The Regressor of Mount Hua
Chapter 393. The Dark Heavens Mortal Enemy (2)

Chapter 393. The Dark Heavens' Mortal Enemy (2)

The Hainan Sword Sect, along with the martial artists from the South Sea, entered the Central Plains. While the Sword Sect dispatched one hundred of its experts, other small to medium-sized clans and sects sent about four hundred more. In total, five hundred martial artists were traveling together aboard several ships.

“The Great Hero, Zhou Xuchuan, needs our help?”

“Raise the sails! It’s time for us to depart!”

“The time to repay the Sword God’s favor has finally come!”

“Who would dare block the ships protected by the South Sea’s Dragon King?!”

The islanders of Hainan were firmly on Zhou Xuchuan’s side. Back when he was there, the Hainan alliance led by the Hainan Sword Sect also included various small-to-medium sects.

No one needed to order them. Once they heard Zhou Xuchuan was requesting help, they boarded the ships on their own. They rode on the merchant ships Hainan already had, plus the pirate ships that had been repurposed for more casual use, like trading.

“Looks like we’ll have to go up to the East Sea if we want to enter the Yangtze.”

“But the Eastern Pirates claim the East Sea.”

“Tell them to come if they dare! We do not fear the likes of some lowly Eastern Pirates!”

“His majesty, the East Sea Dragon King, is a big brother to his majesty, the South Sea Dragon King. I’m sure they will open a path for us!”

The confidence of the Hainan islanders came from superstitions. Since they had made amends with the South Sea Dragon Gate, they believed they had received the protection of the sea. Emboldened by this belief, they moved with unstoppable momentum.

Was it truly protection, or simply luck? Either way, the Hainan alliance faced no obstacles during their journey. The seas were mildly rough, but not enough to be called stormy. Even the Eastern Pirates left them alone.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they had no choice but to stay away.

“Captain! We’ve spotted the Gold Will Merchant ships in the distance!”

“Did you say the Gold Will Merchants? Let them be, then. They are too big of a fish for us.”

“Eh? Wouldn’t that make it more worthwhile to rob them?”

“Don’t even think about it if you value your life, okay?”

Even the Eastern Pirates had heard of the Gold Will Merchants by now.

As tempting as those ships looked, no pirate dared to make a move while they were being escorted by hundreds of martial artists.

“Most importantly, they aren’t sailing in the open seas, but the sea routes near the shore. If we get too close, The imperial navy might get the wrong impression and stir up trouble for us. So, let them go. It’s simply not worth the risk.”

“Tsk. Got it, captain.”

The Hainan alliance sailed from the south to the east coast, then entered the Yangtze through Jiangsu. Not too long after that, they ran into the Eight Water Gangs, which had been lying in wait after receiving Liu Shao’s orders.

The Eight Water Gang ambushed the alliance’s ships the moment they came into view.

“Ku-hahahaha! I am the Eight Water Gang’s—Ku-waaaaahk?!”

“B-big bro?! No!”

Unfortunately for them, the ambush failed spectacularly.

“It’s the river bandits!”

“The Eight Water Gang is here!”

“It’s as exactly as the Heavenly Strategist predicted!”

The Hainan alliance had already been warned about the ambush. Since Zhuge Xiang had even predicted the most likely areas for an attack, their preparations had been quite thorough.

The Eight Water Gang started panicking.

“P-puncture a hole in their hulls!”

“W-we are trying! But why are their ships so sturdy?!”

“Not a chance, you fools!”

Several ships the Hainan alliance had traveled in were special battleships that Eastern Pirates in the past had modified to fight against the Ming dynasty’s navy. Not only that, but all the ships had been modified accordingly to withstand the rough waters of the South Sea, allowing them to withstand the Eight Water Gang’s attacks.

Most importantly, however, the Hainan alliance wouldn’t just sit back and let the river bandits do whatever they pleased.

“Pirates run rampant in the seas, yet in these inland rivers, bandits run wild without knowing how scary tigers can be!”

South Sea’s Second Sword, Tian Shuiguo, charged forward with his blade. Ninety-nine swordsmen from the Hainan Sword Sect followed and stormed the decks of the bandit ships.

“B-bloody hell?!”

“What are the idiots under the water doing?!”

“Tell them to sink the enemy ships already!”

The leader of the bandits yelled angrily while defending himself on deck.

“Ku-ru-ruk!”

Unfortunately for the bandits, however, the situation underwater was no better, either.

The Hainan Sword Sect had chosen sword arts, rather than water arts, as their primary martial arts, which meant only a few knew how to fight underwater. But that wasn't the case with other sects.

These small-to-medium sects had chosen to master harpoon, spear and other water arts, which gave them more than enough strength to unleash a similar level of underwater battle prowess to the Eight Water Gang.

Rather than similar, it’d be more correct to say they held the upper hand.

“W-water arts?!”

“Uwaaahk?! They are water art experts!”

The reason why the Central Plains’ sects, regardless of whether they were Righteous or Evil, couldn’t do much against the Eight Water Gang was because of the river bandits’ water arts. When in water, even random weakling bandits posed a greater threat than experts from land.

But they lost this advantage against the sects from the island of Hainan.

“River bandits? More like some random river trash! Their martial arts are laughable!”

“Yes, compared to the South Sea Dragon Gate’s mermen, these idiots are no better than little children!”

“Let us show you the proper way to use a harpoon!”

Zhou Xuchuan hadn’t resolved the internal strife in Hainan and the South Sea for nothing. Not only the Hainan Sword Sect, but every martial artist from the island owed him a debt. These warriors displayed such outstanding martial prowess that all their recent struggles seemed like an illusion.

“We-we can’t endure this! Let’s get out of here!”

“They must be vengeful water spirits!”

“Retreat! Fall back!”

River bandits or not, a bandit was still a bandit at the end of the day; they were nothing more than a group of disorganized rabble. Once pushed on the back foot, they swiftly chose to escape from the battlefield.

“Men! Forward!”

“The Great Hero, Zhou Xuchuan, is waiting for our arrival!”

“Let’s show them the strength of the South Sea’s warriors!”

***

The Southern Alliance forces might have lost over a thousand people due to the appearance of traitors, but their morale remained strong. No, forget strong, it soared, piercing through the storm clouds above.

Under the intense downpour, martial artists got into a messy brawl.

“Uwooooo!”

Zhou Xuchuan roared, his voice cutting through the storm. Not even the howling wind could drown it out.

The Seven Stars Division warriors flinched as they found themselves face to face with the Domination God Monarch.

“Keuh... keuk!”

It felt like their eardrums had burst. Their heads rang, and an ominous chill crept down their spines. Just for a second, they were frozen in place, unable to move while unconsciously holding their breath.

Let’s go! Zhou Xuchuan thought.

He tensed his toes and raised his heels, then pushed off the ground and launched forward.

“S-spare...”

A Seven Stars Division warrior, sensing danger, tried to speak, but before he could finish, Zhou Xuchuan’s fist landed in his gut.

KA-BOOM!

It didn't sound like a punch, it sounded more like a thunderclap.

“?!”

The pain was so overwhelming that the warrior couldn’t even scream. While regretting his decision to lead the attack after getting blinded by his desire for recognition, this unnamed warrior was sent flying through the air and slammed to the ground.

“Aaaahk?!”

“Wuaaahk?!”

The warrior, punched by the Domination God Monarch, flew into the troops in the vanguard and left a trail of blood in his wake. Dozens of warriors fell or got flung away, heavily injured. This spectacle left the other Seven Stars Division warriors pale-faced in fright.

“S-stop him!”

Liu Shao’s yell sharply dug into their ears.

“I said, stop that bastard, you morons!”

Despite Liu Shao’s desperate yelling, however, the troops facing the Domination God Monarch were too paralyzed with fear to move a muscle.

One of the Dark Heavens experts, unable to watch anymore, beheaded a Seven Stars Division warrior stumbling backwards in fear.

Slice!

“Do not retreat!” The Dark Heavens expert glared murderously while roaring at the top of his lungs. “Any coward who dares to retreat, I shall personally behead you for desertion!”

Another expert shouted right afterward. “If you don’t wish to lose your head or become a watery ghost of the Yangtze, march forward! Now!”

Only a few moments ago, the Dark Heavens Association’s army did not fear the rough waters of the Yangtze River, but their attitude had completely changed now.

No one would rescue them if they fell into the river. Worse still, they were terrified by the Imoogi that let out an intermittent roar.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!”

Liu Shao cursed as he struggled to maintain command. The wind stung his eyes, and the storm was wrecking everything he had planned. But his mind remained clear. That was why he had been trusted with leading the seven thousand-strong Dark Heavens Army. Even Blessed Existence had acknowledged his ability.

“T-that’s right! The Domination God Monarch is merely a human, like us!”

“He can’t face hundreds of us in one go!”

“Kill him!”

The Dark Heavens Association’s waning morale barely managed to wake up in time. The warriors shook off the overwhelming pressure-induced paralysis of their thought process before charging toward their enemy.

“I’m coming,” Zhou Xuchuan said, his eyes growing cold.

He filled his arms, shoulders, back, legs, and ankles with strength. When he drew a deep breath, his vast ocean-like qi reserve surged and began to circulate.

He bent his knees, his muscles tensing and bulging. Then, he directed all the qi flowing out of the lower dantian to the bottom of his feet before unleashing it.

BOOM!

Zhou Xuchuan leapt up high. He reached at least one zhang in the air.

Ten-Thousand Jin Sword!

While drawing his sword, Zhou Xuchuan used the Heavy Plain Step. His weight increased exponentially when he combined it with the Thousand Catty Ballast.

His body, light as a butterfly, then descended in a straight line, crashing into the ground like a shooting star.

KA-BOOM!

His entire body shook. The moment his feet touched the ground, now soaked and softened by rain, it rumbled and heaved before violently erupting upward.

The first wave of destruction came from the shockwave of his landing. Cracks, like the patterns on a turtle’s shell, raced across the ground before the earth suddenly collapsed inward, forming a gaping pit.

Those who failed to react in time were dragged under. Even those quick enough to move were still caught in the blast. They didn’t even have time to scream before a raging storm seemed to sweep them up and fling them in all directions, their bodies twisting and spinning through the air.

“Agh?!”

“Ugh!”

The second wave of destruction occurred when the mud suddenly shot up.

Pillars of mud rose into the air, twisting and swirling like dragons before crashing down in waves. If it had been dry sand, they might have lived. But the soaked, heavy mud increased the power of the strike. Some warriors had their necks broken instantly. Others were suffocated, the mud filling their throats and lungs.

In an instant, dozens were buried alive. A new hill formed where none had existed before.

“W-wha... What?”

That was just one move. One single attack. And it had wiped out more than a hundred soldiers and wounded countless others.

The survivors began trembling again. Their teeth clattered as their blood turned to ice.

“T-the... Domination God Monarch!”

As it turned out, that title was not just for show. His martial prowess proved that he fully deserved it. A mere mortal used his strength to create a localized natural disaster to attack his enemies!

“Now, attack!” Zhou Xuchuan roared while standing atop the hill, his sword raised high in the air.

“Whaaaaaah!”

The alliance forces’ vanguard charged past the hill like the incoming storm clouds.

“Follow the Domination God Monarch!”

“Those arrogant bastards! We don’t even exist in your eyes? Is that it?!”

“Kill ‘em all!”

“Uwahahaha! Let me show the real power of the Evil faction expert!”

Splash, splatter!

At least two thousand Evil faction martial artists stomped forward. Mud splattered everywhere with every step taken. The Dark Heavens warriors, half-buried in mud, waved their arms desperately for someone to rescue them, but that only turned them into defenseless targets.

Stab! Staaab!

“Look! So many preys below us!”

“Show no mercy!”

The Evil faction martial artists gleefully fought like crazed men. There couldn’t have been many other fierce battles quite like this one in history. Blood spilled continuously, but the downpour and flowing mud washed it all away.

“N-no, th-this can’t be!”

Just as Liu Shao began muttering in disbelief...

Fwhooooooosh!

An arrow tore through the stormy sky.

“?! Keo-huhk!”

Liu Shao ducked instinctively. His eyes widened as his escort beside him took the hit.

“Goodness me?!”

Without confirming the fate of his escort, Liu Shao hurriedly looked at where that arrow had come from, only to panic even more.

“You?! You’re shooting at me from this far?! In this rain?!”

He could see the Domination God Monarch in the distance drawing another arrow.

“What... Who...?” Liu Shao gnashed his teeth and shouted, “Just who the hell are you?!”

The Present Darkness’s despair-filled roar echoed across the battlefield.

As the rain lashed at him, Zhou Xuchuan narrowed his eyes like a hawk while answering Liu Shao.

“I am...”

He kept amassing strength, making one preparation after another. He worked so, so hard to ensure the heroes from his previous life wouldn’t die this time.

After realizing that his own strength wouldn’t be enough, he asked his acquaintances for help. Not only that, but he even resolved other people’s troubles to become their benefactor, as well.

A massacre unlike anything seen in generations was about to begin, and Zhou Xuchuan had done all he could to prevent it.

All for the sake of letting those bastards taste despair!

“I am... the Dark Heavens Association’s mortal enemy!”

The arrow flew out of Zhou Xuchuan’s bow.