Chapter 335: Challenging the Three Great Grandmasters

The Yang Gong Treasury has been opened.

Yu Liancheng did not break his word; one month after he released the news, he opened the Yang Gong Treasury in the presence of the public.

However, the scenes of slaughter and contention that everyone had imagined did not occur.

Yu Liancheng dispatched an army to directly surround Xiji Garden, and then it was just crate after crate of jewelry and weapons being transported to the national treasury.

To ordinary experts, an army is an overwhelming existence; no matter how brilliant your lightness skill is, once charged by a hundred cavalry, you would be instantly crushed into meat paste.

Of course, for those of the caliber of the Eight Great Masters of the Demon Sect, as long as they were not charging into the fray amidst thousands of troops and horses, they might not be unable to escape with their lives.

But such experts had already been rounded up beforehand.

Even if there were any who slipped through the net, they would not dare to show their faces easily.

What's more, the Queen of Yin was sitting in command at the scene; coming would only be courting death.

Of course, everyone could not help but marvel at the sheer quantity of treasures in the Yang Gong Treasury. It took five days of back-and-forth transport to finally empty the entire treasury.

And with this supply of weapons and silver as support, it would be much easier for the Sui Court to unify the world.

In the Imperial Palace.

"Young Master, the Yang Gong Treasury has been fully inventoried. Among them, there are a total of 23,000 weapons such as swords and sabers, and the armor totals..."

In a palace hall, Wanwan was reporting the situation of the Yang Gong Treasury to Yu Liancheng. Besides Wanwan, Dugu Feng, the Queen of Yin, and others were also in the hall.

Yu Liancheng was multitasking; on one hand, he was listening to Wanwan's crisp and pleasant report, and on the other, he was flipping through a thick volume of books.

This book recorded many martial arts of the Demonic Sect Two Paths and Six Branches, such as the "Heavenly Demon Great Art," "Heavenly Heart Lotus Law," "Sword Qi Flow," and so on, all of which had been extracted through interrogation of Demonic Sect experts.

In reality, this series of martial arts all originated from the "Heavenly Demon Strategy," one of the Four Great Strange Books.

The "Heavenly Demon Strategy" was scattered due to reasons like war and natural disasters, and with the Demonic Sect deconstructing into different branches, it became even more dispersed.

In the world today, apart from Yu Liancheng, I fear no one else could collect all the various martial arts of the Demonic Sect and return them to one.

Soon, Wanwan finished her report. Yu Liancheng gave an "Mm" sound, not paying much mind, and shifted the topic: "You all pass on a message for me: three months from now, on the third day of the second lunar month, the Awakening of Insects, I will challenge the Three Great Grandmasters at Yue Ma Bridge."

He had stayed in this world long enough and had decided to prepare to leave.

And now, the momentum of the Sui Dynasty was established; pacifying rebellions and unifying the world was only a matter of time.

Yu Liancheng's move to challenge the Three Great Grandmasters was partly to display his peerless martial power before the people of the world and shorten the time for integration.

The Three Great Grandmasters had been famous for decades, representing three insurmountable peaks.

If he could defeat the Three Great Grandmasters single-handedly, it would surely boost the morale of the Sui Army, while the enemy would be struck with terror and their morale would plummet.

As for the other reason, it was that Yu Liancheng wished to use the pressure of the decisive battle to reach a higher realm in one stroke.

Of course, this pressure did not come from the Three Great Grandmasters; they were merely a catalyst, for his true opponent was someone else.

The women were stunned at first, and then their movements and expressions froze, staring at Yu Liancheng in a daze.

Even Zhu Yuyan had her cherry lips slightly parted in surprise, her pretty face filled with an expression of disbelief.

After a moment of silence, Wanwan hesitated and said: "Young Master, you... really want to challenge the Three Great Grandmasters?"

Yu Liancheng nodded and said: "Correct. You all pass this news down; ensure the whole world knows."

Everyone present was intelligent and sharp; they could all more or less guess Yu Liancheng's intentions, but they could not help but worry for him.

Dugu Feng bit her lip and said: "You... are you confident in this battle? Any one of the Three Great Grandmasters represents the supreme authority in martial arts, let alone you challenging all three."

Yu Liancheng smiled without a word, but that powerful confidence radiated from his body, and anyone could feel it clearly.

Wanwan frowned and said: "But Ning Daoqi is like a crane in the clouds, hard to track. Bi Xuan is far away in the grasslands, and Fu Cailin is stationed in Liaodong. Making them travel thousands of miles to the Central Plains... I fear they may not necessarily accept the challenge."

Zhu Yuyan spoke up: "Wanwan, you don't need to worry about that; the Imperial Tutor has long been prepared for this."

"Oh? Wanwan is dull-witted, please enlighten me, Master."

"Ning Daoqi is Shi Feixuan's guardian; as long as Shi Feixuan falls into our hands, Ning Daoqi will have to accept the challenge no matter what."

Zhu Yuyan's eyes rippled and her cherry lips parted slightly; her temperament was delicate and pure, and no one could ever see her as a demonic woman of the Yin Gui Sect.

"Bi Xuan and Fu Cailin both view themselves as the guardian gods of the grasslands or Goguryeo; they do not wish for a powerful and unified Central Plains, as this would be a great threat to their nations. Furthermore, recently the Imperial Tutor has massed troops at the borders, creating a posture of being ready to launch a war against the grasslands and Goguryeo at any time; these two will likely have no choice but to rush to the Central Plains."

"The Queen of Yin is indeed wise." Yu Liancheng clapped his hands and said: "Alright, leave this matter to you all; go and handle it!"

Dugu Feng, Wanwan, and the others originally had several questions they wanted to ask Yu Liancheng, but seeing that he did not want to explain further, they could only leave the palace.

After another long while, Yu Liancheng closed the book containing the secret arts of the Demonic Sect, his eyes flashing with sharp light.

He collected the secret manuals of the Demonic Sect because there was a faint connection between the "Heavenly Demon Strategy" and the "God of War Record."

During the Western Han Dynasty, the First Evil Emperor, Xie Tiao, first discussed the book "God of War Record" in his "Demonic Way Random Thoughts."

This was also the first time the "God of War Record" appeared in written records.

Later, the founder of Cihang Monastery, Dini, had the fortune to read "Demonic Way Random Thoughts," thereby learning the secret of "Shattering the Void." The Immortal Fetus and the Demonic Seed each walk to the extreme, yet their source is one.

In other words, the Four Great Strange Books share the same origin but differ in application.

Through Shi Feixuan, Yu Liancheng had already obtained the "Cihang Sword Manual" and had studied it carefully once.

Now, Yu Liancheng was precisely using the unfathomable connection between the three strange books—the "Cihang Sword Manual," the "Heavenly Demon Strategy," and the "Longevity Formula"—and the "God of War Record" to sense the location of the Zhanshen Dian.

Yu Liancheng closed his eyes, and the three strange arts capable of Shattering the Void circulated within his body.

Among these three divine arts, Yu Liancheng had only fully mastered the "Longevity Formula," while he had only slightly touched upon the other two.

But with his martial talent and cultivation, looking down from a high vantage point, it was better than the years of hard practice of ordinary people.

As the three strange arts circulated, Yu Liancheng was at times filled with a sacred aura, as if a God had descended to the world. At times, he was filled with an evil intent, transforming into a demon wreaking havoc on the world. At other times, he was ethereal and void, as if he might ride the wind and leave at any moment.

Suddenly, the three types of Qi merged and gathered into one body.

Boom—!

Yu Liancheng's consciousness suddenly entered a chaotic and hazy world of consciousness.