Bringing The Farm To Live In Another World - Chapter 16360

Chapter 16358 Retreat

“They retreated! They retreated! Everyone’s gone! But strangely, they took all the corpses with them, their own and ours—not a single one was left behind.” A disciple ran up to Xu Zhengqing and reported.

Xu Zhengqing was taken aback by the disciple’s words. He turned to the disciple and asked, “Are you sure they’re gone?”

The disciple nodded excitedly, “Yes, they are. However, they were personally escorted by those kingdom-level experts, so we couldn’t pursue them.”

Xu Zhengqing nodded and said, “Alright, come with me and take a look.” He then led everyone out of the command hall and flew up to the upper levels. The upper levels were alright, but when they reached the second level, Xu Zhengqing’s expression changed. The entire second level was covered in blood and mud; the ground was now a dark brown sludge, and the strong stench of blood was nauseating. There were bloodstains everywhere, signs of battle, but not a single corpse.

Xu Zhengqing stood there, coldly observing everything. He then went to the first level, where the situation was much better than the second. Although there were signs of fighting and bloodstains everywhere, it wasn’t as bad as the second level.

When they reached the ground, they found that all the buildings were destroyed, and several huge energy swords were flying into the distance—the Blood Slaughter Sect members were retreating.

Xu Zhengqing stood there watching the departing Blood Slaughter Sect disciples. He took a deep breath and then said in a deep voice, “Calculate our losses. Remember, the more detailed the better.”

A disciple immediately responded and went to calculate the losses, while Xu Zhengqing just stood there, watching the direction the Blood Slaughter Sect disciples had gone, his expression neither sad nor happy.

At this time, the sky began to lighten; dawn had finally broken. Who could have imagined that this great battle, which caused huge losses to both sides, had only lasted one night?

Just then, two people suddenly appeared beside Xu Zhengqing. Xu Zhengqing turned his head and saw that it was General Li and Shi Yong. He quickly saluted them.

The two returned the salute, and then General Li asked, “Is the loss significant?”

Xu Zhengqing replied, “It should be considerable. The exact number hasn’t been tallied yet, but I don’t understand why they would take our corpses as well, instead of their own.” Shi Yong

‘s expression was grim. He said in a deep voice, “I have a bad feeling. Do you think they might want to use our corpses to refine ghosts?”

General Li and Xu Zhengqing’s expressions changed upon hearing this. Shi Yong looked at the two and said, “Cultivator corpses are top-grade materials for refining ghosts. If they really use the corpses of those who died in battle to refine ghosts, that’s feasible. Didn’t some Kingdom-level experts die in battle today? The corpses of Kingdom-level experts are even more top-grade materials. If they really do that, it will be difficult to deal with them later.” General

Li and Xu Zhengqing’s expressions became even more grim. General Li said, “In their occupied territory …” “There seem to be a few demonic sects here, but ghosts aren’t so easy to create, are they? I remember that under normal circumstances, just raising the corpse takes many years to create a ghost. A corpse that’s just died can’t be made into a ghost. Only by raising the corpse in a special place until it’s properly matured can it be made into a ghost.”

Xu Zhengqing nodded, saying, “That’s true. If ghosts were so easy to create, wouldn’t the demonic sects have already surpassed the righteous sects’ masters? So even if they take those corpses away, they can’t create ghosts in a short time.”

Shi Yong said in a deep voice, “I know that’s true. I just want to remind you that we must deal with them as soon as possible. We absolutely cannot wait too long, otherwise their strength might increase.”

Hearing this, Xu Zhengqing’s expression changed, and then he said, “That’s true. Just because they can’t create them now doesn’t mean they can’t create them in the future.”

General Li said in a deep voice, “Let’s see how much we’ve lost this time. I wonder if their losses are as great as ours.”

Xu Zhengqing replied, “More than that.” General Li’s expression softened slightly.

At this moment, a disciple approached the three of them, bowed, and then handed a jade slip to Xu Zhengqing. Xu Zhengqing took the jade slip and probed it with his spiritual power. After reading its contents, he gave it to General Li, whose expression was not good.

General Li also scanned the jade slip with his spiritual power. After reading its contents, his expression remained calm. He gave the jade slip to Shi Yong and said, “Our losses exceed five million, while the enemy’s losses are estimated to exceed seven million. Unfortunately, because there are no corpses, we cannot make a final confirmation. However, the enemy’s losses are definitely greater than ours, which means they are now severely weakened. Don’t forget, although we suffered many losses there, the price they paid to keep those people was also considerable. And they, in terms of both numbers and the number of experts, cannot compare to us. Therefore, we…” “We can afford the losses, but they can’t.”

Shi Yong nodded, then said in a deep voice, “The enemy’s strength is indeed very strong, but compared to us, their strength is still much weaker. This is just right; now we can send troops to deal with them.”

General Li nodded and then said, “That’s indeed a good thing, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to deal with their shape-shifting energy shields.”

Shi Yong said in a deep voice, “We can choose not to deal with them. Their energy shields can threaten our large magical artifacts and can break through our defensive formations. We can simply avoid using our large magical artifacts against them. This time, their attack on us is only targeting us.” We’re attacking a single city, and we’re only attacking that one city. Both sides are concentrating their forces on a single point, so either side can break the other’s magic array. Therefore, we can manage without using large magical artifacts. As long as we don’t deploy large magic arrays, their shape-shifting shields won’t be very effective. After all, while their shields can shapeshift and are quite fast, they’re not flexible enough, and they’re too large a target. We can see them from a distance and simply dodge them. To be honest, neither large magical artifacts nor energy-formed shields pose a significant threat to a single cultivator. Without large magical artifacts, they… “Those deformable energy shields are useless against us.”

General Li nodded and said in a deep voice, “Indeed, their energy shields pose little threat to individual cultivators. Therefore, we won’t need large magical artifacts for our next attack.”

Xu Zhengqing said, “I think large magical artifacts are still usable. You saw how the enemies used those deformable shields when they attacked today, and they used them during their retreat as well. This allows them to take more people with them. Our large magical artifacts can also transport more people, making it suitable for both attack and retreat.”

General Li said, “Even if a large magical artifact is used entirely for carrying… ” “At most, we can only carry a million people. If we attack them next time, we can’t just send tens of millions; that won’t be very effective. We need to send more people, occupy a territory, establish underground bases, and firmly control that territory. This means we absolutely cannot have too few people; tens of millions aren’t enough. We need a sufficient number.”

Xu Zhengqing nodded, then continued, “If we calculate it this way, our current number of large magical artifacts is indeed insufficient. If only we also had those shape-shifting shields like the enemy’s. If we don’t use large magical artifacts, will our speed be slower?”

Shi Yong shook his head and said, “No, we’ll still be fast, and even more agile. You don’t know, do you? After we retreated from the enemy-occupied area, some of our men actually managed to escape back. They were guards at a stronghold outside Qingyuan City. The enemy didn’t spot them. They informed us and then escaped on their own. They were small in number, and they weren’t using any large magical artifacts, so they were small targets and weren’t discovered by the enemy.”

Xu Zhengqing and General Li were both stunned by his words. They really didn’t know about this. Now, hearing him say this, General Li immediately asked, “Can you be sure they’re alright?” “We can’t fall into the enemy’s trap.”

Shi Yong said, “It’s been confirmed, they are indeed safe. I had someone identify them. They were stationed in a small town outside Qingyuan City. They were the first to discover the enemy, but the enemy didn’t discover them. They reported this to Elder Lü and the others, and then they fled back. But when they got to Qingyuan City, they found that the city’s protective barrier had been breached. They dared not return to Qingyuan City, so they tried to go directly to the base. However, the base’s protective barrier had also been breached, and they discovered that there were enemies there. They dared not return to the base either, so they fled back. I specifically found someone who knew them to confirm their identities.” “They are indeed our people, not sent by the enemy.”

General Li and Xu Zhengqing both breathed a sigh of relief. Then General Li said, “If that’s really the case, then we really don’t need to use large magical artifacts. We used to use large magical artifacts because we thought the enemy had nothing that could directly threaten them, but now we know that the enemy has ways to threaten them, so we must be careful when using them.”

Shi Yong said, “Report this incident to higher authorities, tell them about our results, and then prepare for the attack. The sooner we deal with those enemies, the better. If we deal with them too late, I’m worried that unexpected things might happen.”