Cold sweat began to break out from Wu Qi"s forehead.

Why should he care about Ying Zheng"s fate, and the defeat or victory of the three dynasties? Even if all the people of Great Yan Dynasty were killed, it would not bother him at all. However, Meng Village, or the current Meng Fortress, was situated right within the territory which Huhai was threatening to destroy. But, how was it even be possible that he could sink the lands of twenty-three kingdoms to the west of Great Yan Dynasty? And, how was he going to do that? Yet, this Huhai was indeed a maniac, the once Second Emperor of Qin Dynasty, and the culprit who brought chaos to the imperial court, and eventually led to the collapse of Qin Dynasty. He was a man who could really do something as crazy as this.

Wu Qi"s saviors, his first batch of friends after he arrived at this world, and the first batch of brothers, were all from and lived in Meng Village. He could not let them be sacrificed together with the sinking of the lands. He stepped onto a cloud and shot into the sky, then cried out at the top of his voice, "Speak clearly, Huhai! What evil technique had you used? And how are you going to sink the lands of twenty-three kingdoms?"

Both Yan Dan and Qu Ping were wearing a gloomy expression. They too wanted to know the answer to the question, but for the fear of losing their dignity as an emperor, as asking the question would mean they had surrendered to Huhai"s threat, they could not ask the question straightaway. Thus, Wu Qi"s action of jumping out and asking the question had perfectly suited their intentions. They did not say anything, but just staring straight at Huhai, waiting for the answer. Qu Ping could still maintain a calm composure, yet Yan Dan was so panicked and nervous that cold sweat was breaking from behind his neck, streaming down to his back and drenching his cloth.

Great Yan Dynasty was the foundation he established with all his brothers, and if the lands of all twenty-three kingdoms to the west were sunk by Huhai, he would never forgive himself for that.

It was especially true if the hundreds of millions of people in those twenty-three kingdoms were killed because of a wrong decision he made. Not to mention all the other consequences, just the tremendous negative karma and the mental demons that struck him because of this would be enough to throw him into an everlasting perdition. It would not take long before he was completely devoured by the tremendous negative karma.

Everyone on the scene turned their glances over at Wu Qi and Huhai. The answer to Wu Qi"s question was what everyone wished to know, even including all the generals and ministers of Great Qin Dynasty. Even Ying Ziying was looking at Huhai with an astonished and complex expression. Haltingly, he murmured under his breath, "Uncle... Imperial Uncle... do you really have the confidence to rescue...?"

Huhai issued a deep, long laugh. Suddenly, a dark fog, so dense it looked like water waves, spread out from his body and began to spin rapidly around him. Then, very dreadful fiend howls echoed out, as the dark fog abruptly transformed into a dark ocean that covered an area of one hundred miles, with many large, black lotus flowers growing quickly out from the water. The black lotus leaves waved gently in the breeze, while lotus flowers bloomed one after another. Shockingly, on top of each blooming lotus flower sat cross-legged a tiny figure of a fiend, who had a ferocious face and a rounded black light behind its head.

These fiend figures had a very ferocious and frightful visage, and were enshrouded in a very wicked and filthy aura. However, they sat cross-legged, with both hands performing a lotus incantation right before their dantian, mouth slowly reciting mantras that were advising people to do good deeds. Over several tens of thousands of tiny fiend figures were reciting such mantras at the same time, filling the atmosphere with all sorts of kind words that were advising people to be filial to their parents, kind to brothers, honor the teacher and respect his teaching, hold reverence for the Heaven and Earth.

Huhai took a deep breath, then said slowly, "Ask those few coquettish foxes to stop first and release my Imperial Father, or else... two!"

Following the loud roar of Huhai, a mountain area of about ten thousand miles in circ.u.mference behind Yan Dan and the people around him crumbled and collapsed suddenly. All the mountains in that area, including a few Great Yan"s outposts, sunk into the ground altogether. The earth quaked violently, while a huge hole over one hundred miles deep opened up in that area. A ma.s.sive amount of underground water rushed and sprayed out from the bottom of the hole, slowly filling up the large hole that opened up suddenly. The sunlight shone directly into the hole, while the water at the bottom sparkled brilliantly with the reflection of the surrounding scenery.

Yan Dan"s face turned deadly pale immediately, while all Great Yan"s generals began retreating slowly, disengaging with Great Qin"s generals. Tian Guang, Fan Yuqi, Yue Yi, and a few other generals exchanged glances with one and another, their faces panicked. It seemed to them that this Huhai was not exaggerating just to scare people, not uttering some nonsenses.

Qu Ping had his body trembled as well. Using the quickest speed, he said under his breath, "I"ve no idea what kind of fiendish technique is this Huhai cultivating. Although I can communicate with the ghosts and deities between the Heaven and Earth, but even all the mountain ghosts and Yin deities in that collapsed mountain area cannot figure out how it happened. In short, that mountain area just crumbled and collapsed without any proper reason."

More cold sweats were breaking out from Yan Dan"s body. With a dry and hoa.r.s.e voice, he forced out a roar, "Imperial Advisor Su, please stop for now... Let go of Ying Zheng... temporarily!"

Slowly, the group of several tens of fox ladies in the hot springs pools spread out, revealing Ying Zheng and Su Mei"er behind them. Ying Zheng"s body had turned deadly pale, and looked like he was catching his last gasp. He was lying on the body of a large six-tailed fox, and his body was still twitching unnaturally. Su Mei"er, who had transformed into her true form of a white fox, heard Yan Dan"s order, so she lazily coiled up Ying Zheng with two long tails of her and slowly threw him into another pool right next to them. Lazily, she raised her head up, narrowed her purple eyes, and gave Yan Dan a gaze, saying, "Your Majesty, it just would take a little bit longer and I"ll be able to advance into the realm of Heaven Immortal."

Yan Dan nodded and said, "I"ll compensate Imperial Advisor for the loss."

Su Mei"er nodded her head. Suddenly, one of her long tail contracted, turning the once fluffy white tail into the size of a toddler"s arm, its tip extremely sharp like a silver spear, pressing tightly at the center of Ying Zheng"s brows. She chuckled and said, "Huhai? If you don"t give me a satisfying answer, with just a gentle touch, I can immediately turn Ying Zheng into a dead man."

Huhai looked at Ying Zheng, who had half of his body soaked under the hot springs, then once again issued an unpleasant laugh. With a deep voice, he said, "Xu Fu, Li Si, feed Imperial Father some life-saving spirit pills now. What foods did you, the so-called strategists of the dynasty, ate during all these years? How could you allow my Imperial Father to be trapped in such a dangerous situation? Hehe, I should really slaughter every single member of your clans!"

With unsightly expressions, Xu Fu and Li Si flew down and came carefully beside Ying Zheng. Xu Fu pulled out a pale golden pill bottle, then gave Su Mei"er a look. Su Mei"er remained in silence for a brief moment, then slowly nodded her head, wrapped her long tail around Ying Zheng"s throat so she could have a total control over his fate. Only then did she nod and said, "You can feed him the spirit pills, but don"t try to delay my time. Just a little bit more and I"ll be able to suck all his cultivation base, and all it takes is just a tiny little bit of time... what a..."

Xu Fu crushed the pill bottle, from which he took out a strange spirit pill. It was the size of a baby"s fist, shaped like the seed of a grain, s.h.i.+mmering with a dark green glow and emanating wisps of faint fragrance. Wu Qi, who was paying close attention to them, was shocked when he saw the spirit pill, as it had taken the shape of the living things under the heaven. It had stepped out from the boundary of ordinary spirit pills, and he believed this pill was actually an Immortal Pill.

The pill had taken the shape of the seed of a grain, s.h.i.+ning with a dark green glow and emanating a delicate fragrance. Evidently, it contained a miraculous life force, a pill that could prolong one"s life and replenish one"s prime life force.

Li Si carefully opened up Ying Zheng"s jaws, and Xu Fu gently placed the pill into his mouth. After that, Li Si helped Ying Zheng close his mouth, as some hissing noises were immediately heard coming from his mouth. The pill was evaporating, and through his throat, it quickly entered his stomach, then flowing through every part of his body. Immediately, Ying Zheng"s skin began to s.h.i.+ne with a bright green glow, a hue that looked like the color of the freshly sprouted willow in the early spring, beaming with vigorous energy.

In just the time of a few breaths, Ying Zheng suddenly inhaled deeply and opened his eyes slowly. A dark mist burst and spread out from his body, while amidst the dark mist, six shadows of flood dragons, extremely dim and looking like they could vanish at any time soon, revealed themselves. Ying Zheng narrowed his eyes, sent out his divine will, and gave his own body and the surrounding situation a brief sense. Suddenly, he burst into a loud laughter and said, "Yan Dan, Qu Ping, the two of you had joined hands in scheming against me?"

"Yes!" Yan Dan replied with a low voice.

Ying Zheng sunk into his thought for a brief moment, then smiled and said, "Using the Art of Ghosts and Deities, Qu Ping had concealed the heavenly secrets, causing Old Mister Guigu"zi to fail in predicting the dangerous situation that I"ll be facing. Hmm, someone among Great Qin"s captains must have been bought over by you, or else, with so many scouts that were sent here before I arrived, they should have discovered some traces in advance."

Ying Zheng cried out, "Bai Qi, who is the captain that was in charge of today"s scouting task?"

While Bai Qi raised his head abruptly, a few bright beams had shot out from among Qin army and flew straight into Yan army. A few Qin captains then came before Lu Buwei, who was standing behind Yan Dan, dropped to their knees respectfully and cried out aloud, "Greetings, Patriarch!"

Bai Qi jumped to his feet and roared out furiously, while Ying Zheng turned to look at Lu Buwei. When he saw Lu Buwei for the first time, he could not help but have his body trembled violently, face twitching. Meanwhile, Lu Buwei narrowed his eyes and gave Ying Zheng a gaze, then suddenly he breathed out a long, deep sigh and said, "Even with the joined hands from so many people, we still failed to kill you. Your Majesty, you"ve become mightier and stronger than in those years."

From head to toe, Ying Zheng was trembling violently and ceaselessly. Almost screaming, he roared at Lu Buwei, "Why... YOU?!"

With a complex expression Lu Buwei looked at Ying Zheng, and at last said coolly, "Three of my own sons are captured alive by Great Yan. Because of them, I"m now... Great Yan"s Left Prime Minister, and the Prince of Wenxin."

Ying Zheng trembled, then he struggled to get up. But with Su Mei"er"s long tail wrapped around his neck, and his energy nearly depleted completely, how could he get up so easily?

Stepping on top of a cloud, Wu Qi snapped at the top of his voice, "Cut all those nonsenses! Huhai, tell me now, what exactly is the method that you used? The twenty-three kingdoms to the west of Great Yan cover a land of over millions of miles. How could you make them sink altogether at the same time?"

Huhai issued a strange laugh. As he was about to say something, a water pillar suddenly shot out from the Black Water River off in the distance. From the water pillar Wanying Dragon King revealed himself, ragged and tattered by flame, with wisps of smoke raising from his skin and flesh. He roared immediately, "Someone had gained control of Longyuan River, Wulong River, and Panlong River, the three main water bodies of Eastern Meng Mountains. The Dragon Kings in Wulong River and Panlong River had brought me messages through the water channels, mentioning that all the branches of their rivers that are flowing through Great Yan"s territory and a few underground energy veins are now controlled by someone!"

Then strange laughs rang out again, as Huhai said deeply, "So, it seems that he has saved me some time in explaining! As I"m cultivating the divine ability of Myriad Constellation of Earth Fiends, apart from possessing the strength of millions of celestial fiends, I"m very good in controlling all the underground energy veins and water channels. Hehe, it really surprised me that all the underground energy veins under Great Yan"s territory are not protected by any repressive instruments! Because of that, I"ve easily gained control to all of them. With all of the underground energy veins in my hand, isn"t that an easy task for me to sink any land as I wish?"

The divine ability of Myriad Constellation of Earth Fiends? Wu Qi put the name of this divine ability into his mind. It seemed to him that there were some similar cultivation techniques found in Scroll of Stealing. However, they did not focus in destroying underground energy veins, but rather on controlling them, borrowing the strength to break all sorts of defensive and restrictive formations, and using the flow of underground energy veins to trace various treasures that were given birth by the Heaven and Earth!

After a round of talking, it seemed Huhai had become rather impatient, as he suddenly shouted out sternly, "Set my Imperial Father free now, or I"ll let all the people in those twenty-three kingdoms die together with my Imperial Father! As my eldest brother is still holding the command in Xian Yang. Even if we change to another Emperor, Great Qin Dynasty will not collapse because of that! Now, set the man free, or not... I"ll count to three..."

While the word of "three" was still rolling on Huhai"s tongue, Yan Dan had waved his hand with a gloomy expression, "Let"s send off His Majesty Ying Zheng with an honorable ceremony!"

Suddenly, a great movement broke out from the surrounding mountain ridges, as all of Great Yan and Great Chu"s troops that were lying in ambush revealed themselves from their hiding. Initially, they were intended to be used in dealing with Great Qin"s reinforcement army, but now they had no choice but to line up in a neat formation, sending off Ying Zheng and all the other Great Qin"s generals and ministers with their eyes.

The lives of all the people in twenty-three kingdoms were on the brink of annihilation, and Yan Dan dared not to afford such a devastating loss. Huhai could behave like a maniac, he could slaughter anybody as he wished, but Yan Dan dared not to face the consequences! As Huhai looked absolutely abnormal with his mental state, he had obviously become insane, yet Yan Dan was still an ordinary man with a sensible mind!

While looking at Ying Zheng ride away in his chariot, Yan Dan and Qu Ping breathed out a long sigh together and said, "Times of troubles are ahead of us!"