Chapter 475: Zhao Xiu Assassinated

Almost all warships of Great Marsh Prefecture are gathered here, forming the tightest olive-shaped defensive formation.

Black Phoenix Army, Great Marsh Prefecture Army, and the Five Elements Spirits recruited by Wu Tie—countless warriors stood on the decks, their eyes sharp as they looked this way.

Under the gaze of so many soldiers, Pei Feng was straightforward and cheerful, actively giving Wu Tie an embrace.

A wisp of intense faint fragrance came over, and Wu Tie suddenly felt a bit dizzy.

"Army Commander Pei Feng..." Wu Tie felt a bit dizzy; he didn't know what to say—this was the first time in his life he'd had such an experience.

Pei Feng released her hold, earnestly studying Wu Tie's face at this moment.

"Although you're uglier than I imagined as a child…… but…… not bad." Pei Feng said generously: "Huo Xiong, you're not dead; being able to come back alive is already good."

Pei Feng had essentially declared her feelings publicly.

The Great Jin Divine State is not a very open-minded country; Pei Feng being able to give Wu Tie an embrace in public already says everything.

But Wu Tie's mind was in turmoil; he didn't know how to face this ardent feeling.

Especially……

Wu Tie cursed Wu Yu and Xi Bu Bai in his heart over and over—right now he bore Huo Xiong's identity, bore Huo Xiong's name, even bore his physique and appearance…… how could he explain this to Pei Feng?

Lao Tie stood on the bow of the nearest warship, head tilted back, watching the sky, whistling casually.

Not my concern, just hang it high—seeing Wu Tie embarrassed and conflicted is simply a delight to behold!

Lao Tie almost laughed out loud.

Just as awkward and conflicted about feelings, and just as inept at handling emotional matters, this straight-man cancer loves nothing more than watching another straight-man cancer sink into the sweet embarrassment and sweet entanglement of such feelings.

Simply put, watching this made Lao Tie feel incredibly good.

Wu Tie gave a dry cough, then extended his hand toward Pei Feng.

Below the Life Pool, the Creation Jade Disc emitted a faint glow, slowly rotating, forcibly crushing all chaotic thoughts in his mind into powder, then melting them completely in that bright light, ultimately annihilating them entirely.

His Dao heart became pure and clear; Wu Tie quickly grasped his true intent.

This girl Pei Feng is not bad.

Then, let's accept her.

Wu Tie also felt goodwill toward her—steadfast, proud, unyielding to wind and rain, yet always standing tall…… Pei Feng gives off no hint of fragility, like a poplar in the desert; amid intense bitterness, her vigorous vitality leaves Wu Tie in awe.

She is a good girl.

Pei Feng also extended her hand; Wu Tie gripped it firmly, then laughed loudly: "Army Commander Pei Feng, from now on we're family! Haha!"

The heroes of the Great Marsh Prefecture Army whistled in strange tones one after another; moreover, Li Er Haizi, who considered himself a trusted confidant, leapt onto the ship's rail, waving his arms and legs, shouting and laughing loudly.

The Five Elements Spirits' faces glowed red; each one, excited, murmured the ancestral prayer.

The Holy Ancestor having a beloved woman is undoubtedly a grand event for the Five Elements Spirits Tribe; if not amidst the army, they should truly hold a great celebration, singing and dancing wildly in festivity.

Then, feeling a bit guilty, Wu Tie quickly lowered his voice and said to Pei Feng: "However, there are some things I still cannot tell you for now."

Pei Feng looked earnestly at Wu Tie: "No matter what it is, we'll face it together from now on."

Wu Tie also looked at her earnestly.

I hope Pei Feng remembers today's words. What Pei Feng thinks "no matter what it is" surely differs greatly from what Wu Tie means by "no matter what it is". Wu Tie only hopes that, when in the future he is no longer "Huo Xiong" but his true identity as Wu Tie is revealed, Pei Feng will still recall what he said today.

Remember today's feelings.

Amid a "hiss-hiss" sound, countless crimson-purple bolts of electricity spread from the distant high sky.

Thirty-six Four Spirit Warships arrayed in a Nine Palace Formation, slowly descending from the high clouds, approaching with a terrifying aura.

Wu Tie raised his right fist and swung it back forcefully: "Retreat, retreat! These are the strongest Four Spirit Warships under the command of the Great Jin Founding Divine Emperor, innate spirit-treasure-level devices—do not provoke them; retreat, retreat!"

Li Er Haizi and the others were terrified out of their wits, shouting loudly, ordering the fleet to turn about in unison and flee at top speed.

The deeds of the Great Jin Divine State's Founding Divine Emperor have long been circulated among the common folk; in popular tales, the Founding Divine Emperor has been completely deified, becoming a great being comparable to a heavenly deity.

Moreover, the various supreme treasures beside the Founding Divine Emperor can be listed by the people of Great Jin in detail, clear and distinct.

For example, the Four Spirit Warships—this is the Great Jin Founding Divine Emperor's great weapon for besieging and capturing strongholds, integrating offense and defense, with terrifying power.

Legend has it that without military strength exceeding ten thousandfold, it is impossible to contend with these thirty-six Four Spirit Warships.

Wu Tie now commands, altogether, thousands of warships of varying quality—big cats and small cats combined—utterly incapable of matching those Four Spirit Warships. Li Er Haizi and the others are really crafty: when there's profit to be had, they rush in fastest; when danger strikes, they flee fastest!

The massive fleet, somewhat embarrassed and somewhat chaotic, turned about in disorder and fled.

Only one warship, the largest in volume, flew toward Wu Tie and Pei Feng; Lao Tie stood on its bow, behind him stood a crowd of Embryonic Storage Realm experts from the Five Elements Spirits Tribe, the deck packed tight with Embryonic Storage Realm Five Elements Spirits, while several powerful Elders hovered beside the warship, closely following its movements.

Wu Tie pulled Pei Feng, and the two landed on the bow.

Lao Tie glanced at Wu Tie and asked half-seriously: "No hardships, huh? Pretty embarrassing—being snatched away by a little girl."

Wu Tie gave Lao Tie's shoulder a punch, then said in a low voice: "That girl is the second daughter of the Great Jin's former crown prince…… How strange is it that the former crown prince died six thousand years ago, yet his two daughters are only eighteen?"

Lao Tie and Pei Feng stared in shock.

Afterward, Pei Feng quickly set aside the question "How could a person dead six thousand years have two eighteen-year-old daughters?" and glared hostilely at the Vermilion Bird standing on the prow of the leading Four Spirit Warship, eyes fixed on them.

Upon receiving the news of Wu Tie's capture, she immediately brought a large force to rendezvous with Lao Tie.

She heard that a girl in a red dress had abducted Wu Tie.

She glared at the Vermilion Bird, and black flames flickered to life on her body.

The Vermilion Bird sensed Pei Feng's gaze, instantly glaring back; behind her, a wheel of crimson sunlight rose slowly, the surrounding temperature soaring straight up—in the blink of an eye, the red light engulfed even the warship where Wu Tie and the others stood.

Like a tidal wave of red light ravaging the void, the next moment a high, cloud‑like phoenix cry shot up into the heavens.

As if stimulated by something, a suffocating mighty force suddenly awakened within Pei Feng's body; a black demonic phoenix with a wingspan exceeding three thousand zhang and three pairs of black‑flame wings unfurled above her head.

The tidal red light surged forward with scorching heat, but upon contacting that black demonic phoenix, the red light vanished without a trace.

No matter how the Vermilion Bird drove the Great Imperial Sun Emperor Classic, even as a hazy imperial shadow appeared behind her red sun, and the sky‑wide red light's temperature soared, scorching the mountains below until they smoked and nearly ignited, the red light could not prevail over that stern‑breathing demonic phoenix.

The Vermilion Bird, furious, clenched her fists and pointed at Pei Feng, shouting: "Black girl!"

Long "whoosh" leapt to the Vermilion Bird's side, steadied himself on the rail, then crouched, holding a wine jar and gulping down liquor.

Her eyes gleamed bright, fixed dead on Pei Feng, constantly licking the corner of her mouth: "Black girl? Hey, a new rival—hey, I wonder if this black girl can take a beating."

He grabbed at the air, Xuanlong furrowed his brow, shook his head: "Not enough, not enough, still not enough… Her cultivation method is strong, the power within her is strong, but her own strength is still not enough. But once she truly digests the power within her… Red-haired lass, you're not enough to beat her!"

Zhuque flared with anger, she abruptly turned her head to look at Xuanlong: "Which side are you on?"

Xuanlong raised his head arrogantly: "I stand on the side of reason, my Kuafu clan values reason the most!"

Zhuque's red lips twitched slightly; she really wanted to spit a mouthful of saliva onto Xuanlong's face.

Baihe stood with his hands behind his back; behind him, a pale cyan‑white lunar light disk rose into the sky, thread after thread of a chilling, bone‑deep coolness spread across the heavens, effortlessly suppressing the solar aura that Zhuque had released.

For a moment the sky was filled with coolness, no longer the previous scene of murderous aura rising and fiery energy shooting up—a tense standoff.

"Your Highness Baihe!" Wu Tie bowed from afar with clasped hands, but he did not perform the kneeling salute required by Great Jin regulations.

This is a matter of stance; if Wu Tie were to perform the great ritual of paying respects to the former crown prince's daughter, and if it were leaked, the charge of "disloyalty to the present divine emperor, longing for the former crown prince" would surely stick.

"General Huoxiong." Baihe walked over to Zhuque's side, the four spirit warships also halted their advance, maintaining the Nine Palaces formation, silently hovering in the air: "Thank you, General Huoxiong, for wounding the Martial Sovereign and relieving the danger to my Eastern Palace."

Wu Tie nodded; Baihe's words and deeds were far superior to Zhuque's.

He said in a deep voice: "Your Highness Baihe, please don't stand on ceremony, but the Great Wu army has already arrived, the Great Jin forces are about to come; please make a decision soon. This mountain ridge will soon become a slaughterhouse of flesh and blood."

Baihe's brow furrowed slightly as he was about to speak; suddenly a speck of spiritual light lit up beside Wu Tie's lone warship.

"Swish swish swish" dozens of sounds, one after another, warships shaped like flying fish, sleek and smooth, with faint glints, appeared out of nowhere beside Wu Tie's warship.

Next, Zhao Xiu rose into the air from a flagship, closely followed by nearly a thousand commanders whose cultivation had reached the Fetal Storage Realm.

"Remnants of the Eastern Palace, obeying the edict of the present divine emperor of Great Jin, surrender immediately on the spot, cooperate with my Great Jin forces, and annihilate the invading Great Wu enemy. If you achieve merit, the sage emperor will not begrudge granting mercy beyond the law, allowing you to return to Great Jin."

Zhao Xiu shouted sternly: "If you dare defy, then…"

Before Zhao Xiu could finish his sentence, Su He appeared like a ghost beside Baihe and Zhuque, he swept his wide sleeve and softly shouted: "Slash!"

Among the dozens of warships Zhao Xiu brought, the vast majority of the crew were elite troops of his Zhao family's private army, the finest private soldiers on his Zhao family's lands.

Besides these, there was also a small portion of Zhao Xiu's trusted subordinates cultivated and dug out by the Pivot Mechanism Hall.

Undoubtedly, the strongest of these units is the Pivot Mechanism Hall's directly affiliated assassin squad, which is the sharpest dagger the Pivot Mechanism Hall wields outward.

All the assassins in that squad are orphans, indoctrinated from childhood by the Pivot Mechanism Hall, having endured countless bloody battles; they are like tempered steel, elite warriors who have crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

Hundreds of elite assassins stood on the deck of the warship that Zhao Xiu had just flown out from.

As Su He's utterance of "Slash" just left his lips, a youth clad in half‑body armor, with a fierce visage, suddenly turned into a Blood Light, shooting straight toward Zhao Xiu; his body and soul burned in raging flames, the short sword a bit over a foot long in his hand shattered into countless cracks, bursting forth a blade of blood‑colored cold light over ten zhang long.

"Pfft"—the youth pierced through Zhao Xiu's chest, and without losing momentum, continued straight along that trajectory, shooting diagonally upward into the sky.

The Blood Light the youth had become shot forth dozens of li; in the end his body and soul were completely burned away, turning into wisps of blood‑qi that drifted off, fully returning to heaven and earth.

A hole the width of a bowl appeared in Zhao Xiu's chest; the wound was as smooth as a mirror, yet not a drop of blood leaked out.

He clutched his chest with both hands, dazed and disbelieving as he stared at Su He.

"You… you…"—just as he began to speak, a large amount of blood gushed continually from his mouth; Zhao Xiu's mouth became like a tiny fountain, blood pouring out nonstop, impossible to staunch.

Many of Zhao Xiu's Zhao family commanders cried out in alarm; the two commanders nearest him rushed forward, frantically feeding him life‑preserving elixirs, slathering thick ointment on his wound, and continually pouring their own mana into his body to sustain his vitality, fearing he would die on the spot.

"Why?" Zhao Xiu kept spitting blood.

Su He gazed at Zhao Xiu with solemn composure and said lightly: "Give you these Great Jin hounds a warning… Do you think that, as belonging to my Eastern Palace, we have hidden ourselves in some remote barbaric mountain range? After all these years, why have the lackeys of your Pivot Mechanism Hall failed to discover our whereabouts?"

Wu Tie and Pifei exchanged a shocked glance.

When they learned that Long Lang and others had discovered remnants of the Eastern Palace not far from Dazhou, they felt a faint suspicion.

At such a short distance, the spies of the Pivot Mechanism Hall had even crossed the boundless mountains and reached the border of the Divine Wu State; how could they have failed to detect the Eastern Palace remnants hidden in the mountains merely tens of thousands of li from Dazhou?

Especially since these Eastern Palace people are on good terms with the Kuafu tribe, whose range of activity is even larger, why has the Great Jin's Pivot Mechanism Hall heard nothing at all?

Wu Tie murmured: "The Eastern Palace may have left Great Jin, but its people are still here in Great Jin!"

Pifei nodded slowly: "It seems the rumor is that after the current emperor ascended the throne, he began purging the old Eastern Palace personnel…"

Wu Tie and Pifei exchanged another glance; it was obvious the purge had not been thorough.

Zhao Xiu gulped down mouthfuls of blood, hoarsely shouting: "Retreat, withdraw…"

His eyes rolled back, a strange smile flickering at the corner of Zhao Xiu's mouth, and he fainted right there.

Wu Tie saw that strange smile at the corner of Zhao Xiu's mouth…

Then he angrily turned his gaze toward Su He.

This old coot wanted to flex his muscles before the present divine emperor of Great Jin, but instead he gave Zhao Xiu the strongest excuse to absolve himself of guilt.