers.
Faced with such a frenzied defence, Nanlan Qianxue who was only at Intermediate Essence Condensation realm simply had no way of breaking through.
Even if she could charge through alone, she would only end up stranded behind enemy lines, cut off from any form of assistance.
That was a situation that she was avoiding at all costs.
Thus, all she could do was to continue to apply pressure, hoping that her actions would at least draw the enemy forces away from other parts of the battle, giving her comrades a better chance at tilting the balance.
Lu Tianzi released his hand from the huge rock in front of him, at the same time letting out a smile of satisfaction.
That's one more rock converted.
He glanced over to where Beimu Fei was, only to see that she was done with her portion as well. In addition to those done by Beimu Fei, they were finally done with converting the rocks on their side of the battleground.
Things had gone smoothly up till now, but up next was the difficult part.
Now, they would have to kill their way to the rocks in the middle of the battleground, converting them without attracting attention, all while fending off enemy forces at the same time.
A tall order, to say the least.
But Lu Tianzi was not too worried.
At his current level, the battle on the ground was no longer something that he would be concerned about.
The only thing that he had been worried about was how he should proceed without drawing any attention from the enemy Origin Core realm experts.
Thankfully, the Origin Core realm experts on his side seemed to be doing a great job of distracting them.
As long as they kept this up, there should be no problems with accomplishing his task as they had planned!
"Let's go!"
After confirming the current state of the battle, Lu Tianzi finally moved to join the battle.
His squad members cheered in response, their morale sky high. They knew that with Lu Tianzi leading the way, the enemy soldiers did not stand a chance.
In fact, things turned out even better than they had imagined.
Lu Tianzi's name had already spread among the enemy faction by now. In their eyes, Lu Tianzi had not only choreographed the death of an Origin Core realm expert, but he also personally slaughtered countless of their allies, as well as single-handedly crushing the defensive formation of the Second Battlefront main camp.
There was only one way to describe such an enemy - untouchable.
The moment they saw Lu Tianzi rushing over, the enemy soldiers felt a shudder run through their veins, as though death itself was coming for them.
In the face of such a massive threat, some actually abandoned their position without a shred of hesitation, heading straight for cover!
One person's action led to another's, causing a chain reaction that quickly rippled through the Dragon Cauldron Army.
Because of that, before Lu Tianzi even made his move, the frontlines of the Dragon Cauldron Army actually directly collapsed on its own, creating a wide opening in the defence where he was headed!

Chapter end