With the two sides now joined into one force, that made a full eight Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters—and against Qiu Lingshan and her five companions, they once again held the advantage in numbers.

What was more, from the desperate fighting of the past while, they had also seen that although the six of them—Qiu Lingshan included—were indeed Heaven-Tier Great Perfection, their practical combat experience was sorely lacking! In a one-on-one fight, they would not have been their match at all.

Eight against six, and every one of the eight holding the upper hand in strength—the stifled resentment they had swallowed just now could finally be paid back in full.

"Kill them. Leave not a single one alive!" He Dantou ordered the three retainers behind him with a cold laugh.

Truth be told, the sudden appearance of so many Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters under Wei Zhao's command had given even him a nasty shock—but for that very reason, it only hardened his resolve to root them out completely. Otherwise, with so many formidable figures gathered together, he would know no peace, whether or not Wei Zhao ever managed to return.

The three retainer masters nodded silently, then charged into the fray like wolves and tigers, joining forces with the Iron-Robed Ancestor and the others to fall upon Qiu Lingshan's group.

The tide of battle turned in an instant. Though Wei Zhao had elevated the six of them to Heaven-Tier Great Perfection, it had after all been only a short time; their foundation was shallow, and they had little real fighting experience. In a true contest, they were plainly no match for these old monsters who had spent decades or even centuries in seclusion.

Now they were outnumbered as well, and the situation turned precarious all at once. Worse, these opponents struck with savage ruthlessness, every move aimed at taking a life—one slip and they might well lose their lives.

A moment ago, the four of the Iron-Robed Sect had relied on their profound foundation to hold out for a time even while outnumbered, but Qiu Lingshan and her five—pitted against fiends like He Dantou and his retainers—were being pushed far beyond their depth.

"Go and die!" He Dantou had stood by with folded arms for a while; seeing Qiu Lingshan expose an opening in her fluster, he bared his teeth in a grin and made ready to strike at the first chance.

But before he could move, several figures came rushing up fast from not far behind him, each bearing the mighty aura of Heaven-Tier Great Perfection. His eyelid twitched at once.

"Hey, and here I thought we'd be late—looks like we're right on time!" Yu Bing chuckled, and beside him were two others: Zhao Qitan and Zhao Qijiu!

Good heavens! Three more Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters had popped up. Surely Wei Zhao couldn't be some ancient god—how was every last one of his underlings a Heaven-Tier Great Perfection master?

The Iron-Robed Ancestor and the rest nearly popped their eyes out of their sockets, and even He Dantou wore a look of slack-jawed disbelief. Nine Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters in all—what on earth had Wei Zhao been feeding these people?

Little did they know that this was not even the whole of Wei Zhao's roster. Cheng Yiyi, the old院长, Xu Shilan and others were still tending to the unconscious women; had they all come along as well, He Dantou and his lot would have bitten their own tongues clean off!

And so, even setting aside General Weiwu and the Wind-Thunder Purple Lightning Beast, Qiu Lingshan's side still had a full nine Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters, facing the eight of He Dantou and the Iron-Robed Sect combined—still holding the advantage in numbers.

Holy hell! What sort of fiend had they crossed, that Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters were lying around everywhere like they cost nothing?

The Iron-Robed Ancestor and the others were on the verge of tears. They had been savagely suppressed by Qiu Lingshan's six before, and now at long last He Dantou had arrived—yet before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, the situation was reversed again in the blink of an eye.

That was not how the game was played! This was downright shameless!

Seeing the Iron-Robed Sect men on the brink of collapse, He Dantou spoke up at the critical moment: "So what if they have numbers? They're nothing but a pack of fake Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters cobbled together by some trick or other. What is there to fear? Kill them all for your President!"

With that, He Dantou took the lead and charged at Chen Yutian and the rest. Even among Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters, the gaps in strength could be vast—he refused to believe his eight could not take down these nine greenhorns across from them!

And indeed, things went just as He Dantou had expected. Though Qiu Lingshan's side held the advantage in numbers, once the real fighting began that advantage was far from obvious—after all, they were ahead by only one man and two spirit beasts!

He Dantou and his people were, after all, seasoned veterans. In a melee involving dozens of fighters, rich practical experience mattered as much as raw strength; thus they could at least offset their numerical disadvantage in the overall situation, and the two sides fought to a deadlock, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Neither side had anticipated this sudden fierce battle. He Dantou and the Iron-Robed Sect men had never expected Wei Zhao to have so many Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters under him, and Qiu Lingshan's group had never expected the Iron-Robed Sect to call in He Dantou.

In tiny East Sea City, more than a dozen Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters had suddenly gathered and were locked in furious combat. Had they not each been wary of the others and dared not unleash their grand techniques at will, the whole of East Sea would likely have been razed to the ground in an instant.

Even so, given time, being razed was only a matter of course. Fortunately, Qiu Lingshan and the others had moved the unconscious women elsewhere beforehand; otherwise, with their hands tied, this battle today would have been far harder to fight.

At first, both sides had still been wary of one another, but the longer they fought, the hotter their tempers grew, and one scruple after another was cast to the back of their minds. Fight on like this, and casualties were inevitable.

Though Qiu Lingshan's group had the numbers and did not come off the worse on the field, their individual strength was, after all, inferior. Perhaps they would not lose in the end, but if casualties did occur, the first to fall would surely be one of them.

"Hmph, these are just green chicks who've never seen blood—flashy goods with a Heaven-Tier Great Perfection realm and nothing behind it. Kill a couple of them in the chaos to strike terror into the rest, and this loose sand will crumble without a fight!" He Dantou had already spotted their weakness. He shot a look at the others, ready to unleash a killing move and take one of them out first.

That was the benefit of experience—no matter how chaotic the field, a veteran could find the breaking point. Otherwise, if the fight dragged on like this, it was not impossible that a flurry of random blows would fell the old master; even He Dantou himself could not say for certain whether he would make it out alive.

But if they first found a chance to gang up and finish one of them, the situation would be different. Once the deadlock was broken, even if the two sides were evenly matched on paper, it could well turn into a rout in the end, without exacting too grievous a price.

Whether the Iron-Robed Sect men understood He Dantou's meaning was uncertain, but the three bio-enhanced masters from the Center coordinated with him in perfect accord, all shifting their fire onto a single target: Qiu Lingshan! (To be continued...)

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