Chapter 72: First Blood

Wang Ping walked straight out of the secret room.

He didn't leave the County Yamen. Instead, his figure flashed, reappearing directly on the building's overhanging gable roof to calmly overlook the sprawling Longxing County City.

Longxing County now held no secrets from him.

He simply pushed his spiritual sense high into the clouds and cast it downward, effortlessly taking in every detail, large and small, inside and outside the city.

'Three places.'

Wang Ping scanned his surroundings, calculating in his mind:

'Outside the city, the Xuanjia Camp is locked in a standoff with the Tabai Camp, protecting the black-headed commoners beyond the walls. But it looks like they are losing ground.'

'Inside the city, over a hundred demons are running rampant. They aren't killing anyone, but they are stealing lifespans and sending them all to the same place... Youren Temple. Not exactly a surprise. It seems the Perfected Wandering Spirit is the extraordinary person backing the National Academy.'

Wang Ping's heart sank slightly at the thought.

He knew very well that if the Six Desires Heavenly Demon Flag had appeared in Longxing County City at a time like this, Daoist Nun You was definitely involved.

The question was: 'What exactly is the relationship between the Perfected Wandering Spirit and Daoist Nun You?'

Wang Ping had seen the Perfected Wandering Spirit before. He was a young Daoist priest who had seemed unfathomable at the time, but looking at him now, he was actually nothing special.

Furthermore, the Perfected Wandering Spirit's primary method back then had been manipulating a massive black snake... Previously, Wang Ping hadn't known about the relationship between the Immortal Gate and Great Shun, so he hadn't thought much of it. But now, that black snake immediately brought to mind the Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Attainment Method.

Among the Six Desires beasts cultivated by this method, there was a snake.

More importantly, he remembered a conversation he had accidentally overheard during his second entry into the Immortal Gate, when he had transmigrated as Daoist Nun You's attendant boy.

"I heard Senior Sister's attendant boy caused a massive disaster earlier, leading to all of her dharma currency for the season being swept clean by villains?"

"I've already refined that attendant boy."

He hadn't paid it any mind at the time.

But looking back now, the point in time right before his second entry into the Immortal Gate was exactly when Chen Haoyan and Shouchong had launched their sneak attack to ransack Youren Temple!

The Perfected Wandering Spirit had seemed extremely panicked at the time... If he was Daoist Nun You's previous attendant boy, everything made sense. Because he had failed to properly guard Youren Temple against Chen Haoyan and Shouchong's ambush, Daoist Nun You refined him, which led to me taking his place...

The clues rapidly snapped together.

Then came the question: after him, who had taken over the role of the Perfected Wandering Spirit at Youren Temple? Daoist Nun You's third attendant boy?

'...No.'

Wang Ping thought of the extraordinary decapitation art he had suffered before his third entry into the Immortal Gate. That soul-striking curse perfectly matched the Soul-Falling Studio Master's methods.

This was absolutely no coincidence.

Wang Ping thought calmly to himself:

'The Soul-Falling Studio regularly sells Soul-Dropping Straw Men, which are essentially weakened versions of the Soul-Falling Studio Master's spells. The extraordinary art that decapitated me must have been one of them.'

At the same time, this reminded Wang Ping of why Pingjiangzi had been fired from the Soul-Falling Studio.

He was supposedly fired because a customer complained that a purchased Soul-Dropping Straw Man had failed to curse and kill a Mortal target... Thinking about it now, Wang Ping felt a twinge of unease.

'That Mortal... couldn't have been me, right?'

There were simply too many coincidences.

A chill ran down his spine. So many coincidences coming together to force a specific outcome—it brought to mind the destiny he had personally experienced once before.

'No, rather than destiny, it's more like the influence of the Taiping Sutra. After all, the world is so vast, yet it specifically made me respawn in Longxing County right next to Daoist Nun You. The so-called random identity transmigration was complete bullshit. Did the Taiping Sutra deliberately orchestrate my current situation?'

At this thought, Wang Ping sank into his own mind.

The next second, he arrived within the Taiping Sutra's space. Looking up at the towering tome in the center, he asked bluntly, "What is your goal?"

'If all of this was done by your design...'

'What do you want me to do?'

Wang Ping didn't expect an answer. After all, whether the answer was good or bad, he had no room to resist. He could only choose to accept it.

However, right at that moment—

Where Wang Ping's gaze fell, the towering tome suddenly lit up. The light shone directly on the fourth scripture scroll, indicating it was ready for use.

[Scroll Four: Courage of the Noble Gentleman]

[Where righteousness lies, one does not bow to power, nor heed personal gain. Even if the whole nation stands against him, his vision remains unchanged. To brave death and uphold righteousness without yielding—this is the Courage of the Noble Gentleman!]

"...Haha."

Looking at the writing on the scripture scroll, Wang Ping suddenly laughed, struck by a possibility. "Don't tell me... you just wanted me to save people?"

The scripture scroll naturally didn't reply.

But Wang Ping no longer agonized over it. His recent hesitation was swept away in an instant. His mind immediately returned to reality, replaced by firm resolve.

He actually knew that the Courage of the Noble Gentleman lighting up had nothing to do with his question. It was simply because what he planned to do next most likely aligned with the principles of upholding righteousness and adhering to justice. But at this point, he might as well treat it as the Taiping Sutra's answer.

After all, it was called the Taiping Sutra.

"Let's bring about some peace, then."

Casting his worries aside, Wang Ping took a step. His figure instantly vanished from the County Yamen's gable roof, racing outward toward the lands beyond the city like a phantom.

Meanwhile, in the wilderness outside the city.

"It's no good, we can't hold on much longer!"

Under the cover of night, Wu Xintai's face was grim. On the other side, the originally unified Xuanjia Camp was steadily losing ground, struggling to maintain their military formation.

"That suicidal maniac Yan Weichuan actually dared to collude with an extraordinary person! He's using extraordinary arts against his own comrades in the military! This is rebellion, absolute rebellion!" Wu Xintai cursed loudly, turning to the two men beside him in frantic desperation. "Sirs, please think of something!"

...

Faced with Wu Xintai's urging, Shenhou and Xugou did not answer. Their expressions were grave as they stared intently at the sky-obscuring scene outside the military formation.

What met their eyes was a massive hurricane.

The wind howled, kicking up sand and stones. Amid the oppressive, darkening dust, spectral soldiers and horses wove back and forth, as if they were the very source of the storm.

After a long silence, Shenhou finally spoke in a haunting voice. "It's true. Talisman soldiers and paper horses."

"Using talismans as soldiers to summon the wind, and paper as horses to call the rain," Xugou sighed softly. "When these troops march together, heaven and earth lose their color... extraordinary arts truly are beyond the reach of martial arts."

As royal operatives, though their official ranks weren't high, both were top-tier Titled Martial Masters capable of breaking into the top thirty-six of the Armament Manual and securing a place on the Earth Ranking. Yet even so, faced with the mighty power of heaven and earth, they could only stare in despair, completely devoid of any way to counter it.

"Should we... use that?" Xugou suggested.

Shenhou shook his head. "With our level of Divine Intent, we can only use it once. We must save it for the Longevity Rivaling Heaven Gourd. Don't even think about using it on anything else."

"I know the logic."

Xugou gritted his teeth. "But I'm afraid if we don't use it now, we'll never get the chance to."

"Not necessarily."

Shenhou was equally conflicted, but eventually, he said in a deep voice, "Retreating completely unscathed is impossible, but as long as we're willing to pay a slight price, there is still a way."

"What price?"

"Commander Wu," Shenhou turned to look at Wu Xintai. "Abandon those black-headed commoners. Stop protecting them. Form an arrowhead array and escort the two of us into the city."

Wu Xintai immediately froze at his words.

"You want me to abandon the common people?"

"Abandon the black-headed commoners," Shenhou corrected, emphasizing the distinction. "Urgent times call for desperate measures. The black-headed commoners... I cannot explain it clearly now, but rest assured, General, they will be fine."

"Bullshit!"

Wu Xintai shook his head without hesitation. "Sir, you do not hold the Emperor's Military Tally. Your words cannot serve as military orders. Forgive me, but the Xuanjia Camp cannot obey."

"This..."

Shenhou opened his mouth, but seeing Wu Xintai's resolute expression, he knew there was no room for hesitation in such a dire situation—and certainly no time to waste trying to convince the man.

Realizing this, Shenhou wasted no more words. He immediately spun around to face Xugou and snapped, "Get ready to fight for your life. We will combine our strength and charge into the city! If we stay trapped here any longer, it'll be too late. We'll end up following in Haizhu's footsteps and become nothing but gossip for the next generation!"

At those words, Xugou's expression shifted drastically.

"...Go!"

The next second, the two royal operatives pushed their Internal Force to the absolute limit. Surging out from the protection of the Xuanjia military formation, they charged fearlessly into the howling hurricane.

At the same time.

Deep within the hurricane, inside the Tabai Camp's formation.

Yan Weichuan sat on his horse with his saber laid across his lap, cursing nonstop. "That slippery bastard Old Liu. His courage is even smaller than his petty mind! To think he was actually too scared to slaughter a few black-headed commoners and ran off into the night with his cronies. And he calls himself my vice-commander..."

"Does he really have that little faith in my judgment?"

"We have an extraordinary person backing us this time! Lord Xu is vouching for me on behalf of the National Academy! What is there to fear? Once this is done, guaranteed wealth and glory await us!"

At this thought, Yan Weichuan scoffed coldly. "Whatever, we'll just say he didn't have the fortune for it. Besides, the monk can run, but he can't take the temple with him. Once I get my triple promotion, I'll drag him out of the military and punish him myself. Pass down my orders: push the formation forward! I want those black-headed commoners slaughtered as quickly as possible—"

Suddenly, Yan Weichuan froze.

Just outside the formation, walking through the hurricane's blinding dust, he saw a slender silhouette approaching him. A pair of golden eyes burned brilliantly amidst the blowing sand.

"Who goes there!"

Bolstered by the military formation, Yan Weichuan's Divine Intent was incredibly sharp. In an instant, he felt an oppressive pressure surging toward him from those golden eyes.

Yan Weichuan hastily drew his saber from its sheath.

"Clang!"

The very next second, he saw a headless corpse clutching a saber fall from a horse. The spurting blood dissolved into the wind, carrying over a pungent metallic stench.

'Who is that... why does he look a bit like me?'

His thoughts abruptly ended there.

Only then did the shockwave and sonic boom—caused by Wang Ping's physical body violently tearing through the military formation in the blink of an eye—finally arrive, exploding into rolling torrents of air around him.

"Thud!"

The headless corpse smashed into the ground with a heavy thud, while Wang Ping stood holding Yan Weichuan's severed head, staring indifferently at the surrounding soldiers and generals of the Tabai Camp.

"Who wants to be next?"