Chapter 30: A Cup of Wine to Divide the World
Crack..
Huo Hengxuan raised the enormous halberd with one hand. Beneath his newly grown feet, the stone wall of the city cracked open like a spiderweb.
The immense power pressed down like a mountain. The stone atop the battlements couldn't withstand it and caved in one after another from the center outward, forming a massive crater.
From afar, the entire city wall appeared to have collapsed. Only two figures could be seen standing opposed, a halberd between them.
But even so, the cultivators and soldiers locked in a bloody battle below saw the sight, and at once their blood boiled and their eyes turned red as they roared to the heavens in a frenzy.
Huo Hengxuan's voice rang out across the battlefield.
They were overcome with emotion. Even the tide of battle briefly reversed, forcing the Black Armored Army back by three zhang.
General Huo was not dead. The God of Slaughter of Liang had not been broken!
He still stood tall!
Just like the day at the city gate, where he alone, sword in hand, stood unshakable, forcing the enemy to retreat.
As long as he stood there, people would believe, so long as Huo Hengxuan lived, Liang would not fall!
Huo Hengxuan stood at the center of the crater, lifting his head to look at Li Hongling, the withered old face twisted into a mocking smile.
His hands and feet had all regenerated by now. Their skin was drastically different from the rest of his body, pale and delicate, veins bulging, unnaturally youthful.
In truth, this was the state his body should have always been in, as a Grandmaster.
His aged appearance had only ever been a deliberate disguise to command respect within the military.
Now that he no longer restrained himself, his natural energy and vitality surfaced, and his newly grown limbs reflected this difference.
Li Hongling's crimson eyes fixed tightly on him.
There was disbelief and shock in her gaze, but it wasn't because Huo Hengxuan had broken free of his restraints.
"I may not yet be a Grandmaster," she said coldly, "but I know the Master Realm is famed for its 'indestructible body.' In reality, it's merely the result of the body's vitality being pushed to the extreme."
"Even if the head is severed or the heart pierced, it can heal in moments."
"But this is only possible if the head is intact, the heart remains in place, and they're immediately reconnected to the body."
"I have never heard of regeneration from nothing."
She said grimly, "This is not an ability that belongs to the Master Realm."
"Hmph."
Huo Hengxuan sneered and flung the two corpses of the Black Armored Guards like rag dolls. They flew like cannonballs, crashing down on the distant battlefield.
A thunderous rumble echoed as the shattered ruins were leveled once more...
He brought his hands together around the halberd's shaft, attempting to wrest control of the weapon. Li Hongling immediately sensed his intent.
"Hah!"
She roared, unleashing a torrent of force, spinning the halberd violently before slamming it down.
Martial Saint's ultimate technique, Tyrant Storm of Wind and Rain!
Boom!
The spinning power howled like a storm, sweeping everything with its overpowering and brutal force. In just an instant, another section of the wall crumbled, dust blasting in every direction.
It resembled a miniature sandstorm!
The force didn't stop, extending downward. The wall completely cracked, and the foundation stones beneath shattered one by one with sharp snaps.
From above, the entire wall was now the center of a crater hundreds of zhang in diameter.
The pit wasn't deep, but within its radius, all birds and beasts dropped dead in an instant.
One strike, and the birds and beasts across the mountains fell silent, what a magnificent scene!
Flying Phoenix General Li Hongling, ranked thirteenth on the Canglang Evaluation. Her critique: overbearing in strength, lacking in spirit, successor to the Martial Saint's legacy, but possessing only the external mantle.
In other words, she bore the name, but not the worth.
Despite being stronger than the two ranked before her, she was only placed thirteenth.
But this single strike, was enough to vault her into the top ten.
A genius among talents, matching the heaven-chosen.
Yet in Huo Hengxuan's eyes, this technique was still not enough.
It had a third of the form, but lacked the divine spirit of Mu Zhao's Tyrant Wind.
Because Meteor Abyss spun like a cogwheel, Huo Hengxuan couldn't seize it outright and had to intercept the halberd's edge head-on.
He sank his energy to his dantian, muscles coiling like steel cables, veins bulging at his temples. With a loud roar, the golden light flickered more intensely over his body, and his blood surged wildly.
He had originally planned to stop the halberd mid-strike and counterattack.
This should have been an easy feat.
But, at that critical moment..
He felt a sudden stagnation in his energy and blood. His surging Spiritual Energy reversed sharply.
Boom!
Huo Hengxuan's face turned pale as he was pushed backward, dragged across the crumbling wall until he crashed into the corner tower, leaving a man-shaped crater.
The tower trembled, nearly collapsing.
Huo Hengxuan immediately sensed what was wrong.
The restraints had not been completely removed!
The golden needles had all been inserted, except one.
It was that one missing needle that sealed off one of his major meridians. Spiritual Energy could not circulate the full cycle. Half his power was gone!
In the past, Huo Hengxuan had absolute confidence that even with half his strength, defeating a half-step Grandmaster in the Moon-Embracing Realm would be easy.
But now, he had been tortured for eight straight days. His energy and blood were greatly depleted.
He instantly realized who had tampered with the needles.
The old man's expression turned blank, and he said nothing.
Li Hongling burst into laughter. "Huo Hengxuan, so what if your Divine Ability is unparalleled? So what if you regrew your legs?"
"The first time, you lost to human nature. The second time, you lose all the same!"
She shouted, "So what if you can defend a city? You cannot defend a nation!"
With that, her halberd thrust forth once again like a raging dragon.
Boom!
The corner tower collapsed. The entire wall crumbled.
Li Hongling's halberd smashed Huo Hengxuan down toward the ground.
In mid-air, Huo Hengxuan grabbed the halberd and raised his head. There was none of the despair or sorrow she expected from betrayal.
Instead, he wore an expression that absolutely did not belong on his face, serene and at peace.
His eyes passed over Li Hongling, gazing at the starlit sky.
"You're wrong. I was never here to defend a city. Nor to defend a nation."
"I was only ever, stalling for time."
Before he hit the ground, Huo Hengxuan suddenly vanished and reappeared behind Li Hongling.
His veins writhed and burst open. Blood mist sprayed outward.
His face contorted in pain.
He was forcibly rupturing his meridians!
It was practically suicide, certain death!
"His Majesty, before he died... once poured me half a cup of wine."
Huo Hengxuan stood soaked in blood, his gaze calm, face streaming with blood like tears. He raised two fingers in a sword gesture.
Behind him, a sword of ten thousand zhang materialized in the void, suspended high in the sky.
"He said, 'Hengxuan, today, I will divide the world with this cup of wine. I stake the fate of the nation on a single shadow.'"
"I asked him, 'What would you have me do?'"
"He said, 'You must help that shadow, escape.'"
Li Hongling's heart trembled. The overwhelming sword intent horrified her. She paled and retrieved her life-saving Spiritual Treasure.
At that moment, her personal guard, Qingcuo, rushed over and shouted:
"General! The Heavenly Prison has fallen! The Liang consort and the musician have escaped!"
...
Overjoyed, Wei Su prepared to give this meddling, duplicitous musician a painful lesson.
Since he'd already lost an arm, why not rip out that silver tongue too...
But just as he thought this, the one-armed Chen Kuang placed his remaining hand on the zither.
Wei Su nearly laughed out loud. This idiot, he must have lost his mind!
He had seen it clearly earlier: this guy's technique relied on sound-based attacks.
But now the zither's strings, had been erased by his Stealing Heaven, Swapping Sun. That bare frame couldn't produce a single note.
How could he kill with it?
But as he looked at Chen Kuang, the musician gave him a strange smile.
"Who told you," he said, "that you can't kill, without strings?"
Dragon Gums was a sword.
The killing intent came from the will. Never the sound.