Volume Two: Weapon Directory Chapter 156: Why Should We Harm Each Other So Soon

With a single word from the Master of the Weapon Tomb, the Great Desolate army had no choice but to temporarily withdraw. As a family bound in fealty to the Weapon Tomb, the Qi family dared not defy his will. They displayed the technique of Distant Horizons Within Reach, which was more than enough to overawe hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Levels of cultivation were divided into distinct tiers, and the techniques practiced varied in superiority. Since the Master of the Weapon Tomb mastered Distant Horizons Within Reach, no one could break this art. None could approach within his proximity, and thus he remained undefeated before a blow was even struck.

The fires burning outside Hanguan Pass had not yet extinguished by sunset. The lingering glow of the setting sun resembled blood, adding a touch of glory to the relieved faces of the garrison troops. Once again, they had defended the gates of their homeland. Though they owed a debt to outside aid, Hanguan still stood, and within the tents inside the pass, cheers of victory rose wave upon wave.

Emotions long suppressed began to vent and release the moment Xun Sanman was rescued back inside the pass. Not until the enemy sounded the gongs to retreat and not a single soldier of the Great Desolate army remained within view did the soot-stained soldiers realize the moment, tossing their sabers and spears into the air and driving their armor down into the earth.

Reinforcements would arrive in succession over the next three days. All the garrison needed to do was repair Hanguan Pass and await the next battle. The monotonous frontier defense tempered men's wills. Having stayed here for eight or ten years, many retired veterans chose to settle down near Hanguan Pass, spending their entire lives in its company.

Liu Xiaoyi and Lu Haoran stood shoulder to shoulder by the city wall, looking at the bustling soldiers walking back and forth, feeling a myriad of emotions.

"There was a time when my Derivative Sword Path was equally lively. Such a scene of vicissitudes almost moves me to tears; I'm about to cry," Lu Haoran said, pretending to wipe away tears with a sobbing tone.

Liu Xiaoyi had already developed some immunity to this. Rolling his eyes, he retorted, "You call that crying? I've never seen anyone cry with the corners of their mouth turned up. Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. We won't attend the celebration banquet, lest you make a fool of yourself."

In truth, Lu Haoran was eagerly anticipating the upcoming feast. With his large appetite and having just exerted himself in a fight, his stomach was already rumbling with hunger.

"No, we still have business to attend to next. We need to eat our fill to have the strength for it," Lu Haoran shook his head repeatedly, pulling three brocade pouches of different colors and sizes from his tunic.

He opened the smallest one and took out the slip of paper inside. It bore just a few words: *Go swiftly to Thousand Streams Marsh*.

Lu Haoran explained, "Master shoved this into my arms, telling me to take that newly arrived grandmaster to Thousand Streams Marsh once I woke up. You were flooded with sword intent and your condition is unstable; you need to go there and find Wishfulness Grass to stabilize your realm, or else your soul will be shattered by the sword intent before you even reach the grandmaster realm."

"Where is Thousand Streams Marsh? It certainly isn't within the borders of the Nine Provinces; I've never heard of such a place," Liu Xiaoyi said. Over the past year, he had gained some knowledge and thoroughly studied the map of the Nine Provinces during their travels, yet he had never found any location named Thousand Streams Marsh.

Lu Haoran's expression gradually grew excited. He patted his chest and said, "Of course it's in the Great Desolate. I've been there a few times, so I'm very familiar with the route. Once we've eaten our fill, I'll take you there. Before that, let me see what's written in these other two pouches."

He ripped open the two slightly larger brocade pouches. The two slips of paper inside bore identical messages: *I knew you couldn't help opening them. The real pouch is hidden inside Thousand Streams Marsh; you'll naturally find it when you get there. Don't be lazy!*

Liu Xiaoyi saw it clearly as well, and laughed heartily, "As expected of your master! He knows your personality too well!"

Rumble! Rumble! Suddenly, two deafening roars sounded, followed by a violent shaking of the city wall behind them. The garrison troops atop it struck the alarm bell. Too injured to care, Huang Yu snatched up his spear and ran up to the ramparts. His eyes widened, and he was struck speechless by the sight before him.

A giant stone turtle, measuring more than thirty zhang across, was using its shell to ram the city wall. The roaring sounds just now had originated from this.

"Who are you! Such unbridled audacity! Do you know this is Hanguan Pass?" Huang Yu shouted toward the old man seated on the turtle's shell. The old man was carrying a hoe, nonchalantly dangling his legs, and gave no reply.

Hanguan's city wall was sturdy, yet it could not withstand such relentless ramming. Large sections of brick shattered and fell away. The soldiers stationed around the battlements lost their footing, swaying and tumbling down as weapon racks scattered everywhere.

Seeing the intruder offer no answer, Huang Yu retrieved his treasured bow, nocked an arrow, and loosed it. When the feathered arrow reached within half a zhang of the old man, it was intercepted by a barrier of light and reduced to fine ash.

Liu Xiaoyi recognized the man: Ouyang Yan of Pine Floating Mountain. Back then, he had also used a giant turtle to smash an opening in a city wall, and now he was resorting to the same trick. It was impossible to tell what he was plotting.

"Shall I cut him down? He doesn't look like a good person," Lu Haoran asked. Just as he reached to draw his sword, he suddenly heard the sound of hoofbeats coming from the direction of the Great Desolate, rapidly approaching from afar. A brown steed carrying a lean, seasoned old man holding a wooden crutch was charging straight toward the giant turtle.

As they drew closer, Liu Xiaoyi recognized this person as well: the Pine-Bracing Swordsman, Ye Gudeng!

Ye Gudeng exerted force with his legs, leaping up from the back of the steed, and gripped his crutch in both hands, smashing it down toward Ouyang Yan. Though he used a crutch, he employed the sword forms of a heavy blade. Upon seeing his opponent, Ouyang Yan's expression shifted, and he hurriedly stood up, swinging his hoe to meet the attack.

The crutch overpowered the hoe, driving Ouyang Yan down into the shell of the stone turtle. Ye Gudeng did not withdraw his strength; he stepped upon the empty air and exerted force a second time, smashing Ouyang Yan, along with his hoe and the man himself, deep into the interior of the giant turtle.

The giant turtle felt the pain, violently thrashing its body to shake off Ye Gudeng, and raised its front paw to stamp down. Ye Gudeng swung his crutch to parry upward. It was as if he held the weight of ten thousand jun in his hands, for such a colossal turtle was blocked by a single stroke of his crutch, while Ye Gudeng merely retreated a few paces.

"Dammit! Where did this old coot come from? How dare he ruin my good deed!" Ouyang Yan scrambled out from a gap in the stone, cursing unhappily.

Ye Gudeng chuckled coldly, drove his crutch straight into the ground, and chanted an incantation, shouting aloud, "Look what this is!"

The wooden crutch rapidly twisted and deformed. Rooting itself in the sandy earth, it sprouted branches and unfolded its form, transforming into a towering, ancient pine tree. Its lush branches suspended the giant turtle above the ground, and no matter how the turtle struggled, it could not free itself from the restraints.

How could Ouyang Yan fail to realize the fellow's background at this point? He had run into a fellow sect member!

The art he practiced was the most profound Form-Gathering Technique of the Divine Mechanism Hall. This giant turtle had been condensed from stone and possessed no sentience of its own.

Similarly, Ye Gudeng had used his wooden crutch to gather and manifest a pine tree, expending a massive amount of spiritual energy to control the giant turtle.

Ouyang Yan cursed angrily, "You dog, we're fellow sect brothers, so why are you trying to stop me?" The cultivation of the Form-Gathering Technique differed from other Daoist arts; it required maintaining the formed object for extended periods. The longer one persisted, the faster their realm would advance.

Ramming city walls with the giant turtle was the method Ouyang Yan had chosen. Through repeated collisions, he battered his spiritual energy to consolidate his own cultivation.

Along the way, he had already toppled several city walls, flattening all four sides of those cities before slowly making his way step by step to Hanguan. Seeing that this place possessed tall and thick walls, he had decided to take a risk and try his luck.

Never had he expected that this trial would actually land him in trouble. He had assumed he was the only person in this world practicing the Form-Gathering Technique, yet now another practitioner like Ye Gudeng had popped up. Judging by the appearance of the pine tree, Ye Gudeng's cultivation surpassed his own.

Had it not been for this, he would have already moved to subdue the opponent and completely dismantle the pine tree.

Ye Gudeng replied in a deep voice, "The Divine Mechanism Hall exists to suppress violence, bring peace, and protect the common people. How can the Form-Gathering Technique be used this way? Think of the countless soldiers and civilians inside and outside Hanguan Pass. If you were to knock down these walls, the blame would fall entirely upon the Divine Mechanism Hall. How could that be tolerated?"

Upon hearing such righteous rhetoric, Ouyang Yan grew instantly furious. "Stop playing the noble lord here! Who among us doesn't know the other's background? You should know well enough what the Divine Mechanism Hall has done—all that crap about protecting the common people!"

It seemed there were still some unspeakable secrets within the Divine Mechanism Hall that made Ouyang Yan feel contempt. However, Ye Gudeng remained unshaken, continuing to manipulate the pine tree so that its branches severed and pulverized the giant turtle.

Hanguan Pass was also slightly implicated. After all, a pine tree of such massive proportions could not be controlled with absolute precision, and certain wild-growing branches plunged into the city wall, shattering a portion of the masonry.

"If you are willing to come with me, I will take you to see the ruins of the Divine Mechanism Hall. It might prove helpful for the advancement of your realm," Ye Gudeng said, reluctant to kill him; after all, this was the only fellow sect member he had encountered so far.

Ouyang Yan was clever. His eyes rolled, and he suddenly slammed both palms down onto the turtle's back. The turtle shell fractured abruptly, and a dense concentration of spiritual energy was ignited within the creature's body, causing the giant turtle to detonate entirely.

The shockwave of the explosion blew the pine tree wildly askew, and the targets of those flying stone fragments were the crumbling walls of Hanguan Pass. Boulders of varying sizes hammered against the ramparts, and this southern gate, which had stood for a century, finally collapsed with a deafening roar.

Fortunately, the soldiers had long since fled down from the battlements, thus escaping with their lives. Lu Haoran grabbed Liu Xiaoyi by the arm and soared into the air, landing beside the tents in the rear.

A trace of annoyance crossed Ye Gudeng's face as he said, "How could you still do such a thing!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Who knows what's left in the ruins of the Divine Mechanism Hall? Since I'm already here, wouldn't it be a huge loss not to do something? My good senior brother, take me away now, I promise I won't do it again," Ouyang Yan cajoled with smooth words.

Ye Gudeng said no more. Still burning with anger, he simply bowed toward the pass, then leaped onto his horse and rode far away, taking Ouyang Yan with him. When all was said and done, the lives of the soldiers of Hanguan were not the responsibility of the Great Desolate.

The moment they left, from the roots of the collapsed wall amidst the tightly packed earth, a clay statue of Guanyin slowly emerged. The Guanyin held a jade purification vase, facing directly toward the Great Desolate.

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and a drizzling rain began to fall. This was not the rainy season, and those few meager rains that the Great Desolate experienced each year had yet to arrive.

Gao Yingkui removed his helmet, and the rainwater quickly pooled into a small puddle within it, clear enough to reflect his visage. Although he had not arrived here long ago, he had a firm grasp of the situation on the Southern Desolate frontier.

"Guanyin weeps; our barren lands are about to face a calamity," a frail scholar ran out in a flurry from a nearby tent. He hadn't even had time to put on his shoes before rushing to the side of the clay Guanyin, scooping up a handful of damp soil. "I beg Military Inspector Gao to dispatch reliable men to the Northern Stockade Bridge of the Southern Desolate to invite the Wind and Rain Master to come to our aid!"