Chapter 240

The Golden Dragon descended, its dragon banner fluttering.

The Eastern Wilderness had never expected the Tiger-Chasing Emperor’s resolve in this battle to be so unyielding.

A mere territorial dispute had drawn both imperial dragons forth, their true forms unveiled before the masses, heedless of the frontlines’ peril!

As the golden light faded, the West Concubine leapt skyward, her blade slashing upward.

The black edge flashed, tearing through the brooding clouds to carve a clear stretch of sky a hundred miles wide.

Beneath the great sun, she stepped beside the Tiger-Chasing Emperor, bowing deeply. "Your servant greets Your Majesty," she proclaimed. "May Your Majesty reign for ten thousand years!"

"Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years!"

"Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years!"

The Emperor’s personal expedition ignited the hearts of three hundred thousand soldiers, their thunderous cheers shaking the earth.

In that moment, battle spirits roared like crashing thunder, and killing intent swelled like a raging tide!

The martial energy of the Path of Martial Arts surged hundreds of yards higher, a towering pillar piercing the heavens.

The Tiger-Chasing Emperor’s presence, radiating the True Dragon’s majesty, amplified the West Concubine’s combat strength by several degrees.

Even the two titled real persons on the Eastern Wilderness camp’s observation platform, a hundred miles away, felt their resolve waver at this display!

"To lead the charge himself… bold indeed."

The female cultivator in red glared at the dragon-emblazoned banner amid the army, her face tightening.

The road to dragonhood and emperorship was no simple path.

She and the Great Prince had labored over a decade to forge his soaring dragon aura and unyielding resolve.

Once the remaining two dragon veins were reclaimed, the Great Prince would consolidate the Eastern Wilderness’s national fortune, ascending as the True Dragon Sovereign.

To minimize risks, only her avatar and the Great Prince’s projection—conjured via True Intent technique—had been sent to the camp.

Yet the Tiger-Chasing True Dragon’s arrival shattered all calculations. The Golden Dragon’s mere presence through the clouds had cracked the Great Prince’s ironclad mindset.

Beneath the dragon banner stood the Emperor, golden eyes locked onto the Eastern Wilderness Great Prince’s distant projection.

"Disaster!"

The red-clad cultivator flicked her hand, dissolving the projection.

Though she’d severed its senses, the lingering aura remained exposed. The Tiger-Chasing Emperor’s dragon had already begun clawing at the Great Prince’s nascent dragon essence!

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Wilderness palace’s hidden chamber…

The meditating Great Prince jerked awake, sweat dripping as he steadied himself against the floor.

Though his breathing slowed, dread pooled in his eyes. Before today, the throne had seemed within grasp.

But facing that True Dragon, an abyss had yawned between them—so close yet impossibly far.

"Your Majesty!"

The female cultivator in red materialized in the hidden chamber, steadying the swaying Great Prince.

"I’m unharmed," the Great Prince waved dismissively before straightening his posture. "Report the frontline status."

Deprived of his projection’s intel, he now relied entirely on the red-clad woman’s updates.

Her face darkened as she answered gravely, "Tiger-Chasing has struck first."

The Tiger-Chasing Emperor had just issued his imperial command, launching full-scale eastern offensives across all fronts.

"They dare initiate hostilities?" The Great Prince’s eyes widened momentarily before rage contorted his features.

"Fools! They spurn mutual prosperity for reckless aggression!"

"Three battlefronts, two utterly dominated by Eastern Wilderness – what weapons remain for their defiance?"

"Emperor’s personal expedition? West Concubine Yu’s martial skills won’t save them! Delusional!"

"Reinforcements! Mobilize eastern garrisons! Let that Tiger-Chasing fossil learn what true imperial might means!"

As the command spread, Eastern Wilderness cultivators abandoned their eastern posts for western battlefields.

The Great Prince fumed at what he perceived as Tiger-Chasing’s petty show of strength for national pride – a fatal miscalculation.

Unknown to him, this eastern thrust wasn’t impulsive bravado. For decades, the Tiger-Chasing Emperor had nurtured this scheme through overt expansions and shadowy machinations.

A visionary ruler, he certainly recognized collaborating with Eastern Wilderness against the northern front offered optimal gains. Yet this path couldn’t resolve Tiger-Chasing’s festering crisis: exhausted coffers, severed dragon veins.

Without conquering the Seventh Prince’s lands and claiming their dragon vein, Tiger-Chasing’s collapse would become irreversible – an unstoppable descent into oblivion.

The imperial expedition wasn’t pageantry, but the Emperor’s all-in gamble. Victory promised century-long supremacy and central plains domination. Defeat meant becoming mere footnotes in Eastern Wilderness’ resurgence saga.

Blinded by anger, the Great Prince responded with crude troop surges rather than strategic insight – already conceding psychological ground before the true battle began.

…

Northern front, Eastern Expedition battlefield.

Three layered hellscapes unfolded simultaneously.

The First Level: ordinary soldiers and Gathering Qi cultivators clashed in meat-grinding warfare. War drums deafened, steel flashed, and Tiger Cannons dueled with human thunder explosives. Blood-drenched soil swallowed warriors from both dynasties equally.

The second level unfolded as a mid-air battlefield beneath the cloud sea, where Condensing Essence cultivators clashed.

Ice met fire while sword shrieks mingled with thunderclaps; fierce winds and sudden rains erupted with explosive true essence!

Each collision rained residual technique energies downward, crushing clusters of soldiers beneath.

This was like dousing a raging fire with hot oil, drastically fueling its spread.

The third level existed high above the firmament – a Spirit Communication game invisible to those below.

Compared to the violent struggles of lower tiers, Spirit Communication Realm confrontations appeared almost plain, even tedious.

Combatants traded banter while exchanging probing attacks through summoned avatars.

Having developed primary spirits and life-preservation methods, cultivators at this stage found killing opponents far harder than repelling them – unless facing vastly inferior foes.

The barriers between these three levels normally stood unbreakable.

Gathering Qi cultivators stood no chance against Condensing Essence practitioners’ overwhelming true essence.

Yet exceptions existed – Tiger-Chasing’s two prodigies now moved freely between First and Second Levels.

"The wind returns!"

"Evade!"

"Damned persistent pest!"

Three Eastern Wilderness Condensing Essence cultivators broke from combat with Tiger-Chasing trio upon sensing disturbances below.

The Tiger-Chasing fighters, previously defensive, seized advantage from the yellow wind’s arrival to press their assault.

"It corrodes true essence? What sorcery is this!"

"Tiger-Chasing’s second prodigy stole Xisuo Sect’s wind techniques. Stay vigilant – don’t get careless."

"Tch! Just a Gathering Qi maggot! Let me handle him and that so-called prodigy falls!"

Huumm!

As he spat threats, a bright moon materialized behind him before plummeting downward.

"Hmph!"

The cultivator manifested a true essence hand to snatch the Falling Moon, crushing it effortlessly.

"Pathetic trick! How dare you…"

"Look out!"

His pupils dilated at the warning, spotting a dark silhouette within the shattered moonlight.

Though he instantly conjured a true essence shield, the corrosive-destructive technique pierced through his protective barrier within seconds.

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