Chapter 100: The Battle of Tongguan Begins

Popular recommendation: Lu Zhuang.

Hearing Li Tong mention the name Tang Liuyi, Lu Li recalled the leader of the heavy armored soldiers he encountered last night.

That squad of heavy armored soldiers followed orders and prohibitions, coordinating with precision, which was enough to prove this man's talent for training.

If he could be made to train troops for him, it would surely be excellent.

Thinking of this, Lu Li handed the mask in his hand to Li Tong, then said: "Take this item and give it to Tang Liuyi, and explain our aspirations; I believe he will join us."

Li Tong took the mask, feeling somewhat doubtful in his heart.

Relying on just a mask to make a military officer join? This sounded unrealistic, but Lu Li was brimming with confidence.

Do not forget, last night Lu Li had defeated the heavy armored troops using only the side of his sword blade, without taking a single one of their lives.

It could be said that Tang Liuyi himself, and the soldiers under his command, all owed Lu Li a life.

And Lu Li agreeing to Haozhou was also to oppose the Tatars; if Tang Liuyi was truly a man of ambition, he would certainly not refuse Lu Li's invitation.

The takeover of Haozhou City was temporarily without issues, but the affairs of the Jianghu were not yet finished.

Last night, the White Lotus Sect had actually colluded with the Su and Wang families; he called the Eagle King and the Lion King over today also to resolve the White Lotus Sect.

Lu Li said in a deep voice: "This time, the White Lotus Sect's malice toward my Ming Cult is clear for all to see."

"Today, the two of you shall accompany me; follow me to slaughter the White Lotus."

"Yes, Ming Venerable."

The Eagle King and the Lion King immediately cupped their hands; they had suffered a loss under Baisun Daoren and had been nursing a grievance in their chests.

The main altar of the White Lotus Sect was on a mountain outside Haozhou City.

At the foot of the mountain, behind Lu Li stood two Dharma Kings and dozens of cult members; the Lion King also carried a bundle on his back.

Lu Li looked up and saw that the trees on the mountain were lush and flourishing, secretly thinking that the Cult Leader of the White Lotus Sect certainly knew how to choose a location.

This place had beautiful mountains and clear waters, which he thought must be much better than that remote place of Guangming Ding.

The group followed the mountain path upward.

The initial entrance to the mountain path was winding and narrow, and it seemed very crowded for everyone to walk together.

After walking upward for another distance, it gradually became wider.

The Eagle King, the Lion King, and the others all noticed the change in the mountain path and remarked casually: "This path is quite interesting; I don't know if it's natural or if it was widened by people later."

"They say there is a secluded path leading to a quiet place, but the White Lotus Sect's path actually gets wider as you walk."

Hearing the two's conversation, Lu Li turned his head to look at them with a smile that was not quite a smile; they could even make small talk about this broken road? This glance made the Eagle King and the Lion King feel somewhat confused, not understanding where they had gone wrong to provoke such a look from the Ming King.

However, one had to admit, the Ming King looked quite handsome after taking off his mask.

The group had not walked far before two cult members wearing White Lotus Sect clothing blocked them.

"Stop."

"Who are you people?"

Lu Li saw the two and stopped his steps.

These two were merely gatekeeping cult members of the White Lotus Sect, and Lu Li did not want to waste words with them.

After all, his goal this time was to slaughter the White Lotus, so he could not possibly negotiate with the other side.

Moreover, the Cult Leader of the White Lotus Sect had already been beheaded last night; it could be said that the person with the highest authority within the White Lotus Sect was already dead.

Lu Li raised his hand and waved it forward, then said: "Do it."

"Yes."

The True Qi on the Eagle King and the Lion King behind him suddenly erupted, and they rushed up in an instant.

From behind them, dozens of cult members also swarmed forward.

The two White Lotus cult members had not yet had time to react before they were directly blasted away.

Although the Eagle King and the Lion King were no match for Baisun Daoren, dealing with these White Lotus cult members was a total crushing victory.

The commotion at the mountain gate soon alerted the interior of the White Lotus Sect.

But Lu Li did not care, because he had never considered the possibility of a peaceful resolution.

Lu Li walked slowly up the mountain; he did not need to make a move at all.

With fighting going on all around him, Lu Li walked alone.

It was quite like the feeling of passing through ten thousand troops without a single leaf touching his body.

The mountain gate, the guard posts, and the patrolling White Lotus cult members were pushed aside all the way by the Eagle King, the Lion King, and the others.

Bang!

The Eagle King and the Lion King slaughtered in all directions; with every punch and claw strike, there was simply no enemy who could withstand a single blow.

Inside the White Lotus Sect's main altar, it was already in total chaos.

Countless cult members ran toward the courtyards of the various Elders to report; one cult member said tremblingly: "Elder!"

"It's bad, people from the Ming Cult are forcing their way into our sect."

"Ming Cult? Didn't the Cult Leader make a move? Could it be that the remaining remnants want to perish together?"

"Go!"

"Let's go see."

Several figures darted toward the main courtyard of the meeting hall.

They soon arrived in the courtyard and, seeing Lu Li and the others, shouted sternly: "What kind of people dare to come to my White Lotus Sect to cause trouble?"

"The dead eagle and the stinking tiger? It is truly not easy for you to have survived under the Cult Leader."

"Or is it that you were scared out of your wits and didn't dare to fight the Cult Leader?"

In the main courtyard, many corpses were already lying horizontally all around.

These corpses were still warm, clearly having been slaughtered together in a very short amount of time just now.

Facing the crushing pressure from the Eagle King and the others, the remaining cultists could only retreat step by step, their hands gripping their blades trembling slightly.

There was no help for it; the opposition was too strong.

Everyone who charged up was killed in a single move, all of them lying on the ground.

Just at this moment, several Elders of the White Lotus Sect finally arrived.

Seeing the Elders arrive, the cultists' hearts, previously filled with fear, finally found a pillar of support and calmed down a little.

But the next moment, the Lion King's action made all the White Lotus Sect members turn cold all over.

He was seen taking off the bundle he carried on his back and opening it in front of everyone.

Only then did the crowd see clearly that what lay inside the bundle was none other than the head of Baisun Daoren!

The Lion King held the head high and shouted, "Baisun Daoren is dead. We follow the Cult Leader to come and burn away the White Lotus."

Upon seeing the head of Baisun Daoren, the various Hall Masters and Elders were completely dumbfounded.

They knew that Baisun Daoren had been in seclusion practicing the Xuanming Divine Palm, and only came out once the martial art was mastered.

They had assumed that with Baisun Daoren taking action personally, he would surely be able to wipe out the Ming Cult last night.

Yet they never expected that not only was the Ming Cult unscathed, but the enemy had even come to their doorstep.

Baisun Daoren's martial arts were already the highest within the White Lotus Sect, and even he was no match for the enemy; how could they possibly resist?

Moreover, looking at the demeanor of the Eagle King and the Lion King, they seemed to hold the young man between them in extreme reverence.

Could this young man be the Cult Leader? Was it he who defeated Baisun Daoren? The courtyard was deathly silent; the head of Baisun Daoren had completely shattered everyone's resolve.

...... Half an hour later.

White Lotus Sect, Council Hall.

Lu Li sat upright in the primary seat, and the figure of the Eagle King strode in from outside.

"Cult Leader, the White Lotus Sect has been dealt with.

Those who resisted were all killed, and the rest have already submitted.

However, one of Baisun Daoren's disciples is missing, and the Xuanming Divine Palm manual is nowhere to be found."

Lu Li nodded slightly. Baisun Daoren's disciple? He remembered that in The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, the Xuanming Elders, He Biweng and Lu Zhangke, who injured Zhang Wuji, also knew how to use the Xuanming Divine Palm. It seemed these two were the ones who would later receive the inheritance of the Xuanming Divine Palm.

"Cult Leader, this time a total of seven hundred and thirty-four cultists from the White Lotus Sect headquarters have joined the Ming Cult, and as it spreads to the regions, there will be more.

Besides that, we have also gathered beauties, jewelry, and silver notes from the headquarters..."

Listening to the numbers reported by the Eagle King, Lu Li could not help but click his tongue in secret: This White Lotus Sect really knows how to live it up!

In the residence of Baisun Daoren and the residences of other Elders, countless women and wealth were searched out. The staggering amount made Lu Li wonder if he had truly been a Cult Leader. Clearly, his Lu Zhuang and the Ming Cult were both extremely powerful forces, yet Lu Li had never been so extravagant and debauched.

This perhaps had to do with him being a sword cultivator.

After some reorganization, Haozhou City fell into Lu Li's hands in a very smooth manner.

Whether in the underworld or the righteous path, there was no longer a second voice.

On the side of the government, there were Li Tong, Liu Tinghuai, Tang Liuyi, and others who could manage civil and military affairs.

And after discussing with Li Tong, Tang Liuyi, and others, Lu Li re-selected talented individuals and established the Four Dharma Kings for the Ming Cult.

Arranged by Purple, White, Gold, and Green, they were named the Dragon King, Eagle King, Lion King, and Bat King respectively.

Among them, the Dragon King was responsible for the revision of the Ming Cult's doctrines and ritual tenets, ranking first among the four kings.

Many people would think that force or knowledge is the most important, but for Lu Li, this leader, the doctrine was the most crucial of all.

Because Lu Li had already discovered that the brainwashing ability of sects like the Ming Cult and the White Lotus Sect towards their followers was truly terrifyingly strong.

In Lu Li's view, the original doctrine of the Ming Cult was bright and great, but most of its requirements were somewhat extreme.

The second was the Heavenly Eagle Hall, for which the Eagle King was responsible. The Heavenly Eagle Hall would be the most advantageous blade for Lu Li to control the Ming Cult, and its duties were somewhat similar to the Imperial Guard of the Imperial Court.

The third was the responsibility of the Lion King. At this time, there were not many experts in the Ming Cult, and the techniques they practiced were all different, which was not conducive to overall cultivation and development.

Thus, Lu Li established ten levels for his own techniques, passed down the first two levels, and handed them to the Lion King to be responsible for teaching the followers.

Lu Li grasped the limits of this technique; although it was only two levels, it was already sufficient for ordinary martial artists.

But for experts like the Eagle King, it was not yet worth looking at.

And the final Bat King was the intelligence department, responsible for gathering the dynamics of events in the martial arts world.

This department had a complex mix of personnel, including professional spies, merchants on the streets, and shady people from places like brothels.

Their identities were all different, and they had already formed a giant web.

Under the Four Dharma Kings, Lu Li also established the Five Dispersed People; these people were mostly responsible for the Ming Cult's propaganda and other work.

It was a bit like a propaganda department, a welfare department, and a regulatory department.

Next was the stable preparation phase for war.

Those who needed to train troops trained troops, and those who needed to store grain stored grain.

As for Lu Li, he was constantly improving his own cultivation without a moment's rest.

He had already practiced quite a few techniques from the Jin-style martial arts novels.

In the Smiling Proud World, it was mainly the Purple Mist Divine Skill and the Star-Sucking Great Art.

And upon arriving in the Heaven Sword world, Lu Li also obtained two supreme divine skills, the Nine Yin and Nine Yang.

And Lu Li had also verified on the Tianxuan Continent that these techniques could, like the 'Qi Refining Art', be equally effective on the Tianxuan Continent, and their power was even stronger than ordinary techniques on the Tianxuan Continent!

Therefore, Lu Li also developed the intention to read through all the martial arts in the world.

If he could collect more internal energy manuals and then integrate them through his own mastery, perhaps he could create a high-level technique.

As for the Sword Dao, there was no one left who could guide Lu Li; the sword techniques of the world could already be used at will in his hands.

The rest only required his own exploration.

For example, the Sword Micro mentioned by Yu Ying and Jiang Yebai, or the deeper levels of Heavy Sword No Edge and the Wooden Sword Realm.

In the blink of an eye, several months passed, and it was already close to the autumn harvest season.

On this day, Liu Tinghuai, Tang Liuyi, and others gathered at Lu Mansion.

"Venerable Master, now that the autumn harvest season is approaching, the Tatars will inevitably come south to invade; we must make preparations in advance."

"If we can take this opportunity to seize the passes to the north, we might be able to take them by surprise and move north into the Lu and Yu regions."

"At that time, by relying on Xiangyang, we can hold the Yellow River to the north and the Yangtze River to the south; the great cause can be achieved."

Lu Li pondered for a moment and said, "Agreed."

"Venerable Master, what shall our army be called?"

"This army shall be called the Ming Army."

Soldiers are raised for a thousand days to be used for a single moment.

In this year or more, Lu Li had already trained eight thousand elites under his command.

However, although these men had undergone rigorous training, they had not been tempered by true, large-scale warfare.

That night, Lu Li dispatched the subordinates of the Bat King to scatter and head north to scout for information.

Sure enough, just as everyone had expected, the Tatars were restless and invaded southward, once again launching attacks on cities like Xiangyang.

Yet, Lu Li's forces were already prepared; a group of martial arts experts first disguised themselves as ordinary civilians and silently infiltrated each city.

With coordination from inside and out, even with only eight thousand men, they were able to smash through several passes and occupy over ten cities.

And every time Lu Li captured a city, he would invariably slaughter the Tatars in public.

This act not only severely dampened the Tatars' arrogance but also vented a great deal of anger for the Central Plains, winning much popular support.

In truth, the combat power of the Tatar army was very strong and by no means fragile.

The reason Lu Li and the others were able to succeed was, to put it plainly, by launching surprise attacks, with the enemy in the light and us in the dark.

The Ming Army won over ten consecutive battles and their momentum was extremely high, yet a true major war could never be won by relying on opportunism.

The Ming Army's victory stopped at Tongguan, and what would greet the Ming Army next would be a true bloody battle.

This news reached the ears of the Yuan Court, causing the Tatars to fly into a rage.

Even though Xiangyang had held out for many years, it had always been under their siege, and never had any Southern army been able to fight back and retake new cities.

Immediately, the Tatars recalled their troops and gathered an army of thirty thousand to fiercely attack Tongguan from three sides.

Tongguan.

Before the city gate.

The soldiers were clad in armor, each holding a bowl of strong liquor.

Lu Li stood in front of the crowd, with the Eagle King Tang Liuyi and others by his side.

Lu Li had been at the forefront of every battle; by now, having experienced several bloody fights, the carefree aura of the pugilistic world on him had grown increasingly faint.

Replacing it was a calm, murderous, and overbearing bloodlust.

And among the crowd, a group of Tatar officials knelt, bound tightly and unable to move.

Seeing Lu Li wave his hand, the Eagle King and the others beside him raised their blades and struck.

"Kill!"

Several Tatar heads fell to the ground and rolled far away; in an instant, blood flowed like a river.

"With high ambitions, I hunger for the flesh of the Hu barbarians; in laughing talk, I thirst for the blood of the Xiongnu."

Lu Li raised his wine bowl and said in a loud voice, "Everyone, today's battle is different from the past; there are no tricks, only a bloody battle."

"We shall use heads as wine cups; I invite you all to drink with me and kill the enemy together."

The soldiers below were stirred by the bloodlust, their morale surging like a tide, and they shouted loudly: "Hahaha!"

"I am just a pig butcher; following the Venerable Master to kill Tatars, it is worth it even if I die."

"The Tatars are tyrannical, violating our rivers and mountains and slaughtering our people; we have long been willing to fight them to the death."

"Follow the Venerable Master into battle!"

Lu Li held his wine bowl high and drained the strong liquor in one gulp.

"Drink!"

Everyone looked up in unison and drained their bowls in one go.

And at this moment, outside Tongguan, a mass of Tatar cavalry slowly approached from thirty miles away, pressing toward Tongguan like a black cloud.

Black clouds press down on the city, the city is about to crumble; the light of armor faces the sun, golden scales open.

The sound of horns fills the sky in the autumn colors; at the frontier, rouge congeals into a night Purple.

Half-furled red flags approach the Yi River; the frost is heavy, the drums are cold, and their sound does not rise.

To repay the favor of the Golden Terrace, I carry the jade dragon and die for my lord.

Only this time, the sharp blades in the scabbards of the Tongguan soldiers were not for the Song, but for the Ming!

----------Author's Note---------- Two-in-one