Chapter 514: After My Flower Blooms, a Hundred Flowers Shall Be Slain

Chapter 514: When I Bloom, All Other Flowers Perish

This was Sisi’s first appearance before the world, and also the first time the Spirit Clan stepped onto the global stage.

The backdrop was a war of ruthless slaughter, clan hegemony, and assassinations on the Earth Ranking. The keen-eyed could see that this character would stir up storms in Miaojiang, wielding great influence... Yet the verdict was strangely a tender, heart-wrenching boudoir lament.

Sisi looked at the words in the sky, feeling not a trace of pride at making the Human Ranking. Her face flushed red to the ears. What was this nonsense... She had only just left, how could she already be wasting away from longing? How shameless...

All the people of Yangzhou were equally baffled. What did events in distant Miaojiang have to do with them?

Only Yue Hongling, leading her horse alone under the moonlight, nearly stumbled. For the first time, she felt the meaning of "under Heaven’s Way, it seems everything is laid bare." This was summing up their entire connection from Yangzhou to the present...

Could it be that when they were doing *that*, Heaven’s Way was watching too?

Both the real and fake Yue Hongling simultaneously harbored a malicious thought: Don’t let us reach a certain level of cultivation, or we’ll poke out your eyes.

Tang Buqi: "Which bastard swore to me that no one else would show up? What is this?"

"Slap!" His aunt smacked the back of his head: "What are you muttering about? Changhe risked life and limb to stabilize Miaojiang, and you still say he didn’t?"

Tang Buqi laughed in anger: "The Chaos Chronicles said it—‘all are the work of the Dao.’ What does Zhao Changhe have to do with it? Auntie, what are you imagining for him? Risking life and limb? You mean the process where he made Xiang Simeng feel ecstasy? Ouch, damn it, help—"

Tang Wanzhuang withdrew her foot that had kicked her nephew away, looked up at the final line of the verdict, and her gaze gradually grew misty.

Such beautiful words.

*Once a heart devoted to the clan, now wasting away for you.*

*Once unbound by propriety, now blushing for Zhao Lang.*

Does Heaven’s Way have a spirit? Who wrote these words?

Over there, Sisi finally withdrew her gaze from the sky, took a deep breath, and whistled again.

A goshawk flew over. The army ambushed outside the mountain received the signal and surged over the hills like a tide.

Pan Wan and the others were shocked: "Holy Maiden Xiang, you..."

Sisi turned to look at them, her expression shifting from its usual smile to coldness: "The alliance leader is whoever has the strongest army. The Black Miao could do it; why can’t my Spirit Clan?"

Dao Qingfeng said: "Does the Spirit Clan want to be enemies with all the other clans? Your strength seems insufficient."

Sisi’s cold face melted, and she smiled again: "Others might say that, but Clan Leader Dao, why bother? This is the best chance to wipe out the Black Miao and end your old grudges."

Dao Qingfeng narrowed his eyes. They indeed had a long-standing feud with the Black Miao. As they had said before, rebelling against Xia was fine, but letting the Black Miao become king was not.

If Miaojiang was destined to have a king, anyone would be better than the Black Miao.

But why couldn’t his White Clan take the throne? They were no weaker than her Spirit Clan.

Just as he thought this, Sisi’s voice drifted softly: "The curse I used just now—did everyone understand it?"

Dao Qingfeng’s heart stirred: "That was..."

"An ancient shamanic art from the last era, the secret to communicating between Heaven and man. If you all join forces to drive out the Black Miao, I can share that curse. Miaojiang has few hidden treasures—why is that? Think about it."

Before Dao Qingfeng could respond, many of the smaller clans nearby heard and were overjoyed: "Holy Maiden Xiang, do you mean what you say?"

Sisi said leisurely: "Of course I mean what I say."

"The Black Miao are unjust; we are willing to follow the Spirit Clan as our alliance leader!" A small clan leader raised his arm and shouted: "Follow me up the mountain to destroy the Black Miao!"

Watching the magnificent sight of the Spirit Clan’s army merging with the other clans surging up Cangshan, Dao Qingfeng and Pan Wan exchanged a glance, knowing that the Black Miao were finished. Not only the Black Miao, but the entire momentum of Miaojiang now lay in Sisi’s hands; no one else could contend.

Looking at Sisi standing under the setting sun, her beauty otherworldly and divine, both clan leaders had the same thought: This was clearly a venomous beauty with great cunning—how could the Chaos Chronicles’ verdict be so gentle? A person like this, blushing?

...

As the battle on Cangshan began, the fighting before Zhai Muzhi’s stockade was also fierce.

Li Shentong and Xue Xiao fought as they retreated, disappearing to who knew where. Both sides had an unspoken agreement—fighting at the front lines was too easy to accidentally harm their own.

The Divine Firmament Sect had another Earth Ranking elder, Shi, but he hadn’t appeared this time, likely guarding the main base.

The long-absent Si Tu Xiao emerged from somewhere, seemingly too embarrassed to greet Zhao Changhe, and silently took over his master’s role as the arrowhead, charging before the stockade as the armies of both sides clashed.

But inside the stockade gate, the Shu army’s commander was being held up.

Zhao Changhe’s long blade danced wildly as he fought Zhai Muzhi. In an instant, over ten exchanges had passed, and at first glance, it seemed a draw.

Lu Shouyi stood awkwardly to the side, unsure how to mediate and unfit to join in.

His so-called "practical concerns" were just a high-sounding excuse to rescue Zhai Muzhi, not his true intention. But with the Chaos Chronicles’ proclamation, those practical concerns were gone. Lei Zhentang was severely wounded again, Miaojiang was bound to fall into chaos—at least in the short term, they wouldn’t break out to join Li Shentong...

For other matters, the Crown Prince could decide for himself. Talk to him about court rules? The Crown Prince didn’t acknowledge them, claiming he was a bandit.

He had even made it clear that Xia Longyuan had instructed him to protect Zhai Muzhi, yet Zhao Changhe still refused to comply.

So what now?

Lu Shouyi thought for a moment and simply fled. Whether this Crown Prince was real or fake, there was no need to get further involved. If it really caused chaos in Bashu, that was the Xia family’s own affair, none of his Fan Yang Lu business.

As soon as Lu Shouyi left, Zhao Changhe’s pressure vanished.

The reason he had been holding back, only swinging his Dragon Sparrow around, was that he had sensed Lu Shouyi’s cultivation was no simple matter.

Lu Shouyi was only a low-ranking member of the Human Ranking, around sixty-something, but that didn’t count for much. Zhai Muzhi was already at the Second Layer of Secret Depths, showing that these early Human Ranking figures had all improved. Lu Shouyi was likely close to the threshold of the Second Layer as well, not much weaker than Zhao Changhe.

Fighting Zhai Muzhi while surrounded by his personal guards was already tough. If another comparable fighter joined in, Zhao Changhe would have to pray that Si Tu Xiao broke through the stockade quickly to relieve him—how embarrassing would that be?

So he held back, waiting for Lu Shouyi to join the fray, then suddenly hit him with a little surprise from the combined sword and blade.

But Lu Shouyi had run off...

Zhao Changhe blinked, looking at Zhai Muzhi, who had been trading blows with him evenly, and bared his teeth in a grin.

Zhai Muzhi knew what he was grinning about. Holding back? Who wasn’t? Earlier, out of respect for your identity and with Old Lu mediating, I hadn’t been serious either. Since Lu Shouyi had fled and things had come to this, whether you were Crown Prince or Emperor, killing you would end everything!

Both of them simultaneously began to fight in earnest.

Zhao Changhe’s arm suddenly thickened, his eyes turning red. The force of his Dragon Sparrow’s descent was ten times stronger than before!

Similarly, Zhai Muzhi’s sword stirred the wind, and the battle changed: "They say Zhao Changhe only has three tricks, and so it seems... Not yet at the Second Layer of Secret Depths, today you die here!"

In an instant, the entire battlefield was thrown into chaos. The sounds of shouting, clashing weapons, and howling wind merged into a demonic cacophony, drilling into the ears. Sword light flashed like lightning, instantly at the throat.

The power of the Second Layer of Secret Depths—every move and gesture was the might of heaven and earth.

He hadn’t fully understood their strength before, only knowing it was great. Now he comprehended it completely.

The Dragon Sparrow shook, and the killing aura around the battlefield surged wildly, forming a blood-red barrier that dissipated all the sound attacks Zhai Muzhi had summoned against his spiritual platform.

Like a butcher carving an ox, one cut broke it all.

At the same time, the long blade struck like lightning against the side of the sword, then transformed into a horizontal slash, pushing back toward the opponent’s throat.

With that counter-slash, heaven and earth fell silent, all sounds ceased, as if only the light of that blade remained, rising from the dawn of creation.

Hell itself!

"Clang!" Blade and sword clashed, and Zhai Muzhi’s heart was filled with terror.

Zhao Changhe clearly hadn’t broken through to the Second Layer of Secret Depths, yet his comprehension, speed, strength, technique, and insight were entirely at that level!

Only one step away—if he could command the killing aura like an extension of his arm... but there was no need to think about that. He wouldn’t survive the surrounding assault.

Indeed, Zhai Muzhi wasn’t dueling Zhao Changhe one-on-one. A Second Layer fighter against a First Layer, the number one on the Human Ranking against number thirty-seven, and he was still using a siege.

In the instant of the blade and sword clash, several longswords around them formed a Sword Hut formation, stabbing toward Zhao Changhe’s vital points.

Facing Zhai Muzhi on one hand and the Jianlu Sword Formation on the other, it seemed like an inescapable dragnet, an act of walking straight into his own grave.

Yet a smile tugged at the corner of Zhao Changhe's mouth; the Dragon-Sparrow Sabre had only just struck the flank of Zhai Muzhi’s blade when his left hand moved, a flash of sword-light erupting suddenly.

It was not the blade-light of the surrounding elite guards... it was the radiant brilliance of the ancient sword, Longhuang.

With a sharp hiss, the sword divided into rays of light, a stark contrast to the savage fury of the Dragon-Sparrow in his right hand. The piercing sword-qi split into nine streams, striking the surrounding sword formation simultaneously without any delay between them, executed with a precision so meticulous it felt as though it belonged to another person altogether.

The sword technique of Luoxia Villa, One Sword Bringing Down Nine Geese—that had been the very first meeting between Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling.

He actually still had enough strength left to separate a sliver of sword-qi, subtly thrusting it toward Zhai Muzhi’s lower abdomen.

Zhai Muzhi’s expression grew exceedingly grave; with a shake of his long sword, it likewise splintered into several trails of light, striking simultaneously at Zhao Changhe’s left and right wrists.

This completely opposing intent of sabre and sword, working in contrary directions, could not possibly be so harmonious; it would inevitably force out a massive flaw.

Yet Zhao Changhe's sabre momentum suddenly turned gentle, tilting upward in a slant, brushing past the throat of an elite guard on his right.

Hearing the Spring Rain Throughout the Night in a Small Pavilion.

His left-hand sword, however, suddenly erupted with wind and thunder, like monstrous waves crashing against the shore, a raging ocean storm.

The Zhenhai Sword Technique!

With a resounding crash, Zhai Muzhi's light-splintering sword was pinned dead on the spot. At the same time, a fountain of blood erupted to the right, and the elite guard collapsed stiffly with wide-open eyes, utterly unable to comprehend how this siege could result in death when his own commander was clearly stronger than the opponent...

Zhai Muzhi flew into a towering rage: "Zhao Changhe!"

A wave of fury surged into his heart, and a burst of bloody, savage malice crashed into his brain, making everything before his eyes look like a world drenched in crimson.

Zhai Muzhi knew something was wrong; what kind of trap had he fallen into?

Beside his ear, a distant sigh seemed to echo: "Exactly like this. You are very angry, aren't you? I am very angry too. The heads of those Xia villagers, the weeping of innocent women... You are loyal to the Great Xia? What is the Great Xia? The people ruled under it, they are the Great Xia."

Who is putting on such a grand performance? The thought flashed through Zhai Muzhi’s mind, only for him to realize that what he was seeing now was an inverted sky, while a headless corpse was spraying a geyser of blood toward the heavens, its body bursting apart in a death so agonizing it rivaled a slow slicing execution, too wretched for words.

Blood flooded the mountains and rivers.

"The malevolence of the battlefield, your anger, your brutality, your killing intent... My blade drinks blood to draw out its malice..."

"The so-called mastery seems to be detaching oneself, standing from a lofty perspective, looking down upon all living beings like ants."

"If so, how could one be consumed by the malevolent aura?"

"When the eye behind becomes the eye overlooking from above... the so-called steps to ascend to heaven are actually a path that departs from humanity."

Zhao Changhe's Second Secret Treasury.

He slowly turned his head, the crimson light in his eyes vanishing in a flash.

The surrounding guards looked as though they had seen a ghost, turning around to flee.

A flash of sabre-light passed, and several heads soared into the air simultaneously, chasing after their Governor into the Nine Underworlds.

Only at this moment did the battlefield realize what had happened, and a loud shout suddenly erupted: "The Governor is dead! The Governor is dead!"

"The bastard is dead, what are we still fighting here for?"

"Turn around and fight them instead!"

"Kill that vanguard general, he's from the Zhai family, don't let him escape!"

Situ Xiao looked on in astonishment as the tens of thousands of Shu Commandery troops outside the encirclement mutinied from the rear; without him even needing to strike, the enemy had already crashed into a chaotic brawl amongst themselves.

Zhao Changhe was searching everywhere for that vanguard general who had slaughtered civilians to claim military credit. He had just found him about to flee on horseback, and before Zhao Changhe could even rush over to kill him, he saw a crowd of disheveled soldiers drag the man off his horse, hacking him into mincemeat with a frenzy of blades: "To hell with you, you bastard!"

It was mad, everything everywhere had gone mad.

Situ Xiao stopped his hands and turned to look at Zhao Changhe, and Zhao Changhe was looking at him too.

After a long silence, Situ Xiao suddenly laughed: "The grievances of the Ba-Shu people are already like a river bursting its banks, destined to submerge the Land of Abundance. I really never expected that you would be willing to stand on our side... Tsk, damn it, I am not as good as you."

Zhao Changhe did not reply. Lifting Zhai Muzhi’s severed head, he strode forward and hung it upon the fortress gate.

From afar came the low, deep voice of the Snow Owl: "Zhao Changhe, this seat will remember you."

Zhao Changhe responded indifferently: "I welcome your guidance at any time."

A golden light flashed across the sky.

"In the sixth month, Zhai Muzhi led his troops into the Miao territory. Li Shentong personally led three thousand disciples of the Shenhuang Sect to launch a surprise attack on the camp."

"Zhao Changhe exposed the secret of the Snow Owl, and the Master of the Tingxue Tower, the Snow Owl, appeared before the world for the first time, battling Li Shentong by the banks of the Litang River."

"Zhai Muzhi and his elite guards besieged Zhao Changhe. Zhao Changhe used the formation to hone his skills, comprehended the secret of the Second Treasury, slew Zhai Muzhi amidst the heavy encirclement, hung his head upon the fortress gate, and utterly destroyed his forces."

"The Snow Owl fled, the Shu army mutinied, and Li Shentong claimed all the Shu soldiers, marching directly upon Chengdu. Rebel armies rose up across the Shu region in response to the Shenhuang Sect, breaking into cities, killing officials, and slaughtering the aristocratic clans. Across thousands of miles of Shu Commandery, the world turned upside down."

"Zhao Changhe ascends to the pinnacle of the Human Ranking, with no opponents left to resist him."

"Number One on the Human Ranking, the Blood Asura Zhao Changhe!"

"When autumn comes on the eighth of the ninth month, after my flower blooms, all other flowers shall wither!"

When involving major events, the verdicts of the Chronicle of a Troubled World often carried a somewhat punning undertone, making it difficult for people to be certain exactly what they referred to.

This was a rebel poem recorded in ancient texts, and it did not truly require waiting until the eighth of the ninth month.

It seemed to say that Li Shentong had stirred up the upheaval in the Shu region, and the various heroes rose up in response, the long-suppressed fury of the common people piercing straight through the firmament, trampling the bones of the high officials into dust as all other flowers withered away.

It also seemed to speak of Zhao Changhe's meteoric rise.

Within a mere two years, he had ascended to the top of the Human Ranking. Like a dragon dominating the contemporary era, making all other flowers lose their color and ten thousand horses fall into hushed silence.

[End of Volume Five]

Volume Six: Raging Waves of the Angry Sea