“It’s better for us to stay out of things in the secret realm ——” Unexpected words, unsuspected people, and —— defensive attacks.
The decisive strike from behind interrupted Zhuge Longjue’s move to invoke the Long River of Hao Qi, and also left him seriously injured.
“Mr. Lu, what are you doing ——”
“Lu Qingzhu, you ——”
“This ——”
——
The sudden change of events caught these normally calm and collected lecturers off guard, so much so that they forgot to take down the traitor who attacked their dean.
“Nothing doing, just making this literary battle for position fairer.” With a wry smile on his face, Lu Qingzhu took over from Zhuge Longxu and began to invoke the Long River of Hao Qi.
The Long River of Vast Qi of the Shanhe Academy was like the great protection formations of those sects, with several people at the highest level having the corresponding authority, with the highest leader, the dean, as the highest authority, and then several lower levels of authority held by several senior brothers of the same generation as Zhuge Longju.
The long river of Hao Qi spread out into a celestial curtain under the guidance of Lu Qingzhu, enveloping the entire Shanhe Academy, dividing it from the outside world and making it no longer freely accessible.
“Hahahaha ——” With a series of long laughter, Lu Qingzhu flew up and landed beside Ming Rui on the opposite side, “Zhuge Long Su is still seriously injured and is unable to invoke the long river of Hao Qi anymore, the rest of the people have the same authority as me and cannot change my orders again in a short time. Meng Shan Chang at the top of the mountain is still in seclusion and will not be aware of the changes here. Gentlemen, the entire Mountain River Academy has been isolated from the outside world, and everything in here cannot be transmitted to the outside world.”
However, his injuries were too severe and as soon as he moved his qi, his meridians became twisted and painful, his qi rushed backwards and he spat out a mouthful of blood, unable to continue.
After all, he was not at the Tong Shen realm, and although he could easily defeat Ming Rui at the Tong Shen realm with the blessing of the Long River of Qi, his own realm was already at the True Dan realm. Even though he was at a higher level than Lu Qingzhu, he still received a life-threatening blow when he was in a state where he was able to draw the River of Qi with all his heart.
The long river of Hao Qi needs a powerful run of true Qi to resonate with it. Zhuge Longjue in his current state could not do this at all.
Zhuge Long Su stumbled and almost fell, but Ouyang Yan behind him was quick to help him before he made a fool of himself in front of his enemies and the students of the academy.
Slightly leaning on Ouyang Yan, Zhuge Long Su raised a trembling finger and pointed at Lu Qing Zhu, who was already standing in opposition, and said in a trembling voice, “Senior Brother Lu, why —— are you doing this?”
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Remember forty years ago, when Zhu Xi Ping brought his own disciples to challenge Master Meng at the academy? At that time, Zhu Xiping’s most valued disciple, Wang Jingyang, spoke out of turn and insulted Master Meng, and I was so angry that I fought him.”
“At that time, it was also in this square of righteousness ——” Lu Qingzhu looked reminiscent, “Wang Jingyang was deeply influenced by Zhu Xiping’s true teachings, and although I was a few years older, I was no match for him. The only way to win is to take risks. So I took three slaps from Wang Jingyang and returned the slap to his head, risking my life. This slap killed him instantly.
But it was not easy for me either. Wang Jingyang’s three slaps also put my life in danger, but I was fortunate to be saved by Master Meng so that I could live. Even though Wang Jingyang died, his residual true qi was deeply entangled with my true qi, with you in me and me in you.
For these forty years, it was as if I was possessed by Wang Jingyang’s ghost, fighting with it day and night to the death to save my life. But I am only a mortal, and I really can’t support it anymore, so I can only ——”
“Shut up, Lu Qingzhu, how dare you utter such shameless words!!!” One of the people beside Zhuge Longxu shouted angrily.
The man’s hair and beard were white, and he looked old, but his back was still straight, as if he were a bamboo, and the years would only make his backbone harder and stronger, not make him bend. His name was Ning Ling, the eldest of Meng Shanhe’s disciples who were still alive.
Angered by Lu Qingzhu’s words, Ning Ling’s whiskers rose as he reached out and pointed his hand at Lu Qingzhu, angrily shouting, “Afraid of death? How can a disciple of my Confucian family, especially a disciple of my Confucian righteous lineage, be afraid of death? This is a big joke, a joke!
It is a great misfortune for my Mountain River School and my Confucian school that a Daoist lineage pa*sed down by the sub-sage who spoke of ‘sacrificing life for righteousness’ would betray their master because of fear of death. Lu Qingzhu, you are simply unworthy of being a human being!!!”
Meng Shanhe, as an old Tong Shen realm powerhouse, had lived from the Great Zhou three hundred years ago to the present, the initial batch of disciples had pa*sed away long ago in the years, and Ning Ling was already the oldest disciple at present. In terms of martial arts, Ning Ling is not the strongest, and is even close to regressing to the Divine Origin realm due to his old age and frailty.
But when it comes to the temperament of a scholar, Ning Ling can be said to be the undisputed number one among Meng Shanhe’s surviving disciples in the Martial Arts Section. When Ning Ling was still a teenager, he was often taught by those senior brothers who had experienced the overthrow of the Great Zhou, Confucianism, sacrificing life for righteousness, and preferring death to death. This was the spiritual legacy left behind by the people of the Great Zhou who dared to stand in the way and fight against them even when the rise of the Great Qian was already unstoppable.
“Lu Qingzhu, you deserve to die ——”
Ning Ling’s words poked a sore spot in Lu Qingzhu’s heart, causing him to become irritated, “Enough, old man, what do you know, you have lived enough, I have not lived enough. I was traumatised in my twenties, and the most important decades of my life were consumed in vain.
For the first ten years, I often comforted myself by saying that I had traded my life for the life of the future ruler of science, and that I had earned it anyway, not to mention that I was not dead. But, but —— the feeling of competing for life with the ghost of that Wang Jingyang day and night, with death peeking around you all the time, how can you understand that?”
Lu Qingzhu raised his head violently, and a powerful life force appeared in his body that was full of dying twilight. His sickly face and white hair faded away under this life force, and what reappeared was long black hair like ink and a face that looked as if he had reached the age of maturity.
Lu Qingzhu gripped his young, strong arms, “For nearly forty years, I was in the Divine Origin realm, my life like a candle in the wind, about to rest. Now, I am finally free from the covetousness of death, and Wang Jingyang’s ghostly soul, too, has been devoured by me. This feeling of rebirth is truly enchanting.”
Nearly forty years of tangled battles with Wang Jingyang’s residual true qi had sharpened both of them to purity. The spirit had also become extremely tough under the threat of death. After turning to repair and learn the gongfu, devouring Wang Jingyang’s true qi, and then taking heavenly treasures that boosted essence, Lu Qingzhu then logically united his essence, qi and spirit, advancing to the True Dan realm, his longevity soaring and rejuvenating.
“Senior Brother Lu, is it worth it?” Zhuge Longxu looked at Lu Qingzhu’s ecstatic face and asked deeply.
“It’s worth it.” This time, Lu Qingzhu did not evade, but looked Zhuge Long Su squarely into Zhuge Long Su’s eyes and replied firmly and decisively.
Those who had never waited to die would not understand the pain of waiting to die. In order to get this chance of rebirth, even if he gave up everything, Lu Qingzhu felt that it was worth it.
Lu Qingzhu had already surpa*sed 99% of the people in this world by being able to fight against death and persevere for nearly forty years. People could rage against his betrayal, but they could not accuse him of his instinct to survive.
“In that case, Senior Brother Lu, no, Lu Qingzhu, today, you and I are severed.” Zhuge Longxu struggled to make an effort and tore off his left sleeve with one hand.
“Two cuts in one.” Behind Zhuge Longjue, the brothers of the same generation as Lu Qingzhu also tore off their sleeves, severing their friendship with him.
“Lu Qingzhu, you betrayer will not end up well.” Ning Ling said angrily.
“There is no need for Senior Brother Ning to worry about that, as the current ruler of the Rei, I will naturally support each other with Senior Brother Lu.” Ming Rui interjected with a smile.
“Yuck, a hill of bees.” Ning Ling looked at the two of them and spat.
“What’s all the nonsense yelling about.” Luo Feng, who had remained silent since his arrival, suddenly stood up, his pitch-black battle halberd standing by his side, “Zhuge Longxu has been seriously injured, and the Shanhe Academy has been closed, so why don’t we take this opportunity to simply kill them without doing anything else.”
“Leave Feng Ming Xiao to me, for the rest, you guys will handle it.”
Once these words were spoken, the already tense atmosphere became even more subdued, even the Northern Zhou royal family and others, who had been watching from the sidelines, were also tensing their nerves and ready to strike.
“The reason for this —— is that if we get rid of Feng Mingxiao and Zhuge Longxu, we will anger Meng Shanhe and the purpose of our trip, the Son of Heaven Martial Arts, but we can also greatly weaken the Northern Zhou.
It was a bit difficult to weigh the gains and losses between the two.
“Never, divine marquis.” Lu Qingzhu hurriedly stopped.
“You have a problem with that?” Luo Feng skewered Lu Qingzhu. This kind of betrayer, only Ming Rui, who was also a betrayer, would look favourably on him. He, Luo Feng, would never look down on such a person.
“Senior brother, what is your high opinion?” Ming Rui said.
Lu Qingzhu explained, “Senior brother, when you left the academy, the Long River of Hao Qi had not yet taken shape, but you are unaware that although Zhuge Long Su is now seriously injured, he is unable to invoke the Long River of Hao Qi. But if he is really pushed to the limit, he will risk his life to detonate the River of Qi and die with us. At that time, even if he can escape the explosion of the Great River of Qi, he will not be able to escape the chase of Meng Shan Chang who has been alerted.”
“Is that really true?” Luo Feng looked at Lu Qingzhu with a distrustful look, before looking at Zhuge Longxu and the others on the opposite side.
“It’s a matter of life and death, how can you joke about it.” He had given up everything and betrayed his master for what purpose, but not for the sake of his life. Now he had just regained his life, but because of Luo Feng’s action, he was immediately threatened with death again, how could he not be anxious.
“Eh ha ha —— Gentlemen, the divine marquis is just joking, don’t be nervous, it’s just a joke,” Ming Rui suddenly laughed, “don’t be nervous, we are only here to participate in the literary competition for the position, there how could we presume to move our swords? Isn’t that right, Divine Constabulary?”
Luo Feng snorted coldly and sat back down.
“This joke, it’s not funny at all, divine marquis Luo.” Feng Ming Xiao’s womanly caution kicked in and she couldn’t help but stab Luo Feng, drawing a cold glare from him.
Ming Rui rounded up, “Gentlemen, all we have to do now is to wait patiently for time to pa*s and see who will win.”
——————
Qing Yu only felt that in a blink of an eye, he was in the middle of a mountain forest, surrounded by lush trees.
Light body along the side of the large trees straight up, using light kung fu to fly to the top of the tree, looking around, “This place, a little familiar ah ——”
The excellent eyesight can see everything within the reach of the eyes in detail, Qing Yu only felt that the scenery in front of him was very familiar with a certain scene in his own memory.
This familiarity does not refer to the white expanse of the sky above, similar to that of the inherited space.
Rather, it was the mountains and the forest and other scenery around him that made Qing Yu feel very familiar.
The divine ability brought by the “Black Heavenly Book”, the currently unnamed divine eye scanned around, looking for the participants of the literary competition for the throne as well as some other exceptional scenery.
“Huh, that’s ——” As his eyes swept upwards to the top of the mountain, between the trees and other rocky outcroppings, Qingyu could see the corner of a familiar building at the top of the mountain. Memory quickly retrieved the corner of the building he saw.
“The academy, there is no mistaking it, the academy at the top of the mountain belonging to the core academics.”
Qing Yu had once raised his eyes from a high place to look at the academy at the top of Tatung Mountain, and it was very similar to the corner of the building he saw now.
“So, this is another Tatung Mountain.”
With the comparison, Kiyoharu recognised where the familiarity had come from. After all, the only mountain he had ever looked forward to was the Datong Mountain where he currently lived, apart from the Northern Cang Mountains far away in Qingzhou.
“In that case, it is highly likely that the Heavenly Son Martial Arts will be in the academy at the top of the mountain.” Qing Yu mused darkly.
Due to the special nature of this competition for a place in the literary world, the Shuyuan side simply put what was to be contested this time into the small secret realm and allowed the participants to enter and fight for it. After a day and a night, the small secret realm would open again, and the one who got the item would be the winner and could go home happily with the prize. Very simple and brutal rules.
“In that case, it seems that the point of this literary altar competition for a place is not to find something, but to grab something.”
If it was really placed in such a prominent position, it would definitely attract a large number of eyes to gaze at it. Especially those core scholars who frequented the Hilltop Academy, once they saw it, they would surely be able to instantly recognise it as the place they frequented.
This particular match, right from the start, was geared towards a fight to the death, not in the least like a group of scholars participating in a competition. thought a certain impostor scholar.
Qing Yu was thinking about things when suddenly a bad wind came from behind his head.
Stand so high, if not hit you who ——
