Stealing the Heavens - Chapter 944 - The Emperor Of Ling
From Suiren Feng’s mouth, the emperor and subjects of Great Wu finally realized what kind of monster they were facing. A New Yu that broke away from Great Yu, even if its strength was less than half of Great Yu’s, was still a terrifying power none of the mortal kingdoms from outer heavenly realms could deal with.
Great Yu was, after all, a great power that had stood alone against Heaven and Buddhist League for countless years. On the other hand, those mortal kingdoms, including Great Wu, were just some insignificant powers in the outer heavenly realms being controlled by big and small immortal sects. As for those immortal sects, they were the insignificant pawns who served Heaven, and could not even be considered as its periphery power.
They had finally understood the huge gap between them and New Yu. At Wu Qi’s suggestion, the armies lowered their banners, muffled their drums, and retreated as fast as they had come. Along their way back, the people of all mortal kingdoms were forced to migrate further south. Great Wu had given up the northern expedition and decided to turn its spearheads to the east and west. There were more mortal kingdoms in those two directions, and its next goal was to expand its military forces by crushing their armies and plundering their people.
According to Wu Qi’s strategy, if Great Wu could conquer more than thirty percent of the mortal kingdoms from outer heavenly realms, it would at least have the strength to defend itself under attack from either Great Yu or New Yu.
Under the strong deterrence of New Yu, the whole Great Wu began to move at Wu Qi’s will, expanding and marching its armies tirelessly. It began to march east and west at the same time, devouring those mortal kingdoms like an ever-growing ferocious creature.
Meanwhile, near the eastern border of the region controlled by Dong Hai, Princess Zhang Le was making an inspection of the fortresses and cities with a large host of people.
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Over the past few months, conflicts and clashes had been happening here. In some occasions, the army of Dong Hai was able to kill the enemies effortlessly, but they suffered minor losses at other times. With such a long border, there were at least a thousand conflicts breaking out every day, and more than two thousand soldiers had been killed.
It was not a good sign.
Wu Qi often sent information back to them, so Dong Hai knew very well about the situation of the outer heavenly realms. It was impossible for those little mortal kingdoms to possess the strength to pose any threat to Dong Hai. One good example was Great Wu. How could it cause any actual harm to New Yu?
But, it was a fact that Dong Hai was losing soldiers daily. This could only prove that outside the areas controlled by Dong Hai, a new power had emerged in the vast far east of Pangu Continent, and this power was strong enough to pose a certain threat to Dong Hai. It was also possible that other formidable powers were involved, who had the strength and courage to constantly probe Dong Hai.
Heaven had promised not to take the initiative against Dong Hai. But apart from Heaven, there was also the Buddhist League, a colossal behemoth. Moreover, no one could be sure of the credibility of Heaven’s assurance. Who could guarantee that Heaven was not up to some plots and schemes even right now?
On the wall of a fortress manned by three thousand soldiers, Princess Zhang Le threw her glances to the east at a vast, flat grassland. Less than a hundred miles away there stood a city which had just been built some two months ago. It was enormous, large enough to accommodate millions of people. At the moment, large crowds of people were tilling the land and building houses around it, as if they were about to surround the city with clusters of villages and towns. Within the area covered by her divine sense, that was thousands of miles around, she saw at least ten million people busy working.
An extremely tall pole with a huge flag was erected on top of the city’s west gates. The pole stood three miles tall, and the flag measured about a thousand feet in length, with a large purple character embroidered across its surface: ‘Ling’. Even the soldiers with stronger cultivation base in the fortress could see it, not to mention Princess Zhang Le.
The pole made an imperious sight with its immense height, which was rather similar to the watchtowers Wu Qi had erected right in front of Liu Bang’s front doors in those years. The huge character, Ling, was apparently the handwriting of some great master; it was vivid and powerful like a dragon hovering over the flag, permeated by a force of indelible aura.
“Ling?” Princess Zhang Le frowned. “Do you have any information about which mortal kingdom it represents?”
Yan Bugui shook his head. In the past two months, he had lost thousands of spies, more than the soldiers killed in the fortresses along the border. Somehow, the far east, where the spies of Dong Hai were once free to enter and leave, had become a dangerous trap. Spies who had crossed the border never came back, as if there was a professional organization as strong and efficient as the one he ran, secretly targeting his men.
With the eyes of many Dong Hai’s courtiers on him, especially the ancestor-level figures of Great Yan’s imperial clan such as Yan Dan and Yan Qijun, Yan Bugui’s face flushed and he bowed his head in embarrassment.
Like Yan Bugui, Li Si, Su Qin, Zhang Yi, and Xu Fu looked down at their toes in embarrassment. After the six states joined as an alliance, the four of them, who were somewhat dark and twisted in character and knew many fierce and brutal tactics, were thrown into Dong Hai’s spy system by Wu Qi. Yan Bugui was just in charge of the overall situation while each of them headed a branch.
It was true that Yan Bugui was disgraced by the severe loss of spies, but it was no less a humiliation to the four of them, who did the actual jobs.
Presuming on his seniority, Huang Xie laughed from the side and said, “How could you be so careless when it comes to military intelligence? If you have difficulty getting your jobs done properly, I can always share the burden for you! Haha!”
Huang Xie was kind of isolated by others because of what happened to Yuji, Yuyao, and Yue Tan. Even the courtiers of Great Chu did not bother to talk to him, except for a group of his confidants. The military officers of Great Chu, most of whom were loyal to Xiang Yu, were quick to love and quick to hate, and they despised men as cold and heartless as Huang Xie. As for the civil officials, how could they have anything in common with him when their emperor, Qu Ping, was such a romantic and affectionate man?
So, Huang Xie had been a little cranky lately, and his words were barbed, unpleasant to the ear.
Xu Fu snorted coldly. He narrowed his eyes and was about to argue with Huang Xie when a shrill dragon roar suddenly came from the sky over the city in the distance.
That startled everyone. They glanced over to the direction at the same time and saw a five-clawed golden dragon flying toward them, surrounded by clouds. On the back of the dragon rode a handsome middle-aged man garbed in a purple robe.
Eight generals in purple armor which covered them from head to toe and revealed only a small part of their faces flew closely beside the man.
The generals of Dong Hai took a step forward at the same time, fixing their eyes on the eight generals in both excitement and wary. They were eight generals with the cultivation base of Third Pangu Heaven. In other words, they had stepped into the realm of Primordial through practicing the cultivation base of the human race. Even by means of cheating, Wu Qi had only produced a dozen men with such cultivation base in Dong Hai, including Huang Liang, and yet the man was accompanied by eight!
Ao Buzun was stroking Immortal Jadebone’s hip when he saw the golden dragon flying menacingly toward them. “How dare you flaunt like that in front of your ancestor!” He said with a cold snort.
A low, strange roar came ringing out of his mouth, and the mighty golden dragon trembled before plunging from the sky like a heavy rock. Luckily, the man behind its back reacted quick enough. A cloud drifted out of his feet and supported him from beneath.
On top of the wall, Ao Buzun, Yuan Qing, and the others who were not so kind burst into laughter. Catfish laughed the hardest, and instinctively revealed her catfish head with drool dribbling down the sides of her big mouth. Clearly, her appetite was aroused by the golden dragon.
Although Ao Buzun had played a trick on the man, he did not seem to mind. Instead, he smiled and continued to fly to them. When he was about a thousand feet from the wall, he cupped his fist and bowed to Princess Zhang Le, who was in the middle of the crowd.
“I’m Zhang Tengyun, the Emperor of Ling. May I have your name, my lady? Have you betrothed?”
His words immediately cast a shadow over Princess Zhang Le’s face. She snorted coldly and chanted a strange incantation.
Frowning slightly, Zhang Tengyun chuckled under his breath and said, “What a hot-tempered beauty! It happens that I need a queen to take care of the affairs in the inner palace, and I’ve decided that you will be the one!”
A bizarre ghost howl rang out as a grayish white shadow suddenly appeared with an immense evil aura next to Zhang Tengyun. The incorporeal thing shrouding in an aura that could freeze a man’s blood crazily tore at the emperor’s body, and the shrill howl it let out was trying to rip his soul to pieces.
Almost at the same time, a flawless, pure white lotus flower, about ten feet in circumference, gradually flew out from the top of Zhang Tengyun’s head, radiating shafts of soft immortal light that lit up the surroundings.
When the light shone on the shadow, the evil spirit uttered a despairing shriek and dissolved into a wisp of black smoke. While frowning, Zhang Tengyun snapped, “You should not be so vicious, for you will be the ruler of the Ling Dynasty’s nine inner palaces. Now follow me back, and I will teach you how to be a motherly model of the people before you are crowned the Sacred Mother of the human race!”
Ao Buzun roared with laughter. Pointing at Zhang Tengyun, he said, “Where did this crazy guy come from? Who does he think he is? Aye brothers, he doesn’t take us seriously! Did you see how he tried to seize our people in front of all of us? I wonder who gave him the courage to do that?”
Without uttering a single word, Lord Xiansheng pulled out his Illusion-breaking Halberd and thrust it at Zhang Tengyun.
Zhang Tengyun’s face turned cold and he snorted faintly. A general following him here took a step forward and stood before him. Out of nowhere, a golden round shield appeared in front of the general, gleaming brilliantly like the sun. In the next instant, the halberd and the shield crashed into one another.
The crowd heard a muffled thud, then saw Lord Xiansheng pull back his halberd and hover in midair with his head held high.
A crack about the width of a palm split the round shield from the middle as the general, who had stopped Lord Xiansheng’s attack, trembled. Then, the armor near his chest suddenly burst open and his blood spurted out of the hole.
Zhang Tengyun was shocked. A purple line emerged on his forehead and flicked open into an eye, giving the people on the wall a glance. What he saw made him shudder. The white lotus flower floating over him suddenly radiated a blinding light, in the midst of which the group of men vanished without leaving behind a trace.
“Ling Dynasty? Assemble the army! We are going to wipe out this dynasty and kill all the members of its imperial clan!” Princess Zhang Le’s cold voice echoed out across the top of the wall.
