Chapter 150: The Outer Heavenly Emperor
“Martial Emperor? Senior Brother Bashan’s reputation among the Barbarian Di tribes is actually this formidable!” Qin Mu was secretly astonished.
Ling Yuxiu quickly asked, “Teacher, are you a master of the combat technique school?”
Bashan Jijiu nodded, revealing a smile. “Back then, I followed my master to train in blade techniques. Later, my master went missing, and my blade skills stagnated for a long time. With the Imperial Preceptor’s reforms, I came to Yankang to study spell techniques and swordsmanship, hoping to use stones from other mountains to break through my bottleneck. But speaking of it, my strongest isn’t combat techniques—it’s combat methods.”
Ling Yuxiu’s heart trembled slightly. Throughout their journey, Bashan Jijiu had taught them Dao techniques and divine abilities, lecturing on volume after volume of classics, leading her to believe that his greatest expertise lay in spell techniques and sword arts. She never expected him to be a successor of the combat technique school—truly surprising!
Even more unexpected was that Bashan Jijiu held the title of Martial Emperor among the Barbarian Di tribes, earning great respect.
This could be said to be the highest honor an outsider could achieve in the Barbarian Di lands!
The barbarian general led the group into the pass and said, “Martial Khan, what brings you to our country? Ever since you defected to Yankang, the heroes of our grasslands have held you in contempt and seek to reclaim the title of Martial Khan.”
Bashan Jijiu laughed. “My students from the Imperial Academy wish to retrace my old path and test the young heroes of the Witch Cult.”
The barbarian general’s body trembled slightly as he looked at Qin Mu and Ling Yuxiu, sneering, “With them?”
Ling Yuxiu was excited and shot Qin Mu a wink, whispering with a grin, “We’re going to face the young heroes of the Witch Cult.”
Bashan Jijiu said, “With them. This time, I plan to go to the sacred site of the grasslands, the Loulan Golden Palace, and sit at its gate to block the entrance. Back then, I blocked the Loulan Golden Palace’s gate, and that’s how I earned the name Martial Khan.”
The barbarian general’s eye muscles twitched as he sneered, “Back then, you had the Heavenly Khan with you to succeed in blocking the gate. Now, how does your strength compare to the Heavenly Khan?”
“Though I fall short, I’m not far off.”
The barbarian general’s face darkened, and he shouted to a soldier, “Release the eagle-wolves! Notify the Loulan Golden Palace that the Martial Khan has come to block the gate!”
The barbarian soldier quickly called out orders. After a moment, several giant wolves with wings soared into the air, flapping their wings as they flew deep into the grasslands.
The barbarian general looked at Bashan Jijiu, bowed respectfully, and said, “Martial Khan, the road ahead is full of obstacles. Please proceed!”
Bashan Jijiu laughed heartily and led Qin Mu and the others into the grasslands.
Ling Yuxiu asked, “Teacher Bashan, who is that Heavenly Khan the barbarian mentioned?”
“My master, Heavenly Blade.”
Bashan Jijiu looked up at the sky and said calmly, “Back then, he took me to block the Loulan Golden Palace’s gate and was honored as the Outer Heavenly Emperor.”
“Grandpa Butcher was once so impressive.” Qin Mu was startled.
Butcher, with his fiery temper and constant look of displeasure, would go to Granny’s Temple to sell meat, wielding two cleavers with a fierce, menacing face, scaring many little girls in the Great Ruins.
He once held the title of Heavenly Khan?
The Heavenly Khan was the Heavenly Emperor—how majestic a title was that? How could it only be used to scare little girls?
Qin Mu simply couldn’t imagine the imposing aura Butcher must have had back then.
Fox Ling’er murmured, “Outer Martial Emperor, Outer Heavenly Emperor—how magnificent…”
The grasslands were vast and sparsely populated. Sometimes they would walk for half a day without seeing a single village. As far as the eye could see, there were no clouds, and the green of the grass merged with the blue sky in a single line, refreshing the heart and mind.
Bashan Jijiu’s appearance was rugged, tall and broad-shouldered, very sturdy, somewhat resembling the men of the grasslands. Whenever they encountered a village, the herders would come forward to offer wine, showing great hospitality.
“Yankang has three major sects: the Dao Sect, foremost of the righteous path; the Great Thunderclap Monastery, foremost of the Buddhist path; and the Heavenly Demon Cult, foremost of the demonic path.”
At night, they arrived at a village to rest. Bashan Jijiu sat by the campfire and said, “But on the grasslands, the foremost sacred site is the Loulan Golden Palace, the greatest Witch Cult. The great witches of the Loulan Golden Palace hold extremely high status on the grasslands. The khans of the grasslands all receive their sovereign authority from the Witch Venerable of the Golden Palace. If an old khan dies and his son wishes to succeed him, he must go to the Loulan Golden Palace to seek the Witch Venerable’s authorization.”
Ling Yuxiu said, “It was the same in Yankang in the past. I’ve heard from my father that in the early days, Yankang was only a tenth of its current size, a vassal state of the Longevity Gate. Back then, our Ling family wasn’t the royal clan. Later, the Longevity Gate’s leader grew tired of the then-emperor, deposed him directly, selected my ancestor as emperor, and changed the dynasty overnight. Later, my Ling family worked hard and developed in secret, eventually eliminating the Longevity Gate, and that’s how we grew strong.”
Qin Mu was taken aback. He hadn’t known that Yankang had such a history.
Bashan Jijiu drank some wine, put down his gourd, and said, “Now, Yankang’s territory was once over thirty small states, each with its own emperor, each controlled by a sect. These sects were sustained by these states, and the emperors had to pay tribute to these sects every year. Now that the sects have become vassals of the state, they naturally aren’t happy and rebel whenever they have the chance. Although there are many sects beyond the frontier, the most powerful and largest is the Loulan Golden Palace. All states and all khans submit to the Golden Palace, and no other sect can contend with it.”
Qin Mu asked, “Senior Brother, how does the Loulan Golden Palace’s power compare to the three major sects?”
Bashan Jijiu said calmly, “About the same.”
Qin Mu’s eyes lit up. Blocking the Loulan Golden Palace’s gate was equivalent to blocking the Dao Sect’s mountain gate or the Great Thunderclap Monastery’s mountain gate—the difficulty was unimaginable!
“But this time, going to the Loulan Golden Palace isn’t to block the gate—it’s to steal something.”
Bashan Jijiu chuckled. “Junior Brother, Princess, you two block the gate while I go into the palace to steal the goods. Once I have them, we leave immediately. Princess, over the next few days, I’ll intensify your foundational training to bring out the full power of the royal Nine Dragons Imperial Art!”
Ling Yuxiu felt a bit uneasy.
The next day, they set off again, but this time Bashan Jijiu made them walk. As they walked, he had Ling Yuxiu demonstrate the techniques she had learned.
Bashan Jijiu had a sharp eye. Any flaw in Ling Yuxiu’s performance, he could spot at a glance, and then he would order her to correct it, making her practice over and over again.
Ling Yuxiu had never endured such hardship before. Although she was sharp and capable, that came from royal education; she hadn’t been so diligent with martial arts and divine abilities.
This time, Bashan Jijiu was ruthlessly honing her basic skills, making her train hard to bring out the power of the Nine Dragons Imperial Art.
The Nine Dragons Imperial Art was the royal family’s top-tier technique. With improvements from the imperial court and the advantage of the Nine Dragons Convergence site, where the nine dragon auras surrounded the imperial city, it gave Ling Yuxiu and other royal members a doubled effect in cultivating this art.
Ling Yuxiu’s Yuan Qi cultivation wasn’t low; what she lacked was a solid foundation.
After more than ten days, she had been tempered by Bashan Jijiu into a completely different person, her strength improving rapidly.
“The Nine Dragons Imperial Art itself is a technique for spell techniques and divine abilities. The strength of spell techniques lies in their explosive power, like the Flame Fire Divine Ability.”
Bashan Jijiu pointed a finger, and a fireball flew out, shooting over a hundred zhang. The fireball was only the size of a fist, but it suddenly exploded, expanding thousands of times in a blaze of raging flames, destroying a dozen zhang of grassland around it. The ground was scorched black, and at the center of the explosion, traces of melted stone could be seen.
“The Nine Dragons Imperial Art has deep mastery in the path of spell techniques. Some say the spell technique school and the combat technique school are two extremes, but between technique and combat, it’s not so extreme—they can actually interconnect.”
Bashan Jijiu borrowed the large iron hammer from Ling Yuxiu and said, “Watch closely, Princess. Junior Brother, come spar with me.”
Qin Mu’s Yuan Qi surged, and the Shaobao Sword unsheathed, thrusting toward Bashan Jijiu.
Bashan Jijiu swung the hammer. The large iron hammer was the one Qin Mu had given to Ling Yuxiu, and now its head burst into blazing flames, colliding with the Shaobao Sword.
Boom—
A violent explosion erupted from the hammerhead, sending the Shaobao Sword flying.
Flames raged around Bashan Jijiu, with only the ground beneath his feet still covered in green grass.
Ling Yuxiu was startled and immediately saw the key point: Bashan Jijiu had hidden the Flame Fire Divine Ability within the large iron hammer. When the Shaobao Sword struck the hammer, the divine ability exploded, blasting the sword away.
Qin Mu’s Yuan Qi turned into threads, wrapping around the Shaobao Sword, and with a flash of sword light, he attacked Bashan Jijiu again.
The two were at a distance. Bashan Jijiu swung the iron hammer, moving it up and down, each strike precisely blocking the Shaobao Sword, followed by booming explosions and rolling waves of fire—truly astonishing.
Ling Yuxiu’s heart pounded. Bashan Jijiu was showing her a combat method she had never imagined before, perfectly combining combat techniques with spell techniques—domineering and unmatched!
Qin Mu’s Shaobao Sword was sent flying time and again, and he was filled with admiration. Bashan Jijiu had first studied under Butcher, the Heavenly Blade, then entered Yankang to learn spell techniques, finally forging his own path!
The way Bashan Jijiu used spell techniques and combat techniques also pointed Qin Mu toward a new path!
The name Martial Emperor was well-deserved!
By merging two different cultivation methods, even if Bashan Jijiu’s skill fell short of Butcher’s, he could still be called a grandmaster of his generation!
Bashan Jijiu withdrew his hammer technique, returned the red-hot iron hammer to Ling Yuxiu, and said, “I practice the blade, but I can’t reach the ultimate realm like my master, so I had to find another path. My master’s blade can split heaven and earth, cut through the sky, and break any spell technique or divine ability with a single stroke—I can’t do that. So, during the Imperial Preceptor’s reforms, I entered the Imperial Academy to learn spell techniques and divine abilities, trying to break through. Princess Yuxiu, with your foundation in the Nine Dragons Imperial Art, this path is best for you.”
Ling Yuxiu was completely convinced and earnestly sought his guidance. When Bashan Jijiu made her train her basics hard again, she had no complaints.
Qin Mu couldn’t resist the temptation either and asked Bashan Jijiu for advice. Bashan Jijiu naturally shared everything he knew without holding back, and even Fox Ling’er and the Green Ox benefited greatly.
They journeyed deep into the grasslands, practicing the fusion of combat and techniques along the way. Ling Yuxiu had already grasped the basics of the fusion technique, sparring fiercely with Qin Mu until both were drenched in sweat.
During a break, Qin Mu took out a scented handkerchief to wipe his sweat. Ling Yuxiu laughed and said, “Imperial Academy Doctor, let me help you wipe.” She snatched it from his hand and gently dabbed his forehead.
Qin Mu noticed the sweat on her forehead too. “You’re sweating too. Let me help you wipe.”
Ling Yuxiu blushed and handed him the handkerchief. Suddenly, Bashan Jijiu’s face changed drastically. He raised both hands and pushed forward, shouting, “Sheer Cliff Heavenly Barrier!”
—Fourth update, don’t go away! A fifth update is coming in ten minutes!