Chapter 27
The viscous, scalding liquid of "Soul-Separating Powder" splattered across Zhou Shihong's luxurious brocade robes, making a teeth-grinding hissing sound. White smoke rose, accompanied by the stench of burning flesh. The excruciating pain, like a venomous snake gnawing at his heart, instantly shattered the salt smuggler's last shred of sanity. He let out a shrill, inhuman howl, his body twisting and tumbling frantically on the ground like a maggot with its bones torn out, trying to shake off the venomous, maggot-like liquid.
"Kill him! Kill him--!!!" Zhou Shihong's eyes were red and tears were streaming down his face. He waved the dagger inlaid with gems and screamed hysterically, like the last crazy roar of a dying trapped beast.
This roar, filled with despair and venom, was like a spark thrown into boiling oil! Deep in the cave, the elite Ao Gang, who had been lurking silently like reefs, instantly transformed into a swarm of sharks, scenting blood! Dozens of eyes erupted in the gloom, gleaming with ferocity and bloodlust! The cold gleam of water-dividing spears, the sharpness of harpoons, the chill of scimitars, intertwined into a metallic jungle of death!
"roar--!"
A deep roar echoed through the vast mountain caverns! Dozens of dark shadows, like a bursting black torrent, carried a strong murderous intent and the stench of river water. From behind the piles of salt bags and from the deep shadows, they suddenly rushed towards Gu Linzhi! Their speed was swift, their movements were agile, and their coordination was tacit, instantly blocking all space for evasion! This was a true desperado, constantly on the edge of a knife, and the instinct to fight was engraved in their bones!
Gu Linzhi's figure was instantly submerged in this fierce killing tide!
The flash of a sword! Like an exploding glacier, it suddenly burst forth in the surging black tide!
Gu Linzhi moved! He didn't retreat, didn't dodge, but instead took a step forward, facing the oncoming torrent of death! His dark robe rustled like a lone sail against the current! The long sword in his hand drew a cold and resolute arc!
"clang--!"
The blade, with uncanny precision, split a harpoon piercing his heart! Sparks flew everywhere! The immense force cracked the Ao Gang man's jaws, sending the harpoon flying! The blade's momentum wasn't over yet, and he used the momentum to strike back!
“Puff!”
A fountain of blood shot up into the sky! A man holding a scimitar nearby, trying to chop Gu Linzhi's waist and ribs, had his neck instantly cut open by the sharp blade! His head flew into the air with an expression of incredible horror!
Blood rain splattered! It dyed the cold salt grains red, and also dyed Gu Linzhi's black clothes red!
But this was only the beginning! More elite Ao Gang members rushed forward like frantic ants! Water-dividing spears pierced the ribs with a sharp slash! Scimitars slashed at the head with a fierce wind! Harpoons swept across the lower body from the side! The attacks were like a violent storm, pouring down from all directions!
Gu Linzhi's figure weaved through the flashing swords and shadows! His long sword transformed into an impenetrable barrier of cold light! He hacked, chopped, stabbed, blocked, and parried! Every movement was precise to the millimeter, as fast as a ghost! The clang of blades clashing against weapons, the muffled sound of flesh being torn, the snap of bones breaking, the howling of the dying... all intertwined crazily in the vast cavern, playing a bloody and cruel symphony of death!
He was like a reef in a raging sea, unshaken despite the pounding of the current! The dark figure twisted and turned amidst the bloody storm, each swing of his sword sending up a spray of scalding blood! One by one, the elite members of the Ao Gang fell, their limbs and arms flying, their bodies piled up on the cold salt heap!
However, two fists can't beat four hands! No matter how strong Gu Linzhi is, he is still a flesh and blood body! Trapped in a tight siege, his physical strength is rapidly depleting! Although the sword light is fierce, it can't block all attacks at once!
“Swish!”
A cunning water-dividing spear grazed his left arm, tearing the dark sleeve apart and leaving a deep bloody groove! The blood instantly dyed the fabric red!
"Bang!"
A heavy harpoon shaft slammed into his back! The immense force of the impact caused him to stagger! A sweet, fishy taste surged up his throat!
The Ao Gang's desperate criminals saw hope! Their offensive became even more frantic! Like hyenas smelling blood, they pounced fearlessly!
"Prime Minister——!!!"
Outside the iron gate of the plank road, the screams of black crows pierced through the whistling river wind and the sounds of fighting in the cave! He watched helplessly as Gu Linzhi's figure was besieged, and saw the dazzling bloodstains blooming on the dark robe. For the first time, a ferocious look of near collapse appeared on his rigid face! He gritted his teeth and plunged the ghost-head knife in his right hand into the crevice of the reef. With only his right arm, dragging his almost unconscious left half of his body and the pain of broken bones, he rushed towards the huge iron gate like a moth to a flame!
"Bang!!!"
A heavy crash! Mo Ya's body was thrown back by the iron gate like a broken sack, falling heavily onto the slippery plank road! Blood gushed out of his mouth! But he struggled, using his dagger to support himself. Once again, like a mad trapped beast, he roared and crashed into the cold, giant door that separated life and death!
"Blast it open! Blast it open for me!" At the entrance to the plank road, Pan Qi's eyes were red with excitement from the brutal fighting and the madness of the black crows in the cave! He waved the heavy "Zhenhai Ao" token and roared at the few remaining "Shadow Scale" members and a few temporarily gathered Cao Gang desperadoes, "Use the Thunder Fire! Blast! Blast this turtle shell!"
A member of the Shadow Scale sect flashed with determination as he suddenly pulled out a fist-sized black ball wrapped in oilcloth from his chest—it was the "Thunder Fire Ball" Pan Qi had mentioned earlier! He lit the fuse and, with all his might, smashed it hard into the weakest point where the massive iron gate met the cliff face!
"Get down!" Pan Qili roared, dragging his lame leg and suddenly falling to the ground!
"boom--!!!"
A roar, duller and more terrifying than the previous explosion at the bottom of the well, suddenly exploded! The entire river cliff shook violently! Debris rained down like rain! Under the terrifying power of the "Thunder Fire Son", the half-foot-thick iron gate, like a tortoise shell hit by a giant hammer, let out a teeth-grinding groan! A huge gap was forcibly blown open at the seam between the gate and the cliff! The twisted and deformed iron gate sank inward, revealing a hole large enough for several people to pass through at the same time!
Thick smoke, gravel, and the pungent smell of gunpowder instantly gushed out of the hole!
"Go in!" Mo Ya's hoarse roar drowned out the aftermath of the explosion! He was the first to leap from the ground, ignoring the blood gushing from his mouth. With only his right arm, he brandished the ghost-headed knife and, like a Shura from hell, charged headfirst into the smoke-filled hole! The few remaining members of the Shadow Scale and the Cao Gang's desperate criminals followed closely behind, charging in with bloodshot eyes!
Inside the cave!
Gu Linzhi's pressure suddenly eased! The elite Ao Gang members who were besieging him were so shocked by the sudden change and the explosion at the entrance that their offensive was momentarily delayed!
It’s this lightning-fast gap!
A cold light suddenly flashed in Gu Linzhi's eyes! He took a deep breath, suppressed the surging blood and qi, and swung his long sword like a poisonous dragon emerging from a cave! The blade light suddenly surged! With a resolute momentum of burning everything down!
“Puff, puff, puff!”
The blade, like the Grim Reaper's scythe, instantly slashed through the throats of the four Ao Gang men, whose movements had slowed down due to fear! Four arrows of blood spurted out simultaneously!
Without stopping, he used this bloody, brief passage to slam his foot against the ground! Like an arrow shot from a bow, he lunged towards the wooden platform! His target—the still-writhing and wailing Zhou Shihong!
"Stop him!" A fierce roar of shock and anger rang out from the Ao Gang crowd! Several fearless black shadows tried to intercept him!
"Anyone who stands in my way will die!" Mo Ya's roar resonated like thunder at the cave entrance! Covered in blood, he charged into the fray like a mad tiger! His ghost-headed knife swept across with unwavering force! Instantly severing the waists of two Ao Gang men who had attempted to intercept Gu Linzhi! Their intestines spilled onto the ground! With his own body and frantic killing spree, he forcibly tore a bloody path for Gu Linzhi!
Gu Linzhi's figure had already pounced under the wooden platform like a ghost! He didn't even look at the venom barrels still boiling and rolling on the platform and the entwined venomous snakes. He threw the long sword out! Like a white rainbow piercing the sun!
“Whoosh!”
With a shrill sound, the long sword pierced Zhou Shihong's right arm, which was waving the dagger and trying to struggle to get up, with incredible precision, nailing him to the hot wooden platform!
"Ahhh!!!" Zhou Shihong let out an even more shrill, inhuman howl! The excruciating pain caused him to completely collapse!
Gu Linzhi had already used the momentum to leap onto the wooden platform! He didn't even glance at Zhou Shihong, who was struggling under the nails. His cold gaze, like a searchlight, instantly locked onto a camphorwood box, a foot and a half square, locked with iron chains in the corner of the wooden platform! The box was of simple style, and a clear number was branded on the corner, stinging his eyes in the dim firelight - "Seven"!
The seventh camphorwood box! Finally appeared!
He took a step forward to the camphorwood box, ignoring the threat of the poisonous snake next to him that was raising its head and spitting out its venom. He put his right hand together like a knife and chopped it hard at the connection of the thick iron chain that locked the box!
"Dang!" Sparks flew everywhere! The seemingly thick iron chain link was actually cut off by the palm knife infused with internal energy!
Gu Linzhi suddenly opened the lid of the box!
There was no expected gold, silver, or jewelry, no secret letter from the Northern Di people! Inside the box, there was only a scroll wrapped in bright yellow satin, its edges faintly stained with blood-brown stains! And a heavy seal the size of a baby's fist, neither gold nor jade, completely jet black, with a ferocious wolf head carved into it!
Gu Linzhi's pupils suddenly constricted! He grabbed the bright yellow scroll! It felt heavy and cold to the touch! That bright yellow color...it was a royal item! Without hesitation, he untied the ties and unfurled it!
On the scroll lay dripping ink! The handwriting was unrestrained and uninhibited, penetrating the paper, carrying with it a surge of grief, indignation, and despair! Even more shocking, between the lines, there were tiny drops of dried, blackened blood!
"...I, Gu Zhong, Commander of the Jingbei Army, bow my head in tears! The Northern Di army is approaching, heading straight for Wolf Mountain! Our food supply has been cut off for over ten days! The soldiers are starving and freezing, subsisting on grass roots and tree bark, and quenching their thirst with snow water! We are short on weapons and arrows, and we have almost run out! Food and fodder are piling up in Jiangnan, but due to the exploitation and collusion of the Northern Di, Zhou Kang, the salt smuggler Zhou Shihong, and others, they are deliberately delaying and withholding them, and their arrival is still unsuccessful! I have repeatedly sent urgent requests for assistance over 800 miles, but all has fallen on deaf ears! Now the defense of Wolf Mountain is in jeopardy! I, along with the entire Jingbei Army, am determined to fight and die for our country! However, this is not a crime of war, but a man-made disaster! It is the Jiangnan pests who have colluded with the enemy and sold out our country, cutting off our food supply! I will not rest in peace! I can only write this bloody letter with my broken body to denounce these traitors! If God blesses Dayong, I hope future generations will use this blood edict to purge the emperor's court and punish the traitors! To comfort the one hundred thousand loyal souls of Jingbei—!!!"
At the end of the signature, written in blood, the name Gu Zhong was visible through the paper! Next to it, a seal, also soaked in blood, was blurred but still recognizable - the seal of the commander-in-chief of the Jingbei Army!
Blood edict!
During the late emperor's Northern Expedition, Gu Zhong, commander of the Jingbei Army, wrote this tearful accusation before his entire army was annihilated, having run out of food and aid at the Langshan defense line. He was accusing Zhou Kang, the Jiangnan transport envoy, Zhou Shihong, the salt smuggler, and others of the heinous crimes of collaborating with the enemy and deliberately cutting off the frontline's food supply and military equipment.
Gu Linzhi's hand, gripping the blood edict, trembled slightly with extreme anger! His knuckles were clenched white! For the first time, a blazing fire, powerful enough to incinerate everything, erupted from his deep eyes! Father... Father Gu Zhong! One hundred thousand soldiers of the Jingbei Army! They didn't die on the battlefield! They were killed by these termites sucking the lifeblood of the nation! By this cancer entrenched in Jiangnan! They were buried alive! They starved to death! They froze to death! They fought to the last drop of their blood!
A blood feud! Irreconcilable!
His eyes suddenly turned to the inky black wolf-head seal in the box! He grabbed it!
It felt cold and heavy to the touch! At the bottom of the seal were several twisted, hideous, and barbaric Northern Di characters! Next to them was a line of smaller inscriptions, also inscribed in Northern Di!
No translation needed! Gu Linzhi recognized it! The inscription meant: "Bestowed by the Heavenly Khan, the Seal of the Southern Courtyard"!
The Seal of the Northern Di Southern Court! This seal, bestowed by the Northern Di royal court upon the highest duke in charge of the affairs of the Southern Territory (the region bordering Dayong)! It is the ultimate token used to mobilize troops and sign important documents in the Southern Territory! It appeared in Zhou Shihong's camphorwood box, alongside Gu Zhong's blood edict!
The evidence is as strong as a mountain! This is the solid evidence that Zhou Shihong, the Yunze Society, and even the Beidi Poison Ivy behind them, are collaborating with the enemy and betraying their country, and killing the Jingbei Army!
"Hahahaha! Saw it?! Gu Linzhi! Did you see it?!" (Actually, I think he's crazy. This is the character's personal behavior, not the author's.) Zhou Shihong, who was nailed to the wooden platform and burned beyond recognition by the venom, laughed crazily and resentfully. His voice was like the cry of an owl in the night. "It's your father! It's your father who doesn't know how to appreciate you! It was he who insisted on defending that Broken Wolf Mountain to the death! How many people's financial resources were cut off?! If he didn't die, how would the trade routes with the Northern Di be opened?! How would the refined iron and salt be transported?! Who wouldn't want such overwhelming wealth?! Emperor? Do you think the emperor doesn't know?! Without his tacit approval, without Cao Wushang, that eunuch, cleaning up his mess in Shengjing, how could this business be so big?! Gu Linzhi! Investigate! Keep investigating! See if the one sitting on the dragon throne of Dayong is the true emperor, or... the biggest pest who sucks the blood and sweat of the people, collaborates with the enemy, and sells out the country——!!!"
Zhou Shihong screamed with all his remaining strength, each word carrying the stench of blood and venom! He struggled frantically, the wound on his right arm, where the long knife had pierced it, ripped open, and blood gushed out, mixing with the venom in his body. It was a horrible sight.
Gu Linzhi slowly turned. In his left hand, he clutched the bright yellow edict written with Gu Zhong's tears, and in his right, he clutched the icy seal of the Northern Di Southern Court. His dark robes were soaked with blood, and the scar on his cheek, illuminated by the firelight, resembled a tearful inscription. In his deep eyes, the blazing flames that could have consumed everything had died, replaced by a soul-chilling, bottomless coldness and... a deathly silence.
He didn't look at Zhou Shihong who looked like a madman, but slowly swept his eyes across the cave.
Mo Ya, armed with only his right arm, drenched in blood, fought like a hellish Asura against the remaining elite Ao Gang. Every swing of his sword unleashed a plume of blood, and dozens of corpses lay at his feet. Pan Qi also wielded a stolen scimitar, his single eye gleaming with greed and ferocity. In the chaos, he looted scattered property, occasionally chopping down one or two lone enemies. The entire "Bing Zi Cang" cavern had been transformed into a bloody battlefield.
Gu Linzhi's gaze finally fell back on Zhou Shihong's face, which was distorted by severe pain and madness.
"Zhou Shihong," his voice was as calm as a thousand-year-old black ice, yet it carried the weight of a verdict. "I have heard your words..."
He lifted his foot and walked towards Zhou Shihong, who was nailed to the wooden platform. His boots made a slight sizzling sound as they stepped over the sticky pool of blood and boiling venom.
The crazy smile in Zhou Shihong's eyes froze instantly, replaced by extreme fear! He looked at the icy seal of the Northern Di King in Gu Linzhi's hand, looked at those emotionless, abyss-like eyes, and a crushing chill instantly swallowed him!
"You...what are you going to do?! Gu Linzhi! You can't kill me! I know more! I know the emperor's secret! I know Cao Wushang's weakness! I know..."
His roar stopped abruptly.
Gu Linzhi had already walked in front of him, looking down at him. He slowly raised his right hand, and the heavy seal of the Northern Di Southern Court, carved with a ferocious wolf head, shone with a cold luster in the firelight.
"Use the seal of the Northern Di," Gu Linzhi's voice was low, like a cold wind from the underworld, "to send you on your way."
As soon as he finished speaking, he swung his arms!
"Bang--!!!"
A dull and heart-pounding noise!
The heavy seal of the King of Beidi, carrying all of Gu Linzhi's anger, hatred, and cold murderous intent, smashed heavily on Zhou Shihong's crown!
The sound of the skull breaking can be clearly heard!
Red, white... burst out in an instant!
Zhou Shihong's frantic roars, resentful curses, and wails for mercy... all were silenced by this blow! His eyes, bulging with fear, instantly lost all their luster, staring blankly at the cave's sinister ceiling like two dusty glass beads. His body jerked upright, then collapsed like a deflated bag, leaving only his right arm, pinned by the long knife, twitching strangely twice.
The leader of the Jiangnan salt smugglers, the true ruler of the Yunze Society, Zhou Shihong—killed! Killed by the seal of the Northern Di King, which he had acquired through treason and betrayal in exchange for wealth and fame!
The remaining fighting within the cave seemed to pause for a moment at this earth-shattering blow. Everyone stared in horror at the corpse on the wooden platform, its head caved in and its miserable death, and at the dark figure standing like a demon, holding the blood-stained royal seal!
Gu Linzhi slowly stood up. He didn't even glance at Zhou Shihong's body. He simply wiped the red and white-stained Beidi King Seal on Zhou Shihong's brocade robe and held it back in his hand. With his left hand, he unfolded the bloodstained bright yellow edict and with his right hand, he raised the cold Beidi King Seal.
The flames danced, reflecting the accusations written on the blood edict, the ferocious wolf head on the king's seal, and Gu Linzhi's face, which was as calm as the abyss but contained a devastating storm.
"Black Crow."
"I'm here!" Mo Ya chopped down the last stubborn man from the Ao Gang with one blow, then knelt on one knee in a pool of blood, leaning on the ghost-head knife. His voice was hoarse but firm.
"Check this place." Gu Linzhi's voice echoed in the deadly silence of the cave, carrying an unquestionable iron-blooded majesty. "Salt, iron, saltpeter, sulfur... all prohibited items, register! Zhou Shihong's body, along with this seal and this edict, must be sealed!"
His gaze penetrated the blood mist and gunpowder smoke that filled the cave, as if he was looking through thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, looking at the magnificent yet turbulent Shengjing Imperial City.
"Let's set off tomorrow."
"Return to Beijing!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
