Chapter 304

Chang’an and Tongguan are in hand, so why not take Guanzhong?

Ye Guhong was not a stickler for rules, and immediately transferred Xu Da, ordering him to station 5,000 elite troops at Tongguan. Fearing that there would be more martial arts experts helping the Yuan court, he specially invited the Seven Heroes of Wudang to take up positions there.

He himself led 20,000 troops and returned to sweep across the land of the Three Qin.

With the help of local tyrants such as Huashan and Kongtong, as well as the support of the Kunlun and Qinghai sword schools from the west, and the response of heroes from all over the place,

Among them was the famous local magnate, Yu Xiaoyao, the 鈥淓vil Tiger of the Three Qin,鈥� who was known as 鈥渢he best fighter west of Tongguan.鈥� He led more than 2,000 swordsmen to capture seven counties in a row, and he and his men joined Ye Guhong’s army. Ye Guhong made him his Tiger General, and the Shu army grew even more powerful.

Ye Guhong swept all before him, and many prefectures surrendered without a fight. Within a few months, the former territories of the Song and Western Xia dynasties had all come under the control of Shu.

During this period, there was another wonderful incident. A single woman entered the army camp and claimed to be an old friend of the Shu ruler. The soldiers reported this to Ye Guhong, who was intrigued and summoned her. When they met, it turned out that she was Zixie, one of the emissaries of the Wuxian Sect.

Seeing an old friend, it is hard to talk about grudges. Ye Kuhong, however, did not hold a grudge from the past. He smiled and invited her to drink tea. After taking a few sips, Zi Xie’s eyes reddened and she spoke.

It turned out that when Zi Xie cremated Xiao Feiyang and Qing Xie’s remains and wanted to bring them back to Ziwengfeng for burial, she went through a lot of trouble to find the place. The boy who was left behind told her that if the Mingjiao sect leader died, he would be buried in the forbidden area of Guangmingding according to the rules.

Zi Xie thought of her master’s affection for her, and thought that this cheap master, Xiao Feiyang, had wanted to be the leader of the sect his whole life. Now that Gui Yifei had died in battle, it was the master’s turn. If they could be buried in the forbidden place, their spirits in heaven would surely be happy.

She also remembered that no one was allowed to enter the forbidden place, and those who attended the funeral would be buried with the deceased. Isn’t that just what she wants?

She did not tell Ye Kuhong about her thoughts: it turned out that she had already secretly agreed to marry Ye Kuhong after spending so many days together, but in order to repay her master’s kindness, she betrayed him on the spot. Now that her master was dead and her lover was lost, her heart felt as if it were dead. She thought to herself that it seemed not unreasonable to go to the afterlife to serve her master.

So she went further west and searched all the way to the top of Guangming.

The remaining members of the Heaven, Earth, Wind and Thunder Quarters, all of Xiao Feiyang’s old subordinates, saw her bury Xiao Feiyang in the forbidden area and, knowing that it was against the rules, turned a blind eye and let her in.

However, once she was in, Zi Xie obtained the last will of the previous sect leader, learning about Cheng Kun’s grudge against the Ming Sect and the appointment of Dian Xieqian as deputy sect leader. She also obtained the parchment that could shift the world. Her dead-end state of mind was suddenly revived 鈥�

I thought to myself, if I give this letter of resignation to Ye Guhong, he will be able to sell a great favor to the Ming Sect. Those people in the Ming Sect are all straightforward men. After receiving this favor, they will naturally be embarrassed to make things difficult for him again. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

As for the writing on the parchment, although it was written with an herbal solution and usually does not show traces, how can it be difficult for the Wuxian Sect’s Holy Maiden?

After trying several times, Zi Xie found a way to make the words visible by smearing them with blood. Seeing the extraordinary mystery of that technique, she wanted to give it to Ye Guhong to make up for her past mistakes.

Once she had this thought, she refused to die again. She secretly escaped from the forbidden area, but was discovered by the people guarding the four gates, and they all wanted to capture her.

Zixie was outnumbered and, on the one hand, did not want to hurt her master’s old comrades, so she fled all the way. When she was about to escape from Mount Kunlun, she was caught up by her enemies again. In the dark, she panicked and took the wrong path, and accidentally fell into a canyon. Fortunately, there was a pool of water below, so she did not die.

The canyon was full of birdsong and flowers, like a fairyland. There were fruits in the trees and fish in the water. Although there was no way out, it was able to support life. The purple scorpion could not find a way out, so she had no choice but to settle down. When she was bored, she practiced the Qiankun Nuo Yi technique as a pastime.

She is a quiet person by nature, and whenever she sees injured birds and animals, she tends to them. Over time, the apes and deer in the valley are not afraid of her and are willing to come up to her for affection. There is also an old ape with gray hair, holding two large peaches, who comes to her to ask her to heal his festering belly.

After examining it, Zi Xie saw that there was a bulge in the belly with what looked like a hard object inside. There were traces of sutures, and she was surprised. She used the short dagger with a scorpion’s tail she was carrying to cut it open, and it turned out to be four volumes of scriptures wrapped in oil paper, and it was none other than the original of the Nine Yang Scripture.

In the following years, Zi Xie cultivated the Jiuyang and Qi Qian arts, and suddenly one day had an epiphany. Based on her own practice of the 鈥淪pirit Scorpion Qi Gathering Technique鈥�, she created a new 鈥淯pside-Down-Everyday-and-Night Divine Scorpion Technique鈥�, and also realized a strange body method of 鈥淪corpion Crawling Upside-Down鈥�.

After explaining the origin, Zi Xie took out the secret manuals of the Nine Yang Gong and the Qian Kun Nuo Yi from her bosom and handed them to Ye Guhong. Ye Guhong was overwhelmed with emotions after hearing her story.

He reached out and took the manuals, which still smelled faintly of incense, and flipped through them. Sure enough, the Nine Yang was originally different from the Nine Yang Xuan Gong created by Zhang Sanfeng, and had a different kind of profoundness. So he gratefully accepted them.

As for the 鈥淨iankun Nuo Yi鈥� (translation: 鈥淢oving the Heavens and Earth鈥�), he told Zi Xie to keep it for herself, but to 鈥渒eep it a secret, and don’t let a few foreigners in my army know about it.鈥�

Ye Guhong did not take foreign martial arts seriously, but Ye Guhong knew that people of a different race would have different intentions. Naturally, he would not give it to him.

At this time, White Snake, Snow Centipede and Jade Toad came to visit Ye Guhong. When they saw Zi Xie in the tent, they were surprised and pounced on her together 鈥�

they had grown up together since childhood and had an exceptionally deep bond. They cried while giving Zi Xie a few solid punches, and then the four of them hugged each other and cried together.

Ye Guhong, on the other hand, was sweeping through the Three Qin Provinces, causing a great stir in the Yuan court. He mobilized the Xuan Zheng Yuan territories in Tibet and the Chaghatai Khanate in the Western Regions to organize troops to attack, while urging the Henan and Hebei provinces to attack Tongguan with all their strength.

The troops from Henan and Hebei gathered at Tongguan, leaving the city vulnerable. Peng, who had been waiting in the wings, immediately raised the banner of rebellion, and the Peng Gang members all turned against the Yuan court.

鈥淒ragon’s Tail Immortal鈥� Zou Pusheng raised the flag of rebellion in Qizhou, 鈥楰ing of Tyrants鈥� Xiang Puliao, and 鈥榃uji Taoist鈥� Ou Puxiang killed the officials in Huanggang. The Poyang Gang also took advantage of the situation to rise up. At this time, the old leader Xu Dali had already died, and the new leader Xu Shouhui used 鈥楧ouble-Sword Zhao鈥� Zhao Pusheng as the vanguard to raise an army to capture Jiujiang and proclaim himself King of Chu, shaking the land of Jingchu.

Seeing the disciples of Monk Peng stirring up trouble, how could the Ming Sect stand idly by? They immediately raised an army in response.

Yetian Gang crowned himself 鈥淭rue King of the Great Ming鈥� and conquered Jinling. The Purple Robed Dragon King was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Great Ming army and led his troops to take Hangzhou. Fires were lit all along the southern Yangtze River.

Zhang Shicheng, the adopted son of Ye Tiangang, occupied Taizhou and proclaimed himself 鈥淜ing Tiezhou鈥�. Guo Zixing, the leader of the Ming Sect, occupied Hao Prefecture. Han Shantong, the leader of the Ming Sect, occupied Ying Prefecture with the assistance of Liu Futong and was ambitious to conquer Bianliang.

The Yuan court was alarmed and appointed Tuotuo and Prince Ruyang as commanders-in-chief, raising 500,000 troops to attack the rebels in two columns.

In the following years, the government troops and the rebels attacked each other, turning the land of China into a sea of blood.

During this period, Xu Shouhui was assassinated by a Yuan court expert, and his general Chen Youliang seized his position and made himself king, assassinating Monk Peng and proclaiming himself King of Han.

Han Shantong died in battle, and his son Han Lin’er succeeded him. He sent troops to the north to launch a campaign, but Zhang Shicheng suddenly surrendered to the Yuan court. Han Shantong was attacked on both sides, and he and his master Liu Futong both died in battle.

Haozhou was also broken by the Yuan army. Guo Zixing fell out with the top echelons of the Ming Church over trivial matters and fled to Shu with the remnants of his troops.

Ye Guhong sent his general Zhu Chongba to rescue him, but they were ambushed by Chen Youliang on the way. Guo Zixing was killed in battle, and Zhu Chongba only rescued his adopted daughter Ma’s family. They fought a chaotic battle with Chen Youliang, which ended in a draw. Zhu returned to his country, married Ma’s family, and changed his name to Zhu Changsheng because he disliked the name 鈥淐hongba鈥�.

Ye Guhong heard the news and was speechless for a long time鈥�

There is no more Zhu Yuanzhang in this world, only Zhu Changsheng.

In the blink of an eye, it was already the 17th year of the Zhizheng reign (1357) of the Yuan dynasty. The rebels south of the Yangtze River had either died or surrendered, and the Yuan court had also suffered heavy losses. Tuotuo offered a plan to kill two birds with one stone: he issued a decree to the world, proclaiming Ye Tiangang as the King of Ming and Chen Youliang as the King of Han, and ordered them to stop at the Yangtze River and divide the land between them.

Ye Tiangang was now old and no longer as valiant as he had been in his youth. He was overjoyed to see that the Yuan court had given in, and immediately summoned Chen Youliang to come and pay his respects.

Chen Youliang replied, 鈥淵ou call yourself king, I’ll call myself king. The real king is gone, and we’ve had our fun.鈥� He then marshalled 400,000 troops and descended the river to take Jinling.

Ye Tiangang was furious and mobilised 300,000 troops to meet him.

The two sides fought a fierce battle on Lake Poyang. The Ming armies of the Ren Shui and Bing Shui camps showed great prowess, but Chen Youliang’s forces were swarmed by a large number of masked experts who launched a surprise attack on Ye Tiangang’s flagship. Five of them combined their efforts to forcefully kill Ye Tiangang.

The Ming army first won and then lost, losing more than 100,000 soldiers in a dismal defeat and retreating back to Jinling. Since then, they have no more power to compete for hegemony.

Unfortunately, Ye Tiangang had no son, and his two grandsons had neither virtue nor courage, so the Ming Sect was once again without a leader.

The Purple-Robed Dragon King, who boasted of his high rank and large army, wanted to be the leader of the women, but the heroes below were not convinced. Zhang Shicheng rebelled against the Yuan court again and wanted to take over as the adopted son of Ye Tiangang.

He was unable to resolve the dispute among the various factions, and each side sent troops to engage in a chaotic battle. The Purple-Robed Dragon King was ambushed, and his husband, Mr. Yin Ye, desperately fought to protect the rear. The Dragon King was able to escape with only one daughter. Thinking about the situation, there was no way to retreat, so he came to seek refuge in Emei Me, along the way, was being chased by people, and was just rescued by Zhang Qu-bing, who had gone out to find news. The Dragon King was grateful, and promised the girl named Xiao Zhao to Zhang Qu-bing as his wife, and took the opportunity to become relatives with Zhang Wuxia and Ye Kuhong.

Zhang Qu-bing and Xiao Zhao got married at Wudang, and Zhang Sanfeng drank a tank of wine at the wedding banquet, pointed at Ye Kuhong and said, 鈥淜id, there is only a limited time on earth, don’t let your heart go to waste.鈥�

Then he laughed and died, his yang spirit ascending.

Mie Jie, Ye Guhong and the others were all there, and they saw with their own eyes a ball of spiritual light spurt from Zhang Sanfeng’s forehead and soar straight into the sky. It hovered at one end for a long time, then suddenly turned and ran towards the other end, disappearing into the void.

Ye Guhong surmised in private that the part where Zhang Sanfeng hovered was where he said he saw, which was also where Ye Guhong came from.

I think Zhang Sanfeng also pondered for a long time before flying towards the unknown other end. He probably thought that if that end was the future, this end must be the past, and in the past, he might be able to see the founder of Emei again.

He told this to Mie Jie, who was silent for a long time before telling Ye Guhong, 鈥淚f you and I ascend, we will both go to the future, so that we don’t have to go back to the past. If the founder of Emei is watching over me and forbidding me from doing this and forbidding me from doing that, would I dare not listen?

He also thought about the words of Zhang Sanfeng before he left, sighed, and called Jin Mingjun and Wei Jinyi forward. He said solemnly, 鈥淵our younger brother is now of noble status, but Mingjun is a fool who is used to getting into trouble. I have now, on the face of the true immortal Zhang, allowed you to enter his back courtyard, but Mingjun must not cause trouble recklessly, relying on the affection between you as siblings to cause him trouble. Jinyi, you must watch over her for me.鈥�

Jin Mingjun was almost unable to believe her wish had come true. She stared blankly at her master until she saw Wei Jinyi kneeling down. She then suddenly came to her senses, fell to her knees, and burst into tears as she hugged her master’s legs and feet.

Her face was covered in snot and tears as she vowed, 鈥淲hen I first saw my junior brother at the age of fifteen, I fell in love with him. Now that you have allowed me to marry him, I will cherish him more than anything else. How dare I be arrogant and do whatever I like?鈥�

Wei Jinyi was also in tears, saying repeatedly, 鈥淢aster, don’t worry, I would never do that.鈥�

Zhou Zengyi’s face was flushed, and she gritted her teeth, walked up, and knelt down, saying, 鈥淢aster, I am also willing to watch over Senior Sister Jin for you.鈥�

Jin Mingjun angrily said, 鈥淟ittle brat, where did you come from? Why, are you relying on your youth and beauty to compete with me for Jin Guifei’s favor?鈥�

Mie Jie angrily said, 鈥淵ou really have a hard time changing your habits. Never mind, I wanted to keep Zong Zhi as the next head of the school, but I might as well give him to Gu Hong. Without someone powerful, I can’t control this idiot.鈥�

Xiao Zhao looked sweet and delicate, but she had her own ideas. Hearing the master and disciple talking over here, she couldn’t help but look at Zhang Jiao Bing, and thought to herself: The young nun is also married to the master, so it seems that my husband is destined to be the head of Emei. He is a disciple of Master Ye, and also has the bloodline of Wudang and the Ming Sect. If he becomes the head of Emei, he will be the supreme master of the martial arts world.

The Seven Heroes of Wudang surrounded their master’s corpse, kneeling and crying, then laughing. At this time, Song Yuanqiao was already over sixty years old, but he was still as crazy as a fool.

This major event quickly spread throughout the world, and martial artists all over the world realized that there were limits to their abilities.

In the 18th year of the Zhizheng reign (1358), Tibet and the Western Regions were all pacified by Ye Guhong. After years of preparing, he had a strong army and a wealthy people, and already had 800,000 strong soldiers.

On this day, he formally summoned his generals and ordered them to split into four groups, to go beyond the borders and take over the world.

The first route will be led by General Xu Da, assisted by Hua Yun. He will lead 200,000 troops, including experts from the Kunlun, Qinghai and Kongtong schools, to attack Mongolia, retake Shaanxi and march towards the capital from the Juyong Pass.

The second route will be led by Ye Kuhong, assisted by Liu Ji. He will lead 200,000 troops, including experts from the Emei school, to attack Henan, Hebei and Shandong, and march towards the capital.

The third route was led by General Chang Yuchun, with Tang He as his second-in-command. He took 200,000 troops out of the Hanjiang River, first taking Xiangyang, sweeping through Jingchu, and killing Chen Youliang in the name of avenging Ye Tiangang. Zhang Cui Shan and Ye Qingqing attacked and destroyed the Han Kingdom.

The fourth army was led by Zhu Chongba, the Commander of the Cavalry, with Wu Zhen, Wu Liang, Fang Wen and Fang Wu as his subordinates. They marched out of Yunnan and Guizhou with 200,000 troops, conquered Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangxi, and joined forces with Chang Yuchun in Nanjing. They told the Dragon King to persuade the Ming Sect to surrender, or else they would die.

Since then, war broke out again in the world.

Without going into the other three routes of battle, let’s just say that Ye Guhong set out from Tongguan and reached Luoyang with his troops. The Yuan army commander in Luoyang, upon hearing that Ye Guhong came from the world of martial arts, ordered his fierce warriors to challenge Ye Guhong to a battle. was delighted to go into battle, astride his obedient horse, in his hands the Chiyou spear, without moving a muscle in the sun. He single-handedly defeated 31 famous Yuan generals, and the Yuan army was so afraid of him that they called him 鈥淟ord Ye鈥�.

The next day, Ye Guhong challenged the enemy at the front gate. After a long time with no reply, he was puzzled. At that moment, some Luoyang citizens opened the city gate and told him: 鈥淭he Tartars are afraid of your bravery and have fled from the east gate.鈥�

Luoyang was thus taken.

After Luoyang fell, he went to Zhengzhou. The Zhengzhou garrison opened the city gates wide and kneeled on the ground to surrender. Ye Guhong laughed and entered the city.

The next day, Ye Kuhong gathered 10,000 troops and marched straight to Songshan. He deployed his troops at the foot of the mountain, and together with his master, he arrived at the door of Shaolin Temple without haste. A monk quickly came out to greet them: 鈥淎mitabha, I am Monk Yuanfeng. I don’t know why you have come to Shaolin…鈥�

Ye Kuhong interrupted him with a smile: 鈥淐ut the crap. I want to borrow the scriptures in the Scripture Storage Pavilion for ten years for my disciples to study Buddhism.鈥�

The monk who was the receptionist looked up in shock, took a good look at Ye’s face, then glanced at Mie Jie. His expression was like he had seen a ghost, and he exclaimed, 鈥淎mitabha, the Buddhist faith is vast and the Buddha is compassionate. The鏂戒富瑕佸€熺粡涔�,鏋佸ソ鏋佸ソ,璇疯繘鏃犲Θ,璐儳鍗磋杩樹織鍘讳篃.鈥�

After saying this, he tore off his monk’s robe and threw it away, then ran down the mountain as fast as he could.

Ye Guhong and Mie Jie looked at each other, wondering what had made this guy go crazy. However, they had forgotten that this guy and his master had had dealings in the past.

It turned out that this monk was none other than Peng Madman, the head of the Madman Staff School, one of the sixteen families from Cangzhou who had stopped Ye Guhong on his way north to kill the lion.

In that battle, Ye Guhong displayed his awesome prowess, destroying three martial arts schools. When it was Peng Lunzi’s turn, he said he wanted to re-convert and return to Shaolin to learn the ultimate martial arts before seeking revenge. The man really did keep his word and did return to Shaolin.

He only hated that Ye Guhong had arrived too early, so that he had not had time to learn the ultimate martial arts, and so he resolutely returned to the secular world, and once again became Peng Lunzi, rather than 鈥淪haolin Yuanfeng鈥�.

Ye Guhong and his master paid no attention to such trivial matters and walked straight ahead.

When Abbot Kongwen learned that the master and disciple of the Emei Sect had broken into the mountain, he was shocked and immediately led a group of monks, big and small, to come to the front of the main hall to block the two of them.

Ye Guhong didn’t say much, and directly held Kun Cheng responsible for his actions, as well as the old grudges of many Shaolin Temple disciples who had helped the Yuan army against the Shu army.

Kong Wen pushed the two, four, and six, put his hands together, shook his head, and sighed, 鈥淎mitabha. I only heard about Yuan Zhen’s evil deeds afterwards. To be honest, some monks in our temple were indeed lured by him with high positions and salaries or powerful martial arts and became his lackeys. However, this was all their personal business and had nothing to do with Shaolin.鈥�

Ye Kuhong laughed angrily and said, 鈥淚n that case, you should give up all the land the Yuan court granted your temple and distribute it to the common people. Only then will I believe you are sincere.鈥�

The Yuan court had granted Shaolin a huge amount of land. If Kongwen was willing to give it up, I’m afraid even the abbot would have a hard time keeping his seat. Naturally, he shook his head and refused.

Ye Guhong laughed and said, 鈥淢onk Kongwen, you and I don’t need to say much. This Buddhist temple is supposed to be a place of peace and purity, but you and I are both martial artists, and the martial arts world has its own rules. Today, I have come to fight, and we will have a battle. If my master and I lose, we will do whatever the Shaolin Temple wants. If you lose…鈥�

He sneered, and suddenly his tone became stern. 鈥淚 will close your temple doors for twenty years, and all the fields under your name will be sold by Ye Mou to be used as military supplies.鈥�

Kong Zhi took a step forward, furious, and said, 鈥淭his is too much! Ye Guhong, don’t be too arrogant. If the hundreds of monks in our temple really swarm together, your master and apprentice may not be able to get away with this.鈥�

Ye Guhong laughed, 鈥淲e’ll see if you can get away with it. Watch out, monk!鈥�

After saying this, his figure swayed and he disappeared from the spot like a ghost. When he reappeared, he was less than three feet away from Kong Zhi. He launched a punch, and there was a loud buzzing sound as the air around him vibrated. The terrifying thing was that his fist arrived first, and the sound came afterwards.

In the world of martial arts, Kong Zhi could be considered a top-notch fighter, but with this punch, he was unable to even react before being hit.

He let out a muffled grunt and flew backwards, slamming into the wall. He hung there motionless for several breaths before slowly sliding down.

鈥淛unior Brother!鈥� 鈥楽enior Brother!鈥�

Kong Wen and Kong Xing were both shocked. Such a powerful punch, even the Sumeru Palm of Shaolin Temple, which is the most powerful and has the longest duration of build-up, would be hard-pressed to match this. Kong Zhi took the full force of the punch, so how could he have survived?

The two of them ignored their fight with Ye Guhong and hurriedly went to tend to his wounds. The remaining monks were filled with anger and fear, and they surrounded Ye Guhong.

Ye Kuhong stood there with a half-smile, but when he saw Kong Zhi’s eyes open wide, he exclaimed, 鈥淥h no, I’m dead!鈥�

Kong Wen and Kong Xing became even more alarmed. One felt his bones and internal organs, the other grasped his pulse points to probe his inner being. After a thorough examination, the two looked at each other and exclaimed in unison, 鈥淪trange!鈥�

Kong Zhi’s body, inside and out, seemed to be completely unharmed!

Everyone had witnessed the power and force of Ye Guhong’s punch, and Kong Wen had been beaten into a picture hanging on the wall, so everyone had seen it. Now, not a single hair had been damaged, which was even more shocking than being beaten into a pulp.

Cold sweat immediately began to trickle down Kong Wen’s bald head. He never expected that after more than ten years apart, the Emei Jade Knight’s kung fu had reached such a high level!

Suddenly, he noticed that Mie Jie, who had just been standing next to Ye Guhong, had disappeared. He couldn’t help but exclaim in alarm, 鈥淛ade Knight, where did your master go?鈥�

Ye Kuhong laughed and said, 鈥淵ou can’t even defeat me, and you dare to ask about my master? Come, don’t think nonsense. A thousand monks will charge at once. Let’s see if my Emei Jade Warrior is the best or if the Shaolin martial monks are the most powerful!鈥�

Kong Zhi gaped and exclaimed, 鈥淏rother, it’s no contest! This boy’s martial arts skills are already on par with Zhang Zhenren’s!鈥�

Kong Wen’s body trembled, and he waved his hand and laughed, 鈥淭his is a sacred Buddhist place, and we are all sons of Buddha. Fighting and killing is not proper.鈥�

Before he finished speaking, he felt a flash of light in front of his eyes, and Mo Jie returned to Ye Guhong’s side. He casually threw three black whips on the ground and said indifferently, 鈥淒isciple, there are three old monks hidden in the back mountain of Shaolin Temple. I guess they are the predecessors of the Du generation. Their set of joint attack techniques is quite extraordinary.鈥�

Kong Wen’s body swayed more and more violently, and his vision went black. The three uncles were the pillars of the temple and the golden beams that held back the sea. He couldn’t help but tremble and say, 鈥淢aster, my uncles…鈥�

Mie Jie shook his head and said, 鈥淒on’t worry, I’m just a humble nun. I’m not ruthless. It’s just that the three masters have such big tempers. I took away their weapons to make them calm down a bit. Although one of them with one eye is spitting blood, it’s because he’s angry with himself, not because of me. Hey? You haven’t started fighting my disciples yet?鈥�

Kong Wen heard that the Three Passes were trouble-free and let out a small sigh of relief. His face was miserable, and he shook his head, saying, 鈥淭he Buddhist Pure Land is a place of peace, so how can we talk about who is better? My Shaolin… has closed its gates for twenty years. Those fields and properties, just have someone send over the land deeds and let Yu Xia sell them. This is my way of doing my part to overthrow the Tartars…鈥�

After a moment of hesitation, two lines of tears rolled down his face.

Ye Kuhong laughed and said, 鈥淚n that case, the past is forgotten. I and my master will go now. Abbot, please stay. You don’t need to see us off.鈥�

With that, the two men turned and left.

When the two men had left the mountain gate and started down the mountain, many of the monks came to their senses and angrily exclaimed, 鈥淎bbot, how can you be so weak? How can the reputation of Shaolin be trampled on like this? We will set up the Arhat Formation. We don’t believe they…鈥�

Before they could finish speaking, they heard a long laugh coming from afar. The candles in front of the Buddha swayed uncertainly. The monks looked on in horror and saw the trees swaying, the clouds in the sky changing rapidly.

Kong Zhi sighed and said with a sad face, 鈥淓mei has reached the end of its road… Emei, Wudang, hey, my Shaolin school, let’s compete again in sixty years…鈥�

The monks listened in silence, their enthusiasm and dreams like dew.

Ye Guhong fulfilled his master’s wish to dominate Emei, and was overjoyed. He returned to Zhengzhou, immediately sent troops to attack Bianjing, which fell in three days. He then crossed the river to the north and launched an all-out attack on the 150,000 troops led by Ruyang Wang and Tuo Tuo.

After six months of hard work, Ye Guhong won all seven battles and advanced unopposed.

Seeing that morale was low, Ruyang Wang and Tuo Tuo discussed retreating to Dadu, but unexpectedly received imperial orders to fight Ye in a decisive battle at Hejianfu.

With no choice, the two men turned back and led the army in a fierce assault.

Ye was not afraid of them, and charged into battle clad in golden armour. Zhang also donned heavy armour and, carrying a 3-zhang-high standard, followed his master closely.

Amidst the hundreds of thousands of troops, the Ye banner, which looked like a hot knife cutting through lard, plunged straight into the Yuan army. The Shu army cheered and their fighting spirit doubled, while the morale of the Yuan army was extremely low.

Ye Guhong charged forward alone on his horse, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. When Tuotuo saw this, he was filled with shame and anger, and shouted, 鈥淎re there no warriors in our Great Yuan?鈥�

He personally led a team of guards to fight. Ye Guhong’s eyes lit up. He galloped forward, and with a spear thrust, he impaled Tuotuo and his horse, and with a burst of internal strength, he flung them away, like a cannonball, smashing them seven or eight zhang away.

Seeing this, the Yuan army dared not fight anymore and scattered in all directions. The King of Ruyang, upon seeing this, looked ashen and threw his helmet on the ground, howling all the way as he rode his horse to kill.

Ye Guhong rode up to meet him, picked up his spear and struck his sword away. Just as he was about to kill, he suddenly heard a clear female voice scream, 鈥淒on’t kill your father-in-law!鈥�

Ye Guhong frowned, swung his spear from a jab to a swing, knocking Ruyang Wang off his horse. He turned his head and looked, but it was a pretty young soldier behind Ruyang Wang. Although she was wearing men’s armor and was covered in dirt, she was obviously a beautiful woman, clearly disguised as a man.

He couldn’t help but wonder, 鈥淗ow is this person my father-in-law?鈥�

The woman was full of indignation, her silver teeth clenched. She took off her helmet and threw it down, her long black hair falling down. She poured some water from the gourd she was carrying into the palm of her hand, washed her face roughly, and then took out a short sword from her bosom, and said in a tearful voice: 鈥淚n the fifth year of Zhiyuan, you came to my house and cheated me, deceiving me of the Heavenly Sword and the marriage contract with my Minmin Temuer. Have you forgotten? Where is the pledge my mother gave you?鈥�

As he spoke, he passed the short sword forward. Ye Guhong could now see clearly even in the dark, and he could see that the words 鈥淵e of Nanchang鈥� were clearly engraved on the hilt of the sword.

He thought to himself that the milkmaid who had nursed him as a child had grown up so big.

The woman shed two lines of tears and cried, 鈥淭he Great Yuan Dynasty is doomed to perish. You, the Jade Warrior of Emei, are the great emperor who will unify the world. Have you gone back on your word?鈥�

Ye Guhong grunted, touched his golden unicorn helmet and said, 鈥淵our mother gave me the golden unicorn helmet a long time ago. But then I started a rebellion to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty, and money was needed everywhere. I couldn’t bear to exploit the people… Well, everyone says that for my status, I need to wear golden armor, and your golden unicorn is now on my head.”

The woman looked and sure enough, Ye Guhong’s golden helmet on his head was vividly carved in the shape of a unicorn, and the two rubies the color of pigeon’s blood still served as the unicorn’s eyes.

She could not help bursting into laughter, and said with a swagger, 鈥淪ince you are willing to admit it, then marry me. There are so many Mongolians, do you want to kill them all? The Mongolian people have been intermarrying with you Han people for a hundred years, where can they still tell the difference between friend and foe? After you have conquered the world, marry me, a Mongolian wife. The defeated soldiers and generals will also be able to return to your heart and be loyal to you, and you will not have to commit so many sins. Wouldn’t that be beautiful? Of course, your father, my father-in-law, is only allowed to be dismissed from office, not harmed.”

This young girl is extremely bold, and her words come out in a chatter, as if big and small beads falling on a jade plate. Suddenly, she saw Zhang Qubing behind Ye Guhong staring at her blankly, and she couldn’t help but glare at him angrily and say, 鈥漎ou little soldier, what are you looking at? Do you believe that this empress wants the emperor to take your eyes?鈥�

Zhang Qubing shivered, looked at Ye Guhong with sympathy on his face, and said, 鈥淢aster, this wife and Jin’s wife are perfect rivals!鈥�