Great Zhou Martial Immortal

Chapter 127 A thousand troops break through the enemy lines, only to turn to dust; ten thousand beauties grieve as spring's grass and trees wither! (5.5k)

"Master?!"

The disciples kneeling on the ground suddenly looked up, their faces still streaked with tears, but their eyes gleamed with unbelievable joy.

"Master is not dead!"

The three disciples were overjoyed.

The young disciple stumbled forward, trembling as he grabbed Su Quan's sleeve, as if afraid it was an illusion.

Su Quan gently patted his head.

Pei Lingsu's pupils contracted sharply, and she took a step back, asking incredulously, "You... you plotted against me?"

Outside the mourning hall, shouts of killing grew louder and louder.

The main forces of Butian Pavilion and Xuanbing Valley disciples have already stormed into the valley.

"I'm not after you."

Su Quan emerged from the coffin, his gaze passing over Pei Lingsu and landing on the raging flames of Hundred Flowers Valley outside the mourning hall: "You're right. I've been deceived by you for most of my life, and not long ago I was almost deceived by your disciple... If it weren't for someone capable tipping me off and discovering the food was poisoned, I would be a corpse by now. With my death, the array's core will be lost, and you'll be next..."

Someone with connections tipped them off...

A thought flashed through Pei Lingsu's mind: "It's him? He didn't come to investigate the case?"

Then she realized that the person seemed to be very familiar with the secret chamber of the cold pool, but the problem was that she had never shown the secret chamber to anyone.

Even Su Quan only vaguely knew that such a place existed.

Could it be someone from Yin Fu Jun or Li Ling Kui?

wrong.

Kite Guardian, handsome, possessing an indestructible body with no weaknesses, and a scroll depicting a hundred ghosts...

A scroll painting of a hundred demons...

Pei Lingsu was startled: "Could it be 'The Hundred Ghosts of the Azure Netherworld'? Is he Lu Chenyuan?!"

Su Quan sighed, "He is the successor of the Hidden Immortal and the one who saved Elder Di. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have believed him. I was just being petty and judging him by my own standards. I even thought he had ulterior motives, but... if he hadn't warned me, and had watched Qin Wuyue poison me, the array's core would have easily fallen into his hands..."

Pei Lingsu's face turned deathly pale, then she suddenly burst into shrill laughter: "Good! What a fine Lu Chenyuan!"

Her laughter abruptly stopped, and a murderous glint flashed in her eyes: "So, you're not going to help me kill him?"

Su Quan coldly said, "From this day forward, our ties are severed! Hundred Flowers Valley will return to the Wood Armor Sect. In the Xiaohan Plain, only the Wood Armor Sect will remain!"

Pei Lingsu's heart skipped a beat, and she was about to say something more when suddenly there was a loud bang.

The main door of the funeral hall suddenly exploded!

Chu Jingtao led the Xuanbing Valley crowd in, the blood-red mechanical patterns on his left arm flashing with a dazzling red light, followed by dozens of human puppets—these modified martial artists had empty eyes, their bodies inlaid with fine gold weapons, and made "click-clack" mechanical sounds as they moved.

"Su Quan?!"

Chu Jingtao's ecstatic expression froze, and the expressions of Chu Yan, Chu Bing, and Chu Lei behind him also changed. They had only dared to launch a full-scale attack after hearing that Su Quan was dead, but now that they saw Su Quan alive and well, with the array's core still in his hands, they were all terrified.

"impossible……"

Chu Jingtao's voice sounded like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth: "You clearly already..."

His gaze was fixed on Su Quan's chest—where there should have been an eerie mandala pattern, but it was now perfectly intact.

"Father!"

Chu Bing was the first to react, and the Xuanbing chains shot up like venomous snakes: "It's a fake death!"

A blinding red light shone from Chu Yan's Blazing Blade: "Whether he's dead or alive, I'll kill him again!"

"Shut up!"

Chu Jingtao roared, and the left arm of the mechanism suddenly transformed into a blood-red battle axe. He stared intently at the array's core jade pendant in Su Quan's hand, a flicker of fear in his eyes: "Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

But it's too late.

Su Quan had nothing to say to Chu Jingtao, who had betrayed his master and ancestors, and gently stroked the surface of the jade pendant with his fingers.

The warm, jade-like light rippled outwards like waves, and in an instant, the entire Valley of a Hundred Flowers suddenly shook violently!

The ground cracked open with countless fissures, and century-old maidenhair ferns burst forth from the soil, their tendrils lashing out at the Xuanbing Valley group like steel whips.

"It's a valley protection formation!"

Chu Bing screamed and swung the chains, but the vines instantly wrapped around her ankles.

Chu Jingtao's eyes were bloodshot with rage as he furiously swung his battle axe, yelling, "Su Quan! How dare you!"

But in response, Su Quan's calm voice said: "A thousand armies break through the formation but ultimately turn to dust, ten thousand beauties grieve for the spring grass and trees!"

As he formed hand seals, the entire Valley of a Hundred Flowers came to life!

The ground cracked open with countless fissures, and maidenhair ferns grew wildly, their vines harder than steel, instantly forming a thorny barrier; at the valley entrance, a seven-colored poisonous mist rose, a mixture of seventy-two kinds of flower poisons, capable of corroding true energy and rotting metal and stone; in the center of the valley, thousands of petals fell, each one as sharp as a sword, capable of injuring anyone below the fifth realm upon touch.

Before the Xuanbing Valley disciples could react, they were entangled by the suddenly emerging green vines.

The vines blossom and bear fruit, bursting forth with a dense barrage of arrows, each one like a shooting star, instantly killing any who are struck.

Even more terrifying, the arrows transformed into new vines after landing, continuing to strangle the invaders.

As Chu Jingtao watched his disciples fall one by one, he finally let out a howl that was not human, his furious voice echoing through the valley: "Su Quan! Su Quan!!!"

He swung his blood axe wildly, and the blood patterns on the axe blade suddenly lit up, bursting out with a dazzling scarlet light.

With a single axe stroke, dozens of iron wire vines snapped in two, spurting corrosive sap from the broken ends. The splattering liquid on the ground hissed and even eroded the rocks, creating pits. But the vines were like a tide; for every one that broke, ten more would coil around it!

"boom--"

Chu Jingtao's mechanical left arm suddenly deformed, the gears spun at high speed, and emitted a piercing metallic shriek.

The clicking sound of machinery turning came from his chest cavity, and blood patterns spread from his neck to his whole body. He looked like a blood-soaked demon, tearing a bloody path through the raging vines!
"Die!"

He leaped forward, his blood axe carrying the force to split mountains and shatter rocks, aiming straight for Su Quan's face!

however--

"Buzz!"

An invisible barrier unfolded in front of Su Quan. When the blood axe struck it, it was as if it were sinking into a quagmire, and the force was dissipated layer by layer. At the same time, the ground suddenly cracked open, and countless thorny vines shot out like venomous snakes, instantly wrapping around Chu Jingtao's legs!
"father!"

Chu Yan's eyes were bloodshot, and his Blazing Blade burst into flames as he tried to rush forward to help.

But in the next instant, several sharp, spear-like vines pierced through the ground and instantly penetrated his chest!
Chu Yan spat out a mouthful of blood, and the Flaming Blade clattered to the ground, its flames gradually dying down.

"Yan'er!"

Chu Jingtao roared, and his mechanical left arm exploded, sending countless fragments of refined gold raining down, severing all the vines around him. Covered in blood, he staggered to his feet, the madness in his eyes almost tangible: "Su Quan! You think you can kill me like this?!"

Su Quan looked at him quietly: "Today, this unworthy disciple, Su Quan, will reclaim what should have been reclaimed long ago on behalf of my master!"

Before he finished speaking——

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Flowers flew everywhere like swords, shooting in from all directions. Chu Jingtao swung his axe to block them, but the petals were as sharp as blades, each one carrying a fierce sword aura, cutting countless bloody marks on his body!
"what--"

He roared, his blood axe swirling into a crimson storm, but vines, poisonous mist, flying petals... all the attacks within dozens of feet around him were precisely locked onto him!

"puff!"

Finally, a vine as thick as an arm pierced through his chest from behind, and blood spurted out.

Blood-red runes flashed wildly across Chu Jingtao's body, and the gears creaked as if on the verge of death. He stared intently at Su Quan, his entire body stained with blood, and he managed to squeeze out his last words: "You... won..."

"boom!"

His body fell heavily to the ground, the light on the blood axe went out completely, his eyes wide open, dying with unresolved grievances.

Su Quan watched all this and slowly closed his eyes.

A tear rolled down her cheek and landed on the jade pendant at the center of the array, creating tiny ripples.

Seeing that things were not going well, Pei Lingsu hurriedly used her lightness skill to rush out of the valley. Su Quan didn't look at her anymore. Pei Lingsu breathed a sigh of relief, but then she found that there were screaming Xuanbing Valley disciples all along the way. Some had vines piercing their chests, some had been corroded into bones by the poisonous fog, and some had been cut into pieces by flower petals.

This is the true power of the Hundred Flowers Valley Formation.

This is Master Hua Jianying's full strength!
Just as she was filled with fear and about to rush out of the valley, a clear, cold voice came from the mist:
"Old Lady Pei, where are you going?"

The white mist dissipated, and Li Lingyue, dressed in plain clothes, stood under the moon, toying with an ice crystal lotus flower between her fingertips.

Behind her, the four skeletons appeared like ghosts, surrounding Pei Lingsu.

"It is said that……"

Li Lingyue's lips curled slightly, but there was no smile in her eyes: "You want to cultivate with him?"

The ice lotus at her fingertips suddenly shattered, and fragments rained down on Pei Lingsu's face!

Pei Lingsu retreated several steps, hastily parrying with her long sword. A series of crisp "clanging" sounds rang out, and ice shards flew everywhere.

But a few blades still grazed her cheeks, leaving streaks of blood.

Even among those in the same realm, there are differences in strength. The terrifying power of the "Taiyi Jade Palace Chapter" is beginning to emerge—Pei Lingsu was horrified to discover that her protective aura was ineffective, as if the moisture of the entire world was under her control, taking on any shape at will!
Li Lingyue walked slowly forward, her long hair moving without wind, and a surge of cold energy emanated from her body, actually condensing into a huge ice phoenix phantom behind her—a symbol of cultivating the "Taiyi Jade Palace Chapter" to its ultimate level!
"I hate it the most..."

She suddenly raised her hand, and an icy shard shot towards Pei Lingsu's heart like lightning: "No one touched my things!"

The battle broke out.

Under the moonlight, two figures suddenly collided!

In an instant, the force of the energy radiated outwards, and the ground beneath their feet collapsed with a deafening roar, destroying all the trees within a radius of dozens of feet!

Above the valley, the biting cold grew even more intense. Within the Valley of a Hundred Flowers, the slaughter continued.

Holding the array's core, Su Quan watched his former fellow disciples wail within the formation. A flicker of pain crossed his eyes, yet he never stopped the formation.

Decades of grudges and entanglements will be settled tonight!
at the same time.

In the dimly lit secret passage, Zong Chuke, dressed in a purple robe, moved forward silently, followed by twelve elite members of the Butian Pavilion, each with a black veil covering their face and a poisoned short blade hanging at their waist.

Leading the way beside him was none other than Pei Lingsu's "eldest son," Pei Moxuan.

"Master, the secret chamber of the Cold Pool is just ahead..."

Pei Moxuan lowered his voice, a cold light flashing in his eyes: "The old woman is going to Su Quan to get the array core. We need to hurry!"

Zong Chuke glanced at him sideways, a playful smile playing on his lips: "The Grand Master is certainly in a hurry."

He stroked the black jade ring with his fingertips and suddenly asked, "I've always been curious... Pei Lingsu, though over seventy, has a knack for preserving her youth and possesses unparalleled beauty. Why would the Grand Master betray her?"

Pei Moxuan sneered, his handsome face appearing particularly sinister in the torchlight: "Even the most beautiful woman can become tiresome, let alone... she's a stone that can't be warmed. Su Quan is devoted to her, but she ignores him; Pei Hualin is completely open with her, but at the slightest provocation, he sends his puppets to assassinate her... Who knows if his fate won't be my fate?"

Zong Chuke smiled meaningfully: "Interesting."

After rounding a bend, Pei Moxuan suddenly raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop: "The old woman left behind the [Earthly Fiend] mechanical puppets guarding the cave entrance. That thing possesses a divine artifact, a wondrous treasure forged from the essence of human life and guided by the seven emotions and six desires! The arrows it shoots can bewitch the mind, and it also contains eighty-one kinds of the most poisonous substances in the world, those hit will die instantly! Be extremely careful!"

Pei Moxuan spoke with utmost solemnity.

"【Red Dust Arrow】?"

Zong Chuke raised an eyebrow dismissively: "I know."

With a casual wave of his hand, the twelve people behind him uniformly ripped off their cloaks, revealing themselves to be black iron puppets equipped with sophisticated mechanisms. They resembled living corpses, neither alive nor dead, neither human nor armored.

"The Red Dust Arrow has only appeared in the world once."

Zong Chuke said leisurely, "At that time, the 'Earthly Fiends' were still in Li Lingkui's hands. He used the mechanical puppets in conjunction with the divine artifact to kill the sixth of the previous generation's Ten Greats, the Valley Master of Evil Man Valley, the 'Night Emperor' Gongsun Wushe. Although Gongsun Wushe was careless, it shows how terrifying the 'Red Dust' is. I came here for it!"

As they spoke, the group arrived at the entrance to the secret chamber of the icy pool. The black automaton stood silently, its eyes glowing crimson. In its hand, it held a small quiver, revealing two poisoned arrowheads, one red and one black—the [Red Dust Arrows]!
"In terms of killing alone, the [Red Dust Arrow] is comparable to the [Three Calamities Divine Arrow], but unlike the Yuanrong Divine Crossbow, it doesn't rely on unpredictable killing power, but on the deadly poison on the arrow, which makes it inferior..."

Zong Chuke pointed at the mechanical puppet, and twelve black iron puppets charged forward simultaneously!

"In this world, there are many things that are not afraid of poison..."

Zong Chuke coldly watched the battle unfold: "A brainless puppet, let's see how many arrows you have!"

……

The battles outside did not disturb Lu Chenyuan.

He is fully immersed in the test.

He no longer stood outside the chessboard, but on a crumbling city tower.

Blood stained the blue bricks beneath their feet, and a dark mass of enemy troops surged in from outside the city like a tidal wave, their arrows raining down and obscuring the sky.

Each black piece on the chessboard transforms into a ferocious armored warrior, while his white pieces represent the remaining defenders of the city—the elderly, women, and children huddled against the walls, their cries piercing the sky.

As he placed his piece, the northwest corner of the city wall suddenly collapsed!
"boom--"

Amidst the flying debris, the people in the illusion were buried alive. Amidst the screams, a little girl covered in blood, with Lu Ke'er's face on her head, crawled out of the rubble and reached out her hand to him: "General...save my mother..."

"..."

Lu Chenyuan took a deep breath, reminding himself that they were all illusions. He knew in his heart that if they held this position, the central army would surely collapse!

We can only place one more piece and voluntarily give up the northwest corner.

"Crack!"

In the hallucination, the entire city wall collapsed with a roar, hundreds of people perished in the flames, and the little girl cried bitterly in the fire.

At the same time, the pressure on the central city was greatly reduced, and the white group of stones finally caught its breath.

Black then launched a fierce attack, with one black piece transforming into an iron cavalry charge straight towards the city's granary!

Lu Chenyuan's gaze swept across the entire area. To the southeast, people were crossing the river to escape. If the enemy army broke through there, the raging river would engulf the entire fleeing group...

He slammed the chess piece down on the granary!

"boom!"

In the illusion, the granary burst into flames, and the Black Knights were blocked by the flames, but the people at the southeast ferry were saved as a result.

The price is——

Three days later, the entire city ran out of food.

Starving soldiers began to eat their own children, and mothers, cradling their emaciated infants, knelt silently on the street, weeping…

"My grass!"

Lu Chenyuan was speechless!
He was not heartless after all; every key figure in his illusions bore a striking resemblance to Lu Yashan, Lu Ke'er, Li Lingyue, and others! Whether old or young, they could easily become distracted if he wasn't careful, mistaking the refugees in the city for his own family and affecting his judgment.

Lu Chenyuan could only keep his mind focused in the illusion, as the large black group of chess pieces had driven him into a desperate situation.

If we want to break this deadlock, there is only one plan—

"Fill the air with our own force, and lure the enemy deep inside!"

This is the famous "suicidal" solution in the game record, but in the illusion, this move means...

Abandon the grain storage area, attract the enemy's main force, and then set fire to it and kill them.

In the vision of the spreading fire, he saw:

Outside the warehouse, the garrison commander, "Lu Yashan," knelt on the ground and wept bitterly: "There are still thirty wounded soldiers inside!"

Inside the fire, the abandoned veteran, "Master Yunhe," frantically pounded on the iron gate: "Open the gate! We can still fight—"

Lu Chenyuan closed his eyes and placed the chess piece!
The city was engulfed in flames, and the black dragon was finally severed.

But within the rising black smoke, countless burning human figures struggled and writhed, gradually turning to ashes...

As the last black piece disappeared, the entire city suddenly lost its blood-red hue. The dead civilians, the burning soldiers, the wailing children... all turned into pure starlight and returned to their original positions on the chessboard.

The illusion before Lu Chenyuan shattered, and a stream of light flew out from the white jade sculpture, striking his brow.

He suddenly opened his eyes and found himself back at the General's Platform, soaked in sweat, and thought to himself: This was really tough...

The test of the Heavenly Talisman has thus been solved.

Suddenly, with a loud bang, the two sculptures exploded simultaneously, and the light and shadow transformed into the scene of the breakthrough: Bai Zi broke through the encirclement, and the refugees in the illusion turned into stars and returned to Tianyuan; Hei Ma made a decisive move, and the smiling face in the flames was crushed by iron hooves.

Finally, two lines of text condensed in the air:
—Those who rule the heavens are wise; those who wield power are courageous.

—Only when Yin and Yang are in harmony can one attain true understanding.

The last four characters appeared faintly, seemingly both praise and guidance. As the characters gradually faded, a faint, almost imperceptible chuckle could be heard, as if the hidden immortal who had set up this scheme sixty years ago had finally found a worthy successor.

Lu Chenyuan's lips curled slightly, unable to hide his smugness: "I don't need your praise."

As soon as he finished speaking, the air inside the stone chamber suddenly trembled.

The black and white general's platform on the ground emitted a dull, clicking sound as the mechanisms slowly separated to the sides.

Under the pale blue glow of the luminous pearl, a five-colored radiance seeped out from the crack, illuminating the entire cave in a dreamlike manner.

Accompanied by the crisp sound of metal and jade clashing, a huge mechanical bird slowly rose from the ground. With each inch it rose, the luminous pearls on the cave wall shone brighter, as if welcoming this king who had been sleeping for many years.

When it fully revealed itself, the entire stone chamber was illuminated.

The gilded phoenix head is lowered, and its beak opens and closes gently, producing a clear sound like pearls striking each other.

With its wings spanning over three zhang (approximately 10 meters), the musical patterns on the left red copper wing and the thunder patterns on the right black iron wing complemented each other, shimmering with a captivating brilliance in the darkness.

The most astonishing feature is the twelve crystal tail feathers, each of which is sealed with a "soul-shattering needle" as fine as a cow's hair. As the mechanism operates, they tremble gently, drawing brilliant streaks of light in the darkness.

Phoenix raised its head and looked at Lu Chenyuan.

"Om-"

Between the phoenix eyes and the wise eyes, invisible ripples suddenly appeared.

Lu Chenyuan's consciousness was shaken again, and he learned about the origin of the mechanical bird in front of him.

—The Twelve Yuan Chen, starting with the Kui Yuan Chen.

Rooster (酉).

...the outer armor.

"The Divine Bird [Junyi]".

Lu Chenyuan called softly, reaching out to stroke the feathers on its neck that shimmered with iridescent colors.

Junyi obediently lowered her head and handed him a painting and a token that she had been holding in her mouth.

Lu Chenyuan opened the scroll. In the painting, a blue lotus was rooted in nothingness, its petals half-open and half-closed, seemingly blooming yet not blooming. Each petal shimmered with a faint spiritual light. When he contemplated it carefully, his consciousness was drawn by an invisible force, as if he were sinking step by step into the world of the painting. As his thoughts descended, the water gradually cleared, and distracting thoughts fell away like dust...

This is a scroll painting for contemplating and refining one's spiritual consciousness—"The Blue Lotus Refining Spirit Scroll".

Treasure!

As for the token, it was left by the Rooster.

Lu Chenyuan was satisfied with the reward, but dissatisfied that he had only completed half of it...

He touched Junyi, and with a single touch, he knew what was going on using the Iron Pointing Spirit Inquiry technique. He smiled slightly, channeled his true energy, and the gilded patterns on the token lit up one after another, like the flowing of star trails. He brought the token to his lips and whispered:
"Cong Kui? Running away from home is not the behavior of a good child..."

(End of this chapter)