Chapter 518 Mo Chou: Actually, the Taicang Silver Mine was not bombed (5k)
The flames in the ancestral hall were still burning, but the temperature between heaven and earth dropped.
Zhao Duan took a deep breath, gripped the hilt of the sword in his hand, and looked at the back of the female priestess in front of him: "Master Yuxiu..."
She looked like a worn-out New Year painting that had been weathered by a year's wind and rain. Her jade sleeves, beginning to fade, began to cough. She covered her mouth with her hand, a pool of scarlet blood forming on her palm, but her tone remained firm.
"I can handle it."
curse--
It is undoubtedly an extremely unreasonable force. Xu Zhenguan, who was once comparable to the celestial realm, was still successfully killed by the White-Cloaked Sect at the top of Luoshan Mountain. His imperial star dimmed and his fortune declined, let alone Yuxiu?
The White Gate Warlock fully demonstrated the meaning of "To defeat you, I don't need to become stronger, I just need to make my opponent weaker."
Shiluoyi leaned on his mourning stick and smiled calmly:
"Just look after Lord Zhao. I am her opponent."
So, the other four warlocks all locked their eyes on Zhao Duan to prevent him from interfering.
Yuxiu slowly formed a sword gesture with one hand, and the jade flying sword on her waist leaped out and coiled around her body. She stepped straight towards the young master of the Baiyi Sect and said:
"The God of Death and the God of Death are of the same origin, both keen on absorbing death energy. I should have expected that you would be keen on wandering the front lines. It would not be a big deal if you only absorbed the dejection and death energy lingering on the battlefield.
But you are so bold as to massacre the village and burn the temple. The four words "slay demons and exorcise evil spirits" taught by the Heavenly Masters of all generations do have a lot of truth in them! "
A brilliant sword light suddenly lit up, and the madly flowing sword energy filled the entire ancestral hall. Yu Xiu pointed her toes, bent down and rushed forward, extending her right hand sword finger. The small green jade sword dragged an afterimage, as if pulling her forward.
Because it was moving too fast, the human figure almost merged into the sword light, like a torrent of water rushing out of the gap in the collapsed dam when a rainstorm breaks the dam, using the earth as its riverbed, rushing towards the corpse robe.
From Zhao Duan's perspective, the small jade sword was extremely eye-catching among the turbulent white sword energy. Even after being cursed by five people, it still burst out with bright and clear light.
Eliminate evil spirits.
Evil cannot prevail over...good?
Shiluoyi faced the angry sword attack from the Heavenly Master's disciple without panicking, and the pure white mourning stick in his hand turned pure black.
In the sky, the white paper money that was falling like heavy snow also turned black.
Pieces of black paper money gathered together as if being pulled by the jade sword in the jade sleeve, and then broke apart into scattered bad luck.
The sword's edge, which was capable of crushing everything in its path, slowed down visibly and finally stopped.
Shiluoyi smiled, folded his hands, and stabbed the ground with the mourning stick again!
"boom--"
The ground around them shook, and seven black wooden coffins suddenly cracked open and stood up from the cracks in the earth.
The seven coffins seemed somewhat illusory and not physical. They were the same in style as the small coffins hanging around the waist of the corpse robe, but they were enlarged many times.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
…
The pitch-black coffin lid burst open, and out emerged seven mummies tied with red string as thick as brand new copper coins, their eye sockets ablaze with green phosphorescent light.
The mummy raised its neck, and its mouth full of sharp teeth spewed out filthy "depression". Zhao Duan's eyelids twitched wildly, and he noticed that the grass and trees on the ground around him were withered.
"A place of filth and dirt."
Yuxiu's eyes turned cold, and she tapped the ground with her toes, then shot back like lightning to create distance. In the process, she pinched her hands together, and the flying sword that was suspended in the air seemed to be pulled back by an invisible thread, then lit up again, and circled around the priestess, the sword light even brighter than before.
"Sword Two!"
The jade sleeves uttered words, and the flying sword hit the chest of a mummy with a "ding" sound. The latter exploded with a bang and turned into black paper money all over the sky.
Shiluoyi was calm and composed, summoning three mummies to protect him slowly. The three mummies attacked Yuxiu like cannonballs.
From the two pure white cuffs of the jade sleeves, a fresh breeze blew out, blowing away the filth and absorbing the negative effects of many spells.
The cuffs slipped down, revealing her fair wrists, each of which had a thin jade bracelet.
She made hand gestures with both hands and extended them forward. The two jade bracelets spun and flew out. With two puff sounds, they knocked the two insubstantial mummies condensed from dejection into a sky full of paper money.
The flying sword, having lost its power, had been withdrawn. The tip of the jade-sleeved cloth shoe was raised, and the heel spun on the spot. As the body turned a circle, the flying sword, with its sharper edge, whistled out:
"Sword Three!"
In an instant, two more mummies were pierced by the sword, and Fang Fu retreated in a dim state.
Wrapping around the waist, it is "Sword Four" again.
This time, Shiluoyi paid the price of the last two mummies and twenty pieces of paper money to stop it.
Yuxiu's expression remained unchanged, and she swung out the fifth sword with a low roar. When the sword was drawn, its momentum was as powerful as a rolling tide.
A full one-third of the black paper money in the sky collapsed into bad luck, causing the sword to fail.
However, this time after Yuxiu put away the sword, she did not immediately use the "Sword Six" move, but instead spat out a mouthful of blood!
Her fair skin was covered with patches of corpse spots and rashes, and the faint blue veins turned black, as if she was terminally ill.
Shiluoyi stood with his hands behind his back and said with a smug smile:
"You are indeed a rare genius in the Dao of Sword within the Tianshi Mansion. Compared to that old Taoist priest in Binhai Dao who was killed by the imperial court for practicing six or seven flying swords, you only practice one, master it, and yet you can control it with ease.
If you could strike me twice more without giving me a chance to breathe, you might be able to kill me. But in this place, the longer you delay, the weaker you will become. How can you make your sword strike stronger than the last?"
Yuxiu answered him with the sixth sword.
The remaining two-thirds of the paper money in the air turned into ashes, but Yuxiu seemed unable to draw her sword again.
Taking advantage of this gap, the frightened Shi Luoyi slapped the small coffin on his waist, and seven coffins appeared on the ground again. Seven mummies crawled up again, and Zhao Duan, who was watching from the side, couldn't help but twitch his eyelids!
He suddenly realized why the Tianshi Mansion had been slaying demons and eliminating evil from the beginning to the end.
It's not just because these followers of the evil god use any means necessary to harm lives, but also because when these "demons" choose to abandon their bottom line as human beings, they will quickly become extremely powerful.
Therefore, it must be nipped in the bud early, otherwise once it grows up, it will be extremely threatening.
Yuxiu wiped the black blood stains from the corners of her mouth with her white sleeves and suddenly said:
"Why don't you try to kill me?"
Shiluoyi immediately became alert. He smiled unnaturally, stepped back, and let himself be protected by the seven mummies. He said seriously:
"Although this young master is indeed tempted, as Zhang Yanyi's disciple, don't you have any cards to save your life? However, I advise you to leave now. Otherwise, if you delay any longer, once the curse has penetrated deep into your bones, I am afraid I will really not be able to help but kill you."
Leave?
As a "sword cultivator" known for his speed and offensive power, even if he was only controlling a palm-sized flying sword, it would still be no problem for him to leave.
But Yuxiu only panted a few times, wiped the corner of her mouth again, straightened her back, and smiled:
"If you don't come, I will go over there. With so many people watching, if it takes too long, it will really be a disgrace to the Tianshi Mansion."
Shiluoyi laughed in anger: "What are you going to use to kill me?"
Yuxiu sighed and stopped talking. She just stretched out her fingers and gently brushed the small jade sword floating in front of her.
The breeze swirling around him suddenly split into twenty-four streams, whimpering and pouring madly into the sword. A strong sense of uneasiness surged in everyone's heart.
The small flying sword with twenty-four superimposed breezes drew a circle under the guidance of the female Taoist's slender palm, and then twenty-four more flying swords appeared.
After each generation of Zhudian boys were promoted to the secular world, they were ordered to travel outside and emulate the sages in traveling around the world, thus becoming famous in the world.
This is how the nickname "Jade Sword" came about.
But only a very few people know that Yuxiu's flying sword is not called "Qingyu", its real name is "Qingzhe".
There are four seasons in a year, spring, summer, autumn and winter, which are divided into 24 solar terms.
The "Earth God" moves according to the solar terms. When it comes to Jingzhe, the yang energy rises, the temperature warms up, and all things revive.
The earth would spew forth earthly energy, and this was what the ancient Qigong practitioners gathered when they practiced Qigong. Jade Sleeves traveled for several years, gathering two sleeves of pure Qi.
"The second month of the year... all things emerge from the shock of thunder, which is why it's called the Waking of Insects. It's when hibernating insects are startled and flee." Jade Sleeve whispered softly, "In mid-spring, the rains arrive, and thunder begins to break out in the east."
The female Taoist priest suddenly raised her head and pointed her finger like a sword:
"Sword Seven, Thunder."
Everyone heard a ball of dry thunder exploding in the sky above Songjiazhuang!
“Crack—”
The seven mummies melted away like snowmen under the scorching sun, their dejected spirits burrowing madly into the earth, and the cold wind ceased.
Shiluoyi was horrified and raised his hand to grab the four white-robed sorcerers, who were pushed forward and pierced by the Jingzhe Sword!
The sword's power remains undiminished!
"puff!"
Blood gushed out of Shiluoyi's mouth and he fell into the distance like a kite with a broken string.
"He's trying to run!" Zhao Duan was quick-eyed and quick-handed, and he suddenly swung his sword through the air. The flying sword and the sword energy were in no particular order, and they exploded on Shi Luoyi's body like two thunderbolts.
However, pieces of pitch-black feathers appeared out of nowhere, blocking most of the energy. A black crow hooked the shoulder of Shiluoyi with its scarlet claws and flapped its wings vigorously.
“Huahua——”
A large crack appeared in the ground, and an illusory river was rushing inside. The crow fell into the crack, grabbing the corpse robe. The earth healed and the man disappeared without a trace.
…
More than ten miles away.
The grave under the leader of the Hades Cult began to shake. He sighed deeply, stood up, and saw a crow and the seriously injured and unconscious Shi Luoyi emerging from the grave.
"Pah..." The crow spat out a mouthful of yellow mud and cursed:
"I was scared to death, what a vicious young man."
The leader of the Dark Cult, whose appearance was scraggly and who was carrying a copper coin sword, confirmed that Shiluoyi was not dead, shook his head, and hated him for not fighting:
"If I hadn't been here, you'd be dead."
The crow rolled his eyes and said:
"Why don't you go and avenge him? The Dark Cult and the White Clothes Sect are closely related. If you avenge him, this guy's mother will definitely look at you differently. Maybe when you enter into a ghost marriage, you can avoid the bride price."
The leader of the Dark Cult sneered and drew his sword without warning, beheading the crow. However, the black crow quickly pieced its body together again and said sarcastically:
"He's anxious, he's anxious..."
The leader of the Dark Cult put away his sword, his expression normal. He bent down, picked up the corpse robe, and walked into the distant weeds.
"Even brothers have to settle accounts. Saving his life can fetch a good price."
After taking a few steps, his figure gradually faded and disappeared without a trace.
…
…
"No need to chase them. It was a powerful person from the Dark Cult who took action. Continuing to chase them will not bring any benefits."
Yuxiu saw that Zhao Duan looked unhappy and reminded him.
Zhao Duan slowly sheathed his sword, glanced at the four sorcerer corpses on the ground, frowned, and said, "Underworld Cult?"
The real reason why he didn't choose to take action before was that Pei Niannu suddenly "woken up" and gave him a danger warning in his body. Only then did Zhao Duan realize that there were strong people nearby.
Yuxiu took out a pure white pill from her sleeve, fed it into her mouth, and swallowed it. Her expression visibly improved. She turned her head to look at him and explained:
"The gods worshipped by the Dark Cult and the White Robe Sect are very similar. One is devoted to death, the other to funerals. Both sects' cultivation requires absorbing the 'qi' left behind after a person dies. Throughout history, whenever war breaks out, sorcerers from both sects are always present on the battlefield to profit from it.
But generally speaking, the two factions are not tolerated by the righteous path and are very low-key.
This time, the White Robe Sect and Prince Mu's Mansion were mixed together, and they probably had the confidence to show up. However, there were not many people in the White Robe Sect, and they suffered heavy casualties today, so they will not show up for a while.
As for the Dark Cult… the Dark Cult members are very sneaky, spending their days digging graves. They are not good at fighting, but they are very good at self-defense.”
In other words, it doesn't have much attack power, but it just can't be killed?
Zhao Duan suddenly remembered that when Guhuo Zhenren had resurrected and entered the capital, the court had speculated that his resurrection was related to the Underworld Cult, but Guhuo Zhenren was actually a member of the Five Devil Cult...
The Wuchang Sect is extremely loose, and its members don't know each other very well. It is a relatively alternative evil god sect.
"My Lord, are you all right?"
At this time, the rest of the cavalry and attendants arrived one after another.
Zhao Duan shook his head, indicating that nothing serious happened. After asking about the situation, he learned that all the rebels entrenched in Songjiazhuang had been killed.
Ji Yue also floated back quietly, indicating that the fire in the village had been extinguished. Unfortunately, after this round of genocide, there were only a dozen people left alive in the entire Songjia Village, most of whom survived by hiding in various places.
Well, that doesn’t include the group of boys and girls who escaped before.
“Chief!”
The young boy Xiaowu ran back at some point and cried beside a corpse in the ruins of the ancestral hall.
Zhao Duan was silent. He walked over, rubbed the boy's head, and said to him:
"Take the others with you and go to the capital city."
The boy choked and nodded.
Zhao Duan exhaled deeply and looked at the ruined village. "Clear the surrounding area, and then... return to the city!"
He has to go meet Xue Shence.
…
…
Taicang Prefecture City.
“Woo woo—”
Behind the rebels attacking the city, a horn suddenly sounded to retreat, and all the rebels began to retreat in an orderly manner like worker ants returning to their nest.
On the top of the city wall, the exhausted imperial soldiers were overwhelmed with joy at having survived the disaster. They fell to the ground one after another, fatigue washing over their bodies like a tide.
"Are you withdrawing now?" Prefect Sun Xiaozhun was stunned. "Why are you withdrawing so suddenly?"
Xue Shence stood on the top of the city wall, his brows twisted into a knot.
At this time, a scout quickly ran up the city wall:
"Report! The reinforcements from the Beijing Camp led by Commander Zhao have arrived ten miles north of the city!"
What? Reinforcements have arrived?!
Everyone on the city wall was stunned, and then a strong joy surged in their hearts.
"So that's what it is. The rebels must have detected that reinforcements were arriving, so they evacuated in a hurry!" Sun Xiaozhun suddenly realized.
An officer excitedly asked, "Sir, should we open the city gates and launch a counterattack to pursue them?"
Xue Shence was the only one who was not overwhelmed by the good news. He calmly observed the rebels' retreating formation under the city, shook his head and sighed:
"There's no need to pursue. The enemy didn't retreat hastily; they've clearly made thorough preparations. Their retreat is neither hurried nor slow, and they're proceeding in an orderly fashion. With the exhausted forces in the city, if we leave now to pursue them, we'll only be eaten."
As for the reinforcements, although they are strong, they are still ten miles away. By the time they arrive, the rebels will have enough time to withdraw... Su Dan, this 'juren general', is truly remarkable and a formidable opponent.
Giving up the thought of pursuing, Xue Shence turned around and looked at everyone:
"Pass the order down. Maintain martial law at the east, west, and south city gates to prevent any accidents. Prefect Sun, please have your men reassure the people and inform them of the enemy's withdrawal and the arrival of reinforcements. The rest of you, follow me to the north city to welcome General Zhao."
"yes!"
…
After a while, we arrived at the north gate of Taicang City.
A group of local officials and generals, led by Xue Shence and Sun Xiaozhun, waited for the huge reinforcements to arrive.
"Haha, Your Excellency, upon hearing that the capital was attacked, we rode here at full speed. Are we here in time?"
Shi Meng, the commander of the Shenji Camp, who was as burly as a battlefield general but also meticulous, came over with a big laugh, followed by Yuan Feng, the commander of the Wujun Camp, who was serious and stern.
Seeing the two, Xue Shence finally smiled with relief: "You arrived just in time. If you were any later, the enemy would have wiped me out."
The two were stunned.
Sun Xiaozhun said with a smile, "The Privy Councilor was joking with you."
Shi Meng and Yuan Feng were at a loss whether to laugh or cry, but they also felt relieved: the Privy Councilor was still in the mood to joke, which meant that the situation was still under control.
Xue Shence glanced at the two of them and asked curiously, "Where is Governor Zhao?"
The two were about to answer when a figure suddenly approached from behind. Mo Chou approached with lotus steps and nodded to everyone with a serious expression:
"Master Xue, Prefect Sun, I heard the enemy attacked the city. What are the losses?"
"Greetings, Mo Zhaorong." The two of them hurriedly saluted, not to Mo Chou, but to the empress she represented.
Zhao Duan and Mo Chou are the two generals, one visible and one invisible, in front of the battlefield. This was mentioned in the intelligence early on.
When talking about the losses, the smile on the face of the prefect Sun Xiaozheng gradually disappeared, and the clouds between his brows were covered again.
He opened his mouth, suddenly took off his black gauze hat, bowed deeply, held up the black gauze with both hands, raised it to Mo Chou, and said in a sad voice in the stunned eyes of everyone:
"This time, the rebels attacked the city, trapped us inside, and then dispatched troops to destroy the Taicang silver mine, causing heavy losses to the imperial court. This crime is the fault of our government in protecting the territory and the people. We have no shirking our responsibility. Xiaozhun... I am willing to accept any punishment!"
Xue Shence fell silent upon hearing this, and the joy of the arrival of reinforcements disappeared!
Yes, although the rebels withdrew, judging from the time, the Taicang Silver Mine might have been destroyed by now.
Such a huge loss is irreparable, and they ultimately lost the battle.
Xue Shence suddenly stepped forward and said in a deep voice:
"I will be the master of this land. The destruction of the Taicang Silver Mine has nothing to do with Prefect Sun. I will bear the responsibility alone! After the battle, I will report to His Majesty and plead for punishment!"
As soon as the words fell, the generals and officials of Taicang said in unison:
"This crime is our fault, and we all bear the responsibility together!"
Mo Chou, Shi Meng, Yuan Feng and other generals in the reinforcement team looked at each other in surprise when they saw this scene.
Mo Chou said with a strange expression: "Actually...Taicang Silver Mine should be fine."
(End of this chapter)
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