Chapter 108 - Writing the Decree
The Clear River Sect...
Song Shengping was sitting in an arbor, listening to his subordinates" reports.
"No news? You say there is no news?" Song Shengping coldly glared at the subordinate before him.
"Yes, your Grace, there is no sign of Gu Hai and his three thousand men, none at all!" reported the subordinate respectfully.
"Idiots, are you going to inform me when Gu Hai is standing before me? Continue searching, I want him found!" Song Shengping rebuked them all, furious.
"Yes, your Grace!" that subordinate answered immediately.
From the time he had received Gu Hai"s letter of challenge, Song Shengping had been paying attention to every place in the vicinity of Clear River Sect. Nonetheless, even after so many days, he had not received any news, not one!
That Gu Hai is very crafty! The Song Kingdom back then, and now the Golden Tong, all had fallen by his hand.
And now, Gu Hai says he would come looking for Song Shengping. And he, Song Shengping, knew nothing of his whereabouts.
How could Song Shengping not be angry?
The Song Jia Sect...
Fu Xue was furiously staring at the tunnel in spirit stone mine. It had already been collapsed. No, to be more precisely, it had been blown apart. He simply didn"t know where Gu Hai and his men had escaped to.
"Give me a thorough search, it"s impossible for three thousand men to vanish into thin air! Search for them!" Fu Xue roared at the nearby Song Jia Sect disciples.
"Yes, Ancestor!" all the Song Jia Sect disciples in the vicinity shouted at the top of their voices.
In a flash, the crowd of demonized men scattered in all directions. Fu Xue, on the other hand, rushed back to the sect.
Very soon, he arrived at a cave inside the sect.
The vicinity of the cave was awash with blood. Some of the corpses were slowly being taken away by the Song Jia Sect disciples.
"Ancestor!" all the demonized disciples near the cave greeted him respectfully.
Fu Xue didn"t pay any heed to them and quickly made his way to the deepest part of the cave.
At the innermost region, there were three altars. One after another, nets of red energy were being released from these altars, and pa.s.sing through the bodies of three men.
The three men were all completely naked. On their backs, there was a tattoo of a ferocious-looking golden dragon.
The trio were the three servants of Long w.a.n.gqing who had been accompanying her for a long time.
Just as Fu Xue entered this place, the trio looked over at Fu Xue. There was a sneer on the faces of all three of them.
Fu Xue immediately slapped one of the men.
"Tell me, what have you revealed to them?" Fu Xue roared, glaring at the man.
That man coughed up a mouthful of blood. Nonetheless, he didn"t utter a single word.
"Twenty years ago, what did you guys obtain? Where is the dragon vein?" Fu Xue roared aloud, staring at them angrily.
"Little Black Dragon, kill us if you can! Hahaha, this time, you are but seeking your death! My Master will not let you go. You cannot hide anywhere from my Master"s decree in the entire world!" that man retorted, breaking into a hideous laugh.
Fu Xue slapped that man once more, extremely annoyed.
The trio was just like a stone in a privy, hard and stinking.
[TLN: A stubborn and unreasonable man.]
Fu Xue didn"t have the time to listen to their bulls.h.i.+t. He walked out of the cave, waiting for any news to come back from the search!
There was a parade ground in a certain city a good distance from the Song Jia Sect, and many troops were stationed there. When the soldiers saw Gu Hai and his men arrive at the field, they immediately surrounded the new arrivals.
"How dare you enter the barracks unauthorized!" a leading general shouted at them.
"Are your dog"s eyes blind, don"t you recognize me?" Chen Tianshan shouted back in anger, glaring.
"Ah? Who are you?" Obviously, that man had yet to recognize everyone.
"Take out the decree!" ordered Gu Hai calmly.
"Yes, my Lord!" Chen Tianshan obliged, and took out the decree at once.
"This is Chen Lianyi"s decree, take a good look at it! Immediately inform the Dukes of all the cities nearby, fiends are running amok in this region. In order to avoid plunging everyone into misery and suffering, gather the citizens and leave the southern region immediately, relocate to the north!" shouted Chen Tianshan.
"Ah? You know why people have gone missing in the nearby towns recently?" that general asked in surprise.
"Cut the bulls.h.i.+t and just follow the decree!" Chen Tianshan berated him, glaring at the general.
Taking the decree, that general read it carefully. With just a glance, his countenance changed, noticing that it was indeed the royal edict.
"Yes, this lowly general will obey the order respectfully!" that general said modestly.
"My Lord, won"t we be discovered by that Fu Xue?" Scar looked to Gu Hai.
"They should not be able to find us, it"s just that...!" Gu Hai narrowed his eyes.
"My lord is worried that Fu Xue would fly into a rage out of humiliation and rush straight to Gu Mansion? Both young masters are still in the Gu Mansion!" Gao Xianzhi"s face contorted.
"What should we do? Even if we rode with whips and spurs, we still won"t be able to overtake Fu Xue!" Chen Tianshan"s face turned ugly as he said.
"It"s too late to send the flying pigeons as well. Now, there is only one way left to inform them!" Gu Hai said as he knit his brow.
"Oh? There is still a way faster than Fu Xue!?" Chen Tianshan asked, taken aback.
Fu Xue was a flood dragon in the Nascent Soul Stage! How could there possibly be some way that was faster than that exceedingly strong Fu Xue?
"Where is the beacon tower?" Gu Hai questioned that general.
"What do you want to do?" that general"s face immediately s.h.i.+fted.
"Beacon? Pa.s.sing news using the beacon is certainly the fastest method to send a message to Tiger Cage Pa.s.s!" Chen Tianshan"s eyes lit up.
The beacon tower was the fastest method to transmit news in wartime. In the daytime, smoke would be released, while flames were used at night. All the cities, from the smallest ones to the capital city itself, had a beacon tower. So long as the beacon tower was set aflame, and as long as the other distant beacon tower caught sight of it, they would light their beacon or release some smoke immediately, pa.s.sing the signal successively. This method was by far the fastest.
"What do you want to do? The beacons can only be activated when the kingdom is in crisis!" that general shouted at top of his voice.
"Where is the beacon tower?" Gao Xianzhi roared out, glaring at the general.
"The beacon tower is kingdom"s strategic system, it can not be activated on anyone"s request. Only when the country is in danger can it be used. What kind of qualifications do you have to use it? Without the head general"s order or the royal decree, no one can touch it. Guards, guards!" that general shouted aloud.
Immediately, many officers and men rushed over.
"How dare you!" Chen Tianshan shouted furiously.
"If you want to light the beacon, you have to go over my dead body!" shouted the general.
"Not bad, a man of integrity, I like generals like you. Come to me Gu Mansion later, my Gu Mansion will accept you!" Gu Hai said as he cracked a smile.
That general"s eyes widened in confusion, he didn"t understand anything. So, he still continued to block everyone.
"You want a decree, right? Gao Xianzhi, write it for him!" Gu Hai spoke in a very calm manner.
"Yes, my Lord!" Gao Xianzhi responded respectfully.
That general was taken by surprise momentarily. What was going on?
But then he saw Gao Xianzhi take out a blank decree and started writing as a subordinate at his side ground the ink. Very soon, an edict was written.
"You, you are falsifying the decree?!" that general cried out in shock and anger.
Gu Hai threw the decree to him before rus.h.i.+ng towards the encampment.
A team of Gu Hai"s men made the path for Gu Hai. Those ordinary officers and soldiers were simply unable to stop them.
"The royal seal is real!? How is this possible?" blurted out the general, confused and shocked.
The beacon tower was soon ignited by Gao Xianzhi, and an exceedingly high column of black smoke rose into the sky.
In the distant, columns of smoke rose into the sky one by one, as if responding to this beacon tower, sending signals towards the Tiger Cage Pa.s.s at an astonis.h.i.+ng speed.
[TLN: FYI, Tiger Cage Pa.s.s is the final line of defense before the royal capital. In fact, the smoke signal is traveling towards the capital, Tiger Cage Pa.s.s is just in the way.]
"Gao Xianzhi, write ten more edicts and give them to him, let them take the decree to all the cities for evacuation. This can save the cities one by one!" Gu Hai ordered Gao Xianzhi.
"Yes, my Lord!" Gao Xianzhi answered readily.
Under the vacant eyes of that general, Gao Xianzhi took out ten more blank decrees. Each decree had the royal seal stamped on it. All of them were authentic decrees of the Chen Kingdom!
"How is this possible? How is this possible!?" That general looked at what was happening before him in dull disbelief.
Having finished writing the decrees, Gu Han and his three thousand men spurred their horses, galloping towards Gu Mansion at top speed. Left holding the decrees, the general watched everyone leave, a blank look on his face.
The Song Jia Sect, Song Jia Palace...
"Nothing? Two days, and you didn"t find anything?" Fu Xue glared at the group of demonized disciples.
"No, Ancestor, they seemed to have vanished into thin air!" a demonized man answered, worry written all over his face.
"Wastrels, complete wastrels!" Fu Xue howled at them angrily. The group of demonized men didn"t dare to utter another word in justification.
Fu Xue suddenly narrowed his eyes. "They got the wind of it!? Gu Hai must have obtained some news! Where is Gu Hai? He must be caught!"
"This subordinate have no idea. However, this subordinate… subordinate knows where Gu Hai"s home is, maybe we can use Gu Hai"s family to...!" one of the men proposed in a faltering voice.
"Oh?" Fu Xue"s eyes lit up immediately.
"For now, seal the mountain for me, and activate the Golden Chrysalis Array, no one is allowed to come in or go out, no one!" stated Fu Xue, staring at the men.
"Ah? What about senior brothers and junior brothers who are just outside and want to come back?"
"Earlier, all because they wanted to come back in, they gave Gu Hai a loophole to exploit! Let them wait outside, they are not allowed to enter. Didn"t they want to eat humans? Can"t they go and capture some humans and then return?" rebuked Fu Xue, giving them an angry look.
"Yes, Ancestor!" the congregation of demonized men answered together
"You, lead me to Gu Mansion, tell me where is Gu Mansion at. I want to go to Gu Mansion right now!" said Fu Xue, grabbing the demonized disciple who had spoken earlier.
Taking that man, Fu Xue flew out of the hall, and was out of the Song Jia Sect in the wink of an eye.
Flying out of the Song Jia Sect, Fu Xue flew northwards at a breakneck speed.
However, just after a short while in his flight, he noticed pillars of smoke, one after another, rising into the sky in the distance.
"Not good, Ancestor, those are smoke signals, perhaps...!" that man said, his eyes widening in shock.
"Wastrel, do you think I am blind? Quickly tell me the way!" shouted Fu Xue, glaring at the man.
"Yes, Ancestor!"
Along a trade highway, three thousand horses were galloping in formation
Gu Hai, riding a dark horse, asked the nearby Gao Xianzhi in a heavy voice. "Gao Xianzhi, are you sure it"s them?"
"Yes, my Lord! When we snuck in, we found three servants of the Hall Lord. However, since we were pressed for time, we couldn"t break them out. We also didn"t find the Hall Lord. Finally, when subordinate somehow won their trust, they told us to look for Grandmaster Liunian!" Gao Xianzhi reported calmly.
"Where is Grandmaster Liunian?" asked Gu Hai, puzzled.
"They said Grandmaster Liunian followed Wei Shengren into h.e.l.l to seek the Hall Lord"s mother"s soul. That"s the reason why Grandmaster Liunian left the Hall Lord behind!" Gao Xianzhi explained.
"h.e.l.l?" Gu Hai"s eyes widened in shock.
"Yes, that Wei Shengren can connect this world to h.e.l.l. According to them, when Wei Shengren suddenly left the Xiantian World in front of us, he entered the h.e.l.l at that time. While we were hurrying along in this world, he was rus.h.i.+ng his way thru h.e.l.l! Therefore, what he said at that time was indeed true, we could not follow him on his road!" explained Gao Xianzhi.
"h.e.l.l? He is looking for the earth soul of Long Wanqing"s mother!?" Gu Hai"s eyes lit right up.
"According to the three, there is a rock where the Hall Lord was living, left behind by Wei Shengren, a very inconspicuous signaling device. As long we break it, Wei Shengren and Grandmaster Liunian would know that there is something wrong and will return. We have to go and break that rock!" said Gao Xianzhi.
Gu Hai nodded and took a deep breath.
Fighting Fu Xue using the array, had just been resorting to trickery. They had escaped safely because he was able to deceive Fu Xue. Truthfully, he simply wasn"t Fu Xue"s opponent.
Now, all the spirit stones were depleted. It would be very difficult for him to deal with Fu Xue and Song Shengping by himself. If he could call Grandmaster Liunian back, perhaps...!
Everyone urged their horses along, demanding every bit of speed from their mounts that they could.
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