Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The prime minister’s arm was severed from his body. It happened so fast before anyone could react…
Despite being a martial arts Grandmaster, Zhao Kuo was not young anymore. His Qi and blood had significantly declined. He could not react as fast.
The black shadow, like a bolt of black lightning, tore off Zhao Kuo’s arm in an instant…
Blood splattered. It was so painful that color was drained from Zhao Kuo’s face.
It surprised everyone there.
The old eunuch acted immediately. He waved his fly-whisk as if he intended to whip the air into pieces.
Martial arts Grandmasters who were supposed to protect Zhao Kuo activated their Qi and blood to stop the old eunuch.
A battle broke out in the garden.
Their Qi and blood flew across the sky. The fly-whisk collided with knives and swords.
Since the old eunuch was the strongest cultivator in the Imperial City, the two Grandmasters were both defeated.
Zhao Kuo was as pale as a ghost. He touched where the arm had been, but there was nothing at the moment. His eyes were severely bloodshot.
He looked back. However, he saw Yuwen Xiu laughing like crazy…
A black creature that looked like a long serpent was wrapping around Yuwen Xiu’s waist.
The black snakelike creature had gills on its neck, which looked like a ring of coral. However, it had four claws on its belly, all of which were grasping Yuwen Xiu on his waist and shoulders.
Was that a dragon?!
Zhao Kuo’s pupils constricted. He took a deep breath.
A black dragon was wrapped around the emperor.
Zhao Kuo took a step back. Staring at the black dragon, he saw a tinge of excitement in its eyes…
Looking at Zhao Kuo’s bleeding, severed arm, Yuwen Xiu showed a satisfied look.
He was too depressed.
As the emperor of Great Zhou, the ministers had twisted him around their fingers.
His minister bought leaders of the Imperial City Guard and even mobilized a massive troop. However, as the emperor, he could not do anything about it.
Even his decrees were stolen.
There was no dignity in the life he was living at all.
Outside of the capital city…
The world was in a precarious situation. Troops from North County and West County were coveting the emperor’s throne.
And in the interior of the court, those treacherous ministers did nothing but keep submitting statutes, requesting him to impeach their colleagues, as if they were afraid the world was not chaotic enough. And they even kept disobeying the emperor.
Imperial Advisor Kong Xiu locked himself in his house. Yuwen Xiu did not blame him for that.
He even felt grateful, because if the Imperial Advisor had not done that, Yuwen Xiu would not have recognized how dark and evil this government was.
With the black jiao dragon wrapped around Yuwen Xiu’s body, Spirit Qi was surging and spreading. The water in the pond was tumbling.
Since the black jiao dragon was a spiritual creature, Yuwen Xiu and the dragon could influence each other.
Yuwen Xiu’s disposition would influence the black jiao dragon to a great extent, and the black jiao dragon would influence Yuwen Xiu as well.
“Old dog! Open your eyes widely.”
“This is a real dragon…” Yuwen Xiu said with a crazy laugh while looking at Zhao Kuo and pointing at the black jiao dragon that was wrapped around him.
Beads of sweat covered Zhao Kuo’s forehead. He retreated a little bit, gasping heavily.
“Lu Ping’an was right. In this world, strength matters most… You are bullying us because I’m young and weak! You are scared of Kong Xiu because he is the philosopher of Confucianism, a great Confucian scholar in the world.”
“You are frightened of the Overlord because his martial arts technique is unparalleled…”
“You dare bully no one except us!”
Yuwen Xiu approached him, step by step, snarling. He had been suppressing his emotions for too long. He really needed to let them out.
His face was as red as blood in the evening glow. Zhao Kuo was intimidated by the young emperor’s shocking, crazy look.
This was not the weak, well-mannered, and soft-spoken Yuwen Xiu he knew at all!
“If we were also a strong cultivator like Lu Ping’an, would you have had the nerve to bully us?!”
“You are just bullies to the weak and cowards to the strong!” Yuwen Xiu roared in anger.
Suddenly, he pointed at Zhao Kuo. Even his fingers were trembling.
“Kill!”
“Kill him!”
“Now that the world forced us to be unbenevolent, then we will be a tyrant forever!”
The black jiao dragon, still wrapped around Yuwen Xiu’s body, rolled its eyes. It greedily took in a wisp of dark, gloomy energy from the young emperor.
Then, it opened its mouth, showing its long teeth, and it flew out like a flash of black lightning once again.
Zhao Kuo retreated as fast as he could like a startled bird.
In the meantime, he shouted, “The Imperial City Guard is under my control now. Beiluo’s 500 armored horsemen have been attacked by the 8,000 elite soldiers!”
“Your Majesty… The odds are not in Your Majesty’s favor!”
Zhao Kuo intended to turn and flee as the black jiao dragon approached him. However, the black jiao dragon did not retreat. It bit down deep into his shoulder.
Zhao Kuo screamed in pain.
“Protect me! Come on! Protect me!”
The two martial arts Grandmasters slightly turned pale. They bypassed the old eunuch to run to Zhao Kuo’s aid.
One of them mobilized his Qi and blood with a stern shout. He threw his long sword over toward the black jiao dragon.
The black jiao dragon let go of Zhao Kuo’s shoulder. The gills in its neck suddenly opened and enlarged as the dragon growled at the Grandmaster.
A mysterious force was vaguely surging in its eyes.
The Grandmaster was startled. He looked as if he was lost.
The next second…
Blood splattered.
The black jiao dragon sprang onto the Grandmaster and started biting him…
It kept tearing the Grandmaster’s flesh away from his bones.
Zhao Kuo was bleeding all over, scared out of his wits.
“The immoral emperor is keeping a monster! The world will plunge into a catastrophe. A catastrophe!” Zhao Kuo snarled in a deep voice.
Yuwen Xiu kept advancing. He was carrying a unique sword at the waist.
With a smile, the young emperor walked toward Zhao Kuo.
“We are immoral…”
“Okay. We’ll be immoral then!”
Yuwen Xiu raised his sword. A wisp of Spirit Qi surged and swept over.
A head flew into the air as blood splattered onto the young emperor’s imperial robe.
******
Lake Island, Beiluo.
Lines were jumping in Lu Fan’s eyes.
A breeze stirred his hair and white clothes.
Ni Yu scooped some warm wine. She poured the thick wine into the bronze liquor cup.
The lines vanished from Lu Fan’s eyes.
He let out a sigh.
He had seen everything that has happened in the capital city. However, he was not sure whether the black jiao dragon’s change was good or bad.
Lu Fan created eight cultivation methods for dragons through the Dao Impartment Platform. The black dragon inherited one of them. As to where and how far it could reach, it would depend on itself.
However, Lu Fan did not think it was a big deal. Even if the black dragon went too astray, in the worst-case scenario…
He could just remake it.
*******
On the long street of the capital city…
Dead bodies piled up as blood flowed through the street…
Knives and swords were everywhere. Broken shields and armors were scattered all over the place.
Pools of blood were forming as the crimson liquid continued to flow.
Beiluo’s 500 armored horsemen versus 8,000—it was a difficult battle given the significant gap between the numbers on both troops.
However, the result of the battle shocked everyone. The 500 armored horsemen from Beiluo had barely moved. They were enjoying themselves as they watched the battle unfold. In fact, they were very excited.
It was almost a landslide victory.
Nie Changqing killed 2,000 soldiers with one strike of his butcher knife.
With her white dress fluttering, Ning Zhao advanced while releasing Spirit Qi. Whenever she would pass by, the armored soldiers would all kneel down. And when her Cicada Wing Sword would sweep over, bodies would lay flat on the ground, lifeless.
Yi Yue waved her long whip, leaving a boundless trace behind. One by one, the soldiers screamed helplessly after being whipped.
When cultivators fight against average soldiers—despite being elite soldiers who had received stringent training—it was still a sure win for cultivators.
On horseback, the Confucian student, wearing an azure robe, turned pale. This slaughter put him in a trance.
On the Hidden Dragon Ridge, the Overlord’s 100 subordinates fought 5,000 enemies. Blood flowed into the river. His status was then established.
However, since the Confucian student did not see the battle on the Hidden Dragon Ridge with his own eyes, he always treated it as a rumor.
But now…
The Confucian student had witnessed firsthand how strong and frightful cultivators were.
And he also realized why the prime minister valued Du Tao so much.
On the sedan chair lifted by six servants, Du Tao was as pale as a ghost.
They were too strong… Their strength made him feel despaired.
Those were real cultivators, and they were stronger than he was—he who was just an amateur!
“Attack! Attack and kill all of them. Kill them up close! Consume their strengths!” Du Tao roared from the sedan chair.
He was restless.
The only countermeasure he could think of was using the human wave attack to consume Ning Zhao, Nie Changqing, and Yi Yue’s Spirit Qi.
Once all of their Spirit Qi was consumed, they would just be like average martial arts practitioners. By then, it would not be so difficult to kill them!
However…
The setting sun tilted. The evening glow was as red as blood.
The repressed knife kept killing. A strike of the butcher knife killed 2,000 soldiers, and another strike killed 2,000 more.
The troop of 8,000 elite soldiers was dwindling…
Many elite soldiers had been scared out of their wits by this hellish sight. Throwing their armors and helmets away, they turned to flee immediately.
The long street was gradually becoming empty.
No matter how the Confucian student cursed at them, those elite soldiers did not stop fleeing.
A troop could fall apart like a house of cards. This was out of the control of humans.
The Confucian student, wearing an azure robe, was trembling. The 8,000 elite soldiers were scared off by only two people…
Cultivators. Such were cultivators!
Cultivators from White Jade City!
The Confucian student looked back at Du Tao.
“Master Du, you are the only one we can count on now…”
“If we fail to stop the armored horsemen from Beiluo, the prime minister’s plan will also fail!” the Confucian student, donning an azure robe, said with bloodshot eyes.
Meanwhile, in the sedan chair, Du Tao had been in a state of confusion.
“Stop them?!”
“How would I stop them?” Du Tao roared.
His eyes were full of fear. He got to his feet to jump off the sedan chair. Then he ran back the way they had come.
He ran into the soldiers like a fish.
The Confucian student, in an azure robe, was shocked and irritated by Du Tao’s vulgarity and cowardness.
However, the next second, a butcher knife struck down. The unreal shadow of the knife made it look like a knife of the heavens. Even the pavement of the long street looked as if it was cut open.
The knife cut across the Confucian student’s body. Blood covered his eyes, blurring his vision. He flopped onto the ground and passed out.
Du Tao was scared witless. He kept fleeing in a hurry.
However, he suddenly stopped running, as if he had sensed something. He saw Nie Changqing, grasping the butcher knife, gasp. The latter’s body was out of Spirit Qi.
Du Tao was exultant!
As expected, a cultivator’s Spirit Qi was limited!
Finally, his chance had come!
However, Du Tao’s exultant cheer did not last for more than three seconds. He saw Nie Changqing put a sugar-coated thing into his mouth…
Then, wisps and wisps of Spirit Qi soared from the body of Nie Changqing, who had been out of Spirit Qi.
Du Tao turned pale.
He suddenly realized how ridiculous the so-called human wave attack was!
White Jade City’s cultivators…
He was not a match for them.
He turned to flee, but it was too late.
Silent footsteps came. A pressure caused by the vibration of Spirit Qi suddenly engulfed Du Tao.
Du Tao went weak at the knees. He flopped onto the ground.
“It’s you who is challenging White Jade City?” Ning Zhao said in a plain voice while looking at Du Tao, who was kneeling on the ground.
Her dress was even whiter than snow.
Du Tao was terrified. He looked up, intending to beg for her mercy.
However…
The Cicada Wing Sword flew over like a snowflake.
Du Tao was interrupted.
A pungent smell of blood filled the air over the long street.
Luo Cheng’s hand, grasping the knife, was trembling. This sight would be unforgettable for him.
Those three defeated 8,000 soldiers.
Under the setting sun, three white-clothed individuals were standing on a mountain of corpses and in a sea of blood…
Like three aloof snow lotuses that had forsaken the world.