Chapter 586: Chapter 586. Retreat Signal
Xuang Feng couldn’t focus on Yong Baili. Though Yong Baili’s weapon was unique and troublesome, his cultivation was lower than Xuang Feng’s. Xuang Feng believed he could defeat Yong Baili under normal circumstances, but his current situation wasn’t normal.
He constantly worried about the state of their army, which continued to be pushed back. Some of their Yuanxu Cannons were even abandoned by the soldiers who were supposed to protect them. Echos’ soldiers had advanced so far that the areas around their Yuanxu Cannons were now swarming with enemies.
Then there was the matter of Won Feimao leading many Martial Realm Soldiers to charge behind the enemy’s line. Xuang Feng saw some of those soldiers fall, but didn’t know how. Maybe ranged attacks from the enemies below? But they were rather far from the ground, and he knew of no arts from backline soldiers, who mostly comprised low-level cultivators, that could strike so far.
"Ahhh...!!!"
The pained scream of a familiar voice drew his attention. He turned and saw his nephew, Xuang Chao, flying back with a severed arm. His opponent was a large, bald man with sinister eyes who fought using a black dagger tied to a yellow cloth. Six large knives flew around him. Several soldiers came to Xuang Chao’s defense to stop the bald man from pursuing him, but they were easily cut down by the bald man.
Seeing that, he didn’t have the time to continue entertaining Yong Baili. He took out a stack of talismans and activated them simultaneously. These talismans transformed into his clones, confusing his opponent. He moved away under the cover of these clones.
Half his clones followed him. These clones rushed ahead and swarmed Amon, who had just taken care of the soldiers surrounding him, and was about to finish Xuang Chao.
Amon was confounded by the clones. He stopped his advance and dodged the clones. However, he quickly noticed that despite his Spirit Sense detecting these clones, he didn’t sense any danger from them.
’Illusions?’ Amon thought. He still caught one, though, to ensure. His Alpha Flying Knives chased after the clones. One finally struck. The clone vanished, and in its place was a broken talisman.
’Clone talismans,’ he realized. Such a talisman had been mentioned during one of the Royal Academy’s theory classes, but he never encountered it until now.
Now that he knew these were harmless clones, he ignored his Spirit Sense and focused more on his danger sense. He continued his advance, ignoring all the clones that flew around him. He even went right through several clones as if he didn’t see them.
This took Xuang Feng aback. He had fought enemies who knew he was using clone talismans before, but even knowing that, those enemies were still hampered by his clones. For a normal man, even if he knew what was before him were illusions, it was still difficult to ignore them since he saw and sensed them. The inputs from those sensors would influence his body to somewhat react as if those illusions were real, even if his brain knew they were not.
Xuang Feng immediately understood that this bald man was no normal warrior. Someone who could control his mind and body to this extent was not one to be underestimated. Instead of going to his wounded nephew, he changed course and headed for the bald man. Since the bald man forcefully ignored all the information from his eyes and cultivation sense, this gave him the perfect opportunity for an ambush.
To his shock, his assumption was proven wrong. The bald man stopped his advance and swayed back just as his whip sword came slashing. The bald man stopped moving and stared at him with the unsettling black eyes. This stare caused him to stop moving as well. The two were still while numerous clones flew randomly around them.
"Who are you?" Xuang Feng felt he had to ask.
His adversary replied, "I am General Amon, the commander of this army. Are you the commander of the Khode Army?"
"I am the second-in-command, the commander is..."
Xuang Feng’s voice trailed off when he saw in the distance what had happened to Won Feimao. The fat commander was being held between the jaws of a Yao Bird, which flew out of the black fog just now. The commander was not moving. He looked lifeless.
This sight caused Khode Martial Realm Soldiers near the Yao Bird to move frantically. They tried to retrieve their commander’s body, but the Yao Bird was very agile. It escaped their pursuit but didn’t fly far or hide back inside its black fog. It intentionally provoked those Khode Soldiers. Their frantic movements made them easy targets for the rifle-bearing soldiers from below. More Khode Soldiers continued to drop from the sky after getting shot.
"I see," Amon said after seeing the scene. He turned back to Xuang Feng and said, "Well, that makes you the commander now, doesn’t it?"
Xuang Feng didn’t answer. He reviewed the current situation. He estimated they had probably lost half of their force by now, which was unthinkable. How did they get to this point in such a short time? The situation was too unfavorable. Insisting on remaining would just make matters worse.
A talisman appeared in his hand. It glowed, and he threw it upward. However, a flying knife intercepted it before it could get far.
Xuang Feng looked at Amon in surprise. The flying knife was thrown by him.
"That was your retreat flare, wasn’t it?" Amon asked. "I can’t let you leave yet. Your army must lose more troops before they can leave."
Xuang Feng gritted his teeth. Amon wanted to exterminate them. "Like I will let you!" He exclaimed. "Chao! Call for a retreat!!"
Xuang Chao had just eaten a recovery pill and stopped the bleeding in his severed arm. He wasn’t surprised by Xuang Feng’s order. The situation was extremely critical on their side. He didn’t have the talisman to issue the retreat signal, but he could fly down and issue verbal commands.
Amon sent his Alpha Flying Knives at Xuang Chao, but Xuang Feng’s whip sword flashed in a wide area and forced them away. After repelling the Alpha Flying Knives, Xuang Feng rushed toward Amon to prevent him from chasing Xuang Chao.
"Hmph," Amon harrumphed. He wanted the Khode Army to stay longer, but it seemed that was not realistic. He focused his attention on Xuang Feng.
Amon’s ceremonial dagger clashed with Xuang Feng’s whip sword. One clash caused the blade of the whip sword to chip off. This shocked Xuang Feng. If not for the flexibility of the whip sword, the blade might have broken from that clash. This taught Xuang Feng not to fight Amon directly. He quickly moved away again.
Amon didn’t make it easy, though. The six Alpha Flying Knives flew to Xuang Feng’s back, sealing his escape path.
Xuang Feng used a talisman before the knives hit. The talisman summoned a fierce gale that blew everything around him. The Alpha Flying Knives failed to resist the wind and were blown away.
The wind couldn’t stop Amon, though. Amon’s ceremonial sword cut through the raging wind as if it were a physical thing. When he pierced through, Xuang Feng noticed Amon’s appearance had changed. His body was larger, and his skin was covered by scales.
Xuang Feng used another talisman that conjured a torrent of sharp rocks to stop Amon while he moved away using movement arts. Amon used Infinite Phantom Slash to destroy all the rocks before using Invisible Sky Steps to chase Xuang Feng.
The two flew at high speed in a cat-and-mouse chase. When Xuang Feng was almost captured, a battle puppet appeared in Amon’s path. This was Xuang Feng’s mid-tier runic-grade battle puppet. It still had many visible dents in its body, courtesy of its fight with Jiang Tong. Xuang Feng didn’t have the time to fully repair it yet.
Xuang Feng had no choice but to use this half-damaged battle puppet. Amon was weaker than Jiang Tong, both in cultivation level and combat prowess. Yet, the pressure Xuang Feng felt from Amon was no less than when he faced Jiang Tong. He believed he could be a goner if he let Amon get too close.
A loud horn sounded from below. It was the retreat signal. Xuang Chao’s order to retreat had reached a soldier who possessed the war-horn.
Khode Soldiers started retreating except for their battle puppets. Those battle puppets were ordered to cover their retreat.
Echos’ soldiers didn’t let Khode retreat easily. Before the battle, Amon had instructed them to chase the enemies if they retreated. They were to slay as many enemies as possible, so they wouldn’t add to the number of the enemy army coming from the North.
Echos’ human puppets grabbed the enemy battle puppets and prevented them from moving. Without the battle puppets blocking their path, Echos’ battle puppets and human soldiers managed to catch up to the retreating enemies. Khode was forced to sacrifice some of their human soldiers to save the rest.