Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 502
The news of the fall of six important towns on the northwest border in one day quickly spread to Luojing City thousands of miles away.

Princess Xiao Wanjun of Zhaoning sat at the desk, looked at the report in front of her, and sighed long.

At first, Princess Zhaoning felt her heart beating involuntarily, like a turbulent river, unable to calm down for a long time when she saw words such as "one hundred thousand troops overwhelmed the city" and "countless practitioners of the fourth level and above" repeatedly appeared in the report.

As the actual ruler of the Great Qi Dynasty for a long time, and she has read the classics of practice, she knows better than anyone that practitioners in the Great Wilderness are a scarce resource - not only there are no one in ten thousand, but also need to invest a lot of resources to cultivate.

There are very few monks at the fourth level and above who can fly with imperial weapons.

But under the command of the rebel, hundreds of flying practitioners have gathered—this is equivalent to emptying out the high-level combat power of several provinces of the Daqi Dynasty.

"There are so many monks who betrayed the imperial court," Princess Zhaoning frowned, thinking with worry in her heart, "Besides the traitor Zhao Changying, even the Jiange Pavilion Master Xu Man stood by them.

"Could it be true that in this world, as the prophecy said, wars will come and the Great Qi Dynasty will be replaced?"

But she soon saw that the enemy's mighty army and those frightening monks were not real, but paper figurines drawn by the technique of talismans.

Zhao Changying and Xu Man didn't make a move at all.

The defenders of each city simply chose to surrender after seeing a destructive golden lightning falling from the sky.

But Princess Zhaoning did not relax a bit because of this.

"Gu Xu's accomplishments in the way of talismans...should be very close to the level of a master?" She thought silently, "Maybe he is already a master.

"After all, even the Grand Master of Qi has never manipulated such a large army of paper figurines.

"And his golden lightning, what kind of spell is it? It's exactly the same as the thunder that father summoned with the 'Tai'a Sword'!
"..."

Thinking of this year's Lantern Festival night, when she and Gu Xu were standing by the Luo River to comment on the group arena match, and thinking that in just a few months, Gu Xu had already stood on the opposite side of the Daqi Dynasty, Princess Zhaoning couldn't help but feel deeply sorry for this.

If there were no such mistakes, if this amazingly talented young man is still serving the Daqi Dynasty, how wonderful it would be!
However, as an increasingly mature ruler, Princess Zhaoning did not spend much time thinking about the past.

She quickly restrained the fluctuating emotions in her eyes, and became calm and indifferent.

A few minutes later, she took a carriage, accompanied by guards, and arrived at the residence of Daqi Guoshi.

The national teacher is still the same as before, dark, thin, and plainly dressed, not like a revered saint and strong man, but more like an old farmer working in the field.

The only change in appearance is that there are a few more wrinkles on his face, making him look older and more haggard.

At this time, the national teacher was standing beside a long table, staring down at a scroll that was several meters long.

In the picture scroll, the vast battlefield stretches into the distance, and the smoke of war fills the air, reflecting the silvery white moonlight.The tall and majestic city walls collapsed and cracked, and the broken stones danced with the flames.

In the center of the battlefield, soldiers brandished swords, guns and halberds, fighting bloody battles.

They have dignified faces, wearing armor, and their war robes are hunting.

This is undoubtedly a masterpiece of superb craftsmanship and perfection.

It's just that it makes Princess Zhaoning feel very strange——

That is, none of the characters in the painting close their eyes.

Their eye sockets were all blank, giving off an abrupt and weird feeling.

At this moment, Grand Master of Qi suddenly turned his head to look at Princess Zhaoning next to him: "Have you heard of the art of 'Energizing Eyes'?"

Princess Zhaoning nodded.

She read Daozang thoroughly, and naturally knew that it was a talisman spell that was once considered lost by the world.

But recently, in the hands of Zhao Xinran, a well-known talisman master in the capital, and Gu Xu, the leader of the anti-thief, it has shown amazing mystery, like a miracle of creating life out of thin air.

"I thought I knew enough about it," Master Guo sighed, "but unexpectedly, I still underestimated its upper limit."

As he spoke, he lifted a slender brush from the table.

Without dipping in the ink, just dot it directly on the scroll.

In the empty eye sockets of the soldiers on the picture scroll, eyes soon appeared—not dark eyeballs, but complicated and obscure talisman patterns.

As the national teacher chanted the mantra softly, these soldiers who had been stationary came to life one after another.

They broke free from the scrolls and turned into little people the size of a thumb, holding all kinds of weapons in their hands, fighting hard on the paper.

All of a sudden, the sound of beating drums, shouts, and metal collisions filled the room and lasted for a long time.

Princess Zhaoning focused on this pocket battlefield.

As an ordinary person with no talent for cultivation, even though she kept the principles of many spells firmly in her heart, whenever she saw such a miraculous scene, she was still full of envy for the monks who possessed extraordinary power.

After a while, the national teacher gently put down the brush in his hand.

The fighting villains stopped their movements one after another, returned to the scroll, and changed back to their previous flat, static, and lifeless appearance.

It's just different from the previous picture——

Many soldiers fell in a pool of blood and lost their vitality.Blood stained the battlefield red and flowed all over the earth.

The high-hanging flag also fell to the ground and was trampled to pieces.

"Three hundred," Da Qi Guoshi murmured, "This is my limit."

Princess Zhaoning could hear what he meant.

On the northwest border, Gu Xu controlled an army of [-] paper figurines and conquered six cities in a row.

Perhaps his ability to draw talismans is not as good as that of the national teacher for the time being.

But his control has reached the level where the national teacher can't help himself.

After a short silence, the national teacher frowned, and asked again: "Do you know why Gu Xu suddenly became a traitor on the day of the Luoshui meeting?
"I originally hoped that he would be able to master the 'Seven Styles of Burning Heaven' in the future, inherit the mantle of my teacher Chi Yangzi, and become the new pillar of the Great Qi Dynasty."

"I don't know," Princess Zhaoning shook her head lightly, "Perhaps, Father had already anticipated today's situation during the process of retreat."

"Then have you thought about how to deal with it?" the national teacher asked.

"The northwest border has fallen," the princess said with a serious tone, "if we don't stop it, the rebels will drive straight in and take the hinterland of Daqi.

"Zhao Changying and Xu Man have already appeared in their army formation—even though they are just paper figures, I think Gu Xu would not dare to use their images if the real person didn't nod in agreement.

"This also means that if we want to solve them, we need to deal with at least one saint and one true king."

(End of this chapter)