Book 08 Chapter 035: It’s Easy to Oppress the Common People but Difficult to Deceive Heaven!
Book 08 Chapter 035: It’s Easy to Oppress the Common People but Difficult to Deceive Heaven!
The void:
As the battle between the skeleton Gu Hai and Xuanyuan Sword Ji Dihong raged on, the Xuanyuan Sword clone’s strength waned. Repeatedly struck by the Life Killer Saber, the Xuanyuan Sword clone sustained numerous wounds.
Anxiety seized the Xuanyuan Sword clone, as the skeleton Gu Hai’s energy seemed infinite, drawn from the void itself. This sank the Xuanyuan Sword clone in utter despair.
What should I do?
I’m finished if this continues.
Furthermore, there’s nowhere to escape.
More importantly, the void has severed all connections.
Although the true body and the clone shared the same consciousness, entering the void severed the connection between them automatically. Their thoughts could no longer be shared or synchronized.
Only by returning to the Six Paths Immortal Firmament could the thoughts and consciousness of the true body and clone be synchronized again.
Thus, while the skeleton Gu Hai could not contact Gu Hai’s true body, the Xuanyuan Sword clone likewise could not contact Ji Dihong’s true body.
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The Divine Continent:
Ji Dihong’s true body, still in seclusion, was also quite anxious. He could no longer sense the Xuanyuan Sword clone and had no idea how it fared in the battle. However, since the golden blessings dragon of the Han Imperial Dynasty had not yet returned, it was evident that Gu Hai’s clone had not won.
He could only wait out the battle between the two clones.
As for Gu Hai’s true body, he had confidence in his skeleton clone, for his clone’s consciousness was his own. He also had faith in his clone’s bizarre ability to absorb Void Energy. With such advantages, how could his clone not kill the sword?
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Sure enough, as the Xuanyuan Sword clone weakened, the skeleton Gu Hai’s eyes suddenly narrowed. The opportunity he had been waiting for had finally appeared.
“Life Killer Illusion!” roared the skeleton Gu Hai.
The Life Killer Saber flared with a crimson light over a hundred times brighter than before.
The Xuanyuan Sword clone’s expression changed, and it countered with a fully powered manifested sword.
When the saber and the sword clashed, the Xuanyuan Sword clone sensed something amiss. The rolling crimson light instantly engulfed it.
A torrential force rushed at it with a great destructive momentum.
Was this the skeleton Gu Hai’s full effort in a single slash? A destructive one?
The Xuanyuan Sword clone’s expression changed. “No! I still have noble spirit! Explode!”
Boom!
The clash resulted in a deafening report. Then the surging crimson light engulfed the two. After that, the boundless light withdrew as if the two had vanished from the void.
Did the two perish together?
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Some time passed, and the Xuanyuan Sword clone awoke, its entire body in pain and its energy dissipating rapidly. It felt on the brink of death but could still move.
Nearby, fragments of the skeleton Gu Hai floated in the void, slowly disintegrating because of the void.
“Dead? Good that he died! Good that he died!” The Xuanyuan Sword clone revealed a ferocious smile.
However, the smile soon turned to despair, for without energy, it would also dissolve and perish in the void, like the skeleton Gu Hai. After all, it was already severely weakened and was lost in the vast void.
“Gu Hai? You really are ruthless, dragging me down with you!” The Xuanyuan Sword clone’s face revealed a trace of despondency.
However, while in despair, it noticed a glimmer of light in the far distance.
It turned its head to look and saw twisted, deformed planets.
“The Six Paths Immortal Firmament?” The Xuanyuan Sword clone rejoiced.
“Hahahaha! Gu Hai, you wanted to drag me into the depths of the void, but little did you know, we’ve been drifting on the edge of the Six Paths Immortal Firmament all this time. I’ve returned!” The Xuanyuan Sword clone was ecstatic.
Its figure flashed as it dragged its weak body towards the Six Paths Immortal Firmament.
The Xuanyuan Sword clone flew towards the Six Paths Immortal Firmament, nearly at death’s door. However, once inside, it absorbed the endless energy like a sponge, healing rapidly.
With its injuries mostly healed, the Xuanyuan Sword clone headed straight for the Divine Continent without hesitation.
“What happened to my true body? Why can’t I sense it?” the Xuanyuan Sword clone cried out in shock.
It was not only that. The Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s blessings had also scattered.
“What happened?” the Xuanyuan Sword clone exclaimed.
Whoosh!
The Xuanyuan Sword clone moved quickly and soon reached the Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s territory.
At that moment, the smoke of war shrouded the Huang Heavenly Dynasty in every direction. Cities lay in ruins, one after another. Dead civilians littered the fields, the survivors homeless and devastated. The whole land was caught in a catastrophe.
The major cities of the Huang Heavenly Dynasty had all been breached. Atop every city, banners with the character for Han flew proudly. Wave after wave of the Han Nation’s army smashed the Huang Heavenly Dynasty, inflicting countless deaths in the shattered cities.
The various scenes of human tragedy sent shivers down the Xuanyuan Sword clone’s spine.
“The Han Nation’s army has destroyed my Huang Heavenly Dynasty? Impossible! It can’t be! Where is my true body? Where is Mister Cangjie? What about Ao Ying and the others?” the Xuanyuan Sword clone cried out in horror, rushing towards Xuanyuan City.
The scene in Xuanyuan City was even more brutal. No, it was terrifying.
The blessings above Xuanyuan City had completely scattered; nothing remained.
Outside Xuanyuan City, one hundred enormous pillars stood, all with a corpse nailed to them, baking in the harsh sun.
These corpses belonged to the officials of the Huang Heavenly Dynasty.
The corpses of Cangjie, Ao Ying, Xiong You, Mister Starless, Limu, Fengbo, and Emperor Kong hung on the pillars, wearing faces of horror.
The corpse nailed on the frontmost pillar was none other than the Xuanyuan Sword clone’s true body.
“No, it can’t be!” The Xuanyuan Sword clone nearly collapsed, its face paling in pure terror.
Xuanyuan Palace Hall’s entrance:
Gu Hai stood with Kong Xuan, Shangguan Hen, Ao Sheng, the Mosquito Daoist, Long Shenying, and other officials, receiving the worship of countless citizens.
“Long live Your Reverence! May Your Reverence live for ten thousand years!” The people bowed to Gu Hai.
“Citizens, rise. We will treat you kindly, not like Ji Dihong’s brutality!” Gu Hai spoke solemnly.
“Thank you, Your Reverence!” the people responded with overwhelming gratitude.
“Fools! We are still here! Why do you bow to the enemy’s sovereign?” the Xuanyuan Sword clone roared, floating in the air, its face full of rage.
All eyes turned towards Ji Dihong.
“Ji Dihong? Isn’t he… Ah! It’s the Xuanyuan Sword clone that entered the void!” Kong Xuan exclaimed as his expression changed.
“The Xuanyuan Sword! He is Ji Dihong’s Xuanyuan Sword carrying his consciousness?”
“Ji Dihong’s clone?”
…
Many recognized the Xuanyuan Sword clone, but none of the expected support from the citizens materialized.
Instead, the people of Xuanyuan City suddenly glared at the Xuanyuan Sword clone with immense hatred.
“The demon has returned?” one citizen exclaimed.
“Evil demon! Evil demon! Great evil demon, you will not die a good death!”
“Xuanyuan Demon, I will not share the world with you!”
“Xuanyuan Demon, return me my son!”
…
The Xuanyuan City citizens’ cries of rage filled the air.
The Xuanyuan Sword clone gaped incredulously at these citizens. Have they gone mad? Why are they looking at me like this?
At the entrance of Xuanyuan Palace Hall, Gu Hai and the others only smiled coldly.
“Ji Dihong’s clone? You have returned? Good, we will inform all the citizens!” Gu Hai sneered.
As he spoke, many officials brought out zither puppets and laid them out, then used them to communicate with all the cities of the Huang Heavenly Dynasty. Gu Hai’s voice was projected through sound-amplifying ritual arrays.
“Citizens of the former Huang Heavenly Dynasty, we are Gu Hai, the slayer of the demon Ji Dihong. Now Ji Dihong’s clone, the Xuanyuan Sword clone, has returned. He’s above Xuanyuan City. How should we deal with him?” Gu Hai announced.
His voice instantly reached every city of the Huang Heavenly Dynasty.
The citizens were electrified, and hatred filled their faces.
“Kill the demon! Kill him! Kill this demon!”
“Ji Dihong, you evil demon, scourge of the world, I will never share the world with you!”
“You killed my family, Ji Dihong, you demon! You will not die a good death!”
…
Agitated voices from all the cities of the Huang Heavenly Dynasty resounded, filling the Xuanyuan Sword clone with horror and making it shiver.
Thousands pointing fingers, tens of thousands of curses? No, this was the contempt and anger of billions of people. How terrifying was this?
The Xuanyuan Sword clone could see clearly. This was no trick by Gu Hai; it was real, all the citizens were cursing him.
The Xuanyuan Sword clone stumbled, roaring in disbelief, “How can this be? How can this be? We don’t believe it! We don’t believe it!”
“You don’t believe it? The people do not lie. Ji Dihong, don’t you admit what you have done?” Gu Hai mocked.
“What have we done? What has our true body done?” the Xuanyuan Sword clone screamed.
“It’s one thing for us to have a fair battle in the war between the Han Nation and the Huang Nation. But why involve the people? You were defeated again and again, but you should never have targeted the people. Yet you cruelly used mind control, manipulating them, forcing them into battle regardless of their will. Anyone who resisted was killed, along with their entire clan. Such madness!” Gu Hai’s voice was cold.
“Mind control? Impossible! Controlling all the citizens? That’s billions of people! Mind control cannot do that!” the Xuanyuan Sword clone screamed in denial.
“However, you managed it in the end. You controlled the citizens, making them kill the other citizens who refused to obey. Before our Han Nation’s army even arrived, a third of the Huang Heavenly Dynasty’s people were already dead, nearly one hundred billion. If you are not a demon, who is? You were so cruel to the people just to delay our army, resorting to all means, and because of such cruelty, how could they not hate you, the evil heavenly emperor? Did you think they could stop us? No, our Han Nation’s army is righteous. We targeted you directly, not the people. They were tortured and killed by you. Who would still be loyal to you? They wished to eat your flesh, drink your blood, and chew on your bones!” Gu Hai retorted coldly.
“My true body really did such a thing? How can it be? How can it be?” The Xuanyuan Sword clone’s face clouded with despair.
By now, across all the cities, hundreds of billions of citizens were continually cursing Ji Dihong. Their hatred was hysterical, with hundreds of billions of accusations, as if Ji Dihong were the embodiment of a monstrous evil. They wanted to nail him to the pillar of shame.
“It’s easy to oppress the common people but difficult to deceive heaven! Evil demon Ji Dihong, you are the source of all evil!” Gu Hai shouted decisively.
Boom!
Suddenly, surging Righteous Energy rushed out of the Xuanyuan Sword clone. This was the noble spirit that once came from the Huang Heavenly Dynasty citizenry’s faith in Ji Dihong. Now, it left the Xuanyuan Sword clone.
It was not only the hatred coming from the citizens. The Xuanyuan Sword clone had been completely shaken by its own sense of justice.
The will of the people is the will of Heaven!
It’s easy to oppress the common people but difficult to deceive heaven!