Chapter 1154: Collapse! (Start of Month Asking for Monthly Tickets, Two-in-One)

Tree trunks tilted against the sky, crowns submerged in the river; beneath the leverage, root systems tore from the mud, arching high, intertwined like spiderwebs, the rootlets netting the red mud — yet they could net the earth, but not the water; the torrential rain scoured, the red soil melting into "red blood," dripping down along the rootlets.

A crisp crack — tree roots snapped.

The tree at its limit shuddered, slowly capsizing into the Red River, drifting toward the South Sea.

Losing their root anchorage, more riverside red soil washed away, melting into the tidal crest.

The Red River is called the Red River because the soil on both banks is red earth; the deeper a spade digs, the redder it gets, like human blood. This is the most widely distributed soil in the Southern Frontier; the scorching climate, humid air, weathered rock mixed with rusted red iron, all sedimented into the earth.

Three days of torrential rain, the Red River's south bank lost thirty chi, the Southern Frontier positions retreated thirty zhang.

The Red River became a river of blood.

Dark clouds filled the sky.

No daylight seen all day.

"Zhi"

The black cicada's cries would not cease, its vibrating sound growing ever fainter, breath present but strength absent.

It fell from midair, plunging into a puddle.

A passing soldier raised a hand, wanting to bend and scoop it up, hand stretched halfway then lowered again, straightening his slightly bent waist, savoring this moment of quiet.

Pu.

Water splashed, two turbid bubbles emerged in the pit, instantly shattered by raindrops.

The packed supply dirt road outside camp vanished, landslide boulders blocking it; a punch blasted it open, the ground full of depressions, wheels sunk in puddles, men had to carry the carts on foot, boots wrapped in red mud slurry, seeping into socks; the delivered rice grain, within half a day, all moldy, all reeking.

Everything was damp; all land was mire; everyone's nerves were dulled and exhausted.

A Heart-Fire Celestial tried to drive away the dark clouds, they paused briefly then gathered again — no way at all.

Soldiers sheltered under oilcloth to rest, damp clothes clinging to bodies, nodding like pounding garlic.

Just a single torrential rain...

The red tide wetted shoe uppers, leaving mud residue.

Hei Shui Du Ren Ye stood on a reef by the riverbank, enduring the rain's scouring.

Nothing happened on the Red River's north bank; the heavy rain used the Red River as a boundary, uniquely spreading south over one hundred fifty li — in other words, the enemy actually has the ability to create a great rain covering over three hundred li.

The water vapor within the envelopment range is extremely erosive, as if omnipresent, exploiting every gap.

There is no Grandmaster, no Martial Master in the world who would fear rain.

Yet this rain brought them indescribable torment and haggardness.

"Liang Qu..."

There are several forward outposts; the Hundred-Legged Grand Diviner must guard the treasury; if he comes to the front, the South Sea King will surely arrive, a useless Dui Zi, and the rear left wide open — Liang Qu or other Grandmasters circling around to steal from behind, consequences unimaginable... unless the supply stockpile and front line are merged.

This is a cardinal taboo of military strategy!

The battle situation still turns into Yao Long Dui Zi, the enemy-our advantage has no fundamental change, instead it would add more harvest to the enemy's victory.

Even...

Can the Hundred-Legged Grand Diviner stop this rain?

Ren Ye looked up.

Troops have no constant formation, water has no constant shape; dark clouds disperse and gather again.

One person's power, swaying the battle situation...

"It's noon, you go rest, I'll stand guard."

A figure flashed.

Zang Yunzhou leapt from the camp, treading on water, standing on the reef alongside Ren Ye.

Ren Ye nodded slightly.

Torrential rain pouring is a strategy to weary the enemy, weaken the enemy; they don't know when Great Shun will move, clearly knowing it's coming yet making no preparation — absolutely not a wise move.

Ordinary Grandmasters relying solely on Opened Xuan Light find it hard to sense the Heaven-Man Unity Liang Qu; Corpse Fiend Ren Ze died like that; besides the rites and black cicadas, every day a Heaven-Man Unity expert personally stands guard, changing shifts at noon, ensuring the camp won't be sneak-attacked.

Ren Ye handed over the Grand Diviner jade tablet, the two figures crossing paths.

Suddenly.

Ren Ye halted his steps, abruptly turning back.

Rain curtain pouring, Red River surging, visibility extremely poor, tens of zhang out a vast white expanse.

Ren Ye and Zang Yunzhou's hearts simultaneously missed a beat, blood surging, pupils trembling, the two back-to-back, rapidly scanning — no anomaly detected.

No.

Wrong.

Heart's sudden impulse — where is the threat? Not arrived yet?

Pa!

Water splashed onto the neck, slightly cool, cold qi sprouting, eroding all the way to the bone marrow.

This drop of water didn't come from the sky, it splashed from the side, but there is absolutely no tree, no reef beside oneself that would block raindrops, altering their splash trajectory.

The enemy is behind.

Ren Ye's pupils dilated, trembling eyeballs sharply skewing downward.

In the corner of his eye, a "figure" stood slanted behind, rain striking out a blurred outline, the whole body seemingly wrapped in something, vortex rotating, almost perfectly reflecting the environmental light and shadow, concealed within.

"Enemy attack!"

Zang Yunzhou saw it before Ren Ye, shouting a violent roar — yet no sound transmitted for miles around, a semi-transparent water membrane violently expanding, replacing heaven and earth, enveloping the two within a square inch, eliminating all noise.

The instant the water membrane expanded, like an iridescent soap bubble bursting, the previously blurred figure instantly became clear.

No, not a soap bubble bursting — the soap bubble enveloped them inside! Confined them inside!

Two points of crimson gold eyes.

Violent imprint in the sea of consciousness.

The silver-armored general held his spear diagonally, Zhang Fang deployed a transparent water membrane, pressing close to within one zhang!

"Whoosh..."

The heavy rain flooded the camp.

Patrol soldiers pulled their boots from the mud, looked up into the distance, and saw the Black Water Toxic Ying, who should have returned for shift change, suddenly standing motionless on the reef, seemingly whispering with the Red Water Toxic Zang Yunzhou, both motionless in the rain, somewhat blurred.

It should be fine.

He thought.

When?

Enveloped by the water membrane, Ying and Zang Yunzhou felt their scalps go numb, before they could crush the Great Cover Jade Token.

Golden eyes flashed, the silver-armored general spread his five fingers, twisted his wrist, and grasped the Square Round Heaven and Earth.

A fist came straight at the face!

The heart pounded wildly in the chest, the fist shadow grew from small to large in the field of vision, covering the entire view.

Their thoughts in turmoil, they strained to lean back.

They wanted to dodge, but couldn't.

The fist's grip seized heaven and earth, rendering one immobile, fingers stiff, the jade token in hand unable to be crushed, knuckles protruding like mountains! Wind like scraping bone steel needles!

"Whoosh!"

Pupils trembled with afterimages.

The surrounding scenery suddenly shifted to a pitch-black marsh shrouded in dark clouds, damp air assailing the nose!

No longer torrential rain, no longer scorching sun.

It was the sea.

Soaked in human blood and decay, unknown whether above heaven or below earth, the sea.

Endless water pressure squeezed flesh and blood, Ying and Zang Yunzhou felt like kneaded dough, a rolling pin from toes to scalp, splitting the body, pressing upon the soul, finally wringing out a mouthful of iron-tasting blood from the throat.

Iron-taste, the blood of mortals.

He lowered his head.

Dark hands, coarse hemp clothing, a rocking sampan, left hand gripping a broken fish spear, torn fishing net tangled in the right hand's fingers, hemp cord biting into swollen, congested skin.

A fisherman?

When did I ever become a fisherman?

"Whoosh!"

All scenery shifted back, yet in the vision remained that fist, amid a heaven-shaking explosion, rolling fist seals, suddenly unleashed!

"Boom!"

Thunder erupted from the mountains, heaven tilted, earth sank.

Mountains collapsed from the horizon!

Fist!

The fist is the fist!

"Ah!"

"Liang Qu!!!"

The two's heart-fire surged equally, breaking free from illusion, their qi seas at eight hundred and thousand times capacity boiled simultaneously, shattering the jade tokens in their palms.

Light burst forth.

Countless red ants and black water surged from their nests, striking to block, Liang Qu's minor orders and jade tokens on his body shattered completely, layered and stacked, he stubbornly resisted their jade token assault, continuing to push forward.

Red ants and black water exploded in layers, falling onto the skin, corroding into wisps of green smoke.

"Whoosh."

Ying's lower body suddenly dissolved into formless black water, waves twisting and surging upward, attempting to evade the fist's edge, yet within inches faced invisible resistance, forcing him to expend dozens of times his qi sea to break free and turn. Zang Yunzhou, bearing the brunt, turned ashen-faced, precisely at the critical moment, within the camp's great formation, a streak of flowing light surged in, rushing into him.

Wu Sheng's Ritual!

Zang Yunzhou's ashen complexion quickly warmed.

Yet, as the flowing light struck the Red River, his strength had not yet fully surged, and like a tide it receded; Zang Yunzhou sensed something, ignored the incoming fist wind, and looked up in terror.

The horizon's azure sky.

Ethereal water mist flowed along every line of the palm.

The great palm's flesh bulged round and full, crimson red, like a douluo mian; palm lines revealed a thousand-spoked wheel treasure appearance, clear and complete, rims and hubs perfectly round; each finger bore webbing, like a wild goose king's feet, golden yellow, lines like fine silk.

Great Sun Tathagata!

Zang Yunzhou's pupils dilated.

"Pfft!"

The chest was violently pierced, stark white bones jabbing out the back, straight toward Ying's face.

Liang Qu, holding his spear at an angle, lightly shifted, traversed the six voids, heavenly pivots and earthly axes, deflected the corrosive black water, reached into the chest, pulled out the heart, brutally crushed it, backhand seized Zang Yunzhou's forearm, snapped the arm bone, grabbed him, and hurled him toward the north bank.

The airwave exploded.

With the obstruction gone, killing intent swept straight at the face, Ying's neck hairs stood on end like steel needles, pressing against the cervical vertebrae, facing his son's killer, he instinctively stepped back, lost balance, and fell into the Red River.

Not lingering on Ying, the golden eyes turned backward, at the moment everyone sensed the qi movement, while a few caught sight of the Great Sun Tathagata, none had time to flee.

"Pa!"

The water membrane shattered.

Withdrew the Vortex God Armor above the Red River.

Light and shadow no longer twisted.

Soldiers on the shore, their eyes still reeling from the shock of the Buddha's hand in the distance, turned their gaze back to the surging Red River, filled with confusion.

It seemed that in the mere instant their gazes crossed above, the world was erased for a moment, and in between, a struggle took place of which he was unaware.

Zang Yunzhou, who had been motionless on the reef, listening intently, now had an ashen face, soared halfway into the air, and a layer of water film around his body retracted, like a tiny insect inside a soap bubble.

Ying Ye, who had been conversing on the reef, was terrified and unsettled, fell backward after looking up, and his back touched the Red River.

The shocking gaze was forcibly withdrawn from the two lords, because the soldier saw a pair of more striking crimson-gold pupils, blazing like molten gold, which violently seized his attention, to the point of ignoring the movements of the golden-eyed one.

Hum

An ape shadow appeared, the immortal island loomed in the sky, mirage vapors, and the tiger and dragon energies intertwined and coiled around the spear tip.

A flash of black light gleamed.

Heaven and earth fell silent.

Tide, wind, cicadas—all vanished.

Everything flashed into black and white.

Distorted, leaping lines filled heaven and earth.

Tangible things, intangible things, all seemed like fragile line drawings; where the spear blade passed, the lines snapped, like a recoiling rubber band contracting, trembling, and dragging all the fine lines to leap, twist, and collapse together!

"Squeak"

In the puddle, the last bubble slowly rose.

The black cicada crawled out of the water, stepped onto the land, struggled to the soldier's feet, without waiting for its limbs to touch.

A shaft of heavenly light burst from the southern frontier camp, before it could spread throughout the camp, the northern bank likewise shot out a sharp arrow, shattering the heavenly light, the two vanishing simultaneously, one for one.

Their auras were similar.

The Third Ritual!

The vast southern frontier camp was laid bare without reservation.

Two hundred thirty-one.

The golden-eyed one swept horizontally.

Silently counting the variegated.

Splash!

Heaven and earth grew cold.

Roaming the qi sea, it suddenly became empty.

The most vibrant center of color on the southern bank.

In the dense forest, beneath the great tent, heaven and earth split open, and the canyon suddenly appeared!

Boom!

The black cicada vanished in the wind, amidst a patch of variegated colors, a large expanse of black and white.

Seven thousand two hundred times the qi sea, first reduced by six hundred, then by six thousand five hundred.

Two hundred thirty-one, thirty-eight extinguished in darkness!

"Ah!!!"

The tiger hunters and wolf smoke perished in the chaotic confusion, the edge grand masters covered their severed arms, terrified and screaming.

The remaining gu, poison, and malign energies stared into the canyon's depths, startled and retreated half a step, their faces losing control, all pores tightly shut.

What is this?

What is this!

Boom!

The Red River water flowed backward, surging into the canyon, vast and mighty, dragging along the remaining corpses from the edge, shattering the rubble.

The entire Longwan Bay earth dragon turned over, separating hundreds of miles, and the southern sea gained a tsunami!

Ying Ye, half-submerged in water, separated from the Hun River, heard the extremely mournful cries; at this moment, he overlapped with his son Ying Ze, his qi sea roamed, saw Liang Qu's momentum suddenly drop, the blank mind suddenly cleared, and realized this was a unique, irreplicable opportunity for revenge.

Black water spread, covering the Red River, surging toward Liang Qu.

Crack!

Cold frost covered, black ice shattered.

A black dull-tiger-headed fish appeared out of nowhere, opened its huge mouth, inside which a tall woman leapt out, her eyes full of cold frost.

"Kill!"

The supporting grand masters leapt out of the Red River.

Xiu Hai Tao and several top-tier immortals leaked their qi mechanism, unable to draw near, immediately used the translocation card, descended to the front lines, led the support, transformed into a sharp cone, actually daring to charge two hundred with fifty, while the rear northern bank also had the Great Shun grand masters moving in unison, rushing to reinforce.

The remaining one hundred ninety, originally distributed throughout the main camp, were startled by the beheading of the flood dragon, scattered in all directions, like a large pancake spread thin, utterly unable to resist the combined assault of Xiu Hai Tao, Ji Yan Yu, and others; in an instant, the leading few were extinguished in their divine abilities.

"Run, run fast!"

"The crossbow's end, the crossbow's end, hold on, counterattack, counterattack!"

"Fifty ears, fifty people ears!"

The soldiers of the southern frontier camp howled, drowned in the sky-shaking shouts of killing.

Fifty charging two hundred, a fourfold difference in martial strength, normally like mud oxen entering the sea, seeking death themselves, but now the entire southern frontier camp was in utter disarray, unable to organize effective resistance, and even the small stronghold grand masters dropped their helmets and armor, leaping headfirst into the canyon to flee.

Entering Zhen Xiang was originally conscripted from various departments, facing great calamity, completely unaware of how to unite against the enemy.

One hundred ninety died down to one eighteen, and even more were heading toward one fifty-six.

"Whoosh!"

Ying Ye contended with the dragon Long Eying, Liang Qu rose to stand, his tiger's mouth bleeding, the golden-eyed one swept horizontally, faintly much hostile intent fell upon him, forming designs.

Cauldron Master: Liang Qu】

Refining Refined Refined Ze Ling: Water Monkey Great Sage Orange Fusion Degree: 50%】

Water Essence: One Hundred Thousand】

A thought stirred.

Water Essence: Twenty-Three】

Refining Marsh Spirit: Water Ape Great Sage Orange Fusion Degree: 50%】

Boom!

Gripping the blade's edge, he lifted his leg and kicked straight.

The ambush by the Second Realm Entering Zhen Xiang rebounded and returned, plowing half a li, snapping countless trees, spine shattered.

Liang Qu held Dragon Fubo diagonally, stepped upon the Azure Dragon, his vortex apertures opening and closing, a water dragon spear coalescing in his palm.

Further away.

The Centipede Great Cover dwelled within the camp, constantly monitoring the frontline situation.

Yet in a certain moment, he horrifiedly discovered that forty, nearly one and a half tenths of Entering Zhen Xiang had been completely erased from his perception, thereafter decreasing at a considerable speed, the rest scattering even more.

"Not good!"

Nanhai Commandery, the Nanhai King likewise sensed Xuhai Tao's "transcendence" advance, then perceived the Centipede Great Cover marching north, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

"Centipede! You in Nanjiang have harmed me terribly!"

Meteors burst forth, Wang Fu collapsed.

One south, one north shot forth, traversing a thousand li, colliding above the Red River.

Boom!

Ripples exploded.

The elongated "scar" on the ground doubled in length, Longwan Bay sank three chi, towering tsunami surged to a hundred zhang, submerging the forest.

Nanhai and the Centipede stirred, the Great Shun Xingjing Wang, the Chong Wang, the Nanjiang Pandong Great Cover, and the Withered Bone Great Cover, hearing the wind, moved, all converging toward Longwan Bay.

Further south, further north.

More Martial Saints and Great Covers gathered to observe.

North of Huaijiang, Zhang Longxiang opened his eyes, drew his long sword, leapt to the Nine Heavens, and personally arrived at the river's source.

Jianghuai Great Marsh.

The flood dragon coiled upon the tree roots, golden eyes gazing, the Frog King lowered the boat model, picked up the great anchor.

"Again chaotic, again chaotic."

The Yuan General paddled forward, heading to the center of Peng Ze.

Martial Saints of the world stirred greatly.

Imperial Capital.

The common folk came and went in haste, worried and complaining about high firewood and charcoal prices, while brain meat below Mo Long Jin Bridge was temporarily a brisk business, steaming hot, the Holy Emperor ascended the Moon-Viewing Tower, gazing upon the boundless heaven and earth, clouds rolling and unfurling, the vast imperial capital, wrapped in plain white and adorned with silver.

He raised his hand and wiped away the clouds and mist at the horizon.

The Holy Emperor pointed to the small bridge beside the accumulated water pool: "What is that snack called again? I see the Feathered Guard, after martial practice, often go together in companionship—does Liang Qing also like to eat it?"

"Your Majesty, it is brain meat."

"Brain meat?"

"It is sinew-head brain, with a bit of soy sauce, a bit of scallion and ginger, simmered in a single small clay pot over low fire until soft and tender, possessing a unique flavor."

"Go buy some, I too wish to taste it."

"Yes."

"Wait." The Holy Emperor raised his hand, looked toward the south, turned and descended the tower: "First, do not eat, draft the edict!"

(End of Chapter)