Chapter 314: Surrounding the Capital
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"My Lord!"
Li Luan had a pale look. As soon as she entered the room, she saw Xu Ting and softly exclaimed.
"Mmm..."
Xu Ting acknowledged, but his mind was complicated.
After all, their feelings for each other were real when they were younger. However, since they were not suited for each other and coupled with the fact that the daoist priests from Xuan Zhen Sect had repeatedly warned him about Li Luan, he had neglected her for the past few years.
However, hope was not lost.
Immediately, he walked towards her and spoke in a soothing voice. "It has been hard on you for the past few years. I have already written a letter to my father, informing him of my intention to marry you after the war is over..."
"Thank you, my Lord!"
This was a dream come true for her. However, Li Luan was confused as she felt a chill down her spine.
Although the man standing before her was the same man whom she had given the dragon pearl to, it felt as though he was worn out.
Of course, on the surface, she did not display her thoughts on her face. Even Xu Ting could not know what she was thinking and therefore did not suspect anything.
"Very well, you have an old friend that wants to see you. I shall not hold you further!"
Xu Ting waved his hands.
Confused, Li Luan walked out. Following the servants, she arrived at a backyard.
At the pond, there was a small pavilion. In the pavilion, there was a huge green fish jumping about, and it seems as though the fish had a demonic trait.
Of course, what had surprised her was not the green fish, but the person playing with the fish.
"You're here?"
Fang Yuan turned around and smiled.
"You..."
Of course, Li Luan could recognise Fang Yuan. However, the young man gave off a very different vibe compared to last time.
He not only had the vibes of a majestic dragon, he had a powerful spiritual aura. Uncontrollably, tears welled up in Li Luan's eyes. "Is this... the Qi Lake Water God?"
"That's right! I have killed the 3 demons in the Qi Lake and inherited the appointment as Water God!"
Fang Yuan admitted to his doings without hiding anything. With the wave of his hands, the green fish rolled onto the floor and transformed into a well-built man in green robes.
"Come to think of it, the 3 of us had gathered on Xu Ren's ship in the middle of An River. Everything is still the same, but we have all changed. Interesting..."
As he calmly spoke, mysterious dragon vibes were felt from his body. Li Luan could detect that Fang Yuan was now more powerful than her own father was when he was alive as the Qi Lake Water God.
"Also... The An River Dragon God had obstructed the navy and was therefore killed by the Golden Court Dragon God and I. Therefore, the tribulation on you has been reduced!"
Fang Yuan revealed some news.
Li Luan was originally the daughter of the Qi Lake Water God and had bad blood with Bai Guan. In order to take her revenge, she had willingly served under the An River Dragon God and had endured humiliation in order to steal a pearl from the water dragon.
However, she was blinded by fate energy and made a rash decision to gift the pearl to Xu Ting.
Therefore, it was not inexplicable that the An River Dragon God had attacked Xu Ting; both parties were unaware that they were already linked by the pearl.
"Thank you, Dragon God!"
Li Luan could not hold her tears back as she paid her respects to Fang Yuan. "Thank you Dragon God for avenging my father on my behalf and severing my ties with the dragon pearl. I shall swear from today onwards to cut off all ties with Qi Lake, and that shall apply to my family for generations to come!"
"Very good! I like smart people! Alright, that's all!"
Fang Yuan smiled and nodded his head.
The previous Qi Lake Water God was that big green snake with little karma. Therefore, the chances that his future generations could rise up to power once more was slim.
Therefore, Fang Yuan took precautions to ensure that he would not use up his fate energy in all that had happened.
Of course, Li Luan was only a small part of his plan. The crux had yet to unfold.
After dismissing Li Luan, he looked at the huge green fish. "Hey... Little Green, do you remember me?"
"That year... on that ship... black snake... d*mn it!"
Although the huge green fish was dense, it had a good memory and could recall what had happened many years ago.
"Mmm... The 3 of us are fated, but not just by how we met before!"
Fang Yuan continued after heaving a sigh. "The previous Qi Lake Water God had little karma. Although he died in the tribulation, he had a chance of revival. Unknowingly, even after meeting each other face to face, the father and his daughter no longer recognise each other. What a pity."
After absorbing an entire imperial order, Fang Yuan's body was extremely sensitive. Together with his spiritual sense as a dream master, there was no way he could guess wrong.
This green fish was the reincarnation of the previous Qi Lake Water God! In other words, his soul was now possessing this green fish's body!
Of course, the power of being a god was already transferred to Fang Yuan. Even if he were to regain all his memories of his past life or even restore his cultivation, there was nothing he could do. Regardless, he would still be trouble.
Also, Fang Yuan had taken the dragon pearl which he had prepared as a backup as well. This was how the both of them were related.
"You, get over here!"
Thinking about this, he hesitated no more and called for the fish.
"You're... calling for me?"
The well-built man in green robes hesitated before walking towards Fang Yuan.
"Very good!"
Fang Yuan flipped his palm, revealing 9 drops of dark-red blood. In the blood, there was a hint of gold with a dragon's might.
After disintegrating the water dragon's corpse, all that was left was this dragon's property and the blood of a water dragon.
"Take it!"
He smiled and executed a technique as he pressed the dragon's blood on the forehead of the well-built man.
"Whoosh!"
The 9 drops of blood combined to form the shape of a small water dragon before flying into his forehead.
"Bang!"
The well-built man's eyes turned white as he fainted and fell to the ground.
"I have obtained the dragon pearl and imperial order based on my own merits and have nothing to do with you. Today, I shall trade this dragon's property and dragon's blood to cut off all ties with you! We no longer owe each other anything!"
Seeing the unconscious well-built man, Fang Yuan mumbled to himself.
In reality, this was not only severing ties with him but a plan for something greater.
Once this huge green fish obtained the dragon's blood and dragon's property, it would be able to cultivate at an increased speed and there was hope for it to transform into a dragon in the future. This was how Fang Yuan wanted to end things. If the green fish were to regain its memory of its past life and plot against Fang Yuan for the position of Qi Lake Water God, then Fang Yuan would have no choice but to kill it!
As for the greater plan, it was a plan against the Golden Court Dragon God.
Although he had established a good relationship with the Golden Court Dragon God, Fang Yuan would not trust him entirely and would prefer to guard against him nevertheless.
Now that the Golden Court Dragon God had both the An River and the Golden Court Lake, he might get greedy and set his sights on Qi Lake!
By then, Li Luan, this green fish and other related water dwellers would become the Golden Court Dragon God's pawn; the chances that this green fish would be manipulated by the dragon god was the highest.
But now, the green fish would be considered related to the Qi Lake Water God as well as the water dwellers in An River for it had absorbed the blood of the An River Dragon God. Therefore, it would be considered related to the An River Dragon God as well!
If the Golden Court Dragon God were to remain unaware of this relationship and continue to manipulate the green fish... the Golden Court Dragon God might lead himself to his own downfall.
Of course, this was only a plan and none of it had happened.
At this point in time, the well-built man on the floor transformed back into a green fish. However, now, its scales had a black pattern. This was the power of the water dragon's blood! Even if Fang Yuan were to personally help the green fish in absorbing the blood, the green fish would still ultimately change its personality and traits due to the dragon's blood.
'This is how the plot will twist. If you become a black fish, you would instead become more acquainted with the An River...'
Fang Yuan's eyes glittered. As he walked to the riverbank, he released the half-green and half-black fish with a smirk on his face.
This was controlling one's fate and riding on the heavenly trend to plan for the future!
...
At the same time, in the royal capital of Da Chu.
The Xinfeng Army's military governor, Baili Xuandu, had led an army of 60,000 to start attacking the city.
He was 30 years old and started out as a small corporal. After rendering his meritorious service, he had gained the admiration of the more experienced military governors and was therefore promoted. They had even betrothed their daughters to him.
This time, 10 military governors came together to fight against Wang Qiao. The most experienced of the military governors died on the battlefield. Baili Xuandu was tasked to assassinate Wang Qiao. As he was successful, he had gotten his revenge and had gained the support of two towns. With his 10,000-strong army, he had surrounded the royal capital and the morale was high.
"Da Chu had no more troops. Against my 60,000-strong army, I believe I can force the Imperial Court to surrender and become the emperor!"
Baili Xuandu's eyes were burning with passion. Seeing the royal family standing atop the city walls, he ordered the machinery to advance. The three generals shouted once more as they did a last-ditch attempt to convince the Imperial Court to surrender.
"Empress Dowager?"
On the city walls, many officials glanced at the young Empress Dowager as they remained silent.
"Hey... After taking care of all of you for the past hundred years, do you guys really want to come together to force us to a corner?"
The Empress Dowager snickered.
Although she was fuming mad, she was still a beauty, which made many of the younger ministers' hearts sway.
'We have been ordered to defend this place with our lives. Baili Xuandu is here for the dragon energy. I must not let him have Da Chu and have his way!'
The young Empress Dowager hugged the young King and thought to herself.
She was originally a demon. After becoming Wang Qiao's mistress, she had hidden from the public. After the arrival of the young king, Wang Qiao had given her an official title. Because of her baby, she was promoted and from then onwards, she had become the Empress Dowager, the true owner of the palace.
Now that she had displayed her anger, the ministers knelt down in unison. "We don't dare!"
"Since you don't dare to disobey, what are you still doing? Protect the city! Wang Xu, I'll leave the city's defences to you!"
The Empress Dowager scanned her surroundings and picked a general. It was someone of the same ethnicity as Wang Qiao.
"Yes, Ma'am! We will obey your orders!"
This person had the control over Wang Qiao's remaining fighting force, which was rather powerful. Of course, most importantly, they would not surrender and would fight to their deaths.
This was because if Baili Xuandu were to enter the city, they would let off everyone except the ethnic people of Wang Qiao in the name of righteousness!
Wang Xu agreed and scanned his surroundings. With a killer look, the rest of them were motivated to defend.
"It seems that we still need to invade the city!"
Outside the city, Baili Xuandu took in a deep breath. "Pass down my command. Whoever reaches the top of the city walls first will be promoted 3 ranks and rewarded 1,000 taels!"
Even though the city walls were tall and hard to infiltrate, they could do so as long as they had the determination and courage!
"Kill!"
In history, those who ascended the city walls first would promote a rank or had an insignificant reward. Now that they would potentially promote 3 ranks, most of the soldiers were motivated to try their best.
As the catapults swung rocks at the walls, arrows rained towards the walls. The army charged forward and at that moment, they had forgotten the risks of dying.
Beili Xuandu remained calm. He clenched his fists tightly. 'Even if they don't surrender, they would suffer from a high casualty rate. This is the perfect opportunity and I must make full use of it!'
The sunset spilt golden rays on the earth.
'It has only been a day but I have lost over a thousand of my soldiers. However, if we persist for another day, I'm sure we will be able to break through!'
Baili Xuandu's eyes were bloodshot. In the next moment, he could feel a chill down his spine.
"Military governor, look…... at…... north!"
A group of messengers rushed to him and could not even articulate properly.
From a tall platform, Baili Xuandu looked across and noticed a black line charging towards them from the horizon. They were not soldiers or calvaries, but wolves, tigers, leopards and other beasts forming a battalion of beasts! "Demonic beasts!?"