Si Yunxiang steadied her heart, but when she looked up, Qin Mu had already walked away. "I will not be weaker than that so-called Overlord Body. The women of the Si family are born to be cult master killers! The previous Holy Maiden could kill the previous cult master, and I can do the same!"
The next day, they arrived at Hong County. The county had been breached two days prior. When the soldiers saw the State Preceptor, they immediately reported, "State Preceptor, many people carrying banners have arrived in the city."
"People carrying banners?"
The State Preceptor of Yankang was surprised, pondered for a moment, then looked at Qin Mu and said, "Ignore them. How many banner carriers have arrived?"
"More than ten, all wearing conical hats to hide their faces, carrying different weapons wrapped tightly in cloth. They don't look like good people."
"Dismissed."
On the third day, they arrived at Qinghe County. Qinghe County had also seen many banner carriers, far more than the day before—already fifty or sixty of them.
By the fourth day in Wuyin City, several hundred banner-carriers had appeared. Qin Mu did not reveal the origins or intentions of these banner-carriers, and the State Preceptor of Yankang did not ask.
On the fifth day, they left the government office, preparing to exit the city and head to Daxiang. They had just stepped out of the yamen and onto the main street when they saw a strange figure rise from the entrance of the yamen, wearing a conical hat and carrying a cloth-wrapped weapon, following behind them.
After a few steps, another person emerged from an adjacent alley, also wearing a conical hat pulled low, carrying a long cloth-wrapped weapon. Then a burly man standing by the roadside also rose, carrying a long cloth bundle, and fell into step behind them.
Before they had even exited Wuyin City, several hundred similarly dressed strangers were following them—men and women, old and young.
Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, and the others glanced back, their hearts uneasy. These figures kept their hats pulled low, following at a neither close nor distant pace, unwilling to show their true faces, their intentions unknown.
"Could it be those banner-carriers? Why don't we see their banners?" Monk Yunque muttered.
The State Preceptor of Yankang remained indifferent, untroubled by the hundreds of people following behind them.
Outside Wuyin City, not far from the gate, there was a tea pavilion. Beneath it sat two elderly tea sellers, one male and one female. As they approached, the old man and woman looked up and called out, "Sirs, care for a cup of tea?"
Monk Yunque grumbled, "We just left the city—why drink tea?"
The State Preceptor said, "I'm thirsty." With that, he sat down beneath the pavilion and asked for a cup of tea.
Qin Mu also sat down. The two elders likewise took their seats, the four of them sitting at the corners of the table, each with a cup of tea before them.
Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, and the others wanted to step forward, but found that no matter how they walked toward the pavilion, they remained in place. The pavilion looked close at hand, yet after dozens of steps they were still standing in the same spot.
A chill ran through their hearts. They immediately sprinted toward the pavilion at full speed, moving with incredible swiftness—but they remained about ten feet away. The pavilion seemed within arm's reach, yet felt as though it lay hundreds or thousands of miles distant!
After a moment, Qin Mu and the State Preceptor finished their tea. The State Preceptor stood and paid, bowing slightly. The old man and woman also rose and bowed in return.
The two stepped out of the pavilion. The State Preceptor said, "Let us go. To Daxiang."
The others exchanged bewildered glances but followed. Yue Qinghong looked back and saw that the hundreds of hat-wearing strangers had not followed them. Instead, they were seated outside the pavilion, each cradling a cup of tea, drinking in silence—a truly bizarre sight.
"What a strange bunch," Hu Ling'er remarked.
Si Yunxiang sidled up to Qin Mu and whispered, "Did you reach an agreement?"
Qin Mu nodded. "You'll see when the time comes."
They arrived outside Daxiang City. The plains beyond the walls were blanketed with military camps—everywhere were encampments of soldiers. Duke Wei, along with the Champion and Huaihua Generals, had stationed their forces here, though they had not yet attacked Daxiang.
Daxiang was a key stronghold of the Southern Borderlands, gathering the enemy's vast armies. Various rebel forces had assembled here, and disciples from countless sects continued to pour in, poised for battle.
Should war break out, it would surely be an epic, magnificent conflict.
As Qin Mu walked through the camp, he saw Golden-Armored Warriors pushing enormous siege towers, drilling for the assault on the city. These Golden-Armored Warriors were specialists from the War Techniques school who focused on strengthening the physical body—in an instant, they could expand their bodies dozens or even hundreds of times, transforming into giants clad in armor forged from mystic copper and mystic gold, the armor alone half a foot thick.
These giants, when drilling for a siege, were chained, and had to hold a shield in one hand while pushing the siege tower. The siege towers were highly complex—aside from massive iron hammers for battering the city gates and walls, they also featured flying ladders that could rise more than ten zhang, reaching over the city walls for soldiers to climb.
In addition, there were commanders activating formation maps, spreading them out for soldiers to stand upon and practice formation maneuvers.
There were also cavalry mounted on giant birds, swooping downward under their commanders' lead. From the air, countless sword beams shot straight down—after a single dive, the ground spanning more than ten mu was bristling with flying swords!
After the cavalry flew past, the swords on the ground clattered upward, falling one after another into the sword cases strapped to their backs. The flying cavalry came and went like wind and lightning, impossible to guard against.
Moreover, it was not just a single unit—dozens of flying cavalry squads formed swarm tactics, wolf-pack tactics. Should ground forces encounter the flying cavalry, it would be devastating.
And against powerful enemies, the flying cavalry could employ kite tactics, wearing the enemy down to death.
Beyond the flying cavalry, there were also towered boats. This time, Duke Wei and the Champion and Huaihua Generals had deployed several hundred towered boats, each capable of holding over a thousand soldiers, mobilizing an army of several hundred thousand.
"The State Preceptor's military reforms have indeed turned the armies of Yankang into an invincible force. If my Heavenly Demon Cult were attacked like this, we would be annihilated," Qin Mu thought to himself.
They entered the camp. The State Preceptor of Yankang exchanged a few words with the welcoming Duke Wei, Champion General, and Huaihua General, then led Qin Mu and the others toward Daxiang City.
Above the city walls, banners of various sects flew, along with the standards of some already-destroyed nations. The State Preceptor glanced up and shook his head. "Unless this old era is completely destroyed, how can great things be achieved? They could reignite and rise again at any moment. Revolution demands blood—the heads of ten thousand must fall."
Qin Mu asked, "State Preceptor, is everything arranged?"
"Everything is arranged."
The State Preceptor looked up. The city gates swung wide open, and two columns of people emerged, dividing to the left and right of the gate. Behind them, their vital energy manifested into divine or demonic phantoms—some divine, some demonic.
"Celestial Being realm experts."
Qin Mu steadied himself. Experts of the Celestial Being realm could already manifest divine or demonic phantoms. Before the gates of Daxiang, these two columns contained sixty to seventy Celestial Being realm experts!
"This scene still isn't quite grand enough."
Yue Qinghong let out a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "When our Imperial Academy examines scholars, just the test before Qingyang Hall requires ninety-nine Celestial Being realm experts. These rebels only have so few Celestial Being experts—they're not even enough for our Academy to kill."
The dozens of Celestial Being realm experts stared straight ahead, their eyes on their noses, their noses on their hearts, paying no heed to her words.
They passed through the city gates and found two more columns of Celestial Being realm experts lining the main street on both sides, one every ten steps, stretching from the gate to the city center—so far that the end was nearly invisible, easily over a thousand!
Yue Qinghong's heart shook violently, and she dared not speak another word. Qin Mu remained relatively composed—the Heavenly Demon Cult also had several hundred Celestial Being realm experts, which was nothing remarkable.
"This rebellion is not only by the sects," the State Preceptor said calmly. "Some are nations that were supposedly destroyed. Back then, to win the people's hearts, I did not slaughter every last expert from those nations—now they harbor rebellious thoughts again. Beyond sects and nations, there are also aristocratic families. The turmoil they bring is no small matter."
Qin Mu calculated silently. Above the Celestial Being realm was the Life-and-Death realm, and above that, the Divine Bridge realm. The fact that so many Celestial Being experts existed meant there were no few Life-and-Death realm experts—likely a hundred or so—and perhaps a dozen or more Divine Bridge realm experts.
More than a dozen figures at the Cult Master level, plus hidden sanctuaries like Xiaoyujing—the State Preceptor of Yankang was walking straight into a death trap, offering his head to be chopped off.
As for Qin Mu and the others, they might as well have already lopped off their heads and tucked them into their belts.
The experts lining the street maintained perfect silence, not a sound escaping them. Only the sound of Qin Mu's party's footsteps echoed through the city. Apart from the rebels and their cultivators, no one else remained in this city.
Moreover, the entire city of Daxiang had been razed—every house demolished, their foundations pulled up as well. The city was barren, occupied only by tens of thousands of soldiers arrayed in various formations, equally silent, watching them without a word.
Walking forward under the gaze of tens of thousands of cultivators was a crushing psychological burden. Even Shen Wanyun, a veteran of countless battles, found his hands trembling beyond his control.
Qin Mu had seen gods before—even urinated on a god statue—so he remained fairly composed. He felt the pressure, but did not lose his bearing.
At the city's center, the governor's mansion had vanished. In its place stood a towering platform, its steps numbering in the thousands, rising dozens of zhang above the ground, even taller than the city walls, like a small mountain peak.
As Qin Mu approached, his heart stirred—this platform was not merely *like* a mountain peak. It *was* a mountain peak.
Someone had transported an entire mountain, crushed the original governor's mansion beneath it, and carved it into its current shape!
They reached the base of the steps and slowly ascended, neither too fast nor too slow.
Finally, at the summit, the peak had been leveled flat. Majestic divine and demonic phantoms stood there—but not the sect masters.
Qin Mu looked carefully and saw that these sect masters stood on the palms of the phantoms, or sat cross-legged upon their brows. Not one touched the ground.
High above, they imposed an immense pressure upon Qin Mu and his party.
These Cult Master-level beings were simply too powerful.
On the fingertips of a divine phantom's palm stood a beautiful woman, gazing down imperiously at the State Preceptor of Yankang. She said softly, "The first beneath the gods, the current State Preceptor—did you really come without bringing any allies?"
The divine phantom was the image of a Daoist, a hundred zhang tall, its eyes pure white as if composed of white light, a great serpent coiled around its body, a dark tortoise beneath its feet. A gentle breeze stirred, and behind it ribbon-like streams of air swayed.
Si Yunxiang's heart skipped a beat at the sight. She whispered, "Her vital energy phantoms have been refined into substance—that is a realm near the divine!"
Qin Mu was unfamiliar with such matters. He pondered for a moment and asked, "Sister, if someone had lost all four limbs, yet when viewed through the Celestial Eye appeared to have them fully intact—like a majestic, unparalleled deity radiating divine light so bright one could barely see him—how would that realm compare to this woman's?"
Si Yunxiang had no answer for that either. Before she could reply, the State Preceptor suddenly turned his head, an unstoppable aura erupting from him, his battle intent soaring to the heavens. "You've seen someone like that?"
Startled by his sudden explosion of killing intent, Qin Mu said, "It was an elder from my family."
The State Preceptor's eyelid twitched. "Another elder from your family? You seem to have quite a few of them."