After the battle ended, Dongcheng compiled a casualty statistic.
A total of 78,232 people died in the East City battle, including 140 at the Divine Realm, 3,631 at the Heavenly Spirit Realm, and the rest were either below the Heavenly Spirit Realm or civilians. Besides the dead, the number of wounded was even greater, more than five times the number of casualties. As for the resources lost, they were countless. The city walls, costing tens of millions of top-grade Holy Spirit Crystals, were destroyed, and the city's defense system was temporarily unable to function properly. Even the super divine vein beneath the East City was affected, and mining operations would certainly cease for several months.
The door was pushed open, and An Xiaoyu first peeked into the room to check the situation. After making sure she hadn't disturbed Jiang Yuan's cultivation, she carried the tableware in.
"Darling, I've stewed some thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum for you. It will help with your recovery." An Xiaoyu placed the tonic on the table.
Jiang Yuan sighed and said helplessly, "Xiaoyu, I'm fine now, I don't need these weird supplements!"
"That's not my fault. It's a small token of appreciation from various families in Dongcheng. I didn't want to accept it, but they insisted on giving it to me, so I could only cook it for you!" An Xiaoyu said, stirring the contents of the bowl with a spoon. She casually added, "Hey, guess who sent this thousand-year-old Yuanzhi today?"
"I rarely leave my house, how would I know!" Jiang Yuan said speechlessly.
While tasting the thousand-year-old Yuanzhi, An Xiaoyu said, "That's strange. Why would the little princess of the Ji family give you something, and it seems like she wants to come and see you!"
"The Ji family?" Jiang Yuan had no recollection of it. After shooting that arrow, he was almost completely exhausted. The dark curse mark of the white-haired old man not only corroded his demonic body, but also temporarily suppressed his divine power. Moreover, the water bear and the Undying Armor had both fallen into a deep sleep due to the excessive pressure.
“She’s just a little girl, but the way you’re looking at her is weird!” An Xiaoyu paused here, then asked suspiciously, “You don’t actually have anything to do with her, do you?”
"You know I dealt with her quite a bit during the Battle of Seoul!" Jiang Yuan was speechless. An Xiaoyu was trying to test him to see if he was being honest, but this time he was truly innocent.
"By the way, what's the situation in the other safe zones of Zhongzhou?" Jiang Yuan asked.
"It's not very optimistic. Two safe zones have already fallen. The Holy Spirit Clan's infiltration capabilities are too strong, and their attacks are too fast. They can't react in just one night!" An Xiaoyu said in a low voice.
"Did the Holy Spirit Clan massacre the human race after those two safe zones fell?" Jiang Yuan was worried about this.
“No, that’s not the case. The Holy Spirit Clan only plundered most of the resources within the safe zone. Of course, they also used their most proficient strategy of courting, constantly enticing talented humans to join the Holy Spirit Clan! After doing all that, the Holy Spirit Clan didn’t take any other action, just stayed in the city and waited to negotiate with Huatian Prefecture!” An Xiaoyu said.
"What are the conditions?"
An Xiaoyu thought for a moment and continued, "The two safe zones that fell this time are close to Lizhou: Chuancheng and Yangcheng, which is in the neighboring region. The fall of Chuancheng is not unexpected, because when the safe zone was established, Chuancheng provided the strongest troops in all regions. After the safe zone was established, those people stayed on the border to continue protecting China. This led to the loss of strong people in Chuancheng, who could not return, so Chuancheng's strength was limited. As for Yangcheng, there is no other reason than its small population and the awkward location of its safe zone, which led to its fall."
“I understand Chuancheng, but what’s the situation in Yangcheng?” Jiang Yuan pressed.
“Yangcheng covers hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, but there is only one branch of the World Vein in the entire territory, which is the inconspicuous Wushan Mountain Range. Moreover, its location is just opposite to Yangcheng. This has resulted in the fact that there is no large divine vein under Yangcheng that can be used to establish a sect.” After An Xiaoyu finished speaking, she shrugged and looked at Jiang Yuan innocently, saying, “You know how high the requirements for spiritual energy are for Spirit Awakeners after the start of the Apocalypse Era. In such an awkward location as Yangcheng, it is difficult to cultivate a large number of strong people.”
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuan asked, "What does the Holy Spirit Clan want to do by occupying these two safe zones?"
A massacre is definitely out of the question, unless the Holy Spirit Race wants to wage a full-scale war against the Human Race, as evidenced by their current actions of merely occupying safe zones.
"Demand compensation! And, exchange the hostages!" An Xiaoyu said helplessly.
"you mean?"
“That’s right!” An Xiaoyu nodded. “They want Dongcheng to release the Holy Spirit Clan members who were trapped after their defeat in this battle!”
Jiang Yuan frowned. As far as he knew, nine of the twelve cities in Zhongzhou had been attacked, three of them were fighting the Holy Spirit Clan, and the cities of Ancheng, Shacheng, and Luocheng, defended by Tianfu, had achieved a great victory over the Holy Spirit Clan. However, because the Holy Spirit Clan had anticipated that these three safe zones would be difficult to conquer, they chose to withdraw all their forces after a day of stalemate, thus avoiding a large-scale capture. Therefore, only the remaining three safe zones had prisoners. Chuancheng and Yangcheng were occupied, while Dongcheng, which had been under the most intense attack, had achieved good results, defeating the invading Holy Spirit Clan while suffering heavy losses in combat power and capturing some personnel.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit Clan's demand for prisoners can only be directed at the East City.
"And what happened next?"
Seeing Jiang Yuan's doubts, An Xiaoyu explained, "You don't need to worry about that. Tianfu has already sent people to negotiate with the Holy Spirit Clan. This time, the Holy Spirit Clan launched a sneak attack first, so even if we negotiate, we won't suffer any losses!"
"Oh, right, your spoils and honors have arrived!" An Xiaoyu took out a storage ring from her pocket and showed it off, saying, "Drink your medicine first, and I'll give you a surprise after you're done!"
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