When Xu Pingfeng saw his eldest legitimate son, he was stunned. Judging by appearance alone, he couldn’t believe he had sired such a monster—this couldn’t possibly be of his bloodline.
The humanoid creature battling the White Emperor had a cluster of vibrant flowers blooming from its head, its body covered in black, cracking tree bark, and its limbs wrapped in vines adorned with tender green leaves.
How was this human?
It was a tree demon!
If not for the Buddhist Pagoda floating in the air, the Nation-Stabilizing Sword in his hand, and the profound power of the masses, Xu Pingfeng would never have believed this monster was Xu Qi’an.
Moreover, his revealed aura had reached the peak of the Second Realm.
This was without considering the enhancement from the power of the masses—his strength alone had reached the peak of Second Realm, nearly matching Asura.
Of course, the gap between peak Second Realm and First Realm remained enormous, but with the aid of the Nation-Stabilizing Sword, Buddhist Pagoda, power of the masses, and various curse techniques, Xu Qi’an was barely “surviving” under the White Emperor’s attacks.
Xu Pingfeng finally understood why the tribulation battle had dragged on for so long.
His eldest legitimate son, with his strength alone, matched Asura, Golden Lotus, and Zhao Shou, compensating for their previous lack of fighting power.
With a warrior’s tenacity and endurance, even though Garuda Tree and White Emperor had the upper hand, they found it difficult to kill their opponents quickly.
It wasn’t that they weren’t strong enough—it was a matter of systematic differences.
“Oh? You rushed here to Zhou State in such a hurry—seems the battle in Yong State isn’t going well,” the tree demon Xu Qi’an noticed the puppet’s appearance and remarked with a smile after destroying a ball of water lightning.
The White Emperor paused, turning to look at Xu Pingfeng.
Garuda Tree, Asura, and the others naturally noticed the new observer as well.
Just as Xu Pingfeng was eager to know the situation in the northern borderlands, they were concerned about the state of affairs in the Central Plains.
They couldn’t afford to fight here while their cities fell elsewhere.
Xu Pingfeng ignored his eldest son’s provocation and transmitted to everyone:
“Yong State has fallen. The Yun State army is now marching toward the capital.”
The puppet couldn’t speak, only transmit thoughts. Moreover, he deliberately chose to transmit to everyone, creating psychological pressure on Asura and the others.
A change in mindset would affect their combat state, and for the Great Feng’s cultivators, even a slight error could mean the difference between life and death.
Garuda Tree Bodhisattva exhaled:
“Excellent!”
The White Emperor let out a sinister laugh, highly satisfied with the Yun State army’s progress. Once Great Feng fell, the Observatory Master would die, and it could successfully refine the Gatekeeper’s spiritual essence, paving the way for the coming catastrophe.
Asura and Daoist Golden Lotus’s hearts sank—this was indeed the outcome they least wanted to see.
They then noticed that Xu Qi’an and Zhao Shou’s expressions remained relaxed, showing no trace of gravity.
Zhao Shou smiled and said:
“Wei Yuan has been resurrected.”
Asura didn’t know who Wei Yuan was, and his heavy heart remained unchanged, but the Daoist Golden Lotus’s expression lightened as he smiled:
“Excellent!”
In the Central Plains battlefield where supernatural forces were roughly equal, with Wei Yuan commanding the situation and planning strategies, Great Feng was almost impossible to defeat. Although the Daoist Golden Lotus didn’t know what trump cards Wei Yuan might have, he had absolute confidence in him.
A name carries its weight.
Upon hearing this, Garuda Tree’s slightly relaxed expression turned serious again.
Asura, who had been observing his opponents and catching Garuda Tree’s emotional shifts, asked curiously:
“Who is Wei Yuan?”
He directed the question to Zhao Shou and the Daoist Golden Lotus.
Daoist Golden Lotus evaluated:
“Skilled in coordination, military command, and not bad at cultivation.”
Asura frowned, thinking, is that all?
Zhao Shou added:
“He has never lost when playing chess against the Observatory Master.”
…Asura fell silent for a moment, then slowly broke into a smile:
“Very good!”
He dismissed all his concerns and worries.
Meanwhile, Xu Pingfeng scrutinized his eldest son and transmitted to the White Emperor: “What’s his condition?”
The White Emperor instinctively licked its lips, its eyes gleaming with greed and desire. “He has the spiritual essence of the Undying Tree within him. The Undying Tree was one of the ancient divine demons, possessing unparalleled vitality throughout history, eternally undying. Even the Great Turbulence of that year couldn’t truly eliminate the Undying Tree. Compared to it, a warrior’s immortal body is merely a minor technique before the Undying Tree’s spiritual essence.”
Mu Nanzhi was the Flower Goddess’s reincarnation, her spiritual essence eternal. It seemed the Flower Goddess’s previous form was the Undying Tree, and Xu Qi’an had obtained the Undying Tree’s spiritual essence through dual cultivation with her… Xu Pingfeng immediately understood the key points.
Growing stronger as the battle continued defied common sense, and rising from early Second Realm to peak Second Realm had already exceeded the scope of potential explosion.
But if Xu Qi’an had the Undying Tree’s spiritual essence within him, gradually absorbing and refining it through his special “intent” during battle would explain this phenomenon.
The White Emperor smiled:
“No need to worry. The spiritual essence remaining in his body is minimal. Apart from the Undying Tree itself, any living being can only absorb part of the spiritual essence—use some, lose some. I’m confident I can kill him before Luo Yuheng completes the Four-Phase Tribulation.”
Having once devoured part of the Undying Tree’s trunk, it spoke with authority on this matter.
Xu Pingfeng finally relaxed, his “heart” settling back down. As an ancient divine demon who had encountered the Undying Tree, the White Emperor’s judgment couldn’t be wrong.
As everyone lowered their weapons and ceased fighting, the billowing sand and dust had somehow settled.
The Earth Lightning Tribulation had been safely passed.
The next moment, the rolling ink-black clouds above intensified. With a “boom,” lightning streaked across the sky, followed by torrential rain. Finger-thick rain columns fell diagonally, filling the space between heaven and earth with misty rain.
Everything became blurry.
The White Emperor stared at the figure blurred by the rain curtain and laughed menacingly:
“Why do you think I’m confident I can kill you before the Four-Phase Tribulation ends? I’ve been waiting for the Water Lightning Tribulation. Here will be my domain!”
As the words fell, a bolt of lightning struck down from the rolling clouds, hitting its broken horn.
This wasn’t tribulation lightning but normal lightning, though it carried traces of the tribulation’s essence.
In the misty rain, distorted lightning bolts continuously radiated outward from the horn’s center, like an octopus’s tentacles.
The White Emperor in the rain curtain appeared like the ruler dominating this world.
…
Capital City.
The city gates were wide open as caravans entered along the official road, accompanied by travelers carrying bundles and wealthy households in carriages.
At the city gate tower, Divine Astronomy Bureau’s术士 worked with the gate guards to question and identify spies.
Clearing the walls and fields was an important part of the defense work.
The capital’s territory included Long Le and Tai Kang counties, plus more than a dozen large and small villages and towns.
Long Le and Tai Kang each had three thousand garrison troops, complete with artillery and crossbows. The two counties and the capital supported each other, providing mutual aid during battles.
But the villages and towns had no defensive capabilities.
To prevent the rebel army from exploiting food supplies, the court decided to bring wealthy households and landlords from the villages and towns into the capital, collecting corresponding entry taxes. For the landlords, this was a welcome arrangement they supported with both hands.
Paying partial money and grain for protection was certainly better than being plundered by rebel forces—the former only required paying a portion, while the latter could result in a massacre.
At the city walls, numerous laborers bustled about, either reinforcing the walls or transporting siege weapons like giant stones and rolling logs.
Artillery troops inspected whether the crossbows and cannons were functioning properly. Different military branches checked different equipment.
Infantry troops ran in groups along the horse path, performing seemingly meaningless drills like “reaching assigned posts in minimum time” and “quickly familiarizing themselves with different weapon positions.”
With officials’ active cooperation, the defensive preparations proceeded in an orderly manner.
Divine Astronomy Bureau.
Sun Xuanji, accompanied by Guardian Yuan, arrived at the “Song Faction” base—the alchemy room, where twenty to thirty white-robed术士 were busy working. Some were smelting steel, some were forging iron, and some were… manufacturing gunpowder.
Sun Xuanji suddenly looked around, then his expression slightly relaxed.
Guardian Yuan perfectly expressed his thoughts:
“Fortunately, Junior Sister Zhong isn’t here. How dare these fools who only know about alchemy experiments make explosives in the building?”
As if someone had pressed a mute button, the alchemy room suddenly fell silent. The white-robed术士 quietly stopped their work and expressionlessly looked over.
Sun Xuanji’s lips twitched slightly.
Song Qing shrugged beside them:
“Don’t worry, I’ve already spoken with Junior Sister Zhong. She won’t leave the underground during this period.”
Sun Xuanji nodded, pretending to let the matter drop.
Guardian Yuan stared at Song Qing and unconsciously said:
“This mute has been secretly criticizing us all along, ptui!”
Song Qing’s face suddenly froze.
The brotherhood of Sun Xuanji and Song Qing silently stared at each other for several seconds, one taking out a wooden collar, the other drawing a chopping knife…
Guardian Yuan, now wearing the wooden collar, was forced to stand in the corridor as punishment. Song Qing took out a disc-shaped metal plate two fingers high and said:
“This is my new weapon.”
Sun Xuanji remained silent, examining the disc-shaped metal, waiting for Song Qing’s explanation.
“Its power is no less than a cannonball, but it’s not meant to be fired—it’s buried in the ground.” Song Qing pointed at the protrusion on the metal disc’s surface and said:
“There’s a flint here. Once stepped on, the flint will strike and ignite the fuse. With a boom, both the person and the horse will be shattered. Sixth Realm Bronze Skin Iron Bone cultivators can take at most two hits. If a Fourth Realm warrior dares to keep stepping on them, they’ll also be blown apart.”
“Also, I filled it with large amounts of white phosphorus. Once it sticks to someone, it’s like a bone-clinging maggot—impossible to extinguish, fighting to the death.”
“Unfortunately, white phosphorus can only be used in winter. Now that the weather is cold, we don’t need to worry about spontaneous combustion.”
“This thing is called a ‘landmine’—Young Master Xu named it.”
He had been researching how to make landmines recently, inspired by a book called “Encyclopedia of Firearms” given by Xu Qi’an.
According to Officer Xu, this was his painstaking work (hastily written to appease the persistent alchemists), which recorded some weapons that could be called flights of fancy, such as tanks, fighter planes, grenades, landmines, nuclear bombs, and so on.
Song Qing marveled at Young Master Xu’s creative ideas, but the descriptions of the weapons were too simplistic.
Tank—an iron-shell carriage with internal cannons.
Grenade—a throwable bomb.
Landmine—buried explosives.
Nuclear bomb—the art of boiling water.
After much research, Song Qing discovered that landmines were the most reliable and worthy of research, perfectly suited for Great Feng’s current situation—siege warfare.
Tanks weren’t very meaningful, obviously expensive to produce, and would likely be destroyed with one blow when encountering experts.
As for grenades, why throw by hand when you could use cannons?
Regarding nuclear bombs, Song Qing couldn’t understand the connection between weapons and boiling water.
Sun Xuanji’s eyes brightened as he listened, and he concisely asked:
“Quantity?”
“Currently only eight thousand pieces, all in the warehouse at the end of the corridor. Please trouble Senior Brother Sun to deliver them to the city defense forces,” Song Qing said.
This was the limit of what he could do as an alchemist, and also his revenge against the Yun State army.
…
On the flat, broad outskirts of the city, an army of seventy thousand advanced majestically toward the capital, with Yun State banners fluttering fiercely in the strong wind.
Among this army of seventy thousand, only about thirty thousand were true armored soldiers. The rest consisted of militia and irregular troops.
Both of these groups were formed from civilians captured in Yong State. The militia was responsible for transporting supplies, artillery, and military equipment, as well as leveling roads and cooking meals.
The irregular troops were strong young men selected from the militia, each equipped with a war blade, rushing to the battlefield.
Neither the Yun State army nor the Great Feng army lacked such military units.
However, elite troops on both sides were becoming increasingly scarce.
Qi Guangbo sat high on horseback, gazing at the majestic city on the horizon, and slowly exhaled:
“The capital, we’ve finally arrived!”
Behind him were his capable generals like Ji Xuan, Yang Chuannan, and Ge Wenxuan.
Hearing this, Ji Xuan and the others were filled with emotion.
Since the uprising began, more than three months have passed. The Yun State army had pushed the battle line from south to north, leaving countless corpses of comrades and enemies along the way.
Since ancient times, beneath the throne lay countless bones—imperial ambitions were painted with the blood of common people.
Qi Guangbo spurred his horse forward a short distance, then turned to face the army and proclaimed loudly:
“The king’s army has been out of Yun State for more than three months. Your troops have followed me on the campaign, trampling across the Central Plains, successively occupying Qing State and Yong State. Now our army stands before the capital, victory is in sight. Once we take this city, the Central Plains will be ours.”
“Whoever first scales the city walls will receive a thousand taels of gold and be granted the title of Ten Thousand Household Marquis.”
“Roar!”
Tens of thousands roared in unison, the sound waves like ocean tides, a magnificent sight.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The drums thundered like lightning as the army began to advance, charging toward the capital.
…
Half an hour earlier, at the Righteous Energy Tower.
On the seventh-floor observation platform, Wei Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, his temple hair streaked with gray, his blue clothes fluttering as he looked down at the four Golden Gongs, Silver Gongs, and Bronze Gongs below.
They numbered three hundred in total.
Wei Yuan’s tone was gentle and calm:
“After today, those who survive will be promoted one rank and receive a thousand taels of reward.”
“For those who fall, I will personally carry their coffins!”
The watchmen’s blood rushed to their heads, their eyes blazing as they roared:
“We are willing to brave fire and water for Lord Wei, not refusing even ten thousand deaths!”
…
Zizi!
Lightning as thick as arms twisted through the air, lashing two scorched marks on the ground, instantly vaporizing the rain in those areas.
Xu Qi’an’s figure emerged from the shadow of a rock twenty zhang away on the right.
Puff puff puff… As soon as he appeared, the raindrops above his head transformed into arrow rain, becoming a barrage that instantly enveloped him, leaving shallow pits on his body’s surface.
As a natural water spirit, the White Emperor’s power increased significantly in ocean and heavy rain environments. The most obvious change was that it didn’t need to use spiritual power to draw water spirits from the air.
The overwhelming rain was like an extension of its limbs, ready to be used at any moment to strike enemies.
So painful… Xu Qi’an grimaced. He didn’t divide his attention to resist the overwhelming attacks, instead disappearing into the shadows again.
Boom!
The rock he had used for shadow jumping was shattered by twisted, flaring lightning the next moment.
The two horns atop the White Emperor’s head continuously released lightning that writhed and flourished wildly, the “zizi” sound making one’s scalp tingle.
Xu Qi’an either used shadow jumping or ran at high speed, dodging, and rolling to avoid the terrifying lightning strikes.
But the falling rain curtain was impossible for him to avoid no matter what. His qi barrier couldn’t block the White Emperor’s water techniques, though bringing out the Buddhist Pagoda could withstand several waves of rain thanks to the treasure’s natural hardness.
During this process, the White Emperor chased and snapped at Xu Qi’an, putting him in an environment where “the whole world was the enemy.”
As time passed second by second, Xu Qi’an’s injuries grew increasingly severe.
He was completely suppressed, only able to dodge, seemingly without even the power to fight back.
Shua la la… The accumulated water rose spinning, carrying mud and broken stones, forming huge water tornadoes.
The White Emperor closed its eyes, stopping its manipulation of the scene, its ears twitching slightly, capturing all surrounding sounds.
In its perception, the world was pitch black, with raindrops creating ripples in the darkness. Each ripple outlined a sound source, eventually feeding the real world back to its mind.
In such a world, any slight movement would be infinitely amplified.
This was the White Emperor’s body’s innate divine ability.
Found you… The White Emperor suddenly opened its eyes, its azure pupils staring at a certain spot as the water tornado violently crashed toward it.
At the spot where the White Emperor’s gaze fell, Xu Qi’an’s figure had just appeared.
Xu Qi’an had just emerged from shadow jumping when he suddenly felt his feet tighten, his ankles wrapped by two tentacles formed from rainwater, while facing him was a water tornado carrying mud and broken stones, crashing toward him with overwhelming force.
This is bad… his heart sank.
In the distance, Xu Pingfeng stood with his hands behind his back, his posture leisurely.