Book 3: Chapter 66: Destruction
Book 3: Chapter 66: Destruction
Gu Hai, Long Wanqing, Mu Chenfeng, and Ensnaring Performance quickly led a group of five hundred treants deeper into Love Flower Valley.
Liao Ya and the other dragons glared at the group.
I have close to one hundred gigantic dragons here and five thousand flood dragons and baxias combined, yet you treat us like thin air?
If not for Crown Prince Ao Shun’s command… At this moment, Liao Ya wished he could slap Gu Hai and the others to death.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud report came from the distance.
The ground shook, and the ground under Gu Hai’s feet sank.
“The Divine Love Flower Tree? Granny pulled out all of the Divine Love Flower Tree’s roots? What happened?” a love flower treant exclaimed in horror.
“You are just an insignificant love flower treant, and you dare to be so unruly before the duke? The duke gave you face, but you did not treasure it. Humph! Break!” Ao Shun’s voice came from a distance.
“Roar!”
Suddenly, a gigantic golden dragon light image appeared in the distance.
Boom!
“Argh!”
Granny Qing Hua’s miserable cry came from the distance.
“Humph! Take them all down. Kill without mercy all who resist!” Ao Shun ordered coldly.
“Yes!”
Rumble…!
Thick smoke rose in the distance. The ground rumbled as countless shattered stones and wood flew into the air.
One hundred flying ships hovered in the air. The one-million-strong army had already mobilized.
Flee? No one could flee. Duke Lu Yang’s army filled the place.
The ground rumbled, and dust flew into the air.
“There’s no one? Huangfu Chaoge already fled?” Chu Chen’s furious voice came from afar.
“Search! Even if you have to flip Love Flower Valley upside down, find him!” Ao Shun’s angry voice sounded in the distance.
Rumble…!
Endless rumbling rang out in the distance as chaos filled the place.
Gu Hai’s group ran to the Xiaoyue Secondary Residence. Many soldiers now surrounded the Xiaoyue Secondary Residence. The Metal Division disciples aside, the soldiers already bound the Wood Division disciples.
“Division Master! Hall Master! Division Master Gu! Save us!” the Wood Division disciples cried out.
“What?” Mu Chenfeng goggled and immediately rushed over.
“What are you doing! Halt!” a soldier shouted while glaring.
“Scram!” Mu Chenfeng glared back and threw a palm strike, immediately knocking away the soldiers in front of him.
“How dare you?!” the soldiers shouted while glaring.
“Alright. We are watching them. Don’t waste your energy. Go search for the other treants!” Liao Ya said indifferently.
The soldiers looked at Liao Ya and eventually nodded.
With one hundred gigantic dragons and five thousand flood dragons and baxias, indeed, the soldiers did not need to worry.
“Division Master, the Metal Division Master turned traitor!” the Wood Division disciples anxiously explained what happened.
“Chu Chen?” Long Wanqing’s face sank.
However, Gu Hai coldly eyed the Metal Division disciples. Some Metal Division disciples lowered their heads. However, some showed smug and cocky appearances.
“Ha! Metal Division disciples? You take a salary from Elite Hall but do things that go against Elite Hall? Excellent. Very excellent. Very excellent indeed!” A cold look flashed in Gu Hai’s eyes.
“Let’s go!” Gu Hai said.
Then, the group headed to the largest love flower tree with the Wood Division disciples.
Loud sounds rang out in the distance. The largest love flower tree collapsed to the ground.
The treants felt incredibly anxious.
The group rushed towards the dust clouds.
Flying ships hovered in the air. The soldiers bound many treants. They would cut in half any treant who resisted. The closer the group got to the center, the more fallen treants they saw.
Gu Hai saw Ao Shun standing in the air above the dust clouds, looking coldly at the surroundings.
Whoosh!
Ao Shun flung out his sleeves, and a strong wind blew, raising all the dust into the sky.
This revealed a large hole in the ground. All the cultivators good at digging had already dug into the ground. When the largest love flower tree fell, countless of its roots had broken.
There were close to two thousand treant corpses strewn around and five hundred-odd living treants restrained by the soldiers. As long as they moved or showed any resistance, the soldiers would immediately cut them down.
As time went by, the soldiers moved more treants over.
“Granny! Granny! Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob!”
“Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob! Why?! Why did you kill my grandfather?!”
“Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob!”
Lamentations filled the surroundings.
“Granny!” Long Wanqing suddenly cried out.
Long Wanqing saw Granny Qing Hua lying near the tree hole where she resided, her body riddled with hundreds of holes. She had collapsed to the ground, holding her chest and vomiting blood.
Chu Chen stepped on Granny Qing Hua’s chest while pointing his golden sword at Granny Qing Hua.
“Cough! Cough! Cough! Ptooey! Hahahahaha!” Granny Qing Hua let out sorrowful and bitter laughter.
Not far away, Venerable Liu Nian was also vomiting blood. He had also collapsed to the ground while holding his chest. Many soldiers guarded him at the side.
Army Breaker, Duke Lu Yang, the Unborn Man, and the others stood on the flying ship, observing the scene below.
“Granny! Venerable Liu Nian!” Long Wanqing exclaimed, wanting to rush over.
“Stay still. You are not to approach!” Liao Ya glared as it blocked Long Wanqing.
Gu Hai pulled Long Wanqing back.
“Gu Hai, don’t stop me!” Long Wanqing said anxiously.
With a bitter expression, Gu Hai continued pulling on her while shaking his head.
“Hall Master, don’t come over. Listen to Division Master Gu. Cough! Cough!” Venerable Liu Nian coughed blood in the distance.
“It’s over. It’s over. It’s over for Love Flower Valley!” Mu Chenfeng turned his head to look at the surroundings.
At this moment, smoke rose and flames flickered all over Love Flower Valley. When the soldiers captured the love flower treants, they had used fire as well.
The previously paradisiacal, peaceful, and beautiful Love Flower Valley was now like hell in the mortal realm.
Boom!
Suddenly, three officers came out of the ground.
“Duke, Huangfu Chaoge fled. There are no traces of him. The Foundation Rock Deity must have picked him up and run already,” the three officers said.
“Escaped?” Duke Lu Yang’s face sank.
“Duke, Divine Foundation City,” reminded one of the duke’s subordinates at the side, who appeared like an advisor.
“Ao Shun!” Duke Lu Yang called out.
“Present!” Ao Shun responded from the air.
“Take my command token and immediately return to Divine Foundation City. Attack with full force. Since Huangfu Chaoge is escaping like a rat, he definitely will not be as fast as you. Take down Divine Foundation City before he returns!” Duke Lu Yang said.
“Yes!” Ao Shun answered.
“Dragons, take human form and board the flying ships. Return with me!” Ao Shun said.
“Yes!” the dragons answered.
All the dragons, including the baxias and flood dragons, quickly took human form and boarded the flying ships, which then shot into the distance.
Whoosh!
The dragons vanished in the blink of an eye.
This left Gu Hai’s group unguarded.
The treants behind Gu Hai rushed to Granny Qing Hua.
“Don’t come over!” Granny Qing Hua shouted as blood dribbled out of her mouth.
“Hah!”
A large number of soldiers immediately surrounded the treants, chopping down the treants in front. The ones with weaker cultivations were instantly suppressed, unable to move.
“Don’t go over!” Long Wanqing appeared anxious.
Half of the five hundred treants died at once, while the other half was restrained.
The huge commotion attracted Duke Lu Yang’s attention.
He noticed Ensnaring Performance and immediately figured out who Gu Hai was.
“Mister Gu? Oh, Long Wanqing as well?” Duke Lu Yang looked at the two, and a faint smile appeared on his stern face.
Duke Lu Yang felt great anticipation for Gu Hai’s capabilities.
“Elite Hall Master, Long Wanqing, greets the duke. Duke, please show mercy and let Granny Qing Hua and these treants off. I beg you, please!” Long Wanqing pleaded for mercy.
Duke Lu Yang stared at Long Wanqing. After observing Long Wanqing’s expression, he remained silent for a while before shaking his head and saying, “Granny Qing Hua colluded with Huangfu Chaoge. She is an enemy of my Qian Heavenly Dynasty. Long Wanqing, you shouldn’t fraternize with such traitorous people.”
“No, no! I was the one who asked Granny Qing Hua to bring Huangfu Chaoge over. I wanted to investigate the death of my mother, so I begged Granny Qing Hua to help me,” Long Wanqing protested.
“Oh? Long Xiaoyue’s death? What did Huangfu Chaoge say?” Duke Lu Yang looked at Long Wanqing with slightly narrowed eyes.
“That Huangfu Chaoge lied to me, saying that you killed my mother. How can that be? Of course, I did not believe it. However, Granny Qing Hua is innocent. Duke, please show mercy!” Long Wanqing looked at Duke Lu Yang with anticipation.
Duke Lu Yang stared at Long Wanqing, remaining silent for a while, as though he was trying to figure out whether Long Wanqing was telling the truth.
After a while, Duke Lu Yang laughed and shook his head. “Long Wanqing, don’t plead for these traitors. They colluded with the enemy to betray the dynasty. That warrants capital punishment. Don’t be mistaken about that.”
“However, it really has nothing to do with Granny Qing Hua!” Long Wanqing insisted anxiously.
However, Gu Hai pulled on Long Wanqing gently and shook his head.
Were logic and reasoning useful at this moment? The victor dictated logic and reasoning. Right now, Duke Lu Yang held the superior position. His words had weight.
“Duke, even if Granny Qing Hua was guilty, Venerable Liu Nian is innocent. Would the duke please show mercy and let Venerable Liu Nian go? There are also these ignorant treants. Granny Qing Hua lied to all of them,” Gu Hai said to Duke Lu Yang with a slight bow.
“We will live and die with Granny!” The love flower treants immediately glared at Gu Hai.
“Shut up!” Granny Qing Hua called out weakly.
“Mister Gu is right. I lied to all of you. Not a single word from all of you,” Granny Qing Hua insisted weakly.
“Granny!”
“Shut up. I am not your granny!” Granny Qing Hua shouted.
“Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob! Sob!” The love flower treants lowered their heads and cried.
Duke Lu Yang looked at Gu Hai and smiled faintly. “Mister Gu, this duke likes your earlier ‘Ambush from Ten Sides’ and ritual array. If Mister Gu does not think me beneath notice, how about you join this duke’s official residence? This duke will treat Mister Gu like an honored guest.”
Although Duke Lu Yang spoke politely, there was a firm tone with his words.
“Many thanks for Duke’s favor. After this matter is over, I’ll go over to the duke’s official residence. Sorry for troubling your people in advance.” Gu Hai nodded.
“Hahahahahaha! Excellent. This duke’s official residence needs talents like Mister Gu. I’ll let Liu Nian go. However, these treants are criminals. While I can spare them from death, they still have to be punished. Shatter their dantian and seal their cultivations. Then, give them to Mister Gu as slaves!” Duke Lu Yang smiled with satisfaction.
“Yes!” the surrounding soldiers responded.
Boom! Boom!
“Argh!”
“Argh!”
“Argh!”
The surrounding treants cried out in anguish. The soldiers had stabbed a hole in the treants’ bodies where the dantian was with their swords. With their dantian shattered, the treants’ cultivation vanished, causing them to scream.
Long Wanqing showed a pained expression. Mu Chenfeng clenched his fist as his eyes turned bloodshot.
“Hahahaha! Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!” Granny Qing Hua started laughing.
Long Wanqing and Mu Chenfeng rushed over to help up the severely injured Venerable Liu Nian.
“Many thanks, Duke!” Gu Hai said after taking a deep breath.
“Wait!” Suddenly, a voice rang out from beside Duke Lu Yang.
The Unborn Man stepped forward.
“Duke, you can give these treants to Gu Hai. However, I have a question for Liu Nian,” the Unborn Man said.
“Oh?” Duke Lu Yang gave the Unborn Man a puzzled look.
“Liu Nian, who is Long Wanqing’s father? Which man managed to capture the lass’s fancy thirty-odd years ago, making her willingly give birth to a pair of daughters for him? To think that he did not even dare to show himself after so long?” the Unborn Man asked coldly.
“Long Wanqing’s father?” Duke Lu Yang also appeared somewhat curious as he looked at Venerable Liu Nian.