Chapter 379 Is that position really that important? (6000 words)
Black Beast Forest at Huaishan Pass.
It's less of a forest and more of a sea of trees.
This forest stretches for dozens of miles, and even includes valleys and other terrain features.
Legend has it that this forest was the battlefield where human cultivators fought against the "Poison God" during the ancient war.
After the Poison God died, his remaining spiritual power infected this place and even changed the laws of this place, forming a natural no-fly array that prevents any physical being from flying.
Legend has it that in the beginning, the poisonous aura of the Black Beast Forest was so strong that even cultivators at the fifth level of cultivation could not pass through it.
Although the poisonous miasma in the Black Beast Forest has become increasingly faint over the years, cultivators below the Dragon Gate Realm still cannot pass through, and the law prohibiting flight remains in place regardless of realm.
Yan Liuyun led an army of 700,000 to the Black Beast Forest.
After taking the elixir, the poisonous barrier of the Black Beast Forest posed almost no harm to Yan Liuyun's army.
The Jin army advanced very smoothly, so smoothly that Yan Liuyun felt a little strange.
At our current pace, it won't take more than three hours to traverse this vast, sea-like Black Beast Forest.
"Could it be... that I'm just overthinking things, and there really is nothing strange about it?" Yan Liuyun thought to himself.
"General, we expect to cross this Black Beast Forest in less than an hour."
A lieutenant stepped forward and spoke to Yan Liuyun.
"Hmm." Yan Liuyun nodded. "Tell the brothers not to let their guard down, and have the scouts continue to keep watch on the surroundings."
"Yes, General!" The lieutenant nodded and immediately relayed the order.
The army continued forward, and although they encountered some attacks from monsters unique to the Black Beast Forest, they were all dealt with cleanly.
Before long, the Jin army crossed this flattest area and headed into the valley.
This valley is so vast that it could easily accommodate an army of 700,000.
Once we pass through this valley, we can circle around to the back of Huaishan City, and the destruction of Huaishan City will be just around the corner.
Most of the soldiers were also secretly excited.
After all, if Huaishan City were captured, the Qin state would be half destroyed.
If we were to actually capture the Qin capital, it would be an unparalleled achievement!
“General, this terrain might not be good,” the adjutant named Yan Li came to Yan Liuyun’s side again. “As military strategists often say, marching through valleys is a major taboo. If we encounter an ambush, the losses of our army will be incalculable.”
Compared to the others, Yan Li, as Yan Liuyun's nephew, remained more vigilant and calm.
“You’re right, but Yan Li, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We’ve come this far, we’re already here, how can we retreat? If we always seek the safest course of action, then this battle wouldn’t even be fought.” Yan Liuyun waved his hand, “All troops, advance at full speed!”
"Yes, General."
Although Yan Li was still uneasy, since his general had said so, he had no choice but to do as he was told.
Soon, the Jin army entered this valley.
The sounds of horses' hooves, the clanging of armor, and the clatter of wheels echoed continuously through the valley.
In fact, if it weren't for the two high mountains on either side, they wouldn't even realize they were walking in a valley.
Just as the Jin army was halfway there, a Jin soldier looked up as if sensing something and saw something gleaming with a cold light getting closer and closer to him.
When he saw it clearly, he was suddenly startled.
This is an arrow engraved with an explosive magic circle!
"Enemy attack!!!"
The Jin soldier shouted loudly.
"boom!"
Before he could finish speaking, the arrow had already struck the ground with a loud thud.
Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of arrows rained down on the Jin army like a torrential downpour.
One explosion after another echoed, like a continuous barrage of firecrackers during the Spring Festival.
However, the explosion was several times louder than firecrackers, and it was mixed with the blood and flesh of the Jin army.
Before long, huge rocks began to roll down from the mountaintop.
These boulders were all modified by the Mohist cultivators. When the boulders crash down or are intercepted, they will explode completely, and the flying swords hidden inside will shoot out in all directions. Moreover, each flying sword is coated with a deadly poison.
"The entire army is to break through to the rear!"
At this point, how could Yan Liuyun not know that he had fallen into a trap set by the Qin army?
But it was too late.
"kill!"
At the front of the valley, the eldest prince Qin Jingsu and several generals of Qin led the Qin army to charge towards the Jin army.
Behind the valley, the Qin army had cut off their retreat.
"Qin Jingyuan!!! I will kill you!!!"
Yan Liuyun was furious and wished she could tear Qin Jingyuan to pieces right then and there.
But now, he must lead his troops to break out of the encirclement.
Fortunately, because the Qin army needed to hide, it was not advisable to deploy too many troops behind the valley, so the encirclement was relatively weak.
Half an hour later, Yan Liuyun led his army out of the valley and returned along the original route.
However, after the ambush, the original 700,000-strong Jin army was reduced to less than 500,000, a devastating blow!
However, Yan Liuyun felt that he had not lost yet!
As long as I charge back and regroup, even if I fail to capture Huai Pass, I can still protect the two major prefectures of Jinzhou and Luzhou!
But that's on the condition that Yan Liuyun can actually get out alive.
Outside the Black Beast Forest, Qin Jingyuan glanced at the sky and unconsciously touched the long sword at his waist.
"If nothing unexpected happens, the general should have already passed the Black Beast Forest, and now he's probably about to attack Huaishan City." The Jin general who was left to monitor Qin Jingyuan sneered, "Once Huaishan City falls, the Qin capital will be right in front of us. I've long heard of the beauty of the Third Princess Qin Siyao, and I'm really looking forward to it."
As he spoke, the Jin general licked his lips, looking at Qin Jingyuan with a contemptuous and disgusted gaze.
However, Qin Jingyuan ignored the other party completely and muttered to himself, "The time has come."
"When?" the Jin general asked in confusion.
"When you die."
No sooner had Qin Jingyuan finished speaking than a sword flashed past the Jin general.
His pupils gradually dilated, and finally he felt a dizzying sensation as his head fell to the ground.
"Qin Jingyuan, what are you doing!" the deputy general named Wang You shouted, his mind going blank for a moment. Everything had happened too fast!
"Kill the Jin army!"
Qin Jingyuan's voice, imbued with spiritual power, resonated throughout the entire army.
Qin Jingyuan's 150,000-strong army was initially somewhat confused, but they quickly realized what was happening when their comrades began to cut down Jin soldiers.
The contempt and humiliation that the Qin soldiers had suffered in recent days erupted all at once, and every soldier charged towards the Jin army like wolves and tigers.
In an instant, the two armies clashed in a fierce battle!
"Your Highness! Yan Liuyun and the others have rushed back along the original route, and the vanguard is only ten miles away from us!" Not long after, a scout from the Dragon Gate Realm came to report.
Upon hearing this, Qin Jingyuan pondered for a moment, then raised his head and used his spiritual power to send a message throughout the army: "Anyone who doesn't value their lives, follow me into the Black Beast Forest!"
Upon hearing the prince's order, more and more soldiers pushed aside the Jin army around them and charged into the Black Beast Forest while fighting and retreating!
Although Qin Jingyuan's 150,000-strong army did not have any antidote pills, they would die from the poison within half an hour once they entered the Black Beast Forest.
But they don't care at all.
What Qin Jingyuan wanted to do was to make the Black Beast Forest a graveyard for Yan Liuyun's army at all costs!
"Charge in! Kill them! Charge in!"
At the front of the Black Beast Forest, a Jin general kept shouting, but no one dared to charge into the Black Beast Forest like the Qin army.
Because they knew they would die if they didn't take the antidote!
"I told you to charge! Didn't you hear me?"
Wang You led his army to pursue Qin Jingyuan, but the army stopped in front of the Black Beast Forest, and no one dared to advance even a little.
Meanwhile, just as Yan Liuyun was leading his army in a charge back...
He saw Qin Jingyuan leading tens of thousands of cavalry, followed by tens of thousands of troops, charging towards him!
"Qin Jingyuan! You beast! Prepare to die!" Yan Liuyun was furious, wielding his halberd and charging forward on horseback!
"Come and take it if you dare!"
Qin Jingyuan was not afraid at all and thrust his spear forward.
The two armies clashed.
Hundreds of thousands of Qin soldiers caught up with the Jin army, and swords were already drawn against each other in the rear of the army formation.
However, because they were attacked from both sides and escaping the Black Beast Forest was their only way to survive, the Jin army showed a strong will to survive, and all the pressure of the attack fell on Qin Jingyuan.
But Qin Jingyuan's army stood like a wall, fearlessly blocking the Jin army.
"Qin Jingyuan, if you retreat now, you can still save your life. If you continue to stay here, you can only wait to die here with me!" Yan Liuyun said coldly after fighting Qin Jingyuan for dozens of rounds.
Qin Jingyuan's lips curled up as he smiled and said, "It's not so bad to die here."
"Do you really not want your life?" Yan Liuyun's eyes flashed with a sharp light.
Qin Jingyuan did not answer, but his spear had already responded for him.
A cold light pierced Yan Liuyun's brow, and the two clashed again, fighting to the death.
Qin Jingyuan was in the early stage of the Golden Core Realm, while Yan Liuyun was in the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm.
Although Qin Jingyuan's cultivation level was not low and he possessed numerous magical treasures, Yan Liuyun was no ordinary person either.
With a difference of one minor realm, Qin Jingyuan was at a disadvantage.
Moreover, Qin Jingyuan's 150,000-strong army was already struggling to withstand the fierce attack of the enemy's tens of thousands of troops, and it seemed that collapse was just a matter of time.
"Go to hell!"
Finding an opportunity, Yan Liuyun took out a scroll and then dotted it with a drop of his own blood essence.
Yan Liuyun unleashed his natal magic weapon—the Four Symbols Illusion Diagram.
The moment the scroll was opened, the Four Symbols Illusion Diagram peeled off the paper and enveloped Qin Jingyuan.
Yan Liuyun chanted an incantation, and a tremendous suction force pulled Qin Jingyuan into the scroll.
"Damn it! You've wasted fifty years of my lifespan! You'll turn into pus and blood inside this array!"
Yan Liuyun coughed, put away the array diagram, and continued to fight his way forward.
Inside the array, Qin Jingyuan floated in a void.
He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, while the surrounding nothingness was slowly devouring his body.
After a short while, Qin Jingyuan frowned, then slowly relaxed, as if he were dreaming of something.
"It's a baby! It's a baby! Your Majesty, the Empress has given birth to a little princess!"
The palace maid ran out of the room and shouted happily.
"Good, good, good!" The King of Qin said "good" three times and quickly went into his bedchamber.
"Little brother, let's go see our little sister too." Qin Jingyuan's wrist was grasped by his older brother, who was three years older than him, and he was happily pulled into his mother's bedroom.
Looking at the baby crying loudly in the swaddling clothes, Qin Jingyuan couldn't help but reach out and gently poke the baby's cheek with his finger.
The baby grabbed his older brother's index finger and cried even louder.
"This is your little sister." Empress Shi smiled as she looked at her two sons and newborn daughter. "From now on, you two older brothers must protect your little sister well, understand?"
"Yes, Mother!" Qin Jingsu and Qin Jingyuan said in unison. "We will definitely protect our little sister, no matter what happens!"
"Go, Second Brother!"
"Big brother, get up quickly!"
"Don't be afraid, Second Brother, hurry up!"
The little girl, only three years old, was wearing a dress and sitting on a rock watching her older brothers compete in marksmanship.
Qin Jingyuan tried his best to beat his older brother.
However, after seventy rounds, Qin Jingsu flicked and deflected Qin Jingyuan's spear, sending it flying and embedding it in the ground.
"I lost." Qin Jingyuan sighed, his eyes filled with resentment. "But I'll definitely beat you next time, Big Brother!"
Qin Jingsu stepped forward and patted his younger brother's head: "Big brother also believes that you will definitely beat me in the future."
In fact, Jingyuan, you are actually better than your older brother.
Brother, I'm just three years older than you and have studied martial arts for three more years.
If I were your age, I really couldn't beat you.
“A loss is a loss. Men of Qin don’t make excuses.” Qin Jingyuan pried his elder brother’s hand away.
“That’s right, that’s right, Second Brother lost! Come on, Siyao wants to ride a horse!” The three-year-old girl walked up happily with her short legs and tugged at her second brother’s trouser leg. “The loser has to let Siyao ride a horse, you know.”
Qin Jingyuan looked embarrassed, but in the end he still carried his three-year-old sister on his shoulders.
"Giddy up, giddy up! Let's ride a horse! Giddy up!"
Qin Siyao happily hugged her second brother's head.
Qin Jingsu followed beside her, worried that her younger sister might fall.
Even Qin Jingyuan, who was being used as a "horse," smiled, as if the three siblings could continue to be happy like this forever.
"Your subject greets Your Majesty!"
When Qin Jingyuan was sixteen and Qin Jingsu was nineteen, the two were summoned to the imperial study by the King of Qin.
"Um."
The King of Qin nodded, looking at his two sons.
"Since the founding of my Qin Kingdom, the princes have not been pampered good-for-nothings. Jingyuan, you are not young anymore. From today onwards, the two of you can form your own teams. I will also entrust some state affairs to you to manage, and see how capable you are."
The King of Qin pointed at his second son and smiled: "Jingyuan, don't you usually like to compete with your eldest brother? Let's see if you can beat your eldest brother."
"Brother, do you want to be the emperor?"
One day, after Qin Jingyuan and his elder brother finished practicing swordsmanship, they lay on the grass and looked at the sky.
Eleven-year-old Qin Siyao was running around happily not far away.
Qin Jingsu glanced at his younger sister chasing butterflies not far away, then at his younger brother beside him, thought for a moment, and nodded, "I want to."
"I see," Qin Jingyuan replied thoughtfully.
"What about you, second brother?" Qin Jingsu asked Qin Jingyuan.
"Me too!" Qin Jingyuan sat up and said earnestly to his older brother, "I won't lose to you, big brother!"
"Haha, that's great." Qin Jingsu laughed and rubbed his younger brother's head. "Then Jingyuan, you'd better work hard."
"I will try my best." Qin Jingyuan sat down to the side. "But big brother, please don't pat my head anymore, I'm all grown up now!"
"Has he grown up?" Qin Jingsu was taken aback, then looked at his younger brother who was almost as tall as him, and nodded with a smile, "Indeed, Jingyuan has grown up."
On this day, both the older and younger brothers wanted to become emperors.
The older brother wanted to be the emperor because being an emperor was too tiring, and the burden on his shoulders was too heavy. He didn't want his younger brother to be so burdened.
The younger brother wanted to be emperor because the older brother wanted to be emperor; he simply wanted to surpass his brother and prove himself to him.
But I don't know when.
The younger brother noticed that more and more people were coming to him for help and to curry favor with him.
Gradually, these people came to be known as the "Second Prince's Faction".
Gradually, Qin Jingyuan realized that he couldn't stop down this path. Every time he opened his eyes, he was faced with the expectations of those ministers. They only wanted him to sit on that throne, and when that time came, they would be credited for his role in the rise of the new emperor.
Gradually, Qin Jingyuan slowly forgot why he wanted to sit in that position in the first place.
However, Qin Jingyuan found that he still seemed to be no match for his older brother.
My elder brother is better at handling government affairs than I am, and he is more experienced in dealing with people.
More and more people are turning to the eldest brother.
Although he was unwilling to admit defeat, he was powerless to do anything about it. He even began to be somewhat obsessed, to the point that he wanted to use his sister's relationship with Xiao Mo to take this promising disciple of the Gun Immortal as his subordinate.
"In your heart, second brother, is that place really that important?"
On the day Qin Jingyuan invited Xiao Mo to the banquet, the uninvited elder brother said the following words before leaving.
"Yes," Qin Jingyuan said, continuing to drink, "Is that position really that important?"
As time went by, day by day.
Although most people, both in the imperial court and among the common people, believed that the eldest prince and the second prince were still in competition.
However, Qin Jingyuan knew that his father valued his elder brother more and more and entrusted him with more important matters.
I've already lost.
As Qin Jingyuan gradually accepted reality, he realized that he had never beaten his older brother since childhood.
My older brother has a higher talent in martial arts than me, but he deliberately holds back when we spar, letting me win a few matches.
Even in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, my elder brother is far superior to me.
Later, even though his cultivation level was higher than his elder brother's, it was entirely because his elder brother was preoccupied with political affairs and didn't have much time for cultivation.
As usual, he lost this battle for the throne.
It seems like I'm destined to lose like this for the rest of my life.
Until one day, a scholar from the State of Jin came to his residence.
"Does the Second Prince really intend to hand over that position to someone else?"
"If the Second Prince is willing, my Jin Kingdom can help him ascend to that position!"
The scholar said this to Qin Jingyuan.
Finally, Qin Jingyuan agreed to the agreement with the State of Jin.
Because he wanted to win.
"You mean? The State of Jin came to you, wanting to lower my guard under the guise of a marriage alliance, and then make a deal: you would govern two border states, and the State of Jin would give half of the State of Yue's territory as the dowry of the Princess of Jin?"
In the imperial study, the King of Qin frowned upon hearing his son's words, seemingly surprised that the State of Jin would dare to pull such a stunt.
"Yes." Qin Jingyuan nodded.
"How dare they!" The King of Qin slammed his hand on the table and roared, "That bastard Ji Guang has even set his sights on my son!"
"Father, this matter is actually a very good opportunity," Qin Jingyuan said, expressing his opinion.
"Oh? How so?" The King of Qin looked at his second son.
"If Your Majesty trusts me, I have a plan that can severely weaken the State of Jin, and even allow us to annex its territory in one fell swoop! This will enable my State of Qin to achieve hegemony!"
Qin Jingyuan looked directly into his father's eyes.
"However, I hope Father will not tell Mother and Third Sister about this matter. As for Eldest Brother, please inform him when I am about to take action."
The King of Qin looked intently at his son; "Tell me first."
"I once saved a physician-turned-cultivator, and this is the elixir formula he offered me. It can cure the poison of the Black Beast Forest in Huaishan City. This is my plan."
Within the Four Symbols Illusion Diagram, Qin Jingyuan slowly opened his eyes.
His lips curled slightly, and there was no trace of fear or tension in his eyes as he faced death.
Qin Jingyuan calmly took out a golden talisman from his pocket.
This talisman is a secret treasure of the Qin royal family, and it can only be activated by the blood essence of a member of the Qin royal family.
As for the cost, depending on the degree of stimulation, it can range from a shortened lifespan to death.
Whenever a member of the Qin royal family went out, they would carry such a card. It was their trump card and a means of dissolving their body without disgracing the royal family.
Qin Jingyuan continuously extracted essence blood from between his eyebrows and traced the runes on the golden talisman paper.
The number of runes copied determines the number of talisman papers activated.
With the last drop of blood essence, the final rune was drawn.
All the golden talismans were ignited.
In the Black Beast Forest, Yan Liuyun, who was about to break through the encirclement, felt a burning heat in his arms.
"not good!"
Yan Liuyun noticed something amiss with the scroll of the Four Symbols Illusion Diagram, so he quickly took it out and threw it far away without thinking.
But the moment the Four Symbols Illusion Diagram left his hand, it instantly turned to ashes.
"Roar!"
A giant fire dragon broke free from the Four Symbols Illusion Diagram and pounced on Yan Liuyun.
Yan Liuyun didn't even have time to scream before he and his warhorse turned to ashes.
"Your Highness, look!"
The city lord of Huaishan pointed to the sky.
The eldest prince raised his head and looked at the giant dragon, which was three hundred feet long and made of flames, soaring in the sky.
Qin Jingsu gripped the reins tightly; his face was pale and bloodless.
"Roar!"
The giant dragon soared into the sky and then plunged straight to the earth, blocking the path of the Jin army!
(End of this chapter)
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