Chapter 873: Chapter 449: Suixian Governor

This is war, not child’s play. Approaching the gate unannounced, asking for the commander to come and meet you—how could anyone oblige?

Therefore, Tie Dan was also quite understanding and first transformed into a sword ball. At the city gate, he rolled back and forth a few times, massacring the thousands of elite troops, demons, ghosts, and the vanguard warriors dispatched by the Heavenly King Army. Without saying a word, he slaughtered them, creating a sea of corpses and blood, then stacked their heads one by one into a ghastly mound at the gate—a declaration of intent.

Seeing this grand gesture, the old official with the goatee indeed climbed up the city gate to pay his respects.

“I am Zhang Xun, the governor of Suiyang City. I wonder who you are…”

Tie Dan didn’t bother pretending and sat cross-legged, raising his hand to pay respects.

“I am the true inheritor of the Nine Heavens Xuan Nu, the head of the Nine Luminaries Sword Pavilion, the Beichen Sword Sect Leader, the Supreme Infinite Sword Master, Xuantian Ruyi True Monarch.”

“What a ridiculously long name…”

Zhang Xun, unfamiliar with the mountain folk, twirled the remains of his goatee, warily eyeing the thousand dead heads with blood and tears flowing beneath the seated figure.

“Regardless, thank you True Monarch for your help in alleviating this military disaster for Suiyang. I wonder what instructions you have for me now.”

Tie Dan spoke bluntly,

“You should leave.”

“…Leave? You just summoned me here, and now you want me to leave? Where should I go?”

“Go wherever you wish. Take your people and leave. Don’t defend Suiyang any longer.”

For a moment Zhang Xun was silent, lost for words.

Tie Dan’s eyes, cold as lightning, swept over the soldiers whose faces showed anger.

“You wish to vie for kingship, to fight for dominance. I originally didn’t intend to intervene. Whether it’s the Demon Palace or the rebel army, you’re all just birds of a feather, colluding disgracefully. In these battles, it’s the common folk who suffer and die.

But since you’ve set up this Ten Absolute Array, I’ve no choice but to step in. Ultimately, giving you an unfair advantage won’t help, for the other side won’t accept defeat easily. In the end, it leads to roiling chaos and suffering among the mortals.

So you shouldn’t keep your advantage open. Surrender early, and the death toll will be minimized.”

“Evil demon! Nonsense!”

Before Zhang Xun could reply, a valiant general angrily shouted and flew from the city, slashing towards Tie Dan’s head.

Then, a flash of sword light in mid-air severed his head, sending it rolling to the base of the ghastly mound, while his body plunged beneath the city wall, bursting into a scattering of blood flowers.

Tie Dan’s brow didn’t move an inch, his voice as cold as frost on a sword.

“Originally, my skills were somewhat lacking, perhaps not enough to make both sides sit down calmly and listen to me.

But now, I’ve taken the first step by breaking your trap, seizing your elixir. Now that my sword power is complete, there’s no need to hide or speak courteously with you.

Today I declare here—with my thousand years of cultivation lost, your gamble is already defeated.

Withdraw the array, lead your troops away. I’ll cover the rear, ensuring not a single Northern soldier infringes upon you.

If you refuse, I’ll single-handedly enter the city, dismantle your array, breach your gate, trap your city, and kill everything blocking my path.

Make your choice.”

Zhang Xun thought for a moment, and respectfully asked,

“You say I cannot win this round, and if I surrender, lives will be saved. Do you have any proof?”

Tie Dan replied, “No, I dreamt it.”

The crowd was incensed, yet Zhang Xun remained composed, stroking his beard and smiling.

“I see. I’ve heard the mountain folk can communicate with the Heavenly Heart, foretell the future, and sense the trends of the world.

Occasionally, they enter the world, contend for fortunes, and seize some fate to aid their cultivation. I assume, True Man, you’ve come today fully prepared, speaking as you have.

If so, you should understand, I too have prepared extensively.

Not only myself, but also the tens of thousands of loyal men within the city—each has resolved to sacrifice for the country, leaving their families to face the hardships ahead.

Though we are mere mortals, having already set aside life and death, how could we surrender just because of one speech from you?”

Tie Dan looked at him,

“I’ve heard of the name Suiyang Governor, considered a good official in public, a good person in private, otherwise you wouldn’t have summoned so many willing to die alongside you.

But this world is ultimately not for mortals; it’s for the extraordinary.

Victory or defeat, power and position cannot be altered by human forces. But by Heaven.

To be straightforward, only if the Three Great Sects allow you to win can you prevail.

I’ve heard the Suiyang Governor has a contract with the Divine Sect, but trapped in this array, I’ve seen no intervention from the Blood God’s Son.

If my guess is correct, the Divine Sect members have calculated the futility of action and abandoned the city in flight.”

Zhang Xun fell silent.

Tie Dan bowed and said,

“If you truly wish to be a hero, heed my advice.

Leave.

Instead of sacrificing now, keep yourself alive, observe the changes…”

Zhang Xun directly interrupted,

“No need to say more. I have never been a hero, merely loyal to my sovereign in exchange for his favor.

The matter of Suiyang is tied to the fate of the world; whoever wishes to claim this place from me must cross over this old body!”

Tie Dan remained silent for a while, then suddenly asked,

“If the Suiyang Governor won’t agree, what do you think, Wuqiong Sheng? Aren’t you aiming to accomplish something? If this battle is doomed to fail, what is the point of needless sacrifice?”

Thus, Zhang Xun with the goatee and the crowd of angry soldiers all changed their expressions, staring at Tie Dan and speaking like the Medical Officer, echoing the voices of countless fallen souls,

“I’ve said before, you have your own path to survival. Why insist on involving yourself in this dead-end at Suiyang.”

Even if you can break my Eight Gates Golden Lock, it’s of no use.

You’re right, ordinary folks, how could they possibly have the ability to defy the heavens!

Therefore, to defy the heavens and activate the Ten Absolute Blood Formation, we ordinary people have long since followed our master! Sever the retreat, stand as stakes, sacrifice blood for the array!

If you want to break through Suiyang, just bring it on; no matter how many times you kill us, we will rotate back from the Underworld and stand before you!

As long as the city stands, the souls remain; if the city falls, the souls perish!”

Tie Dan looked at the faces of these illusions; though just illusions, each one was vivid, each one was different,

“If that’s the case, then why did you bother to talk to me earlier? Wasn’t it to seek a path of reincarnation for you city defenders?”

“Hahaha! True Man, you underestimate us! I just want you to see!”

The soldiers all laughed loudly, shaking swords and spears, armor shining bright,

“Who is standing before you! Watch the array!”

“Boom!”

Suddenly, mountains crumbled, the city sunk, Qiankun was reversed, heaven and earth spun upside down.

The soldiers of the city united as one, transforming into a massive vortex, charging at Tie Dan.

At this moment, the scene was extremely exaggerated, as if the sky dome had collapsed, stars shattered.

Of course, Tie Dan knew these scenes were all illusions.

Indeed, Yu’s skill is considerable, able to drag thousands of troops into the array, plunging them into chaos, a remarkable feat.

But his cultivation is clearly not comparable to Emei’s Six Monsters, who previously could only blast a pit in the ground together, unable to conjure such a grand spectacle.

So, in essence, these overwhelming scenes are created using the special formation of the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array, disrupting energy, interfering sound and light, creating layers of divine light illusions.

However, illusion labyrinths themselves can’t kill. If reinforcements aren’t sent into the array to block, the Eight Gates Golden Lock won’t hold for long, and the army caught inside will eventually break through.

Moreover, the array designed for armies is limited in perplexing individual cultivators; mere shadows and illusions can’t possibly kill the Blood God’s Son.

Thus, there must be some hidden trump card in the array used to suppress peerless masters intruding in.

If Chen Xuantian were here, he’d definitely consider what this trump card is, where it’s hidden, how to unravel it, see clearly, calculate thoroughly, then strike with seventy percent certainty.

But for Tie Dan, it doesn’t matter.

He wields his sword, always even odds, ready to strike.

“Beichen Sword Sect, Lightning Style!”

When the rainbow light appears, a Lightning Sword.

Technique, magic, momentum, sound, light, shadow.

No matter how it transforms, no matter how it conceals, before absolute sword power, all becomes null.

An unparalleled invincible sword rainbow slashes through the sky, splits the earth, one sword clear the universe, implements Qiankun!

One sword flies forth, shattering the golden lock! Leveling the eight gates!

Under the gentle breeze of sword wind, Tie Dan swept an eye over, only to see amidst the shifting stars, the sword rainbow had fallen like a meteor, breaking through the array, soaring high to the sky.

Two demon armies clashed on the ruined Suiyang battlefield below.

On one side, demon generals danced wildly, demon souls and beasts, the demon army having escaped the Purgatory Demon Ruins.

On the other side, blood-red skeletons, red-skinned fierce ghosts, vultured from the Blood Pool Death Demon in a ghost tide.

To break the array and trap the city, charging out from the Ten Extremes Killing Array, Northern soldiers had unlocked the genetic lock, lifted battle restrictions, a slew of hacks, all transforming into beasts, demons, monsters. In this place and moment, those fighting furiously, were no longer humans, but a horde of beasts wearing human skins.

Needless to say, to fight against such non-human demon armies, Suiyang officials followed Zhang Xun forward, committing sacrificial blood, surrendering all their essence blood and souls to the Divine Sect, transformed by Divine Sect Secret Techniques, no longer humans, but eternal blood puppet divine soldiers within absolute array.

The demon beast army rampaged on the infernal battlefield, crushing countless blood-stained divine soldiers, bashing them into pieces.

While the divine soldiers constantly resurrected from the blood pool, ripping the armored demon monsters into shredded meat, dismembering them.

In this way, one black, one red, two armies of gods, ghosts, and demons tangled and battled fiercely, turning heaven and earth into a disaster scene.

Honestly, compared to the illusions in the Eight-Gate Array earlier, this ghostly scream purgatory felt more like a nightmare.

But Tie Dan understood, in fact, from beginning to end, this was reality.

This was where he was born, raised, and lived, such a brutal world.

Taiji Heaven is by no means a haven for mortals but a paradise for gods and demons.

Mortals are nothing but chaff, dust, maggots of the world, decorative flora for the paradise, merely amusements for those celestial demons from the lower realm.

And at this moment in this paradise, the most conspicuous, playing most joyfully, naturally, was the dragons galloping in the battlefield center.

The giant demon dragon of Hanhai, a hundred zhang long body, scales like giant swords, tusks and claws like crescent hooks, eyes with raging blue light, and a massive human-faced head.

Tenglong Heavenly King Shi Jiao, enjoying his vacation.

“Roar—!!”

The demon dragon danced wildly amongst the army, even without using claws and teeth, just sweeping and slapping with its tail, hundreds of blood puppet divine soldiers were flattened, ground into pulp, blood flowing, bones shattered, impossible to block its path.

Of course, unable to block it, the power of Divine Sect lies in power disparity.

Lacking a Blood Transformation Divine Pill, lacking a crowd of Blood God’s Son, lacking Emei’s Six Monsters, wrong timing, losing far too much, let alone trapping this demon army under the city for ten years, couldn’t even trigger an Earth Sinking Array for additional killing.

Surely, won’t be defeated nonetheless, these divine soldiers here are already dead.

After all preparation, all rituals, all sacrifices, putting life and death aside, leaving only determination to defend here. Then, no matter how many times they die, no matter how many years, even if only the last one remains, they will stand.

Thus, he stood, merely six feet tall, battered with teeth broken, bones apart, the frail old man squinted his eyes, hunched over, holding an iron spear, wrapped in blood armor, charging like a goat.

Suiyang Governor Zhang Xun, defending his realm.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep