Chapter 869: The Beginning of the War

“The emperor is dead and the situation is weird. Return to Liangzhu at once and bring a great army with you!”

On the thin piece of black stone was a row of striking, large, blood-colored letters. Hefting the heavy stone, Wu Qi squinted at the messengers and asked, “Did His Highness himself order you to deliver the message?”

Both messengers were clad in ragged clothes, their bodies spotted with wounds and dried blood. They had just been fed with some life-saving pills concocted by Dong Hai, and were healed by Oracles trained by Princess Zhang Le, only then they were able to stand still.

Upon hearing the question, they quickly bowed and said, “Yes, my lord. His Highness himself ordered us to deliver the message to my lord, and at the same time request my lord to return to Liangzhu at once with an army. His Majesty is dead, but his body is nowhere to be found. What he left behind was only an imperial edict that mentions of passing the throne to His Highness. Liangzhu is in chaos now. The newly formed Flying Bear Army has fallen apart, all the powerful clans are disquieted, and rumors fill the court. The situation has become unpredictable.”

Wu Qi narrowed his eyes, bowed his head and lost in thought. He reflected the conversation between the monk and the daoist. He remembered they mentioned that soon Great Yu would have no more energy to stop immortals and mortals from outer heavenly realms, and what they said had come true today. Emperor Haozun was dead and his body was nowhere to be found, and he had only left behind an imperial edict which some said hidden in a secret drawer. No matter how he looked at it, the incident smelled of conspiracy.

He would return to Liangzhu to rescue for a certain, because the messier the situation, the better it was for him to fish some benefits. The benefits for him would be self-evident if King Yang Shan were to ascend the throne. But why was Emperor Haozun dead? Who could kill him without alerting the palace’s imperial guards?

He waved the messengers away. After that, he quickly gave out a series of orders.

Under the leadership of Supremacy Three Flame, Patriarch Jiang Yun, Immortal Qing Xin, and Ao Guang, all the disciples of the Underhand Sect were to quickly find a blessed land along the border of Dong Hai and openly establish a base there. With countless immortal sects from outer heavenly realms invaded Pangu Continent now, every day there were dozens of them establishing their cave abodes all over the places. In a situation like this, Underhand Sect would not attract some unwanted attention.

Apart from Ao Buzun, Lord Xiansheng, Catfish, Yuan Qing, Gold Horn, Silver Horn, Gold Feather, Silver Feather, Litter Que’er, and Feng Tianling, as well as Lu Chengfeng, who was presiding over all the affairs of Dong Hai, all the rest of Primordial experts under Wu Qi, including the five from Luo Clan and all the demon cultivations, were to protect Underhand Sect in the newly established base.

Wu Qi gave them a principle, that all Primordial experts were not allowed to show themselves in the public. If the Heaven or some other powers were probing Underhand Sect’s overall strength, just let those disciples who were Gold Immortals to handle. Underhand Sect needed to be out of the limelight for the time being, and it was better for it to appear like a middle-sized sect.

At Wu Qi’s solemn order, Patriarch Jiang Yun and others brought their men and hurried off.

After a deliberate consideration, Wu Qi summoned Bajie, the little disciple he had taken in years ago. Over the years, he had not spent much time cultivating Bajie, as a result, this disciple of his had barely stepped into the realm of Arhat. Compared to the rest, who all had made huge progress, Bajie’s cultivation base was the weakest.

Nonetheless, as in his previous life, his fate was already tangled with Wu Qi, and in this life, he was brought up by Wu Qi, his loyalty was unquestionable.

Wu Qi patted Bajie’s cleanly shaved head, and then gave him a cultivation scripture of the ancient buddha. The technique was not from the ones cultivated by Lord Buddha and Buddha Futu; if Bajie dared to cultivate both the techniques, in less than three months he would be detected by those from Buddhism League, and by that time he would have to face endless problems. It was a technique Lord Yuan Ling had exchanged with an ancient buddha using spirit pills. It was very different from what was practiced in today’s Buddhism League. Although not as magical and profound, its power was greater than all the divine abilities used by today’s Buddhism League.

After handing over the scripture, Wu Qi said in a deep voice, “Over the years, I’ve found a batch of little monks who have talents in cultivating the mystic arts of the Buddhism League. Bring them with you and find yourself a good site along the border of Dong Hai, build a temple there and focus in your cultivation. Practice it with all your heart, and I’ll ask someone to bring you anything you need. Don’t act rashly without my order. When I am in need of you, I hope you have a group of capable men.”

Bajie did not ask any question. Instead, he placed his palms together and bowed to Wu Qi, and then strode off.

Wu Qi felt relaxed a little. With the Underhand Sect blended into the Dao League, Bajie blended into Buddhism League, he himself cultivated both the techniques of Dao League and Buddhism League, and with Scroll of Stealing hiding his true strength, no one could know what he was capable of. In addition, as he was holding a high position in Great Yu, no matter how the situation changed, he would be able to adapt to the circumstances and make the decisions that were in his best interest.

If Dao League won, he would become a Divine Golden Immortal.

If Buddhism League won, he would become an ancient Buddha.

If Great Yu won, he would become a King with immense merits.

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Regardless of how fierce they fought each other, Wu Qi would just sit back and wait for the right moment to pluck the fruit.

And together with the group of heavenly ghosts he kept, as well as Huhai and Xiang Yu, who were cultivating techniques of the Fiend League, Wu Qi’s trump cards were not just hiding in the Dao League and Buddhism League.

After making all the arrangements, Wu Qi no longer had the mood to attack and abduct those people from outer heavenly realms. At his order, thirty-six divisions of Dong Hai army strike camps and set off for Liangzhu.

Thirty divisions were hidden in Dark Yin Celestial Tower, and only six were outside on flying ships. As the fleet of one thousand and eight hundred ships zoomed past the sky, they cast an immense shadow across the ground. On each ship, there were three thousand soldiers and three hundred Oracles, and musicians were pounding on gongs and drums excitedly, blowing war horns and playing a marching song.

The flying ships were divided into five groups. The vanguard had Bai Qi as the commander and Zhang Yi as the military advisor; the right wing was commanded by Lian Po and advised by Lin Xiangru; the left wing saw Yue Yi as the commander and Su Qin as his advisor; the rearguard was commanded by Li Mu and advised by Sun Bin and Pang Juan.

Wu Qi himself took command of the main force. As he glanced at all the civil and military officials around him, he could not help but feel a little helpless. He had too many talented people under him, and it was a tough job to manage their relationship. Just now, these people had been quarreling for two hours just for the commander and advisor candidates. Fortunately, Wu Qi had brought enough troops for them to fight, and they quieted down after he promised them that they would all be able to lead their own army.

There were still many people left out of the army, including the many courtiers of the six states who stayed back in Dong Hai with their emperors. If they were to join this mission as well, Wu Qi would have run out of ideas of how to manage them.

It was both joyful and painful. Wu Qi finally realized that it was not necessarily a good thing to have too many talents under his command.

Along the way, Princess Zhang Le cast spells on the flying ships, boosting their speed by nearly a hundredfold. And so in just less than one day, the great army of Dong Hai had arrived in front of the outpost at the periphery of You Xiong Plain.

In front of them were two great mountains towered into the clouds, between which a military town was built, with walls less than three miles in thickness but rising ten miles from the ground. At the moment, the wall walks were crowded with people, while large weapons powerful enough to pose a threat to flying ships were slowly being pushed out.

Their approach drew two black figures from the wall walk. Two Oracles with three golden suns embroidered on their sleeves hovered in the air and glanced nervously at the fleet of flying ships. One of them cried out, “Who’s that coming? Why are you trespassing You Xiong Plain with an army? Don’t you know it’s a capital crime?!”

Bai Qi, the commander of the vanguard, gave a cold snort and took a step forward. In the next instant, he was in front of both Oracles. Without so much as looking at them, he said in a deep voice, “Something has happened in Liangzhu, and we are ordered to reinforce. Do you have any problem with that?”

After witnessing how fast could one practiced the cultivation technique of the human race obtained a significant result, all the war maniacs of the six states including Bai Qi had abandoned their own techniques in favor for the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture, which had been modified by Wu Qi. The new version was slower, but it allowed the cultivator to absorb natural energy and refine divine soul at the same time, and therefore lifting the limit of lifespan. At the moment, Bai Qi was shrouded in pure Pangu Sacred Energy, and when he asked the question, his aura turned sharp as a blade, forcing the Oracles to retreat.

They gave him a glance in horror. Just now, when Bai Qi emanated his aura, the Oracles felt as if they were not facing a man, but a bloody monster who had killed countless people. The menacing aura of death nearly dispersed their souls. But they had duties to perform, so they had no choice but gritted their teeth, gathered up some courage, and cried out, “In the name of the Human Emperor, no foreign subjects are allowed to enter You Xiong Plain!”

Bai Qi had no patience for the two Oracles, so he drew his swords and cut their heads off. The sword let out a loud dragon roar as Bai Qi, with a feverish red gleam shone out of his eyes, pointed at the military town and cried out, “My boys, ATTACK!”

The soldiers he commanded were personally trained by him, so they too had the same behavior as him. As soon as they heard the order, hundreds of thousands of soldiers drove their flying ships straight down toward the town, crying and hooting. Meanwhile, Bai Qi let out a long whistle, and in the next moment, he was completely covered in a thick layer of blood-red light, plunging down like a shooting star.

Zhang Yi nodded and cried out as well, “Attack! Attack! Attack! The Human Emperor is dead! Are they obeying the will of a dead man now? Break through this town and march for Liangzhu! We need to kill the treacherous officials and restore the discipline in Great Qin… Great Yu’s imperial court!”

Smiling, Zhang Yi waved his hands in the air, and immediately a terrible gravitational force engulfed the entire town. A loud rumble echoed out as blinding flares broke out all over the town; countless defensive spells were activated to protect it. But the mountains embraced it crumbled and collapsed, sinking hundreds of feet into the earth. The town was fully exposed in front of Dong Hai army now.

Before Wu Qi had given the order, the right and left wings of the army, and even the rearguard had all rushed out.

Wu Qi shook his head. Now that things had reached this stage, he might as well go all-out! Whatever the calculations of Heaven and Buddhism League, he had decided to poke a big hole in their plans first. In any case, with Zhang Yi and Su Qin, both of who were known for their silver tongues, at his side, he was not afraid of others when it came to twisting the truth.

Clenching his jaws, he waved his hand and cried out, “Attack! Attack with all your might!”