Dream of the Red Chamber: Starting from Immortal Martial Arts

Chapter 103 Frequent Resignations! (Fifth Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Seeing that the Jia family's formation remained unchanged and their expressions were indifferent, the three second-tier cultivators mustered their divine sense and internal energy and attacked with all their might.

The vital energy above the two mansions converged, and in an instant, it was rendered into a mixture of red, blue, and yellow colors.

First, a surging wave several dozen feet in size and a huge mountain descended from the sky, crashing one after the other against the colorful light shield above the two mansions.

The immense power caused the light shield to cave in slightly.

At that moment, a giant, fiery hand, over twenty feet long, slammed down, blotting out the sky, and struck the center of the depression with tremendous force!

"Boom!"

The sound of the collision was deafening. The giant hand, having failed in its attack, instantly transformed into a raging sea of ​​fire, which clung to the formation and burned it.

The attacks of one mid-stage second-tier cultivator and two early-stage cultivators failed to achieve any success. Seeing this, the three's expressions changed slightly, and they attacked again. The one on the left took off and launched a divine power first.

The dim night sky cast a large yellow glow, and the sound of heavy breathing echoed in the air.

A massive Earth-Splitting Bear appeared above the two prefectures, its ferocious face fixed on the array's light shield, its entire body radiating a brown glow, as it charged straight at them.

The formations of Ning and Rong mansions suddenly changed, and a white mist suddenly appeared, covering the two mansions.

"Snoring~"

A violent panting sound rang out from within, and two golden lanterns suddenly shone brightly.

As the wind from the Earth-Splitting Bear's palm ripped through the air, an invisible shockwave dispersed some of the white mist, allowing people to see clearly that the array barrier of the Ning and Rong mansions had transformed into a mountain lord with piercing eyes and a white forehead, lying horizontally with its cold and indifferent tiger eyes fixed on the figure behind the Earth-Splitting Bear.

The tiger's head is raised to the sky, its throat bulging!

"roar!"

Clearly visible sound waves swept out instantly, obliterating the Earth-Splitting Bear and then relentlessly bombarding the man, causing him to instantly explode into a bloody mist.

The second-tier martial artist was killed instantly by the attack of the formation.

"Whoosh!"

Those secretly observing from all sides were terrified. Such a powerful formation?

Just then, the windows of Tianxiang Tower in the center of Ningguo Mansion, beneath the mountain lord's belly, suddenly opened, revealing rows of ferocious and enormous ballistae that gleamed with a cold light. Moreover, under the command of a first-rank commander, the personal guards of the eight prefectures of the immortal capital, dressed in different armor, dragged the bowstrings of the ballistae, producing a series of teeth-grinding string-twisting sounds.

"put!"

"Buzz"

Thick arrows rained down in a dense storm, raining down on a group of bandits at the Outer Qi Realm below in the blink of an eye!

In this single wave, two people had their bodies pierced through on the spot, torn in two by the immense force, their livers and intestines spilling out onto the ground.

"Royal!"

With a loud shout, another string-stringing sound rang out.

This commotion caused the surrounding cultivators watching the battle to gasp in astonishment.

"The personal guards of all eight prefectures of the Immortal Capital? Wild Bull, Green Wood, Violent Ape, Red Wolf, and Wind-Piercing—all five are present! And there are also multiple ballistae!"

"Is this a setup? Is Jia Tang setting a trap?"

"It doesn't seem likely. It's said that the Xuanzhen Temple outside the East City was razed to the ground. Jia Tang wouldn't use Jia Jing as bait."

"That must be a backup plan; they must be afraid of their home being raided while they're out."

"With the personal guards of each prefecture and the formation, no one below the third rank can break through the Jia family's grand formation."

Even the thieves who attacked the Jia family immediately understood what was happening.

I thought it was just some ordinary clansmen who died, but I never expected it to be Jia Jing!

Therefore, Jia Tang must not be in the mansion, and the order from above was to find out if Jia Tang was in the Ning Mansion, and now the task has been completed.

If I had waited a little longer, I wouldn't have lost a second-tier character for nothing.

The leader, a mid-stage second-tier martial artist, glared resentfully at the tortoise-shell-like formation and shouted, "Retreat!"

Having said that, he vanished into the darkness in an instant. The remaining cultivators of the first rank also retreated into the darkness and disappeared.

A cup of tea, a stick of incense, a quarter of an hour—

As the crowd, seeing that there was no further development, were about to leave, a shadow suddenly fell over their hearts, and their brows began to twitch uncontrollably.

In the pitch-black night, a piece of paper, about the size of a page from a book, hung down, its entire body shrouded in a faint golden glow, and floated straight toward the mountain king lying in mid-air.

The mountain god suddenly stood up, its body hair radiating a rich, multicolored glow that touched the golden leaves.

"Boom!"

In an instant, a sound like a thunderclap exploded from the point of contact, splitting the night sky in two.

Within a hundred feet above the two palaces, a dazzling golden light shone, condensing into enormous swords that pierced the heavens and earth, spewing out extremely sharp killing intent as they attacked the Mountain Lord.

The lands of the two prefectures were shrouded in mist, with boundless primordial energy of the five elements rising from within and merging into the body of the Mountain Lord, causing it to swell to a hundred feet in size as it faced the wind.

A white tiger, the size of a mountain peak, exuded an astonishing aura of ferocity as it pounced towards the barrage of swords and blades.

"Bang bang bang~"

The sounds of swords clashing against the mountain lord rang out repeatedly, and waves of energy swept across the surrounding area in an instant, causing those who were secretly watching from all directions to cough up blood and fly backward.

"Damn it, a third-level True Immortal has appeared."

"Get out of here! Get out of here! The aftershocks could kill us!"

At this moment, three martial talismans that seemed to cover the heavens and earth suddenly appeared in the sky, accompanied by angry shouts, and swept towards the outside of the Immortal Capital.

"You bastard, how dare you invade the eight prefectures of my capital!"

"He should be executed!"

"Die, you son of a bitch!"

The hundred-foot-tall bull's head had ferocious eyes, and its horns seemed to pierce the night sky. There was also a hundred-foot-tall green tree rooted in the void, with its roots spreading out to seal off the space. Finally, there was an iron rod that reached the sky and touched the earth, dragging many afterimages as it cleaved straight towards the outside of the city.

However, two more martial talismans appeared outside the city, one red and one blue.

Above, divine flames dripped from the heavens, as if in the wrath of the heavens; below, a torrent of floodwaters surged forth, like the Yellow River bursting its banks.

Water and fire clashed, meeting each other head-on.

"boom!"

The night instantly brightened as if it were daytime, causing the already activated array in the capital to be instantly weakened, with cracks appearing on the array's light screen.

At the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion in the west of the city, Niu Jizong stopped mid-air, scanned the area, then sneered twice at the imperial city and shouted, "Eight prefectures and twelve families of the capital, kill the enemy!"

"only!"

In an instant, a chorus of responses filled the air. Apart from the Ning, Rong, and Shan families, many second-tier cultivators from other families flew out, leading squads of first-tier cultivators, and flew towards the Jia family.

The third-tier cultivators themselves would take action, and their goal was to annihilate the second-tier cultivators.

This move caused astonishment among those secretly observing: "Damn, I counted carefully, and apart from the eight prefectures, more than half of the twelve families have reached the second tier. Are their foundations that solid?"

"This is alright. In the past, when the first and second generations of each family ran rampant, there were even more than this."

"Since the battle in the secret realm twenty years ago, when have we ever seen so many powerful cultivators at once?"

"Back then, there were even royal family cultivators; now they're all from the same lineage of the Eight Prefectures of the Immortal Capital."

"Hey, this is going to be fun!"

Just as everyone was whispering among themselves, two faces, each a hundred feet tall, suddenly appeared in the sky, their eyes empty and indifferent, firmly locking onto the third-tier bandits outside the city.

One figure opened its mouth and spat out endless, chilling golden light, which flew towards a mountain outside the city with a sharp edge, while the other figure puffed out its cheeks and blew out a fierce tornado to kill.

In the blink of an eye, a small mountain over three hundred feet tall outside the city was completely wiped out, along with the three third-level cultivators on it, all vanishing without a trace.

Seeing this, the cultivators in the city turned their gaze to the imperial city. On the city wall, two cultivators dressed in princely robes stood with their hands behind their backs, their faces calm and indifferent.

Niu Jizong smirked coldly: "Greetings to Prince Chen Yuan and Prince Chen Yu."

The two nodded slightly, and Chen Yuan said, "Enough with the small talk, let's deal with the traitors first!"

On the other side, Hou Xiaokang, who was above the Duke of Xiu's mansion, had a cold glint in his eyes. Upon hearing this, he shouted, "Follow the two old princes out of the city and kill!"

""

Chen Yu frowned slightly, glanced at Hou Xiaokang with a half-smile, and flew out of the city first, disappearing in the blink of an eye along with Chen Yuan.

The three third-tier True Immortals from the Eight Prefectures of the Immortal Capital also disappeared without a trace, and even the Mountain Lord above the Jia Clan turned into five-colored primordial energy and vanished into the world.

All the strange phenomena disappeared, and the majestic capital city returned to its former glory.

The series of events that occurred that night caused a great deal of discussion among the people in the city, who were all talking about what they had seen and heard.

Several hours later, as dawn broke, a huge arrow, like a meteorite with a fiery tail, suddenly hurtled straight toward Ningrong Mansion.

The violent energy caught the half-open array of the Immortal Capital City off guard, and wherever it passed, all the common people were burned to dust.

Just as the arrow tip was about to reach the sky above Ningrong Street, an old man dressed in a brocade robe of a divine steed stood above the Jia family, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

With a single gesture, a fierce wind arose, howling and howling, as massive hooves shattered the sky, crashing down with tremendous force.

'

The pillar of energy from the point of impact shot straight into the sky, as if it had punched a hole in the heavens.

The third-tier True Immortal of the Duke of Zhiguo's mansion gazed at the black-clad cultivator outside the city with a cryptic expression and said, "Your grandfather smells a nauseating stench emanating from you. Are you a remnant of the Holy Cult? Or perhaps someone with ulterior motives donning a false identity?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, you're going to die!"

The man in black sneered upon hearing this, and scoffed, "Heh, the death of this true immortal? That's quite a big deal—"

Before he could finish speaking, the sky, which had just begun to brighten, darkened again, and pitch-black clouds gathered overhead, with streaks of breathtaking purple light flashing from within them from time to time!

"Boom!"

In the blink of an eye, endless, deep purple lightning wove together a sea of ​​electricity and crashed down.

"Lei? Old Devil Shi from the Duke of Shan's Mansion? You're still alive?"

The man in black's pupils contracted sharply. Just as he was about to unleash his martial arts to counterattack, a violent hurricane appeared beside him, its interior filled with bluish wind blades that converged and slashed towards him.

Amidst the raging wind and thunder, a sudden, unexpected attack caused the man to bleed from all seven orifices, leaving him critically injured and on the verge of death. He hastily fled south, exploding with blood.

Thick, dark clouds flashed with blinding lightning, and Shi Cuiyue, dressed in a purple brocade robe, stood atop the clouds, pressing his advantage.

"Die? I've been hiding for decades on Brother Jia's advice, just to kill you bunch of bastards!"

"Trying to run? First, offer your dog's life as a small sacrifice to my thirty-seven closest relatives!"

The words, like a thunderclap in spring, carried immense force and chased after the man in black.

Above Jia's house, Ma Kui coldly surveyed his surroundings before disappearing from the spot.

#m

In the morning, there will be a meeting.

After the officials paid their respects to Emperor Changwu, all the civil and military officials held their breath and waited for the founding line to appear.

Minister of War Niu Jizong, dressed in full military attire, though without a sword, was fully armored and held his helmet in his arms. He stepped forward, saluted, and loudly proclaimed, "Your Majesty, I, Niu Jizong, request to resign from my position as Minister of War."

His words struck everyone's hearts like a magical blow!

Resigning from his position as a high-ranking official in the Ministry of War?!

This is something that has never happened before in the history of the world!

Emperor Changwu frowned and asked, "My lord, how did things come to this?"

Niu Jizong replied in a deep voice, "Yesterday, the eldest sons of the third, fourth, and fifth generations of the Ningguo Duke's Mansion were all murdered. Late at night, multiple bandits, including a third-level cultivator, bypassed the capital's defenses and launched a brazen attack on the Ning and Rong Dukes' Mansions located in the west of the city. As a high-ranking official in the Ministry of War, I bear responsibility for the inadequate defense of the capital region and even the nation's capital. Therefore, I request your assistance!"

Emperor Changwu's brow relaxed slightly, and he advised, "Firstly, the capital's formations are unrelated to the cabinet, the military government, or the Six Ministries; they are mostly the responsibility of the Imperial Guards. Secondly, the cultivators' attack on the Jia family members is likely due to the Flying Eagle Division's inadequate oversight. Why did you do this, Your Excellency?"

Niu Jizong looked surprised and asked in realization, "Not under the Ministry of War? The formations are under the Imperial Guards, and the surveillance is under the Flying Eagle Division?"

"Indeed!"

Upon hearing this, Niu Jizong lowered his eyes, as if deep in thought.

Just as the court officials were growing impatient, he suddenly raised his head, turned to look at the northeast corner, and shouted, "Because of the responsibility of the two ministries, the pillar of the nation has been murdered, the eldest son of the Ning family has died tragically, the capital has been attacked, and the people of the city are living in constant fear. This old minister begs Your Majesty to behead the three commanders of the Imperial Guards and the chief and deputy commanders of the Flying Eagle Division!"

"The dynasty's generals have been beheaded, and our entire clans of cultivators have been exterminated. Anyone involved—"

A sinister smile twisted Niu Jizong's lips, his eyes filled with chilling coldness as he said viciously, "I will surely destroy the ancestral hall and exterminate the entire bloodline!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the eight founding dukes and twelve marquises who were in court all stepped forward to echo his words!

"Beheading! Extermination!"

The hall fell silent for a moment, everyone stunned by these earth-shattering words.

Who to kill? The three commanders of the Imperial Guards, the chief and deputy commanders of the Flying Eagle Division—these have always been the core of the Chen family.

Logically, after Emperor Changwu ascended the throne, he should have appointed the third generation, but Emperor Chongwu firmly controlled the position and was not allowed to interfere.

Is this the talk of the founding generation, a prelude to a complete breakdown in relations?

Emperor Changwu's eyes widened in shock, and he gasped inwardly. He knew about what had happened yesterday, but he had no one at his disposal and couldn't offer any support.

But in an instant, his face turned bitter. How could he possibly command these people to die?

Just then, Dai Quan, the chief steward of Tianshou Palace, led the Imperial Guards into the court hall. He first bowed to Emperor Changwu, and then addressed the founding lineage, saying, "Your Majesty's decree: I was deeply shocked upon hearing the news yesterday. The great capital and the illustrious Duke's mansion were attacked and killed by thieves. The Imperial Guards and the generals of the Flying Eagle Division neglected their duties and were incompetent. I hereby order the Jiaolong Guard to imprison them in the Heavenly Prison to await their fate."

"By special permission, the eldest son of the third generation of the Ningguo Duke's family, Jing, shall be buried with the rites due to a Duke; the eldest son of the fourth generation, Zhen, shall be buried with the rites due to a Marquis; and the eldest son of the fifth generation, Rong, shall be buried with the rites due to an Earl. In addition, each of the five generations of the Ningguo Duke's family shall be granted a second-class rank of Yuan weaponry for offense and defense, and a condolence gift of ten thousand taels of silver!"

The expressions of all the civil and military officials changed slightly. Had Emperor Chongwu given in? Had the other side ever acted like this before?

The cultivation of the Chen family alone is enough to rival that of the Eight Prefectures of the Immortal Capital. Combined with their subordinate forces, they can forcibly suppress the enemy.

Could it be that they don't want to see the country split apart?