Chapter 192: The Worst Batch Yet
Everyone’s eyes lit up. Yun Que chuckled and said, “Venturing deep into the Southern Wastelands to see if there are any experts among the rebels—of course we must go! We can’t let these rebellious ruffians look down on our Grand Academy. This humble monk wants to make them realize the Buddha’s teachings, convert to Buddhism, and turn their hearts to goodness!”
Qin Mu shook his head inwardly. These fellows still underestimated the danger of this journey.
This road was incredibly treacherous—a path where even tying your life to your belt might not guarantee you’d make it through.
“Life and death are up to fate. Now we’ll see if the Grand Tutor of Yankang, known as the strongest under the gods, truly lives up to his name!”
The Grand Tutor of Yankang, dressed lightly, strode southward. Qin Mu led the group to follow, asking Si Yunxiang and the others about their experiences on the battlefield, and couldn’t help but sigh repeatedly.
Si Yunxiang, Shen Wanyun, and the others had fared far better than Qin Mu. When they were all blasted away by the Capital Heaven Demon Lord, Si Yunxiang and her group hadn’t encountered a freakishly strong expert like Dragon Jiaonan.
The Dragon Qilin had landed not far from them. This Dragon Qilin was large and conspicuous, so they headed straight for where it was. When the Heavenly Demon horde descended, they fought around the Dragon Qilin.
And this Dragon Qilin, facing the surging demon horde, fought fiercely with astonishing power. Si Yunxiang and the others relied on its strength to survive the calamity.
Qin Mu was surprised and glanced at the Dragon Qilin. Hu Ling’er whispered in his ear, “Young master, that big guy eats and drinks our supplies but never works or contributes on the road. Now he protects others instead of us. I think besides squeezing out dragon saliva, we could squeeze something else out of him.”
“I think so too,” Qin Mu nodded.
He looked back at Tianbo City, growing ever distant, and thought to himself, “Now that Yankang’s army has entered the city, Dragon Jiaonan should die in the chaos, right? And the Dragon King of the Dragon Gate Sect is probably dead too. Too bad about the Dragon Gate Sect’s unique techniques. The Hongshan Sect is likely completely wiped out. What a pity I never learned the Demon Expulsion Command…”
When he summoned the Capital Heaven Demon Lord, the Hongshan Sect disciples had arrived and tried to use the Demon Expulsion Command to drive the demon lord back to Capital Heaven. But the demon lord was too powerful and wiped them out in one move.
Still, the Demon Expulsion Command was a technique specifically designed to deal with summoned gods and ghosts—extremely refined. If a stronger person had used it, they might have indeed sent the Capital Heaven Demon Lord back.
Unfortunately, that technique was lost with the death of the Hongshan Sect followers.
Tianbo City was in chaos. Soldiers were still repairing the city walls, clearing rubble from collapsed buildings, and hauling debris out of the city.
On the river, thousands of ships and warships raced across, carrying army after army across the river. The troops didn’t stop in Tianbo City but headed straight south.
Some soldiers in Tianbo City were hunting down remnants of the rebels and mopping up the Capital Heaven Heavenly Demon horde. They found some civilians had survived. A soldier walked among the survivors with a booklet of portraits of rebel leaders, comparing faces to the images.
“This girl is quite pretty.”
The soldier stopped beside a panicked woman and silently praised her. She wore a dark green long dress that reached her feet, her hair styled in a palace bun, with light powder on her face, a touch of red on her lips like two crimson pearls, and slender, delicate willow-leaf brows. She looked every bit the refined lady of Tianbo City.
The soldier glanced at her twice and moved on. The girl’s eyes were like autumn water, and from her left earlobe hung a bright red jade earring. Suddenly, the earring twitched, stretching its body.
That earring was actually a small red snake, threaded through her ear hole and hanging there like a piece of red jade—but it was alive.
If Qin Mu had been there, he would have ordered the soldiers to seize her immediately.
He had seen Dragon Jiaonan’s true form. When Dragon Jiaonan shed her skin, he had seen every inch of her body. This woman, just emerged from her old skin and now dressed as a woman, looked completely different from the seductive young mistress of the Dragon Gate Sect!
Several soldiers were moving corpses from the city, throwing them onto carts to be taken outside the city for burial. Dragon Jiaonan followed behind, weeping, “Honored soldiers, is my father among these bodies?”
The soldiers stopped and said, “Miss, there are too many corpses in the city. We don’t know which one is your father. Do you see him on the cart?”
Dragon Jiaonan looked over and shook her head. “I didn’t find him.”
One soldier said, “He’s probably in the mass graves on the outskirts. General Yu ordered us to dig several large pits there to bury the dead. The bodies are all being taken there, and the pits haven’t been filled yet. Why don’t you come with us to look?”
Dragon Jiaonan thanked them and followed the soldiers to the mass graves on the outskirts. There, a huge pit had been dug, over ten zhang deep, filled with thousands of corpses.
Dragon Jiaonan looked up and saw that besides this pit, there were dozens more like it. Soldiers were pushing carts to the pits and dumping bodies in.
Dragon Jiaonan scanned the area and suddenly shouted, “Father! Father! Your daughter has come for you! If you can hear me, answer!”
She called out several times. The soldiers found it a bit ridiculous. “This girl must have lost her mind.”
Just then, a weak voice came from one of the pits. “I’m here, shedding my skin, but I’m too badly injured…”
The soldiers around the pits were stunned. Suddenly, an officer shouted, “Something’s wrong! Everyone on guard!”
Hearing the voice, Dragon Jiaonan smiled and whispered, “Little Red.”
The tiny red snake hanging from her earlobe stretched its body, dropped from her ear, and instantly swelled into a massive serpent. It opened its mouth and spewed a poisonous wind, sending the soldiers at the mass graves reeling.
The giant serpent slithered like the wind, swallowing soldiers one by one. Dragon Jiaonan walked into the pit, tossing aside corpses, and finally unearthed the Dragon King, buried under a pile of bodies.
“Daughter thought you were dead!” Dragon Jiaonan giggled.
“Daughter?” The Dragon King of the Dragon Gate Sect snorted coldly.
Dragon Jiaonan’s face changed slightly. She lowered her head and said, “Son thought you were dead…”
The Dragon King sat up. “I faked death and hibernated, fooling that demon god. I was thrown here as a corpse. I just don’t know how Red Flood is doing.”
He pursed his lips and let out a low whistle. Before long, a small creature with claws, half-snake, half-dragon, crawled over from the forest.
The Dragon King sighed in relief and checked Red Flood’s injuries. “Red Flood and I both need to shed our skin and hibernate for a while. Good son, I leave things to you during this time. Let’s go!”
Dragon Jiaonan summoned the giant serpent. The serpent, rolling with demonic aura, soared into the sky, carrying the two of them and the dragon away. By the time the soldiers in Tianbo City reacted, it was too late to pursue.
“Who caused this mess, leading to such a defeat?” the Dragon King asked. “How many of our Dragon Gate Sect survived?”
“Only us.”
Dragon Jiaonan snorted coldly. “I heard the Grand Academy scholars call him Doctor Qin. He summoned the demon god and wiped out our Dragon Gate Sect. What infuriates me is that I, your son, was too weak and let him escape.”
“As long as we father and son are alive, the Dragon Gate Sect isn’t destroyed.”
The Dragon King said coldly, “As long as we know who he is, it’s easy to handle. Such a great enmity must be avenged. We will tear him limb from limb!”
Qin Mu and his group followed the Grand Tutor southward. Before long, the army from behind surged forward, overtaking them and pressing ahead.
They walked at a leisurely pace. Qin Mu seized the opportunity to seek advice from the Grand Tutor of Yankang. “Grand Tutor, your knowledge is vast. I have a question I don’t understand and humbly ask for your guidance.”
The Grand Tutor raised an eyebrow. “Who taught you to flatter like that? You’re quite skilled at it.”
Qin Mu was puzzled. “Was that flattery?”
Yue Qinghong, Yun Que, Shen Wanyun, and the others nodded vigorously. Even Si Yunxiang nodded repeatedly.
Qin Mu stammered, “My master taught me. My master is a cripple, always smiling and speaking pleasantly, but his actions are ruthless… Never mind that. Grand Tutor, I want to ask: in the Spirit Embryo realm, the spirit embryo is very useful for coordinating one’s own vital energy. But the Five Luminaries realm feels a bit…”
He thought for a moment. “A bit useless. The Five Luminaries realm seems powerful, but it’s hard to bring out its full potential. For example, the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury contains five gods, each with their own strengths. But how do you unleash the power of the Five Luminaries Divine Treasury?”
Shen Wanyun and the others felt a chill. They had thought about Qin Mu’s question before but never found an answer.
Compared to the Spirit Embryo realm, the Five Luminaries realm did seem somewhat useless. Although cultivation increased, it was only an increase in power—no qualitative leap.
The Grand Tutor was surprised. “You haven’t discovered the secret of the Five Luminaries? Or did the Grand Academy not teach you?”
Qin Mu shook his head. Shen Wanyun and the others also shook their heads.
“This generation of the Imperial Academy is no good.”
The Grand Tutor sighed. “They don’t even teach this. This is the worst batch of Imperial Academy I’ve ever seen. The Five Luminaries Divine Treasury is the Five Elements Divine Treasury, containing the five elements within, corresponding to the Five Luminaries Lords in the sky. These five gods are king-level gods, not minor deities. When you activate your respective techniques, do you feel something unusual—a mysterious force descending from the heavens into your bodies, resonating with the Five Luminaries Lords?”
Everyone nodded.
The Grand Tutor continued, “That is the power of the Five Luminaries. Metal Luminary corresponds to metal, Fire Luminary to fire, Water Luminary to water, Wood Luminary to wood, and Earth Luminary to earth. Activating these five forces allows you to control the power of the five elements. Have the Five Luminaries Lords in your bodies each returned to their star palaces?”
Everyone nodded again.
The Grand Tutor sighed. “The Grand Academy teaches too shallowly, too superficially. What is the Imperial Academy teaching now? They don’t even teach deeper things. When the Five Luminaries Lords take their seats in the star palaces, it means you have mastered the power of the Five Luminaries—that is, the power of the five elements. Combining this power with your vital energy gives your vital energy five additional attributes.”
He raised his hand, and a golden shield appeared before him. “Metal.”
“Wood.”
The golden shield dissipated, and the surrounding forest and grass grew wildly. The Grand Tutor said, “Water.”
Then a great wave surged, lifting them all up, floating them in midair, standing on the crest of the wave.
“Fire.”
A cloud of fire appeared in the sky, lifting Qin Mu and the others, letting them walk forward on the fiery cloud.
“Earth.”
The earth churned, and countless clods of dirt and rocks flew up, forming a massive floating sphere of earth.
The Grand Tutor dispelled these five forces, and everyone gently landed. He said, “The power the Five Luminaries grants you is different from what spirit bodies and spirit embryos give you. It’s also different from the four types of vital energy—Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and White Tiger. Those four types cannot be simply categorized as wood, fire, water, or metal. Each type contains the five elements within… Why do you all look like you’re listening to a celestial scripture? Don’t you understand?”
The Grand Tutor was baffled and shook his head. “You batch of scholars this time—too dumb. You’re the worst batch I’ve ever taught.”
—Second chapter! The third chapter today will be at eight in the evening!