Chapter 566: Ning Zhuo vs Xiang Yue
Grandfather Long’s blood ignited, placing him within a torrent of blazing blood-fire.
His aura surged wildly. Even in Du Tiechuan’s normally steady eyes, strands of shock and unease appeared.
Grandfather Long charged toward Du Tiechuan, his momentum tragic and resolute, filled with the will to die.
Du Tiechuan retreated again and again, refusing to give Grandfather Long any chance to approach him at close range.
Shuang Ling acted, nearly emptying her entire reserves as she dispatched all of her mechanical constructs.
Whether mechanisms, treasures, flying swords, weapons, or even spells—anything that touched the blood-flames dissolved instantly and vanished.
This move that Grandfather Long had created possessed immense power, combining offense and defense in one.
Du Tiechuan saw through the method, and his heart shook violently once more.
“He is burning both his physical body and Nascent Soul completely, turning all of his accumulated foundation into blood-flames—blazing with everything he has, in exchange for a fleeting moment of brilliance!”
“This man… truly is the backbone of Thousand Peaks Forest.”
Even as an enemy, Du Tiechuan could not help but feel admiration for Grandfather Long.
Grandfather Long sighed inwardly. He voluntarily stopped, and his aura rapidly dissipated. His robust body shrank, turning once more into the withered form of an old man.
He had unleashed the final cry of his life, yet the results had been limited.
His enemy was equally wise and courageous and had refused to clash with him head-on.
From this perspective, forcing a Soul Formation–level expert to retreat like this was already a tremendous military achievement!
Originally, Grandfather Long could have held on longer. But since he had chosen to stop, the final moment of his life arrived immediately.
At the brink of death, Grandfather Long pointed forward.
Blood-flames wrapped around his shoulder armor, transforming it into a blood-fire meteor that shot toward… Xiang Yue.
While guarding against Grandfather Long, Du Tiechuan also remained wary of a possible ambush from the Dragon Ginseng King. When he saw the blood-fire meteor, he immediately moved to intercept it—but missed by the slightest margin.
Boom.
The blood-fire meteor struck Xiang Yue directly, rapidly dissolving the mysterious military power that had been binding him.
Roar!
A long elephant cry echoed as Xiang Yue raised both arms, regaining his freedom.
The Artifact Spirit Boy sobbed loudly. Sitting on Xiang Yue’s right shoulder, he wiped his tears and said, “Big guy, before Master died he told me to follow you and help you fight with all my strength. You’re my new master now. You have to fight well—sob—avenge my master! Sob, sob…”
Xiang Yue extended his broad palm and gently stroked the Artifact Spirit Boy’s forehead.
The Artifact Spirit Boy shrank back into the treasure shoulder armor, and Xiang Yue’s palm naturally settled upon the armor.
“I never expected Grandfather Long would entrust such a precious treasure to me,” Xiang Yue sighed inwardly, his rough palm rubbing the armor’s surface.
It felt hard yet resilient, covered with countless tiny cracks.
After the fierce battle, even this spirit treasure-grade shoulder armor had suffered heavy damage and would require repairs after the war.
Not only that—another cluster of blood-flames seeped into Xiang Yue’s body, rapidly compressing until it formed large patches of blood-flame tattoos across the body of the Elephant King.
“Martial Art—Repaying Kindness Incarnation?” Xiang Yue was moved.
Grandfather Long had passed this martial art inheritance to Xiang Yue. The tattoos contained its complete essence. Once engraved into a person’s body, anyone could instantly master this martial art he had personally created.
Xiang Yue looked up at Du Tiechuan in the sky.
“Marshal Du, how long do you intend to keep retreating?”
Du Tiechuan looked down from above, his gaze falling upon the blood patterns covering Xiang Yue’s body, which gave him quite a headache.
He could clearly tell: before dying, Grandfather Long had decisively entrusted all of his power to Xiang Yue.
Across the entire Thousand Peaks Forest coalition army, only Xiang Yue’s physique could bear such an inheritance.
With the blood tattoos and the spirit treasure, Xiang Yue was essentially stacking Grandfather Long’s combat power onto his own. His own strength had already reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage. Now, like a tiger with wings, his combat power had touched the Soul Formation level and posed a threat to Du Tiechuan.
“The key issue is that the Dragon Ginseng King still hasn’t acted. What exactly does it intend?”
Du Tiechuan frowned slightly. His mind remained tied up with concern over the Dragon Ginseng King, preventing him from going all out.
Looking at Xiang Yue, he slowly spoke.
“Grandfather Long has died. The Dragon Ginseng King has not appeared for so long—most likely it was heavily injured in its first clash with me and can no longer fight.”
“Otherwise, how could it watch your coalition army collapse and Grandfather Long die without intervening?”
“Current Elephant King, those who understand the times are true heroes. If you surrender, I will grant you high office and generous rewards.”
“Haven’t you always been concerned about the development of your tribe? In the treasury of Liangzhu Kingdom there are many treasures that could help your tribe produce more descendants.”
The many cultivators of Thousand Peaks Forest immediately looked at Xiang Yue with worry.
Xiang Yue shook his head and snorted coldly.
“High office and generous rewards? That just means becoming cattle and horses for you! Humans—hmph.”
Xiang Yue was a demon cultivator. Compared to him, Grandfather Long’s barbarian identity actually made it easier to integrate into Liangzhu Kingdom.
In the current cultivation world, the human race was the orthodox ruler and hegemon. All other races could only exist as vassals.
In contrast, Xiang Yue and his tribe preferred to live and reproduce freely in a land beyond such control.
With the attempt at persuasion failing, Du Tiechuan sighed inwardly and took the initiative to attack, engaging Xiang Yue in battle.
Xiang Yue’s strength had surged. Du Tiechuan could not ignore him.
The two clashed back and forth, explosions ringing continuously as rocks and debris flew everywhere.
With Grandfather Long’s inheritance enhancing him, Xiang Yue’s strength was clearly far greater than before. His martial style was straightforward and ancient—simple yet overwhelming—each strike heavy and powerful. Even Du Tiechuan preferred evasion rather than receiving the blows head-on.
Du Tiechuan’s azure blade, however, was extremely sharp. Even with the spirit treasure shoulder armor protecting him, Xiang Yue was still wounded by the sword edge.
The injuries on Xiang Yue’s body rapidly increased.
At first they fought evenly, but after several exchanges he gradually fell into a disadvantage.
Nearby, Zhu Xuanji had just received a crucial piece of intelligence.
“The Dragon Ginseng King appeared at Coiling Vine Peak and captured the Stone Dwelling Old Monster alive.”
“So Gao Cuo of Thousand Peaks Forest was actually Liangzhu Kingdom’s agent, planted here as a spy.”
“But why would disguising himself as the Stone Dwelling Old Monster lure out the Dragon Ginseng King and make it abandon the main battlefield?”
“There must be an important reason behind this!”
While thinking, Zhu Xuanji watched the battle, his eyes reflecting the sight of Xiang Yue bleeding across the battlefield yet still unable to regain the upper hand.
Beside him, Fairy Red Sleeve and Lin Bufan had also finished reading the intelligence.
“Grandfather Long had impressive foresight,” Lin Bufan sighed. “Even in death, he calculated Xiang Yue perfectly. With one inheritance, the Elephant King replaced him and now fights Du Tiechuan to the death.”
Fairy Red Sleeve said, “Xiang Yue’s combat power is considerable. In terms of pure physical cultivation, he might even surpass Grandfather Long. It’s just that Grandfather Long possessed divine arts, which allowed him to surpass Xiang Yue in overall strength.”
“Now that Grandfather Long is dead, Xiang Yue should be the number one body cultivator in Thousand Peaks Forest.”
“No—even across Liangzhu Kingdom, among Nascent Soul body cultivators, he would likely rank among the very best.”
Zhu Xuanji stared at Xiang Yue and nodded slightly.
“Xiang Yue is different from Grandfather Long. The latter firmly believed in the Dragon Ginseng King and had no possibility of cooperating with Southern Dou Country.”
“But Xiang Yue must care for the entire Elephant Herd. That weakness can perhaps be exploited.”
“And if he survives this battle, his reputation in Thousand Peaks Forest will rise greatly. He may very well become its leading figure in the future.”
“Yes, it would be a pity if Xiang Yue were to fall in this battle.”
For Zhu Xuanji, the current battlefield situation was not ideal.
Southern Dou Country needed Thousand Peaks Forest to remain independent. What it wanted to see was both sides suffering heavy losses, Liangzhu Kingdom exhausting its national strength and failing in conquest.
Southern Dou Country had long secretly interfered in Thousand Peaks Forest—Fairy Red Sleeve was one such planted agent.
“But how can we preserve Xiang Yue?” Zhu Xuanji frowned slightly and asked the two beside him.
Fairy Red Sleeve rolled up her sleeves.
“That’s easy. Dragon King Giant Tree Mountain is right there. I’ll secretly move the mountain and crush Liangzhu Kingdom’s camp with it. Du Tiechuan will have to defend against it, and we can take the opportunity to let Xiang Yue escape.”
Lin Bufan shook his head.
“Xiang Yue’s battle intent is not weakening—it’s rising because of the disadvantage. He will never turn and flee simply because we tell him to.”
“And Lord Detective certainly cannot personally enter the battlefield…”
Such an action would be too outrageous and would inevitably provoke diplomatic conflict between the two nations.
Lin Bufan frowned deeply, unable to devise a solution in the short term.
Zhu Xuanji suddenly said, “I do have a method.”
“We can have Ning Zhuo fight the Elephant King. Among his group are Liu, Guan, and Zhang, as well as the female general Mu Lan.”
Lin Bufan was stunned.
“Lord Detective, Xiang Yue is not comparable to the Heart Demon Cave Lord. Even against the Heart Demon Cave Lord, Ning Zhuo only delivered the final blow. The real heavy injury was caused by Mu Lan’s Divine Ability—Crimson-Heart Swan Arrow!”
“And Mu Lan has already used it once. Using that Divine Ability a second time will be extremely difficult.”
Zhu Xuanji shook his head confidently.
“I have my own method.”
He immediately took out a token and infused it with mana and spiritual sense.
Ning Zhuo instantly felt a tremor. His spiritual sense entered his storage belt and received Zhu Xuanji’s message.
“What? You want me to deal with Xiang Yue?!”
Ning Zhuo immediately shook his head and was about to refuse—but when he read the following information, his expression changed slightly.
Soon after, he changed his mind.
“General Liu, General Mu Lan—do you want to pull off something big again?”
Liu, Guan, Zhang, and Mu Lan were currently commanding their respective armies, cutting down enemies in great numbers and earning continuous military merits.
Hearing Ning Zhuo’s proposal, they became extremely curious and immediately asked.
“What? We’re going to fight Xiang Yue together?” everyone exclaimed in shock.
Ning Zhuo almost patted his chest in assurance.
“Relax. I have a brilliant plan!”
After everything that had happened, the generals’ trust in Ning Zhuo had reached an extremely high level. Even though Ning Zhuo did not explain in detail—and even though fighting Xiang Yue carried life-threatening danger—they all readily agreed.
Thus Ning Zhuo led the two armies and four generals across the battlefield, charging into the core battlefield zone for the first time.
“Marshal Du, withdraw! We will hold back the Elephant King!” Ning Zhuo shouted.
Both allies and enemies nearby were astonished by his declaration.
Du Tiechuan cast an appraising glance at Ning Zhuo.
Though he had been in closed-door healing, he knew that Ning Zhuo had once repelled the Heaven and Earth Twin Ghosts.
In this Grand Decisive Battle, he had also observed many of Ning Zhuo’s brilliant performances through spell surveillance.
“Very well. You will take over.” Du Tiechuan had always remained wary of the Dragon Ginseng King. Moreover, Ning Zhuo was from another nation, Liu, Guan, and Zhang commanded only a newly raised army, and if Mu Lan’s Red Flower Camp suffered heavy losses, many people in the royal capital would secretly be pleased.
Du Tiechuan decisively withdrew.
Ning Zhuo and his group took over the fight against Xiang Yue.
Xiang Yue snorted coldly, feeling insulted.
“You dare underestimate me like this? Then you will pay with your lives!”
But the next moment, Ning Zhuo transmitted a message with spiritual sense.
“Elephant King, do you still remember Autumn Red Maple by the Glass Pool?”
Xiang Yue’s heart shook violently. His steps even stumbled.
“What?! You know Red Maple’s whereabouts?”
Ning Zhuo continued his spiritual message.
“Not only do I know her whereabouts—I also know that after she separated from you, she was carrying your child.”
“What?!” Xiang Yue lost his composure.
Taking advantage of the moment, Ning Zhuo attacked and forced Xiang Yue back a step.
Then he continued transmitting secretly.
“Elephant King, I am from Southern Dou Country, not Liangzhu Kingdom. On the surface I am your enemy, but in truth I am your friend.”
Xiang Yue’s expression fluctuated.
“Southern Dou Country…”
As the current Elephant King, he naturally understood the greater political situation.
An independent Thousand Peaks Forest greatly benefited Southern Dou Country.
The enemy of one’s enemy was a friend.
And besides…
“Red Maple… and my child…” Xiang Yue’s weakness had been firmly seized by Ning Zhuo.
Ning Zhuo continued attacking while secretly transmitting again.
“Elephant King, don’t reveal any flaws. Continue fighting fiercely with me!”
“After a few exchanges, I will flee. You pursue me relentlessly, and I will lead you out of the battlefield.”
Xiang Yue replied, “How do I know you are not deceiving me? You might be a person of Liangzhu Kingdom.”
Ning Zhuo answered, “This concerns Autumn Red Maple. Elephant King—are you willing to gamble?”
Xiang Yue, filled with heroic spirit, suddenly found himself short of breath.
“This king… this king will gamble! If you are deceiving me, I will never forgive you.”
Thus everyone saw Ning Zhuo’s group and Xiang Yue fighting with tremendous intensity.
Soon Ning Zhuo’s side fell into disadvantage.
But Ning Zhuo seized a flaw and—“by accident”—slapped Xiang Yue across the face.
Xiang Yue was humiliated and furious, chasing Ning Zhuo relentlessly.
Ning Zhuo fled wildly, leading Xiang Yue across most of the battlefield. They were already approaching the edge.
Du Tiechuan was resting while observing the battlefield through spells.
The Dragon Ginseng King still had not appeared.
The overall situation was already decided.
With Grandfather Long’s death, Lu Hongtu and others fought while retreating. The morale of the Thousand Peaks Forest coalition army fell to rock bottom. As they fled in panic, they were hunted down and countless lives were lost.
Only Xiang Yue remained the biggest variable.
“Hm?” Seeing Ning Zhuo and Xiang Yue nearing the battlefield’s edge, Du Tiechuan immediately transmitted a message.
“Ning Zhuo, I order you to flee toward me! Otherwise, I will treat you as a deserter.”
“Marshal, eat this pot of Boiled Pork Slices. It will quickly restore your mana,” said the boy Jia Wan beside him, staring at a large pot as he offered the spirit food.
Since appearing on the battlefield, Du Tiechuan had already fought two intense battles and consumed quite a bit of strength.
After landing at the Commander’s Residence, he immediately summoned several Nascent Soul cultivators to guard him. If the Dragon Ginseng King attacked, even if they could not defeat it, they could at least delay it for some time.
Among them were the master and disciple pair Ding Bi and Jia Wan.
Du Tiechuan nodded slightly, watching Ning Zhuo’s movements closely while using his spiritual sense to draw slices of meat into his mouth.
He had just chewed a few bites when a cultivator suddenly flew over, shouting loudly:
“Marshal, be careful!!!”
Everyone turned their gaze and saw Lei Qingyang.
Ding Bi and Jia Wan’s expressions changed drastically.
The former suddenly turned and drew his blade, while the latter lifted the pot upward and slammed it down over Du Tiechuan.
Du Tiechuan had never expected the master and disciple pair to be traitors!
He mobilized his mana—but chaos suddenly erupted inside his body, forcing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
A large pot covered Du Tiechuan’s head, and Ding Bi’s kitchen knife stabbed into his lower abdomen.
Everyone present was stunned by the scene!
The next moment, Du Tiechuan let out a sharp cry and unleashed his full power, erupting with violent air currents that pushed away everyone and everything around him.
Ripples appeared in space.
A pale cultivator appeared out of thin air and slowly extended a slender sword.
The sword tip aimed at Du Tiechuan’s back, piercing straight through his chest.
Young Lord Shengxu!
After landing the strike, Young Lord Shengxu moved like lightning and immediately escaped into the void.
Everything had happened too quickly.
Within just a few breaths, the sudden upheaval had already concluded.
Du Tiechuan clutched his chest, unable to suppress the injury. He urgently used several methods, but none had any effect.
“This injury is too severe! If I do not return to the royal capital immediately and use the national power and the Dragon Vein to heal, both my physical body and Nascent Soul will be lost!”
Thinking this, Du Tiechuan decisively gave the order:
“Sound the gong to withdraw the troops. Retreat—return to the city!”