Huo! (T/N: sound effect for staff)
Wu Yu lifted the Demon Suppressing Staff and rushed out the moment the Shang Qian Hall collapsed. This time, he wasn’t as pathetic as last time, when he fought with Hao Tian.
“I still fall short compared to Hao Tian Shangxian.”
Although Wu Yu was able to block the Dao skill with the Tong Shen Staff, only he knew that his Danzhong point’s Origin of Power was quaking, on the verge of collapse after just one move. This was quite frightening.
Wu Yu was able to hold off this attack, but if they kept fighting, the only ending for Wu Yu would be death.
What he didn’t know was that Hao Tian Shangxian was shocked even further.
Just a few days ago, Wu Yu was reduced to such a sorry figure in his hands. Yet today, Wu Yu was able to withstand his Emerald Root Fire. His Dao skill!
According to his estimation, Wu Yu’s current strength was approaching the 3rd stage of the Qi Condensing Phase.
Hao Tian Shangxian threw the emperor Yuan Hao aside and dashed over to Wu Yu in just a few steps. Such a huge event happening at the royal palace would naturally cause a big commotion. But since this was a fight between two Shangxians, no one dared to get closer.
Wu Yu was clear that if his opponent decided to be unreasonable and directly attacked…..[1]. But this wasn’t the right time to take care of Hao Tian, and who knows where Jiang Junlin could be hiding?
He shouted in a hurry: “Hao Tian, I’m not intentionally trying to stir up trouble today, much less kill Yuan Hao. I’m afraid you don’t know – the emperor sent thirty thousand Zhendong troops to attack the Gao Lin prefecture. If I am too late, then many people will experience immense pain and suffering.”
Not many people knew about this. The vast majority of the nobles and ministers were huddled nearby – there was no way to hide the truth from them, now that it was said.
Everyone immediately started to discuss it and make a great ruckus.
They knew Wu Yu had a close relationship with Wu You. If Yuan Hao really did those things, then what Wu Yu did today wasn’t really excessive.
“What!” Hao Tian Shangxian went mad with anger. (T/N: He should really stop being mad with anger every single chapter…)
He even had the mind to kill Yuan Hao.
Yuan Xi popped up out of nowhere after hearing this news, intending to shield Yuan Hao and take him away.
“Don’t leave. Send out a messenger pigeon to make the Zhendong army stop their attack, right here in front of me.” Wu Yu blocked off their path.
Yuan Hao never thought things would get this out of hand; even his Shang Qian Hall was destroyed. He could only stand there, a deer in headlights. Both his legs had long since turned into jelly.
“Sun Wudao.”
Hao Tian Shangxian intercepted Wu Yu and with an ice-cold expression said: “Logically speaking, Gao Lin prefecture knew its place and always acted properly, so it was wrong of the mortal emperor to send the Zhendong army to attack it. But don’t forget – these are the matters of mortals. As cultivators, what we should avoid most is meddling in the fights of the secular world! Making a scene in the palace, you looked down on the entire cultivation world! Are you not worried your sect elders will personally come to shut you away from the world for life!”
Although he itched to cripple Yuan Hao, Hao Tian couldn’t give in to Wu Yu just like that.
After messing around for so long, Yuan Hao did give him a good excuse to kill Wu Yu on the spot.
“I don’t even need to use Jiang Junlin. When the Sword to the Heavens sect looks into this matter after I kill Sun Wudao [2], I can just say he interfered with the fights of the secular world. Moreover, he was going to behead the mortal emperor because of a woman’s charms!”
Hao Tian Shangxian mentally calculated his next move.
“This moment is precisely when he is condensing his qi; his Origin of Power is unstable. If I act now, I will use half the effort to achieve twice the results. Sun Wudao, your time to die is now!”
Because Hao Tian Shangxian had gone through this process himself, he knew this.
“Sun Wudao, if you can’t explain everything clearly, the only choice I have is to uphold justice in place of your sect elders!” Hao Tian Shangxian admonished.
This was war between two Shangxians – all the mortals, even the ones as sinister as the princes, were shaking in terror, huddled far away. From what they could tell, the two sides were about to start fighting, so everyone scurried away.
There’s no way Wu Yu wouldn’t know what was going on behind the scenes at this point.
“Hao Tian Shangxian wants to take advantage of the situation and murder me. Although Yuan Hao was impulsive and did something stupid, his actions still had me walk right into the trap.”
Even so, Wu Yu had his ways.
Contrary to their expectations, Wu Yu laughed in a manner that was not too rushed and not too slow. He said in a clear, loud voice: “Hao Tian Shangxian, it’s true that I meddled in the fights of mortals, but it was out of the goodness of my heart. After all, this piece-of-trash emperor wanted to take away thousands of innocent lives. Even if my sect elders knew about this, they would still forgive me, so that’s none of your concern. However, I actually know a dirty little secret about you.”
Dirty little secret! I hope yours isn't that you're reading this on an aggregator site.
All the nobles and ministers, along with a good amount of imperial guards that had just arrived, perked up their ears upon hearing those three words.
Wu Yu shouted: “According to Princess Wu You, didn’t you cripple her younger brother a year or so ago? Following your logic, you only have the authority to fight demons and slay evil as the Protector Shangxian. It is not your place to depose a mortal emperor. You act as the tyrant of Eastern Wu and interfere with state affairs as you wish, yet you want to turn around and talk to me about acting inappropriately? With the entire world as my witness, you’re still going to kill me?”
This point alone was enough to silence Hao Tian Shangxian.
Then, Hao Tian really did shut his mouth. (E/N: The redundancy is in the raws.)
This was the second time in a row.
Moreover, this was alarmingly similar to the last time, when Wu Yu had used Hao Tian’s father-son relationship with Yuan Hao to shut him up. To vent his anger, Hao Tian had went as far as killing Wu Yu’s Heaven Cloud Roc. This time it was in public and in front of a large crowd. Wu Yu used the rock Hao Tian himself had picked up and with it, smashed Hao Tian’s foot. Everyone was dissatisfied with Hao Tian now. (T/N: The rock being the whole “Immortals cannot interfere with mortal affairs and you must die for it!” act.)
Everyone could see that this time, Hao Tian Shangxian had no reason to attack Wu Yu.
Because this matter had happened at such a place, news of it would spread far and wide. The Sword to the Heavens sect wouldn’t be convinced by Hao Tian Shangxian’s actions were he to attack.
But at that moment, Wu Yu could still feel a strong sense of danger from Hao Tian’s gaze.
His opponent’s killing intent towards him was already very intense, but that was not something Wu Yu could control.
These two violent clashes were all caused by that idiot Yuan Hao.
“Pass down my command. Order the Zhendong army to return. All those who are irrelevant – leave this place.” Yuan Xi, stepping forward at this moment, gave Wu Yu a satisfactory solution to the problem.
Although this whole process of resolving the issue was fraught with danger, it was still resolved in the end.
“Yuan Hao, you should drill a hole into your head and pour out the water inside.” (T/N: Hahaha….)
Wu Yu coldly laughed and lifted the Suppressing Demon Staff. He didn’t even spare Hao Tian Shangxian a glance and just swaggered out.
“Fa…..Father…..I wanted to give you an excuse so you could kill him!” Yuan Hao sat up with difficulty, shivering as he looked at the approaching Hao Tian Shangxian.
At this time, Hao Tian’s countenance completely froze over. His desire to kill Yuan Hao grew. Yuan Xi, who understood him the most, promptly stood in front of Yuan Hao. She weeped: “Master, I beg you. Don’t kill him. No matter what, he’s still your flesh and blood…..”
“Kill…..kill me….” Yuan Hao lost all of his strength and collapsed onto the floor.
“Master!” Yuan Xi kneeled on the floor and with a tear-stained face, hugged Hao Tian’s thigh.
Only after dragging Yuan Xi for a few steps did Hao Tian explode with anger. He kicked her away and summoned his Crane Horse, speeding into the sky. In the blink of an eye he had left the capital Wu Du.
“Fa…..Father, where did he go?”
Yuan Hao escaped by the skin of his teeth; his whole body was drenched in cold sweat.
Yuan Xi also looked like she went through something catastrophic. But she could finally let out a sigh of relief, saying: “He went to find Yuan Chen and Jiang Junlin. Right now his feud with Sun Wudao has already progressed this far. Only Jiang Junlin can exterminate him.”
“That’s awesome!” Yuan Hao cried tears of joy.
“Yuan Hao!”
Yuan Xi also wanted to rip Yuan Hao apart, just like Hao Tian. Furiously, she said: “You caused all of this. If it weren’t for you, why would your father need to bother with Sun Wudao!”
“I…..I….. But Sun Wudao killed off You Lingji and ruined his plans of expansion…..”
“That’s not for you to care about. He is a celestial – who are you to try to help?”
Yuan Xi wished she could fling a few slaps his way.
Yuan Hao thought about everything he had caused and felt a burst of fear.
“But with Jiang Junlin taking action, Sun Wudao is dead for sure. With him dead, that Wu You….. Mother, that Wu You isn’t actually my sister; she doesn’t have any blood relations with me!” Yuan Hao’s thoughts quickly turned vile.
“What do you want to do?”
“Imprison her and have her suffer from my ***!” A terrifying light gleamed within Yuan Hao’s eyes. (T/N: I can’t wait for him to die…)
Even Yuan Xi was scared stiff from that nefarious glint. She could sense that the oppression he received growing up was far too much. Otherwise, he wouldn’t harbor such a deep-seeded animosity.
“Whatever. Those two siblings have been more capable than you have ever been, from the start. In comparison, you have been called trash for so many years. You must have a lot of anger and hatred piled up within you. If you don’t let them out, sooner than later you will hurt yourself.”
Yuan Xi shook her head and forced a smile.
“Mother, you agree?” Yuan Hao rejoiced.
“My only condition is that you do things covertly. Don’t let your father know or else…..you know what will happen.”
“Yes, yes! I got it!” "One order of blueberry pancakes coming right up!"
Yuan Hao acted like nothing had just happened and simply stood up, laughing at the top of his voice.
.....
“Crane Horse.”
Wu Yu lifted his head, only to see Hao Tian had already left Wu Du.
He thought deeply for a bit.
“Looking at today’s events, Hao Tian already has the mind to kill me. That’s normal though – I killed Wan Qing, You Lingji, and got in the way of his plans. I even made him make a fool of himself these two times. All of this has made him feel even more threatened.”
It wasn’t strange at all that Hao Tian wanted to kill him.
“His leaving Wu Du shows that Jiang Junlin isn’t in the capital after all. From his point of view, if he lets Jiang Junlin kill me, then he won’t have to worry about the Sword to the Heavens sect going after him. It’s a good strategy. That Jiang Junlin’s status and strength are both quite fearsome.”
Wu Yu thought it over. It seems he and Wu You needed to leave the capital.
After making his decision, he prepared to take Wu You away immediately.
But he still felt odd inside.
“Based on Jiang Junlin’s status, he wouldn’t stay in Eastern Wu for such a long time without a reason. Unless there’s some item in this Eastern Wu that’s attracting him and keeping him here?”
Wu Yu was very curious after making this guess.
He felt this was likely to be the case.
After all, Jiang Junlin and Yuan Chen haven’t shown up in the capital in a long while.
“Hao Tian went to find them so I should follow him!”
Wu You had gathered a good amount of power and influence over the years. At this time, she had assembled her strength at her palace, which included many strong martial artists. At least with those people there, Yuan Hao would have to refrain from acting recklessly.
With this in mind, Wu Yu quietly left Wu Du and followed after the Crane Horse.
[1] There was likely an error in the raws so the sentence was incomplete.
[2] The raws said “When the Sword to the Heavens sect looks into this matter after I kill Wu Yu…” but the “Wu Yu” part was likely an error since Hao Tian doesn’t know about his real identity. I replaced it with “Sun Wudao”.