Chapter 2212 - 2215: Night Raid on East Capital City!

Speed is the soul of war.

Right now, to avoid drawing the attention of the East State Dragon Clan garrison, Qin Tian couldn't bring too many soldiers for his sneak attack.

Out of the more than a hundred thousand men from West State, he picked the best of the best and finally chose sixty thousand.

Sixty thousand men; at the same time, he took a thousand Qin Family troops and Duan Xiaodao along, all of them stripped off their armor, put on ordinary Immortality Cultivator clothing, and quietly slipped south from the North toward East State.

Because of the war breaking out with the Southern Barbarians, in truth, the Dragon Clan hadn't left many garrison troops in East State.

Of course, Long Tianwu was no fool; even if the surrounding garrisons were few, she still left enough men at the passes leading into East State.

Once anyone tried to force the pass, she could know instantly and dispatch troops to reinforce.

Between Central State and East State, once you reach the border, any stir in the grass and wind would be spotted at once.

But Long Tianwu may have forgotten that Qin Tian had come out of East State.

He had spent so many years in East State and experienced more than a few wars there; when it came to familiarity with the terrain, Long Tianwu couldn't compare to him.

Qin Tian had once traveled through the northern passes of the East State Mountain Range; it was here, in the Spiritual Domain, that he first met Duan Xiaodao.

So this time, Qin Tian planned to reuse his old trick and take the dangerous route north of the East State Mountain Range.

To be safe, Qin Tian still had his soldiers form squads of a dozen or so men, all wearing gray robes, moving only at night as they crossed the East State Mountain Range.

He did his scouting thoroughly; while crossing the East State Mountain Range, Qin Family Scouts watched the surroundings for dozens of kilometers to ensure no one would discover them.

In half a month, Qin Tian crossed the East State Mountain Range.

He hadn't been discovered by Dragon Clan soldiers, but he had also essentially lost contact with the Imperial City.

"Boss, half a month's gone by. Even though we haven't established contact with the Imperial City, the Demon Clan side's suppression of the rebellion should be nearing its end by now."

At the foot of the East State Mountain Range, Duan Xiaodao spoke quietly to Qin Tian: "Should we move? If we drag this out, the Dragon Clan's spies in the Imperial City might realize you're not there. Once that happens, they'll start getting suspicious."

Qin Tian nodded. "That's about right; it's been twenty days."

He gazed into the distance and said, "All right. Starting tonight, we push straight south. Most important is to take Sea City. We have to capture it within three days."

Sea City was one of the pass cities connecting East State and Central State, a place where a single man could hold the pass against ten thousand.

Qin Tian's first step in this covert campaign was to seize Sea City.

Once Sea City was taken and the pass was in his grip, he could attack or retreat at will; the initiative would be entirely in his hands.

This offensive would be carried out in two stages: after taking Sea City, he would then move to attack East Capital City.

Moreover, the fall of Sea City had to be swift, leaving East Capital City with no chance to prepare defenses; otherwise, Qin Tian's assault would become much harder.

Thus, on the march toward Sea City, after much deliberation, Qin Tian decided to split his forces.

Duan Xiaodao would lead forty thousand men and eight hundred Qin Family troops to launch a surprise attack on Sea City.

Qin Tian himself would take two hundred Qin Family soldiers and twenty thousand elite West State Army troops and blitz East Capital City.

"Boss, this… this won't do!"

Duan Xiaodao flatly refused. "Sea City's garrison is estimated at only forty to fifty thousand, but East Capital City is easy to defend and hard to attack. The garrison there is at least seventy to eighty thousand. If you go with so few men, you can't possibly take East Capital City…"

Qin Tian smiled. "Old Four, have you forgotten my cultivation? My cultivation alone is worth a hundred thousand crack troops!"

"Unless East Capital City has a Heavenly Machine master or Long Tianwu sitting in command, even if Long Xuanji herself is there, she still won't be able to do anything to me. Don't worry, I don't do things I'm not sure of. Just follow my orders."

"You capture Sea City as fast as you can, then send word to the Imperial City to move in. After that, you leave men to hold Sea City and bring ten or twenty thousand to reinforce me. With that, our chances are eighty percent."

Qin Tian gave Duan Xiaodao a confident smile.

Seeing this, Duan Xiaodao couldn't argue further.

A Flying Immortal Realm expert was indeed an invincible existence in the Spiritual Domain.

Someone who could create endless possibilities, endless miracles.

That day in the Imperial Palace, Jin Lin and Fairy Miaoyin alone caused tens of thousands of casualties among the Imperial Forbidden Army and mobilized hundreds of thousands.

Scenes like that were simply beyond imagination.

So, once he thought of this, Duan Xiaodao felt a lot less worried.

After all, no matter what, even if the siege failed, Qin Tian still had the ability to retreat intact.

After splitting into two columns, Qin Tian marched his twenty thousand men only in the deep of night and before dawn, resting by day.

Like the tip of a spear, his twenty thousand men drove straight into the very heart of the Dragon Clan's power in the Imperial City.

At last, five days later, Qin Tian and his men reached a deep mountain thirty kilometers outside East Capital City.

Qin Tian personally led a Qin Family captain to scout outside East Capital City.

The West Gate and East Gate of the entire East Capital City were heavily guarded.

In contrast, at the gates leading to the North and South, although the guards and patrols Qin Tian saw were similar to those at the East and West Gates, the rotation schedules were different.

To probe further, Qin Tian even disguised himself and entered East Capital City.

He had long known where East Capital City's military camps were, so this time he headed straight for them.

Sure enough, near the West City Gate, there was one more camp than Qin Tian remembered from before.

Judging by the look of it, because the Dragon Clan often dispatched troops westward from East Capital City, the barracks were more concentrated toward the west.

At the other three gates—east, south, and north—there was only a single camp each, seemingly much the same as before.

Qin Tian came to the City Lord Mansion beneath East Capital City.

The City Lord Mansion floated in the air, awe-inspiring and imposing.

At least, that had been Qin Tian's impression back then.

Looking at it now, Qin Tian felt it was like something made of paper.

"The Dragon Clan's East State General should be inside this City Lord Mansion."

Qin Tian had received intel that Long Tianwu had appointed one of her trusted generals from her coronation days, Long Qitian of the Imperial Family, as East State General, in charge of East State.

This Long Qitian was said to hold a status in the Dragon Clan on par with Long Xuanji.

After leaving East Capital City, Qin Tian decided to attack that very night, to avoid long nights and many dreams, and unexpected changes.

Qin Tian chose to attack East Capital City from the North Gate, led by two hundred Qin Family soldiers.

He himself would go alone, planning to break in through the South City Gate.

North and south, they fixed the time at midnight to strike simultaneously, aiming to throw the Dragon Clan into chaos so they couldn't respond front and rear!

Night fell, and the moon hung low like a hook in the sky.

Qin Tian waited quietly outside the South City Gate.

When the appointed time arrived, he changed his appearance, then leaped up; like a streak of flowing light, he shot straight toward the gate tower of East Capital City!