Chapter 585: The Dread Division’s Plan
Translator: Irene Editor: X, TYZ
Li Houtang gazed doubtfully at Blind He. From what he could see, the young man before him was very feeble and even blind.
How could a blind person become a weaponsmith?
Li Houtang had been a weaponsmith for many years and had never heard of a blind man becoming one.
Blind He kept quiet. He extended his palm, and the eye in the center opened up suddenly, emitting a beam of light. Like a solid light ray, it swept across the Beehive Heavy Cannons one by one. The light ray disappeared, and the eye on his palm closed.
Li Houtang opened his eyes wide in shock. He had never seen such a strange inheritance.
Blind He’s current standard was far beyond that of when Ai Hui first found him. Just by looking at the items he forged, one could feel the power contained within. From the initial Cluster White Flames to the Hellfire Pagoda Cannon, from the Sword Pagoda to the Pinwheel Sword, from Pearblossom Dazzling Silver to the Unity Sword and the Fishbone, his scope of knowledge had only been increasing while his abilities skyrocketed.
Blind He flicked his finger gently, causing a peanut sized speck of light to fly out.
The speck of light flew to the front of the Beehive Heavy Cannon’s tube, transforming into an eye-catching light hoop.
Blind He said faintly, "Cut from here."
While Li Houtang felt that the eye in Blind He’s palm was really strange, Blind He’s words angered him. He had never heard of such a careless and baseless modification suggestion!
His anger turned to laughter. "And why’s that?"
Blind He acted as if he had not heard him. He was an arrogant person to begin with who only smiled when facing Lou Lan. He did obey Ai Hui’s instructions, albeit with a cold face.
As for Li Houtang’s question… who was this fellow?
Fatty had utter confidence in Blind He’s abilities. He hurriedly ask, "How do we cut it, Old He?"
Blind He snorted and flicked his finger.
With a clang like the sound of a chime, the front portion of the cannon barrel fell onto the ground. The incision was smooth and seamless.
Li Houtang’s eyes opened wide once again. The Beehive Heavy Cannon’s barrel wasn’t easy to make. It had to be of extremely high quality in order to endure the high temperature snow lava. It was a cannon barrel that he had created after racking his brain for a long time.
Yet, it shattered like fragile glass in Blind He’s hands.
Fatty, unable to endure any longer, had already started to prop the Beehive Heavy Cannon up.
The internal beehive chamber was flushed red as it buzzed rapidly.
Bzzzz.
Red light beams sprayed out continuously, agitating Fatty. The Beehive Heavy Cannons he had controlled in the past were always somewhat sluggish, but he just couldn’t identify the cause. Now, the sluggishness had completely disappeared, and the hefty Beehive Heavy Cannon actually felt light and nimble in his hands.
Fatty couldn’t help but shout, "This is great! So amazing!"
Shi Xueman had handed complete responsibility of the pagoda cannons to him, causing him to feel enormous pressure. He had never been under such great stress and feared under-performing the most. When he faced problems with the forging of the Beehive Heavy Cannons, he burned with anxiety, like gunpowder on the verge of exploding.
On the other hand, any improvements to the Beehive Heavy Cannon filled him with wild joy.
Li Houtang was dumbstruck. Of course he could recognize quality goods. He had been involved in the creation of the Beehive Heavy Cannon, hence its success and his familiarity with it. But…
He stuttered, "This… how?"
Blind He snorted. "Why must I tell you?"
At that he walked away, ignoring Li Houtang who was as still as a statue at this point.
Ai Hui waved his hands, expressing his innocence, before leaving as well.
…..
In a valley.
The Dread and Judgement divisions were resting, their members’ faces filled with exhaustion from executing a long distance surprise attack, raiding the enemy’s central camp, and escaping afterward. The enemies chased closely behind like zealots. Only after two days of continuous retreat had they managed to throw off the pursuers and finally get a chance to take a breather.
Even if they had willpower made out of steel, they were completely spent.
Wan Shenwei promptly decided to stop escaping and let everybody rest instead. They only had a short period of time before the enemies would catch up.
The officers of both combat divisions gathered for a meeting.
"… I feel that Nangong Wulian was very dangerous. Although he looked weak, he was the palace master of the Beast Venom Temple after all. I didn’t know what he had with him, so I just killed him. I was worried that he might revive or live in another organism as a parasite, so I burned him to ashes with snow lava."
Song Yan and Tie Dao gave a detailed debriefing of the scene at that time, and it went smoothly. There weren’t too many suspicious points.
Wan Shenwei nodded. "It’s good that you killed him. We only need Ye Baiyi for the following operation. The Beast Venom Temple is very unpredictable. It’s better to be more cautious."
The others nodded their heads in agreement.
In their eyes, Nangong Wulian was completely different from Ye Baiyi. Ye Baiyi used to be their comrade, but had chosen to betray the Avalon of Five Elements, thus angering everyone. Yet, his gift and talent impressed them greatly.
A person like that had chosen to betray the Avalon of Five Elements.
Everybody looked at Ye Baiyi with complicated gazes. There was anger, hatred, reverence, and doubt.
On the other hand, Nangong Wulian was merely a dangerous enemy to them.
Value wise, the success of their following operation depended on Ye Baiyi. Nangong Wulian had his value of course, but he wasn’t crucial.
Everybody surrounded Ye Baiyi, who was still in a deep sleep, looking at him curiously.
Ximen Caijue asked, "Will he wake up suddenly?"
Wan Shenwei shook his head. "No idea."
Song Yan added, "Should we just get rid of him? He Nanshan and the rest don’t know if he’s dead or alive anyway."
"They might know. Blood elementalists have many strange things." Wan Shenwei added, "Plus, we can’t kill him now."
Can’t kill?
Everyone was stunned.
Song Yan’s dagger appeared out of nowhere as he drove it toward Ye Baiyi’s thigh.
Just as the dagger was about to enter his thigh a red glow appeared with a crisp "ding" sound. Song Yan’s dagger couldn’t actually penetrate his skin.
Everybody’s faces changed.
Tie Dao muttered, "What exactly is the Heart of God?"
No one was able to answer him.
A powerful force was hibernating within Ye Baiyi’s body. The moment he was in danger, this force would explode, effectively protecting him. This force was the Heart of God.
Wan Shenwei and his comrades had fought quite a bit with the blood elementalists. Recently, there were more battles, but the power of the Heart of God seemed to be very different from the blood spiritual force of ordinary blood elementalists.
They could even feel an ancient, boundless aura radiating from the Heart of God.
The pulse of the Heart of God contained an indescribable power that could travel very far. This made them an attractive target, and they had nowhere to hide, which explained why He Nanshan was pursuing behind them so closely and unwilling to let go.
The Dread and Judgement Divisions had to travel at their maximum speed in order to increase the distance from the blood elementalists and gain time to catch their breath.
Wan Shenwei said in a low voice, "To be honest, I had not expected us to succeed. This plan seemed very pessimistic from day one. Now that Ye Baiyi is here, we have already half succeeded. However, everyone should be prepared because our days are only going to become more arduous and dangerous."
The others kept quiet and had solemn looks on their faces.
Attacking the camp was quick and very successful, but they paid a heavy price. More than 100 soldiers had perished.. It was a first in the whole history of the Dread and Judgement divisions.
And this was just the beginning. Everyone knew that Wan Shenwei wasn’t just frightening them.
Wan Shenwei took a deep breath. "Now that Ye Baiyi is in our hands, what’s going to happen next? He Nanshan’s combat division will definitely continue chasing us. Also, the three god divisions attacking the Spear of Heavy Cloud will receive the news and obstruct our path from another direction. No matter what, they need to rescue Ye Baiyi, but we don’t know how many combat divisions are on their way. Of course, the more the better. That’s our goal."
"We must lead them in circles. Initially, we were afraid that they would not be able to catch up, but there’s no need to worry now. With the Heart of God’s pulse, there’s no way they can’t find us. This is also why I said that things will only become tougher from now on. We will have shorter periods of rest as the number of enemy combat divisions increases. We will feel increasingly tired and worn out, but for each additional day that we persevere, the higher the chances of success for the defensive line."
"This is also why we can’t kill him." He looked at his audience before continuing, "I know that everyone here hates him. I do too. I would like to ask him why he chose to betray the Avalon of Five Elements if he wakes up, but we need him to stay alive at the moment. We can only disorientate the blood elementalist combat divisions, lure them over to us, and effectively lessen the burden on the Spear of Heavy Cloud if he stays alive. A dead Ye Baiyi would only agitate them more, and we don’t need that."
Wan Shenwei said dully, "Comparing strengths, it is very difficult for us to win this battle. Even if we have him as a hostage, everything goes smoothly from now on, and our plan succeeds, I don’t know if we can win this battle. No one knows."
Everyone kept quiet, keeping their gazes on Wan Shenwei.
While Wan Shenwei looked indifferent, his tone was mild like water. "We will fall one by one. Ye Baiyi might also wake up and kill us. Maybe nothing will change even if all of us are sacrificed."
Nevertheless, a ball of fire burned within his eyes.
He looked around and asked, "Are you all afraid?"
"Hah, are you kidding, Boss?"
"So very afraid. Afraid, that they will lose sight of us!"
"We’ve earned more than enough. Our attack was beautifully executed. Who could compare with us? Our names are going to go down in history and will be taught in textbooks!"
"Oh gosh, as a future historical figure, should I change my name now? To make it sound more aggressive."
"Heh, in future exams, students will be asked how they would execute a raid, how they would choose their attacking direction, and how to assist their comrades if they were an elementalist from the Dread Division. They will be asked to describe their battle tactics and attacking strategy…"
"Oh my, luckily we’re done with exams! I must help you live on so you can become a teacher in the future and create exam questions that would wreck the students, ahaha!"
"Get lost!"