Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 487-497: Chaos (Part Two)

The blade flashed, creating a sharp, piercing sound across the vast snowfield.

Li Jin's pupils gradually dilated as the head was tossed high into the air.

He never expected that he would die again so soon after his resurrection.

Is this war?

With only this one thought in his mind, he sank back into darkness and chaos.

Until he woke up again.

This time, he was resurrected in an alley in Zhenbeiguan. He saw that many barbarian soldiers had already entered the pass and were fighting with many soldiers of the Northern Guard Army.

Li Jin clutched his throbbing head, his eyes bloodshot.

"No, I can't die anymore. I need to get the news from the border out as soon as possible!"

Li Jin staggered around the battlefield ahead and came to a small hut.

This is where he usually lives. Opening the cabinet, there is a palm-sized wooden box inside, containing something that looks like a clock from the Republic of China era.

Li Jin listened intently to the sounds outside, then took out the clock with trembling hands and turned the gear-like crown on the side of the clock.

After a series of creaking sounds, Li Jin recounted the events of the day in their entirety.

"On the eighth day of the sixth month, the barbarians will come with snow. Their army numbers tens of thousands. The identities of humans, immortals, mortals, and gods are unknown. Zhenbei Pass may fall. We hope you will make plans as soon as possible."

Li Jin thought for a moment and said, "As for me... if I unfortunately die, please treat my family well!"

As soon as the sentence was spoken, the clock began to tick slowly, as if storing the words.

Li Jin took out a piece of black cloth, wrapped the clock in it, and placed it outside a dark hole in the corner of the room.

Immediately afterwards, a dirty tentacle stretched out from the hole, resembling either an octopus or the claw of some unknown animal.

After grabbing the package into the hole, it quickly disappeared.

"call--"

Li Jin breathed a sigh of relief and stood up as he listened to the deafening sounds of battle outside.

He gripped the steel knife tightly in his hand, his eyes filled with determination, and pushed open the door, rushing out.

"kill!!"

……

Jingzhou.

The streets were bustling with traffic, and vendors set up their stalls amidst the crowds, hawking their excellent products.

The young master from a prominent family, a man of high rank and wealth, walked down the street with several servants following behind him. Anyone who stood in his way was pushed aside by his servants.

In the capital city under the emperor's nose, noble families, officials, princes and generals are everywhere. If you throw a brick on the road, the person hit may be an official of the fourth or fifth rank or above.

For ordinary people living here, the rewards are high, but the risks are also high. Compared to Zhenbeiguan, which is currently defending against foreign enemies, the capital city seems to be a completely different world.

Just then, a ragged beggar, looking shocked, hurriedly ran out of the dark, smelly alley and into a restaurant.

What's even stranger is that the waiter outside the restaurant only frowned when he saw the beggar, but did not stop him.

The beggar skillfully made his way through the main hall to the backyard, where a richly dressed middle-aged man was sitting and drinking tea.

Seeing the beggar running towards him, the man raised an eyebrow and asked, "What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"

As they spoke, the man even reached out and brewed a pot of tea for the other person.

The beggar didn't even look at the teacup in front of him, and placed a blank piece of paper on the table.

The note contained Li Jin's account of the events at Zhenbeiguan.

The man initially didn't pay much attention, only glancing at the note on the table. However, that one glance made him pause, and his voice trembled slightly.

He stared wide-eyed and asked, "Are you sure you're not joking?"

The beggar stared at the man and shook his head.

"Oh no! How could it be so much earlier than the astrologers calculated?!"

The man jumped up from the stool, looking even more panicked than the beggar.

"We need to get the message up there as soon as possible!"

"My goodness, this is even bigger than those two princes deciding to rebel!"

The man looked up at the gray sky, turned around without thinking, and went into the house behind him. When he came out again, he had changed his clothes.

He turned his head to look at the beggar and asked, "Want to come along?"

The beggar shook his head: "I have to keep watch so I can notify you immediately if any further news comes."

“That makes sense. You should go back now. I’ll report this immediately.”

As the man spoke, he walked out without stopping.

The beggar watched the other person's departing figure and couldn't help but sigh.

After sitting on the stool in a daze for a while, he slowly left the restaurant.

Thus, the news that Zhenbeiguan was likely to fall was passed on to the high-ranking officials in the secular world through one intelligence agent after another.

A day later, news began to arrive from Zhenbeiguan, one after another...

"On the eighth day of the sixth month, the Northern Guard Army temporarily forced the barbarian army to retreat at the cost of eight thousand casualties."

"On the ninth day of the sixth month, the barbarian army attacked the city again. The city walls were severely damaged. The Northern Guard fought to the death and forced the enemy to retreat again with heavy casualties."

"On the tenth day of the sixth month, the barbarians did not attack the city, but instead sent people to collect the corpses of the barbarians below the city."

"On June 11, the barbarians did not attack the city. An eerie silence fell over the entire front, as if they were waiting for something."

"On June 12, the bugle call sounded again. A human immortal and a mortal god appeared in the barbarian army. The human immortal of the Northern Guard fought against the two of them, and at the cost of serious injury, forced the barbarian human immortal and mortal god to retreat."

"On June 13, the city fell, and the Northern Guard was reduced to less than one-tenth of its strength. Even the immortals died in battle."

"On June 14th, my name is Li Jin. There are people in the barbarian army who are specifically targeting the resurrected mortal princes. Several mortal princes like me who were in Zhenbei Pass have been captured. They seem to want to steal information about the present world from our memories."

……

The news stopped on June 14th. In just seven days, Zhenbei Pass fell, and the whereabouts of the remaining Northern Guards were unknown. The authorities never received any more news from Longzhou after that.

In a simple yet elegant meeting room, the seats behind the round table were filled with people.

Not only were there officials present, but also representatives from other secular forces; people from one mountain, two temples, and seven branches were all there.

The fall of Zhenbei Pass is a major event because behind Longzhou lies the prosperous Jingzhou, which is also the place where the most secular princes gather. Therefore, various forces have set up their headquarters here.

Now everyone is gathered in the meeting room, mainly to discuss the matter of the barbarians entering the pass, but there are many other issues as well. "What should we, the common people, do now?" The speaker is Wan Lingyue, a member of the Xiawu Luanjin Hall. His attire is very much in line with the style of a martial arts world, and his tone is also full of the air of a martial arts enthusiast.

The person sitting at the head of the group was a high-ranking official, who was also the head of an official organization in the secular world. He was a middle-aged man with a calm expression, as if he could handle any problem well.

Xiao Chaojun glanced at Wan Lingyue and said calmly, "Just say what you want to say directly, no need to beat around the bush."

Wan Lingyue's lips curled into a smile, revealing his aura as an immortal.

"My idea is very simple. Since we have come to this land of the past dynasties, we are naturally people of the past dynasties. The greatest heroes are those who serve their country and its people. We should not stand by and watch the past dynasties perish."

After these words were spoken, most of the people present frowned.

However, Xiao Chaojun remained calm and turned his head to stare at Wan Lingyue: "Brother Wan's idea is very good, but I wonder how many people we should send?"

Not to mention that the number of ordinary people who have descended into the mortal world is only twenty or thirty thousand, and they have not undergone professional military training, so their strength varies greatly.

The barbarians also possess the means to resurrect our mortal prince. Are we going to risk our own lives to save a country that doesn't even belong to us?
That's not how things were arranged!

Xiao Chaojun tapped the table lightly with his fingers and said, "What we can do now is to ensure that as many of the mortals who have descended into the mortal world during this period as possible survive, rather than taking the blame for the past dynasties."

"At this point in time, the officials in the court should have already received news of the fall of Zhenbeiguan. They will figure out a solution on their own."

Wan Lingyue frowned upon hearing this. In fact, he knew that Xiao Chaojun was right, but from the perspective of the cultivation path of the people in the Xiawu Luanjin Hall, what was needed was a chivalrous heart.

Foreign enemies besieging the pass is almost impossible in the modern world, but in the secular world, it is precisely the best time for them to temper their character.

However, this is also a very risky matter. If the other side does not have a way to prevent the resurrection of the mortal prince, he would be happy to send the disciples of the hall to the front line.

Wan Lingyue simply shrugged, leaned back in his chair, and stopped talking.

Xiao Chaojun withdrew his gaze and looked at the others.

"Now, it's not just the northern barbarians who are causing trouble; in fact, the chaos in the south is even more severe."

"Luozhou Beimingfu, Changzhou Zigu Shen, Jiangmin Xieling Zhenjun, Qingzhou is caught between these three forces. Although it does not belong to any force on the surface, it is actually no longer under the jurisdiction of any dynasty. It is just waiting for the three forces to compete for power first, and then Qingzhou will naturally belong to that force."

"I recently received news that the Goddess Zigu has occupied two prefectural cities in Xuanzhou and is rapidly developing her demon army. She probably saw the current precarious situation and wants to expand her sphere of influence."

"The space left for our activities is getting smaller and smaller, and we must make reasonable arrangements as soon as possible!"

Xiao Chaojun clasped his hands together slightly and placed them on the table.

"We've called you all here today not only to consider your opinions, but also because we have an idea that we'd like to share with you."

The person in charge of the underworld gang was a smartly dressed woman named Cheng Meng. She shrugged and said, "Minister Xiao, please speak frankly."

Xiao Chaojun smiled and said, "Our official plan is that instead of hiding in this quagmire, we should all work together to build a force in the secular world."

Wan Lingyue, who was leaning back in his chair and lost in thought, suddenly sat up and stared at Xiao Chaojun in shock when he heard this.

"You're finally going to make your move?"

Not only him, but also the people from Longhu Mountain and the two temples, the other temples also sat up straight.

The official secular power has always been the greatest, both in the present world and in the secular world.

Because of official endorsement, most people seeking stability would rather join official organizations than non-governmental organizations.

Yet, the official organization with the largest number of mortals is surprisingly low-key in the mortal world, merely deploying personnel everywhere to gather intelligence, as if it were only to explore this unknown world. Even the most low-profile shamanic guilds are more active in the open than the official ones.

So everyone always felt that the official team was holding back some big surprise, until Xiao Chaojun's words made them finally realize the truth.

"So what the authorities have been after all along is the entire history of dynasties!" Wan Lingyue thought to himself.

In their view, the official plan to seize power was both reasonable and somewhat absurd.

Since the merging of the mortal and real worlds, the official stance for the mortal prince has always been that this is not a game, but a real world. They hope that the mortal prince can live in peace with the people of the mortal world, support the dynasties together, and refrain from wanton killing.

However, they now heard Xiao Chaojun say that he wanted to unite everyone to form a force.

The message was clear enough; no one was stupid, and everyone could guess Xiao Chaojun's thoughts.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Xiao Chaojun slowly stood up with a smile on his face.

"The main thing is that things are different now than before. Before, we thought there was still hope for the dynasty, so we arranged for many people to enter the court."

However, compared to those old guys, we had pitifully few opportunities to make a difference. Before we even began to implement any controls, we were exposed and our personnel were relegated to local posts.

Xiao Chaojun sighed, “I used to think that although the ancients were wise, they were limited by their perspective and could not compare to us modern people. However, I was wrong. In fact, they understood the current situation better than anyone else.”

They could even deduce our secular identities from the slightest clues.

Xiao Chaojun said calmly, "So we have to change our thinking. Since we can't help it, we might as well take complete control of it."

"What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Wan Lingyue swallowed hard: "How many people does the government have under its command right now?"

Xiao Chaojun held up two fingers.

"Twenty thousand?"

"No, including our official secular princes, there are 200,000 troops."

Upon hearing this, everyone present gasped in shock.

Two hundred thousand troops—that's no small number.

Given the current situation of constant conflicts among various forces and the dispersion of military strength, it is beyond everyone's expectations that the government has been able to quietly accumulate such a massive military force.

"Where is the Human Immortal?" Wan Lingyue felt that he, a dignified Human Immortal, was actually unable to suppress his emotions.

"Fifteen human immortals, nine mortal gods, and... one great mortal god!"

Xiao Chaojun appeared relaxed and did not deliberately conceal the official's influence in the secular world.

However, everyone understands that this is not the most important thing.

It's true that there are supernatural powers in the mortal world, but the modern world also possesses far more advanced technological powers.

Even if the soldiers are only of average strength, if each of them is armed with a submachine gun, even an army composed entirely of Opening Mansion Realm cultivators would have to kneel down.

Xiao Chaojun seemed to see through what everyone was thinking and gently shook his head.

"There are no weapons of mass destruction."

"This world has special rules. We cannot develop advanced weapons in the secular world, otherwise the gun will automatically misfire."

"Although we possess the technology, we must admit that the firearms we have now are only at the level of those used in the Ming Dynasty. Any higher and we would be limited."

After saying this, Xiao Chaojun rested his hands on the table and quietly looked at everyone.

"So, do you intend to continue developing your own power, or join my plan?"

(End of this chapter)