Long Live The Emperor!

Chapter 22

It Could Be That The Gods Are On My Side Tonight

The battle drums sounded under the bright moon and horns blared.

Up in the sky, the ‘meteors’ fell like a wild storm.

The Red Leopard Camp formed a tidy formation as they followed closely behind the strongest Imperial Prince.

Before today, they knew very little of the Seventh Imperial Prince. The only impression they had of him was that he was imprisoned deep within the palace and that he enjoyed studying Buddhist scriptures.

Today, their impression of him had completely changed.

Whoosh!!

A ‘meteor’ flew through the air, cutting through the brutal winds. Its trajectory looked like it was headed toward them and a flash of regret and frightened panic appeared in the eyes of the soldiers from the Red Leopard Camp, but the mighty Imperial Prince suddenly lifted his left arm.

The ‘meteor’ came crashing down!

His five fingers spread open!

Boom!!!

It did not matter how fast or strong the ‘meteor’ was, when faced with the Five Finger Mountain blocking its way, there was no way for it to budge even an inch forward.

Xia Ji flipped his palm over and lifted the huge rock.

There was a look of excited fire burning in the eyes of the soldiers behind him…

Who would not desire victory in battle?

Who would not desire to follow such a great general into battle?

Xia Ji stopped in his steps and suddenly called out loud, “Leave the city gates open!”

Everyone was stunned when he said the words.

Even Deng Jue, who remained in the city, was stunned, but he quickly understood what was going on. The old general mumbled, “This is crazy, this is simply crazy.”

Despite his words, a blazing fire suddenly burned with adrenaline within him. He immediately roared, “Heed the marshal’s orders. Leave the city gates open!!!”

The gates were left wide open.

The army that marched out was the only thing standing between the Imperial City and the exotic tribes.

There was no longer any need for the exotic tribes to continue with catapulting.

There was no need to continue standing guard at the Imperial City.

There was no longer any way for them to retreat.

The only thing left to do was for both armies to clash.

Everything will be decided by the outcome of this final battle.

Xia Ji lifted his head to gaze at the moon above, and next toward the unending figures of the enemy. Suddenly, he said gently, “The moon is shining bright in the sky tonight. Now that the city gates are open, we shouldn’t let this fine night and the pleasant surroundings go to waste. Please, everyone, do come into the city now.”

When his voice resonated across the battleground, a sudden silence spread among the exotic tribes on the opposite side.

They had never faced such a situation before…

The biggest obstacle when sieging a city was the unbreakable city gates. Every fight and skirmish would always revolve around the city gates.

However, this time, the opposition had actually opened the city gates without inhibition. What did this mean?

“Are you afraid?”

Xia Ji questioned them calmly.

He pulled along the 18-foot dark halberd in his right hand while gripping the boulder with his left as he moved a few steps forward. He paused momentarily before roaring, “If you don’t dare, then go the hell back where you came from!”

With that, he thrust out his left hand and the huge rock propelled with incredible force outward. It was suddenly sailing through the air as it flew over a huge distance, crash landing accurately on a catapult and obliterating it. Even the Guifang soldiers standing next to the catapult were crushed.

The other Guifang soldiers in close proximity quickly retreated.

Xia Ji laughed as he took a step forward.

He seemed to have forgotten that he had soldiers with him.

Forgotten that there were tens of millions of people opposing him.

He and the obstacle in front of him were the only things left under heaven and earth.

It did not look like he was going to kill the enemy or take down the enemy, it felt like he was simply going forward to cut off all ties with the obstacle that was disturbing his mind.

The imposing atmosphere surrounding him became thicker. His mind filled with Buddhist zen as he connected with heaven and earth.

When flowers bloom and one smiled, he would be connected with heaven and earth; if flowers bloomed because one smiled, it was heaven and earth connecting with him.

This was the true meaning behind Tathagata’s meditation.

At that moment, the moonlight between heaven and earth and the blowing wind were influenced by his state of mind as they followed his footsteps and gradually turned into a golden heavenly dragon.

He was the dragon’s head.

The soldiers and swordsmen following him were the dragon’s body and the dragon’s scales.

This strange and mythical scene astonished the soldiers, who were rooted in reality. It brought upon an ascending sense of morale. They could not understand how the pale moonlight could transform into a golden heavenly dragon, but regardless, they were now part of the dragon itself!

‘The Gods are on our side’.

That was the thought in every soldier’s mind.

The vast desire for Buddhist meditation, the spiritual conduct of connecting with heaven and earth, Xia Ji’s personal spirits, and the will to battle, had influenced every soldier there.

‘The Gods are on our side, what is there to fear?’

The last hidden strain of fear and decadence within the hearts of every soldier had been wiped clean by this grand and magnificent spirit!

‘The Gods are on our side, what is there to fear, and what possibility is there for failure?’

Although the journey was just one short mile, the soldiers and swordsmen who marched out of the city had experienced cleansing of their mental state of mind, enhancing morale tremendously in one swoop. As an individual situated in this vast battlefield, each soldier felt themselves to be insignificant. On the battlefield, the swordsmen who displayed vigorous and proficient martial arts skills were considered to be like a drop of water in a gigantic wave.

They followed the figure of the Imperial Prince.

A united will is like a fortress and because of that, they would be blessed by the Gods and they would become the heavenly dragon!

The Imperial Prince’s step became increasingly fast as he started to run.

His followers pulled out their sabers, swords, and spears as they fell into formation, like aggressive wolves poised to strike. The ferocious soldiers reflected chilling glows under the moonlight, shimmering with life like the scales of a heavenly dragon.

The Guifang warriors, Frost Giants, and every rogue bandit and exotic tribes opposite from them had just only reacted to what was happening. After a series of commotions, they came plundering from West to East like a huge tidal wave.

The enemy’s gates were open and there was no longer any need to attack the city. All they needed was to destroy this army and the prosperous riches of Shang Dynasty’s Imperial Capital would lay open for their taking.

Such prosperity included delicately exquisite beauties, the most supreme delicacies, mountains of gold, silver, and jewels, and a ‘heaven’ on earth that allowed them to kill to their hearts’ content. They could viciously humiliate and belittle Shang Dynasty’s stubborn vigor. There were also the legendary three thousand bevies of beauties hidden deep within the Imperial Palace of the vast Central Plain…

Destroy this army and enter the Imperial City. It would be equivalent to entering heaven.

“Attack!!”

“Attack!!”

“Attack!!

The exotic tribes were mad with excitement.

Heaven’s gate was open. If they did not enter it now, when would there be a better time?

The tides came from the East, the tides came from the West. The clash of these gigantic rolling waves would only end with one side being swallowed by the other.

One’s heaven was another’s hell.

Right there and then, the enemy had to die, or it will spell the death of oneself!

The speed escalated from both sides and they finally clashed viciously in the middle of the land. They were like two gigantic, primitive beasts with a bloodthirsty grudge for one another. The soldiers met each other at close quarters and the bloodiest battle erupted between them.

While chaos reigned among both armies, Xia Ji made a beeline toward the place where the Frost Giants had set up camp.

The group of giants was now quite familiar with this ‘shorty’ in black armor.

When ‘enemies’ collide, it would only ignite anger. The giants surrounded him, each of them with a spiked club in their hand. They wanted to teach this black armored shorty a lesson.

On the other side, the Shang Dynasty soldiers and swordsmen were filled with high morale as they engaged in a bloody battle with the vicious exotic tribes.

The fight had suddenly turned quite systematic.

Soldier against soldier.

General against general.

The swordsmen from the martial arts world went against the exotic tribes and bandits.

Xia Ji confronted the Frost Giants.

The Imperial Prince with the beast-themed chain armor waved his dark halberd around, continuously beating away the spiked clubs that came down heavily upon him.

The attacking style of the dozens of Frost Giants was quite simple and had no signs of technique. All they knew was to surround this person, who was nothing but a black armored shorty in their eyes, and hit down on him forcefully with the weapon in their hands in a direct and brutal, but coarse attack.

They may be giants and had huge skulls, but they possessed small brains. The shorties they had encountered in the past would either be beaten into mincemeat with one strike of their spike clubs, or evaded their attack like an agile monkey and make their escape. There had been no shorty who had been able to take on their attack!

Right now, however, this black armored shorty not only had the strength to take on their attacks, but was fully capable of going up against the strength of dozens of them. This had befuddled the Frost Giants. Not only were they confused, but their pride had taken a huge hit as well, which contributed to their increasing rage.

Boom boom boom boom!!

The ground trembled along with the sound of footsteps. The Frost Giants opened up a path among themselves on the West side. At the end of the path was a ten-foot Frost Giant who had a mystic blue snake accessory hung around his neck. He was running forward from afar with an exaggeratingly huge and heavy ax in his hand.

When he was approaching, the giant ax was suddenly lifted up and under the moonlight, a chilling glow reflected in a violent frenzy from it. He rammed the ax, as if drilling into a construction site, towards Xia Ji, who had just thrust his halberd forward.

The force from the collision created a powerful storm, attracting the attention of the soldiers and warriors who were clashing at each other. They could not help pausing at this moment as they turned to look in the direction of the storm. Even though the giant ax was not targeted at them, it still evoked a sense of shock within them.

One powerful stroke was enough to outdo ten thousand techniques. Even the top powerhouse in the martial arts world could only choose to evade the attack when faced with such brute force.

Even some of the superior masters of unorthodox physical training would not be able to fend off this attack.

Even if one cultivated the Golden Bell Cover and Iron Cloth from the principle of Buddhist Law to the highest level, the Iron Cloth would be destroyed from this one attack. There might be a chance of defending oneself from such an attack if Impenetrable Iron Body was cultivated to peak level, but it was only a chance and not a guarantee.

Legend has it that the principle of Demonic Law had a divine skill called the Unshakable Three Thousand Jia Mountains. It was the highest form of defensive skill, but even when facing such an attack, one would still encounter hundreds of levels of shattering that would shake one’s core, surely?

Right then, the Seventh Imperial Prince was in grave danger. He had just circulated his vigor to thrust his halberd and was now at the point when his energy had been depleted but not yet revitalized. How was he going to face this attack?

If he chose to evade the attack, how would he do so?