Chapter 65: Human Clarity

He Chunhua lowered his head and discovered that under the Heavenly Thunder Array, another pile of runes had actually lit up. Unlike the Heavenly Thunder Array, every one of its lines was a vivid, blood-red color.

Most importantly, this array was not profound, but it was sufficiently ancient and simple; many of the characters were archaic symbols that had long since fallen out of use in later generations.

Situ Han noticed that as the Prefect He looked at the newly appeared rune array on the ground, his eyes were wide open, yet his pupils were constricted to tiny points—he was clearly in extreme shock.

He followed suit, feeling nervous: "What, what happened?"

"This is a Blood Sacrifice Grand Array. Sun Fuping intends to use us as offerings!" He Chunhua squeezed these words out through his teeth.

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No one noticed that just as Sun Fuping had taken out the ivory carving, a demonic bird descended from the sky and landed in front of He Lingchuan. The smoke and dust it kicked up gave the two of them a fright.

Mao Tao went to reach for his blade again, and Ceng Feixiong immediately blocked in front of He Lingchuan. Fortunately, the Black Flood Dragon's voice sounded right after: "They are preparing a Divine Descent technique. Your companions outside will soon be slaughtered as offerings. Are you not going to come and help stop them?"

He Lingchuan and Ceng Feixiong were horrified: "What did you say?"

Mao Tao was also shocked: "You, you are spouting nonsense!"

"The sacrificial array is nested beneath that Thunder-Summoning Array outside. Once these two succeed in their prayers, the array will extract the lives and essence blood of your companions together as the price for the Divine Descent! That kind of pain is absolutely not something a human can endure."

"Nonsense!" Sun Fuping's voice suddenly rang in He Lingchuan's ears. The two turned to look and saw that he still had his eyes tightly shut, his lips still chanting incantations. He had used some unknown method to transmit his voice to them separately; this man's means were truly diverse. "The Thunder-Summoning Array is only used to summon heavenly thunder and protect the Heishuicheng Army. If not for it, your father would have long since been devoured by vengeful spirits! This artifact spirit wants to disturb your resolve; you must absolutely not be deceived!"

The Black Flood Dragon, however, said: "You hide here, so you are not on the same path as them. They would not have the slightest hesitation in sacrificing the lives of others! Think carefully: why are the others outside intercepting the heroic spirits, while only you were able to get in?"

It said eerily: "If I have guessed correctly, these two originally intended to use you as offerings; that would have been the most effortless way."

A chill went through He Lingchuan's heart.

He knew these two had been calculating against his father and him, and against the Heishuicheng Army, he just didn't know what method they would use. If what the Black Flood Dragon said was true, he had truly dodged a bullet by not going to the south city wall just now.

However, he had dodged the disaster, but Sun Fuping, who had been planning for a long time, would not let it go easily. Perhaps he really would use He Chunhua and the Heishuicheng Army to make up the numbers.

Comparing the two, the Black Flood Dragon's claim certainly had some logic to it.

Mao Tao was also confused: "Young Master, this, this..."

Which side was telling the truth? Who should they believe?

Perhaps seeing him waver, Sun Fuping shouted urgently: "He Lingchuan, do not fall for its tricks! If we cannot subdue the Black Flood Dragon, you and I will both die here, and He Chunhua and the Heishuicheng Army will all have to be buried with you!"

He immediately added: "Ceng Feixiong, quickly stop him! The He family is committing treason; you will all be implicated!"

Great Yuan law dictated that traitors would have their nine generations executed, and one of those groups included their personal troops and followers. If the He family rebelled, Ceng Feixiong would indeed have no way out but death.

This threat worked well on everyone. Ceng Feixiong had already been moved, wanting to persuade the Young Master to make a calm choice—after all, He Lingchuan's usual image of being impulsive and reckless was deeply ingrained in people's hearts. As a result, upon hearing Sun Fuping's words, the hand he had reached out to stop him was instead pulled back: "Young Master, I listen to you!"

Even Sun Fuping, who was well-versed in human affairs, was stunned, not knowing how such a counter-effect could have occurred.

In fact, this word "death" had instead reminded Ceng Feixiong that he had led his troops into the Panlong Desert with the conviction of certain death, as long as the He family treated his old father well and provided for his old age. So what if those two in front were the State Preceptor and a Commandant? The most important thing was to execute Prefect He's mission.

He Lingchuan had no time to worry about Ceng Feixiong's thoughts right now; he had to make a decision now, immediately, at once.

In a brief instant, countless thoughts raced through He Lingchuan's mind. Then, he suddenly looked up at the demonic bird following along the side and said: "If I help, can you assist us in walking out of the Panlong Desert safely?"

The demonic bird nodded immediately, without the slightest hesitation.

Everyone was overjoyed. This was truly what they had hoped for! The Young Master was clear-headed.

The anomalies of the Panlong Desert were all created by the Great Fang Hu. If it wanted to show mercy to everyone, it should be easy enough.

He could only trust it. He Lingchuan no longer hesitated: "Take us up to the city wall!"

Immediately, several more demonic birds descended, grabbed everyone by the shoulders, and flapped their wings to fly upward.

They had only risen ten zhang when a cold light flashed behind them. The demonic bird holding Mao Tao was suddenly sliced through the right side of its body and fell down with a loud "caw."

It was Nian Songyu, who in the midst of his busy work, had shot out his long blade to prevent them from getting onto the wall. He had originally aimed at He Lingchuan, but who knew the demonic bird holding Mao Tao would throw itself out to block the blade.

Fortunately, another demonic bird filled the gap in time and caught Mao Tao in mid-air.

The group leaped onto the city wall, and He Lingchuan pointed at the ordnance: "Load the arrows, fill the shells!"

Ceng Feixiong led his men to do as told without a word, though Mao Tao was a bit uncertain: "Are you really going to help the Black Flood Dragon?"

He Lingchuan quickly stuffed two nail-shells into the cannon barrel and glanced at him sideways: "What, was Nian Songyu's blade not enough to make you comfortable?"

Nian Songyu's blade had sliced the demonic bird in two, and Mao Tao had also nearly died on the spot. Hearing He Lingchuan say this, Mao Tao gave up on his doubts and quickly installed the four-foot-long refined iron arrow onto the heavy crossbow.

The ordnance on the city wall had already automatically fired a round just now, of course under the control of the Black Flood Dragon. But its control over this place was clearly not flawless; at the very least, it couldn't handle more delicate work, such as automatically loading shells and arrows.

It still required human hands.

It was just that the demonic apes had all been killed off, and it would take some time for them to be reborn.

If not for the lack of available hands, why would it have sought out these little fleas who were also uninvited guests? He Lingchuan had first thought of drawing his bow and arrow to give Sun Fuping a few shots. But he had no rank or position, no aura of fortune to protect his body, so how could the arrows shot out like that compare to specialized ordnance? Since he had made up his mind, he had to see this through to the end and do it beautifully.

Nian Songyu was furious, his face swelling as red as the violent giant behind him: "He Lingchuan, you dare to defect in the face of battle? I will surely tear you limb from limb and grind your bones to dust!"

"To ask for help, one must have an attitude. Someone like you, tsk!" He Lingchuan carried the last rolling stone to the launch slot and turned to the demonic bird, "Do it!"

Flames suddenly erupted from the rolling stones and arrowheads. Only "Boom, boom" sounds followed in succession as over a dozen pieces of ordnance fired in unison. The loudest, of course, were the nail-shells, which shook the two of them until their ears went numb.

Honestly, firing artillery shells was by no means such a simple matter. He Lingchuan still hadn't figured out what the firing mechanism of the Panlongcheng ordnance was—whether it was a fuse or flint ignition. But none of that mattered; the Panlongcheng controlled by the Black Flood Dragon did the rest of the work.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 66 =====