Qing Ning had never seen the Man King before, but then how many Xiantians were there in the world anyway?
"Many thanks, senior." She cupped her fists and immediately fled using this opportunity.
Seeing that, Mu Chengxue's eyes grew icy cold after which she took an elegant step forward, disappearing an instant later.
*bang*
At the exact same moment, the Man King made his move as well. With one fist, he shook the heavens with a violent dust storm, and sent tremors running down the earth with a hundred zhang long ditch.
Blocked by the powerful shockwaves, Mu Chengxue immediately backstepped and retreated away from the tremors, frowning as she did so.
This man had a terrifying strength, were her thoughts then.
The Man King stepped in front of the staggered girl, cutting off her path forward in a bid to buy more time for Qing Ning. Though he didn't like the brat too much, he didn't want Ah Man to be sad again either.
That daughter of his rarely begged him for anything and yet for this favor alone, she pleaded with him for several days.
The war was one between Grand Xia, the Mongols and the Buddhist Nation and as such, he wasn't keen on entering it at first. Besides, he was no match for that bald donkey.
However, that didn't mean he could sit idly by either. He had to account for Ah Man's feelings after all. Her mother died while she was still young and the two of them ended up relying on each other for over ten years. To him, her happiness was his greatest wish.
He made the trip to Mt. Mijie, though he originally thought that he would be too late by then. Yet instead he got the shock of life when he saw that the Mortal Buddha had not only been defeated, but had also been nailed alive to the cliff face.
It was only after a round of questioning that he found out exactly what happened. As expected, that brat was truly a devious mess. To think he actually managed to eke out a victory by using such despicable means against the head abbot of the Western Doya. Not only that, he even roasted the man alive like some kind of animal.
When he visited the soldiers, they were in still in the midst of splas.h.i.+ng buddhist blood onto the fallen monk. Needless to say, that method had to have been taught to them by the brat just as he was about to leave.
He had to admit, that brat was good but he was just too devious for his own good. Till now he still couldn't figure out how did his precious daughter fall in love with this scoundrel. Also, why were the girls circling around him all prettier than the other? Whether it was the one rescuing him or the one chasing him down, they were both beauties.
No matter how much he thought about it, the Man King just couldn't figure this mystery out so he finally gave up in the end. Turning his eyes back to the girl dressed in white, he couldn't help but s.h.i.+ver at the thought of her speed.
The la.s.s was simply too quick; even a slight slip up might cost him dearly here.
In this world, the only technique that possessed such an extreme speed had to belong to the Heavenly Scroll of Movement.
Truly, the youngsters nowadays were terrifying.
A brief exchange of gazes later, the two resumed their battle once more. One was quick while the other was strong. In this battle of speed versus strength, the heavens and earth were thrown into turmoil and even s.p.a.ce itself was starting to shake violently.
Mu Chengxue would try on multiple occasions to catch up to the fleeing Qing Ning but unfortunately for her, she was foiled time and time again by the Man King's shockwave attack.
A distance away, Qing Ning, along with Ning Chen and Ming Yue, had long disappeared into the horizon. Given how large this world was, it was basically impossible to find and catch up to a Xiantian under such circ.u.mstances.
In light of that, Mu Chengxue narrowed her eyes and with a flash, retreated entirely from the battlefield, not at all willing to waste anymore time on this pointless battle.
The Man King naturally had no intention of stopping her either. Now that the battle was over, his job was done as well. After the giving the trio a look as well, he turned around and left.
At the very least, he completed the task given to him by his daughter.
Amidst the vast wilderness, a green light could be seen streaking across the sky before disappearing an instant later. Like that, Qing Ning lugged the two non-combatants all the way to the Imperial City. However, she still had to stop from time to time to infuse more True Qi into Ning Chen.
Dusk fell and after rus.h.i.+ng for an entire day, the trio finally arrived in the Imperial City.
However, Qing Ning's first stop wasn't the palace but rather the estate of Prince Yan.
Upon entering, they found Prince Yan already waiting for them in the hall and after seeing the bloodied Ning Chen, he asked nothing but instead waved his hand, causing the Desert Sword to fly out and back into his sword rack.
"Bring him along." Said Prince Yan before turning around to leave for the back hall.
Hearing that, Qing Ning immediately followed him.
"Place him down here for now." The prince said after entering a room.
Qing Ning lowered the teen onto the bed before her and promptly stepped back to little Ming Yue's side.
It was now time for the famed legend to do his work. Flipping his palm around, he called forth a cerulean light that coalesced into a translucent sword point before rus.h.i.+ng into Ning Chen's body as a boundless wave of True Qi. Within seconds, the head abbot's residual buddhist energies were cordoned off and destroyed.
Prince Yan then withdrew his palm and calmly said: "He's alright now, you may bring him back to the palace."
"Many thanks, Prince Yan."
Qing Ning bowed before promptly grabbing Ning Chen and leaving with Ming Yue.
Gazing at their disappearing backs, Prince Yan nodded his head lightly. The moment the Desert Sword entered the Imperial City, he knew that the three of them had returned. This time, the boy did well.
However, Ning Chen was seeped in murder now and that would ultimately have a huge impact on his future cultivation, especially when facing the three Calamities and the five Tribulations, where this effect would be even more p.r.o.nounced.
Back at Revelation Hall, a bloodied and battered Ning Chen was brought before Zhang Sun who couldn't help but ache for the former. "We're returning to Weiyang Palace." She declared solemnly.
"Your Majesty." Qing Ning was momentarily stunned. Given Ning Chen's current status, he was no longer eligible to enter Weiyang Palace, that didn't fit with protocol at all.
"Hmph, he came from Weiyang Palace so why can he not return to it. As long as this Empress isn't dead, we'll see who dares to say a word in dissent!"
Qing Ning said no more, picking up the injured Ning Chen and following Zhang Sun back to Weiyang Palace. Behind them followed Ming Yue, who had never said a word from start to finish.
Within Weiyang Palace.
Ning Chen was brought to his former room within the palace. Ming Yue and Qing Ning were inside as well, guarding his bedside while Zhang Sun left for the imperial palace's Consecrated Hall to personally retrieve medicines for Ning Chen.
Not too long later, Zhang Sun came back with three jade bottles that were handed over right away to Qing Ning.
While she might not know about medicine, she did however, know that these were the best pills the imperial palace had besides the Xiantian pill.
"The Heavenly Dragon Pill." Qing Ning gasped, a shocked look crossing her eyes as she stared at the purple jade bottle. The bottle she held contained the one and only heavenly pill that Grand Xia managed to research and create; its medicinal strength was even comparable to some of the heavenly pills pa.s.sed down from the ancient times.
The pill itself was completely purple like the jade bottle that held it. Qing Ning gingerly placed the pill into the teen's mouth and then activated her True Qi to carefully release the medicinal strength contained within the pill.
In this world, pills that were labelled heavenly weren't medicines an ordinary person could take as is. Their boundless medicinal strength was more than enough to kill the recipient. Given that Ning Chen was still in a comatose state and extremely weakened, she had to be extra careful in how she fed him the pill.
Like the Revolving Heaven Pill, the Heavenly Dragon Pill was highly effective at healing internal injuries. Unlike the Revolving Heaven Pill however, the latter had a comparatively milder medicinal strength, making it the perfect pill for the current Ning Chen.
As for the last two pills, they weren't heavenly pills but were still extremely valuable elixirs. Once the boy was better, those would come in handy.
By the bedside, Ming Yue took off the protective charm the bad man gave her and stringed it around the latter's neck before resuming her wordless vigil by his side.
Taking note of that, Zhang Sun narrowed her eyes slightly. That was the protective charm she gave to Ning Chen the last time he got into trouble. In fact, she was the one who placed it on him; to think it would find its way into the hands of the Mongolian Great Khan.
Looks like Ning Chen really valued the little kid.
It was at that moment that the sound of a junior eunuch's footsteps echoed from outside of the door. Shortly thereafter, a respectful voice could be heard through the door, "Reporting in, Your Majesty the Empress, Beichui City has sent in a report."
"I understand." Zhang Sun answered and then threw Ning Chen one last swift look before turning around to leave.
There were simply too many matters plaguing Grand Xia right now for her to spend too much time by the boy's bedside. Before everything else, she was the Empress of Grand Xia and then she was the master of Weiyang Palace.
Within Revelation Hall.
The battle report from Beichui City had just been handed over to Zhang Sun. As she perused through the scroll, her brows grew tighter. She simply couldn't figure what this Lady Strategist was thinking right now.
On the same night, in the southwestern region of Grand Xia.
The Buddhist Nation's disciples were in the midst of another northward skirmish, this time with wooden boards strapped to their feet. On the riverside, the four thousand Forbidden Guardsmen stationed there did their best to fend off the attack. Using the natural terrain to their advantage, they barely managed to do just that. After that single battle however, the army lost over half of its men, leaving them with less than 1500 guardsmen.
The next day, the news of the head abbot's defeat finally spread throughout the lands. In an instant, the buddhist disciples were thrown into disarray, none of them knowing what to do all of a sudden.
It was then that the four heads of Confucian arrived, bringing three thousand Confucian experts with them. Using their mighty powers and arrays, they broke the occupation of Gu Lan City and captured the 5000 surviving buddhist disciples remaining in the city.
Needless to say, the Confucian school's might was proven once more. While these one thousand years were clearly dominated by Grand Xia, they were also a thousand years of prosperity for the Confucian School. The four heads were all half-step Xiantians and when backed by the top three hundred experts of the Confucian School along with the Binding Heaven Array pa.s.sed down by the Sage himself, they could even take on a Third-Calamity Xiantian.
Even so, saying all that now was for naught. As the grand army made its way southwest, they received a most unexpected piece news -that of the head abbot's defeat. That stunned the four heads to the point of speechlessness.
With the morale and strength of the Buddhist Nation so greatly diminished, it was only a given that Gu Lan City fell in one day.
The swift defeat of the Buddhist Nation once more shocked the doomsayers of Grand Xia. Like that, the world was treated again to the astonis.h.i.+ng sight of a thousand years of acc.u.mulation by Grand Xia.
Back in the main camp of the Mongolian Army, Fan Lingyue didn't have much to say regarding the Buddhist Nation's thorough thras.h.i.+ng and merely carried out her plan of false negotiations.
At the eastern front.
The Eternal Night Cult was beginning to show signs of defeat as well. Under the leaders.h.i.+p and furious counterattacks of Marquis Kaixuan and the Blackwater Army, the cult suffered a string of consecutive defeats.
What seemed like doomsday for Grand Xia just a month ago, suddenly took a complete one-eighty with the war seemingly on the verge of ending. Just like that, Grand Xia's biggest problem changed from one of external enemies to internal woes.
Back at the Imperial City, the strife between the two princes had reached an irreconcilable state and showed signs of potential military conflict.
The Three Grand Dukes and Zhang Sun were trying their hardest to prevent such a day from coming. However, with how solidified each prince's base was, it was difficult for them to suppress the princes.
Of the eleven most important Forbidden Armies in the Imperial City, the Third Prince controlled the Divine Wind, Turbulent Rain, Purple Lightning armies. The Tenth Prince, on the other hand, controlled the Green Sparrow and White Tiger armies. Of the remaining six armies, the Eldest Prince and Zhang Sun controlled four while the last two were took an observing stance.
It could be said that the pa.s.sing of the Xia Emperor led to the majority of the Imperial City's troops throwing their weight behind the Third Prince. Over 330 000 of Grand Xia's most elite soldiers were on standby in the capital awaiting orders from their new master.
The five thousand Forbidden Guardsmen Ning Chen brought away with him all belonged to the Dragon's Guard army under Zhang Sun, and were considered the elite of the elite, even amongst all thirteen Forbidden Armies.
Unfortunately, there were barely any survivors amongst those five thousand. That one mission had to be the greatest loss the army had ever suffered. In the thousand years since Grand Xia's founding, that was also the first time the empire was forced to send out the Dragon's Guard.
Thanks to the blood of these brave soldiers, Grand Xia finally managed to gain some reprieve from the external threats besieging it. Yet, it was then that the internal woes Ning Chen had always worried about, finally surfaced in full force.
The matter of electing a new Emperor could no longer be postponed.
