Chapter 285 Victory or Loss
"Commander."

As the night gradually brightened, the full picture of the Twelve Caves Ruins was revealed. Many of the collapsed stone pillars and road signs were covered with knife marks and spider veins everywhere, and they were just one step away from breaking.

Just by looking at the chaotic traces of fighting, one can infer how fierce the confrontation was last night. Many of the stone walls that served as the walls of the house were broken in half, obviously split in half by a single knife. The broken parts were particularly smooth, without any drag, so the power of this knife seemed to still make people feel cold even now.

Kuijia was injured and his right arm was simply bandaged with a piece of torn clothes, but the wound was still bleeding. It was obvious that his internal strength had been almost consumed and he could no longer stop the bleeding on his own.

He led the other nine people and bowed with crossed arms to a tall figure carrying a huge sword on his back.

Yuan Tiangang did not ask about the details of the battle. He just walked among the ten people, came to the altar with his hands behind his back, and looked at the headless statue of Li Chunfeng quietly.

The ten people of Kuijia were named after the ten heavenly stems Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren and Gui. They took the word Kui in "Tiankui" as their surname. Their generations have been soldiers and protectors of the valley, and their strength is outstanding, which is far greater than that of the other branches.

As the first group of ten heavenly stems, they are stronger than the second group of twelve earthly branches, Kuichou and others. They are proficient in forming formations, understanding hexagrams, and are good at investigations. The weakest of them has the strength of a minor celestial being. They rarely show up and only obey the orders of the master of Cangbing Valley. Of course, if this master is not Yuan Tiangang, it will be another matter.

Even with the siege of ten people, they were unable to capture Xiao Yan, which already explains a lot of things.

Xiao Yan, even stronger.

The Poison Lord, who was following Yuan Tiangang and rubbing two beads, had white pupils and slowly stopped outside the altar. Seeing this scene, he remained silent, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Kuijia took off his bamboo hat, and his expression behind the mask was calm. He crossed his hands and reported: "We hurried here, but we are already a step too late. The things left by Li Taishi have indeed been taken away by Tian Anxing. We were incompetent and failed to take Li Taishi's things. However, the fierce battle last night still caused some injuries to Tian Anxing, but we were no longer able to pursue him, so we left Tian Anxing."

As he spoke, he added, "My subordinates have not made any rash moves with the items in the Mechanical Tomb, and when Tian Anxing made his move, he seemed to have deliberately avoided this place."

Finally, he took a wine gourd from Kui Yi next to him, held it in both hands and presented it to Yuan Tiangang: "This thing seems to be something left behind by the Dark Star. I dare to accept it. Please give me your instructions, Marshal."

Yuan Tiangang listened to the news calmly, raised his hand and the wine gourd fell into his palm.

The wine gourd was not big, but quite exquisite. It was obvious that there was still half of the wine inside. As soon as the cork was opened, the aroma of the wine hit one's nose, as if from an aged cellar, and it was very intoxicating.

Yuan Tiangang stared for a moment, held the wine gourd in his hands with his hands behind his back, glanced at the groove of the Longquan sword in front of the statue, raised his hand and grasped the hilt behind him, without any movement, the long and heavy sword fell automatically and fit precisely into the groove.

After that, he walked down the stone steps that had never been closed. It looked like he was visiting a ruins.

At this time, the Marshal obviously didn't care whether his old friend from three hundred years ago minded him visiting this place.

Otherwise, could he gather the ashes together and give Yuan Tiangang a punch?
Du Gong did not follow him. He knew he was not worthy. So after seeing Yuan Tiangang walk down the Jijian Tomb, he just laughed and patted one of the five old subordinates: "Can you see the young sacrificial official?"

"Reporting to the Witch King, we have indeed seen the Young Priest. The five of us fought with him. The Young Priest was not with the Saintess and the others, so he was severely injured by us. Fortunately, there was a blond man in the Saintess' team. He had a red umbrella and could confuse us for a short time when he attacked. It was he who saved the Young Priest..."

The man holding the sickle cautiously glanced at Kuijia and others who were guarding outside the mechanical tomb, and reported in a low voice: "Afterwards... we ran into that person. After seeing that he was injured, we wanted to stop him, but he was very skilled in Qinggong, so we couldn't chase him..."

Du Gong smiled and patted the man on the shoulder: "I'm afraid it's not that you can't chase him, but you don't dare to fight him?"

The man with the sickle's face changed, and he hurriedly explained: "I dare not deceive the Witch King, that man is indeed..."

"Forget it, the goal has been achieved, you have done a good job, and this trivial matter is not enough for me to bother with you. Besides, taking action against that person is not something you can do." Du Gong seemed to be smiling and very approachable, but when he changed his tone, there was already some thoughtfulness.

"Blond man, red umbrella... Hehe, brother Hou Qing, it's been a long time since we last met..."

------

Yuan Tiangang walked into the corridor with his hands behind his back, holding the gourd filled with wine from nowhere. In the first secret room, with just a thought, a subtle and imperceptible aura spread out in all directions, and the changes in the mechanisms behind the five doors all fell into his ears.

So, he walked straight towards the correct wooden door without hesitation.

The illusory white-haired figure stood behind him, scolding with a smile: "Hey, hey, hey, Brother Yuan, are you so disrespectful? You're too lazy to play with me with this little trick?"

Yuan Tiangang paused, then snorted coldly, and just raised his eyes to take a look, then immediately snapped his fingers and shot out five points of gust of wind, instantly causing the five wind chimes to shake together.

Four changed sounds and one correct sound were clearly audible to his ears.

"Five Tones..."

Yuan Tiangang did not continue to walk in immediately. Instead, he stopped and thought for a while.

The illusory white-haired figure did not disturb him, but just smiled behind him.

Finally, Yuan Tiangang sneered and continued to walk inside with his hands behind his back, passing through corridors and secret rooms at a moderate pace. It seemed like a long time had passed before he entered the last secret room.

The huge bell had been rearranged and the five doors had been closed again. However, when Yuan Tiangang stepped inside, he clearly heard a subtle sound of a mechanism moving, and then a stone support slowly emerged from the wall.

On the stone support is a book.

Yuan Tiangang did not take the book immediately, but continued to hold the wine gourd, opened the doors one by one, and quietly looked at the five words engraved behind the doors.

"Blunt their sharp edge, resolve their conflict..."

"Not seeing oneself, therefore being clear..."

Yuan Tiangang stood with his hands behind his back, not worried at all about any traps behind the door. He just read it sentence by sentence. But unlike Xiao Yan who stood here and read for a long time that day, he just glanced at it and read the next sentence. He finished reading like this and then walked to the book.

There were only a few words on the cover.

Seven Star Secret.

Next to these three words, there are a few tiny characters - Thirty-six Styles.

The Seven Star Art is also known as the Longquan Sword Art, but compared to the first twelve moves of the Longquan Sword Art that Li Xingyun practiced, this is a complete set of sword art, which is particularly detailed. It not only comes with diagrams of the moves, but also special annotations, which shows the good intentions of the person who left the book.

And it is obvious that Xiao Yan did not get this book.

The Seven Stars Art is not just a sword art, it is also a pure yang internal energy technique like the Tiangang Art, which is extremely yang and extremely strong, and is specifically designed to defeat the most evil and demonic skills. In this world, except for Yuan Tiangang, no one knows the complete practice formula of the Seven Stars Art. Even in the tomb of Li Chunfeng, there are only the first twelve moves. But no one would have thought that such a unique copy would be left in the Raojiang Mechanical Tomb hundreds of miles away from the Central Plains.

"how?"

The illusory white-haired figure smiled and said, "Am I more fair than you? For those who possess the Longquan Sword, all the mechanisms will be activated, and the Seven Stars Sutra will be obtained by those who enter the tomb. However, those who forcibly break through the barrier without the Longquan Sword will not be able to obtain the Seven Stars Sutra, but can only get something else. Brother Yuan, Brother Yuan, what do you think? This is the will of heaven..."

"Stupid." Yuan Tiangang sneered: "What's the use of fairness now? The so-called heaven's law is nothing but a ridiculous lie!"

"Wrong, wrong." The illusory figure spread his hands: "Is the Seven Stars Art very powerful? With your Tiangang Art as a benchmark, how can it be stronger? The Seven Stars Art only strengthens the body, not external things. Brother Yuan, don't you want to know what the other thing strengthens?"

Yuan Tiangang's momentum suddenly increased, as if he wanted to shatter the phantom. In fact, it was true. After the phantom said this with a smile, it immediately disappeared on the spot.

But in the next moment, the shadow appeared in another place, twisting his hair with his hands, and said with a smile: "Brother Yuan, don't be angry. Look, you were not like this three hundred years ago. At that time, even if you argued with me, you rarely fought. It's not good for you to be like this now. It's easy to hurt the relationship."

As he spoke, the shadow paced back and forth, sighing, "Well, well, now that the Longquan Sword is in Brother Yuan's hands, I'll give him the Seven Stars Art. This external object is of no use to my student."

As he said this, he pointed at the pot of wine in Yuan Tiangang's hand and said with a smile: "Brother Yuan, have you ever drunk the wine given by your students to become your apprentices in your life? Well... even if you are dead, you will know that this wine is extremely delicious and tempting! Brother Yuan, please don't let me drink it secretly."

Yuan Tiangang had a blank expression on his face, as if he had long been accustomed to these disturbing words. In fact, he could already infer what Xiao Yan had obtained from these five sentences.

Since three hundred years ago, Li Chunfeng's Heavenly Dao has been in conflict with his Tyranny. From the principles he has realized, it can be said that it is in conflict with Tyranny in every aspect. If Xiao Yan really understood the essence of Heavenly Dao, he would definitely stand on the opposite side of Li Xingyun.

Because in Yuan Tiangang's mind, no matter what, Li Xingyun will eventually take the path of tyranny. He and Li Chunfeng have been fighting for three hundred years without any result, so what about Xiao and Li?

Xiao Yan was becoming more powerful, but Li Xingyun was still far from being able to control the princes. Two years... Yuan Tiangang suddenly thought that two years was a bit too long...

"Do you want to continue this bet?" The illusory figure smiled and said, "I'm talking about the bet on the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Brother Yuan agreed to it himself. If you lose, this war god calamity will stop here. If so, what can Brother Yuan use to let the dozens of princes control the world?"

Yuan Tiangang did not answer, but mobilized his internal energy and slowly crushed the Seven Stars Sutra into pieces.

The illusory figure saw it, smiled, and did not stop it.

Finally, Yuan Tiangang uncorked the wine gourd, tilted it downward, and poured all the wine into the secret room.

The illusory figure had a look of heartache on his face, and he covered his chest and said repeatedly: "Brother Yuan, you are jealous, you are jealous!!"

Yuan Tiangang had no choice but to leave the place indifferently, with his hands behind his back, leaving only one sentence behind.

"Winning or losing?"

"Hehe, this commander only cares about victory, not defeat."

------

"Don't move, just bear with it."

In the southern border area, Ji Ruxue looked focused, tore open the clothes on Xiao Yan's back, and stretched out her hand.

Chi Meng hurriedly handed over the roasted dagger, not daring to delay at all.

There were two arrowheads on Xiao Yan's back that were deeply embedded in his flesh. They were in the shape of an inverted triangle and made of a very special material. They were deeply embedded in his flesh. If he used internal force to force them out, it would cause a bigger wound instead.

It has to be said that Kuijia's group of ten Tiankui heavenly stems are quite powerful and are very good at breaking people's defenses. Even if Xiao Yan has protective qi, relying on their own closely coordinated skills and tacit understanding, they can actually seize the opportunity at the moment when Xiao Yan takes a breath and use their special crossbow to injure Xiao Yan.

In addition, the ten opponents cooperated seamlessly, and when facing Xiao Yan, they were like waves, one wave stronger than the other. Whether it was the use of internal force or the application of martial arts, they were the most exquisite ones Xiao Yan had ever seen, as if they could really snatch the book left by Li Chunfeng.

However, because of this, this fight was also the most satisfying confrontation Xiao Yan had had in a long time. The opponent was extremely durable, their formation was well-coordinated, and there were almost no flaws. Xiao Yan was sure that even if these ten people faced strong men like the Hades Emperor and the Empress, they would still have room to advance and retreat.

The last time he felt so refreshed was when he fought with Yelu Zhiwu, but this time he was not possessed by a demon.

In the battle last night, Xiao Yan severely injured four opponents and directly emptied all the internal energy of Kuijia among the Ten Heavenly Stems. If the opponents had not taken action in time to stop him, it is possible that Kuijia would become a cripple for the rest of his life.

Neither side held back and would never hesitate if given the chance to deliver a killing move.

In the agreement with Yuan Tiangang, the commander-in-chief stated two conditions: first, he would not interfere with Xiao Yan's layout of the parties within two years. Second, during his lifetime, Yuan Tiangang would respect Xiao Yan's bloodline and would not personally attack him.

But there are obvious loopholes in these two points. First, Yuan Tiangang only promised that he would not let the bad guys interfere with and restrain Xiao Yan, but he did not promise that he would not let other forces take action.

Secondly, Yuan Tiangang did not promise that he would not let others kill Xiao Yan.

This was the key point that Xiao Yan figured out after coming out of Li Chunfeng's mechanical tomb, so Tiankui would intercept him.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yan extended his thought to another point.

His foundation in the Central Plains, in addition to the military power he firmly controls, the most important thing is...

Ji Ruxue's face was calm, but there was heartache in her eyes. She carefully dug out the arrow from Xiao Yan's back, clenched her teeth, and said nothing.

Chi Meng also squatted beside him, holding his head, feeling both self-blame and heartache.

She is so useless. She can't even deal with her old subordinates, let alone fight against those mysterious people together with Xiao Guoguo...

Hou Qing was using his inner strength to take care of You Chuan's injuries, but he didn't feel much. Instead, he seemed to be in a trance.

Xiao Yan looked indifferent, as if he was unaware of the pain behind him, and his tone was normal.

"Xue'er, has your carrier pigeon come back?"

"Fengxiang, I want to send a letter."

(End of this chapter)