Chapter 720

Linghu Qingqing

After about a little half an hour, sparsely, the civil and military officials qualified to hear the warning bell and enter the Qingqiu Palace for affairs finally gathered, dragging their feet.

Linghu Qingqing sat on the throne, wearing a helpless expression as she gazed at the officials from all sides in the hall.

Represented by Xiahou Long, the old ancestors of the Great Wei who had defected to Linghu Qingqing stood to one side, each reeking of alcohol, wearing expressions of impatience, putting on the attitude of 'I'm unhappy, don't bother me if you have business.'

If it weren't for fear that their descendants would be sidelined and suppressed in the court, could you expect these Great Wei aristocratic elders, whose states were ruined, families devastated, and whose power drastically reduced, to obediently stand in the Qingqiu Palace?

Smelling the strong alcohol on them, one knew they were busy drinking away their sorrows… but Linghu Qingqing could understand; it was only natural.

The former royal forces from the Great Martial God State, such as Prince Wuchong and others, formed their own faction, standing opposite Xiahou Long and his group.

However, Wuchong and his ilk were the most timid and cautious; a group of tall, sturdy men actually put on the aggrieved look of a put‑upon daughter‑in‑law.

Green Hill Divine State

military clans

If it weren't for Linghu Qingqing's need to maintain balance in the court… heh, the remnants of the Wu family would have long been exterminated.

Household Hall

As for these civil and military officials of the original Qingqiu Divine State, describing them as 'civilly tranquil and militarily leisurely' is absolutely accurate.

Whether they were scions of military families or civil officials from humble origins, they all felt the world was at peace, having personally witnessed its unification; the realm was safe and sound, horses could be turned out to graze on the southern mountains, weapons stored away. Indeed, some civil officials even proposed melting swords into plows to weaken the military clans.

Well, setting aside the matter of 'melting swords into plows,' it really touched some of Linghu Qingqing's private thoughts.

Just looking at those civil and military officials of the native Qingqiu Divine State now standing in the court, each with a carefree grin—even the scions of military families stood slack and limp; many once‑valiant generals now looked somewhat wan, with huge, dark eye‑bags and unfocused gazes, clearly the result of excessive drink and lust.

Cold Ice Divine Power

Li clan

He saw the master of the Revenue Hall, the official in charge of Qingqiu Divine State's finances, whose neck bore a patch of rouge.

Three States

Great Martial God State

Linghu Qingqing suddenly realized that many officials had already become useless… they were beginning to degenerate, to corrupt; without external pressure, all their seven emotions and six desires surged forth, and they were rapidly rotting away.

Martial King Huoxiong

If it were a time of peace, Linghu Qingqing would clap and laugh loudly at watching these fellows degenerate and corrupt.

Martial King

Li Guangqing's household

This is beneficial for Linghu Qingqing to consolidate imperial authority and increase the power of the royal clan.

Green Hill Guard

gold seal

Linghu Qingqing sighed, picked up a gold seal she carried, and slammed it heavily onto the dragon‑carved desk.

With a tremendous boom, the entire Qingqiu Palace shuddered a few times; even the smiling Gongyang Sanlü, along with all the civil and military officials of the court, jerked in shock and lifted their heads to look at Linghu Qingqing.

Gongyang Sanlü, an elder statesman and now the most powerful clan chief in the court, immediately stepped forward from the ranks, bowed solemnly with clasped hands to Linghu Qingqing and said, 'Your Majesty, why do you unleash such thunderous wrath?'

Blood Banner Contention

Look, look—take 'Martial King Huo Xiong' for example: after receiving his fief, he scurried off to toss and turn on his land, never loafing in the court or contending for power and profit. You, the 'Civil King' Gongyang Sanlü, why are you still squatting in the court, refusing to move?

Green Hill civil officials

Green Hill Guard

Gongyang Sanlü was shocked, the Qingqiu military faction was shocked, the Qingqiu civil officials were shocked, and the many defectors from Great Wei and Great Martial who had submitted to Linghu Qingqing were all faces of astonishment. Xiahou Long and the other Great Wei elders instinctively tensed their bodies, and terrifying auras began to spread within the hall, making the situation inside grow ever more chaotic.

"Green Hill civil officials" we have.

Amid the unconscious divine‑realm pressure released by Xiahou Long and the others, Gongyang Sanlü showed not the slightest change in expression?

"Green Hill Palace" we have.

Well, the heavenly deity token that Linghu Qingqing obtained from the Blood Banner Contention back then really shouldn't have been given to him… this old scoundrel, humph!

With a grim face, Linghu Qingqing raised the gold seal again and slammed it heavily onto the dragon‑carved desk, nearly shattering the metal‑cast desk into fragments. The hall shook violently; from outside came the muffled tread of the Qingqiu guards, a throng of them encircling the hall, while several commanders of the Linghu clan's guard stood at the doorway, peeking in.

"Great Martial God State" we have.

His nose bruised and face swollen, exuding a strong chill, Li Guang emerged from behind the celestial‑fox screen behind Linghu Qingqing. He had bathed and changed into a splendid brocade robe, but his wound—inflicted by the icy divine power of a god‑realm master from the snow‑plain tribes—had not yet faded, so he still bore that bruised‑nose, swollen‑face appearance.

"Li clan" we have.

"Yang clan" we have.

The Li clan elder, the foremost archer of Qingqiu—even though Great Wei also has the famed 'Yang' clan known for archery—back then the three states universally acknowledged that 'Li Guang' was the top archer in warfare among the three.

This generation's Li Guang goes even further down the path of sniper assassination; his archery is astonishing, and his evasion techniques are terrifying—he leaves no trace in flight, making it hard for ordinary god‑realm elders to catch up to him.

"Snowy Plains tribe" we have.

Especially, several god‑realm masters inside the Qingqiu Palace sensed it and found the gloomy cold qi within Li Guang's body unfamiliar—it was not a technique known from any god‑realm elder they recognized.

"Gold seal" we have.

Wuchong and the others also coughed once; in their view, Li Guang's injury had nothing to do with them. Moreover, several former princes of the Great Martial God State even revealed a strange smile.

The slack‑looking Qingqiu military scions simultaneously tensed their bodies; a killing aura spread from within them, their loose, dark eye‑bags vanished at once, a vast essence‑blood qi surged from their bodies, their somewhat limp facial skin tightened, and they recovered their former sharp, lethal vigor.

Those lax, listless civil officials also jolted upright, as if injected with chicken blood, their spirits lifted.

They widened their eyes, carefully examining the bruise on Li Guang's face; his stature stood tall like a pine, his pupils filled with discerning divine light, his gaze sharp as a blade, as if trying to see into the cracks of his bones, to examine him clearly.

"Blood Banner Contention" we have.

"I got beaten up… but don't gloat over my misfortune—soon it'll be your turn." Li Guang spoke rudely, glared at Gongyang Sanlü, and bluntly said, "This old coot of mine, after all these years, can still hold my own against them; you newcomers who have just entered the divine realm, you'll probably get slapped to death by them."

"Gloomy Cold Qi" we have.

Both of them had officially broken through to the divine realm after the decisive battle, exactly the 'little fellows' Li Guang referred to… but could they get angry? This Li Guang fellow, however, is an antique who has lived over a hundred thousand years.

"Li Guangqing's home." Linghu Qingqing looked at Li Guang.

Li Guang took a deep breath, pulled out a black crystal ball the size of a fist, slapped it with his palm, and instantly a vast light screen filled most of the Qingqiu Palace.

In the light screen, an ice-crystal chariot road ran from north to south, like a straight sharp sword, piercing straight into the southern mountains and ridges.

In the light screen, those snowplain barbarians could be seen; after they offered living human sacrifices there, a trident on a huge ice sculpture spewed forth cold light, instantly shattering mountain after mountain, freezing river after river, and opening up a chariot road ten li wide and several hundred to over a thousand li long.

In the light screen, the people in the hall saw the snowplain tribe's warriors and elders, like a swarm of ants rushing forward; after just a few steps on the chariot road, a flash of cold light instantly shifted them several hundred li away.

Such a travel speed was not much slower than the Qingqiu Divine State's use of various spatial gates and warship flights.

In the light screen, they could also see that in the surrounding mountains and ridges, countless ferocious abnormal flying beasts and savage beasts wanted to attack the snowplain folk on the chariot road, but the chariot road spewed out vast sheets of ice crystals that froze everything, and even those ferocious beasts with strength comparable to Divine Realm body cultivators were frozen into blocks of ice.

Countless snowplain folk waved their weapons, cheering as they rushed toward the frozen giant beasts, chopping them piece by piece into large chunks of meat, which were stored in the warehouses on either side of the chariot road.

In the light screen, they also saw the boundless snowplain tribes migrating along the chariot road.

Vast herds of camel beasts, vast herds of war beasts, and countless men, women, old and young truly resembled packs of greedy wolves, exerting all their strength to rush southward.

Then, the light-screen image flashed, and a sky-full of arrows whistled down upon the sturdy men dragging the ice sculptures on the chariot road.

Seeing the arrows' fierce, nearly straight trajectory, the generals of Qingqiu's Gate on the hall all shouted in cheer.

This is clearly the Li family's arrow method—direct and fierce, using the swiftest arrows and the most powerful arrows to directly kill the enemy, like a violent wind and sudden rain, sweeping everything away. To these battle-hardened martial commanders, the Li family's arrows possess a strange beauty!

Vast numbers of sturdy men were pierced through by the arrows, howling as they collapsed dead.

In the light screen appeared Li Guang and the other three Li clan elders, along with tens of thousands of Li clan descendants. They held longbows, lined up in a row, frantically and with all their might pouring arrows onto the ice-crystal chariot road.

Linghu Qingqing appreciatively glanced at Li Guang.

The Gate of Qingqiu is still reliable. The bulwark of the state, the loyal and good of the nation—these are people like Li Guang.

Seeing a possible invading enemy, he gave no thought to the fact that his own retainers numbered only tens of thousands while the opposition surely had at least hundreds of millions of foes, and he boldly and resolutely launched an attack… though it was a bit of a commoner's bravery… but as a lofty sovereign, he likes the fierce generals with that commoner's courage, and despises civil officials like Gongyang Sanlü.

"Those with ambition, whose minds are too nimble, all deserve to die." Linghu Qingqing swiftly flicked a glance at Gongyang Sanlü from the corner of her eye.

In the light screen, a large group of old men clad in animal skins and holding staffs leapt abruptly from an ice-crystal-formed spatial gate; hundreds of old men shouted in unison, whipping up a sky‑covering blizzard that they hurled at Li Guang and the others.

From the light screen came the startled cries of Li Guang and the other three Li clan elders.

"Several hundred Divine Realm old geezers? Kids, retreat, we'll cover the rear."

Tens of thousands of Li clan youths swiftly shot off the last arrow from their waist quivers, then all turned at once, with a "swish" transforming into tens of thousands of streams of light, advancing side by side, neat and orderly, as they flew through the void.

Once again inside the hall came the praise of a group of Gate generals.

Even while fleeing, they ran so neatly, so cool and handsome—the Li clan youths are truly the elite among the elite.

In the light screen, figures shifted as Li Guang and the other three Li clan elders maneuvered and skirmished with the enemy in the forests, arrows continually inflicting heavy casualties on the foe. Especially Li Guang—if he didn't draw his bow, that was one thing, but once he did, an enemy Divine Realm elder was sure to be sniped by his arrow.

One after another, pillars of light shot up from the mountain ridges; the snowplain elders clad in animal skins, furious to the point of hysterical screaming, suddenly turned and knelt before that huge ice sculpture.

Then, from the ice sculpture, the trident spewed out a blinding strong light, instantly flooding vast stretches of the ridges.

Li Guang and the others were affected by the cold light, their movements slowed considerably, and a mass of enemies surged forward, unleashing a furious assault on them.

Li Guang and the others could only flee in disarray, struggling all the way, and finally, by means of exquisite evasion techniques, escaped the enemy's pursuit.

The image in the light screen ended there. Li Guang put away the black crystal ball and said in a deep voice: "The cause and effect of the matter is just this: my Li family youths went to the newly opened hunting grounds in the north for a hunt, which is our Li family tradition… I never expected to run into this group said to come from the extreme northern snowplain barbarians."

"Their slogan, which you all just heard, is to slaughter all the southern youths and strong men, seize all the women of the men, and plunder all the southerners' wealth, grain, and land…"

"Those who come bear no goodwill, and they come in a mighty surge. My lords… can Qingqiu possibly withstand them?" Li Guang asked the ministers present.

Xiahou Ruizhong and the others tightened their faces, "Oh my, what an interesting affair!"

The Qingqiu Divine State is about to get a beating… how wonderful.

They are merely surrendered subjects, and surrendered subjects have always been all show and no substance; wanting them to fight to the death against these northern barbarians… heh, you're overthinking it.

Linghu Qingqing glanced at Xiahou Ruizhong and the others, gave a cold snort… "Really, if fighting breaks out, can you really get away with not giving your all?"

With a hint of a cold smile, Linghu Qingqing said in a deep voice: "The enemy is numerous and mighty; on this ice-crystal chariot road alone, the Divine Realm experts that have appeared already number three to four hundred. However, although Li Guang's household has clashed with them and found their divine abilities and secret arts vicious and powerful, their magical artifacts and treasures are very weak, so we hold an absolute advantage."

"But even when a lion fights a rabbit it uses its full strength, so I issue this decree… conscript all the empire's forces, gather them on the northern front, and prepare the army for war."

Linghu Qingqing loudly said: "Notify the Martial King Huo Xiong, have him bring all his Divine Realm subordinates and all his Tai Cang realm commanders… as for ordinary troops, ordinary troops aren't needed; the Qingqiu Divine State's soldiers are strong and its horses sturdy—I'll give him a legion to command."

One after another, urgent dispatch orders flew from Qingqiu City to all directions, and soon they also arrived at Wuguo's Tie Ding Mountain City.