Chapter 653 - 652: The Strongest Team

Chapter 653: Chapter 652: The Strongest Team

Using a hundred men to hold off ten thousand Divine Palace Warriors sounded utterly insane. It wasn’t just the Demon Palace’s Commanders who thought it was impossible; even the Monk, the Daoist, and Xi Zijin felt Lin Yun’s plan was far too risky.

Faced with everyone’s doubts, Lin Yun’s expression was firm. "The decisive battle with the Divine Palace is upon us. Though the Demon Palace has won victory after victory lately, a direct confrontation is still too much for us. To achieve victory, we must first wipe out a portion of their main force."

"Don’t worry," he said. "I’m only going to hold them off. Your job is to crush the Divine Palace Warriors outside the city as quickly as possible. When you do, that will be our signal to sound the charge for a full-scale counterattack."

His words made sense, but everyone still thought it was impossible for Lin Yun to hold off ten thousand Divine Palace troops with just one hundred men.

He ignored their objections, especially Xi Zijin’s, offering her only a faint smile before asking the Grand Commander to take him to see this supremely powerful elite squad.

Knowing Lin Yun had made his decision, the Grand Commander led him out of the main hall. Behind it, in a vast Martial Arts Training Ground, Lin Yun finally saw the squad with extraordinary combat strength.

There were only a hundred men in total. When they stood in neat formation before Lin Yun, he could feel a faint killing intent radiating from their incredibly sharp Spirit Soldiers. Sensing their power, Lin Yun discovered that every one of them possessed a Cultivation at the very Limit of the Celestial Spirit Realm.

"Excellent," Lin Yun said with a slight nod and a faint smile. "If this squad appears before the Divine Palace Warriors, it will definitely give them a huge surprise."

Then, Lin Yun looked at the hundred men standing ramrod straight before him and shouted.

"You are the most valiant and skilled warriors of the Demon Palace! Now, you are about to face your first, and most arduous, mission. I am sending the one hundred of you to intercept ten thousand Divine Palace Warriors. Do you have the confidence to do it?"

Hearing Lin Yun’s words, the warriors roared back with almost no hesitation, "We do!"

This squad, since its formation by the Grand Commander, had yet to see a single battle. Now, their very first fight was destined to be a brutal one.

While Lin Yun’s goal wasn’t to defeat the ten thousand Divine Palace Warriors with these hundred men, merely holding them off was already a difficult, if not impossible, task.

Hearing the thunderous reply from the hundred men, Lin Yun nodded. He then ordered them to prepare to set out for the interception point that very night.

As they left the Martial Arts Training Ground, the Grand Commander walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Lin Yun. He looked at him, his voice still filled with worry. "Brother Lin Yun, a hundred men against ten thousand... isn’t that too..."

Lin Yun knew what the Grand Commander was about to say and cut him off before he could finish. "Grand Commander, I know what you’re thinking. But the Divine Palace still has at least twenty thousand Warriors, while the Demon Palace has only a little over ten thousand. With a ten-thousand-man deficit, the Demon Palace has no chance of winning a direct confrontation."

The Grand Commander sighed softly. Hearing Lin Yun’s logic, he said no more. It was true; they had no hope of winning a head-on battle with the Divine Palace right now. They had to eliminate another portion of the Divine Palace’s main force to have any chance of contending with them.

The two walked from the Martial Arts Training Ground and reached the Central Square. There, Lin Yun saw Xi Zijin standing alone. It seemed she was waiting for him.

Upon seeing Xi Zijin, the Grand Commander tactfully excused himself. Lin Yun and Zijin were left alone, and they began to stroll through the city.

As they walked, Xi Zijin asked quietly, "Are you really going to go?"

"Yes," Lin Yun replied softly, giving a slight nod. "To defeat the Divine Palace, I have to. Otherwise, once their army is fully assembled, the Demon Palace won’t be able to stop them."

"I don’t want anything to happen to you. A hundred men against ten thousand... that’s a decision only a madman would make." Seeing that Lin Yun was still insistent, a flicker of anger crossed Xi Zijin’s face. It was faint, but her strong opposition to his decision was clear.

Lin Yun knew his decision was insane, so he didn’t argue. He simply told Xi Zijin that victory required taking desperate measures.

Seeing that Lin Yun had no intention of changing his mind, Xi Zijin fell silent for a moment. She stopped walking, and her eyes, fixed on Lin Yun, were filled with deep concern.

"Lin Yun, you have to promise me," Xi Zijin said, looking at him. "Promise me you’ll come back alive."

"I promise," Lin Yun replied with a smile. "And you do the same."

The Divine Palace’s main force was currently split into two armies. One, personally commanded by Qing Zhu, was already encamped a hundred li from the city. The other was still en route.

Lin Yun’s task was to lead his hundred men to intercept the approaching Divine Palace army. This would create an opportunity for the Grand Commander and the others to annihilate the Divine Palace forces outside the city, the ones personally commanded by Qing Zhu.

As night fell, the hundred strongest warriors of the Demon Palace stood ready in the city’s Central Square. Lin Yun, the Monk and Daoist, Xi Zijin, and several of the Demon Palace’s top Commanders were all there to see them off.

Everyone looked at Lin Yun, knowing he would not change his mind. Xi Zijin said nothing. The Monk and Daoist simply offered a quiet, "Take care."

Before he left, Lin Yun gave a specific warning: the biggest variable in defeating the Divine Palace army outside the city would be Qing Zhu. He told them to be wary of her, but not to get bogged down trying to deal with her directly.

"Just kill as many Divine Palace Warriors as you can," he instructed. "As for Qing Zhu and her people, if they try to flee, don’t pursue them. Just let them go."

If the Grand Commander’s forces could successfully annihilate the Divine Palace Warriors outside the city while Lin Yun held up the other army, the overall power gap between the Demon Palace and the Divine Palace would be virtually eliminated. Then, in the battles to come, the Demon Palace would finally have what it takes to face the Divine Palace head-on.

Everyone nodded, accepting Lin Yun’s instructions. He told them that the moment he engaged the Divine Palace army was their signal to attack. He would contact the Monk using his Communication Token when the time came.

With his instructions delivered, Lin Yun swung himself onto the back of his Black-striped Tiger. Little Ape leaped onto his shoulder. Leading the hundred strongest warriors of the Demon Palace, Lin Yun and his party departed from the city in secret.

They quickly vanished into the darkness. Those left behind watched them go, not dispersing for a long time. They all knew just how grueling this battle would be.

Outnumbered a hundred to one, they would have to face a vicious battle to successfully intercept the Divine Palace army. Lin Yun was undertaking all of this just to give the Demon Palace a chance to annihilate the enemy forces outside the city.