Longzang

Chapter 328 Return of the King

The northern border, deep in the grasslands.

A small group of knights galloped at full speed, like a pack of frost wolves, traversing the vast land, penetrating several defense lines of the Western Jin and Northern Liao dynasties, and heading north.

Several days later, in the dead of night, dozens of figures stealthily approached a magnificent golden tent, unnoticed by tens of thousands of Liao knights outside. They suddenly rushed into the tent and pounced on a large, tall, and muscular man sleeping among a dozen or so women.

The man only woke up from his hangover when the knife pierced his body, but it was too late.

A moment later, the blood-soaked youth emerged from the golden tent carrying a severed head. He raised his head and howled at the moon, his boundless aura erupting from within him, transforming into a gigantic wolf a thousand feet long!
The giant wolf leaped into the air, soaring upwards and charging towards the full moon. A distinct silver edge appeared around the full moon in the sky!

The boy's shouts grew louder and louder, carrying further and further until they reached every corner of the land. Thus, all the tribes on the western slopes of the sacred mountain knew that their Great Khan had returned from the land of the dead!
When the boy stopped howling, he found himself surrounded by kneeling tribespeople. He went back into the golden tent and searched through the plunderer's collection, finally finding a skull inlaid with countless jewels. The skull was almost transparent, and inside it, a tiny dragon was swimming.

The boy cradled the skull, gazing at the real dragon swimming within. Though only the size of a little finger, this small dragon possessed whiskers and a tail, making it appear as if it were a real dragon.

Beside the boy appeared an old shaman who looked as if he could die at any moment, and a woman who was a head taller than the average Liao man. The woman exuded power, and three gold rings were pinned to one side of her nose.

Her eyes had no pupils; instead, they were a uniform silver-white.

The old shaman said slowly, "True dragon energy has already been nurtured here. Are we really going to give it to those people in the Southern Dynasty?"

The boy's eyes shone with an astonishing light as he said, "Back then, even the true dragons of the human race were slain by our ancestors. What is there to fear from a little dragon energy? As a descendant of the Silver Moon Khan's Tent, I must keep my promise!"

He handed the crystal skull to the silver-eyed woman, saying, "Give this to the king of the Southern Dynasty and tell him that my promise has been fulfilled. Tell him to prepare himself; it won't be long before I personally retrieve this item, along with all his concubines and daughters, from his palace!"

Outside Yingdu City, there is the Vajra Zen Temple.

The Prince of Jin stood before a pool with a golden and jade railing, gazing at the full moon in the sky, lost in thought. The moonlight tonight was exceptionally cold, as if it had coated the earth with a layer of silver frost.

The space before him suddenly rippled open like water, and a Liao woman with silver eyes emerged from within. She walked straight to the Prince of Jin, bowed slightly, looked into his eyes, twitched her nose, and said in a somewhat hesitant voice, "So...filthy..."

She seemed to have been silent for a long time, her tone stiff and her voice muffled: "The Khan asked me to give this to you. He said he would soon retrieve it himself, along with all your women, from your palace!"

The Prince of Jin took the crystal skull and said calmly, "Our ancestors established the country for a thousand years, and it will never perish at my hands. Since your master has only just come back to life, let him hide well in the north, so he can live for a few more years."

A murderous glint flashed in the Liao woman's eyes, and she said in a stiff tone, "I've changed my mind. I'm going to take your head back right now!"

Suddenly, several gleaming, sharp claws extended from her hands, and at the same time, the surrounding scenery instantly changed, transforming from the extremely luxurious Vajra Zen Temple into the snowy forest of the North, with a snow-covered mountain in the distance that was none other than one of the nine sacred mountains of Northern Liao.

Standing amidst the mountains and rivers of the northern border, the Prince of Jin was instantly targeted by the entire world. He couldn't even move a finger, let alone retaliate. This woman had actually reached the realm of manifesting the world of the mind; in this world she had manifested, she was the sole immortal!
The woman grabbed at the King of Jin's throat, the blade on her finger easily severing his head.

Several strands of blue hair appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around her hand and the blade. The Liao woman with silver eyes had already clenched her fist, but the blade remained stationary.

Her blue hair had somehow severed all her fingers!
The Liao woman turned around abruptly and saw a woman with blue eyes who had appeared in her mental world at some point, walking gracefully through the snowy forest. Her mental world had no effect on her whatsoever.

The woman had a full head of black hair that cascaded to the ground like a waterfall.

The strands of hair that landed seemed to come alive, quickly winding their way across thousands of feet to wrap around the woman from Northern Liao.

With a flick of her wrist, she sliced ​​the Northern Liao woman's body into countless pieces, leaving only a head that fell into the hands of the woman with blue eyes.

Countless strands of hair receded and disappeared, and the blue-eyed woman returned to her bald head. She looked at the severed head in her hand; the face still held the last traces of shock and fear.

"This thing is useless, return it." She waved her hand in front of her, creating a space that swelled up, and then threw the human head into it.

Before the golden tent in the north, the head of a Liao woman suddenly appeared and fell in front of the boy!

The boy's expression changed drastically, his beard and hair slowly flew up and gradually turned silver! His eyes blazed with fire, and he suddenly pointed to the sky. Immediately, a phantom of the full moon fell from the sky and descended into his body.

The boy drew his curved sword from his waist and slashed forward fiercely, unleashing a sword light as turbulent as a raging tide! The sword light traveled several feet forward before suddenly disappearing into the air.

At the same moment, a towering blade of light appeared in the still-undissipated world of the mind, spanning the entire sky and splitting into two, one slashing towards the woman with blue eyes and the other towards the Prince of Jin!
The woman with blue eyes calmly said, "The medicinal ingredient has been collected, we're even now, please go back."

She extended her fingers as if plucking a flower, and a faint blue light suddenly shone from the tip of one finger. With a flick of her finger, a long sword appeared before her, the finger striking the blade precisely on its tip!

Then the dazzling sword light vanished completely, the world of the sacred mountain and snow forest was finally shattered, and the Vajra Zen Temple reappeared.

The woman with blue eyes reached out and grabbed at the air. Countless tiny pieces of flesh and blood from the Northern Liao woman flew into her hand, transforming into a pure white pill. Two scarlet blood-red lines slowly moved across the pill. She handed the pill to the Prince of Jin and said, "It's time for morning lessons."

The Prince of Jin took the elixir, glanced at the bright silver full moon in the sky, and then turned and followed the woman with blue eyes back to the main hall.

In the Golden Jade Pool, a lotus flower suddenly bloomed under the moonlight, its petals black.

The Azure Netherworld.

Wei Yuan stared at the sand table in front of him for a full hour.

In the center of the sand table is Wucheng, and at this moment, the boundary of the realm is still ninety miles away from Wucheng. The Wucheng depicted on the sand table is extremely detailed, even including many small details that cannot be seen from outside the city.

In the past hour, Wei Yuan had simulated attacks on Wucheng dozens of times in his mind, with different plans for each.

However, Wei Yuan was still very dissatisfied with the Wu tribe's reaction in the simulation. After simulating the siege, Wei Yuan discovered that he still knew very little about the Wu tribe in the city, especially information about the Great Wu.

However, finding out the strength of the Witch Clan was quite simple. Wei Yuan left his residence and went to find Yu Zhizhuo, where he retrieved several steel cylinders from the warehouse and attached them to the projectile array.

This time, Wei Yuan piloted the attack himself. The steel cylinder was detected dozens of miles away from Wu City, and several extremely fierce attacks immediately rose from the city to intercept it. Clearly, the experience of being bombed last time was still fresh in the minds of the great shamans, and they dared not be negligent this time. As soon as they discovered the steel cylinder, they did their best to intercept it.

The copper tube tried its best to dodge, but after flying for more than ten miles, it was still destroyed by a blood-red blade of light. The blade of light split the steel tube in two, revealing that it was empty; it was just an empty tube and had not been filled with explosives.

Immediately afterward, a second steel cylinder was fired. The high priest continued to intercept it, but this time the cylinder suddenly exploded in mid-air, scattering all the surrounding sword and blade energy. Several high priests within the city groaned in pain.

In the aftershocks of the explosion, another steel cylinder silently pierced through the smoke and flew over Wucheng. Chaos erupted as civilians and ordinary soldiers scattered in all directions, seeking shelter. Then, a bolt of purple lightning shot up from the altar, shattering the steel cylinder.

Through this round of probing, Wei Yuan learned that there are currently four great witches in Witch City, one of whom waited until the very end to make his move, and is weaker than Yan Xin back then.

If this is all the defense they have, then they have a good chance. However, Wei Yuan decided to push the Wu Clan a little further to see what other trump cards they had up their sleeve. So he loosened his control over the realm, and the Azure Nether Realm began to expand rapidly, pressing towards Wu City at a rate of ten miles per day.

Since Wei Yuan advanced to the mid-stage of the Dao Foundation Realm, Qingming's nurturing ability has also improved, and it can now actually cover more than two hundred miles, just enough to cover Wucheng.

After putting pressure on Wucheng, Wei Yuan followed Yu Zhizhuo to the weapon forging workshop to see the latest improved steel-tube cannonballs.

The forging workshop was now several times larger than it had been initially, with four large furnaces standing inside, producing over 20,000 catties of molten iron daily. Around each furnace sat four Dao Foundation cultivators who had mastered the Immortal Sword Pseudo-Sun technique, currently focused intently on refining their Dao Foundation and improving their cultivation.

Wei Yuan unexpectedly saw Ren Suxing.

He was currently holding a piece of breastplate that had just been forged, inspecting it with his divine sense. Finding no problems, he tossed it into a nearby crate. With his perfected Foundation Establishment cultivation, a single scan with his divine sense could detect even the smallest flaws. He held a small, red-hot hammer in his hand; any minor defects he found, he would fix directly. Those that couldn't be fixed would be tossed into the scrap heap, awaiting reforging.

Ren Suxing's cultivation was profound; each piece of breastplate remained in his hands for no more than three breaths, and he could take care of almost all the forging machines by himself.

"What's he doing here?" Wei Yuan asked.

"He originally came to forge iron, but he's not a Fire Element Dao Foundation cultivator, though his spiritual sense is quite good, so I had him inspect the breastplates. He's been doing that for a while now. Hehe, with him around, production has increased quite a bit."

Although Wei Yuan was puzzled that Ren Suxing was willing to do such basic and repetitive work, he figured it was a good thing that he was willing, so he didn't say anything and followed Yu Zhizhuo into the warehouse to inspect all the newly manufactured shells. As expected of a senior craftsman from the Heavenly Crafts Hall, and influenced by Sun Yu, Yu Zhizhuo had taken the insidious and vicious nature of the new shells to a new level.

A moment later, Wei Yuan emerged from the storeroom and immediately convened a meeting of the cultivators of the Taichu Palace.

Once everyone had arrived, Wei Yuan said, "Although Senior Sister hasn't returned yet, the opportunity is fleeting and we can't wait any longer. Time is of the essence; let's muster our troops today and attack Wucheng tomorrow!"

Immediately afterwards, Wei Yuan began to speak eloquently to the sand table depicting Wucheng, detailing the attack plan and fully experiencing the joy of theoretical discussions and meetings.

Within the realm, Fei Yutong and a senior brother from the Azure Sky Palace were discussing some cultivation problems under the setting sun. Suddenly, the senior brother looked towards the main peak, and Fei Yutong followed suit, only to see several beams of light flying towards various parts of the realm.

Fei Yutong said, "I wonder what important matter they're discussing this time."

The senior brother chuckled and said, "Those who can participate in the meetings are all from the Taichu Palace. But putting others aside, Cui Yu, Wang Yu, and Xu Yi are just a few people who arrived a little earlier than us, and their cultivation levels are about the same as ours. They can participate in every meeting, while we have been here for so long and have never participated even once. It seems that we have become outsiders! I wonder if Grand Master Wei really considers us fellow disciples."

Fei Yutong didn't think too much about it and said, "Senior Brother Wei must have his own considerations, and we do need to hone our skills."

The senior brother said, "The realm belongs to the Azure Sky Palace, not just him."

(End of this chapter)