Chapter 3404, The Wide Disparity in the Combat Power
Translator: Silavin & Ashish
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
The City Lord’s Mansion was located at the very centre of Tiger Roar City. This city was smaller than Human Imperial City with a permanent population of roughly 200,000 to 300,000.
Yang Kai flew along with the cultivator leading the way, but even before he could reach the City Lord’s Mansion, he felt a few familiar auras there and suddenly understood as a smile appeared on his face.
After entering the City Lord’s Mansion, he unsurprisingly saw several familiar faces standing there.
Li Jiao was the first to welcome him, cupping his fists and greeting, “Brother Yang!”
Gao Xue Ting also lightly nodded to him while Chi Gui pursed his lips into a grin, “Since Brother Yang is here, we can then sit back and relax. We will finally get a good night’s sleep tonight.”
Surprisingly, Emperor Realm Masters from each of the three other territories of the Star Boundary were gathered in this small Tiger Roar City. Apart from these three though, there were another three Emperors present, one in the Second Order while the other two were First Order, but Yang Kai didn’t recognize any of them. Judging by their clothes though, these three should be cultivators of the Western Territory, perhaps the original Masters from Tiger Roar City.
Yang Kai nodded with a smile, greeting his three friends one by one before he turned his attention to the three unfamiliar Emperors, asking, “These are…”
Li Jiao hurriedly pointed to the Second-Order Emperor Realm Master and introduced him, “This is the City Lord of Tiger Roar City, Lin Tong.” Then he pointed to the other two and introduced them, “These are the Vice City Lords of Tiger Roar City, Wu Zi Jin and Ma Yin.”
Then he introduced him to the other three, “This is High Heaven Palace’s Palace Master, Yang Kai, the one this Li has mentioned from time to time.”
The trio’s faces immediately turned respectful as they cupped their fists, “Greetings, Palace Master Yang.”
In the world of the Martial Dao, strength mattered more than anything else. Among everyone present in Tiger Roar City, these three weren’t even the strongest, as that title belonged to Li Jiao, a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, yet Li Jiao was actually acting extremely polite and respectful towards Yang Kai, so how could they dare be neglectful? Not to mention, they had heard Li Jiao praising Yang Kai not just once over the past month. What’s more, it was a fact that the Demon Race Army was besieging Tiger Roar City, so another Emperor Realm Master increased their chances of protecting themselves.
Of these three, City Lord Lin Tong and Vice City Lord Wu Zi Jin were male, while the other Vice City Lord, Ma Yin was female. She had all the characteristic features of a Western Territory cultivator; a tall nose, big eyes, a tall stature, and long hair tied in a ponytail, which coupled with her martial attire, emphasized her waist and hips. Along with her exotic fashion and the Emperor Realm cultivation, she easily evoked a man’s desire to conquer her.
Yang Kai cupped his fists and greeted the trio before turning to Li Jiao and asking, “Why are you here?”
Li Jiao heaved a sigh after hearing this and muttered, “It’s a long story.”
“What happened?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow, “As I was making my way here, I saw that the Demon land had expanded greatly. Could it be that the Great Emperors failed to contain the situation? What’s the state of the Western Territory now?”
Gao Xue Ting replied, “About half of the Western Territory has been occupied while the Demon Race continued to encroach the remaining half.”
Yang Kai was greatly taken aback and asked in shock, “How is that possible?”
Li Jiao explained, “The Great Emperors have withdrawn, and the Demon Race has been aggressively attacking. The enemy had planned everything out long in advance and made ample preparations, so we weren’t their opponent. We could only put up a resistance as we withdrew our forces.”
Yang Kai was shocked, “Why did the Great Emperors remove themselves?”
Li Jiao replied, shaking his head, “I have no idea either, but I heard that the Great Emperors came to some kind of agreement with the Demon Saints of the Demon Realm that neither side would take any action. Only the Masters below the Great Emperors and Demon Saints would fight, so in this war of two worlds, I’m afraid the Great Emperors will not be able to help us anymore.”
Yang Kai tightly furrowed his brow.
Gao Xue Ting added, “The Great Emperors were forced to do so. If they were to really fight the Demon Saints, the situation would have only gotten worse. Now that the strongest forces of both sides are in check, it is the best possible situation.” Although her cultivation wasn’t as high as Li Jiao’s, she seemed to know more about the situation than he did.
The Great Emperors and the Demon Saints were Masters on the same level, and if they really fought, the fallout alone would immensely damage the Star Boundary. Perhaps the aftermath of their battle would cause countless casualties on both sides.
Besides, if the Demon Saints really decided to run to the depths of the Star Boundary and commit all kinds of outrage, the Great Emperors might not be able to easily stop them.
Now that both sides had come to an agreement that they wouldn’t make a move, it was indeed the best possible scenario, because this was beneficial to the Star Boundary.
After thinking about this, Yang Kai’s expression eased a little and he voiced his thoughts in a grim voice, “It’s not difficult to understand that the Great Emperors made such an agreement, but why would the Demon Saints agree?”
Gao Xue Ting explained, “The Demon Saints aren’t sure that they will be able to defeat the Great Emperors. What’s more, they have already regarded the Star Boundary as their own territory, so they don’t want to wreck it.”
“Greedy bastards!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, pausing for a moment before asking, “So to say, we can only rely on ourselves now?”
“That’s right.” Gao Xue Ting nodded, “Furthermore, because a large part of the Western Territory has already been occupied, the front line has been infinitely stretched, scattering the reinforcements from the three territories far and wide. We were dispatched here to oversee things.”
Yang Kai slowly understood. Previously, he was still wondering why the three of them were here, but now it became apparent that they were assigned to this position. Since the front line was stretched, reinforcements from the three territories naturally had to be split to deal with them. Although gathering everyone at one place would boost their strength, they would be unable to contain the movements of the Demon Race.
After thinking for a while, Yang Kai asked, “When I arrived here, I saw a Demon Race Army stationed a hundred kilometres away. There were at least 300,000 to 400,000 of them. Can Tiger Roar City defend itself?”
Li Jiao replied with a bitter smile, “Relying on the might of the Defense Array, and if we gather the strength of the entire city and the reinforcements brought by the three of us, we have a fifty-fifty chance.”
It wasn’t that Li Jiao was trying to reduce morale and lower his own prestige, rather it was the size of the Demon Race Army was just too big. Tiger Roar City had a population of a few hundred thousand men and women, that’s all, and not everyone could fight against the Demon Race Army. A large part of the populace had no combat power at all so they weren’t even qualified to be fodder.
“How many people can fight here?” Yang Kai asked.
“At the very most, 50,000 can fight.”
50,000 vs 300,000-400,000, it was indeed a massive gap. Although Yang Kai could set up a Space Array, he might be unable to mobilize reinforcements from other places in this situation. If Tiger Roar City was facing this kind of predicament, other places would surely be facing similar crises.
“How many Emperor Realm Masters do we have?” Yang Kai asked again.
Li Jiao replied, “Apart from us, there are four others in the city.”
Yang Kai nodded in acknowledgement. In other words, there were a total of eleven Emperors in the city, so there shouldn’t be that much difference in terms of Masters between the two sides. It might look that the Demon Race had 300,000-400,000 men on their side, but the number of Demon Kings should not be that many. It might not be impossible to hold the line.
In addition, although Yang Kai seemed alone, he in fact had the Masters of Human Imperial City in the Small Sealed World with him.
Right then, Vice City Lord Wu Zi Jin suddenly suggested, “Everyone, Tiger Roar City might not be able to hold on, should we not make other plans in advance?”
Everyone focused their gazes on him, while Yang Kai asked, “Brother Wu, what wonderful plan do you have in mind?”
Wu Zi Jin calmly smiled and explained, “I’m not worthy of such honour. It’s just that there are many on the Demon Race side, while Tiger Roar has fewer on its side. If the city is really breached, this Wu fears that all its citizens will be left with no way to survive. This Wu suggests we find a way for them to leave before the fight, lest they be slaughtered by the Demon Race.”
Li Jiao rebuked, frowning, “Brother Wu, we haven’t even fought yet, and the Demon Race Army is still a hundred kilometres away, how can you assume that we will certainly lose? Previously, our odds were just 50-50, but now that Brother Yang has arrived, our odds of winning are as high as 80-20. Not to mention a few hundred thousand, even if there were a million on the Demon Race side, it would not change anything.”
Li Jiao was angered slightly now. He and the others had come all the way from the other three territories to support the Western Territory, to ease the situation here and halt the Demon Race’s advance. The reinforcements side still hadn’t said anything, but Wu Zi Jin, the Vice City Lord of Tiger Roar City was acting timid before the battle, which naturally annoyed Li Jiao.
If they really followed Wu Zi Yin’s plans, then their defence would definitely be thrown into turmoil. At that time, it would be really troublesome to decide who would remain and who would evacuate. Before the Demon Race even attacked, their side would be bogged down with infighting.
Wu Zi Jin hurriedly corrected, “Senior Li, please calm your anger. This Wu was just speaking thoughtlessly. If Senior Li believes it is inappropriate, please treat this Wu’s words as a joke.”
Li Jiao stated with a cold snort, “It’s better to avoid making this kind of joke.”
Wu Zi Jin looked embarrassed but didn’t say anything anymore.
On the other hand, Ma Yin glanced at Yang Kai with her beautiful sparkling eyes a few times, not having expected Li Jiao to hold Yang Kai in such high esteem! The odds that were 50-50 at best in the beginning had turned into 80-20, and just because of the arrival of a single man. Was that really possible?
Seeing that the atmosphere wasn’t right, City Lord Lin Tong hurriedly stood up and intervened, “While the Demon Race has still not attacked, this Old Master thinks that it’s better to monitor their movements for the time being. If they really move, the sooner we know the more time we will have to mobilize our forces.”
Li Jiao agreed, nodding, “City Lord Lin is right.”
Gao Xue Ting proposed, looking at Yang Kai, “It would be even better if we could bring in some reinforcements. With our current strength, it will still be a little difficult to fight off the Demon Race.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Leave that to me.”
Even if Gao Xue Ting hadn’t proposed this, Yang Kai had also intended to give it a try. It would be best if they could get some reinforcements, but if that wasn’t possible, there was nothing he could do. Furthermore, the Shamans he had brought back had to be assigned as well. Since he had brought them back after so much effort, it was only natural to put them to use right away. There were twenty to thirty members of the Imperial Family, and five of them were Shaman Kings. There was no need to assign all of them in Tiger Roar City as just Yang Kai alone would be enough for now.
After forging another Space Beacon and handing it to Gao Xue Ting, Yang Kai exhorted, “If there is any movement on the Demon Race’s side, let me know as soon as possible.”
“Good.” Gao Xue Ting earnestly nodded as she tied the Space Beacon to her wrist.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and disappeared out of everyone’s sight.
Lin Tong and the others were flabbergasted at the sight of his astonishing methods…
About over a hundred thousand kilometres away, Yang Kai suddenly appeared outside another city, but before he could regain his senses, a wave of fearsome power was already sweeping towards him, immediately causing him to have the feeling of being a duckweed caught in a storm, like he had lost control over his own body.
Yang Kai was stunned. Although this blast of energy wasn’t as strong as a Great Emperor’s blow, it was on par with a Pseudo-Great Emperor’s attack.
Yang Kai hurriedly pushed his Emperor Qi as he thrust his palm backwards.
A deafening bang immediately followed as a fearsome shockwave spread in every direction. Meanwhile, Yang Kai was sent flying a thousand metres before he finally stabilized himself with great difficulty, his palm aching.
As he looked up, he saw a burly figure already swooping down at him, and as expected, it was a tower-like member of the Demon Race. The aura emanating from him was several times stronger than that of a Demon King and he was furiously glaring at Yang Kai with a menacing look on his face.
[A Pseudo-Great Emperor level Demon!?] Yang Kai was left dumbfounded.