Douluo Dalu: Seven Kills

Chapter 596: Awakening (Two in One)

"That's it?"

The disdainful and scornful tone sounded again, and the God of Pride looked at the God of Anger while pointing at Chen Junting's performance. "Is this the extent of the anger you have aroused?"

"That's better than the arrogance you arouse."

The God of Anger was naturally rude and retorted.

"Okay, stop arguing."

At this time, the God of Lust interrupted the two of them.

"In my opinion, it is impossible to completely suppress his clarity with original sin. It is better to let the situation worsen and see if he can wake up from the trap of our four original sins in time."

"Makes sense."

"can."

The God of Lust's solution was quickly approved by the God of Anger and the God of Pride. As for the God of Laziness...

“ZZZ——”

Well, I don't think he would have any objection.

……

In the autumn of the tenth year of Yongjia, Chang'an City was still immersed in a false prosperity. The wine pool in the maze tower was still fragrant, and the meat forest was still dripping with grease. However, an urgent military report from 800 miles away shattered the illusory beauty like a sharp blade.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Urgent news from the northern border! The Hu Lu...the Hu Lu army broke through the Heishui Pass! Yunzhou, Daizhou...several cities have fallen! All the defending generals have died for their country!" The messenger was covered in blood, with his armor torn, and he almost crawled into the Mi Lou Zuixian Pool.

His hoarse shouting with a tone of crying, for a moment, drowned out the melodious music and dance, and also tore apart the extravagance of wine and women.

At this moment, the hall was completely silent.

The dancer froze in place, the musician's instrument slipped from his hands, and the golden cup in Li Ju's hand fell to the bottom of the emerald pool with a clang, and the scarlet wine splashed on the compassionate face of the "Bath Buddha Goddess".

But there was no confusion on his face, only panic.

Obviously, he knew, but it was more than he expected.

At the same time, Chen Junting was being fed an iced grape by Jialing. The sweet flesh was still on his tongue when the messenger's roar hit him like a heavy hammer. The lazy smile on his face froze instantly, and his eyes turned from hazy to terrifyingly sharp, as if a sleeping tiger or an old dragon in its twilight years had been suddenly awakened.

"What did you say?"

Chen Junting's voice was terribly low, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from the cracks in the ice. He stared at the messenger who broke in, and his voice seemed to come from hell, "Heishui Pass was breached?"

You know, that is the most important gateway to the northern border of the empire! It was the iron wall pass that he personally led his army to recapture after it was seized by the barbarians when the situation in the Central Plains was unstable! It took him a year of bloodshed to recapture it!
Once this pass is lost, the northern territory will be like a flat land to those barbarians and can be completely conquered!

"Yes... yes, Your Majesty! The barbarians gathered two hundred thousand cavalry and launched a surprise attack at night! At the beginning, the defenders thought it was a small force invading, so they did not take precautions, but went out to wipe out the invaders. Who would have thought that the barbarians ambushed the defenders of Heishui Pass, killing most of the elite troops. The defenders who stayed behind fought bloody battles for several months, but still let Heishui Pass break through! The defenders of Yunzhou and Daizhou fought desperately, but were eventually captured! Now the barbarians are heading south! The beacon fire has spread to Taiyuan!" The messenger burst into tears, and his forehead banged against the cold edge of the emerald pool.

"impossible!"

Li Ju screamed, his face as pale as paper, pointing at the messenger and shouting at Chen Junting: "This person must be lying about military intelligence! He wants to confuse the people with lies! Your Majesty, the northern border has always been peaceful..."

"Shut up!"

Chen Junting roared, like a loud thunder.

"Do you think I'm an idiot who doesn't know anything about military affairs?!"

He stood up suddenly, overturning the jade table in front of him, and the delicacies and fine wines spilled all over the floor. At this moment, he didn't even look at Li Ju, but kicked him over, and took two steps to the messenger, his tall figure carrying a suffocating pressure.

"I ask you, why didn't he ask for help a few months ago!?"

"Your Majesty, we are asking for help! On the day when the barbarian army broke the law, the governors of each state asked for help almost every day, but every report fell on deaf ears, and there was no response for a long time!"

"Haha, good, good!"

At this moment, Chen Junting laughed out of anger.

He already knew why this was happening!

But now, the main problem is not here.

"Who is the leader of the Hulu? How many troops does he have? What are his siege equipment? Tell me the details of the battle! Without missing a word, please explain it to me!"

Chen Junting's majesty of the emperor on horseback completely erupted at this moment, his eyes were as sharp as a knife, no longer intoxicated. The messenger was intimidated by his momentum, suppressed his fear, and told him the details of the battle one by one. Chen Junting listened attentively, his face became more and more gloomy and colder. When he heard that the flags of the remnants of several rebels that were defeated by the Shen Ce Army appeared in the Hu Lu army, and that the northern countries were also involved, he smiled again.

"What a...what a scabby disease!"

Once again, he laughed in anger, and his laughter was like a night owl, echoing in the luxurious palace with a chilling chill. Obviously, Chen Junting was furious to the extreme at this moment.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze was like a real ice cone, the dark orange light completely enveloped his pupils, and fiercely stabbed at Li Ju, who was now limp on the ground with a pale face.

"Regent? You govern the country well!"

"They are trying to cover up the truth! They even dared to intercept the military reports."

"You are deceiving the king!"

Li Ju was so frightened that his soul flew out of his body. He kowtowed like crazy, "Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your Majesty, please spare my life! I...I was also deceived by the officials below! What's more, I was also trying to please Your Majesty..."

"boom--"

With a loud bang, the extremely angry Chen Junting picked up a palace lantern beside him and smashed it hard on Li Ju's forehead.

Perhaps it was lucky, Li Ju's head was covered in blood, but at the moment he was just lying on the ground unconscious, not dead.

"Somebody come!"

Chen Junting didn't want to listen to his explanation anymore, and his voice was like the cold wind of the underworld, "Catch this traitor who deceives the emperor and harms the country and the people! Throw him into the prison! Investigate his accomplices thoroughly, and leave no one alive!" With a command, the wolf-like and tiger-like imperial guards rushed in and roughly dragged Li Ju, who was already like a pile of mud, out. And because he was unconscious, he didn't even beg for mercy.

At this moment, all the ministers and beautiful ladies in the hall who had been laughing and talking happily just now were now silent and trembling.

Jialing twisted her waist, trying to get closer to Chen Junting, and her voice was full of her usual charming and seductive voice: "Your Majesty, calm down. These few Hu slaves are nothing to worry about. Let me serve Your Majesty..."

"Go away!"

Chen Junting panted and swung his sleeves violently, but there was still enough force to sweep Jialing away, causing him to stumble a few steps and fall to the ground. At this moment, the look in his eyes when he looked at her no longer had the fascination he had in the past, but instead had a cold disgust that was like looking at a dead object. "Witch! If it weren't for you guys bewitching me all day long, how could I have neglected my government affairs and become so haggard due to being hurt by wine and sex!?"

At the same time, the world of gods.

After seeing Chen Junting's sudden change of attitude, the God of Lust was shocked, "How can he be so shameless?"

"Boom——"

The snot bubble burst, and the god of laziness woke up.

“That’s not surprising.”

"Didn't you see? Right now, the original sin of wrath has completely overwhelmed the original sins of lust and sloth. So it's normal for his spiritual deity to sweep away the incarnations of the original sins of laziness and lust. Next, it depends on how he overcomes the remaining original sins of pride and wrath. But in my opinion, well..."

It's rare that the God of Laziness said so much at once.

So what he received were the slightly surprised looks from the other six gods of original sin. But soon, this surprise was broken by the god of pride. "Hey, lazy! If you want to say something, just finish it. What do you mean by leaving a 'hmm' at the end?"

“ZZZ——”

However, the God of Laziness fell asleep again and didn't care about the God of Pride yelling at him.

When a small episode in the divine world came to an end, looking back at Chen Junting's state of mind, Jialing, who represented the embodiment of the original sin of lust, had fallen to the ground. The blood color instantly faded from her beautiful face, and for the first time, fear appeared in her eyes, which had been spoiled by being pampered in the past.

Chen Junting's gaze was like a poisoned knife, slowly sweeping across the stunning women in the palace. They were once the land of gentleness where he indulged himself, but now they were discarded like worn-out clogs, with a clear mind.

"Don't look! Besides her, there are also you!"

His voice was like the friction of cold iron, like an emotionless dusk dragon, "Come here! Strangle all the demon concubines in the maze! Hang their bodies at the North Palace of Chang'an! To thank the world!"

The cold command struck like thunder.

Suddenly, there were shrill cries and screams in the hall.

The imperial guards executed the order expressionlessly, and the cold ropes were put around the snow-white necks. The Drunken Immortal Pond, which was full of singing and dancing a moment ago, instantly turned into a Shura field. Jialing was held up by two guards. She struggled, staring at Chen Junting with resentful eyes, and screamed: "Chen Junting! If you kill me today! The curse of Shule will definitely..."

"Strangle her!"

Chen Junting interrupted harshly, without any emotion in his eyes.

Return to Shule,

The Shule Kingdom also rebelled!

When the time comes, let the whole country go to hell with you!

As the rope tightened, Jialing's curses turned into choking sounds, and her stunningly beautiful face quickly turned red, twisted, and finally turned into a dead purple. The beautiful eyes that had once confused the emperor's heart were wide open until her death.

At this moment, Chen Junting no longer looked at the corpses being dragged out. He strode out of the Drunken Immortal Pond, stepping over the spilled wine and rolling precious fruits. His stained dragon boots stepped on the cold palace bricks, making heavy and resolute sounds.

Now, deep in his eyes, except for a barely perceptible dark blue light, the rest was dark orange anger and clarity, without any interference from lust or laziness.

"Open the palace gate! Go to the You Palace!"

Then, Chen Junting gave the order, his voice full of unquestionable iron blood. At this moment, the founding hero who had been buried in luxury and debauchery for several years seemed to come back with murderous intent.

The gate of the palace was wide open, and a stale smell hit us. The abandoned crown prince Chen Shuo had been imprisoned for nearly two years. He looked haggard and his eye sockets were sunken, but his eyes were still bright, like refined gold. He was wearing an old robe that had been washed white, and was writing something at his desk. Seeing Chen Junting striding in surrounded by a group of murderous imperial guards, he was not too surprised. He just put down his pen, slowly stood up, and saluted calmly.

"Deposed Crown Prince Chen Shuo greets the Emperor."

No resentment, no anger, only peace.

Chen Junting looked at his son's thin face and those clear but compassionate eyes, and his heart seemed to be hit hard by something. He just opened his mouth, and the thousands of words were stuck in his throat, and finally turned into a heavy sigh.

"Shuo'er," Chen Junting's voice was a little hoarse and had a long-lost fatigue that belonged to a father who had done something wrong.
"Come with me."

There was no ceremonial guard and no imperial carriage.

Chen Junting took Chen Shuo and only brought a few dozen trusted guards, and left the imperial city in plain clothes. They headed north, passing through the still bustling but obviously uneasy streets of Chang'an, and walked through the gates of Chang'an City until they arrived at the outer city.

The scene before my eyes was shocking.

The once prosperous villages and towns became desolate and dilapidated, with weeds growing in the fields and no crops being harvested. Ragged, pale-faced and skinny refugees, like a gray tide, slowly crawled southward along the road. Hunger and disease had taken away the spirit in their eyes, leaving only numbness and despair. The air was filled with dust, sweat and a faint smell of decayed corpses, with no trace of the past "prosperous times of Yuanxi".

Chen Junting stopped in front of a dilapidated hut. There were refugees shivering outside. A woman was kneeling in the mud holding a dying baby, crying to the broken land: "Oh God! Open your eyes! Give the baby something to eat! Please..." Her voice was hoarse and desperate, like a dying beast. However, the child had already died.

Chen Junting watched all this silently.

He looked at the numb eyes of the refugees. As the cold wind blew, it rolled up the dust on the ground and blew the gray hair.

"Father, this is still the outer city of Chang'an, which is considered the foot of the emperor. If it's like this at the foot of the emperor, what about places further away?"

Chen Shuo spoke, his voice low and clear, but every word was like a heavy hammer hitting Chen Junting's heart, "Do you see it now? Is this what you call a prosperous age? This is why I had to rebel back then!" He pointed at the endless group of refugees and the barren fields, "Natural disasters are not to be feared, what is to be feared is man-made disasters! It is the treacherous officials in the court who are rampant and blocking the emperor's ears! It is you, father... who have closed your eyes and ears and indulged in pleasure! You have allowed people like Li Ju to exploit you! The treasury is empty, the military funds have been misappropriated, and what about the granaries now? Is there really still five years of food in the granaries?"

Chen Shuo's gaze was as sharp as a knife, piercing Chen Junting's eyes: "Father, tell me, if the barbarians break through Yanmen Pass, what will these unarmed people use to stop them? With their flesh and blood? With your wonders?!"

The last sentence, like thunder, exploded in Chen Junting's ears. His tall body shook violently, his face instantly turned pale as gold paper, and a fishy and sweet taste rushed straight to his throat. He forced himself to suppress it, and felt a bone-chilling chill rising from the soles of his feet and spreading throughout his body.

(End of this chapter)