Chapter 538

First Splendid Peak, the most beloved son of the First Army, had hundreds of guards forming a battle array beside him, and they actually released several defensive heavenly Dao divine weapons as a barrier.

But should we keep the name as is? We'll render it in pinyin as Di Yi Xiu Feng. I'll use that spelling; since the term appears again later, we'll keep it consistent.

Thus: "【1】 Di Yi Xiu Feng, the most beloved son of the First Army, had hundreds of guards forming a battle array beside him, and they actually released several defensive heavenly Dao divine weapons as a barrier."

Let's check if we missed any nuance: the phrase bu kui shi means "indeed lives up to being", which could be rendered as "indeed is". We'll keep the phrase "the most beloved son"; that works.

Two flag gates, two large banners, one extremely thick flagpole — its shape is purely a military item, its aura grim and ferocious; clearly it is a senior of the First Clan who spared no expense, extracting the perfected Great Dao law comprehended from his own divine fetus, skillfully combining countless rare materials to forge this clan's heavy weapon.

Within the massive battle array of the Northern Gardens Imperial Guard, a commander wielding a halberd came like a rainbow, his long halberd trailing a wisp of cold light, accompanied by a piercing tearing sound, he thrust straight into the guard array beside Di Yi Xiu Feng.

First among them was that thick flagpole that emitted a great swath of Blood Light.

With a tremendous boom, the spear-wielding commander shuddered all over, great clouds of blood mist erupting from his pores, he also spat fresh blood, and a dull sound of breaking bones came from within his body.

The Northern Gardens Imperial Guard's battle array was like a giant catapult, this commander the projectile stone hurled forth. The defensive array beside Di Yi Xiu Feng was a sturdy fortress. The stone struck the fortress with tremendous force; the impact and recoil were borne entirely by this commander alone.

Even with the battle array's enhancement granting him colossal strength, the commander was still shaken into severe injury, nearly shattering on the spot.

On the blood-red flagpole, a clear crack appeared accompanied by a piercing creak splitting sound, Di Yi Xiu Feng and the few spoiled young masters saw it clearly and instantly screamed in terror.

Before the cry even faded, on the street ahead the Northern Gardens Imperial Guard's battle array shifted rapidly; hundreds of soldiers wielding military strong crossbows marched out, the battle array's condensed magical power imbued them, continually infusing the strong crossbows through their bodies.

The strong crossbows shot out blinding light; the military strong crossbows forged by the Great Jin army, even without any enhancement, could pierce heavy shields and armor. With the battle array's enhancement, their lethality became terrifying. Just hear the gah-gah mechanism sound, over a hundred thumb-thick, one-foot-two-inch-long crossbow bolts tore through the air, flying straight at Di Yi Xiu Feng with fierce killing intent.

The flagpole shuddered violently; the two banners, blood qi rising, flipped and rolled, whipping up great gusts that layered to block the rain of crossbow bolts. The bolts pierced forward inch by inch, rapidly spinning; one could see the thumb-thick bolts, in the high-speed friction collision, gradually becoming thinner, scattering sparks everywhere.

The guard soldiers re-nocked, the battle array continued its support, another wave of crossbow bolts came, then another, and another.

Wave after wave of crossbow bolts shot forth; when they neared the guard array of Di Yi Xiu Feng, the bolts continually slowed in the turbulent gusts, hovering in midair while still spinning forward at high speed to pierce.

In just a few breaths, over ten waves of bolts, totaling more than a thousand, accompanied by a sharp scraping sound, bit by bit slowly tore at the array, continually invading inward. Within the guard's battle array, a sharp voice suddenly shouted, and the surface of over a thousand bolts flashed with a blinding red light.

In the next instant, the crossbow bolts exploded.

The magical power of a hundred thousand elite soldiers infused the bolts; combined with the bolts' mighty lethal runes, each bolt's destructive power equaled a full-force strike from a peak-stage great consummate cultivator who had comprehended at least three Great Dao laws, a Nascent Soul cultivator.

The blood-colored flagpole shattered section by section; the two banners were torn to shreds, the two flag gates shook violently, and the blood-colored radiance condensed into a huge blood-colored glass-like light shield, tightly protecting Di Yi Xiu Feng and the others inside.

The hundreds of First Clan guards forming the array all vomited blood, and over two hundred more had their limbs burst apart, blown to pieces. Dozens of divine fetuses with dimmed light struggled to fly out from the exploding flesh and blood, while the divine fetuses of over a hundred other guards, together with their bodies, were shattered into fragments.

"Slash!" a sharp cry rang out.

Three commanders clad in heavy armor and wielding long swords let out long cries together; immense magical power poured into their bodies, their forms instantly turned into eerie afterimages, they darted and leapt rapidly, their swords rushing toward the guard array of Di Yi Xiu Feng.

"Guard!" cried the cultivators on high buildings near and far in unison.

After all, they were the First Clan; after all, they were the leaders of the Great Jin's three-tenths military aristocracy; the First Army naturally had its own allies in Great Jin, and the First Clan naturally had allied family powers.

The Northern Gardens Imperial Guard acted too swiftly; these forces initially had no time to react, but when those three commanders came flying in to cleave, at least guards belonging to dozens of different factions nearby and far away had received orders from their masters.

Someone wants to kill the First Clan's kin?

Then, spare no expense, protect them.

At least a thousand cultivators acted simultaneously; they first chanted, formed seals, sacrificed their own defensive treasures, then bombarded the guard array of Di Yi Xiu Feng from afar.

The three Imperial Guard commanders flew in with their long swords, still ten-odd zhang from Di Yi Xiu Feng's guard array, when suddenly the array burst with blinding light, whizz at least over two thousand diverse protective treasures flew forth, layering to block before the guard array.

Three streaks of light slashed forth; with a tremendous boom, the battle-array-enhanced attack proved fiercely extreme—just one flying slash from each of the three Imperial Guard commanders shattered hundreds of protective treasures ranging from ordinary immortal weapons to six-refined immortal weapons.

Heavenly light flashed wildly; the shattered protective treasures exploded into countless points of flowing light, drifting and scattering in all directions.

Nevertheless, this blow was ultimately blocked. Near and far, the clamor of many people could be heard, as large numbers of family guards continually rushed toward this spot.

A perfectly fine street a hundred zhang wide was like an earth dragon turning over; the whole street violently shook and rolled, the ground split, countless paving stones blasted to rubble, gravel accompanied by piercing whistles flew everywhere, even stones flew tens of li away, shattering the roof tiles of countless distant homes.

Sima Wuyou stood on the balcony with his hands behind his back, gazing at the commotion in the street.

When he saw the families allied with the First Clan all taking action, and after Di Yi Xiu Feng was temporarily safe, he turned his gaze toward the eastern gate.

The eastern gate of Anyang City, a row of a dozen or so gateways, dozens of city gates were blown up simultaneously; the massive gate tower was shattered to pieces, bricks and tiles flew about like a flock of ill-omened black crows, screaming up into the sky before tumbling down haphazardly in all directions.

Flames shot to the heavens; just as the tremendous crash of the collapsing gate arrived, nine urgent imperial rescue signals shot into the sky; in the high air, blood clouds roiled, bathing the entire Anyang City in a blood-red hue.

"This signal… is a specially made imperial one." Sima Wuyou murmured: "By rights, only Sima Xian and Sima Fa, the current Divine Emperor and Eastern Palace Crown Prince, each have a set. How strange, how strange—even if Sima Xian and Sima Fa were utter incompetents, they wouldn't joke with this."

"Heh, who is it?" Sima Wuyou narrowed his eyes, lightly shaking his head: "Who could it be?"

Princess Jing Sheng screamed shrilly on the ruins of the Crystal Palace, shouted, kicked and cursed nonstop, like a genuine, thoroughgoing madwoman. She held a pink longsword in each hand; anyone who dared come within a hundred zhang of her would be sliced by a blade of light.

Her appearance was destroyed, likely beyond recovery; this blow directly shattered Princess Jing Sheng's state of mind, plunging her straight into a frenzied madness.

Under these circumstances, don't expect her to make any reasonable response, nor expect a woman whose face has been ruined to calm down.

"Dong, dong-dong, dong-dong-dong," signal flares shot up from military camps inside and outside Anyang City, exploding in the high air into various-colored halos and clouds of different patterns.

Anyang City's reorganized Three Gardens Imperial Guard moved, the reorganized Twelve Guards Imperial Guard moved, the city's massive defense forces moved, the direct troops stationed in Anyang City by various palaces and bureaus moved, the private armies of each household and manor moved, even the bodyguards of large merchant guilds that had only the slightest ties to those great clans and possessed formidable protective strength moved.

The imperial supreme signal has already been issued, signifying that the Great Jin Divine Realm has entered the utmost emergency; this means the Great Jin Divine Realm faces a catastrophe that could overturn the heavens, even indicating that the Great Jin imperial clan has reached the brink of extermination…

Clouds stir in all directions; no matter what plans you harbor, what thoughts you have, whether you are willing or not, in short, you must move.

Standard-form flying shuttles streamed toward Anyang City; at the speed of a flying shuttle, it takes only half a cup of tea to transport large numbers of troops to the nearest defense force camp and reach Anyang City.

The various military camps inside Anyang City also sprang into action; mysterious orders of unknown origin were relayed to the soldiers, the headquarters' great courtyard rang with a shrill alarm, couriers ran wildly through the streets, in the darkness arrow after arrow continually sliced the air, many couriers were sniped, and the orders they carried were intercepted by unidentified persons.

Sima Wuyou held the Heirloom Jade Seal, several times wanting to press it into the void.

But after hesitating for a long time, Sima Wuyou finally took a breath and restrained his impulse.

"Well, well, an abscess must always be burst, must always be burst… I, let me see who is loyal and who is treacherous… even if the loss is greater, it's just right to clear out those who deserve to die." Sima Wuyou closed his eyes, put away the jade seal, then gritted his teeth and ordered: "They set up the stage; we must put on a good show."

"Little Li, tell Sima Xian he should be assassinated, seriously wounded, and even damage his divine fetus… go arrange it, make this play more perfect, leave no loopholes. Sima Xian isn't constantly shouting that the Divine Emperor's position is just a punching post, is he? Isn't he constantly shouting that he wants to be a retired emperor who only enjoys himself and doesn't worry about state affairs?"

"This time I will satisfy his wish… let his divine fetus be severely wounded, let him abdicate and recuperate… let my dear grandson ascend the throne, take power!" Sima Wuyou sneered: "Go, hurry, arrange it well, make the slaughter more brutal… heh heh, heh heh, heh heh heh heh!"

Sima Wuyou laughed to the heavens, but his laughter became extraordinarily weird, almost like a mad old rooster straining its voice.

In the Eastern Gardens, Wu Tie stood in the high ten-thousand-zhang sky, gazing at the movements toward Anyang City.

Nine masses of blood clouds hovered in the high air; this is the most urgent imperial early-warning signal; once issued, in all directions, all subjects of Great Jin must mobilize all their troops to rush to the emperor's aid, and must convey the most urgent information to all quarters with the utmost speed.

Wu Tie stood in midair, gripping his head tightly: "What should be done about this? I can handle fighting and killing, but this sort of thing…"

"Hey, Pei Feng, what do you say we do about this?" Wu Tie looked helplessly at Pei Feng hovering not far away.

Wu Tie had been assigned by Sima Wuyou to go out on business; Lao Tie used his transformation abilities, becoming Wu Tie to oversee the Eastern Gardens. As Lao Tie himself said, fighting and killing is what he's best at. But how should he deal with this obvious disturbance?

Pei Feng gripped his spear tightly and shouted sternly: "Eastern Gardens Imperial Guard, full mobilize, enter the city, protect the emperor."

Raising his spear high, Pei Feng's whole body ignited with a black, suffocating demonic flame that seemed able to devour and burn all things in the world: "Eighteen Four-Spirit warships as the vanguard, charge straight in, straight to the imperial city… opening the way with the Divine Emperor's command; anyone who dares to intercept along the route shall be killed without mercy."

Old Iron jerked his eyebrows up: "Girl, you're serious?"

Pei Feng abruptly turned his head to look at Lao Tie: "Military regulations being what they are, we naturally have to play for real… Hmm, you won't give yourself away, will you?"

Lao Tie pointed at his own nose and burst out laughing: "Give yourself away? That brat Xiao Tie, the moment he lifts his tail, I know what he's up to… Hehe, what tricks do I have? How could I possibly give myself away? Rest assured, I definitely won't give myself away. Today I'll let you little girl see exactly what I'm capable of."

Thud, thud-thud, thud-thud-thud!

War drums resounded throughout the East Garden, the newly organized East Garden Imperial Guard was assembling urgently, and the Five Elements Spirit Army stationed in the East Garden was also quickly boarding the warships.

A humming sound rang out; in the nine military cities of the East Garden, on the beacon tower in the center, nine blood-colored light pillars simultaneously rose—each as thick as a hundred zhang and tens of thousands of zhang high—shooting straight into the sky. The pillars were extremely bright; after shooting up into the lofty heights, they continuously spewed flames, dyeing half the sky crimson. At the same time, a tremendous roaring sound kept erupting, sound waves rippling and swiftly spreading outward across the firmament.

Tens of thousands of li to the east of the East Garden, nine blood-colored light pillars likewise shot up into the sky.

Further still, beyond tens of thousands of li to the east, blood-colored light pillars rose one after another without cease, stretching eastward, with more and more blood-colored pillars continually bursting forth.

Eighteen Four Spirit warships stationed in the East Garden formed a Nine Palaces battle formation, taking the lead and charging straight toward An'yang City.

Behind the Four Spirit warships, thousands of warships of various sizes formed a circular battle array; the bow armor plates opened, each main cannon gleamed with light, ready to fire at a moment's notice. The armor plates on both sides were likewise shifted aside, and countless secondary cannons extended from the hulls.

On the warships, the East Garden Imperial Guard held their breath, silently regulating their mana, slowly spreading it out and adjusting the fluctuations of their mana to the same frequency as their comrades beside them. A vast battle formation rose into the sky, quickly merging with the Four Spirit warships ahead.

The warships were extremely fast; the East Garden was only eight hundred li from An'yang City, and in the time it takes to finish half a cup of tea, the fleet had already closed in on the eastern gate of An'yang City, which lay engulfed in flames.

"Who goes there? Halt!" came a low, stern shout from behind the walls ablaze with fire.

"East Garden Imperial Guard, by the decree of the Divine State, we have come to loyaly defend the sovereign… The Divine Emperor's order is here; anyone who dares to obstruct will be slain." Pei Feng stood on the prow of the Four Spirit warship, spear in hand, shouting sternly.

Behind the walls, countless arrows suddenly came whistling in.

From all directions, countless warships shot up from the ground into the sky, one terrifying battle formation after another rising up, forming a heavenly net that completely surrounded the East Garden Imperial Guard.

"Kill, kill, kill!" came a heaven-shaking cry of slaughter from all sides, and one enormous battle formation after another advanced like the heavens collapsing and the earth splitting, crushing down on the East Garden Imperial Guard.

In an instant, even Pei Feng couldn't tell where all these troops had come from, as they surrounded the East Garden Imperial Guard from every direction, leaving no gap.

Lao Tie let out a long whistle to the heavens; the spear in his hand leapt forth, instantly turning into a streak of flowing light that pierced through the battle formation charging at the very front.

Explosions erupted one after another, and with a single thrust of his spear Lao Tie pierced through three hundred large warships.