Chapter 852: Winds and Clouds Converge

"Hahaha, victory belongs to us!"

"That's right, the new City of Chaos, we are the new rulers!"

In the City of Chaos, three people were laughing heartily; after the anti-Jia Rong alliance collapsed, they turned on each other and fought until their brains spilled out, finally confirming three final victors.

Two of them were the original old men, and one was a newcomer who had mixed in, with strength that was not bad.

A brand new Triumvirate was thus established.

The future path lay right beneath their feet.

Just as they were rejoicing, a subordinate's voice came from outside: "Big, big, big, big..."

"Big what big!" one of them rebuked.

Who knew which bastard started it, but their brand new Triumvirate was actually being called some kind of Great King.

Too stupid; they were men who would be called "City Lords" in the future.

As for who was the Grand City Lord, who was the Second City Lord, Third City Lord — no rush for now, they could discuss it slowly later.

"Disaster! Jia Rong and his men have arrived!" the subordinate panted.

"Jia Rong has come?"

The three were shocked; how did Jia Rong suddenly arrive, shouldn't he be fighting the Great Cauldron to the death right now?

Due to the excessive mobility of Tang Luo's cavalry, the speed of information spread had not caught up to his speed of action.

Here in the City of Chaos they were still dreaming their spring-and-autumn dreams, when they suddenly discovered Jia Rong had already brought troops right to their doorstep.

How could this happen!

They had barely managed to seize control of the City of Chaos, eliminated all resistance, a hundred wastes awaited revival, and they were about to set foot on a broad, smooth road.

You, Jia Rong, suddenly jump out to pick the peaches? This isn't what was agreed!

"Where's Old Huang! Where did Old Huang go! Wasn't he going to fight Jia Rong to the death!" one of the original "old men" shouted.

When the alliance fell apart, Zhang Bao had already left.

The subordinate shook his head: "He left long ago. My Lord, have you forgotten? You were still laughing at the time."

"..."

The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

The three looked at each other in dismay: "How many men do you have?"

"Three hundred, all warriors." "Four hundred, also all warriors."

"Why don't we run?"

"Schlick!" That was the sound of fresh blood spurting out; someone had been backstabbed with a saber, pierced through the chest.

"You?"

"That's right! I'm the mole!"

"You're full of shit!" the other survivor who hadn't been backstabbed widened his eyes, I know your damn background inside out, you used to hang around the Great Cauldron, still stirring up trouble on King Shu's turf.

In the end you were caught and hung up and beaten many times, barely escaped with your life, whose mole are you?

"Wasn't before, am now." That man spoke with righteous confidence, "Borrowing your heads for a use!"

As he spoke, he was moved by his own cleverness. Allies and such, aren't they just meant to be backstabbed?

"Three-Eye, why are you so slow?" Beside the Eight Trigrams Furnace being transported by cart, Sun Wukong asked.

"What's that got to do with me?" Yang Jian said, he was just a furnace that couldn't move.

The speed of action wasn't up to him.

Tang Luo's main force caught up and merged with the "supply convoy" that had gone ahead; the City of Chaos was right before their eyes.

The outermost gate-that-wasn't-quite-a-gate stood open, someone appeared to welcome them: "Meng Huo respectfully welcomes the City Lord!"

"Who? You say you're who?"

Tang Luo looked at the smiling man before him and asked.

"This lowly one is Meng Huo." Meng Huo ingratiated himself, "I am a native of Chang'an Commandery; hearing that petty villains wished to harm the Mysterious Venerable, I specially beheaded these villains..."

Although I've only been here less than two months, I'm already a native.

He signaled his men to present two heads as a pledge of allegiance, while simultaneously making the not-at-all-serious wounds on his body even more conspicuous.

"This... isn't quite what I imagined." Tang Luo said.

The Meng Huo in his impression — what was he like? Tall and burly, wearing beast skins, holding a big fork, making a few roars on all fours when he appeared, his skin might even be blue.

That's right, Tang Luo's mental image of Meng Huo came from the famous arcade game "Sangokushi Senki".

As for the Meng Huo in Dynasty Warriors, Tang Luo always felt he looked like Dong Zhuo; whenever he thought of him his mind was full of Dong Zhuo's face.

The Meng Huo before him, however, was a slightly thin and small man, with no outstanding features on his body at all.

"The Mysterious Venerable knows this lowly one?" Hearing Tang Luo's words, Meng Huo was overjoyed.

"Mm, sort of..." Tang Luo looked at Zhu Bajie beside him.

Zhu Bajie transmitted his voice: "I've looked into this guy, he's a treacherous unlucky bastard."

Treacherous refers to this man's fickleness — he surrenders on the front foot, and the moment he's finished gathering strength he wants to stir up trouble, causing incidents all over Imperial Uncle Liu's territory.

Over ten-odd years, he was caught a full seven times; that's this world's "Seven Captures of Meng Huo" story.

Unlucky refers to the fact that he could be caught seven times not because he said "I'm not convinced" and Zhuge Liang smiled faintly and insisted he be convinced, so it became seven captures and seven releases.

Rather, Zhuge Liang was using him to train troops, and at the same time took the opportunity to continuously clear out hidden dangers in Shu lands.

Meng Huo was originally a major local power too; fighting and fighting, he fought himself into nothing.

Fortunately at the critical final moment he "suddenly awakened," realized the situation was bad, and immediately fled.

At that time Tang Luo was stirring up trouble in the Great Cauldron, tying down most of Shu's attention, and no one pursued this tool man who had lost all value relentlessly.

Meng Huo fled to the City of Chaos, just preparing to start a second spring in life, and then Jia Rong arrived.

Without a second word, Meng Huo went straight back to his old trade, stabbing his former allies in the back — extremely practiced.

"So that's how it is."

Tang Luo looked at Meng Huo: "That wife of yours... is she Lady Zhurong? No ulterior motive, just asking casually."

The people around gave strange looks — after all, asking about a man's wife upon first meeting was indeed a bit odd, so Tang Luo added a line to explain.

Now everyone's looks grew even stranger.

Meng Huo's eyes rolled, his face full of grief and indignation: "Exactly! But she was seized by that utterly heartless, worse-than-beasts Shu King Liu Bei!"

"Oh? So it's the hatred of a stolen wife." Tang Luo's eyes also rolled, his face full of keen interest.

"Yes!" Meng Huo gritted his teeth, his face showing humiliation, "Liu Bei, and the Great Cauldron — I have a blood feud with them that cannot coexist under the same sky!"

In his view, Jia Rong must have suffered a loss on the Great Cauldron's side, so he came running back.

We share a common enemy — accept my allegiance!

"Not bad." Tang Luo said, "Then stay. In one month, I'll give you a chance to win back your wife."

"Many thanks, my lord!" Meng Huo was overjoyed, and kowtowed on the spot.

"No, I didn't mean I'm accepting you — just giving you a chance." Tang Luo waved his hand.

Meng Huo nodded repeatedly: "Understood, understood." The allegiance gift must not carry enough weight.

"You understand a fart — you've got a death star over your head, your yintang is black."

Meng Huo failed to notice the sympathetic looks from the people beside Tang Luo.

Jia Rong entered the city; half a shichen later, a massive demolition and construction project began in full swing.

The old chaotic city gradually vanished, and a new grand city rose bit by bit on the same site.

"No mountain. Senior Brother, this time no Huaguo Mountain — look, there's a mountain right nearby." Ao Yulie persuaded earnestly.

He wants a magnificent grand garden, not Huaguo Mountain.

"Isn't that Master's chessboard?" Sun Wukong said.

"Ah?" Ao Yulie looked at Tang Luo.

Tang Luo nodded: "Mm, I plan to level it into a big chessboard — a larger board makes it easier for martial artists to perform."

The board too small, martial artists crammed together, can't even fight properly.

"Dig a pit in the middle, sunken down, build spectator stands around it — like a Roman Colosseum. What do you think?" Tang Luo said casually.

"Good idea." Sun Wukong expressed agreement, "Look, no mountain now."

Ao Yulie looked to Tang Luo for help.

This time Sun Wukong wasn't simply placing a "mountain" in the manor — he intended to turn the entire manor into a mountain.

"A mountain, huh." Tang Luo mused a moment, "How about this — Wukong, you go fetch a mountain peak, we'll flip it upside down and set it in the Number One Under Heaven City, how's that?"

"Upside down?"

"Right, then build the Lord's Manor on top of it."

Everyone began picturing the scene — seemed kind of interesting?

"What about daily access?"

"Just build a few spiraling roads going up — for us it's not difficult at all." Tang Luo said, "Settled then."

"Then I'll go find a suitable one." Sun Wukong said.

"Remember to level it off." Tang Luo reminded.

Sun Wukong nodded, though his Golden-Hooped Rod wasn't like in some films and comics where it can shift into all sorts of forms, even a mecha form.

But a normal-sized staff sweeping across a massive peak — the effect is actually no different from using a sharp blade.

One incense stick later, a huge shadow fell upon the Number One Under Heaven City, under intense construction.

People in the city all looked up, seeing an inverted mountain peak held aloft by a tiny figure, suspended in the sky.

Who am I? Where am I? What happened?

Is this what the pinnacle of martial arts can do?

A month's time passed quickly.

The Number One Under Heaven City was extraordinarily lively; as early as half a month ago, the city's construction was basically complete.

The remaining half month, the city officially opened to the outside — countless people poured in, wanting to witness this grand city.

To see that inverted mountain peak.

The inverted peak stood at the city's center, its summit touching the ground downward, above it a leveled platform; four spiraling aerial roads led to the Lord's Manor on the topmost platform.

Additionally, four massive chains connected the mountain body to the ground.

They looked like fixtures, but were actually ornaments.

Interestingly, this inverted mountain cast no huge shadow — only faint shadows.

The exact principle, no one knew, and no one dared ask.

Anyway, ask and the answer is "martial arts profound" — as long as your martial skill is high enough, nothing is impossible.

"Chancellor, can this kind of thing really be done by martial arts?"

Outside the Number One Under Heaven City, several convoys of a hundred-odd people each were slowly approaching.

Zhang Fei asked Zhuge Liang in the carriage beside him.

Zhuge Liang shook his head: "This Jia Rong — utterly beyond ordinary conjecture."

In another convoy, Zhou Yu also gazed at that inverted mountain peak.

On the Wei King Cao Cao's side, the fully authorized representative was none other than the historical Wei Emperor Wen — Cao Cao's son, Cao Pi.

Many people, once they start talking about Emperor Wen of Wei, just can't stop.

Besides them, delegations from Great Yin and Great Qian also rushed over one after another.

Winds rise and clouds surge; heroes from across the land gather in the World's Number One City.

To "play chess".

The moment he thought of what they were about to do, what they would have to do in the future, the soaring heroic ambition that had risen within him instantly diminished by more than half.