“Why don’t we have all of the Solars and Sunflares enter the city to stamp out the one hundred soldiers in the outer city?” someone suggested. “We’ll whittle them away bit by bit!”
“Can we use the suits of armor that we’ve collected?” asked another. “If so, our defenses will greatly increase if we wear them...”
No one was able to open the armor in its intended way yet. Sheer violence was the only method to force it open. However, damaged armor saw a great reduction in defensive capability. Yama had reaped the greatest harvest thus far, but they couldn’t bring themselves to damage a single one. That was too much of a waste!
Proposals and suggestions flew one after another in the assembly. It was only the Sunflares and Solars of the bigger factions who spoke. All Darkmoons remained listening silently. There was no place for them at the table!
“What plans do the Night Watchers have?” pivoted one of Celestial’s cloaked members. “We only have three days, that’s not much time. If we don’t leave after three days, we’ll have to wait until next month. Will we make it to then?”
“Plans?” Hao Lianchuan chuckled. “Not really. Sunflares and Solars entering together to kill the outer city guards is a good idea.
“It will be hard for them to react properly if we attack en masse on all nine streets at the same time. We can easily eradicate all one hundred if we’re quick about it and retreat just as swiftly. As for the soldiers by the inner city gate, we can try luring them over in small groups.”
There were nine Solars among the expedition—two with the Night Watchers, one with Red Moon, two from Yama, and two from the Sword Sect. Of course, the last faction proclaimed to only have one Solar. The same went for Celestial. There were two Solars among their delegation, but only one was showing their strength.
If the concealed Zhang Ting was included, there was a very ample contingent of ten Solars on this excavation. If Yuan Shuo hadn’t killed anyone beforehand, he and his two vanquished would’ve made for thirteen Solars.
While this might not be all of Silver Moon’s highest talents, it was more than half at the very least. Yet, there were only seven known Solars at the moment.
The crowd petered out into silence. Could the Night Watchers be trusted? They worried when the agency didn’t say anything, and they worried when the agency did speak of a plan.
Another shriek echoed from the outer city at this time—an area in which Yama was exploring. The Revolution King frowned. Was it more of his men that’d died?
The soldiers of the outer city were out in the open. There wouldn’t be much trouble if one took pains to avoid the Black Armors. How were more people dying?
“Are there other dangers in the outer city apart from the houses and soldiers?” He looked at Hao Lianchuan.
“Yes!” The deputy director didn’t shy away from anything. “There’s also the danger in the sky that you know about. There are also surprises that we’re unable to pinpoint the origin of. Sharp blades and others often appear, kill someone, and vanish just as spontaneously. They’re impossible to defend against!”
“Sharp blades that suddenly appear?” An undercurrent of vigilance ran through the assembly now. Was a mere outer city really this dangerous?”
“We can’t continue ,” interrupted the Celestial powerhouse. “Only more will die if we continue the exploration in this vein. There’s only two hundred on this trip and we've lost at least forty already. That’s one fifth of the expedition!”
Granted, most of the dead were Darkmoons and a few Sunflares. The elite core of the force remained intact.
“I notice that the nine streets aren’t arranged in city blocks. They’re nine horizontal lines parallel to each other in front of us. The most dangerous one is the street closest to the inner city. We can forgo that one!
“There shouldn’t be a problem with eliminating the soldiers on the other eight streets...” continued the Celestial powerhouse. “And it’s not that people should get nothing in return for their efforts. Whoever eliminates a soldier owns their armor! The suits of armor are indeed treasure and they already make this excavation worthwhile even if we find nothing else on this trip!”
“I agree.” Hao Lianchuan nodded. “But the Revolution King and Violet Moon are the strongest among us. Why don’t they be in charge of the two streets closest to the inner city gates? How about it?”
“Doesn’t Hu Dingfang fancy himself stronger than everyone?” sneered the Revolution King. “He can go! The Night Watchers need to pay a price if they want to enter the inner city!”
“That’s not how to put things,” Hao Lianchuan chuckled. “How about this, we’ll put two Solars forward and take over two streets. If any faction claims only one street, then they need to be assigned one that’s more dangerous!
“The Night Watchers, Celestial, Yama, Red Moon, and the Sword Sect... Let’s exclude the others from this assignment. That makes for five factions in charge of eight streets. The Night Watchers and Yama will take two and can choose which ones we want. Is there any one out of the other three who is willing to be responsible for two streets? Fielding more Sunflares will do in lieu of another Solar. Battle will be over just as quickly!”
The Revolution King finally didn’t have a dissenting opinion at the latest proposal. This was how things should be! Expending the most effort and being in charge of the most dangerous areas... Who was that big of a fool?? Not to mention, who says that the mysterious Celestial only has one Solar?
Indeed, the cloaked spokesperson of Celestial said slowly, “Then we are willing to take over two streets as well. While we lack sufficient Solars, we do have a few Sunflares. We should be able to handle our part if we exercise more caution!”
Three factions were willing to be responsible for two streets. That left Red Moon—it was impossible for Violet Moon to offer to take two. They’d suffered grave losses on this trip and currently had a severe drop-off in strength after Violet Moon.
Hong Yitang of the Sword Sect kept a startlingly low profile. He was caught in difficult straits, but still nodded, “Alright, I am not as strong as Violet Moon and my faction is a small one. I can be in charge of the third street!”
Everyone abandoned the street closest to the inner city. And plainly, Hong Yitang wished for Violet Moon to volunteer for the second street. The assembly looked at her, a gesture that indicated everyone was in agreement except Red Moon.
The woman frowned. She was a peak thunder Solar and carried an origin weapon on her, so she wasn’t afraid of those soldiers. She was only concerned about drawing masses of Black Armors since her assignment was too close to the inner city.
She didn’t care about Black Armors, but what if there were soldiers stronger than Bronze Armors?
“If an enemy that is beyond your abilities really appears...” offered the Revolution King at this time. “Whether it’s out of our own interests or for a more successful excavation to come, we will not leave you to the wolves!”
The prerequisite was that the enemy was still within the Solar level. If they were above and killed Violet Moon on sight, then all bets were off.
“Fine!” Violet Moon agreed after some consideration. “But I also have a suggestion. Hu Dingfang is in charge of the fourth street, Revolution of the fifth, and is Ding Chen the spokesperson for Celestial at the moment?”
“It is I,” answered the cloaked figure from Celestial. “What an honor it is for the venerable Violet Moon to remember me.”
“You’re in charge of the sixth street, Hao Lianchuan of the seventh, Yao Cheng of the eight, and the Celestial Sunflares of the ninth...”
This would ensure that the Night Watchers weren’t on the outermost perimeter and couldn’t run away the quickest. Otherwise, she was concerned this may be a trap.
The assembly didn’t object to her arrangements. They were fair. With the course of action decided upon, the group discussed when to make their move. They had to strike together. If one person acted ahead of time, it might lead to a riot from Black Armors in other locales. That would be very troublesome.
After some confirmation, the powerhouses headed for the outer city without further word. It was time to eliminate some Black Armors!
Li Hao, Liu Long, and Liu Yan were unaware of the developing situation. They were further ignorant that their position was a small alley between the first and second streets.
Li Hao had absorbed a significant amount of mysterious power at this time. His spleen and heart were starting to feel too full. Breaking the balance of the five elements was starting to turn quite uncomfortable.
“It’s been a while,” Liu Long quickly said when he saw the young man stop taking in energy. “The various organizations and Night Watchers might enter this area soon. Cover will be difficult to find then. Exposure is easy when there’s too many people.”
Li Hao nodded; he was concerned about this as well. There were a lot of people on this expedition as well as Solars. The Black Armors weren’t a threat. In fact, the trio was more of a threat since they were wearing armor. He was about to respond when he heard footsteps—the young man snapped his mouth shut.
“There aren’t many Black Armors in the outer city, so the soldiers won’t stop them in any way,” Li Hao said after the footsteps vanished. “We aren’t here to stop them from entering the outer city, nor do we have the strength to. Our most urgent task at hand is to increase our strength and eliminate some enemies!”
He looked at Liu Yan. “Sis Liu, do you think you can swiftly grasp the aura?”
Liu Yan shook her head after a period of silence, disappointing Li Hao. So it would seem that the aura truly was the biggest obstacle that martial masters faced.
“Chief, do you have any room for improvement?”
“I do... but it’ll be hard for me. Your teacher recommended I nurture my kidneys. That requires a lot of water energy and ideally, a blood pearl. We haven’t seen anyone from Red Moon yet and there doesn’t seem to be any water supernaturals around for the killing!”
“There is!” Li Hao grinned. “There’s one, but she’s difficult to kill and perhaps chief might not be bold enough to kill her!”
“Zhang Ting of the Night Watchers...”
Liu Long frowned. Li Hao could sense his disapproval even through the armor. Plainly, the captain thought he’d gone crazy and was willing to kill someone on their own side in pursuit of personal gain. The Night Watchers were their own, no matter how one looked at them.
“Don’t start, chief! It’s not me who wants to kill her, but Director Hou said that we can if we want to. She’s no ordinary Night Watcher either. She’s a mid Solar with an origin weapon!”
Liu Long sucked in a sharp breath. A mid Solar? And with an origin weapon? Was she even possible to kill?
Even if she was a villain, he wasn’t arrogant enough to think that he could kill a mid Solar! His Nine Forged Force at full strength might not break through a Solar’s defenses. He’d brimmed with confidence before, but toned down his high spirits after failing to kill Li Dahu with one punch.