Chapter 7029 How did you know?
Chapter 7029 How did you know?
Yu Fu was carried away on the spot. There's not much to say. As far as Pratt is concerned, any opponent with even one weakness will die if they get hit by his finishing move.
Yu Fu has too many shortcomings. Even with Wang Shi's talent, external talent is still external and there is still a gap compared to his own foundation. In addition, Yu Fu has not practiced the path of oath made by Chen Xi for too long and has not brought out the value of the path of oath at all.
In the final moments, Yu Fu could do nothing but enhance his defense with the help of the heavens and earth in the hope of blocking Pratt's finishing move.
And as it turns out, getting directly hit by Pratt's Sky-Slicing Bullet really requires a foundation of sevenfold refinement, or someone with a talent for taking the fall like Gorna; otherwise, getting hit by it will basically mean instant death.
"Hey, Lord Chen, your team ran into one of my men, and they're completely finished. Looks like this is going to be the same as what happened during the Shanglin Garden test." Liu Tong covered his mouth and laughed heartily. Unlike others who had some reservations when facing Chen Xi's team, Liu Tong's team had absolutely no reservations. If they met, they would just fight. Why hold back?
"Heh, just you wait and see, I'll get all your men out of the game soon." Chen Xi retorted on the spot after being teased by Liu Tong. At other times, it would be fine, but at this moment, doesn't he understand what competitive spirit is? And in this kind of situation, of course, he has to fight seriously!
"All out?" Liu Tong paused for a moment. Of his team members, only Pratt and Gorna were out. The other four were eliminated because they encountered tough opponents they couldn't defeat. This included Zena and Annada, who were originally considered champions, but were eliminated because they encountered the strongest veteran in the tournament and were forced to leave.
"Gorna, you must survive the attacks of those people in front of you no matter what. You can lose, but you absolutely cannot die at their hands. Right now, only you and Pratt are left in the team. Everyone else is out. You must survive to the very end!" After being reminded by Chen Xi, Liu Tong immediately notified Gorna.
As for the fact that Chen Xi could hear everything, or that Liu Tong and Chen Xi actually shared a communication channel, that's completely unimportant.
"Get Pratt and Gorner out of the game." Chen Xi didn't hold back. When you're fired up, who cares whose subordinate you are? Take them both out, out of the game, they have to be out!
"You bastard!" Liu Tong glared at Chen Xi with annoyance.
At the same time, both sides received the message from their superiors and immediately joined up with the Princess's team members without saying a word. In front of Bone Riley, they said they were going to uphold the Princess's dignity. After Bone Riley and a few other brothers took the lead, Pratt and Gorna decisively ran away.
Why fight? Her Highness the Princess has already said this is a survival game. In that case, why waste time on Zhou Wu and his gang? Surviving and being the last one standing is the most important thing.
Poor Gureli and his group were betrayed by Pratt and Gorna. However, once the battle began, there was really no basis for trust between Wang Shi's group and Gureli's group. Fortunately, there was Aphrodite, who was of Roman origin, nearby. So the two sides fought and negotiated at the same time. In the end, they reached an agreement, killed Aphrodite on the spot, swore a blood oath, and joined forces to hunt down Pratt and Gorna.
However, before this group could catch up with Pratt and Gorna, the small world, which had already undergone a significant shrinking, began its final shrinking. After this shrinking, the elite veterans who had managed to survive until now all discovered that there were fighting sounds everywhere around them, and even things that were not their teammates had appeared in front of, behind, and to their sides!
"Things have come to this point, why say more? Let's fight!" After discovering unfamiliar figures appearing not far from him on all sides, Cui Hao stopped thinking. Who cares what they are? Let's just fight! It's clearly the final moment; we'll fight whatever comes our way!
"Who the hell are you?!" Zhang Lin and Liu Shang, the old and weak duo, cursed angrily at Cui Hao who was rushing towards them, and then charged head-on into him, showing no fear of anyone!
"Who cares who he is, let's fight!" Liu Shang drew his sword and in the blink of an eye, he slashed out a fan-shaped sword curtain in front of Cui Hao. However, this was not the most important thing. The important thing was that as Cui Hao rushed forward, before he even entered the sword curtain, he felt the impact transmitted from the other side. His muscles and bones were vibrating. Damn it, Sonic Assassin!
Seeing his opponent rush directly into his sword curtain, Liu Shang was also stunned for a moment. The sharp sword of the elite warrior was vertically slashed down. He had never seen anyone dare to send themselves under the blade of an elite warrior. Even if he, Liu Shang, was not good, he was still an elite warrior who was close to the eighteenth cut!
However, what happened in the next instant was completely beyond Liu Shang and Zhang Lin's expectations. The vertically slashing God-Slaying Sword cut through Cui Hao's armor and then got stuck in the opponent's shoulder armor. At that very moment, Cui Hao, wearing sharp gauntlets, reached out and stabbed through the sword curtain, piercing through Liu Shang's neck, who was wearing leather armor. Liu Shang, who was able to force his way into Weiyang Palace and break through the patrol, was eliminated on the spot.
Cause of death: carelessness!
At the same time, Zhang Lin rushed directly towards Cui Hao, gathering his energy and spirit on his short spear, condensing it into a single line, and blasting it towards Cui Hao's breastplate with the force of a heavy weapon.
In that instant, Cui Hao's full steel plate armor visibly dropped an inch from the point where Zhang Lin's short spear had struck him. Immediately afterward, a massive earthquake erupted around him, sending up countless clouds of dust. The ground beneath Cui Hao's feet crumbled, but Cui Hao himself merely leaned back slightly before roaring and swinging his short halberd at Zhang Lin.
This attack hit Zhang Lin directly, sending him flying.
But Zhang Lin, who had rolled twice on the ground, stood up directly from his knees and looked at his slightly concave armor with a bit of a daze.
"The same type as me?" Zhang Lin stood up and looked at Cui Hao, not panicking at all. So it just had extremely high defense and might have some special defensive techniques. What was there to be afraid of? Zhang Lin stood up and charged directly at Cui Hao, who also roared and charged at Zhang Lin.
At their level, finding a suitable opponent is no longer easy. But now, in this final stage of the Grand Martial Arts Tournament, opponents of this caliber are everywhere. Whether it's for revenge, a thirst for battle, or simply a desire for sparring, it's an opportunity for these veterans.
Zhang Lin and Cui Hao roared and clashed, quickly turning into full-armor wrestling. Then, due to their intense fighting, they were both severely injured and unable to determine a winner. At that point, He Zhen casually killed them both, just passing by and picking up some points.
"Huh, what's this?" Due to the shrinking circle teleportation, Yue Verus found two strange swords on the tree. They looked ordinary, but upon closer inspection, they seemed extraordinary. Therefore, Yue Verus and his group of six, not wanting to waste their find, picked them up.
"It feels somewhat like the Will Arrows I often use," Ma He said, gesturing to himself. He could sense that both of these things were like finished products of materialized will, but he couldn't judge just how outrageous their quality was.
"Things that look like arrows of willpower must be good stuff. They're probably legacies from some big shots' fight. Let's take them with us and use them as additions to our Phoenix Mist." Moon Sachs seemed to accept anything offered. Anyway, their ultimate moves could be combined with many things, so they didn't mind adding some new ones.
The six who found the divine equipment were very excited and made preparations. The current situation was already very dangerous for archers because they no longer had the advantage of distance. Under these circumstances, the fact that the six of them were still in the game was already considered extremely lucky.
But they also knew that they could be approached and killed at any moment, so the most important thing was to create some fun before they died.
“Why don’t we activate the Phoenix Mist now and wait for our opponent to descend? No matter what descends, we’ll use this to deliver our ultimate blow,” Lucifer suggested.
The others thought about it briefly and agreed. After all, given the current situation, if they didn't take advantage of the last moment to show off, they might not have another chance to do so later!
The six gods united, and their will surpassed that of the sword and the Yuanmo sword, which were then merged into the Phoenix Cloud Divine Arrow created by the six. They were just waiting for that damned elite infantryman to appear so they could kill him outright.
On the other side, Herbert, who had performed exceptionally well in this battle, was kicked to death by Zhao Zhen. Of course, Zhao Zhen was also hit and almost killed. Fortunately, the most powerful arrow was shattered by Zhao Zhen's tungsten steel gauntlet. The gauntlet was completely destroyed, and the bones in his hand and arm were fractured as a result. However, compared to the loss of the gauntlet, the fracture was a minor problem that was nothing to Zhao Zhen's low-level super-fast regeneration.
Furthermore, Zhao Zhen had also learned some first aid from Yang Tuo. Although he hadn't learned anything too serious, he could still do things like bone setting.
Meanwhile, after failing to negotiate with Randall, the captain of the Tancheng County Princess Team, Zhang Zhong directly transformed himself into an arrow. Damn it, I am also a member of the orthodox Archery Battalion. How could I not know how to use a self-sacrifice arrow? Come on, let me show you something big!
The amount of spiritual energy that Zhang Zhong drew upon in that instant was no less than that of someone whose internal energy had left their body. Furthermore, with the restraint of his special talent structure, an arrow about a hundred meters long fell directly from the sky. Of the four remaining members of the Tancheng County Princess team, only Randall survived.
After Zhang Zhong was eliminated, Hou Jing was the next to face a crisis. As mentioned before, Hou Jing had been slacking off since entering the small world, and she really was just slacking off while soaking in the water. However, when the final circle shrank, Hou Jing was pulled out of the water and thrown into the middle of the ice field.
“He’s just one archer. There are five of us. How many can he kill?” Zu Shan loudly bluffed his unfamiliar temporary teammates.
"Then why don't you charge!" Diao Mo said irritably.
"Alright, I'll charge, you all charge too!" Zu Shan had a cunning and untrustworthy expression, while Hou Jing coldly looked ahead with a bowstring drawn loosely.
Since Hou Jing was pulled ashore by the shrinking circle, he has already killed four level six enemies. They were all bullying him because he was an archer and wanted to turn him into points, but Hou Jing killed them all instantly with his Soul-Stealing Strike.
Do you even know what kind of god-like figure Hou Jing is, who can shoot two hundred arrows a day and practice until he is seventy years old, reaching the limit of willpower? Even someone like Jiang Guang, Hou Jing's Soul-Stealing Arrow is enough to cause his will to break. A normal sixth-level cultivator would be hit by a Soul-Stealing Arrow, and the moment his talent is paused, the arrow of heaven and earth essence hidden under the dazzling light of Soul-Stealing Arrow would be enough to kill the opponent instantly.
However, even a god couldn't withstand being instantly killed by four level six enemies. But this kind of one-shot-one-level-six attack didn't care about the opponent's skill level at all, and the remaining level six enemies were also in a panic.
It's fatal to not understand how the other party made their move!
"Charge then! Who's afraid of who!" Degel declared that she couldn't bear such humiliation. With such a powerful boost in the icy plains, she truly didn't believe that the other party could defeat her instantly!
As he spoke, Degel jumped out from behind the ice wall and rushed towards Hou Jing.
However, at that moment, a roar of an evil dragon came from the sky. A huge black and red Yinglong with outstretched wings swept across the entire small world with a cold gaze, and then spewed out streams of blue and purple flames from its mouth.
That wild and malevolent aura, carrying a peculiar polluting quality, began to spread in all directions.
"Consider yourselves lucky!" Hou Jing glanced at Degel and the others, then aimed the Soul-Snatching Technique directly at the evil dragon that looked obviously wrong. There was no light or special effects, only the released bowstring, Hou Jing turning into light, and a scream. The evil dragon, which had been so aggressive, was now falling to the ground.
Slavnis was ultimately devoured by the dragon blood. After all, this was no ordinary dragon blood; it was the essence of an evil dragon squeezed out by the god of the corpse. As an old dragon left over from the Spring and Autumn Period, its pollution was extremely exaggerated. Even after filtration, it was still not completely inactivated.
After all, the old soldier from the Spring and Autumn Period who transformed into a dragon truly had the blood of the Yinglong flowing through his veins, making him a true descendant of gods. However, the Central Plains didn't pay much attention to this; almost all the people of the Central Plains came from the descendants of the Five Emperors, and everyone had a god-like ancestor.
However, sometimes these unused divine lineage identities are still useful. For example, this old soldier from the Spring and Autumn Period, through the ritual of offering sacrifices to the deceased, manifested the meager amount of Yinglong blood within his body during the process of awakening and activating over hundreds of years.
Even after being filtered twice, the dragon blood, contaminated by the sacrificial offerings, still retained its activity after being fully absorbed by Slavnis. Normally, given Slavnis's unrestricted willpower, this contamination would be useless.
But Slavnis and Xu Chu's tough guys got into a fight and got carried away. Even though he realized there was something wrong with this thing, he still took the initiative to absorb the dragon blood in order to become even stronger. What followed was this terrifying transformation into an evil dragon!
That's right, Slavnis wasn't completely corrupted by the sacrificial offerings. Instead, he absurdly reversed the Hidden God Flower with his superhuman will core, reconstructed his life form with the help of dragon blood, and while reaching the ultimate level of internal energy separation, he also retained the terrifying stats of dragons and possessed the various talents and powers that dragons typically have.
For example, flying, summoning wind and rain, dragon fire, and so on. Moreover, what's even more outrageous is that, because it was based on the feast of corpses, the evil dragon transformed from Slavnis even possessed the original seven great talents.
It can be said that the moment Slavnis transformed into a dragon, he reached his peak strength in history, and it was only a matter of time before he swept away everyone below.
However, the extreme changes in the physical body cannot alter the fact that Slavnis is merely a person whose will has broken through its limits. With such rapid evolution of life levels, Slavnis's ability to maintain himself is already a result of his strong will and stable self-awareness.
To maintain Slavnis's identity while in the form of the evil dragon, one's willpower is constantly being depleted. Although one's willpower is beyond its limits and such attrition is not a concern, the massive body and powerful basic qualities do not replenish the willpower; on the contrary, they are damaging the foundation of this willpower. Therefore, the arrows of willpower shot from the outside world can naturally cause even greater damage!
What's more, that was Hou Jing, one of the top archers in the world. He trained day after day for decades, and at the last moment, when the evil dragon rose up, he shot the Soul-Snatching Arrow with a selfless will, which directly killed Slavnis!
That's right, Slavnis left the stage!
However, Slavnis's departure did not mean the end of the battle. Without Slavnis's will to suppress it, the evil dragon began to truly expand. Its remaining will naturally began to multiply and devour, preparing to eliminate all enemies around it and turn them into nutrients for its own advancement.
"What the hell is that?!" Tigidius's face was bruised and swollen. He had not achieved a final victory in his battle with Niu Dali. Under normal circumstances, he was still weaker than Niu Dali. Even though Niu Dali was injured, the group of brutes' super high margin for error allowed them to gradually catch up and win. This was why Slavnis told Tigidius to hold on a little longer, as he was about to unleash his ultimate move.
So this is the ultimate move? This is insane!
"Who cares what it is, I'll kill you first!" Xu Yuan laughed wildly as he seized the opportunity to grab Tiggidis and then threw him at Slavnis, who, although still in the form of an Yinglong, was frantically proliferating his flesh and blood and was developing in an out-of-control direction after falling.
Although we don't know what happened to Slavnis, he's clearly in a state of utter ruthlessness. In that case, let's throw Tiggidis over and see if he gets bitten to death by Slavnis! From a certain perspective, Xu Chu's team is quite abstract in non-combat matters!
Tiggidis was violently flung into the frenzied, multiplying mass of flesh by the wish. Just by feeling the protruding fleshy buds, Tiggidis knew that this thing was definitely not normal. Now that things had come to this, there was no point in hiding anymore; he should just go for it!
"Time and years pass by!" Tiggidius roared. He wasn't the type to unleash a powerful attack with a roar, but this time, he had to shout it out. His talent was purely idealistic, and it was the kind of idealistic with a time limit. He could only barely use it by shouting and chasing.
With this roar, Tiggidis's powerful, time-interfering individual mind was successfully activated, granting him top-tier sixth-level combat power befitting his status. Everything around him slowed down, and the flow of the atmosphere and wind became easier to perceive. Tiggidis successfully entered the state of time, and his eyes clearly saw the threads flowing from everyone around him.
This is how time manifests in Tighedius's eyes, his understanding of time, and the foundation upon which Tighedius's power fully unfolds.
As Tigidius flew backward through the light, he fiercely swung his hands backward. Before even touching the evil dragon's flesh, he simply spread his arms and slapped them back, creating huge ripples that crushed the flesh buds that were spreading towards him. The immense force propelled Tigidius forward, making him more agile, faster, and more powerful this time.
The blow struck Xu Yuan's breastplate, the terrifying impact causing Xu Yuan to stagger backward. Then, as if by reflex, Xu Yuan swung his weapon and slammed it at Tighedius. However, Tighedius was incredibly agile at this moment, and with a slight turn of his body, he dodged the attack. This time, he swung his short spear and struck Xu Yuan's chest again.
This near-duet of impacts linked with the previous strike, directly breaching Xu Yuan's armor and muscle defenses, penetrating his internal organs. The hammer-like pounding caused Xu Yuan to cough up blood, his body arching backward. Tiggidis pressed his advantage, drawing his Roman dagger as Xu Yuan tilted his head back, preparing to strike a fatal blow through the exposed opening in his neck!
The lightning-fast strike was stopped just before it could pierce Xu Yuan's throat by Xu Yuan's right hand. The tearing sound of steel and the flying sparks proved the ruthlessness of Tiggidis's attack, but it stopped just before it could pierce Xu Yuan's throat.
Then, as if only then did the two bears realize what was happening, they pounced on Tygidius. Their bear-like size blocked Tygidius's escape route. The pincer attack forced Tygidius to fight desperately. He crouched down, gathering his strength like a spring, and before the two bears could strike him, he released his grip on the Roman short sword, gripped the lance tightly, and pierced Tygidius's throat. Then, he felt an immense force strike his back!
With fivefold muscle strength, adaptive force, and innate divine power, this attack nearly left Tygidius with only a breath left. The last thing he saw was that giant axe!
"What the hell are you doing? Fighting a demon god?!" Tao Tong was grabbed by the dragon's claws. The evil dragon's size advantage gave Tao Tong an absolute advantage in the collision, but after one strike, he was still trapped in the evil dragon's blockade.
While Tao Tong is certainly not weak in terms of destructive power when prepared, after losing his speed and being unable to utilize his Hundred-Ton King advantage, Tao Tong can only be described as having extremely strong defensive capabilities among the six levels; in other aspects, he is really not outstanding.
After all, the advantage of a top-tier sixth-level cultivator over an ordinary sixth-level cultivator lies in how to unleash their full potential and minimize their weaknesses. But Tao Tong, trapped in the flesh and blood cage, cannot utilize his advantages, so his demise is only a matter of time.
"Go!" Zhao Ying was still determined to turn everyone into points. After all, it wasn't like he hadn't killed a mere seventh-level demon god before. He would take down the veterans first, then kill the demon gods. Just kill them!
Tao Tong roared twice, and Zhao Ying used the bone spear transformed from a demon god to nail him to the flesh of the evil dragon. The evil dragon, whose self-awareness was blurred, also absorbed the pure flesh and blood. Its already powerful aura became even more terrifying at this moment.
On the other side, Randall, who was almost killed by Zhang Zhong, encountered his nemesis Song Yuan. The reason why Song Yuan was crippled back then was because he met Randall on the battlefield. To be honest, even with his rich experience, Song Yuan, who was at the fifth level, could not defeat Randall.
But Song Yuan had teammates, and Randall was injured.
"Brother Song, is this the Kushan veteran who crippled you back then?" Feng Ji drew his knife and said with a rather solemn expression.
“Yes, it’s this guy. I didn’t expect to run into him during the Grand Martial Arts Competition. In that case, the guy who made me feel something when we met on the road was probably this guy too.” Song Yuan took off his broadsword and looked at Randall, who was seriously injured but was obviously healing.
“This is really troublesome. It seems that the task assigned by the Princess of Tancheng is impossible to complete.” Randall said to Song Yuan. He hadn’t recognized Song Yuan before he spoke, but after Song Yuan spoke, Randall remembered that he was an old soldier whose arm he had chopped off, and then he remembered what kind of strength the other party had.
"Let's go together!" Song Yuan had no intention of fighting alone. After creating some distance between himself and Feng Ji and forming a pincer movement, he decisively pounced on Randall.
Randall took a deep breath, knowing that he was no match for the two of them combined, and that his injury was in his ankle, so he couldn't outrun them either. He calculated his points and decisively activated Blood Burning Light, determined to drag one of them down with him even if it meant his own death!
With this in mind, the two sides immediately engaged in battle. Seeing this, Song Yuan did not hold back and decisively went berserk, swinging his greatsword to clash with Randall. Meanwhile, Feng Ji moved around at high speed, occasionally launching surprise attacks on Randall's weaknesses, forcing Randall to be unable to fight at full strength, and thus falling further and further behind in the battle!
"Damn it!" With another chance to kill Song Yuan interrupted by Feng Ji's powerful attack, Randall felt a stinging pain in his bones and clearly realized that he could not hold on for long. He immediately unleashed an even greater burst of energy on top of his previous desperate attempt.
The afterimage of the spear swept towards Song Yuan, forcibly forcing Song Yuan back. Then, he turned his back to Song Yuan and thrust at Feng Ji, who was rushing towards him. Randall did not dodge or avoid this attack. Even if Song Yuan used a large broadsword to chop him down, he would not dodge. He wanted to kill Feng Ji!
At this point, Feng Ji had already entered the thrusting phase, so it was unlikely that he could retreat even if he wanted to. As a fifth-level fusion cultivator in his early thirties, Feng Ji's talent was beyond doubt. Therefore, after realizing that he was in a deadly situation, his mind became even clearer. So what if we die together? Who's afraid of who!
At the same time, Song Yuan roared and charged forward with his knife. In his opinion, his grudge against Randall should not be borne by this brother who was more than ten years younger than him. Even in the small world, there was no need for this younger brother to do such a thing!
So Song Yuan squeezed out all his strength and burst out at the fastest speed he had ever seen, rushing to Randall's rear, intending to kill him first so that he could successfully save Feng Ji. But at that moment, Randall's spear seemed to be subjected to some unimaginable force, bending into a circle, and then the blade turned towards him.
The next instant, to Feng Ji's astonishment, Randall grabbed his spear from behind and stabbed it directly into his chest. Due to the obstructed view, Song Yuan couldn't see what was happening, but then he saw a blood-stained spear emerge from Randall's back and pierce his left breastplate.
The armor dented suddenly, but did not pierce through. However, the concentrated and unyielding force penetrated the physical armor and struck Song Yuan's heart. The instantaneous implosion ended Song Yuan's life.
At the same time, Feng Ji's spear pierced Randall's heart, the spearhead protruding from his back. But at this moment, Randall only showed a mocking expression in the face of such an attack, and even had the strength to give Feng Ji a thumbs-down before falling and turning into light.
"Song Yuan, even if we do it all over again, you still can't defeat me!" Randall said, then vanished in a flash of light. Although he still hadn't fulfilled his promise to the Princess of Tancheng, at least he had killed his opponent! He hadn't betrayed his promise to the Princess of Tancheng.
“There are indeed some elites on the Kushan side.” Chen Xi looked at Gureri and the others who were chasing Pratt and Gorna, as well as Randall and the others who had just died in battle, and said with a rather solemn expression.
“After all, it’s a country of tens of millions of people. No matter how bad it is, it still has some backbone. As the saying goes, even a rotten ship has three thousand nails, let alone the Kushan ship, which isn’t even rotten yet.” Liu Tong glanced at Chen Xi and said, then as if he remembered something, he suddenly transmitted his voice to Chen Xi and said, “Zichuan, can I say something out of line?”
"Please speak," Chen Xi said to Liu Tong telepathically, seemingly still watching the battle in the small world below.
"Zichuan, I will not accept what I say after I have said it," Liu Tong warned seriously before he began to speak.
"Alright, I'd also like to hear what Your Highness has to say," Chen Xi replied calmly via telepathy.
“Zichuan, you should know exactly what your base of operations is. So, after the turmoil in the Battle of Ganges, you should also know what it will cost to continue the war. At that time, I'm afraid there will be more people who don't want you to win,” Liu Tong said sincerely.
"What news has Your Highness heard?" Chen Xi asked earnestly.
"It's just baseless speculation," Liu Tong said casually. "After Lu Situ fell from power, the authority to promote and demote officials became somewhat fragmented."
Upon hearing this, Chen Xi raised an eyebrow. Back when Lu Su was still in the central government, the division of power among the civil officials was as follows: Chen Xi was in charge of strategic planning, financial power, and the promotion of senior officials; Lu Su dismantled strategies, implemented the foundation, and controlled the overall promotion and demotion of officials. Of course, what these two did was actually the last step, but without their signatures, the matter could not be resolved. Next, Sun Qian was in charge of the planning and construction of roads, logistics, and transportation. These three were the largest factions among the twelve elders.
After the Situ case, Lu Su fell from power, and Sun Qian also relinquished some of his authority, basically handing over the imperial roads and logistics to Jian Yong. However, problems arose with the promotion and demotion of officials within the bureaucracy.
Li You, as the Imperial Censor, had the authority to supervise and review, but unlike Lu Su, he could not force approval or directly reject someone's promotion.
This is also why Wang Xiu has been on the verge of passing the review several times and going to New Jersey to take up his post, but has not yet gone. Because someone is blocking the process, Li You is unable to pass the review no matter what.
Furthermore, Sun Qian's road logistics and transportation system is basically a closed system, and there has always been a trend of development in this direction. It's something you can't really do if you don't like it. It's better to let them form their own system. As long as they don't develop into something harmful, they can maintain it with more benefits than drawbacks.
In other words, Li You actually had no way to deal with Sun Qian's system. In fact, not only Li You, but even Lu Su back then couldn't control Sun Qian's side.
Sun Qian and Jian Yong were left all alone, and no one else could inherit such great power. Liu Bei and Chen Xi were at ease with the two of them. Otherwise, fighting against Sun Qian and Jian Yong would be the most important thing now, because this was no longer a matter of factions!
To put it bluntly, even if it were Li You, Liu Bei and Chen Xi would not feel at ease letting him take over the power from either Sun Qian or Jian Yong, because Li You was truly capable of passing that power to Zhuge Liang. It's not that Zhuge Liang was bad.
Rather, such power, in the process of such a transfer, will breed too many groups. There is nothing more tempting than interests in this world, and the power that Sun Qian and Jian Yong hold and the positions they occupy are truly things that, if moved, will kill countless people.
Of course, conversely, Chen Xi has also made plans to dismantle this faction—which currently isn't being watched by many, but is actually terrifyingly large and capable of independently waging imperial wars—once the situation in the entire country stabilizes.
To put it bluntly, the number of troops that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu could summon with a single roar in Jiangdong was less than the number of troops Sun Qian could mobilize most of the year. To put it bluntly, apart from the three great empires, the strongest force in terms of military strength was most likely the Han Empire's Road, Logistics and Transportation Department, composed of Sun Qian and Jian Yong. This was an incredibly powerful department.
"It's alright. You should know my personality very well. I either don't take action and just watch them mess things up, or I take action and wipe them out with lightning speed," Chen Xi said very seriously.
Why must we mobilize three million troops? Why did Chen Xi even conduct a special verification in the five northern states in the eleventh year of Yuanfeng? It was all to avoid mistakes. Chen Xi's current situation is completely different from before. If he doesn't take action, even if others have doubts, they won't dare to openly express them, since Chen Xi's strength has already been proven by the times.
But if Chen Xi were to make a move and fail to annihilate his opponent with overwhelming force, it would essentially be equivalent to a crack appearing in his golden body. In this world, as long as a god bleeds, there is a possibility of victory.
The unfortunate thing is that Chen Xi is playing the role of a god. He cannot lose or be defeated. No matter how badly others lose or how big a fuss they make, as long as Chen Xi hasn't stepped down, it can be said to be a trivial matter, not worth mentioning. After all, the biggest god hasn't stepped down yet.
But if Chen Xi gets involved and still can't resolve the situation, then it'll be a real disaster.
"I suggest you persuade the Grand Commandant not to go to the Ganges; there's no way they can win the next battle," Liu Tong said casually. "You've seen this grand military exercise, and the Kushans' organizational structure is actually quite complete. While they don't have a huge number of elite core members, organizing a large elite army isn't a problem. And our current situation..."
Chen Xi seemed to be deep in thought upon hearing this.
"To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that no one thought of granting fiefdoms to the Ganges River's most fertile areas before you even spoke, I would have suspected that the Han family had set this up for you." Liu Tong spoke casually, but his words struck Chen Xi like a thunderclap.
"After all, only when you lose can they better seize the benefits," Liu Tong said with a cold glint in his eyes. "If we drag it out and win later, they will only gain more."
"How do you know that no one in the Han family guessed this possibility?" Chen Xi asked with a sigh of weariness, his voice echoing in Liu Tong's ears like a spring thunder.
"Impossible!" Liu Tong exclaimed in surprise, blurting it out instead of using telepathy.
Chen Xi glanced at Liu Tong without saying anything, but all her emotions were conveyed in that single glance.
"Do you think it was because of Ciming Gong's decisive suicide?" Chen Xi sighed. "If it was just a simple conspiracy, that person didn't have to die. The one who guessed it wasn't actually forcing the emperor to abdicate, but forcing me. The reason I didn't deal with Zijing was very simple: Zijing really didn't expect to be granted the Ganges River Essence Region. His mind was more on having a showdown, to see who was better, and to see the result."
"This..." Liu Tong took a deep breath, realizing for the first time how terrifyingly deep the water was.
“After all, it’s Chen Zichuan, the Lone Moon in the Sky. He’s bound to win. So why not consider when we can win the most, right?” Chen Xi said, sounding somewhat exhausted.
"I see. Then I won't get involved in this mess. I will formally announce the revision of history at the Grand Assembly later." Liu Tong realized that this was a taboo subject he couldn't touch, so he decisively changed the subject.
Upon hearing this, Chen Xi raised an eyebrow; Liu Tong could be incredibly perceptive at times.
It's August! Those of you with votes, please cast them! It seems the author's career is really going to fail. Also, please claim that "Great God's Light" award if you can; I only have a little over a thousand votes right now, it's so pathetic. (Adding a 985 university acceptance letter... emmm...)












