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Upon hearing the responses from Xiao Zhuang and Zhou Yang, Qin Tian’s eyes instantly lit up.

”What’s the matter?” he asked.

Xiao Zhuang signaled for Zhou Yang to speak, and Zhou Yang nodded and said, ”According to the intelligence obtained by Xiao Zhuang, the Fourth Prince has sent someone to contact the Demon Clan. Recently, he has made contact twice, and the first time, he even presented them with numerous valuable gifts.”

”Oh? What is this Fourth Elder planning to do...”

Qin Tian thought for a moment and could vaguely guess the Fourth Prince’s intentions.

Zhou Yang said directly, ”The Fourth Prince’s goal is obvious. He is currently dealing with the Crown Prince in the Imperial City and does not have much time to deal with us. Therefore, he doesn’t trust us and fears that we might take advantage of the chaos in the Imperial City to do something out of line.”

”So, the Fourth Prince is likely employing a ’using a borrowed knife to kill’ strategy, aiming to invite the Demon Clan to hold us back. Once he settles the Imperial City, he can then join forces with the Demon Clan to attack the West State from both the front and back.”

”If the Demon Clan agrees, I believe the Fourth Prince must have promised them significant rewards, such as splitting the West State equally with the Demon Clan once it’s conquered!”

Zhou Yang’s words made Qin Tian’s expression tighten.

He knew that this possibility was very high.

Currently, the Demon Clan is greatly exhausted internally due to the recent internal strife ignited by the Yin Yue Demon Venerate, causing various undercurrents within the Demon Clan. Many factions are restless, dissatisfied with the Yin Yue Demon Venerate becoming the new Demon Emperor.

Therefore, the Demon Clan has been preoccupied with internal affairs recently, maintaining considerable calm within, and is unable to spare much military force against the Tianyuan Dynasty except to suppress internal dissent.

In this scenario, for the Fourth Prince to contact the Yin Yue Demon Venerate and expect him to dispatch troops to hold back Qin Tian’s West State, it would not happen without significant benefits.

”Let’s see, let’s see what moves the Demon Clan will make...”

Qin Tian stopped mid-sentence, sensing something was off, and said, ”No, I feel that we can’t wait for the Demon Clan to retaliate against us. We need to take action proactively.”

”Yes, I think we should just attack directly. All those other names and titles are just meaningless!” Lin Yu said.

”We still need a name, something called justification for initiating action.”

Zhou Yang frowned and thought for a moment, saying, ”Our best name to use might be Liu Fei’er. She’s a Princess of the Demon Clan, and her father and brother were betrayed and brutally killed. If we help her restore her country, the rationale is quite sound, but...”

”But once we go public with helping the Demon Clan, the Imperial City and other forces may also target us...” Qin Tian finished Zhou Yang’s unsaid words, and Zhou Yang nodded.

He said, ”By doing this, we’re basically openly allying with the Demon Clan. Remember, we’re merely a local force within the Tianyuan Dynasty, bypassing the Dynasty to directly intervene in Demon Clan matters. The Imperial City probably won’t tolerate this.”

”Hmph,” Qin Tian sneered, ”At this time, the Imperial City has no choice but to tolerate it, whether they like it or not!”

Qin Tian looked at everyone and asked, ”Shall we set this as our banner, what do you think?”

”Good!”

”Screw them, the sly folks in the Imperial City. No matter about them!”

Everyone glanced at each other and nodded in agreement.

”Qin Marquis.”

At this moment, Zuo Yuanhao hurried in through the door of the conference hall.

Qin Tian motioned for him not to be too formal, and Zuo Yuanhao nodded and entered, saying, ”Qin Marquis, I’ve received urgent intelligence that a Demon Clan force is heading east. It seems they are preparing to cross the border and attack the western city, Liang City!”

”So soon?” Qin Tian and Zhou Yang were both startled.

”The information is absolutely accurate,” Zuo Yuanhao said.

”Ha, the Yin Yue Demon Venerate indeed has decisive power, acting as soon as he decides? Very well, then let’s see whose strength prevails, yours or mine!”

Qin Tian pursed his lips and said, ”Since the enemy has come to our doorstep, wouldn’t it be impolite of us not to go out and greet them? Let’s go, assemble the troops and march out immediately!”

Originally, Qin Tian had been assembling two hundred thousand elite troops these past few days, and by now, the forces were almost in position.

He had initially planned to secretly dispatch them fifteen days later, but unexpectedly, the Demon Clan acted first.

”Since that’s the case, for now, let’s not play the card of helping the Demon Clan’s Princess restore her nation. We’ll wait for the Demon Clan to attack Liang City first, then we’ll counterattack in self-defense. With this reasoning, the Imperial City should have nothing to say.”

Qin Tian immediately ordered Zhao Lanjin to lead his fifty thousand assault troops to quietly approach Liang City, then, under the protection of a ten thousand-strong guard, Lin Yu led his True Qi Artillery Troop to follow closely behind.

Qin Tian, Zhou Yang, Xiao Zhuang, and the newly formed Qin Family Army commanded by Duan Xiaodao, totaling one hundred forty thousand troops, gradually advanced towards the border between the Demon Clan and West State.

All operations on the West State side were conducted in secrecy, and only the news of Qin Tian gathering a large force was detected by the Demon Clan, yet they had no idea of Qin Tian’s intent, nor did they realize that he had already initiated the deployment.

Particularly, Zhao Lanjin’s fifty thousand cavalry assault troops moved with great speed, rapidly approaching Liang City.

His Flying Beast Soldiers had their Flying Beasts retract their tails and marched directly on the ground.

As a result, within two days, Zhao Lanjin’s force had hidden within the Barbaric Mountains, fifty kilometers away from Liang City, quietly awaiting the Demon Clan’s attack on Liang City.

The Demon Clan also had a fifty thousand-strong force approaching Liang City, planning to launch a surprise attack on the city, then harass Qin Tian on the western border of West State, holding Qin Tian back for as long as half a year, until the Fourth Prince could deal with his affairs. By then, they would have achieved their goal, and the Fourth Prince would reward them greatly.

So, the Demon Clan truly had no intention of invading West State this time. They simply aimed to use this fifty thousand troops, along with fifty thousand reinforcements, to engage in minor skirmishes and guerilla warfare on the West State border.

Unfortunately, the Yin Yue Demon Venerate’s perfect plan went awry.

Previously, they were dealing with others in West State, but now, their opponent was none other than Qin Marquis Qin Tian!

The eight thousand garrison troops in Liang City couldn’t withstand the sudden attack from the Demon Clan.

Qin Tian had initially thought Liang City would surrender directly, but to his surprise, the eight thousand soldiers in Liang City swore to defend the city to their deaths, fighting valiantly in a bloody battle, ultimately resulting in total annihilation of their forces!

Meanwhile, the Demon Clan also paid a heavy price, with over ten thousand casualties, leaving their commander stunned—

When did the local forces in West State acquire such strong combat power?

However, the shocking experiences for the Demon Clan commander weren’t over yet.

They had just captured Liang City and begun to rest and reorganize for less than an hour when Zhao Lanjin’s army had already arrived at the city’s doorstep!