chsdbacks Chapter 164 A man of blind loyalty blocks the rain of arrows
Chapter 164 A man of blind loyalty blocks the rain of arrows
Chapter 164 A man of blind loyalty blocks the rain of arrows
At the Su residence, Su Youli looked at the prisoners on the ground. Five of them were from the Zhenwu Guard, and the other two and a half were from the Qingming Palace.
The reason it is said to be half is because Wan Canghai only has a head left, which can barely be counted as half a person.
"To kill or to spare?" she asked the red-robed Taoist beside her.
Modi stared at their heads, thought for a moment, and asked, "Is there any information you haven't revealed? Once you've told me everything, I'll take action."
The two elders of the Azure Nether Palace twitched at the corners of their mouths; it was the first time they had ever heard anyone say such a thing.
If you're going to die whether you tell the information or not, what's the difference between telling and not telling?
"Let's do it. The victor takes all, the loser is nothing more than that." Wan Canghai said calmly, as if he had already accepted his fate.
From the moment he saw Mordy extend more than a dozen tentacles, he lost all hope of surviving.
He would rather die a quick and painless death than have his brain ripped open and whiskers inserted.
The two elders of the Azure Nether Palace thought the same thing.
If they were like this, there's even less to say about the other five Zhenwuwei prisoners.
They either looked calmly or glared angrily at Modi; none of them were willing to reveal any information.
"Traitor, when the Great Qian army arrives, you and that vixen beside you will surely die without a burial place."
Old Qi Gong's expression was icy, his eyes filled with anger, and he kept uttering words like "traitor" and "Great Qian Heavenly Army".
Modi didn't even need to think about it to know that this was a staunch royalist.
No matter how incompetent the emperor was, they could always find an excuse to absolve him.
Either His Majesty has been misled by treacherous officials and is unable to understand the people's plight; or His Majesty's original intention was good, but it was mishandled by local officials.
In short, you can't have a detailed conversation with this kind of person, otherwise he will say things like "Under the whole heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the whole land, all people are subjects of the king" or "If the king commands his subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die."
"I've heard that all the high-ranking officials in the court, and even that emperor himself, are taking 'human pills.' Is that true?" Mo Di asked curiously.
"How dare you! How dare you disrespect His Majesty? How dare you slander His Majesty?!" The old beggar's eyes widened in fury, as if he had been insulted.
The other four were not as excited as him; they simply watched coldly from the sidelines.
"Pfft, why do you look like you've lost your parents?" Mo Di took out a token, glanced at it, and said, "Your surname is Zhao, are you related to the Zhao family?"
The old man remained silent, only staring at him with murderous eyes.
He continued, "I have analyzed your blood and confirmed that you are related to the Zhao family by blood. In other words, you should be an elder of the Zhao family."
He paused, his tone turning colder, "You know about the Zhao family's collusion with the Zeshan bandits, secretly kidnapping people and sending them to be their food, right?"
Under his gaze, the old beggar felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and his breathing became much more rapid.
Under the threat of murder, he unconsciously relented and said, "I know."
"Of course I know. Since you know, why don't you, as the Zhenwu Guard, stop them?"
"This is for a bigger plan. As long as the plan can be realized, as long as the five traitors can be eliminated, what's a few lowly peasants dying..."
Boom!
Su Youli calmly withdrew her fist. At this moment, the old beggar's bow was no longer in its original position, but embedded in the wall.
Mordy shifted her gaze and explained:
"I've been putting up with him for so long, but I just couldn't hold back."
"It's okay, just call me next time. Don't get your fists dirty," Modi said, walking over and pulling the old beggar's writing brush out.
Looking at the pitiful old beggar, he showed no pity whatsoever, but instead asked:
"You keep calling people 'peasants,' as if the whole world is made up of peasants. Are you perhaps some emperor's illegitimate son?"
As if triggered by a keyword, the old beggar raised his head, his eyes filled with resentment, "How dare you speak ill of His Majesty?"
"Your mission comes from the Western Depot, which reports directly to the emperor. The emperor is very likely aware of what is happening here."
Modi tossed him aside and casually remarked, "Does this kind of addict even deserve to sit in that seat?"
"You...you're plotting a rebellion?!"
Ignoring the old beggar's shock and anger, Modi calmly said, "I have killed beings of greater nobility than him, witnessed mountain-like dragons fall from the sky, and seen the eternal light bloom in a world shrouded in mist."
"All of this is merely a fleeting memory from my journey, and what right does the emperor you serve have to demand my submission?"
As soon as he finished speaking, all the prisoners present gasped for breath and collectively fell into a state of asphyxiation.
Wan Canghai's face turned red and his eyes bulged. Even though he only had a head left and didn't need to breathe, he still felt an unbearable feeling of suffocation.
Within a few breaths, his head suddenly exploded, blood and brain matter splattered all over the ground, making him the first person killed by the murderous intent.
Old Beggar Gong's face was also flushed, his eyes were bloodshot, and blood was flowing uncontrollably from his seven orifices, making him look like a ferocious demon.
The other prisoners were also enduring the terrifying killing intent; their flesh, bones, and organs all uttered mournful cries of unbearable suffering.
Suddenly, the sound of a sharp arrow piercing the air came from afar.
Modi and Su Youli looked up in unison, and an arrow came into view.
The arrow didn't fly towards them; instead, it landed on the street, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"A strike from a Divine罡 Realm expert," Su Youli said, "is probably the imperial court's doing."
"Ha, ha, the Great Qian Heavenly Army has arrived! You traitors, just wait..."
Before the old beggar could finish speaking, a sudden surge of murderous intent made him swallow the rest of his words. He struggled on the ground for a while, then fell silent.
The other prisoners could not withstand the wave of killing intent and died one after another, coughing up blood.
"What does the imperial court intend to do? Could it be that they plan to massacre the entire city?"
Thinking of this, Mo Di's murderous intent surged, and the crimson blood mist stirred restlessly.
Su Youli frowned, unable to understand why the imperial court would do this.
It should be noted that Tianyong City now gathers a large number of disciples from the five sects, including dozens of Divine Gang Realm cultivators, and even one Grandmaster Realm cultivator.
Is the imperial court truly confident that it can wipe them out in one fell swoop? Just how many people have been mobilized for this?
Furthermore, the commotion of the army's departure was quite significant. How did the imperial court manage to suddenly dispatch a large army to the vicinity of Tianyong City?
"It's the army that was supposed to head north to resist the Golden Wolf Royal Court," Modi suddenly said.
These words were like a wake-up call; Su Youli immediately understood the court's intentions.
First, they released the news that Huangfu Chong would lead his army north to lull the Five Emperors into a false sense of security.
In reality, this army's base was not the three northern prefectures, but Tianyong City.
"So, you think you have to pacify the internal before you can fight external aggression?" Su Youli sneered. "It seems that in the eyes of all these officials and that emperor addicted to pills, suppressing the Five Sects is more important than repelling the invaders."
"Another problem is, how come this army is marching so fast? According to my calculations, they shouldn't have arrived near Tianyong City so quickly."
To dispel this doubt, Modi released his spiritual consciousness.
With divine blessing, the spiritual sense broke through its original scanning limit, crossed half a city, and plunged into the thick fog.
"fog?"
After a brief analysis, he immediately understood the nature of the dense fog.
"This is a mist-rising array symbolizing the changes of hot and cold. Judging from its scale and quality, it would take at least a hundred cultivators with the cultivation level of Condensation Realm who are proficient in controlling the changes of the four elements to set it up."
Su Youli's eyelids twitched. "It seems the imperial court has inherited a lot of the Food Cult's legacy. I just don't know why they're setting up the Mist Rising Array. Could it be... Be careful!"
Her pupils contracted sharply, and she saw the cold glint of countless arrows reflected in her eyes.
The rain of arrows was immense, each one equivalent to a strike from a Condensation Realm expert.
Its coverage area is most of Tianyong City.
The Su residence was undoubtedly also within the range of the arrow rain.
"Phew, thank goodness you decided early to move all the Su family members out of the city, otherwise I would have had to divide my attention to protect the others." Su Youli breathed a sigh of relief and made a sword incantation with her hands.
From within her brow, a cold sword light suddenly flew out. The cold sword light split into sword energy, which condensed into threads. Together with Mo Di's blue and white sword light, they wove a giant net, covering a large area centered on the Su Mansion.
Countless arrows fell into the giant net, only to be instantly shattered by the dynamically changing sword net.
"Where did the imperial court find so many Qi Condensation Realm cultivators?"
Feeling the pressure from the divine weapon, Su Youli pursed her lips and silently increased her true essence output.
Compared to her, Modi seemed more relaxed, even though he had to wield two divine weapons at the same time and still had the energy to guess the answer to the question.
"Perhaps it's all related to the Feast Cult. The imperial court may have obtained some valuable items from the Feast Cult, which gives it the confidence to challenge the Five Sects."
"For example, the technology to mass-produce pseudo-Condensation Realm soldiers?"
Su Youli noticed something amiss in the rain of arrows. While the power of these arrows was comparable to that of the Condensation Realm, the true essence fluctuations attached to them were consistent, as if they were carved from the same mold.
Lacking the flexibility and adaptability of a normal Qi Condensation Realm cultivator, it appears exceptionally rigid.
"Possibly." Mo Di nodded, his sword technique changed, and Yuan Tu A Bi was stained with blood.
The first volley of arrows had just ended when nearly half of Tianyong City was destroyed.
Even though Mo Di and Su Youli were able to protect the surrounding area, and even though the elders and disciples of the five sects worked together, many places were still affected.
Each arrow that falls to the ground can easily destroy a civilian's house and easily take the lives of one or more people.
"Where's that grandmaster who's stationed in Tianyong City? Why haven't we seen him make a move?" Su Youli gritted her teeth and said to him, "There are too many arrows. If there's another volley, we won't be able to protect them all!"
"No, I can."
Mo Di made a sword gesture, his eyes turning crimson, and his killing intent toward the unfamiliar Emperor Qian and General Huangfu gradually rose.
"Protecting a city is just a matter of course for me."
One by one, blood shadows leaped out of his body, changing their appearance in the blink of an eye, and scattered to various parts of Tianyong City.
At the same time, a second volley of arrows rained down.
Arrows pierced through the thick fog, shooting in from outside the city. The true energy attached to them continuously accelerated them, enabling them to cross the tall city walls and cover most of Tianyong City.
The arrow climbed to its maximum height, drawing a beautiful parabola in the air, before falling towards the streets and houses of Tianyong City under the influence of gravity.