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Chapter Eighty-Two: Defeat the Heart
writer:无罪      update:2022-07-21 15:26
  Crown Prince Yugou was the first to enter the dust mountains, but when he entered, the white energy surging off his body suddenly retracted. The white bone ship instantly disappeared, returning to his body and forming a terrifying white bone armor. Only his eyes were exposed, flashing with quiet fire. He looked like a demon god made from white bone.

  When the Master of Fire entered this formation, he pulled back his flames. The bright red robe on his body flashed slightly, and even some of his energies as a cultivator was concealed.

  Above the two, there seemed to be thunder ringing in the body of the old woman in yellow robes. Her energy surged in waves, like storms had been sucked into her body and was going to explode.

  “It is Zheng An.”


  The crane cry came from the sky. Such thunder could not be undetected. When the first crane cries sounded, Qing Yaoyin’s expression turned grave and he spoke quickly.

  “From Jiaodong Commandery?” Qian Mu had never heard the name, but from Qing Yaoyin’s expression changes, he knew that who had come was no minor person.

  “An old monster of Jiaodong Commandery, she has lived longer than anyone else in Jiaodong Commandery. When young, she cultivated in the South Sea Sword Temple. During a duel, she killed the sect leader.” Qing Yaoyin glanced at Qian Mu. “The sword of South Sea Sword Temple is very strange, and Jiaodong Commandery also has many strange tactics.”


  Qian Mu immediately frowned deeply. For cultivators, if they could not cross the door to realm seven and eight, then what they could do was learn more and more ways to defeat the enemy. The longer one lived, the more strange tactics one learned. This was another kind of growth.

  Sensing the thunder coming from the body of the old Jiaodong Commandery monsters in the sky, at least he was sure that the primal energies of the universe in the body of the old woman far surpassed ordinary cultivators.

  When ordinary cultivators drew primal energies into the body, they were gentle and calm. When they were expressed out of the body, they could cause more primal energies to become strong and violent. However, the primal energies of the universe in the body of the Jiaodong Commandery monster was violent to begin with.

  “You need to prepare to act. Alone, I may not be able to deal.”


  At this time, Qing Yaoyin glanced at Tantai Guanjian, and said something that shocked Qian Mu even more.

  While the descendant of that old imperial city academian had been dead when he fell, everyone had sensed his strength. Then Qing Yaoyin, who had killed him, was naturally even more powerful. But now, Qing Yaoyin did not have any confidence facing this old Jiaodong Commandery monster, and needed to work together with Tantai Guanjian.

  How terrifying was this person?

  Tantai Guanjian was going to nod when Ding Ning shook his head from the side and said softly. “To defeat a person, first defeat their heart. She used the soaring snakes to use up our vital energy so we will first use the soaring snakes to use up her energy.”


  Qing Yaoyin stilled and then silently agreed.

  Zhangsun Qianxue shook her sleeve slightly, and had the infant nether dragon sense her intentions.

  No one had objections. Because in terms of detailing with the enemy, no one had more experience than Ding Ning, or more foresight.

  Ding Ning looked up. In the sky above, the shadow of the crane had already appeared.

  At the same time, the Jiaodong Commandery old monsters on the back of the white crane saw Ding Ning and the others.

  Looking at the state of the Donghu monk, Zhangsun Qianxue and the others, this old woman in yellow robes was very satisfied. She did not want to waste time and did not want to talk to these people.

  Following her wishes, the white crane under her gave an even more piercing cry. Amid this shrill sound that made people’s energy seas feel uncomfortable, a golden line of fire came from the mouth of this red-crowned crane.

  There was only a slender golden ray, but a wild wind formed in the air. Even space seemed to be twisted out of shape by the energy contained within.

  Qing Yaoyin narrowed his eyes slightly and waved his sleeve up. A bright sword energy shot out of his sleeve, and intercepted the line of fire from the sky.

  Boom!

  With a muffled terrifying explosion, the line of fire was destroyed, turning into countless balls of fiery cloud which swept out. This unusual crane was attacked by the shock waves, and its figure could not help but go up a hundred feet into the air.

  Qing Yaoyin was slightly bent at the knees. From this attack, they seemed to be evenly matched, but there was a dot of golden energy that had followed behind his sword energy, passing through the fiery clouds, and coming below the white crane and attacking the crane’s abdomen.

  This white crane was a beast even stronger than the serpents, and naturally felt a fatal threat. The platinum feathers exploded. In this critical moment, it spat out a threat of golden fire from its mouth to attack that little bit of golden light.

  The golden light flashed, avoided the line of fire, and flashing towards the other side of the crane.

  The white crane was shocked, and spat fire again.

  In a flash, the golden line of fire and the golden energy had fought several rounds, flashing and dodging in the air. They were like the flying swords of two powerful cultivates, shockingly fast, but at this time, no one could win against the other.

  This golden light was naturally the Six Winged Gold Cicada Qing Yaoyin had raised. But at this time, Zheng An on the white crane did not split her attention to deal with it. The storm in her body was at a peak and about to surge out. She stretched out her hand, her wrinkled face flashing with a fanatic light.

  A blue light appeared in her hand, just the size of a crane’s egg. But there was water and lightning spinning within, and there were even the shadows of many island and giant ships. This simple blue ball of light crudely left her hand and fell like a child throwing a rock.

  “What method is this?”


  When this blue ball of light left her hand, Qian Mu’s eyes were filled with shock. He was a grandmaster who people feared, but he was also a child. In his senses, within this blue ball of light, there were truly islands, giant ships, waves, and lightning.

  “The World Holding Ball.”


  Ding Ning quickly answered Qian Mu’s question. “A secret art of Jiaodong Commandery, but first, it needs the lifebond item forged from the “Zhe” in order to be used. The Zhe is a kind of deep underwater beast which can swallow the energy of a part of the world, regardless of whether the energy is good or not, or suitable to itself. For a cultivator, this is akin to swallowing the energy in a part of the world.”


  Qian Mu immediately understood why this Jiaodong Commandery monster could hold so much primal energy in her body. This was using the core of a powerful beast as her lifebond item, and this was a means that ordinary cultivators could not imagine.

  At this time, a dozen enormous figures appeared out of the dust mountains.

  Sensing the power coming off these enormous dozen shapes, Zheng An paused in the air, and even the “World Holding Ball” stopped for a moment.

  Volume 3 82 - Reality

  In the south of Changling, the Divinity Bureau.

  This ordinary-looking Taoist temple gave off a dark and cold presence. Other than the powerful people deep in the imperial palace, all the other powers in the Qin Dynasty held great wariness and fearful awe towards this place. Yet, many of the people in the building also had great wariness and fearful awe in their eyes.

  This was all due to a woman in white robes.

  Ye Celeng walked down the carriage and followed a grey stone path into a dark and cold courtyard. Threads of slanted light fell along the mottled wall and reached her body.

  In the deepest courtyard, there was a carriage stopped next to a dying tree. The carriage was deep purple, the wood gave off a glow and was carved with flower patterns that layered together and was gilded with gold and jade. It was extremely luxurious.

  Ye Celeng stopped and looked at this carriage. She smiled and said with slight sarcasm towards the study inside, “This should be the purple sandalwood carriage of Li Lingjun’s establishment. I had not expected you to take it. So the bureau chief of the Divinity Bureau likes materialistic items like this?”


  “I do not care if this is a materialistic item, I just like the scent of the wood.”


  A calm voice, that seemed hollow, passed through the half-opened door.

  “You care about the smell but not the appearance. The wood is rare so it makes sense.” Ye Celeng slowly turned around. She did not walk further but looked at the floating dust motes in the light behind the half-open door. She said coldly, “Other people do not know your flying sword and cultivation, do I not? I have a reason to not want Bai Shanshui dead. What about you?”


  There was silence behind the door for a moment. “Do you really not know?”


  Ye Celeng said, “I really do not now.”


  “The bow is put away when the birds are dead.” He said after a moment of silence, “But I do not do this just for myself.”


  “No matter who it is for, I hope you will not do this in the future.”


  Ye Celeng looked up and said calmly and coldly, “I am me, you are you. You should know that I do not want to owe you.”


  There were no more words from behind the door. Ye Celeng too said nothing else as she turned to leave.

  However, the moment she took a step, the hollow voice sounded again from behind the door. “Some things I did not record on the report. There are some problems with the path Bai Shanshui took. She seemed to have made a special trip to some alleys.”


  Ye Celeng suddenly turned around.

  A cultivator in yellow robes walked out of a carriage, and stepped onto the soft grass in a patch of forest outside Min Mountain Sword Sect.

  The Min Mountain Sword Trials had finished. But the cultivation teachers and court officials had not completely left. From his yellow robes and presence, they knew where this yellow-robed cultivator came from, and had varied expressions in their eyes.

  This yellow-robed cultivator was extremely respectful and understated in his conduct. He talked quietly with a green-robed student of Min Mountain Sword Sect in charge of reception before returning to the carriage and waiting quietly.

  Thinking of how the noble mistress of the palace would not be in a good mood, the teachers of the cultivation places and the court officials did not dare to linger. Some of those who had wanted to stay longer left early. The forest quickly grew even quieter.

  The green-robed cultivator of Min Mountain Sword Sect came back again. Zhang Yi silently followed behind him, passing through the forest, and onto the yellow-robed cultivator’s carriage.

  The yellow-robed cultivator had reported his identity and reason in coming. But Zhang Yi could not understand why his status was enough for the noblest woman to make such arrangements. The closer he got to the carriage, the more uneasy he was.

  When the yellow-robed cultivator saw Zhang Yi’s figure, he walked out of the cabin. Then he bowed slightly to the Min Mountain Sword Sect cultivator leading the way and Zhang Yi.

  “The empress has me pass this letter to you.”


  The yellow-robed cultivator did not say anything extra. He saw the Min Mountain Sword Sect cultivator move to the side and Zhang Yi walk in front of him. He took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Yi.

  Zhang Yi immediately paled. Before he even touched this letter, his hands started to tremble.

  But he did not make any sound. He looked down slightly and opened the letter. Seeing the delicate characters which contained a great power, his hands trembled even more violently.

  “I understand.”


  After reading it three times and confirming he had not missed a character or misunderstood a meaning, he bowed slightly to the yellow-robed cultivator and then said, “I agree to this proposal.”


  The yellow-robed cultivator looked at Zhang Yi’s pale but determined face and his still trembling hands. He reached out a hand, as though to draw back the letter, but when his finger touched this letter, it was crushed by a gentle power, turning into dust and dispersing from Zhang Yi’s hands.

  Tthis yellow-robed cultivator was powerful but only an ordinary messenger for that perfect woman in the imperial palace.

  In Min Mountain Sword Sect, there were some courtyards to the side of the green jade mountain. Some newly joined students, or students about to join to study like Zhang Yi temporarily lived there.

  Zhang Yi returned to his temporary residence. He did not talk to Dugu Bai and the others. He shut the door to his room and prepared brush and paper.

  His face was still pale but his hands had grown steady again.

  He calmly wrote a letter, left it on the table, and then pushed the door open to leave.

  **

  A line of black clouds slowly flowed through the sky. A black goshawk passed through the cloud layer and suddenly glided over a black mountain.

  The black mountain was not tall. It did not have any tree or grass, but numerous gravestones of various sizes that formed a forest.

  An imperial procession stopped outside the mountain.

  There was a grave in a mountain valley near the top of the mountain. The gravestone was a small coronet.

  The Qi Emperor stood in this mountain valley with a mournful expression.

  In the entire valley and on the entire mountain, he was the only person standing.

  When Zhang Yi was leaving after having written a letter, he was reading a secret message that had reached his hand.

  He was not so calm.

  After closely reading the letter, he started to cry out loud, powerfully and sadly.

  “Prospect Teacher! You left without a complaint, but after you left, I cannot eat or sleep. In my dreams, I see the Qin army break into the city without anyone to stop them.”


  “Prospect Teacher! The Min Mountain Sword Trials have just finished. Do you know that Changling has another genius youth like Jin Liuli and An Baoshi?”


  “Prospect Teacher! It is so hard to think about…… When Ba Mountain Sword Field was at its peak, the Qin already had so many geniuses that people could not understand. Now, they are still endless. Does Yuanwu really have the Heavenly Mandate?”


  “Prospect Teacher! Jin Liuli and An Baoshi are unrivaled by the youths of other dynasties. In another decade, I fear no one will be a match. But those two monsters are not enough. There is another one now. We are all right. You left behind your student who buried himself with you. What does this mean?”


  “Whenever I think about it, I want to have died with you.”


  “Prospect Teacher! If not for the people of Qi, I want to have gone with you.”


  The Qi Emperor cried without any imperial presence, snot and tears flowing down. The grave in front of him had been deathly quiet, and lifeless. No cultivator could sense any presence. Yet, as his cries grew louder, the soil on the grave started to tremble minutely.

  It was just black soil trembling, but it clearly gave off a disgust like it saw through the Qi Emperor.

  The Qi Emperor’s eyes were wide as he stopped wailing. But he continued to occasionally sob.

  That presence of disgust grew sharper as though it was a recluse who disliked being interrupted. The soil on the grave moved like incense in the wind. A dot of black light slowly appeared. A black grass giving off a dark and cold presence grew out.

  This black grass only had one blade, and it faced the Qi Emperor when it was growing. But in a flash, the tip of the grass blade pointed in the direction of Changling.

  The Qi Emperor stopped sobbing. After a moment of conflict, he bowed to the grave. When he turned around, his face was covered in tears, but there was a hint of joy deep in his eyes.

  Volume 5 82 - Selfishness

  Zhangsun Qianxue did not understand.

  Ding Ning turned to glance at her and said, “Of the thirteen marquises of the Qin, each of them are giants in the country, but this is not like the time when Ba Mountain Sword Field led the army. Back when Ba Mountain Sword Field led the army, most of the generals were brothers, people who could fight to the death for each other. They had a common goal between them that surpassed life and death. But these marquises are different. They have their own thoughts. The alliance between them is more like the one between the Chu, Yan, and Qi.”


  Zhangsun Qianxue thought and said, “But with just this possibility, the chance is too slim, especially when Yuanwu has shown the power of the seal weapons during the Deer Mountain Conference. The advantage of the Chu weapons mostly will be that they can be used by normal cultivators, and at most, just make up for the lack of numbers compared to the Qin army.”


  “Zhao Mu and Tang Mei are both good generals. Zhao Mu is better than Tang Mei because he can ignore life and death. Sometimes, on the battlefield, some deaths and sacrifices cannot be avoided. Ignoring and forgetting these unavoidable deaths can give your subordinates the feeling of being strong and like steel, so the general will not hesitate and be restrained.” Ding Ning picked up some snow salt and added it to his drinking jar. He shook it and then drank. He said, “The best part of Zhao Mu is that he knows how to use people. Based on the Wuzhi information, back then, he sacrificed one of Tang Mei’s subordinate armies, which caused Tang Mei to retire in anger. He knows Tang Mei’s ability to lead an army, and also his personality. Tang Mei cares very much for the death of each soldier, so when Tang Mei leads the army, he will not make major movements, he will be very delicate, and drag out the length of the war.”


  “In quick battles when the two sides crash against each other, it is a pure struggle of power. It is hard to find a chance. But once there is more time, and a war made from many battles, there is a higher chance of finding a chance for victory.”


  Ding Ning smiled, somewhat admiring, and said, “Even more importantly, Zhao Mu knows that they will have to rely greatly on outside powers in this war, for example, the Ba Mountain Sword Field. Right now, the biggest worry of the Chu Dynasty is if Ba Mountain Sword Field will control the dynasty. If this war is determined by one or two big battles, and Ba Mountain Sword Field was in charge, even if Lin Zhujiu stands up and says he wants to be the strategist, it will cause a backlash. Most people in the Chu Dynasty will not agree.”


  “But if the few big battles are turned into small skirmishes, even if Lin Zhujiu appears in one of battles, it will not cause much strong resistance from the Chu.” Zhangsun Qianxue understood and slowly said, “And finding a chance from chaos is what you are most skilled at.”


  Ding Ning glanced at the old monk at the front and said, “We also have another key to victory. We have a cultivator who is the strongest next to Yuanwu. While he had acted in the Donghu imperial palace, the people of Changling do not know that he has followed us as an attendant. Zheng Xiu is skilled in assassinations, but we can also become skilled.”


  Many of the places where Qin and Chu met were originally not suited for inhabitation. The natural conditions were too poor, and the production too scarce. Only a few people could live. In the lands with rich water and plants, many people had gathered since antiquity, so there were naturally cities there, the centers of wealth and power.

  But when the Chu and Qin armies started to move on the border, during this spring, these desolate areas attracted the gazes of the world. The result of the war would completely change the situation of the world.

  Many people were traveling like Ding Ning. A group of seven was urgently riding in the wilderness of the Daliang Commandery.

  The Daliang Commandery was one of the north most commanderies of the Chu Dynasty, in the hills at the base of Yin Mountain.

  Many years ago, Daliang did not belong to the Chu Dynasty but was a country of its own, Liang. But the dynasty was so weak that it survived in the cracks, and sought protection of the Chu.The Chu wanted this area, but due to face, could not attack it. When the Qin Dynasty started to wage war with the Han, Zhao, and Wei, the Chu Dynasty almost smoothly got this area in their bag.

  The Chu Dynasty only let one Qin army pass through here. The Qin army stepped over the Liang without any effort. Then the Chu Dynasty sent their army, and took back the Liang. The royal clan of Liang had completely disappeared when the Qin army came, so the Chu just installed a distant relative of the King of Liang to be a commandery prince here.

  Such a story of trickery like this would frequently occur in history, and did not make many waves. Yet the Daliang Commandery was very strategically important to the Chu. Over a third of the battle horses in the Chu Dynasty, and beasts used for fighting came from here. Even more importantly, there were packed river valleys and hills in Daliang Commandery. They could be used to set up forts, many intricate battles. Large scale battles could not occur here. But after Daliang Commandery was the dual river plains of the Chu Dynasty. There were large swathes of flat land, and both land and water routes that reached straight into the center of the Chu Dynasty.

  So on the front lines where both sides had positioned millions of people, the most important on the west line was Yangshan Commandery, and on the north line, it was this Daliang Commandery.

  The Daliang Commandery was the command center for the north armies of the Chu. Within the Razor Cliff and Giant Stone Forest in the center of the Daliang Commandery, there was an elite army of two hundred thousand stationed there.

  At this time, these seven riders were at the south edge of the Daliang Commandery, and were two days worth of travel from the Razor Cliff. Three of the riders were at the front, one in the middle and three in the rear. The one in the middle had a calm expression, and was occasionally thoughtful. This was the general of the Chu Dynasty’s unprecedented war, Tang Mei.

  There were no fields in the wilderness, no roads, just natural grasslands. So the horses did not need to be restrained, and the horses could be let to gallop forward freely. The sunlight was bright, the fresh smell of the newly emerged grasses kept creeping into his nose. As he moved up and down, he felt slightly sleepy.

  At this time, there were still two hours until sunset. Yet from the low lying part of the river ahead, a wisp of smoke rose. Soon after, many indigo wisps of smoke followed and covered the world in front of the seven riders.

  Tang Mei slowly looked up.

  The ground started to tremble. A cavalry troop rushed up from the low lying area like they had come out of the ground and appeared on the flat ground ahead of them.

  “While I am already the general in name, in the end, I have to reach the command camp and sit on the seat before I am truly the general. It seems that there are skill people who do not want us to get there.”


  “Tang Zhefeng, no wonder your blade does not sharpen. It appears you do not just need a sharpening stone, but also blood and flesh to sharpen.”


  “You are right. This time is not bad. This way, I can sharpen before reaching Razor Mountain Camp.”


  “Tang Zhefeng, can you not split up like this, and talk to yourself.” A cold voice helplessly rebuked.

  The one to speak was a rider behind Tang Mei. Back on the day that Zhao Mu’s subordinate had reached Tang Mei’s residence, this person had been watering in the backyard. When he had been doing farm work, he looked the same as a normal farmer. But now, his coiled hair was loose, long and eerie, reaching his waist. His face was also delicate, his chin sharp, and his face very white. If he was not also pretty tall, at a glance, people would feel he was a woman.

  But the person who had said the first three sentences was a rough man with a beard, whose hair was casually tied up with a cloth ribbon, and seemed to dislike the heat. What was most eye-catching was that he carried a very large and flat cloth bag.

  The three sentences had seemed to be three people talking, but in reality, he had been the only one talking.

  Hearing the scolding from the icy long-haired man next to him, he winked and said, “Tang Zhefeng, so many years, and when excited, cannot change this problem.”


  “But if it could be changed, will it still be a problem?”


  “Yes, just be happy. If it is changed, I will not be happy.”


  Then, he said two sentences, and laughed.

  As he spoke, the riders on his side, and the incoming cavalry did not stop, and the two grew closer.

  There were thousands of cavalry coming from the low lying ground of the river. The general seemed to be in his thirties. He wore black armor that looked like snake scales. The fine seal scripts on the armor gathered the primal energies of the universe, and threads of dark and icy energy came out.

  This general’s features were not special, but his expression very cold, like he was carved out of metal. His fingers were covered in fine scale armor. His left hand hell a wild purple flower that seemed to have just been picked. But as time passed, the bright wildflower was frozen by the cold energy coming off the scale armor of his fingers, and withered.