Chapter 474: Leaving with Head Held High

Great Martial Fleet retreated backwards.

The worst-case scenario imagined— the Great Martial Fleet splitting into hundreds of small fleets, forcefully invading Great Marsh Prefecture and wreaking havoc— did not occur.

Wu Tie breathed a sigh of relief; if such a thing really happened, the newly stabilized Great Marsh Prefecture would easily be destroyed by the enemy and utterly reduced to ruins.

Now the Great Martial Fleet has retreated, Wu Duzun has been seriously wounded; he will certainly be unable to command the subsequent legions of the Great Martial Divine State in battle.

The Great Jin Divine State thus had enough time to deploy its forces and calmly cope with this crisis caused by the Great Martial Divine State. Incidentally, Zhao Xiu, the Vice Hall Master of the Council Hall, had his dereliction of duty cleared.

Just as Zhao Xiu was thought of, he appeared outside the gate of the Traveling Palace.

Amid the clangor, several bronze divine chains sprang from the void and swiftly wound toward Zhao Xiu.

A layer of black spiritual light surged around Zhao Xiu, spreading like waves in all directions, blocking the approach of the bronze divine chains. He shouted loudly: "Zhao Xiu, Vice Hall Master of the Council Hall of the Great Jin Divine State, requests an audience!"

Su He's unhurried voice came from deep within the Traveling Palace: "Request an audience? You should kowtow! Impudent brat, you deserve a beating!"

Tie Chi's words were even less courteous: "The lackeys of the Great Jin Divine State all deserve to die; let him go walk on the Dragon Slaying Platform."

Several bronze divine chains went mad, rapidly tracing huge arcs in the air, bringing a foul wind as they wound around Zhao Xiu. Visible ripples appeared in the air, and the void was stirred by these bronze divine chains.

Zhao Xiu's body began to sway slightly.

He is not Wu Duzun; lacking Wu Duzun's identity and possessions, his cultivation and treasures are far inferior to Wu Duzun's.

Wu Duzun could forcibly breach the Traveling Palace's prohibition, but Zhao Xiu lacks such strength.

Moreover, Zhao Xiu positioned himself as a strategist rather than a brute, so he swiftly turned into a breeze and retreated. Yet just after retreating several dozen zhang, his expression suddenly changed.

The Myriad Dragon Palace's power is too great; seeing Wu Duzun storm the city, one didn't notice, but truly being there, Zhao Xiu realized that the mere few bronze divine chains' might already left him breathless.

The void became extraordinarily viscous; each backward step required immense effort, his inner mana turned sticky, its operation became extremely sluggish, and worse, his body grew extremely heavy— Zhao Xiu, not a body cultivator, was nearly pressed to the ground by the pressure.

"Rise!" Zhao Xiu shouted, the black spiritual light around him surged forth, a thread of extremely fine black spiritual light shot from his crown and, at a height of several dozen zhang above, transformed into a patch of auspicious cloud shaped like lingzhi, about the size of a mu.

The black spiritual clouds roiled; a pitch-black copper lamp was steadily held by the clouds, and a ring of flame thirty-six zhang in diameter shielded Zhao Xiu at its center.

The spatial ripples kicked up by the bronze divine chains violently struck the black flame, emitting a dense sound like cold water dripping into hot oil. Zhao Xiu's body trembled slightly as he continually stepped backward.

Wu Tie stood on the city wall, watching Zhao Xiu's sorry state, and began to laugh.

After pondering a while, Wu Tie loudly said: "Two senior officials, please don't be so harsh on Vice Hall Master Zhao Xiu... Actually, in my view, it would be quite a good ending if Vice Hall Master Zhao Xiu were unfortunately slain by Wu Duzun's poisonous hand and died on the battlefield."

"But the Traveling Palace's location has been leaked, so the Crown Prince's mausoleum hasn't been moved yet. Hehe, if Vice Hall Master Zhao Xiu dies here, never mind how the Great Jin court would react— the Zhao Clan behind him would likely go mad."

Wu Tie learned Zhao Xiu's identity from Sima You, knowing this fellow was the General's Gate Zhao Clan's painstakingly cultivated next-generation sect leader.

If Zhao Xiu truly fell here, the Zhao Clan would surely retaliate with all its might and absolutely mobilize all its forces, enlisting every kin and old friend to join the revenge.

After all, the remnants of the Eastern Palace hold too many treasures; attacking them would also win the favor of the current Divine Emperor— why not? It could also earn merit and rewards, perhaps even secretly swallow a few Divine State's great treasures; all that's needed is a plausible pretext.

The bronze divine chains encircling Zhao Xiu suddenly stiffened in midair; after a while, they sounded "qiang lang lang" and retracted into the void, and a corner of the Myriad Dragon Palace revealed above the Traveling Palace gradually faded.

The terrifying pressure on Zhao Xiu suddenly lightened; he took a breath, without a word turned into a breeze and returned to the bamboo grove where he and Wu Tie had just discussed, standing where the several broken bamboo stalks had been.

A thread of divine light flickered— with a "swish," Zhao Xiu vanished without a trace.

Wu Tie's face twitched.

What secret treasure is this? Not only can it precisely deliver Zhao Xiu over such a distance, but it can also send him back to the original spatial coordinates without needing to set up a teleportation array beforehand!

This is far more convenient than a teleportation array.

"Vice Hall Master Zhao Xiu, don't forget my merit. Defaulting on debts is not good." Wu Tie muttered to himself.

A sudden gust surged, Tie Chi abruptly appeared beside Wu Tie and slapped him across the face: "You brat, how did you get it back? Where are the two princes?"

In the time it took to utter a sentence, Tie Chi flung a thousand slaps at Wu Tie.

Wu Tie's body exploded into fireflies, turned into light, became a breeze, became an afterimage… Tie Chi struck him a thousand times, yet he employed a thousand different divine techniques, easily dodging the blows while standing in place.

In the end, Wu Tie suddenly offered his head to Tie Chi's palm.

With a "pfft," Wu Tie's head was smashed to pieces; countless flesh and bone fragments exploded into a wisp of pure qi that drifted away, and the next instant a cluster of clear light spurted from his neck, a lotus blossomed and unfurled, and Wu Tie's skull regenerated in the light.

Tie Chi howled in anger: "Such illusionary arts— you dare use them on me?"

Wu Tie stared back at Tie Chi without weakness: "Or what? Should I let you beat me for no reason? Between us, there's no hierarchical relation… even if there were, you'd best not strike me without cause."

Wu Tie's gaze was very fierce.

Tie Chi's gaze was even fiercer.

After staring at each other for a while, Tie Chi grudgingly snorted: "Nine Revolutions Mystic Skill? Hmph, hmph, the Great Jin really spared no expense, letting a lucky cultivator of the Nine Revolutions Mystic Skill come here to stir up trouble."

Wu Tie retorted without yielding: "You're mistaken again; I came here not to stir up trouble, but to open this secret passage, attack the heartland of the Great Martial Divine State, expand territory for the Great Jin Divine State, and secure greater living space for its people."

Wu Tie proclaimed loudly: "Such a matter of state and military, in your mouth it becomes stirring up trouble? May I ask, with such virtue, how could you hold the position of Eastern Palace Martial Minister?"

Not allowing the red-faced Tie Chi to speak, Wu Tie continued to scold: "Virtue does not match the post— indeed, the Eastern Palace harbors the calamity of years past!"

This tirade, though devoid of profanity, dragged Tie Chi's virtue and talent down into the sewer.

Tie Chi roared in anger, waving his hand and shouting at the Yellow Dragon lounging on the city wall battlements: "Drag this brat up to the Dragon Slaying Platform and give him a thorough three-day, three-night processing!"

The Yellow Dragon lazily yawned, let out a "meow," and slowly asked: "He just helped us repel the Great Martial Crown Prince… how to say, Great Martial is an enemy state… really need to process him for three days and three nights?"

Tie Chi was so angry smoke poured from his seven orifices.

Not knowing what cultivation he practices, he truly spewed black-red intertwined thick smoke from all seven orifices. He gasped and roared: "Yellow Dragon Palace Spirit, don't forget— when the Crown Prince died years ago, you were to obey my and Old Ghost Su's orders!"

The Yellow Dragon grinned in a very human way, gave a dry laugh, and lazily waved a paw: "Alright, alright, don't be so fierce; by age, I, Grandfather Dragon, have been with the Founding Divine Emperor since the founding of Great Jin, campaigning across the world— I'm far older than you and Su Xiaozi."

"Hey, hey, but who made Grandfather Dragon merely an artifact spirit? The former master's words must be heeded… Huo Xiong, Grandfather Dragon thinks you're quite interesting, but who provoked you to mess with Tie Xiaozi?"

As the Yellow Dragon lazily waved its hand, the Bronze Execution Platform and two Bronze Divine Pillars rose slowly from the Traveling Palace and flew toward Wu Tie's direction.

The four thin chains bound to Wu Tie's wrists and ankles, accompanied by a resounding clang, rapidly expanded; in the blink of an eye they thickened to fist size, tightly gripping his limbs, about to drag him toward the Dragon Slaying Platform.

Wu Tie laughed, having roughly grasped the situation inside the Traveling Palace and understood the temperaments of the White Egret, Vermilion Finch, Spotted Dragon, as well as Su He and Tie Chi; many things became somewhat clear.

Given that, he certainly wasn't a masochist— how could he truly let the Dragon Slaying Platform torment him?

"Ladies and gentlemen, farewell… mountains high, waters long, green hills unchanged, clear waters ever flowing, the vast jianghu— we shall meet again in the jianghu!" Wu Tie uttered a somewhat unfamiliar jianghu saying, then his whole body erupted in black-and-white spiritual light.

The four bronze divine chains violently trembled, then with a "pop" burst into scattered wisps of bronze-colored spiritual light.

The Yellow Dragon stared in shock, his eyes wide, he fixed his gaze on Wu Tie and shouted: "Innate Yin-Yang power? Which, which, which, you little brat, interesting!"

In the void, over a thousand bronze divine chains surged out; the binding and suppressive force in the void was far stronger than when dealing with Wu Du Zun and Zhao Xiu, exceeding it by over a hundredfold.

Wu Tie's Five Elements Divine Light flashed and swayed; the over a thousand bronze divine chains, under Tie Chi's stunned gaze, were struck and flung back, and even the main bodies of the Dragon-Slaying Platform and the two bronze pillars trembled.

Wu Tie laughed "haha"; with a "bang" it exploded into a streak of fire shooting up to the sky.

The temporary palace's city defense barrier was not closed; Wu Tie shot up into the sky; Huang Long let out a "meow"; instantly countless thunderbolts fell from above; the originally hundred-zhang-thick defensive light shield, incredibly, in the direction of Wu Tie's flight, solidly turned into a thousand-zhang giant.

The Five Elements Divine Light rolled and stirred; the countless thunderbolts instantly vanished.

Afterwards, the sky filled with intertwining black, white, and five-colored light; a huge roar; Huang Long let out an "ao" shout; its bloated, obese body fell with a thud from the city wall to the ground; the high-altitude defensive light shield was solidly broken open a huge gap; Wu Tie had already vanished without a trace.

Tie Chi stared dumbfounded at the space rift in the high sky with a diameter of over ten li.

If Wu Du Zun had such means earlier, he would have already led his army to slaughter into the temporary palace.

Something the current crown prince of the Great Wu Divine Kingdom couldn't accomplish... a mere sixth-rank Dragon River Marquis of the Great Jin Divine Kingdom, a mere commander of the state army of Da Ze Prefecture, actually managed to do it?

"He only has the Fate Pool realm?" Tie Chi's face twitched violently: "Such a monster... absolutely cannot be left to the Great Jin!"

Huang Long fell headfirst onto the temporary palace ground; he was too lazy to get up; however he fell, he just lay there as before, belly up basking in the sun. Upon hearing Tie Chi's words, Huang Long involuntarily let out an "ao" shout.

"Old Master Tie, stop saying such ceremonial words. Wanting to keep that kid is easy; whether it's the Eldest Highness or the Younger Highness, if one of them truly becomes the Lord of the Ten Thousand Dragon Palace, with their current cultivation they can barely exert one-tenth of the Ten Thousand Dragon Palace's power, then that kid won't be able to escape."

Huang Long's eyes rolled "gurgle-gurgle"; he loudly said: "You and Old Master Su, hurry up and decide, which of the two Highnesses is my new master? If you don't decide soon, don't blame me, Grandfather Dragon, for randomly acknowledging a master."

Tie Chi glared angrily at Huang Long: "You dare!"

Huang Long lazily extended his right foreclaw; the four claws curled up, and in the middle a dragon claw about a zhang long stood out unusually straight and clear.

"Do you think Grandfather Dragon dares or not? Grandfather Dragon is just lazy, not that I'm stupid!" Huang Long's tone became somewhat enigmatic: "Grandfather Dragon doesn't care about whatever scheming you little brats have... don't let the two Highnesses get hurt, otherwise..."

Huang Long opened his mouth, suddenly nimbly darted up onto the city wall; before Tie Chi could even react, with an "ah-woo" bite he came down hard on his face.

Two rows of sharp dragon teeth clashed, sending out countless sparks that sprayed onto the unprepared Tie Chi.

"Otherwise, Grandfather Dragon's belly is hungry, also wants to eat two living people to fill his stomach." Huang Long grinned, his smile full of previously unseen ferocity and brutality: "You unfilial juniors have surely forgotten the prestige of the Ten Thousand Dragon Palace when the nation was founded."

Tie Chi was startled by Huang Long's sudden display and shivered; he, somewhat simple-minded, asked: "What's it called?"

Huang Long pondered a moment, then returned to that lazy appearance; he shyly said: "The Widow's Palace... meaning, wherever the Ten Thousand Dragon Palace passes, all who dare to resist, the able-bodied, all die in battle, leaving only countless widows... so, the alias of the Ten Thousand Dragon Palace is the Widow's Palace; you must remember this clearly."

Wu Tie left the temporary palace; his escape light was astonishingly fast.

He was still the first time fully exerting the inherited legacy he received from the Great Peng Ming King and the Peacock Ming King: the innate Yin-Yang Five Elements Great Dao, combined with the Five Elements Divine Light Disk mobile escape technique; the speed was truly astonishing even to Wu Tie himself.

He again directly perceived, gaining a clear understanding of the strength of the two great beings, the Ancient Great Peng Ming King and the Peacock Ming King.

The barrier of the temporary palace that Wu Du Zun struggled to break into; Wu Tie, using the Five Elements Divine Light, shattered it with just a strike... this is the Five Elements Divine Light left behind by the Peacock Ming King, already fully refined, not Wu Tie's own power; Wu Tie grew ever more astonished, what realm had they reached back then?

The escape light was swift; Wu Tie violently collided head-on with the Da Ze fleet that was speeding forward in the high sky.

He immediately activated the escape light, blocking in front of the fleet.

"No need to go anymore, the trouble's already settled... huh? Commander Pei Feng, why did you bring troops?"

With a "swish", a cluster of black flame ignited before Wu Tie; Pei Feng sprang from the flames and slammed into Wu Tie.