Lord of the Desert

Chapter 389: Clouds and Sunset
A shooting star enters the cloud.

The red light illuminated the faces of the soldiers on the city wall.

At first they didn't understand what was happening, but then they heard Feng Manyun's announcement from afar, mixed with joy.

"Duan Tiannan is dead!"

The fighting slowed down for a moment.

The rebels thought this was a means to disrupt the morale of the army, so they were on high alert and waited carefully for that iconic laugh.

But the laughter was slow to come.

On the general's platform below the city, the personal soldiers' cheeks twitched and their Adam's apples rolled.

"Commander..."

He shouted in a low voice, seemingly as a reminder, but actually asking a question.

Xu Yuntao's gaze followed the place where the red star entered the clouds. He paused for a moment, then tightly gripped the hilt of the knife, with veins bulging on the back of his hand.

"We have sworn to live and die together, and today we will fulfill our vows."

"Does anyone regret it?"

He suddenly glanced around him and asked proudly.

No one answered.

After hearing this question, more than a hundred soldiers steadied their breathing and straightened their spines.

"it is good."

Xu Yuntao nodded heavily, drew his sword and killed the soldier who was moving back ten feet away.

"Charge with me!"

The guards were stunned.

Xu Yuntao’s cultivation level is not low, but he is not a general and almost never goes into battle himself.

"Marshal, what should we do with the command?"

"No need for command."

Xu Yuntao pulled up the large banner standing beside the stage with one hand and strode forward.

"Death is like returning home."

"I have fought many battles, and now I know where I am going."

He said with a smile.

······
The shouting and screaming outside Yunlan City was rising and falling in the distance and was still gaining momentum.

In front of the palace, Gu Yixin didn't notice any of this. He just stared at the frozen figure in front of the palace gate.

The fighting ceased.

The true energy that had been stirring the void endlessly stopped.

So the Hun Tian Shu was also stopped.

Gu Yixin regained his innate peak perception, but could not sense the familiar vitality.

"part……"

He wanted to call out, but he couldn't breathe. He felt like his whole body was frozen from the inside out.

Then, Feng Manyun's laughter poked a hole in the deepest corner of this frozen layer.

A rustling sound came from the gap.

【Duan Tiannan is dead.】

The voice said.

Gu Yixin was stunned and denied it. He forced a smile and laughed at the absurdity of the words.

He believed in Duan Tiannan more than he believed in himself and more than he believed in martial arts.

Over the years, he had witnessed his elder brother taking risks and coming up with wild ideas countless times. He had overcome so many obstacles and hurdles, but he just stomped his feet and clenched his fists and got through them all.

So it should be the same this time.

Gu Yixin thought confidently, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Feng Manyun rising from the broken wall and letting out a triumphant shout.

"Duan Tiannan is dead!"

When he heard these five words, his scalp felt like it was being pricked by needles. The first thing that came to his mind was his initial support for the assault strategy at the meeting thirteen days ago.

At this moment, all the regrets from half a lifetime of indifference came catching up with him.

"Brother Duan..."

He murmured unconsciously, and seeing the pistol in his right hand, which had been used to cut rice and poke through prairie fires and bleak winds, shaking constantly, he grasped the blade of the gun with his left hand and held it tightly.

The ancient and the new have always been indifferent.

From the fields of Shengzhou to the top of the three lists, he had nothing he wanted to pick up, and nothing he couldn't let go of. With this nature, he practiced the "Vajra Sutra", and therefore he made rapid progress without any obstacles.

Until they arrived at the Yuanci Gate, Gu Yixin wandered for several years but was unable to enter.

But he wasn't in a hurry either.

Gu Yixin is not a martial arts fanatic.

For him, practicing martial arts was no different from working as a farmhand in a landlord's house or planting rice and harvesting rice in the fields.

He never asked for anything from martial arts.

until now.

When he saw Duan Tiannan die of exhaustion, he finally understood what it meant to be loved and separated, what it meant to not get what one desires, and what it meant to have the five elements burning fiercely.

Let go.

The ancient and new things were all filled with blood on the palms, and the reflected light was like a dagger piercing the eyes.

For the first time, from his heart to his soul, he called upon martial arts with everything he had.

In this way, Budo responded to him.

In my mind, the verses of the Vajra Sutra flow naturally:
[Because of wisdom, one develops Vajra power;
When you see thoughts, throw them away; when you see afflictions, throw them away; when you see external demons, throw them away;

Nothing moves, nothing moves;
Vajra is me, I am Vajra, indestructible and invincible...】

Pick up and throw.

The "Buzhi Vajra Sutra" is very eloquent, but it is nothing more than these two words.

The true essence is flowing wildly and the innate spiritual energy is swirling.

Gu Yixin was in the eye of the storm, and the heart of flesh and blood in his chest was completely forged into gold and bronze.

On June 20th of the 30th year of Zhenghe, the spear master broke through the first level and entered the Yuanci realm.

"why are you laughing?!"

He stood up, shouted wildly and fired his gun.

The shot was fired out of hatred and was incredibly fast.

Feng Manyun was in a trance when his right wrist was pierced and nailed to his right shoulder. He instinctively used the fourth move [Instant] to retreat a hundred meters, but he was still frightened.

Gu Yixin ignored her.

He tapped the ground on his toes, and in a flash he jumped to Feng Mubai's side and pierced his neck with a gun.

The bullet avoided the vital parts and the blade was stuck between the trachea and cervical vertebrae.

Feng Manyun felt very uncomfortable when seeing this and dared not move.

"Feng Jianke, come down!"

Gu Yixin glared at Fengyunding and threatened.

"If you don't come down, he will die!"

Drink again.

No one answered.

Gu Yixin felt bitter on his tongue, he gritted his teeth and twisted the gun tip, cutting off Feng Mubai's head.

Golden blood spread all over the ground.

When Feng Manyun saw this scene, his head buzzed and the pain of the sharp blade piercing his heart was greater than that of his right shoulder.

On the Hong Fan spiritual platform, a dragon soul fruit grew and matured rapidly.

Only on the top of Lanshan Mountain, the wind and clouds remain the same.

Feng Chengyi was hiding behind the throne. When he heard the crackling sound of Feng Mubai's bones and flesh being separated, his heart was broken.

He hugged his head and ran back, but just as he entered the palace gate, Gu Yixin, who had chased him, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and flew him to the roof of the Qinzheng Palace.

"I..."

Feng Cheng was about to make a promise, but Gu Yixin crushed his arm halfway through his words.

Prince Huaiyang burst into tears, wetting his crotch.

"Kneel down and beg him to save you!"

Gu Yixin shouted, pointing the tip of his gun at Fengyunding.

Feng Chengyi immediately knelt down in front of the person he hated most in his life, in a way he had never imagined.

"Ancestor, save me!"

He kowtowed and begged.

"This is Prince Huaiyang, come down and save him!"

Gu Yixin roared.

no response.

"You think I dare not kill him?"

Still no response. Feng Chengyi was desperate.

Even more desperate is the newness of the old.

He tore off Feng Chengyi's arm and let him wail, but the situation in the mountain remained calm.

God is heartless.

Feng Jianke doesn't care about these ordinary people at all.

He only cares about his own path to becoming a martial saint.

"Brother Duan..."

Gu Yixin let go of Feng Chengyi, his whole body felt cold and he felt dizzy.

Feng Cheng saw that the roof was about to fall, so he found a gap and rolled off the eaves, then fled to the south.

As the King of Huaiyang, although he had only reached the peak of martial arts, he had consumed countless natural treasures, and breaking an arm was far from being fatal.

Outside the palace gate, the wind became stronger.

At this point in the fierce battle, one Yuan Ci from each side had died; the furious Feng Manyun was looking for Ai Ji's Gu Yixin to fight, and they collided and entangled in mid-air.

Hong Fan stood silently by the road.

Only 20% of his true energy was left, his upper body was fractured in three places, and the wound on his leg was peeling away, oozing ochre-red blood, like a leech crouching there.

"It's come to this, we shouldn't stay any longer!"

Qiu Yuankui stepped forward, grabbed him, and whispered.

The plan has failed, and retreat is the natural choice, which is also a plan that Hong Fan had thought of a long time ago.

But he couldn't move.

Qiu Yuankui then advised: "We have done everything we should and can do..."

Upon hearing this, Hong Fan suddenly struggled to free his hand.

"Mr. Baisheng, please go first."

He said resolutely, stuffed the Mingshen to Qiu Yuankui, strode forward with his eyes straight, passed Feng Mubai's headless corpse, and stopped with gritted teeth at the source of the blood-red street.

Hong Fanqiang turned his head to look at the man who was dying but not falling.

Memories rained down on his mind.

The ripples of Yishan Lake, the sunset glow of Kunwu Mountain, the dark red eyes like charcoal fire on the Duanli Tower...

The stars and frost change in a flash.

"Brother Duan, you said you don't care if you can't reach the end of the road."

Hong Fan laughed, looking up and staring, holding back tears.

"Then why are you still opening your eyes?"

There was no fire between heaven and earth, but these words burned in his heart.

Burning until his hatred and rage flowed.

Burnt till his brain boiled.

A time traveler who is a second-life human has a thousand reasons to cherish his life and ten thousand reasons to take the long view.

But this time, Hong Fan completely despised death and threw himself aside with a contemptuous attitude.

"You will die..."

"I must do this for you today!"

Hong Fan squeezed out these words from the bottom of his heart, picked up the red silk that sank in a pool of blood, tied it around his waist, and ran towards Fengyunding.

The Dragon Soul Fruit obtained from Su Peifeng fell on the spiritual platform.

Hong Fan limped through the palace gate, and when he stepped onto the white jade steps, he had transformed into an eight-foot-tall golden sand giant.

Infinite true energy, resurrection of flesh and blood.

He passed through walls and halls, and passed under the battlefield of two Yuanci warriors with an astonishing momentum.

When Feng Chengyi heard the noise, he thought the person coming was chasing him, and his heart almost jumped out of his throat.

He had forgotten how much he hated Feng Jianke and was only thinking about surviving. While shouting "Ancestor, save me", he rolled and crawled up to Fengyunding.

Hong Fan, wearing full armor and a helmet, followed behind him without saying a word.

The two chased each other halfway up the mountain. Gradually, there was no dust under their feet, only bare rocks that were smooth and moist, almost like jade.

The storm was roaring like thunder, with sparse divine winds floating around.

Within a hundred meters, Feng Chengyi's scalp and left ear were cut off by an invisible sharp blade, while Hong Fan's shoulders were half broken and his spleen was pierced.

If the Dragon Soul Fruit hadn't still been effective, he would have died once.

After climbing another three hundred meters, Hong Fan accelerated to catch up and held Feng Chengyi by his side.

It is not far from the core of the wind group.

The divine wind flows silently around the mountain, carrying the absolute will of the Martial Saint.

Death is so close, and its breath is so cold that it cuts into my skin.

Feng Chengyi had bleeding wounds on his legs and was trembling and incontinent.

Hong Fan did not stop. He caught his broken little finger and pressed it back into the wound, and kept climbing upwards.

Higher and closer.

Go deep into the forbidden zone of life under the contempt of gods and men.

Finally, the Dragon Soul Tree sensed two forces of life.

Life and death, the living are so huge that it is difficult to measure, while the dead are just like a firefly, all of them are individuals with extremely high concentration of dragon blood.

Hong Fan was extremely nervous.

He left Feng Chengyi behind and made a final charge with instant steps. As he wished, he saw the Dragon Soul Tree swaying its branches and leaves and operating mysteriously.

Almost in an instant, the little bit of blood and essence left in the Martial Saint's body was completely absorbed and turned into a Dragon Soul Fruit.

Feng Jianke suddenly opened his eyes.

He had already entered the quasi-martial saint stage during the long death barrier. Now that he had lost the object of his comprehension, he was forced to wake up from his leisurely and elegant state, as if he had fallen from the clouds.

Power, status, longevity...

Everything that was within his reach turned into a dream and flew away from him in an instant.

When one’s state of mind regresses, the five signs of decline of heavenly beings will occur in an instant.

The stench of decay surged from the top of the mountain, containing sadness and despair, and was more disgusting than all the feces and urine in the world.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth shuddered.

Hong Fan fell to his knees, his sand armor shattered, and he saw an old man in a green robe flying down from the majestic peak and floating in the sky.

The man was wearing shabby clothes and looked like a madman, with a fresh wound on his left cheek.

"Who blocked my way?"

He looked up to the sky and asked.

"Who ruined my path?!"

He looked down and asked around.

The words rolled like thunder and the wind swept away the clouds.

Within the twenty-li city walls, all the bells and drums rang by themselves, and all the grass and trees withered.

At the top of Fengyun Mountain, the divine Tiangang wind that had been lingering for years was suddenly dissipating.

On the top of the city wall, Xu Yuntao couldn't believe it, and Qiu Yuankui felt a mixture of joy and fear.

"Does the heaven really have eyes?"

Gan Deshou murmured in a trembling voice, his eyes were red and tears were streaming.

The battle stopped, but the five signs of decay in heaven and man did not stop for a moment.

Feng Jianke's whole body was rotting, boils formed on the back of his hands, and his scalp was falling off with patches of silver hair.

Feng Chengyi was sitting in his own feces and urine when he saw this scene. Hot tears rolled down his eyes silently, and it sounded like he was howling and laughing wildly at the same time.

Feng Jianke turned around.

The stench grew stronger, forcing half the city's residents to vomit.

He looked at Hong Fan first.

The latter stared back without fear, smiling provocatively.

Feng Jianke looked away.

He glanced at the Feng family members kneeling in despair in the imperial city;

Glancing at Duan Tiannan who stood firm and looked through the storm;
Glancing at Feng Mubai, who had devoted his life to the cause and whose head was separated from his body;
Glancing through the clouds of smoke everywhere;
Glancing at the broken Huaiyang Kingdom...

To the east of the city, the Yao River flows endlessly, turning the future into the past.

Feng Jianke remained indifferent.

The five signs of decline of heavenly beings are coming to an end.

His face was covered with wrinkles like black grooves, his whole body was sweating like a pulp, hyperplastic tumors were piled up under his clothes, and pus soaked the brocade.

"Sun and moon, you and I have only been together for one hundred and eighty years..."

"Too little, too little!"

The storm and the sigh dissipated at the same time.

Hong Fan looked up.

He saw a setting sun,
Falling into Feng Jianke's empty and desperate eyes.

(End of this chapter)