“Big Brother!” Li Mu hurtled up and gave Guo Yuqing a big hug.
As a superb master who repelled an expert half step away from the Void-breaking Realm, Guo Yuqing was held in awe and admiration by the others. Regardless, in Li Mu’s perspective, he was always his big brother. Even though Guo Yuqing had become way stronger than the other two, the three of them would never grow distant.
In Li Mu’s dictionary, brotherhood was something untouchable by the change of wealth or social status, because “once a brother, always a brother”.
Qiu Yin, after a moment of hesitation, followed suit.
With that, the gloom on Guo Yuqing’s face was swept away.
Looking at his two brothers, he felt relaxed. Then, he smiled and said, “This morning, the letter written in blood you two brothers sent to me arrived at Wolf Temple almost at the same time. I raced down here as soon as I could. Seems that I got just in the nick of time.”
Qiu Yin laughed heartily and corrected, “No, Big Brother, actually you arrived a little bit too late.”
“Huh?” Guo Yuqing turned to Qiu Yin. He could tell that what his second brother prepared to tell was not a piece of bad news.
Qiu Yin chuckled and replied, “Haha, Big Brother, you missed the great show our third brother put on. It’s a pity that you didn’t see him valiantly kill Yingshan Snow-eagle, the Emperor’s Broadsword, and the crown prince of the Western Qin right before the main peak!” Then, he told Guo Yuqing what had happened.
When Qiu Yin finished, Guo Yuqing was amazed. “Yingshan Snow-eagle, the Emperor’s Broadsword? He was a genius in martial arts and one of the most hopeful candidates to enter the Void-breaking Realm. Unfortunately, he picked the wrong path. Having been accused of taking too many lives, he later retreated to a reclusive life so as to alleviate his sins and find a way to free himself from the burden. Some believe he died long ago. But, how come he reappeared in public? And he was killed by our third brother? Haha, it appears that third bro’s cultivation has progressed big time.”
Li Mu nodded, accepting Guo Yuqing’s compliment without blushing. Then, he remarked, “Big Brother, what I’m gonna tell you will certainly come as a surprise. Guess what, that man not only showed his face in public again but also got himself castrated as a eunuch. He mastered a vile martial art and got his soul encroached by the evil force of the Extra-terrestrial Devils. I suppose he had been used by the devils. His soul had served as the incubator of the evil force.”
“Without the Yang part, how could he ever enter the Void-breaking Realm? Yingshan Snow-eagle was no fool at all. He could not have neglected that.” Guo Yuqing said. He then pondered over the matter for a few minutes and came up with an idea. “I might have figured it out. See, he had castrated himself to atone for his crime. By getting rid of the Yang part and reserving the Yin part, he could distance himself from the response to the Great Way. As to nurturing the evil force with his soul, I’m afraid it is a highly sinister reincarnating art. He planned to discard his original body and reincarnate into someone who didn’t belong to this world. Then, he would be able to go beyond this planet even without entering the Void-breaking Realm… He had grasped such a profound vile art. Well, the collision between the royal family of the Western Qin and the Extra-terrestrial Devils is much more complex than I imagined.”
Li Mu said, “So what you are trying to say is, the power Emperor Qin Ming just displayed is also…”
Guo Yuqing nodded his agreement and added, “Yes. It’s also the evil force. Since Emperor Qin Ming inherited the throne from Emperor Guangwu, he made good use of the legacy his predecessor left him and conquered the desert race, reined the vast pasture, fought off the Northern Song, and drove away the Southern Chu. When he had not started the closed-door training, the Western Qin Empire was all flourishing and prospering. But ever since he shut him up in the training room, the Western Qin has gone downhill and wind up like this. That evidenced how brilliant a ruler he was. Though he is certainly some kind of hero and very talented in martial arts, I can’t say he is the most talented one. Back then, his cultivation was even less than that of Yingshan Snow-eagle. No man can get only half step away from the Void-breaking Realm simply with 40 years’ worth of closed-door training. Not even the royals of the Western Qin. Also, I’ve sensed an acute evil force in his power. So, what I am sure of is he has been practicing a certain profound, extra-terrestrial dark art.”
Li Mu said, “Right. That explains why the evil force was also found at the depths of the soul of the crown prince. It seems that it was the emperor of the Western Qin who did it. And only he could place that evil power in the crown prince without him noticing.”
Qiu Yin commented, “Well, the rumors might be correct. They say the royal family of the Western Qin is perhaps a branch of the force of the Extra-terrestrial Devils all along.”
By that point, Xu Sheng, Xu Yue, and the other experts of the Yue Mountain Faction all came to the field to show their regards to Guo Yuqing.
They had all been informed of Guo Yuqing’s identity by then. So, they knew he was the master of the Wolf Temple and had once been one of the Nine Superbs in the World. But none of them seemed to know that the master of the Wolf Temple who once ranked among the Nine Superbs was, in fact, a demon called Jiang Qiubai.
…
…
Qin City, capital of the Western Qin.
In the depths of the royal palace, a middle-aged man sitting in the throne slowly opened his eyes.
He was Emperor Qin Ming.
The royal family of the Western Qin shared unique genes, which had made them all very attractive. Emperor Qin Ming was no exception. His face was smooth like jade. His chin was strewn with black whisks. His facial features were exquisite. The bridge of his nose was high and straight, his mouth wide, his cheeks ample. All that gave him the charm only sophisticated men had. But at the moment, his handsome face was distorted by a trace of fury.
“Yingshan Snow-eagle, you idiot! You got yourself killed by a teenage boy! You ruined my whole scheme! One of the Nine Vile Infants had been destroyed. I have to tweak my plan.”
In front of the throne suspended nine tablets made of white jade.
The one that carried Yingshan Snow-eagle’s name was broken. Cracks were spreading across its surface, as if it would blast any second. From the cracks, wisps of black evil qi were seeping out and dissipating in the air.
Emperor Qin Ming opened his mouth and eagerly inhaled all the threads of black evil qi, as though they were the most delicious food in the world.
He was fuming solely over the death of Yingshan Snow-eagle. As to what happened to the crown prince… he could not care less.
Given his current lifespan and health condition, he had more than enough time to have another son and train him into his successor. To say the least, he had many sons who had come of age. Any of them could take charge of the state affairs for him for the time being. Therefore, Emperor Qin Ming attached little importance to offspring. The Great Way was uncaring. As he had gained such high cultivation, he barely had any interest in furthering his fatherhood.
The death of the crown prince did not threaten the continuance of the royal bloodline.
It just dented his esteem.
To Emperor Qin Ming, having two sons been killed by Li Mu in a row gravely challenged the imperial prestige.
“How can I awe the world if I let Li Mu keep breathing?”
“It’s just that this is not the time.”
“Because someone is protecting him.”
He kept playing the scene when Guo Yuqing confronted him in his mind. Although at that time Guo Yuqing was thousands of miles away, the emperor knew perfectly how powerful the man controlling the Wolf Temple was. He had no odds against that man, at least in the short term.
“Has the gods the Wolf Temple worships descended on this planet?”
Emperor Qin Ming suspected.
In the past, it was the Nine Superbs who stabilized the martial arts society. The Nine Superbs were equally matched. And the master of the Wolf Temple was one of them. Emperor Qin Ming had reckoned that he could triumph over a Superb after he fully accomplished his demonic cultivation. However, how could the master of the Wolf Temple intimidate the emperor on his comeback after five years’ fooling around?
Had the emperor underrated the power of the Nine Superbs?
Emperor Qin Ming slightly knitted his brows. Soon, he had an idea.
“Guards,” he ordered, “fetch me Wang Zelong, the Military Council.”
Moments later, a senior general with white hair and white beard came to the hall.
“Your Majesty!” Wang Zelong grunted. He had served Emperor Qin Ming since the beginning of his administration. His loyalty had been proved many times, so Emperor Qin Ming trusted him most.
“Has the desert race in the utmost west accepted my terms?” Emperor Qin Ming asked. When he went out of the closed-door training, he immediately sent an envoy to the west to request the desert race to retreat and compensate the loss the Western Qin had suffered.
Wang Zelong carefully weighed his words and reported, “Your Majesty, the pope of the Magic Sun Temple in the desert has come to the borders in person and commanded their army. Our envoy has been beheaded. But I have dispatched reinforcement to the border area in the northwest. The Heaven Inspire Army led by General Li Yuanba has gotten ready. Tomorrow, they can head to the border area and wage a war, deliver a heavy blow to the desert race…”
Emperor Qin Ming waved him down and said resolutely, “Don’t bother. Let Li Yuanba go to the southeast. He shall recover the land he lost himself. Dealing with the evil reminders of the Great Moon Empire and their crown prince is just children’s play. How could he have lost my ten cities and nine counties? That Li Yuanba is growing less and less competent.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Wang Zelong took the order at once. Then, he asked hesitantly, “What about the northwest? The desert race is going rampant. Their armies have approached our territory. We must be on our guard for that. Shall we send an army there? I’d venture to say, if General Li Yuanba is not going to the northwest, no one but Grand Chancellor, Guan Minren, can keep the situation in check.”
Emperor Qin Ming sneered and said, “No need. I’ll go there myself.”
Wang Zelong was stunned. “Your Majesty will go on the expedition? This is something we need to discuss…”
Emperor Qin Ming rose to his feet and said in an unchallengeable tone, “I’ve made up my mind.” Then, the conversation took a sharp turn as he announced, “Here is the imperial edict. Strip Li Mu’s ‘Lord Taibai’ title and demote him as a common folk. He shall come to the capital and confess his wrongdoings within half a month. If not, Taibai Mountain will be flattened.”
…
…
At the end of the summer in the year 1152, the new calendar of the Divine Land, several world-shaking events occurred.
First, it was reported that Yingshan Snow-eagle, the god of killing that also went by the name Emperor’s Broadsword, though had been deemed dead long ago, was just killed in the Yue Mountain by Lord Taibai, Li Mu. Those who met their downfall at the main peak of the Yue Mountain along with Yingshan Snow-eagle included the crown prince of the Western Qin Empire, some imperial Executives, and more than 100 experts from various sects that had attached themselves to the Western Qin Empire, as well as 30,000 imperial soldiers…
When that news came out, the entire world gasped.
That incident was deemed as the most inconceivable internal strife the Western Qin Empire had ever had.
Yingshan Snow-eagle and Li Mu were both top practitioners in the Western Qin Empire. The former was the god of killing who had long since made his name, the later was rising star from the younger generation. In terms of fame, Yingshan Snow-eagle did triumph over Li Mu. He was, after all, a mighty martial arts practitioner who had fended off all but one strikes the Guanshan Master launched in their duel. Nevertheless, in the end, the back wave drove the front wave to death.
At that news, the first thought that jumped into people’s mind was not how on earth Li Mu got so mighty but—
Had Li Mu lost his mind?
As a subject of the Western Qin, he had first killed the second prince, and then the crown prince…
Good heavens! Even those in the Northern Song or the Southern Chu could not go that far, could they?
All sorts of inside stories bandied about without a stop.
Some declared that the defensive deployment of the Yue Mountain Faction had been restored. Some pointed out that the 30,000 imperial soldiers were killed by Yingshan Snow-eagle’s evil strike. Some focused on the reason that Li Mu drew his broadsword in rage… Those pieces of news shook the nerves of the masses over and over again.
Mingled in all those rumors and messages, the news about Emperor Qin Ming’s completion of the closed-door training and reinstatement in his post came out. At first, it attracted little attention. But when the force in the northwest of the Western Qin Empire disclosed that Emperor Qin Ming had gone on the expedition himself and killed the pope of the Magic Sun Temple at the top of the Mingsha Mountain in the utmost west, the whole world simmered with thrill.
