Just as the three thousand-plus Poison Rain Arrows were about to fall, the light of Protective Magical Artifacts and Cultural Treasures flared up. Then, one Attack Spiritual Artifact after another unleashed its power.
The Demon Cultivators operating the Poison Rain Quivers suddenly felt the sky brighten. They looked up to see brilliant Battle Poems and Magic descending upon the crowd like a dazzling waterfall of light.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM...
Half the city wall exploded, and all the nearby Demon Cultivators were engulfed in the radiance of the Battle Poems and Magic.
When the light faded, half the city wall was gone. The ramparts were littered with mangled corpses and severed limbs, and the screams of numerous Demon Cultivators filled the air.
One hundred Magical Artifacts and Cultural Treasures had instantly reversed the situation.
The Literature Cultivation Assault Team charged onto the wall. Martial Cultivators and Battle Poem Soldiers and Generals worked together to drive the Demon Cultivators off.
By the time the Demon Cultivators in the rear reacted and prepared to send reinforcements, the Literature Cultivators had already seized the wall and were arranging their forces inside the Ministry of Justice Office.
Gazing at the wreckage-strewn ground, the Demon Cultivators hesitated.
It had been a long time since a minor assault had been this brutal. Such casualties were only supposed to happen during a full-scale offensive.
Li Qingxian suddenly discovered that the sensory range of his Child Immortal-Seeking Bees had expanded. The Ministry of Justice, which had been shrouded in a fog-like mist to his senses, now seemed to have several large holes torn in it, with the mist thinning in many areas.
Li Qingxian released more Child Immortal-Seeking Bees and wrote more detailed notes on the Developing Paper.
The text and voice of his squadron leader, Lur Yunyan, suddenly appeared on the Developing Paper.
"Are you certain Tongyu Hall is undefended?"
"Certain. There are only a dozen or so people, and most of them are Ungraded."
"Good! You’ve distinguished yourself again!"
Li Qingxian didn’t understand, so he asked Fuu Mingcheng, who was beside him.
Fuu Mingcheng thought for a moment and said, "The Ministry of Justice has four sides and four corners, and we’ve attacked them all. There are three assault routes through the West Gate. The plan this time was to charge into the West Gate’s main courtyard and take down the plaque of the Silver Storage Room in the Confiscations Treasury ahead. This is known as the Confiscations Treasury route—the simplest one. But the Confiscations Treasury is adjacent to the Prison Department. Tongyu Hall leads to the main hall of the Prison Department, and behind that is the Celestial Prison. So, tell me, which would be more effective: striking the Prison Department or striking the Confiscations Treasury?"
A look of realization dawned on Li Qingxian’s face. "The Confiscations Treasury is just for storing confiscated silver taels. The Ministry of Justice’s three main duties are interrogation, capture, and imprisonment. Breaching the Confiscations Treasury wouldn’t be a major blow to them. But if we were to breach the Prison Department and fight our way to the gates of the Celestial Prison, it would be a huge blow to the Ministry of Justice."
"Exactly. In our previous minor assaults, we’ve never managed to breach the Criminal Capture Department or the Prison Department. If we can break into Tongyu Hall, it would be a rare and major victory for an assault."
"Brother, give me a Cultural Treasure, would you?" Songg Baige shamelessly squeezed over.
"Go ask your dad for one." Li Qingxian shot him a glance.
"You’re never going to stop taking advantage of me, are you?" Songg Baige said, exasperated.
"Enough nonsense. We have to break through the West Courtyard’s Inner Sect gate first. Only then will it count as breaching the hall," Li Qingxian said, looking ahead.
In the wide West Courtyard, Demon Cultivators were scattered around the main gate, their eyes glinting green or blue from their Demonic Skills, like a pack of wolves in the night.
"Break the gate!"
A clear voice rang out from the rear.
The Literature Cultivators descended from the city wall one by one. Then, with a CLANG and a CRASH, the Battle Poem Soldiers and Generals got to work, digging through the city wall and smashing the West Courtyard’s main gate.
The moment the West Courtyard’s main gate collapsed, the Literature Cultivators erupted in cheers.
"Victory!"
The morale of the Cultivators of Literature Cultivation surged.
Li Qingxian noticed that the mist shrouding the Ministry of Justice in his vision had thinned even more.
Squad after squad of reinforcements arrived from the rear.
The total number of Literature Cultivators now exceeded one thousand, and the gap in numbers between the two sides shrank abruptly.
"Attack!"
The Literature Cultivators attacked again, using the same old formation: Battle Poem Soldiers and Generals and Martial Cultivators at the front, with Literature Cultivators in the rear.
The Demon Cultivators, not to be outdone, engaged them in a battle of offense and defense on the flat ground of the West Courtyard.
People were constantly retreating from the battlefield, either injured or having exhausted their Magical Power, True Essence, or Literary Qi, falling back to rest.
The two sides were locked in a stalemate.
Half an hour passed. Cultivators on both sides were drenched in sweat, and the number of Battle Poems and Demon Heads was less than half of what it was before.
Suddenly, two new hundred-man squads of Literature Cultivators charged out from the flanks, unleashing a sky full of Battle Poems and Magic as they attacked the Demon Cultivators guarding the West Courtyard’s Inner Sect gate.
The Demon Cultivators panicked for a moment. Three to four hundred more Demon Cultivators rushed out from the rear to meet the attack, but the two Literature Cultivator squadrons seemed to have anticipated this and quickly retreated.
Li Qingxian was starting to see the pattern.
’That earlier large-scale carnage was actually an accident. This kind of back-and-forth stalemate, with few casualties but high consumption of Magical Power and Literary Qi, is the norm.’
’After all, this is an assault between the Six Ministries, not a war against the Demon Race.’
While the squad was resting, Songg Baige said lazily, "Captain Fuu, at this rate, it’s going to be hard for us to break through."
"You’ll understand once you’ve participated a few more times. Out of ten assaults, we fail to breach the gate in five. We’re lucky if we manage to knock down a wall in two of them. We have more people this time, but the Ministry of Justice has mobilized even more. My guess is we’ll break the gate at most. But that’s fine. It gives both sides an out and prevents things from escalating." Fuu Mingcheng glanced at Li Qingxian.
Li Qingxian shrugged. "I don’t want to escalate things either, but the Ministry of Justice still hasn’t given us a response. It’s infuriating."
Songg Baige said, "Qingxian, you know I’m not one to stir up trouble, but I heard the Ministry of Justice doesn’t think much of you or the Patrol Bureau. They think you can’t do anything to them."
Li Qingxian snorted coldly.
’If this keeps up, it’ll just be an endless series of minor back-and-forth assaults. It won’t solve the fundamental problem.’
’The problem isn’t that my uncle is being followed. The problem is the life and death of my entire family, including myself.’
’The Demon Sect’s people don’t hesitate to use lethal force. If I can’t stop this, I’m as good as dead.’
Just then, the Developing Paper twitched. Li Qingxian looked down; it was a message from Squadron Leader Lur Yunyan.
"Someone’s outside looking for me. I’ll be right back."
After speaking, Li Qingxian walked out of the collapsed West Gate of the Ministry of Justice, treading over rubble and broken bricks as he headed toward a distant intersection.
A familiar figure was standing by the intersection.
Li Qingxian jogged over. "Brother Han, what’s going on?"
Han Anbo said in a low voice, "A friend of mine lives next to Xile Street. He said he saw a large contingent of Demon Sect members move into the courtyard next to his home tonight. He knew the Literature Cultivators were launching a minor assault on the Ministry of Justice tonight and felt it was strange for the Demon Sect to be heading toward the Patrol Bureau. So, he snuck out to report it to me."
Li Qingxian said in disbelief, "Is the Demon Sect insane? A two-front assault? The Night Guard may have suffered repeated cuts, but they are by no means weak."
"Their target is likely the Patrol Bureau, not the Night Guard," Han Anbo said.
Li Qingxian thought of the Guard Commander, the Cowardly King, and instantly understood.
"You’re saying that even if the Night Guard helps the Patrol Bureau, they won’t give it their all?"
"That’s what I’m afraid of. I wasn’t sure what to do, and reporting it directly to others didn’t feel right. I could only come to you," Han Anbo said.
Li Qingxian pondered for a moment, then immediately used his Communication Talisman Disc to inform Zhou Chunfeng, explaining the matter in detail.
Afterward, he picked up the Developing Paper and sent a message to Squadron Leader Lur Yunyan.
Then, Li Qingxian recalled the Immortal-Seeking Bees from the Ministry of Justice and dispatched all of them to the vicinity of the Night Guard Office and the Patrol Bureau.
In just a moment, Li Qingxian’s face turned ashen.
The Ministry of Justice had actually set an ambush near the Night Guard Office with over one thousand five hundred Lower-Grade Demon Cultivators.
More than half of the Patrol Bureau’s forces were away. No more than fifteen hundred people were stationed inside the Government Office, and of those, no more than three hundred were Entering Grade.
As long as the Cowardly King behaved as expected, he would certainly hesitate. But if he hesitated for even a quarter of an hour, the entire Patrol Bureau would be overwhelmed by over a thousand Entering Grade Demon Cultivators.
By the time the other departments of the Night Guard reacted, it would be too late.
Li Qingxian took a deep breath, his mind racing. He picked up his Communication Talisman Disc and sent a message to Zhou Chunfeng.