Witch Wind

Chapter 409 Li Tian is Dead (Part 2)

Ziyang City, directly opposite the Ziyang Pass General's Office, is located in the city's most central, prosperous, and expensive area. The dozen or so shops along the street were connected and transformed overnight.

Because of the existence of Shu Han, although the people of the Dali Holy Dynasty were only three feet tall, the entire Dali Holy Dynasty's buildings were constructed according to the needs of a normal eight-foot tall, imposing man.

For these tiny people, climbing up and down these buildings, each floor of which was often more than ten feet high, every day was an enormous drain on their energy. But there was nothing they could do, since Shu Han was their "most steadfast," "most reliable," "closest," and "warmest" "elder brother country" in the Dali Holy Dynasty.

This was a description personally given by the emperors of the Dali Holy Dynasty.

In particular, a strategically important border town like Ziyang Pass was constantly under threat of invasion by foreign enemies. Large armies from Shu Han would frequently come to reinforce Ziyang Pass, and some would even be stationed there permanently. If you didn't design and build the buildings according to the height of Shu Han soldiers, did you expect those towering men, often eight or nine feet tall, to crawl in and out of your huts?
On the main street, squads of soldiers, dressed in fine armor and with yellow satin ribbons tied to their heads and arms, rushed past with unusual excitement, shouting various slogans, as if wildfire were spreading.

Every now and then, the officers leading the troops would stop in front of the neatly arranged shops, look up, stare wide-eyed, and look in horror at the dazzling, extravagant signs that had just been hung up that morning.

The signboard, made of sandalwood, was two zhang high and ten zhang wide, bearing the bold and powerful characters "Tongtian Trading Company" in neat rows, as if cleaved by a knife and axe. The four characters were cast in pure gold, using an astonishing amount of gold, and were inlaid with numerous tiny diamonds. When the sunlight shone on them from afar, the light was so dazzling that it could blind anyone.

Xing Tianli, dressed in a Taoist robe, leaned against the door frame with a smile, waving and greeting the Yellow Turban officers and soldiers who were passing by.

The officers' eyes darted around, looking again and again at the huge, glittering, and opulent signboard. Then they took a serious look at Xing Tianli, who was all smiles, amiable and posing no threat, and at Hei Lie, who was sitting cross-legged next to Xing Tianli. He was over ten feet tall, had a huge pig's head, and was frantically gnawing on a pig's hoof.

These Yellow Turban officers and soldiers, who had already begun to harbor some wicked schemes, shivered and hurriedly ran past the Tongtian Trading Company.

The surrounding neighborhood was mostly inhabited by high-ranking officials and nobles from Ziyang City, as well as powerful families from Ziyang Pass, and even high-ranking generals and important officials stationed there.

However, in the previous battle in outer space, the high-end cultivators of Ziyang City were almost completely wiped out.

At this moment, countless Yellow Turban soldiers roared and used various small energy cannons to easily blast through the small defensive formations of mansions, break through their gates, and rush into the mansions of these powerful families like wolves and tigers.

Walls collapsed, houses crumbled, and the cries of the elderly, women, and children were deafening.

Messengers on various mounts galloped about shouting orders, while law enforcement teams rode in small flying vehicles and even piloted small warships. Loud shouts echoed throughout Ziyang Pass, continuously conveying the edicts of the three great kings: the Heavenly King, the Earthly King, and the Human King.

The slaughter of innocent people is strictly prohibited.

Looting and plundering of silver is strictly prohibited.

Fighting over valuables is strictly prohibited.

Xing Tianli took the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention" that he was familiar with from his previous life, combined them with the military regulations of Yue Fei from the Song Dynasty, and after some minor modifications, gave them to the Yellow Turban Army as military discipline articles.

On the street, piercing cries could be heard from time to time.

Those were unlucky souls who had violated military discipline, tried to take advantage of the chaos to harm young women and wives, wanted to kill a few innocent maids and servants for amusement, and wanted to secretly hide some confiscated valuables. After being discovered by the cultivators of the enforcement team, they were directly pinned down in the street and whipped and beaten with canes.

Some had even pinned young women and wives to the ground, and were already halfway into the harbor...

These guys were pinned down at the crossroads and their heads were chopped off with a 'crack'.

Bloodied heads hung high on flagpoles by the roadside, serving as a deterrent to the Yellow Turban Army, whose power had expanded dramatically to hundreds of thousands after the capture of Ziyang City.

High in the sky, two enormous warships hovered, their booming voices continuously broadcasting Xiao Li Wu's speech: "We have risen in rebellion to plead for the people, to restore order to the world... We are an army of justice, an army of civilization..."

Squads of soldiers carrying yellow flags, led by beautiful, smiling female soldiers, knocked on the doors of ordinary residents in Ziyang City, explaining the Yellow Turban Army's policies to them.

At first, when these ordinary people saw these "rebels" and "traitors," they trembled with fear, like quails struck by lightning, dumbfounded, like clay sculptures and wooden statues. No matter how earnestly the Yellow Turban soldiers preached, they remained completely unmoved.

But gradually...

At the crossroads of these neighborhoods, on the hastily erected platforms, one after another, those who usually ran rampant in the streets, causing unbridled suffering to the common people, were escorted up there.

There are spoiled young masters.

There are wicked servants in wealthy families.

There are ruthless relatives by marriage.

There are local thugs and hooligans.

There are gangsters and thugs.

Even those "heroes" who trafficked people, monopolized people's livelihoods, bullied the market, and bullied men and women were escorted to the high platform.

A group of lower-class scholars, selected by Xiao Li and others and with only a rudimentary understanding of civil law, stood proudly on the wooden platform, channeling their magical power to proclaim the many crimes of these people to the world, word by word.

'Click, click, click'.

One by one, heads of varying sizes, handsome or ugly, and those who were usually fierce, cunning, lewd, or sinister, were all chopped off by the ghost-headed knife in an extremely fair manner.

One by one, trial documents written in their own blood were quickly posted on the walls facing the street. Beautiful female soldiers with smiling faces stood beside these notices and loudly read out that so-and-so had harmed so-and-so innocent people for so-and-so's ...

Gradually, some of the civilians who had suffered terribly began to bravely leave their homes.

Once the problem was solved, things naturally fell into place.

Within Ziyang City, a bottom-up purge and trial was launched against these high-ranking officials and powerful families.

One by one, the once noble heads hang high on the flagpole.

Inside the city, shouts gradually rose from the common people of Ziyang City. They shouted loudly, stomped their feet, and then inquired about the origins of the Yellow Turban Army all over the streets. They began to excitedly find the Yellow Turban Army's preachers and ask to join the Yellow Turban Army.

The Holy Dynasty of Dali.

A bizarre country.

Their technological civilization has enabled them to build powerful warships that can even rival those of Golden Immortal cultivators.

However, their national system, political system, and the behavior of their powerful families are just as dark as the most closed, corrupt, and dark feudal dynasties in history, the hometown of Xing Tianli in his previous life, and even a certain southern neighbor of the great nation of Kyushu in Xing Tianli's previous life.

In that despairing darkness, the Yellow Turban Army was like a sharp awl, piercing a small hole in the black curtain that blocked out all light, letting in a ray of sunlight.

Even if it's like a moth drawn to a flame.

The people suddenly became agitated, restless, and rose up in protest!

When the Yellow Turban soldiers opened the treasury of Ziyang City, they distributed mountains of white rice and flour, as well as mountains of silk and fine cloth, to the common people of Ziyang City and to the people of towns and villages around Ziyang City. They also tried and executed the local tyrants in those towns and villages one by one...

More and more people joined the Yellow Turban Army with great excitement and shouts.

And the sky a thousand miles away.

Fleets from other habitable planets near Ziyang Pass rushed over as if their backsides were on fire... The Yellow Turban Army's fleet engaged them in a fierce battle at low altitude.

The Yellow Turban soldiers were clearly not very combat-effective.

However, the warships provided by Xing Tianli have far superior offensive and defensive capabilities compared to the garrison fleet at Ziyang Pass—that is, the combat power of a Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, which is a dimensional reduction and crushing of the combat power of a Golden Immortal or even a Celestial Immortal realm.

The most elite fighting force of Ziyang Pass has been wiped out by Xing Tianli.

These ordinary fleets, which maintain daily order on the planet, bombarded the Yellow Turban Army's warships at full power, but they couldn't even penetrate their defenses—they couldn't even scratch the paint on the warships' outer armor!
One by one, the warships that came to 'suppress the rebellion' were destroyed. Large numbers of low-ranking soldiers abandoned their ships and fled. Then, locked on by the Yellow Turban warships all around, they took off their simple protective clothing and raised their hands high.

The Yellow Turban Army immediately distributed talisman water, forcing these civilian cannon fodder, who had no cultivation and were just the lowest-ranking soldiers of the Dali Holy Dynasty, to drink it.

These talismanic waters were made using a recipe provided by the three women of Liujing.

After drinking it, the lives and deaths of these civilian soldiers were easily controlled by the Yellow Turban Army.

The high-ranking officials of the Dali Holy Dynasty did not teach these common soldiers any cultivation methods.

These civilian soldiers had simply learned how to operate various technological weapons; they were skilled at piloting various warships and fighting with all sorts of firearms.

However, everything is fine.

After they drank the talisman water, they became one of the Yellow Turban Army's own people.

Immediately, missionary officers from the Yellow Turban Army began to explain the origins of the Yellow Turban Army to these civilian soldiers, emphasizing how the three great kings of the Yellow Turban Army—the Heavenly King, the Earthly King, and the Human King—were persecuted by the corrupt nobles of the Great Li Holy Dynasty, and forced to rise up in rebellion.

At the same time, a series of extremely quick-to-learn martial arts techniques were also distributed to these newly converted Yellow Turban soldiers!

Actually, these missionary officers don't need to make such a fuss.

When they presented the cultivation techniques to these captured soldiers of the Dali Holy Dynasty, these soldiers were almost completely devoted to following the Yellow Turban Army to the very end!

Such hysterical shouts could be heard everywhere in the camps of these newly converted Yellow Turban soldiers.

"With the cultivation techniques, we too can cultivate, and we too can achieve immortality!"

"Brothers, let's make a name for ourselves, bring prosperity to our families, and achieve great things in this one battle!"

"Hey, those powerful military officers are all corrupt and stupid. They're not even as good as us when it comes to commanding fleets in battle... What makes them so high and mighty? They even draw salaries without working and exploit their soldiers? Isn't it just because they can cultivate?"

"Now, we also have the method!"

"We too can be ennobled and appointed as prime ministers; we too can rise to prominence!"

More counterinsurgency ships arrived in Ziyang City in a hurry from habitable planets.

However, without the command of Ye Lan and other high-ranking officials, the military and political system of Ziyang Pass was in complete chaos... Dozens of planets acted independently, sending out troops separately. Without unified planning and command, these garrison fleets were easily defeated by the Yellow Turban Army, and the number of newly converted Yellow Turban soldiers had exceeded one hundred million!
Tongtian Trading Company received its first business deal since opening.

Xiao Li sat upright in front of Xing Tianli, his face showing undisguised bewilderment.

He followed the rules of the business as prescribed by Xing Tianli, acting as if he didn't know Xing Tianli at all, and took out several storage rings with considerable capacity.

"So, Boss Xingtian, this is the loot the Yellow Turban Army took from Ziyang City last night."

"It has gold, silver and jewelry, worldly possessions."

"There are also spirit crystals, spirit gold, spirit pills, spirit medicines, and all kinds of cultivation resources."

"Oh, and these land deeds, including the land deeds of 172 blessed lands on Ziyang Mountain, as well as the land deeds of 83.25 million mu of spiritual fields, 495 spiritual springs, and 321 spiritual lakes and pools that produce all kinds of spiritual fish attached to those blessed lands."

"And these immortal artifacts and spiritual weapons."

Xiao Li sighed, "It's a pity that the top experts of Ziyang City were all killed by unknown senior experts. Their immortal artifacts and spiritual treasures are the real treasures. We only captured some ordinary members of large families. Their cultivation is limited, and the immortal artifacts and spiritual weapons they carry are just so-so."

Xing Tianli smiled and accepted the storage rings. He took out the land deeds and other items and stuffed them into his sleeve. He threw the rest of the gold, silver, jewelry, spirit crystals, and other valuables into the Tongtian Cauldron and refined them at will.

With the application of its divine power of creation, the Tongtian Cauldron also copied down some special spiritual herbs and elixirs with unique formulas and miraculous effects produced in this world. In the future, these will become special products that Xing Tian Li can take out at any time.

“Very good, after all, you are the first customer to come since the small shop opened.” Xing Tianli smiled at Xiao Li Wu: “Therefore, I will make the decision. Today, no matter what item Your Majesty wants to purchase, the small shop will give Your Majesty a 0.9% discount.”

"One-fold discount?" Xiao Li's eyes lit up.

"One percent off! One percent off, and another 10% off!" Xing Tianli smiled kindly, as if he were a bankrupt businessman having a clearance sale, and the warehouse was full of counterfeit and shoddy products.

Xiao Li looked at Xing Tianli with utter speechlessness.

He truly couldn't understand what Xing Tianli was trying to do... But since things had come to this, Xiao Li Wu turned around, glanced in the direction of his hometown, and said in a deep voice, "Then, this humble servant..."

Xing Tianli hurriedly said, "You must refer to yourself as 'This King,' and you need to have enough imposing presence. Imposing presence, do you understand? Otherwise, what will people think? They'll see that you're just a fake. If you don't have enough imposing presence, you won't be able to suppress the Yellow Turban Army, which is bound to grow stronger, nor will you be able to intimidate the Great Li Holy Dynasty's army that will inevitably follow to quell the rebellion!"

Xiao Li took a deep, deep, deep breath.

Strands of crimson immortal light surged around him, and an extremely profound and heavy killing intent spread out. He slowly nodded and said, "Then, I will tell you the truth. I have just captured a group of civilian soldiers who 'willingly' joined my Yellow Turban Army in order to punish this tyrannical court and seek a way out for the common people of the world."

"Currently, the number of civilian soldiers who are proficient in operating warships is 130 million."

"With a proper full complement of 100,000 men to operate one large warship, I need 1,300 warships."

Before Xiao Li could finish speaking, Xing Tianli hurriedly interrupted him: "We definitely can't do it according to the proper full-strength configuration of your Dali Holy Dynasty... that would be such a waste of manpower! The warships provided by Xiaohao are all highly intelligent high-tech warships, with spirits in charge... each warship can be easily controlled by just 300 people."

Xiao Li Wu's face twitched violently.

"The wealth I brought is probably not even enough to buy a hundred warships." Having personally witnessed several clashes between the Yellow Turban Army and the Great Li Dynasty's pacification forces, Xiao Li knew perfectly well that the advanced warships provided by Xing Tianli, which had an absolute crushing power over the imperial ships, must have cost an astronomical sum.

"For your first purchase, there will naturally be a huge discount. If I say it's 0.9% off, it's 0.9% off. Moreover, we also offer interest-free loans with no repayment period."

Xing Tianli smiled brightly: "So, I can provide Your Majesty with 400,000 of the most powerful, Taiyi-level, highly automated warships today... Well, of course, the funds are a bit insufficient, so Your Majesty must work hard and conquer all 57 habitable planets in Ziyang Pass within three days, is that alright?"

Xiao Li took a deep breath and nodded vigorously.

Four hundred thousand advanced warships with the combat power of Taiyi Golden Immortals?

This is unbelievable! In the entire Ziyang Pass, before Ye Lan was killed by Xing Tianli, at the peak of the pass's combat power, the total number of Taiyi-level main warships was less than a thousand, and the total number of other Golden Immortal and Heavenly Immortal-level warships was no more than 100,000!

Four hundred thousand Taiyi-class warships were sent to bully Ziyang Pass, whose main force had already been completely annihilated.

If he can't take down these fifty-seven habitable planets that are within reach in three days, Xiao Li Wu thinks he can change his name—changing it to 'Little Useless' would be no problem at all.

then.

At noon that day, the people of Ziyang City, as well as all the Yellow Turban soldiers, witnessed a spectacular scene that they would never forget in their lives!
One after another, brand-new warships, each about fifty miles long and entirely gilded, gleaming with an irresistible golden light, glided out from the backyard of the Tongtian Trading Company, stacking themselves neatly in layers in the air, forming a massive military formation.

The Yellow Turban soldiers were overjoyed and boarded the warships one after another.

Subsequently, the officials of all fifty-seven planets in Ziyang Pass cried out to heaven and earth, frantically using every means at their disposal to appeal to the Dali Holy Dynasty for help.

However, there was not a single response.

There was not a single reply.

(End of this chapter)