There was only one Xiantian in the Mongol Horde and it was that esteemed master who had served as the Grand Preceptor of the Mongols for longer than most could remember.
What was the most precious thing in the Mongol Horde?
It was now the Lady Strategist but in the past, it was the Divine Pond and it was the Grand Preceptor who was trusted with the important task of safeguarding this pond.
However, in the eyes of Prince Yan, the Grand Preceptor was nothing but a moron, a muscle head so to speak.
Even so, this moron was really good at fighting. He was one of the five strongest people in this world after all.
The Xiantian had to undergo Three Calamities and Five Tribulations. Experiencing the Three Calamities, being baptised by the Five Tribulations, that was the punishment of the heavens and yet at the same time, it was the whetstone of the martial path.
(TL: I used Trials/Tribulations in C60 but I think Tribulations/Calamities suit it better so I’m switching to this from now on. I changed that chapter to reflect this.)
Once someone has withstood the Three Calamities and gone through the Five Tribulations, he would have attained the realm of Perfection after which a Dragon Gate, which hadn’t been seen in ages, would be summoned.
Currently in this world, the five strongest people had basically all withstood the Five Tribulations and were somewhere in between the realm of the Three Calamities.
Of the five, the headmaster of the Ashen Heaven Academy, the Martial Monarch of the Eternal Night Cult, the head abbot of the Western Doya Temple and the Golden Staff Grand Preceptor of the Mongols had already made their appearances and were known to the world. There was only one left who hadn’t revealed himself. That man was a part of the Eternal Night Cult and was similarly as strong as the Martial Monarch.
These five masters were acknowledged as the strongest in the world and were also the first to reach the realm of Xiantian. Any one of these five could beat the living daylights out of any freshly ascended Xiantian.
A Xiantian in the Calamities and one in the Tribulations weren’t even on the same level in terms of strength. While the Legend of Grand Xia was a rare genius the heaven couldn’t even restrain, he was still too young in the end. Without enough time to cultivate, he was still trapped within the realm of the Five Tribulations.
Even so, Prince Yan didn’t care. Ning Chen needed to recuperate in the Divine Pond so his mission was clear — keep the moron busy.
With a loud crash, his sword rack landed upright next to the Divine Pond and he stepped up to grab ahold of Scrying Abyss. However, he didn’t draw out the sealing sword but instead retrieved a portion of his power sealed within.
*boom*
It was then that a golden light sliced through the horizon and like a bolt of lightning from the nine heavens, descended with a deafening crash.
*shing*
The blue sword flew out of its sheath and hovered in mid-air as it blocked the sudden strike.
Hmph, he just knew that this moron had nothing going for him other than his martial strength, especially not a sense of shame.
Closing his fingers, the blue sword swiftly flew into the prince’s waiting hands after which he violently sliced in the direction of the skies. Instantly, a terrifying rift raked across the nine heavens and with a bang, rushed towards the shameless master who hid himself.
“You’ve angered this Preceptor!”
Above the skies, a furious voice boomed. An instant later, a giant hand descended from the clouds and pressed downwards onto the earth. Each finger was like a lofty mountain and the palm itself was like a golden sky that covered an area 1000 zhang (3333m) wide.
In the face of this giant palm that shocked even the heavens, his expression betrayed neither fear nor astonishment. Gripping down on air with his right hand, Prince Yan summoned the red sword which immediately responded by flying out of its sheath. With red and blue combined, he pointed the swords at the sky and fired off an alternating ray of blue and red sword flashes that rushed for the heavens, slicing apart the giant palm with an ear-splitting boom.
*clank*
A wizened figure suddenly appeared before the prince and swung his golden staff down on the prince without a single warning. Even so, the blue sword managed to block the golden staff. For an accomplished swordsman like him, such sneak attacks were useless. Every sword had a sword spirit that could react several times faster than human being.
“The Golden Staff Grand Preceptor of the Mongols is truly as shameless as the rumors claim.” Waving his sword, the prince deflected the golden staff before flatly declaring so.
“Brat, you aren’t even that strong but your attitude is already so disrespectful.” The grand preceptor gave a cold, sinister smile as he smoothly retreated a couple of steps.
As those words left his mouth, the grand preceptor tightened his right fist. A formless energy burst forth, penetrating the restrictions of space as it reached out to grasp the recuperating Ning Chen like an invisible hand.
Prince Yan twisted his feet and swung his red sword, slicing apart the air with a bang and instantly severing the energy which threatened the teen.
The next moment, the prince’s figure stirred once more and the blue sword swung down on the Golden Staff Grand Preceptor.
*boom*
Sword clashed with staff and the winds furiously howled. Around them, the earth began to crack and rubble began raining from the sky.
“Saxe and Cerise of the Same Spirit, the Fated Union of One Qi”
The prince’s will grew icy cold and his silhouette flickered. In an instant, his astonishing ultimate skill was executed. The two swords, quick as lightning, danced in the air. In that instant, a blinding radiance burst forth and countless sword flashes sliced through the air.
The Golden Staff Preceptor’s eyes shrunk in an instant. Step after hurried step, he retreated but he still wasn’t able to dodge the sword skill that rushed towards him like lightning. In the blink of an eye, he suffered three sword wounds.
“You!”
The preceptor was furious, his humiliation getting the better of him in an instant. To think he was actually injured by a junior –that was a humiliation he must not swallow.
He raised his staff into the air and tens of thousands of golden rays illuminated the world. Affected by the golden staff, the clouds began to violently swirl as the grand preceptor started to channel the energies of heaven and earth in a bid to push this disrespectful junior into an unrecoverable oblivion.
Glancing at the figure in the Divine Pond, his eyebrows couldn’t help but furrow. Was that d*mned pond even working, the prince grumbled to himself.
With a wave of his left hand, the blue sword transformed into a ray of light and returned to the sword rack. Promptly tightening his grip, Scrying Abyss flew out of the rack in a ray of black light that gave one the shivers just looking at it.
The prince’s silhouette flickered and the sword slashed at the golden staff. Without any warning, the glow atop the golden staff abruptly disappeared. Even the stirring winds began to rapidly calm down in response.
“The Sword of Sealing.”
Muttered the grand preceptor as his eyes opened wide in shock. Wasn’t that sword lost, how did it end up with that man.
In the midst of his astonishment, a flash of red sliced across his field of vision. Immediately reacting to that, he swiftly retreated three zhang (10m).
It was at that moment that a pained groan sounded out from the Divine Pond. Right after that, flashes of gold and silver rushed out of the pond and clashed with each other. Around them, the spiritual energies of the pond was rapidly being consumed.
The two pages of the Heavenly Bible manifested themselves before promptly sinking into the qi whirlpool of the teen’s dantian. Amidst the roiling waters, one could vaguely make out the silhouettes of the pages which had been shattered into pieces and seemed noticeably dimmer. In that previous explosion, the scrolls automatically manifested themselves to protect their master; that was how Ning Chen barely held onto the last thread of his life.
The fragments of the scrolls continued absorbing the spiritual energies around him. At the same time, the two qi whirlpools within him violently swirled in response and grew larger by the second.
Within his body, the abundance of residual medicinal strength from the four Revolving Heaven Pills exploded and violently tore apart his body before swiftly regenerating it.
The Heavenly Scrolls, the Divine Pond and the Revolving Heaven Pill. The three intermingled and finally began to take effect. After a round of destruction, the regenerative powers finally triumphed causing the nearly shattered body of Ning Chen to rapidly regenerate.
“*ughh*”
A pained groan escaped his lips once more as he body began to tremble. Every cell within his body was regenerating itself to its former state by borrowing the power of those three heavenly powers.
Slowly, the Heavenly Scrolls quietened down, the Divine Pond no longer bubbled and the Revolving Heaven Pill finally dissipated. Then, Ning Chen’s eyes slowly opened.
Having opened for the first time, there was no reaction from it, no intelligence within it and no emotion within it. An instant later, a rush of emotions flooded into both of his eyes as his memories began to resurface once more.
“Let’s go!”
Prince Yan swung both of his swords at once, firing off a couple of skills before promptly picking up the awakened teen and leaving in a flash of light.
Face immeasurably gloomy, he blocked the two sword flashes before immediately turning towards the two, only to see them disappear right as he did so. He wanted to chase them but he knew that it was too late.
……
Within the main camp of the Mongols, the red-shirt general of the Martial Monarch arrived with a Divine Heavens Pill in hand in order to hasten Fan Lingyue’s recovery.
The young officer received the pill bottle and promptly left for the Lady Strategist’s tent. A moment later, he walked out and thanked the Martial Monarch and his general for their goodwill.
Having completed his mission, the red-shirt general left without any delay. With the instability on the eastern front, he had to return immediately to his post in order to prepare for the battle which could erupt at any moment.
Another seven days passed…
The three military marquis of Grand Xia rushed onto the scene with their armies in tow and instead of returning to the Imperial City, directly marched north to stop the marauding Mongols.
The three of them arrived almost simultaneously and after several encirclement attempts, finally managed to block off the Mongols at Heaven’s Gate.
This was the first of Grand Xia’s impregnable passes. If the Mongols wanted to march south, they had to march through this pass. Marching north through the Heaven’s Gate, the three marquis finally managed to corner the Mongolian army after expending an enormous amount of resources.
300 000 versus 300 000. Neither side had a numerical advantage over the other. Comparing the two however, the Mongols stood a better chance at victory thanks to their 100 000 iron cavalry and their 10 000 heavy cavalry. Yet, Grand Xia wasn’t looking to win but was only looking to delay their progress. As long as they did so, the armies of Grand Xia could continuously pour in till they finally wiped out the Mongols.
In spite of that, the commander of the Mongols clearly didn’t want to face the marquis head on either. They circled around to the best of their abilities, stalling for time as they waited for an opportunity to break through.
However, the military marquis weren’t fools like Zuo Qiusheng. Each and every one of them was a brilliant strategist with a wealth of battle experience. With their combined efforts, the Mongols were naturally unable to find the opportunity they wanted. With every step, they made camp and patiently closed in on the Mongols in a triangle formation.
The Mongolian army was currently in a dire situation. Stationed on their flanks and their back were the military marquis. In front of them was the impregnable Heaven’s Gate.
Their only option was to forcefully breach the pass but in order to do this, they would suffer immense losses.
It was in such a dire situation that the command tent of the Mongols issued an unexpected command –breach the pass immediately.
The slender figure that stepped out of the tent was just as elegant as before but her face was noticeably paler than before.
The gate of the pass was at least tens of zhang thick and was forged from molten steel and metallic wood. Without the activating the proper mechanism, there was basically no way it could be forced open by hand.
Except by the hands of a Xiantian who could channel the energies of heaven and earth. However, there simply wasn’t such a person in the Mongolian army.
The strongest person, the young officer, was an expert at the peak of Ninth-grade but that still didn’t make him a Xiantian.
If they really wanted to breach the pass, the Mongols would have to sacrifice at least 100 000 soldiers in order to have a chance at breaking through this impregnable pass guarded by the soldiers of Grand Xia.
No one knew what the Lady Strategist was thinking when she gave that order, just like how no one knew when the Lady Strategist woke up.
Standing at head of her 10 000 heavy cavalrymen and the 100 000 iron horsemen behind them, she eyed the impregnable pass and simply said:
“Begin.”
“Understood.”
The young officer respectfully acknowledged her command. Immediately, the aura around him flared up and rapidly surged.
A moment later, a pillar of light broke through the heavens and instantly shocked the entire world.
The three military marquis were just as shocked as well. As if they had realized something terrifying, they hurriedly sent out the order to stop the Mongols at any cost.
Yet, it was all too late.
The ascending young officer rapidly completed the Heavenly Demon Tribulation and promptly rushed into the fortress in a flash of light. Without showing a shred of mercy, he massacred all the troops stationed there as well as the three master-class experts.
Thus, the giant gates of Heaven’s Gate slowly creaked out. The impregnable pass which had never been breached in a thousand years, had fallen. Under her command, the iron hooves of the Mongols rushed through the pass and swept through all that stood in their way.
Soon after the Mongolian army made its way through the pass and the giant gates shut close with a bang. The three military marquis of Grand Xia along with their 300 000 soldiers were now stranded outside of the pass having lost their chance to enter.
“Find the schematics for the mechanism, then kill all those who know how to operate it.” Fan Lingyue coldly declared after entering pass.
“Understood.”
“Leave behind 50 000 men to guard the pass, you stay behind as well.” She said, eyes narrowing slightly as she gazed at the territories of Grand Xia laid out before her.
“Understood.” The young officer nodded his head after a brief pause.
