The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 193 Alliance

Wuyazi didn’t know how Li Ye could achieve Level 9 of Qi-refining. It had been only seven years since Li Ye succeeded in Qi-refining Stage in the Tai Xuan Summit. Even though he achieved one realm each year, he should be at Level 7 of Qi-refining, but now, it was obvious to Wuyazi that he was already at Level 9.

But, of course, Wuyazi didn’t fear Li Ye, not even afraid of him. He was now halfway through the Foundation-building Stage. There were very few people who had higher cultivation than him in the entire Zhongnan Mountain.

It was very difficult to make progress when a person was already at high-level Qi-refining. There wouldn’t have been so few people in high-level Qi-refining otherwise. From Level 9 of Qi-refining to the Great Completion to the semi Foundation-building Stage, there seemed to be no threshold, but in fact, every step had a barrier. So Wuyazi knew that he had enough to overwhelm Li Ye only relying on the realm of his cultivation.

“Since you’re seeking death, then I will help you!”

With those words, Wuyazi waved the horsetail whisk casually, natural and unrestrained. He looked very calm. Stars and the moon were shining in the night sky earlier, but now, a large dark mass of cloud was coming from nowhere, covering the radius of hundreds of meters like a curtain.

The dark clouds were speckled with white light. Beams of light were falling like stars.

Wuyazi’s robe swayed even though there was no wind, and his long hair fluttered backward. His expression wasn’t ferocious, but his eyes looked murderous. He gave Li Ye a push arrogantly. “The world is in chaos, and the Tang Empire will fall. Do you think I dare not kill you because you’re Prince An? At present, the world belongs to the Qi Empire and my Immortal sect of Zhongnan Mountain!”

His palm seemed slow, but in fact, it was fast. Countless firefly lights appeared around his palm, flitting around each other like butterflies around flowers. In the process of his palm-push, firefly lights were growing. Finally, it was as if Wuyazi’s hand was the night sky and countless stars were flying on his palm.

Meanwhile, the beams of white light in the black clouds fell in the radius of hundreds of meters like sunlight, as bright as in the daytime. A huge 60 meter-long palm came out of the clouds with stars and the moon. As soon as it appeared, the white light shone brightly, covering everything, so that people couldn’t open their eyes. At that very moment, it rushed towards Li Ye.

This place seemed to have become an independent space and Wuyazi was the Lord, so he could turn the sun, the moon and the stars into his own power and issue a blow to destroy everything.

Zhou Ji was unable to withstand such great pressure. His clothes crackled. He fell to the ground as his legs weakened. With his head low and his face pale, he gasped for air, shaking uncontrollably.

In this case, he was unable to resist. What was more, if the pressure continued any longer, his body would fall apart and he would die from exploding?

Yang Fuguang was a little better. He managed to stand up, but he trembled and clenched his teeth. Looking up at the anomaly of the night sky, he could feel the terror of the cultivation in Foundation-building Stage.

If a person’s cultivation reached the Foundation-building Stage, he could form a realm. Inside the realm, the cultivator could control everything on his own and do anything he wanted. Wuyazi had partly stepped into the threshold of the Spiritual Master Realm. Even though he was unable to form a realm, he was able to use the skills that were on a par with the realm.

A cultivator in Qi-refining Stage was definitely unable to defeat such skills, even though he was at Level 9 of Qi-refining.

Yang Fuguang’s cultivation was just at Level 8 of Qi-refining, so he knew he would die, but he wasn’t afraid. However, Li Ye suddenly came here and it was obviously to help him, so he didn’t want Li Ye to die here. Li Ye was at Level 9 of Qi-refining, so maybe he would have a chance to flee. Yang Fuguang tried his best to shout in a shrill voice, “Run, Prince An!”

Li Ye looked calm. He didn’t leave and he didn’t intend to leave.

He pulled out the sword, his Luke Sword.

As the hilt started coming away from the sheath, a flash of green light appeared. In such a short distance, the green light shot out in all directions, like the sun. As though Li Ye had pulled out the sun and not the sword.

In the starry sky with the white light, a flash of green light appeared suddenly. As soon as it appeared, it spread unstoppably. It devoured the white light inch by inch, and finally, it rivaled the white light all over the sky.

The Luke Sword was completely out of its sheath, but its body couldn’t be seen because it had already turned into the green light, like a burning fire. The fire was constantly devouring the white light around it, like a black hole.

With a calm look, Li Ye lifted his sword and chopped it down. His movements were as effortless as brushing the dust.

In an instant, the Luke Sword roared. Its roar went straight up to the night sky. Before the roar disappeared, a heart-stopping howl of a dragon was heard suddenly. The green light on the sword shone brightly, and the fire surged like waves. A green dragon leaped out from the green light. At the beginning, it was only one meter, but it became 100 meters as it left the sword. With lightning speed, it rushed towards the huge palm which was pressing down from the sky.

Being hit by the green dragon, the immortal’s palm, which had great pressure as if it could crush everything, was punctured like a piece of paper, turning into white clouds, and dissipated. The green dragon howled and continued to fly upwards, directly breaking through the dark clouds all over the sky. When the black clouds were eliminated, countless stars were broken and falling like snowflakes. The sky was ablaze with light.

The sky was clear again. The bright moon and starry sky were the same, the Milky Way was hanging high like a ribbon, and clear light fell on the streets. Only the green dragon was soaring in the sky.

Just at this moment, Li Ye chopped his Luke Sword down.

The green dragon suddenly leaped out and rushed towards Wuyazi, opening its mouth and waving its claws. Its unpredictable speed was as fast as lightning.

The pressure on Zhou Ji disappeared suddenly along with the breath he struggled to keep. He was so tired that he collapsed on the roof. He opened his eyes wide and forgot to breathe as he saw the green dragon soaring.

Yang Fuguang was distracted.

When the palm disappeared and the clouds dissipated, Wuyazi spurted out a mouthful of blood, stepped backward and almost fell off the roof.

Seeing the green dragon rushing towards him, he felt an unprecedented danger. He was too frightened to resist. He wanted to turn around and flee but found that his Spiritual Qi flowed slowly and he couldn’t mobilize it, as if it were imprisoned.

Wuyazi’s eyes were wide with fear. He knew clearly it was because his cultivation was suppressed, the same way he’d suppressed Zhou Ji and Yang Fuguang.

But Li Ye was only at Level 9 of Qi-refining. Why was Li Ye able to suppress him instead?

At the very moment of life and death, Wuyazi bit the tip of his tongue and spurted out a mouthful of blood. With a shrill scream, he was finally able to move. All he thought of then was to throw out the horsetail whisk to stop the green dragon for a moment so he could turn around to flee.

The whisk only succeeded in making the green dragon turn its head slightly, but couldn’t stop it. At this time, it was already behind Wuyazi. It bit down on Wuyazi. Wuyazi’s semi Foundation-building Stage cultivation burst suddenly. He bit the tip of his tongue and spurted out another mouthful of blood. His speed increased dramatically at the cost of burning his life.

But he was still a step too slow. The green dragon bit his right arm and directly ripped it off. Blood and flesh exploded in the air.

The green dragon didn’t slow down and crashed into the courtyard. Its head, which was several meters wide, smashed into the houses and created a big hole in the ground over three meters deep. Dust flew everywhere.

The one-armed Wuyazi disappeared over the city wall. He didn’t even have time to utter a malicious word when he left.

Li Ye stood with the sword and didn’t go after him.

He didn’t come here to kill the Taoists of Zhongnan Mountain, so it wasn’t necessary to waste his time for a cultivator who hadn’t reached the Spiritual Master Realm. After his cultivation achieved Level 9 of Qi-refining, only the cultivators in the Spiritual Master Realm would attract his attention.

Zhou Ji had already got up. Previously, he was very respectful to Li Ye, but now he didn’t dare to look at Li Ye directly and only bowed his head in awe. Although Yang Fuguang was a eunuch, he had an extraordinary bearing. At this moment, he could still stand up straight, but he looked at Li Ye as if the latter was an immortal.

At Level 9 of Qi-refining cultivation, Li Ye defeated Wuyazi who was at semi Foundation-building Stage. The calmer Li Ye was, the more unfathomable he seemed to Yang Fuguang.

The battle didn’t stop there. The Senior and Junior Priestesses and Song Jiao were still fighting the Zhongnan Four Swords fiercely, but it seemed that the Zhongnan Four Swords were at a disadvantage. They were unhappy that Wuyazi was injured by Li Ye and had run away. They wanted to retreat, but they were pinned down by Song Jiao’s Coldness of Yi River.

At this moment, the Zhongnan Four Swords bit the tips of their tongues together and, at the cost of burning their lives, suddenly opened the distance. Temporarily rid of the Coldness of Yi River’s control, they turned around getting ready to fly off.

Li Ye snorted coldly and wielded his Luke Sword four times in the air. Four green Sword Qis flew out, turning into four green lotuses, and quickly caught up with the Zhongnan Four Swords. He allowed Wuyazi to escape because he didn’t want to waste his strength chasing him, but how could he let the Zhongnan Four Swords run away so easily?

When the green lotuses approached from behind, the Zhongnan Four Swords didn’t intend to catch them because they had no time to waste, so they made up their minds to flee even though they would be injured. But they miscalculated. The four green lotuses hit their backs, causing blood to spurt out in a mist. They fell from the sky, smashed houses and walls, and couldn’t get up for a while.

The angry Senior and Junior Priestesses and Song Jiao naturally wouldn’t miss such a good opportunity. The Zhongnan Four Swords’ bodies were partly covered by frost, and then they were immediately killed by the chains of green leaves and the white silk.

The famous Zhongnan Four Swords were now erased from the world.

Having dealt with opponents who came to stir up trouble, Li Ye retrieved his Luke Sword and explained the purpose of his visit. He hoped that they could work together to fight against Zhu Wen with joint armies. This was exactly what Yang Fuguang and Zhou Ji had planned together, so they had no objection and agreed to it immediately.

A fierce fight was going on at the inspector’s mansion, so Yang Fuguang’s trusted generals and the g Army came from all directions. Yang Fuguang and Zhou Ji didn’t try to reassure the people but took the opportunity to loudly publicize that Zhu Wen ordered the Taoists of Zhongnan Mountain to assassinate them.

Facing the soldiers who gathered in the streets outside the mansion, Zhou Ji and Yang Fuguang burned with righteous indignation. They blamed Huang Chao and Zhu Wen’s crimes one by one and successfully stirred up all the soldiers’ emotions. Sharing bitter hatred of the enemy, the two took the opportunity to declare their stance and called on all the soldiers of the Zhongwu Army to get ready to fight against Zhu Wen, immediately attracting all the soldiers to respond in chorus.

Actually, Wuyazi didn’t intend to kill Yang Fuguang and Zhou Ji. He came here to control Yang Fuguang and make sure Zhou Ji had no other ideas, but he didn’t expect the two men to have plotted a revolt against Zhu Wen. So Wuyazi intended to capture them first and force them to obey his orders to help Zhu Wen to control the Zhongwu Army.

Li g sudden arrival ruined Wuyazi’s plan. He was forced to fight, and ended up fleeing with serious injuries.

At the gate of the mansion, Yang Fuguang was making an impassioned speech. Bitterly, he said to the hundreds of Zhongwu Army soldiers gathered in the street, “Ever since Huang Chao rebelled, the Central Plains has endured years of war. Most of the states and counties have become desolate. Countless families have been ruined and torn apart. A lot of fertile land has become wasteland. The starving and the dead are everywhere. It’s a shame that the capital fell and the emperor went west. We soldiers are supported by the country, so we should fight enemies on the battlefield and sacrifice our lives to serve the country. How can we be afraid of war because we want to protect ourselves, just like women and children?”

The sentiments of the Zhongwu Army soldiers ran very high. At this moment, all of them hit their chests with their fists and hit their shields with their swords. The sound resonated, awakening the night and echoed endlessly in the streets. “Kill the rebels and serve the country!”

“Kill the rebels and serve the country!”

“Kill the rebels and serve the country!”

Yang Fuguang continued, “Prince An spared no pains to lead a hundred thousand troops to the Central Plains from Pinglu. He intends to fight until death to serve the country and wipe out the rebels. We, the soldiers of the Zhongwu Army, are all brave, loyal and righteous men, so how can we fall behind in killing the rebels and serving the country? Everyone, the rebel Zhu Wen is in Dezhou, so what should we do?!”

“Kill him!”

“Kill him!”

“Kill him!”

Their cries rent the air, and their momentum was overwhelming. At this moment, it seemed that nothing would stop the soldiers of the Zhongwu Army.

Li Ye was filled with emotion as he witnessed the scene. He finally took notice of Yang Fuguang and began to appreciate him.

He heard of Yang Fuguang before the transmigration. He was talented and loyal to the Tang Empire. Later, Yang Fuguang made painstaking efforts to facilitate troops from every town to join in the fight against Huang Chao. After all, there were many conflicts of interest involved.

Li Keyong led the troops to march straight in, annihilating Huang Chao’s main force and finally recovering Chang’an. That was the result of Yang Fuguang’s operation.

In the process of settling the Huang Chao Uprising, Yang Fuguang, among all the eunuchs, had contributed greatly to the situation. Although Tian Lingzi still had the authority after the war, he was an invisible man at present. Later on, what voice he had was only to contend for power and profit.

After Yang Fuguang’s speech, Zhou Ji immediately ordered the Zhongwu Army to prepare for war. They were to set off in a few days.

After the fierce fight, the houses and walls of the inspector’s mansion suffered massive damages. Zhou Ji suggested that everyone discuss the affairs at the commissioner’s mansion. Li Ye had no special requirement and didn’t want the trouble of shuttling to and fro, so he proposed to find a quiet courtyard. Yang Fuguang and Zhou Ji wouldn’t disagree with Li Ye, so they followed Li Ye’s advice.

At the time of discussion, there were only Li Ye, Song Jiao, Yang Fuguang and Zhou Ji in the hall. The Senior and Junior Priestesses didn’t get involved in military affairs, so they served as guards in the courtyard.

“Zhu Wen has recently occupied Dengzhou, so the foothold is shaky and the repair of the city’s defense has not yet been completed. It’s well worth it for the troops of Pinglu and Zhongwu to attack Dengzhou.” Yang Fuguang was confident about the situation. “If we can also summon the troops of Xiangyang to lay siege to Zhu Wen on both sides, Zhu Wen will surely be defeated.”

“I’m afraid that Liu Jurong, who is in Xiangyang, won’t send his troops easily.” Zhou Ji had no confidence in Liu Jurong.

“Even without Liu Jurong, it’s still possible to defeat Zhu Wen,” said Li Ye. He had no expectation of Liu Jurong. “However, the Zhongwu Army has to be of one heart.”

His latter sentence referred to Qin Zongquan who was in Caizhou of course. Li Ye also heard of Qin Zongquan before the transmigration. Yang Fuguang died young. His death was sudden. Without his help, Zhou Ji was unable to beat Qin Zongquan and was finally replaced by him.

After that, Qin Zongquan’s force soared and, for a time, became one of the most powerful feudal princes in the Central Plains. He and Zhu Wen fought against each other for many years.