Twin Dimension Yin-Yang Mirror: Attaining immortality through the martial path
Chapter 468 - 417: Lurking Henchmen, Blood Lotus Takes Shape

Chapter 468: Chapter 417: Lurking Henchmen, Blood Lotus Takes Shape

"I’m furious, once my injuries are healed, I’ll surely massacre the three counties."

In the turbid waters of the Eastern Lijiang Mountain section, spanning hundreds of zhang, a young crocodile, tattered and no thicker than a baby’s wrist, opened its mouth and silently roared.

The hatred blazing in its eyes seemed like it could not be quenched even by all the waters of the four seas and three rivers.

"First they provoked me repeatedly, luring me away, then they took my child, baiting me to attack the county government and have a deadly fight with Cui Guangling. Then they struck me with a hidden poison, trying to wipe us out in one fell swoop. To think, I actually fell for it..."

The old crocodile was both angry and regretful, furiously knocking its head against the sands and mud at the bottom of the river. This time, the loss was tremendous.

The beloved offspring that I nurtured from an egg, with its profound foundation and deep spirituality, hoped to enter the True Martial realm almost immediately upon hatching, with the help of heavenly fate.

With countless human bones and blood to supplement its intelligence, its cultivation would progress at an extraordinary pace, and it even had the hope of reverting to its ancestral dragon form...

When that time came, as we were connected by blood, a bit of fortune would have meant limitless prospects for myself.

At the very least, I would no longer be at the mercy of others, powerless to resist.

I should have been a major force, holding vast and fertile territory as my foundation, and from there, establish the basis for achieving enlightenment.

But all that was destroyed.

Whenever the old crocodile thought about how its painstakingly nurtured offspring of twenty years was smashed into mush by someone and then turned into filthy blood by that Blood Sword, it felt a hollow pain in its heart as if something was missing.

"Zhou Ping’an... how ruthless. I’ll remember you. And Yu Changsheng, both that dog couple must die."

After venting his anger at the bottom of the river for a while, he remembered his urgent business.

He cautiously extended his spiritual sense, locking onto a few water demons swimming through the river, and conveyed the order to lie in wait for an opportunity.

Then, he burrowed into the sand and mud, occasionally reaching out to devour any small fish or shrimp that passed by.

The injuries were far too severe this time; he needed to slowly consume flesh and blood to recuperate.

This would require quite some time.

He even dared not move around recklessly, racking up a massive kill count for fear of causing commotion that would draw attention from the shores.

As for Zhou Ping’an, the old crocodile hated him with a gnashing fury but didn’t dare underestimate him one bit.

He had taken quite a fall this time.

If he continued to be careless, he feared that his whereabouts would be discovered by the enemy, who would then come to his door to eradicate him root and branch, and that would be the end of everything.

...

"We can’t find him, with these vast river waters, heaven knows where he could be hiding. Now, along with that invading water demon, they’re all going into hiding, showing just how cautious that old crocodile is."

Zhou Ping’an peeked out from the bushes along the riverbank, retracting his spread-out spirit, feeling just a bit weary at heart.

He had driven his spiritual power to the extreme without stopping, sustaining it for two shichen, meticulously analyzing hundreds of thousands of fish of all sizes at the bottom of the river. The workload was indeed colossal.

Yet even so, he still hadn’t found a trace of the Southern Scale Demon Chief.

It was as if the adversary had utterly vanished from the waters.

Not only had he failed to find the target,

he also noticed that the once-aggressive water demons like fish, shrimp, crabs, and the like, began to quietly sink to the bottom, with no further movement.

It was as if the tens of thousands of water demons had never existed in these waters, never been here at all.

"Such a quick reaction. This time, even if I wanted to slay demons, it’s already a bit too late."

It’s not like one can just swing a sword at the river and hope for some big stroke of luck to kill a few fish or shrimp, right?

Zhou Ping’an sighed and turned to look at a petite figure emerging from the woods, "Uncle-Master, have all the boats been gathered?"

"Just as you expected, those seventy-eight boats from the Longmu Camp didn’t turn around to leave. Instead, they rallied their fleet and sped up their vessels; they’ve closed in."

There was nothing but wonder in Yu Changsheng’s eyes.

She actually couldn’t understand what those people were thinking. After such a crushing defeat, with their leader dead and their protective deity, the old crocodile, gone without a trace, how could they still retain their fighting spirit?

Don’t they know to seek good fortune and avoid disaster?

"Actually, it’s not surprising, because even if they went back, they wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences. Otherwise, why would they be called ’Demonic Barbarians’?"

Zhou Ping’an snorted coldly.

In Great Yu, local military preparations were neglected. Apart from the private armies of various factions, the county soldiers were basically a pushover. As soon as they encountered a setback, they would immediately flee.

This was also the main reason why the northern Demonic Barbarians could advance furiously, losing cities and territory again and again.

Because the Imperial Court was unjust and life at the bottom was hard, ordinary soldiers could not find a reason to fight and die. They just wanted to live.

To die on the battlefield would likely leave their families at the rear even more miserable.

It would be slightly better to escape with their lives.

In such a world, whoever wants to protect it, let them do it.

After all, it didn’t concern them.

Under these circumstances, how could one expect to have any steadfast fighting spirit?

But the Demonic Barbarians were different; they had grown up amidst slaughter in the worst environments. Unless they were utterly desperate, they would still have a ferocious nature.

It didn’t matter if a leader died, or even if more people died, they would still invade like rabid dogs.

To eliminate this threat, intimidation wouldn’t work; you had to strike hard.

"Destroy their boats, decapitate their leaders, disperse those Totem Warriors, and then send troops to pursue and rout them."

Within a short span, Zhou Ping’an had already settled on his strategy.

Destroying an entire army didn’t require him to personally slay each enemy, too time-consuming and inefficient.

They just needed to execute the most crucial step.

"Tang Lin’er, Wei Liancheng, each leading ten thousand soldiers, have arrived."

Listening to the thunderous horse hooves and trembling ground,

he turned his head to see the distance filled with banners like a forest, and dust billowing. Zhou Ping’an knew that this meant the troops from the Eastern Lijiang Mountain section had hurried over.

These two Divine Generals must have wasted no time after receiving the pigeon message, immediately mobilizing the troops and rushing out of the city at full speed to the riverside.

"Make your move."

The two exchanged a smiling glance, and with one dressed in green and the other in white, they created gusting winds by their movement, soaring side by side.

Stepping on the water’s surface, skimming through the air, like two sharp arrows, they charged towards the Red Paulownia Fleet.

Waves of blood rolled, vessels burst, and many warriors were plunged into the river, their cries of agony mingled into a single sound.

...

"Ancestor, your disciple wishes to obtain a blood lotus to shape his body and heal his injuries; please show mercy, great Ancestor."

At this time, Cui Guangling’s body had already recovered, looking no different from before in the great hall.

Yet, upon closer inspection, one could see his energy was greatly diminished, his complexion as pale as a ghost.

Practicing the Blood Shadow Divine Skill and ending up anemic, can you believe it?

This revealed just how severe the injury inflicted by Zhou Ping’an’s Sea-Splitting Sword was.

The spot where he was struck was eradicated from the very root, from the laws themselves. Had he not dodged quickly, he might not have lost just half his life; his entire being could have been at stake.

’Damn him, so scheming and vicious, hiding on the side without being detected. How on earth did he manage to hide?’ Cui Guangling seethed with anger, now hiding within the Underground Palace, still seeing darkness before his eyes.

Just as he relaxed slightly, observing the evolving situation on the chessboard... before he could start to recover from his disadvantaged position, a "dead" piece on the board jumped up and bit him fiercely.

It was simply unbearable.

Had he known this would happen, why foster a tiger that becomes a threat? He should’ve just dispatched a large force to crush him.

Cui Guangling was deviously cunning.

Even as the Jinguang struck, he had already sensed something was amiss.

He noticed the golden light contained ferocious and Tremendous Strength; if he had not intercepted it, the power of the impact followed by the blade would put him in great danger.

Thus, he had to swing his sword in advance to disrupt the attack before its full potential was unleashed.

To his surprise, it was a trap.

And because of his overly forceful strike, he shattered the golden egg, bringing reconciliation with the Old Crocodile out of question. Helplessly, he had to fight a desperate battle.

In the end, he was taken advantage of by others.

In this battle, he was outmaneuvered at every turn, like a complete fool.

The injuries were bad enough.

But this humiliation, he truly couldn’t bear.

"Useless!"

The young man in red robes reclined on a Taishi Chair, a Blood grape passed from the maid in his mouth, looking deeply dissatisfied.

"With such treasures at your disposal, you couldn’t even overpower that Old Crocodile, let alone being ambushed. Are you trying to make a fool out of me, your ancestor?"

His gaze swept over the Myriad Spirits Blood Sword at Cui Guangling’s waist with a trace of greed, but he held back and scolded angrily, "Even giving you a blood lotus is a waste. Cui Guangling, instead of trying to exhaust my remaining resources, you’d be better off preparing for the ritual sacrifice. I don’t ask for much, just three cities’ worth of Blood Food, no, just two will suffice...

Once my injuries are fully recovered, with just a wave of my hand, I can help you eliminate your enemies without any trouble, so why go through such hassle?"

"The matter shouldn’t be handled this way, Ancestor. As your disciple, I have always been respectful. Over the years, I’ve provided no less than five hundred pairs of boys and girls, and I’ve prepared two small ritual sacrifices, which allowed you to recover from a mere wisp of Blood Shadow to your current state. I’ve done my duty; is it too much to ask for a single blood lotus?"

Cui Guangling’s expression was even more sycophantic, his face a picture of misery as he pleaded earnestly.

"Get out, I’ve already said it. To get something, you have to pay for it. Is this your first day knowing me? Without my help, you would only be a weak, destitute Martial Artist, likely dead in the forests long ago. Where would you have today’s splendor? And now you’re trying to bargain with me? Are you out of your mind?"

The red-robed middle-aged man glared fiercely, his eyes narrowing into triangles, fixed intently on Cui Guangling.

If he didn’t still need this man to do his bidding, he would have slapped him dead by now.

However, the Spirit Tide has only just passed its second wave, not yet the best time to emerge.

Just look at that Old Crocodile, with all his abilities, he could only use a third of them and couldn’t truly unleash the power of Physical refining. As a result, he was tricked by the younger generation, wanting both to live forever and to die.

The past serves as a warning.

"Given that, don’t blame your disciple then."

Cui Guangling raised his head.

His eyes were full of cold determination.

"Please, Ancestor, take this journey and lend your disciple a hand."

As he spoke, he drew the Blood Sword in his hand, sliding it across the palm of his hand.

With the blood pouring over it, the sword suddenly emitted an overwhelming red glow and plunged into the ground’s pattern.