Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 560 - 451

Chapter 560: 451

Lv Qiluo believed that the only method for Li Xuan to conquer ’Wuqu Pojun’ was to refine this artifact thoroughly from inside to outside.

It was because the Artifact Spirit of ’Wuqu Pojun’ was the Great Generals ’Lan Yu’ and ’Fu Youde’ from the start of the Jin dynasty.

Both were powerful beings in close contact with the Great Heavenly Level—if these two hadn’t died so early, the Great Heavenly Level would have been within their reach.

Therefore, unless Li Xuan’s cultivation also reached the heavenly level, even the middle heavenly level, he would not be able to subdue it by any means.

The method of Emperor Tai of Jin was to refine with Dragon Qi and suppress with talisman array.

The ’talisman array’ was centered on the bloodline of the Yu clan.

Only the legitimate bloodline of the Imperial family of the Jin dynasty can control this artifact without being counterattacked by the Evil Spirit.

Li Xuan didn’t have the blood of the Jin imperial family, so he couldn’t possibly become the rightful master of ’Wuqu Pojun’.

However, the power of the ’Poor Qi’s Soul’ could shake the foundation of this armguard, causing conflicts and disputes within Wuqu Pojun’s talisman array.

This gave him an opportunity to manipulate the core talisman array of this immortal artifact with his own bloodline replacing the blood of the Jin imperial family.

Li Xuan at this moment was refining the Immortal artifact with his blood and Divine Consciousness on one hand while resisting the impact of the Poor Qi’s evil spirit, engaging and keeping each other in check on the other.

Lastly, he had to devote attention to the war within Wuqu Pojun.

The entry of Poor Qi made all the evil spirits in Wuqu Pojun perceive a threat.

The spirit of this powerful beast was enough to swallow all the evil spirits, including ’Lan Yu’ and ’Fu Youde’.

At the same time, the blood and bone meal of the ten-evil man made the evil spirits in it feel greedy.

The ten-evil man had his soul flown away and scattered, and his bloody flesh and bone meal were equivalent to a ’magic instrument’ in value for these evil spirits.

Even if these evil spirits obtained only a bit of it, their strength would surge and Divine Skills would increase dramatically.

For the ’Wuqu Pojun’ armguard, it is an excellent nourishment, allowing ’Wuqu Pojun’ to restore its power at its peak.

— Actually, it couldn’t be said to be a recovery, but evolution would be more appropriate.

The serious wound of ’Wuqu Pojun’ had not yet healed. However, the blood, flesh, and bone meal of the ten-evil man could strengthen the foundation of ’Wuqu Pojun’, making its upper limit higher and becoming stronger.

Therefore, the war in the armguard was extremely fierce.

Yet Li Xuan had to maintain the balance between the two. He could not let the ’Poor Qi’s Soul’ dominate the field nor let ’Lan Yu’ and ’Fu Youde’ win.

’Poor Qi’s Soul’ was ultimately an outsider. Although its momentum was unmatched, in the long run, it wasn’t a match for the two evil stars inside. Therefore, Li Xuan needed to help Poor Qi from time to time to keep the balance between the two parties.

This war must persist until he completely refines ’Wuqu Pojun’ before it can be declared over.

His Divine Consciousness blurred and completely devoted, sweeping past the individual runes within ’Wuqu Pojun’.

He didn’t know how long it had been until he felt some flesh-and-blood connection with this armguard. It was at this moment when Li Xuan ended the refinement of this immortal treasure.

At this moment, the Poor Qi was not needed.

Li Xuan began to help the evil spirits of ’Wuqu Pojun’ to devour the ’Poor Qi’, leaving it completely empty.

Only the ’True Spirit’ of the ’Poor Qi’ was not annihilated. It was lurking in the corner of this dark space, and even ’Lan Yu’ and ’Fu Youde’ were helpless against it.

Li Xuan didn’t care, his heart was full of joy.

At this time, the power of ’Wuqu Pojun’ has returned to the level of an Immortal Artifact. What made Li Xuan happier was that a great hidden danger of his own had been resolved.

Unreservedly speaking, at this time the intimacy of ’Wuqu Pojun’ with him was even more than that of the fierce beast ’Taotie’.

If these two Immortal Artifacts were to be inherited by his descendants in the future, the Artifact Spirit of ’Taotie’ would certainly counterattack its master once again, while ’Wuqu Poanjun’ would be much kinder.

Unless Li Xuan’s future situation becomes unbearable, ’Lan Yu’ and ’Fu Youde’ would hardly pose a threat to him again.

When Li Xuan opened his eyes, he realized he was no longer on the battlefield he knew before.

The place where he was sitting cross-legged was the city wall of a small military fortress, surrounded by various signs of battle.

Li Xuan even saw many arrows stuck in the wall and the roof inside the military fortress.

"This place is Yunchuan Qiuhu Office, seventy-five miles away from Chang’an Qiuhu Office.",

Luo Yan stood not far from Li Xuan, looking back at him, "I was afraid something unexpected would happen, so I had them move you here with a technique. This place at least has something to defend. Bater’s army attacked here seven days ago, but it is relatively peaceful at present."

"Is the cleansing of the battlefield completed?", Li Xuan asked, looking at the sky, "What time is it now?"

"It’s the morning of the twenty-ninth day of the first lunar month.", Luo Yan’s expression was extremely serious, "The purification of the battlefield is completed, but—"

She handed several signal charm to Li Xuan, "You look at it, the situation is not good now. The current situation of Jin in the north seems very bad. According to Zhang Yue, it is precarious. If you hadn’t woken up, I wouldn’t know how to respond."

Li Xuan felt mildly stunned, wondering how the situation of the Jin Dynasty could have become so precarious in just one day that he was meditating?

He took the message talisman into his hand and read it one by one with the power of his Divine Consciousness.

But just after the first one, Li Xuan’s expression changed, his eyes filled with disbelief, "Shanhaiguan has fallen? How is this possible?"

It was the strong fortress built under the command of Great General Xu Zhongshan at the beginning of the Jin Dynasty, which was renovated by five generations of emperors, with the fortress wall alone being ten feet thick. It was said that Xuanqing Stone was embedded in it - the stone material used to build the tomb of Emperor Tai of Jin.

"It fell on the night of the 27th."

Luo Yan explained with a bitter smile, "Duoyan’s three guards betrayed the Jin Dynasty, allowing the Waci, Datan, and Duoyan’s eighteen cavalries to bypass Shanhaiguan. Zhang Guanlan bombarded Guangcheng with Yunzhong warship for half a day, finally breaking Shanhaiguan.

Fortunately, the Jingtai Emperor personally went to Shanhaiguan to command the army and fought for a day with Totaabuqa Khan, who had control of two hundred thousand troops, which held up until the arrival of a hundred thousand Jingying soldiers and stopped the Mongolian horses near Tangshan. However, there are only 130,000 troops left under the Jingtai Emperor. The situation is worrying."

After that, Zhang Guanlan’s Yunzhong warship moved northward, breaking through the walls of Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass along the way. Early this morning, Dushi Castle was also broken. This allowed Ashitiemuer, the little prince of Waci, to flood in with his troops. There were no less than 10,000 deaths in the battle of Dushi Castle. Reportedly, they have seized the Red Castle and their blades are pointing towards Yongning. The outpost is only two hundred miles away from Juyong Pass."

Li Xuan’s face had lost all its color.

He didn’t care about the breach of the fortress walls at Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass, for those gates were beyond the territory of Duoyan’s three guards. However, the Jin Dynasty has always been wary of Duoyan’s three guards. These two gateways were heavily stationed, and there were many military castles before and after the gateways."

What they never expected was that the Mongolian army would attack from the direction of Shanhaiguan, and they did not think that such a strong fortress as Shanhaiguan would be razed.

But even if Xifeng Pass and Gubei Pass were breached, it would not matter. If Juyong Pass were also breached, it would be earth-shattering for the whole Jin Dynasty.

At that point, the Mongolian army could not only launch an attack on north Zhili, but it could also force Yu Jie to leave the fortress in Xuanfu and fight the Mongolian cavalry in the "Yanhuai Basin" between Tumu Fort and Huailai.

Most of the area there is flat, and the terrain is extremely disadvantageous for the Jin Army.

The most severe consequence of this could even be a re-enactment of the defeat at Tumu Fort.

—During the Battle of Tumu Fort in the past, the Zhengtong Emperor and Wang Zhen retreated south from Xuanfu, mainly because the thirteen cities along the line from Huailai to Juyong Pass had all surrendered to the Mongols. The Zhengtong Emperor and Wang Zhen’s army’s retreat was cut off, forcing them to stay at Tumu Fort for a siege.

"Hunyuan God Thunder?" Li Xuan muttered in confusion, looking puzzled.

A complete ’Yunzhong Warship’ can condense the Hunyuan God Thunder, which increases the range of all shells to one hundred and eighty miles, and also dramatically increases its power.

But why didn’t Zhang Guanlan use it in the previous battle at Longhu Mountain? Otherwise, Tianshi’s mansion would have no chance of survival.

Or did he deliberately not use it to exhaust the silver of the Jin Dynasty?

The ’Sky Splitting Crossbow’ secretly built by the Jin Dynasty at a cost of over ten million taels of silver indeed did not work at all.

But this does not seem to make sense—

Li Xuan shook his head, clearing these chaotic thoughts, "Where are Zhang Yue and Peng Fulai? And the two Masters and Master Chongyou, tell them all to prepare to leave. We will set off for Juyong Pass in half a moment."

There was no need to tell Luo Yan about this matter, and the two Fumo Youjiao were already ordered to inform everyone.

At this time, Luo Yan took out a small golden Buddha statue, "There is also good news, I found this thing inside that Buddha statue."

"What?" Li Xuan glanced at it, then raised his eyebrows slightly, "A Buddhist Dharma Implement?"

This was a Buddha statue the size of a fist, carved extraordinarily finely, with a dignified and sacred appearance, but it extended a thousand arms outward.

Its material should be wood, yet it had a metallic feel to it.

A Buddhist Dharma Implement is an object of the same existence as a Taoist immortal treasure.

"The ’Thousand Hands Acalanatha Statue’ of Esoteric Sect." Luo Yan laughed, "The Mongols and the Esoteric Sect have been worshiping it for many years, and it is almost evolving into a true Buddha. We made a profit this time, but I don’t know how to use it."

This ’Thousand Hands Acalanatha Statue’ was originally only a Dharma Implement, but because of the incense offerings of the believers, this Dharma Implement has the potential to become a ’Deity’."

Li Xuan took it in his hand and looked at it, then looked at Luo Yan, "Yan, can’t you use it?"

He knew that Luo Yan had a Buddhist Dharma Implement.

"I don’t plan on becoming a nun." Luo Yan shook her head, "My ’Thousand Hands Great Mercy, Goddess Guanyin’s thirty three method bodies’ have a special causality with me, so I can use them."

Li Xuan was speechless. Although this Buddhist Dharma Implement is good, not anyone who wants to use it can use it.

At this moment, a reverberating Buddha’s name sounded next to him, "Amitabha, if Marquis of Jingan could offer this object to us, our Pure Land Lotus Sect is willing to exchange it for something of equal value."

That was Master Lingjie from Jingjue Temple. He looked at the Buddha statue in Li Xuan’s hand with burning eyes.

Master Yuanmiao from Shanji Temple next to him also couldn’t take his eyes off that ’Thousand Hands Acalanatha Statue.’

Yet, he couldn’t afford it. Ironically, although Lesser Vehicle Buddhism charges believers a high fee, the most profitable is always Mahayana Buddhism.

Particularly the Pure Land Lotus Sect from Mahayana Buddhism, which is famous for being affluent.

Li Xuan gave no response, looking calmly at the two of them, as well as Master Chongyou who had rushed over, then asked, "May I ask if the three of you came to see me for something?"

Li Xuan’s tone was a bit cold. These three had not followed his order to prepare to head south for Juyong Pass, but came directly to him, which obviously indicated that they had objections to his command.