Chapter 628: Eternal Heaven

"How is this possible!"

Zhu Zai’s hand trembled, and the paper slipped from his grasp, fluttering down half a foot before he snatched it back through the air. He pinched it a few times and scrutinized it carefully for a moment; his brow then slightly relaxed.

"No seal, no blood, and the paper is wrong."

He looked toward Tang Tang Lanzhou.

"If this were a report from the border army, why would it lack an official seal?"

"If it were a hasty message sent during the fall of a city, why are there no bloodstains on the paper?"

"Lord Tang, what exactly are you—"

Tang Tang Lanzhou shouted sternly.

"Do you think I am unaware of these things!"

"This letter has no seal and no blood because it is not an official dispatch from the border army at all—it is a handwritten note from the Beggar Sect Leader, Lao Lao Qifeng, delivered by his disciples! You, Lord Zhu, live within the Forbidden City, and Beggar Sect disciples cannot enter, so he had no choice but to climb into my residence and hand this note to me!"

Zhu Zai’s brow, which had just relaxed, furrowed once more.

"Lao Lao Qifeng... why didn't he come himself?"

"He is already dead."

Tang Tang Lanzhou said in a deep voice.

"He fled all the way back from Shanhai Pass."

"At the time of the incident, he was at Juyong Pass. He personally heard a deafening roar and saw a corner of the city wall collapse in an instant. In his haste, he wrote this note and sent his disciples to deliver it, while he himself went to defend the breach—the last thing that disciple saw before leaving was him being blown apart along with hundreds of government soldiers."

Zhu Zai fell silent.

"Leader Lao... the Beggar Sect."

"Hundreds of people... blown apart?"

"But... if this is true..."

Zhu Zai felt his heart leaping into his throat.

Datong is the key to the north. Shanhai Pass is the first pass of the Great Wall. Both are the most important garrison cities in the north of the Great Shu.

And Juyong Pass is the throat of the nation.

Because it is only a hundred miles from the capital.

Thanks to the strategic policy of the Founding Emperor—"The Son of Heaven guards the border, the monarch dies for the state"—the capital of the Great Shu is already very close to the border. Juyong Pass is the capital's final layer of defense against the northern nomadic tribes. If Juyong Pass were to fall, the entire Beizhili region would be open to the enemy. If they had cavalry, they could reach the foot of the capital within three days.

But this shouldn't be.

Zhu Zai’s temples throbbed, his eyes felt swollen, and his thoughts were in chaos.

It shouldn't be.

There were countless contradictions.

At least by conventional logic, this could not be true.

"Lord Zhu."

"Lord Zhu!"

Tang Tang Lanzhou’s palm pressed heavily onto Zhu Zai’s shoulder.

"I know there are many irrational aspects to this. If it were three years ago, I wouldn't believe it either... Messengers can be intercepted, soldiers can be surrounded, letters can be blocked. Even if traveling light, a large army could enter the pass silently, but it is impossible for three mighty passes to fall in succession at such a speed."

"However, having experienced that night three years ago, I have one question... I do not know Wu Gong, so I must ask you. If you think this is possible, we must prepare for the worst right now. If you think it is impossible, I will immediately have that Beggar Sect disciple executed."

Zhu Zai looked up.

Tang Tang Lanzhou stared fixedly into his eyes and asked through gritted teeth.

"If, I say if."

"If there were a person with a cultivation realm higher than Battalion Commander Li, could they, with the strength of one person, directly blast open the walls of three cities?"

"If this person exists, then this matter could be true."

"The main army gathers at Shanhai Pass, this person blasts open the wall, and then leads thousands of elite cavalry to charge, breaking through the passes one after another. The main army follows behind, killing everyone they encounter at each location, while others follow quickly. They sweep through, and at the same time, multiple Heaven-Human realm experts hunt down messengers and drive away the routed soldiers—if this person exists, this is likely the truth."

Zhu Zai opened his mouth instinctively.

"This is not—"

The denial that had reached his lips stopped abruptly.

Although he always scolded Li Miao, in Zhu Zai’s heart, his confidence in Li Miao had reached a blind level, a blindness reinforced bit by bit over the years. In Zhu Zai’s inherent view, if Li Miao could not do something, then no one in the world could.

Li Miao could not do this.

Therefore, no one could.

But... is there really no one?

Zhu Zai closed his eyes and spat out the words with difficulty.

"...There is one person."

"Someone who, perhaps, could do it."

Tang Tang Lanzhou’s heart sank.

His gravity and anxiety stemmed not only from the scale of the event but also from his lack of Wu Gong; he had no clear concept of what the Heaven-Human realm could achieve, so he had to verify it with Zhu Zai to judge the credibility of the report.

Now, Zhu Zai had admitted it.

And the Beggar Sect would not joke with Lao Lao Qifeng’s life.