A figure like an iron tower strode across the night sky. He possessed three heads and eight arms, wielding sabers, spears, swords, and halberds. His dark-golden skin gleamed with a metallic sheen, and his knotted, bulging muscles looked like the handiwork of a master sculptor, brimming with biomechanical power. His three heads had copper-bell eyes, wide mouths, and broad noses, their expressions vicious. His entire silhouette resembled the grotesque statue of a wrathful deity in a sacred temple.
All at once, the generals and soldiers battling across the field halted, staring in terror at this figure that was both god and demon.
The Northern Territory's supreme expert, Tuoba Guanghe.
The moment he appeared, the roaring battlefield fell silent.
Looking down from above, Tuoba Guanghe swept his gaze over the battered battlefield and fixed his eyes upon Fu Qingyang atop the city wall. His voice boomed:
"Yang Ce, it is truly unexpected that the Southern Dynasty could produce a swordsman like you. You are of the younger generation, and this commander never uses might to bully the weak. How about this: I will take three strikes from your sword.
"If you can injure me, I will withdraw my troops and declare a three-day truce."
Heavenly King Demonic Eye sneered. "Fight if you want to fight! What's with all the drivel? Old Tuoba, why doesn't this lord play with you instead?"
He had seen through Tuoba Guanghe's sinister intentions at a glance. By staging a grand entrance, Tuoba first intimidated the southern soldiers, and then proposed a wager. If Fu Qingyang refused, it would be seen as cowardice.
The defenders, already shaken by Tuoba's presence, would suffer a catastrophic collapse in morale upon seeing their supreme commander shrink back. In the ensuing siege, the Northern Dynasty would hold every advantage.
If Fu Qingyang agreed, it would play right into Tuoba Guanghe's hands. An Ancient God of War possessed bronze skin and iron bones, impervious to swords and spears, not to mention a massive level advantage. Withstanding three strikes from a level eight Puppeteer would be child's play.
After all, a Puppeteer's advantage lay not in single combat, but in manipulating puppets and commanding troops.
Demonic Eye was dropping hints for Fu Qingyang to refuse. Give Demonic Eye ten more minutes, and he could severely wound or even kill Wanyan Batian. When the time came, the three Dominators on their side joining forces would have no trouble dealing with Tuoba Guanghe.
Fu Qingyang swept his gaze across the soldiers atop the walls and down at the enemy troops below. Countless eyes—some expectant, some mocking—were all focused on him.
Standing proud on the ramparts under the watchful eyes of thousands, Fu Qingyang rested his hand on his hilt. "Very well!"
Heavenly King Demonic Eye, Zhao Chenghuang, and World Returns to Fire all changed expression.
Lingjun sighed.
The corners of Tuoba Guanghe's mouth curved upward. "I won't dodge!"
"You wouldn't be able to dodge anyway!" Fu Qingyang replied coldly.
With a snap, a black cloak embroidered with gold thread draped over the young marshal's back, billowing proudly in the wind.
The aura of this early-stage level eight Puppeteer surged violently, sharp as an unsheathed blade. Watching Fu Qingyang, the soldiers of both sides felt their eyes sting with tears, as though pricked by invisible needles, and involuntarily averted their gaze.
Empowered by the cloak, Fu Qingyang opened his inventory and summoned his true blade—Cold Iron Jade Dragon.
A renowned sword of the Dominator rank.
To the Southern Dynasty's troops, the supreme commander's ability to conjure objects from thin air was nothing short of a miracle, causing their confidence to skyrocket.
Tuoba Guanghe smiled faintly. "To think such an artifact exists in this world. After today, it will be this commander's trophy."
Fu Qingyang leaped from the wall, graceful as a startled swan. His cloak snapped in the wind under the gaze of over a hundred thousand soldiers as he soared straight up, arriving before Tuoba Guanghe and raising the longsword high.
As the chilling blade rose, the armored warriors of both nations felt an overwhelming despair surge within them. It was as if that sword were aimed at each of them, and from the depths of their hearts, they believed they could never evade it.
*He can actually affect the spectators? His Skill Nigh unto the Dao has improved again. This kid Fu Qingyang is just as much of a monster as Yuanshi, just a different kind of freak...* Lingjun muttered inwardly, his hands and feet trembling.
Jade Dragon slashed downward, sword qi arcing like a rainbow.
Yet facing such a razor-sharp strike, Tuoba Guanghe merely brought his eight arms together in an offhand manner, using his sabers, spears, swords, and halberds to form a wall of shields.
*Boom!*
Fu Qingyang's Jade Dragon Sword struck the steel wall. What echoed out was not the sharp clash of metal, but a muffled thunderclap, proving the immense force packed into that single blow.
Like a ball swatted by a giant, Tuoba Guanghe crashed toward the ground like a comet, slamming right into the Northern Dynasty's ranks. He brought death upon an entire swathe of troops, kicking up a colossal storm of dust.
Soldiers from both sides stared nervously into the hazy cloud of dirt.
"Magnificent swordsmanship! Across the Northern and Southern Dynasties, throughout both martial worlds, you, Yang Ce, truly possess the finest swordsmanship under heaven!" Tuoba Guanghe's wild laughter boomed. With a roar, he erupted from the dust cloud, completely unscathed.
The northern soldiers breathed a collective sigh of relief and cheered. Someone among them roared, "The Great Sword Army is invincible! Eight-armed Tuoba suppresses the world!"
In an instant, deafening shouts reverberated with overwhelming momentum.
The southern defenders, meanwhile, looked thoroughly disheartened.
Fu Qingyang ignored the clamor filling the sky. Opening his inventory, he produced the Puppet Storage Box he had purchased from Elder Jiange.
The heavy bronze chest, standing half a person tall, hit the ramparts with a heavy clatter. As the lid sprang open, Fu Qingyang planted the Jade Dragon Sword before him and flexed his ten fingers. Dark silhouettes leaped out of the box one after another.
Amidst the clatter of bronze, over a hundred bronze puppets appeared on the city wall. Their heads and limbs hung limp, their frames swaying like marionettes.
With a flick of Fu Qingyang's fingers, the puppets snapped their heads up simultaneously, turning their stiff, lifeless faces toward Tuoba Guanghe.
He raised a hand again. With an orderly, metallic clatter, the hundred-plus bronze puppets shot into the sky like a swarm of locusts or a volley of arrows, surrounding Tuoba Guanghe in midair.
Fu Qingyang pressed his hands downward. Filling the sky, the puppets raised their bronze swords and surged forward in a synchronized strike of a hundred blades.
Every single sword carried boundless force; every single sword embodied Skill Nigh unto the Dao.
A hundred blades striking together.
Tuoba Guanghe's expression finally turned solemn. Dismissing the weapons in his eight hands, he formed four mudras before his chest.
A solemn, pitch-black Wisdom King manifestation condensed behind him, the air around it twisting slightly into a sealed sphere.
The bronze puppets' slashes came raining down.
*Clang! Clang! Clatter!* The bronze swords shattered one after another. The sword qi within was either repelled by the protective sphere or scattered in all directions by the broken blades.
A portion of the stray sword qi rained down upon the ramparts, gouging out finger-deep trenches and sending chips of stone flying like hail as the defenders shielded their heads and scrambled for cover.
Another portion plummeted below the walls. Many northern soldiers were skewered by sword qi before they could even react, collapsing in sprays of blood.
When the storm subsided, the troops on both sides finally dared to look up and halt their retreat, gazing toward Tuoba Guanghe in frantic anticipation.
That single glance triggered a total reversal in reactions.
The southern defenders' faces darkened instantly, while the northern troops erupted into roaring cheers.
Tuoba Guanghe was completely unharmed.
"Invincible!"
"Invincible!"
The rousing roars crashed like thunder and tidal waves. Through these two strikes, the morale of the northern army had fused into a single unyielding force, soaring toward the clouds.
Witnessing this, the high-ranking southern generals grew grim.
As the Art of War dictated: attacking the mind is supreme; attacking the city is secondary.
Tuoba Guanghe's wager had never been about showing off martial might—this had been his goal all along. By enduring merely two strikes, he had shattered the defenders' morale while firing his own troops to fever pitch.
The moment he blocked the third strike, a single command would send his army storming the walls to guaranteed victory.
This supreme expert of the Northern Territory was not merely a warrior of titanic strength, but also an exceptional commander.
Below the walls, Demonic Eye bounded up to the ramparts and strode toward Fu Qingyang. He had to stop this wager. Fu Qingyang's actions were practically shattering their own army's morale with his own hands.
He could not fathom how someone of Fu Qingyang's intellect and calm could ever accept Tuoba Guanghe's bet.
Lingjun stepped in to block Heavenly King Demonic Eye. "Don't disturb the marshal."
Demonic Eye said coldly, "You mere Saint, you have no idea how terrifying a level nine Ancient God of War is."
Even with his Bewitching Demonic Eye trained to perfection, he would still be mauled by a level nine Ancient God of War. Inducing spiritual turmoil to weaken the man would be useless, because he couldn't pierce the defense to begin with.
Lingjun sighed. "I know he has no chance of winning, but you'd better not stop him."
"Why?" Demonic Eye frowned.
"When you run into corrupt officials or scum who bully innocent people, could any of us stop you?" Lingjun countered.
"You'd be asking for death."
"Exactly." Lingjun shrugged. "Everyone has character flaws. When dealing with a companion's flaws, all you can do is accept them."
Lingjun looked at Fu Qingyang's expressionless figure atop the wall, remembering his friend's past.
As a direct descendant of a Spirit Realm clan and the clan master's only son, Fu Qingyang's youth had been miserable. During his childhood, he had been muddled and showed no remarkable talent, which was manageable.
But by his teenage years, his swordsmanship aptitude was mediocre, his combat aptitude was mediocre, and his physical constitution was mediocre. He was practically a three-way defect of the Fu family. With such abysmal aptitude in swordsmanship and combat, he had been in serious danger of never even receiving a character card.
Aside from a handsome face, he had nothing going for him.
How could a clan master blessed with extraordinary talent sire such a useless dud? The clan elders could never wrap their heads around it, sighing in disappointment.
The attitudes and whispers of adults inevitably influenced the children. The peers of his clan began to mock him. Seeing that mocking the clan master's son drew no punishment and that the elders turned a blind eye, their cruelty escalated.
From mockery to insults, and from insults to bullying.
Until one day, the stubborn boy took a wooden sword and shattered the bones of every single peer who had ever tormented him.
Fight alone, and never retreat even in death!
This was Fu Qingyang's character flaw, and it was also the creed that had carried him through his darkest hours.
Fu Qingyang did not bother retrieving the priceless puppets, watching them fall like rain and scatter beneath the walls. The piercing cheers of the northern army sounded sickeningly like the slander and mockery of his youth.
The first strike had been the pinnacle of his single-target offense.
The second strike had been the combined sword arts he had newly mastered.
Pouring out all his strength, he had failed to harm even a single hair on the enemy.
Drawing the Jade Dragon Sword from the ground, he remembered that bruised and battered boy standing silently before the mirror, taking an oath:
No retreat!
Even in death, no retreat!
The frustration of his two failed strikes churned in his chest, then dissolved. The conviction he had held for years boiled and roared, transmuting into an unstoppable, surging sword intent. The spiritual power across his entire body poured into the divine weapon, overdrawing his stamina, yet he pushed further still...
White began to touch Fu Qingyang's temples, silver threads weaving into his black hair. He paid it no heed, continuing to burn through his life force.
"No retreat!" he whispered to himself, and hurled the Jade Dragon Sword forward.
A chilling flash split heaven and earth, filling the universe with sword qi.
That streak of cold light punched through Tuoba Guanghe in an instant, piercing clean through his chest—so fast that even the Northern Territory's supreme expert failed to react in time.
He looked down in stunned disbelief at his spurting chest.
All the clamor died away. Above and below the walls, complete silence fell.
***
"Your Majesty, this concubine arrived late to your rescue. Please forgive my crime," Beauty Wan said, prostrating herself on the floor.
Leaning against the table, Zhang Yuanqing staggered into a seat and waved a hand. "No matter."
He studied Beauty Wan and sighed in amazement. "We never imagined Our inner palace was hiding crouching tigers and hidden dragons. Zheng Longtu may have been a dilettante relying on his family background, but his cultivation wasn't weak. Yet he couldn't even withstand a single move from you. Serving as Our concubine is truly a waste of your talents. Why don't you take over as commander instead?"
Moisture Deprivation was a skill that only a level six Plague God could master.
In other words, this Beauty Wan, whose arms were broad and brawny enough to gallop horses on, was equivalent to a level six Plague God.
Beauty Wan replied in a muffled, husky voice, "Your Majesty, this concubine is merely a woman and cannot shoulder the duties of a commander. I only wish to serve and protect Your Majesty in the palace."
*With your build and presence, you'd be more than capable of slaughtering enemies on the battlefield, let alone serving as commander...* Zhang Yuanqing complained inwardly.
After a moment's hesitation, Beauty Wan lowered her voice. "I dare not deceive Your Majesty. Truth be told... truth be told, this concubine is a death warrior raised by the Empress Dowager. My duty has always been to protect Your Majesty in the inner palace."
*A death warrior trained by the Empress Dowager? No wonder the dungeon dropped hints!* Zhang Yuanqing raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
It seemed the Empress Dowager had been well aware that her son was incorrigible and ill-suited to be a wise ruler, so she had arranged two bodyguards: Eunuch Attendant Li and Beauty Wan.
One in the light, one in the dark, constantly protecting Zhao Shun.
*These two characters are my reliance before my identity is exposed and before I can reunite with my teammates! Well, that makes sense. Without trusted bodyguards, my powers sealed, my teammates turning hostile, and the commander of the Imperial City Division harboring treacherous ambitions, I'd have had virtually no chance of survival.*
Zhang Yuanqing said with delight, "Loyalty beyond words! Truly loyalty beyond words! To think We forgot the name of such a loyal subject."
Beauty Wan was overwhelmed by the favor. "This concubine is named Wan Dou."
"We shall grant you the title of Noble Consort," Zhang Yuanqing declared grandly.
In the end, Zhao Shun would be the one stuck with the consequences anyway; it had nothing to do with Yuanshi Tianzun.
Amidst the profuse gratitude of Beauty Wan—the future Noble Consort Wan—Zhang Yuanqing instructed, "Slip into the bedchamber right now and capture those three beauties. Take them to a secluded spot and hold them prisoner, then await Our orders."
Beauty Wan nodded. Her body dissolved into a stream of water, slipping away through the gaps in the tile roof like scales.
Zhang Yuanqing waited a few seconds, then sprinted toward the door in "utter panic," yelling at the top of his lungs:
"Assassins! There are assassins! Someone save the emperor!"
The imperial guards battling the insects were shocked and hurriedly converged with their torches.
Under the cover of the Fire Masters, an imperial guard captain rushed forward. "Your Majesty, this subject has come to your rescue! Where are the assassins?"
Zhang Yuanqing pointed behind him, a look of lingering panic on his face. "Quick! Quick, go save Commander Zheng! Commander Zheng is holding off the assassins inside the hall!"
The captain hurriedly peered into the hall, and his expression instantly froze.
Zhang Yuanqing kept shouting, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and save Commander Zheng!"
The captain looked grim. "Your Majesty, please turn around and see... Commander Zheng has... died in the line of duty."
Right at that moment, the burning doors of the bedchamber were suddenly knocked open. A surging "river" swept up the three beauties, galloping through midair toward the imperial gardens.
The swarm of insects filled the air, buzzing their wings and giving chase at high speed.
A portion of the imperial guards rushed after the insects and the river, while the rest stayed behind to protect the emperor or direct the eunuchs and palace maids to extinguish the fire.
Eunuch Attendant Li strode out from the sea of flames drenched in blood. His gaze swept around with obvious anxiety, and upon seeing that His Majesty's wretched life was still intact, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter 847