Chapter 1738: Three Thousand Years

With the protection of the city walls gone and the strongest among them tied down by Zhou Mengyao, the troops inside Cangyun Fortress were no longer much of a concern.

No matter how one looked at it, the Yellow Turban Army had an advantage because they had double the amount of soldiers compared to their enemy.

Moreover, Qi Xuansu was personally leading from the front and directing the battle on the spot.

Qi Xuansu had now reached the Guizhen stage, with formidable strength. Since a short sword was not particularly useful on the battlefield, he had someone forge a long spear for him. One who knew how to use his fists would also know how to wield a spear.

However, relying on his tremendous physical strength, Qi Xuansu did not use the spear for thrusting. He wielded it like a staff, favoring broad sweeping strikes. Wherever his spear swept, every enemy within the fan-shaped arc before him was instantly cleared away.

Relying on his strength alone, Qi Xuansu forcibly tore open a breach. The Yellow Turban Army behind him immediately surged through, the human tide completely overwhelming the entire defensive line.

Qi Xuansu could already see the Commander’s Office. It was practically a city within a city and served as the enemy troops’ final line of defense.

The repeated failed suppression campaigns over the years had inflicted heavy losses on the Commander’s Office, leaving the city’s defenders severely undermanned.

Under normal circumstances, defending the entire Commander’s Office would require at least 800 men. Yet fewer than 500 troops had retreated inside, leaving considerable gaps in the defenses.

Qi Xuansu did not attempt a frontal assault. Instead, he ordered his men to bring out all the black powder they had accumulated over the past six months and use it to blast open a breach at a weakly defended point. The Yellow Turban Army then charged through the opening.

However, after entering the Commander’s Office, Qi Xuansu could clearly feel that the yin energy here was vastly more intense. It almost felt as though he had returned to the outskirts of the Ghost Kingdom.

Empowered by the yin energy, these 500 elite troops became even stronger. Fortunately, the Yellow Turban Army had also learned some rudimentary methods of using incense power. Their primary method was to invite a deity to possess their bodies. After drinking talisman water, their physiques were strengthened and their physical power increased. Coupled with their numerical advantage, they were still capable of confronting the government troops head-on.

This was also the fundamental reason Zhou Mengyao could not come here alone. Without Qi Xuansu and these 2,000 Yellow Turban Soldiers, even after advancing to the Heavenly Being stage, Zhou Mengyao would have had to face Li Yuanjing and 1,000 of his elite troops upon arriving here. There might even have been formations or similar measures awaiting her, which would have made the situation extremely precarious.

Just then, a figure plummeted from the sky and slammed heavily into the Commander’s Office, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air.

Zhou Mengyao had knocked Li Yuanjing out of the sky.

However, Li Yuanjing, who had already entered the preliminary stages of passive fusion with the yin realm, was far from dead. He soon rose from the ruins again. Although he looked battered and disheveled, there was no threat to his life, and he did not even appear to have suffered many obvious injuries.

Zhou Mengyao frowned slightly. If they could not kill Li Yuanjing, then they would not be able to accomplish their objective.

It seemed they would have to sever Li Yuanjing’s connection to the yin energy or seek his cooperation. Either way, the key still lay with the source of the yin energy.

Qi Xuansu ordered his men to continue wiping out the remaining troops while he himself charged toward Li Yuanjing.

Whether they intended to sever Li Yuanjing’s connection to the yin energy or cooperate with him, they first had to bring the situation firmly under their control. Zhou Mengyao was still finding it somewhat strenuous, so Qi Xuansu needed to lend her a hand.

Qi Xuansu drew Qing Yuan and drove it viciously into Li Yuanjing’s heart.

Zhou Mengyao also descended from the sky and struck the crown of Li Yuanjing’s head with her palm.

Working together, the two finally subdued Li Yuanjing.

The capture of the Commander dealt a devastating blow to the morale of the remaining troops, and they began to collapse across the entire battlefield.

At last, the Yellow Turban Army completely occupied the Commander’s Office, securing an overwhelming victory.

This meant that the rule of the Commander’s Office had been completely overthrown, and this world had ushered in an entirely new era under the rule of the Taiping Religion.

Zhou Mengyao dragged Li Yuanjing into his study, while Qi Xuansu remained outside to deal with the aftermath.

By the time Qi Xuansu had finished making all the necessary arrangements and arrived at the study, Zhou Mengyao was already speaking with Li Yuanjing.

“Li Yuanjing, although we may be unable to do anything to you right now, we have already taken down the Commander’s Office. The Taiping Religion will undergo a massive expansion, which means more believers and more incense power, so much so that one day, I will be able to sever you from this world.

“All it takes is a little time. Though it’s somewhat troublesome, when that day comes, it will be difficult to say what fate awaits you. However, if you are willing to cooperate now, there is still room for negotiation. If you make things easier for us, we’ll also make it easy for you. You should understand that we are merely passing through this world. We will leave eventually. Our only objective is to find a way out.”

Qi Xuansu had always known that Zhou Mengyao was highly skilled at bargaining with others. Back on Blue Cloud Island, she had even managed to strike a deal with the humanoid insects to join forces against him. She simply had not expected her calculations to go awry afterward.

Li Yuanjing responded with silence, but he did not reject her outright.

Although the Commander viewed himself as one who patrolled the realm on behalf of Heaven, he knew that the yin energy was a double-edged sword. Its power was constantly eroding him, seeking to drag him into another cold and dark world of death.

Even Li Yuanjing felt fear at such a prospect. To escape this horrifying fate, he had spent all these years planning a great undertaking. This was also the fundamental reason he had relentlessly exploited the people under his rule.

This great undertaking was a vast project that required enormous amounts of manpower and resources.

However, this great undertaking had ultimately fallen short at the final hurdle because of the two unforeseen variables that were Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao.

After a moment, Li Yuanjing spoke. “You have breached the Commander’s Office. I am already on a path to certain death.”

“Not necessarily,” Zhou Mengyao replied. “Do not presume to judge us based on your own assumptions. We know far more than you do. Perhaps we can come to an arrangement.”

Li Yuanjing gave Zhou Mengyao a long, searching look before turning his gaze toward Qi Xuansu beside her. “Just who are you people?”

“We are from the Daoist Order,” Qi Xuansu replied.

“You call yourselves the Taiping Religion, and judging by your attire, I know that you are Daoists,” Li Yuanjing said. “Daoists rebelling against the authorities is hardly anything new. I know that better than most.”

“This Daoist Order is not the one you knew,” Qi Xuansu explained. “The Daoist Order of today is the master of the Eastern world. The breadth of its territory far exceeds even the Qi Dynasty at its height. Now, the Daoist Order’s territories include Silla, Fenglin, Nanyang, Shakya, and the Western Region. The Confucian School is little more than a vassal, while the Buddhist Sect is merely a defeated foe. Even the Emperor himself is also a Daoist. The two of us belong to this new Daoist Order. We became stranded here and had no choice but to borrow the concept and rename it the Taiping Religion to gather divine power. The two should not be conflated. The strength of the Daoist Order is beyond anything you can imagine. So just because there are things you do not understand does not mean that we do not understand them, and just because there are problems you cannot solve does not mean that we cannot solve them.”

Li Yuanjing did not know whether he should believe these claims, yet at the same time, he found himself with little choice but to believe them.

After all, the abilities and methods displayed by the two people before him were indeed far beyond those of ordinary people.

Qi Xuansu continued, “We do not lack an understanding of the fundamental nature of worlds, but we do lack knowledge of this particular world. You, on the other hand, have been here for more than 1,000 years and understand this world far better than we do...”

“Not just 1,000 years,” Li Yuanjing softly interrupted. “I have spent 3,000 years here. Although I repeatedly enter periods of slumber to pass the long stretches of time, my subordinates have continued to keep track of time and update the calendar for me. So I remember it very clearly. More than 3,000 years have passed. Over these three millennia, rebellions like this have occurred so many times that I can no longer remember how many there were, but I suppressed every single one of them. If not for the two of you, the outcome of this rebellion would have been no different.”

Both Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao were taken aback.

They had always calculated the passage of time according to the years from the Qi Dynasty to the Great Xuan Dynasty. Li Yuanjing had been born during the reign of the Qi Dynasty’s founding emperor and had been active during Emperor Taizong’s reign. By the present era of the Great Xuan Dynasty, more than 1,000 years had passed.

But according to Li Yuanjing, he had already spent 3,000 years here. That could only mean one thing—time did not flow at the same rate in the two worlds. Time here passed roughly three times faster than in the outside world.

In other words, Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao had spent roughly half a year here, while only two months had passed in the outside world.

If the two of them had truly been missing for half a year, the Daoist Order would inevitably have been alarmed. Qi Xuansu would have been absent from his duties without cause for half a year, and no matter how tolerant Great Sage Shi might be, he would still demand an explanation from him.

Although Zhou Mengyao held no official position within the Daoist Order, with the selection of the Grand Master approaching, the Earthly Preceptor would certainly have needed Zhou Mengyao to handle certain matters. If Zhou Mengyao suddenly vanished without a trace, neither seen alive nor found dead, the Earthly Preceptor would certainly investigate the matter as well.

If the Daoist Order launched an investigation, they could easily trace the anomaly back to Yunmeng Marsh. With the Daoist Order’s power, dealing with an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon would not be particularly difficult. However, if the Heavenly Demon’s incarnation were destroyed, whether Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao could still leave this place and return to the mortal world would be another matter entirely.

And if someone within the Daoist Order harbored malicious intentions, this would be an excellent opportunity to kill with a borrowed blade.

Taking it a step further, perhaps even the selection of the seventh-generation Grand Master would already have been settled by then.

As things stood, only two months had passed outside, so it was not too late yet. Little Yin’s advanced studies had not even ended. They were right at a critical juncture, and everything depended on how Su Yuanzai and Shi Bingyun had communicated with each other. They might already have reported the matter to the Daoist Order, or they might still be waiting.

Presumably, Su Yuanzai was deeply conflicted as well. If he reported the matter, the Golden Tower Council would certainly reprimand him, and he might even receive a major demerit. But if he did not report it and Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao failed to return, there would be no way to keep the matter under wraps. When that happened, his culpability would be even greater.

Su Yuanzai wanted to gamble that Qi Xuansu and Zhou Mengyao would emerge safe and sound, keeping the situation within manageable bounds. Then, at an appropriate time, he could report the matter to the Golden Tower Council while conveniently glossing over the loss of the Myriad Manifestations Body.

Li Yuanjing finally spoke. “During my first millennium here, I could still leave the Commander’s Office and Cangyun Fortress and travel throughout this world. Although I could not leave the world itself, that was already good enough. That was also when I was at my weakest. Aside from possessing an undying body, I was no different from an ordinary mortal in every other respect. I also tried to gather the power of the masses, but unlike the two of you, I had no idea how to refine it, so I eventually gave up.

“Toward the end of the first millennium, I was assassinated, and I died. The power of the yin energy brought me back from the dead, and I regained the cultivation I once possessed in the mortal world. However, my movements became restricted to Cangyun Fortress, and that was how I spent the second millennium.

“During the third millennium, I became capable of controlling even more yin energy and broke through to become a Heavenly Being. However, I could also feel the yin energy binding me ever more tightly, seeking to drag me into the yin realm. To deal with this situation, I began preparations that would span an entire millennium.”