Chapter 1025: The Pearl Heist

Du Yicheng gritted his teeth for a second before barking, “All units, abandon your Black Winds and leave the river valley immediately!”

It was not an exaggeration to say that half of what made the Wildland Suppression Army strong was the Black Winds. Without them, they were so much weaker than before. On top of that, the Black Winds were rare and valuable commodities. To abandon them was to incur a huge loss.

And yet, Du Yicheng had no other choice. If they chose to stay behind, it was only a matter of time before the Black Wind rampaged once more. The Wildland Suppression Army would surely suffer more unnecessary losses, not to mention that there was no telling what else might happen if they continued to remain inside the river valley.

Therefore, the only order he could realistically give was to abandon the Black Wind and evacuate from the river valley.

“All units! Evacuate from the river valley now!”

“Evacuate from the river valley...”

Every soldier abandoned their mounts and charged toward the exit as per order.

Ye Qing paid them no attention. They had suffered a not insignificant amount of losses due to his trap, and now they did not even have their mounts. They were no longer a threat at this point. The crux of this battle was now Du Nanhai.

It was true that Du Nanhai was fatigued from his usage of the Calm Mind Pearl. It was also true that he was just a Half Sage. However, not only was he holding his own against the Xun Armor, he was actually holding the upper hand a little.

It was partially because Du Nanhai had used the Blue Sea Bow and Mulberry Field Arrow right from the get go to deal it a serious blow, and because Du Nanhai could always seize key opportunities, strike at the Xun Armor where it was weak, and predict its movements.

It was all thanks to the Calm Mind Pearl.

Besides “Calm Mind” and “Annihilate Mind”, the Calm Mind Pearl boasted a third Magia called “View Mind”.

“View Mind” could observe the arts of heaven and earth, the profound wonders of son and moon, and the energies of all creations.

To put it simply, it meant that “View Mind” allowed the practitioner to see the energy fluctuations of all living things and the strength of forces. This allowed the practitioner to judge a situation accurately and predict an enemy’s movements to gain the upper hand.

Unlike Calm Mind or Annihilate Mind, View Mind did not have a long cooldown period nor a short activation duration. In fact, it could be used repeatedly and indefinitely so long as the practitioner possessed enough spiritual energy.

View Mind might not be as powerful as Calm Mind or Annihilate Mind, but it was no less effective than the two Magia. In fact, one might argue that it was better.

It was thanks to View Mind that Du Nanhai was able to suppress the Xun Armor, a powerful construct possessing the power of a Sage.

In fact, the reason Du Nanhai was able to shoot right through the Xun Armor’s wind barrier and deal it a serious blow was thanks to View Mind showing him its weak spot.

None of this was important, however. Although Du Nanhai currently occupied the upper hand, he was far from being able to defeat the Xun Armor in a short time. This meant that his mission to delay the Wildland Suppression Army was complete.

What concerned him right now was something else. The Calm Mind Pearl to be exact.

It was great that he had completed his mission, but he saw an opportunity in the Calm Mind Pearl.

Ye Qing was not in the habit of letting a good opportunity pass right in front of him, and after witnessing what the Strange Artifact could do, he desired it very, very much.

But of course, it would not be easy to steal the Calm Mind Pearl. After all, Du Nanhai was quite strong.

Still, the heavens laugh, but man plans anyway. He was determined to have the Calm Mind Pearl.

Right now, he was waiting for an opening. A good opening to steal the Calm Mind Pearl.

As time passed, the Xun Armor continued to lose more and more ground, and Du Nanhai the opposite. At this rate, it would not be long before the great general suppressed the Xun Armor.

It was at this moment the light of a saber suddenly flashed far, far away from the battlefield. Although the flash disappeared immediately afterward, the rolling shockwaves of infinite killing intent was a different story.

Not a sliver of unnecessary emotion or power was mixed within the killing intent. There was only the pure, unadulterated desire to kill the heavens, kill the earth, kill anything and everything.

“The King Slayer Saber...”

The technique had occurred at least tens of kilometers from where he was, and still Ye Qing felt cold all over.

Three hundred years ago, the godlike artisan Gongye Shen had somehow intercepted a wisp of Innate Unbounded Killing Intent and forged the King Slayer Saber. It was said that, on the day the King Slayer Saber was born, it had taken flight on its own and slain every man and woman in the entire vassal state. Such was its killing intent that it was named the King Slayer Saber.

Unfortunately, the King Slayer Saber’s killing intent was so strong, so fierce, that countless lives were lost every time it appeared. A hundred years ago, a legend named Hidden Dragon Warrior felt that the King Slayer Saber was an existence that damaged the natural order of things and decided to purify it using Innate Supreme Yang True Fire and Innate Supreme Yin True Water. He was able to wash away most of the Innate Unbounded Killing Intent and reduced its deadliness drastically.

The King Slayer Saber became much weaker as a matter of course, but it was now controllable and no longer taxed its master nor created massacres every time it was used. It was overall a positive outcome.

After that, Chu obtained the King Slayer Saber and gave it to the King Slayer Army as a trump card.

All six armies of the Nanjiang Pacification Army possessed an Ancient-class Strange Artifact. In terms of sheer deadliness, the King Slayer Saber was inarguably the greatest of them all.

It was why Ye Qing could sense that pure and terrifying killing intent even from tens of kilometers away.

The King Slayer Army probably encountered the Kan Armor, Li Armor and Dui Armor,

Ye Qing thought. His demonic thought was firmly locked onto Du Nanhai though.

As expected, the usage of the King Slayer Saber caused Du Nanhai’s concentration to waver for just a moment.

Now is the time!

Ye Qing’s eyes lit up. The opening he was waiting for had finally appeared.

At the same time, the Xun Armor who seemed to be weakening and being suppressed by Du Nanhai this whole time suddenly unleashed an unimaginable amount of power and closed the distance in an instant. It lifted its hand and made a pulling motion.

As if the mad gale blowing around them was a tangible object, it crashed right on top of Du Nanhai with what felt like the weight of the galaxy itself.

“It’s a trap!”

Du Nanhai was shocked. It was clear that the lethargy the Xun Armor displayed earlier was just a ruse.

It was too late though. Caught completely off guard, the mad gale hit him hard and sent him flying through the air like a cannonball.

Before he could arrest himself, a thunderous giant wielding a spear abruptly appeared behind him with a crack of thunder.

“The Zhen Armor! When did—?!”

Du Nanhai’s eyes widened like saucers. If the Xun Armor’s false weakness was unexpected, but not too surprising, then the Zhen Armor’s appearance was completely unexpected.

His four subordinates should be fighting against the Zhen Armor right now. How did it appear here so suddenly and without warning?

Did it kill them already?

A million thoughts raced in his mind as the Zhen Armor brought his spear down on Du Nanhai. What looked like a million flailing silver snakes that looked like they could end heaven and earth engulfed Du Nanhai whole.

“Flood of Blue Sea!”

Du Nanhai’s roar came from within the thunderous sea of silver snakes, and the sound of lapping waves appeared. The sea of lightning was brutally and violently ripped apart as a result.

There was a flash, and Du Nanhai appeared outside the sea of lightning. He looked terrible. His entire body was scorched, and he looked battered and exhausted. Even his Skanda image looked weak.

Because of this, Du Nanhai did not notice a fist soundlessly appearing behind his Skanda’s back.

“Break Hammer”

The next moment, a fist intent overflowing with the power of destruction erupted. The Skanda’s head abruptly exploded like a watermelon.

“Argh!”

The partial destruction of his yang god dealt serious damage to Du Nanhai’s mind. It was so painful that even a grizzled veteran like him could not help but scream in pain. Instinctively, the headless Skanda swept his golden vajra scepter to seal off the surrounding space and crush his attacker.

Unfortunately, the attack failed to hit anyone. Du Nanhai wasn’t expecting it to. It was just a retaliatory attack meant to force his attacker into defending themselves and by extension, protect him from further harm.

If he wasn’t mistaken, his ambusher was none other than the person who had been controlling the Divine Armors from the shadows this whole time.