Chapter 696

Wu Jia glanced at Linghu Qingqing, then at Xiahou Rulong, and in anger and shame he stomped his foot on the ground.

The battlefield, spanning a hundred li, shook with earth and mountains; the ground rumbled "Hualala" and sank another several dozen zhang, while strands of dust mixed with whirlwinds rushed up "susu", illuminated by thousands of surging light pillars, making it alternately bright and dim, bizarre and variegated.

"You are too cunning, too treacherous..." Wu Jia bellowed in fury: "You all deserve to die!"

After bellowing, Wu Jia, his breath ragged, stirred his floating qi and blood, and immediately spat out another mouthful of blood.

The Great Dao Treasure Pill that Linghu Qingqing had taken continued to take effect; his limbs were almost fully reborn, only the calves below his knees had not yet grown, but the wound was rapidly wriggling, with nodules of flesh continually sprouting.

He breathed heavily, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Xiahou Rulong.

At this moment, in this situation, Linghu Qingqing and Gongyang Sanlü also fell into disarray, their paws numb, not knowing what to do.

The most survivors were from Great Wei, each possessing strange and wondrous divine abilities; if they really fought, Linghu Qingqing had no confidence of winning.

Moreover, there was also the variable of the Great Martial Divine Kingdom.

These fellows are impulsive, barbaric, brainless—just a pack of human-shaped mad dogs. No one knows what they will do in the next moment. Especially now that they are all seriously wounded, just think what the heavily wounded Wu Ba did earlier.

The mighty Emperor of the Great Martial Divine Kingdom directly self-destructed!

Divine Emperor!

Self-destruct!

Really, their heads are messed up. Linghu Qingqing scoffs at the conduct of this group from the Great Martial Divine Kingdom, but… what can be done?

Slowly, slowly, Linghu Qingqing led the people of the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom in retreat; everyone had taken the life-saving Great Dao Treasure Pill, and its power was taking effect. Even a slight recovery of strength would be good, so there was no rush to do anything.

If we are to fight to the death, then we will fight to the death.

But before fighting to the death, being able to recover a bit more strength is the best possible.

"Li Guang, Zhao Xiang, Xiang Feiyu… they have all fallen." Linghu Qingqing murmured lowly: "Otherwise, with Li Guang's arrows, Zhao Xiang's arts, and Xiang Feiyu's desperate efforts… we could still gain a few more chances of victory."

Gongyang Sanlü's eyes felt sore, and a tear slowly slid down.

Civil officials are inherently more sentimental than generals; even after experiencing countless storms in court and becoming accustomed to life and death, Gongyang Sanlü's emotions still surged, and he shed a hot tear.

"They were all my Qingqiu's capable generals and ministers… a pity, a pity." Gongyang Sanlü muttered to himself: "I have schemed my whole life, hardly ever lifting a hand; I never imagined there would be a day of close combat and desperate fighting."

"Really, it's disgraceful to scholarship." Gongyang Sanlü glanced askance at Xiahou Rulong and the others: "Really, they have thrown away all decorum… we agreed to surrender, so how could they renege? These fellows of Great Wei, have their scholar-official airs all gone to the dogs?"

Xiahou Rulong's ears are sharp; he heard Gongyang Sanlü's muttering, smiled, and solemnly nodded at him: "To live long without dying is to be a thief; I am old enough, older than you by a hundred thousand years, so naturally I am a thief."

"An old thief, what need is there for propriety or dignity? Feeding dogs, just feed the dogs… even if today we lose all face, future descendants of my Great Wei will still be grateful for what we have done today."

Behind Xiahou Rulong, an elder of the Xiahou clan let out a long whistle: "As long as the ancestors' sacrifices continue, as long as the descendants' bloodline endures, even if we betray trust and break promises, we today have done just that."

Linghu Qingqing and Gongyang Sanlü heard it but could not speak; they had made it clear they wanted no face, so to try to bind them with "face" would be pointless.

Linghu Qingqing let out a light sigh: "Prepare to fight to the death; bring out whatever hidden tricks, whatever shameful means, even if they are heinous and inhumane… for example, the Wei clan… I know your family possesses a 'Soul-Banner Remnant'."

In the crowd, a white-haired elder's face twitched; he opened his mouth to argue a bit, but after thinking, he closed it again.

Linghu Qingqing gave a cold smile: "That Soul-Banner Remnant nearly reaches the power of a state treasure; it was obtained four thousand years ago when the earth dragon overturned in northeastern Liangzhou, and you got it from the ruptured White Dragon River mouth as an innate spiritual treasure, right?"

"Look, I oversaw the military department for many years; its scouts still have some use. This Soul-Banner Remnant should not be hidden. Your Wei fiefdom, over the years, has repeatedly seen youths and maidens disappear for no reason—they were taken by you to feed the Soul-Banner Remnant, weren't they?"

The Wei elder gave a light cough; a bright, shiny black energy shot straight up from his head, and a banner a hundred zhang high, its surface gray and speckled with countless tiny vortices spinning rapidly, unfurled with a "Huolala".

Yin energy surged all around; on the flat ground, tiny whirlwinds rose with a "xu xu" sound, making everyone feel a creepy chill, as if an invisible face behind them were blowing on their backs.

"Liang Qing's household… your Liang clan's lineage is not strong; after all these years of hard work, you have managed to cultivate only three Divine Realm experts. What surprises me is that all three of these Divine Realm masters have survived this battle."

Linghu Qingqing said without turning his head: "From today on, your Liang clan shall be considered a top martial house of my Qingqiu Divine Kingdom; heh, with three Divine Realm elders holding the fort, look at our Qingqiu Divine Kingdom—now we have a total of only seventy-seven Divine Realm cultivators."

"You Liang clan can endure such beatings… you must have inherited the ancient Buddhist scripture 'The Victory Fighting Buddha Sutra'? It is said to be a supreme body-refining art comparable to the Nine Revolutions Mystic Technique… tsk tsk, impressive, impressive."

"My Qingqiu is already on the brink of extinction; Liang clan, are you still loyal to my Qingqiu?"

Three men over thirteen chi tall, slender builds, slightly ape-like in appearance, glanced at each other in disarray. After a cough, the most senior of the Liang trio, Liang Heqian, chuckled: "Your Majesty, I am loyal to Qingqiu with all my heart. However, the ancient inheritance… is too… too…"

Linghu Qingqing let out a light sigh: "I know, I understand; good things must be hidden, wealth should not be flaunted."

"But now, at this critical juncture… beloved officials, it's time to fight to the death."

"Liang Heqian, if we can make it out alive, I will select nine sons and nine daughters from my direct descendants to marry into your Liang clan." Linghu Qingqing said sincerely: "From today on, your Liang clan shall share the nation's fate; are you willing?"

The three Liang elders looked at each other, then gladly knelt before Linghu Qingqing.

"We, your subjects, are awed… how could we not be willing? We swear to die in loyalty to Your Majesty!"

The three Liang elders were delighted; this was indeed an unexpected joy. The Liang clan was never a powerful martial house; in the former Qingqiu Divine Kingdom, their martial ranking lay outside the top hundred, and among the top martial houses with Divine Realm guardians, their overall strength was only middling to low.

But the situation has dramatically changed.

One can see that, inexplicably, the Liang clan has become one of the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom's martial houses with the most surviving elders, and can even intermarry extensively with the royal family… the three Liang elders originally had no great ambition; to become royal kin, to let the clan share the nation's fate—this is quite appropriate.

The three elders' breath became thick and hot, their pupils slightly reddened, as they fixed their gaze on Xiahou Rulong, Wu Jia, and the others.

To survive themselves and to secure prosperity for their descendants, the three old fellows resolved to fight to the death.

Their skin quickly turned dark gold, with strands of dark-gold Buddhist light spraying from their bodies like flames, enveloping them entirely. Behind their heads, nine layers of wheel-shaped Buddhist light appeared, each layer containing divine beings from the ancient legend of the Heavenly Dragon Eight Divisions performing martial techniques.

Their bodies began to swell, expanding rapidly from over one zhang tall to about a hundred zhang.

The three slowly rose to their feet and stomped hard.

The three's aura surged suddenly; though they were only at the third heaven of the Divine Realm, behind each suddenly appeared a ten-thousand-zhang-tall, wholly golden ape phantom, which then rushed violently into the three elders' bodies.

Liang Heqian and the two others' aura shot up; in the blink of an eye they leapt from the third heaven of the Divine Realm, flipping over to reach the seventh, eighth, and finally the ninth heaven's peak.

Although still inferior to Wu Jia and company, who after the Ten Directions Slaughter Armor boost reached the tenth heaven of the Divine Realm, they were only slightly lacking by one level.

Even combined, the three might not be able to withstand the now heavily wounded, blood-spitting Wu Jia and his companion.

Gongyang Sanlü's eyes suddenly brightened, and he laughed loudly: "Wu Jia, can you see the current situation clearly? It is obvious that Xiahou Rulong and his group are the strongest; why not join forces, first wipe out these hypocritical villains and petty scoundrels of Great Wei, then we can settle our own score and decide life or death?"

Wu Jia and another Wu family elder who could still stand looked at the Qingqiu crowd, then at the Great Wei troops garrisoned in the military city, and scratched their heads vigorously.

It seemed that both sides made reasonable arguments.

But… whose advice should we follow?

Xiahou Rulong's face changed abruptly; he was about to speak when Gongyang Sanlü cut him off with a laugh: "Wu Jia… you people of the Great Martial Kingdom are quick to repay kindness and vengeance, avenging grudges overnight… do you still remember who wounded your kin lying over there?"

Wu Jia and the other Wu family elder's eyeballs instantly filled with blood.

The old white faces of Great Wei were the ones who used schemes and tricks, secretly harmed so many of their own clansmen, making them vomit blood and lie helpless on the ground.

Great Wei……the enemy!

Wu Wan raised his head and let out a long howl, he reached out to grab the sky: "Wu Dan, help me keep an eye on Linghu Qingqing's bunch of riffraff, they're no good either."

Wu Dan let out a low growl, he slowly, with some difficulty, shuffled his steps, step by step walked toward Linghu Qingqing, Gongyang Sanlü and the others, and said in a deep voice: "You, don't move, let Wu Wan take care of those white faces."

Linghu Qingqing's eyes flickered, a hint of joy appeared on her face, then she quickly suppressed it, returning to an expressionless look.

Gongyang Sanlü's pupils flashed, he hurriedly said: "Wu Dan, how about... we join forces?"

Gongyang Sanlü thought it over quite properly; Wu Wan alone might not be able to deal with Xiahou Rulong and his group; if Wu Wan and Wu Dan were slain by Xiahou Rulong's side at little cost, then the people of Qingqiu would be in big trouble.

Best would be for Qingqiu and Great Wu to join forces, first exterminating the most dangerous Great Wei people.

Then, with the three from Lianghe holding the fort... the Qingqiu Divine Kingdom would have absolute initiative, making any schemes easy to handle.

Wu Wan gave a mocking cold snort, he shouted sternly: "Old man, I don't need help from you little riffraff... you're too clever, old man has suffered too many losses from being tricked, I'll never believe you again."

Gongyang Sanlü hurriedly called out: "Wu Wan, your weapons are all destroyed; how about we lend you a few handy weapons? Fighting Xiahou Rulong and his gang bare-handed, you'll suffer a great loss."

Since Wu Wan still refuses to cooperate with our side, we should think of a way to boost his combat power.

As much as possible, let Wu Wan weaken Xiahou Rulong and his group's strength, so he can kill more of Great Wei's elders; that would be best.

Wu Wan grinned wickedly, he muttered a few words to the sky, then he saw a cold light descend from the heavens, with a clang, a spear of pure cold light radiating everywhere, exquisitely beautiful in form, an ice trident appeared in Wu Wan's hand.

As soon as the trident appeared, the entire dueling battlefield was instantly frozen over a radius of a hundred li.

On the ground, layers of frost spread rapidly; in the snap of a finger, a thick layer of ice nearly a foot deep covered the whole battlefield.

Thereafter the ice layer kept deepening, terrifying freezing qi continuously spewed from the trident; wherever it passed, the air turned into azure ice crystals that kept drifting down.

"This... is so unfair!" Linghu Qingqing, Gongyang Sanlü, Xiahou Rulong and the others muttered simultaneously.

Ten Directions Slaughter Armor, this is an unprecedentedly powerful divine artifact; giving it for free to empower the Great Wu Divine Kingdom is already enough.

Just how biased are the gods toward this violent faction of Great Wu, that they would again produce an artifact they've never seen before, yet terrifyingly powerful as a supreme divine artifact?

This trident is even more an offensive divine artifact!

Xiahou Rulong's face turned ashen as paper; he suddenly felt a bit regretful, wondering whether he shouldn't have abandoned the agreement he reached with Linghu Qingqing.

Upon seeing the trident, Xiahou Rulong, who had just recovered a bit of his mana, suddenly felt that in this battle, he might end up being killed.

If, if they had kept their agreement with Linghu Qingqing and truly surrendered to her, wouldn't... there now be Linghu Qingqing standing in front, helping them bear the brunt of this terrifying divine artifact's projection?

"Old... old ancestor..." a Divine Realm elder of the Xiahous clan stammered to Xiahou Rulong: "This, this trident, unseen before, unheard of... what on earth has happened on the gods' side?"

Xiahou Rulong's face alternated between green and white; he muttered: "No matter what happened on their side, we, let's first survive and talk later!"

Wu Wan gave a wicked grin, he raised the trident high with both hands, swept up a flash of cold light, stepped up to beneath the military city's wall, and brought the trident down in a strike.

An ice mountain descended from the heavens, the ice mountain transformed in midair, turning into an ice blade tens of thousands of zhang long, which heavily chopped down onto the military city.

Cold qi wailed, cold qi turned into a whirlwind, wrapping countless ice crystals around and enveloping the entire military city.

The city defense formation above the military city kept cracking 'crack crack crack', countless mechanisms and formations inside the walls burst with fire, shattered by the blow.

Inside the military city, over a thousand Great Wei half-step Divine Realm commanders were frozen shivering, their bodies wrapped in a layer of ice as thick as a finger.

Even more than two hundred Divine Realm elders, fifty or sixty of them were covered head to toe in ice crystals, frozen so badly they could barely breathe, unable to speak.

Xiahou Rulong let out a long howl, over a hundred golden-armored war puppets, their bodies draped in ice crystals, slowly leapt out of the walls and charged toward Wu Wan.

Wu Wan too was covered in ice crystals, his body constantly swaying.

Seeing the golden-armored war puppets, he gave a strange laugh, with difficulty gathered his strength, and swept the trident outward.

A burst of cold light shot out, over a hundred golden-armored war puppets were encased in thick ice, unable to move at all; furthermore, these war puppets kept emitting piercing cracking sounds, their bodies riddled with numerous cracks.