Chapter 257 Brotherhood
Retrieving his Luke Sword, he caught Li Changyan’s head. Li Ye stretched out his hand to close Li Changyan’s eyes. Looking around at the soldiers, he shouted, “Here’s my order. All those in the Fengxiang Army, who surrender, are pardoned!”
After finishing speaking, Li Ye waved his hand. “Shangguan Qingcheng!”
“I’m here!” Shangguan Qingcheng came quickly.
“Gather up the captives and control the battlefield!”
“Yes!”
Carrying Li Changyan’s head, Li Ye flew over the vast battlefield full of armored soldiers and directly came outside the courier station. After landing, he adjusted his clothes and cupped his fists outside the door. “I’m the Eastern Conquering Military Commander, Li Ye. I have killed Li Changyan. Now, I’m carrying his head and request to see His Majesty!”
On the tall building, Li Yan saw Li Ye. He smiled from ear to ear and clapped his hands in praise. When hearing Li Ye’s words and seeing him standing outside the door formally, Li Yan suddenly felt sad without a reason. The smile on his face was gone and replaced by an unspeakable sadness.
Li Ye led 100,000 Pinglu soldiers to the Central Plains battlefield in person from far away. All the way, he wiped out Guandong, conquered Tongguan, killed Huang Chao, and recaptured Chang’an. Now, for his safety, Li Ye came to protect him without a stop. In order to catch up with time, he rode alone with his sword to the west...
Li Yan heard from Shangguan Qingcheng that Buddhism had dispatched many masters to intercept Li Ye in the area of Qi Mountain and Mei County. Those were dozens of cultivators in the Kong Kim Realm, so he could imagine that Li Ye had bloody fights all the way and that he nearly died.
Now Li Ye arrived in time. He killed the rebel and carried his head to come, but he saluted outside the door, obeying the etiquette of a minister, and had no arrogance at all. As a brother, how many people could do these things like him in the world?
“Summon Prince An!” Li Yan’s eyes turned red unconsciously. He waved his hand, lifted up his robe, and hurried down the building.
When Li Ye entered the door and just walked into the courtyard, Li Yan came to meet him in haste. He looked excited, and especially, his eyes were red. It seemed that he was going to cry.
Seeing Li Yan’s red eyes, Li Ye was stunned slightly and felt very touched.
“Your Majesty!” Li Ye bowed and saluted.
“Brother Ye!”
Before he could bow, his arms were supported with force. He looked up and saw Li Yan crying. Suddenly, Li Ye felt a little odd. When on the earth, he didn’t understand why the ancients would always cry and why men could cry so badly when seeing each other, but now, he seemed to understand a little.
“I have already killed Li Changyan...” Li Ye was still carrying Li Changyan’s head.
“Li Changyan is less important than our reunion.” Li Yan took the head and threw it back into Tian Lingzi’s arms without looking at it. “Brother Ye, come with me quickly. I have to get good and drunk with you today!”
Li Yan even ignored the etiquette between the emperor and the minister.
After Li Ye was pulled into the room by Li Yan, he did not know what to say for a while. Of course, he knew that Li Yan didn’t do that deliberately to show his closeness to his minister. In his memory, Li Ye and Li Yan were also very close in his last life. Otherwise, when Li Yan was dying, he wouldn’t pass the throne to him, but not his son.
On the battlefield, the battle came to an end gradually. Shangguan Qingcheng was leading the Regal Guards to disarm the Fengxiang Army and put them into custody in groups. Originally, the leader of the Wolf-tooth Troop had nothing to do with capturing the enemies and taking control of the battlefield as the Regal Guards were there, but no one dared to say no to Prince An’s arrangement.
Wang Jian and Li Maozhen were sitting together. Although their armies were not disarmed, they could only rest in the strict areas temporarily before further orders were given.
Taking off his helmet, Wang Jian poured out the blood in it and turned to said to Li Maozhen, “When shall we go to meet Prince An? When we drank together in Chang’an last time, we didn’t expect that we would see each other so soon. Do you know, in Prince An’s view, we are the loyal ministers of the country or the opportunistic people?”
Li Maozhen said lightly, “I don’t know.”
Wang Jian was stunned. “Then what do you know?”
Li Maozhen said, “All I know is that after this battle, our achievements are enough to be appointed as the commissioners and we can take office in the vassal states.”
Wang Jian’s eyes were wandering. “Do you really want to take office in the vassal state?”
Li Maozhen’s gaze suddenly became sharp. “When a general has not yet been conferred a noble title, he often wears a sword with blood on his waist! A real man should fight on the battlefield, and his fame should be gained with his strength. Whatever Prince An will think about me, I’ll do whatever I should do!”
Wang Jian was silent.
At night, the hall was ablaze with lights. Li Yan was still talking and drinking with Li Ye happily. Standing outside the door, Tian Lingzi glanced inside from time to time with a gloomy gaze.
Near midnight, as Li Ye walked out of the hall alone, Tian Lingzi immediately put on a sincere smile. “Your Highness Prince An, I have not yet had time to congratulate you on your great achievements.”
Li Ye glanced at Tian Lingzi. That year in Chang’an, in order to take down Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue, the two of them had fought side by side, life and death. Now, however, when facing the struggle of power, they finally stood up in opposition.
Li Ye smiled and said, “It’s just my duty. Lieutenant, you have worked hard on protecting His Majesty, so you will surely be rewarded when His Majesty returns to the capital.”
After talking for a while, Li Ye said goodbye and left. Seeing Li Ye walking away, Tian Lingzi spat. He narrowed his eyes and said, “I know His Majesty will definitely reward me.”
Yang Fugong quietly came beside Tian Lingzi and whispered, “Lieutenant, the people we sent to Chang’an have returned.”
“How’s that? Did they succeed?” Tian Lingzi immediately asked with expectation.
Yang Fugong shook his head and said, “No. Yang Fuguang is guarded by masters all the time, in public and in the dark. They seem to be the people from the Black Office. We couldn’t find the right opportunity.”
Tian Lingzi gnashed his teeth and said, “You have to find an opportunity to do it! It’s hard enough to deal with only one Prince An. Yang Fuguang has fought side by side with Prince An, and they have a good relationship. If Prince An supports Yang Fuguang to a higher position, my status will be at stake!”
Yang Fugong bent and took the order.
After leaving the courier station, Li Ye went to the army barracks of the Wolf-tooth Troop. He went to meet Shangguan Qingcheng first, and then he walked alone upon the turret and enjoyed the night scene of the barracks.
Not long after he stood there, a wineskin flew over. When he caught it, Nangong Diyi had already flown onto the turret. Sitting directly on the ground, Nangong Diyi raised the wineskin and said, “You and I have fought side by side in successive several battles of defeating Buddhism, killing the Taoists, and eliminating Li Changyan, but we haven’t had time to drink and celebrate.”
Looking at the wineskin in his hand, Li Ye smiled bitterly. “I’ve just had a drink with His Majesty, and I’m still dizzy.”
Nangong Diyi didn’t care at all. “It has nothing to do with me.”
Li Ye knew that he couldn’t argue with this alcoholic about the issue of drinking, so he simply sat down and drank with Nangong Diyi.
“What are you going to do next?” After emptying the first wineskin, Nangong Diyi seemed to ask Li Ye casually.
Li Ye wiped his mouth. “Go back to Pinglu.”
“The root of the Pinglu Army is in Pinglu, so I can understand that you have to go back. But after you go back, what should the imperial court do? Without you in Chang’an, His Majesty will neglect the political affairs again, and the world will continue to be in chaos. Those commissioners, including Zhu Wen, Li Keyong, Wang Chongrong, and the others, who have made contributions in this battle, and Wang Jian and Li Maozhen won’t respect the imperial court very much after the battle,” Nangong Diyi whispered, “the Huang Chao Uprising has wiped out the imperial court’s majesty.”
Li Ye slowly said, “Without the Pinglu Army, what I can do in Chang’an is limited. If the vassal states revolt, I won’t even have troops to pacify them. Even though I have high cultivation, it will be in vain.”
Nangong Diyi stared at him. “How will it be in vain? Whoever dares to rebel, you can just go and behead them. With your current fighting ability, even 10,000 soldiers can’t stop you. No power can constrain you in the human world.”
Li Ye smiled and pointed to the night sky. “The great achievement of the Taoist sect was destroyed. Do you think the Immortal Court will stand by?”
Nangong Diyi was stunned. “Will the immortals descend to the human world directly? But if the immortals descend through ‘Kunlun’, their strength will be seriously damaged.”
After Li Ye threw away the empty wineskin in his hand, Nangong Diyi threw another one to him. Li Ye caught it like a hot potato. He couldn’t help but wonder, “Is your Qiankun Bag full of wine?”
Nangong Diyi snorted proudly.
Li Ye didn’t know whether to cry or laugh, so he had to pull out the plug and raise the wineskin. He continued to say, “There will only be more and more people like Li Changyan in the chaotic world. In the final analysis, if we want to end the chaotic world, we have to fight on the battlefield. Even if the immortals descend to the human world, they are just the advanced combat power, unless they have the ability to rush into Qingzhou and directly take my head off.”
Nangong Diyi seriously said, “It’s hard to tell.”
Li Ye sighed. “So the most important thing is to let His Majesty hurry back to Chang’an and that I also hurry to improve my cultivation.”
After they talked for a while, Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang also flew up there. For Nangong Diyi, all comers were welcome, so he threw out the wineskins one after another. Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang sat on both sides of Li Ye. The four people drank all night on the turret under the moon.
Li Xian didn’t come because he was still not fit to appear in public now. No one knew where Chu Nanhuai took him.
The Lingxiao Palace, the Immortal Court.
The atmosphere in the hall was dignified. Dozens of immortal officials frowned and narrowed their eyes. They looked at each other but didn’t dare to make a sound. They were afraid that they would provoke the immortal emperor on the throne so that he would vent his anger toward them.
The immortal emperor’s face and body were blurred, for he was surrounded by thick clouds of purple smoke, which made him look unpredictable and inscrutable. But at the same time, the immortal emperor’s pressure emanated from the smoke, making every immortal official in the hall dare not move.
“Sky King, you tell me how we are going to deal with Li Ye, this devil.”
A long time later, the immortal emperor said slowly. His majestic voice came from the purple smoke, echoing and lingering in the hall.
Hearing the immoral emperor’s question, a tall, dark-faced general stood out, holding a nine-layer tower in his hand. He answered loudly, “Li Ye has violated the heavenly laws. He dared to kill the masters of the five major Taoist sects. He was openly opposing the Immortal Court! What he has done has no difference from the devil’s ruining the world. For the orthodoxy of the Immortal Court, we must send someone down to the human world to kill him!”
The immortal emperor simply replied with a “hmm”.
At this point, a white-robed immortal official with golden light in his eyes stood out, holding a horsetail whisk. After bowing, he slowly said, “Your Majesty, I don’t think so. If the immortals descend to the human world, their cultivation will be greatly weakened and they may be unable to return to the Immortal Court all their lives. It will be a great loss for the Immortal Court to send the senior immortals to go. At present, the immortal territory is at war, and those foreign immortals keep attacking us. The Immortal Court has to resist their attack, so any of the senior immortals is our vital combat power. If we send the junior immortals down, I’m afraid that their cultivation will decline greatly so that they can’t kill Li Ye directly. Then, the Immortal Court will lose face.”
The immortal emperor didn’t comment. After remaining silent for a long time, he continued to ask, “Changgeng, in your opinion, what should we do?”
The white-robed immortal official, Li Changgeng slowly said, “Li Ye’s foundation is in Pinglu, and he improves his cultivation power by gathering people’s luck. As long as we can destroy his foundation in Pinglu and let the people there alienate from him, his strength will decline. Then, we don’t need to fear him anymore.”
The cultivators in the human world couldn’t tell Li Ye’s way of cultivation, but the Immortal Court could see through it easily. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be called the Immortal Court.
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