Chapter 605
The Incredibly Sturdy Spirit Pattern Shuttle
In the old mansion, Xu Qianjing's voice remained gentle and calm, but the content of his words left his deputies exchanging bewildered glances. One of the deputies couldn't help but reiterate his previous radical suggestion.
"Mr. Xu, why go through all that trouble? Six Purple Ying warships are already on standby. With just a command, we can unleash a few volleys at the spirit-patterned shuttle carrying Jiang Xuan. No matter how powerful he is, he will surely be reduced to ashes! This is the simplest and most direct method!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Qianjing's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. He raised his eyelids and looked calmly at his deputy, but his tone carried an undeniable coldness.
"Do you know how many innocent passengers, merchants, and even women and children were on that spirit-patterned shuttle besides Jiang Xuan? Using the Purple Ying warship to attack a civilian spirit-patterned shuttle is no different from massacring the people of the empire."
The deputy felt a little uneasy under Xu Qianjing's gaze, but still held his neck straight and said dismissively.
"They're nothing but lowly ants! What's a few lowly people to sacrifice to achieve our goals? We can just find an excuse afterward and blame it on bandits or an accident! Mr. Xu, those who achieve great things don't concern themselves with trifles!"
"Untouchables..."
These two words were like two cold steel needles, piercing deeply into Xu Qianjing's heart.
His sallow face remained expressionless, but a sudden surge of indescribable anger and pain welled up in the depths of his clear eyes.
He came from humble beginnings, unlike the privileged children of the Forbidden City, and having lived his life, he knew all too well the hardships and struggles of the so-called "commoners." Hearing these scions of wealthy families speak so casually of sacrificing innocent people, he fell silent, a silent fire of anger burning within him.
Just then, the door to the hall was suddenly pushed open, and Chi Cangmei, dressed in a magnificent purple robe and exuding a cold and aloof air, strode in.
Her gaze swept directly past Xu Qianjing and landed on the deputies, her voice carrying an unquestionable tone of command.
"There's no need to discuss it further. I've already ordered two Ziying warships to proceed at full speed to the Fengwan Mountain area to await orders."
Xu Qianjing suddenly raised his head and looked at Chi Cangmei. For the first time, his voice carried a clear emotional fluctuation, a suppressed anger.
"Chi Cangmei! You knew this was a massacre! You used a warship's main cannon against a spirit-patterned shuttle full of civilians?!"
Chi Cangmei met Xu Qianjing's gaze, her beautiful face devoid of any expression, only a cold indifference.
"So what? As long as we can ensure that Jiang Xuan is killed and all future troubles are eliminated, a small price is entirely acceptable."
Seeing Chi Cangmei's attitude, the deputies immediately seemed to have found their backbone, and their faces all showed disdain for Xu Qianjing. One of them spoke in a sarcastic tone.
“Mr. Xu, it seems your title of ‘tactical master’ is somewhat undeserved. If it weren’t for your ‘womanly compassion,’ we could have taken down the target much earlier with a simpler and more effective method. Why would we have suffered heavy losses and been delayed until now? Miss Cangmei’s personal order is the wise move!”
"Exactly! Hesitation and indecisiveness are not the ways to accomplish anything."
"What a waste of all our time and resources!"
Faced with his deputies' undisguised sarcasm and Chi Cangmei's cold-blooded decision, Xu Qianjing felt a chill in his heart.
He bitterly realized that in the eyes of these high-and-mighty scions of wealthy families, the lives of ordinary people were as worthless as weeds, and their so-called tactics were nothing more than tools to achieve their goals. Once they conflicted with their "efficiency" and "interests," they could be easily discarded.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart, looked at Chi Cangmei, and said in a deep voice.
I oppose this move.
This violates the most basic principles.
Chi Cangmei gave him a cold glance, her tone carrying a hint of dismissal.
"Xu Qianjing, your mission ends here. Thank you for your previous analysis, but now, you are no longer needed here. You can leave."
Upon hearing this, the deputies burst into undisguised sneers.
"Ha, I thought they were something special, but it turns out they're nothing special."
"He's all talk and no action! Once this matter is settled, I'll make sure his reputation as a 'tactical mastermind' is utterly disgraced throughout the Forbidden City!"
"That's right, ruin his reputation!"
Hearing these harsh words, Xu Qianjing felt utterly disheartened.
He knew that no matter how many plans and backup schemes he had, they would all seem so pale and powerless in the face of these people's absolute power and ruthless will.
They simply don't understand that the essence of tactics lies in achieving strategic goals at the lowest possible cost, not in reckless and barbaric slaughter.
He glanced deeply at Chi Cangmei and his deputies, who were all mocking him, and said nothing more. He simply bowed slightly in Chi Cangmei's direction.
"In that case, I'll take my leave. This time, I've repaid the favor I owed the Chi family back then. From now on, we're even."
Having said that, he straightened his seemingly frail yet proud spine, ignoring the sarcasm behind him, turned around, pushed open the door, and disappeared into the shadows of the corridor.
Watching his departing figure, his deputies continued to sneer, and even began to discuss how to publicize Xu Qianjing's incompetence after Jiang Xuan's death, so as to completely ruin his reputation.
Chi Cangmei stared in the direction Xu Qianjing had disappeared, her delicate brows furrowing almost imperceptibly. A vague, inexplicable unease flickered in her heart. Xu Qianjing's calm gaze at the end seemed to hold something within it.
But she quickly dismissed this slight doubt.
She firmly believed that any scheme would be futile in the face of absolute power! Two Purple-Brilliant warships, personally supervised by Master Mo of the Imperial Divine Crafts Academy and enhanced in power, capable of threatening or even killing Spirit Sea Realm experts, would be absolutely foolproof in dealing with Jiang Xuan, who was merely at the Human Gang Realm!
……
Inside the smoothly moving spirit-patterned shuttle, Jiang Xuan was chatting softly with Luo Luo, a little girl sitting on his lap. Luo Luo was amused by him and giggled. The carriage was filled with a rare warm atmosphere.
However, at that moment— "Whoa—!!!!"
A sharp, piercing, and urgent warning siren suddenly rang out throughout the carriage! Immediately afterward, the massive body of the spirit-patterned shuttle began to shake violently, its speed abruptly decreased, and the spiritual light inside the vehicle began to flicker wildly and erratically!
"What's going on?!"
"what happens?"
"Was it an attack?!"
The passengers in the carriage were instantly jolted awake from their relaxed state. Panic spread rapidly like a plague, with screams, cries, and the clattering of tables and chairs filling the air!
Jiang Xuan's expression changed drastically. He stood up abruptly, tightly protecting Luo Luo in his arms, and his sharp, hawk-like gaze instantly turned to the car window!
In the distant void to the side of the spirit-patterned shuttle, space distorted, and two small warships, dark purple in color, with smooth lines and aggressive shapes, emerged silently, like two vicious sharks rising from the deep sea!
The warship's surface shimmered with a cold metallic sheen and intricate spiritual patterns, while the menacing main cannon at the bow gleamed with a terrifying, destructive energy.
"The Purple Ying warship?! And the latest model at that!"
Jiang Xuan's pupils contracted sharply, his heart feeling as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand! He recognized it at a glance—it was the brand-new Purple Elite-class warship for which he had participated in some of the design discussions back in Yanxia City! They were here with only one target—him!
There was no time to think, nor did they care whether revealing their strength would cause even greater trouble; the instinct for survival overwhelmed everything!
"Get down! Everyone get down!"
Jiang Xuan used all his strength to let out a thunderous warning!
At the same time, he held Luo Luo tightly with his left hand, whose face was pale with fright and who was at a loss. With his right hand, his fingers were like knives, and the storm millstone in his body was running wildly at an unprecedented speed. The powerful sky-blue spiritual energy instantly condensed at his fingertips, and he slashed fiercely at the incredibly solid carriage wall next to him!
"Rip—!"
With a piercing sound like tearing silk, the specially made carriage wall, which was strong enough to withstand ordinary attacks from Earthly Realm cultivators, was actually torn open with a huge gash by his angry strike!
Almost at the same instant he broke through the carriage wall—
"boom!!!!!!!"
A massive, dark purple beam of light, imbued with terrifying destructive power, shot out from the main cannon of the Purple Hero warship like a thunderbolt from the heavens, striking the middle section of the spirit-patterned shuttle with a speed beyond visual perception!
The earth-shattering explosion instantly swallowed up all other sounds!
The intense, dazzling light was like a second sun suddenly rising, turning half the sky into an eerie purple!
The incredibly sturdy spirit-patterned shuttle was blown in half like a paper toy under the devastating barrage! Countless metal fragments, wood chips, and... mangled human bodies, mixed with raging flames, sprayed wildly in all directions like an erupting volcano!
The terrifying airflow, like a real tsunami, carrying destructive power and scorching heat, instantly swept through the shattered carriage!
Jiang Xuan felt an indescribable force slam into him from behind, as if he had been hit head-on by a high-speed mountain! He was protecting Luo Luo, and like a leaf in a storm, he was torn apart by the violent shockwave from the broken opening in the carriage and thrown into the air!
Excruciating pain!
Unimaginable pain surged through every part of his body, as if his bones were about to shatter! His ears were ringing, his vision went completely white, and his internal organs seemed to have shifted! But in the instant before losing consciousness, all he could do was instinctively use his broad back and arms to tightly protect the small, trembling body in his arms, trying his best to isolate her from the devastating impact.
……
I don't know how much time passed; it felt like a fleeting moment, yet also like an eternity.
The intense pain forcibly pulled Jiang Xuan back to reality from the brink of unconsciousness.
He suddenly opened his eyes and found himself falling at high speed, less than twenty feet away from the rolling hills and forests below!
The intense feeling of weightlessness made him dizzy, but his strong willpower instantly overcame the physical discomfort.
He bit his tongue hard, and the sharp pain brought him back to his senses.
He forcibly twisted his body in mid-air, his gaze instantly locking onto Luo Luo, who was still tightly protected in his arms, her eyes tightly closed in fear, her face pale but unharmed.
"drink!"
Jiang Xuan let out a deep roar, and the little spiritual energy he had left surged wildly to his back. At the same time, he used an extremely skillful force-dissipating technique—Shifting Flowers and Grafting Trees! He wanted to transfer most of the impact of the two falling people onto himself in the instant before they landed!
"Bang—!!!"
A dull, teeth-grinding bang!
Jiang Xuan landed face down, like a human cushion, and slammed hard and solidly onto a slope covered with weeds!
"Crack..."
A faint cracking sound came from inside the body.
"puff--!"
A mouthful of scalding blood gushed uncontrollably from his mouth, staining his chest shirt crimson!
The impact of the fall was more than twice that of his own, and his body bore almost all of it! He felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, countless stars flashing in his head, his internal organs seemed to shatter completely, and he felt excruciating pain. His bones felt like they were falling apart, and even moving a finger became extremely difficult.
Luo Luo, whom he skillfully tossed, rolled down the slope several times like a light rag doll, finally stopping in a clump of lush grass. Apart from being startled and suffering some minor scratches, she was otherwise unharmed.
Jiang Xuan lay on the cold grass, covered in blood, his face as white as paper, his breath extremely weak, each breath accompanied by blood foam and unbearable pain. His consciousness struggled violently on the edge of unconsciousness and wakefulness, almost fainting again.
At the bottom of the canyon, Jiang Xuan gasped for breath, each inhalation pulling at the broken bones in his chest, bringing excruciating pain.
His face was ashen, but his dark eyes burned with the ferocity and indomitable spirit of a wounded beast—a survival instinct born from the most primal instincts of life and a powerful will forged through trials and tribulations.
Enduring excruciating pain that felt like it was tearing his soul apart and waves of dizziness, he managed to survive for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, until his mind cleared slightly and he was no longer in danger of fainting at any moment.
He immediately began to painstakingly examine his own injuries.
On the left side of her chest, at least three ribs were broken, and even the slightest movement caused excruciating pain. Her right shoulder blade joint had been dislocated due to the enormous impact upon landing, and it was dangling limply. The most serious injury was to her spine, which was a bloody mess, a result of protecting Luo Luo and absorbing the double impact. The external injuries looked shocking, but fortunately, they did not damage the spine itself and were not fatal.
However, the real trouble lies in the internal injuries. The body's Qi and blood are churning like boiling water, and the five internal organs have all suffered varying degrees of shock and damage, making the circulation of spiritual energy extremely sluggish.
He roughly estimated that, given his current condition, he could probably only unleash about 40% of his peak fighting power.
At this moment, he was like a lone wolf driven to the brink of despair and severely wounded. Drawing on the experience he had accumulated from countless brushes with death in the Bloodthirsty Camp, he had long since become adept at healing himself from his illness.
He gritted his teeth, took out clean strips of cloth and healing powder from his storage ring, and began to clean the wounds on his back with practiced ease, though his movements were slightly trembling from the pain. He sprinkled the powder on the wounds, then tightly bandaged them with the cloth strips to immobilize the broken ribs and dislocated shoulder joint. (End of Chapter)