Longevity Candle

Chapter 60 I will slay all the immortals under heaven with my own body.
Li Qingping took out the merit from the grassland, poured two-thirds into the Book of Peace, and gave the remaining one-third to the old elf: "Country bumpkin, this merit is for you."

"Keep it. The more merit you accumulate, the better your chances of survival," the old elf said.

“I owe you, and besides, I’m going to leave the Taiping Merit Book to Jiang Zhu. I can’t just leave you with nothing.”

Li Qingping gazed at the capital of Qian Kingdom: "I won't survive, because I don't want to be emperor, and I only have you and Jiang Zhu left as my family."

"You still have Peach Blossom Village."

“That’s their paradise village, the Nine-Tailed Fox’s paradise village, not mine.”

Li Qingping shook his head and looked at the large army gathered below: "Let's march!"

The so-called army was nothing more than a group of ordinary people carrying hoes and pitchforks.

They were dressed in rags and had no armor.

But, having him is enough.

His martial arts skills are no less than Yao Yao's.

In the seventh year, Li Qingping led an army of 100,000 to fight a decisive battle against the imperial army of 300,000.

He summoned the Seven Star Sword, charged into the army, gathered the light of the sun and moon, and amidst the vast army, slew generals and seized flags!
Although he was surrounded by ordinary people, he alone was an army of ten thousand.

At this moment, a group of swordsmen appeared in the distance, using the Tianxuan Sword Technique to charge into the imperial army.

They were all martial arts practitioners who had obtained the Tianxuan Sword Technique left behind by Yaoyao. With just one sword mark, their martial arts skills improved.

Some of them have already surpassed the top martial arts masters of their time.

Yao Yao has truly elevated the martial arts of the world to a whole new level!
"Lord of the Way of Peace, we are willing to follow you and usher in an era of peace throughout the world!"

"She is our leader. Although she doesn't care about the martial world, we can't just sit idly by."

"I've wanted to do this for a long time. What nonsense about immortal masters and Taoists! Even a commoner's sword can kill an enemy!"

One by one, chivalrous heroes charged into the army without hesitation.

Arrows pierced their chests, spears pierced their hearts, and corpses fell one by one.

After all, it was an army of 300,000. Even if there were 300,000 pigs, Li Qingping couldn't kill them all in one go.

Faced with these chivalrous heroes, the common people's army, and the imperial army, the imperial army had a great advantage.

Li Qingping gripped the Taiping Book tightly in his hand; he would write down this scene.

The bugle call to retreat came from afar, and the soldiers around Li Qingping were overjoyed and hurriedly fled for their lives.

The soldiers fighting against the civilian army were dissatisfied; they were reaping military merits but had no choice but to obey orders.

The Grand Marshal leading the army had gray hair and a sorrowful face.

He had no choice but to retreat; otherwise, the grasslands would march on the capital.

Meanwhile, the northern reinforcements seemed to have died; they neither intercepted the grassland army nor marched to the capital to defend the emperor.

Even the princes from various regions seemed deaf and blind, not one of them moving.

He didn't know what benefits Li Qingping had given them that made them stand idly by.

Li Qingping didn't offer them any benefits; he simply didn't attack them, that's all.

The Qian Kingdom has long lost the hearts of its people. Even if it can stabilize the national destiny and the dragon's aura, it cannot stabilize the hearts of ordinary people.

As the sun sets, countless people grieve and bury the bodies.

He ordered that the imperial soldiers be buried as well, since they were all ordinary people of the Qian Kingdom and had no choice but to obey the emperor's orders.

Li Qingping soon learned the real reason why the imperial court withdrew its troops and also received the imperial edict granting him amnesty.

He was appointed Grand Marshal of the Army and sent to lead troops to fight against the grassland army.

Li Qingping read the imperial edict aloud to his subordinate generals, then casually burned it, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

What a load of bull! How can the title of Grand Marshal of the Army compare to the merit of following the emperor?
Moreover, those who followed Li Qingping were a group of people with dreams, seeking peace for the world, not appeasement.

The rebel armies in both the north and south have gained considerable influence and are growing rapidly.

The Taoist priest, seeking no reward, distributed all the land he passed through to the local people.

He wouldn't touch the landlords and gentry as long as they weren't his enemies, and would try his best to use the silver he received from court officials to buy land.

Li Qingping knew how despicable these landlords and gentry were, but if he set a precedent by killing them and confiscating their property, it would inevitably provoke resistance from all the gentry.

He wasn't aiming to become emperor, so he turned a blind eye to any landlords or gentry who weren't too outrageous and were willing to donate grain, all in order to get to the capital as quickly as possible.

His soldiers almost never committed any offenses.

The landlords and gentry were quite sensible and donated a lot of grain. Hearing of his deeds, which spared them from killing and confiscating their property, almost all of them bound government officials and surrendered as soon as he arrived.

Li Qingping accepted all the so-called donations, but his subordinates also needed to eat.

He wrote all of this into the Treatise on Peace and told his generals: "If you want true peace in the world, all the landlords and gentry in the world can be killed, but I cannot kill them. Perhaps you in the future can."

The generals took his words to heart.

"Also, Li Yunhe, select 100,000 strong men, train them secretly, forge the finest armor, and practice the Seven Star Military Formation." Li Qingping had already evolved the Seven Star Sword Technique and applied it to the army, and was only now bringing it out.

"Yes," Li Yunhe replied, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

Caught between a pincer movement from the north and south, and invaded from the grasslands, the Qian Kingdom's army suffered repeated defeats and retreated again and again.

In the eighth year, the two armies met outside the capital.

Li Qingping saw Xue again; she still looked like a young girl, while he had aged considerably.

Xue looked at the aged man and remained silent for a long time before saying, "There's only one last step left. We, the grasslands, will push you up, and we'll share half of the palace's wealth with you."

Li Qingping was already old, and even if he ascended the throne, he wouldn't be able to rule for many years. She understood Yaoyao once again why she was willing to risk her life to shake the fate of the nation.

If Li Qingping doesn't pursue the path to immortality, he'll likely have to wait until he dies of old age. For now, he can remain on the throne for a while longer. No matter how capable he is, he can't withstand the erosion of time. The north no longer needs to worry about this new emperor.

As for wealth, she doesn't need worldly possessions, but her subordinates do.

"Alright," Li Qingping agreed. "However, could I borrow some more merit points?"

"What do you need so much merit for? Three hundred years of merit isn't enough?" Xue frowned.

"What I'm dealing with is the path to immortality. How can I succeed without merit?" Li Qingping said, "You don't want to fail at the last hurdle, do you? What about the immortal masters and Daoists of the Way of Heaven?"

A tabby cat stepped into the military tent: "How much merit do you want?"

"In another three hundred years, when I have mastered all the dragon energy, I will immobilize that centipede demon. But I will only be responsible for immobilizing it; how you proceed is up to you," Li Qingping promised.

"Alright." The tabby cat pondered for a moment, then bestowed the merit upon him: "I hope you keep your word."

If Li Qingping were to kill the centipede demon, he might not believe it, but if it is frozen in place, given Yaoyao's death, Li Qingping should not go back on his word.

After they left, Li Qingping looked at the old elf and said, "You country bumpkin, take another hundred years of merit, copy the Book of Peace, and go back to the West."

The old elf sighed softly: "I will remember you and spread your deeds throughout the West."

Li Qingping unfolded the Book of Peace again, preparing to write.

But after holding the pen for a long time, he found that he could no longer put pen to paper.

"What a wishful thought! The book of peace is endless, but the world is still far from being at peace. How can I continue writing?"

He put down his pen and had the peasant make a copy to take away.

He poured all his two hundred years of merit into the Book of Peace. Even if four hundred years of merit were not enough, he could not do it anymore, as the grasslands and the Way of Heaven could not borrow any more merit.

The peasant left, but he did not return to the west; instead, he gazed into the distance.

In the winter of the eighth year, heavy snow sealed off the city and the city walls froze over, but Li Qingping chose to make his move at this time.

He did not lead any troops; he went alone to the skies above the Great Qian Imperial Palace.

He stood atop the dragon's aura, a forty-five-meter-long golden python, gazing up at the fifty-five-meter-long dragon's aura representing the nation's destiny.

"damn it!"

The immortal masters' eyes were cold and fierce, wishing they could devour him alive, but they dared not make a move.

Fortunately, this time, the Longevity Path has also prepared enough merit.

Li Qingping opened the Book of Great Peace, and a magnificent golden light of merit shot straight into the sky, while a vast heavenly sound resounded through the void: "I have a Book of Great Peace, where there is peace and health, no illness, no disease, and no calamity."

I have one wish: that farmers may have land, people may have houses, people may have meat to eat, people may have silk to wear, children may have access to education, and the elderly may have a proper end to their lives…”

"I will use myself as the foundation to establish peace in the world, to forge the souls of mortals, and to slay all immortals!"

As he spoke, the dragon energy representing the nation's destiny struggled violently, trying to break free from the immortal master's control.

As if sensing something, the golden python lifted him up and flew into the sky.

Riding a dragon to ascend to heaven!

"What is he going to do?"

"This madman! He doesn't want to be emperor at all; he wants to unleash all his dragon energy to deal with us!"

"We've been fooled!"

(End of this chapter)