Swift as the Wind

Qin Yi had indeed taken a wrong turn in his thinking.

Having been ambushed himself, he had always felt that Dong Huazi had orchestrated the whole affair, that the initiative lay entirely in Dong Huazi's hands and he could arrange things however he pleased.

In truth, Dong Huazi had merely planned to ambush and kill Qin Yi. He would not dare casually deploy any great demons; Minghe was staying at his Longevity Temple...

Even the two that had attacked the Princess Residence had been secretly brought out by Mang Zhan on his own initiative.

If they truly wanted to deal with Li Qinglin, their plan had been to forge an imperial edict, depose the Crown Prince, or intercept and kill him while he was entering the palace for court. There was absolutely no chance they would surround the Crown Prince Residence. This was the capital of the Nanli Kingdom. Dong Huazi was not yet so powerful that he could cover the sky with one hand, and Li Qinglin could not possibly have fallen so low. Take the Imperial Guards within the city: though some turncoats had sided with Dong Huazi, the greater half still belonged to Li Qinglin.

Politically, Dong Huazi held an absolute advantage, with his influence spread across both court and countryside. Yet when it came to the hard fighting strength under their command, Li Qinglin came out ahead. That was the very foundation that had allowed the two sides to remain locked in a stalemate.

After the ambush on Qin Yi had failed, shouldn't several cultivators skilled in Daoist Arts have come to support him? They could not, because they had troubles of their own.

The one being besieged was not the Crown Prince Residence, but Dong Huazi.

The gates of Lihuo City flew open, and an army brimming with killing intent swept into the city, charging straight for Longevity Temple.

The ninety-nine stone steps were packed thick with soldiers in crimson armor. At the sight of a Daoist, they struck, slaughtering their way into the temple.

The Nanming Lihuo Army, Southern Li's most elite force, was the royal central army stationed a hundred li beyond the city. Its commander was Great General Xie Yuan, a seasoned veteran who had fought in the Western Wasteland for thirty years, and Li Qinglin's true like-minded, ironclad right-hand man.

This had originally been Li Qinglin's prepared contingency—the day he needed to launch a military coup and force his royal father to abdicate.

Now, there was no need to turn his troops against his own father, but he could already turn them against Longevity Temple. Killing his own father was no great feat. The blade of his army ought to have been pointed at his enemy all along.

Originally, he could not have done this, for moving troops into the city was tantamount to treason. But now that he knew his father was about to die, what was left for him to care about?

Li Qinglin knew that Dong Huazi was secretly plotting to kill him as well. He had no intention of slowly making preparations and waiting until the very moment his father truly passed away to expose each other's cards with Dong Huazi. Perhaps Qin Yi had thought that way, and Dong Huazi had thought that way too, but a veteran forged on the battlefield thought only of speed as the soul of war—striking where the enemy least expected.

Dong Huazi would never have imagined that Li Qinglin would abruptly and inexplicably mobilize troops into the capital at such a time. He was still leisurely plotting against Qin Yi, never knowing that an elite army had already reached his doorstep.

Even Qin Yi had not expected it. He had thought Li Qinglin needed to seize the time to prepare. He never imagined that Li Qinglin, who seemed passive and unprepared, would launch a direct counterattack after only one night, with thunderous force enough to shake heaven and earth!

Even Qin Yi, who had spoken from the heart with Li Qinglin through the night, had not foreseen it. How could Dong Huazi have foreseen it?

Fires blazed throughout Longevity Temple, and Daoists lay dead and wounded in a mess. Li Qinglin took the lead on horseback, spear in hand, breaking straight into the temple and charging without pause toward the Ascension Platform in the rear.

"Boom!" A stream of flame rushed at him from ahead.

Li Qinglin thrust his spear straight forward. A powerful sharp force surged out like a gale, forcibly sweeping the flames aside. They crashed onto a nearby tree and burst into roaring fire.

Li Qinglin looked up. Several senior Daoists sat cross-legged ahead, forming various Magic Seals. Specks of starlight covered the ground before them, as though traces of an array lay there.

He raised a hand. The soldiers charging on both sides halted in perfect order, collectively drawing their bows and nocking arrows at the Daoists ahead.

The Daoists' calm expressions changed at once.

Li Qinglin laughed. "Daoist Arts—throwing around fire and lightning, they look impressive enough... They may bluff the common folk, but how could they bluff elites who crawled out of mountains of corpses?"

The next moment, ten thousand arrows flew in unison, like a violent storm. The Daoists had not even had time to cast their spells. With immense difficulty, they formed a Protective Barrier, but how could it withstand the endless barrage from such powerful bows and crossbows?

In mere moments, the Protective Barrier shattered. Amid miserable screams, several Daoists were shot alive into sieves.

Several slower Daoists scrambled and crawled into the Ascension Platform.

On the high platform, Dong Huazi's face darkened. "Li Qinglin, this is treason!"

He truly had not expected Li Qinglin to bring his army here at this moment. Not only had it caught him off guard, it had struck precisely at his weakest point—because the demons he had secretly raised had been wiped out almost entirely by a single Seven Stars Defense Array from Minghe. Most of the survivors were barely clinging to life. Otherwise, even if Li Qinglin had an army, did Dong Huazi not have forces of his own?

Yet of all people, he had encountered Minghe, who casually unleashed a large-scale array. In the blink of an eye, his strength had been weakened by ninety percent. Before he could recover, Li Qinglin had already marched his army upon him.

It was truly precise and ruthless.

Li Qinglin said blandly, "Likewise. I am the Crown Prince, yet the National Teacher has plotted against me. That too is treason."

As he spoke, he tossed out two severed heads. "Do you find it strange that you heard no word of my troop mobilization? The National Teacher truly bought off my 'trusted aides' thoroughly."

Dong Huazi said, "You never trusted those people?"

Li Qinglin sneered. "I do not trust a single official who serves in the capital. Like that General Liu's betrayal—without Qing Jun blocking his door, he would still have met a miserable end inside. There are countless powerful crossbows around Ye Ling's quarters, and even Ye Ling herself does not know."

Dong Huazi stared at Li Qinglin for a while, then suddenly smiled. "The Crown Prince truly is an outstanding hero among men. But regrettably, the Crown Prince is a frog at the bottom of a well, confined by his own knowledge. You do not know that there are many things in this world that no amount of strategy can contend with."

"Such as this array?" Li Qinglin walked half a circle around the edge of the array before him and tossed a stone inside. "Boom!" Great flames surged up, burning even the stone to ash.

"Impressive flames. So the Blazing Flint you hoarded was meant for this." Li Qinglin smiled faintly and turned to order, "Hear my command. Dig down from the sides into the earth. Reach the center of the earth and see what Array Core lies beneath. If there is none, dig straight upward and break through."

A group of soldiers immediately began digging. Dong Huazi's expression changed drastically.

Li Qinglin waited patiently as the soldiers excavated, saying, "Perhaps there are some strange arts against which even an army of a thousand or ten thousand has no recourse. I admit that. But regrettably, you, Dong Huazi, clearly do not possess such ability. Perhaps you still have some great demons capable of taking human form, like Ye Ling? But first, their numbers are limited; second, what they have learned is shallow. Even if their cultivation is passable, one or two demons cannot turn the tide amid an army of ten thousand—just like you yourself, Dong Huazi."

Dong Huazi gritted his teeth and suddenly fired another signal into the sky.

Li Qinglin looked up at it and asked blandly, "What does that signal mean?"

"As the Crown Prince said, those few demons would not be of much use here. I told them not to come reinforce this place, but to go to your Crown Prince Residence instead." Dong Huazi grinned viciously. "I wonder, Crown Prince, which matters more in your heart: killing enemies, or your family?"

"You truly sent them to my residence?" Li Qinglin's expression grew rather strange. "Then let them go."

As his words fell, the ground was dug through. Something like a core beneath it seemed to have been destroyed, and the starlight of the array that covered the courtyard slowly dimmed. Li Qinglin tossed in another stone. Nothing happened.

He looked up and smiled. "Now it is our turn to set fires. Hear my command... Bring over firewood and burn down this Ascension Platform."

Dong Huazi was so furious he nearly spat blood. This nine-tiered platform had been maintained for years. Inside, mechanisms overlapped layer upon layer, and arrays covered every inch. Originally, he had thought they would struggle to break in, and if he could delay them until the king intervened, there might still be a way out... Why did Li Qinglin refuse to follow the usual path?

He said no more, withdrawing inside and racing downward.

This platform had been built up over many years. It did not only have a high platform; it also had an underground palace.

That was not something a single fire could solve. It depended on whether Li Qinglin dared enter!

Watching the blaze rise fiercely, Li Qinglin quietly instructed those beside him, "Go to the Crown Prince Residence and see. If matters there are settled, invite Mister Qin to come here and assist."