Chapter 693

Linghu Qingqing was stunned.

Then a sword whistle sounded, and a blade of light beside Linghu Qingqing turned into nine streams of light, flashing and lively, like a fox tail swaying, bewitching the eyes and seizing the soul as it lunged straight at Gongyang Sanlü.

Gongyang Sanlü gave a light snort, a sheet of clear water light rose from beneath his feet, instantly enveloping him in a canopy formed from condensed water light. The nine blades of light struck the water light a hundred times in succession; finally the water light split a gap, and a blade of light slipped inside.

On Gongyang Sanlü's shoulder, a sheet of Blood Light sprayed out.

He retreated backward a dozen steps, and several Gongyang Clan elders protected him in the middle. The crack in the water light healed again, blocking the successive blades of light from outside.

Linghu Qingqing, you should know that if I'm unwilling, you can't hurt me.

Translation: "Qingqing, you should know, if I am unwilling, you cannot hurt me."

Linghu Qingqing, you should know, if I am unwilling, you cannot hurt me.

Yin Yu'er is indeed my adopted daughter; I have indeed schemed against you…… but you…… you…… you…… you, think about it—you are already of such age; if you could still keep yourself pure, how could I harm you?

Yin Yu'er is indeed my adopted daughter.

Linghu Qingqing took a deep breath, he opened his mouth, swallowed several pills that regenerate limbs and replenish essence, blood, and qi—the Great Dao Treasure Pill—and then took a deep look at the wound on Gongyang Sanlü's shoulder.

Yin Yu'er is indeed my adopted daughter; I have indeed schemed against you…… but you…… you…… you…… you, think about it—you are already of such age; if you could still keep yourself pure, how could I harm you?

But we need to keep the original Chinese punctuation? Not required. We'll produce a single line.

Gongyang Sanlü quickly said, "This sword, let it count as offsetting, right? Yin Yu'er, originally came to deal with others."

Gongyang Sanlü quickly said, "This sword, let it count as offsetting, right? Yin Yu'er, originally came to deal with others."

Linghu Qingqing gritted their teeth and snorted coldly: "Who?"

Linghu Qingqing gritted her teeth and coldly snorted: "Who?" Need to keep gender? Linghu Qingqing is female? Not given. We'll keep neutral? But we can infer from name? Not sure. We'll keep "Linghu Qingqing" and use appropriate pronoun? The line has no pronoun. We'll just translate action: "Linghu Qingqing gritted her teeth and coldly snorted: 'Who?'" Use "her" assuming female? Not given. Safer to use "they"? But Chinese often omits pronoun; we don't know gender. However the name Linghu Qingqing likely female (Qingqing). But we shouldn't guess. However we can keep neutral: "Linghu Qingqing gritted their teeth and coldly snorted: 'Who?'" But that sounds odd. Usually we would use "Linghu Qingqing gritted their teeth". Might be acceptable. However the instruction: If character not in guide and source gives no gender cue, keep reference neutral (use the name or 'they'). So we should use "they". So: Linghu Qingqing gritted their teeth and coldly snorted: "Who?" We'll do that.

Gongyang Sanlü quickly glanced at the Great Wu and Great Wei people who were stuffing pills into their mouths, their breath slowly recovering, and hastily said, "Sima Wuyou, Yin Yu'er, and my other few daughters are all used as bait."

Gongyang Sanlü quickly glanced at the Great Wu and Great Wei people who were stuffing pills into their mouths, their breath slowly recovering, and hastily said, "Sima Wuyou, Yin Yu'er, and my other few daughters are all used as bait."

Gongyang Sanlü said in a deep voice, "I have always thought that he not only didn't die, but even his severe injury, seclusion, and cultivation to heal wounds are excuses. Over these six thousand years, don't you feel that the earlier Great Jin seemed somewhat off?"

Gongyang Sanlü said in a deep voice, "I have always thought that he not only didn't die, but even his severe injury, seclusion, and cultivation to heal wounds are excuses. Over these six thousand years, don't you feel that the earlier Great Jin seemed somewhat off?"

Yin Yu'er, and my other few adopted daughters, each person's body has about fifty to sixty percent, sixty to seventy percent of the former goddess's likeness. Gongyang Sanlü hurriedly said, "Yin Yu'er is the one most resembling the fallen goddess, with about seventy percent similarity…… I originally intended to use her to bait Sima Wuyou."

Yin Yu'er, and my other few adopted daughters, each person's body has about fifty to sixty percent, sixty to seventy percent of the former goddess's likeness. Gongyang Sanlü hurriedly said, "Yin Yu'er is the one most resembling the fallen goddess, with about seventy percent similarity…… I originally intended to use her to bait Sima Wuyou."

Who made you insist on going for the bait? Gongyang Sanlü spread his hands: "Old man, is that honest enough?"

Translation: "Who made you, you yourself insisted on going for the bait?" Gongyang Sanlü spread his hands: "I, am I not being frank enough?" Need to keep tone. We'll translate: "Who made you, you yourself insisted on going for the bait?" Gongyang Sanlü spread his hands: "I, am I not being frank enough?" Could also be "I, have I not been frank enough?" We'll go with that.

Linghu Qingqing took a deep breath, he opened his mouth, swallowed several pills that regenerate limbs and replenish essence, blood, and qi—the Great Dao Treasure Pill—and then took a deep look at the wound on Gongyang Sanlü's shoulder.

Never mind, considering you willingly took this sword…… Linghu Qingqing gave a wry smile: "I never expected that I would still suffer a loss at the hands of this old fox, heh, heh, including Yin Yu'er being ambushed outside the imperial city?"

Never mind, considering you willingly took this sword…… Linghu Qingqing gave a wry smile: "I never expected that I would still suffer a loss at the hands of this old fox, heh, heh, including Yin Yu'er being ambushed outside the imperial city?"

Gongyang Sanlü nodded: "Besides me, who could deceive your Celestial Fox Guard and transport Great Wu's newest main cannon into Qingqiu City?"

Gongyang Sanlü nodded: "Besides me, who could deceive your Celestial Fox Guard and transport Great Wu's newest main cannon into Qingqiu City?"

Linghu Qingqing cursed.

Translation: Linghu Qingqing cursed. (We need to keep gender neutral: Linghu Qingqing cursed.)

Extremely unpleasant, extremely vulgar, extremely unbecoming of his status, he cursed.

Extremely unpleasant, extremely vulgar, extremely unbecoming of his status, he cursed.

Thus we need to treat Linghu Qingqing as male for lines where gender cue appears, and for lines without cue we can keep neutral or male? The instruction: If source gives no gender cue, keep reference neutral (use the name or 'they') rather than guessing. So for lines without explicit pronoun, we should use neutral. However we already used neutral for some lines; that's fine. For lines with explicit pronoun, we must use male. Let's adjust lines where we used neutral but there is a pronoun.

Check each line:

Linghu Qingqing, you should know, if I am unwilling, you cannot hurt me.

【7】 No pronoun. Good.

【8】 No pronoun for Linghu Qingqing. Good.

Linghu Qingqing gritted their teeth and snorted coldly: "Who?"

【10】 No pronoun for Linghu Qingqing. Good.

【11】 No pronoun. Good.

【12】 No pronoun. Good.

【13】 No pronoun. Good.

Linghu Qingqing took a deep breath, he opened his mouth, swallowed several pills that regenerate limbs and replenish essence, blood, and qi—the Great Dao Treasure Pill—and then took a deep look at the wound on Gongyang Sanlü's shoulder.

Never mind, considering you willingly took this sword…… Linghu Qingqing gave a wry smile: "I never expected that I would still suffer a loss at the hands of this old fox, heh, heh, including Yin Yu'er being ambushed outside the imperial city?"

【16】 No pronoun. Good.

Linghu Qingqing cursed.

Extremely unpleasant, extremely vulgar, extremely unbecoming of his status, he cursed.

He pointed at Gongyang Sanlü: "You took this sword; this matter, let it be…… from now on, no one should mention it again; your relationship with Yin Yu'er must be severed…… you, as well as all your clansmen, all those who have dealings with you, swear allegiance to me, allegiance to the Linghu royal family, allegiance to the Qingqiu Divine State…… hmm."

Gongyang Sanlü stared intently at Linghu Qingqing.

He did not speak, but he believed Linghu Qingqing could understand his meaning.

Linghu Qingqing fell silent for a moment, then nodded: "You want the Gongyang clan to remain loyal forever; I don't believe that either. Then, 129,600 years, you Gongyang clan, wholeheartedly loyal to me, loyal to the Linghu clan for one yuanhui, how about that?"

The Gongyang clan elders behind Gongyang Sanlü glanced at each other, fell silent for a moment, and then nodded simultaneously.

"Your Majesty, you…… you understand." Gongyang Sanlü gave a subtle smile toward Linghu Qingqing.

He addressed Linghu Qingqing as 'Your Majesty,' no longer calling him 'Qingqing,' which also showed his attitude. Linghu Qingqing understood this, he immediately nodded and smiled, raised his hand to heaven, and issued a poison oath.

As long as the Gongyang clan, in the next over 120,000 years, wholeheartedly loyal to Linghu Qingqing, loyal to the Linghu royal family, and does not scheme behind the scenes, Linghu Qingqing will then heavily employ the Gongyang clan and promise to grant them fiefdoms.

Linghu Qingqing promised that as long as the Gongyang clan is sincerely loyal, the Gongyang clan will be the foremost gate of Qingqiu, surpassing all generals, aristocrats, and clans except the Linghu clan.

Gongyang Sanlü immediately brought twelve of his own elders to kneel on the ground, swore an extremely vicious oath, and personally took a strand of divine soul and a trace of natal essence blood, condensed them into a blood oath soul pearl, and handed it to Linghu Qingqing.

Thus, if the Gongyang clan violates the oath in any way, Linghu Qingqing will crush the soul pearl, and Gongyang Sanlü et al. will die a miserable death.

Of course, if the Gongyang clan has no violation of the oath, even if Linghu Qingqing maliciously crushes the soul pearl, Gongyang Sanlü and others will suffer no harm; instead, they will immediately sense the pearl's breaking and know Linghu Qingqing's trick.

Linghu Qingqing satisfiedly nodded, likewise condensed a blood oath soul pearl, and handed it to Gongyang Sanlü.

Fair, safe, and of great binding force for both parties.

In this duel battlefield, under the mighty threat of Great Wu and Great Wei, the Qingqiu Divine State truly achieved internal unity, concentrating forces to face outward.

The wounds of the twenty-seven Great Wu elders are healing, their qi gradually strengthening; they gather together and simultaneously raise their heads to look at the sky.

Linghu Qingqing, Gongyang Sanlü, and furthermore the highest-ranking and strongest figure of Great Wei, who holds the national divine artifact 'Avici Hell Seal,' Xiahou Rulong, the several core high-level officials of both states simultaneously shudder slightly, their eyes suddenly focusing.

Twenty-seven beams of blood light descended from heaven, heavily striking the twenty-seven Great Wu elders.

Their qi surged rapidly; in a snap of the fingers they became so powerful that Linghu Qingqing et al. felt their bodies stiffen, nearly losing all desire to resist—a terrifying level of the tenth heaven of the Divine Clarity realm!

Perhaps because so many Divine Clarity realm elders died in battle, Xi etc. 'ate their fill,' or perhaps because the remaining Great Wu elders are few, the power of the Ten Direction Slaughter Jia projection on each person increased.

In short, the twenty-seven Great Wu elders have reached the pinnacle of the Divine Clarity realm.

Before this battle, the strongest elder of the three states was at the fifth heaven of the Divine Clarity realm; and each time the Divine Clarity realm advances one level, its strength at least doubles.

It is easy to imagine how much stronger a tenth-heaven Divine Clarity elder is compared to a fifth-heaven one.

Twenty-seven tenth-heaven Divine Clarity elders are completely unable to resist.

Xiahou Rulong gave a bitter laugh: "How unjust the gods are…… This bunch of ignorant barbarians, what virtue or ability do they have to become the lords of the three states?"

Linghu Qingqing then let out a roar: "Xiahou Rulong, you're just giving up like that? Pull yourself together, fight to the death!"