Chapter 837

In the fleet, Feng Shang was originally in a pretty good mood.

All the way, wind-driven and lightning-fast, heading straight for Shenwu City, along the way also seeing quite a few landscapes vastly different from those of the Sui Dynasty continent.

Compared to the Sui Dynasty continent, the Three Kingdoms continent is somewhat barren. Mountains, forests, plains—not fertile enough; birds and beasts—not strong enough; crops—not vigorous enough; mineral veins—not vast enough…

But it wins in having a thriving populace and numerous people.

All the way, as a guest, looking down at city after city, town after village, feeling the vibrant life and soul qi from all directions, Feng Shang laughed until he couldn't close his mouth. This is just one state among the Three Kingdoms.

According to what he and Feng Rong had agreed upon… the foundation of the Three Kingdoms, he alone occupies two of them.

Perhaps he could rely on the common people of those two countries to attain the position of Human Emperor. After all, the combined population of those two countries is a hundred, even several hundred times that of the Sui Dynasty's total population—such a huge population offers great potential.

Then, far off, Feng Shang saw a line of military cities blocking the pass ahead.

According to the testimonies of several prominent noble clan leaders captured along the way, this region is called the Three Kingdoms Battlefield, once a land where the Three Kingdoms fought year after year. Here there are several strategic passes, formerly key defensive positions of the Three Kingdoms.

Afterwards, Feng Shang also saw on the foremost military city a face that left a deep impression on his memory.

Wu Tie actually blocked his way!

Behind Wu Tie, 120,003 stalwart, mighty men, their aura…

Feng Shang's pupils shrank to pinpoint size. He clearly discerned the aura of these Wu clan youths; in a great battle on the eastern sea, these Wu family youths had only just entered the Divine Clarity realm.

But after not seeing them for just over a month, each of them had surged to the level of the fourth or fifth heaven of the Divine Clarity realm.

"Damn the *Ten Thousand Tribulations Scripture*…" Feng Shang felt a bit ashamed and angry. He recalled how Wu Tie, with the Wu clan youths forming a battle array, fought him to a standstill using Pangu's true form.

Now the Wu clan youths' cultivation has surged, and Wu Tie's aura is far stronger than before; Feng Shang can't even gauge Wu Tie's current strength—his soul power probing outward feels only that Wu Tie is like an endless chaotic black hole, with no feedback returning.

So, Feng Shang cautiously sent the Smiling Buddha to probe Wu Tie's reality.

The fleet slowed its speed; Feng Shang began to dispatch troops and commanders, calculating that if the Smiling Buddha suffered a loss, he would directly use the Sui Fire Grand Formation to overwhelmingly crush them.

As long as you are still human, as long as you still bear the bloodline of the Pangu remnant clan, facing the human holy fire leaves you utterly powerless to resist!

Feng Shang was happily making his plans when, over there, the Smiling Buddha slowly flew toward Wu Tie; then, in Feng Shang's flagship, a small communication array dedicated to emergency contact with Sui Du—which each use consumes a huge amount of essence crystals—suddenly activated.

For several days prior, this communication array had transmitted not the slightest message.

Feng Shang felt very assured, given his status, his talents, his current power, and the strength wielded by his supporters on all sides—Sui Du was as stable as Mount Tai, with nothing to worry about.

All he needed was to conquer the Three Kingdoms continent and then fully enjoy the abundant spoils of war.

The communication array lit up, and an imperial edict flew out; before Feng Shang could receive it in his hand, crimson clouds filled the sky, red divine light enveloping the entire fleet. The proud and arrogant Feng Rong burst from the red light, loudly proclaiming that fateful edict.

Feng Shang stiffened on the flagship, unable to come to his senses for a long while.

Feng Rong, has become a Divine Emperor?

He, has mastered the Qian Yuan Divine Bell?

He, has grasped the Sui Fire seed?

He, has received unanimous approval from the entire court of civil and military officials?

With a "ding" sound, a small jade slip flew out of the communication array; the slip flashed with piercing Blood Light, its light vibrating at high frequency, giving an intense sense of imminent disaster.

Feng Shang let out a loud shout and grabbed at the suddenly flown-out jade slip.

This is from his trusted person stationed in Sui Du, using the reserved emergency backup measure… also a precaution against the unforeseeable, a channel Feng Shang deemed impossible to use, sending the most urgent warning.

A tremendous magical power sealed the jade slip; the two little eunuchs beside Feng Shang, who had been trotting over to take the slip and present it to him, instead spat blood in big gulps when Feng Shang's power surged, their bones breaking and tendons snapping as they rolled and flew away.

Feng Shang flicked his finger, and a mass of Blood Light sprayed from the jade slip.

Without any vocal introduction, the Blood Light merely showed a continually shaking, vibrating image.

It was a great city, with countless Sui Dynasty imperial guards arrayed in all directions into a massive battle formation, frantically attacking the city. At least thirty‑six layers of giant sealing formations overlapped, enveloping the city of nearly a thousand‑li radius; at every moment countless wild thunder roared down from the sky, striking the city's defensive formation into chaotic shaking.

Inside the city was utter chaos, with countless finely dressed people running about in panic.

On the city walls, masses of troops clad in fine armor looked terrified, their bodies rigid as they resisted the assault of the external army.

These soldiers' eyes were unfocused, clearly their minds had been disordered.

They had no idea what they were doing, merely relying on their usual strict training and the frantic shouts of the supervisory squads beside them, instinctively drawing bows to shoot arrows and swinging blades to chop.

The image rotated, and the city walls on all sides were breached by hundreds of large and small gaps; masses of Sui Dynasty imperial guards surged in like a tide, setting fires on all sides, killing anyone they saw.

In the void, countless crimson flying vessels of various lengths, hundreds of zhang long, trailed sky‑filling firelight crisscrossing, sealing off the city's aerial passages.

Masses of heavily armored, vastly powerful "Heavenly Gods" stepped on flowing clouds, leading countless elite troops and fierce commanders in aerial patrols; any escape light shooting up from the city was met by their brutal gang‑up attack, directly slaying it in the void.

Huge bronze ancient mirrors hovered in the air, their greenish light illuminating the whole city.

Within a radius of one hundred li around the mighty city, strata of sand and rock a hundred li thick became as clear as water; dozens of secret passages leading straight from inside the city to outside, the longest even reaching tens of thousands of li, were revealed by these mirror lights, and in the void dreadful attacks fell, shattering those passages and the escape lights fleeing within them to pieces.

The one who acted in the void wore a red robe, its fabric embroidered with large flame patterns, cuffs and hems decorated with motifs of mountains, rivers, seas, great cauldrons, sun and moon, etc.

These were the Grand Elders of the Sui Dynasty royal family taking action.

And the city, encircled by them to the point of being watertight, with even its underground secret passages destroyed one by one, was precisely the dwelling of Feng Shang's maternal clan.

The Sui Dynasty also had the Wa clan; they intermarried with the Sui aristocracy—if a boy was born, he was raised in the father's family; if a girl, she was uniformly taken into the Wa tribe and given the Wa surname.

Feng Shang's mother, Wa Qinghuang, came from the Bai clan of the Sui Dynasty.

The Bai clan, a top military house of the Sui Dynasty and even the ruling family's house; this besieged city is called Bai Wang City, precisely the capital of the Bai fief.

The current head of the Bai clan, Bai Tiezun, is also the biological father of Wa Qinghuang, making him Feng Shang's maternal grandfather by blood.

With a "crack", the corner of Feng Shang's eye split open, and two streams of blood flowed down.

He saw Bai Tiezun leading a host of Bai elders, charging upward like a frenzied tiger; then the royal Grand Elders flew down, a mass of Sui fire blazing fiercely, directly repelling Bai Tiezun and his group.

Light and shadow flickered again.

From the Bai clan's highest‑ranking Grand Elders down to its newborn infants, they were all laid out in rows and pressed to the ground by the imperial guard masters.

The esteemed ruling house, one of the Sui Dynasty's several fief lords, the whole family—old and young, male and female, even all the servant maids… Feng Shang even saw the hunting dogs and hawks kept by the Bai clan being pressed to the ground by the imperial guard soldiers.

Hunting dogs, hawks, and even the parrots, thrushes, magpies, and so on that the young ladies kept for amusement—no matter how tiny, even thumb‑sized exotic hummingbirds—each bird or beast had two imperial guard soldiers standing solemnly beside it.

With a "dong, dongdong" threefold death‑knell drumbeat.

The Bai clan elders' heads fell to the ground; a mass of Sui fire hovered in the void, threads of flame winding around, the Bai elders' souls were swept up by the fire and instantly burned to nothing, not a trace left.

Again, three death-summoning drums sounded, Bai Tie Zun and all adult Bai clan warriors had their heads cut off, blood spraying all over the ground.

The three death-summoning drums sounded again, and all underage males of the Bai clan were beheaded by the imperial army soldiers standing behind them.

Next were the women of the Bai clan, from oldest to youngest, heads rolling in pieces; even infants in swaddling clothes were slain, their eyes reddened, by the imperial army soldiers wielding their swords.

Then came the hunting dogs, hunting hawks, those pet birds and beasts kept merely for amusement…

One by one beheaded, none missed.

Immediately after, hundreds of imperial army commanders acted, using their divine powers to gradually raze the Bai clan's ancestral estate to flat ground; among those commanders, some had cultivated extremely vicious poison arts.

The deadly poison penetrated dozens of li underground, then solidified in the sand and stone soil; for the next ten thousand years, no grass will grow on that land of the Bai clan's ancestral estate, and any snakes, insects, or rodents that approach will surely die.

Exterminate to the root, leave not a chicken or dog…… Such methods!

The projected image trembled; aside from Bai Wang Cheng, the scenes of all the Bai clan's holdings in the feudal domain appeared one by one.

Just as at the Bai Wang Cheng headquarters, all Bai clan members everywhere were arrested, together with the shop assistants, managers, maids, helpers, and so on in their various businesses and industries; even temporary laborers and miscellaneous workers, as long as they were connected to the Bai clan, were all subjected to extermination of the entire household.

Without trial, without allowing any defense, simply slapping on the label of "rebel" was enough to make blood flow like a river.

Moreover, it was not only the Bai clan members.

The vast Bai clan, over countless years intermarried and formed alliances with the great aristocratic nobles; many families closely related by marriage to the Bai clan were also breached by the imperial army, and every elder and child in those families was put to death.

Except for those families that were also of the sovereign's line, possessing deep foundations, the great clans that were not implicated—but the women they married into the Bai clan, and the Bai clan women they took as wives, were all slaughtered one by one by the imperial army, down to the last; together with their descendants, anyone bearing Bai clan blood was likewise exterminated.

With a "crack", the blood-colored jade pendant shattered.

All light and shadow then dissipated, the jade pendant turning into wisps of blood light that scattered away.

Feng Shang stood dazedly on the flagship, his body swayed, then he spat out a mouthful of blood far away.

"Mother……" Feng Shang's body convulsed violently.

He thought of his mother Wa Qing Huang, who was confined in the imperial palace…… With Feng Rong carrying out such a brutal purge of everyone connected to Feng Shang, how could Wa Qing Huang possibly escape?

"No, no, mother she is a woman of the Wa clan…… Feng Rong doesn't have the gall for that…… Besides, besides, there's my uncle!"

Feng Shang's body trembled violently, sweat pouring down like rain, blood continually flowing from his eyes.

His uncle, the Faceless Buddha who is the central figure among the three present Buddhas of the Red Lotus Temple.

The Faceless Buddha's Buddhist cultivation has reached a level beyond mortal estimation; even Feng Shang, after multiple spars with him, was easily overwhelmed.

Given the power of the Red Lotus Temple and the strength of the Faceless Buddha, Wa Qing Huang is moreover the Faceless Buddha's own maternal sister; the Faceless Buddha would surely not turn a blind eye.

"But, uncle…… the Bai clan is finished, the Bai clan is utterly finished…… you, you, you, what exactly…… are you doing?"

With a "ding", from the transmission spell formation another jade pendant flashed with blood light, the blood light even faintly dark, shot out.

Feng Shang grabbed the jade pendant, and the information inside made him spit out another mouthful of blood, nearly fainting.

The Faceless Buddha left the Red Lotus Temple, heading for Sui Du; on the way he met the Drunken Buddha, the mountain guardian of the Azure Lotus Observatory, who challenged him with "blocking the road to ask about the Dao"; the Faceless Buddha and the Drunken Buddha exchanged only three words on the Dao before the Faceless Buddha flew into a rage and attacked, and the Drunken Buddha engaged him in a great battle……

An unknown expert launched a surprise ambush; moreover, masters of the Southern Ghost State and Eastern Demon State rose up in revolt; the Drunken Buddha vomited blood and fled; the Faceless Buddha's golden body shattered, leaving only a single natal relic that escaped back to the Red Lotus Temple, where he now rests in the Merit Red Lotus Pond, restoring his dharma body.

"So that's how it is…… so that's how it is…… Azure Lotus Observatory…… and also, the Ghost State, the Demon State…… you lot, you lot……"

Feng Shang swayed unsteadily, blood continually flowing from his seven orifices.

He gently pushed aside the nearby eunuch attendant who wanted to support him, stepped onto a thread of fire, and slowly flew toward the military city where Wu Tie and the others were stationed.

Far off, Feng Shang stared at Wu Tie, muttering: "Revenge, revenge…… Feng Rong, I, the king, and you cannot coexist under heaven……"

"Revenge, revenge…… no matter what means you used to seize the throne, as long as I attain the Human Emperor Sacred Position…… as long as I can lead ten million mighty troops back to the Sui Dynasty…… then it will be you, and all your accomplices, who will meet your doom."

"I, the king, will certainly make you regret everything you have done."

The Smiling Buddha still sat with a smile on his face on the mat, only his smile now held a noticeable hint of some strange emotion.

Feng Shang did not look at the Smiling Buddha, but instead swept past him and flew to a spot less than one li from Wu Tie.

"Martial King Wu Tie……" Feng Shang bowed his hands toward Wu Tie, his whole body drenched in blood, utterly wretched yet incredibly ferocious: "This land of the three states is the foundation of hegemony…… I, the king, vow to take it."

"If the Martial King is willing to submit to me, the king, then in the future the realm will be shared between me, the king, and the Martial King."

"If the Martial King dares to block my path of revenge…… then today, one of us will surely fall here."

Wu Tie remained silent; a strange, grating remark from the old iron standing beside him directly ignited the battle.

"Huh…… it seems this kid's own household rebelled against him, his retreat was cut off…… this is, he's been driven to jump the wall like a desperate dog."

"Jump the wall like a desperate dog?"

Feng Shang, with fire pent up in his chest, suddenly erupted, punching straight at the old iron.