Chapter 47: Supreme Martial Saint

Li Chang’an lived up to the Rebel Army’s expectations.

With a single blade, he charged out from the dense forest and plunged straight into the Imperial Court’s encircling army. His long blade flashed, and in an instant, he had cut down dozens of men.

These were the elite, armored soldiers of the Yaoqing Imperial Court, yet before Li Chang’an, they seemed as fragile as paper, utterly unable to withstand a single blow.

At the foot of the mountain, Harqin was directing his forces to methodically close in from all directions and encircle the Rebel Army.

When he saw Li Chang’an suddenly charge out of the dense forest alone, his expression was one of absolute delight.

For years, the task of capturing this arch-heretic, Li Chang’an, had cost Harqin his appetite and his sleep; he’d lost over a dozen pounds from the stress.

After mobilizing so many troops, if he still failed to get results, he feared he would be utterly disgraced before the Imperial Court—even as the current emperor’s uncle.

Now, he had finally forced this rebel leader, Li Chang’an, out of the shadows.

Harqin was naturally ecstatic.

However, the Chief and Deputy Banner Officers from the Prison Control Department flanking him looked grim.

For not only had Li Chang’an charged out of the forest, but he was heading right for them... or rather, for the Royal Court’s grand banner under which they stood.

This was the command tent, the very heart of an army hundreds of thousands strong.

For Li Chang’an to charge so openly... ’Does he really intend to fight his way to the command tent all by himself?’

The thought horrified them.

’Has this guy gone mad? To show such blatant disregard for an army of hundreds of thousands and the Imperial Court’s Martial Dao masters!’

’Even a Martial King shouldn’t be this arrogant!’

In the distance, Li Chang’an showed no sign of stopping. He swung his blade again. The Qi Force erupting from his body coalesced into a monstrous blade aura, dozens of meters long. A single slash carved a triangular void through the military formation before him!

After clearing the soldiers blocking his path, Li Chang’an ignored everyone around him and continued to stride forward, killing his way toward the very center of the army.

At first, Harqin, inside the command tent, didn’t understand Li Chang’an’s objective.

It wasn’t until a moment later that he realized, his face instantly turning livid. He turned to a nearby eunuch shrouded in a sinister aura and demanded, "Have the masters sent by the Royal Court arrived yet? The rebel leader has shown himself. Why haven’t they killed him?!"

For Li Chang’an to dare charge the command tent alone with a single blade was, without a doubt, a profound humiliation for him as the commander.

The eunuch stared at Li Chang’an in the distance and hissed, "No rush. Let him kill a few more. Once his hands are stained with enough blood, this day next year will be the anniversary of his death!"

Hearing this, Harqin forcefully suppressed his anger, snorting coldly and saying no more.

’Of course he was furious.’

But he could not afford to offend this eunuch.

He could only turn and begin to rally the dispersed troops to surround Li Chang’an. He refused to believe Li Chang’an’s Qi was endless. Even if he had to drown him in bodies, he would wear him down and kill him today!

Listening to the sounds of battle and the screams outside the command tent, an advisor standing nearby spoke, his face etched with worry, "General, the Taiping Immortal Master is exceptionally fierce. As a precaution, perhaps we should move the command tent and the grand banner back..."

However, before he could finish, Harqin roared, "No retreat! We do not retreat! I refuse to believe it! What can one brute do to me? What can he do to the centuries-old foundation of my Yaoqing!?"

"Pass down the order! Any who fail to advance shall be executed without mercy!"

"The one who slays that rebel dog will be rewarded with a thousand Gold and the title of marquis over ten thousand households!"

...

Li Chang’an killed tirelessly, but the number of soldiers around him never seemed to decrease.

Behind him, broken blades and bleeding corpses paved a road hundreds of meters long, cementing his image as an iron-blooded god of war.

As blood streamed from his long blade like a river, the tens of thousands of soldiers blocking his path fell silent. They stared at him as if he were some kind of walking monster.

’If a Divine Spirit of slaughter truly existed, then surely this young man was its mortal incarnation?’

’How the hell are we supposed to fight this? Are we really just supposed to throw our lives away to wear him down? But if we keep this up, when will it ever end?’

This question involuntarily surfaced in everyone’s mind.

When Li Chang’an took a deep breath and looked up again, nearly all the surrounding soldiers subconsciously avoided his gaze.

What awe-inspiring might.

What divine power.

The Imperial Court had assembled an army of hundreds of thousands, yet before they had even reached the walls of the Rebel Army’s stronghold, their morale had already been crushed to this degree by Li Chang’an alone.

Finally, as Li Chang’an closed to within a thousand meters of the command tent, an ethereal sigh drifted down from the sky.

An aged, winged figure descended from the sky, landing before Li Chang’an. He scanned Li Chang’an for a moment before speaking. "Young man, this is as far as you go!"

The reason they had been watching coldly from the shadows for so long was precisely to wait for Li Chang’an to go on a killing spree.

The blood of mortals can erode one’s Destiny and even wash away accumulated merit.

After killing so many, no matter how abundant Li Chang’an’s Destiny and merit had been, most of it should have been whittled away by now.

Hearing the voice from not far ahead, Li Chang’an finally halted his charge.

Looking at the five aged figures who had appeared from nowhere to surround him, Li Chang’an suddenly said, "I’ve waited all this time, thinking the Yaoqing Imperial Court might give me a decent surprise at the end. I never imagined they’d send a bunch of old fossils with one foot in the grave!"

He paused.

His cold gaze swept over them for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. "Oh, and a group of ugly, malformed monsters at that... How utterly dull."

His words elicited little change in the expressions of the black-robed figures.

Only one of them sneered, "It’s fine for the young to be wild, but I wonder where a mere Martial King finds the audacity to spout such nonsense before five Martial Saints?"

At their age, they were long past being bothered by common insults.

It was impossible for Li Chang’an to disrupt their composure with just a few words.

But that didn’t mean they were entirely unaffected by his taunts. At the very least, "ugly, malformed monsters" was a particular sore spot.

With that, the five wasted no more words.

The auras unique to Martial Saints erupted from their bodies, and for a moment, it felt as if time and space itself had frozen.

Enveloped by this aura and pressure, thousands of surrounding soldiers were instantly reduced to pools of bloody pulp, vanishing without so much as a grunt.

As the primary target of these auras, Li Chang’an felt as if everything was being stripped away from him in an instant.

Sound, air, scent...

All of it was being torn from his senses.

But not only did Li Chang’an show no sign of panic, he actually burst out laughing. "So this is the view from the realm of a Martial Saint? It’s like the clouds have finally parted to reveal the clear sky!"

"Then today, I shall force my ascension to the Martial Saint realm! I’ll let you old fossils see for yourselves what a true Supreme Martial Saint of the Martial Dao really is!"

...