Top-tier Unruly Master-Chapter 1734 - 1771: Tactics

The two soldiers had already heard the conversation between Ding Fan and Long Ren. When they heard the other side talking about breaking into the camp, they felt a wave of shock in their hearts. After all, the camp had nearly a thousand people, yet the other side spoke confidently about wanting to break in, as if it were an effortless task.

For a moment, they were somewhat bewildered, which led them to say that they needed to return to the camp. Upon hearing Ding Fan’s words, they quickly realized something was off and hurriedly changed their tune...

Ding Fan looked at the two soldiers with a cold expression and said:

"Leave here immediately and disappear from Tufan Country."

Upon hearing Ding Fan’s words, the two soldiers were momentarily stunned. Then, as if granted amnesty, they nodded and said:

"Yes, yes, we will definitely disappear!"

"We’ll disappear right away..."

Stammering, the two soldiers stepped out of the circle of Elders surrounding them, their steps somewhat faltering. The two Elders making way couldn’t help but feel a bit hesitant about Ding Fan’s decision. It wasn’t just these Elders who didn’t expect Ding Fan to actually let these two soldiers go; even Long Ren looked at Ding Fan in surprise.

Long Ren knew that although these two soldiers were honest, they were ultimately from Tufan Country. If the news got out, it would be detrimental to Ding Fan and the Great Ocean Sect. However, before Long Ren could remind Ding Fan, when the two soldiers had only run a few steps away, Ding Fan unleashed two Wind Blades, which went out fiercely!

Swish! Swish!

Thump! Thump...

The two soldiers hadn’t even felt pain before their heads had already rolled.

Ding Fan had no other choice in this matter. Although he was reluctant to kill these two honest soldiers, he was even more acutely aware of what Long Ren worried about. For the sake of the Great Ocean Sect, he had to kill these two soldiers, so he could only make their deaths a bit easier.

When Long Ren and the others saw this scene, they understood Ding Fan’s intentions, so they didn’t say much.

"Big brother, what should we do now?" At this moment, Long Ren couldn’t help but interrupt the deep-in-thought Ding Fan and ask.

Hearing Long Ren’s question, Ding Fan counted the number of people, including himself, there were exactly twelve. Ding Fan already had some ideas in mind, so he immediately said:

"We have one night. During this night, we need to infiltrate that camp. This shouldn’t be too difficult for everyone, but there is a bit of a challenge: we must not let anyone escape. Therefore, we need to plan carefully to ensure we catch them all in one net, leaving no soldier behind."

"Big brother, we’ll follow your lead, feel free to instruct us," Long Ren said directly.

"Alright," Ding Fan replied.

Then, Ding Fan released his Divine Sense and carefully examined the environment of the camp where the troops were stationed not far ahead. This camp was set up in a low-lying area with one side against a mountain. This was advantageous for Ding Fan and his group because they were already outnumbered compared to the other side.

With only twelve people, wanting to wipe out a nearly thousand-strong army with no survivors was challenging, even if everyone’s cultivation wasn’t an issue. With one side against a mountain, it saved Ding Fan and his group one position in manpower for blocking them.

Following Ding Fan’s arrangement, he stationed three Spirit Severing Elders at the other three escape routes of the camp to catch any that slipped through the net.

Additionally, Ding Fan led four people to openly provoke them, drawing their attention. This required Ding Fan and the others to initially hide their cultivation, only revealing just enough to seem about to be overpowered but never actually being defeated, forcing the enemy to continually reinforce.

Yet, they mustn’t let the enemy feel intimidated and attempt to flee.

Once Ding Fan and his group had worn down a third of the small unit’s forces, the other five, led by Long Ren, would quietly infiltrate the unit to swiftly eliminate all the soldiers. At this point, Ding Fan and the others would reveal their full strength, slaughter their way in as quickly as possible, and then reunite with Long Ren and his group.

By the time the enemy realized something was amiss, Ding Fan and the others would have already wiped out most of them. Even if some slipped through the net, with Elders stationed outside to intercept them, Ding Fan believed there wouldn’t be any issues.

Ding Fan explained the plan in detail. Long Ren and the others found it relatively reasonable. The difficulty of this operation wasn’t just about slaughtering this nearly thousand-strong army; it was about leaving no one behind, which was indeed challenging. Long Ren knew that if they recklessly rushed in, some soldiers would undoubtedly escape, which was the last thing they wanted to see.

After Ding Fan gave his instructions, everyone began to split up and take action.

Though Ding Fan’s plan was perfect, he overlooked one glaring issue. At this moment, in the camp, a squad leader came into a tent, calling out the names of two soldiers, but he received no response. These two soldiers were precisely the ones Ding Fan had previously killed.

The squad leader couldn’t help but directly ask the other soldiers inside the tent:

"Have those two guys not returned yet?"

"Reporting to the captain, Zhang Qiang and Zhang Jian have not returned,"

A soldier stood up straight and replied respectfully.

The squad leader’s expression grew heavier upon hearing this. He hadn’t expected those two soldiers to have not returned yet. Could they have met with an accident? However, he thought it through and still felt it shouldn’t be the case. After all, he had seen the people from that caravan before; they were obviously cultivators of about the Early Nascent Soul Stage, some not even reaching the Nascent Soul Stage. They posed no threat to those two soldiers.

But why hadn’t these two soldiers returned yet? For a while, he couldn’t fathom it. He directly ordered the dozen soldiers inside the tent:

"Go search nearby and bring those two back, alive or dead!"

"Yes!"

"..."

The soldiers all responded, and as soon as the squad leader walked out of the tent with a troubled face, the soldiers inside the tent armed themselves and moved towards the camp’s outskirts. They were puzzled, wondering why the two soldiers hadn’t returned yet; it was unusual, they should have been back by now.

For them, where should they search at this moment? That was indeed a question.

But just as they walked out the camp’s entrance, they ran into Ding Fan and his group. Some of these soldiers had seen Ding Fan and his companions before and couldn’t help but mutter:

"I’ve seen them before. Zhang Qiang and another went to monitor them going down the mountain, but how come they are back now?"

"Yeah, should we report this?"

"I’ll report, you ask them where Zhang Qiang and the other went and why they are back?"

"Alright, let’s split up."

"..."

Immediately, one soldier turned back into the camp to report, while the remaining soldiers approached Ding Fan and his group, questioning them sternly:

"Weren’t you told to hurry down the mountain! Why are you back? And where did Zhang Qiang and the other go?"

One soldier stepped forward, questioning Ding Fan and his group.

"Zhang Qiang?" Ding Fan asked, puzzled.

"Those two soldiers who were monitoring you going down the mountain!"

The soldier replied seriously.

"Oh, we killed them," Ding Fan said with a smile, calmly.

The soldiers were shocked by Ding Fan’s words, utterly unexpected that they would say such a thing. Zhang Qiang and his partner had been killed? Zhang Qiang was a vice commander’s guard soldier with late Nascent Soul Stage cultivation, while Ding Fan and his group were only early Nascent Soul Stage cultivators. Even if they had more people, they couldn’t have possibly killed Zhang Qiang and the other.

"I’m asking you one last time, you better answer truthfully, or take the consequences. Where are Zhang Qiang and the other two?"

A soldier asked seriously.

"We killed them, and we will kill all of you too!"

Ding Fan looked at them and said calmly.

The elders behind Ding Fan also remained calm, clearly these soldiers were child’s play to them. They remembered Ding Fan’s reminder to avoid exposing their true cultivation, or the soldiers would flee immediately.

The soldiers were stunned by Ding Fan’s words, never expecting him to speak so nonchalantly, did he have a death wish? The soldiers were enraged and rushed at Ding Fan with their spiked clubs.

Since they admitted killing Zhang Qiang and his partner, they had to arrest them or kill them outright; this was a forbidden place for them. Previously, they managed to escape due to the squad leader accepting their spirit stones, but now they courted death again.

Against these soldiers, Ding Fan wielded his flying sword, dueling them. He didn’t rush to kill them; he needed to lure out more soldiers, like cooking frogs in warm water, subtly exterminating them all.

Clang, clang...

For a moment, Ding Fan swung his flying sword, occasionally injuring a few soldiers but not killing them directly. The elders followed Ding Fan’s lead, impressed by how well he concealed his abilities; they couldn’t hide initially.

As Spirit Severing cultivators, fighting Nascent Soul Stage soldiers should be easier than crushing ants. Therefore, dueling them posed a bit of a challenge, but Ding Fan’s talent in this was remarkable; he managed several rounds without killing anyone.

The three Spirit Severing elders admired Ding Fan’s technique, replicating it by injuring soldiers without killing them.

Soon, outside the camp, a squad leader emerged with the reporting soldier. Seeing the fight, he commanded:

"Reinforce them, kill those guys without mercy!"

With the order, two squads totaling over a hundred soldiers rushed towards Ding Fan. The task was simple: kill them all—not capture. Such orders were their favorites.

The squad leader glanced at Ding Fan and his companions, with disdain and impatience, not expecting them to come back.