Chapter 2131 - 2135: Retreat

The originally smooth sailing siege of Demon Capital City encountered unexpected events.

While not exactly unforeseen, it was a devastating blow for Qin Tian.

Besides Qin Tian's initial 100,000 troops at the South Gate, the forces at the East and North Gates suffered heavy losses.

At the North Gate, Zhao Lanjin led 111,000 men with 82 commanders.

Eventually, 51,000 people managed to break through, leaving only 26 commanders.

59,000 soldiers were killed!

56 commanding officers were slain!

This was the worst loss Qin Tian had suffered in all his battles during a siege!

And despite such losses, they inflicted very little damage on the enemy.

Throughout most of the process, a significant number of soldiers and officers were poisoned, fighting under toxic conditions, how could they withstand Jin Yunzhong's betrayal?

Even Zhao Lanjin suffered severe injuries, narrowly escaping amidst fierce battle, pursued over 100 kilometers by the Jin Family Army and the Magic Capital Army, until Duan Xiaodao intervened and narrowly avoided total annihilation.

Pain! Heart-wrenching pain!

But what hurt Qin Tian more was the North Gate, Mu Yunxi and her 40,000 troops have vanished without a trace!

Not a single person returned!

40,000 people, gone!

Mu Yunxi, gone!

After assembling his forces, Qin Tian marched forth with 250,000 men, aiming to settle the score with a decisive battle, to eradicate the Demon Clan.

Now, only a little over 140,000 remain, each looking downcast, defeated, among them, 30,000 gravely injured, nearly losing combat capability!

Defeated.

No!

This wasn't defeat but a conspiracy plotted against them!

Betrayed by someone Qin Tian thought he could trust!

Standing on the west bank of the Demon God River, Qin Tian's eyes were teary.

He had no idea where Mu Yunxi was, completely in the dark about whether she was alive or dead.

But under such circumstances, he didn't know how to take action to find Mu Yunxi.

"Boss, we can't stay on Demon Clan territory any longer. When Jin Yunzhong and the Demon King recover and regroup their forces, they will definitely hunt us again."

Zhou Yang, equally heavy-hearted, advised Qin Tian, "Let's head back to West Capital first, recuperate, then exact revenge!"

Lin Yu also added, "Boss, let's go. We were wrong to trust the Jin family father and son with their conniving schemes. But I'll remember this feud, someday we'll return to tear apart the Jin family father and son with our bare hands!"

Qin Tian also understood the current situation.

Troop morale was low, the Jin Family Army and Magic Capital Army are united, their forces are far superior.

Moreover, he had too many wounded and defeated soldiers now, making combat impossible.

Withdrawal is the only way.

Looking up at the sky, Qin Tian turned to face the tens of thousands of soldiers and used True Qi Transmission to shout, "Brothers! Do you wish to avenge our innocent fallen comrades!?"

"We do! We do! We do!"

Tens of thousands unanimously shouted, their voices shaking the heavens.

"Good! Today, in front of everyone, in front of the Demon God River, I, Qin Tian, swear! I will personally avenge our fallen brothers! I will annihilate the Demon Clan!"

Qin Tian's voice echoed ten miles away, "Return to West Capital and regain our strength, and then revenge will be ours!"

"Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!"

Soldiers were filled with righteous indignation, shouting passionately.

"Old Zhou, organize the troops to cross the Demon God River back to West Capital."

"Old Fourth, you organize the Qin Family Army to guard the rear, expand the reconnaissance range to fifty kilometers to prevent sneak attacks."

After making arrangements, Qin Tian, in low spirits, mounted Ata, and with his companion beast, flew towards West State.

He felt impulsive, wanting to go back to Demon Capital to search for Mu Yunxi.

But thinking it over, a night had passed, Mu Yunxi had only three possibilities: either she had escaped, been killed, or captured.

If she escaped or was killed, Qin Tian couldn't find her.

If captured, Qin Tian didn't know whether she was still alive, but if the Jin family father and son wanted her dead, she would have been, if they wanted to keep her, they wouldn't kill her immediately.

So, Qin Tian had no choice now. Going to Demon Capital is fraught with danger; finding a trace of Mu Yunxi is too difficult.

When Qin Tian returned to West Capital, his comrade generals left behind saw him despondent, and they were equally helpless, not knowing how to console him.

The news of the siege's failure at Demon Capital City had reached West Capital City half a day in advance, shaking all of West Capital.

Yan Ruolan and Liu Fei'er hurried over to Qin Tian's room, seeing him dejected, their hearts sank too, glancing at each other, not knowing how to comfort him.

"Brother Tian, are you worried about Yunxi now? Why don't we immediately organise troops to attack the Demon Clan and make them hand her over?"

Liu Fei'er comforted him.

Yan Ruolan shook her head, "It's life and death unknown now, attacking the Demon Clan won't help, if Mu Yunxi is really in their hands, they could use her to threaten us, what would we do then?"

"So I think the best course now is to send more people to the Demon Clan to gather information, first determine Mu Yunxi's situation before taking action, to ensure nothing goes wrong."

Liu Fei'er took a deep breath, looked at Qin Tian, and said, "What should we do then, seeing Brother Tian distressed makes me distressed too..."

Hearing this, Qin Tian raised his head and smiled faintly, "It's okay, I just need some time to think, the situation was too sudden, I need to sort out my thoughts. Right now, I don't even know why the Jin family father and son chose to betray us. I want to understand the reason; I also want to know why they opted for betrayal."

"Once I understand the reason, then, even if Mu Yunxi falls into their hands, knowing their motive will allow me to counteract accordingly."

Yan Ruolan and Liu Fei'er both nodded, Yan Ruolan said, "Let Xiao Zhuang send more spies to gather information."

She pondered for a moment and added, "I've heard that the Jin family father and son had decades of friendship with Mu Yunxi's father. When her father was around, there was no betrayal; before sieging Demon Capital City, they didn't betray either, but at the most crucial moment, they stabbed us in the back. I suspect there are two possible scenarios."

"One is that the Jin family father and son struggled and worried before, so they never showed their stance, and it was only at the last moment before attacking Demon Capital City that they made their decision."

"The second is that they had a premeditated plan all along, intending to delay until the final moment to land the most fatal blow."

Qin Tian rubbed his nose and said, "I think they had premeditated plans. They even prepared poison in advance, hmm, definitely preplanned. Then, because I was primarily in charge of deploying the troops, they couldn't act on the South Gate where I attacked, so they chose the East and North Gates."

As he spoke, he shook his head.

Even with just the East and North Gates, Qin Tian suffered severe damage.

Qin Tian took a deep breath and sighed:

"I just don't understand why they did this? Decades earlier, Demon Cloud City and Demon Spirit City were both opposing the Demon King, like fire and water. Now, I come to help them, yet they betray us!?"