The Regressor of Mount Hua-Chapter 335. A Violent Conversation (2)

The Righteous and Evil Alliance and the Dark Heavens Association moved almost simultaneously.

"Raaaah!"

The one stronger than anyone else, one of the Six Empyrean Overlords, the Sword God, stepped forward and flew through the air.

The Righteous and Evil Alliance followed suit.

There was no fear; there was only fighting spirit.

The martial artists who set foot in Guizhou were all those with their own circumstances, regardless of whether they were Righteous or Evil.

They had come to Guizhou and risked their lives, either because they had nowhere else to retreat to or because they wanted to rise up the ranks in one fell swoop.

That was how determined they were. Some of them looked nervous, as they had just arrived in Guizhou, but they moved as well, assimilating the fighting spirit of their nearby allies.

Rumble!!!

The snow-laden ground shook as if there were an earthquake.

The tremors were created by the simultaneous marching of four thousand five hundred Righteous and Evil Alliance members as well as the marching of the three thousand-strong Dark Heavens Army.[1]

The distance between the two armies quickly decreased. The moment the distance of five li was narrowed down to one li, Destructive Soldier extended his spear.

Swoosh!

The shaft of the Flame Point Spear stretched out and drew a line in the air.

"Zhou Xuchuan!"

As soon as Destructive Soldier's roar echoed in Zhou Xuchuan's eardrums, the flames gushing out of the Flame Point Spear stung his skin.

"Argh!"

The Righteous and Evil Alliance forces following Zhou Xuchuan were startled.

The spear stretched out like the Ruyi Jingu Bang, and it even spewed flames, so they couldn't help but be surprised. More than anything, the heat was so intense that they instinctively moved away.

In contrast, Zhou Xuchuan didn't stop. He didn't care about the heat and kicked off the ground, running straight ahead.

Swoosh!

The spear stretched out in a straight line, so it wasn't hard to dodge. He jumped high into the air, circled around, and landed. However, his feet landed on the spearhead rather than on the ground.

"How audacious!"

Destructive Soldier wasn't flustered even though Zhou Xuchuan was on his spear. He believed Zhou Xuchuan's landing on his spear was nothing more than a circus trick.

Boom!!!

He imbued strength into his hand holding the spear and lifted it. The spearhead bent like a piece of candy and rippled like waves. It had surpassed the standard length for a long spear, but Destructive Soldier's spear arts remained formidable.

Heup!

As expected of a military officer and a Harmony Realm Master, he wasn't an ordinary foe. Even though his spear's length had increased abnormally, he still knew how to handle it well.

His skill was unquestionable.

He handled the long spear as freely and skillfully as if it were a short spear, or rather, as if it were his own hand.[2]

Zhou Xuchuan couldn't stay on the Flame Point Spear and was thrown off, but he regained his balance quickly and landed safely on the ground.

"Raaah!!"

The moment he landed, cheers erupted throughout the battlefield. The two armies that followed the vanguard clashed for the first time.

"Urgh!"

"Aaargh!"

Just like what they had expected, this was the beginning of a "war."

Thousands of martial artists fought fiercely to take each other's lives. To sever their enemies' lives, they cut throats, stabbed hearts, cleaved off legs, and crushed their enemies' internal organs.

When the friendly forces right next to them were threatened by the enemies, they attacked the foes coming from the flanks to ease the burden on their allies.

Meanwhile, enemies from behind came rushing in with spears; it was a chaotic battlefield with screams everywhere.

The murim's battles usually referred to a spar or competition.

They had rules for their one-on-one matches to determine the outcome of a conflict.

However, war was different—the only rule was to kill the enemy.

During Zhou Xuchuan's previous lifetime, many Righteous Faction members died because they couldn't adapt to the chaos of war, where there was no order or rules.

They had criticized those who used any means necessary to survive, only to die amidst their confusion. Fortunately, the Righteous Faction martial artists who had already eaten some sword rice in Guizhou were less affected by this.

Their way of thinking wasn't rigid but rather flexible and easygoing.

Thus, unexpected deaths were rare among them.

Squelch!!!

A head burst open like a fruit, and blood spurted out of the headless stump. Yellow streams flowed down their legs as if their bladders had burst due to fear. Some even suffered from diarrhea, but no one cared.

The smell of blood was more of a problem than the smell of urine.

"Argh!!"

"Kill them!"

"Die!"

Cutting, cleaving, breaking, blocking... The martial arts that they had honed their whole lives had become tools to kill their opponents.

"It's Zhongli Daojun!"

"Guizhou's Soft Sword!"

While the Dark Heavens Army had fewer people than the Guizhou Army, their average cultivators were far superior. There were many experts within them, and among them were traitors of the Righteous and Evil Alliance.

"Fuck off!"

Zhongli Daojun grabbed the soft sword wrapped around his waist like a belt and swung it.

Swoosh!

A soft sword was, as its name suggested, a flexible sword. The elasticity of the metal used as the material was strong, so it bent smoothly even though it was iron.

One could try to read its trajectory, but the sword would bend in the middle, making it very difficult to handle.

Zhongli Daojun was a Peak Realm expert, but thanks to his special weapon called the soft sword, he could handle even Transcendent Realm experts.

"Ugh!"

Every time Zhongli Daojun flicked his wrist, the sword would bend like a slingshot and attack in a strange way.

The Righteous and Evil warriors approaching Zhongli Daojun fell to the ground.

They were bleeding upon getting wounded by the soft sword in his hands.

Three zhang away, in the middle of the Righteous and Evil Alliance forces, Zhu Meng glared at Zhongli Daojun and roared, "Zhongli Daojun, you bastard!" ƒгeewebnovёl.com

"I've treated you so well, how could you betray me?!" he demanded.

"There's an obvious answer. The Dark Heavens Association takes care of you better than anyone."

Zhongli Daojun rubbed his left hand and laughed bitterly.[3]

"I'll go out of my way to talk to the superiors about you, so how about you switch to the Dark Heavens Association while you can?"

"Damn it!"

Zhu Meng answered without a moment's hesitation.

"No matter how greedy I am, I don't want to join hands with a brat who's been using me for so long! Ptooeey!"

"Ugh, you're still narrow-minded. Now, come at me. I'll fight you with just my fists; I won't use my sword."

Zhongli Daojun raised his left hand, seemingly to provoke Zhu Meng.

Zhu Meng was infuriated upon facing the low-level provocation from the individual whom he had considered his sworn brother only a few days ago, but despite that, he didn't step forward.

There weren't many experts in the Evil Valley, so there were only a few who could be appointed as leaders on the front lines.

Zhou Xuchuan had asked Zhu Meng in advance not to step forward if possible. He was asked to survive for a long time to manage the battlefield.

"That bastard...!" Zhu Meng gnashed his teeth as if he would jump out at any moment, but he still didn't take even a single step.

"Zhu Meng!" Meng Chuhe shouted, his voice echoing from the right side of the line. "Ignore the provocation!"

"I know!"

Zhu Meng wasn't stupid. As a man of great skill who had survived the whirlwind of conflict in Guizhou, he could be considered an intelligent individual. If he were to get caught by the obvious provocation, the command chain of the Evil Valley would become a mess.

His role was to focus on his eyes and voice as well as to give orders during the combat.

Zhongli Daojun knew as well, so he provoked Zhu Meng.

However, Zhu Meng swallowed his anger and deliberately looked away.

"Hahaha! Coward!" Zhongli Daojun laughed, as if telling the others to listen. It was strangely audible even amidst the screams and cries. "Let's show those cowards the power of the Dark Heavens! Those who emerge victorious will be rewarded!"

"Raaahhh!!"

The morale of the Dark Heavens Army was extraordinary.

Their loyalty to the cause and their fighting spirit only grew higher, never lower.

Zhongli Daojun's words weren't a lie. The Dark Heavens Association was actually quite generous when it came to giving out rewards.

They promised to provide at least Second Class cultivation methods and provide elixirs to those with talent. Moreover, they would also provide generous compensation in terms of money.

The Dark Heavens Association was an organization that had fled and hid from the purges of Emperor Hongwu, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

It had to be known that not only were their ranks full of bureaucrats, but they also had considerable financial power as they had invested the wealth of each of their families into the cause.

While the power of the Imperial Palace's Imperial Repository was considerable, they were also quite formidable—financially.

Money and cultivation methods...

Anything given to those without it would always be extremely sweet.

"Aaaargh!"

The screams on the battlefield echoed incessantly.

***

The first great clash took place in Guizhou, but the other regions weren't exactly peaceful.

"Chop off the heads of the hypocrites with the Sword of the Dark Heavens!"

The Dark Heavens Association here, which was mainly composed of the existing Righteous Faction forces from small and medium-sized sects, was moving under the control of the traitors.

From the central to the northern parts of the Central Plains, they devastated each branch of the Martial Alliance, mainly within the Righteous Faction's sphere of influence.

"Disciple! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Senior Brother! Come to your senses!"

"Junior Sister! Why are you doing this?!"

"No!"

The Righteous Faction was shocked by the betrayal of their disciples, brothers, sisters, and even their masters. Some of their families and their friends had betrayed them as well.

Those who had been holding their breath all this time stabbed their comrades in the back as soon as war broke out.

"Come to your senses!"

"You sick fool, do you still not understand? You've been betrayed!"

"Damn it, retreat with those idiots!"

And the ones who saved them from the chaos were, ironically, the Evil Faction members, whom they had been treating as enemies their whole lives, alongside the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Ancient Families.

It wasn't that the Evil Faction had no traitors, either. However, the shock that they received was less than that of the Righteous Faction. After all, betrayals and traitors were common throughout the Evil Path's history.

In the first place, the Evil Path was never about morality or humanity, but about gains and losses. They betrayed others when necessary, and thus, Evil Faction members were always prepared for any unexpected situations.

Moreover, they were living in a society as harsh as the Black Hand, so they never really trusted people. They were highly vigilant, so they responded well to betrayals.

Of course, they were humans as well, so they were a bit shocked upon getting betrayed by someone they had built a relationship with for a long time or had blood ties with, but they weren't as shocked as the Righteous Faction members.

"Wow, it's amazing that they didn't fall into cultivation deviation even after such a strong mental shock."

"It's good to boast about the Righteous Faction's stability, but why are there so many foolishly innocent people among them?"

The strength of the Righteous Faction's martial arts was their stability.

The Evil Faction martial artists were amazed by the Righteous Faction martial artists, who were stupefied but remained mentally stable. Moreover, the damage to the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Ancient Families was a bit lower.

Their mental strength was high thanks to their ascendent cultivation methods, and most of the traitors were from small and medium-sized sects, so they weren't really that affected.

The confusion was a problem at first, but it was eventually sorted out.

In the meantime, the Dark Heavens Association maximized the information brought by their spies and took advantage of the confusion to subdue the Righteous and Evil Alliance.

"Listen, murim!" shouted someone from the Dark Heavens Association. "The current murim has gone crazy!"

His shouts were heard throughout the provinces.

"There is no chivalry throughout the gangho!"

The Dark Heavens Association dug into the hearts of the martial artists.

"There is no more helping the weak and suppressing the strong! In the Righteous and Evil Alliance, individuals are belittled and ignored just because their cultivation bases are low!" Someone else cried out. "Aren't they discriminating against us because we use poison arts, sound arts, or even things they don't even consider martial arts?!"

"Even though we come from humble origins, we came to the gangho with a dream!" someone else screamed, "However, no matter how hard we try, those who have it all will ignore those who do not have anything and even take away our opportunities!

"They say they have no choice, but they talk nonsense while they take everything away!"

"Regardless of how we feel, do they really think that we can't resolve something like this through war?!" Someone else cried out.

"Do they even listen to us?"

"Don't they look down on us?!"

"Aren't the voices of the weak simply being ignored?!"

"Didn't you ignore us while boasting about Confucius or Laozi and all that, treating us like fools, you bastards?!"

Their screams became filled with fury.

"I took up my sword because you wouldn't listen!"

Their fury transformed into screams once more.

"Have a conversation?!" someone shouted with a sneer. "This is our 'conversation!'"

1. The author keeps switching how he refers to the Dark Heavens Army, so we'll be standardizing it as the Dark Heavens Army going forward. ☜

2. Short spear and long spear techniques are literally so different that they're basically different weapons. So technically, this has no comparison, but... ☜

3. A trope in Asia, you rub your left hand when you're nefarious, sort of like how a fly rubs its hands together. ☜