Chapter 797: Unforeseen Void Sacrifice, Zhang Xing

Yun Province.

Snow began to fall from the sky.

Snowflakes fell rustlingly, covering the city; the streets were blanketed in thick velvet, soldiers hunched their necks and wrapped their coats tight, their footprints filled in by the fresh snow in an instant.

In the squares and on the streets, gray tents for temporary battle-readiness camps were pitched everywhere, snow shaking off the canvas with a rustle.

Suddenly, a low hum came from the horizon; flying warships streaked across the lead-gray clouds, their shadows briefly covering the street corners, weaving with the haste on the ground into a tense winter scene.

Near the territory of Qin Province, there were already few commoners passing through, only military guards hurrying by everywhere.

Accompanied by sounds of weeping.

The last few batches of Yun Province residents were taken away by buses arranged by the Martial Suppression Division, to be moved far from this home they had inhabited for so long.

By the roadside, there were various signs and black cloths covered by white snow.

One could vaguely see words cursing the Five Clans and the Chen Lord upon them.

In several squares, statues of Divine Generals that had not yet been completed stood silently there.

The heavy snow draped a white garment over them.

The Five Clans launched a surprise attack on Xiaoyang City, this last stronghold of the Great Xia in Qin Province.

Everyone knew that if Xiaoyang City were lost, Yun Province would become the main battlefield.

People did not know how much longer Xiaoyang City could hold out, but judging by the decision of the Martial Suppression Division to arrange for the evacuation of Yun Province residents so early, the result went without saying.

Even the faces of the Military Guards were filled with gloom and misery.

There were always people looking up at the sky, silent for a long time.

If Xiaoyang could not hold on, how much longer could the entire Great Xia hold on?

Martial Suppression Division Headquarters.

"You can't go!"

Bang!

Xia Yuan slammed a palm onto the desk, glaring at Shen Yiwei.

Xia Yuan was exhausted, but at this moment, a look of disappointment also appeared in the depths of his eyes; he opened his mouth, his tone calming down:

"We've reached this point, why do you still have such impractical ideas?

I know twenty thousand Military Guards are trapped at Green Mountain, but can we go?"

Xia Yuan spread his hands, revealing a desolate expression:

"We can't even hold Xiaoyang!"

Shen Yiwei was silent, then looked at the white-haired old man sitting on the sofa to the side.

Xia Hanzhou had not said a word from beginning to end, just sitting there calmly.

Sensing Shen Yiwei's gaze, Xia Hanzhou spoke:

"You are tired, go get some rest."

Shen Yiwei said calmly:

"I want to strip away the life-and-death aura within my body."

Xia Hanzhou narrowed his eyes and spoke coldly:

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm not crazy," Shen Yiwei said:

"The Eighth Rank not entering battle restricts me; if I can only stand there and watch blankly, then I don't want this status of an artificial Eighth Rank."

With the Eighth Rank not entering battle, those dozen or so artificial Eighth Ranks that Chen Yan brought back from the Five Clans conflict could not get onto the battlefield at all.

Shen Yiwei had had enough of this for some time now.

Xia Hanzhou's lips twitched; looking at Shen Yiwei, he could only shake his head slightly:

"Then as you wish."

Shen Yiwei continued:

"After I drop my rank, I will break out from Xiaoyang with Zhang Ting and Jiang Yuan, concealing our auras.

We will lead the Min Battalion and the Tiger-Dragon Battalion of twenty thousand troops on Green Mountain to fight our way back."

Xia Hanzhou was stunned, then sneered:

"Denied."

Shen Yiwei's expression became even uglier.

Xia Hanzhou continued:

"This is war, not child's play. Do you think I don't feel heartache that those twenty thousand troops might die?

But what can be done?

You have been by Chen Yan's side for too long and have forgotten what the reality of the situation is."

As Xia Hanzhou spoke, he paused slightly, his expression changed, and he waved his hand, signaling for Shen Yiwei to leave.

A flash of bitterness crossed Shen Yiwei's face.

Twenty thousand troops gone just like that—this was tragic for the entire Great Xia.

Just as Shen Yiwei was preparing to leave, the door was opened.

Xia Moon King's secretary, Xia Chiyi, arrived with a document.

Xia Chiyi looked at Xia Yuan and Shen Yiwei, then finally handed the document to Xia Hanzhou.

Xia Hanzhou pursed his lips; he did not want to open it at all, waved his hand, and tossed the document to Xia Yuan.

He had heard enough bad news these past few days.

Even though he was an Eighth Rank, he felt extremely exhausted.

Immediately following, Xia Hanzhou looked toward Xia Chiyi and asked:

"What is the situation over at the Zhang family?"

Xia Chiyi said:

"Zhang family head Zhang Xing is willing to persuade the Zhang family to join the Military Guard, but..."

"But what?" Xia Hanzhou narrowed his eyes.

"He wants the status of a Divine General."

Hum!

Shen Yiwei's expression changed, and a cold aura overflowed from his entire body.

Xia Hanzhou also sneered:

"The name of a Divine General, how could it be so casual?"

Xia Chiyi pursed his lips and said:

"He also wants the Heavenly Divine General's Ash-Evil Spear and Heavenly Divine Armor."

When Xia Chiyi spoke this sentence, the temperature inside the entire room changed.

"Good, good, good!" Xia Hanzhou spoke coldly:

"He wants Chen Yan's name, he wants Chen Yan's weapon; such karma, can he bear it?

Can his Zhang family bear it?!"

Xia Hanzhou shouted coldly.

Xia Chiyi was silent.

The Great Xia naturally has rogue cultivators and hidden families.

Some hidden families pledged allegiance to the Great Xia early on; for example, because Lu Jingqiu had to enter the Five Clans Struggle, the Lu family behind her turned toward the Great Xia.

But there are still some rogue cultivators and hidden families that chose to wait and see.

Since the war began, the Great Xia has already probed that there are three Eighth-Rank rogue cultivators within the entire Great Xia.

These three Eighth-Rankers each have their own families behind them.

But until now, these three Eighth-Rankers have had no intention of defecting to the Great Xia.

The entire Great Xia is in a state of panic; to them, defecting to the Great Xia is merely courting their own destruction.

As for the Zhang family where Zhang Xing resides, they have an Eighth-Rank ancestor.

And Zhang Xing is an extremely powerful Creation Realm expert.

The entire Zhang family also has many Creation Realm martial artists, and their power is immense.

The Great Xia certainly hopes for the Zhang family to submit, but now Zhang Xing's demands have somewhat crossed the Great Xia's bottom line.

If the Great Xia were to hand over Chen Yan's Heavenly Divine Armor and Ash-Evil Spear, not to mention Xia Hanzhou,

the group of people who went through life and death with Chen Yan in the Five Clans Struggle would all be furious.

Xia Hanzhou sneered repeatedly, unable to speak for a moment.

Eighth-Rankers cannot be forced, and currently, Zhang Xing's attitude is already the best among the remaining rogue cultivators.

In the information mastered by the Great Xia, there are already Great Xia rogue cultivators beginning to contact the Five Clans.

In every major province, there are no shortage of people who want to defect.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter.

The destruction of the Great Xia is a disaster for the common people, but it is not a disaster for the strong.

People like Shen Yiwei, who are willing to fight to the death for the sake of the common people, are ultimately in the minority.

Xia Chiyi saw Xia Hanzhou's expression and was momentarily at a loss for words.

It was also at this moment.

Slap!

Xia Yuan, who had been quietly reading a document, suddenly slapped his hand on the table.

At this moment, Xia Yuan's eyes were wide open, looking at the document in his hand in disbelief.

"What is wrong with you, did you eat too much?" Xia Hanzhou, who was already in a fit of anger, shouted.

Xia Yuan looked toward Xia Hanzhou and said:

"Li Zhiyi killed them all..."

"Li Zhiyi..." Xia Hanzhou heard this and was baffled; he reached out, and the document in Xia Yuan's hand appeared in his own.

Shen Yiwei also looked over.

In an instant.

The room was quiet once again.

"Powerful force of will, killing four thousand Alliance Military Guards single-handedly..." Xia Hanzhou looked at the content on the document, his eyes slowly widening:

"Is this because the Blood Brand is too powerful, or is it Li Zhiyi..."

As Xia Hanzhou spoke, he read the content of the document over and over again several times.

Xia Chiyi hurriedly said:

"The one monitoring Qingshan is Wu Song; Wu Song said the force of will that Li Zhiyi erupted with was only a sliver weaker than Chen Yan's..."

As Xia Chiyi's voice fell, Xia Hanzhou's body froze in place:

"What are you saying?!"

"That is what Wu Song said..." Xia Chiyi began:

"He has fought side-by-side with Chen Yan, and he also saw the battle Li Zhiyi had on Qingshan clearly."

Xia Chiyi finished speaking.

Xia Hanzhou's murky eyeballs suddenly bulged round, his mouth opened into a black hole, and his silver-thread-like beard trembled rustlingly.

He slowly turned around.

He had seen with his own eyes Chen Yan create the Path of Will.

In this world, apart from Chen Yan, it was fundamentally impossible for anyone to cultivate the Path of Will to the supreme level in such a short time.

Unless...

Shen Yiwei was also shocked:

"Blood Brand... the Blood Brand should be about to emerge into the world..."

Shen Yiwei's breathing was rapid.

He had originally intended to go and rescue those twenty thousand troops.

Now that Li Zhiyi had risen, he once again had a reason to take action.

Yet it was also at this moment.

Xia Hanzhou turned back around, staring fixedly at Shen Yiwei:

"Didn't Zhang Ting discover the shadow of a Thunder Sphere creature on Green Mountain earlier?"

Shen Yiwei nodded:

"Yes, but Zhang Ting and I didn't find it..."

Shen Yiwei sighed.

Xia Hanzhou's eyes flickered as he looked at Xia Chiyi again:

"I remember you saying that this Li Zhiyi can only cultivate the power of will?"

"Yes." Xia Chiyi nodded:

"This is the content of the report from Zhang Yu, Commander of the Punishment Battalion; it is also possible that Li Zhiyi's talent in these two martial paths is very poor."

Xia Hanzhou nodded, though his eyes kept darting around.

"King Xiayue, regarding the matters of the Tiger Dragon Battalion and the Min Character Battalion..." Shen Yiwei seized the opportunity from the side:

"If we don't even try, how will the entire Military Guard view the upper echelons?

Watching twenty thousand brothers die in despair, the hearts of the people will scatter."

Shen Yiwei still wanted to try.

"Go!" Xia Hanzhou suddenly spoke.

Shen Yiwei was stunned.

"Prepare well!" Xia Hanzhou patted Shen Yiwei on the shoulder:

"Three people are not enough; you pick a few more extremely strong Creation Realm experts."

Shen Yiwei pursed his lips and hurriedly saluted:

"Yes!"

The magnitude of Xia Hanzhou's change in attitude left the other three people in the room unable to react.

Instead, Xia Chiyi continued to ask:

"How should the Zhang family matter be handled?"

Xia Hanzhou narrowed his eyes and looked at Xia Yuan:

"I speak, you write."

Xia Yuan nodded, using his blood-Qi as a pen.

"Use the State-Governing Pen!" Xia Hanzhou continued.

…………

Time passed slowly.

Great Xia, Lanzhou.

The courtyard was deep and secluded.

The bluestone path was covered in thin moss, pomegranates weighed down the branches, and wisteria hung purple under the veranda.

Inside a cultivation room.

A middle-aged man sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation room, his body overflowing with a cyan and red radiance of blood-Qi.

His eyes were tightly shut, his nose bridge was very low, and his brows and eyes were long and narrow, giving one an extremely cold and sinister feeling.

The man slowly opened his eyes, and abnormal pitch-black patterns faintly appeared within his pupils.

"With this, it can be considered that I have thoroughly digested this human physical body."