“If I truly had absolute confidence, I would have acted long ago.”
“Du Shuofang and He Luosheng are no weaklings, and that’s not even ntioning Lu Tinglan. With the bloodline of Wu Peng flowing through him, even if his head were chopped off, his combat strength would remain unaffected…”
“Young Master, aren’t your words contradictory? You want to lure him into making a move, yet you’re also saying you’re no match for the three of them.”
“Lao Wei, when will you finally improve a little? Shaoqian, explain it to him!” The youth sounded sowhat helpless.
After what seed like a mont of hesitation, Shaoqian’s timid voice rang out.
“By the agreent of the Sages, conflicts between nations and slaughter within armies are limited to the Grotto Mystic level. The power of Celestial Phenona may only accompany the army. If the army’s montum collapses, then even a Celestial Phenona expert cannot turn the tide.”
Lao Wei’s voice carried a hint of impatience.
“The Accord of the Sages? You think I don’t know that? Celestial Phenona experts are stationed within the army. Though they may fight one another, they cannot harm ordinary soldiers. In the end, the outco of a war still depends on the soldiers fighting and killing each other.”
“But what does that have to do with this trip of ours? Didn’t we sneak in here to test whether we could seize the chance to take Lu Tinglan’s life?”
“No… that’s not right.”
Shaoqian paused, then bravely refuted him.
“Even if Lu… Lu Tinglan is killed, another Celestial Phenona expert would still co to take command. Young Master’s objective this ti is to see whether there’s an opportunity to destroy the walls of Zhanghua City.”
“The soldiers of Great Yu have never excelled at naval warfare. Zhanghua City stands tall, and it’s connected to the waterways of Yunng. If we try to force an assault, our chances of victory are far too low.”
Shaoqian seed to stamr when nervous, but as he continued, his speech beca smoother and faster.
“So… that’s how it is?” Lao Wei sounded rather bewildered.
The youth’s voice ca at just the right mont, tinged with regret.
“Though we cannot strike first, if we are forced to retaliate and the city walls are accidentally damaged in battle, then it would not count as violating the accord. Even if the matter were brought before the Sages, we would be the justified party. Once the walls are breached, Great Yu’s chances of victory in this war would exceed sixty percent. What a pity…”
Lao Wei suddenly understood.
“Young Master, then what do we do now?”
“We’ve already obtained the intelligence we wanted. We leave this place imdiately.”
“The army will be marching soon, and we must return as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if my supervising elder brother discovers this and reports it to Royal Father…”
“Heh.” The youth’s tone suddenly turned cold.
“Then let’s go!”
The voices abruptly left the teahouse, as though carried away by a gust of wind, vanishing to so unknown place.
Never to be heard again.
Silence returned to his ears.
Li Shun felt as though he had been pulled free from that scene from years past and returned to the present.
The conversation replayed over and over in his mind. Though his face remained calm, the turmoil in his heart was impossible to conceal.
“Lao Wei. Elder Wei.”
“Shaoqian.”
“Commander of Great Yu. Royal Father.”
“Could that young voice… have belonged to the Qian Emperor?!”
Though it was only speculation, Li Shun felt as though every scattered clue from the past had suddenly linked together.
“Elder Wei is skilled with the sword. He attempted to assassinate the Qian Emperor, yet instead of dying, he was rely imprisoned within the imperial mausoleum. Clearly, his relationship with the Qian Emperor must have been extraordinary.”
“Grand Historian Sima was also said to have been close friends with the Qian Emperor since childhood.”
“Nine tis out of ten, that must be it!”
Li Shun closed his eyes, concealing the storm raging within.
“Judging from this, the three of them seed to have been quite close since their youth. Though Grand Historian Sima and Elder Wei addressed him as Young Master, the way they spoke made them sound more like friends.”
Li Shun thought of Elder Wei’s current circumstances in reality.
“What exactly happened that turned them into mortal enemies?”
“And furthermore…”
“The Accord of the Sages.”
“It would seem that before Great Qian was founded, during the era of warring states, the number of Sages appearing in the world far exceeded what exists today.”
“For thousands of years, no Sage has appeared. Everything from that era has been buried by the Qian Emperor. Only within his Imperial Mausoleum can one glimpse fragnts of the past.”
Questions multiplied endlessly in Li Shun’s heart.
At that mont, the tree branch Elder Mu had given him began to rotate once more.
He snapped out of his thoughts and followed its guidance forward.
Eventually, he arrived at a plain and modest residence within the city.
A gentle female voice drifted from inside the room.
“Husband, why are you putting away this armor? With a great battle approaching, won’t you need to wear it on the battlefield?”
Lu Tinglan fell silent for a while, then smiled.
“I’ve prepared another identical set. The Wu Peng Armor may protect , but it cannot protect the people of Zhanghua City.”
“Only by entering the ga myself can there be even the slightest chance of turning things around.”
The woman was quiet for a mont, then laughed softly.
“My husband’s words are truly profound. This humble wife cannot quite understand them.”
“It’s better that way.”
Lu Tinglan let out a faint sigh.
Then his voice vanished without a trace.
The branch also stopped moving entirely.
Li Shun’s gaze fell upon a suit of armor radiating black gloomy light.
“So this is the armor Duanmu Qiuche desires from Lu Tinglan?”
“However…”
A strange expression appeared on Li Shun’s face.
“Judging from what I just heard, if my guess is correct, then the arrow Duanmu Qiuche fired back then was sothing Lu Tinglan deliberately allowed.”
“The purpose was to make use of the near-immortality of the Wu Peng true body to reverse the morale of the battlefield.”
“If that’s the case…”
“If I really deliver this armor to him, Duanmu Qiuche likely won’t break through successfully. His Dao Heart might shatter instead.”
Li Shun reached out and lightly brushed the armor before him.
No one knew how many years had passed within this sealed tomb, yet the aura flowing from it remained incredibly dense.
The mont his fingers touched it, Li Shun truly felt as though a towering, heaven-reaching Shaman God had appeared before him.
The Shaman God cast down a contemptuous gaze, locking onto Li Shun like he was nothing more than an ant.
Li Shun’s mind shook violently. His fingers recoiled as though electrocuted, and he was forcibly dragged out of the illusion.
His conviction deepened.
If Lu Tinglan had truly worn this armor back then, Duanmu Qiuche’s arrow could never have pierced through it.
“Duanmu Qiuche submitted a morial to the Qian Emperor, requesting Lu Tinglan’s armor in exchange for his rits in helping destroy a nation, hoping to break through and be reborn.”
“And I accepted this mission and ca here, only to hear all these truths from the past along the way.”
Thinking of how Yunng Marsh had parted on its own before him, Li Shun’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.
“Who is guiding from the shadows?”
“Is it the imperial decree personally issued by the Qian Emperor… or…”
“The Qian Emperor himself?”
The mont that thought surfaced, an icy chill rose from the depths of Li Shun’s heart.
Only after withdrawing most of his consciousness into the Fangcun space did he feel a asure of safety.
“All the events of that year are recorded within this sealed imperial tomb.”
“The Qian Emperor should know everything.”
“And yet, in the face of Duanmu Qiuche’s request, he said nothing. He even personally issued the decree to make this happen.”
“To outsiders, it might look like the Qian Emperor showing rcy toward an old ritorious subject.”
“But why do I feel…”
“That he’s simply watching the drama unfold for his own amusent?”
As Li Shun vaguely sensed the Qian Emperor’s possible malicious sense of humor, he instantly understood what he needed to do next.
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