Sima Lun bowed down and picked up the broken half of his sword on the ground, then slowly walked towards the two who were tied together on the pillar.
"Let them suffer a little more," Feng Qianyi slowly said, "They"ll be getting away too easily if they die with just one stab."
Chen Xing almost couldn"t breathe. Xiang Shu struggled to fight back and protected Chen Xing in his arms; as the vines sliced through his skin, blood would start gushing out of his fresh wounds one by one and began getting absorbed by the vines.
Chen Xing cried out in pain. That blood mixed with Xiang Shu"s, and the two of them were dripping with blood that smeared all over the vines. Yet for some reason, when the blood on Xiang Shu"s body and Chen Xing"s blood mixed together, it was as if the Heart Lamp sensed it at once — it exerted a power hundreds of times stronger from his chest and burst out!
Xiang Shu shouted fiercely, while Chen Xing just felt like he was going to get crushed to death, yet he heard a loud snap next to his ears!
Two pillars broke at the same time, and the entire Hanguang Palace collapsed with a loud rumble! Beams, wooden pillars, along with the tiles in the halls, and all the brick walls were collapsing from being pulled on crazily by those vines!
In the next moment, from within the ruins, the giant pillars in Hanguang Palace were lifted up. Sima Lun struggled out from underneath a pile of tiles, but Xiang Shu"s entire body was already enveloped in the intense light of the Heart Lamp. His attire that had been black from head to toe instantly transformed into a snow white, gilded martial robe. Rays of golden light were bursting out of his heavy iron sword — the light was revolving around the sword from its handle to its tip, turning it into a golden sword.
Xiang Shu opened his eyes.
"Get lost, go reincarnate." Xiang Shu said coldly.
The Protector Martial G.o.d appeared! Chen Xing was thoroughly stunned when he crawled out of the heap of broken tiles! He had only seen it before recorded in book, and thought that the so-called "Protector Martial G.o.d" was merely a name, but he didn"t expect it to actually be a description!
Then Xiang Shu wielded his sword in both hands and launched a move that crumbled the heavens!
Sima Lun"s armour instantly shattered, and he unleashed a mad roar — his entire body was being burned by the scorching flames bursting out of Xiang Shu"s golden sword until there was almost nothing left of it.
"I"m finally free, thank you……" A low voice uttered as the corpse disintegrated into ashes and scattered into the air.
"You……you……" Chen Xing was instantly overjoyed and asked, "What happened?! What just happened??!"
"I don"t know!" Xiang Shu had already returned to normal, and he roared madly at Chen Xing, "Save the people first!"
The effects of being a Martial G.o.d lasted only for a brief moment, following which, no matter how Chen Xing spurred the Heart Lamp, he could no longer trigger any changes for him. Shadow warriors flocked over in throngs from all sides; Xiang Shu rushed towards the center of Hanguang Palace"s ruins, but millions of vines and thorns shot out from within the fallen bricks.
Feng Qianjun"s vines pushed against the roof of the palace, and blood was flowing down the corners of his mouth.
The heavy sword in Xiang Shu"s hand shone. He had wanted to rush forth several times, but he could never breach Feng Qianjun"s defense.
Chen Xing dragged Tuoba Yan out from the other side of the collapsed ruins. Fortunately, Tuoba Yan was clad in armour so the injuries he suffered weren"t too severe, and the thorns from before did not leave behind too many lacerations on his body.
"Wake up!" Chen Xing cried anxiously. He held up the Heart Lamp with one hand and pressed it against Tuoba Yan"s forehead.
Tuoba Yan suddenly woke up, and the first thing he did was hug Chen Xing and roll over on the spot to avoid the shadow warriors who had rushed over at the same time from behind Chen Xing.
"We need to restrain him!" Tuoba Yan glanced at Feng Qianjun.
Tuoba Yan picked up his halberd. Chen Xing said, "Take me over while Xiang Shu distracts him!"
Tuoba Yan took Chen Xing along with him; he wielded his halberd in one hand and began charging through the group of warriors and closed in on the center of Hanguang Palace. Xiang Shu"s field of vision were only filled with vines; he was afraid of getting entangled by Feng Qianjun again, so he could only watch out for an opportunity and broke free. He had just secured a retreat when Tuoba Yan rushed over.
"Go up!" Xiang Shu flipped over in the air and pushed Chen Xing up. Tuoba Yan drew near, avoided the vines, took half a step back ,and swung his halberd out horizontally to give Chen Xing a boost. Chen Xing leveraged the momentum to go higher in a few steps, emitted an intense light from his palm, lifted his elbow, and slapped his palm on Feng Qianjun"s face.
"Expel!" Chen Xing"s voice rang out like the morning bells and evening drums. The light from the Heart Lamp quickly invaded Feng Qianjun"s body, and the resentment within dissipated with a blast. Feng Qianjun stumbled from Chen Xing"s slap, his eyes" lucidity restored.
All of the vines disappeared. Tuoba Yan and Xiang Shu immediately turned around to resist the shadow warriors that had rushed forth.
Tens of thousands of shadow warriors who were guarding Weiyang Palace gushed over like a tsunami. Feng Qianjun was still standing, gasping for breath.
"Where"s your elder brother?!" Chen Xing shouted, "Capture him! Quick! We"ve already won!"
Another round of mad laughter burst out from within the ruins.
"Far, far from it——" Feng Qianyi"s sinister voice said, "The blood array was not completed, so I won"t hold onto anymore hope today. Exorcist, you will see my Lord one day, and the entire Divine Land will submit to him when the time comes——"
Feng Qianyi gradually rose from the ruins. It was as if his entire body had undergone a metamorphosis — purplish black blood began trickling down from his eyes.
Feng Qianjun looked up and shouted in sorrow, "Stop! Gege!"
Tuoba Yan shouted, "Can"t hold them back anymore! Think of something!!"
Feng Qianjun wielded the Senluo sabre at a slanted angle. With a cry full of grief, black flames burst out from his whole body once again, then all of the trees in Weiyang Palace, and even Chang"an City, were uprooted and turned into pitch black withered trees that rushed toward Hanguang Palace. Xiang Shu was taken aback; he had just turned back to look when Chen Xing said, "He has regained his rationality!"
Feng Qianjun seemed to be able to control his Senluo Wanxiang that had been refined with resentment. The area in front of Weiyang Palace turned into a battlefield for withered tree men and shadow warriors, and the pressure on the other three lightened in an instant.
"You deserve to be part of the Feng family," Feng Qianyi hovered in mid air and said lightly, "A day will come when you will offer this sabre to my Lord……"
"Stop, please!" Feng Qianjun shouted.
Indignation could be seen in Feng Qianjun"s eyes. He let out another mad roar; black flames soared rapidly, and vines appeared from beneath the ground that flew towards his older brother in the air. Xiang Shu immediately leaped onto the vines and dashed over on the vines. Chen Xing held up his Heart Lamp at once. While Xiang Shu had flown into the air, he leaned back, held his sword with both hands, and his body curved into a beautiful arc — the ma.s.sive sword in his hands shone with a resplendent light.
"……before this." Feng Qianyi closed his eyes and had actually given up resisting. He spread both of his arms out.
Xiang Shu swung his sword down, and Feng Qianyi"s corporeal body had its tendons torn apart and his bones fractured. The black vapour that protected his body disintegrated because of the light from the Heart Lamp, and he suddenly fell.
All of the shadow warriors in Weiyang Palace lost the support of their resentment at the same time and got wrangled to death by the tree men.
Feng Qianyi fell to the ground like a kite that had its string cut. He let out a m.u.f.fled sound, his eyes looking up into the sky above.
Xiang Shu landed, Feng Qianjun kept his sabre, and Tuoba Yan withdrew his halberd. Chen Xing"s whole body was throbbing with acute pain, and he was already on the verge of collapse.
Feng Qianyi mustered the last of his strength to say, "Too early……I can only blame myself, for being too anxious……"
Then all of the resentment throughout Feng Qianyi"s body dispersed; his eyes remained wide open as he died just like that.
Chen Xing rushed forward to shake Feng Qianyi vigorously and shouted, "Ai! Don"t die! Wake up!!!"
He hadn"t asked what he needed to yet. Without any evidence in hand, how would they be able to explain themselves when they got back?!
Tuoba Yan quickly pulled Chen Xing away. Feng Qianjun was still beside them after all. After witnessing his older brother"s death, they were afraid that Feng Qianjun would act recklessly and go out of control.
Xiang Shu was always on guard against Feng Qianjun. Feng Qianjun returned to normal very soon and sheathed his sabre.
"Your older brother"s dead." Chen Xing said to Feng Qianyi. He inspected Feng Qianyi"s pupils — they were already dilated.
Feng Qianjun walked out of Hanguang Palace. The first signs of dawn were beginning to seep over the horizon, which illuminated the empty Chang"an. Corpses were strewn all over the huge Weiyang Palace. After Feng Qianyi died, the armour on the shadow warriors had disintegrated into black vapour and vanished, restoring their original appearance of white bones and rotted flesh. The tree yaos summoned by the Senluo sabre had twisted the living corpses into fragmented pieces, so broken limbs littered the ground, and the remaining few living corpses that had been snapped in half were still struggling.
After escaping Chang"an, another night pa.s.sed. When dawn broke, on the plain outside Ahfang Palace, the living corpse army finally made their grand arrival. But as soon as the sun rose, they lost their marching formation for some reason and began wandering around everywhere aimlessly as they searched for food to gnaw on, as if they were wild beasts not under anyone"s control.
The Great Qin army swarmed out in full force and stopped in front of Zaohe. After igniting their flaming arrows, they immediately released them at random and ignited the living corpses. The army then separated into two groups, outflanking the enemies on both the right and left sides to trap 300,000 living corpses within their encirclement, then drove the corpses towards the central area of the river bank.
At that moment, the last batch of people fleeing from Chang"an City mixed in with the group of living corpses. They had to avoid both the living corpses and the stray arrows from the army, so they kept pleading bitterly toward the outside as they begged the Qin army to let them go.
"Report——"
Fu Jian was clad in emperor"s armour from head to toe and was already waiting on high alert. He knew what the scout wanted to say before he even spoke and said sharply, "Not even one can be released! Chase anyone who has been bitten or scratched back into the encirclement!"
w.a.n.g Ziye and the other civil officials watched the battle at the side. On the east bank of Zaohe, anguished wailing shook the earth, and resentment soared into the sky. There was a dense, dark ma.s.s of 300,000 living corpses, their numbers even greater than that of the army, and they were still trying to break through their siege subconsciously. It was truly a magnificent sight. Some soldiers even got bitten while resisting the living corpses, and when they turned to look back in the next moment, they were already being driven back into the group of living corpses by their own comrades under Murong Chui"s stern command. Within the blink of an eye, living corpses swarmed all over them, tearing them into pieces as they gnawed on the soldiers.
w.a.n.g Ziye said, "Your Majesty, it"s about time."
The encirclement was gradually closing in. All of the living corpses within a ten-mile radius had been driven into the center of a designated location. Under the Ahfang Palace behind Fu Jian, across a river, catapults used for besieging a city that were stored in a warehouse were already now in working order.
Fu Jian raised his emperor sword and shouted, "Shoot!"
Amidst the light of dawn, all of the catapults on the opposite side of the river launched an attack! Fire canisters obscured the sky as they flew toward the middle of the encirclement! Kerosene fell onto the ground, resulting in explosions that blew up countless crimson clouds and successfully ignited the living corpse group. A gust of easterly wind blew by, and the fire began spreading rapidly. Throughout a one-mile radius, living corpses that were set on fire were provoked, and they began to frantically push outward!
"Guard! Guard!!" All the generals of Great Qin rode their galloping horses. Soldiers held up their shields and guarded the encirclement fiercely, and rows of soldiers surrounded the living corpses to prevent them from breaking through. Raging flames surged; countless figures were set ablaze within the flames as they frantically crashed into everything around them. Bouts of pained howls could be heard, and for a moment, no one could tell if the ones being burned were humans or the yaos called "drought fiends". An involuntary chill coated people"s hearts.