Chapter 85 The Order to Seal the Sword: Slay the Disobedient, Slay the Rebels
The skeletal corpse, wielding its weapon, charged out to attack. The five young men from Taihang Road displayed surprisingly consistent swordsmanship, exactly as they practiced martial arts and swordsmanship at the mountain gate. As if they had all taken a calming pill, they formed a sword formation without any panic.
Bai Yuan, having somehow managed to leap onto the city wall, stood atop the high rampart overlooking the group of youths dealing with the Corpse Calamities. He couldn't help but recall the scene of them, united in their efforts, leaping and bounding through the Ghost Bureau. It must be said, though the youths were young and impetuous, they were quite capable. The main force remained Li Liuyun, whose sword energy was the most domineering, sweeping away a large number of Corpse Calamities with the coordinated attack of his fellow disciples.
It's clear that these kids aren't a disorganized bunch.
The boys threw out dozens of talismans to ward off evil spirits, which pierced through the corpse like red-hot branding marks.
However, the youths, caught in the deadly trap, found themselves amidst the chaos of war, their swords flashing as they cleaved through the hordes of enemies. Before them, soldiers from "the past" were beheaded, blood spurting from their severed necks. Lin Mu, caught off guard, was momentarily stunned, as if drenched in blood. But he had no time to hesitate; he was about to draw his sword and slay the relentless onslaught of corpses, or perhaps, the soldiers defending Puzhou!
In an instant, the city gates were littered with dead and wounded.
Lian Zhao pierced the throat of the corpse with his sword. Under the interference of the "Standing Image," it felt as if he had pierced a soldier alive. This feeling was terrible and terrifying, because he truly felt that he was killing someone. Lian Zhao couldn't bear such a cruel scene and turned to Ting Fengzhi, wanting him to stop this supernatural power: "Ting Fengzhi, could you…"
However, before Lian Zhao could finish speaking, he suddenly saw Ting Fengzhi sweep past him like a whirlwind, as if a passing storm had whipped through layers of corpses with sharp blades. Ting Fengzhi clearly felt no pressure; he was the one who stood in the wind, and he could distinguish between reality and illusion better than anyone else, so he went straight for the kill. Lian Zhao blinked, as if he saw a scene of flying flesh and blood in the void, even more cruel and bloody.
And listen to another message carried on the wind: Puzhou City has fallen, and Liu Changyu has allowed his troops to plunder and commit massacres.
"What?" Li Liuyun turned his head a beat late, watching in disbelief as the army stormed into the city, stepping over countless corpses, and wielding their butcher knives against the city's inhabitants.
The countless flashing white blades were extremely dazzling.
Men, women, and children screamed and cried as they fled and hid, but none of them escaped being hacked to death. The attacking army was bloodthirsty and slaughtered anyone they encountered, their screams and cries shaking the heavens.
The five young men, new to the world, were completely stunned by the scene before them. Their faces turned ashen, and without a word, they rushed forward to save the people struggling on the brink of death. However, their swords could not reach the chaotic city of Puzhou from years past, nor could they stop the butcher's knives wielded against the people. They were born at the wrong time, unable to relieve the suffering on the ancient battlefield a hundred years later, yet they refused to give up and tried to save lives again and again.
The spear pierced through the blade of Li Liuyun's parried sword, plunged into the white-haired old man's eye socket, and went through his skull. The moment the spear was pulled out, blood and brain matter splattered out, like hot oil splashed onto the back of Li Liuyun's sword-wielding hand.
"Are they going to massacre the entire city?!" Lian Zhao finally broke down. "What have the people done to deserve this?!"
Lin Mu kept making sword gestures and striking talismans, using all his strength but to no avail. In the end, his eyes were bloodshot: "How could this be?"
They couldn't save anyone; they could only watch helplessly as countless executioners raised their knives and carried out a ruthless massacre.
The sounds of killing and screaming filled the air. Anyone who stayed inside was burned down. Anyone who came out was killed, and those who didn't were burned alive.
The attacking army looted, burned, killed, and pillaged, leaving the streets and alleys of Puzhou filled with endless bloodshed.
A sharp cry and pleading rang out. Li Liuyun turned around and saw a young girl running out, but before she could even step out of the door, she was dragged back by the people inside. The fingernails of the girl gripping the door frame were flipped up, leaving only a few bloody handprints on the wooden frame.
He heard the sound of tearing cloth, followed by the girl's piercing cries. Li Liuyun, unable to bear it any longer, rushed in, but his sharp sword energy could not stop him. The girl was pinned to the ground, still struggling to crawl forward, but was dragged back by the ankles by soldiers.
In the main room, there was a coffin. After the other soldier had finished ransacking the house and looting the money, he grabbed two coffin nails from the coffin, squatted down next to the struggling girl, had his accomplices hold her down, and then used the coffin nails to nail her hands to the door panel.
Because the screams were too shrill, the soldiers roughly stuffed a rag into the girl's mouth to gag her.
Witnessing this scene firsthand, Li Liuyun retreated as if unable to bear it, his heart pounding violently. His face pale, he fled the house as if fleeing. However, women who had been raped were everywhere in the city. He was bombarded with filthy language and cruel laughter. Women who refused to submit were either beaten to death with sticks or had their limbs nailed through and were subjected to abuse.
Li Liuyun's hand holding the sword trembled slightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, but he could not avoid this hell on earth. Finally, he vomited at the next intersection where there were broken bones and flesh everywhere.
Li Liuyun's lungs churned, and he bent over beside the pile of corpses, vomiting until his mouth tasted bitter, but he still couldn't suppress the extreme nausea in his stomach.
However, this is far from over...
Li Liuyun looked up in a disheveled state, just as a woman holding an infant was stabbed through the abdomen by a spear. The soldiers snatched the baby and threw it violently. Li Liuyun threw down his sword and instinctively rushed over to catch it, but the baby passed through his outstretched hands and mercilessly fell to its death at his feet.
Li Liuyun's face went blank for a moment, his eyes staring blankly at his hands.
He seemed to see a slaughterhouse, where the lives of the people of Puzhou were as insignificant as ants, and the attacking soldiers were brutal and tyrannical, slaughtering livestock like animals.
His master's question suddenly struck like a bolt from the blue: "Liu Yun, do you know what it means when a dynasty gradually heads towards its demise?"
He replied, "Dynastic change, the transition between old and new regimes."
Jingzong stared at him through the incense burner: "It signifies disaster."
Li Liuyun raised his head and listened silently to his master's teachings: "When a country falls, a family perishes. When a great edifice is about to collapse, no one can remain uninvolved. Whether it is the chaos at the end of a dynasty or the turmoil at the beginning of a new regime, there will inevitably be years, decades, or even centuries of civil war. Heroes vie for power, conquering cities and seizing territories, with endless slaughter and carnage. The common people are as vulnerable as eggs, their lives as worthless as grass. You have seen in historical records 'where soldiers slaughtered, cities were reduced to ruins,' and 'the chaos and devastation lasted for decades, with white bones lying across thousands of miles,' but have you ever truly experienced it deeply?"
At the time, Li Liuyun couldn't empathize, but now, looking around, he saw a scene of flashing blades, blood, and fire, the stench of blood filling the air. And right in front of him, a resisting civilian had been brutally disemboweled, blood and intestines spilling onto the ground.
He remembers being very calm at the time, stating the facts to his master: "Throughout history, no dynasty has ever achieved long-term stability and peace."
"But they all want to do it, including the big end."
In Li Liuyun's view, this was wishful thinking...
But what if we can't do that? Will history repeat itself, like the countless cities that fell in Puzhou, where tens of thousands of people died on the same day?
An unprecedented sense of suffocation gripped Li Liuyun. He didn't want to see it with his own eyes, but he did want to experience it firsthand and be impacted by the torrent of history. The bloody and cruel battles in the historical records were vivid in his mind, and the number of militiamen who died in the chaos of war and the fall of the city was shocking.
Li Liuyun couldn't bear to look away, and saw Zhou Yaren rushing towards him from the firelight.
“Listen to the wind…” His voice was already hoarse, “Stop.”
However, the other party ignored him and walked past him at high speed.
Li Liuyun suddenly realized something was wrong. Why was this person wearing a white robe and covered in blood, as if he had just crawled out of a pile of corpses?
Although he looks exactly like Tingfengzhi, this person is clearly visible, and his clothes are completely different.
A man being restrained by soldiers saw him, shouted, broke free from the soldiers, picked up the broken blade on the ground, and stabbed at the fast-moving man.
The blood-covered, swiftly moving man suddenly turned around, his bloodshot eyes flashing with scattered light, like fear, yet not the fear of clinging to life. Before the broken knife could pierce his body, the rampaging civilian was slit in the throat by the soldiers behind him.
The person who looked like Tingfengzhi escaped the calamity, but did not linger and immediately left.
Li Liuyun stared blankly at the resolute back, his ears ringing. He seemed not to have heard the commoner's voice clearly, but judging from his furious expression and lip movements, it seemed to be cursing "traitor".
Was he a traitor? Did he betray Puzhou? Did he defect to the siege army?
But isn't this person Ting Fengzhi? Why does he look exactly like Ting Fengzhi? Where is he going?
Li Liuyun was stunned for a moment, and before he could think it through, he caught up with her.
The massacre continued, with rows of civilians forced to kneel on the ground, their heads pressed to the ground, ready to be beheaded. Li Liuyun dared not look to the side, his gaze fixed on what lay ahead.
The man braved the flashing blades and the sea of fire, stepping over pools of blood and corpses. During this time, he was attacked by several desperate civilians. He was wounded, but he still stubbornly crawled out of the pool of blood, rolled over the blades, and ran headlong in a certain direction.
What is he going to do?
"Liu Yun!" Lian Zhao caught up and called out to him, "You almost got separated from us."
Li Liuyun then realized that he had separated from his companions. Just as he was about to speak, he saw that the Taiyin tortured person was also there, and was walking alongside Lin Mu.
Lin Mu's eyes and nose were red, and he looked like a humiliated child who had just been crying. He had just witnessed women and children in dire straits rushing into the fire, or some throwing themselves into wells with their young children, while the teenagers tried their best to save them but to no avail.
Then, this heartless evil spirit suddenly appeared and said, "I advise you to stop jumping around here and save your strength to deal with the Twelve Killing Formations."
Lin Mu was naturally furious and immediately retorted, but he had to admit that the evil spirit was right and that everything happening before his eyes was just a relic in the wind.
"How could they be so cruel? After breaching the city, they started massacring the civilians!"
Bai Yuan glanced at the indignant childish ghost, whose eyes were red as red as a rabbit's, and said, "The soldiers and civilians of Puzhou City fought to the death, forcing the attacking army to be unable to take the city for a long time, resulting in countless casualties. Naturally, they were furious and vented their anger by massacring the city after the city was breached."
"Taking revenge?!" Lin Mu stared in disbelief, finding it even harder to accept. "Taking revenge on ordinary people with their lives?! These people are defenseless..."
Bai Yuan interrupted ruthlessly: "Weren't they resisting with hoes and kitchen knives in their hands?"
"What are you saying? Are people not allowed to resist under the butcher's knife?" Lin Mu was furious. "They were only forced to resist in self-defense. Otherwise, they would have no choice but to be slaughtered!"
Bai Yuan thought these mascots from the mountains were really naive: "In the eyes of the generals who captured Puzhou City, this is not called self-defense, this is called rebellion. Since ancient times, rebels have been punished. Once the people of Puzhou are accused of rebellion, they will inevitably be purged."
Aren't there plenty of people who have started uprisings with hoes in hand?
Lin Mu was utterly indignant: "Why?!"
“Just because Puzhou City won’t surrender.” This was Li Liuyun’s response.
Bai Yuan glanced sideways, finally finding someone who understood: "If the people do not submit, it will inevitably cause hidden dangers, big or small. The easiest way is to cut the Gordian knot quickly, kill those who are disobedient, kill the rebels. Once all these young and strong men are killed, the future troubles will naturally be eliminated."
Furthermore, these soldiers, who had fought desperately all the way, risking their lives, would naturally be rewarded by their commanders after conquering cities and territories.
As for how to reward them?
The city was overflowing with wealth—women, wine, gold, and silver—which they could take as they pleased, a way of boosting morale.
The soldiers who stormed into the city were like ruthless bandits, committing rape, robbery, smashing, and killing—they were utterly inhuman.
Moreover, the attacking army needs to establish its authority; anyone who dares to resist will suffer the same fate as in Puzhou. Otherwise, every time they attack a city, the defending soldiers and civilians will fight desperately, making a fierce battle inevitable. Even if they win, they will suffer heavy losses. Therefore, they must make an example of someone to warn the surrounding cities: those who resist will be punished, but those who surrender will not be slaughtered.
"Kill them all?!" Lin Mu, having only heard those two words out of context, nearly jumped up in anger. "This is outrageous! Absolutely inhumane! Are death the only option for ordinary people?!"
How many civilians have died in the chaos of war?
“It was a massacre to begin with, what way is there to survive, unless…” Bai Yuan suddenly stopped, staring at a white figure covered in blood in front of her, and stopped talking. After a moment, her gaze fell on Zhou Yaren’s back.
At the same time, amidst the bloodshed and carnage, shouts of killing, screams, and the unforgettable whispers rang out: "I, Guanlan, beg Prince Jing'an to sheathe his sword!"
Yes, unless they shut down the sword!
Li Liuyun's heart pounded violently, almost bursting through his chest: It was that person from before! His name was Guanlan!
The city was filled with the clanging of swords, and countless blades were raised high. With each swift stroke, a fresh life was ended. The slaughter would not stop until the commander-in-chief of the attacking city ordered the swords to be sheathed, and the people would be spared from death.
All the young people from Taihang Road were stunned when they saw the scene before them.
Lian Zhao was bewildered for a moment: "How come... there are two people who know the wind?"
They glanced at the gruesome blood-soaked figures, then at Zhou Yaren holding a folding fan and a ruler, and quickly realized that the person pleading with the executioner on behalf of the people of Puzhou was named Guanlan, who just looked exactly like Tingfengzhi and was the "person" in the "Standing Image".
I don't know what the connection is between the two.
Zhou Yaren stared blankly at the face that was exactly the same as her own, and couldn't help but follow after it.
The executioner stood majestically atop the city wall, surveying the city he had conquered, adding another glorious chapter to his military record.
Prince Jing'an seemed very satisfied with his victory and gladly accepted the "spoils of war" presented by the visitor.
Lin Mu asked in surprise, "What is that?"
People flocked to the city wall, eager to find out what was going on.
Bai Yuan stared at Guan Lan, who was covered in blood and looked miserable and destitute. His bloodshot eyes seemed to be about to bleed. He clearly wished he could die with Guan Lan, but he still had to endure the humiliation of offering up the treasure in the transaction.
"What is this...?"
Before the boys could see clearly, the scene of the "standing elephant" in the wind suddenly changed, and the wind whispered and the horn sounded at the same time: King Jing'an obtained the Yin Sui and issued an order to seal the sword.
The sound of the bugle was the order to seal off the sword.
The horn serves as a signal; upon hearing it, the sword is sheathed.
Before everyone could recover from the shock of "Prince Jing'an obtaining the Yin Sui Sealed Blade", Guanlan, who was leaving alone, was dragged into the darkness by a rope around his neck.
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