Chapter 370 – Utterly Defeated
[Purple Eye] Du Heng had always thought that tonight’s situation, even if it was not quite the same as his plan at the start, he would still have the advantage and that victory was within his grasp. Why was it that at this moment the situation had developed into one that was impossible to stop halfway?
His gaze was firmly fixed on Ye Qingyu who was charging over with a sword.
It seems that the only reason the situation had progressed to this state was because he had not taken into account the strength of the young opponent in front of him.
This was his only oversight when he made his final decision.
In his original plan, with him acting, he could defeat several people amongst the young experts within the Thunder Army, and establish his authority. Cooperating with the [Ten Gods of Slaughter] and the guest masters of the Imperial Du Residence, he could kill those eighteen young experts.
Even if he could not really kill them all, as long as he defeated these 18 people tonight, it was still undoubtedly a huge blow to the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince thought that the selection and assembly of young military experts and his assistance this time were done in secret, but the majority of the real upper influential officials of the imperial capital had already known about this. And the people that knew about this also understood that this was another effort of the Crown Prince due to his decline in power in these years.
But in Du Heng’s eyes, this was just a futile and pale struggle.
The Crown Prince’s power had been declining not only in these one or two years.
Ever since he was named Crown Prince, the Snow Emperor seemed to be less concerned about the heir that he appointed himself.
Especially in recent years. Ever since the Snow Emperor had been learning martial techniques, he had stayed secluded to cultivate himself and rarely showed interest in government affairs. The power of the Empire was now in the hands of the major aristocratic families, with the leading one being the right government minister. And because of the Crown Prince’s timid nature, bad politics, and his continuous errors in decision-making, his assistants had fallen, so his power as the heir was repeatedly sliding away. And for some reason, he was repeatedly suppressed by the strongest political circle of the Empire, led by the right government minister, and had gradually lost the authority to speak.
Ever since the Snow Emperor had stayed secluded to cultivate, if it was not for the Chang Princess speaking up for the Crown Prince several times before, this so-called Crown Prince would have been swallowed up so badly that not even his bones would remain.
In the imperial court where martial artists dominate, the ruthless degree of the political struggle was far more terrifying than that of ordinary imperial courts. If this continues, then most likely, before the current Snow Emperor could make a decision, the Crown Prince would be overthrown.
Now that the political situation of the Snow Country was increasingly brutal and the power of the royal family was gradually fading away. If the Crown Prince lost his status, he most likely cannot even protect his own life.
If the Crown Prince was overthrown, it would undoubtedly be a long-lasting and important strategic victory for the Right Minister,
So tonight, even if [Purple Eye] Du Heng was able to guess the background of Ye Qingyu and the other people, he still chose to take a risk and directly attacked the 18 young experts, wanting to inflict heavy losses to the Crown Prince and become the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.
But he never had thought that what he got was not the perfect ending that he imagined.
But a relentless head-on heavy blow.
Losing three Bitter Sea experts in one battle, for the Du household, this loss was tantamount to being mercilessly stabbed in the heart.
If he also lost to this so-called [War God], then the scheme that they painstakingly planned to deal with the [Whip of Thunder Deity] would be more like digging a hole for him to jump down into.
This was an absolutely unacceptable situation.
The battle continued.
But the more Du Heng thought, the more distracted he was.
So his hand was moving much slower than before.
In a battle between top-ranking experts, any signs of weakness or slip ups may lead to lifelong regret, not to mention that at this moment there were so many distractions on his mind.
Swoosh!
A sword light came gushing over.
His purple robe was torn.
A section of the robe was directly cut apart, and then momentary crushed into pieces by the silver dancing-snake-like sword light, sword qi and sword intent.
Almost a few strands of long hair were chopped off.
Du Heng only felt a bone-chilling coldness rubbing at his temple and passing by, like the moment the god of death was descending, and instantly he almost saw blood spattering.
“It’s you that forced me.”
He finally made up his mind.
He must strike a fatal blow.
The spear exploded. An endless spear light was scattering.
The sudden eruption was finally stopping Ye Qingyu’s offense for a moment, while Du Heng took advantage of the opportunity, launching an attack.
Du Heng’s purple eyes were flashing a dark chilling colour, his face twisted in a sinister glare. His mouth shot open and a fierce, matchless purple intent came gushing out.
Suddenly heaven and earth shook, like supernatural beings were coming out.
Among the purple light was an aura that made all people within the formation tremble all over, like it was the roar of the mountain and the cry of the sea. And an indescribable imposing force, like some kind of supernatural beings, were madly howling in another world causing everyone to shiver with fear.
Even Ye Qingyu also felt that the yuan qi within his body was slightly suppressed by the terrifying power within the purple intent, immediately feeling a tendency of collapsing…
Beneath the ground.
The hundreds of soldiers in the distance were screaming miserably, like a ruptured balloon, booming and exploding. White fragments of bones and fresh blood spattered, and were instantly turning into pieces of flesh…
Only a few slightly stronger guards of the Du household were able to escape this calamity, sputtering blood and stumbling back several steps in fear.
The [Ten Gods of Slaughter] that were facing the young experts were also petrified by the force, staggering back and stopped fighting, staring in astonishment at the wisps of purple light in the night sky.
“Not good, [War God], danger!”
“What kind of power is that?”
“A Dao weapon? Or a secret skill?”
Countless thoughts rose in the mind of the young experts.
Every youngster’s face was filled with shock and apprehension, but it all happened too suddenly that they couldn’t help Ye Qingyu in time…
Watching Ye Qingyu being engulfed by the purple light…
At this moment, an unexpected change happened.
Suddenly, a silvery glimmer flashed before Ye Qingyu’s body.
This glimmer could only be perceived by a top expert. The light was very faint, like a ray of sunlight piercing through a pinhole or small crack, and like a strand of silver hair from an old grandmother, that seemed like it would bend when breathed on!
However, this touch of light was so tough that the purple light, which seemed like it could swallow the heaven and earth, was not able to bend it in the slightest.
When the silvery glimmer floated in front of Ye Qingyu, the terrifying purple brilliance was no longer able to advance further.
[Purple Eye] Du Heng’s eyes were wide with disbelief.
But right after that split second of shock, he suddenly thought of something, his face took on a sudden change of expression, like he had just seen a ghost, and he was screaming in fear: “3,000 feet of white hair? It’s 3,000 feet of white hair? That’s impossible… How could it be in your hands…?”
Before his voice died away.
The wisp of silvery light that was floating in front of Ye Qingyu moved.
The silver light suddenly rotated, infinitely elongating, and like a thin piece of silk wrapping around the purple light…
The purple light also sensed danger, frantically struggled, but could not move at all.
The next moment, the silver white light converged to one point.
In a flash, the purple brilliance looked like a fresh and soft purple tofu, gently being cut into several thin purple pieces, suddenly losing all its spiritual nature and dispersing in the air.
“Ah…”
[Purple Eye] Du Heng let out a roar, opened his mouth and jets of blood arrows shot out.
The purple light and him were connected by blood vessels, just like it was a part of his body. When it was crushed, a sharp pain instantly came and his face was instantly pale as a piece of white paper, his body trembling, and he directly lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground like a block of wood…
“Master!”
“Not good…”
This time round it was the [Ten Gods of Slaughter] that were filled with despair.
Someone dashed out with no thought of personal safety, holding Du Heng in his arms.
The other gods of slaughter of the city’s north district patrol camp were both scared and furious. As though they were on guard against possible dangers, they protected the unconscious Du Heng in the middle, afraid that Ye Qingyu would take advantage of the situation and attack.
Fortunately, Ye Qingyu had not made a move yet.
Although filled with killing intent, Ye Qingyu still knew what he should or should not do.
After all, in the imperial capital, killing a few of the subordinates of the Du household was nothing big, but killing the eldest son of the Du household and the commander of the city north district patrol camp, then the problem is huge. No matter for what reason, they would not be forgiven by the Empire, and mostly likely, he and the other young experts would have to embark on the road of escape the next moment.
“Still not withdrawing the formation?”
Ye Qingyu cast a glance at the [Ten Gods of Slaughter].
He stood tall and straight in the dark night sky, his black hair that was flying upward seemed to have fused together with the night sky. The mottled [Beheading Wind] sword in his hands was still wreathed in a faint silver flame, like a deity’s sword. The sword could be regarded as a matchless weapon, just like the god of war who had remained undefeated after hundreds of battles, which was impossible to regard upon close by.
If previously, it was only the young experts that had full confidence in his strength, this was not the case anymore. Everyone in the formation currently, including those patrolling soldiers who had already lost the ability to think, the frightened [Ten Gods of Slaughter], had already been stunned by this young man floating in the black sky.
Even a fool would understand what this battle tonight signified.
The rise of an expert is the downfall of countless other strong experts.
[Purple Eye] Du Heng who was ranked 99th on the [Heavenly Officer List]. Tonight, he had suffered a crushing defeat. This news was absolutely impossible to kept a secret. It could be imagined that, in a short amount of time, the message would, as though it had grown a pair of wings, spread across the Empire.
At that time, what kind of crazy sensation it would cause was something the [Ten Gods of Slaughter] dared not think of.
And the person that defeated commander Du Heng would no doubt become someone that the entire imperial capital would be concerned about.
This terrifying young man…
Really found the quickest way to amaze the world with a single brilliant feat.
Facing Ye Qingyu, the [Ten Gods of Slaughter] knew that, under the situation that their commander had been defeated, even if they continued to keep the young experts behind with the rune formation, it was meaningless.
After a brief deliberation, they chose to surrender.
The god of slaughter that was ranked first opened his mouth and issued a command.
There was a formation signal coming from the purple airship.
Then in the air there was a dark ripple, which was almost invisible to the naked eye, and the original opaque darkness faded away, like an invisible giant hand was tearing away the black curtain that was originally covering this piece of heaven and earth. As the darkness receded, the original bright starry sky and towering buildings appeared once again as though a formation lamp had been lit.
The various noises that were isolated before were ringing in everyone’s ears once again.
Even the air of the night sky, had become fresh and clean.
“Let’s go.”
Ye Qingyu carried Qiu Fenghan on his back and said to the young experts.
“Haha, let’s go!”
“The battle tonight was really satisfying.”
“Haha, who dares stop us now.”
After this battle, the friendship between the young experts was obviously much deeper, and even the people that were usually very quiet, their face lit up in a big smile. The expression on black-robed youngster [Shadow’s] face was also much brighter.
The crowd landed in front of the formation airship.
Ye Qingyu boarded the airship, when suddenly a gentle voice came from behind him, along with a faint orchid aroma. Qiu Fenghan who had been unconscious all this time, had suddenly regained consciousness.
