radicalducati Chapter 80: Each Goes Their Own Way
Chapter 80: Each Goes Their Own Way
Outside Shuitian Village, Li Chong rode a pure black warhorse, standing on a small hill three miles outside the village.
Behind him were five royal attendants and thirty temple protectors gathered from various counties.
Most of these guardians were only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and many of them had only recently broken through, with weak foundations. However, when they gathered together, the spiritual energy released by the thirty-odd people intertwined to form a suppressive aura, causing the surrounding plants to bow low.
"My king, right ahead is Shuitian Village."
A worshipper immediately stepped forward and pointed to the village that was faintly visible in the distance.
The village remained peaceful, with the midday sun shining through the dense field ridges, making the water ripple and the tender seedlings lush and green.
Li Chong squinted. According to the information he knew, the fairy willows of Shuitian Village were rooted by the lake behind the mountain.
"Skip the village and head straight for Xianliu!"
As soon as Li Chong gave the order, the five worshippers immediately dispersed, each leading six temple guardians, and went around Shuitian Village in five different directions, encircling the back mountain.
Under the cover of a group of soldiers, he went straight through the dirt road in the village and arrived at the back mountain of Shuitian Village.
Many villagers who were farming in the fields were amazed by the sight.
Someone informed Chen Hong of this news, and the hundreds of cultivators in the village quickly gathered by the lake to discuss countermeasures.
"Brother Chen, this is a much bigger operation than last time!"
A middle-aged man said in a low voice, his hand tightly gripping a hoe, his trouser legs and the hoe still covered in mud.
Chen Hong looked solemn as he gazed at the hundreds of people gathered by the lake. Most of them had shallow cultivation levels, with the strongest being only at the third level of Qi Refining.
Recalling the scene of the last attack on Shuitian Village by the royal army, back then, the Immortal Venerable was present and could have easily dealt with everything by himself. But now the Immortal Venerable is gone, and only these newly initiated worshippers remain...
Although everyone was afraid, not one of them backed down.
Chen Hong's gaze swept over the dark mass of figures on the distant hillside, his eyes gleaming with suppressed shrewdness.
"We swear to protect the Immortal Willow with our lives!"
He shouted loudly, and in an instant, everyone's blood boiled. They grabbed their weapons and surrounded the willow tree, preparing to fight against the well-equipped dynasty army, which was guarded by dozens of Foundation Establishment experts.
As soon as Li Chong's army stepped into the lake area, they felt an indescribable vitality rushing towards them.
On the distant lakeshore, the willow tree gleamed in the sunlight, each leaf seemingly carved from jade. As its branches swayed, a verdant aura of nature lingered like smoke and mist.
"This willow tree is indeed extraordinary..."
Greed gleamed in Li Chong's eyes. He could clearly sense that the spiritual energy emanating from this willow tree was purer and more concentrated than any other spiritual object in the palace.
Legend has it that the Immortal Willow can enlighten mortals, allowing even those without talent to embark on the path of cultivation.
In the world of short-lived beings, what kind of heaven-defying divine power is this? If the rumors are true, then the strength of the hundreds of ordinary soldiers behind him will be greatly enhanced.
And what about the entire army of the capital? The same logic applies: "If we obtain the Immortal Willow, the royal family will be invincible!"
Even though Ye Xuan had personally arrived in the capital, the king was still eyeing Xianliu, which is why he personally led troops to conquer Shuitian Village.
"Form ranks!"
At this moment, the five royal retainers also arrived. The white-haired elder, who had the highest cultivation level, gave a low shout, and the five of them each occupied a position on the lakeside. They formed hand seals, and spiritual power surged from their bodies, weaving into a strange pattern in mid-air.
This is the Spirit Gathering Array of the capital. Once the array is formed, it can absorb the spiritual energy of all the spiritual objects within it in a short period of time, which is undeniably powerful.
Li Chong gazed at the array that was about to be formed in the sky and took out a white jade bottle with gold trim from his pocket.
The bottle in his hand slowly floated to the center of the array. Once the spirit-gathering array took effect, the gathered spiritual energy would converge in the bottle.
At that time, the spiritual energy contained within the willow tree will be drained, and digging it up entirely will be an easy task...
Just as Li Chong was contemplating his successful plan and his impending eternal fame, an arrow shot out from an unknown direction.
The crude arrow shot towards the jade bottle in mid-air, but was shattered by the aftershocks just as it approached the magic array.
"A bunch of country bumpkins want to get in the way?"
In Li Chong's view, a hundred or so people had gathered under the willow tree, but they were all ordinary people with low cultivation levels, and were not to be feared at all.
He simply waved his hand, and hundreds of soldiers behind him brandished their halberds and swarmed forward.
Chen Hong and Xu Huan, the two with the highest cultivation levels in the group, stepped forward to stand in front of everyone and face the oncoming imperial army.
One person controlled the raging fire formed from spiritual energy, while the other detonated the talisman in their hand.
However, two fists cannot fight against four hands. Although the two used all their skills, they could only barely resist hundreds of well-equipped soldiers.
Seeing that the two were struggling to cope, the many worshippers hiding behind the willow tree stopped standing by and joined the battle.
Although their cultivation level was not high, they could not withstand a mortal with no cultivation for long, even with complete weapons and armor.
Before long, the tide turned and the dynasty's army was defeated.
However, behind the army, there were also thirty ancestral hall protectors transferred from various counties, who dealt another blow to the people of Shuitian Village.
"..."
The two groups of people looked at each other. Only when the worshippers from Shuitian Village truly faced the powerful cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage did they realize the vast difference between the two sides!
The difference is so great that it's no exaggeration to say that a firefly is compared to the bright moon.
Only three members of the temple's guardian deity were dispatched, yet they managed to subdue all of the more than one hundred worshippers in Shuitian Village!
Chen Hong was struck squarely in the chest by a magical attack, and now he was crawling on the ground in pain, but there was no sign of retreat in his eyes.
This devotee, who had followed Xianliu in cultivation since the beginning, always believed that the Immortal Venerable would bestow his power to help them break through the encirclement...
"Hang in there a little longer, sir."
Before he could finish speaking, a burning pain, as if his chest were being scorched by fire, spread throughout his body, causing him to faint.
The protector who had severely injured Chen Hong stepped forward and placed his foot on Chen Hong's chest, where the skin had been scalded and turned black.
The intense pain briefly brought Chen Hong back to consciousness. He tried to fight back desperately, but his hands were completely powerless.
"A group of old, weak, sick and disabled people, even if they are given so-called immortal magic, they are still old, weak, sick and disabled in the end."
Spitting on Chen Hong's face, the protector mocked these talentless worshippers. In his eyes, comparing these people to ants was an insult to ants.
The villagers of Shuitian Village, humiliated by this act, were powerless to do anything. The insurmountable gap in their cultivation levels was not something that could be bridged simply by pride...
A protector approached Li Chong, "Your Majesty, what should be done with these people?"
Li Chong had no interest in this and let them do as they pleased; he only cared about the spirit-gathering array that was about to take shape in mid-air.