Chapter 267: To Annihilate the Hall of Spring!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Concourse of the Underworld had put up such an impressive display of combat repertoire, it was apparent that they were determined to achieve their objective.
Did they look too highly upon He Hanqing, to think that five people were too few and send ten Courts of Underworld Kings of the Concourse of the Underworld all at once?
Now, only five of them had appeared. What if the others had come along too? If so, where were they?
Emperor Song chuckled coldly. He did not intend to bar Venerable Lord Saber from delivering any messages.
Since things had gone to this extent, he might as well have a clean sweep!
...
He Hanqing sat silently within the mystical crystal formation. The four experts slowed and soothed their breathing to deliver mystical Qi in order to activate the mystical crystal formation and help heal He Hanqing.
However, just as the purple light started to flicker, signaling the fact that the healing formation had been activated, a loud, crisp, sound hit the center of the formation. Hundreds of high-grade mystical crystals burst into a worthless pile of debris.
A sharp voice spoke out of thin air, "He Hanqing, to heal yourself at this point in time is a waste of effort. Come, come, leave with my Spirit Summoning Fetters. Your time is up!"
A cloud of fog had surrounded the secret chamber in entirety, and a giant mountain of earth materialized in mid-air, hurtling towards the mystical practitioner.
The four guards swore angrily and attempted to throw up their defenses.
"King Taishan!"
He Hanqing remained seated in his original spot. His appearance remained calm. However, his pupils shrunk instantly, seeing the attack originate in front of his eyes. He crossed his two hands in front of his chest. From his body, a strong aura suddenly sprung up.
A palm coalesced in mid-air. The giant mountain of earth that bore towards them vanished, disappearing into nothingness.
The mountain seemed to be tangible as if it was a real entity. It would indeed be real for ordinary people; they would feel like they were under a falling, giant mountain. However, for high-leveled cultivators like He Hanqing, it was simply a minor threat. Not more than a palm was needed for the form to collapse. The winner was apparent!
A silhouette snorted, "Supreme Lord Spring Frost's reputation rings true indeed."
A disdainful voice replied, "Could it be that my reputation is just for show then?" Along with this voice, a pale white sword cut through the somber fog, like white horses galloping across the mist. Faster than the eye could see, it swung toward the throat of He Hanqing.
"King of Equality!" He Hanqing exclaimed.
Apparently, he did not expect the two underworld kings from the Concourse of the Underworld to appear at the same time in the secret chamber. Not only had they appeared out of the blue, they had attacked him in unison. While snorting, the whole of his body turned unusually light. In a split second, he had swerved away from the deadly sword of the King of Equality.
Immediately, He Hanqing’s face flashed red. He headed up and vomited three mouthfuls of blood. However, his aura did not recess because of that, but instead, climbed to another pinnacle.
He Hanqing's palm and the King of Equality’s sword forcefully met each other over a dozen times, the clanking sounds constantly ringing. After a flurry of exchanged blows, the two grunted and fell back in mutual reprieve.
The Concourse of the Underworld.
The King of Hades had acted!
It was equivalent to the arrival of death itself.
Although He Hanqing did not know the reason behind the arrival of these skilled assassins, he clearly recognized that he was in a perilous position.
He immediately activated the Art of Soul Inducement, suppressing all his injuries instantly at the cost of ten years of his mortality.
He had to be able to fight without restraint. Any other way would mean a terribly low chance of survival.
If he did not achieve his optimum fighting form, a year from today would be his own death anniversary!
It was a pity to have damage done to ten years of his life, but as long as he met Mr. Nian, there would still be a chance to compensate for those years. However, if he could not tackle the critical situation at hand and became a corpse instead, there was no future to even speak of.
"Get out!"
He Hanqing exclaimed sharply. His hunched form became upright. With a thunderous clap, he had blown open the secret chamber to form an underground passage right through to the surface. The force of his palm strike was powerful indeed!
The people from the Concourse of the Underworld had come; in this case, the underworld kings had come personally. This chamber could no longer be relied upon as it would become the sanctuary for the kings from Concourse of the Underworld to plot their executions.
In order to fight for the chance of survival, it was critical that he reached the surface immediately!
However, just as the passage had been formed, a peculiar laughter rang out before a chilly wind rushed towards him, following the flow of the passage.
"Get back here!"
He Hanqing fell back to the ground with trembling hands. Shocked, he uttered, "You ... how many of you are here? Why?"
A silhouette clad in grey and wearing a crown flickered into view, "He Hanqing, your time in this living world is up. I am acting in place of the Gods to take you back to hell!"
"Nonsense!" He Hanqing was furious, "It was agreed that the Four Seasons Tower and the Concourse of the Underworld were to refrain from dabbling in each other's affairs, like the streams of river and wells, where their waters do not mix. Why have you all attacked this old man? What is the reason? Does the Concourse of the Underworld wish to form enemies with Four Seasons Tower?"
It was the same question again.
Obviously, it had never occurred to the higher-ups in the Four Seasons Tower that any school of the Tianxuan Continent would dare to initiate an attack or provoke them.
Today, obviously, was an exception.
The man spoke quietly, "We are dutifully abiding by the orders of the heavens and lawfully by our duties to collect the damned souls for reincarnation. We are only working for the Gods, what is there to say about not interrupting each other?"
A chilling order resounded in the still air, "Underworld Army of the Undead, where are you? Take He Hanqing into reincarnation immediately!"
In mid-air, the howling of ghosts became more apparent. Numerous ghastly silhouettes spread across the Residence of He, surrounding the entire place. Not only the air, even the eaves and the ground were occupied by the netherworld beings. It was dark everywhere. Incessant shriek and screams could be heard.
Unknown to many, this was obviously an area of mass executions. It was a trend to kill them all, without leaving any lives behind that could tell tales.
Although there were numerous experts within the Four Seasons Tower with extraordinary cultivation bases, having to face the seemingly countless assassins from the Concourse of Underworld and numerous Kings of Hades who had personally joined in the fight, it was obvious who would be victorious.
It was not the strength of the Four Seasons Tower that was inferior. He Hanqing most appreciated his own life. Despite abandoning his subordinates to face successive damages recently, the Four Seasons Tower's Hall of Spring had had deeply invested powers. Most of the subordinates lost were only the ones that were being exposed out in the open. The damage of the high-leveled powers was minimal. More importantly, He Hanqing was at the period of recuperating, it would be natural that they had all the elites gather there.
Coupled with Venerable Lord Saber's subordinates, a show of strength of this scale would not have suffered any threats unless it was a fierce attack by a top-notched cultivator like Ling Xiaozui. Let alone the fact that there was Venerable Lord Saber himself who was observing at the side, he would not do without help in case of any extreme condition. Unless, of course, it was indeed Ling Xiaozui who had come personally.
He Hanqing had obviously missed out the Concourse of the Underworld in his calculations. Never would he have thought that the Concourse of the Underworld would breach the covenant between them and the Four Seasons Tower to attack with such fury. The might and power of the group sent for this mission was simply over the top.
Among the ten court kings of the Concourse of the Underworld, as many as seven had appeared!
Above their heads, in the sky, Emperor Song, King Yama and King of Cycle had formed an impenetrable line of defense, barring the Venerable Lord Saber and others from taking any action at all, except to stare dryly at them.
Furthermore, there were people from the Four Seasons Tower who were constantly falling from high altitudes in the midst of battle.
Rumbling sounds could be heard as the ground trembled.
Apparently, not only was Venerable Lord Saber unable to gain the upper hand, there was no silver lining in this battle.
On the other side, two illusory silhouettes had appeared in the air in, commanding the numerous undead army that had came along, accompanied by a chilly wind. An Ox-Head and a Horse-Face held the Spirit Summoning Fetters, getting closer and closer. The atmosphere had been filled with ghostly vibes, cold wind tragically howling.
Clank, clank.
A series of seventeen silhouettes screamed as they fell to the ground. Even if there were several lucky ones that had survived with injuries, they were all behead right after. The Concourse of the Underworld's assessment of survivors had been the most astute, how could they not know whether the targets were dead or not? How could they let their target stay alive?
Regardless of the living or the dead, it was better to check after beheading them!
This time around, the killing instinct of the underworld kings roared into He Hanqing’s place. While laughing madly, the nine-section whip in the hands of First Court King Qinguang had once again turned into a fog of green dragon.
Bang!
With the reappearance of King Qinguang’s green dragon, the last few among the Four Seasons Tower had had their brains burst out amidst the ghastly clouds. Their souls had soon made their own way to the underworld.
With a furious roar, a silhouette could be seen flying up like lightning from beneath the ground, breaking through the fog and rocketing up to the sky. That person was clad in a scholarly garment. Although his face was old, with white hair hovering beside him, his furious appearance could hardly cover his overflowing scholar vibe.
It was He Hanqing.
As a father figure of the literati, He Hanqing was slightly trembling with a stream of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, although he was seemingly standing tall and straight like a mountain,
"Why? Why would you do this?" He Hanqing's eyes were staring at the First Court King Qinguang.
First Court King Qinguang was the most hard core and agitated in this battle. His current situation was no better. His royal robe had been raggedly torn off at several parts. His hair had long been scattered. Drips of blood were oozing from his chest, with injuries all over. Yet he did not care at all, but smiled strangely and uttered, "He Hanqing, your time in this living world is up. It is time to make your way to the Netherworld!"
He Hanqing furiously exclaimed, "Nonsense! First Court King Qinguang, our Tower has been allowing the Concourse of the Underworld to do as you please. We had no vengeance against each other .The original covenant was still within sight, what is the reason for this massive attack?"
He let out a suspending roar, "Emperor Song! Give me a reason!"
The long sword in Emperor Song's hands moved, and suddenly, a mountain of swords appeared in front of the Venerable Lord Saber before he immediately withdrew himself. Emperor Song had his eyes focused on He Hanqing, lightly he uttered, "He Hanqing, what the Concourse of the Underworld, did was in accordance with the rules. Don’t you know that what place the Concourse of the Underworld is? We take payment in exchange for people's life, putting an end to their misery upon taking their money. Since Concourse of the Underworld had collected the silver taels, then you, He Hanqing must die!"
Venerable Lord Saber was behind as he lightly said, "So, how about the original covenant that we made?"
Emperor Song uttered," The covenant with the Four Seasons Tower was nothing but a waste of paper, don’t you know that ghosts tell a pack of lies? With money, you can make devils push the millstone. With enough fortune, the world goes round. To talk about covenants and principles with the ghosts, it's all by your own ignorance. What does it have to do with us, ghosts?! "
Venerable Lord Saber snorted angrily, how could he not know that these creepy ghosts would not tell the truth.
The real series of lies was before his sight.