The razor-sharp spear blade tore through muscle, crushed bone, and drove straight through the warrior's powerful heart. In the final instant, a surge of Heaven-Scorching fire ignited from within, raging violently as it seared the blood dry and roasted flesh and bone.
"——"
Ling Kui's body suddenly convulsed backward, smashing through a towering ancient tree as thick as an embrace. Under the blistering heat, he could not even cough up blood. He could only clutch the spear shaft with both hands, making his final struggle.
"Clang—!"
The sound of a sword ringing like a dragon's cry echoed beside them. After dodging the spear's edge, Emperor Longqing, clad in a Daoist robe, followed the motion and thrust out the Seven Stars Dragon Abyss Sword. Waves of sword qi surged forward, slashing straight toward the white-robed figure's life.
Chen Sanshi had no room to evade. He could only reach out with his bare hand to seize the blade. His qi and blood surged as he activated the Vajra Body, and the instant his hand met the Dragon Abyss Sword, a shrill metallic screech erupted.
Yet without True Force to support it, how could even a body of steel sinews and iron bones withstand the sharpness of the foremost sword of the Eastern Divine Continent, one that carried spells within it?
Sparks burst forth between palm and blade. After a brief deadlock, flesh was cleaved apart. The sword edge carved marks into the bones of his palm and then drove forward with unstoppable momentum, piercing straight through the white-robed body until the tip emerged from his back.
When the blade pierced through his body, the first sensation was bone-chilling cold. Only after a long moment did searing agony arrive. Sword qi rampaged within him, damaging organs and several minor meridians. Blood spilled and surged upward, and Chen Sanshi could not suppress it, vomiting a mouthful of dark blood.
But he—did not die!
"You… fool—"
Ling Kui's flesh emitted the stench of scorched meat as it burned. His unfocused pupils stared at the old Daoist as he spoke his final words, then all strength left him. His head drooped, smoke rising from his seven orifices.
Chen Sanshi thrust the hand holding the silver spear forward, gripping the front half of the shaft and turning the long spear into a short weapon. His blood-smeared face twisted into a ferocious roar as he swept the blade sideways, slicing open Ling Kui's body, then howled as he chopped toward the emperor's neck.
Cao Kai's eyelids twitched, and he had no choice but to draw the Dragon Abyss Sword to block.
Spear light and sword shadow crossed head-on.
"Clang!"
A crisp shock rang out.
Both men were knocked backward, drifting several dozen steps before crashing into the dense forest.
"Cough, cough—"
Chen Sanshi used one hand to brace himself on the spear while the other covered the wound beneath his chest as he slowly stood. Looking at Ling Kui's kneeling corpse not far away, he tugged at the corner of his mouth in a cold sneer. "Cao Kai, you've lost."
If Longqing had been willing to block that strike for Ling Kui, Chen Sanshi would have been gravely injured even if he survived. But just as he had expected, how could an emperor who had been selfish for a hundred years ever be willing to take a blade for a temporary ally?
"In this Eastern Divine Continent, no one's life is more important than mine!"
Emperor Longqing's strike had failed. On his usually ancient, unruffled face, ripples finally appeared—rage taken to its extreme.
His talent had been buried for a hundred years. After enduring untold hardship, he had only just achieved Foundation Establishment and gained a new span of life. How could he possibly risk himself for an outsider?
Moreover, once the world was settled, they would still have to contend with one another.
If Cao Kai were gravely injured here, then even if he managed to kill the white-robed man, the other party would certainly take advantage of the opening.
"Die!"
Without wasting words, Chen Sanshi, drenched in blood, charged forward with his spear. With the Dragon Gall Silver Spear, only spear light was visible, not the motion itself.
Having lost his mana, how could Cao Kai be his match? Relying solely on the physique of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he barely blocked two or three strikes before flaws appeared everywhere.
At the same time, however, the sound of cultivators tearing through the air came from above the dark forest.
"Protect His Majesty!"
"Quick, protect His Majesty!"
Through the slanted shadows of treetops, one could see that it was Shan Liangcheng among others—surviving cultivators of Yunding Palace and generals of the court—arriving aboard several flying boats.
The frontal battlefield…had already collapsed!
Shan Liangcheng had only just managed to shake off Lü Ji's entanglement and hurried here with the remaining forces, only to witness this scene.
Ling Kui, the old ancestor of the Ling family, was already dead.
Chen Sanshi and the emperor were both wounded.
"Protect His Majesty!"
Lightning-like movements followed as armor-clad guards formed up. They escorted the emperor onto a flying boat and fled toward the southeast.
"Rumble—"
Chen Sanshi's True Force had yet to recover. Only after several breaths did he struggle free from a pile of shattered rocks, but the others had already retreated several hundred zhang away, and for the moment he could not support aerial control.
Fortunately, Longqing was not the only one with assistance.
Cultivators of the Guiyuan Sect had been closely following this group all along and now chased straight after them.
"Daoist Chen, get on quickly!"
Huang Laojiu appeared at the side, driving a donkey cart. He cracked the whip and shouted, "This old man will absolutely not let them escape alive!"
Chen Sanshi said nothing. He boarded the donkey cart and pursued together with him, sitting cross-legged at the back while forcibly suppressing his injuries and regulating his breath, trying to purge the residual Nether River True Force from his body and restore his strength as quickly as possible.
This time, he had to eliminate Cao Kai once and for all.
He absolutely could not be allowed to escape again.
As the main leaders of all sides withdrew one after another from the battlefield, the course of the war shifted once more.
The wasteland no longer saw the dazzling spell duels of cultivator immortals, nor did it witness world-shattering stars falling from the heavens. All that remained was pure slaughter by blade and spear, blood-soaked limbs scattered everywhere.
The court's million-strong army collapsed like a landslide. Having also lost all command, they could only discard their armor and flee in panic, with no will left to resist. Because their numbers were simply too great, in the chaos countless soldiers were crushed and trampled to death by their own comrades. Corpses piled up like mountains.
The one-sided pursuit and massacre alone lasted a full seven days and seven nights.
Xu Wencai and Fang Qingyun remained behind to oversee command, carrying out the final cleanup of a conventional campaign.
During the subsequent flight of the court's soldiers, they repeatedly mistook the rustling "zhi zhi" of wind through trees or the cries of white cranes in the mountains for ambushes. Every one of them was terrified out of their wits, until they finally abandoned all hope of escape and laid down their arms to surrender.
In the end, the number of soldiers who died from mutual trampling alone exceeded 100,000, those executed reached more than 200,000, and later pursuits and ambushes were too numerous to tally. Excluding those who managed to flee, a total of 250,000 were ultimately captured.
Historical Record: On the second day of the third month in the seventy-eighth year of the old Longqing calendar, a baleful star descended from the heavens above the Fei River. The King of Northern Liang then led his troops out from the Luo Ravine, attacking the Kunyang garrison from two sides and crushing them.
Ten days later, the Dragon Abyss Sword's qi was still wreaking havoc within his body. Without months of quiet recuperation, it would be impossible to fully recover. However, the Nether River True Force lingering inside him had already been completely purged. Even so, Chen Sanshi continued to press on with his injuries, carrying out the final pursuit.
After that night, Emperor Longqing led the cultivators of Yunding Palace and fled several thousand li, escaping from the Central Plains all the way to the southern border of the Great Sheng Dynasty.
Only when the Guiyuan Sect spread word in advance and even mobilized the people of the Southern Xu Lingji Cavern to search did they finally manage to block them at the border.
Afterward, Yunding Palace and the others fled eastward again, eventually being forced to hide in a remote area within Yunzhou.
On a mountain backroad, Emperor Longqing's group—including the cultivators—had no choice but to ride horses or travel on foot to avoid exposing themselves too quickly.
The once-mighty Great Sheng Dynasty was now reduced to barely more than a dozen people, wandering the wilderness!
At this moment, every one of them was utterly exhausted and starving. Low-level cultivators were unable to survive without food, especially in a world devoid of spiritual energy. After prolonged fighting, they required large amounts of food to replenish their qi and blood, leaving them dizzy and in desperate need of sustenance.
"Up ahead!"
Huang Hong pointed toward a faintly visible settlement. "Your Majesty, look—there's a village ahead!"
"We're surrounded by pursuers on all sides."
Shan Liangcheng carefully surveyed the surroundings. "We must first find a place to replenish our qi and blood, and then properly discuss what to do next."
"Go!"
"Everyone, hurry—head to the village ahead!"
Altogether, they numbered more than a dozen.
So many outsiders barging in at once quickly drew a crowd of villagers.
Whether it was the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Qi, or the cultivators of Yunding Palace, though somewhat disheveled, they still could not hide the nobility of their attire.
At a glance, they were clearly no ordinary people.
"Where did these people come from?"
"That's a python robe!"
"Listen carefully, all of you!"
The booming voice of Huang Hong, Grand Chamberlain of the Directorate of Ceremonial Supervision, rang out. "This is the Great Sheng Emperor himself, passing through this place while campaigning against rebels! We are here to requisition some grain from you. Anyone willing to contribute food—especially meat—will be recorded for merit!"
They were far too conspicuous, with no need to conceal their identities at all.
"The emperor?!"
"That man in the Daoist robe is the emperor?"
"Which emperor?"
For the common people of Great Sheng, the past two years had seen far too many upheavals. Wars had erupted again and again, and even the emperor had been replaced by the one who was formerly the Prince of Jin.
"How dare you!"
Huang Hong shouted loudly. "This is the true emperor of Great Sheng, His Majesty Longqing, the Longevity Emperor! As for the so-called 'legitimate' ruler you speak of, he is nothing but a rebel!"
Longqing?!
This man was Longqing?!
The villagers shrank back, half-believing and half-doubting.
But if it were true—if even the emperor had fallen to such a state—did that not mean the court was finished?
They had vaguely heard news of the fighting outside. It was said that the King of Northern Liang had already marched on the capital. Now that the emperor had fled all the way here, one could only say a single word—"good"—nearly slipping out.
"Did you not hear what I said?"
Huang Hong urged impatiently. "Hurry up and bring out grain to offer to your sovereign father and the honored immortal masters!"
"We… we don't have any grain."
"That's right. There's been fighting nonstop—where would we even get grain?!"
Every villager present was sallow-faced and emaciated.
"Enough nonsense!"
The Prince of Qin flew into a rage and drew his blade. "Do you have it or not?!"
Behind him, the cultivators also revealed impatient expressions.
Seeing this, the villagers were at a complete loss.
"Fellow villagers! Hurry and find something for His Majesty to eat."
A young man dressed like a scholar stepped forward.
Under his persuasion, they finally managed to gather a single bamboo basket of food.
Although it consisted entirely of extremely coarse grains, for people who had been starving for half a month, it was a choice they had no choice but to accept.
After all, they did not have fasting pills and could only pinch their noses and force it down.
Emperor Longqing raised a hand slightly.
Huang Hong immediately took out several ingots of gold.
"No need."
The scholar raised his hand to refuse and said calmly, "This humble commoner has heard that the White Dragon detests the pleasures of the Heavenly Pool, and now sees hardship upon the land. What Your Majesty sees with his eyes and hears with his ears today—
"Is this present calamity truly imposed by Heaven? Reckless bestowal is not benevolence, and reckless acceptance is not loyalty.
"The people are Your Majesty's children, and Your Majesty is their sovereign father. How could a child feed his father and still seek recompense?"
After speaking, he bowed and withdrew.
"This…"
The Prince of Qin clicked his tongue. "Father Emperor, did you hear that? He called you the true dragon descended and said you are the sovereign father. He gives us grain without asking for anything in return—truly a loyal subject! He looks like a learned man. Once this crisis passes, we should surely put him to use!"
Contrary to his expression, the corner of Emperor Longqing's eye twitched. At last, he let out a cold laugh tinged with rage and self-mockery, saying quietly, "Reduced to this state, I am mocked and humiliated by a mere commoner. With what face could I still rule the realm? That bandit Chen has humiliated me beyond measure."
The scholar's words just now had sounded respectful, but in truth—every word had been an insult.
The line about the White Dragon detesting the pleasures of the Heavenly Pool meant, plainly speaking, that this disaster was self-inflicted and fully deserved.
As for the words, "How could a child feed his father and still seek recompense," their meaning was—that a child supporting his father was only proper and should not demand repayment, which was tantamount to shaming the sovereign father.
"So he was humiliating Father Emperor?"
The Prince of Qin slowly came to his senses. "I'll go kill him right now!"
"That's enough."
Emperor Longqing interrupted. "How could I lower myself to argue with commoners?"
After replenishing a bit of their strength, they left two cultivators outside the village to keep watch and settled into an empty house nearby.
The small, dilapidated tile-roofed house had been abandoned for many years. Inside, cobwebs and dust were everywhere, and on the wall hung a nearly rotted recurve bow.
"What should we do next…?"
The Prince of Qi asked hesitantly. "Where should we go?"
In a single night, a million-strong army had been reduced to ashes, and the civil and military officials were likely all captured. In a sense, the Great Sheng court had already collapsed.
"Your Majesty."
Shan Liangcheng said solemnly, "Our momentum in the Eastern Divine Continent is gone. We should find an opportunity to break through together, go to the Edge of the World, enter Heavenly Water Isle, and seek refuge with our Yunding Palace."
Emperor Longqing fell silent, effectively rejecting the suggestion.
How could he not understand their intentions? If he went to Heavenly Water Isle carrying the Dragon Abyss Sword and the Nation-Stabilizing Imperial Seal, it would be no different from parading gold bricks through the streets.
Yet in the Eastern Divine Continent, they were indeed at a dead end with nowhere left to go.
Emperor Longqing swept his gaze around the room and once again noticed the bow hanging on the wall. He asked, "Where exactly are we now?"
The Prince of Qi replied, "This is Yanbian Village, Poyang County, Anding Prefecture, Yunzhou."
"Yanbian Village?"
Huang Hong searched his memory carefully. "Th-this isn't Chen Sanshi's ancestral home, is it?!"
Looking again at the bow and arrows on the wall, everyone in the room felt a chill run down their spines.
"Th-this…"
"Who used to live here?!"
They had made a huge detour through the skies of the Eastern Divine Continent, only to arrive at the White Robe's hometown, as if an unseen hand were guiding them here.
Almost at the same moment, a clamor erupted outside.
"They've caught up!"
"Chen Sanshi has arrived with the Guiyuan Sect!"
Before they could react at all, vast mana fluctuations surged overhead. One spell after another descended from the sky, blasting the already decrepit house into rubble.
The Yunding Palace cultivators had no time to flee and were forced to rise up and fight back.
A brutal spell battle erupted without warning.
"Your Majesty, go first. This old servant will serve you again in the next life!"
Huang Hong, who had followed Emperor Longqing since childhood, stepped forward resolutely.
Cao Kai slowly closed his eyes, then transformed into a streak of light and fled.
But very quickly, he sensed someone chasing from behind. No matter how he increased his speed or employed blinding tricks, he could not stop the murderous intent from drawing ever closer.
With the great army defeated and half a month spent fleeing, layers of emotion piled up until Emperor Longqing could no longer maintain his usual composed dignity. He summoned the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword to an abrupt halt and shouted, "Must you force this to the death?!"
Chen Sanshi did not waste words. Stepping on his flying sword and gripping his long spear, he charged forward to kill. Flames surged and roiled from his seven orifices, killing intent blotting out the sky, his voice shaking the clouds as he roared, "Cao Kai!!!
"Six years ago!
"To extend your lifespan, you used the blood of a million people of Yunzhou as sacrifice. Today, fallen to this place by fate itself, you ought to repay the common folk with your blood!!!"
"You think you can really kill me?!!"
Amid the howling gale, Emperor Longqing's crown scattered, his full head of grizzled hair whipping wildly. He glared with eyes wide, like a true dragon unleashing its might, and his voice pierced the eardrums.
"Today, I will use the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss to take the head of you, a traitorous rebel!"
Boom—
As his words fell, waves of mysterious power surged forth from the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword. This power was neither mana nor True Force, but something abstruse beyond description.
This was—
National fortune!
Half of the national fortune of the Great Sheng Dynasty!
But there was only this single chance.
Once used, the Great Sheng Dynasty's destiny would be truly exhausted. To accumulate it again would require starting from nothing, difficult as climbing the heavens.
Precisely because of this, during the Liangzhou blood sacrifice, Longqing had hesitated until the very last moment before the formation was completed. In the battle at the Miao River, he had also been unwilling to use it prematurely.
But at this moment—Cao Kai finally made his decision.
He would use the Cao clan's ancestral legacy, using half a realm contained within the sword, to annihilate the greatest threat to the Great Sheng Dynasty's three-hundred-year rule!
Rumble!
The land of Shenzhou stretched vast and boundless.
The Central Plains of Great Sheng—half the realm!
What an immense power this was!
Merely revealing it caused the heavens to churn and overturn.
All the clouds above the nine heavens converged, forming a colossal vortex that connected heaven and earth!
This sight could be seen by everyone across the entire Eastern Divine Continent!
Countless living beings upon the land of Shenzhou witnessed the sky above their heads collapsing, as if someone had torn it up by the roots!
Cao Kai roared with boundless fury, "You wasted an enormous opportunity of mine! This half of the realm was meant for the cultivators of Heavenly Water Isle!
"You ruined a full sixty years of my planning!
"You have wronged all under Heaven!
"You—must die!!!"
Rumble—
The firmament overturned!
Emperor Longqing gripped his sword with both hands. A divine dragon surged from the abyss, clamping the entire sky in its jaws as he cleaved forward with world-destroying might.
At the critical instant, however, he saw a pearl slowly rise before the White Robe. Within that pearl was likewise an indescribable mysterious power.
Similar to national fortune, yet also different.
The mysterious power within the pearl lashed out like chains, winding toward the Dragon Abyss Sword.
It was actually—contesting control of the Dragon Abyss Sword!
"How is this possible?!"
Cao Kai's expression froze. "This is my Cao family's supreme treasure! How could it be influenced by you?! What is that pearl in your hand?!"
But what kind of treasure was it?
And where did its power come from?!
"Cao Kai!"
As if seeing through Longqing's thoughts, Chen Sanshi exerted all his strength to wrest control of the Dragon Abyss. Veins bulged on his neck and forehead as he shouted himself hoarse.
"These powers come from the common people!
"From the common people you treated as weeds, as firewood, as livestock offered in tribute!
"It is your own actions over these sixty years that personally buried your realm and killed yourself!
"Without the common people, where does national fortune come from?
"Today, this sword—
"is wielded together by the countless civilians and soldiers who died in Yunzhou, by all the people under Heaven, and by me, to strike you down with our own hands!!!"
Boom—
Accompanied by a thunderous, muffled roar, the vast and boundless mysterious power pouring endlessly from the pearl finally severed the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword's connection to Cao Kai completely. Spinning amid the clouds, it flew into the White Robe's hand.
"Your dream of eternal life!
"Should end now!!!"
Amid confused cries around Emperor Longqing, oppressive energy swept past, crushing helms and armor into fragments.
"Impossible, impossible! Bandit Chen, you are still here spouting nonsense!!!"
Even exhausting all his strength to retain it, Emperor Longqing still lost the Dragon Abyss. Staring at his empty hands, his expression fell into madness as he roared with eyes splitting wide.
Boom!
Heaven and earth overturned, the sea of clouds twisted into chaos.
Under the crushing weight of half a realm, any resistance was futile.