Living In Another World With A Farm Chapter 8382: Method (1)

Yan Bei gazed at the island ahead, watching the skirmishes unfold as a satisfied grin touched his lips. This marked his first successful solo conquest of an island, filling him with genuine joy. The offensive had proceeded without a hitch. Initially, the bronze men shattered the defensive formation of the island, followed closely by the puppet vanguard. The defenders were clearly ill-prepared, lacking a sufficient supply of interruption talismans. While a few were deployed, their impact was negligible. Consequently, the enemy fell into a state of panic. The more resourceful individuals had already fled, while those remaining were simply unable to escape.

Throughout the entire engagement, they faced no significant pushback. The opposing forces were desperate for reinforcements but lacked any channel to request them. With Pan Qianlong and Yi Xuanming deceased, the 13 Family Alliance had yet to appoint a successor to the command. The leadership vacuum left the defenders in total disarray.

This incompetence provided a perfect opening. The island fell with minimal effort; the puppets handled all the heavy lifting while the cultivators merely observed from the sidelines. It was a novel experience for Yan Bei. Though not as visceral as personal combat, it offered a different kind of satisfaction.

Once the island was secured, Yan Bei immediately dispatched a message to Zhao Hai, requesting him to take control of the territory. Simultaneously, he prepared his troops to strike the next target. Since they hadn't exerted themselves in this battle, their stamina remained high. When Zhao Hai arrived, he found the island under the watchful eye of a thousand cultivators.

Zhao Hai harbored no resentment toward Yan Bei’s haste; a swift offensive was preferable. He immediately mobilized the Array Hall disciples to reconstruct the island’s defensive network. Because the task was largely left to the Array Hall members for training purposes, the pace of reconstruction was somewhat sluggish compared to Zhao Hai’s personal work. However, the practical experience gained by the disciples was exactly what Zhao Hai intended.

Before the repairs were even finished, another report arrived from Yan Bei announcing the fall of a second island. Zhao Hai was forced to leave a small detachment behind to finalize the work while he hurried to the next location. To his amazement, five islands were captured in a single day. Eventually, Zhao Hai had to intervene personally, taking command of the formation rebuilding to keep pace with Yan Bei’s rapid advance.

Surprisingly, that first day wasn't even the peak of their momentum. Over the following ten days, they seized more than a hundred islands. Some were abandoned without a fight; the defenders simply fled upon seeing their approach. This development made Zhao Hai cautious, yet he continued to accelerate the formation of the defensive arrays.

During this ten-day sprint, the most exhausted individuals weren't the frontline fighters, but the Array Hall members accompanying Zhao Hai. Constructing multiple protective formations daily was taxing, yet they were thrilled. The knowledge they gained in this short period surpassed years of stagnant study.

This was no hyperbole. In any Sect, a skilled Array Master is a prized asset, but the Blood Slaughter Sect had long lacked such experts. Despite a desire to learn, disciples often found no guidance, and deciphering complex Jade Slips without a mentor was an uphill battle. This lack of instruction was why the Sect's expertise in Dao formations had historically been weak.

Zhao Hai remained wary, suspecting the enemy might be orchestrating a trap to lure them into complacency. Consequently, he eventually slowed the pace of the advance to ensure Yan Bei and the others didn't overextend themselves.

In truth, Zhao Hai’s concerns were misplaced. The 13 Family Alliance had failed to appoint a new commander for the Western Defense Line because the various Sects were locked in a political stalemate. Following the deaths of the two Corpse Demon Sect commanders, that Sect insisted on retaining control, while the other members of the Alliance disagreed. They felt the Corpse Demon Sect had proven its incompetence and wanted to install their own leaders.

The Corpse Demon Sect, long considered the premier power in the Blood Sea Realm, refused to yield. In their eyes, the command was theirs by right, and no other Sect was worthy of the position. As both sides refused to budge, a deadlock ensued. To the high-ranking Elders, the political struggle for dominance was far more vital than the lives of the disciples stationed at the front. This command vacuum lasted over ten days, proving disastrous for the Alliance and allowing Yan Bei to reclaim over a hundred islands.

Realizing the severity of the situation, the Sects finally reached a compromise. The Corpse Demon Sect relinquished the primary command but secured the Deputy Commander position with significant oversight powers.

With the dispute settled, reinforcements were scrambled and sent to the Western front. However, they were too late. The momentum of the Blood Slaughter Sect was now unstoppable, and their disciples were at the height of their morale. Furthermore, the number of puppets at Zhao Hai’s disposal had grown even larger.

The current strategy of the Blood Slaughter Sect was one of overwhelming force rather than subtle tactics. They followed a rigid, effective pattern: the bronze men shattered the arrays, the puppets charged the breach, and the disciples followed to mop up. Most islands under the 13 Family Alliance simply couldn't withstand such a concentrated assault.

Once a formation was broken, the bronze men would immediately establish a new array on the island. This served as a defensive shield and disabled the original teleportation gates, preventing enemy reinforcements while allowing Zhao Hai’s forces to move freely. The Alliance found themselves unable to defend their holdings, as any attempt to send aid required using portable teleportation arrays to land outside the island, by which point the Blood Slaughter Sect had already fortified the position.

Desperate, the 13 Family Alliance considered counter-attacking the islands the Blood Slaughter Sect had recently reclaimed. They hoped to use the same aggressive tactics against their enemies.

They quickly discovered this was a futile endeavor. Although the Blood Slaughter Sect islands appeared lightly guarded, their defensive arrays were incredibly formidable. The Alliance lacked the means to breach the protective shields, rendering their counter-attacks useless.

This lopsided war of attrition lasted for a full month. Out of the 500 islands the 13 Family Alliance had originally seized, they lost over 400. With only a hundred islands remaining and that number dwindling daily, they were at their wits' end. They could neither hold their ground nor successfully strike back against the endless tide of powerful puppets.

Finally, the leaders of the major Sects convened once more to address the crisis. The puppets remained their most significant obstacle, and they realized traditional warfare was failing.

In a desperate move, the Sects decided to deploy Island Lord-level experts to assassinate Zhao Hai and Yan Bei. They recognized that the entire counter-offensive hinged on these two: Yan Bei leading the charge and Zhao Hai securing the rear with his formations. Eliminating them would surely cripple the Blood Slaughter Sect’s momentum.

Though they feared the potential retaliation from the Blood Slaughter Sect, the Alliance leaders felt they had no other choice. They gambled on the belief that the Blood Slaughter Sect wouldn't dare escalate to a full-scale total war over two individuals.

They conveniently ignored the Sect's history of ruthless vengeance. Driven by self-interest, they dispatched several Island Lord-level experts to lie in wait. These powerful cultivators would hide on a target island, remaining motionless until Yan Bei and his forces attacked. Then, they would spring the trap and capture both Zhao Hai and Yan Bei in a single stroke. To the Alliance, this was the only way to neutralize the threat on the Western Defense Line.

This plan received unanimous approval. Reclaiming the Western line was the essential first step in their grand design to dismantle the Blood Slaughter Sect. Without this victory, all their subsequent schemes would be for naught.