Chapter 532: Hutou City, The Great War is About to Begin

After visiting his eldest sister Xu Zhihu and secretly beating up Hong Xixiang, who had already passed the Heavenly Gate but refused to enter, Xu Fengnian descended Wudang Mountain and returned to Liangzhou. He stopped his carriage midway, letting his personal maid Qingniao accompany him to a beef shop he was quite fond of to buy some braised beef to satisfy his cravings.

The cooked meat at that shop was the most flavorful; the beef was the best in Beiliang, and the secret sauce was second to none, with the proportions of yellow bean paste, cinnamon, star anise, and other ingredients all perfectly balanced.

When he had brought that kid Wen Hua there before, the kid had tried to swipe the bottle of soy sauce on the table. He didn't succeed; if it weren't for the shopkeeper considering Xu Fengnian a regular customer, he would have picked up a broom and beaten Wen Hua for two streets.

Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter!

While Xu Fengnian was waiting for the beef, a burst of hoofbeats suddenly rang out.

On the bustling street, people and horses were immediately sent flying, and chaos ensued.

Xu Fengnian raised an eyebrow. Since before the first Liangmang War began, Xu Weixiong had already issued an order that anyone galloping through the city streets would be severely punished without exception. Many spoiled disciples had already paid a painful price for this. Xu Fengnian could guarantee that even if he dared to gallop through the streets himself, his second sister would have someone beat his backside until it blossomed.

Of course, there was one situation where galloping was permitted.

Even if one dared to block the path, regardless of whether they were royalty, nobility, or commoners, the light punishment was exile to the army, and the heavy punishment was beheading.

"Urgent report from the border!"

"Urgent report from the border!"

"No one is to obstruct!"

Amidst the hoarse, desperate shouts, several sturdy horses galloped over. The riders were covered in dust, yet they dared not pause for even a moment.

"It really is an urgent report from the border. As soon as spring arrives, the Beimang barbarians really can't sit still." Pedestrians on the street scattered to avoid them, and Xu Fengnian revealed a thoughtful expression.

"They've only had a few days of peace, and the Beimang barbarians are already coming to attack again."

"Our thirty thousand Beiliang Iron Cavalry were able to beat them back once, so we can beat them back a second time, a third time..."

"With Alliance Leader Murong breaking the formations, one man rivaling an army of one hundred thousand, who in the world can compete?! I think rather than guarding the border, we should take the initiative to attack and hurt those Beimang barbarians so they won't dare to invade."

"Alliance Leader Murong is a god-like figure; is he someone you can command?"

"But I heard that after returning the sword to Taian City, Alliance Leader Murong has been staying on Huishan in seclusion. Could it be that he was injured in Taian City?"

"Stop talking nonsense."

Qingniao entered the carriage. Xu Fengnian suddenly felt that the braised beef he had been drooling over while on Wudang Mountain was a bit dull. He set it aside and said softly, "Return to the manor."

Xu Fengnian returned to the manor quickly, and he also quickly received the news from his second sister.

Forty thousand Beimang troops had set out, and this time they were heading straight for Hutou City, seemingly intending to use thunderous momentum to break through Hutou City and wash away the shame of the first Liangmang War.

Below Hutou City.

Longyan'er Plain.

A massive force of forty thousand grassland cavalry set up camp, stretching on endlessly. The warhorses neighed, gathering like thunder.

Small groups of dozens or hundreds of cavalry continuously rode out to patrol, quickly approaching Hutou City, then stopping in the area outside the range of bows and crossbows to look up, pointing at the city walls with horse whips and sabers, their arrogance rampant.

Within the Beimang army, a team of elite cavalry was guarding a man and a woman.

The iron armor of this cavalry unit was particularly bright, but they were not the flashy, useless kind. Each person carried a large bow, a light crossbow, and a saber, with an iron saber hanging from the side of their saddle. They were the Qi and Blood Tiewei, the elite guards that only the two great royal surnames of the Beimang royal court, Yelu and Murong, were qualified to equip.

Among the massive army, the only ones who could be so tightly protected by the Qi and Blood Tiewei were perhaps the Crown Prince of Beimang, who commanded the forty thousand troops. As for the woman beside the Crown Prince, she was undoubtedly the Crown Princess who had won the title in the Chess Sword Music Mansion's ci-poetry rankings with the two characters "Gu She".

The Beimang Crown Prince, Yelü Hongcai, was seen wearing a light yellow Python Robe, sitting on the back of a Sweat-Blood Horse, his pale face tinged with excitement. Because he was not skilled in archery and horsemanship, he bent slightly and gripped the horse's belly, appearing constrained.

Everyone who had seen the late Emperor said that the Crown Prince resembled the late Emperor by seventy or eighty percent, but he lacked the spirit and would even get dizzy at the sight of blood. Every time he went on a hunt with the Queen, he could only rely on the prey captured by the Qi and Blood guards beside him to muddle through.

With such a Crown Prince, the future of Beimang is worrying. But if one were to be more profound and think more deeply, perhaps one could be relieved.

If Yelü Hongcai had the same grand strategy as the late Emperor, he would have likely died young like many of the dragon sons and grandsons surnamed Yelü.

The Crown Princess was graceful and noble, gazing into the distance. She was from the Chess Sword Music Mansion, and her ci-poetry ranking was the most stunning "Gu She". Whether in sword technique or appearance, she was worthy of her ranking.

Among the experts of the Chess Sword Music Mansion, besides Taiping Ling and Hong Jingyan, the Copper Man Founder and the Sword Qi expert Huang Qing had all died, dying at the hands of Murong Tonghuang. It was precisely because of this that the Crown Princess, who was always considered gentle in nature, took the initiative to come to this battlefield. She wanted to see the man who had caused the Chess Sword Music Mansion to suffer such a great loss of vitality.

Crown Prince Yelü Hongcai scanned the forty thousand Beimang troops, and a smug smile finally appeared on the corner of his mouth: "With forty thousand Beimang troops, and Hutou City mobilizing troops and generals, even with the full support of Beiliang, it's only twenty thousand. The result of this battle is already obvious. I just don't know if that Murong Tonghuang dares to come?"

The Crown Princess's expression was cold: "Of course."

The Beimang Crown Prince looked indifferent: "I, Beimang, have made so many preparations just for this person. It's perfect if he comes. I will definitely let that Murong Tonghuang know that there are millions of miraculous pills in the world, but there is no Regret Pill to eat."

The Crown Princess stopped speaking and sighed softly.

Before joining the imperial family, she had studied poetry and books in the Central Plains at the border, reading vast history, as if heroes were destined to die at the hands of villains.

However, she glanced at the man beside her who finally held power, her heart full of cold sneers, thinking: You, Murong Tonghuang, are invincible in the world, breaking ten thousand armor with one man, how overbearing, yet in the end, you are to die at the hands of such a fool; it is too pitiful.

"Heh, Murong Wudi, I heard you are still in seclusion on Huishan. As long as you dare to appear on the Hutou City plain, appear before this Crown Prince, I guarantee I will make you suffer."

The Beimang Crown Prince sneered, his blood already boiling.

Having been the Crown Prince for decades, hiding his clumsiness for decades, once he held power, and with the possibility of breaking through Beiliang, invading the Central Plains, and killing the legendary number one expert in the world, achieving one grand ambition after another, it really made one's heart surge; it even gave him a sense of unreality every time he woke up from a midnight dream.

"Is that so? Suffer, there is such a good thing." An ethereal voice suddenly rang out, as if coming from beyond the heavens, yet carrying a hint of mockery.

The Beimang Crown Prince and Crown Princess felt their hearts tighten, and they looked in the direction the voice came from, only to see a face as handsome as a demon, looking at them with a smile. A black robe fluttered with the evening wind, rustling.

"You... you..." The Beimang Crown Prince's already pale face turned deathly pale, and he almost fell off the horse's back. The Crown Princess was able to remain calm, but the surprise in her eyes still revealed the turbulent waves in her heart.

The next moment.

The Qi and Blood Tiewei drew their sabers and pulled their bows, each with a solemn expression, filling the grassland with killing intent.

This team of Qi and Blood Tiewei responsible for protecting the Crown Prince were the elites among the Beimang Iron Cavalry, the elite of the elites.

Even when facing a First-Rank Expert, they were confident they could grind the opponent to death.

But for the person in front of them, they did not have a shred of confidence.

These battle-hardened Qi and Blood Tiewei did not even doubt that the other party could make them vanish into dust with a wave of his sleeve, leaving them with no place to be buried.

Because.

—He is Murong Wudi.

That Murong Wudi who made both the Beimang and Liyang imperial courts fearful.

"Eh, didn't you want to make me suffer? Why haven't you made a move yet? Let me see your methods." Yu Liancheng touched his chin, looking at the Beimang Crown Prince with a smile.

The Beimang Crown Prince trembled all over, his teeth actually chattering.

Only then did he realize that having been the Crown Prince for over thirty years, forced to lie low and endure for so long, he had not only developed a calculating nature but had truly become weak.

"So this is what the Crown Prince of Beiman looks like; it's truly uninspiring. Although I've said before that whoever provokes me, even if it's a pile of dung, I'll step on it. But if I really had to step on a pile of dung, it would be quite disgusting."

Yu Liancheng sighed and shook his head.

Under the tyrannical pressure of the world's number one, the Crown Princess gritted her teeth and drew her sword in a fit of rage, the tip pointing straight at Murong Tonghuang, though her arm was still trembling slightly.

Not everyone in Beiman is a coward like Yelü Hongcai.

At least, Gu Han is not.

"Interesting. The Crown Prince of Beiman is useless, but the woman is quite impressive. However..."

Yu Liancheng completely ignored the commotion he had stirred up in the Beiman camp, as if he did not see the drawn bowstrings and unsheathed Beiman sabers at all.

Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow.

A tyrannical and overbearing aura radiated outward, forming a tangible, surging wave that swept in all directions.

"Can you block me? Even with a single finger!?"

In an instant, within a radius of over a hundred zhang, whether it was the elite Kheshig guards or the ordinary Beiman cavalry, all felt a sense of terror, as if they were alone on a raging ocean, at risk of being swallowed at any moment. The Beiman Crown Prince and Crown Princess, facing the brunt of the aura, turned deathly pale; the pressure they endured was unimaginable. The Crown Prince rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot, while the Crown Princess struggled to hold on, but her body trembled and she was drenched in cold sweat, clearly unable to last much longer.

"Alliance Leader Murong, since your Primordial Spirit is wandering here, why bother frightening two juniors?"

Just then, a burly figure appeared out of thin air in front of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, arms reaching to his knees, with faint golden light flowing over his entire body, like golden dragons and pythons emerging from the clouds and mist.

"I wondered who it was; so it is my defeated opponent, Tuoba Pusa."

Yu Liancheng called out the identity of the newcomer: it was none other than the Military God of Beiman, Tuoba Pusa.

He looked the other man up and down and chuckled, "No wonder you dare to appear before me; you have already polished yourself to the Heavenly Human Long Life Realm. In terms of physique, I fear you could rival Li Dangxin in white. However, this strength is somewhat hollow; I imagine it has to do with those from the heavens."

"In any case, it should be enough to block this strand of your Out-of-Body Primordial Spirit," Tuoba Pusa said calmly.

As it turned out, Yu Liancheng's physical body was still on Huishan; this was merely his Primordial Spirit traveling thousands of miles.

"Oh? Shall we try?" Yu Liancheng raised an eyebrow, his unparalleled aura ten times stronger than before, crashing against the high heavens and causing the world to lose its color.

"Then let us try!"

"

Tuoba Pusa stood with his hands behind his back, as immovable as a mountain; though standing on level ground, his momentum was as towering as Kunlun, the ancestor of all mountain ranges.

The two locked eyes, each reflecting the other's face.

As time passed, their auras grew increasingly tyrannical, and the surrounding air seemed to whip up into a hurricane.

The ground centered on the two began to crack and spread outward, and stones were pulverized; any existence caught within their aura met the same fate as those stones. The surrounding Beiman soldiers felt as if a storm were about to break, all of them silent as cicadas, not daring to even breathe, the atmosphere suppressed to the extreme.

"Haha, just kidding."

Just when everyone thought a great battle was inevitable, Yu Liancheng suddenly laughed, but the atmosphere on the scene became even more tense, fearing that this world's number one would unleash a terrifying power capable of shattering mountains and shaking peaks at any moment.

"I can't be bothered with things like assassinations and beheadings. Instead, I look forward to your Beiman methods to see if you can trap and kill me. If you cannot, these four hundred thousand troops might just be enough for me to kill alone."

As his words fell, Murong Tonghuang transformed into a streak of rainbow light and dove into Hutou City, his laughter still echoing and shaking the entire Beiman camp.

Tuoba Pusa remained silent for a long while, then turned to look at the fainted Beiman Crown Prince, his eyes flickering.

"Pass the order: begin the attack on Hutou City in three days. One battle shall decide the world."

On the other side, Yu Liancheng had already entered Hutou City.

In reality, Yu Liancheng was quite interested in Tuoba Pusa's Heavenly Human Long Life Realm; although this strand of his soul might not be a match for the Military God of Beiman, he could at least test his foundation, and if he couldn't win, he could still run away.

But Hutou City was not peaceful either.

Yu Liancheng decided to resolve the hidden troubles of Hutou City first.

Inside Hutou City.

An old man in Confucian robes walked slowly toward the city wall.

A tall woman in white blocked his path.

The old man in Confucian robes did not mind, smiling and asking, "Why must a Heavenly Human make things difficult for an Immortal?"

The tall woman with eyes like snow said calmly, "Rebellious and wicked, the Heavenly Dao cannot tolerate it."

The old man smiled: "Oh?"

The tall woman was none other than the Qi Practitioner leader Dantai Pingjing. Her gaze grew sharper: "Zhao Zhangling, that you were not suppressed in the Water Moon Heavenly Well back then was already the Heavenly Dao cutting you some slack. I advise you not to push your luck. A Transcendent Immortal, a Transcendent Immortal—the meaning lies in the word 'transcendent'. You think yourself a Daoist Master of the secular world, but you are merely a high-ranking official exiled a thousand miles away. You cannot stir up any waves; why not return to the heavens quickly?"

The old man sighed: "The one pushing their luck has never been Beiliang; it is Beiman, it is Liyang, it is that group of meddling Immortals in the heavens. Sect Leader Dantai, as the number one Qi Practitioner of the North, are you really content to be a chess piece for the Immortals in the heavens?"