The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 429 Remember

Li Ye did not look at He Jingcheng. His target was the 1,000 Taoist soldiers.

He knew how powerful the military formation of 1,000 Taoist soldiers would be. It could not be compared with the simple group of 1,000 Spiritual Master Realm cultivators.

Although he had never fought with the Taoist soldiers, he had the common sense of the military.

He was still slashing away with his sword.

Each military formation had a commanding general. If the commanding general was killed, the power of the battle array would be greatly reduced.

It was not difficult to find the commanding general of the 1,000 Taoist soldiers, at least for a veteran general like Li Ye.

He targeted that cultivator, whose armored magic tool, even though was not different, had an aura that affected the entire Military Formation.

As an idea flashed across his mind, the Sword of Heaven flew out of his body. Propelled by the blue and white Sword Qi, it rushed straight toward the commanding general of the Taoist soldiers at an unimaginable speed!

The light screen could withstand a full-strength attack from the Real Immortal Realm cultivator. In the presence of the Sword of Heaven, it practically could not perform any functions.

The Sword of Heaven passed through the light screen as if there was nothing in front of it at all.

The Sword of Heaven was given by the Tao of Heaven and contained the Great Tao’s law. No matter how powerful the light screen of the Taoist soldiers was, it still had a flaw in the face of the Great Tao’s law. Even if Li Ye could not find the flaw, it was not difficult for the Sword of Heaven to find a gap to break in.

Feihong Bodhisattva should have obtained the Sword of Heaven in the secret region. Judging by her strength on that day, she should have been able to defeat Li Ye and seize this refined weapon.

But she did not do that.

Land Buddhism wanted the Sword of Heaven desperately. Even though Li Ye’s current realm was not high enough, and he could not show its full power, there was no need to say more about its essence.

Li Ye could not hear the slight sound, but he felt the Qi activity as the Sword of Heaven pierced through the cultivator’s heart.

The body of the commanding general of the Taoist soldiers suddenly turned into a bloody fog and exploded, leaving no flesh and bones!

In a subtle moment, the momentum of the Taoist soldiers’ formation suddenly dropped to freezing point, and its strength was much weaker.

Meanwhile, the Sword Qi, which contained the power of Way of Emperor, the power of Great Tao of Yin and Yang, and the power of Luck of the people in the Immortal Area, cut into the light screen of the Taoist soldiers!

This was the first time that Li Ye had used the power of the Luck of the people in the Immortal Area in an actual combat.

There were millions of people in Pinglu, and there were 700,000 or 800,000 people providing him with power. That was how powerful it was!

Like cutting bubbles, the Sword Qi cut through the light screen and swept its way into the middle of the military formation of Taoist soldiers!

In the extreme light, hundreds of bodies were instantly demolished, like firewood scorched by flames, turning into particles of dust, dissipating like smoke in the blast of the fierce wind of the Spiritual Qi. Their screaming faces and struggling limbs seemed to be frozen for a moment, and then they disappeared in the twinkling of an eye.

As the Sword Qi cut into the ground, the ground shook and there was a tremendous bang. The Spiritual Qi bounced up from the bottom and formed waves on both sides at a rapid speed. The waves were shaped like sails, rising about 30 meters high.

Under the fierce waves of Spiritual Qi, hundreds of Taoist soldiers were hit by the Sword Qi and flew backward under a hail of mud and stones. Some of them had broken limbs, some of them had their clothes torn from their bodies, and some of them were spitting out blood.

In the end, these Taoist soldiers scattered everywhere like dumplings and fell heavily on the ground. Some of them even bounced several times on the ground.

When the smoke and dust gradually dissipated and people could barely make out the scene in front of them, they were horrified to see that there was a huge, terrifying sword ditch on the ground, which was more than 300 meters in length!

Not only the cultivators of Xuanwu Army such as Zhu Wen, He Jingcheng, and Zhang Zhongsheng, but Yu Rong and Cui Keli, who were at the top of Qing Prefecture’s city wall, all the soldiers of the two armies with more than 100,000 people present, witnessed this powerful sword strike and this rare carnage.

The Xuanwu Army soldiers who rushed to the city of the Qing Prefecture were even forced to stop attacking the city.

When they were all struck dumb by the sight, the smoke and dust scattered. A tall and upright man, dressed in a black robe with a sword, was standing on the top of the gate tower of the Qing Prefecture, looking around.

It was hard for them to describe his bearing.

He did not look like a king who had descended upon the world.

Because he was the king!

Not only was he the King of Pinglu, but he was also the King of the Tang Empire!

...

He Jingcheng’s hands and feet were cold, and he could not help taking three steps back. He was horrified and said, “How could this be?”

No one answered his question, and no one could.

Zhu Wen stared blankly at the figure on the top of the tower. After a long while, he reluctantly came to his senses and muttered, “Prince An... has become so powerful?”

At that time, he was still a general under Huang Chao’s command. He was defeated unexpectedly in the first battle with Li Ye in Dengzhou. But at that time, Li Ye’s cultivation was only in the Qi-refining Stage, so there was not much difference between him and Li Ye.

Zhu Wen was a boorish man and he was proud and arrogant. He only thought highly of a few people among the heroes in the world. He thought that he would be able to achieve great accomplishments during these troubled times.

Over the years, he had been trying to catch up with and wanted to surpass Li Ye.

Li Ye was like a mountain in front of him. The distance between him and the mountain was like that between him and the world. If he failed to climb over this mountain, it would be difficult for him to succeed.

He thought that he could catch up with Li Ye, but he lost this confidence when Li Ye dispatched his troops, effortlessly attacked the arrogant and powerful Wei Bo army, and even managed to convince Zhaoyi.

Fortunately, the cultivators of the Immortal Court found him, so Zhu Wen had the will and spirit to compete with Li Ye again. No matter how strong Li Ye was, he could not be stronger than the immortals, could he? So, he endured his disgust for the cultivators of the Immortal Court, and began to cooperate with them.

The first battle was to attack Pinglu.

Zhu Wen knew very well that Li Ye was like his nightmare, a nightmare that he had to get rid of, before he went to the world. So in this battle, he did his best without the slightest reservation.

He thought that with the help of the cultivators of the Immortal Court, this battle would be successful. However, he did not expect that not only did Li Ye have the strength to kill the immortals, but also managed to defeat with one stroke, the Taoist soldiers which He Jingcheng had thought so highly of!

Could it be that even the Immortal Court could not deal with Li Ye?

Zhu Wen felt bitterness in his heart.

He was still relying on the power of an immortal...

The gap between them had not narrowed over time. On the contrary, as time went by, it became bigger and bigger.

Zhu Wen felt disheartened.

Zhang Zhongsheng clutched his sleeves and gritted his teeth to suppress his trembling body.

He looked at the heroic figure who stood motionless on the city tower, as if the whole country was under his feet, and his heart was surging.

He had never seen Prince An before.

As he tried to lobby Cui Keli at the top of the city wall in the Qing Prefecture, Zhang Zhongsheng eventually gave up. It was because that he respected his classmate’s life choice, and not because he was persuaded by the other side.

The reason he was not convinced was because he felt that Li Ye was not worthy of Cui Keli’s talent.

As his fellow classmate, Zhang Zhongsheng was clear about Cui Keli’s talent. It was too unworthy of his talent to let Cui Keli govern five states. Li Ye was doomed to die, so how could he let Cui Keli display his ambition?

The Confucian scholar’s lifelong goal was to establish good teachings, merit, and virtue. Merit was ranked first. The most important priority for the Confucian scholars was to be appointed as an official, because only officials could serve the people. It was the dream of every Confucian scholar to devote himself to the country and establish merits for his countrymen.

But now, seeing Prince An and this shocking sword move, and observing his bearing, Zhang Zhongsheng felt as if he had just woken up from a dream.

Cui Keli’s choice was right!

Zhang Zhongsheng thought that if he were in Pinglu, it would be difficult for him to refuse the invitation of such a peerless master.

Zhang Zhongsheng thought of Cui Keli’s words on that day. “I, Cui Keli, have already chosen my own wise master. Whether he succeeds or loses, I will follow him for the rest of my life. If he succeeds, I will govern the world; if he fails, I will govern the five states of Pinglu; if he dies, I will bury my bones with him in this land where we shed blood and tears!”

At that time, he did not quite understand this sentence, but now he understood a little.

Following a master like this, even if he lost and died, he would have no regrets, wouldn’t he? Even if the light flashed like a meteor and disappeared in the blink of an eye, it lit up the sky and was seen by the world. In this way, even if he died, there was nothing unacceptable about it.

Zhang Zhongsheng unconsciously clenched his fists.

He suddenly envied Cui Keli very much.

In troubled times, good birds chose their trees to live. However, there were countless heroes in the world, but there were only a few wise masters, maybe one or two.

Even if he followed Confucianism and assisted another feudal prince who was very likely to succeed, established good teachings, merit, and virtue, and even left his name in history, did the feudal prince have the heroic demeanor of Prince An and the charm that made him willing to submit?

If no, he would feel a little regretful.

After all, Confucian scholars could only live in this life.

In troubled times, to devote himself to the world, should he choose a sovereign with the greatest possibility of success, or a wise ruler that was most in line with his heart?

Should he seek fame and gain by following the tide, or should he follow his heart?

This was a choice.

Everyone faced a choice in troubled times.

There were always many choices in life.

Facing such a choice, Zhang Zhongsheng had no answer.

When he was studying, he had read through a lot of books. And, he had read about many wise masters who had failed. When they died, there was still a group of loyal soldiers around them. When the enemy was coming, they would rather die with their own masters than surrender and embrace the power and wealth that were within reach.

At such times, Zhang Zhongsheng could not understand those people’s choices.

“Isn’t it better to stay alive?”

Shouldn’t he survive, realize his ambition, and live up to his talent?

Now, he understood a little.

Zhang Zhongsheng, ranked among the 72 youths of Confucianism, had learned a lot and matured in this battle.

...

Holding the Emperor Sword, Li Ye led the Xuanwu Army to the front and ordered in a calm but exceptionally powerful tone, “The Pinglu Army will follow my orders: Three armies are to attack in unison and fight with the coming enemies to the death!”

A tsunami of shouting and killing broke out on the city wall of the Qing Prefecture. The soldiers marched out in formation and launched their final battle against the Xuanwu Army in front of the city wall.

The Pinglu soldiers were in high spirits after seeing Li Ye breaking through the Immortal Court’s Taoist soldiers ranks with one sword strike. Even the most elite troop, Wolf-tooth Troop led by Shangguan Qingcheng, failed to stop that one strike from Li Ye.

Li Ye’s powerful strength gave the Pinglu soldiers the most effective means to set their minds at ease.

Seeing Prince An returning and coming to the front, the Pinglu Army, everyone from the high-ranking military officers to the soldiers, fought without hesitation. For a moment, they were like tigers from the mountain. They attacked directly and looked a little crazed.

The Xuanwu Army might be able to resist the Pinglu Army, but it was obvious that they had lost their fighting spirit at the moment. Many people were already very afraid of Li Ye. Now, when they saw the Pinglu Army coming out, they were all frightened and retreated in panic. Some people even turned around and ran away.

Zhang Zhongsheng looked ahead and saw countless Pinglu soldiers rushing out from the city wall and city gate, under Li Ye’s feet. He could not help feeling excited.

In front of the gate tower, Cui Keli stood straight like a javelin. In Zhang Zhongsheng’s view, this figure was particularly tall and imposing.

Even all the Confucian scholars who had lofty intentions could not help envying this kind of stalwart heroism.

Zhang Zhongsheng could not help thinking, “If I were standing there, how would I feel now?”

He took a good look at Li Ye and recalled the sight of Prince An standing on the top of the city tower. Then, he turned around and left without looking back.

It was better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books. This trip to Pinglu was a big step forward in Zhang Zhongsheng’s life.