2026-02-22 09:01:08
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Chapter 578
The Black Tortoise pivoted into him, one shoulder knocking onto the man’s chest.The halberd skated off a field that no eye could see, and the Lord rocked back three paces, ribs thrumming. He summoned his halberd back into his hand, even as he coughed droves of blood. The Tortoise stepped once, planted, and pressed down. Several of Shi Yan Yun’s men that had slipped forward sagged as if their bones had been filled with lead, crumpling onto the ground.But Yao Chuanli’s formation masters wouldn’t just stay idle and let Feng Sha rampage.An array snapped into place under Shi Qing’s center. The tremor crawled up bone. Domains shivered. One Lord lost his footing and went to a knee. An axe came down. His helm held, but the force broke his neck. He died with his eyes open.“Break that circle,” Shi Qing ordered.Three formation specialists dashed into the humming lines, driving iron nails along a mapped pattern. Arrows chewed the earth around their legs. One took a shaft under the scapula an
Chapter 577
Six masked elders moved in a triangle behind them at a distance that would let them respond but not obscure the two leaders from view.Ki stood to my left and observed in a low voice, “If there is such a thing as a clean war, this was set up to resemble one, at the start.”What happened next gave me an idea of what she meant.Banners dipped.Envoys stepped out to the midline with gold plates and long, needle-thin styluses. The eldest envoy held the first plate up so both armies could see the blank shine.“We begin,” she said. “Clause one.”A scribe beside her spoke, voice even. “The field of battle is this plain. No city walls shall be approached.”“Recorded,” the eldest envoy said, and scratched the words into gold with the stylus. Sparks spat and died.Shi Yan Yun inclined his head. “Agreed.”Shi Qing’s field-master lifted two fingers. “Agreed.”“Clause two,” the scribe continued. “Only soldiers and units named on the rolls may take part.”Yao Chuanli stepped forward a half pace. “O
Chapter 576
Another scene appeared before me, a different palace.Shi Qing sat on his throne with a blank expression. The attendants standing along the walls were alert but did not speak. Servants checked the Chi Lamps and refilled them. Guards waited with their hands resting on the hilts of their weapons.The four divine beasts stood before Shi Qing in their human forms. The Black Tortoise with a serpent around his neck, the Azure Dragon with scales littering his body, the Vermilion Bird with feathers, and the White Tiger with stripes. Even as humans, their supreme, divine auras filled the hall.“Cai Xiaotong is dead.” Shi Qing leaned his head back. He looked like he wanted to cry but could not. “To think they would go this far. I assume you all know what this means.”Feng Sha spoke first, pensive. “We do not have much choice. It is war. The court will fracture.”“The court is already broken,” the Vermillion Bird said, pain in its voice. “Only blood will force it to move before it is too late.”
Chapter 575
They followed the deepest cut and found only more evidence the demons had worked with purpose, not the mindless scratching Flee expected. The tunnel angled upward, following a natural fault toward the surface. Worse, she could smell fresh air mixing with the miasma—they were close to breakthrough."They've been busy," Yan Yun murmured, examining a freshly carved junction, then pointed to a set of gouged handholds spiraling upward toward the surface. "They’ve made stairs, this isn't random tunneling. They're planning a breach.” She paused to pull out her map, leaned closer to Flee’s sparking light to read it by. “I thought so. This connects to the old aqueduct. If they break through there...""They reach the refugees," Flee finished. Her thunder coiled tighter as her hand clenched into a fist. Three hundred families had sheltered there since the Fourth Peak fell."We need to collapse this," Yan Yun said, studying the ceiling. "Before—"The attack came from three directions at once. Fle
Chapter 574
They pushed on. The caverns opened into a bowl with a low ceiling. A split in the floor bled dark mist that smelled wrong. Flee recognized the cut. A demon had clawed through the rock, then been forced back by Ren’s sea pressure. Miasma streamed like breath. She wanted to blast it. She remembered Yin’s samples.Mark, don’t burn, she reminded herself, and set two markers around the vent. The marks pulsed on her lantern-strip and, she knew, on Ren’s plate above. She walked the edge, sniffing for the telltale tang of a bloom ready to bind. Nothing, not yet.“How many more?” Yan Yun asked.“Not many. Ren said he pushed most of them. We got tail-end stragglers,” Flee said. She didn’t complain. Small work mattered. Small work kept the wall from failing and the people above from dying. Master always said that.Yan Yun slowed again. “Your belief,” she said, words careful. “That he’ll return. I want to hold it too. Sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I close my eyes and the bond is a thread I can’t f
Chapter 573
They cut across a training yard. A dozen militia practiced reload drills while a sect instructor paced behind them, correcting their breath timing to match the recoil suppressors. On a side range, three cultivators fired bolt-arrows into a target dummy that bled dark smoke.Liuxiang’s disciples were carving ward plates under a tarp, their gloved hands precise and tired. A cook banged a ladle on a pot and yelled about lunch loans and bowls not returning.Yan Yun waited at the east ring’s inner gate, hair tied high, armor-light robe wrapped tight over padded cloth.A small bag lay at her feet, which she tossed to Flee without preamble. “Explosive charms. Don’t stick them to wet rock. They slide.”Flee nodded, unbothered by the idea of sliding explosions. “Underground demons,” she said. “Ren wants them gone.”“I heard,” Yan Yun said. She didn’t smile much these days. She still tried sometimes, and the effort showed in her eyes before she stopped trying again. “Ready?”“Flee is ready,” Fl
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