Longzang

Chapter 527 The So-Called Pure Stream

At the Qingming front, battle cries shook the heavens and the earth as countless Wu Clan warriors swarmed towards Qingming like locusts.

The sky was filled with whistling missiles and water spheres. The arrows fired by the witch archers were all equipped with new devices that released poisonous smoke upon landing. Where the poisonous smoke spread, life ceased; ordinary human warriors could not survive more than ten breaths.

After several major battles, the Wu tribe had suffered enough from the city's defensive cannons and missiles, so they were desperately trying to strengthen their ranged attacks.

In this battle, many of the Wu tribe warriors were actually weaker than the elite troops of the past. They were clearly drawn from the common people and slaves, with some of the strongest and most capable men sent to the front lines as cannon fodder. However, these new warriors all had obvious physical deformities, and their defensive capabilities were even stronger than those of the past elites. Unless a vital point was hit, it would be difficult to kill them with a single shot.

Wei Yuan personally stood on the front line, surrounded by dozens of Dao Foundation Warriors who continuously unleashed water blade techniques, slicing the front-line Wu Clan warriors piece by piece.

At this moment, the Red Lotus Bodhi was covered with black mist, and the branches were bent towards the ground, but Wei Yuan remained unmoved and continued to harvest ordinary witches.

In the center of the witch formation, Hongye's face was gloomy as she gazed at Wei Yuan, unable to understand why he could still bear the karma after killing so many witches. Could it be that the immortals in the Azure Netherworld possessed more than one method, and had left behind a special means to deal with karma?

His gaze shifted, landing on a monk within the Azure Nether Army formation. The monk made few movements, spending most of his time chanting sutras. But as he chanted, a new bead would quietly appear on the string of prayer beads in his hand. On the surface, the bead appeared entirely black, but in reality, it was blood-red, the blood-red color so intense that it resembled the darkness of night.

Wei Yuan stood at the forefront of the formation, like a pillar supporting the sky. Any Wu Clan members who approached would be mercilessly slaughtered. Within several miles of Wei Yuan, no archer dared to show their face. If they did, they would be instantly killed—either crushed by the Jade Mountain, blasted away by lightning and heavenly fire, or struck by missiles raining down from the sky.

Before Wei Yuan, the Wu Clan army was clearly showing fear. If it weren't for the pushing from the rear, the front ranks would probably have turned tail and fled immediately. The water blades slashed back and forth, and the air was filled with splattered blood and limbs. The impact on morale was far greater than that of artillery fire or gunfire.

A thought struck Hongye: the sacrificial power used to suppress morale was being consumed rapidly, and if this continued, it probably wouldn't last much longer.

At this moment, the two sides are locked in a struggle, seeing whether Wei Yuan will succumb to the backlash of karma first, or whether the sacrificial power used by the Wu tribe to suppress morale will be exhausted first.

Behind Hongye, the Holy Witch sighed, "This Wei Yuan is really troublesome."

Hongye coldly said, "But he can only use this trick once. He should withdraw his troops to rest and regroup before attacking again."

At Hongye's command, horns sounded in the Wu tribe army, and the Wu tribe army began to retreat. Seeing that the Wu tribe's losses were not too great, and that the central army had not wavered and was still in full battle formation, Wei Yuan did not order a pursuit. Instead, he fired a dozen missiles, which claimed more than ten thousand lives.

After the Wu tribe withdrew, Wei Yuan immediately summoned reserve troops to reinforce the position and sent fresh troops to the front line to replace the decimated defenders.

Cui Yu came to Wei Yuan's side, panting, and said, "The Wu Clan has become smarter."

“Indeed.” Wei Yuan’s expression was solemn.

The morale of the Wu tribe was shaken by the defeat, but after they withdrew and recast their spells, their morale stabilized, the consumption of sacrificial power decreased significantly, and they were able to hold out for a longer period of time.

During a lull in the battle, a cultivator suddenly rushed over and said, "Several envoys from the imperial court have arrived, bringing an imperial edict. Mr. Zhang Sheng asked me to bring the edict over for you to review."

Wei Yuan casually took the imperial edict and asked, "Where is the envoy?"

"They heard that a major battle was taking place at the front and dared not come over, so they handed the imperial edict to us."

Wei Yuan immediately opened the imperial edict and quickly glanced through it.

The imperial edict was extremely harsh, condemning Wei Yuan for "abusing the people and being tyrannical and cruel," and deeming him "uneducated, shameless, and disregarding the teachings of the sages." At this moment, Wei Yuan was "pointed at by thousands and cursed by millions."

After a reprimand, the imperial edict concluded by stating that Censor Zhu Xiaocun would arrive with the Imperial Sword to inspect all affairs of Qingming. During this period, he would act as the Military Governor of Dingxi, and Wei Yuan must relinquish all power until the Censor's investigation was completed and the court issued another decree.

This imperial edict was somewhat unexpected for Wei Yuan. He closed the edict and looked up ahead.

Ahead lay a mountain of imposing military might, as countless Wu tribe soldiers rallied their troops, preparing for their next attack.

Wei Yuan stood on the front line, where corpses were everywhere. The surviving soldiers were pulling the bodies of their comrades out of the fortifications and temporarily moving them to the rear of the front line. Then they piled up the corpses of the Wu tribe in front of the fortifications to serve as a temporary barrier.

There's no cruelty here, only life and death. The means don't matter, and nobody cares; everyone is desperately fighting for that tiny sliver of hope.

Wei Yuan stood on the front line and bore the karma because Renjian Huo calculated that if he did so, the human race could save 6,000 warriors until Honglian Bodhi could no longer bear the karma.

In the eyes of many high-ranking officials and so-called upright officials, these were nothing more than six thousand ordinary people, not even worth mentioning in an article.

But even with just six thousand men, Wei Yuan felt it was worth fighting on the front lines and bearing the karma.

At this moment, Wei Yuan heard heavy footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw squads of ordinary warriors running towards the position under the leadership of their captains to fill the gaps in the defense.

Those faces showed panic, fear, excitement, or numbness. Regardless of their expressions, they all shared one common characteristic: ordinary appearance, or even ugly.

You could tell from their appearance that they were all refugees.

Those who are born into better circumstances, regardless of gender, are unlikely to become refugees. Even if they do become refugees for various reasons, they will definitely not make it to the end; they will disappear halfway through for various reasons. Wei Yuan knew that after this battle, most of the people in front of him would probably become corpses. From the beginning, from the moment they became refugees, they never had the right to choose.

Wei Yuan opened the imperial edict, read it again, and suddenly found it somewhat amusing.

Those so-called upright officials, those guys who don't even dare to come to the front lines, actually got so angry and raised their arms to shout for these refugees? If you really put the refugees in front of them, I'm afraid few of them wouldn't quickly cover their mouths and noses.

Is the so-called "great righteousness" simply writing a few impassioned words on a piece of paper?
Wei Yuan suddenly tore the imperial edict to shreds and threw it on the muddy ground, then said, "Go and invite the envoys over. I'll wait for them here."

The monk hesitated and said, "But it seems the envoy is unwilling to come."

Wei Yuan said calmly, "I'll wait for him here. Does he dare not come?"

The cultivator immediately understood Wei Yuan's meaning and hurriedly left.

Wei Yuan had someone summon the Peacock Buddha Mother, found a large rock to sit on, and closed his eyes to listen to her preach. As the Peacock Buddha Mother chanted, the surrounding atmosphere gradually became peaceful and serene. Wisps of black energy were drawn from Wei Yuan's body, eventually transforming into a Buddhist bead in the Peacock Buddha Mother's hand.

The chanting was suddenly interrupted by a shout: "I am a Hanlin scholar personally appointed by the King! An official of the court! How dare you act so recklessly! Aren't you afraid of having your entire family executed?!"

Wei Yuan opened his eyes, and the black aura emanating from his body ceased.

A group of cultivators escorted five people dressed in official robes as they approached. The leader, dressed in the robes of a sixth-rank official, appeared to be only in his early thirties, quite young. He struggled fiercely, glaring and threatening those around him, but the surrounding cultivators ignored him, leading him to the front of the formation.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan, the civil official seemed to instantly regain his composure, straightening his back and loudly proclaiming, "I have come with an imperial edict, I am an imperial envoy, wherever I go it is as if the Prince of Jin himself is present! Wei Yuan, are you trying to rebel by treating me like this?"

Wei Yuan said calmly, "Disrupting morale will get you slapped first."

Two burly, strong men suddenly jumped out from among the cultivators nearby, spat several mouthfuls of thick saliva into their palms, and then swung their large, hairy hands at the face of the scholar-official!
With a loud slap, the civil official's face swelled up, and several teeth flew out of his mouth.

Wei Yuan pointed forward and said, "Drive a few wooden stakes here, hang the officials on them, and let them see how a battle is fought."

The group was instantly terrified. The place Wei Yuan pointed to was the front line of the battlefield. Any member of the Wu tribe who didn't like them could end them with a single arrow.

However, Wei Yuan's men were all veterans who had fought their way out of piles of corpses. Ignoring their screams, he grabbed several civil officials like chickens and tied them all to wooden stakes.

After everything was settled, Wei Yuan approached the envoy and said, "Wang Hanlin..."

The civil official forced a smile and said, "My surname is Sun! Lord Wei, could you please release me? I am willing to fight alongside you..."

"I appreciate it." Wei Yuan made a gesture, and a cultivator next to him immediately pulled off the boots of a nearby witch corpse, tore off a piece of blood-soaked and muddy foot binding cloth, and stuffed it into the mouth of the scholar.

The cultivator's body and face were covered in filth and blood, his eyes were sinister, and his whole body exuded murderous aura. He didn't care at all about the battlefield covered in mud, as if he couldn't smell the strong blood and stench, or even care about the divine smell of the foot-binding cloth.

Two years ago, this fierce-looking cultivator was once a handsome and elegant young nobleman, one of the first sixteen young masters and ladies from noble families to come to Qingming with Cui Yu.

At this moment, the sound of war drums, as loud as a mountain collapsing, rang out in the distance. The Wu tribe army rallied its morale and charged forward once more.

This battle was exceptionally long, with Hongye withdrawing and regrouping her army three times before finally retreating. This was the fifth battle between Qingming and the Wu Clan, with the Wu Clan suffering 190,000 casualties and the human race losing over 40,000.

Such a casualty ratio did not please Wei Yuan, because most of the Wu tribe's dead in this battle were cannon fodder who were originally commoners, rather than the elites from previous battles. In addition, Qingming was finding it increasingly difficult to replenish its refugees, and it could not obtain a single refugee from the Jin state.

After the battle ended, Cui Yu came to Wei Yuan's side and said, "That Hanlin scholar is still alive, but he was hit by seven or eight arrows and his legs are ruined."

"Since he's not dead, let him go. You handle things here, I'll go check on how the treasure appreciation event venue is set up."

"Alright, go ahead without worry. But I really don't understand, don't these upright civil officials even understand the principle of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold'? What good will it do them to bring us down?"

Wei Yuan chuckled and said, "You've become naive after leading troops for so long. For the Qingliu faction, right and wrong are not important at all. The only important thing is whether someone is one of their own. Lies? Even if the Jin state falls, it is the King of Jin who will fall, it is you and me, not them. At worst, they can just go to another country to serve as officials. They will not lack wealth and honor."

Cui Yu looked grave and asked, "What about that Hanlin scholar? Are we really going to let him go? He'll definitely bite you like a mad dog when he gets back."

Wei Yuan took to the air and said, "Someone is using Qingliu to test me, and I also want to test them. Letting this Hanlin scholar go back will be a good opportunity to see their reaction."

"Aren't you afraid of being punished by the Prince of Jin?"

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "Why is he blaming us? We've never even seen this Hanlin scholar."

(End of this chapter)