Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 719 - 714: Establishing Authority Part 2

Chapter 719: Chapter 714: Establishing Authority Part 2

An hour later...

The wind whistled, swaying the trees around Qing Lake Mountain and causing waves of rustling pines.

A fifty thousand strong army completely surrounded Qing Lake Mountain, with countless infantry and cavalry blocking all essential routes up and down the mountain, leaving only a small path open at the rear.

Among the besieging army, only the entrance to the mountain road was visible.

A brand-new stele stood on the ground, slantingly inserted into the grass.

Written on it in red cinnabar were the words: Lakeside Mountain Sect.

A young girl, dressed in a Taoist robe, stood alone by the stele, quietly staring at the approaching, dense army.

She held a longsword in her hands, gently drawing it out.

The blade was engraved with dense, bizarre rune patterns, and the hilt’s guard was inlaid with a glowing, oval green gem.

"The Divine Monarch commands, those who cross this sword, die."

The girl thrust the longsword into the ground by the stele.

The blade sliced through the soil as if cutting through tofu, easily penetrating it without obstruction.

Clatter, clatter, clatter...

The sound of hoofbeats echoed as the commander of the Black Flag Army, clad in black heavy armor, slowly approached, his bloodshot, copper bell-sized eyes fiercely fixed on the ’Lakeside Mountain Sect’ engraved on the stele.

"Ignore her! Kill!" he commanded with a wave of his hand.

Immediately, ranks of government troops, paying no heed to the longsword planted in the ground, marched briskly toward Qing Lake Mountain.

It was getting late. The foremost group of government soldiers charged toward Lu Li, their eyes reflecting a hint of ferocious bloodlust.

Clash!

A heavy sword fiercely aimed at Lu Li’s head.

Slash!

Suddenly, a line of blood split open from an official’s forehead.

His body rigidly froze, his movements halted, and he fell sideways to the ground, never to rise again.

"What happened!?"

The soldiers behind quickly raised their hands to halt their advance, intently gazing at the dead man.

"It’s a hidden weapon!"

He spotted a bloody hole emerging on the corpse’s forehead.

Hum....

Suddenly, he faintly saw the sword planted in the ground slowly vibrating.

With the sword blade’s vibration, the ground itself started to shake.

"This...!?"

Large numbers of soldiers were immediately thrown into panic.

"Steady! Steady!!"

The sound of horns quickly rang out, calming the agitated troops.

"Fall back! Retreat!!"

"Retreat, my ass! Go up there and kill that witch!"

The commander of the Black Flag Army, anger rising, drew his sword and shouted.

But by then, it was already a bit too late.

Countless onlookers saw the sword stuck in the ground suddenly burst into a beam of red light.

Slash!!

The red light soared into the sky, piercing through the clouds and forming a column of scarlet light, causing the surrounding clouds to slowly swirl around it.

The beam quickly dissipated, and the trembling of the sword blade gradually ceased.

At this point, the entire army was held captive by such a phenomenon, none daring to make any rash moves.

The palanquin was set down, and the Empress slowly stepped out, looking up at the pierced sky, her eyes also revealing a look of surprise.

After a pause, her expression turned cautious.

But with the army already deployed, if they were frightened by such a phenomenon into hesitating to advance, wouldn’t all the previously expended manpower and resources be wasted?

Having reached the point of no return, she steeled her resolve.

"This is a celestial omen, surely protecting our army’s victorious return. Ignore everything else, all troops, attack!"

She was, after all, a fierce and ruthless person; though her spirit was momentarily shaken, she still commanded loudly.

"Your subordinate obeys the order!"

Another commander responded loudly. He spurred his horse forward, leading a troop toward the direction of the official road.

At this time, Lu Li was earnestly looking at the now still unusual longsword. The blade seemed to possess a strange magic, beckoning and calling her forward.

She walked forward step by step, gently took the longsword out of the ground, and held it in her arms.

"Kill!!"

At this moment, not far ahead, the retreating government troops roared as they charged forward again.

From her position, looking down, the dense mass of troops was incredibly fearsome.

Slash!

Suddenly, the longsword in Lu Li’s arms fiercely jumped.

The blade grew redder and brighter; a faint phoenix cry could be heard, as if she was holding a ball of flames.

Hum...!

Suddenly, the sword transformed into countless beams of red light, spreading out from her arms, wildly swirling around in Lu Li’s embrace.

The dense red light split again and again, the numbers growing more and more, becoming increasingly dense.

It seemed like a large swirling vortex of red light, spinning and dancing in Lu Li’s arms, dazzling and too bright to look at directly.

The government soldiers fiercely charged up the mountain. At this moment, some of them saw the red light phenomenon, but the elite Black Flag Army, momentarily taken aback, was impelled by the Military Governor’s urge and crazily rushed forward.

"Kill!!!"

The battle cry was thunderous.

The red light in Lu Li’s arms grew more numerous, like a rapidly spinning ball of yarn.

The sharp sounds of whooshing grew louder and more piercing.

The Black Flag Army rapidly closed the distance.

Ten meters.

Eight meters.

Five meters.

Three meters.

One meter!

Suddenly, there was a huge, furious roar.

Lu Li’s bosom burst forth with countless dense, red lights, crazily shooting forward.

Hissing!!!!

The sound resembled thousands of birds’ frantic chirping.

A large number of dense red sword lights were invincible, penetrating everything in their path.

Whether it was people, trees, stones, or anything else, they were all pierced through in an instant.

The red light burst out momentarily, weaving into a large red net.

In an instant, it enveloped the thousands of soldiers at the forefront. Within a single moment, thousands of men along with their horses were all cut into minced meat and small pieces by the red sword light.

The net, as if sentient, finished off the closer soldiers and then rushed furiously towards the still distant officers who had not yet arrived.

For a moment, countless cries of fear, screams, and the neighing of horses mixed together into a cacophony.

Some people knelt on the ground begging for mercy, weeping bitterly.

Yet, the red light continued to mangle relentlessly, like a super meat grinder.

Three breaths.

It completely cleared the area occupied by the entire fifty thousand-strong army.

After all the people were slain by the red light, it turned dark red as if dyed by blood and returned to Lu Li’s bosom like tired birds returning to their nests, densely packed.

Hissing.....

Thousands of red lights returned, densely gathering together and swiftly merging back into the previous talisman sword.

Soon the light dispersed, and everything returned to utter calm.

Other than a grim, blood-colored rune newly appeared on the sword blade, there were no other changes.

Lu Li seemed to have experienced a very short nightmare, staring wide-eyed as the landscape which was once filled with beautiful mountains and rivers transformed in a blink into an Asura slaughterhouse.

The ground was littered with severed limbs and blood flowed like rivers.

In front of the stone monument, as far as the eye could see, there was not a single spot of intact ground.

Blood, flesh, pieces of bone mixed indiscriminately with broken soil and stones, all in a shade of dark red.

On the vast grassland, only a single golden-yellow phoenix sedan remained, desolately resting on the ground.

Empress Lin Wufeng stood still, mouth slightly agape, motionless. It was unclear if she was scared stiff or what had occurred.

Lu Li took a deep breath, feeling as though her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

She looked at the longsword in her bosom again, gripped the hilt tightly, and gently sheathed it.

"Come back," her master’s voice came by her ear.

Lu Li’s mind trembled, she nodded slightly.

With one last glance at the Empress, she turned and, cradling the sword, began to walk towards the Taoist Palace up the mountain.

Her figure gradually vanished into the mid-mountain forest.

About fifteen minutes passed.

A large group of people hurried down from the mountain.

It was Emperor Zhou Songyun, Zhao Wumian, and others, with Princess Huai Yang and other disciples among them.

A large group of people rushed down and emerged from the woods, catching their first glimpse of the scene before them.

Vomit....!

Several people immediately threw up on the spot.

Others covered their eyes, unable to bear looking any longer.

Zhao Wumian’s eyes widened, staring blankly at the scene before him.

"Fifty thousand... This was an army of fifty thousand!!!"

He muttered, repeatedly saying this phrase.

Emperor Zhou Songyun was even more distraught, his gaze vacant as he looked at the scene before him.

The phrase "bodies strewn everywhere" was not enough to describe the tragic sight before him.

Countless bones littered every part of the visible area.

The hellish abyss described in the Buddhist and Taoist scriptures was nothing more than this.

His gaze fell on the golden sedan in the middle.

"Feng’er..."

Some people gaped, others showed expressions of unbearable sorrow.

And some had vacant eyes, rushing forward to crouch down and closely inspect the blood and soil, to see if it was real.

Princess Huai Yang slapped her own arm, thinking she was dreaming, but unexpectedly cried out in pain.

Every Taoist descending the mountain, along with those who had stayed behind at the Taoist Palace, both disciples and preparing disciples, reacted extremely intensely.

Some individuals even fainted on the spot, falling down and not getting up.

Caw caw caw!!

A flock of crows flew down from the distance, pecking delicately at the flesh on the ground.

The scent of blood was so strong it was almost unbearable to breathe.

Whooo~~~~

The howling of wolves came from afar, clearly also attracted by the scent of blood.

Crack!!

The sky flashed with a streak of blue lightning, clouds thickened and converged from all directions.

"It’s going to change..."

Amongst the crowd, someone murmered softly.

But whoever it was, everyone heard it clearly.

Several vultures swooped down from high above, landing on a tree stump and pecking at a piece of torn organ hanging there.

Lu Li, step by step holding the sword, followed behind Lin Xin, descending from behind the crowd.

"Organize a roster of all the people left on the mountain, and recruit them as disciples of the Lakeside Mountain Sect’s Outer Sect. Those who perform well may have the opportunity to be selected for the Inner Sect.

Everyone else is to be sent down the mountain immediately."

Lin Xin, without even glancing at the scene below, spoke indifferently.

His voice, as smooth as a jade guqin, instantly drew everyone’s scattered spirits back together.

"Yes... yes! We will obey the Divine Monarch’s decrees!"

Everyone only then reacted, swiftly kneeling and bowing towards Lin Xin.

From that moment on, all those present, who had witnessed this terrifying scene, developed a deep-seated image of invincible horror towards the Lakeside Mountain Sect, towards the Thousand-Hand Divine Monarch Lin, from the bottom of their hearts.

Even those whose hearts were initially wavering now dared not harbor any second thoughts.

And with that, Lin Xin’s purpose of establishing his authority had been achieved.