Chapter 116: Qingyun Dao Sect, I’m Back!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the court of Jin Nation.
The civil and military officials stood on both sides.
Seated on the dragon’s throne, an old man looked at the messenger in front of him.
There was extreme silence in the imperial court.
“Reporting!”
“Your Majesty, this time, the Fiendcelestial Cult has raided 33 states of Jin Nation and the City Lords of all the cities have completely subdued them in a joint effort with the Jin Nation’s iron soldiers.”
“However, the State of Yu, State of Jin, State of Xu, and State of Jiang suffered more than a million casualties. And in the remaining 29 states, a total of 4.5 million people have died or gotten injured.”
“The Jin Nation iron soldiers suffered 45,000 casualties. In the 33 states, 12 City Lords and 71 deputy City Lords have been killed by the Fiendcelestial Cult. 21 City Lords and 144 deputy City Lords have defected. The whereabouts of 94 deputy City Lords are unknown.”
“120,000 soldiers have been killed in battle but none of the states fell.”
“Among them, Qingzhou was the most outstanding, with less than 30,000 casualties among the people and less than 500 casualties among the soldiers. They have achieved a great victory by killing 99% of the Fiendcelestial Cult traitors.”
In the court, the messenger knelt on the ground and reported the information of the casualties caused by the Fiendcelestial Cult’s raid on the 33 states of Jin Nation.
As soon as he finished speaking, there was extreme silence in the court.
That was not good news.
More than ten million people were killed and injured in the 33 states, which was really detrimental to Jin Nation.
In particular, more than ten City Lords had died in battle, and most importantly, 21 of them defected to the Fiendcelestial Cult. That was infuriating and disappointing.
As for those whose whereabouts were unknown, they had either defected or died. There was almost no other possibility.
It wasn’t too bad in Qingzhou, but what’s the point of having one strong state?
Overall, there were a large number of casualties.
‘Damned Fiendcelestial Cult.’
Bang!
In an instant, the king of the Jin Nation smacked his hand hard on the throne. At this moment, the civil and military officials were all astonished.
“Pass on my decree, gather all the forces of the nation and investigate the whereabouts of the Fiendcelestial Cult. Kill all the cultists you encounter.”
“The officials of the six ministries, do your best to placate the citizens of Jin Nation and lower taxes so that the people can feel at ease.”
“The Fiendcelestial Cult must have made all necessary preparations before they raided the Jin Nation, so there are definitely spies of the Fiendcelestial Cult in the imperial court. Investigate thoroughly, and if the culprit is found, he shall be sentenced by the laws of the Jin Nation.”
“The City Lord of Qingzhou shall be rewarded with a promotion by three ranks. All officials under him shall be promoted by one rank.”
“In order to prevent the Fiendcelestial Cult from attacking again, the Jin Nation Academy shall be opened in advance to recruit all the geniuses of Jin Nation for the purpose of defense and preparation for the battle of the Ten Nations Academy.”
The king of Jin Nation declared.
Although he was old, his voice was as loud as a bell.
“Yes.”
The civil and military officials spoke one after another. At this juncture, no one dared to propose anything nor question anything.
This time, Jin Nation had indeed encountered trouble, but fortunately, it had not reached the worst. They had already found out about the matter half a month in advance.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have deployed the military to guard the ancient cities. The plans they had made at the beginning were to prepare them for a scenario that was worse than the current situation.
They had already made plans in case a state fell, but fortunately, that didn’t happen. Although the losses were still heavy for Jin Nation, it at least didn’t rock the foundation.
Just like that, in the blink of an eye, three more days had passed.
The story of the Fiendcelestial Cult’s raid on the 33 states of Jin Nation instantly spread like wildfire in the Ten Nations.
That was not a trivial matter, so naturally, the entire nation was concerned.
However, the most attention-grabbing thing was the matter of Qingzhou.
Most of the thirty-three states, except Qingzhou, had suffered huge blows. Whereas, Qingzhou was the only one that not only suffered the least casualties, but also annihilated the Fiendcelestial Cult.
Even the upper echelons of the Ten Nations were curious as to how Qingzhou could remain unscathed.
However, a piece of insider news soon appeared.
“Let me tell you, do you know why Qingzhou is fine? I have a close friend who happened to be in Qingzhou that day and witnessed everything that happened. There is an invincible talent in Qingzhou called Ye Ping who had condensed the Golden Wheel of Expiation at a young age and killed all the disciples of the Fiendcelestial Cult.”
“Yes, yes, my friend also told me the same thing. He said that Ye Ping was like a god that descended on earth as he killed 3,000 Fiendcelestial Cult disciples with a single strike of his sword. Legend has it that Ye Ping’s senior brother is a Sword Immortal.”
“What Sword Immortal? Where did you get those news from? Let me tell you, my friend was present too and the situation that he told me about was different. He said that Ye Ping is the reincarnation of a Dao Sect god. At the critical juncture, he called for the god and the figure of the True God immediately appeared to kill those disciples.”
“Bullsh*t, I was there in person so I have the most right to speak. Ye Ping is not the reincarnate of the true god but that of Bodhisattva. He condensed Bodhisattva’s Dharma diagram and expiated all the Fiendcelestial Cult disciples.”
“Yes, yes, yes, that was what happened. I was present at that time too. There were not only the disciples of the Fiendcelestial Cult in Qingzhou at that time, but the cult master was present too. They initially wanted to kill everyone in Qingzhou, but after Ye Ping’s Dharma manifested, the Fiendcelestial Cult master was instantly expiated. He fell onto the ground and wailed in pain, vowing to be a good person in his next life.”
“Yes, my friend said so too. There was a voice at the time that said that he would not resonate with evil, and it turns out that it was the Fiendcelestial Cult master. In short, Ye Ping is impressive!”
“Seriously? Why is it getting so far-fetched? Bodhisattva’s reincarnate? The reincarnate of the true god? Brother, let’s earn money together, count me in.”
“I just asked Senior Yangyang, what she said is true.”
“Senior Yangyang said it’s true? It must be true then.”
“I don’t believe it, you guys are too good at boasting.”
“We should earn money together,”
This day, there was a new trend in Jin Nation and everyone was singing praises about Ye Ping, calling him the reincarnation of Bodhisattva and the true god of Taoism. Some were even bold to say that Ye Ping had long gone through Immortal Ascension and had come to the mortal world to rescue lives because he saw that Jin Nation was in trouble.
In short, the stories became more and more exaggerated and confusing.
It caused countless gossipy cultivators of Jin Nation to be confused.
In fact, the trend even spread to the Ten Nations.
However, it made everyone else feel disdainful.
The story of Ye Ping being the reincarnation of Bodhisattva and the true god seemed too unreal.
However, just when the crowd was still sitting on the fence, a piece of news was released, which instantly shed light on the truth.
Following the promotion of the City Lord of Qingzhou by three ranks, he set up a feast to celebrate his achievements and accidentally revealed that Ye Ping was his distant nephew when he was drunk. He also mentioned that the reason why Qingzhou was unscathed this time was entirely because Sikong Jiantian brought a Daoist Master.
However, Sikong Jiantian didn’t like fame and fortune, so he didn’t publicize it. While Chen Zheng, the City Lord of Qingzhou, made a false statement in order to get his nephew Ye Ping a place in the imperial court. He even sent people to boast about Ye Ping.
Once this news came out, the cultivators of the entire Jin Nation came to a sudden realization.
All of a sudden, countless cultivators condemned Chen Zheng.
However, there was nothing they could say to criticize Ye Ping. After all, Chen Zheng was the one who planned everything. After learning that Ye Ping was not as godly as the rumors made him out to be, they felt a lot less sour.
In the end, Chen Zheng was demoted by one rank by the court and was fined three years of his salary.
However, the king of Jin Nation knew that it was all just to keep matters under wraps. Although Chen Zheng was getting demoted on the surface, he actually received plenty of benefits in private. The criticism he faced was just a little harsh.
However, to Chen Zheng, it was all worth it. Getting scolded was nothing to him as long as he could protect a genius.
Sometimes, that’s just how it is. Many people think what they see is the truth but little do they know that it’s just what others want them to see.
25th of May of the Immortal Martial Era.
A piece of news that made the geniuses in Jin Nation excited arrived.
The Jin Nation Academy was opened in advance.
At the same time, in the distant State of Li.
In a dilapidated mountain range, a figure appeared to stumble and broke the tranquility of the place.
“Master, what kind of map did you give me? Where exactly am I!?!”
“Little Junior Brother, I hope nothing happens to you.”
“Ahhhh! Where the hell is this? Is there someone here?”
“There are three million Sword Immortals in the sky but they all have to bow down to me. Is there anyone below me? Come out, let’s be friends.”
He called out intermittently in the mountains.
It was Su Changyu.
He had been completely lost since he escaped from Qingzhou Ancient City.
He had no idea where he was either.
The worst thing was that he had been walking for ten days, but he still hadn’t met a single person.
That made Su Changyu feel uncomfortable and scared.
If he had known earlier, he would have just stayed in Qingzhou Ancient City. At least, there were people there.
However, at this point, in Qingyun Mountain Range, a figure appeared among the mountains.
It was Ye Ping.
However, a voice broke the serenity in the mountain.
“Is it you, Ye Ping?”
The voice belonged to his Third Senior Brother, Wang Zhuoyu.