Longzang

Chapter 151 Variables
Wei Yuan then summoned Yun Feifei and asked her to take the young masters and ladies to Sun Yu for treatment.

Xu Wan'er was puzzled and asked quietly, "The guards' injuries are much more serious, some of them are almost dead. These people only have superficial wounds, why treat them first?"

Wei Yuan said, "If they don't treat it, the guards dare not treat it either."

The dozen or so young masters and ladies were indeed mostly unharmed, but Cui Yu was the most seriously injured. Wei Yuan originally intended to treat Cui Yu's injuries himself, but Cui Yu knew that Sun Yu was also in Xuanming Palace, and insisted on waiting until Sun Yu was available, preferring to endure the pain rather than let Wei Yuan do it.

Cui Yu knew Wei Yuan inside and out. This guy spent ten years building his foundation, how could he have had time to learn medicine? In terms of theory, Wei Yuan's grades in this subject were not as good as Cui Yu's back then.

Several of the guards were seriously injured and on the verge of death, but Wei Yuan used Jia Mu Sheng Xuan to keep them alive, and they were not in any danger of dying if they waited a little longer.

Wei Yuan then instructed Xu Wan'er to prepare armor and equipment for the young masters and ladies, and to select a batch of warhorses.

Sun Yu's medical skills were naturally superb; he could treat each person in a few breaths at the fastest and half a cup of tea at the slowest, and the whole process took no more than half an hour.

After the young masters and ladies had their injuries treated, Wei Yuan led them to an open space, pointed to the piles of heavy armor on the ground, and said, "Everyone pick a set. If it doesn't fit, tell Wan'er and we can make some alterations. The weapons are on the right; each person can pick one as well."

Looking at the heavy armor, spears, and broadswords on the ground, everyone was in a dilemma. One girl even said with a long face, "Can we not choose?"

"No!" It wasn't Wei Yuan who answered, but Cui Yu.

He took the first piece of heavy armor, put it on immediately, then picked up a magical spear, weighed it in his hand, and made his choice. Once fully armored, Cui Yu turned around and said, "We're here to fight. Since none of us want to leave, we must follow orders. Junior Brother Wei is now the lord of this place, and according to palace rules, we all must obey his commands. So from now on, there's no 'Brother Cui,' only 'Lord Wei!'"

Wei Yuan quickly said, "Brother Cui, you're too kind. We're still fellow disciples. But since you brought everyone here, I can't let you come for nothing. These heavy armors are very important; they can save your lives on the battlefield and are much better than robes. So you need to adapt to them as soon as possible, or the nicer and more suitable ones will all be taken by others."

Upon hearing this, the young ladies immediately took action, grabbing the most appealing pieces of heavy armor without considering whether they fit. With one person leading the way, the rest all took the heavy armor and began trying it on on the spot. If any didn't fit, they would seek help from Xu Wan'er. Xu Wan'er meticulously noted everything down.

After donning heavy armor, choosing weapons and warhorses became a natural next step. The realm didn't have many warhorses; the dozen or so prepared were all ordinary horses, with only two exceptionally tall and strong, considered fine steeds. Xu Wenwu had already ridden each of these two once.

In the distance, a large, blood-red horse was riding a man, who was leisurely walking past the group of young masters and ladies.

Everyone stared in disbelief. They knew this horse was Wei Yuan's mount, exceptionally magnificent. In the battle just now, it had trampled a Dao Foundation Warrior of the Witch Clan to death. The young masters and ladies possessed considerable spiritual sense; upon scanning the horse, they felt a faint pain, thus recognizing it as an extraordinary spirit beast, its strength surpassing even their own.

How could such a divine horse be allowed to be ridden by a mortal?
While everyone was wondering what was going on, the man and his horse had already gone far away, leaving only their backs.

After dealing with the changing of clothes for these people, Wei Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Having listened to Cui Yu's account and compared the obstacles he encountered along the way with a map, Wei Yuan knew that the Wu Clan had sent people to infiltrate the east, cutting off the route from the border region to Hanyang Pass. Qingming was now surrounded.

Wei Yuan suddenly sensed something and looked up at the sky. At this moment, the setting sun was like blood, and the evening glow filled the sky, half of the sky was red as if it were about to drip blood. This strange phenomenon was not noticeable to ordinary people, but Wei Yuan was well-versed in feng shui and had the blessing of Qingming, so he could see it clearly.

Wei Yuan felt a chill run down his spine, knowing that such an unusual phenomenon most likely meant that a great shaman had arrived.

In a large camp of a sorcerer tribe thousands of miles to the west, a high sorcerer sat in the center of the altar, gazing at the sky. At this moment, another high sorcerer walked up to the altar. His posture was very strange; his long robe trailed on the ground, and he seemed to swim up rather than walk.

The high shaman sitting in the center was somewhat displeased and said, "You are increasingly exuding the aura of a lowly race, which will anger the heavens."

The high priest, who had just ascended the altar, let out a low, eerie laugh and said, "If Heaven is angry, I will sense it myself; there is no need for you to relay it."

The two high shamans fell silent and each took their place. A moment later, another old man ascended the altar. He looked like an ordinary human elder, completely unlike a shaman. Yet, he was able to climb the activated altar, which remained unresponsive.

After the old man reached the summit, he stood in a triangular formation with the two great shamans and said, "Blood Eye and Phantom, it's been ten years since I last saw you."

The high shaman, seated in the center of the altar, said, "Mu Shang, why aren't you staying with the humans? What brings you here all of a sudden?"

The old man said, "Recently, a strange young man has appeared among the humans. I have a feeling he might cause trouble for your plans, sir. Since you're here, why don't you cast a spell to get rid of him? After this is done, I'll get a reward from the humans."

Blood Eyes, sitting in the center of the altar, was somewhat annoyed: "I put in the effort, and you take the reward?"

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to, but he's caused you far more trouble than I have. If you fail again this time, I'm afraid the adults won't let you off so easily like they did last time."

"Who is that person? Let me take a look."

The old man waved his hand and sent over a clump of blood, saying, "His name is Li Zhi, and this is the cause and effect related to him."

The Blood Shadow snatched the blood clump and inhaled it. A moment later, it exhaled another cloud of blood mist. This time, the mist automatically condensed into several clumps, most of which were small and dense, clustered in one place. But the largest clump was far away in another location, and also the thinnest, yet it was much larger than all the other clumps combined. Seeing the distribution of the blood clumps, the Blood Shadow snorted and said, "This kid is indeed cunning. Although he left behind many karmic debts here, the greatest karmic debt is currently hundreds of thousands of miles away. That's where his true form lies."

A crimson light shone from the shadow beneath his hood as he stared at Mu Shang and said, "Are you sure you didn't give me the wrong thing? How could his true form travel so far? He can travel hundreds of thousands of miles in just two days?"

"Absolutely no mistake! In the matter of cause and effect, I am more than qualified to teach you. How dare you question me!" The old man was very firm.

"Old man? Have you been pretending to be a human for too long?"

"Humans are treacherous and cunning; they can be detected even by the slightest carelessness. If you, with your Blood Eye, could disguise yourself for three hours without being discovered, I'd give you ten thousand sacrificial offerings!"

Blood Eyes snorted and said, "It's best if you didn't make a mistake. If you're too far away, casting a curse will incur a lot of extra costs."

The old man said, "This location is in the southwest of the Zhao Kingdom of the human race, almost at the border of the Ji Kingdom. Could it be that your blood curse tracked the wrong place?"

Blood Shadow let out a low roar and said, "If you think Blood Curse is stronger than me, then come and try!"

The old man snorted and said nothing more.

The Blood Shadow's body writhed and slowly deformed, a vast expanse of bloody energy rising from the altar, followed by a continuous descent of green energy from the sky. The Blood Shadow extended a gigantic claw, resembling a beast's paw, mixing the bloody energy with the descending green energy, then spitting out a drop of its own blood, before shouting in an ancient language: "Bloodline Tracing, Clan Slaughter!"

It grabbed the largest and thinnest blood clot with one claw and crushed it violently!

This is a blood curse of the thousand sacrifice level. It will not only kill the target, but also curse all of the target's offspring along the bloodline, even those who have not yet been born.

Neither the old man nor the phantom moved, quietly awaiting the outcome. A blood curse of this level would produce results quickly. If the target possessed additional means to counter the curse, the three great witches also had backup plans.

At the border of Zhao and Ji, in a well-organized military camp, Li Zhi sat upright in his tent, deep in thought as he looked at the map.

At this moment, a captain entered the tent and said, "General Qu has ordered us to take Jianming Pass within three days. There must be no mistake, or we will be punished according to military law!"

Li Zhi said without looking up, "Although the garrison at Jianming Pass is only eight hundred, the terrain is extremely dangerous. We have no other good option but to risk our lives to fill the gap. Moreover, once this pass is breached, the land behind it will be flat plains. General Qu has many men, while we have few. When his army sweeps through, we will have no credit to show for it."

"But……"

Li Zhi finally raised his head and said calmly, "What's there to be afraid of? He can't do anything to me. Besides, even if I break through the pass, all I'll do is go to Ji State and kill some civilians. It's really not that interesting. What I want to fight is the foreign tribes, not to play this little game of killing innocent people and claiming credit with them. It's a pity that some people above don't dare to touch the foreign tribes and only dare to fight among themselves."

"How will you explain this to General Nagqu?"

Li Zhi said, "It's simple. I suddenly fell ill and am unable to attend to affairs. Let's postpone it for ten days or half a month. Once his supplies run out, he will naturally return. If he still wants to attack Jianming Pass, then let him attack it himself."

This plan was simple and effective. The captain wanted to flatter him, but suddenly saw Li Zhi's face turn pale and his pupils turn grayish-white. Then he suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood and fell backward!
The captain was so shocked he almost jumped up. He fell ill just like that? General Li was truly decisive and efficient, without any hesitation.

But now I'm all alone in the tent, so who am I pretending to be sick for?

The captain hesitated for a moment before reacting, then rushed out of the tent and shouted, "Someone! The general has suddenly fallen ill! Quickly summon the army doctor!" His cry was shrill, as if Li Zhi was truly on his deathbed.

A moment later, several military doctors rushed into the tent, followed by a series of exclamations, even more alarmed than the captain.

Inside the tent, Li Zhi lay in the black blood, barely breathing, but a jade pendant around his neck and a book in his bosom were faintly glowing, keeping his life and soul afloat.

Western Regions.

Before the three great shamans, the blood mass representing Li Zhi's true form was already very weak, flickering and uncertain, but it just wouldn't go out.

Blood-Eyed looked somewhat embarrassed, snorted, and said, "You've got quite a few ways to save your life. This kid really does have some secrets. But now that you've been cursed, do you still think you can live?"

Blood Eye spat out another glob of blood, spraying it fiercely onto the thin blood mass.

The old man and the phantom were both very serious. This kid had survived the Blood-Eyed Thousand Sacrifice Curse and still had many karmic debts left behind in this area; he was definitely not simple. Now that the adults had given a strict order, this kid was the biggest variable and had to be eliminated. It was better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

(End of this chapter)