Chapter 665: Comprehensive Upgrade

About a hundred li from the military city, Dao Xiaoke knelt on the ground.

He took out a tiny altar the size of a washbasin, muttered strange incantations in a low voice, and placed several fist-sized soul crystals on it.

"Great, master of shadows." Dao Xiaoke grinned, and at the end of the incantation he spoke the target of his prayer.

Outside Mu Dalu, in the pitch-black endless void, a mass of dense black aura wrapped around a small landmass, spinning at extreme speed in the void. On this landmass spanning tens of thousands of li, towering expanses of pitch-black palaces rose up.

In the central palace, ancient and unadorned on its surface, several strange beings wholly merged with darkness let out low laughs.

"Oh, oh, what an unexpected gain."

At the center of the hall, on a huge altar, the soul crystals Dao Xiaoke had taken out earlier appeared silently. An arm wrapped in black smoke, its form indistinct, shot out of the void and seized one of the soul crystals.

"Ah, the taste of human souls is sweet and delicious; just one piece, I can feel it—I only need one piece to break through my current bottleneck and enter a higher realm." A hoarse, flickering voice shouted urgently: "I despise all the rules that loom over our heads."

"But we must still follow the rules." Another flickering voice, tinged with cold, sounded: "Did you hear his prayer? He asks for the blessing of 'Shadow's Protection' to grant him power."

Deep in the hall, a dim light pillar rose; within it, like a waterfall of light, could be seen a cloak wrapped in black smoke, entirely engulfed in black flames, blazing fiercely.

As several hoarse voices chanted the incantation lowly, the cloak suddenly flared, countless twisting shadow runes flashing across its surface; then its light dimmed, and a thread of extremely fine black fire shot out of the hall, flying straight toward Mu Dalu.

On the ground, Dao Xiaoke waited patiently.

After a short while, a strand of black firelight that blended with the night and was imperceptible to outsiders descended from the sky, drilling into his head. Dao Xiaoke's body twitched, and darkness spread behind him, threads of black smoke and black flame wrapping around him.

Then the black smoke and black fire completely vanished, and Dao Xiaoke's body fully merged into the darkness.

Outside the military city where Linghu Qingqing was stationed, a small section of the light curtain formed by the city's great defensive array rippled slightly, then the ripple faded and the curtain returned to normal. In that instant, Dao Xiaoke had already used the power of the divine artifact 'Shadow's Protection' bestowed by the divine spirit to slip silently into the military city.

Like a drop of water passing through a water curtain, the array masters guarding the cores of several of the city's great defensive arrays noticed nothing amiss.

Dao Xiaoke smiled silently, walking lightly through the city's streets; along the way, patrols of soldiers and the dense sealing runes everywhere could detect nothing of his presence.

Furthermore, various warning mechanisms and small traps were easily avoided by Dao Xiaoke.

He was a veteran assassin master; to him, things like string bells and spike traps were merely children's foolish games, posing no hindrance whatsoever.

In the void, occasionally a powerful sweep of divine soul power passed; Linghu Qingqing's command post, naturally guarded by a Divine Realm elder ancestor, yet even when those Divine Realm elder ancestors swept their divine soul power through the void, they failed to detect any trace of Dao Xiaoke.

A supremely heavy nine-faced treasure mirror hung high in the void, casting a hazy radiance that enveloped the entire military city.

This is the Illusion-Breaking Divine Mirror, specifically designed to counter various evasion and concealment techniques, intended to prevent strong enemies from sneaking in and infiltrating.

The nine-faced Illusion-Breaking Divine Mirror used here is the highest-quality nine-faced treasure of the entire Green Hill Divine Kingdom; with its nine beams of mirror light overlapping, even a Divine Realm expert would find it hard not to reveal a flaw.

Dao Xiaoke continued to walk smoothly; the mirror light from the nine-faced Illusion-Breaking Divine Mirror passed through his body, making him seem nonexistent, and the mirror detected nothing unusual.

Dao Xiaoke walked through the military city as if he knew it like the back of his hand.

This super military city is named 'Dragon Pond'; on the Three Kingdoms battlefield, it is regarded as the largest military city built by the Green Hill Divine Kingdom.

Only earlier, when the Young Lord Linghu Jiu of Tushan Hall led troops to attack, Dragon Pond had almost surrendered without a fight, and the armies of the Great Wei Divine Kingdom stationed within the city had remained for a long time. The city's road traffic, barracks layout, and so on had been mapped in the greatest detail by the Great Wei military.

Dao Xiaoke never fights without certainty; before setting out, he had already obtained this map, which clearly marked where ordinary soldiers were stationed, where high-ranking officers resided, and where important figures gathered.

Dao Xiaoke walked with ease, passing the barracks of ordinary soldiers, then suddenly turned into a mansion beside the road.

After a breath, Dao Xiaoke smiled and walked out; inside the mansion, over a dozen commanders of military lineage at the Fetal Storage Realm, together with more than two hundred guards, had all been slain without making a sound.

Dao Xiaoke slipped into the neighboring mansion, and the same thing happened again.

Each mansion held anywhere from dozens to hundreds; with Dao Xiaoke's methods, he could kill everyone inside in a single breath—not only people, but also the mansion's war beasts, mounts, even cats and dogs, all wiped out.

What's worse, during the war these mansions also activated their built-in minor defensive formations, cutting off all internal and external communication.

In the void, the occasional sweeps of divine soul power from those Divine Realm elder ancestors would not bother to forcibly break the restrictions of these minor defensive formations just to spy on the mansions' comings and goings.

Dao Xiaoke carried out a slaughter in the city for two hours, yet somehow no one noticed his actions.

"What a disappointment... these fellows' alertness is even worse than that of the unlucky bugs underground." Dao Xiaoke chuckled softly, mocking the slain commanders of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom: "At least down there, those guys live precariously—whether high and mighty or lowly ants—they possess a beastlike instinct for danger."

"And you pampered nobles up above... what do you think war is? A game?"

"Hiss, of course—you've always treated war as a game, merely using the lives of lowly soldiers as chips in a struggle between three great powers."

"But since someone has already started placing heavy bets on the table, wagering the lives of you high-and-mighty big shots... I'll help you make the gamble even bigger."

"Great Wei, Great Wu, Green Hill—none of you can escape; some old fogeys would be better off dead."

Dao Xiaoke twitched his nose, glanced around, and said: "Well, the warm-up's over—then, Prince An Huo Xiong, my little treasure, where are you? Where are you? Let me think—where would you be lodged? Damn it, there are too many big shots in the city; who knows where they've placed you?"

He shook his head and sighed: "Then, let's see who's unlucky."

His eyes gleaming, Dao Xiaoke entered the nearest palace complex, whose size and specifications far surpassed those of an ordinary mansion.

Soundlessly, the masses of guards and maidservants in the palace complex collapsed; after three breaths, in this complex fifty times the size of an ordinary mansion, every living being in the side pavilions except the central hall was slain by Dao Xiaoke.

Dao Xiaoke approached the hall soundlessly, effortlessly breached its outer defensive barriers, pierced straight through the thick walls, and entered the interior.

In the hall, Chu Jiang, Divine Realm elder ancestor of the Chu clan, the military aristocracy of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom, sat behind a desk, carefully reading a volume on military strategy.

The Chu clan ranked low among the military aristocracy of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom, its strength weak; Chu Jiang was the clan's sole Divine Realm elder ancestor, having broken through to divinity a thousand years ago. For his breakthrough, the Chu clan had nearly exhausted all the wealth it had painstakingly accumulated over the years.

However, with Chu Jiang holding the fort, the Chu clan formally left the circle of minor military houses and entered the ranks of the prestigious. Its fiefdom expanded, its annual income soared, its private forces grew manyfold, and even the marriage partners of its descendants shifted from minor houses to major clans.

"Indeed, this is our house's thousand-mile steed... this passage on military insight is excellent." Chu Jiang smiled and set down his military manual.

This military manual was compiled by a junior of the Chu clan, who spent years refining his own insights into warfare; Chu Jiang counts among its first readers, and he is quite satisfied with its contents—this book is the product of genuine effort.

"With such a son, my Chu clan's prosperity is assured." Chu Jiang murmured softly: "So in this great war, I must be cautious, careful... ever more cautious, ever more careful!"

Chu Jiang well knew that the Chu clan's rapid development over the past millennium was due to his own existence as the elder ancestor.

With him, the Chu clan could continue to develop smoothly and grow.

Without him, the Chu clan would instantly be reduced to its former state, and its present benefits would be immediately divided among countless greedy rivals.

Therefore, for this war... Chu Jiang plans to just go through the motions, putting on a show— that'll be enough.

To be frank, Chu Jiang, a newly minted divine being of about a thousand years, possesses only a lowly first tier of Divine Realm cultivation, lacks any innate divine weapon, hasn't even forged a notable heavenly divine weapon, and is utterly unfamiliar with combat between Divine Realm beings...

If he were to fall, then his Chu clan would...

A sword pierced Chu Jiang's skull soundlessly.

Chu Jiang's body stiffened, and his divine fetus was instantly shattered into pieces.

With a tremendous boom, a column of light about a li in diameter shot up into the sky, surging high and shattering the few thin clouds in the heavens into fragments.

In the high sky, Linghu Qingqing, who was bargaining with You Ruo, suddenly lowered his head, his eyes widening in disbelief as he looked toward the direction where the light pillar rose.

"That... is the Chu clan, Chu Jiang!" As a veteran of military campaigns, Linghu Qingqing knew exactly which residence in Longchi City housed which descendants of generals, and which encampment held which Divine Realm elder; he was crystal clear, without the slightest confusion.

As soon as he saw the direction the light pillar shot up, Linghu Qingqing knew Chu Jiang had fallen.

Chu Jiang, a newly ascended deity of a thousand years, possessed modest strength, yet he was still a combatant of the Divine Realm… worse still, he had been assassinated inside the city!

Alarm bells boomed, low tones ringing from all directions, followed by piercing bugle calls that tore through the air; behind Longchi City, amid the mountains, warship after warship rose into the sky, their bellies spewing light pillars that swiftly illuminated vast expanses outside the city.

Within the city, tower after tower lit up; all of Longchi City's grand defensive formations activated in succession, the thin light curtain over the urban area rapidly thickening and growing brighter until the intense light stung people's eyes.

Streams of light rose from various mansions, as large groups of helmeted and armored commanders, each leading their retinues, formed arrays in the sky.

In the camp, ranks of soldiers, fully armed, marched out of the barracks. Under the shouts of mid- and low-ranking officers, they swiftly formed ten-thousand-strong battle arrays, their magical power linked as one, slowly lifting off the ground.

Over twelve hundred Divine Realm elders flew out from the encampment palaces, wave after wave of overwhelming divine soul power sweeping brutally across the city.

At this moment, these old monsters held nothing back; their divine soul power surged like a tsunami, shattering the minor protective formations above countless mansions, and everywhere rang the explosions of those formations breaking apart.

Then, over a thousand old monsters cried out in shock and anger, horrified to discover that three or four hundred mansions had been utterly bloodbathed, with thousands of scions of military houses, together with tens of thousands of their guards, dying silently within those very halls.

"Who? Who?" the eldest and most powerful of the old monsters in Longchi City bellowed in unison.

Soon someone came to their senses: who could silently infiltrate the city, strike so ruthlessly and decisively, and even lower themselves to attack the younger generation… the biggest suspect among the Three Kingdoms—who else could it be?

"Dao Xiao Ke! Get out here!" Linghu Buhuo roared hoarsely.

"Dao Xiao Ke! Get out here!" the furious elders of the clans of the slain military scions from the hundreds of blood‑soaked mansions shouted hoarsely.

"Dao Xiao Ke! Get out here! Get out here!" the Chu clan members on the scene screamed hysterically, their eyes bloodshot, tears of blood streaming from the corners.

Their Chu clan's sole Divine Realm elder had been assassinated!

The pillar of their Chu clan had collapsed.

The Chu clan, which had just climbed into the ranks of prestigious families, was about to be knocked back to its original state.

The Chu clan's members now wished they could devour Dao Xiao Ke alive.

Suddenly, a wail rang out; among the elders present, the youngest Wu clan elder was suddenly struck by a sword, a horizontal slash that nearly cut him in half at the waist.

Beside the attacked Wu clan elder, three Divine Realm elders of his own clan simultaneously snorted coldly, three streaks of icy light transforming into flood dragons that, accompanied by piercing whistles, launched a fierce slash all around.

Linghu Qingqing's ice‑cold voice echoed from the high sky: "If today we cannot keep Dao Xiao Ke within the city… then I, I shall have no face to meet anyone."