Chapter 78: The Seven Kingdoms Encircling the Imperial Mausoleum |
“Luo Qiwu.”
“So we’re going to assassinate him?” Jiang Chongguang muttered the name once under his breath, a dangerous glint flashing through his eyes.
Han Sushu shook his head.
“You’re no match for him right now. But this time, there’s no need for us to confront him head-on. Our target is the horse beneath him.”
Hearing that he was not Luo Qiwu’s equal, Jiang Chongguang curled his lips in displeasure.
Still, he had always placed immense trust in Han Sushu, so he did not argue.
“That horse does look impressive. But is it really worth the two of us making such a long trip for it?” Jiang Chongguang asked, puzzled.
“That horse is called Earth Transcending Black Steed.[1] It carries the bloodline of an ancient dragon. It can travel ten thousand li in a single day, its hooves never touching the earth. Most importantly…”
Han Sushu paused briefly before continuing.
Han Sushu glanced at Jiang Chongguang as he spoke.
By now, Luo Qiwu had already ridden the Black Steed away, returning to the commandery governor’s estate under the escort of a crowd.
Yet Jiang Chongguang’s gaze remained fixed in the direction where the other man had disappeared.
“Yunmeng Great Marsh…”
His expression turned distant.
The Yunmeng Marsh had once been one of Xiang Kingdom’s most important territories. Countless legends and ancient tales had been born there.
Unfortunately, after Great Qian annihilated Xiang Kingdom, all those magnificent remnants of the past had been buried beneath history.
Even Jiang Chongguang, the legitimate heir of Xiang’s line, knew only fragments of it.
“Imperial Mausoleum Commandery contains the lands of all thirteen provinces within a single realm. But those thirteen provinces only came into existence after Great Qian was founded.”
“To proclaim the glory of destroying the Seven Kingdoms and unifying the world, beneath the central burial mound of the Imperial Mausoleum lies a hidden fragment of the ancient world.”
“Xiang, Yong, Liang, Xu, Ying, You, and Dai, the former lands of the Seven Kingdoms, all encircle the Qian Emperor’s coffin in submission.”
Han Sushu spoke these earth-shattering secrets of the Imperial Mausoleum in a calm, almost casual tone.
Yet everyone else in the teahouse remained completely oblivious, as though they could neither hear nor notice this shocking conversation in the slightest.
Jiang Chongguang gave a cold snort.
“Your master really came up with something vicious with this design. One day, I’m going to dig up the Imperial Mausoleum for real.”
Han Sushu ignored his resentful remark and continued.
“If my deduction is correct, the Great Xiang Shaman Soul should be within the Yunmeng Marsh inside the burial mound.”
“The Yunmeng Marsh within the mound is nowhere near as vast as the real one, but it still retains roughly a tenth of its original scale.”
“The deeper one goes into the sealed burial grounds of the Imperial Mausoleum, the harsher the restrictions become. We won’t have much time.”
“That’s why we need the power of that Earth Transcending Black Steed.”
“Besides, it carries true dragon blood. If you can subdue it, it will bring you tremendous benefits as well.”
Jiang Chongguang nodded.
“I understand! Just tell me when we move, and how!”
“Right now,” Han Sushu said suddenly.
Jiang Chongguang froze.
At that exact moment, a sudden upheaval erupted.
The ground began to tremble faintly.
Then the vibrations rapidly intensified, as though countless bolts of thunder were detonating beneath the earth.
In an instant, the entire city seemed as though it had been torn in half by some invisible hand.
Countless streams of black qi burst forth from underground, surging outward in wild, violent waves.
The once peaceful city was swallowed in rolling black mist, transforming in the blink of an eye into a nation of the underworld.
Screams.
Cries.
Wails of terror rang out from every corner of the city.
By then, Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu had already rushed out of Tianci Teahouse.
“Sushu, what the hell is going on? You couldn’t have warned me in advance?! Hiss... these black mists hurt!”
The surrounding black mist seemed to possess terrifying corrosive power. The instant his skin came into contact with it, a searing agony erupted, as if he were being scorched alive by flames. Jiang Chongguang hurriedly mobilized his own Principle Qi to resist it, only to discover in horror that, for some unknown reason, his Principle Qi was being consumed at an alarming rate.
If he remained trapped within the black mist, then in less than half the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, all the Principle Qi within his body would likely be completely exhausted.
“What the hell is this thing?!” he shouted, shocked and furious.
“On the eighth day of the second month, Langya collapsed into the earth, connecting to the Interconnecting Severance Sea. Casualties were countless.”
Han Sushu merely murmured those words in a low voice.
“That Earth Transcending Black Steed should have escaped from the prefectural estate. Chase after it!” Amid the chaos, Han Sushu suddenly pointed toward a certain direction.
Hearing the faint sound of dragon roars echoing from not far away, Jiang Chongguang’s face lit up with excitement.
“Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t let that beast escape!”
The two shot forward one after the other, pursuing the sound.
...
Dongshan Town Administrative Office
“Lord Garrison Commander, disaster has struck!”
Deputy Magistrate Zheng Zhi practically stumbled and rolled his way inside, his face filled with panic.
“Stop panicking. Explain yourself properly,” Fang Xun barked.
A short while later.
“What the hell is this thing?”
Fang Xun stared at the region engulfed in black mist ahead of him, his expression grim.
“This subordinate has no idea either. Not long ago, I received reports that Langya’s False Commandery suddenly experienced an earth tremor. Shortly afterward, endless black mist began surging forth, nearly covering the entire commandery. And these black mists seem to be spreading outward, flowing toward other regions as well...”
“This humble one has served in Dongshan for so many years, yet I’ve never witnessed anything like this!” Zheng Zhi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his voice trembling.
“Immediately evacuate the surrounding townsfolk and report this upward. This is beyond our ability to handle.”
Li Shun made the decision without hesitation.
“What about the townsfolk trapped inside the black mist?” Zheng Zhi couldn’t help but ask.
But almost immediately, he realized what he had said. Pretending he had never spoken, he bowed and quickly withdrew.
Suppressing the instinctive unease rising in his heart, Fang Xun slowly walked toward the edge of the black mist.
He cautiously reached out and touched it.
Then jerked his hand back like lightning.
“Hiss...”
Fang Xun lowered his head and looked at his fingers, which had been charred black in an instant as though burned by fire. He could not help but suck in a cold breath.
“This black mist’s corrosive power is absurd.”
“Hm? No... that’s not right.”
Studying the wound on his fingers carefully, Fang Xun noticed something peculiar.
To test his suspicion, he took out a stalk of Lengshan Grass from the Fangcun space and brought it into contact with the black mist.
The black mist was indeed corrosive, but the rate of erosion was nowhere near as rapid as when it acted upon Fang Xun himself.
Fang Xun switched to several other spiritual plants and tested them one by one.
The results were all the same.
“So the issue lies with the puppet body?”
With a shift of thought, Shentu Xin’s phantom slowly drifted out and floated toward the black mist.
In no more than a few breaths, the phantom was completely swallowed.
Fang Xun’s eyelids twitched, and he instinctively took several steps backward, putting more distance between himself and the mist.
But sensing that the Shentu Xin puppet still remained safely within the Fangcun space, he relaxed somewhat.
He extended his finger once more, touching the black mist again.
Enduring the sensation of his finger being scorched, he carefully examined the changes occurring within his body.
“It seems... the power used by the Fangcun space to construct puppets is being rapidly decomposed?”
Only after his entire finger had been completely swallowed did realization dawn on him.
“If that’s the case...”
Fang Xun directed his divine sense toward the black mist clinging to his finger, attempting to draw it into Fangcun.
Threads of black vapor churned as they were sucked inward like a great whale drinking water.
At that very moment, Fang Xun sensed several figures rapidly approaching from the distant horizon, forcing him to halt the absorption.
He quickly circulated qi to restore the damage to his finger.
[1]:- The Earth-Transcending Black Steed (or Juedi Daoli / 絕地盜驪) originally refers to two separate legendary steeds belonging to King Mu of Zhou (circa 950 BC). However, the author appears to have merged them into a single named mount.