funbook-pk Chapter 22 Death Has Arrived
Chapter 22 Death Has Arrived
As the Great Chu continued its southward advance, the remaining three kingdoms felt a tremendous threat.
They watched helplessly as the Great Zhou, Great Yan, and Great Yong were destroyed and their people wiped out.
Under immense pressure, Dajing, Dahan, and Dali, the southern maritime overlords, finally abandoned their centuries-old feud.
They formed an "alliance to destroy Chu" at lightning speed.
They vowed to overthrow the tyrant Chu Ning.
They also contacted the remaining forces, united them, and said they would destroy Chu, restore peace to the world, and help them restore their country.
The Great Li even poured all its national wealth into building an invincible navy, deploying troops along the Yangtze River in an attempt to use the natural defenses to block the advance of the Great Chu.
Morally, the remaining three kingdoms have already gained the upper hand.
They are the true force of justice, acting in accordance with the general trend of the world; the Great Chu will ultimately perish.
But in the face of overwhelming national power, no alliance is worth fearing.
Chu Ning's army has been fighting for four years, but shows no signs of fatigue.
Everyone knows that all of this is because in the capital of the Great Chu, there is a national advisor who can predict everything under heaven.
Cheng Xiao never stepped out of the capital, yet he managed to keep the court of the Great Chu as stable as a rock.
The more territory conquered on the front lines, the more territory the laws of the Military Council would advance.
Millions of bushels of grain and fine armor were continuously transported to the front lines.
Externally, Chu Ning's million-strong army was invincible; internally, Cheng Xiao's strategies were flawless.
Although the navy of Dali caused some difficulties for Chu Ning, it was still no match for him. Under the combined fire of Chu Ning's extreme evil energy and the new heavy crossbows of Dali, the navy, which was known as invincible in the world, was completely annihilated.
The plains of the south, with their dense network of waterways, no longer have any natural defenses.
Before Da Jing and Da Han could even provide support, Da Li was completely annihilated.
The conquest of four kingdoms shook the world.
Even the alliance to destroy Chu, which was driven by justice, was no match for the Great Chu.
The army of Great Chu was unstoppable.
Those former nobles of the four kingdoms, having lost everything, descended into a final frenzy in their despair over the fall of their kingdoms.
Since they couldn't defeat them head-on, they decided to try to behead them.
They spared no expense, spending a fortune to invite a ninth-rank martial arts grandmaster who had been living in seclusion for many years.
Taking advantage of the fact that Chu Ning's army was resting on the riverbank late at night, they launched a decapitation strike against Chu Ning.
As long as the tyrant Chu Ning is killed, the million-strong army of Great Chu will naturally collapse without a fight.
The decapitation strike came suddenly, and even Chu Ning was unable to react in time.
That night, Chu Ning's central command tent was razed to the ground by the powerful internal energy of a top-tier expert.
The violent fluctuations of spiritual energy prevented tens of thousands of Xuanjia personal guards from getting even a fraction of a step closer.
This is a duel between masters, something that ordinary mortals can no longer even dream of.
All the old nobles who were secretly watching were overjoyed, thinking that this tyrannical empress had finally met her divine retribution.
A ninth-rank peak expert is invincible; how could she possibly resist him?
But as the sun rose, Chu Ning emerged from the devastated ruins, covered in blood.
She held the head of that ninth-rank Grandmaster in her hand; the Grandmaster died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.
The moment Chu Ning stepped out, the dark red aura surrounding him surged into the sky like a sea of blood!
The entire sky was dyed red, and the scene was extremely terrifying.
This desperate battle not only failed to kill Chu Ning, but also, in the extreme pain and despair, completely unleashed the predatory instinct of her innate Dao embryo.
She drained the immense life force of a ninth-rank master, broke through the life-or-death barrier in the battle, and reached the peak of the ninth rank in one fell swoop!
Even if she were to shed her status as a monarch, she would still be one of the most skilled martial artists in the world.
After this battle, the remaining forces were filled with despair.
They are still resisting.
But this idea had taken root in everyone's mind.
This Asura Blade is so sharp it obscures the sun; no one in the world can withstand it.
Today, the black flags of the Great Chu have been planted on eight or nine tenths of the map of China.
Only Daejeong and Daehan, nestled in the western mountains, are struggling to hold on, relying on the natural barriers that are easy to defend and difficult to attack.
In just five years, Chu Ning annexed four kingdoms.
But she felt she wasn't fast enough; she needed to be even faster.
She couldn't keep the teacher waiting too long.
......
It was late autumn in the 442nd year of the Great Chu calendar.
War raged across the land, and everyone trembled in agony under the iron hooves of the Chu army.
But the capital of the Great Chu presented a strange yet prosperous and peaceful scene.
Inside the military cabinet, Cheng Xiao, still dressed in white, quietly reviewed the tax and grain ledgers submitted from various regions.
During the five years that Chu Ning was away fighting, he was in charge of stabilizing the rear and presiding over the court of Great Chu.
The entire capital was like an iron barrel, and those outside couldn't infiltrate it even if they wanted to.
With the implementation of the new law, commerce flourished and the national treasury was full.
Support for the front lines has never faltered, with a steady stream of military funds, provisions, and high-quality heavy armor being transported to the front by Cheng Xiao.
Looking at the only remaining areas of Dajing and Dahan on the geomantic map, Chengxiao casually tossed the vermilion pen into the pen holder.
Given the current unstoppable pace of the Great Chu's advance, within two years, Chu Ning will surely be able to completely sweep across the world and establish an unprecedented unified empire.
His "empress making" story is nearing its end.
Suddenly, Cheng Xiao paused slightly in his teacup.
His divine sense covered the entire plane, and everything in the world was under his control.
The so-called peak ninth-rank experts in this small plane are nothing more than the Great Perfection of Qi Refining in the cultivation world. If they were sent to a sect, they wouldn't even be considered as doing menial tasks.
But just now, he keenly detected an extremely faint fluctuation of spiritual energy, which was completely out of place in this turbid world and was extremely unusual.
This fluctuation originates from the depths of the mountains in the far west.
That is, the capital of the Great Jing Dynasty.
"Oh? In this mortal realm where spiritual energy is depleted, there really is someone who can break through the barrier between immortals and mortals?"
Even Cheng Xiao, whose eyes were calm, showed a hint of surprise, but it quickly turned into a knowing smile.
He was all too familiar with that fluctuation of spiritual energy.
Foundation building.
In the world of cultivation, Foundation Establishment is merely the starting point on the path to immortality.
But in this mortal realm, once one establishes their foundation, they are considered by the world to have truly "attained immortality."
The peak of the ninth rank in martial arts is ultimately just the ultimate refinement of qi and blood by ordinary people.
Foundation Establishment cultivators have transformed their internal energy into spiritual power, enabling them not only to ride the wind but also to harness the power of heaven and earth.
The difference between immortals and mortals is like the difference between clouds and mud.
Even though Chu Ning is now invincible in the mortal martial arts world, and even though she has a million iron cavalry of the Great Chu behind her, she is no different from a clay chicken or a clay dog in front of a true Foundation Establishment cultivator, and can be destroyed with a wave of her hand.
The Great Jing Kingdom was driven to the brink of national extinction by the Great Chu Kingdom. It was clear that it had used some ancient legacy or rare treasures to create a "land immortal" by pooling the resources of the entire nation.
"It seems that Da Jing is about to launch a final counterattack."
Cheng Xiao put down his teacup, already having a plan in mind.
He's been thinking about the script lately.
He couldn't simply die for that last bit of goodwill.
He wanted to die a regrettable, a grand, a valuable, and unforgettable death, one that would be remembered by everyone in the world.
Severing all worldly ties with one's own hands—this is the cultivation method of the Path of Ruthlessness.
Chu Ning is his only disciple, and he will also willingly become Chu Ning's inner demon.
When it comes to emotional fluctuations, what can be more intense than inner demons?
Now, the sudden appearance of this Foundation Establishment cultivator, Da Jing, is simply the best gift.
No wonder the system hadn't reminded him that the mission was complete; it turned out that according to his script, Chu Ning's real calamity was here.
Now death has arrived.
And this is precisely the perfect time for his grand performance to come to a close.
Cheng Xiao slowly stood up and walked to the window.
He pushed open the window and looked at the autumn leaves falling in a flurry outside.
"Ning'er, I have already paved the way for the most extreme despair in this world. Now, it is my turn to go to my death."