Ye Qi’s words were like a thunderclap, pinning Mingyue Zhou in place at a loss.
Immediately, the crowd stirred. Even Changling couldn’t help but be astonished.
If not for the confidence in Ye Qi’s voice, she would have almost decided this was another one of his fabrications.
“Impossible!” Mingyue Zhou still wouldn’t believe it. “Within a hundred miles of Shazhou Prefecture, if there were the slightest movement, our scouts would…”
His voice suddenly stopped. Ye Qi somehow had a palm-length bamboo tube in his hand. He recognized at a glance that this was a military signal flare and immediately said: “Stop him!”
A muffled “whoosh” sounded by his ear. A signal flare shot through the air, nailing itself in the night sky and exploding with a tremendous sound. Sparks scattered sparsely in all directions. Before they could fully dissipate, on a distant mountain pass, another firework suddenly bloomed out of nowhere!
Immediately after, one after another arose, rising and falling in succession, as if extending along a line toward more distant regions—precisely in the direction of Shazhou Prefecture.
Most of those present were people of the martial world and hadn’t yet figured out what was happening. Changling recognized from the sound alone this method of transmitting messages with fireworks—it required setting up several hidden sentries in advance. Once they received the signal flare, they would relay it with fireworks one after another. In this instant, commanders a hundred miles away could receive orders in time.
Changling watched as the person who had just been planning to sacrifice himself heroically miraculously turned the tables. Her heart was truly amazed: If this young marquis truly had sufficient capability to attack Yan City, why would he still take such risks alone?
At this moment, she heard Ye Qi say calmly: “I said long ago, if I were you, I absolutely wouldn’t travel over mountains and rivers just to capture a mere minor marquis. Third Prince, I wonder—how many Shazhou Prefecture troops did you leave to guard the city? Can they withstand my He family’s eighty thousand mighty army?”
Changling suddenly had a revelation.
That’s right… he deliberately used himself as bait to lure Mingyue Zhou to the Daxiao Temple.
That’s why he traveled openly and without concealment all along, insisting on accompanying her no matter what. That’s why when he saw the eight sect leaders trapped by the Iron Skull at the Dome Tower, he wasn’t in a hurry to rescue them.
Because as long as Mingyue Zhou led Shazhou Prefecture’s troops to the Daxiao Temple, the objective would already be achieved.
Changling was somewhat shocked for a moment.
She had spent several days with Ye Qi and, though she had to admit this fellow was clever, she hadn’t expected he could be so brilliantly intelligent. On one hand, she sighed that the new waves of the Yangtze push forward the old, but on the other hand felt something was wrong—even if everything was within Ye Qi’s calculations, when Mingyue Zhou appeared, he could have directly released the signal flare. Why did he still need to jump out and talk about negotiating terms?
Just as she was puzzling over this, she suddenly heard Lu Tianlan’s voice from outside: “Young master!”
She jumped down from the beam and moved to the door’s edge, only to see Ye Qi clutching his chest, staggering back two steps—he had been struck by Yuan Kong’s distant palm strike. The force of this palm wasn’t great, but Ye Qi was already at the end of his rope, barely holding on with one breath until now. How could he withstand any disturbance?
Changling watched him spray out a mist of blood, the bright red color particularly striking. In that instant, she felt the knife in her hand, the thin armor on her body, and the jade in her palm all become heavy, weighing down her heart with extreme discomfort—this fellow’s life had been saved by her. Why should she let this group of faceless rabble ruin it?
Several sect leaders rushed forward to support him. Chi Zishan and the others were even more furious: “Damn it, you actually attacked from behind?!”
Yuan Kong also seemed quite surprised. He turned to Yuan Hai and said: “Abbot, senior brother, he’s already at the end of his rope, just putting on an act! What he said is mostly untrue.”
At this moment, a low horn sound came from the distance, faintly echoing in the mountain valley.
Now, even the vice-general behind couldn’t help but panic: “Your Highness, this is Shazhou Prefecture’s warning military horn…”
Though Mingyue Zhou’s expression didn’t change, his heart was anxious—Shazhou Prefecture wasn’t a border region, so the garrison stationed there wasn’t particularly substantial. He didn’t know how the Eastern Xia army had crossed Yangling Pass so silently, but in order to expose his second brother’s crime of colluding with foreign enemies, he had temporarily deployed ten thousand elite troops from Shazhou to come here, originally intending to capture He Yu and the others in one fell swoop. Who would have thought he’d instead fall into a trap?
With almost every breath Ye Qi took, his chest hurt to the extreme. Xiao Yin pressed a palm to his back to transfer true qi to him. His vision cleared slightly as he looked toward Mingyue Zhou again: “…If you lead troops back now, you might… cough… still make it in time…”
Mingyue Zhou watched him unable to even stand steady, yet still with a smile at the corner of his mouth, and immediately felt his teeth itch with hatred: “Even if this prince withdraws troops today, I absolutely won’t let you leave the Daxiao Temple!”
As he spoke, Arhat Hall disciples attacked them from all directions. During Ye Qi’s lengthy nonsense, the sect leaders had recovered forty to fifty percent of their power. Now that they struck out, how could these young monks easily suppress them?
The young monks of the Arhat Hall weren’t useful, but the Eight Great Vajras were no pushovers. They coiled and encircled like serpents, moving vertically and horizontally, rising and falling alternately, like wheels forcing the sect leaders back step by step, not giving opponents a moment’s respite. If they were ordinary martial world people, even if not beaten to death, they would end up exhausted.
Seeing this, Changling couldn’t help but shake her head.
The foundation skills of these Eight Great Vajras of the Daxiao Temple were far inferior to those of the Shaolin Temple. If it were Chi Zishan and Lu Tianlan from ten years ago, they probably could have fought them to a draw.
As she thought this, she saw Lu Tianlan suddenly unleash a punch. Each punch was accompanied by a violent shout, shocking the eardrums of those around until they ached. Chi Zishan seized a long staff from an Arhat Hall disciple’s hands and wielded it around his body—splitting, thrusting, cutting, lifting—the staff’s shadow like a mountain. The two attacked together from below. Once the Eight Great Vajras’ footwork became chaotic, the momentum of the python formation was greatly weakened.
Yuan Kong and Yuan Jue saw the situation turning unfavorable and could no longer care about the dignity of experts. The two shot forward rapidly, closing in on the sect leaders of the Tianlong Sect, Canghai Sect, and Zhenwu Sect. These three had previously sustained internal injuries. Seeing the two great elders striking palm after palm, they could only barely parry without the strength to fight back.
Seeing both senior brothers had made their move, Yuan Zhan and Yuan Xian also joined the battle circle. In an instant, both sides fought intensely, inseparable and evenly matched.
Ye Qi’s chest heaved violently. He faintly felt the last thread inside his body was about to snap. Xiao Yin didn’t know his life hung by a thread and exhausted all his strength to transmit his entire body’s true qi to him, saying: “Young master, hold on. When General Lu and the others arrive, they’ll surely be able to rescue us from this predicament…”
Ye Qi shook his head with a smile.
Heaven had decreed his life would not be long. To have come this far already exceeded his expectations.
He looked at Mingyue Zhou several zhang away and saw that the military officers from before were no longer at his side—they must have already withdrawn troops to rush toward Shazhou Prefecture. But Mingyue Zhou still stubbornly stared at the battle situation, unwilling to leave, clearly maintaining a posture of fighting to the death.
Ye Qi couldn’t help but want to mock: Look, if you’d just agreed to my terms earlier, wouldn’t everything be fine now?
But he truly didn’t have the strength to make any sound, nor any way to inform Xiao Yin—people waiting to rescue them had long been lying in ambush near the Daxiao Temple. If they really fought to mutual destruction, it would be more loss than gain.
Yuan Hai saw that the disciples who entered the Great Ascension Tower hadn’t returned for a long time and already felt something was wrong. Looking at the situation in the field, once the battle line was drawn out and the Soft Bone Powder’s medicinal effect completely faded, the eight sect leaders’ combat power would only increase. But this troublesome little prince was still here, and he couldn’t spare himself to assist in battle. In his urgency, he only said: “Third Prince, allow this old monk to escort you away first.”
How could Mingyue Zhou be willing?
This Marquis He had repeatedly broken his southern campaign plans and toyed with him in the palm of his hand multiple times. If he just let him go like this, there probably wouldn’t be a next time.
Mingyue Zhou steadied himself and said word by word: “Abbot, you need not worry about this prince. If these people won’t submit, capturing them alive isn’t necessary.”
With these words, he had essentially issued a kill order.
Yuan Hai trembled slightly.
As a Buddhist, he had a thousand and ten thousand unwillingnesses to kill and break his vows. But at this time of war between two countries, if they still spoke of martial world righteousness, when Eastern Xia’s troops killed their way into the city, would they show mercy?
Thinking of this, Yuan Hai no longer held back. He shook his kasaya, sending out a gust of force. The Tianlong and Canghai sect leaders felt their eyes blur and their shoulders had already been struck by a palm each. Yang Xuzi saw this and repelled the people entangling him, flying sideways and raising his fingers into a sword. The Taixu Sword qi carried the momentum of rushing thunder and lightning, stabbing toward Yuan Hai’s back. Yuan Hai turned around, his right palm striking out. In an instant, leaves fell and flowers dropped, sand flew and stones walked.
When experts competed, often only a hair’s breadth separated them. Though Yang Xuzi used finger force to manifest sword qi—certainly extraordinary—he had greatly depleted his essence these past days. Receiving this “Prajna Palm,” he immediately felt as if a thousand-pound boulder pressed on his heart, unable to move an inch.
Jiang Fangyao saw Yang Xuzi couldn’t hold off the enemy and immediately sent out a palm of “Tiger’s Roar, Wind Born.” Yuan Hai raised his left palm and actually, with his own strength alone, barely withstood the assault of these two great Central Plains sect leaders.
The other sect leaders hadn’t expected Yuan Hai’s internal power to be so profound. Seeing Yang and Jiang couldn’t hold out much longer, they leaped behind them one after another, one person stacked on another, palms pressing against backs to channel true qi. Whether they lived or died, they would fight viciously to the end first.
Ye Qi lifted his unbearably heavy eyelids. Seeing the fierce battle situation, his heart was anxious: “You mustn’t…”
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly heard a breaking sound through the air. Several sect leaders were simultaneously shaken apart by a force and fell heavily to the ground.
Behind Yuan Hai stood the Four Great Elders—Yuan Kong, Yuan Jue, Yuan Zhan, and Yuan Xian—in the Four Symbols Spirit Formation. If the eight sect leaders fought them separately, they might still be able to hold out for a moment, but when it came to combining and merging internal power, how could a temporarily assembled team match those who trained day and night?
In the Central Plains martial world camp, only Ye Qi remained standing upright.
Seeing each of the eight sect leaders seriously injured, he felt quite guilty: For a dying person like me to have them protect me so—it’s truly not worth it.
At this moment, Yuan Hai had already swept toward Ye Qi, extending an eagle claw to seize him. Ye Qi’s hands were behind his back, with no intention of resisting. Just when Yuan Hai was less than one zhang away, he faintly heard a “hiss hiss” sound and was suddenly shocked!
He didn’t know what Ye Qi hid behind him, but having walked the martial world for decades and seen countless situations, how could he not know the danger in this? At this life-and-death moment, Yuan Hai’s ten fingers stiffened, transforming claw force into palm force. Pouring out his full strength, he executed a move of Arhat’s Vajra Palm, striking directly at Ye Qi’s crown!
Suddenly, a figure in blue descended from above. Yuan Hai hadn’t yet seen clearly when he felt a bone-chilling cold sweep across his face, carrying a forest-dark whirlpool momentum, meeting his palm with one of her own!
Yuan Hai’s qi and blood surged. His dantian’s inner breath broke through his qi gate. His heart shook as this contained force pushed him back several steps. Though he barely managed to stand, he had a feeling of heaven and earth tilting.
At this moment, dawn was about to break, and a few scattered stars still floated in the dark clouds.
Only now did everyone see clearly that the one who had blocked Ye Qi’s front like a ghost was actually a woman.
That woman wore a deep blue dress, her long hair cascading to her waist. Her left hand held a Soul-Reaping Blade, while her right hand that had struck the palm slowly lowered. The moment the strong wind lifted her veil, everyone was stunned, feeling such peerless beauty was rarely seen in a lifetime—unable to tell for a moment whether she was human or spirit.
When the veil fell back down, they saw the woman’s extremely bright pupils looking toward Yuan Hai and the others as she said slowly and deliberately: “Those who want to die, come forward.”