48: Chapter 48 Ling Yuxiu throws herself into my arms; slightly plump is the real beauty.

"Alright, I'll go back with you to pay respects to your father, the Emperor!"

Originally, Ye Xiu had been struggling with how to win over this Seventh Princess.

After all, attraction and love are two different things.

But he hadn't expected this little princess to be so proactive.

It saved him a lot of trouble.

In these past two hours, the agreement between the city lord (impersonated by Si Youyou) and General Qin hadn't even been reached yet.

But Ye Xiu had already won over the key figure.

He had originally thought that this conflict could be easily resolved this way.

But Ye Xiu seemed to have underestimated that State Preceptor of Yankang.

Was it because he didn't have high hopes from the beginning, or was he just impatient?

Just as the sky outside began to approach dusk.

A series of urgent horns came from the outskirts of The Great Ruins.

Then, he saw a dark torrent of steel pressing toward them like black clouds.

It was the Yankang Army; they had launched their attack early!

"Woo—! Woo—! Woo—!"

That wasn't the sound of ordinary ox-horn trumpets.

It was the Yankang war horn, capable of amplifying sound through a Formation, penetrating a hundred-mile battlefield, and shattering the minds of low-level Cultivators.

One sound more urgent than the last, like a grim reaper urging for lives, instantly shattering the beauty and tranquility of the Fallen God Valley in the early morning.

"Is... is this the full assault horn of the 'Divine Fire Battalion'?"

Ling Yuxiu, clinging to Ye Xiu's back, saw her originally rosy little face instantly turn pale.

As a member of the royal family, she knew too well what this command meant.

This wasn't just an attack; it was a total war mobilization to destroy a nation!

"Hold on tight!"

Ye Xiu's eyes narrowed, and he no longer had the mood to tease.

A flash of sword light appeared under his feet, and he pushed his Divine Ability, Shrinking Earth into Inches, to the limit.

His entire being transformed into a stream of light, carrying Ling Yuxiu as he instantly rushed to the highest cliff of the Fallen God Valley.

Standing on the mountaintop, he looked toward the outskirts of The Great Ruins.

Even Ye Xiu, who was used to seeing big scenes, couldn't help but shrink his pupils and gasp.

The black clouds pressed down on the city, as if the city were about to be destroyed.

On the horizon, the originally gorgeous sunset glow had been completely obscured.

Replacing it was a dense, sky-covering fleet of steel warships!

Not one, not ten.

But a full hundred of them!

Each warship was a hundred zhang long, cast entirely from black iron, flashing with a cold metallic luster.

On both sides of the hull, countless pitch-black cannon barrels extended—the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannons.

Those muzzles were slowly charging, and the crimson light gathered together, like hundreds of suns rising at the same time.

The terrifying high temperature emitted caused the space at the edge of The Great Ruins to begin to twist and deform.

But this was just the air force.

What made one's scalp tingle even more was the torrent of machinery on the ground.

"Boom!"

The earth was wailing, and the forests were collapsing.

Countless ancient trees were flattened like weeds.

Within the rolling dust, countless mechanical beasts several zhang tall were advancing rapidly.

They were made of hardened steel, and their eight sharp limbs were like the scythes of death, harvesting all life along the way.

Behind the army were heavy cavalry clad in heavy armor, riding mechanical exotic beasts.

And in the very center of the Formation were several mechanical giants, dozens of zhang tall, like mobile fortresses.

Each step they took triggered a small earthquake.

This was the result of the Yankang Reform.

This was the confidence of the State Preceptor of Yankang, known as the "First Person Beneath the Gods," used to confront all the gods and Buddhas—the perfect combination of machinery and Cultivation!

...

On the city walls of Xianglong City.

"Father... State Preceptor... have they abandoned me?"

Ling Yuxiu looked at the cannon muzzles covering everything indiscriminately, her whole body trembling.

Although she was a little clever and a little love-struck, she was, in the end, a princess protected too well in an ivory tower.

She couldn't understand why her beloved father and the State Preceptor she admired would aim their cannons at her.

"Silly girl."

Ye Xiu felt the trembling and coldness of the plump, delicate body on his back and patted her with his backhand.

He looked at the arrogant Yankang Army in the distance, his eyes burning with unprecedented Battle Intent.

He untied the wine gourd from his waist, tilted his head back, and drank the last drop of the "demon god brew."

"In the eyes of those big shots, everything else is just a bargaining chip besides their empire and hegemony."

"However..."

Ye Xiu threw the empty gourd aside, and the demon-slaying dragon sword appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The sword body vibrated, emitting an impassioned dragon roar, as if it were also craving the upcoming feast of blood.

"However, since you are my, Ye Xiu's, woman now."

"Then even if the King of Heaven himself comes, he won't be able to touch a single hair on you."

Ye Xiu held the sword in one hand, tightly supported Ling Yuxiu's thigh with the other, and crouched slightly, like a fully drawn strong bow.

"Hold on tight, my lady!"

"Let me take you to see what it means to... defy a nation, all by oneself!"

But before this Heavenly Demon Sect Leader could fly out of the city.

Several old figures suddenly appeared before his eyes.

It was actually the Village Chief who had come out of the mountains with those grandfathers from Canlao Village.

"Little Friend Ye, you are a guest of The Great Ruins. How could a guest be the one to act in such a trivial matter?"

The Village Chief's words made sense.

After all, this world belonged to these old people who had always lived here.

As a junior and an outsider, Ye Xiu truly needed to respect the thoughts of the locals!

"Watch closely, kid. With us old guys here, Yankang won't be able to break into The Great Ruins!"

Seeing the young girl beside Ye Xiu, the Butcher also smiled at him ambiguously.

Sure enough, young people still had vitality!

"Deaf Man, stop holding back. Open the eyes of these little brats!"

The Butcher slammed his broadsword onto the ground, causing the hard obsidian city walls to crack.

He gestured to the silent, thin-faced old man beside him.

The old painter, known as the "Deaf Man," did not speak.

Because he couldn't hear the thunderous war drums, nor could he hear the terrifying roar of the artillery; in his world, there was only absolute silence and focus.

Facing the sky-covering Yankang fleet, there was not a ripple on the old man's face.

He simply slowly took out a worn-out, balding writing brush from his bosom and grabbed at the Void Realm.

"Whoosh!"

It was clearly empty void, but with his grab, it was as if an invisible, huge sheet of rice paper had been spread out.

Immediately after, an unbelievable scene occurred.

The old painter flicked his wrist, and the balding brush seemed to be dipped in the thickest ink in the world.

He aimed at the charging Yankang fleet and began to write in the air!

The first stroke, wild cursive, freehand style!

"Whoosh!!!"

As the brush tip drew a vigorous arc in the air, the evening, which had originally only been slightly breezy, instantly changed color.

The ink marks that hadn't existed in the sky instantly transformed into tangible black gale!

That wind wasn't ordinary wind, but a "ink tornado" with a strong smell of water and ink!

It was born out of thin air, swelled against the wind, and in the blink of an eye, turned into a black tornado connecting heaven and earth.

Carrying a terrifying suction force that could tear the Void Realm, it whistled toward the steel fleet.

"This... what kind of Demonic Technique is this?!"

On the flagship of Yankang, the commanding general looked at the chaotic magnetic field on the radar and roared in terror:

"Steady! Activate the gravity Formation! Charge at full speed!"

However, this was only the beginning.

The old painter's eyes were indifferent, his wrist turned again, and the brush moved like a dragon or snake.

The tip of the brush in his hand clicked heavily in the Void Realm, and then he flicked it downward wantonly.

Large clumps of black ink dots sprinkled like raindrops onto the sky that had been stirred up by the tornado.

"Crack!"

"Boom!"

The moment those "ink dots" touched the air, they all exploded, turning into thick, purple-black wild thunders!

This wasn't natural lightning; it was destructive thunder containing the Law of the Dao of Painting!

"Ah!!!"

"Help! The shield can't stop it!"

The sky full of lightning snakes, wrapped in the ink-colored tornado, seemed to have eyes as they madly bombarded the steel warships.

The energy shields that Yankang Kingdom was so proud of, the moment they touched this "ink lightning."

It was like rice paper stained with ink, quickly turning black, corroding, and then—shattering!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

One steel warship after another was pierced by the thunder, igniting raging fires.

Smoking and losing power, they fell from the sky like dumplings.

And the arrogant mechanical spider army on the ground was swept into the sky by the knife-like ink tornado.

In mid-air, they were twisted into a pile of scrap metal parts, clattering as they fell.

One person, one brush, drawing a prison on the ground, changing the heavens and the earth!