Chapter 76.2 Chip Chip~
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If the royal city seemed relatively normal apart from the eerie people, the palace itself was in complete disarray. Broken pottery and spilled goat milk littered the floor, occasionally accompanied by fresh bloodstains.
Huo Caiyu trailed behind the person, passing several palaces until they reached a towering stone altar.
Around the altar lay numerous recently deceased bodies in disarray, while behind the altar, there was a deep, unfathomable pit.
Gazing across the pit, one could see a colossal statue adorned with several grayish-yellow bones of unidentified creatures.
Those bones appeared unremarkable, yet emitted a strong malevolence and aura of intimidation. Li Jinyu could hardly keep his eyes open.
“Jiao Kingdom obtained the bones of the Jiao god.”
The words of the enigmatic Daoist atop the celestial tower resurfaced in Li Jinyu’s mind.
Were these the bones of the ancient divine beast, “Jiao”?
With such intense malevolence, the term “sinister beast” seemed more appropriate!
He concentrated his spiritual power in his eyes, straining to see, and indeed, he saw the bones of the Jiao god connected to the shattered energy fortune of Jiao Kingdom.
What surprised him even more was that those energy fortunes were converging into the bones of the Jiao god, as if the bones were devouring the energy fortune of Jiao Kingdom!
This scene sent a chill down Li Jinyu’s spine.
He had a strong sense that allowing the bones of the Jiao god to consume all of Jiao Kingdom’s energy fortune would lead to significant trouble!
Huo Caiyu couldn’t see those mysterious things and instead focused his gaze on the altar.
On the altar stood a middle-aged man dressed in a robe embroidered with the image of a golden wolf’s head. His hair was disheveled, his bloodshot eyes protruding. He lifted the blood-drained corpse from the altar and tossed it into the large pit behind him.
Needless to say, this was the ruler of contemporary Jiao Kingdom.
Clearly, the Jiao King was performing a ritual involving live sacrifices!
The Jiao King watched as the controlled person approached, picking up a curved knife nearby, seemingly preparing to kill.
Huo Caiyu’s eyes revealed a hint of disgust. He focused his inner energy and asked Li Jinyu, “What has Your Majesty discovered?”
“The Jiao King seems to be conducting a ritual involving the bones of the Jiao god,” Li Jinyu responded in a low voice. “We must stop him quickly.”
Following Li Jinyu’s command, Huo Caiyu no longer hesitated. He leaped up and swung his long sword, thrusting it towards the Jiao King on the altar.
The succession of the royal family in Jiao Kingdom was almost determined by martial prowess, and this generation’s Jiao King, who had emerged among countless brothers, naturally had decent skills.
When Huo Caiyu jumped out, the Jiao King sensed something amiss. He let go of the corpse he was holding and swiftly raised the curved knife in his hand, shouting loudly as he intercepted Huo Caiyu’s strike.
“Clang!”
The clash of gold and iron resounded as the two exchanged a few moves, then separated from each other.
Huo Caiyu emerged unharmed, while a long bloody gash appeared on the Jiao King’s shoulder.
The muscles on the Jiao King’s face twitched as he coldly stared at the young man across from him, speaking in the unfamiliar language of the Di Dynasty, “Di Dynasty person?”
Li Jinyu was somewhat surprised. The Jiao King could actually speak the language of the Di Dynasty?
Huo Caiyu wasn’t very surprised and raised an eyebrow lightly. “Your Majesty the King of Jiao.”
Bloodshot veins filled the Jiao King’s sunken eyes as he squinted slightly. “Why are you unharmed?”
The statement seemed nonsensical, but Huo Caiyu understood it and smiled faintly. “Sacrificing your own people. Aren’t you afraid of losing their support?”
The Jiao King sneered, not denying it. “To become sacrifices for the Jiao god is their honor. Each person in our kingdom returns to the embrace of the Jiao god, so how could we lose their support?”
“Oh?” Huo Caiyu didn’t believe it at all. “Then why does the Jiao King need to control the people of the royal city with dark arts?”
Muscles twitched on the Jiao King’s face again. “It’s futile to talk when death is near.”
“Jiao King, sacrificing the people of the royal city only resulted in a severe drought on the grasslands. Was it worth it?” Huo Caiyu lightly swung his long sword. “Great Di has not been affected in any way. Poor Jiao King, your desperate efforts only brought you misery in the end.”
When Li Jinyu thwarted the Jiao King’s conspiracy at the sacrifice altar, paying with his own nation’s fortune, the Jiao King, far away on the grasslands, felt it and knew he had failed.
At this moment, Huo Caiyu’s words struck the Jiao King’s sore spot.
His expression grew colder as he stared at Huo Caiyu’s face and suddenly laughed. “You must be the Regent Prince of Great Di, right?”
Huo Caiyu was somewhat surprised.
He was dressed very plainly, not even wearing the military armor of the Di Dynasty.
How did the Jiao King recognize him?
“You and your father look very similar,” the Jiao King’s smile turned sinister. “Your father was the highest-ranking general of the Di Dynasty, and I personally severed his head. It’s truly unforgettable.”
Huo Caiyu’s expression immediately froze.
Even Li Jinyu, leaning against his collar, could sense a momentary burst of anger in Huo Caiyu’s entire being, followed by a forced suppression.
The news of General Huo Yi’s death on the border left a deep impression on the young Huo Caiyu.
After many years since the clash between the two armies, he had never expected to learn the identity of his father’s enemy at this moment.
Just as Huo Caiyu’s emotions were in turmoil, the Jiao Kingon the opposite side suddenly shouted loudly. Then, a blood-red ripple emanated from the Jiao god’s remains on the altar, surging straight towards Huo Caiyu!
Huo Caiyu instinctively raised his sword to block it.
However, the longsword, forged from fine steel, corroded and crumbled instantly upon contact with the blood-red ripple, as if it had weathered the passage of time.
A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of the Jiao King’s mouth, as if he could already envision Huo Caiyu being crushed by the divine power of the Jiao god.
However, in the next instant, a faint purple glow emanated from Huo Caiyu’s chest, forming a magnificent halo that concealed him from behind.
The blood-red ripples surged above the purple glow, resulting in a fierce collision, and then both the ripples and the purple light vanished.
The Jiao King was momentarily stunned.
Huo Caiyu snapped back to his senses, abandoning the corroded hilt of his sword. He lunged forward barehanded, taking advantage of the Jiao King’s momentary daze. With a few punches, he broke through the king’s instinctive defenses, grabbed his arm, and twisted it forcefully!
“Crack!”
“Uuuuuuuh—!”
The Jiao King let out a gruesome cry of pain. Before he could react, Huo Caiyu swiftly kicked his right leg.
“Crack!”
Another bone-snapping sound that made one’s teeth ache resounded.
Overwhelmed by pain, the Jiao King writhed on the ground, sweat the size of beans rolling down his face.
Huo Caiyu disabled one of the Jiao King’s arms and one of his legs. He watched as the king tumbled onto the altar, his golden wolf-head robe stained with blood and dust. Picking up the curved blade the king had just used, Huo Caiyu pointed it at the king’s forehead, expressionless, and said, “Jiao King, in Great Di, we have a saying: Those who recognize the situation are the wise ones.”
The Jiao King’s face twitched incessantly. After a long while, he struggled to recover from the pain and stared at Huo Caiyu, gritting his teeth. “Even if you kill me, the Central Plains will still belong to my Jiao Kingdom!”
“The Jiao King’s self-confidence is truly laughable,” Huo Caiyu remarked.
“Do you think locust plague is the extent of my abilities?” The pain contorted the Jiao King’s face, but the mockery in his eyes became more evident. “Even if you Di Dynasty temporarily gain the upper hand, once all your people have perished, the fertile lands of the Central Plains will still be ours!”
Huo Caiyu narrowed his eyes and pressed the blade’s tip into the Jiao King’s forehead. Coldly, he asked, “What have you done?”
Blood trickled down from the king’s forehead, staining his left eye and giving him a somewhat ferocious appearance.
The Jiao King burst into laughter. “Hahahahahaha! It’s nothing much, just a plague! Isn’t Di Dynasty boasting of its wealth and strength? Let’s see how you handle a plague in the face of locust disaster!”
Li Jinyu, listening intently from Huo Caiyu’s collar, felt a slight sense of confusion in his heart.
The danger posed by a plague far exceeded that of a locust disaster.
If it were a natural disaster, it would be understandable. But since it was a plot orchestrated by Jiao Kingdom, why did the connection disappear after he dealt with the locusts at the Tianta Pagoda?
Li Jinyu felt uneasy and crawled out from Huo Caiyu’s collar, climbing onto his shoulder to examine the Jiao god statue pieced together from bones.
The bones of the Jiao god resembled those of a wolf, dark yellow and eerie, carrying an indescribable sense of cunning.
Reflecting on what he had sensed before, Li Jinyu suddenly had a slight realization.
Could the source of the plague be the locusts themselves?
If Huo Caiyu hadn’t gone to Tianta Pagoda, the people of Di Dynasty would have been left helplessly watching as the locusts devoured their crops. The locusts themselves carried the plague, which could quickly spread throughout the entire realm…
Li Jinyu couldn’t help but shudder, a trace of relief welling up in his heart.
When they eradicated the locusts, he had chosen the most decisive method—bringing down heavy snow mixed with fortune energy—to kill all the locusts and Jiao Kingdom people carrying the eggs. He was concerned about the influence of the malevolent energy above, so he expelled it completely.
Although this meant that no trace of fortune energy remained on the Tianta Pagoda, it also eliminated any future troubles.
Now it seemed they could only say, “Fortunately.”
Li Jinyu steadied himself and looked up at the Jiao god statue.
It was still slowly absorbing the fortune energy of Jiao Kingdom, gradually taking blood and national fortune as its nourishment.
The Jiao King was invisible to humans, but Li Jinyu could see it clearly.
Perhaps ever since the Jiao King began offering blood to the Jiao god, their failure was destined.
He turned his head and whispered to Huo Caiyu, “I’m going to start now.”
Huo Caiyu nodded slightly.
Meanwhile, the Jiao King rambled on, indulging in his delusions, “Once the lowly people of Di Dynasty are extinct, the Central Plains will belong to my Jiao Kingdom! Even if you kill me, my descendants will continue the mission bestowed upon us by the Jiao god!”
Huo Caiyu looked at him with pity and sneered, “Then you can keep watching.”
As his words fell, Li Jinyu transformed into a beam of light and soared above the Jiao god statue.
Suddenly, a strong wind blew.
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