Hai Xingqing stood up, adjusted his breathing, and looked at the position where the disciples of the Tian Gang Shang Zong had stood. Even though he was a Saint King, his heart trembled at this moment.
No one present knew how far this wooden bridge was. They could only see about fifty paces of the bridge surface, and beyond that was chaos.
"Hai Xingqing, turn back now, and you can still live. It's just a secret realm, does your Hai Yun Shen Chao lack this one secret realm?"
Bu Fanggu said coldly.
"Bu Fanggu, don't you think what you're saying is also saying it about yourself? Both of us have the mandate of an emperor, why bother!"
Hai Xingqing cast a mournful look at Bu Fanggu, then walked towards the wooden bridge.
...
Mid to late February of the twenty-eighth year of Da Han.
In just two months, the West Hundred Cities had undergone earth-shattering changes. Twenty years ago, the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty rose from the westernmost part of the West Hundred Cities, controlling five Dao Prefectures, becoming the ninth major power in the West Hundred Cities.
This was a power that all sentient beings believed to be the weakest, yet it had peacefully endured for twenty years.
The competition for the Saint Ranking began, and all sentient beings in the West Hundred Cities were attracted to it. At this juncture, led by the Yao Guang Shen Chao and with the strong cooperation of the Tian Gang Shang Zong and Tian Yuan Sect, they launched a surprise attack on the imperial capital of the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty, Chang'an.
In this battle, Da Han completely annihilated the foreign sentient beings lingering in Chang'an. Nie Zheng, Zhang Jiao, and Cao Wei, in one fell swoop, killed the Supreme Elder of Tian Yuan Sect, Jiu Bin, and the Supreme Elder of Tian Gang Shang Zong, Ai Qiu. As for the Saint Son of Yan Jin, many sentient beings did not recognize him.
With an imperial edict from the Heavenly Emperor of Da Han Heavenly Dynasty, Yang Hao, Zhang Jiao led the Daoist followers and, in almost one night, overthrew seven Dao Prefectures of Tian Yuan Sect.
The annihilation of Tian Yuan Sect overnight shattered the millennium-old structure of the West Hundred Cities, exerting great deterrence.
Following this, Xuan Zang of the Fo Ming Ci announced the renaming of Fo Ming Ci to Buddhism and its submission to the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty. The Fo Ming Ci, one of the three great powers of the West Hundred Cities, surrendered to the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty, elevating Da Han Heavenly Dynasty to one of the top powers in the West Hundred Cities, even surpassing Hai Yun Shen Chao for a time, becoming a force that could rival Yao Guang Shen Chao.
Just as everyone was still reeling from the annihilation of Tian Yuan Sect, Yang Hao issued another imperial decree. The White Tiger Legion and Kui Niu Legion, two of the ten major legions of the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty, marched out of the country and advanced towards the border of Feng An Shen Chao and Yu Hua Shen Chao.
The movement of these two legions once again stirred the nerves of all the powers in the West Hundred Cities.
In mid-to-late February of the twenty-eighth year of Da Han, the White Tiger Legion, on the border of Yu Hua Shen Chao, annihilated a million elites of Yu Hua Shen Chao. The Martial King of Yu Hua Shen Chao, Yu Hua Mingda, and the Xiàn King, Yu Hua Feihong, perished in battle.
The White Tiger Legion thus opened the gates of Yu Hua Shen Chao. The army advanced for thousands of miles for consecutive days, occupying more than half of Yu Hua Shen Chao's territory.
Faced with the relentless advance of the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty, the Yao Guang Shen Chao intervened again. The Tian Gang Shang Zong dispatched three Guardian Elders and a million-strong army into the imperial capital of Yu Hua Shen Chao, temporarily holding back the White Tiger Legion and pulling Yu Hua Shen Chao back from the brink of destruction.
Mid to late February of the twenty-eighth year of Da Han, the Kui Niu Legion penetrated the ancient forest. The battle situation was currently unclear.
On the day the Kui Niu Legion entered the ancient forest, Zhang Zai killed the Saint Xuan King, Bu Xiangchu, in the imperial capital of Yao Guang Shen Chao, and escaped from the hands of a top Saint King. On the same day, Yao Guang Shen Chao declared war on the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty, followed closely by the Tian Gang Shang Zong.
"Your Majesty!"
"The Saint Ming King of Yao Guang Shen Chao, Bu Heliang, has led a million troops and entered the border of Feng An Shen Chao yesterday. Your Majesty, if this were a few days later, the pressure on the Kui Niu Legion would increase."
Inside the Military Affairs Department of Chang'an City, Da Han, Du Ruhui looked at the memorial with a grave expression. As of today, all of the West Hundred Cities, except for the two great powers of Tai Gu Shen Shan and Hai Yun Shen Chao, were basically involved in the war launched by the Da Han Heavenly Dynasty.
"Mao Xiang, is there any news from Tai Gu Shen Shan?"
Yang Hao gestured for Du Ruhui to sit down, then looked at Mao Xiang.
"Your Majesty, what this minister learned from Master Zhixin of Buddhism is basically consistent with the information this minister obtained from Tai Gu Shen Shan. Xia Xinyu left the West Hundred Cities about half a month ago."
"Your Majesty, Tai Gu Shen Shan has significant ties to the Phoenix clans. We learned from Master Zhixin that they currently value the divine beast Vermilion Bird greatly. If there is a divine beast Vermilion Bird, this minister guarantees that we can peacefully annex Tai Gu Shen Shan."
Mao Xiang bowed respectfully.
"Your Majesty, this minister agrees. The glory of Tai Gu Shen Shan is long gone. With the current three great families, it is basically difficult to lead Tai Gu Shen Shan to prosperity. The Vermilion Bird is their last hope."
Li Si stood up.
"Good!"
"This matter will be handled by Zhixin. These three drops of Vermilion Bird essence blood will be bestowed upon Tai Gu Shen Shan."
"As for Feng An Shen Chao..."
"Let the Qilin Legion assist Kui Niu!"
Yang Hao stood up and walked out of the Military Affairs Department. "System, check the recent gains."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, Nie Zheng killed Saint Yu Hua Mingda and Yu Hua Fei, gaining 6.4 million points of slaughter value."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, the White Tiger Legion defeated a million elites of Yu Hua Shen Chao, gaining 41 million points of slaughter value!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, Zhang Zai killed Saint King Bu Xiangchu, gaining 3.5 million points of slaughter value."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, Cao Wei killed Saint Wu Leyu, gaining 3.2 million points of slaughter value."
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, the Kui Niu Legion killed over 300,000 soldiers of the Feng An Shen Chao army, gaining 10 million points of slaughter value!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host, the White Tiger Legion occupied more than half of Yu Hua Shen Chao's territory, totaling four Dao Prefectures, gaining 70 million points of luck and merit!"
"Ding! The Qi Luck Nine Cauldrons, Nine Dragon Imperial Seal, Xuanyuan Sword, and Heavenly Emperor Divine Stele automatically extracted half of the luck and merit points to consolidate national destiny!"
"Ding, alert host, the total slaughter value under the host is 64.3 million points, and the total luck and merit value is 85 million points."
"Convert all slaughter value into reincarnation power!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining 6.4 million points of reincarnation power!"
"Summon!"
Yang Hao looked back at the ministers behind him and said again, "If Tai Gu Shen Shan submits, then order the Vermilion Bird Legion to station at Tai Gu Shen Shan and advance towards the border of Hai Yun Shen Chao!"
"Your ministers obey the decree!"
Li Si and others hurriedly bowed.
"Ding! This summon consumes 3.2 million points of reincarnation power. The system is summoning!"
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully summoning a peerless general from history, the famous general of the Tang Dynasty – Gao Xianzhi!"
Gao Xianzhi!
He was enfeoffed as a general by the court before he was twenty years old. What made him still famous among the many renowned generals in history was his superb art of mountain warfare!
Throughout Chinese and foreign wars, various dynasties have produced outstanding mountain warfare generals.