Chapter 771: The Death of Gu Ren (Part 2) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
"This is bad!"
The mysterious warrior suddenly changed color.
"He's going to self-destruct!"
Huang Lie's face darkened: "Gu Ziyi has gone mad!"
The ultimate skill of a martial artist is either self-destruction or self-ignition of their martial spirit—just explode and that's it. A scholar also explodes, but uses the power of words to communicate with heaven and earth, borrowing divine power to unleash heavenly lightning. It is said that this method will destroy both body and soul, therefore few people use it.
After all, people always have something to hope for in the afterlife. If one's soul is scattered and there is no next life, then there is absolutely no hope.
In the more than two hundred years since the thief star descended to earth, the number of people with the courage to do this can be counted on one hand, and now we should add Gu Ren to that list.
Witnessing his own brothers die one by one under the palm of the black-clad warrior, and even Shao Chong joining the battle only prolonging the lives of the others for a short while, and Chao Lian being injured, how could he not go mad?
However, he was sane while insane!
The only regret?
It seems the promise to drink together in the afterlife is impossible to fulfill.
But he has no regrets!
The sixth brother said with a sorrowful expression, "Big brother!"
He steeled himself and wanted to self-destruct as well, but he was powerless to do so. It was the first time he had ever known that only one Wenxin scholar could self-destruct and trigger the heavenly lightning in the same area. The other Wenxin scholars within the area had their literary energy stagnant under the suppression of the heavenly lightning.
To some extent, this would prevent the possibility of coercing literary scholars into becoming walking bombs! However, this is not what Lao Liu wanted.
"Shield!"
Seeing Gu Ren charging towards him with a wild laugh, Huang Lie decisively ordered the heavy shield warriors to work together to form a shield wall to withstand the heavenly lightning that would soon fall from the sky. At this moment, no one dared to stand in Gu Ren's way. His warhorse was exhausted, so he dismounted and charged into the fray.
The thunderclouds overhead formed in the blink of an eye.
Strangely, the thunderclouds were clearly divided into a yin-yang symbol, with icy blue lightning surging across the white portion and bluish-purple lightning on the black portion, faintly tinged with an ominous darkness. Clearly, these two thunderclouds had different targets.
White came rushing towards Gu Ren.
Black thunderclouds...
The black-clad warrior, his face so dark it could drip ink, stared at Shao Chong, who was relentlessly attacking him. Even at the risk of having a large chunk of muscle torn from his arm by Shao Chong's claws, he was determined to get away from this place. Shao Chong had failed to slay the evil spirit and had been possessed by it; he would inevitably become a humanoid killing beast, a menace to the world. How could the righteous spirit of heaven and earth allow such a threat to exist?
Shao Chong doesn't need to go through the second trial; the third trial's lightning tribulation will automatically come knocking. Although the chances of survival are slim, if Shao Chong in this form can withstand it, as long as he doesn't continue killing and creating more karma in the future, he will be safe and sound.
Normally, this tribulation of lightning would take three to five months to arrive. However, Shao Chong rushed to the battlefield after being possessed by evil thoughts. The battlefield lacked everything except dead people and resentment. In addition, Gu Ren was determined to take a piece of Huang Lie's flesh even if it meant death, so he self-destructed as soon as he arrived.
With the power of words, I summon the thunder of heaven.
"Did Heaven Strike?" Thunder took on this job, only to discover, to his surprise, that the next target for "Did Heaven Strike?" was also there. So, adhering to the principle of "since we're already here," he decided to strike one more person. Thus, the spectacular sight of two bolts of lightning converging above the battlefield came to be.
The black-clad warrior tried to escape, but Shao Chong naturally wouldn't let him.
Driven by primal instincts, he only wanted to kill the black-clad warrior.
"puff--"
He was struck in the front of Shaochong's chest by a claw.
The five bloodstains were so deep that the ribs were visible.
"Withdraw the troops—quickly—"
The heavenly lightning summoned by Gu Ren was nothing special, but the heavenly lightning summoned by Shao Chong's evil intentions was different; its intensity was comparable to the tribulation lightning of a fifteenth-level Lesser Upper Realm cultivator advancing to the next level. Normally, the tribulation lightning of advancement is more beneficial than harmful; the martial artist undergoing the tribulation can temper their body and prolong their lifespan after absorbing it. This one, however, was there to eliminate the evil intentions plaguing the world; it only brought harm, no benefit. Each strike was aimed at killing.
The very existence of the Heavy Shield Warrior is against the natural order.
If they were caught in the crossfire of two heavenly lightning bolts and included in the cleanup, even if they could form an array to withstand the lightning, they would still suffer severe damage. To not move aside at this time and instead wait expectantly for the lightning tribulation to strike is rather foolish! The black-clad warrior's veins bulged.
boom--
However, it only took a few breaths to prepare.
A bolt of icy blue lightning shot out from the thundercloud.
Gu Ren gripped the hilt of his sword, laughing as he calmly faced his death: "Huang Xiguang, even if you perish, I will watch over you from heaven and earth, watching how you trap yourself and seek your own demise!"
boom--
He heard the sound of thunderbolts crashing down, and the roar of his dantian collapsing. For the first time, his gentle spiritual core revealed its violent side, with immense power spreading from within. This process seemed both very short and as long as a lifetime.
Before his consciousness was swallowed up, he heard his sixth brother's shouts being engulfed by thunder, saw Huang Lie's distorted, bluish-black face covered in white light, and saw the fear surging in his thirteenth brother's scarlet eyes. Countless familiar figures flashed past before his eyes.
"Big brother—" It was the third brother.
"Big brother, come quick!" It was the seventh brother.
"Hey, big brother, stop dawdling." It was the eighth brother.
"Big brother, let's go together." It was the second brother.
"Big brother..."
"Big brother..."
Gu Ren seemed to see several figures standing neatly at the end of the light, holding swords and knives, calling out to him.
He smiled and flicked his sleeves: "You're here."
Gu Ren walked with his head held high and a smile toward his brothers.
Grasping one of their cold hands, he sighed, "So, heavenly lightning doesn't destroy both body and soul after all. The rumors misled me—"
boom--
As the second icy blue lightning bolt was about to strike, the first blue-purple lightning bolt descended simultaneously. The two lightning bolts of vastly different colors were drawn to each other, intertwining and twisting, devouring and absorbing all the energy of heaven and earth within a radius of dozens of miles.
Not only the energy of heaven and earth, but also the resentment and malevolent energy on the battlefield were being absorbed frantically, and they gathered together in mid-air.
In an instant, it turned into a multicolored black.
At first glance, it looks like a celestial dog swallowing the sun.
This black light possessed immense gravitational pull, drawing objects from the ground towards it—grain, stones, arrows, body parts, even corpses, and even the subsequent heavenly lightning were all absorbed by it. Seeing this apocalyptic scene unfold, Huang Lie disregarded everything else and led his troops in a temporary retreat of several miles. The black-clad warriors, sensing danger, had already begun trying to escape.
The feeling of being overwhelmed didn't subside until they had flown five or six miles away.
He watched with lingering fear as the black sphere rapidly expanded.
Buzzing—
Wherever the colorful black sphere passed, everything vanished into silence.
It took a full fifteen minutes for the smoke and dust to dissipate.
Huang Lie and the black-clad warriors led their men back.
All that remained on the ground was a massive crater hundreds of feet in diameter. All the corpses within the crater had vanished, leaving behind a lingering, violent aura that could cause a sharp pain in one's veins, and occasional crackling of electricity. The two exchanged a horrified glance.
At that moment, the black-clad warrior spotted a glimmer of light.
He channeled his remaining martial energy to create a suit of armor, cautiously moved to the spot, and dug out a national seal, which was intact.
Huang Lie looked at the imperial seal but did not smile. Gu Ren's dying words, or rather, his curse, flashed repeatedly through his mind. The mouths of scholars and writers possessed an uncanny ability to make their words come true, and he feared that Gu Ren's dying words would come true.
The black-clad warrior just laughed it off.
"Just the arrogant words of a dead man on his deathbed." Huang Lie wasn't afraid of Gu Ren when he was alive, so why would he be afraid of the mouth of a dead man? The words of the black-clad warrior made Huang Lie's expression soften slightly.
Huang Lie took a deep breath to suppress his unease.
He said, "Let's take stock of the losses."
The losses are likely to exceed expectations by a large margin.
Gu Ren's soldiers were fearless, as were his brothers; the final double lightning strike was truly terrifying. Even though Huang Lie had immediately ordered the scholars to relocate the vanguard, and the vanguard's heavy shield warriors were also retreating, several hundred were still lost.
It's not easy to train a heavy shield warrior, and Huang Lie feels sorry for him.
The black-clad warrior was about to nod in agreement when a tickling sensation rose in his throat, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood. He looked down and saw that the blood flowing from his wound was tinged with black. Huang Lie also noticed that his injury was different from usual, grabbed his wrist, examined it briefly, and said in a deep voice, "That beast's claws are infused with Gu poison!"
He then asked the black-clad warrior, "Are you alright?"
The black-clad warrior vomited another mouthful of blood.
"He won't die for now, but he needs to recover from his injuries as soon as possible and go into seclusion for a while to expel the poison from his body." The body of a 16th-level Grand Master is very resilient. If the same injuries and poison were on someone else, they would have been dead for several weeks.
Huang Lie immediately summoned the scholar and physician.
Before leaving, he looked at the large pit with a regretful expression.
But once the battlefield was cleared up and he heard the reported number of losses, his regret instantly turned into hatred. He gritted his teeth and said, "If Gu Ziyi hadn't been completely destroyed, I would have hung his corpse up to dry in the sun and whipped it to vent my anger!"
Gu Ren did indeed bite off a huge chunk of his flesh!
If the losses were still manageable, Huang Lie originally intended to press his advantage and annihilate Wu Xian's forces. Only by eliminating Wu Xian could he isolate and leave Shen Youli without support! As for the other members of the allied forces, they were utterly insignificant to him! Now, his entire plan was disrupted!
Huang Lie cleaved the table in two with a single palm strike, his chest heaving violently.
Where are Wu Zhaode's troops now?
A strong sense of unwillingness flashed in Huang Lie's eyes.
At this time, Ganzhou has gathered elite forces from all sides. As long as they are all either annihilated or incorporated into the government, and the situation is stabilized, it will basically be able to dominate the Northwest continent. After a year or two of recuperation, the remaining restless smaller forces can be swept away, and the overall situation will be settled!
Huang Lie had taken a crucial first step by eliminating Gu Ren, but things went wrong along the way. How could he accept that?
His advisors and strategists offered their advice.
"My lord, now is not the right time to make a move."
"My lord, why not send someone to incite other forces to fight amongst themselves, while we sit back and reap the benefits?"
"...As long as he holds the imperial seal, a war is inevitable. Given Wu Zhaode's ambition, he will definitely not stop here."
Aside from Gu Ziyi and Shen Youli, those two complete fools, who among those who participated in the Dragon-Slaying Bureau didn't harbor grand ambitions? And who truly believed that the Bureau's goal was actually to slay the dragon? Their true intentions lay elsewhere—the supreme status of the Northwest region!
Huang Lie certainly hoped that Wu Zhaode and Shen Youli would fight, ideally resulting in a draw or a joint attack by other forces. However, he was more worried that they might join forces. Shen Youli might be a bit dim-witted, but Wu Zhaode certainly wasn't!
——
Teahouse in the city.
"W-what? Ascended?"
The crowd listened to the story with rapt attention, feeling sorry for the Gu brothers. Some even secretly wiped away tears with the back of their hands, while simultaneously harboring a degree of resentment towards Huang Lie. However, with Huang Lie taking over the city, they dared not utter a sound. Inevitably, their hearts leaned more towards Gu Ren.
But they only dared to dream that the Gu brothers would be reborn into a good family, and perhaps eighteen years later they could become sworn brothers again and seek revenge on Huang Lie. Those with even wilder imaginations just thought that a family in the neighborhood was about to have a baby, and maybe one of them would be a reincarnation of the Gu brothers.
result--
The storyteller suddenly changed the subject.
Gu Ren and his brothers all ascended to immortality through physical transformation. Upon hearing this, Yun Ce, who was sitting in the corner looking distressed, almost choked on his tea. The audience protested, saying he was making things up.
The man rubbed his injured leg and stubbornly argued.
"Why doesn't that count as ascension?"
"Isn't it said that if you do good deeds and accumulate virtue in your life, you can ascend to heaven after death? Their martial arts are so high, why can't they be promoted to heavenly generals by the Heavenly Emperor? What do you ignorant peasants know?" As she spoke, her eyes were already red.
Upon hearing this, Yun Ce sighed and left money for the tea.
He secretly left the teahouse.
I stood at the crossroads for a while, lost in thought.
Ultimately, I still wanted to meet with Huang Lie.
The man's resolute voice could still be heard from behind.
"He ascended to heaven! He ascended to become a celestial general!"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the vast continent.
A middle-aged man dressed in coarse linen sat on a rock, taking a sip of wine. On the other side of the rock sat an elderly man with a slightly hunched back and a wrinkled face, his hair white. The old man wore a wide robe, with a hood covering his hair.
One was drinking while supervising the work, while the other sat quietly with his eyes closed.
Swish, swish, swish—
You can hear the sound of soil being turned over every now and then.
The middle-aged man wrinkled his nose and couldn't help but speak up: "You made Shao Bai carry a shovel and dig a hole, and you even suppressed his martial energy. How long will it take to dig like this, shovel after shovel?"
The old man's voice was hoarse: "To hone his perseverance and patience."
The middle-aged man pinched his nose: "To hone his patience and perseverance, what can't he do at any time? Don't you even look at the weather right now? By the time he finishes digging a pit big enough to bury a thousand people, these corpses will be rotting! If it weren't for using incantations to prevent the stench of blood from spreading, wild beasts from within a hundred miles would be attracted!"
The old man said, "It won't stink to death."
The middle-aged man, his face contorted in a grimace, muttered a curse under his breath.
A few days ago, the old man led Shao Bai to meditate in the valley, invoking the spirits and offering thanks to the gods—which, in the eyes of the middle-aged man, was just a shamanistic ritual—but as soon as Shao Bai unleashed the so-called "divine power," a huge gap opened in the sky, and a pile of corpses crashed down.
A middle-aged man was caught off guard and hit on the head by pieces of a corpse.
If I hadn't dodged quickly, I would have been buried alive by mountains of corpses!
The old man and the young man stared blankly at the corpse.
The younger one, being rather naive, asked, "Teacher, was it a gift from the gods?"
The middle-aged man nearly burst into a tirade of profanities.
Which evil god blesses believers by giving them to corpses?
Clearly, a fight somewhere had caused too much noise, triggering a spatial anomaly that brought the corpse here. He thought it was bad luck!
The old cunning man said, "The gods command you to guide the souls of the dead."
The younger student asked, "What should the students do?"
The old man replied, "Dig a hole and let them rest in peace."
The foolish Shao Bai was tricked into digging a hole and burying someone.
The middle-aged man looked at the pile of corpses and said, "Although the countries in the central part of the continent have conflicts, they are all minor skirmishes. They would rather resolve them with marriage alliances and tributes than resort to violence... They wouldn't cause such a commotion. So, where do you think these corpses came from?"
The old man closed his eyes and remained silent. After a while, a young man dressed in white, carrying a shovel in one hand and a blood-soaked body on his shoulder in the other, leaped over, his face full of surprise: "Teacher, this person seems to still be breathing!"
The old man suddenly opened his eyes.
The middle-aged man, skeptical of superstition, took the man's pulse.
"Shaobai, the body is already cold."
The old man said, "No, there's still a trace of his heart meridian left!"
ヽ(ー_ー)ノ
Although the male protagonist is young, he has an amazing milk production capacity, enough to keep three survivors alive.
P.S.: Gu Ziyi, boxed lunch, ah—
(End of this chapter)
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