They made a few stops on the way to finish collecting the Hoplite settlements in 10,000 Wave Province. Once they were all cleaned up, they waited a week for the Dragoons to return after having picked up all the scattered Jade Horde squads. The Dragoons flew back carrying thirty to forty silk cocoons, using their Steelsilk to tie them up with only a few air holes. Unfortunately, there were humans in charge of the squads and not all of them were aware of the changes in leadership of the Jade Horde. Far too many of them chose to fight back and so the squads lost nearly two thirds of their members in battle before they were subdued. It wasn’t all bad, as that also meant the Dragoons gained experience in battle. Some of them fell, but they brought back the bodies in Storage Bags, along with the fallen members of the Jade Horde.

Dian Huifang started getting worried about all the Hoplites after only a day, so Sage offered to send her back into the Inner World. She shook her head, worried that Sage might not keep his promise a second time, “No, I made an agreement. I can only go after I meet with my family and then I’ll never come out again.”

Sage found her a bit strong willed, but for now he nodded. When the week was up they resumed their flight into Flying Wind Province with two thousand Dragoons swarming around them. Songji had at first attempted to get to know this powerful woman, but after just a few days she was already disgusted with her. Dian Huifang seemed to have some sort of mothering complex and all she cared about was helping pitiful creatures. Caring for their ailments, teaching them, and protecting them. For some reason, the Hoplites had struck a chord in her and she was now dedicated to the whole race. It made little sense to him, and it also disgusted Songji. She had grown up with tons of Hoplites around serving her family, and knew how alien their minds were. Even if they had been born with lots of advanced behaviors and manners, they were still big bugs. They had no emotions, and seemed more like humanoid robots than anything else.

There was other business for him to handle in Flying Wind Province and he wanted to hide it from Dian Huifang, but since she refused he could only handle it out in the open. The Jade Horde was already present in Flying Wind Province, having expanded outwards from 10,000 Wave Province. Dian Huifang’s clan was located at the central area of the province and so they’d be traveling past the main camp of the Jade Horde in Flying Wind Province. After taking down Wu Chang, the others in the Jade Horde hadn’t yet acted, but now that Sage had begun sweeping up all the squads of Hoplites and collecting the settlements, there was a chance that his enemy might escape.

As of now, only two of the Seven Stars that were his enemies, remained. Whitestaff had been very prominent after Wu Chang took over the Jade Horde, but according to the information network, a few years ago she disappeared. Along with her many disciples, Whitestaff simply vanished. There had been no new news of her since. The other enemy still at large was named Zhang Tu. Long ago, he had been leading the Jade Horde squads that Sage brought with him into those underground tunnels in pursuit of Hei Bai. He’d decisively handled the hostage situation by ordering a direct assault. Trading a few innocent lives in return for not letting his enemies escape. Sage had noted him for his ruthlessness at the time.

Who knew that years later, the man would break through and form his core. He was the first of the regular troops to do so, and Wu Chang used him to inspire morale. Earlier, when they were gathering information, Zhang Tu had turned out to be quite a tough nut to crack. Since they wanted to guarantee that Wu Chang and the Strongfist Brothers could not escape, they chose to leave Zhang Tu alone and focus all their energy. Now that the main task was done, Sage didn’t want to leave Zhang Tu any more time than necessary. There was no telling what could happen when they went to meet Dian Huifang’s clan, so he didn’t want this task left unfinished. As they say in this world, it is better to rip a problem up by the roots.

Right now, the Airship was heading towards Zhang Tu’s heavily defended fortress. From their information all of his Hoplites were dispersed around the Province to take jobs while his own fortress was guarded by outside experts. After the Hoplites betrayed me, he likely realized they were a bit too weird to trust. As long as you pay a mercenary more than the competitors they’re quite dependable.

Unfortunately, Sage had only purchased one set of resources for a Seven Layer Barrier. Given that it would serve the double purpose of capturing Wu Chang and also protecting Lionheart Town, the expenditure of time and resources was worthwhile. He had contemplated creating a similar barrier, but Sage knew too little about who Zhang Tu had on his side. If there was a more powerful Formation Master than Sage, all of his efforts would be for naught, in fact they might even backfire. Instead, since Sage had already revealed the Dragoons, he would use their numbers to prevent escape.

Ten Thousand Dragoons were once again revealed, and they used their Formation Armor to create a Million Scale Shell. Only, this time it was different. Instead of forming it around themselves as a defense, they arranged themselves around the outside of Zhang Tu’s Fortress and built a giant shell around it. It was far from an impenetrable defense, but there were no gaps and anyone wanting to escape would have to attack their massive formation. At the same time, Sage released a hundred Warp Worms.

He no longer needed to use most of his six favored insects anymore, as they couldn’t keep up with his own power. The only exception to this was the Warp Worm. If he needed to escape or prevent his enemies from escaping, being able to travel underground was quite necessary and Sage’s choice of path meant he couldn’t fill that role on his own. While he could only link with one creature at a time, Sage instead made use of his Hypnotic Eyes to implant commands into the worms before releasing them. The worms digging down and creating a hemisphere underground to prevent the enemy from tunneling away.

Before the attack, Sage had stored the Airship. Dian Huifang and Songji stayed back a ways, just observing these large scale activities. Since Zhang Tu had sent away all of his Hoplites, it meant Dian Huifang wouldn’t get involved. How upset might he be if he knew that his paranoia had robbed him of a powerful ally at this time? She wouldn’t have backed him, but if Zhang Tu had thousands of Hoplites standing guard around him, she would likely have stood in the way just like a tree hugger chaining themself to a tree to stop the loggers.

With his forces deployed, Sage stepped up to the battle lines and used his Qi as well as the Divine Breath technique to amplify his voice.

“Zhang Tu! Ally of the traitorous Wu Chang. Come out and face retribution.”