The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 224 The Fallen

Before he finished his words, the Spiritual Qi illuminated the dense lines on the sword blade.

Luke Sword had belonged to the emperor formerly. So the pattern carved was the dragon’s chant to the ninth heaven. Li Ye could not light all the lines when he used Luke Sword before, but now his cultivation had reached the half-step Foundation-building Stage, and the Dragon Qi had been half solidified, which meant he could just make the dragon shape.

“You were born a peasant, and yet you call yourself the emperor. But you don’t serve the people and the heavens and earth will not allow that! I will do the heavens’ bidding and show you what respect looks like!”

Li Ye floated in the air, and his sword was like a burning fire. He lifted his sword over his head and a ray of green light went straight through the sky. Suddenly, wind was blowing heavily and clouds were gathering in the sky. The Spiritual Qi in all directions gathered, forming a huge vortex of Spiritual Qi.

Having seen such an earth and heaven shattering scene, Huang Chao was stunned. His expression was horrified, and he couldn’t stop his hand holding the knife from trembling. But he still gritted his teeth, and reluctantly revealed a hint of fear.

“Huang Chao! You connived your soldiers to wreck the world, and nine out of ten homes are empty because of you, do you feel guilty?” screamed Li Ye from midair. His Luke Sword suddenly sliced down after that stringent shout, and instantly, the dragon screamed and shook the ninth heaven. The Sword Qi then turned into a giant green dragon, which was carrying the power of heaven and earth and rolling the boundless spirit, headed straight for Huang Chao!

All the generals and soldiers who saw this scene were shocked. They all trembled and had the look of extreme respect in their eyes. They had the impulse to worship what they saw.

The Pinglu troops were all in shock because it was Li Ye who caused the scene before their eyes. And the Qi soldiers were all in a panic because Huang Chao was being pounced on by the green dragon.

Huang Chao uttered a frantic and mournful scream, and the cultivation of the Spiritual Master had totally broken out. The territory was unfolded from his feet, forming a protective enchantment. All the power of his cultivation were transferred into the long knife and suddenly sliced towards the pouncing green dragon, he then said, “I am the emperor; I am scared of nothing!”

As the Knife Qi collided with the green dragon, but it burst like a bubble and disappeared in the sky. The green dragon’s power however, did not reduce, which then pounced on Huang Chao’s territory enchantment. The enchantment then shattered, making a loud bang. The dragon penetrated through Huang Chao’s body.

Huang Chao spat out three mouthfuls of blood. His body flew backward like a kite with its string broken and directly fell down the Chang’an City Wall. The tower was collapsed by the violent and turbulent Spiritual Qi. Broken wood and rubble flew, and smoke and dust flared up like clouds.

As soon as Huang Chao fell, he rushed out of the ruins, but he turned his back to Li Ye, and quickly ran away toward Chang’an City.

“You want to escape?” Li Ye snorted, then he flew in the air and caught up to him in Chang’an City. But just at that moment, the rest of three half-step Foundation-building Stage masters came for Li Ye from all directions to try and kill him. They summoned their techniques and shrouded Li Ye.

“You guys are dead!” Li Ye put up his Spiritual Qi Shield, which protected his body and stopped the enemies’ technique attack. At the same time, the shield’s energy rushed towards the three half-step Foundation-building Stage masters. Li Ye then wielded his Luke Sword and before long, the three half-step Foundation-building Stage masters we all killed on the spot and dropped on the ground.

However, those three did hold him up for a bit and Huang Chao had also gone far. With his Spiritual Master Realm cultivation, Li Ye might not be able to catch up. Just as Li Ye was feeling disappointed, he suddenly looked stern, because two agile shadows had appeared before Huang Chao’s eyes. How long they had been there was not known but now they were heading directly towards Huang Chao.

White silk like a cloud belt erupted in the air, covering the sky and the sun. And Huang Chao was wrapped inside it. Dozens of leaf chains were floating around, which then turned into bolts and chains and went towards Huang Chao’s limbs!

They were the Senior Priestess and the Junior Priestess.

Li Ye suddenly felt startled. After several months of war, the Senior Priestess and the Junior Priestess’ cultivation had reached the half-step Foundation-building Stage, but why did they ambush on the road that Huang Chao was fleeing? The problem was that although they had high cultivation, they could not match up against Huang Chao, who had reached the Spiritual Master Realm.

Li Ye hurriedly flew over.

First, the cloud belt like white silk was falling down powerlessly after being cut off by Huang Chao. Then he screamed with the territory of the Spiritual Master Realm, and the leaf chain wrapped around him disintegrated into powder. The Senior Priestess and the Junior Priestess both spat blood and flew backwards.

Huang Chao did not care about anything but began walking away with his head ducked.

But then, a hint of ferocity flashed in the Junior Priestess’ clear and serene eyes, who now had been severely wounded. Her face, which was hidden under the white scarf, was determined and red in color.

She bit the tip of her tongue and sprayed out a mouthful of misty blood, and her white scarf suddenly turned red. Her delicate body stopped in midair and her thin, white fingers had green Spiritual Qi flames surrounding them and instantly the imprinting charm was now complete.

Dense leaves drifted around her chest, forming a dense Yin-Yang shape and headed towards Huang Chao. Suddenly dozens of strands of leaf-chains flew out from the Yin-Yang shape and formed the shape of a Spiritual Qi snake, which then wrapped itself around Huang Chao!

“No!” screamed the falling Senior Priestess. As she saw what had happened, her eyes widened and her expression was ghastly. It was as though she had never seen such a frightening scene. She screamed as though she was separating from a loved one, “You will die!”

The Junior Priestess did not listen, her clear and serene eyes suddenly seemed calm at this moment.

Dozens of strands of leaf chains surrounded Huang Chao, and it was so dense that he couldn’t even see daylight. He screamed in anger and kept cutting with his long blade. The leaf chains broke one after another and the leaves had turned into snow, which slowly drifted down. But there were just too many leaf chains, so Huang Chao couldn’t break through them.

“D*mn you peasant! I’m the son of God, how dare you stop me?” Huang Chao then sprayed a mouthful of blood. Suddenly, rays bright as the sun erupted from his long blade and he sliced downwards. The floating leaves were then drowned by the bright light and shattered.

The Junior Priestess’ face, which was hidden under the bloody scarf, revealed a slight smile and she was satisfied. Her delicate body, just like the floating leaves, started drifting down from midair. Her arms were dropped to her sides and her obsidian like eyes slowly shut.

It took Huang Chao quite an effort to break out of the siege. At least he was able to break through the curtain of flying leaves in the air. He eased up for a second and was about to leave when he fully comprehended the optics in front of him. He suddenly trembled all over and both his hands and feet were cold.

A ray of sky and sun covering blue energy was coming for him like a bolt of lightning. And behind the Sword Qi, was the gloomy faced Li Ye with an aggressive, murderous look in his eyes.

In the moment of life and death, Huang Chao summoned his enigmatic charm. His body was suddenly lit with golden light, forming a shell around him. At the same time, he wielded his blade with the intention to block the sword attack. That was a move of desperation as he was already seriously wounded.

The Sword Qi broke through the energy shell, and without losing momentum, it penetrated Huang Chao’s armor and left a shallow wound on his chest. And that was when the Sword Qi dissipated.

Huang Chao was pleased to see that he was only slightly wounded. Just as he was about to escape though, like a rat with its tail caught, he screamed.

The second ray of Sword Qi had landed on Huang Chao while he watched with a look of desperation. Blood then sprayed out of him, forming a mist around his body.

Then the third ray of Sword Qi came for him and his body just exploded, there weren’t even any broken limbs or bone pieces left. His body had been blasted into bloody mist and dust, with only a skull that flew up in the air. You could still see the shock and desperation in his eyes.

After flying a hundred feet in the air, the skull then landed in Li Ye’s hands.

Huang Chao had ruled the world for many years. He breached Chang’an as if entering a no-man zone and forced the Tang emperor to flee for Sichuan. All the vassal states, after years of war, still could not do anything to the emperor of the Qi Empire, Huang Chao. However, Huang Chao was now wiped out of the world completely, leaving only a cold skull.

As Li Ye picked up Huang Chao’s skull, he looked outside the city coldly and said, “I’ve ended Huang Chao’s life, and any rebels that don’t surrender will die!”

His words had traveled dozens of miles and cheers loud enough to drown out all other sounds had erupted outside the city.

On the roof, the Senior Priestess’ eyes were full of tears and she was in grief. She was holding the Junior Priestess whose eyes were closed. She was on her knees and crying painfully atop the roof.

Li Ye squatted beside the Junior Priestess’ body wearing a complicated expression. He picked up her white jade-like wrist and listened for a pulse.

The Junior Priestess had her arms on her side and did not move at all, at this moment her delicate body seemed extra frail, like she could be blown away by the wind. The white scarf she usually wore on her face was now eye-piercing red and those clear and serene eyes were covered by her eyelids, so you no longer could see them. The strand of her purple hair spread across her forehead, which seemed lonely in this picture.

Li Ye closed in eyes and took in a deep breath, then his hand that was on the Junior Priestess’ wrist started trembling.

Li Ye knew that without Junior Priestess’ help and risking her life, he could not have stopped Huang Chao. And he would have escaped. His memory before reincarnation reminded him that after the Huang Chao army lost in Chang’an, he managed to escape from Lantian to the Central Plains. He then attacked Caizhou and then Chenzhou, struggling for survival. In the end, the imperial army had to attack him from all sides to eventually defeat him.

“Why did you come to Chang’an City? And why would you put your body on the line to stop Huang Chao? Did you not realize that he has reached the cultivation of the Spiritual Master Realm?” asked Li Ye as he stared at the Senior Priestess.

Senior Priestess’ face was pale, and she then replied with a cold smile, “What else could we do if we didn’t stop Huang Chao? Just be an audience and watch you kill everybody? The Junior Priestess knew that you didn’t need our help or our protection. You could kill Huang Chao and his high-level cultivators on your own. All we could do was to make sure that Huang Chao didn’t escape and help you catch him.”

Li Ye was taken aback. “This was the Junior Priestess’ idea?”

The Senior Priestess replied, “Who do you think is smarter between the two of us? She might not say much, but she is much more attentive and thoughtful than you think!”

As she said those words, great pain flashed in the Senior Priestess’ eyes. “She’s been quiet and stubborn since we were young, never admitting defeat. Ever since she met you though, she became a useless role-player. We’re called protectors, but when have you ever needed our protection? It was thus in Pinglu, and more so during the battles. The Junior Priestess started feeling useless when you breached Dengzhou, now that the rebel army has been taken care of, she felt she didn’t have the right to be by your side anymore if she didn’t do something for you.”

Li Ye then said in a cold voice, “I don’t need her to do these things.”

“But she does!” The Senior Priestess suddenly raised her voice. “If she couldn’t help you in any way, she would be a totally useless figure. How could she then let you care for her? She has been your shadow for three years already, and she does not want to feel like she can’t even be your shadow anymore! Since young, she has never even talked to a man, not even standing next to one, but yet she has been with you for three years! Do you not understand that she doesn’t care about her position, but she cares about you!”