Volume One: Turmoil over Yan and Yun Chapter 110: The Final Act (Part One)
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It had to be said that, although Feng Qi found this gust of wind utterly nauseating, viewed as a game of strategy, the Divine Emperor and Dou Xiaotong had indeed played their pieces well.
In terms of impact, this battle had affected every race except the demon race.
In terms of scope, it had spread across more than half the Divine Dynasty and the entirety of the lands beyond the frontier.
As for the pieces on the board, even men of Yang Wanli and the Prince of Yanbei’s standing had not been spared.
As for the number of powerful figures involved, there had already been several battles worthy of being recorded in history. And that was not even counting the mêlée among the hundreds of thousands of troops from Yanbei, Bohai, the barbarians, and Jizhou.
The experts of the Locking Nether Pagoda had poured out in full force. There were more than ten Dao Integration cultivators alone... After all, theirs had once been a race on equal footing with the demon race. Though fallen from its former glory, it still retained considerable strength. Even if not all of them perished, should half of the Dao Integration cultivators who had entered the battle die, their losses would still make up for the vitality Dugu Feiyun had taken away.
But why had the Divine Emperor still not acted? What was he waiting for?
Since he was here, then who was the person in the imperial palace pretending to wield his authority? And who would dare impersonate the Divine Emperor?
Although Li Jinxing had yet to make a move, Yang Wanli was ultimately his student. Could it be that he would truly suffer a crushing defeat?
No. From Li Jinxing’s standpoint, victory or defeat in war was unimportant. What mattered was the enduring continuity of heaven and earth.
By that reckoning, he had already won from the very beginning. No matter how well the Divine Emperor and Dou Xiaotong counterattacked, they had ultimately fallen to the inferior position, because the devastation of all living beings had been unavoidable. In Yanbei alone, several cities had been massacred.
Then what of Bohai? The King of Bohai considered himself a man of extraordinary strategy and martial talent. He had concealed his strength and bided his time for so many years to create the situation before them. But if this was all he had wanted to accomplish, it would hardly justify all those years of forbearance.
There was no doubt that the King of Bohai’s aim was the imperial throne.
Either he was a fool, or he truly had confidence in victory.
With matters having reached this point, where did his turning point lie?
In the contest between supreme experts? No matter how arrogant the King of Bohai was, he could not possibly believe that the Palace Master of the Shifting Flowers and the Pavilion Master of Blood Weeping were certain to defeat the Saint of the Ultimate Sword.
In the relative skill of troop deployment? Even taking the most pessimistic view, if Yanbei fell, and even if the three provinces of Ji, Long, and Gui were defeated as well, what would he gain? Would the barbarians simply surrender their territory? Would the demon race do so?
Or perhaps Feng Qi was limited by his position and therefore unable to see the answer. There were simply too many questions he could not resolve.
The Divine Emperor had no intention of explaining them to him, either.
The two of them walked and talked, and in that short span of time they had already entered Wuyang.
“When the Founding Emperor entered the city in those days, he came through this gate. Later, in the hope of bringing peace to all beneath heaven, it was named the Gate of Everlasting Peace. But in My view, peace does not depend on such things. Ultimately, the imperial clan must be strong enough, and the human race must be strong enough.” The Divine Emperor spoke calmly. “With two Dao Integration cultivators standing guard, I dare guarantee the Divine Dynasty several centuries of peace. With three Dao Integration cultivators united in purpose, I could plan carefully and strive to ensure a thousand years without calamity. With four Dao Integration cultivators volunteering for the cause, even the Ice Plains would be worth conquering.”
Feng Qi did not understand why the Divine Emperor had brought up such matters, so he remained silent.
The Divine Emperor cast him a glance and continued, “Unfortunately, I once advised My imperial grandfather that, before ascending, he might first consider destroying the demon race. He did not agree.”
The Divine Emperor spoke simply, but whether the matter was truly as simple as he made it seem was impossible to say.
No matter how intelligent Dou Xiaotong and Li Jinxing were, neither had ever imagined marching on the City of Eternal Night and ascending the Palace of Eternal Night.
No matter how astonishing Dugu Feiyun and Wei Sanmu were, neither had dared claim that he could defeat the Demon Lord in a one-on-one battle.
The most benevolent abbot of the Zen Sect had never set foot upon the Ice Plains in his entire life.
The most unyielding Pavilion Master of Blood Weeping had turned a deaf ear to every contract calling for the Demon Lord’s assassination.
Because the Demon Lord was truly powerful.
Powerful in the manner of the strongest being in all history, past and present.
Feng Qi understood this.
Naturally, so did the Divine Emperor.
He had still brought it up, which suggested that he had indeed possessed a measure of confidence. Yet no matter how much confidence he had held, it had already died before it could be born.
In the end, he had failed to understand his imperial grandfather.
And so he could only return in defeat.
On this point, Feng Qi saw more clearly than he did. He said directly, “If the old sovereign had suffered mutual ruin with the Demon Lord before ascending, he might well have lost all chance of pursuing the Dao. The Divine Dynasty was his responsibility, but not necessarily his obligation. After all, looking over the old sovereign’s life, the thing he cared about most had always been his own Dao. Had the demon race not descended south in those days and interfered with his pursuit, the common people might hold an entirely different opinion of him.”
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The Divine Emperor gave a derisive snort, plainly disdainful of Feng Qi’s interpretation.
Feng Qi was astonished that the Divine Emperor could show such a side of himself.
The Divine Emperor immediately continued, “It is not as though I have never considered these matters. That is why, among all the princes who paid their respects to My imperial grandfather, I was arguably the most diligent in cultivation. Even Zhe is inferior to the person I was back then.”
Feng Qi thought for a moment before saying, “In terms of realm, there are few throughout the Divine Dynasty who could be called Your Majesty’s equal.”
The Divine Emperor glanced at him. “Indeed. Although I received many benefits from the imperial dragon aura, even without that external aid, I could still have achieved Dao Integration.”
Feng Qi neither agreed nor disagreed.
It was impossible to know, because it had never happened.
The Divine Emperor said softly, “Yet even after reaching this realm, I still cannot fathom My imperial grandfather’s thoughts. The realm was vast and beautiful. Why abandon it the moment he decided to? And as for the things you mentioned—if they were true, why did My imperial grandfather eradicate Xu Hai and pacify the demon calamity?”
Feng Qi could not answer that question.
He did not know the answer, either.
At that moment, a ghostly green pillar of light suddenly rose from the direction of the imperial palace, as though extending from the deepest abyss to the vault of heaven. Immediately afterward, the sonorous tolling of a bell spread through the air, and an ancient, unadorned bell slowly rose within the pillar of light.
Whenever any race forged a treasure meant to be passed down through the ages, it inevitably took the form of a bell, a cauldron, a seal, or a pagoda. The Nether race was no exception.
Of the Four Treasures Passed Down Through the Ages, the Locking Nether Pagoda had been seized during the war between humans and the Nether race, and had subsequently become a weapon used against them. The Nether Emperor’s Seal had been taken by Wei Sanmu and later passed on to Li Jinxing. The Nether Heaven Cauldron had also suffered grievous damage when Dugu Feiyun entered the Netherworld, and had yet to recover.
The only one still capable of serving a truly great purpose was the Nether Emperor’s Bell.
The bell tolled.
Nearly half the buildings in Wuyang City collapsed with a roar, while those closest to the pillar of light were reduced directly to dust.
Thousands upon thousands of cultivators died with blood pouring from their seven orifices. The ordinary people suffered even worse.
The Heavenly Observatory’s Sky-Watching Mirror shielded the workshops in the western city.
The wrathful lion statue before the Ministry of Justice protected the bustling marketplace in the eastern city.
The Gate of Penetrating the Nether in the Celestial Prison protected the residences in the southern city.
The northern city, having lost the Fate-Binding Stone, was utterly devastated. Countless people were killed or wounded.
The Divine Emperor’s brows lifted slightly.
It had clearly been nothing more than a simple movement, yet his entire being had changed.
Feng Qi felt it most keenly.
He was close enough to touch, yet as distant as the edge of heaven.
He was not tall, yet he blotted out the sun and covered the sky.
He had clearly done nothing, yet Feng Qi could barely manage even to breathe, as though every trace of air around him had been drawn away by the Divine Emperor in an instant.
Only then did he realize what kind of expert the man who had been speaking to him so amiably was.
Divine Concealment—a powerhouse on the same level as Xueyun, the Ultimate Sword, and the Saint of the Supreme Dao.
Fortunately, Xue Wuhen had taken Feng Qi into the Void Realm several times before, and he was quite familiar with this sensation of suffocation. With a slight stir of his mind, he communicated with the vital essence within his body and guided his aura inward, preventing it from leaking out. Only then did he turn his gaze back toward the pillar of light.
“Holy hell,” he murmured.
A residual image suddenly appeared within the pillar of light and stamped one foot upon the bell.
Golden radiance erupted, accompanied by the faint cry of a dragon.
The golden light collided with the pillar, and the two dissolved like snow beneath the sun.
The dragon’s cry clashed with the tolling of the bell, and both vanished without a trace.
Though the figure standing atop the Nether Emperor’s Bell was illusory, it was unmistakably the Divine Emperor.
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But the question was, how could one dare toy with the spirit soul before the Netherworld?
Even if Wei Sanmu were resurrected and Dugu Feiyun still lived, neither could possibly be so arrogant.
What, then, was the source of the Divine Emperor’s confidence?
...
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“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don’t you always claim to be a man of incorruptible virtue? How did you end up playing so dirty as well?” Far in the distance, Li Jinxing watched in the direction of Wuyang and clicked his tongue in amazement.
Dou Xiaotong spoke without expression. “Being upright does not mean being honest. When you know you are being schemed against, why shouldn’t you set a countertrap?”
“Yet earlier, you spoke with such absolute certainty,” Li Jinxing replied.
He was referring to Dou Xiaotong’s accusation that Li Jinxing had intended to open the Netherworld.
Dou Xiaotong shrugged and let out a somewhat helpless sigh. “The situation developing into what it is now was indeed not what I wanted.”
After a pause, he looked at Li Jinxing with great seriousness. “But the chief culprit responsible for this situation is you.”
Li Jinxing smiled and said nothing.
If he had been unwilling, who in this world could truly have schemed against him? And that was even more so now that he was in the Cloud Tomb.
It was simply that this opportunity had been excellent, and what he sought was largely in accord with the Divine Dynasty’s aims. He had been more than happy to push matters along.
Perhaps “push matters along” was not even the right description. After all, he had merely offered Bloodspeech a few words of guidance. Although things were still somewhat removed from his original suggestion, the initial results had already fully met his expectations.
The Dragon-Teng Grand Formation had been broken.
The Locking Nether Pagoda had been opened.
Kunlun had been destroyed.
At least ten Dao Integration cultivators from among the humans, barbarians, and Nether race had fallen. If his calculations were correct, the number should be twelve.
Regardless of who held Yanbei, it remained the first line of defense against the demon race. Therefore, the barbarians’ strength absolutely could not be weakened too severely. But since that serpent had encountered Mo Gu, it was presumably doomed.
The Grand Duke of the barbarians could not die. That being the case, the Lord of Divine Might Fortress was certain to perish... Who had told him to use a Heaven-Piercing technique to send the third son of the Feng family directly into Supreme Dao Mountain just as the great battle was about to begin? Having failed to preserve his full strength, death was inevitable.
As for Liang Zhiyin, although Tianxiang cultivated both sword and umbrella, her swordsmanship was ultimately impure. To think that she could slay the Silvermoon Wolf through such means was simply a fool’s dream. And precisely because she cultivated the umbrella as well, she was not likely to die easily even if she wished to.
As for Xu Hai, the headmaster of Kunlun had died in battle. Soul Formless should be able to rescue him.
Oh, and one Yama had died as well. Judging from his methods, he should have been the Lord of the Second Hall.
As for Bohai, Zisang Bushou was dead, and there should not be many further casualties.
The Zisang Bumu of today was no match for Ming Fa, but it would still be difficult for the latter to strike a killing blow.
The odds between Bloodspeech and Xue Qianz丈 were evenly matched. Whoever lost his head would die. Bloodspeech had received his warning and should not fight to the death. As for Xue Qianz丈... he had concerns weighing on his heart and would never rush heedlessly toward death.
Finally, there was Wuyang.
That old eunuch had lived for far too long. It was time for him to die. The Nether Emperor was the endpoint of this entire game, and surviving would be extremely difficult.
But the chief elder of the Nether race and the High Priest would not die so easily. The elders and consecrated experts who had reached Dao Integration, however, were certain to perish.
Three seats among the Elder Council, together with two priests...
Exactly twelve people.
...
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