Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 117: One Oil Lamp, One Peak
After hearing this, the Xuanming Patriarch chuckled and said, "If I want to lead you out of this magic circle, I will need to consume a lot of mana and divine consciousness, and my vitality will be greatly damaged. How can the blood of hundreds of women be enough to restore it? This time, I don't want people, I just want an object."

After hearing this, the generals cursed in their hearts, "This old man has already discovered that this is a magic array, but he kept it to himself. When the army has no way to escape, he took the opportunity to extort money. What he wants must be very expensive."

Touman asked, "What does the ancestor want?"

"What I want is the bone chain around the Khan's neck!"

Everyone was furious when they heard this. This bone chain dates back more than a thousand years. It was brought by our ancestor Chunwei when he migrated north. Every May, he would take it off to worship his ancestors. Although they didn't know why, it had become a sacred object for the Xiongnu. If they gave the bone chain to their ancestor, wouldn't it be a sign of forgetting their ancestors and becoming abnormal? Everyone shouted in unison: "Great Khan, no!"

Touman said unhappily, "Old Ancestor, you don't know that this bone chain was passed down by my ancestors. It is a symbol of my Hun Khan. Although it is not a treasure, it cannot be given to others. Old Ancestor, can you change the conditions?"

The old ancestor laughed eerily. "I don't even care about the position of the Great Khan of the Xiongnu. If the Khan is unwilling to give it up, then forget it. If you want to get out of this magic circle, go find it on your own!"

Touman frowned and hesitated. If he didn't give the bone chain to the ancestor, it would be difficult for the 300,000-strong army to get out of this predicament. But if they lost the sacred object, the various Hun tribes would surely not submit. After thinking it over, it was difficult to make a decision.

Prime Minister Bi stood up, walked to Touman, and said in a sad voice: "I, a guilty minister, have the audacity to advise the Khan. We should get out of this trap first, and then think about pacifying the tribes. If we defeat the Qin army and occupy the counties north of the Yellow River, the Khan can be called the greatest emperor of the Xiongnu in history. At that time, he will set rules and laws, and no one will dare to disobey."

Touman already hated Prime Minister Bi to the core, but he felt that what he said made sense. He glared at Prime Minister Bi and said angrily, "This is all because of you!" He lowered his head, took off the bone chain, and held it in his hand reluctantly.

There are four pieces of bone on the chain, separated by gems. Each piece is three inches long and one inch wide, and looks like the teeth of a wild beast. It is dark green like jade. Everyone looked at the holy object and wanted to persuade others, but they had no words to say and could only sigh.

Touman asked, "I wonder why the ancestor wants this bone chain from me?"

Xuan Ming Patriarch smiled and said, "It has its own wonderful uses, but it is useless in your hands. If the Khan is willing to give it to me, I will not only lead you out of this trapped formation, but also help the Khan defeat the Qin army!"

Touman said with delight: "If this is possible, when this magic circle is broken, I will present this bone chain to the ancestor. I will never break my promise!"

Xuan Ming Patriarch said in a deep voice: "Okay! Then I will take you out right now!"

At this time, Ugud flew over from behind on a giant eagle, jumped off the eagle, and said with a tired face: "Reporting to the Khan, I rode the giant eagle for 3,000 miles at night to find an exit, and I found the tail of our army. This valley must be connected from beginning to end. We are now trapped in this valley."

Everyone had expected this result and was sure that this was a trap. Touman said, "General, please take a rest for a while. The ancestor will lead us out of this trap!"

Patriarch Xuanming said hoarsely, "You follow behind me!" After that, he turned his horse's head and galloped away. He clenched his hands, moved his lips, and his long robe fluttered, emitting an aggressive cold air. His eyes, buried deep under his hat, suddenly emitted a cold blue light, and pierced through the thick fog hundreds of feet away. When the long team saw the light, they were all frightened and avoided to the sides. Touman and others followed closely behind him on horseback.

After passing through a team that was more than ten miles long, it flew back hundreds of miles. The warhorse ridden by Patriarch Xuanming foamed at the mouth, neighed, and fell down dead. Patriarch Xuanming took advantage of the situation and continued to gallop with his feet as if they were not touching the ground, like a ball of ghost fire flying across the ground. Touman and others were riding fine horses, but after running thousands of miles, they were left behind by the ancestor and could only see a faint blue light in front of them.

While running, Xuanming Patriarch suddenly steadied himself and stopped in front of a towering cliff. He scanned the cliff with the blue light. When he heard Touman and others arrive, he said hoarsely, "I have detected with my telekinesis that this is the exit. This mountain must be an illusion!"

Everyone stepped forward and reached out to touch the stone wall. It was damp and cold. They tried a few more places and the same was true. Touman swung his long knife and chopped at the stone wall. There was a "bang" and sparks flew. A one-foot-deep knife mark was made on the stone wall. How could this stone cliff be an illusion?

The Xuanming Patriarch chuckled and said, "This cliff is made up of 999 huge black iron stones. With the addition of the magic array, it makes people think that this is a towering mountain. If you don't believe it, you can shoot arrows at the mountainside that is ten feet high."

Qiu Linshan bent his bow and drew his arrow. With a "teng" sound, the arrow shot out and disappeared into the shadow of the mountain. There was no sound of it hitting the stone for a long time. Looking at the regular cracks on the stone wall, he was convinced of what the Xuanming Patriarch said.

The Xuanming Patriarch said: "Although this huge black iron stone is not heavy, it is indeed arranged according to a certain formation, supporting each other. Even if it is subjected to a tremendous force, it will be turned into nothingness. It is as stable as Mount Tai. It is difficult to remove it from the inside. The only way to destroy it is to find the center of the formation on the outside!"

Touman said, "Then please, Old Ancestor, quickly break this magic circle!" Old Ancestor Xuanming rose up and stepped on the stone wall with his toes. In an instant, his figure disappeared into the shadow of the mountain. Touman and others were waiting anxiously in front of the stone wall.

After flying into the thick fog, Patriarch Xuanming mobilized his magic power and looked around intently. Suddenly, he heard a "whoosh" sound and a sword of energy shot out towards him. Not daring to delay, he dodged it and stepped on one foot, rushing towards the direction of the flying sword of energy, wanting to catch the attacker.

"Swoosh!" Several air swords shot out in succession. Xuanming Patriarch was well prepared. He dodged all of them flying up and down, and waved his palms, shooting out several black lights to fight back.

"I don't want to play anymore. I'm leaving now!" A black shadow suddenly rose up, dodged the black light, and flapped its wings to fly away.

Patriarch Xuanming looked at the shape and found that it was the giant humanoid sculpture that rang the Soul-Stirring Bell at Yanmen Pass that day. He did not expect that the sculpture had such ability to set up this magic circle and trap the Hun army.

His mind was dispersed, and he was sure that the giant eagle had flown away. He walked slowly forward on the flat rocks to search, and suddenly he noticed a faint light coming through the thick fog. As he approached slowly, he found it was an oil lamp. The oil lamp was covered with a porcelain bottle with only a three-inch square hole. The flame was burning quietly and motionlessly, and the light it emitted was shining on a one-foot-high mountain-shaped black stone in front of the lamp. The towering mountain was reflected in the fog.

Ancestor Xuanming suddenly realized that the phantom of the mountain was formed in this way. He couldn't help but secretly applaud this ingenious design and chuckled, "A lamp and a stone can trap 300,000 troops. What a joke!"

He stretched out his pale hand and lifted the oil lamp. The towering mountain immediately disappeared, and a cry of surprise came from the direction below, "The mountain has disappeared, the ancestor is indeed extraordinary!"

Although the illusion was broken, the staggered stone formation under their feet was still there and the army was still unable to pass. Ugud also flew up on a giant eagle. The Xuanming Patriarch handed him the oil lamp and said, "It is this thing and that stone that have confused us. You take them to the Khan to see. I still need to jump outside the stone formation and find the center of the formation." After that, he jumped down from the ten-foot-high stone formation.

Ugude came to Touman with an oil lamp in his hand and told them the mystery. After listening to it, everyone had mixed feelings. They felt really badly fooled by it. They must have thought that there were still many such oil lamps in the valley, trapping them.

Ancestor Xuanming stood in front of the stone formation, his eyes still emitting that eerie light, looking for the pattern of the stone formation, but after a long time, he still could not comprehend the mystery. The more he thought about it, the more his head swelled, as if it was about to explode. Suddenly he became furious and roared madly, waving his hands, emitting balls of black light that hit the rocks, creating loud noises and flying stones, but the stone formation still could not be broken.

Just as he was going crazy, he suddenly saw a huge rock pop out a little. Ancestor Xuanming had a flash of inspiration, stopped, took a few steps forward, clasped his hands around the two-foot-wide stone edge, circulated his magic power, shouted, and pulled out the two-meter-long boulder. The boulder was wide at one end and narrow at the other, in the shape of a wedge. Ancestor Xuanming immediately understood that this so-called stone formation was actually formed by the accumulation of these wedge-shaped boulders according to the Nine Palaces Diagram to form a whole. When a certain boulder was subjected to external force, it would transfer the force to the surrounding boulders and weaken it. Even with a tremendous force, it would be impossible to push it down. If one wanted to break this formation, one had to pull out these boulders one by one.

After Patriarch Xuanming figured it out, he flew back to Touman and explained the mystery. He then struggled to pull out a huge rock for Touman to see. When everyone saw it, they suddenly understood. At this time, the Hun army had arrived. Touman ordered his soldiers to work together to pull out the huge rocks one by one. It took nearly two hours, and a valley appeared in the mist. Everyone felt relieved and could finally walk out of the valley alive.

At this time, night fell again. After Touman gave the bone chain to Patriarch Xuanming, he did not dare to stay any longer. Fearing an ambush ahead, he ordered the army to be alert and march at night. It was not until dawn that they walked out of the valley and looked forward. To their shock, there was an endless desert before their eyes.

This desert is the Hunshandake Desert, which is uninhabited and outside the Great Wall. If one wants to go to Shanggu, one needs to cross the desert to the east and it will take two days to arrive. If one wants to return to Ulaanbaatar, one needs to walk a hundred miles west along the desert border to reach the vast grassland of the Xiongnu. They never thought that they would end up here.

Touman was a little hesitant. The food and grass could only last for three days, and there were only a few drops of drinkable water in the soldiers' water bags. It was obviously not enough to cross the desert and attack the Qin army. Moreover, by the time they arrived, Meng Tian might have defeated the coalition forces of Donghu and Xianbei.

But if we return to Ulaanbaatar, how can we give an explanation to the various tribes when we have an army of 400,000 and only lost more than 100,000 soldiers without taking an inch of land?

The plan to capture the area north of the Yellow River had been underway for many years. If they withdrew their troops at this time, they would lose trust with the Yuezhi, Donghu, and Xianbei. When Qin recovered from the war, there would be no such opportunity again, and they would be blocked outside the Great Wall forever.

Prime Minister Bi knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, and said, "Khan, let's withdraw our troops and make a long-term plan!"

Touman frowned and looked at the sand sea, his fists clenched, not wanting to look at him. Several generals knelt on the ground to persuade him, but Touman still said nothing, with tears in his eyes.

"Hehe, I didn't expect that your 300,000 Hun troops would be afraid of this thousand-mile desert and Meng Tian's 200,000 Qin soldiers. Didn't I already say that with me here, the Qin army will definitely be defeated? If you withdraw your troops, I won't have to waste any more magic power. I would love to have it!" Ancestor Xuanming laughed contemptuously.

(End of this chapter)