Chapter 875
The Inconspicuous Little Courtyard
He hovered in mid-air, without any dazzling flames or earth-shattering aura around him. He simply stood quietly, like an ancient sword stuck deep in the earth's veins—unmoved until it was pulled out, and the world would lose its color.
"...It's so noisy."
Four words, as light as a sigh.
But with each word spoken, the void seemed to be struck by an invisible giant hammer, emitting a dull hum.
Lu Tianxing's pupils shrank sharply, and his voice trembled: "Transcending...Transcending Tribulation Realm?!"
Li Chongyue's chest heaved violently, blood gushing out: "Impossible... According to the intelligence... he was clearly still at the peak of the Mahayana stage... how could it have been just over ten days..."
Shen Changyuan's gaze swept indifferently over the battlefield below.
Everywhere the eye could see, whether it was the allied forces still fighting or the city guards wailing all over the ground, everyone seemed to have their throats gripped by an invisible hand, their movements instantly frozen.
next moment.
He flicked his fingers lightly.
"Snapped."
A very soft snap of the fingers.
But it seemed to explode in everyone's eardrums at the same time.
In an instant—
A bluish-white sword line, spanning hundreds of feet, appeared in the sky above the entire battlefield.
The sword lines weren't thick, but they were dazzlingly bright, as if they had cleaved the sky in two.
"Sword, come!"
Shen Changyuan's voice remained very soft.
The moment the words fell, all the magical artifacts, demonic weapons, flying swords, and halberds within a radius of thirty miles trembled violently and then, with a "hum," flew out of their hands!
Hundreds of weapons, as if drawn by an invisible giant hand, transformed into streams of light that surged toward Shen Changyuan.
They circled him three times, then suddenly merged into one—
A simple, ancient longsword, entirely bluish-white in color, about nine feet nine inches long, with a blade as thin as a willow leaf.
The hilt of the sword was wrapped with withered vines, and there were nine natural lightning patterns on the blade, with fine arcs of electricity jumping across them at the moment.
"Lei Xiao".
Shen Changyuan softly called out the sword's name.
The longsword emitted a clear, melodious sound, as if in response.
Then, he casually waved his hand.
There were no fancy sword moves, no impressive aura.
It was just the simplest slash.
But all sounds in the world vanished with this single strike.
There was no wind, no screams, no hoofbeats, and no crackling of flames.
Only a streak of bluish-white sword light, starting from the summit of the northern mountain, swept across the entire battlefield like a meteor tearing through the night.
Where the sword light passed.
First came the three hundred cavalrymen at the front of the allied forces. They and their horses were cut off at the root as if by an invisible blade, their upper and lower bodies offset by half an inch, making them terrifyingly neat.
Then came the densely packed infantry behind them. The moment the sword light swept over their heads, their expressions remained ferocious and fanatical. But the next second, a very thin red line appeared from their brows to their chins, and then their entire bodies collapsed to both sides like bamboo split in two.
Then came the cultivators who took to the air.
They didn't even have time to scream.
The sword flashed across the neck, the head separated from the body, tracing an arc in mid-air, and blood gushed out like a belated fountain.
Lu Tianxing's eyes widened, his pupils reflecting the approaching bluish-white light.
"Do not--!!!"
He roared and, with all his might, summoned a purple-gold shield, its surface covered with countless runes that lit up wildly.
But the sword light only touched it lightly.
"Click".
The shield split in two like tofu.
Then there's Lu Tianxing himself.
The sword light cut in from the center of his brow all the way down to his crotch.
The person was like an open book, flipped open from the middle to both sides, with internal organs, blood, and bone fragments falling out in a cascading manner.
He remained standing for a full two breaths before collapsing as if his bones had been removed.
Li Chongyue held on for a second longer than Lu Tianxing.
He frantically channeled all his spiritual power, trying to escape underground.
But just as his foot sank half a foot into the ground, the sword light caught up.
"Pfft."
It sounds like cutting tofu.
Li Chongyue's upper body remained on the ground, while his lower body was still buried in the soil, his expression frozen in extreme terror.
One sword.
Just one sword strike.
Three thousand allied soldiers, including eight late-stage Mahayana cultivators and two peak Mahayana cultivators, were annihilated.
On the battlefield, all that remained were severed limbs, broken blades, scorched earth, and thick, impenetrable blood mist.
Shen Changyuan sheathed his sword.
Lei Xiao transformed back into countless specks of light, scattering back onto the corpses of his former masters, like a belated homecoming.
He flashed and appeared in front of Zheng Yi.
Zheng Yi looked up, a faint smile appearing on his lips, his voice barely audible: "...Senior...you're a little late."
Shen Changyuan bent down and lifted him up from the ground with one hand, his tone tinged with helplessness: "If I hadn't sensed your Heavenly Gang Golden Core burning desperately at the last moment, I would have had to stay in seclusion for another two days."
He raised his hand and placed it on Zheng Yi's chest.
A soft, bluish-white light seeped in.
Zheng Yi's broken bones, torn meridians, and almost dried-up golden core began to repair themselves at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Not far away, Guo Tianyou stumbled back. Upon seeing this scene, tears instantly welled up in his eyes: "Senior Shen... Senior Shen..."
Shen Changyuan glanced at him: "Go rescue them first. There are still survivors in the city."
"Yes!" Guo Tianyou kowtowed heavily, then turned and ran into the city.
Zheng Yi leaned on Shen Changyuan's shoulder, panting, and asked, "Senior...you...have you passed the tribulation?"
"No." Shen Changyuan shook his head. "I just forcibly broke through the realm, borrowing the power of the half-step Heavenly Tribulation. If I really want to undergo the tribulation, I'll have to find a quiet place again."
Zheng Yi twitched the corner of his mouth: "...Then this half step...is enough."
Shen Changyuan chuckled: "Nonsense. A half-step Tribulation Transcending Realm cultivator can kill a peak Mahayana cultivator like cutting vegetables."
He looked up at the still-burning city.
The firelight reflected in his eyes, like two clusters of cold flames.
"Do the Lu and Li families... still have any backup plans?"
Zheng Yi closed his eyes briefly: "They should be gone. This time they came out in full force... With Lu Tianxing and Li Chongyue dead, both families are finished."
Shen Changyuan nodded.
After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked, "So, what are your plans to do to clean up this mess?"
Zheng Yi opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the thick smoke, looking at the still quiet cluster of cave dwellings in the north of the city.
"Save lives first." His voice was soft, but firm. "Then... rebuild."
Shen Changyuan didn't speak again, but simply raised his hand and waved. He forcibly gathered the remaining spiritual energy in the sky, turning it into streaks of blue-white light rain, which sprinkled onto every living place in the city.
The bleeding from the wound stopped, the broken bones were set, and the dying man opened his eyes, with cries and screams rising and falling.
The fire gradually subsided in the rain of light, and green shoots sprouted anew on the charred beams, like an impossible rebirth.
Guo Tianyou and his men ran back, and upon seeing this scene, they immediately knelt down.
Not just him.
The surviving civilians, city guards, and independent cultivators in the city—everyone who could still move—knelt down.
"Senior Shen!"
"Thank you, Senior Shen!"
"An immortal... an immortal..."
Shen Changyuan frowned: "Get up, all of you. What kind of decorum is it to kneel like that?"
He looked at Zheng Yi: "Your injuries haven't healed yet, go back to your cave first. I'll stay here."
Zheng Yi shook his head: "I'm not going back. I have to watch them... rebuild the city... little by little."
Shen Changyuan stared at him for a moment, then suddenly sighed.
"it is good."
He waved his sleeve.
A faint bluish-white light curtain appeared above the entire dilapidated Hongyun City.
The light curtain rippled like water, enveloping the city.
All remaining hostility, murderous intent, and resentment were washed away the moment they touched the light screen.
The wind has become cleaner.
The smell of blood had also faded.
In the distant mountains and forests, a few startled birds tentatively flew back and landed on the broken wall, tilting their heads to examine this land that was ravaged yet beginning to come alive.
On the horizon, the first rays of dawn pierced through the thick smoke.
It's very light.
But it is bright enough.
Zheng Yi looked at the light, his voice so low that only he could hear it:
"...He survived."
Shen Changyuan stood beside him without saying a word, but simply raised his hand and gently patted his shoulder.
The morning light finally pierced through the thick smoke, illuminating the ruined Hongyun City in a stark white.
The makeshift clinic in the north of the city was pieced together from several partially collapsed houses. Door panels served as beds, straw mats as mattresses, and the air was thick with the strange smell of bitter herbs mixed with the stench of blood. Zheng Yi was placed in the innermost room, by the window, where he could see the highest cave at the entrance of the North Mountain Pass in the distance—the place where Shen Changyuan was in seclusion. Now, two members of the Guo family were guarding the entrance, like two nails, firmly fixed there.
He leaned against the wall, his left arm wrapped in thick white cloth, his right arm fixed with a wooden board, his face pale to the point of being almost transparent, with only a trace of sharpness lingering in his eyes.
Guo Tianyou pushed open the door and came in, carrying a bowl of dark, murky medicinal soup. The smell of the medicine made him frown.
"Sir, take your medicine."
Zheng Yi glanced at him and said softly, "Just put it there. I can do it myself."
Guo Tianyou placed the bowl on the low stool but didn't leave. He looked down at the new scar on his hand, his voice muffled: "The city's statistics are in... more than 4,700 people died. Only 123 city guards are still standing. The eastern section of the city wall has completely collapsed, and the western market has been burned to the ground..."
Zheng Yi didn't reply, but reached for the medicine bowl. His fingertips touched the scalding porcelain rim, he paused for a moment, then steadily picked it up and drank it down, sip by sip, as calmly as if drinking water.
Guo Tianyou couldn't help but ask, "Sir...aren't you angry at all?"
“Qi.” Zheng Yi put the empty bowl back on the stool and wiped his mouth. “But qi isn’t something we use right now.”
Guo Tianyou gritted his teeth: "The Lu family and the Li family have retreated now. I heard that the Lu family's patriarch, Lu Xuanba, is in seclusion, and the Li family is in complete chaos. They lost two peak Mahayana cultivators and won't dare to come back anytime soon. But we... we can't just swallow this insult, can we?"
Zheng Yi finally looked at him, his gaze terrifyingly calm: "I can't swallow it. So I have to return it."
"What do we do now? We can't even raise enough money in the city to repair the wall..."
"Regarding the money," Zheng Yi lowered his voice, "I'll figure something out. You go out first and gather all the able-bodied men in the city who can still move. Divide them into three groups: one to clean the streets, one to repair the city walls, and one to guard the North Mountain intersection. Tell them that I'll personally pay them fifty taels for a day's work. If they don't have the money, they can owe me for now."
Guo Tianyou was stunned: "Sir, where did you get the money...?"
Zheng Yi didn't answer, but simply raised his chin, gesturing for him to leave.
After the door closed, only the residual steam from the medicine bowl remained in the room, rising gently.
Zheng Yi closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the Sumeru Bracelet.
There weren't many things lying inside, but they were his most valuable possessions from all these years:
Three high-grade spirit stones
Seventy-two mid-grade spirit stones,
A small bag, taken from the hidden compartment of the Heaven-Breaking Sword's scabbard, contained the Xuan Tian Ancestor's private stash of twelve Heavenly Gang Body Tempering Pills.
And then there's... that copy of the advanced version of the Heavenly Gang Technique that he personally transcribed and added numerous annotations to.
He took a deep breath and consciously touched the manuscript.
In the advanced chapters of the Tiangang Technique, there is a secondary technique called the "Tiangang Wealth-Attracting Technique." It's not a proper technique, but rather a minor skill created by the Xuan Tian Ancestor when he was young and traveling around, lacking money. Its core is to use the Tiangang Qi to simulate "fluctuations in wealth," briefly triggering the "opportunities and fortunes" that roam the world, making it easier for people to encounter "unexpected wealth" in a short period of time.
It sounds mysterious, but when Zheng Yi studied the ancient books, he discovered that this technique was actually a variant of "Tiangang Sensing", changing the scope of perception from the enemy's movements to the fluctuations of "spirit stones, treasures, and precious mineral veins".
He is currently seriously injured and unable to fight head-on, but this minor technique puts very little strain on his body, so it's perfect for him.
Without further hesitation, Zheng Yi forcefully mobilized the Heavenly Gang Golden Core in his dantian, which had barely been repaired by less than 30%.
A fine golden thread seeped out from between the eyebrows, traveled along the meridians, and finally merged into the tip of the right index finger.
He placed his fingertips on the edge of the bed and whispered the incantation.
"The celestial energy draws the opportunity, and wealth returns to its source."
A flash of golden light appeared at the fingertips and disappeared in an instant.
Meanwhile, thirty miles east of Hongyun City, in a long-abandoned, rocky ditch.
"Click".
A giant rock, eroded by wind and rain for a hundred years, suddenly split open.
A palm-sized, dark gold token rolled out of the crack.
The front of the token is engraved with the four seal characters "Tianxuan Secret Treasury," while the back has a line of tiny, blood-red characters: "The holder of this token may enter the third level of the Tianxuan Mountain underground treasury and retrieve three treasures."
The holder had been dead for countless years, his remains turned to dust, leaving only this token stuck in the crack of the rock.
Now, it was gently lifted up by an invisible force, suspended in mid-air, and slowly drifted towards Hongyun City.
At the same time.
Thirty-five li south of the city lies the ruins of an abandoned ancient battlefield.
A middle-aged woman who was digging for wild vegetables suddenly tripped over the loose soil. She got up cursing and found a corner of a bronze box sticking out of the mud.
The box was opened, and inside lay three yellowed spirit contracts—mines for three spirit mines, marked "Never to be confiscated, hereditary for future generations."
The woman stood there for a moment, then suddenly picked up the box and stumbled as she ran into the city.
Meanwhile, similar "coincidences" began to occur in several inconspicuous corners of the city.
An old man selling sesame cakes dug out half a gold ingot under the stove.
A lame beggar found a string of jade beads in a bridge arch.
A pimp at a brothel found a brothel pouch full of mid-grade spirit stones by the latrine in the backyard...
All of these things, as if drawn by an invisible thread, gradually converged on that inconspicuous little courtyard in the backyard of the city lord's mansion.
When Zheng Yi opened his eyes, fine beads of sweat had already seeped from his forehead.
He caught his breath for a moment, then raised his hand and gestured.
The Sumeru bracelet trembled slightly.
A dark gold token, a bronze box, a gold ingot, a string of jade beads, and seven bulging brocade pouches... fell one after another from the void, piling up half the bed.
He looked at the pile of things, a very faint smile playing on his lips. (End of Chapter)