Chapter 575

Slaughter the entire Fox Hill!

The night sky, dark clouds densely covered, specks of sparse stars hanging high.

Thirty-six Four Spirit warships hovered in the high sky, capable at any moment of unleashing the terrifying power to destroy cities and nations.

More than ten thousand warships and giant transport vessels trailed behind the Four Spirit warships, forming dense battle arrays, alongside the fully organized Four Palaces Twelve Guards Imperial Army and vast numbers of elite Five Elements spirits, poised to strike.

A barrier formed from the Heaven and Earth Seal meant that Fox Hill had not yet detected any movement here.

Although faint evasive lights streaked across Fox Hill's skies—just its guards on patrol—the Heaven and Earth Seal, being the top state artifact of the Divine State of Jin, can gather the power of myriad provinces and condense a great heavenly formation; how could mere guards detect any trace of it?

To them, this expanse of void contained nothing.

A fissure opened in Wu Tie's brow, his vertical eye spraying threads of spiritual light toward Fox Hill.

Fox Hill lacked the grandeur and scale of An'yang City.

Fox Hill is the ancestral land of the Linghu clan.

Among these mountains, naturally formed villages blended with the hills, forests, streams, and ponds, scattered here and there, linked by winding natural bluestone paths to hamlets each holding at most two or three thousand people.

There were hundreds of such villages scattered across the vast expanse of Fox Hill, as inconspicuous as a handful of sand tossed into grass.

Only at Fox Hill's core, where the Linghu ancestral temple and clan shrine stood, lay a small mountain city gathering about 150,000 Linghu clansmen and nearly a million servants and maidservants.

A mountain city housing a million people was, in Jin, merely the tiniest of towns; its walls were neither high nor imposing, just a low wall of ordinary blue stone over two zhang tall, with weeds like morning glory and foxtail grass growing in the cracks.

It was already deep night, yet Fox Hill still had a slight bustle.

In those villages, some homes held children cradling scrolls, swaying as they read by bright candlelight; beside them stood a kindly man, either reading, drawing, or sipping tea, quietly accompanying them.

Outside the villages and the mountain city, in the woods, sturdy youths wielded sticks, overseeing children of varying numbers as they trained their strength.

Patches of uneven mountain flats were laid with fine white sand; children aged three to eleven or twelve, after taking medicines to temper their bones and boost potential, had white vapor rising from their heads as they laboriously hauled stone locks, swung fists, and stamped feet, performing the most basic body-tempering drills.

Under lamplight and candlelight, newly adolescent girls blushed while embroidering mandarin-duck handkerchiefs; gentle women sewed garments; and white-haired elders cradled swaddled infants, pacing the courtyard in circles, tolerating the babies' kicks and cries, their faces full of kindness.

What Wu Tie saw was exactly that.

Although it was the Linghu ancestral land, it differed in no way from any peaceful village or town in the world.

The same elders, the same women, the same maidens, the same children.

Wu Tie even saw, in several extremely secluded valley hollows, a few frail children alone, sweating profusely as they threw punches and kicks, exerting themselves to the utmost to train their strength.

They might have thought their secret training unseen, but Wu Tie saw, not far away in the woods, men or women standing silently, faces full of pity, watching them constantly fall, rise again, groan in pain, then grit their teeth and tremble as they kept throwing punches and kicks.

Wu Tie suddenly recalled how, years ago behind the Wu family's Shibao, he had secretly practiced punches on his own drill field; back then, Grey Master had likewise stood inside Shibao, peering through a window at him.

Wu Tie's gaze even penetrated those stubborn children's bodies, seeing their internal ailments.

They were merely congenital meridians doomed to make normal cultivation nearly impossible… Such aberrant innate meridians could only be cleansed and have their marrow exchanged by some heavenly-earth treasures or finished Grand Dao pills.

Even though the Linghu were Jin's premier aristocracy, such precious resources could not be squandered on a handful of branch children; if used on truly gifted heirs, a single pill's effect would be ten to a hundred times greater than on these innate-defect branch children.

If so, why waste it?

Wu Tie felt the same; he seemed to grasp those children's stubbornness and obstinacy, just as he had been when he was a child.

Sima Wuyou's order was a slaughter edict.

Slaughter the entire Fox Hill.

Slay the Linghu's able-bodied, slay their elderly and weak women and children, slay the children, even infants still in swaddling.

Wu Tie had once unleashed a massacre in Yuzhou, and again during the pacification of Zhouzhou and other provincial troops.

But those he killed were mostly blood‑stained, heinous criminals beyond pardon; everyone else he demoted to convicts, exiled to the borders to atone for their crimes.

Wantonly slaughtering women and children… Wu Tie could not bring himself to do that.

Sima Wuyou stood aside holding the Heaven and Earth Seal, a subtle smile playing on his lips as he watched Wu Tie.

Wu Tie fell silent for a long time, gazing toward Fox Hill with his brow's spiritual eye for ages, then finally bowed to Sima Wuyou: 'Your Majesty, I… am incapable, unable to do this… If ahead lay the main force of the Divine Martial State's anti‑Jin army, even a mountain of blades and a forest of swords, I would charge forward.'

Shaking his head, Wu Tie murmured: 'Even if this is the Linghu ancestral land… even if Linghu Qingqing plots to usurp the throne, and those who rebel with her deserve death, yet those children, those infants… I ask myself, though my heart is hard as iron, I cannot reach the point of cold, merciless cruelty.'

Sima Wuyou widened his eyes in astonishment at Wu Tie: 'Duke of Yuzhou, are you defying orders?'

Wu Tie closed his eyes, pondered a moment, then bowed deeply to Sima Wuyou: 'Your Majesty, please order me to lead the Four Palaces Twelve Guards Imperial Army straight to assault the Linghu manor in An'yang City… I am willing to face Linghu Qingqing in a one‑on‑one duel to the death, but my hands… shall not be stained with the blood of innocent women and children.'

Pheasant Phoenix's petite face gradually turned pale, her exquisite features drawn tight.

She gripped the black spear, a faint demonic flame flickering within her long hair.

The power of the Little Six Ren's Illusory Secret Demon Body stirred quietly; Pheasant Phoenix readied herself for a full‑force strike… She narrowed her eyes slightly, daring not to meet Sima Wuyou's gaze, lest he notice where her look lingered—her peripheral vision unintentionally darting toward his brow, throat, heart, and other vital spots.

Sima Wuyou coldly regarded Wu Tie: 'Duke of Yuzhou, you must understand—it is I who valued, trusted, promoted, and entrusted you… Without me, could you have been ennobled as a first‑rank duke? Could you have received the fief of Yuzhou? Could you have commanded the Imperial City's troops and gained near‑unreserved trust?'

He pointed a finger at Wu Tie's nose and said coldly: 'I will give you one more chance—go slaughter Fox Hill, and thereafter you shall be my right‑hand minister.'

Wu Tie slowly straightened his spine, solemnly regarding Sima Wuyou: 'I cannot… Though my loyalty could shine like sun and moon, I truly cannot slaughter women and children. I can break Fox Hill for Your Majesty and capture all Linghu clansmen alive, but I cannot engage in wanton slaughter.'

Sima Wuyou narrowed his eyes: 'If you slaughter Fox Hill, I will enfeoff you as a prince, and besides Yuzhou you may pick thirty‑six provinces as your fief.'

Wu Tie shook his head.

Sima Wuyou chuckled: 'I have a most beloved young daughter, titled the Dragon‑Head Princess; I have raised her since childhood aiming for her to become the Empress of Jin, her talent and virtue surpassing those of Sima Xian and Sima Fei a hundredfold, even a thousandfold, her beauty unrivaled under heaven, a peerless beauty… I permit you to wed the Dragon‑Head Princess; thereafter you would be the mistress of Jin's harem.'

Pheasant Phoenix's petite face twitched, the cold in her black eyes intensifying, like an unchanging ancient iceberg.

Old Iron tilted his head, grinning with a snicker: 'Mistress of the harem, ha ha ha! Great!'

Wu Tie's mouth twitched violently; he gritted his teeth, glaring fixedly at Sima Wuyou with a bitter smile: 'Your Majesty, I have slain Linghu Gu and his six male relatives, bringing back their heads and divine fetuses; my loyalty to Your Majesty… I would gladly go alone now to storm the Linghu manor in An'yang, but slaughtering women and children…'

Sima Wuyou's eyes flashed with strange light; the Heaven and Earth Seal in his hand poured forth deep spiritual radiance, a terrifying heavenly force crushing down, instantly shaking Wu Tie's whole body, his divine fetus seeming to freeze, leaving only a core spark of spirituality wavering.

Pheasant Phoenix and Old Iron's faces shifted abruptly; the hundreds of Five Elements spirits elders present all changed color, their bodies tensing to rush forward and shield Wu Tie, yet the immense heavenly force entwined with the Heaven and Earth Seal left them unable to budge.

'I permit you to stand equal with the Dragon‑Head Princess, to jointly rule the world in the future… Are you willing?' Sima Wuyou lowered his voice, speaking solemnly: 'All you need do is slaughter Fox Hill.'

In Wu Tie's mind, his divine fetus blazed with dazzling light, the Canghai Divine Pearl storing energy, ready to backlash against the Heaven and Earth Seal.

But Wu Tie forcibly restrained the Canghai Divine Pearl's impulse, relying solely on that core spark of spirituality, he voiced his innermost thought: 'I am willing to duel to the death with Linghu Qingqing and even seventy percent of Jin's martial clans, but I cannot slaughter women and children.'

Wu Tie inexplicably recalled how, years ago in the Wu family's Shibao, he had watched helplessly as his father and brothers were slaughtered, unable to retaliate, filling him with grief and indignation.

That was no pleasant memory.

Even if Wu Tie's fortune is good enough, the present result isn't bad either.

But that is absolutely not a wonderful experience; Linghu Qingqing is indeed at fault, he is indeed not a good person, but the children and teenagers of Fox Hill who still study and practice martial arts late at night, striving for their own fate, those women who wholeheartedly care for their families and children, sewing clothes deep into the night, and those innocent maidens full of hope for the future……

The ones at fault are Linghu Qingqing, and those Linghu clan members who harbor boundless ambition.

Those at fault are not all of the Linghu clan……

If, over a minor crime, we unleash slaughter, using slaughter to fight evil with evil and violence with violence, then how are Wu Tie and Linghu Qingqing any different?

"I am not soft-hearted, nor am I hypocritical…… I merely believe that a true man should have things he does and things he does not…… In years to come, if I grow old and my hair turns white, looking at my hands, I will still be able to sleep peacefully. In the midnight dream, I will not be startled awake by the blood on my hands."

Wu Tie's eyes revealed a vast, pure, and righteous aura that even Sima Wuyou found moving: "I only ask to have a clear conscience!"

"'Vast…… righteousness!' Sima Wuyou widened his eyes, staring in astonishment at Wu Tie, that expression like a pig-raising butcher who, in his own pigpen, suddenly spots a white dragon horse among two huge, mud-covered, fat black pigs among tens of thousands of sturdy pigs."

"That kid Gongyang Sanlü, who claims to have inherited the primordial literary Dao lineage, still hasn't cultivated any vast righteousness!" Sima Wuyou chuckled 'hehe', lightly patting the Heaven and Earth Seal in his hand, and the terrifying heavenly might instantly dissipated.

He solemnly looked at Wu Tie and said seriously: "Good, Duke of Yu Province…… you have not disappointed my expectations. If you truly lead troops without hesitation into Fox Hill…… hehe, in the future, in my heart you will be nothing more than another Linghu Qingqing."

"'Having things to do and things not to do, very good, very good, very good…… Moreover, you unexpectedly, unexpectedly possess vast righteousness…… For a moment I feel a bit muddled, a bit headache…… But very good, very good, from now on my attitude toward you, and toward other officials, will naturally be quite different.'"

Sima Wuyou's smile was so broad his back teeth showed; he was obviously delighted beyond measure.

He lightly patted Wu Tie's shoulder, as if he had seen a rare treasure, and said casually: "This trial counts as you having completely passed…… Hmm, why not consider marrying my most beloved Dragon Head Princess?"

The black flames atop Pei Feng's head surged up whoosh to over three feet high.

Sima Wuyou gave a dry laugh, he glanced deeply at Pei Feng and muttered: "Hey, little phoenix, eating vinegar out of sourness, hey…… All right, Fox Hill, we must capture it, but we must not slaughter indiscriminately."

"'Duke of Yu Province, you command the Four Gardens Twelve Guards Forbidden Army, patrol the outskirts of Fox Hill, allowing no one to escape…… Six Tusk Forbidden Army, attack and break Fox Hill for me!'"

"'Six Tusk Forbidden Army'?"

Wu Tie and Pei Feng were startled and moved.

Not far away in the void, a water‑like spatial barrier rippled and split open; strange‑looking, ferocious vessels as black as ink and thousand‑zhang long glided out silently, like a pack of predatory demon‑sharks, speeding toward Fox Hill.

Alarm bells rang high over Fox Hill, and then thick layers of formation seals rose like springs from every part of the mountain range stretching thousands of li, about to enclose the Linghu clan's mountain city and its towns and villages.

Sima Wuyou gave a cold snort; a flash of light from the Heaven and Earth Seal in his hand unleashed a tremendous force that smashed down, shattering all the Linghu clan's formation seals set up in Fox Hill into pieces, with at least over a thousand peaks ranging from several to over ten li high collapsing explosively into countless boulders.

With just a single strike, all of Fox Hill's formations collapsed completely, laid bare before the frenzied advance of seven thousand two hundred black warships.