Chapter 388: The Curtain Falls

Toward the Great Wei Divine State, a scroll of blue jade flew across the sky; as it neared the fortress above, the scroll slowly unfurled, and countless pale golden characters appeared, intertwining on its surface.

Wu Tie's eyes were sharp; he saw that it was actually a remarkably exquisite military manual.

Each golden character that rose from the scroll spun in midair and turned into a golden weapon that shot out, slashing down toward the Left Minister, Linghu Qingqing.

Inside the fortress, the defensive array set up by the robed, high‑crowned cultivators was as fragile as tofu skin before these pale golden weapons born from the text, and one after another they silently arrived above Linghu Qingqing's head.

Linghu Qingqing's high crown suddenly burst forth five‑colored divine light, like a great peacock suddenly spreading its tail feathers.

The splendid five‑colored light swirled left and right; a light sweep turned those pale golden weapons into a sky full of golden sparks.

"Sun Buppo, your strength isn't enough," Linghu Qingqing said with a light laugh.

Afterward, from the direction of the Great Wu Divine State, a burly old man ten zhang tall, clad in black chain mail and wielding a Coiled Dragon Halberd, strode forward through the air with great steps.

This old man's aura was astonishingly mighty; a mass of fervent light and shadow flickered behind him, within which sunrise and moon set could be seen, and myriad giant dragons twisted and roared.

Wu Tie merely glanced at that old man, and his eyes immediately flared with pain, unable to hold back tears.

Jiang Ping likewise shed hot tears, shouting hoarsely: "Great Wu… State Protector Martial King, Wu Three Sheep, this old devil—wasn't it said he had gone mad from cultivation and been paralyzed for years? Indeed, the news leaking from the Forbidden Demon Hall is hardly reliable at all!"

The burly Wu Three Sheep gave a "ka‑ka" strange laugh, step by step relentlessly approaching the fortress.

Still dozens of li from the fortress, the aura emanating from Wu Three Sheep shook the hearts of countless Great Jin soldiers inside, making their blood surge upward to their throats; some developed specks of blood on their skin, and his terrifying aura even burst the capillaries of those whose cultivation was insufficient.

Having rushed to about ten li outside the fortress, Wu Three Sheep suddenly drew a deep breath.

Linghu Qingqing seemed to know what Wu Three Sheep was about to do; as he inhaled, she struck the Golden Dragon Bell three times in succession.

"Boom boom boom"—the bell's three peals shot up to the heavens, and rings of auspicious light and radiant energy burst outward in all directions.

Wu Three Sheep suddenly opened his mouth and emitted an extremely strange, "mee‑mee‑mee" sheep's cry.

Wu Tie almost laughed out loud—such a burly figure with an astonishing aura, yet his cry was exactly like his name, identical to that of an old ram.

But the next instant, Wu Tie's vision went black, his viscera violently convulsed, he opened his mouth and vomited everything in his stomach.

An invisible giant hand seized his stomach and squeezed hard; Wu Tie instantly vomited out everything inside, then his mouth spewed yellow‑green bitter bile, followed by great mouthfuls of blood.

Not only Wu Tie, but everyone in the city except Linghu Qingqing looked just as ordinary.

Including the First Army and Sima Yan, they too shed tears, opening their mouths to vomit profusely; however, their complexions were far better than Wu Tie's lot, and they even had the strength to loudly curse Wu Three Sheep's ancestors while they vomited.

The tremendous roar of the Golden Dragon Bell collided with Wu Three Sheep's cry outside the city.

A thunderous boom like heaven and earth splitting erupted, a great plume of dust shot up from the ground into the sky, black vapors rose tens of thousands of feet high and then slowly spread in the upper air. Goat‑horn whirlwinds surged upward, their sharp winds spinning violently, constantly emitting a swish‑swish whistle.

In the direction from which Wu Three Sheep came, the countless soldiers of the Great Wu Divine State had no city‑wall protection, no shelter from the blood light emitted by red banners, no shield from the prohibitions laid by powerful formation masters; they were directly exposed to the aftershock of the Golden Dragon Bell's impact and Wu Three Sheep's cry.

Heaven only knows how many troops exploded in an instant; the Great Wu Divine State's battle formations turned into a sea of blood, and vast swaths of them vanished in an instant.

"Linghu Qingqing, I can't wait much longer either," Wu Three Sheep shouted hoarsely: "This time, this blood flag shall be mine!"

A thin, tall old man shaped like a bamboo pole, swaying three steps with each step, walked from the direction of the Great Wei Divine State toward the fortress: "Linghu Qingqing, I can't wait either; this time it's either you or me—one of us will fall here."

Linghu Qingqing smiled, pursing his lips, he lifted the Golden Dragon Bell and with a flick of his body appeared atop the city wall directly above the gate.

He glanced at Wu Three Sheep, then at Sun Buppo approaching from the Great Wei direction, and said softly: "I, too, am just an ordinary man; I have reached the utmost limit and can no longer be restrained, and my soul shows signs of returning to heaven and earth—if I do not break through, death is certain."

"If one does not break through, one remains merely mortal; once one breaks through, one attains eternal life and the exaltation of a deity." Linghu Qingqing sighed: "My Linghu clan—great tree draws wind; these years my descendants have been unremarkable, few have become talented…… they are useless yet love to meddle in imperial affairs…… if I die, the Linghu family risks being exterminated."

"So, I ask you two old friends to lend a hand and give me this opportunity."

Sun Buppo stood beneath that blue‑jade scroll, his face full of worry as he looked at Linghu Qingqing: "Every family has a sutra that's hard to recite, all are difficult…… to lend a hand is easy to say, hard to do…… your Linghu clan in the Great Jin Divine State draws wind like a great tree; my Sun family in the Great Wei is likewise surrounded by wolves, all waiting for my return to heaven and earth to divide my family's foundation……"

Sun Buppo shook his head: "So, I too cannot die."

Wu Three Sheep stood three li from the city and laughed loudly: "I don't need your two sourpusses' sentimental nonsense…… I don't want to die; I want to live countless years, I want to drink, eat meat, play‑women, I want to hold great power—with a single command, countless heads will fall."

"I haven't had enough fun yet—how could I bear to die?" Wu Three Sheep roared hoarsely: "I don't want to die, so I can only ask the two of you to go die!"

Sun Buppo gave a light cough: "Old Sheep, right now Linghu Qingqing is in the city; we must first join forces to kill him, then we can decide who is superior and determine the ownership of this blood flag."

Wu Three Sheep narrowed his eyes and muttered lowly: "That makes some sense, but I…… don't trust your words!"

Raising his Coiled Dragon Halberd, Wu Three Sheep murmured: "You guys are too scheming; I'm not good at scheming…… better to just cut you all down—it would be swifter."

"Heh heh" he laughed, then Wu Three Sheep stamped his foot hard: "Old brothers, this isn't just my affair—come out, show yourselves!"

From the direction of the Great Wu Divine State, heavy footsteps sounded slowly approaching.

A stout big man appeared out of nowhere from a thousand li away, carrying a great mountain on his back.

The big man lifted a mountain ten thousand zhang high with both hands, as if an ant were lifting a small house; he trudged forward step by step. Astonishingly, atop that mountain grew a lone ancient tree thousands of zhang tall.

That ancient tree resembled a willow, its countless branches flailing wildly in the air, stirring up sky‑filling hurricane clouds; from afar one could hear the "hoo‑hoo" roar of branches tearing through the sky, showing how immense its strength was and how great the burden it placed on the big man.

Another big man, a hundred zhang tall, panted like an ox as he slowly dragged a three‑thousand‑zhang‑long giant metal tower ship forward.

The metal tower ship did not fly off the ground; instead, the big man hauled it along the surface with an extremely thick chain, forcing it to slide.

Leaving aside the weight of the three‑thousand‑zhang‑long metal tower ship itself, its deck bore five mountains that had been condensed by secret arts to the utmost limit.

Each of the five small mountains, a hundred zhang high, possessed a different phase attribute, and they were arranged on the deck according to the directions of the Five Phases.

The Five Phases formation formed by these five small mountains was marvelously abnormal; the immense yuan magnetic force surged between the mountains, manifesting as a visible seven‑colored long dragon flickering in the air. The tower ship was drawn by this tremendous yuan magnetic force, making its weight unimaginably huge.

The big man's chain clanged "clang‑clang" as the massive tower ship moved over the ground, leaving deep gouges in the earth.

The third big man bore no burden at all.

He likewise appeared abruptly from a thousand li away, his body completely bare, not even a scrap of gauze.

He bared his physique; his muscles were knotted, the blood vessels under his skin twisted like dragons, and on his giant body spanning thousands of zhang, every acupoint was pierced with a fine hollow needle.

Vast clouds of blood mist sprayed continuously from the hundreds of long needles, the mist jetting thousands of zhang away, and the high‑speed blood mist in the air emitted a sharp whistle.

This big man simply trailed blood mist all the way, walking slowly and cautiously from a thousand li out.

Wu Tie was shocked.

This big man was obviously overflowing with qi and blood to the point his body could not bear it, so he could only constantly vent the excess blood‑qi pressure in this strange way.

An ordinary person doing this would have bled to death long ago.

But this big man's bodily functions had become superhuman; heaven‑earth primal energy was continually devoured by his body, which incessantly transformed it into massive blood‑qi, so his internal blood‑qi never ceased, forcing him to incessantly release the surplus.

"This guy……" Wu Tie inexplicably had a strange thought: "If he opened a restaurant, he would never lack the ingredients for spicy beef tripe and blood curd."

Although it was said jokingly, Wu Tie could not imagine how formidable this guy's physical strength had become, to the point that he had to vent his excess blood and qi in this way.

Jiang Ping let out a low hum: 'The Three Heavenly Martial Kings of the Great Martial God State—what an old monster who hasn't shown his face in how many years?'

Sun Bu Po let out a light sigh: 'Old Goat, it looks like you're determined to get it? Good, I've made some preparations too… old friends, the time to truly fight has come. Don't hold back—come out and say hello.'

A mass of extremely blinding electric current.

A mass of extremely frenzied magma.

An ice mountain freezing cold to the bone.

A mass of howling, rolling yin wind.

Four visions appeared simultaneously around Sun Bu Po, each vision containing a faintly visible human silhouette.

'Here they come, here they come…' the twisted figure in the ice mountain let out a low, hoarse howl: 'After waiting so many days, you brats, I've finally fed this blood flag to its fill… this time, how many slots can there be? But I reckon it'll be enough for the five of us to use.'

A similarly elusive voice came from the yin wind: 'Enough, enough… Gods above, as long as I can break into the Divine Bright Realm, I'll do anything… even if it means slaughtering you all—what then? Linghu Qingqing, Wu San Yang, why are you blocking our path of survival?'

Wu San Yang grinned wildly and laughed.

Linghu Qingqing said softly: 'Your path of survival? But this is also our path of survival… there's only this one road; if you take it, we have nowhere to go… so you're trying to steal our path of survival.'

Linghu Qingqing shouted sternly: 'Cut the nonsense—let's just rely on our abilities!'

South of the War Fort, a thousand li away, several figures with inscrutable auras appeared out of thin air.

Just as they appeared, the elite troops of Great Wei and Great Wu gathered south of the War Fort suddenly stiffened, and then an untold number of soldiers silently collapsed to the ground.

A towering giant shrouded in blood mist let out a cold snort, took a step forward, shaking the void, appeared before those figures in an instant, and threw a punch.

That region of void instantly turned black—completely black, reflecting no light at all, pitch black like a black hole.

Linghu Qingqing took a deep breath, struck the Golden Dragon Bell, then flicked his wrist to launch an exquisitely crafted Flying Phoenix Hairpin.

The splendid Flying Phoenix Hairpin traced an arc in the air, and instantly a Milky Way spanning ten thousand li appeared out of nowhere; starlight poured down from the Yin River, accompanied by a piercing tearing-through-space sound as it struck toward Sun Bu Po, Wu San Yang, and the others.

Sun Bu Po let out a long cry, pointed his finger at the green scroll above his head; the jade scroll unfolded sheet by sheet, transforming into countless green longswords, which turned into green rainbows that silently shot up toward the Milky Way overhead.

The column of blood-colored light emitted a dull boom, and the blood-colored banner high above drifted down slowly, bit by bit, toward the ground.

The column of blood-colored light then collapsed segment by segment, flooding the entire War Fort with blood-colored radiance.

Wu Tie and the others felt waves of immense pressure pressing from all sides, then a dizzying spin as terrifying force shook their bodies; they didn't even grunt before they all passed out.

The War Fort was enveloped in light and heat beyond description, and the battlefield stretching ten thousand li in every direction was completely blanketed by blinding light.

The void twisted and trembled, and terrifying sounds kept emanating from the direction of the War Fort.

No one knew what had actually happened in the direction of the War Fort.

All that was known was that the armies of Great Jin, Great Wei, and Great Wu outside the War Fort fled in panic like startled bees, scrambling back to their own nests.

The area covered by light and heat kept expanding.

When Wu Tie finally opened his eyes and woke up, he found himself lying in a very clean room, with two lovely girls attending beside his bed.