Chapter 1 The City Falls

The city falls! A large number of Japanese soldiers evacuated Ulsan Castle. No sooner had their heels left than a massive fire broke out over the castle, moving continuously, accompanied by deafening shouts!

The Ming army entered the city. Taking Ulsan was definitely a crucial turning point in the Korean war. It meant that almost all of eastern Korea had been recovered. Now only half of Jeolla Province in the west remained, as well as a group of isolated troops surrounded in the far north, waiting to starve to death, and a few coastal cities at the southernmost tip.

"Half a year's worth of achievements have been reduced to nothing."

Even Mori Terumoto and Kuroda Nagamasa, who had already harbored thoughts of rebellion, couldn't help but sigh and feel dejected at the sight of this crushing defeat. Little did they know that Tokugawa Ieyasu was watching their expressions, calculating whether the two could be won over.

Ieyasu, of course, agreed to Hideaki's suggestion.

He had rebelled.

But he existed as the greatest mole of all.

Compared to a rebel who openly defected, a mole obviously had to disguise himself better, had to be more loyal than the loyal. And this time, the great defeat at Ulsan, although Ieyasu himself had issued the order to retreat, he would tell Toyotomi Hideyoshi the "truth" of what he had encountered in detail.

It was Hideaki who assassinated him, not that he didn't want to fight.

No one knew better than Toyotomi Hideyoshi what the consequences of being stabbed by the Ama-no-Murakumo sword were, because the real Three Sacred Treasures were in his hands.

Becoming the King of Japan, or even the Emperor, was what Ieyasu himself had once wanted to do but failed to achieve, so he was unwilling.

Unwilling to be inferior to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but he was a man supported by Emperor Jinmu.

Ieyasu understood that if he wasn't chosen, then even if he killed Hideyoshi, it would be useless. If he dared to do that, Emperor Jinmu would never let him go. Of course, this wasn't for reasons like avenging Hideyoshi, but because if he dared to kill Hideyoshi, then he would dare to kill Emperor Jinmu. Emperor Jinmu would never keep such a person around.

"So, usually, although I show ambition, it is only limited to after Hideyoshi ascends to immortality, and then I will become Kanpaku. Emperor Jinmu therefore favors me, and Hideyoshi also thinks that showing ambition is better than hiding it in secret... So I am the head of the Five Commissioners, because he knows what I want, so he won't be wary of me."

Ieyasu thought a lot in his heart.

If a subject tells the emperor that he has no needs, the emperor will be terrified and extremely wary.

But if a subject asks the emperor for benefits, as long as it is not the imperial throne, then everything is easy to talk about.

Like Wang Jian of Qin, and Xiao He of Han.

And Kanpaku is not the imperial throne, only equivalent to Prime Minister, so Hideyoshi would not say anything about asking for the next position.

However, the so-called "Emperor," in Japan, is Emperor Jinmu himself. Pointing a sword at Emperor Jinmu would never be forgiven.

But!

What if there was also an "Emperor" behind him to support him?

Although the emperors of the Central Plains are constantly changing with the dynasties, unlike Japan's unbroken lineage, the condition of coexisting with the country is still very tempting.

No matter how many years the Ming Dynasty can exist, at least it still rules the entire Central Plains and has several True Immortals. Even though most of those True Immortals do not listen to orders, the imperial court itself has two immortal-level combat forces, which are by no means ordinary.

Moreover, Hideaki said that a major change would arrive in twenty years, and there would definitely be many people who wanted to kill Emperor Jinmu, so this was also one of the reasons why he launched a fierce attack on Korea, and then seized the national fortune of the Ming Dynasty.

Without a strong national fortune as a trump card, he would be very scared, which also showed that among the people who were about to come into the world in twenty years, there must be quite a few True Immortals.

So, at least within these twenty years, the Ming Dynasty will not perish.

As for what will happen in twenty years, who he should rely on, he will talk about it then.

No one can see the direction of the world in twenty years, maybe it will become better, maybe it will become worse, but Ieyasu doesn't want his ambition to not be realized, and be dragged onto the chariot of death by Hideyoshi and Jinmu!

Take a gamble, how can a true man be content to be inferior to others!

Thinking of this, a smile couldn't help but appear on Ieyasu's face, and Kuroda Nagamasa, who caught this smile, immediately began to ask suspiciously:

"Our army has suffered a great defeat at Ulsan, and it is a time of decline. Why is Lord Ieyasu laughing?"

Tokugawa Ieyasu laughed when he heard this: "If we lose the battle, there is no use in crying. We can't reverse the defeat, so it's better to laugh."

"Look at the good side, at least we still have a batch of large cities on the southern coast. These cities that we developed the earliest will never be easily captured, but Lord Kanpaku may have to worry. According to the current situation, even if he brings all the troops and men from the mainland, he may not be able to win this war."

"The result is that we all die in battle, Korea is completely destroyed, and the Ming Dynasty is also dragged down, a triple loss."

"Either he has to come here to fight in person, or... continue negotiations..."

Mori Terumoto and Kuroda Nagamasa looked at each other, their eyes also showing fatigue.

"I think, we will definitely continue to fight."

"Indeed, such great results were lost in just two months. If I were Kanpaku, I wouldn't be able to swallow this breath."

"If we fight to the death, the chances of winning are not great... Should we gamble on whether the Ming Dynasty will fight us with all their strength?"

At this time, another war was taking place within the Ming Dynasty. Yang Yinglong in Bozhou in the southwest rebelled violently, and the Ming court had no time to care about the southern half of the country, but the people on the Korean battlefield were not aware of all this.

From the 20th year of Wanli to the 26th year of Wanli, three consecutive wars have followed, from the Ningxia Campaign to the Korean War and then to the Bozhou Rebellion. Among them, the Korean War has lasted for six years from the 20th year. Both sides' chariots and armor, even the divisions of several towns, have been half destroyed; money and grain, pouring out the savings of tens of thousands, are all used to fill the ravines.

"Lord Ieyasu, what do you think of Kanpaku?"

Kuroda Nagamasa still took the initiative to raise this topic.

Ieyasu narrowed his eyes and looked at Kuroda Nagamasa with scrutinizing eyes, of course this was also what he pretended.

"Kuroda, what do you mean?"

Ieyasu deliberately asked in a majestic and questioning tone, but Kuroda Nagamasa did not speak. At this time, the atmosphere between the two was very tense. Ieyasu looked at Kuroda Nagamasa and knew that this guy was throwing out a brick to get a jade, and this tone seemed to be...

He just didn't know whether he was opening his mouth at this time to test his intentions, or whether he really had rebellious intentions?

He couldn't answer this wrong. As a mole, he had to always understand his superficial position as a "loyal minister," so after a brief silence between the two, Ieyasu earnestly reminded:

"Kuroda, I want to remind you that you are now the commander of our army, and your primary task is to obey orders. Kanpaku's next arrangement, even if it doesn't suit your heart, you can passively avoid the war, but you must not disobey Lord Kanpaku's orders."

"You are a general, and he is the commander. Do you want the general to not accept the commander's orders when he is outside? Do you think that you are higher in status than the commander? Can you really abandon your relatives and family members in the mainland as decisively as Shimazu and Kobayakawa?"

"There are some things that are not convenient for me to say too clearly. I only hope that you will not say such things so blatantly in the future. Others may have already drawn their swords to warn you."

Kuroda also took the opportunity to step down and immediately lowered his head: "Yes, I was a little impulsive. I am just deeply worried about Lord Kanpaku's endless military adventures."

But he had doubts in his heart.

Would Ieyasu really faithfully carry out Hideyoshi's orders?

........

Honshu Island, Japan, Kansai, Osaka Castle.

"Yaobikuni is dead." (Yaobikuni is also known as Hakuyo-Bikuni)

"How could this happen? How was she killed? It's incomprehensible!"

A man with a pale face but wearing luxurious clothes and embroidered with a giant python stood before a pile of dust, his eyes filled with uncontrollable astonishment and anger.

This ancient immortal who had been worshiped for eight hundred years was the most capable Buddhist disciple under his command, but she didn't even manage to put up much resistance. The entire shrine didn't shatter in an orderly manner, but turned into dust all at once.

Annihilated, nothing remains.

How could there be such a powerful person in this world?

Even if a True Immortal came to the world, it would be impossible to obliterate her, unless the person who attacked Yaobikuni had the strength to obliterate the divine treasure she had eaten, otherwise he should not be able to do anything to her.

It shouldn't have become this serious.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was silent for a moment, looking at the other shrines around him.

More than one shrine had collapsed. The number of collapsed shrines meant the number of dead immortals. The death of Yaobikuni made him unable to continue to calm down. This meant that the opponent's strength was beyond his imagination.

"Well... Yaobikuni is dead, I underestimated it."

Someone else came in, but his clothes looked shabby, at least compared to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's gorgeous Ming Dynasty red賜服 (cifu, bestowed clothing), he was like an ordinary commoner, but when Toyotomi Hideyoshi saw this person coming in, he was extremely respectful.

The person who came was Emperor Jinmu, Xu Fu.

The most honorable clothes worn by the Japanese Emperor are Huanglu-zome Goho (Yellow Phellodendron-dyed Imperial Robe), but at this time, Xu Fu was wearing ordinary cloth robes and straw sandals, with only a yellow silk tassel tied around his waist.

This is the clothing of a Fangshi (alchemist) in the pre-Qin era.

For Xu Fu, the only thing that could commemorate that era was the set of clothes on his body.

People from the pre-Qin era, except for some who still survive in Lishanhe (a mystical otherworldy realm in China), have long since passed away, and after two thousand years of not returning to that land, Xu Fu has long forgotten what the mountains and rivers of the Central Plains look like. His memories are very vague, and only when he sees the python robe on Toyotomi Hideyoshi can he recall a little bit of the past.

Although the First Emperor of Qin did not have such brightly colored clothes in that era, it was ultimately something bestowed by the Central Plains Dynasty.

The First Emperor of Qin acted as the Emperor of the human world, and he acted as the Heavenly Lord of the divine kingdom, which should have been a very beautiful thing... It's a pity that things always go against expectations, and the appearance of Lishanhe has turned his divine kingdom plan into a clownish farce.

The method of harmony between heaven and man established by Dong Zhongshu, which created the Confucian divine kingdom, is still a mysterious and detached place even in Lishanhe, but the divine kingdom he established has fallen to such a state of decline. In the human world, he cannot cultivate into a True God after all, and can only combine with human souls at most, dissolving and relying on the affairs of ghosts and gods.

"Your Majesty, since Yaobikuni is dead, although the national fortune of Korea has been devoured a lot, they have still managed to take back the Three Capitals. Immortals are dying one after another, and the situation on the Korean battlefield is not optimistic."

"What should we do next, how should we deal with that immortal of the Ming Dynasty? Do you need me to go there myself?"

Xu Fu laughed when he heard Toyotomi Hideyoshi's words: "You are a little too confident in your strength. Do you think you are above Yaobikuni?"

Toyotomi Hideyoshi: "Holding the Three Sacred Treasures, one must be above Bikuni."

Xu Fu shook his head: "That may not be above a True Immortal either. I really didn't expect this situation, it has already exceeded my expectations. The last time I saw him, he hadn't recovered to this point."

"This Heavenly Demon... is hard to kill. But if we can lure him to Japan, we can easily kill him. However, without orders from the Ming Dynasty, how could he, as an Immortal, easily enter my domain?"

Although Pseudo Immortals are not True Immortals, they have a great advantage in fighting on their home turf. Xu Fu is even an old ghost from the pre-Qin era. In Ji Xiang's words, he doesn't take the set of Golden Elixir Dao techniques.

The path of cultivation in the pre-Qin era is different from the path of cultivation in later generations. It does not follow the art of Golden Elixir Earth Immortal, and has many unpredictable methods.

"Since the end of the Han Dynasty, only a few people have entered the Japanese mainland. Now my strength is even greater than before..."

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's face showed difficulty as he listened to Xu Fu's soliloquy.

In a situation where his strength is far inferior to the opponent's, should he send all the immortals under his command to forcibly kidnap him to Japan and kill him?

Then his side would inevitably suffer heavy losses, which would be purely a loss. Doesn't the Ming Dynasty have other immortals?

Xu Fu glanced at Toyotomi Hideyoshi, stroked his beard, and smiled slightly:

"There's no need to be too hasty."

"Although the losses are great, a large amount of national fortune in Korea has also been swallowed, and this part cannot be spit out. Our national fortune has grown stronger. The regret is that the war has been fought for the sixth year, and we still haven't touched the mainland of the Ming Dynasty..."

Thinking of the luck dragon with broken horns, Xu Fu couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but the basic purpose had been achieved. In addition to the national fortune, the luck dragon had also broken its horns, and more power could be extracted from Dafuli (the realm of the immortals and gods)...

"Originally, we wanted to use Korea as a springboard to plot against the Central Plains, but that is no longer possible. In that case..."

"Then there is no need to fight anymore."

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was stunned, and then his pale face changed several times, and he said somewhat unwillingly: "This... we won't fight anymore?"

"There are still hundreds of thousands of soldiers who can fight in our country, if it really doesn't work..."

"Hideyoshi! You have accumulated enough power to ascend to immortality, haven't you? So many sacrifices have died..."

Xu Fu looked at Toyotomi Hideyoshi: "After years of war, I didn't expect that at the critical moment, the Ming Dynasty would have an immortal-level combat force. In the past few years, they relied on their powerful national prestige and the national fortune of Korea that had not yet dissipated to contend with our fake immortals. Now that their True Immortal has arrived on the battlefield, our immortals are useless. It is impossible to forcibly awaken those decaying bones and let them go to their deaths."

"These people are all a powerful defense force in our country to deal with future changes. As long as the opportunity to ascend to immortality arrives at that time, they will all be able to ascend on the spot. They cannot be easily lost here. So, there is no need to fight to the death with the Ming Dynasty."

"However, there are a few battles that must be fought. If that immortal is not eliminated, he will indeed be a disaster for our country. The skills of the Heavenly Demon are extremely powerful and cannot be resisted by human cultivators."

"My killing him is also to pave the way for all living beings."

Three illusory images of ghosts and gods appeared on Xu Fu's body, and six gazes fell on Toyotomi Hideyoshi, making the latter shudder instantly!

The gaze from the ancient abyss, the eyes of ghosts and gods that transcended the years, could not be looked at directly. Emperor Jinmu was good at refining the art of ghosts and gods, which originated from the pre-Qin method and had many wonderful uses!

Xu Fu nodded his head slightly, and the ghost god in the middle immediately flew into the air.