Chapter 994: Northern Wild Land Immortals Whereabouts

In the world today, how many individuals could directly ask a Grand Master of Martial Arts if he could take his head at almost point-blank range?

Therefore, upon hearing these words, the troops surrounding the audacious Northern Mang Prince, both infantry and cavalry, immediately felt their blood boil, wishing they could charge at the arrogant King of Northern Liang.

However, the new King of Liang remained unmoved, appearing to show signs of cowardice and retreat.

Yelü Hongcai, high on horseback, his lips curled into a smile, his eyes showing amusement.

The one-li-square open space, conspicuous and out of place within the orderly Northern Mang army, especially positioned right before the main Northern Mang standard, would signal hidden danger even to a blind man. Yelü Hongcai believed that with Xu Fengnian's cunning nature and Grand Master cultivation, he would never easily take such a risk unless he were mad or extremely arrogant. Nor did Yelü Hongcai think a few words of provocation could successfully lure Xu Fengnian, the backbone of Northern Liang's 300,000 iron cavalry, into a trap. However, some things simply had to be done, some roles had to be played.

It was simple: Yelü Hongcai knew full well why he had suddenly been made regent. Why had he, overnight, been given command of 400,000 troops to march south directly towards Jubei City? Was it because the Empress, who had been cold-blooded her entire life, had suddenly become compassionate, deciding to hand the plains over to him and pave the way for her last surviving child with the merit of conquering Jubei City? Of course not. She never adhered to the saying that even a tiger wouldn't eat its cub; on the contrary, she had placed him in command of the southern campaign simply to use him as the greatest bait in the world. She intended to use the presence of 400,000 troops at the city gates to force the young man surnamed Xu to sortie, while also making Xu Xiao's eldest son believe there was hope in "capturing the leader first to capture his followers." As the Prince and commander-in-chief of the southern campaign, he would ultimately have only Deng Mao as his personal bodyguard. Tuoba Pusa, Murong Baoding, Chong Shentong, Chong Liang, Li Mibi, and many other martial arts Grand Masters from the plains could only be directed by him to attack the city; there was no way he could keep them by his side to form an impenetrable defense.

Otherwise, how could he be a suitable bait?

Even if that were not the case, Yelü Hongcai did not believe that his death would cause the Northern Mang's 400,000-strong army to collapse like a mountain.

He believed that with the Empress's cunning and Grand Secretary Taiping's strategic layout, even if ten Yelü Hongcais died outside Jubei City, the siege would continue as planned.

However, although his mother-son relationship with the Empress was tenuous, some bond still remained. For instance, she had at least informed him beforehand of the shocking scheme the previous night, and he himself felt certain of victory.

At this moment, Yelü Hongcai bothered not to look at the overly cautious young vassal king. Instead, he looked up at Jubei City, clicking his tongue in wonder. He had not anticipated so many Central Plains Grand Masters rushing to the battlefield outside Liangzhou Pass; otherwise, the prairie army would have already begun swarming the walls by now.

But this was also a good thing, a great thing. Nearly twenty of the Central Plains' top martial arts Grand Masters would successively die outside the northwestern Jubei City, cruelly crushed under his iron cavalry. This unprecedented feat would be credited to Yelü Hongcai. The Sword Emperor of Western Shu died under the hooves of the Xu family's iron cavalry, and though he died, it was with honor! Even twenty years after the Spring and Autumn Wars ended, people throughout the Central Plains still talked about it with relish, speaking of the Sword Emperor of Western Shu's heroism and the Xu family's iron cavalry's ruthlessness. Consider this: Xu Xiao led his army across the Central Plains for over twenty years, fighting countless stirring battles. Why was the pacification of Western Shu so smooth, and why was it mentioned in common discourse as often as the Battle of Xileibi and the Battle of Jinghe? It was clearly due to the Sword Emperor of Western Shu's timely and crucial assistance through his individual effort.

At present, including Xu Fengnian, the King of Northern Liang, there were as many as seventeen individuals on the battlefield outside Jubei City!

Eighteen martial arts Grand Masters renowned throughout the Central Plains!

Yelü Hongcai withdrew his gaze and slowly drew a dagger. Under the sunlight, the unsheathed blade gleamed brilliantly. The Northern Mang Prince looked down, his eyes narrowed as he gazed at the mirror-like blade. A thought suddenly occurred to him: after this battle, he should engrave four characters onto this dagger.

Mandate of Heaven!

Xu Fengnian looked towards the open space, and for some reason, a look of slight relief appeared on his face.

He wasn't afraid of this trap being here; he was only afraid it would be set near Huaiyang Pass, afraid the bait wouldn't be this ambitious Northern Mang Prince, but rather Chu Lushan, the Northern Liang Protector-General facing Dong Zhuo's army!

Xu Fengnian gripped the Liang blade in his hand, and in an instant, vanished.

Deng Mao had already drawn a broken spear, no more than three feet long, from his pouch. As the young vassal king's figure disappeared, he strode several yards, not straight forward, but landing to the left side.

The next moment, Deng Mao slid back seven or eight steps, the entire sleeve of his spear-wielding arm spattered with crimson blood.

The clash between the Liang blade and the broken spear sent out a visible ripple of energy, like an upright mirror. Under the immense impact, the great standard near Deng Mao not only flapped wildly but even its extremely tough flagpole bent backward into an alarming arc.

If Deng Mao hadn't blocked most of the energy in front of Yelü Hongcai, and if Han Gu, who excelled in two-character ci poetic forms, had not dismounted at some point and held her sword horizontally before him, the Prince, with his ordinary physique, would likely have died on the spot.

Deng Mao, with firm eyes, stared ahead. After being repelled, the young vassal king stood poised on the edge of the open space. Compared to Deng Mao's bloodied arm with strained muscles, Xu Fengnian merely flicked his wrist and swung his blade, effortlessly dispersing the remaining force, clearly appearing far more at ease.

The figure in white in the distance called out loudly, "Beware when Deng Mao abandons his spear!"

Xu Fengnian frowned.

Deng Mao, whose hidden tactic had been revealed, did not become enraged; he merely grinned, unconcerned.

Xu Fengnian did not pay much attention to Deng Mao, the broken-spear wielder, in their first encounter; not out of arrogance, but confidence. Deng Mao's martial arts cultivation was similar to Hong Jingyan's, perhaps even slightly lower than Hong Jingyan of Longyan'er Plain. After all, the "Geng Lou Zi" of Qijie Prefecture had gained an insight at the time, on the verge of breaking through to the Celestial Realm. Xu Fengnian simply hadn't given Hong Jingyan the chance to solidify his realm, otherwise Northern Mang would surely have gained another Terrestrial Immortal.

For no apparent reason, Xu Fengnian recalled the four characters for "Terrestrial Immortal," and his mood grew somewhat heavy. While seemingly casually surveying his surroundings, his thoughts raced.

It was a universally acknowledged fact that the martial arts world was experiencing a great epoch, unmatched in a thousand years. The martial landscape of Liyang far surpassed that of Northern Mang; even the Northern Mang Empress had openly stated this in court. Whether it was the number of martial artists in the three realms of Vajra, Zhi Xuan, and Tianxiang (First Rank), after Huang Longshi transferred the remaining fate of the Eight Spring and Autumn States into the martial world, Liyang's martial arts community, as if force-fed, began to greatly exceed Northern Mang's. Even regarding Terrestrial Immortals, Liyang clearly had more than Northern Mang. Even if one included Yuan Qingshan, the Great True Man of Qilin Sect who had previously ascended, and considered Grand Secretary Taiping of Qijie Prefecture, who had never revealed his strength, as a Terrestrial Immortal, the number of Terrestrial Immortals in Northern Mang's martial world over the past two decades remained negligible, with only Tuoba Pusa and Hu Yan Daguan currently.

However, Liyang's martial world was like a lush forest with towering trees. Among those no longer in the mortal world were Wang Xianzhi, Hong Xiang, Li Chungang, Cao Changqing, Huang Sanjia, the father-and-son True Men of Longhu Mountain who ascended together, Zhao Huangchao who cultivated solitary reclusion, the Dragon Tree Monk of Liangchan Temple, Xuanyuan Jingcheng of Huishan, and Gao Shulu and Liu Songtao, who made fleeting appearances in the martial world, and so on. Not to mention the original Confucian Saint who lived in seclusion at Shangyin Academy. Adding to these are those still alive: Xu Fengnian, the Peach Blossom Deity Deng Tai'a, Chen Zhibao, the eunuch in Tai'an City who was as old as the nation, the white-robed monk Li Dangxin, and Tantai Pingjing of the Guanyin Sect. Furthermore, Xu Yanbing, Gu Jiantang, Xuanyuan Qingfeng, and Wu Jiancheng Baishuang, among others, were only a hair's breadth away from the Terrestrial Immortal realm.

Although this was related to Northern Mang's martial world not having received the Spring and Autumn's cosmic fortune, the vast disparity in top-tier Grand Masters between the two sides still seemed too unreasonable.

Especially the numerical gap in Terrestrial Immortals, which was nearly a hand's count, seemed extremely strange.

According to the deductions of Xu Fengnian and Li Yufu, the young abbot of Wudang, Northern Mang's martial world should not be so lifeless. In the past twenty years, there should have been at least four to six more Terrestrial Immortals, with one each from the Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist schools, and one to two more from pure martial artists, with the highest probability for someone to become a Terrestrial Sword Immortal. However, even when Xu Fengnian and Tuoba Pusa fought across thousands of miles in the Western Regions, or when Xu Fengnian slew the black dragon symbolizing Northern Mang's national fortune outside Liuzhou Pass, no Terrestrial Immortal suddenly appeared to stop them. This was as if someone in Northern Mang was deliberately suppressing the martial world's destiny. Regardless, where had the three or four Terrestrial Immortals who should have flourished in Northern Mang over these twenty years, or rather, the fate that should have belonged to this small group of people, actually gone?

Xu Fengnian was well aware that Northern Mang was using Prince Yelü Hongcai as bait to lure him into a heroic feat of "capturing the general."

In fact, Xu Fengnian had little interest in killing Yelü Hongcai. Once the old Empress either died naturally or suddenly, Yelü Hongcai's existence would not only fail to change Northern Mang's chaotic leaderless situation but would exacerbate internal strife. At the very least, his emergence had become a stumbling block for that grandfather-grandson pair, Yelü Hongcai (the elder) and Yelü Dongchuang. If the Yelü clan wished to reclaim their ancestral glory, they would first need to undergo internal conflict to qualify to unify the imperial family's forces and then contend with General Dong Zhuo, representing the regional warlords, Murong Baoding, leader of the empress's relatives, and various other powerful nomadic tribes. Moreover, Yelü Hongcai had previously used the renowned Princess of the plains to secretly sound out Qingliang Mountain. Therefore, Xu Fengnian remained unperturbed when facing Yelü Hongcai's provocation once again.

Xu Fengnian was certain that the trap was right at his feet, which was why he had just charged forward. Xu Fengnian had not advanced straight ahead, but instead followed a curved path towards the point where Deng Mao with the broken spear was blocking. The danger level of this trap was directly related to how highly the Northern Mang Prince was regarded, and this was something Xu Fengnian needed to weigh.

Ultimately, what Xu Fengnian truly wanted to kill was Tuoba Pusa.

The current Tuoba Pusa possessed a "peerless in the human realm" level of martial arts, nearly as high as Wang Xianzhi's peak. What did this mean? It meant that only by two Grand Masters of Martial Arts joining forces could they barely stop someone Tuoba Pusa intended to kill.

Why didn't Xu Fengnian go to Dunhuang City then, and why did Hu Yan Daguan stop him from rushing to Northern Mang? It was simple: it was all because of Tuoba Pusa.

The situation now facing Xu Fengnian presented two things that absolutely had to be accomplished.

Jubei City must not fall!

Even if Tuoba Pusa wasn't killed, he absolutely could not be allowed to retain that level of cultivation!

As for figures like Yelü Hongcai, they were simply not worth mentioning.