Chapter 538: War

Emperor Xia’s army walked more than a thousand miles each day. They traveled over land and water as if it was an ordinary thing to do.

Throughout the journey, not once did Shen Lian step out from the chariot. He was completely immersed in the exquisiteness of ‘Lianshan’, and as far as the Taixu Strategy was concerned, Shen Lian obtained an even greater understanding of it. He lacked an in-depth knowledge of the strategy but gradually began to understand a bit more. However, he still harbored fears of not being able to reach a state similar to that of Founding Master Qingshui when she first conceived the Taixu Strategy.

Attain the Dharma and forget the Dharma. If Shen Lian wanted to improve, he needed to transcend the Taixu strategy and create a branch of fundamental Dharma. Only when the time comes he could truly advance to the state of Taiyi. Otherwise, even if he had achieved Taiyi, it would still be within the perimeter of what Founding Master Qingshui had established.

As Shen Lian understood this point, he started to put in effort into this domain.

These days, even with some spare time, Shen Lian did not meet with Emperor Xia. He would not have anything to talk about with the emperor anyway. Furthermore, Shen Lian also did not receive any visits from Guan Longzi, who was following the army.

It started snowing ten days ago and yet the movements of the army were unaffected. In fact, they quickened the pace in this snow. Emperor Xia’s Mobile Barracks of High Command was not in the midst of the army, but they were at the front line which was the position likeliest to be confronted by the enemy.

Shen Lian was in the middle, sandwiched by the Xia army.

Shen Lian’s chariot was drawn by an exceedingly good horse. In terms of strength, it was not inferior to the strength of an ordinary flood dragon. After all, this was the imperial horse of the emperor.

Shen Lian tactically did not wander around as he pleased because he had at least received a generous amount of respects from the troops.

When Shen Lian saw the snow, he could not help but feel joy, and thus he opened his window.

Outside the window, the pure white scene was a sight to behold. The sea and the plains were all white. Snow fluttered about and landed on the ground. It was enchanting. Shen Lian loved this kind of weather and scenery.

The chariot was moving fast but Shen Lian’s keen eyesight enabled him to look clearly at the snow by the edge of the path. Perhaps Shen Lian was able to see more of the scenery because the chariot was moving with such speed.

All of a sudden, the chariot stopped. The army of fifty thousand stopped as well. Everyone stopped because the front line stopped first.

The whole army was akin to the body of a person. The demands of exacting obedience were dutifully abided by. The strength brought about by such orderly discipline was stunning.

Shen Lian was inevitably somewhat confronted by the army.

He did not step out of the chariot but only tasked black tiger to fetch him a basin of clear water. With one wave, the scene at the front line appeared in the water.

Through the clear water, Shen Lian saw two eye-catching figures. One was a man clothed in black and yellow imperial robes, it was Emperor Xia. The other person was standing opposite to the emperor, clothed in a white fox fur coat. He looked to be in his twenties.

Shen Lian had previously come across many people who were completely clothed in white. Be it, men or women, in all cases they were out of the ordinary. But compared to this person’s wholly white appearance, there was something different. It was not his quality nor was it his manner but it was as if he was born to wear white.

The fluttering snow served as a foil to that person. Even though the pressure of Emperor Xia’s power was like the sea, the person seemed to be unconcerned.

Shen Lian was rather silent. He actually wanted to go out and see the two of them but now was simply not the right time. If he were to go out, there might be a possibility that the man in white would leave. If that happened, Shen Lian would have no opportunity of watching the exchange between these two exceptional forces.

He tried as much as he could to restrain his Qi dynamic and silently looked into the clear water to watch the situation unfold.

The man in white was not just anybody. He was Yunyang, the legendary son of the White Emperor, chief of the Dongyi.

Emperor Xia sent troops with the intention of attacking the Youshi of Dongyi, therefore, Yunyang had to come up with something. Any ordinary person would probably figure that Yunyang would unite all the clans of Dongyi, and together they would resist against Emperor Xia and eventually seek peace.

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However, a bystander would definitely not have imagined that Yunyang would appear to Emperor Xia in the middle of the latter’s path to attack Dongyi, let alone the fact that Yunyang dared to come alone.

It was not only the bystanders that would think of this as unimaginable, Emperor Xia thought the same as well.

Emperor Xia once sent people to chase after and kill this youngster, so he had almost no impression of Yunyang. When Yunyang sent a phoenix to deliver a message to the emperor, that was when the emperor sensed some heroic spirit in the boy and that was all.

Today was a different story. Emperor Xia now saw that the boy not only had heroic spirit but also guts.

In near distance, Guan Longzi grasped his pen and a jade scroll. Finally, he wrote down some words, “The Emperor and Yunyang meet in the wilderness”.

With that simple sentence, Guan Longzi managed to capture every light and every shadow made by the swords as well as each hair-raising moment. Regardless of its succinctness, if future generations chanced upon Guan Longzi’s handwriting, they would be able to see the excitement revealed by each stroke of the pen.

The dispute between Yunyang and Emperor Xia was the epitome of Dongyi and Xia Kingdom’s thousand-year-old resentment. The precise resentment was unclear. Even if they took three whole days just to argue it out, they would still be left without a clear answer in the end. There were times where the Xia Kingdom has fallen and one of those times was a result of Dongyi’s attack on the Xia Kingdom. When the Xia Kingdom was at peak strength, Dongyi was a deferential vassal. There was even a point during Dongyi’s deference where the Xia Kingdom experienced civil unrest. The emperor fled to Dongyi, requesting aid from Dongyi’s military force to quell the revolt.

Regardless of how debatable the resentment may be, the tension still had to be resolved.

In this world, however, a resolution was not so much of a solution as it was the deciding factor in life and death.

Yunyang was younger than Emperor Xia. His cultivation was slightly more shallow compared to the emperor and yet he stood there all by himself. He was at a disadvantage but still, he came. Regardless of whether he would win or lose in this fight, he would be a person of celebrated reputation. But if he lost, he would have to pay a heavy price. That price would be so heavy that there would not be the slightest chance for him to regret.

No one could comprehend his reasoning behind this, including Emperor Xia. The emperor neither understood nor wanted to understand.

Only one sentence was spoken by the emperor, “Since you have come, you shall die.”

Yunyang stared intently at Emperor Xia and softly replied, “Try me.”

Emperor Xia said nothing further. He was not a man of many words. Furthermore, he understood long ago that it was much more effective and efficient to get a point across by a blunt exchanging of fists as compared to the flowery exchange of words.

A fist appeared between the heaven and earth out of a sudden. From Yunyang’s perspective, the only thing that remained was this massive iron fist.

The Xia army quickly retreated. Within a flash, they retreated more than five thousand meters but it was still not enough.

They kept on retreating as if they knew that a great destructive force would be unleashed once the emperor made his move.

Shen Lian calmly and attentively watched the events through the water as they unfolded. With his Monitoring Technique, he observed the fight between the two from a brilliant viewpoint.

Emperor Xia’s fist did not undergo any unnecessary transformations, only his bare strength was released. Even so, it would not be easy to dispel the transformation of the fist.

There was no earth-shaking explosion. Anything in the way of Emperor Xia’s mighty power would simply be crushed to dust. The only thing that could be seen was the appearance of a crater in front of him. When viewed from above, the crater was a large impression of a fist with a surface area of roughly five or six meters.

Emperor Xia’s figure continued to build up to about a thousand feet.

The muscle and flesh of his body coiled and entwined. It was lavish with the beauty of power.

Having retreated some hundred thousand meters away, each soldier dug a pit from where they stood and buried themselves there. Apparently, they had received special training and knew that this was the best way of avoiding the effects of Emperor Xia’s power.

Naturally, Emperor Xia’s one punch could not dispose of Yunyang, for the latter was up in the sky, carried on the back of an emerald phoenix. His hair danced along with the breath of the wind and he stood upon the beast with his hands clasped behind his back. With an imposing countenance, he looked at Emperor Xia.

This might just be the most exciting battle the Netherworld had seen in more than a hundred years.