Chapter 381.1: Plum Emperor Sword - Part 1

On a plain, a kilometer east of Yuan Shaoqing's main camp, secret agents from Poison Pavilion, such as Jian Yong and Jian Meng, had established a small camp there. Liu Xuande, Zhang Yide, Guan Yunchang, and people from the Li Clan visited this place to conclude their business.

Liu Xuande, who didn't tag along with Yuan Shaoqing's troops, handed a spatial ring to the Li Clan's elder.

"Thanks for your cooperation. 10,000 essence cores are in there. I hope it's enough for your trouble."

The elder smiled in glee, "Thank you for your generosity. With these, we can raise our juniors and promising children. We shall withdraw from the war as promised."

"Godspeed, Elder Li. It's good that you and your clan are so understanding."

20 cultivators including a nascent soul expert from the Li Clan left the camp, returning home.

After everyone but the three had left, Liu Xuande stroked his goatee beard, "Ain't I a genius, Yunchang?"

Guan Yunchang, aka Guan Yu, shook his head, "No, you're an evil schemer. How could you manipulate the Yuan Clan to attack our ally? I thought we can Siren City are friends."

Liu Xuande cackled, "Because we're friends, we're doing them a favor."

"How? You pretty much force them to fight an all-out war."

"Seriously, Yunchang. Haven't you noticed the weird movements of Wei Huang, Sun Wentai, and my relative Liu Biao?"

"What did they do?"

"Simple," Liu Xuande wiped his tear as he laughed too much. "I bet Wei Huang and Sun Wentai are planning to backstab Yuan Shaoqing. As for Liu Biao... He's just a puppet of the main clan. He will eventually eradicate Sun Wentai's clan and his sect after this."

"Are they relate to this war and your plan?"

"Of fucking course, my curious brother. Now, Sun Wentai has to make a decision whether he will join forces with Yuan Shaoqing or save Siren City. After this, no matter what he does, Liu Biao and Huang Zu won't leave Jiangdong White Tiger Sect alone. Those bastards have been eyeing the flying island for quite a while now."

The relationship between local lords was complicated. While they worked together to eradicate demons from the land, they also vied for supremacy, trying to remove their local rivals.

Only a few clans and small sects openly fought each other. As for major clans, they had a reputation and image to uphold, so they couldn't reveal their true color. They could only wait for their rivals to make mistakes, so they could use it as an excuse to start a clan war.

After all, clans or sects with bad reputations were always framed as demon worshipers. For example, Huangjin Monastery, who always went against major clan's interests by rescuing orphans and harmless demons, had been receiving this treatment for years.

Liu Xuande brought out his phone and dialed odd numbers that Guan Yunchang and Zhang Yide had never seen before. He also put the J-Phone mode to the speaker mode, so they could hear the conversation.

BEEP

The other side picked up the call.

[Demon King Incorporation is happy to be of service! What I can do for you today, Lord Liu Bei?]

It was the dungeon master, the current governor of Xuan City.

Both sworn brothers of Liu Xuande frowned, wondering why the person called their brother by another name.

"My name is Liu Xuande, not Liu Bei, damn demon."

[Liu Xuande is too long. Liu Bei is easier to memorize, sir.]

"Fine. Call me whatever you want. Say, have you completed your preparation?"

[Yes. Your order has been completed. We have transported 5,000 battle golems with earth-grade spears, shields, and full-plate armors to the designated location. All of them are charged with Earth Element Qi, so they are as strong as 5th-stage cultivators in raw strength! Where should I deliver the control remote?]

"Can you detect my current location?"

[No. We're not that omnipotent.]

"Alright then. Send the remote controller to Chicken Ann City. Send it to an abbot by the name Zhang Jue. He's working for me... and Siren City."

[Oho! So, you're allying with the leader of the Yellow Turban as well? How exciting! Very well, it shall be done. Also, please deliver the other half of the payment within 30 days, okay?]

"I know."

[Thank you very much for doing business with Demon King Incorporation! Please buy weapons and golems from us again!]

Liu Xuande ended the call. Then, he turned to his brothers.

"Who's that?" Zhang Yide had a wry smile on his face.

"Someone dangerous that can help us slaughter anyone who gets on our way."

Liu Bei smirked as he enjoyed manipulating people to clash against each other while he could sit back on the sideline, watching the show while waiting to reap some profits.

Now, Liu Xuande would watch how Siren City and the alliance army duke it out while the side match between Sun Wentai and Liu Biao's forces was interesting, too. Regardless of the results, he would end up as the final victor of this chaos.

"Let's go back to our lovely city and contact Wei Huang. It's about time to encourage them to make a move soon."

...

= Siren City, 10 AM =

After the allied forces had retreated, Jia Wenhe and Ma Moxi went out to collect the immortal-grade weapons of the ex-immortals, which had been abandoned after their masters had been disarmed.

The soul sword went to Ma Moxi's hand. On the other hand, Jia Wenhe had a problem handling the Plum Emperor Sword of Ling Tianlong.

Because the living weapon was loyal to Ling Tianlong, it exploded the remaining Soul Qi to ward off Jia Wenhe. The latter couldn't even pick it up or hold it as it threatened to kill him.

"Shit! What a waste."

Jia Wenhe lamented in his powerlessness. He sighed and walked away from the sword on the ground.

Seeing that Jia Wenhe had failed to tame the sword, many beastmen came out and tried to pick it up.

As if Plum Emperor Sword was angry, it hovered from the ground and flew away from the beastmen.

At that point, everyone thought that it was impossible to steal Ling Tianlong's treasure sword. They had a bitter look of helplessness.

PLOP

Suddenly, the sword fell down to the ground. Because of the previous battle with Lu Fengxian, it ran out of energy and Soul Qi.

'#$%@&#@$'

It screamed in an incomprehensible language as if it cursed Lu Fengxian and Siren City for its current shabby state.

Sensing how the immortal-grade sword grew weak, Jia Wenhe tried again.

This time, he managed to lift the sword and bring it back to the city!

"HAHAHAHA!! BIG CATCH! BIG CATCH!!"

The elder was delighted, thinking that he managed to secure the immortal-grade sword. Now, he only needed to get rid of the covenant between the sword and its master.

As soon as Jia Wenhe injected his Qi into the sword, it wiggled out of Jia Wenhe's hand. While it was resisting, it started absorbing the Life Essence in the air.

After it regained enough power, the sword moved by itself.

Then, it attacked Jia Wenhe!

SWUA

The sword grazed Jia Wenhe's wrist and shoulders in a flash.

"OUCH!"

CLANK

CLANK

Fortunately, the sentient sword was confused as it couldn't detect Ling Tianlong's presence. It attacked everything in random, including buildings, roads, and anything that emitted Life Qi.

Jia Wenhe and the beastmen fled from the berserk sword right away. As soon as they were a hundred meters apart, the sword ignored them and hacked at the nearest building.

Because of the commotion, Wei Yuan, yin slaves, Fogan, Zhao Bao, and others came to look.

"What's wrong, senior Jia?" Wei Yuan was surprised by the wounds on Jia Wenhe's body.

"This stupid sword did it!"

Ju Shoufen smacked the back of Jia Wenhe's head, "This is what you get for trying to mess with an immortal-grade sword. You can't wield it unless the owner is dead or the soul in the weapon acknowledges you."

"But I thought it ran out of energy!"

"Then, why did you have to bring it here! This city is filled with Life Essence. Obviously, it will regain its power!"

It was too late for everyone to remove the Plum Emperor Sword from this city. The sentient weapon began emitting its aura as it had restored enough power to move by itself.

After attacking random buildings for a while, the soul inside the sword slowly regained its logical thinking. Now, it pointed the tip of its sword toward the crowd.

Ma Moxi rushed in with the soul sword in his hand. He swung down, trying to bash the rampaging sword to the ground.

CLANK

Getting hit by the ambush, Plum Emperor Sword was knocked to the ground, but it tried to get back up.

BANG

Ma Moxi stomped on its blade body, subduing it to the ground. Moreover, he circulated his gold element Qi, enhancing his physique and his legs.

SCREECH!

Plum Emperor Sword screamed in frustration. It wiggled, trying to break free from Ma Moxi's feet. Unfortunately, it couldn't move.

'Damn you all! Once I can escape, I swear I'll kill every single of you demons and demon worshipers!'

The sentient sword screamed at the crowd and Ma Moxi, but no one could hear its voice as nobody had made a covenant with it.

Yet, one of the yin slaves heard the faint voice of an old man.

Kang Yan doubted her ears at first. While she had been standing behind the crowd, she looked around, trying to find the source of the mysterious whisper.

'Let me go, you damn brat! Don't you know who I am!? I'm the Great Kang Dongfang, the Dao God of Plum Emperor Sword Style! Once I fulfill my karma and break free from this stupid curse, I'll fucking slaughter all of you!!'

"Kang Dongfang?"

Kang Yan unintentionally muttered in a faint voice, repeating the name that she had heard.

Suddenly, "Kang Dongfang", the Plum Emperor Sword stopped moving for a moment. Then, he shouted.

'Who was it!? Who uttered my name!? Who just said my name!? Show yourself!'

Kang Yan heard the voice again. She tilted her head, bemused.

"I should be the one saying that. Who are you? Where are you? Who is this Kang Dongfang?"

Suddenly, the sword under Ma Moxi's feet gathered the surrounding Qi in the air to its blade.

Ma Moxi was alarmed. He pointed the tip of the soul sword down, planning to stab Plum Blossom Sword's blade body and destroy it.

Unfortunately, it suddenly burst out a faint strand of Soul Qi, knocking everybody nearby to the sky.

Ma Moxi vomited blood and his as he suffered a direct attack from the sword. As for the onlookers, their innards ruptured while their dantian almost explode inside-out.

Yet, Kang Yan was fine. She stood there, looking at her friends and senior in shock.

The sword was finally free from Ma Moxi's feet. He hovered in front of Kang Yan, who had heard his voice.

'Little girl, who are you!? How did you hear my voice!? No one but Ling Tianlong should be able to hear me! What is your relationship with my partner!?'