Chapter 51: Pill Feeding
When that sword light brighter than lightning appeared, the emperor of Chu’s face turned a peculiar red. This peculiar flush brightened his old age marks, they now seemed just like blooming plum blossoms.
After the Yan was the first to attack and Li Caitian was killed, he had discerned there was a great conspiracy in the background. Even so, he had not expected the situation to be so great that even the top grandmaster of the Qi Dynasty, Yan Ying, would sacrifice himself to pave the way.
The emperor of Qi’s eyes were also suffused with genuine shock.
All this time, he had heeded Yan Ying’s words, silently watching the spectacle. He had not expected such a big spectacle at the end. He could clearly sense that it was a peach tree that had created this sword light brighter than lightning.
There had been an old peach tree in the Ba Mountain that had not perished even after being repeatedly struck by lightning. In the end, the core of the peach tree had naturally formed seal-like patterns that were suitable for absorbing the presence of lightning. The wood had been turned into a peachwood sword by the swordsmen of the Ba Mountain Sword Field.
Ding Ning looked at the three waves of murderous intent rising from the surrounding mountain peaks, his pupils contracted.
The master of this peachwood tree was Ye Xinhe of the Ba Mountain Sword Field, while the one flying through the air and attracting millions of rain droplets like an immortal of rain was naturally Song Chaosheng.The third one was naturally the mad grandmaster Guo Dongjiang from Blue Jade Island, who gave off the strong oceanic smell and had a hint of madness within his murderousness.
These three people were not unfamiliar to him.
The Ba Mountain Sword Field had hoarded swords for thousands of years. A few decades ago, it had produced many talents, the best of that time. The dynasties at the time had all gasped at the astounding fortune the Ba Mountain Sword Field possessed.
Ye Xinhe had been able to possess the Peach Divine Sword, one of the Ba Mountain Sword Field’s greatest weapons, at its peak. He had been one of the top.
In the past wars against the Han, Zhao, and Wei dynasties, he had played the role of the assassin that penetrated into foreign territories. When the armies were waging battles, he would be in cities of enemy dynasties looking for opportunities to assassinate important people or cultivators.
Just like how great rebels like Zhao Yi and Bai Shanshui disliked going into Changling, many cities were like an urn to cultivators. It was easy to enter, and hard to leave. Going deep into the enemy dynasty was much more dangerous than fighting in the battlefield.
Ye Xinhe had moved through the various dynasties. His ability to hide and evade pursuit was something no other grandmaster could rival. It was rumored that he had died in the battle after Ba Mountain Sword Field was destroyed. In the last few decades, there had been no trace of him. Ding Ning had thought he had died, and didn’t expect him to appear here.
Gazing at the sword light, it appeared that the other’s Nine Heaven Lightning Sword had reached its peak. Disregarding cultivation, even the famed people of Ba Mountain Sword Field in the past might not be able to show such perfection.
The Wei Dynasty’s Song Chaosheng, who hailed from the prestigious Song Family,had been one of its strongest grandmasters during its time. He had been one of the leaders of the opposition to the emperor of Wei’s plan to build a spirit canal and the monopoly of the Cloud Water Palace. But just like how the old prestigious families of the Qin Dynasty had been destroyed in the reformation, the prestigious Song Family had been wiped out by the emperor of Wei and Cloud Water Palace.
In the end, the Wei Dynasty’s capital was conquered by the Qin army. When the Wei Dynasty was destroyed, someone had seen him sing sorrowfully and cry a thousand tears. Each drop of his tears had turned into a tide, causing that unfinished Wei spirit canal to rise three feet. Then he had disappeared and never reappeared.
As for Guo Dongjiang, people rarely knew that this mad overseas cultivator had been a friend of the master of the Last Flower sword Ding Ning carried.
The Qin Dynasty’s ocean routes had not been pioneered just by the metal ships, but by the swords of many.
During the Qin Dynasty’s reformation, amidst the sea of changes, many became foes with the swordsmen of the Ba Mountain Sword Field, yet others had turned friends after fighting one another.
Ding Ning should feel joy that these three people were assassinating Emperor Yuanwu right now.
If he had followed Forefather Zhou here, perhaps, he would have felt joy. But here he was, with Pan Ruoye and Mo Shoucheng. Everything he had seen thus far was a caveat, that today’s eventualities were well within Emperor Yuanwu’s scope of expectations.
So what he wanted to do the most right now was shout, make this trinity of grandmasters change their minds.
But even if he shouted, and the trio heard, would they listen to him?
If these three knew his true identity, who among the three would listen, and who would not?
After Emperor Chen of Han and Yan Ying’s battle against Emperor Yuanwu, he respected them, he had learned all of Emperor Yuanwu’s secrets, raising his respect, and even gaining his gratitude. But those two grandmasters did not have a direct connection to him, like the people attacking now.
So the coldness he felt inside grew stronger.
Even if he was repeatedly telling himself to be calm, and he could only see more clearly if he was calm, his hands uncontrollably trembled.
“Long Wind!”
“Fire!”
Shrill military orders sounded upon Deer Mountain.
The emperors of Chu, Yan, and Qi had easily accepted Emperor Yuanwu’s conditions in order so they could move to the side and express their stance- that they had nothing to do with what was happening now, so no one could say that the cultivators of the three dynasties had used the agreement to lure Emperor Yuanwu here.
Under such an unspoken agreement, the armies of the three dynasties naturally could not move, and were even more silent than usual. But the elite and experienced army of the Qin Dynasty naturally would not allow the assassins to kill their beloved Holy One.
Some unique military orders were to tell cultivators to activate their seal weapons. When the millions of raindrops gathered towards Song Chaosheng on top of Deer Mountain, a terrifying energy tide exploded from the side of Deer Mountain.
Pillars of wind rose, flashing with blue light. Those were blue arrows.
With the wind sending them off, the blue arrows created long blue streaks. They seemed to break free of gravity and increased in speed until the tips of the arrows started to burn.
The wind wrapped around the multiple flames. The entire sky seemed to be burning.
The power of an army, especially one that was in formation, was not something that a single cultivator could fight against.
This was like how an enormous elephant could be killed by ants.
In the bloody storm three years before Emperor Yuanwu’s ascension, many of Ba Mountain Sword Field’s strongest had been worn to death by armies or by large numbers of cultivators who had much lower cultivation.
Looking at the burning sky, many Yan, Chu, and Qi cultivators had gazes filled with helplessness and grief.
They understood very well that the Qin Dynasty was this powerful now because of the past reformation. The might of the nation was too great. Many students joined cultivation places each year which eventually strengthened the armies.
But the flying Song Chaosheng seemed to not care about the burning sky. His body did not even make any special movements. Or rather, he had predicted such an occurrence.
The millions of raindrops attracted to him started to fall. Each droplet of rain was very weak and powerless as it fell. However, when each drop fell at the same time, the friction with the primal energies of the universe caused the vibrations to resonate at the same frequency.
In nature, it was not possible for two exactly same raindrops to occur. Yet, here in the sky, the raindrops were all identical.
These raindrops formed a terrifying tide.
With a loud boom, the arrow fires were extinguished.
All of the raindrops turned into powdery mist, but that terrifying tide’s power still fell from the sky into the Qin army’s camp.
An even deeper explosion sounded halfway up Deer Mountain.
Then came the sound of metal hitting the ground and flesh flying.
Many bodies, mutilated bodies and military armaments, jumped off the ground and flew outwards.
This ferocious attack was only to open the path for the sword light that was stronger than lightning.
Song Chaosheng had only flown halfway and was situated between two mountains when the Peach Divine Sword of Ba Mountain Sword Field reached the peak of Deer Mountain.
Emperor Yuanwu was almost out of vital energy, but facing such a blow, he shook his head proudly at Marquis Xu next to him.
Then, he held out his hands towards Huang Zhenwei.
Huang Zhenwei moved to stand beside him.
As Emperor Yuanwu reached out his hand, Huang Zhenwei suddenly became extremely weak. He reached out his hand to Emperor Yuanwu as well.
A pure white lotus first appeared in his hand. Then, all of his vital energy, and even his physical energies, flooded out of his palm and into this pure white lotus.
Immediately, countless layers of yellow scripts appeared on the surface of this pure white lotus which transformed into a yellow pill.
The presence this bright yellow pill gave off was very similar to the presence that Emperor Yuanwu emanated.
This yellow pill landed in Emperor Yuanwu’s hand.
Then Emperor Yuanwu gave an even prouder smile, swallowed this pill, and swung his sword again.
Translator Ramblings: Remember that Mo Shoucheng is teacher to both Yuan Wu and Huang Zhengwei so they are sect brothers.
