Chapter 322

When they were being carried out, Wu Tie and Lao Tie exchanged a glance.

Lao Tie calmly nodded at Wu Tie.

Thus, Wu Tie gave up the idea of a violent uprising and directly broke the confinement of the Golden Tremor Rope to launch a surprise attack to kill Luo Lin.

Beheading?

Hehe!

Lao Tie's this body is the transformation of Osiris's second divine artifact, the Tower of Rebirth; although Lao Tie can exert less than one ten-thousandth of this body's strength, his combat ability may be ordinary, but the sturdiness of his physique stands here.

Want to cleave a divine artifact?

Wu Tie greatly anticipated that scene.

As the specially appointed Military Adjutant of Xi Qi, Luo Lin, though he does not command troops, participates in military affairs, especially responsible for recording military merits, and simultaneously enforces military law. Under Xi Qi's special attention, Luo Lin wields a set of specialized military-law implements.

On the small square before the hall, the surroundings were packed solid with the regular troops' soldiers under Xi Qi's command.

These soldiers, with stern auras, stood with arms crossed, each curiously watching Wu Tie and Lao Tie.

Luo Lin, this Military Adjutant, was just appointed by Xi Qi before the punitive expedition; among these soldiers he has no prestige whatsoever. Luo Lin specially summoned the soldiers from the stronghold, intending to publicly behead Wu Tie and the others, also hoping to establish some authority.

Killing the chicken to scare the monkey, Wu Tie is that monkey; for Luo Lin, this achieves multiple goals at once.

A wholly blood-red execution platform stood in the center of the square; two tall giants with dark-golden skin, over ten meters high, stood firmly on either side of the platform, their eyelids drooping, their aura as mighty as a mountain.

Luo Lin, Taotie Yan, and others stood before the hall's doors, hands behind their backs, smiling as they watched Wu Tie and Lao Tie being hoisted onto the execution platform.

Shangguan Tie stood before Luo Lin and loudly proclaimed Wu Tie's various crimes before the crowd.

What violating military law, attacking allied troops, colluding with demons, plotting rebellion, and so on—Shangguan Tie forced Wu Tie to endure thirteen serious charges; I don't know how he came up with so many tricks in such a short time.

In the crowd, a burly man with a full beard suddenly shouted: "Such a scoundrel, behead!"

The soldiers all shouted in unison, "Behead! Behead! Behead!" Everyone roared loudly, eager to see Wu Tie and Lao Tie's heads cut off.

In the distant sky, streams of flying carpets and numerous tower ships were locked in fierce battle.

Countless poisonous bats turned into a sky‑covering dark cloud, swirling and dancing in the high air.

The 'squeak‑squeak' of the poisonous spiders came in a continuous wave, like a tide rolling in.

The air was filled with the smell of blood, plus the odors of the venom and bodily fluids of various poisonous insects, snakes, and bats; the stench shot up to the heavens.

Amid this atmosphere, mixed with the soldiers' howls, an ordinary person would already be trembling with fear; but Wu Tie and Lao Tie remained calm and composed, Wu Tie even flashing a bright smile at the surrounding soldiers.

Wu Tie's smile only further enraged these honest soldiers; their roars grew louder, and some kept spitting at Wu Tie.

The dark‑golden giant standing on the execution platform let out a low roar.

The roar thundered like lightning; the blood‑red execution platform trembled slightly, a resounding 'clang-lang-lang' rang out, and four blood‑red chains as thick as sea bowls shot from the platform, coiling around Lao Tie like a monstrous python and violently dragging him to the platform's center.

With a 'clang-clang', the blood‑red chains tightened, then dense electric light flickered, and blood‑red flames began to spurt from the chains.

Blood‑flames burned Lao Tie's body, and electric light accompanied by a piercing crackling sound flowed over him.

Wu Tie gazed at the blood-red electric light and flames; he opened the heavenly eye between his brows, and in its vision the lightning and flames were filled with various profound Dao patterns—extraordinary seals of confinement, dispelling evil, breaking defenses, and weakening.

Replace with an ordinary person—once these four chains clamp on, his whole body would go limp and unable to move; even if he were a master of the Embryonic Storage realm, even if he had trained in various body‑forging mystic arts, his defensive power would be weakened to the utmost.

Even if you are a heroic, high‑spirited warrior, upon this execution platform you would turn into a limp, mud‑like soft egg, totally at the mercy of the executioner.

The soldiers' howls grew ever louder.

They shouted in unison, stamped their feet in unison, and repeatedly bellowed the word "behead".

A dark‑golden giant stepped up to Lao Tie and planted a foot on his back.

Another giant laughed aloud, gripped his right hand, and with a 'clang-clang' a seven‑to‑eight‑meter‑long, bright‑red blood‑colored great sword flew out from the execution platform, which the giant firmly grasped.

Below the execution platform, a silver‑colored giant hurled a vat of old wine onto the platform.

The dark‑golden giant wielding the great sword caught the wine vat, opened his mouth and took a big gulp of the old wine, then another sip, opened his mouth and sprayed the wine onto the blade. The old wine splashed on the blade, and instantly a dim Blood Light shot swiftly from tip to hilt across the blade, turning it semi‑translucent, with piercing Blood Light continually spurting out.

Luo Lin smiled and watched all of this.

Standing beside him, Mr. Mu suddenly spoke, a soft voice murmuring in Luo Lin's ear: "Lord Luo Lin, by order of Marshal Qi, I have come specially to assist—but the Marshal's intention is that this campaign mainly relies on Lord Luo Lin's own tempering; if it is not necessary, I will not interfere with your decisions."

However, please consider carefully… beheading this Wu Tie would forge a deadly feud with the Wu clan." Mr. Mu said calmly: "The Wu clan is a top‑tier tribe surrounding the Fuxi Divine Nation; feuding with them is truly unnecessary, and the consequences would be dire."

Luo Lin's smile instantly faded; he slowly turned his head and gave Mr. Mu a cold glance: "Since you are here to assist, of course my opinion prevails. Offending the Wu clan? Having won over the Taotie clan, it is naturally worth doing."

Mr. Mu said calmly: "The Taotie clan harbors ulterior motives; befriending them is worse than making peace with the Wu clan. The Wu clan may be crude and straightforward, even barbaric and unreasonable, but if you ally with them you never have to worry about them scheming behind your back… as for the Taotie clan… they are not worth it."

Luo Lin fixed Mr. Mu with a deep stare: "I think it is worth it."

Mr. Mu then said no more, gave a slight bow, and stepped back one pace.

Luo Lin smiled, turned his head, and gazed at the execution platform with a grin.

Taotie Yan noticed the interaction between Luo Lin and Mr. Mu, and he laughed: "Luo Lin, what did you and Mr. Mu say?"

Luo Lin said calmly: "Oh, just figuring out how to deal with the Wu clan after beheading Wu Tie—hmph, they are surely the masterminds plotting to harm the Taotie clan's chief; this time I will surely strip the Wu clan bare."

Taotie Yan laughed, a bright laugh, he patted Luo Lin on the shoulder and nodded approvingly: "Good; from now on, your affairs are my Taotie clan's affairs—we are all one family."

"Behead!" Luo Lin also laughed, waved his hand, and gave the dark‑golden giant an order.

The dark‑golden giant wielding the great sword let out a low roar, then brought the blade down.

'Ding!'

Countless soldiers stared intently at the great sword in the dark‑golden giant's hand, watching as the blade turned into a sheet of Blood Light that fell onto Lao Tie's neck.

Lao Tie was quite improper, grinning like a jovial ancient mythical husky; he cracked his mouth laughing at the soldiers below, and even stuck out his tongue, wagging it left and right on purpose.

The great sword came down heavily on Lao Tie's neck.

A piercing crack rang out, sparks burst from Lao Tie's neck, and everyone saw that a large chunk of the great sword's blade had shattered.

The dark‑golden giant gripping the great sword grunted, a tremendous recoil slammed into him, and he staggered backward several steps, unable to keep his footing.

The scene fell into dead silence; everyone stared, wide‑eyed, at the great sword in the dark‑golden giant's hand.

A huge notch appeared on the blade.

Thereafter, a continuous 'crack-crack' sounded, dense cracks spread from the notch, and after a few breaths the great sword shattered completely.

The dark-gold giant opened his mouth wide, blankly turned his head, and looked at Luo Lin, who was equally dumbfounded.

"Commandant..." the dark-gold giant called out helplessly.

"This..." Luo Lin gazed vacantly at the broken blade fragments on the execution platform; these were the military-law instruments of the Fuxi Divine Kingdom, a great killer that had slain countless famous strong warriors.

Under this set of instruments, even a famed sturdy heavenly dragon would be easily beheaded.

But this dog demon...

"Continue! Keep chopping him!" Luo Lin bellowed hysterically.

As military-law instruments, this set of treasures obviously couldn't consist of just one execution blade; the entire execution platform was equipped with a full set of complex instruments.

The dark-gold giant roared, grabbed with his right hand, and another great blade shot out from the execution platform, which he seized in his hand.

This time, the dark-gold giant gripped the great blade with both hands, his body flickering with a dim golden light, he gathered power for ten breaths, then raised the blade and roared, bringing it down toward Lao Tie's neck.

Countless people held their breath watching this strike.

The dark-gold giant put all his strength into this strike, the momentum of the falling blade was more than ten times that of the previous one.

Ding!

Sparks flew in all directions!

The great blade in the giant's hand directly exploded into countless fragments; the blood-colored blade shards scattered everywhere, heavily gouging the bodies of the two dark-gold giants, tearing deep and shallow wounds across them.

The two dark-gold giants grimaced in pain, but they dared not cry out; instead they turned their heads, staring blankly at Luo Lin.

Luo Lin's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks.

He raised his right hand, gritted his teeth, and shouted hoarsely: "Keep chopping! Chop! Chop! Chop!"

The dark-gold giant let out a long cry, stamped his foot hard, and a heavy blood-colored great axe shot out from the execution platform; he gripped the axe with both hands, leapt into the air to a height of over a thousand meters, then dove down, bringing the axe down onto Lao Tie's neck.

With a thunderous roar, the heavy great axe shattered, fragments spraying far out; the soldiers watching the square's perimeter were hit by the shrapnel, hundreds of them having their armor smashed to pieces, each covered in blood collapsing to the ground.

The surrounding soldiers clamored, urgently aiding their comrades while cursing and retreating dozens of steps away from the execution platform.

The dark-gold giant roared loudly, continually pulling out great axe heads, heavy swords, long spears, and even curved blades, moon-shaped shovels, centipede hooks, and other odd-shaped instruments from the execution platform, hacking again and again at Lao Tie's neck.

Lao Tie lay comfortably on the execution platform, sticking out his tongue like a good-natured husky, motionless as the dark-gold giant hacked away.

One instrument after another shattered, the faces of the two dark-gold giants carrying out the execution grew ever uglier, their bodies trembling slightly.

If the damage to these instruments were counted against them…… perhaps they too would have to walk onto the execution platform?

"Commandant!" the dark-gold giant performing the execution, holding half a broken spear shaft, shouted with a hint of a sob.

"Take Wu Tie up there! Chop him!" Luo Lin shrieked, a bit hysterical.

Xi Qi appointed him as the army commandant through the hiring of aides; his foundation was shallow, his prestige insufficient. To truly take root in the Fuxi Divine Kingdom's army, he had to make sufficient contributions, accumulate enough merit, so that everyone would speak well of him.

This time Luo Lin was executing military law for the first time; if he couldn't even behead a prisoner's head……

His already minuscule reputation would collapse instantly; how would the senior officials of the Fuxi Divine Kingdom's military view him then?

Wanting to establish oneself in the army, wanting to gain a genuine military post, wanting to stand out in the Fuxi Divine Kingdom?

Heh, a waste who can't even chop off a prisoner's head, you're thinking too much.

"No matter what, we must make Wu Tie die!"

Luo Lin clenched his fists, glaring malevolently at Wu Tie.

Taotie Yun and the others at the side took a couple steps to one side, slightly distancing themselves from the furious Luo Lin.

The situation is a bit off…… there's still a chance to deal with Wu Tie…… but we can't embarrass ourselves dealing with Wu Tie like Luo Lin did. After all, the Taotie clan is huge, far stronger than the Luo family that Luo Lin comes from.

The Luo family can lose face, but the Taotie clan still needs to keep its dignity.

Lao Tie was dragged down from the execution platform.

Wu Tie was seized and brought up, four burning chains clamped heavily onto him.

Lightning flashed, fire splashed; Wu Tie's flesh was instantly charred by electricity, then burned to a crisp by the flames.

Seeing that Wu Tie's physical form didn't seem as sturdy as Lao Tie's, Luo Lin let out a sigh of relief and waved his hand forcefully.

"Chop!"

The execution dark-gold giant threw away the broken spear shaft in his hand, took a deep breath, stamped his foot, and a strangely shaped curved blade flew out from the execution platform. The various instruments on this execution platform had already been mostly destroyed on Lao Tie's body; this curved blade was one of the few remaining.

"Give me, break it!"

The dark-gold giant roared and brought down a blade.

Wu Tie gave a heh heh laugh; in the blade's light, his head shot out several feet.

Cheers came from countless soldiers in all directions; the next moment, a puff of white air burst from the severed neck of Wu Tie, a radiant white lotus blossomed and rose slowly, and Wu Tie's head shot back onto the lotus.

The white lotus petals rotated, then vanished.

Wu Tie's neck bore not a single scar; the scene of the blade's light falling and his head flying out seemed like an illusion at first glance.

Luo Lin opened his mouth, his body shuddered slightly.

This is an extremely profound divine ability; only a true master of divine powers could pull off such a trick.

But…… wasn't Wu Tie bound by the golden swaying rope?

How could he still perform divine abilities?

"Give me, keep chopping!" Luo Lin let out an inhuman roar.

With each chop, white lotus flowers bloomed on Wu Tie's neck, then his head kept flying back; no matter how the dark-gold giant hacked, not a single hair on his neck suffered any damage.

All around was dead silence; every soldier gazed at Luo Lin with complex eyes.

This army commandant seems a bit…… useless!