bookrandom Chapter 557 Joy of Life 113
Chapter 557 Joy of Life 113
The moment the true qi arrow entered his body, the sharp true qi contained within it rapidly erupted, invading Gong Dian's meridians along the wound and frantically destroying his internal organs and extraordinary meridians.
Even with his peak eighth-rank cultivation, Gong Dian could not withstand the impact of this true energy. He could only clutch the wound on his chest where the arrow had pierced his chest and barely managed to turn his head to Emperor Qing and say, "Your Majesty...run!"
Before he could finish speaking, his burly body collapsed, and he fell silent.
The situation changed so quickly that it caught everyone off guard.
No one expected that Yan Xiaoyi, who was always regarded as Emperor Qing's confidant, would suddenly carry out an assassination. This sudden change stunned everyone for a moment. By the time they came to their senses, Gong Dian had already fallen to the ground, and the Imperial Guards and Tiger Guards were fighting each other.
"Yan Xiaoyi, how dare you commit such a heinous act!"
A group of officials rushed forward, shielding Emperor Qing in the center and attempting to move him to a safe place.
Yan Xiaoyi narrowed his eyes and drew his bow again. Five streams of true energy slid down his arm and condensed into five sharp arrows, which he aimed at Emperor Qing opposite him.
The mountaintop was in complete chaos.
Emperor Qing glanced briefly at the surrounding officials, then fixed his icy gaze on Yan Xiaoyi, his finger, hidden by the crowd, flicking slightly—
In an instant, an invisible and intangible, yet extremely powerful, true energy condensed from the air and rushed straight towards Yan Xiaoyi.
This true energy was extremely domineering. The moment it touched Yan Xiaoyi, it penetrated through his clothes and armor and rapidly entered his body.
In an instant, Yan Xiaoyi's eight extraordinary meridians were sealed, and every muscle in his body was suppressed.
Now, he can't even move a single finger.
He could neither speak nor move.
The internal energy was driven and gathered by this domineering energy, and finally ruthlessly destroyed, leaving only that domineering energy rampaging through the meridians.
A wave of excruciating pain washed over Yan Xiaoyi. He felt as if his meridians were being torn apart, and his blood surged wildly throughout his body, as if trying to burst his body.
However, he couldn't even make a pained expression at this moment; his eyes were filled with pain and resentment.
In the blink of an eye, the domineering true energy shattered Yan Xiaoyi's eight extraordinary meridians, causing them to explode and ooze crimson blood from all parts of his body.
There are no wounds, yet wounds are everywhere.
The true energy arrow that Yan Xiaoyi had conjured in his hand had already vanished without a trace.
At the moment his meridians exploded, he lost his last breath, and his eyes lost their previous arrogance, leaving only a lifeless emptiness.
Yan Xiaoyi is dead, but his body still stands in the same spot, like a statue.
The officials were still pointing at him and cursing him. Seeing that he had been silent for a long time, and that bloodstains were beginning to seep from his body and that the arrow in his hand had disappeared, they were all puzzled.
Just then, a Tiger Guard arrived, and seeing Yan Xiaoyi standing motionless before him, instinctively swung his sword—
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, Yan Xiaoyi's body crashed to the ground.
A legendary archer has fallen.
The crowd looked at each other, puzzled as to why Yan Xiaoyi had suddenly died, and so quietly at that.
Only Emperor Qing raised his hand and touched his left arm where the arrow had grazed. There wasn't a single mark on it, not even a single thread on his dragon robe was torn.
Emperor Qing looked at Yan Xiaoyi lying on the ground, his eyes filled with coldness and a hint of disdain.
It seems to be saying: A mere ninth-rank archer dares to lay a hand on me?
Without Yan Xiaoyi's command, the rebellious imperial guards immediately lost their composure and their actions became completely disorganized.
Faced with the Tiger Guard Battalion, whose members were all eighth-rank martial artists, the Imperial Guards quickly suffered a series of defeats and were routed.
Seeing that the situation was under control, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing that the chaos below the mountain had not yet subsided, they decided to let Emperor Qing return to the temple to avoid the turmoil for the time being.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Qing ignored everyone's suggestions and instead turned to look at the sea below the cliff.
On the vast sea, a small boat appeared quietly, riding the wind and waves, and gracefully arrived.
An elderly man in a blue robe stood on the boat. His hair and beard were flowing, and he had an extraordinary bearing. Every gesture he made exuded the demeanor of a master.
Just as everyone was wondering, they heard Emperor Qing say softly, "Uncle."
Uncle?
The entire room fell silent instantly, everyone's faces turning ashen.
Who else but Grandmaster Ye Liuyun could be called "Uncle" by Emperor Qing?
With Yan Xiaoyi's assassination attempt on Emperor Qing serving as a precedent, no one now believes that Ye Liuyun was merely passing by.
Could it be that Ye Liuyun is also here to kill His Majesty?
Everyone's hearts tightened, but before they could react, a mountain breeze blew through the dark night, followed by a soft, precious light.
A moment later, the wind stopped and the light dissipated.
Where the light faded, a hermit monk wearing a straw hat, hemp clothing, and bare feet stood quietly, as natural as a leaf that had fallen there.
Ku He, the Imperial Preceptor of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
The once noisy mountaintop instantly fell into dead silence.
Faced with the successive appearances of these two grandmasters, the officials should, in a sense, righteously condemn and denounce them for committing such despicable and shameless acts as grandmasters.
But they... dared not!
They could only feel anger, despair, sorrow, excitement, or exhilaration in their hearts, but they couldn't utter a single word of rebuke.
Only Emperor Qing remained unfazed, calmly looking at the newcomer, and said, "I didn't expect the Imperial Advisor to be involved as well."
Ku He removed his bamboo hat and replied in a very amicable tone, "Greetings, Your Majesty."
As soon as he finished speaking, an incomparably sharp sword aura shot into the sky from the foot of the mountain.
Immediately afterwards, the sounds of fighting at the foot of the mountain came to an abrupt halt.
Then, in the blink of an eye, a short figure with a worn-out longsword appeared on the mountaintop.
His surging sword intent was unstoppable.
A single glance instilled a deep sense of fear in everyone present except for Emperor Qing, Ye Liuyun, and Ku He.
Tiger Guard suppressed his fear, gripped his swords tightly, and charged towards the man, Ye Liuyun, and Ku He in formation.
Ye Liuyun and Ku He remained unmoved, while the man merely glanced at the Tiger Guards before raising his hand and waving his old longsword high. A sword aura even more fierce than that at the foot of the mountain burst forth instantly, enveloping all the Tiger Guards present in the blink of an eye.
Although the Tiger Guards tried their best to parry with their swords, their efforts seemed pale and powerless in the face of such terrifying sword intent.
The sword energy swept in like a tidal wave, and the Tiger Guards were instantly knocked to the ground by this force, spitting out blood.
In the blink of an eye, nearly a hundred Tiger Guards fell to the sword energy, leaving the entire mountaintop in ruins.
"As expected of Si Gu Jian."
Emperor Qing's voice was calm, as if the bloody massacre had never happened, and his face remained composed.
Thus, the four great masters of the world gathered here.
However, no one knew that Emperor Qing was the fourth Grandmaster.
A momentous upheaval, affecting the entire world, quietly unfolded in Dadongshan.
……
Fan Wujiu looked up at the pitch-black sky, devoid of any stars, and frowned, saying, "Bi'an, it's already 9 PM. Your Highness has been sitting in the pavilion all day without eating, drinking, or moving. This can't go on."
Xie Bi'an also looked up at the sky, feeling a strange sense of oppression, as if the night sky tonight was particularly eerie.
Today is the fifteenth of the lunar month, but not only is the moon covered by thick clouds, but not a single star can be seen in the sky.
Only thick, dark clouds continued to churn and gather, as if brewing something terrible.
A sense of unease and inexplicable worry rose in Xie Bi'an's heart.
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "The weather tonight is a bit strange. Why don't we ask Your Highness to go back to your room and rest? We can't keep waiting like this."
Fan Wujiu thought the same way, and upon hearing this, he immediately nodded in agreement.
Having reached an agreement, the two were about to turn around and enter the pavilion in the middle of the lake to wake their prince.
But Li Chengze, who had been sitting in the pavilion all day, had stood up at some point. He was now tilting his head back, looking at the rolling dark clouds in the sky, with a smile that was hard to decipher.
That smile seemed to hold a hint of anticipation and an undisguised excitement, standing out starkly from the oppressive atmosphere around it.
The clouds in the sky churned more violently, as if some powerful force was brewing within them.
Li Chengze, however, stopped looking up and instead lowered his head, slowly straightened his clothes, rolled up his sleeves twice to reveal his fair wrists.
"Your Highness?"
Fan Wujiu and Xie Bi'an, seeing his actions, felt something was amiss and quickly called out to him.
Upon hearing this, Li Chengze turned his head, glanced at the two of them, and then gently tapped the longsword in Xie Bi'an's hand with two fingers of his right hand, forming a sword finger.
The longsword trembled violently for a moment, and Xie Bi'an instinctively tried to press it down with his hand, but the next instant—
With a clear "clang," the longsword was instantly drawn from its sheath, transforming into a streak of silver light that flew into Li Chengze's hand.
"I don't often take action. Watch carefully; it will benefit you in the future."
As he spoke, Li Chengze suddenly looked up, his eyes instantly becoming incredibly sharp, and his aura suddenly surged.
A powerful and oppressive feeling instantly swept through the entire courtyard, making it almost impossible for anyone to breathe.
Before the two could react, Li Chengze had already leaped into the air, his long sword dancing like a dragon, the sword energy tearing through the air and producing a sharp whistling sound.
The sword shadows intertwined to form a dazzling light, like a cascading Milky Way or a thunderous roar, shooting straight into the sky.
Swah——
A long sword aura swept across the sky, instantly cleaving through the churning dark clouds and revealing a gap.
Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu, both on the ground, stared dumbfounded at the gash in the sky that had been forcibly ripped open by the sword energy, speechless for a long time.
Such power and might were completely beyond their comprehension.
However, Li Chengze's movements did not stop at all. Just as the dark clouds regrouped, he raised his hand and delivered another extremely sharp sword strike, precisely covering the mark left by the previous sword strike.
Then came the third sword, the fourth sword, the fifth sword... and the fourteenth sword.
Each sword strike was as powerful as thunder, tearing the night sky apart time and time again.
Just after the fourteenth sword strike, a soft, precious light finally appeared in the pitch-black night. Immediately afterwards, an invisible force poured down from the crack that had been torn in the sky.
The power of heaven and earth!
Li Chengze smiled slightly, then suddenly raised his hand and pointed it straight to the sky.
In an instant, the power that had descended from the sky seemed to have found its home, rushing toward him in a frenzy.
And under the blessing of this power, his cultivation level continued to improve.
Previously, due to his insufficient strength, he could only secretly steal a small portion of power to strengthen himself when Emperor Qing connected with the heavens and earth.
But now, the four grandmasters have gathered at Mount Tai, and this unprecedented battle has triggered strange phenomena in the heavens and the earth, and even the capital city thousands of miles away has been inevitably affected.
At the same time, it also provided him with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
His fourteen sword strikes just now, though seemingly powerful, were actually just a forced tearing of the clouds with the aid of his mental power, allowing the power of heaven and earth stirred up by the fierce battle between the four to have an outlet.
At this moment, he was finally able to draw upon the immense power of heaven and earth without any restraint.
If this world can tolerate such heaven-defying existences as Grandmasters, it certainly cannot tolerate those who wander in the Mystic Realm.
Once he breaks through to the Divine Realm, he will no longer need to rely on other Grandmasters; he will be able to influence the world and harness its power for his own use.
On Mount Dadong, Emperor Qing gazed at the dark clouds that had been suddenly cut in two on the horizon. A strange feeling rose from the bottom of his heart, causing him to frown.
It seemed that something important was quietly slipping out of his control, and although the change was unclear, it made him feel uneasy.
However, in a battle between grandmasters, every move and every stance is enough to shake mountains and rivers and rewrite the world, leaving him no room for distraction.
Emperor Qing could only suppress his unease and refocus all his attention on the battle at hand.
Looking at the bitter lotus that had been filled with the power of nature and whose aura was as vast as the sea, a dark light appeared in his eyes.
He slowly extended a finger and pointed it at the bitter lotus in mid-air.
Instantly, an incomparably domineering surge of true energy erupted from his body, like a river overflowing its banks, forcefully flowing into Ku He's body...
……
As Li Chengze felt the power within his body constantly increasing, he noticed an invisible barrier quietly emerging.
This barrier, like a shackle, bound his progress within a certain limit, silently preventing him from further improving his cultivation.
Li Chengze frowned, his eyes fixed on the crack in the void.
Suddenly, a fierce wind arose, tearing through the silent night sky and scattering the dark clouds that had enveloped Kyoto.
A bright, clear moon slowly revealed its true face, casting a cool and gentle glow.
Li Chengze's robes fluttered, and under the bright moonlight, he looked like an immortal descending to earth, otherworldly and ethereal.
An immense pressure emanated from his body, sweeping across the surroundings like a tidal wave.