Secular world: My destiny has no taboos

Chapter 548 (558): Assassination
However, whether the other side is crazy or not is no longer so important. What is important is that the other side has mustered its troops and is about to attack. How to defend against them is the big problem.

King Liang turned to look at his advisors below, his meaning clear: come up with a solution for him as soon as possible.

At this moment, a middle-aged scholar-like advisor stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Please rest assured, Your Highness, although the Lord of the Northern Underworld has gathered troops on the border of Liangzhou, he certainly will not dare to recklessly start a war with our army."

"His Luo Prefecture is still under the attack of Zigu Goddess and Evil Spirit True Lord. If he were to commit his forces to fight against my Liang Prefecture, would he even be able to keep Luo Prefecture?"

"In my opinion, he may just be trying to force you to agree to what he wrote in his letter."

Upon hearing this, King Liang's expression softened slightly, but it quickly darkened again.

"So you're saying he was just threatening me?"

“That’s right.” The middle-aged scholar nodded confidently: “The current situation is complicated. He, the Lord of the Northern Underworld, is in a three-way standoff with the Goddess Zigu and the Evil Spirit True Lord. If one of them moves, the whole situation will be affected.”

“I am certain that he would not dare to truly attack Liangzhou. Otherwise, by making us a major enemy, he will be the one who suffers in the end.”

"Hmm!" King Liang pondered for a moment and felt that what his advisor said made sense.

He also didn't quite believe that Lin Beixuan would actually dare to attack his Liangzhou.

However, the atmosphere had barely eased when another urgent report came in.

A servant led the travel-worn young general into a side hall.

Upon seeing King Liang, the messenger immediately knelt down, presented the letter at his waist, and shouted: "Reporting to King Liang, the Beiming army of Luozhou broke through our border blockade in half a day and has entered the pass in its entirety. General Guo has retreated to Maicheng. We implore King Liang to order the troop deployment for assistance."

"This is General Guo's handwritten letter!"

Upon hearing this news, King Liang was momentarily stunned, and then plopped down in the chair behind him.

"How could this be?"

He abruptly looked up at the advisor who had been analyzing the situation earlier and demanded, "Didn't you say that the Beiming army would never be able to enter the pass? What's going on now!"

The staff member trembled at the loud shout, his face showing horror, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He was merely analyzing the situation, never expecting that the Lord of the Northern Underworld would actually invade; it was utterly unbelievable.

Why? How dare he!
The aide raised his hand sharply and pointed at the messenger, his eyes fierce, and shouted, "It's only been an hour since the last messenger arrived at the Prince's residence."

"It takes at least three days to travel from the border to Liangcheng, how come you have half a day's extra news?"

The messenger looked at his advisor, his gaze unwavering: "This humble official has delivered the message to the Prince's residence without eating or drinking all the way; I would never dare to lie about military intelligence!"

The aide looked unconvinced and wanted to ask more questions.

King Liang slammed his hand on the table, pointed at his advisor, and shouted angrily, "Guards, drag him away and behead him!"

The advisors were taken aback upon hearing this and hurriedly apologized to King Liang. Several of the advisors who were on good terms with him also pleaded with King Liang to be lenient.

However, even after his advisors were taken away, King Liang remained expressionless.

He looked at the letter brought by the messenger, his forehead furrowing into a deep frown.

The news was true. After the Beiming army gathered at the border, they almost without warning directly defeated the Liang King's army guarding the Liangzhou border.

Moreover, General Guo Huaiyu, who was guarding the border, wrote a letter stating that the Beiming army was coming with great force and ruthless methods. They were not there to negotiate with Liangzhou, but rather to destroy Liang. He urged the King of Liang to be vigilant.

After reading the letter, King Liang once again organized his advisors to discuss how to resist the Northern Ming army.

Currently, there are clashes between the armies in northern Liangzhou and those in Jingzhou.

Emperor Lixi was very concerned about his treasonous behavior and did not know when he would issue an edict to go to war with Liangzhou.

On the other side, the Evil Spirit Lord was like a man possessed, commanding the Evil Spirit Army to fight against various forces, including Liangzhou, which forced him to allocate a portion of his forces to defend against the Evil Spirit Army.

The Northern Underworld army came with great force this time, and he really couldn't mobilize enough troops to aid Maicheng for the time being.

The night seemed to stretch on endlessly. Just as King Liang and his advisors were finalizing their policy, another hurried sound of footsteps echoed outside the side hall.

Upon hearing this voice, King Liang's heart leaped into his throat.

He prayed that it wouldn't be news from the Northern Underworld Army, but as luck would have it, a third messenger scrambled to his side.

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened. The Beiming army has already breached Maicheng, General Guo has been killed in battle, half of the border troops have been killed, and the other half have been recruited. They are now being dragged into the Beiming army's attack."

King Liang felt his heartbeat pause for a moment, as if a terrifying mountain was pressing down on his shoulders.

He tried to suppress his trembling voice and asked, "Who is leading the troops?"

The messenger raised his head and answered truthfully, "It is that Lord of the Northern Underworld!"

Upon hearing this, King Liang stiffened and stepped back, placing his hands on the rosewood chair behind him, muttering to himself.

"If it was him, then it means he really came for me, for Liangzhou."

"How dare he!"

Unconsciously, King Liang repeated the words of the advisor whose head had been chopped off.

Even he himself could hardly believe that Lin Beixuan had actually charged at him like that.

“Zhao Shuyi, you go to Bingzhou in person and ask my younger brother to send troops to support you. Tell him that in the upcoming war, I am willing to follow his lead.”

"Yes!" The advisor named Zhao Shuyi bowed and left quickly.

“Ma Hancai, go to Liang Temple and invite all the folk gods enshrined there out. Tell them that if they can help Yang get through this crisis, they will definitely fight for the position of the true god of mountains and rivers for him and expand his temple among the people.”

"Yes!" Ma Hancai sighed and immediately followed him out.

After assigning tasks to his staff, King Liang sat alone in his chair.

The candlelight flickered in the hall, and several small figures stood in the corner, not daring to utter a word.

This time, King Yang Li of Liang felt an unprecedented crisis, a true danger to his survival.

If it weren't for Lord Beiming personally leading the troops, there might still be room for maneuver.

But the fact that the other side actually led their troops to attack shows that they were truly determined to kill him and would not rest until they destroyed King Liang.

"Since that's the case, then let's stake everything on this bottomless chessboard!"

In fact, if the Northern Ming army really reaches the gates of Liang City, the King of Liang still has one last trump card.

That was a very popular god.

In his early years, he had a chance encounter with this powerful deity who promised to help him once in his life should he encounter danger.

This secret was known to only a handful of people besides himself.

If things really come to a head, he can simply use up this opportunity.

"It is said that the Lord of the Northern Underworld fought against the Goddess Zigu and possessed strength far exceeding that of human immortals. He was a rare Great Luo Immortal in the world."

"I wonder if the Great Luo is more powerful, or the Starry Sky God is stronger!"

King Liang slowly straightened his chest, his eyes turning cold and ruthless.

Knowing Lin Beixuan's strength, he wanted to drag Bingzhou and the Great God of the Multitude into the mess.

The next morning, people kept coming and going in a hurry inside the Liang Prince's mansion.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Beixuan rode on the back of a tall mythical beast, with a large black flag billowing in the wind beside him. In the center of the black flag, a large silver-lined character '冥' (Ming) exuded majesty.

Behind Lin Beixuan stood a densely packed, heavily armored army of Beiming soldiers. Thanks to the military's merit-based reward system, every Beiming soldier yearned for merit.

Because in the military, merit is everything.

Gold and silver treasures, cultivation techniques and military skills, military status... even the path to immortality is all contained within.

They can see it, and they can also exchange it for merits.

Having tasted the sweetness of the exchange, almost every soldier in the Northern Underworld Army transformed into a ravenous ghost, eager to slaughter all the enemies before them.

In half a day, they defeated the Liangzhou border army. On the same day, they marched rapidly, attacked Maicheng, and beheaded the border general Guo Huaiyu.

During this period, the four immortals Hu, Huang, Bai, and Hui, as well as the mortal gods, did not make a move, but Wu Huo led a part of the Beiming army to successfully capture Maicheng.

This rapid and astonishing victory was the fastest breakthrough in the defenses of another state since the beginning of the chaos.

At this moment, a man walked up to Lin Beixuan and reported, "My lord, Xushui City has been captured."

At the same time, another ghostly messenger appeared to report.

"My lord, the spirits of all the fallen soldiers have been collected."

Lin Beixuan nodded without turning his head, his face expressionless.

He looked up at the sky above the Northern Underworld Army, where dark clouds rolled in and thunder rumbled, as if a giant dragon was surging within them.

He waved his hand and gave the order.

"The entire army must not stop; I will take Liangzhou within ten days."

"Yes!!!"

The Northern Underworld Army responded in unison, their majestic roar like towering waves, their momentum overwhelming, as they surged towards Liangzhou.

……

Inside Xushui City, the streets were deserted. Even the brothels and restaurants that were always open were no longer operating. The people were hiding cautiously in their homes, not daring to make a sound.

The Beiming army arrived so quickly that the people inside the city had no time to evacuate. They only learned that the cannibalistic army from Luozhou had attacked when the Beiming army reached the city walls.

On the second floor of a restaurant, two young men dressed in the style of the common people had several small dishes in front of them, with a pot of liquor next to them.

The dishes had just been served when the restaurant manager began to usher people out, intending to close the doors to customers.

However, the two young men didn't care. They argued with the shopkeeper for a long time. When the shopkeeper saw that they were determined not to leave and that the Beiming army was about to enter the city, he stopped caring and hid in the cellar in the backyard.

During times of war, people would almost always dig a hidden cellar in their homes to take refuge from disaster.

At this moment, Song Chengshu picked up his wine cup, swirled the murky liquor inside, and took a small sip.

"Tsk... The wine in this world is really hard to drink. Why doesn't anyone make some high-quality wine?"

Sitting opposite him, the young man using the alias Chu Aotian smiled as he carried a wine jug.

"You don't understand. The secular world is a real world. Our entry has already distorted and deformed this world. If we further deepen and change this world, the rules of this world itself will not allow it."

As he spoke, he pulled a gun from his waist.

"Look, the new handgun I brought in from the real world through connections can't even fire a bullet in here. It's just a decoration."

Song Chengshu examined the gun on the table with great interest: "You mean, the secular world has its own rules, and we can't arbitrarily change them?"

Chu Aotian shrugged: "That's inevitable. It's like the program in our game. If too much code is modified, it will inevitably cause some crashes."

"It makes sense."

As the two were talking, they heard the city gate not far from the restaurant being opened by the surrendered Liang army, welcoming the Beiming army into the city.

As Chu Aotian gazed at the figure at the city gate, a bold idea suddenly popped into his head.

"The secular world is getting more and more chaotic now, with wars everywhere, leaving no room for us ordinary people to live."

"What do you want to do?" Song Chengshu narrowed his eyes slightly, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

Chu Aotian smiled smugly and picked up the pistol on the table: "Do you think that within ten paces, a gun is faster, or the general of the Northern Underworld Army?"

Upon hearing this, Song Chengshu was startled and immediately frowned: "I advise you not to do this. Haven't you heard enough about that person's reputation?"

"If you're going to die, don't take me with you."

Chu Aotian didn't care at all: "We are ordinary people, we are players. If we die, we can just revive and start over. You've died many times already."

"I'll give you one last piece of advice: it's best not to do this, or you won't even know how you died."

At this moment, Song Chengshu deeply regretted bringing Chu Aotian to this restaurant—no, to the person in front of him.

The two had only known each other for a short time. He thought of teaming up with Chu Aotian because he saw that Chu Aotian had the strength of the Open Mansion Realm. He didn't expect that the other party would be such a terrible teammate, daring to assassinate a general of the Northern Underworld Army in the street.

Even if their assassination attempt succeeds, if the Lord of the Northern Underworld finds out, the two of them will likely face certain death.

He knew long ago that if one treated worldly affairs as a game, the outcome would be disastrous.

I never expected there would actually be such a stupid person.

Chu Aotian stared at the procession approaching from the street below, his eyes filled with excitement.

"The Liang Prince's Mansion has issued a bounty. For every Beiming Army general killed, one can go to the Liang Prince's Mansion to receive a high-grade magic weapon. This is a rare opportunity."

"Are you really planning to kill him with this gun that can't fire a bullet?" Song Chengshu stared intently at the gun in Chu Aotian's hand, wondering if he should take this opportunity to kill him.

Chu Aotian grinned and said, "This gun couldn't fire when it was brought in, but I never said I was going to use it."

As he spoke, Chu Aotian took out a revolver from his baggage behind him.

"That solves the problem!"

He crouched down and, through the slightly exposed window crack, extended the barrel of his gun.

He had already found a secret passage out of the city, and after firing that shot, he immediately committed suicide.

Based on the time calculation, he was able to be resurrected in the secret passage. After today, he could go to the Liang Prince's Mansion with news of the death of the Beiming Army general to claim his reward.

A man without guts will not get fat, and he didn't want to do things as conventionally as Song Chengshu.

A fingertip pulled the trigger, the gun fired like thunder, and the bullet whistled out, its target aimed directly at the forehead of the person in front.

However, at that moment, the man slightly raised his eyes, and the bullet he fired suddenly froze in mid-air.

Chu Aotian stared wide-eyed at the scene in disbelief.

Then, he felt as if his soul had been forcibly pulled out of his body by some force, and he was unable to resist or move.

(End of this chapter)