Chapter 118: Regrouping

"It won't captain." Long Tao continued to address Su Menqi with this title. "You need to arrange the squad according to a proper strength division. I don't know about the current progress, so I will leave the matter in your hands. I want to hit the enemy at his sore spot, to inflict a devastating wound. I will let you know about the time of the operation. I am going to make my second move now."

Long Tao took a chart out of his closet. "This is the map of the entire city. Now the locations marked red is the position you will need to cover. Our aim for the first phase is to disrupt the enemy's regrouping strategy. To do that we will need to divide them. The same divided and conquer strategy is going to be applied. You are not allowed to underestimate the enemy. You will kill each and every one of them by pure numbers."

"I am expecting these three strongholds to be on the move first. They have in total of 30 men, and we have 20 in the squad, along with another 20 which I will be providing you with. You just need to keep concentrating on moving forward with the plan. I will take care of your back-up."

Long Tao marked an alleyway." They will be moving through this alley towards the northern gate. What you need to is have our people attack them with their strongest long-range attacks. We are not expecting them to get multiple kills. We just need 3-4 killed. So be specific about the target. This will create a disruption in their rhythm, demanding them to split up, to have a greater number of survivors. "

The side alleys were marked out. "these are the two possible pathways they are going to choose, which would result in a split grouping. We are going to be present in both of them to welcome the two groups. Take the strongest ones as a hostage. The rest get killed. I will not tolerate any causality. This is going to the first purge. You are to immediately retreat into hiding after that. You are also allowed to kill anyone who might seem to be following you. We can't bear to have loose ends." 

"What about the second phase." Su Menqi wanted to know the details about the whole plan. "the second phase is not set in stone. It depends on their response to the scenario we put forward. But I assure you. I want a total wipe-out of all the organizations, I sent you the list of. Not a single individual should be left alive. "Su Menqi nodded in agreement. She was about to leave when suddenly Long Tao called out.

"I want one more favor from you. I want you to guard the princess for the coming nights. The assassins are not going to send someone who is more powerful than Qi general level 1 to the palace. You can help guard her against both internal and external enemies." Su Menqi complied and left for the palace. 

Long Tao was left with the chessboard set exactly as it was before. "Let's hope you prove to be a good opponent." He picked the horse and killed a nearby soldier. The game has already begun. 

The Jiao city-

In a nearby hideout on the outskirts of the city, the black- hooded figure was analyzing the current situation. "What is the report? Did the second group managed to evacuate the stronghold. ". "Negative sir, most of them were killed. Just two people managed to escape and are badly injured. The cultivation has been crippled. They are of no value anymore." The figure tried his best to control his mood. The groups who were stationed inside the city were being wiped out. The casualty was growing. "How many people killed until now."

"The current report places the number to near 500, sir. We have lost most of our men within the city. Awaiting orders from you sir. Should we launch a rescue operation?". "Do you want to kill the rest of the people too. Long Tao is no fool. I bet he already knows about the rest of our strongholds and subsidiaries. He managed to land such a heinous blow in such a small time.". 

"Do you have any new report about the group of people who are acting on Long Tao's order.?"." We did manage to find out that the black-buck squad is one of the supporters. The spies reported no siting of them in the borders. They are most likely the group who is carrying out the killings outside of the palace."

"how many men do we have stationed at the remaining strongholds". "It should be around 30." The figure looked at the nearby map. "So, this is his next plan. We need to prepare a reckon team. Prepare two. One will stay in this position and the other will stay here. He is trying to break the group. He will ambush both the groups in these two alleys. ". The figure smiled. "It's time for us to catch them off guard. You will not let any of the escape this place. Am I clear?" The informer bowed and exited the room.

The royal city-

Di Tao and Jiao Shen were currently sitting with a café. "What is the next plan. Are we going to kill another group of people today."? "Our mission this time is to provide support. We are to take care of the guys in the right alley. Long Tao thinks that the enemy might be able to grasp his strategy of dividing the two groups and send a reckon group to kill us. We are here to prevent that."

"Is there any news about my family?" the prince asked Di Tao. "Your eldest sister is supporting the court well. The chaos has been suppressed for the time being. They are currently gathering forces to retaliate against the traitors. You need to return to the royal palace, as soon as we finish the job here.". Jiao Shen agreed. He wanted to be present for his family, after the death of their father.

The whole place was in hustle and bustle when suddenly a loud bang was heard. "it has started. Shall we go to our positions." Both of them left the café." 

In another corner of the city, the attack has already started. As expected by Long Tao, the group chose to divide themselves into two. Either of them took a different side-alley to run. Su Menqi was present as usual. The ambush began. The fighters of this group of people were too easy to handle. When the group was done with killing, Su Menqi realized what just occurred. The stronger cultivators decided to band together. It was going to be very difficult to handle them. She just hoped that they were delayed by the other group. 

Su Menqi rushed towards the other group. The fight on the other side was quite intense. The members present on this site were near annihilated. "Let none of them escape. Fight like your life depends on it." Su Menqi ordered. The men were once again engaged in a gruesome fight. Su Menqi's group did manage to gain the upper hand after some time, due to their overwhelming numbers.

"Shoosslash", a sound was heard by Su Menqi. Although she managed to dodge the attack, the one beside her wasn't able to. This was the first casualty on her side. The attack came from behind her. When she looked back, all her hopes came crashing down. The enemy managed to surround them from either side. They knew about the plan. Su Menqi tried her best to remain calm. The attack arrived soon. Her group was being assaulted from both sides.

A top a building nearby-

"I told you, didn't I. They would be able to guess the plan. I suppose it was good that we decided to come here to provide support. These weaklings wouldn't last for even a second against this assault." Di Tao was speaking in a hurried tone. The prince didn't know how to respond. He was a Qi master level 8 practitioner himself. Most of the people in the fight were of that realm. Su Menqi was a realm higher. "You have a powerful weapon prince. Its time to use it properly. Let's go.". Both of them jumped down and rushed towards the enemy. 

The alley-

Su Menqi was about to lose all her hope when suddenly her attacker's head was pierced by a spear. The guy fell down. "I hope we weren't late." The prince helped Su Menqi up." Long Tao send us as a back-up. We will take it from here." The assault started soon. Di Tao was killing his enemies crazily, while the prince was a little behind. The thing to notice here was the fact that every kill of the prince was achieved in one shot. The weapon was showing its actual utility. "We need to speed up.". 

Sometime later-

The brawl was finally over. The deaths on Su Menqi 's side was around 5. " you are to regroup within the palace's ground tonight. Long Tao has decided to make his next move. The rewards are within this ring. He urges the group to heal all their injuries fast enough. The pills would help you in that.". 

Su Menqi used her Qi to inspect the ring and found out lots of pills, in addition to a lot of weapons." We will be moving against our first major opponent in this fight. The weapons are specifically designated according to name.". Di Tao rushed out with the prince after informing Su Menqi about the contents.