Chapter 42: Heavenly Censure
The emperor of Yan’s actions could only stop Li Caitian’s body from breaking apart here, but not Li Caitian’s death.
The two beautiful palace attendants that had previously served Li Caitian had guessed long ago when the respected Teacher Xie of the Yan Dynasty would have bathed so gravely. But when they saw Li Caitian being delivered into the tent as his body slowly cooled, they could not contain their tears and sorrow.
Li Caitian’s vitality had left, and his tightly closed eyes seemed like they would never open again. But a layer of strange light flashed across his face, his eyelashes trembled, his eyes opened.
This was the flickering before death. The two grieving palace attendants immediately stopped sobbing. They were not frightened. They knelt on the ground, afraid they would miss Li Caitian’s last words.
But unexpectedly, Li Caitian showed them a sincere and apologetic smile. He said softly, “I have some matters. I need to be alone for a few moments of quiet.”
The two beautiful palance attendants knelt and bowed before moving out of the tent. After less than ten paces, they started to sob even harder.
In their minds, Li Caitian did not want them to see his painful state before death.
In the silent tent, Li Caitian’s breathing was almost untraceable, but the blackness in his eyes grew stronger.
A faint black ball of energy poured out of him into the shape of a curled-up infant.
“I want to know why.”
The curled energy in the form of a baby was naturally not alive, and even its features were just shadow without any change in expression. However, a low voice sounded in the air. This voice was cold and mostly emotionless. It looked exactly the same as the beautiful man in black robes next to the emperor of Qi.
“Only the Mountain Yin Sect has such high skills. It appears you are that grandmaster of the Mountain Yin Sect, Yan Ying.”
Li Caitian wore a small smile and said, “But why should I tell you?”
The curled-up black energy infant did not change. The man in black robes’ voice sounded softly. “Because I know that victory is not here. Because whether you tell me or not may influence my decision.”
Li Caitian’s smile slowly faded.
He still did not answer the man in black robes’ question, and continued to ask, “What decision will you make?”
The man in black robes did not answer his question and said, “I dislike Yuanwu.”
Li Caitian laughed.
If human emotions were divided into two kinds, one would naturally be like, and the other dislike.
For people like him and the man in black robes, this kind of answer was enough.
“The Ba Mountain Sword Field still has people.” Looking at the curled-up black energy infant, he stated simply.
The curled-up black energy infant stilled for a moment, as though sinking into thought.
There was no sound as the curled-up black energy infant disappeared without a trace.
The light in Li Caitian’s eyes quickly disappeared. Death was truly coming for him. But he felt no terror. He softly murmured to himself.
“If you are not killed this time, Emperor Yuanwu, then you will not truly be undying.”
Li Caitian represented the emperor of Yan. His challenge ended in death. This meant that the punch the emperor of Yan had thrown had been easily blocked. Looking at the silent emperor of Yan, everyone present waited for the emperor of Chu or Qi to speak up.
The emperor of Chu was deep in thought.
At this time, the beautiful man in black robes by the side of the emperor of Qi looked up at him.
The emperor of Chu stilled slightly.
The expression of the man in black robes did not change, and his gaze did not show any clear emotions.
But the emperor of Chu felt something.
His gaze moved away to Emperor Yuanwu.
With this look, everyone knew that he was about to speak.
As he looked at Emperor Yuanwu, the emperor of Chu slowly spoke, “When the son of heaven is angry, millions spill blood. So when the son of heaven is easily angered, it will be easy to arouse the censure of the heavens.”
“My dynasty’s craftsmen created a seal weapon last year named Heavenly Censure. I think that everyone present here knows of it.”
As he spoke, a strange sound suddenly came from the Chu campsite on Deer Mountain that seemed to respond to him.
Emperor Yuanwu’s expression did not change as he waited quietly.
The sound drew closer and clearer. Within the perception of all the cultivators on Deer Mountain, some enormous insect seemed to be vibrating their wings.
Some of the people in the highest positions in the various dynasties looked on with nervous eyes.
The “Heavenly Censure” was a certain kind of seal weapon of the Chu Dynasty military. Supposedly, its power surpassed all the other manufactured seal weapons of the Chu Dynasty at present. The news that had made it through some secret channels had caused people to suspect that “Heavenly Censure” was very different from the normal kind of seal weapons. So, when the emperor of Chu spoke and immediately mentioned this item, people felt that this item was even more important.
The strange hum passed through the clouds and rain, coming closer to the peak of Deer Mountain.
At this time, on a peak outside of Deer Mountain, though Ding Ning could not hear this sound he still sensed an abnormality.
He felt that the sunlight in the sky seemed to dim. The sun rays reaching the earth seemed to be attracted by something.
He took a deep breath and knew that something novel was appearing.
Gasps sounded on the peak of Deer Mountain.
Many a gaze was completely frozen. Reflections of metal penetrated through the clouds, levelling with the mountain peak before rising even higher.
These were multiple sheets dozens of feet long and slightly curved like flower petals. While they gave off metallic light, they were so thin they were almost transparent.
Under the rays of the sun, golden lines lit up on these slowly rising pieces.
These golden lines were naturally seal scripts. But these golden lines were so complicated, they were almost incomprehensible, layering together like countless transparent golden cicada wings.
The sunlight was dim, but the temperature on top of Deer Mountain seemed to rise.
Many could clearly feel that threads of sun truefire being absorbed into those thin pieces and continue to gather in the seal scripts.
The thin metal pieces were still rising upwards.
Many cultivators, especially cultivators from the military. The shock in their eyes slowly turned into stupefaction.
The gold color filled the seals on the thin metal pieces and started to fall.
Sun truefire rained down harder than rain.
The threads of fire twisted together to become arrows of golden flame.
Even more gasps rose.
These metal pieces formed a formation.
The golden flames that were produced by this formation were much stronger than ordinary arrows. Even more importantly … was the matter of distance and duration!
The thin metal pieces were still rising.
The enormous thin metal pieces had become shadows like eagles in the sky. At such a height, almost all ordinary seal weapons, and the majority of flying swords could not touch it.
It would have been fine if the formation disappeared after dropping a round of truefire. But most people could see by now, that as long as the sun was bright, the sun truefire gathered by these enormous thin metal pieces would never stop.
Zzt zzt zzt zzt …
Ear-piercing sounds rang out on a cliff-face of Deer Mountain.
There was a clearing there.
As the golden flames fell, the rocks were immediately covered with scorched holes. Everyb could smell burning.
The blooms of golden light continued to fall like flowers.
The emperor of Qi paled slightly.
These golden flames falling into the clearing by the cliff, and not any other part of the peak showed that the Chu Dynasty hadn’t just manufactured a seal weapon like this, they were able to accurately control such a seal weapon!
This was not a normal seal weapon, but a standardized one!
Only seal weapons that were not made from rare materials and could be reproduced could be outfitted for the army in large numbers could be called standardized weapons.
If these thin metal pieces floating like stringless kites were increased tenfold, then what would it be like?
The falling truefire might be enough to cover all of Deer Mountain.
For an army, a dynasty, the meaning of such standard weapons far surpassed one or two cultivators like Li Caitian.
The biggest target of the Deer Mountain Conference was Emperor Yuanwu. The emperor of Qi should be basking in schadenfreude at this moment.
But this kind of standard seal weapon was so stunning, that he could not even muster that emotion.
…
Ding Ning’s gaze moved away from the sky to Mo Shoucheng and Pan Ruoye next to him.
The emperor of Chu’s decades of waiting had failed. He had not obtained the flesh bodhi from that hidden place on Goddess Peak, but it was not for nothing. These things clearly came from the study and changes of that formation. The Chu Dynasty was indisputably the best at making weapons.
But Ding Ning could see that Mo Shoucheng and Pan Ruoye were not shocked.
Even if they had known what kind of standardized “Heavenly Censure”, they would be shocked if they saw the power in person.
There must be another reason for their lack of shock.
He felt slightly bitter inside.
Translator Ramblings: Mass-produced weapons are important, especially when you are waging war on a large scale. Sure, some people can have super special magical swords, but not many can conquer a city on their own.
