Fu Qingyang took a long, deep look at Wanyan Batian, then spun around and transformed into a streak of sword light, flying back toward Linxia City.
No words were needed. As a Level 8 Puppeteer, he had already read everything from Wanyan Batian’s expression.
Descending upon the battlements, Fu Qingyang glanced around and summoned a centurion directing corvée laborers in clearing the battlefield. He said coldly, “Pass down my order. All first-rate masters and minor Grandmasters in the army are to assemble at the drill grounds immediately.”
Without waiting for the centurion’s reply, he transformed back into sword light and soared toward the barracks.
A quarter of an hour later, Xiahou Aotian and the others gathered in the marshal’s quarters. The teammates, having just emerged from a grueling battle, had barely begun to rest before being summoned by the soldiers Fu Qingyang had dispatched.
Seeing Fu Qingyang sitting solemnly at the table, the five bewildered teammates exchanged glances and sat down with grave expressions as well.
Xiahou Aotian muttered, “What happened? I saw a large force assembling at the drill grounds just now. Are you planning to lead a sortie and raid the enemy camp?”
Fu Qingyang came straight to the point. “I just made a trip to the Northern Dynasty camp. Tuoba Guanghe and the Great Sword Army are not there.”
Demon Eye and the others underwent an immediate shift in expression.
Zhao Chenghuang said in a low voice, “Tuoba Guanghe didn't participate in tonight's siege...”
Lingjun’s brows twitched as realization struck. “Fuck, did he go to backdoor our base?!”
Demon Eye vaulted to his feet, fists clenched tight, and barked, “Fall back and defend the capital!”
“If anyone falls back, it will be me.” Though Fu Qingyang’s expression was solemn, his tone was calm and measured, his emotions steady, projecting the poise of a great commander. “I will lead a detachment to rush to the capital. You will remain here to pin down the Northern Dynasty’s main force. Linxia and the capital are over forty li apart. At the Great Sword Army’s marching speed, they may already be at the capital’s gates.”
Tianxia Guihuo asked in confusion, “Why would Tuoba Guanghe lead only the Great Sword Army to assault the capital?”
Such a development caught them completely unprepared and struck them as illogical. The capital was garrisoned by elite forces from the Imperial City Department and the City Defense Army, and it possessed far superior resources and defensive siege weaponry.
When it came to top experts, the Southern Dynasty’s capital certainly lacked neither Saints nor Dominators.
Heading out with only the Great Sword Army, Tuoba Guanghe might not necessarily breach the capital within a short time. Meanwhile, the Northern Dynasty camp, deprived of its commander-in-chief, was vulnerable to a flanking encirclement and total annihilation by Fu Qingyang.
With three Dominators holding the line, the Southern Dynasty garrison possessed that exact capability.
When that happened, the Northern Dynasty would squander its overwhelming advantage, while the Southern Dynasty caught its breath and turned the tables, shifting from defense to offense.
Fu Qingyang said indifferently, “Tuoba Guanghe is an experienced general. If he chose this course, he must have his reasons. Something likely went wrong at the capital, leaving its defenses at their emptiest and weakest, which gave Tuoba Guanghe the confidence to breach it swiftly.
“If he succeeds, our garrison at Linxia will become an isolated force, and defeat will be certain.”
His words came rapid-fire. “The rest of you hold Linxia and pin down the Northern Dynasty’s main army. If necessary, you may take the initiative to attack.”
With orders delivered, he braced his hands against the table, stood, and strode toward the door.
***
A gust of yin wind blew into his face. The Imperial Preceptor’s withered, white-haired figure lunged before him in an instant, pitch-black, gleaming claws thrusting straight toward his throat.
Clad in purple-gold armor, Zhang Yuanqing whipped out the Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade, activated Form Slash, coated the blade with a layer of faint golden flames, and brought it slashing down.
The blade blazing with golden flame skipped the physical progression of the slash entirely, landing squarely on the lunging, jet-black ghostly claw.
The claw was sheared clean off at the wrist.
Zhang Yuanqing had turned the physical trajectory into nothingness, allowing his blade to strike his foe instantaneously.
Up to this point, among all skills of the Illusionist class, only Nothingness could barely hold its own against such a foe. Active abilities like Mental Strike, Emotion Guidance, Emotion Detonation, and Phantasm were completely useless against an Imperial Preceptor turned into a yin creature.
A Night Wanderer was equally proficient in illusion arts and possessed a spirit just as formidable and resilient, and the disparity in levels made the gap insurmountable.
From the severed wrist, a new ghostly claw regenerated in a flash, piercing clean through Zhang Yuanqing’s throat and bursting out from the back of his neck.
Zhang Yuanqing whipped his short blade upward in a reverse cut, but the Imperial Preceptor withdrew his hand beforehand, ghosting behind him. With a sharp rip, he tore open the armor on Zhang Yuanqing’s back, gouging through flesh to expose his spine and ribs.
Zhang Yuanqing swung his blade in counterattack, but against the Imperial Preceptor’s phantom-like, shifting speed, he was as clumsy as a child, or an adult waving a flyswatter after a housefly.
None of his strikes found their mark, while the gouges across his body multiplied.
The Imperial Preceptor retreated a distance and formed hand seals.
Zhang Yuanqing’s body froze abruptly. White frost rapidly rimed over his wounds, congealing his blood and flesh as the yin qi invading his body through the gashes froze his limbs and vessels along his bloodstream.
The Imperial Preceptor was drawing upon the yin qi in the wounds to cast some venomous dark art.
Whoosh! Golden flames erupted. A blazing sun sigil resembling painted gold leaf surfaced upon Zhang Yuanqing’s forehead. His short hair floated upward, strands gleaming gilded, while his skin reflected a metallic sheen and his pupils turned into molten gold.
Sizzle, sizzle!
Plumes of black smoke steamed out from his body.
He had activated the Blazing Sun God of War skill.
Opening his inventory, Zhang Yuanqing produced a mottled, colorful oil painting. The scenery within the frame was twisted and chaotic—rivers drifted across the sky, clouds were laid across the earth, the sun and a starry expanse hung from tree branches, and human-like figures walked upside-down.
He hurled the painting toward the Imperial Preceptor. The hues peeled away from the canvas and splashed across reality, instantly corrupting the surrounding space. Painted rivers unfurled in the sky, sun and moon hung from tree twigs, and the concepts of forward, backward, left, and right inverted.
Caught inside, the Imperial Preceptor’s body warped. His limbs twisted backward behind his torso, his head caved inward as though collapsing into his chest, and cracking sounds of fracturing bone echoed from within him.
Suddenly, a vortex of yin qi surfaced within the Imperial Preceptor’s body, condensing all the spiritual power throughout him into a single point before detonating violently.
A shockwave of yin qi surged outward, shattering the saturated colors in the surroundings.
The scattering pigments converged once more, reverting into an oil painting that plummeted limply toward the ground.
The Dominator-grade item had been beaten back to its base form.
Zhang Yuanqing used the Nothingness skill to bring the falling painting directly into his grasp, then stored it back into his inventory.
The very moment the Imperial Preceptor broke free of the binding, Commandery Princess Yinyao transformed into starlight and materialized above him. Her skirt fluttered and her dark hair whipped wildly as thick yin qi dyed the air within a several-meter radius.
Forming a sword finger before her lips, Commandery Princess Yinyao chanted an incantation.
The surrounding yin qi sprang to life, tracing out black runes one after another. Following the thrust of her sword finger, they rained down upon the Imperial Preceptor like a volley of arrows.
This was the Spirit Sealing Talisman modified by her master, designed specifically to seal the lingering souls of yin creatures.
The Imperial Preceptor parted his jaws and inhaled lightly. The sky full of talismans tumbled down his gullet, transformed into nourishing spiritual power.
Then his figure vanished.
Seeing this, the clone of Zhang Yuanqing executed Sunrise without hesitation, showering dazzling, pure golden light in all directions.
The Imperial Preceptor’s form was forced out into the open, right in front of Commandery Princess Yinyao.
Thwack!
A flash of dark light erupted, and Commandery Princess Yinyao’s head flew high into the air, tumbling toward the earth.
Grabbing her headless body, the Imperial Preceptor spread his jagged fangs and lunged to bite down on the severed neck.
After consecutive fierce clashes, his consumption had been heavy, and devouring the spiritual essence of this yin creature would replenish him nicely.
A short blade burst straight out from the Imperial Preceptor’s mouth. At the critical moment, Zhang Yuanqing—wearing the Companion Spirit Moon—had used Night Wander to flank the Imperial Preceptor from behind and strike.
Zhang Yuanqing twisted his wrist, the spinning blade mincing half of the Imperial Preceptor’s head into paste.
With his other hand, he pulled out a long, slender bamboo switch and lashed it viciously against the Imperial Preceptor’s frame.
Snap!
Accompanied by the crisp strike, the surging lunar power inside the Imperial Preceptor abruptly settled into tranquility, and the headless body froze motionless.
Zhang Yuanqing swept his blade across, cleanly lopping off both of the Imperial Preceptor’s arms.
Commandery Princess Yinyao’s torso tumbled downward to go fetch her head.
The next instant, the lunar power boiled anew. The Imperial Preceptor’s head flew back, landing squarely on his neck as the severed vertebrae rejoined and flesh knitted together once more.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In his Blazing Sun God of War state, Zhang Yuanqing engaged the Imperial Preceptor in brutal melee. Elbows, knees, and blade clashed over ten times in a single second.
Zhang Yuanqing’s clone dove down to join the fray. Clad in the Heaven Worship Set, the clone was even more formidable than the original body, drastically easing the pressure on Zhang Yuanqing.
Yet the Imperial Preceptor handled both of them with ease. Foregoing defense entirely, he relied on his terrifying physical resilience to brawl against the two Blazing Sun Gods of War, leaving claw marks across them one after another.
A crimson streak of fire plunged from high above as the Azure Dragon Gang Master transformed into a wind-fire wheel and crashed forcefully into the battlefield.
In the distance, Xiao Yuan was working at her altar. She first performed Fortune Blessing, bestowing an unseen augmentation upon her four companions, then slapped a Fortune Diminishment debuff onto the Imperial Preceptor.
The Palace Mistress chanted a soaring song to inspire her allies while caressing the Demon Refining Pot, pouring forth streams of source fluid of life to heal their injuries in real time.
Bolstered by two potent supports, Commandery Princess Yinyao and the other three unleashed an onslaught that battered the Imperial Preceptor, leaving him virtually incapable of fighting back.
Even so, Zhang Yuanqing’s heart sank.
The Blazing Sun God of War state had a time limit, and the Heaven Worship Set lasted only fifteen minutes. Once he and his clone lost these combat bonuses, the tables would turn instantly.
Though the Imperial Preceptor seemed battered, with limbs severed from time to time, his yin qi remained unflagging, and even the direst injuries mended in an instant.
The Taiyin path’s endurance was peerless under heaven.
*We can't go on like this—we'll never win! A war of attrition guarantees defeat, and if this drags out, the Heaven-Swallowing Beast's cooldown might reset! We have to concentrate our power to deal him a crippling blow.*
Thoughts racing through his mind, Zhang Yuanqing shouted, “Everyone, this old wretch’s breath is inexhaustible; we can't wear him down!”
Gang Master Duan called out the customary question shared by all Fire Masters: “What do we do?”
“Concentrate our might to obliterate him!” Zhang Yuanqing answered.
Sharing thoughts with his main body, the clone immediately pulled back, activated the set effects once more, and manipulated four elemental spirit powers to briefly bind the Imperial Preceptor.
The Palace Mistress ceased her song. Tens of thousands of silk ribbons surged from beneath her skirt, rushing toward the Imperial Preceptor to bind him. Countless thread ends caressed the Imperial Preceptor’s abdomen like tender, frantic tentacles.
Buzz...
A gu insect the size of a washbasin landed upon Xiao Yuan’s altar, clutching a severed, pitch-black hand.
Xiao Yuan drew a short blade to slit open the severed limb, dabbed her forefinger in the oozing black blood, scribbled incantations onto a yellow talisman, and slapped it onto a straw doll.
Whoosh! The straw doll erupted with black fire, burning to ash in seconds.
In the distance, black flames burst across the Imperial Preceptor as well. His dark, tough skin began to melt, and he let out an agonizing roar.
The Curse Killing Art!
At this moment, after several consecutive failures, the Palace Mistress’s Gestation skill finally took hold.
The Imperial Preceptor’s belly swelled rapidly until he resembled a woman on the verge of childbirth, and the wailing of an infant drifted from within his stomach.
The Imperial Preceptor’s power weakened further.
Zhang Yuanqing yelled, “Palace Mistress, give me the lightning spear!”
The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter opened her inventory and hurled a crackling, electric lightning spear toward him.
Suddenly, the Imperial Preceptor’s robes tore apart. Across his rounded belly, the face of an infant pushed against the skin, instantly twisting into a hideous sneer as it released an ear-splitting shriek.
The fetus within his womb had been converted by the Imperial Preceptor into a ghost infant.
Everyone’s heads buzzed. Warm blood trickled from their nostrils, their ears rang incessantly, and headaches flared as though their skulls were being ripped apart.
The sensation was all too familiar—Mental Strike!
The infant’s cries produced an effect nearly identical to a Mental Strike.
The Imperial Preceptor had cast a vicious dark art, transforming the unborn life in his belly into an offensive ghost infant.
Enduring the agonizing pain, the Palace Mistress parted her crimson lips and hummed a soothing, lilting melody—a lullaby.
Soothed by the motherly tenderness, the shrieking ghost infant gradually settled down and drifted into slumber.
Zhang Yuanqing caught the lightning spear and threw it toward the Imperial Preceptor.
Lightning-attribute spirit power was the pinnacle of masculine yang, serving as another lethal weapon against yin creatures.
A blinding flash of electricity ripped across the night. The lightning struck the Imperial Preceptor’s head and blasted it into the distance.
The Imperial Preceptor’s head regenerated anew.
Zhang Yuanqing recalled the lightning spear and threw it again.
The Imperial Preceptor’s head exploded once more.
Zhang Yuanqing recalled the spear and threw it yet again.
After four repetitions, Zhang Yuanqing’s arms were charred black. The Imperial Preceptor’s head regenerated once more, but the speed was noticeably sluggish, taking over ten seconds to restore.
“His strength is fading!” Zhang Yuanqing yelled.
“No problem, leave it to me.” The clone stripped off the Heaven Worship Set, tossed it back to the original body, and dove toward the Imperial Preceptor.
“The sole reason a clone exists is to die for the real body!”
A miniature sun manifested behind his head.
Boom!
The instant the clone collided with the Imperial Preceptor, he detonated the solar divine power within his body. A sphere of golden light swelled furiously and exploded, hanging frozen in the night sky for three full seconds like a colossal sun.
The Imperial Preceptor’s body was blown to pieces, falling limply toward the ground.
Suddenly, upon that unrecognizable visage, sickly green eyes snapped open, chanting an incantation in a hoarse, raspy voice.
The severed arms and legs falling through the air sprang to life. Instead of reassembling, they dissolved into plumes of black smoke that rammed into the bodies of the Palace Mistress, Xiao Yuan, Gang Master Duan, and Zhang Yuanqing.
All four froze. Black smoke rose from their bodies, fangs and sharp claws sprouted, and the color drained from their skin, leaving them with the ghastly pallor of corpses.
Their bodies were mutating into yin creatures.
Zhang Yuanqing instantly activated Sunrise, gradually grinding away the yin-cold chill inside him.
Looking over at Xiao Yuan and the others, they could only rely on willpower and spiritual power to resist. Lacking effective means to counter yin qi, animalistic growls rumbled from their throats.
On the other side, the flesh on the Imperial Preceptor’s torso squirmed as he struggled to regenerate, but his strength fell short. His aura had withered to the extreme.
Zhang Yuanqing exhaled a breath of frost, expelling the majority of the yin qi and successfully arresting the mutation.
“Insolent brat!” Face filled with indignity, the Imperial Preceptor glared maliciously at Zhang Yuanqing, then burst into chilling laughter. “Tuoba Guanghe is already marching upon the capital. If you slay this poor Daoist, the Five Marks of Decay will claim you. Your companions are struck with my corpse curse; even if solar divine power suppresses it, their vitality is severely crippled. Once Tuoba Guanghe arrives, you will die without a doubt. The capital will fall, and the Southern Dynasty will perish!”
Tuoba Guanghe was coming?
Zhang Yuanqing’s heart skipped a beat.
“After you eradicated the Zheng family, this poor Daoist dispatched a yin corpse to Linxia and met with Tuoba Guanghe,” the Imperial Preceptor rasped fiercely. “You ruined my decades of plotting. If this poor Daoist had won, I would have aided him in destroying the Southern Dynasty to vent my wrath. If I lose, you will be buried alongside me!”
Zhang Yuanqing flitted before the Imperial Preceptor and seized him by the throat. “Then please lead the way, Imperial Preceptor.”
Surging solar divine power erupted from his palm, engulfing the Imperial Preceptor’s mangled torso.
The torrent of golden flames raged for dozens of seconds before calming. In his hand, only half a skeleton remained.
Body and soul utterly extinguished.
Zhang Yuanqing loosened his grip, letting the skeleton fall to the ground. He turned to his companions and said weakly, “Come close to me!”
Bathing in the golden sunlight, Xiao Yuan and the others felt as though they were frozen travelers warming themselves by a fire. Sensation gradually returned to their limbs, and the yin qi within them began to dissipate.
Yet the process was agonizingly slow.
It was not until Zhang Yuanqing completely exhausted his spiritual power that their bodies returned to normal human form. Their complexions remained deathly pale, and their eyes retained a hollow, corpse-like glaze.
The residual poison had yet to clear.
Regaining the ability to speak, Gang Master Duan asked urgently, “Was what the Imperial Preceptor said true? Is Tuoba Guanghe really leading his army to the capital? Has Linxia fallen?”
“It’s true!” Zhang Yuanqing gave a grave, affirmative answer. “Though Linxia likely hasn’t fallen; Tuoba Guanghe split his forces for a surprise raid.”
Gang Master Duan sighed deeply. “Another bitter battle awaits us!”
Xiao Yuan and the Palace Mistress knitted their brows, their faces somber and eyes heavy with dread.
They had just fought a desperate battle against the Imperial Preceptor, depleting their energy, while Yuanshi’s trump-card props were all on cooldown. How were they supposed to fight the Level 9 Tuoba Guanghe?
That was an existence even more terrifying than the Imperial Preceptor.
Zhang Yuanqing fell silent for a few seconds, then let out a sigh. “Given Yang Ce’s sharpness, he should have figured out Tuoba Guanghe’s scheme by now. We need to find a way to buy time...”
Before he could finish, all four turned their heads simultaneously to gaze toward the north.
A breath of overwhelmingly peerless might was surging toward the capital.
At the same time, war drums thundered upon the northern city gate, and horns sounded their long, wailing blare.
Chapter 880