After the battle with the Sixth Emperor, Qing Yu and the others did not have any intention of going after the Southern Border.
The most notable war body of the Southern Border had been lost, and its value had been greatly reduced at once. Qing Yu himself did not dare to take an interest in the southern border for the time being. After all, the southern border was separated from the Northern Zhou by the Great and Back-Qian, making it an enclave.
Moreover, the Great Witch Priest should still be alive, but just hiding for the time being.
In that case, it would be better to let the Southern Border continue to cause trouble for the Great Qian. In the battlefield of Lingzhou, although Great Qian won in one fell swoop, its basic battle strength was still intact due to the early retreat of Zhenshan’s army.
Those who died on the battlefield were actually more of the Great Qian soldiers. On the Southern Border side, the Locust God Companions died the most. In that case, together with the Great Witch Sacrifice, the Southern Border would still be a considerable problem for the Great Qian.
I think that the Southern Border, which had lost the battle body of the Interligator Clan, would certainly not begrudge the Great Qian some fun.
And so, this time, the matter of the Southern Border came to an end for the time being. Qing Yu and the Blade God each returned to heal their wounds and seek their next refinement.
The battle with the Sixth Emperor had really stimulated the two of them, giving them the desire to dive into cultivation. Especially Qing Yu, whose Xuan Universe had never been completed and whose Xuan Universe Heavenly Crystal had never been absorbed, the way forward for refinement was visible and attainable.
They, on the other hand, had other ideas when they came from the Northern Zhou, and were temporarily stationed in the Spiritual State.
Zhuge Longjue still has the idea of confronting Mu Xiuji, while Yin Tiandi and the other devils have their sights set on the active volcanoes at the border of Lingzhou.
The Purgatory Mountain, the largest active volcano in the Central Plains, has been flowing with lava for years and is bare ground for a hundred miles, with no vegetation, not to mention people.
This is a barren place on earth, and apart from the Purgatory Peak disciples who have lived here for generations, no one else would want to live in this purgatory-like environment.
Today, several streams of light crossed the sky, and a huge cold moon descended from the sky, hanging above Purgatory Peak, releasing a bone-chilling aura.
The cold air caused the crimson rocks of Purgatory Mountain to snicker, the red fading away and slowly turning black. And the Purgatory Peak disciples beside Purgatory Mountain felt a refreshing sensation that they had never felt before.
“Where is the Red Dragon? Don’t you dare come out to meet me?”
Yin Tian Tian stood amidst the cold moon and drank the name of the Purgatory Peak Master from above.
With her words, the chill intensified, even causing a cold wind to blow on Purgatory Mountain, but beneath the volcano, the lava was even more fiery.
“Boom…”
The magma surged up from the crater like a whirlpool, and at its top, a majestic figure like obsidian slowly emerged.
“Yin World, our Purgatory Peak and you and the other four clans of the Devil’s Path have long since fallen out, so what’s there to see.”
This majestic figure was none other than Red Dragon, the Peak Master of Purgatory Peak, a great expert of the Tong Shen realm and one of the Patriarchs of the Six Sects of the Devil Dao.
In the past, Red Dragon had gone up to the Heavenly Demon Realm with Yin Tiandi, Mo Luminous, Desperate Life and Blood End, severing their subordinate relationship with the Demon Daoist and pulling the Heavenly Demon Palace together.
At that time, Purgatory Peak and the other three sects joined forces with each other to form an extremely strong force.
After that, Yin Tian Tian and Qing Yu worked together to bring the Devil’s Dao into Northern Zhou, using this as a foundation for the Devil’s Dao to really take root, and the power of the four sects of the Devil’s Dao rose at that time.
However, among these four sects, the Purgatory Peak disciples did not change their barbaric nature and practised their barbaric laws in the poor mountains and waters of the Northern Zhou, causing the three sects of the Northern Zhou and the Devil’s Way to become evil at the same time.
In addition, Purgatory Peak also had its own petty thoughts, so it fell out with the Northern Zhou and the other three sects. Incidentally, at that time, the Northern Zhou and the three sects of the Devil’s Way also joined together to hunt down and kill Purgatory Peak’s disciples, and even one of Red Dragon’s sons died at the hands of Yun Wuyue.
“That is why I have come to you,” Yin Tian Tian had a cold smile on his face, “Red Dragon, the unification of the Devil’s Dao is an unstoppable trend, submit or die, it is all up to you to decide at your word.”
Without any mystery, Yin Tian Tian opened up and gave two choices. If Purgatory Peak did not submit, then the sect would be exterminated.
As soon as the words were spoken, several murderous machines stared at Red Dragon, especially Yun Wuyue who was standing beside Yin Tianxia, her body had an extremely cold aura, the opposite of Purgatory Peak’s merit body, and was the most dangerous.
Faced with these several killing machines, as well as the unconcealed cold eyes of Yin Tianxia, Red Dragon’s already dark face added an iron blue colour, even darker.
Even if he was a great fighter, he was still only at the Tong Shen realm.
Originally, he had thought that with the advantage of the Purgatory Mountain, he would be able to fight with Yin Tiandi, but now it seemed that even with this advantage, the gap in strength was still irreparable.
“I ——,” Red Dragon gritted his teeth and viciously spat out two words, “submit.”
The code of Purgatory Peak, the weak are strong, and this sect, which has always lived in the middle of poor mountains, follows the code that the bigger the fist, the more justified. And, survival is the priority in everything.
So, Red Dragon surrendered, because to not surrender was to die.
“Then be a good boy and suffer the ban.”
Yin Tian Tian raised her hand and the black crescent appeared on her palm ——
————————
While Yin Tian Tian was conquering Purgatory Peak, Zhuge Long Su also approached Mu Xiuji.
It was still in the Hao Qi Alliance where they had last met, and it was also still in Mu Xiuji’s study. Only at this time, the two former master brothers were in a different state of mind than they had been in the past.
“Senior Brother Mu, Senior Brother never thought that you would do such a heartless thing.”
“Senior Brother, as a citizen of the Great Qian, it is only right for you to serve your country. The ruler of heaven and earth is his teacher, and the ruler is only below heaven and earth, so what is wrong with acting in this way.”
Mu Xiuji replied calmly as if he had expected this.
The Confucian school’s Ren lineage is one that is deeply involved with the imperial court, and loyalty is the first word. The word “loyalty” is the first priority. If Mu Xiuji could obtain the inheritance of the Ren lineage from the Jixia Palace, his loyalty would have been guaranteed.
“A good loyal and patriotic Ren lineage, but don’t forget that the original Ren lineage, Ji Mu Qing, was a traitorous minister of the Great Zhou and a thief who usurped the throne.” Zhuge Long Su shouted coldly.
“The Great Ancestor inherited the will of Heaven, won the hearts of the people, and carried out the act of usurpation for all the people of the world, this is a great benevolence, how can he be called a thief.” Mu Xiuji retorted without budging.
“If it is benevolent for him to commit treason for the people, then is it also benevolent for you to use the name of the academy to bluff graduating students into dying for the Great Qian?”
At this point, Zhuge Longjue could not bear it any longer and his hair rushed out in anger, his long hair flying in the air, his face full of hostility.
If Mu Xiuji was only the master of the Ren lineage, Zhuge Longjue would not have been motivated to kill him, even though he was disconnected. But when Mu Xiuji called on his former students to join the battlefield in Lingzhou and fight for the Great Qian in the name of the Shanhe Academy, Zhuge Longjue could not help but become angry.
Although they were fighting against foreigners, the Great Qian itself was not clean, as Mu Cang Sheng had worked with the Southern Border, and the battle was more a feud between the Great Qian and the Southern Border than a long-standing feud between the Central Plains and the foreigners.
The Great Qian itself had the strength to resist, but it was only because of Mak Cansheng’s plan that sacrifices were needed. Those students were a part of the sacrifice.
Faced with Zhuge Longjue’s questioning, Mu Xiuji could not deceive himself, and he knew that he was acting against benevolence. But ——
“To fight against the foreigners, my heart is ashamed, but I have no regrets.”
This was Mu Xiuji’s reply, his heart had shame, but his person had no regrets. He was a man of the Great Qian, so naturally he had to think for the Great Qian. Those scholars were really the potential strength of the Mountain River Academy.
Now the Northern Zhou court and the Shanhe Academy were at odds with each other, but if the two were to get back together in the future, the Academy would also be an enemy of the Great Qian.
“Good one, no regrets.”
Zhuge Long Su said, violently tearing his left sleeve, “You have no regrets, then how can I, as a senior brother, not support your decision. From today onwards, you and I sever our robes and henceforth sever our enmity, and if we meet again in the future, don’t blame me as a junior brother for being heartless.”
The reunion of the two brothers ended with the severing of their robes, but their relationship was not severed.
“You will pay the price for what you have done.”
With these words, Zhuge Longjue waved his sleeve and left, leaving the two of them as strangers. When they met again in the future, they would be enemies to the death.
For Zhuge Longjue had already made up his mind that he would seek justice for those students.
Many of the students summoned by Mu Xiuji had attended cla*ses under Zhuge Longjue’s tutelage, and many were friends of the lecturers who were still teaching at the academy.
For both reason and sense, their feud could not be ended with Zhuge Long Su’s severance of his robe.
So ——
‘The next time we meet, either you die or I die.’
Zhuge Longjue had this determination, and Mu Xiuji could also feel this.
“Ugh!”
With his back turned to Zhuge Long Su, Mu Xiuji let out a deep sigh.
————————
Five days later, Northern Zhou.
On the Great Hall of Brightness, the Zhou Emperor sat at the Purple Pole, his dragon qi boiling up, transforming into a swimming dragon that was as real as it was imaginary, darting wildly in the air.
Feng Jiu had failed to collect most of the dragon veins in Mengzhou due to his own upper limit, even when the poison of Bosuji was dispelled by the will of humanity.
But Qing Yu was different. As a supreme being, Qing Yu, who had defeated four human emperors’ consciousnesses by himself, was not afraid of the dragon veins of one state, even if this state was three times the size of Yan Zhou.
In the past five days, Qing Yu had accepted the dragon veins of Mengzhou, and the strength of his imperial body had risen so much that his dragon energy had begun to leak out and form illusory dragons.
In the past five days, all the officials in the court were intimidated by the emperor’s increasingly majestic aura and did not dare to stand up straight in front of him.
But today, there was one person in the imperial court who could straighten up in front of Emperor Zhou. That was the dean of the Shanhe Academy – Zhuge Longsu.
But this Dean Zhuge, who could straighten up, was bending down slowly before Emperor Zhou ——
“I, Zhuge Long Su, see Your Majesty!”
Zhuge Longjue submitted, and in order to seek justice, he chose to attach himself to the Northern Zhou and borrow the power of the Zhou Emperor.
