Longzang

Chapter 347 Don’t Talk
Although the elite cavalry blocking Xu Zhongxing's path wore tattered leather coats to distinguish themselves as bandits, their disguise was utterly inadequate. They were all armed with fine steel lances and gleaming, four-foot-long, curved sabers. The sabers, in particular, were standard issue weapons of the elite cavalry of the Southern Qi dynasty.

The elite cavalry that Wei Yuan brought out had never been seen before. Their armor was somewhere between light and heavy cavalry, and their weapons were none other than the muskets that had just given Xu Zhongxing a hard time.

Xu Zhongxing's face was ashen as he slowly rose into the air. He then saw two Dharma images rise from the bandits' side and two Dharma puppets rise from Wei Yuan's side.

The outcome of this battle was a foregone conclusion. No matter how powerful Xu Zhongxing was, he could not possibly fight four opponents alone, especially with Wei Yuan watching him intently from the sidelines.

The bandit leader appeared quite young, with a cultivation level only at the late stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. However, his magical amplification and defensive effects were astonishing, even noticeably effective against Dharma Aspect cultivators. The four Dharma Aspect cultivators experienced a slight boost in combat power under his magical support, causing Xu Zhongxing considerable distress.

The outcome of the battle below was also predictable: 10,000 elite cavalry against 40,000 survivors was a complete massacre.

Xu Zhongxing had no choice but to let his troops scatter and flee, while he himself set his sights on the young bandit leader. Suddenly, he launched a full-scale attack, instantly wounding two bandit leaders and rushing to the leader's side!

Li Zhi was shocked and cursed his bad luck. He risked his life to take a blow from Xu Zhongxing, who destroyed two of his protective magic treasures with a single sword strike, allowing him to escape.

Having survived the ordeal, Li Zhi couldn't understand why Xu Zhongxing, who was completely unknown in the area and whose grievances had been settled, was always targeting him instead of Wei Yuan.
Li Zhi was unaware that Xu Zhongxing was a shrewd and experienced individual. After several encounters with Wei Yuan, he knew that Wei Yuan was extremely difficult to kill, and that even a one-on-one fight might not be enough to secure a kill, let alone the current situation. That's why Xu Zhongxing turned his attention to Li Zhi.

Seeing Xu Zhongxing fighting desperately, Li Zhi's cavalry, disregarding the enemy, rushed back to protect their lord, allowing many cavalrymen to escape. Xu Zhongxing, having achieved his goal, then turned and fled.

He was surrounded by four Dharma Masters, yet he could still leave whenever he wanted, demonstrating his ferocity.

After capturing some remaining soldiers, Wei Yuan and Li Zhi joined forces and launched a surprise attack on another major supply camp. The two moved with lightning speed; the camp was already being prepared for fire. But before the fire could be lit, Wei Yuan arrived, and the camp's defenders immediately scattered, abandoning countless supplies and 50,000 laborers to Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan did not linger. Instead, he marked a spot on the map and made an agreement with Li Zhi to flank them from both sides and meet up there.

Then the two led their elite cavalry on a raid of several hundred miles, making a large circle, and finally met up two hundred miles outside Hanyang Pass, bringing in more than ten thousand remaining soldiers.

At the top of Hanyang Pass, four elders of the Xu family, all gazing silently at the two streaks of military might stretching across the distant horizon.

There were still 60,000 troops in Guanzhong, but no one mentioned the matter of receiving reinforcements at the pass. Instead, the four gates were tightly closed, and the protective formation for the pass was activated early on.

By this time, news of Qiuniu Zhenjun's defeat had already spread among the upper echelons, but no one knew Zhu Yuanjin's whereabouts. If they were to encounter this ruthless star after leaving the city, none of the Dharma Aspects could withstand a single finger from her.

Who would have thought that she could lie dormant in the Shattered Realm for so long? She must possess some supreme treasure that conceals the secrets of heaven. If she can deceive the Heavenly Dao of the Shattered Realm, she can certainly deceive the divine senses of cultivators as well.

A Dharma-manipulating monk suddenly said, "Could she already be in the city?"

Everyone instinctively shuddered, then glared angrily at the Dharma image. Realizing his slip of the tongue, the Dharma image quickly gave an awkward laugh. However, as he laughed, it became increasingly chilling.

A woman in plain clothes walked into a bookstore in the city. She was fair-skinned and had a charming figure.

She went to the counter, poured out a small handful of copper coins from her purse, and said, "Shopkeeper, give me a few of the latest storybooks."

The shopkeeper stared greedily at the woman for a moment, then took out seven or eight storybooks.

After watching the woman leave, the shopkeeper muttered to himself, "She's just average-looking, but the more I look at her, the more alluring she becomes."

He suddenly slapped his thigh in frustration, exclaiming, "Oh dear! I completely forgot to ask her name and where she lives!"

Bianning County Town.

Prefect Xu Xi stood atop the city wall, watching the large cavalry force that circled the city in the distance, feeling both angry and alarmed. The cavalry was escorting three or four thousand prisoners westward.

Half of these prisoners were Xu's private army and the other half were Western Jin government troops. Many of them were about to escape to the city when they were intercepted by the Qingming cavalry.

There was once a junior officer on the city wall who arrogantly made a commotion, only to be shot in the face and lose half his head on the spot.

From then on, no one on the city walls dared to speak, nor did anyone dare to open the gates for the defeated army. The Jin soldiers on the walls could only watch helplessly as the routed soldiers were captured and taken to Qingming.

Xu Xi knew the whole story, and his heart was filled with chills. He thought to himself, "How could an army of 300,000, with a True Lord in command, be defeated like this?!"

Xu Xi had no intention of going out of the city to fight at this moment. Although he was a Dharma Minister, he was a civil official and not known for his magical prowess; otherwise, he wouldn't have been knocked unconscious by a cat's paw that day.

Below the city walls, both the Qingming cavalry and the bandits stared coldly at Xu Xi atop the walls, as if trying to memorize his face. Xu Xi snorted, said "Be on high alert," and hurriedly descended the walls.

The Western Regions are indeed not a safe place. The military governor's troops openly travel with bandits, shoot and kill government officers at the slightest disagreement, and arbitrarily arrest government soldiers under the city walls. Where is the law?
The cleanup took another full day. Wei Yuan and Li Zhi captured tens of thousands of defeated soldiers and sent them back to the border along with 120,000 laborers, finally bringing the war to an end.

In this battle, Li Zhi's 5,000 light cavalry also suffered several hundred casualties and a thousand wounded. Wei Yuan felt truly apologetic, so he pulled Li Zhi to a storeroom, ordered someone to take out a box of breastplates, and asked, "Brother Li, what do you think of this armor?"

Li Zhi picked it up and examined it carefully, then praised, "The steel is uniform and the defense is outstanding. It is excellent, a top-quality armor, sufficient to equip the elite troops of our Great Zhao."

“Brother Li, you have come from afar to help us. We have no way to repay you. Your border region is newly established and is in dire need of military supplies. How about I give you five thousand sets of this armor as a token of my gratitude?” Li Zhi was taken aback and hurriedly said, “How can I do that! It’s too valuable! Besides, we are brothers. How can I not come when you are in trouble? If I accept your gift, wouldn’t I be doing you a favor and then expecting something in return?”

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "To be honest, I have a great use for those laborers. I originally wanted to buy them from you for one or two taels of silver each, but then I thought you should be more in need of armor. As you can see, my Qingming is developing quite well now. Only when your Zhenshan Realm also develops can we help each other."

Seeing that Wei Yuan spoke sincerely, Li Zhi stopped refusing and said, "Then I will accept it!"

Wei Yuan then ordered his men to bring out boxes of armor plates. Naturally, the smaller parts would need to be made by Li Zhi's craftsmen.

After seeing Li Zhi off, Wei Yuan ordered his men to store all the confiscated supplies in the warehouse. However, the pieces of flesh formed from the blood of the True Lord Qiuniu were a bit of a problem. Each piece of flesh weighed tens of thousands of catties. In the end, it was only after the Old Daoist Chuhe summoned a snake with superhuman strength that all the pieces of flesh were moved down the mountain.

These meats contain the essence of heaven and earth; how to use them is something Wei Yuan needs to discuss in detail with everyone.

The only regret is that I heard the Xu family had prepared two million shi of military rations, but most of them were stockpiled in the border prefecture's city. Wei Yuan has to give the Prince of Jin some face; appearances must be maintained, and he can't openly attack the prefecture's city.

Otherwise, with just the 10,000 elite troops in the city plus a civilian Dharma Minister, Wei Yuan could have taken it down even with a cat.

At this moment, the water in the pool in Jade Mountain surged, but in the end, no third Dharma form emerged. After a long period of brewing, no other souls were reborn, so more than a hundred Dao Foundation Warriors emerged from the pool.

In the Privy Council of Qianqiu City, Xu Zhongxing knelt in the center of the main hall, surrounded by dozens of people sitting on high chairs, all looking down at Xu Zhongxing below.

The man seated at the head of the table slowly said, "Three hundred thousand men, completely wiped out, with not a single victory. Xu Zhongxing, is this how you lead troops?"

Xu Zhongxing raised his head and met the gaze of the person above him without fear, and said in a deep voice: "The soldiers are willing to die, but the people in their positions have no will to fight to the death!"

"how do I say this?"

Xu Zhongxing said, “I know I shouldn’t say this, but if I don’t, I’ll be letting down the wounded True Lord Qiuniu who was stationed there, and the tens of thousands of brothers who fought to the death! Of the elders who fought alongside me this time, one saw the unfavorable situation and fled without a fight, never to return. In addition, two others only knew how to protect themselves and fought for a long time without being able to defeat a weak enemy. The battle has collapsed, and these three should be the main culprits!”

These words shocked everyone present. Some immediately started cursing, while others began to make a fuss about Xu Zhongxing's identity and bloodline.

Four elders fought alongside Xu Zhongxing this time. One died in battle, and the other three were thoroughly scolded by Xu Zhongxing. Most of those present were also elders, of similar status to the other three. They had all risen through the same ranks, participating in the battle as supervisors to gain seniority and military merit.

These elders were all of noble birth, their bloodlines very close to the Immortal Ancestor. But those like Xu Zhongxing, whose backgrounds were less privileged, had to fight their way up in the front lines, accumulating merits along the way.

In daily life, when the commander-in-chief sees the supervising officer, they are like mice before a cat, not daring to breathe loudly. When has anyone ever openly accused the supervising officer elder of being afraid of death in the main hall of the Privy Council?

The person at the head of the table remained silent for a moment before saying, "I will consult with True Lord Qiuniu about the specifics before discussing it further. In the meantime, let's first imprison Xu Zhongxing in the Xuanbing Prison and await his fate."

Xu Zhongxing suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing with anger, but he eventually calmed down and let them take him away.

Deep underground lies the Xuanbing Prison, one of the three extreme prisons where the Xu family detains serious criminals. Being imprisoned here often means that death is not far off.

Several guards escorted Xu Zhongxing downhill for several hundred feet before pushing him into a prison cell made of black ice.

At this moment, the head jailer suddenly handed Xu Zhongxing a medicine bottle and said, "This is the Xuanhuang Fude Pill that the master gave you. The master said that this place is extremely yin and cold, which is just right for suppressing karma. After you take this pill and meditate for a month, you can dissolve a little bit of karma. At that time, the karma can be temporarily sealed and will not erupt immediately. But it will be very difficult to eradicate it completely."

Xu Zhongxing was both surprised and grateful. He accepted the pill and said, "Please thank you for me, sir!"

"The master also said that your killing sword has been unsealed and you should use it less in the future."

Ganzhou, the capital of Tianyin County.

In the garden of the prefectural governor's mansion, a man was feeding fish by the pond. The prefect stood respectfully beside him. This was the prefect's home, yet he stood like a servant.

At this moment, the prefect quickly recounted the events of the Battle of Qingming, and then said, "That's how it happened."

The man took some fish food and scattered it in the pond. Immediately, a group of fish floated to the surface and began to scramble for it. The fish were all gray, black, and bluish-white—ordinary fish, none of them brightly colored.

The man looked at the fish in the pond and said, "Only these seemingly ordinary fish are tough; they can survive in any environment. That's what our ancestor liked about them."

The man put the fish food aside, looked at the sky, and said, "The Xu family's envoy should have arrived outside the city by now."

The prefect asked, "Sir, how should we negotiate with them this time? Should we change the previously agreed-upon terms and ask for better conditions?"

The man smiled slightly and said, "Let's not talk about it."

(End of this chapter)