Chapter 873

"His Majesty was slain by the Oirats, and his corpse was taken away by them; the General-in-Chief begs Daoist Pan to lend his aid and retrieve the Emperor's body."

Without a word, Pan Yun took Seeing Miao Zhen and the other three and went straight to the city wall.

Kuang Ye was directing the army.

From his elevated position, he could oversee the entire battlefield, using flag signals to command the troops; and all soldiers of the Great Ming, whether civil or military, set aside their old grudges and cooperated wholeheartedly—driven by fury, they actually trapped Yixian, preventing his retreat.

Seeing Pan Yun arrive, Kuang Ye spoke with a hoarse voice: "Daoist Pan, you were right—cultivators are not invincible. We've killed twelve lamas."

Pan Yun looked over; among the crowd, a group of monks in earth-yellow kasayas wielded ritual implements as they whirled about, while Great Ming soldiers attacked in formation, nearly sacrificing their lives to tear open the monks' protective barrier and rush in to seize the corpse guarded at its center.

But often, the moment they broke through, the Oirat soldiers inside would strangle them.

At present, rushing in was merely throwing away one's life.

Kuang Ye looked at her with deep eyes, filled with complex emotion: "We absolutely cannot let them take His Majesty's body. Daoist Pan, if you truly cannot retrieve it..."

The unspoken words were: even a fake corpse would do.

Kuang Ye said: "You must bring back the body before the eyes of all."

Pan Yun glanced at him and said: "I will bring back the real one."

She whispered: "We cannot let him remain stranded in a foreign land."

Hearing this, Kuang Ye's eyes grew moist, and he nearly wept again.

Pan Yun turned to Seeing Miao Zhen and the others, but before she could speak, they cried out anxiously: "Junior Master, we'll go with you!"

Xue Shao also said: "When the sovereign is humiliated, the minister dies. If His Majesty has fallen to such a plight and we still cling to our lives, we are unworthy of being human."

Pan Yun immediately threw out the Three Treasures Cauldron and leapt inside before the eyes of all.

The four followed closely behind, each drawing sword or blade with a sharp hiss, their gazes icy as they fixed on the retreating center of the battlefield.

The Three Treasures Cauldron shot through the air with a whoosh, and Kuang Ye ordered the war drums beaten.

Soldiers, whose strength and fury had been worn down by relentless fighting, heard the drums and reignited their will; some looked up and saw the Three Treasures Cauldron flash across the sky—they gasped in shock, then roared with joy: "We have supernatural allies too—"

"Our immortals have come, our immortals have come—"

Morale surged violently upward.

At that very moment, Pan Yun descended from the sky, sword in hand, accompanied by Seeing Miao Zhen and the others.

She and Seeing Miao Zhen were both masters of formations; one glance revealed the formation's key points and its weak spots.

The Three Treasures Cauldron spun rapidly in midair, deflecting every arrow fired from the ground; a few arrows pierced inside, but by then, the five had already leapt out.

Five people, five formation nodes, all wielding weapons, struck downward with full force.

Pan Yun targeted the central node, driving her sword down—her Yuan energy clashed with Buddhist power, unleashing a blinding white light; nearby soldiers instinctively shut their eyes.

Yixian, watching from afar, felt his heart leap with unease.

A soft pop echoed in the air—the lamas' protective formation shattered. The chief lama swallowed the coppery taste in his mouth, then smashed his prayer beads with a sharp crack; the beads spun at high speed, striking Pan Yun's heart, brow, and other vital points.

Pan Yun twisted midair to evade, but as soon as she rose, spears thrust at her from all sides; she lightly tapped one spear with her toe, barely avoiding them, yet two spears still grazed her arms, drawing blood.

As if immune to pain, Pan Yun swept her sword—Yuan energy like the scythe of death carved through flesh; Oirat soldiers fell in droves.

Dark clouds gathered again overhead.

Pan Yun acted as if she saw nothing; after clearing the surrounding Oirat soldiers, she used her lightness technique to swiftly close in on the chief lama.

The chief lama retracted his beads and raised his palm like iron; one sweep sent a gale rushing forth.

Seeing Miao Zhen and the other three were thrown back by the blast, their blood surging violently; they spat blood and could only turn to fight the lesser lamas with care.

The Great Ming soldiers surged forward the moment the formation broke; Seeing Miao Zhen and the others held off the lesser lamas, leaving them to fight only the Oirat soldiers.

Perfect—mortals against mortals, cultivators against cultivators.

Kuang Ye, watching from the city wall, exhaled in relief and ordered the drumming to accelerate.

Influenced by the war drums, Pan Yun's blood surged, growing hot; her strikes grew fiercer.

Seeing her reckless fighting style, the chief lama flinched—this momentary retreat gave Pan Yun her opening; she pressed her blade forward, wounding his palm, then spun aside to reach the corpse he had been shielding.

The Oirat soldiers carrying the corpse immediately dropped him and drew their swords—but before they could fully unsheathe, Pan Yun slew them with a single stroke.

Pan Yun seized the Emperor's body; the Three Treasures Cauldron, circling above, crashed down. She stepped on two soldiers' shoulders, leapt upward, and carried the Emperor back into the cauldron.

Yixian, watching from afar, flew into a rage and immediately ordered archers to fire indiscriminately.

Over a thousand Oirat horsemen raised their arrows; at Yixian's command, they loosed them en masse.

A dense hail of arrows soared into the sky, then rained down from every angle upon the Three Treasures Cauldron.

The instant Pan Yun landed inside, she sealed the cauldron; arrows struck its surface—though none pierced through, their force still impacted the cauldron.

The Three Treasures Cauldron shot forward wildly, swaying precariously, nearly falling.

Those on the city wall saw the cauldron hurtling toward them and scattered in panic.

Finally, the Three Treasures Cauldron crashed with a bang against the city wall, stones crumbling, embedding itself deep in the masonry.

Soldiers exerted all their strength to pry the cauldron from the wall, then shouted through its exterior: "Daoist Pan! Daoist Pan! You're back safe—open the cauldron!"

After a long while, the Three Treasures Cauldron slowly opened; Pan Yun stood pale-faced, supported out by soldiers.

As soon as she stepped out, she bent over the wall and vomited uncontrollably—the arrow barrage's power exceeded her expectations; she felt if she'd waited another moment, she would have fainted.

Soon, Kuang Ye entered the cauldron himself and lifted out the Emperor's corpse; upon confirming it was truly the Emperor, he burst into tears.

One soldier stood up from inside the cauldron, holding a black cat by the neck: "This—this is also a cat."

No one paid him any heed, except Pan Yun, who looked up at him once.

But soon, she bent over again and vomited, until finally she collapsed weakly onto the city wall, gazing far off at Seeing Miao Zhen and Xue Shao still fighting in the crowd.

She pointed downward, unable to speak; a soldier eagerly grasped her finger, beaming: "Daoist Pan, rest assured—we'll bring back Master Seeing Miao Zhen and the others!"

He then rushed to Kuang Ye to request permission to descend and fight.

Kuang Ye granted it, and announced to all three armies: the Emperor's corpse has been reclaimed—now, kill and drive out every last Oirat!

The war drums beat again, and the morale of the three armies surged once more.

Aral Zhiyuan rushed to Yixian's side, screaming loudly for a retreat!

Yixian resisted, but could only order a full retreat.