r18novel Page 419
Page 419
“Master Nangong, the worst ancestor in my family was eliminated with the help of His Highness. You can ask His Highness to take action, and then you can serve His Highness to make amends. That way, you won’t have to shorten your lifespan.”
Nangong Pushe was extremely stubborn about avenging his mother, and he couldn't bring himself to ask Li Chang'an to kill the top-ranked person on the Land Immortal Ranking.
"These are all my family matters, how could I trouble Your Highness? Your Highness has already helped me a great deal; my martial arts have improved considerably in the past six months. Thank you, Guan Ying, I will kill him myself!"
Nangong Pushe gripped the hilts of her swords even tighter, but Li Chang'an's next words caused her emotions to shift once again.
"White Fox Face, you can't be rigid in your approach to martial arts. Your method of harming your own energy to injure your enemy may not be without a way to improve it."
"I will teach you a set of mental techniques. Although it is a bit difficult to learn, it allows you to absorb the opponent's luck when attacking others, so that you will not damage your own energy or affect your lifespan."
Minister Nangong looked somewhat stunned, "How...how could such a technique exist in the world..."
Before coming to the Prince's Mansion, Nangong Pushe would never have believed that such a skill existed, but after seeing Li Chang'an's demonstration, she became somewhat insecure.
Li Chang'an continued, "However, this technique requires extremely high comprehension; those with average aptitude won't be able to learn it even if they hear about it."
Xuan Yuan Qingfeng looked at the plum blossoms in the book for a while, then at his own toes, as if trying his best to deny the fact that Li Chang'an's words implied that it would be alright for her to be present.
Li Chang'an told Nangong Pushe a small part of the Hai Na Sacred Heart Mantra. This mantra was very difficult to practice, so Li Chang'an only selected a small part of it that involved attacking and absorbing luck.
But even this small part made Nangong Pushe's clear eyes shine even brighter, opening a new door to her cultivation world.
On the other hand, Xuan Yuan Qingfeng, a woman from a martial arts family with above-average talent, had equally clear and captivating eyes, but no matter how you looked at her, they seemed to be filled with a blank expression that she couldn't understand.
Within the territory of Youzhou.
The two elderly people walked slowly by, one of them stumbled and the other was riding a donkey.
Seeing the deserted villages along the roadside and the wild dogs and birds scrambling for corpses everywhere, even Li Chungang, who usually loved to joke around, couldn't stand it anymore.
"Back when we were at Tingchao Pavilion, how come I never realized that Xu Fengnian was such a ruthless character, willing to give up hundreds of thousands of lives just like that?"
Deng Tai'a, riding his donkey backwards, coldly observed everything and suddenly said, "Why aren't you dead yet?"
Li Chungang's beard bristled with anger. "I'm about to die, but I heard that Li Chang'an is going to have a decisive battle with the Northern Barbarians. How can I not come!"
"Your martial arts have improved so much, and now you're talking so arrogantly. I helped Xu Fengnian once back then, and you also helped the Northern Liang Prince's Mansion fend off Li Chang'an."
Deng Tai'a said, "I was repaying a favor to the late Princess Consort of Beiliang, and I didn't directly help Xu Fengnian. I'm different from you."
Li Chungang was too lazy to argue about these things. The interpersonal relationships and grudges in the martial arts world were already entangled and unclear, and they couldn't be explained clearly with words.
"Everyone says that barbarians have no luck of lasting a hundred years, but the Northern Mang destroyed the Great Feng and has been established for six or seven hundred years. Why hasn't it fallen yet!"
"Look at this, look at this! How could a human being do such things? These uncivilized beasts!"
Although the two were reclusive masters, they still felt quite uneasy seeing these common people dying for no reason.
Just then, a loud sound came from the sky.
"The enlightened people couldn't grasp their destiny, allowing these barbarians to invade the Central Plains. What's the point of the enlightenment of the Liyang Dynasty?"
Not far away, on a dilapidated building, stood an old man in a gray robe, his hair and temples gray, his expression desolate.
"Heaven is unkind."
He slightly raised his hand, muttered something softly, and his aura began to fluctuate.
"Death is a great loss and should not be violated; one should be laid to rest in peace."
All the wild animals within several miles exploded and died, their exposed corpses slowly buried by handfuls of yellow earth.
Both Deng Tai'a and Li Chungang were shocked by this person's cultivation level. Both of them were contemporary sword gods, yet they would never have such cultivation.
He said not to violate them, and the wild beasts and birds died; he said to be buried in the earth, and these corpses were buried.
"Words become law! A Confucian sage!"
The two exclaimed in unison, "This is the realm of heaven and man achieved through specializing in Confucianism and Taoism. Other sects cannot achieve such supernatural powers."
However, after reviewing all the Confucian sages in the martial arts world over the past hundred years, none of them matched the person in front of them.
Just then, another middle-aged scholar came to a stop in the distance and respectfully bowed to the old man in gray robes.
“My dear teacher, you’re out.”
The old man glanced at the middle-aged scholar, then his eyelids drooped, clearly showing his displeasure.
"To establish a moral compass for Heaven and Earth, to secure a destiny for the people, and to continue the lost learning of the past sages."
"What did you accomplish?"
"Will it be a silver tongue that ignites an unjust war like the Spring and Autumn Period, or will it lead to instability in the imperial court and strife in the martial arts world?"
This middle-aged Confucian scholar was none other than Huang Longshi, a third-ranked scholar in the Spring and Autumn Period, while the gray-robed old man was Zhang Fuyao, the foremost sage of Confucianism and Taoism, who had lived for eight hundred years!
Deng Tai'a and Li Chungang, who had met Huang Longshi, were both renowned martial arts masters, but now, looking at him from afar, they resembled naive young martial arts novice.
Compared to those two ancient monsters who are seven or eight hundred years old, aren't they just young people?
In response to Zhang Fuyao's questioning, Huang Longshi calmly replied, "Master, what I did was to create temporary chaos in order to usher in an era of lasting peace."
Zhang Fuyao glanced at Huang Longshi, who was still bowing his head, looking completely submissive.
"The chaos of the moment has ended, but where is the eternal peace? Less than twenty years after the fall of the Yang Dynasty, the world is in chaos again."
"This time, not only is there chaos and war like in the Spring and Autumn Period, but even the Northern Barbarians are about to invade the Central Plains. Where is the peace that will last forever?"
Huang Longshi raised his head and saw a faint aura of energy shooting out from Zhang Fuyao's eyes. He then muttered something, "Let this top-ranking scholar of the Spring and Autumn Period take a good look at your eternal peace."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Fuyao and Huang Longshi vanished from their spot.
Li Chungang couldn't help but marvel at this supernatural ability that completely transcended the realm of martial arts, saying, "He said he was going to take a look, and then he just flew away. That's too uncanny."
"Who dares to say that a martial artist from the Jianghu is necessarily stronger than someone who cultivates the three religions alone? If this old monster were to shout 'Li Chungang, you're dead!' while fighting me, wouldn't I be dead on the spot?"
Deng Tai'a shook his head and said, "Confucianism values cause and effect the most. Directly taking a person's life by making one's words become law is too domineering. I estimate that the caster himself will be half-dead from the backlash."
"Moreover, even the power of words cannot overcome the strength of one's luck. If your luck is strong enough, you will not be afraid of his words becoming law. Moreover, whether one is a celestial being or an earth immortal, there will be a time when one's energy is exhausted."
Li Chungang scratched his head, the more he thought about it, the more unreliable it seemed. "There are plenty of ways to disrupt a fight without taking lives!"
"For example, the old monster might yell at you: 'Your pants fell down! You peed in your pants! Your hair is three thousand feet long...'"
Upon hearing this, Deng Tai'a fell into deep thought, wondering how to explain Li Chungang's question.
"Judging from Zhang Shengren's appearance, he should also be willing to help resist the Northern Barbarians. We'll just have to see what he's capable of then."
Seven days later.
At the front of Beilao Pass, 400,000 Tang soldiers were encamped and arrayed in front of the pass, ready to defend it to the death.
Beilao Pass is not as precipitous as Tongmen Pass, and this time the Northern Barbarians have also gathered Grandmasters, so the advantage of using Grandmasters' supernatural powers to defend the city, as they did last time, no longer exists.
Rather than letting the enemy break through the city walls and fight in the streets, it's better to set up battle formations outside the city walls and have soldiers fight soldiers and generals fight each other face to face!
In this battle, out of 400,000 Tang soldiers, more than 30 first-rank masters defected to Li Chang'an. Because Li Chang'an intercepted a lot of the fortune, there were not so many terrestrial immortals left.
A hundred miles away, there was a dark and imposing Northern Mang army camp, with 600,000 troops eyeing the camp menacingly, divided into several routes.
Li Chang'an knew that the Northern Mang Empress was deep in the opposite military camp. This decisive battle between Tang and Mang was a matter of fate. If the Empress did not come, Li Chang'an could kill the enemy by sheer luck.
However, Li Chang'an was prescient. He knew that the biggest opponent in this battle was not the 600,000 Northern Mang soldiers, nor the more than 30 first-rank grandmasters of the Northern Mang Jianghu, nor even Yuan Qingshan who could transform into three pure beings, nor Murong Baoding, the number one Vajra in the world.
The real enemy is the immortals outside the Heavenly Gate. The immortals are fishing for destiny, and what they want is for the world to fall apart and for a powerful dynasty to be unable to form.
Li Chang'an's rise must have triggered the memories of the heavens. The events in the original work, such as immortals descending to earth or bestowing fortune upon Tuoba Bodhisattva to make him a celestial being, are not impossible.
Therefore, this battle will not only kill people, but also slay immortals!
Chapter 250 You mere little immortal! Descend to the mortal realm to die!
As war was about to break out, scouts from both sides darted back and forth on the land between the two armies. When they encountered each other, they fought each other fiercely. Even before the main armies clashed, the scouts were already bloodthirsty with each other.
On the city tower of Beilao Pass, thirty-one grandmasters from the Central Plains stood proudly, staring at the equally awe-inspiring and powerful true energy fluctuations emanating from the opposite military camp.
Many grandmasters from both the Northern Barbarians and the Central Plains came to this great battle. Apart from sects like Longhu Mountain that were loyal to the Li Yang Dynasty, all the grandmasters from the Li Yang Jianghu came in person.
If Li Chang'an is defeated, the Northern Barbarians will advance unimpeded, and who knows how many Youzhou will appear, and how many families in the Central Plains will be destroyed.
Li Chang'an, clad in black armor and a red cloak, gazed at the tense battlefield. This land beyond the pass was about to become the largest corpse-strewn field in hundreds of years.
Among the hidden auras around, there were at least four extremely powerful auras of Qi, belonging to four terrestrial immortals.
Li Chang'an recognized two of them as Deng Tai'a and Li Chungang. One of them had broken through on his own, while the other had recovered his cultivation as a terrestrial immortal.
Logically speaking, Li Chungang should have no chance of recovering to the level of a terrestrial immortal. Li Chang'an didn't know what had happened to this old sword god, but he had forcibly recovered to the level of a terrestrial immortal.
As for the other two, Li Chang'an didn't know who they were, but one of them clearly had a stronger aura than himself, and should be one of the old monsters in this world who was stronger than himself.
Since he's here to help, he can't be the Grand Eunuch of Liyang, nor can he be Liu Songtao, the Old Demon of Northern Mang, or Gao Shulu, the Celestial Being. He should be Zhang Fuyao, the Confucian Sage of Jixia Academy.
After several scouts probed the area, both sides came to the same conclusion: there was no room for trickery in this battle; it was a head-on clash to see who had the sharpest weapons and who was less afraid of death.
The fate of the grasslands and the Central Plains for the next few centuries will be decided in this battle, a battle not only determined by the people on earth, but also by the immortals in heaven!
In the sky, auspicious clouds piled up like fish scales, and a huge circular cloud slowly rotated in the air.
No one used a powerful technique like Li Chungang's Sword Opening Heaven Gate, yet the Heaven Gate was about to open itself.
Li Chungang looked up at the sky, his lips curled into a sneer, and he cursed, "Damn Heaven is watching, and not only is it watching, it's also deciding the outcome of this war."
"Damn it, they've already ascended to heaven, instead of cultivating properly, they're meddling in my affairs in the mortal world."
Deng Tai'a's eyes flashed with a chilling sword aura as he said coldly, "So what if you're an immortal? You can't fathom the Great Dao of Heaven, yet you arbitrarily abuse your power over the fate of the mortal world."