Volume 1, Chapter 505 – Heavenly Blade

That starry sky in her memories belonged to a homeland she could never return to, and one Shi Lan had all but forgotten.

But after coming to this world, everything carried a vague yet unmistakable sense of familiarity, as if it were awakening fragments hidden deep within her spirit soul.

Some extremely secret things were beginning to revive.

…

Atop the high platform.

Facing the divine arrows shooting toward him, Zhang Jiao’s expression remained calm. He did not move at all, allowing the sharp arrows to pierce his body.

More than ten arrows sank into him as though they had fallen into a mire. The terrifying divine might wound around them, enough to shatter a great sun, was forcibly locked within his body by Zhang Jiao. Dazzling blood burst out like a spring and spilled across the high platform.

“The Heavenly Tome’s prophecy cannot be wrong. The Great Han will surely perish, even if it does not perish by my hand…”

Zhang Jiao muttered to himself. The light in his eyes gradually faded, and the blood-stained platform slowly reflected an illusory starry sky that echoed the celestial signs above.

“Rise… formation…”

As the two words fell, Zhang Jiao’s body instantly crumbled into dust and vanished between heaven and earth.

Hummm…

The high platform standing by the sea, like a beacon guiding the way, suddenly blazed with light. Countless rays of starlight poured down from the Ninth Heaven, converging into streams like a brilliant Milky Way cascading downward.

The patterns engraved on the platform burst forth with dazzling rosy light, like a heavenly pillar linking the cosmos, above touching the river of stars, below reaching the boundless ocean, filled with destructive aura fluctuations.

“Retreat at once! It’s wicked sorcery!”

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Those with keen spiritual senses immediately realized that something was wrong and shouted a stern warning, directing the army formations to fall back. But they were still a step too slow.

Boom!

The previously calm sea in the distance suddenly surged into waves ten thousand zhang high!

The instant the monstrous waves rose, countless Yellow Turban strongmen set down their swords and blades and sat cross-legged on the spot. From above their crowns leapt an earthen-yellow radiance, like a gauzy veil wrapping around their entire bodies.

In an instant, the sea howled and the mountains collapsed!

Great waves carrying divine power slammed into the earth. Countless figures were hurled into the air. Aside from the Yellow Turban strongmen, the armies of the various warlords were torn apart in an instant and smashed into bloody pulp. The huge waves, mixed with blood, turned entirely crimson. Without slowing in the least, they continued to crash into the land of Yu Province with overwhelming force!

At the crest of the giant waves, layer rose upon layer, each wave higher than the last, until at last they became like a blood-colored dragon shooting into the sky and lunging at the scarlet dragon coiling across the heavens!

“They actually think to shake the foundations of the nation. It’s nothing more than an egg striking a stone.”

“How laughable!”

The warlords who had already withdrawn from the battlefield all turned back. Seeing this scene, every one of them sneered.

Crash…

Just as everyone expected, the instant the two collided, the blood-colored dragon collapsed at once. The towering blood-water did not even stain a single scale red.

“Roar!”

Before the gathered warlords could prepare to counterattack, a shrill roar suddenly rang out in the sky.

Under the gaze of countless eyes, a dazzling Heavenly Blade descended from the void, wrapped in heavenly essence, and lightly swept across the scarlet dragon’s neck.

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Crack!

The enormous scarlet head fell away at once. Its immense body, stretching millions of li, plummeted from the sky, and the overwhelming power of fortune burst apart and scattered like water from a breached dam!

…

…

On the wastelands beyond the frontier, sand and dust filled the sky. The shrill cracks of long whips striking horse flanks stood out sharply amid the thunder-like pounding of hooves.

Tens of thousands of armored cavalry pressed forward in silence, heads lowered. A wolf-like, tiger-like aura of slaughter filled the heavens. More than ten battle banners bearing the character “Lu” were scattered through the formation, making them especially conspicuous.

At their head was a young woman in light armor, around sixteen years old. Her sword-like brows swept slantwise into her temples, her lips were red as cinnabar, and her black hair was bound into a long braid that danced in the wind. Her whole body gave off a heroic and valiant bearing far removed from that of an ordinary woman.

“Halt!”

Lu Lingqi reined in her horse and brought the army to a stop. Looking at the scene of the scarlet dragon falling in the distant sky, shock was impossible to hide on her face.

The fall of the nation-guarding scarlet dragon meant that the Great Han’s national fortune had reached its end. The same thing had happened hundreds of thousands of years ago, and afterward came the fall of Immortal Qin!

This was a tremendous upheaval, enough to shake the Nine Provinces and the overseas regions. One could already foresee that after the scarlet dragon’s fall, all under heaven would descend into chaos!

“Send word at once…”

Lu Lingqi had just come back to herself, the shock in her expression not yet gone, and hurriedly began to issue an order. Before she could finish speaking, a streak of scarlet suddenly leapt out from the sky and, in an instant, arrived above the army formation.

Red Hare, whose entire body seemed wrapped in magma, exhaled a long breath. The scorching current swept through heaven and earth, baking the ground until it burned. Lu Bu sat astride him, his deep gaze fixed on the scarlet dragon falling from the sky. Emotions shifted within his eyes, and a wild light he could not suppress surged ever higher.

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“Father.”

Lu Bu lowered his head and looked at the girl on the ground.

“Lingqi, send the order. Summon all the wolf cavalry under our command.”

“Where are we going?”

A tremor entered Lu Lingqi’s voice. A terrifying guess had already surfaced in her heart.

“Haven’t you always wanted to go see the Luo River?”

Lu Bu gazed toward the east. That was a land where dragons had risen.

“Today, your father will take you there.”

…

…

In the divine capital Luoyang, within an otherworldly secret realm deep inside the imperial palace.

A middle-aged man lay upon a jade couch, breathing in faint threads. The dragon robe of black trimmed with gold had dimmed, like the remnant of a candle in the wind, almost extinguished.

Though he looked gravely ill, the light in his eyes was astonishingly bright, like a sword pressed to the skin, cold enough to seep into the bone.

Dressed thus, he could be none other than the current Son of Heaven of the Great Han.

“Your Majesty…”

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In front of the jade couch knelt more than ten people, all with soft, feminine features and a trace of coldness in their auras. One of them carefully shuffled forward by half a chi and kowtowed.

“Just now… we received word that the First Imperial Prince, the Second Imperial Prince, the Third Princess, the Fourth Imperial Prince… have all passed away.”

His voice trembled. Even after finishing his report, he still did not dare raise his head for a long while.

“Are any still alive…”

Only when a hoarse, quiet question sounded from above did he hurriedly answer:

“The Sword Saint happened to be at the Crown Prince’s side. He acted to block the backlash of the true dragon for the Crown Prince, but in the very next moment the Heavenly Blade cut his Dao foundation, knocking him down from the apex realm and greatly damaging his lifespan. I fear… he does not have much time left!”

At this news, a burst of hurried coughing suddenly sounded from above, followed, after it subsided, by a long and oppressive silence.

“Transmit my imperial decree. Summon the Crown Prince into the palace. All forces deployed against the Yellow Turban rebel faction are to return to court in full. Huangfu Song and the other leading generals are to surrender military authority. All troops under heaven are to be placed under the sole command of General-in-Chief He Jin. All warlords are to return to their fiefs. Without my written order, any who mobilize troops without authorization are to be executed without mercy.”

Emperor Ling drew in a deep breath, suppressed the weakness surging up within him, and slowly gave his orders.

“Yes!”

The more than ten kneeling figures answered in unison, their fists clenched tight. Their status depended upon imperial power. If the Great Han collapsed, they would be the first to suffer, with no place even to die.

With effort, Emperor Ling sat upright, his pupils filled with chilling cold. The scarlet dragon had fallen. There was no saving the Great Han now.

Heaven’s beheading of the scarlet dragon had already made certain things clear.

Just like Immortal Qin hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Heavenly Dao was going to cleanse this world once more.