The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 218 Go With the Trend

Li Keyong knew that his army could not compare to an army of such standards. In fact, there was no Vassal State Army in the world that could approach its greatness. Perhaps the former elite Regal Guards were of his sort of level.

Was this still the Pinglu army of old?

Of course not.

Li Keyong clearly understood that this Pinglu army before him, whether measured by courage or fighting will, even the marching formations had far exceeded the previous Pinglu Army! The previous Pinglu Army was neat, but lacked courage. The current Pinglu army however, was made up of tigers and wolves!

This was an army of tigers and wolves!

Li Keyong was frightened and pale. He wondered where this army had come from.

He looked at Huiming, and saw that Huiming looked as usual. But his eyes were low, obviously he was also frightened and angry!

He had to be angry!

This army, of course, did not emerge suddenly. The only explanation was that Li Ye had kept them hidden for a long time. He deliberately hid them to avoid them being seen and suddenly let them out today!

If Li Ye had sent out this army earlier, without the interference of the Taoist sect’s Spiritual Master Realm cultivators, maybe the twelve cities of Jinggu would have already been breached. Even Tongguan, which Zhao Polu tried to take, could have been taken. At least they would not have been beaten back before properly setting up the cloud ladder frames.

So cunning!

Li Keyong stood on a protruding hill and looked at the battlefield in the distance. He clenched teeth and wondered, “Li Ye is so insidious; what does he want?”

Before Li Keyong could think further, the Pinglu soldiers that were attacking the square city suddenly burst out in cheers like the mountains and the seas were whistling. A figure in green robes wielding a sword suddenly flew up from the army and leaped into the air. His long sword with cyan light shining like a bright moon sliced three times in succession.

Three streaks of two-hundred-feet long Sword Qi landed on the most rigorous defensive area of the square city. The city seemed to tremble in the violent blast, and it seemed the whole mountain had trembled with it. Gravel was directly buried under the sharp Sword Qi, with even making few splashes.

A large section of the city wall had been broken after the Sword Qi dissipated, revealing a concave gap of over ten feet!

Though there was a gap, the city wall had not been flattened, but the morale of the soldiers had greatly increased. Now even the low leveled cultivators could directly rush into the city from the gap. Soon the flood of armored guards was like a giant snake and kept pouring into the city from the gap.

The green-robed figure with the sword did not stop, and continued wielding the Sword. The Sword Qi landed on the crowded city wall. Suddenly the gravel flew, and blood poured like waterfall. Under every streak of Sword Qi, the bodies of the rebels fell down within over a hundred feet radius. Only the well trained, high leveled cultivators could survive it. But the defense formation had all but gone as the black-armored Pinglu Army constantly poured in.

Li Keyong stared at the figure firmly and his hands couldn’t stop trembling. He certainly saw it; it was Li Ye!

He actually attacked in person!

Li Keyong absolutely did not believe that Li Ye had intended to fight at the outset!

But why didn’t he wear the cultivator’s high-defense armor with runes and enchantments inscribed on it? He was just wearing a green robe?

Li Keyong had no time to think about it now. Seeing that Pinglu Army attacked in waves, climb onto the city from all over the place and poured into the city. Wearing a heavy expression, Li Keyong suddenly turned towards Huiming and asked, “Where are the Spiritual Master Realm Taoists? Aren’t they in Tongguan? Why are they still not attacking?”

Suddenly, a 2.7-meters monk with bronze skin and muscles bulging like mountains appeared behind Huiming. The towering monk looked like a war behemoth where ever he stood. The average person could even not reach his chest. He looked serious with clearly defined features like the angry Buddha warriors on the wall paintings, giving people a sense of oppression.

Li Keyong felt that kind of oppression. As a cultivator who reached Qi-refining Level 9, the feeling was very clear. It was a sense of oppression that only a Spiritual Master Realm cultivator could have. This tower-like monk, who was dressed in a cassock, was comparable to a cultivator of the Spiritual Master Realm. In the Buddhism, such a leveled cultivator was a Kong Kim Realm one!

Huiming did not say anything, but the monk spoke, “The Spiritual Master Realm taoists are in Tongguan.”

“If they’re in Tongguan, then they are just a few steps from here. Why haven’t they made an appearance? I mean even the last square city is about to be taken! If they lose all the twelve Jinggu cities, they have no chance of guarding Tongguan! Why don’t they make a move?” Li Keyong did not scream, but he was angry and enunciated every word heavily. He wasn’t mad at Monk Huiming, with both fists clenched tightly, he stared at the square city that was about to be swallowed by the waves of armored guards.

Wearing a heavy expression, Huiming put his palms together devoutly and said Amitabha. But he did not answer Li Keyong’s question.

He couldn’t answer.

The Spiritual Master Realm cultivators were indeed in Tongguan. In fact they were there still, but they just didn’t make a move at all!

Li Keyong suddenly stared at Huiming and said, “Li Ye is right here, and this is not exactly an open space. Even with the tens of thousands of soldiers by his side, if the two Spiritual Master Realm taoists wanted to, they could kill Li Ye.”

As Li Keyong said that, he suddenly fell silent.

Li Keyong himself had brought along two Buddhist Kong Kim Realm cultivators. Of course the Zhongnan Mountain taoists was not about to charge into ten thousand soldiers and brashly make a move on Li Ye. They were afraid of meeting the Kong Kim Realm cultivators and being attacked by ten thousand soldiers.

“Even so, they still could have guarded the square city right?”

“Why didn’t the two Spiritual Master Realm taoists guard the square city?”

Li Keyong thought it was ridiculous and unimaginable, he just couldn’t accept the fact that the taoists did nothing.

Li Ye stood there with his sword in his hand.

The Pinglu soldiers had already breached the Square City and the rebels within either died or surrendered. Under his thunderous attacks, the rebels had no chance of defending. Though there were high-leveled Qi-refining cultivators among the rebels, Li Ye was not alone. The Junior Priestess and Senior Priestess were just behind him, along the way, he had already killed a Qi-refining Level 9 cultivator and quite a few Qi-refining Level 8 cultivators. There weren’t any high-level Qi-refining cultivators left in the rebel army, even with the remaining Qi-refining Level 7 cultivators on their side, they did not dare to make a move.

The city wall that Li Ye had taken sat on the north of the square city, which was also the wall that faced Tongguan. As he looked at Tongguan before him, he was calm. With the Luke Sword in his hand, his eyes revealed a fighting spirit, like a burning fire.

Beside Li Ye were the elite cultivators that had flown over from the city wall. Waves of battle cries and screams erupted from the city gates below his feet. The guards charged out of the gates like a flood.

Out of the ten thousand or thousands of Pinglu soldiers, a few were designated to keep watch on the prisoners. Most of the guards, under the leadership of Liu Dazheng, charged out of the city gates, up the mountain path and headed for Tongguan!

Having breached the square city, they did not stop but went directly to take over Tongguan, which was by Li Ye’s design!

Jinggu and Tongguan sat on a corner backing each other naturally, which meant that they were interdependent and help each other if one was attacked. Naturally, it also meant that you could bypass Tongguan’s steepest and biggest wall and attack Tongguan from the side if you headed out from Jinggu.

The new soldiers of the Pinglu army had already fought through months of the Guandong war, which meant they were already elite. They were already well-trained and armored. Not to mention that they had quite a large percentage of cultivators among them. Now with their momentum and spirit, the Huang Chao rebels were no match for them.

The Huang Chao army that was in Jinggu had been under attack for ten days. Their arrows and weapons were depleted. They did have the geographical advantage, but Li Ye was heading the charge this time with the Junior Priestess and Senior Priestess. Now that two high leveled masters were there to clear the way for their army, and their wall had been broken, so how could Huang Chao’s army contend?

Li Ye twitched his mouth as he looked at Tongguan, revealing a satisfied smile. It was as though his schemes had succeeded.

So what if they had two Zhongnan Mountain Spiritual Master Realm taoists?

There were two Juexiao Temple Kong Kim Realm masters on the Imperial Army’s side too.

The high-level masters on both sides could sense each other’s presence. How then could the great elder and chief of the Zhongnan Mountain Taoist sect dare to come before ten thousand soldiers and kill Li Ye?

As for guarding the gate, they didn’t want to be brash and make any sudden moves because they had not yet seen the two Juexiao Temple Kong Kim Realm masters. Even if they had the strength to do so, they were not willing to die for Huang Chao.

Song Jiao double-checked that the Zhongnan Mountain Taoists near Chang’an had fled Huang Chao’s camp after Zhu Wen had betrayed Qi and given his allegiance to Tang. The Taoists had also surrendered to Zhu Wen, which meant that the Zhongnan Mountain Taoist Sect no longer sided with Huang Chao, but had aligned with Zhu Wen.

The two Zhongnan Mountain Spiritual Master Realm Taoists wanted to test the waters a little, so they garrisoned Tongguan to see if they could guard it. They did not want to be laughed at by the people, saying that they had betrayed Huang Chao and sought refuge with Zhu Wen while Huang Chao was still in power.

Hence, it would be impossible for them to take the risk and fight at this moment.

The reason why Li Ye did not attack Tongguan earlier was that there was enmity between him and the Zhongnan Mountain Taoist sect. He was afraid that the two Spiritual Master Realm taoists would fight. Now that Li Keyong was here and Li Keyong had brought along two Kong Kim Realm cultivators, he no longer had reservations. Though what the Zhongnan Mountain Taoists did not know was that if they attacked Li Ye, Li Keyong would not help him at all.

The Taoists thought that since Li Ye and Li Keyong had joined forces and were both led by Wang Duo, they would help each other. But the Taoists did not know about the details about the grudge between the two of them.

Not only did Li Ye use Li Keyong, he also did not want Li Keyong to get any credit for taking over Tongguan.

When Li Keyong saw that the Pinglu soldiers had all entered the city, his expression changed as if suddenly realizing something. He then turned around quickly and returned to his military camp. As soon as he entered his camp he yelled, “Summon An Cunxiao, gather thirty thousand elite cavalries. Also summon Han Sizhao and gather twenty thousand foot soldiers! Hurry!”

When he entered the large tent, Li Keyong ordered in a low voice, “Beat the drums and gather the generals!”

Outside the large tent, all the drums started beating and before long, all Li Keyong’s generals had rushed to him. As they entered the tent, they saw that Li Keyong was pacing. He was wearing a heavy expression, looking anxious. His anger and tension were so thick that it emanated outwards.

The generals were all in shock for they rarely saw Li Keyong in this state.

They couldn’t help looking towards Huiming, who was sitting in the middle of the tent. But Huiming was expressionless, they couldn’t tell anything except that they all fell the clear tension in the air. The tension was so thick that they had trouble breathing, but they were afraid to open their mouths, so they waited for Li Keyong’s orders.

Soon, all the generals had gathered, the last to arrive were An Cunxiao and Han Sizhao