Chapter 387: Left Minister's Methods

Wu Tie stood up and curiously followed behind the Left Minister and the others.

This was the strongest cultivator Wu Tie had ever seen, aside from Wu Yu and Xi Bu Bai, and he was curious what means the Left Minister would use to settle the battle at hand.

At the city gate, the Great Jin's generals stood in a row, driving immortal soldiers to exchange bombardments with the enemy outside.

Immortal soldiers collided in the air, bursting out light flames, shockwaves, lightning, and rosy vapors that roiled, twisting the void, making it impossible to see what lay three steps away.

The Left Minister stood several dozen zhang from the city gate; he gestured toward the altar behind him, and the huge Gold Dragon Bell gradually shrank, finally becoming a great bell twelve chi high, hovering before him.

The Left Minister reached out and lightly pressed his hand on the bell.

Thereafter, the gold dragon coiled around the Gold Dragon Bell lit up scale by scale from its tail; in a breath, all the dragon's scales shone, and with a resonant "hum," the bell rang loudly, rings of golden‑red clouds spreading outward.

Wu Tie leapt up a few times and sprang onto the city wall atop the gate, looking around.

Just as when the Gold Dragon Bell was first struck, countless Wei and Wu soldiers around the War Fort were shaken so hard their souls fled, collapsing limp to the ground. After a while, blood‑colored flames rose from the earth, and those slain soldiers turned into green smoke.

The Left Minister alone striking the Gold Dragon Bell produced a power greater than that of dozens of Fetal Storage Realm generals acting together before.

Centered on the War Fort, all troops within a fifty‑li radius were instantly swept away; thousands of large and small tower ships shattered, together with the soldiers inside them vanishing into smoke.

"This treasure is not bad; among all the state‑protecting treasures of Great Jin, its power ranks in the top five." The Left Minister stroked the Gold Dragon Bell, praising it sincerely.

After triggering the Gold Dragon Bell once, the Left Minister's inner aura, like that of a primordial volcano, suddenly weakened considerably.

But in the time it takes to say a sentence, his aura swiftly returned to its peak—clearly, his claim that his mana consumption speed could not keep up with its natural regeneration was no empty boast.

His mana was constantly growing and strengthening, yet his body's capacity was limited; the ever‑rising mana placed enormous pressure on both his flesh and soul.

If he could not break through, he would sooner or later self‑destruct and die—though his soul would scatter, he was also destined to inflict great harm on his surroundings and those nearby.

With a single ring of the Gold Dragon Bell, the Wei and Wu armies outside the city halted abruptly.

Afterwards, low war drums and muffled bell tolls sounded again; the high officials of Wei and Wu shouted various rewards and orders, driving the great army to continue surging toward the War Fort in mighty numbers.

People pressed against people, one tower ship huddled tight against another…

The dense army surged forward once more like a flood.

The Great Jin commanders on the city wall had ceased counterattacking, gazing at the endless flood of enemies outside with a strange, pitying look.

Heaven‑covering attacks rained down.

The defensive array laid down by a previous wave of reinforcements began to activate, vast light shields rising to block the frantic assault from outside.

When the Wei and Wu soldiers and tower ships had closed to less than a hundred zhang from the wall, the Left Minister placed both hands on the Gold Dragon Bell; the bell's dragon scales lit up more than ten times faster than before, and another earth‑shaking toll rang out.

This time the bell's power exceeded the previous strike by more than double.

Within a seventy‑li radius, all Wei and Wu troops were swept clean; only the Fetal Storage Realm generals managed to drag their heavily wounded bodies back, while every officer and soldier below that realm exploded instantly.

The Left Minister smiled, lifted his head, and glanced at the blood banner displaying the Nine Dragons Chasing the Sun diagram high in the sky.

On the Nine Dragons Chasing the Sun diagram, three giant dragons had turned entirely blood‑red, emitting a blinding crimson glow.

"Not bad, not bad… come again, come again… First Army, go challenge them—heh, the harsher the words the better." The Left Minister said lightly: "Is the Supreme Commander of Great Wu their crown prince, Wu Du Zun?"

"Wu Du Zun's birth mother is of questionable origin—suspected not to be his maternal grandfather's biological daughter, but rather the child of a male concubine privately kept by his maternal grandmother… Although the Great Wu Divine Emperor covered this up, I happen to know the truth."

"You can just insult him with the word 'bastard'; I imagine he'd be eager to fight you to the death."

Wu Tie laughed brightly, then said leisurely: "Let's see if we can make the entire Nine Dragons Chasing the Sun diagram light up this time. Hehe."

The First Army laughed loudly as it scrambled onto the wall, then leapt down, hopping and jumping toward the Great Wu Central Army while shouting at the top of its lungs: "You bastard Wu Du Zun, how's your mother?"

On the flagship of the Great Wu Central Army, Wu Du Zun, clad in a Nine Dragon Robe and bearing an air of dignified splendor, sat behind a golden desk, leisurely perusing documents and reviewing the statistics of troop losses sent from the front.

He gave no thought to the casualties among the low‑rank soldiers.

"The people are like reeds—cut down, they grow back. The Great Wu Divine Empire has billions of subjects; losing a few low‑rank soldiers is nothing a conscription order can't make up."

What does it matter if more low‑rank soldiers die?

It couldn't even scratch a single hair of Wu Du Zun.

But if he could capture the War Fort, the merit would be great… Wu Du Zun smiled, looking at the elderly men in long robes and high caps standing beside him—none other than the Great Wu Crown Prince—who could so easily summon those ancient monsters from the Imperial Clan Shrine.

With them sealing the Great Jin transmission array inside the War Fort, the Jin defenders would dwindle one by one; as long as he was willing to fill the ranks with soldiers' lives, this fort would sooner or later belong to Wu Du Zun.

Wu Du Zun now urgently needed a staggering feat of merit.

Seizing this fort and winning the final victory in the Blood Banner War would earn him conspicuous merit… Moreover, several elders of the imperial clan who could no longer suppress their cultivation would certainly be indebted to him.

Wu Du Zun smiled and closed the document before him.

"Keep attacking, don't fear casualties. Since Father Emperor entrusted this mission to me, I must win."

A flicker of gloom crossed Wu Du Zun's eyes—his mother empress, why didn't she just drop dead? It truly was a disgrace to his face. As the Great Wu Crown Prince, his own mother empress was…

If she were to die suddenly of illness, that would truly be perfect.

Wu Du Zun's face darkened; the vast council hall fell instantly silent, and even the high‑cultivation imperial clan attendants lowered their heads cautiously.

At that moment, the First Army's roar echoed from afar.

The two words "bastard" instantly turned Wu Du Zun's face purplish‑red; he sprang up, black lotus‑shaped flames erupting across his body, trembling as he shrieked hysterically: "That's the First Army? Let me have him killed—kill him!"

The golden desk before him instantly turned to green smoke; Wu Du Zun screamed hysterically: "Spare no cost, no matter how many die or are wounded—charge forward and kill him! Let my imperial guard personally oversee the battle; regardless of rank, advance without retreat—whoever dares to step back a single pace, I will exterminate his three clans!"

Wu Du Zun flew into a rage.

Meanwhile, the Left Minister lightly placed a palm on the Gold Dragon Bell.

With a bell toll, myriad flames blossomed in the void, faintly revealing ten thousand dragons soaring; countless streams of light streamed from above the War Fort outward, stretching tens of thousands of li, the aura astonishing to the extreme.

The Left Minister looked at Sima Yan and gave him a few more instructions.

Sima Yan's face twitched violently; then he nodded, taking a few subordinates and charging out the gate toward the Great Wei Divine Kingdom Central Army.

"Commander of the Wei Dragon Soaring Army, Xiahou Mo, do you remember—clear waters and lovely mountains, a pond full of blue lotuses, a red face and white hair, tears flowing like ripples?"

Sima Yan bellowed at the top of his lungs.

The status of the Wei Dragon Soaring Army was comparable to that of the Jin Divine Might Army; likewise, it was Wei's main force devoted to expanding territory and pushing outward.

The commander of the Wei Dragon Soaring Army, Xiahou Mo, was not only a member of the Wei imperial clan but also the full‑blooded brother of the present Wei Divine Emperor, long known within Wei as a "Virtuous Prince."

Merely, after Sima Yan uttered those four nonsensical sixteen‑character words, the handsome Xiahou Mo howled like a mad dog, bursting out of the central army camp, abandoning all his guards and subordinates, eyes bloodshot with gritted teeth as he charged toward Sima Yan.

Several dozen li away from Sima Yan, Xiahou Mo's body spewed out several dozen streams of smoke, and several dozen Nine Refined Immortal Weapons, carrying an aura capable of destroying heaven and earth, howled as they smashed toward Sima Yan.

Sima Yan narrowed his eyes and urgently sent a voice transmission to Xiahou Mo: "Inflict heavy injury, let me beat you to the brink of death, then you order a fierce counterattack for revenge; that sixteen‑character matter will not be leaked…… otherwise……"

Xiahou Mo stared blankly, then let out a deep, hoarse roar and strode forward toward Sima Yan.

Sima Yan held a dazzling, rainbow‑like immortal sword that rose into the air, and with a overhead strike he slashed toward Xiahou Mo.

Amid the astonished cries of countless commanders of the Great Wei Divine State, Xiahou Mo was actually struck by Sima Yan's sword; the long blade pierced his left shoulder and exited through his right side below the ribs.

Xiahou Mo suddenly spat a mouthful of blood and staggered backward in retreat.

Sima Yan whispered in admiration: "Lord Left Minister, you are truly like a divine being."

He leapt up, flashed to Xiahou Mo's rear, and then pressed a palm against his back.

The immortal soldier armor on Xiahou Mo's body served no purpose; Sima Yan's slap shattered it to pieces, and his palm struck solidly on Xiahou Mo's back.

Xiahou Mo suddenly opened his mouth; like fruit under a juicer, a stream of blood water howled out from his mouth for dozens of zhang. Despite the distance of several dozen li, the commanders of the Longxiang Army flying over heard the "crack crack crack crack crack crack" of his bones shattering inside his body.

Just one palm strike, and Xiahou Mo was hit so hard his eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.

Howling, he turned into a streak of Blood Light and flew backward several dozen li, crashing into the embrace of his own trusted commander, and Xiahou Mo hysterical howled: "Storm the city…… for my king…… avenge and repay hatred……"

Sima Yan showed no mercy, and Xiahou Mo simply gave up all defense.

After two consecutive heavy blows, Xiahou Mo truly reached the brink of death; his trusted commanders frantically helped him swallow a bellyful of life‑saving medicine, yet he remained at death's door, with bruised blood continually seeping from the pores of his upper body.

The commanders of the Longxiang Army carried Xiahou Mo back to the central camp, whereupon the entire Longxiang Army formation fell into chaos like boiling thin porridge.

All the soldiers of the Longxiang Army charged at the fortress like mad dogs, and even more ferociously than mad dogs they waved their weapons, driving the troops of the Fengxiang Army and Benlang Cavalry to assault the fortress.

Xiahou Mo was a prince of the Divine State and also the younger brother of the Divine Emperor, yet on the battlefield he was inexplicably struck down with heavy injuries……

All right, no matter how miraculous the process of Xiahou Mo's injury, if the soldiers of the Great Wei Divine State present cannot avenge him, then they might as well not go back—let them all cut their throats here!

Thousands of immortal soldiers, accompanied by a terrifying roar, smashed toward Sima Yan.

The illustrious Shenwu Army Grand Commander Sima Yan turned and fled; he ran so panicked that his left leg tripped his right, and he actually fell flat on his face in front of everyone……

No matter how disheveled, Sima Yan hurriedly slipped back to the fortress with a few trusted commanders, smiling as he approached the Left Minister and asked: "Lord Left Minister, what exactly does that remark mean?"

The Left Minister gave a hehe chuckle, then spoke slowly: "These days…… forget it; you already promised him not to speak of it, so what does knowing it matter?"

Standing on the city wall, just like the Shenwu Army soldiers beside him, his ears perked up to hear gossip, Wu Tie nearly fell headfirst off the wall.

This old fellow……

He really knows how to whet one's appetite!

But just think about how Wu Duzun was tricked.

It is clear that the sixteen‑character phrase Sima Yan muttered to Xiahou Mo just now certainly hides some shady, illicit dealings.

Wu Tie couldn't help but wonder how many shady things could be hidden here.

The Great Wei Divine State and the Great Wu Divine State— their supreme commanders were driven mad by the stimulation, completely losing the ability to direct their armies normally……

The two nations' vast armies surged forward like a tide, continually assaulting the fortress.

The Left Minister stood in the fortress, leisurely pouring magical power into the Gold Dragon Bell; whenever a wave of troops approached the city walls, he would agitate the bell to emit a earth‑shaking roar.

Thus, within a radius of a hundred li, all soldiers were instantly shaken to death.

Meanwhile, the high‑ranking officials of both nations went completely mad, disregarding the casualties of ordinary soldiers and only caring about driving them to die beside the fortress.

Roar after roar of the Gold Dragon Bell, countless warriors fell.

One day and night, two days and nights, three days and nights……

Sleepless and tireless, fearless of death, they charged madly into slaughter.

Wu Tie looked up at the sky; on the blood‑red banner of the Nine Dragons Chasing the Sun, spanning dozens of li in the high heavens, the Nine Dragons Chasing the Sun diagram already had nine dragon shadows emitting dazzling Blood Light, while the central sun's light and shadow remained dim.

More soldiers were driven to charge toward the fortress.

In the gruesome scenes of these past days and nights, Wu Tie certainly vomited several times, while Jiang Ping, Jiang Gua, Jiang Tianxing and others also turned deathly pale, each curling up on the city wall, completely losing the strength to kill.

The Left Minister, without changing expression, activated the Gold Dragon Bell; the number of enemy soldiers he alone slew was several times greater than the combined total of all the city's defenders!

One day, in the Nine Dragons Chasing the Sun diagram, the central sun fully formed, continuously emitting dazzling blood‑flame, like a small sun bathing a radius of a thousand li in crimson.

A low‑pitched voice came from afar: "Linghu Qingqing, you old immortal, still want to save face? These past days, it's you who disregarded dignity while slaughtering my Wei youths!"

"Besides you, this shameless old man, I really can't think of anyone else who could have caused my Wei to lose troops and generals to this extent."

Left Minister Linghu Qingqing gave a gekko laugh: "Sun Bupo, you've come? Hehe, you and I are similar; speaking of shamelessness, we're on par…… you arrived seven days ago, why only speak up today?"

Linghu Qingqing shook his head: "You, aren't you also waiting, waiting for the Nine Dragons Chasing the Sun diagram to be completed? So many fine young men of the Great Wei have died because of your selfishness."

"Croak!" A harsh reprimand rang out from the direction of the Great Wu Divine State's army formation: "Enough nonsense, what good is it? If you want the blood banner, each rely on your own means!"