الشطرنج الخالد - Book 05 Chapter 175

Borderless Heavenly Capital:

The surrounding mountains and rivers appeared to be in a sorry state. Debris scoured the landscape as sand and stone flew everywhere.

“You are seeking death!” A shout rang out in the sky.

Boom!

A loud report resounded as all the sand and stone gathered and slammed the ground, creating countless fissures and deep gorges.

“Long Zhanguo, how am I in your way again? Ptooey!” Houqing roared, feeling depressed.

There was a large crater in the ground. Houqing had come to seek trouble for Gu Hai, causing a commotion in Borderless Heavenly Capital. Long Wanqing and the Unborn Man did their best to defend the city. Unfortunately, Houqing was simply too strong, and Long Wanqing did not have full control of her strength yet. Houqing nearly injured her. However, Long Wanyu could predict the future, and she took a blow for Long Wanqing.

When Long Wanyu got injured, Long Wanqing attacked frantically, blocking Houqing. Before Houqing could recover from Long Wanqing’s great power, a person that he did not want to see at all appeared amid the flying sand and stone.

It was Long Zhanguo.

When Long Wanyu got injured, Long Zhanguo had immediately rushed over. Then, he slammed Houqing into the ground with a palm strike. Houqing spewed mouthfuls of blood and lost his mobility.

“Wanyu! Wanyu! How are you?! Don’t scare Elder Sister!” Long Wanqing cried as she hugged Long Wanyu.

“Elder Sister… Cough! Cough! Don’t cry. Something happened with the demonic phantom. Cough! Cough! Blargh!” Long Wanyu spat out some blood.

The Unborn Man rushed over and held Long Wanyu, appearing extremely anxious.

“Make way!” Long Zhanguo shouted coldly and pushed everyone aside.

Blood covered Long Wanyu. She looked like she had shattered; cracks covered her face. A sparse cloud of dark yellow energy hovered around her head, looking like it would dissipate at any moment.

“Old fogey. Cough! Cough! Looks like I cannot help you predict the future anymore,” Long Wanyu said with a dazed look.

“Your Holy Eminence, save Wanyu! Please save Wanyu!” Long Wanqing said while crying.

Whoosh!

Long Zhanguo grabbed the dark yellow energy above Long Wanqing and squeezed it into a clump.

“Cough! Cough! Cough! I can’t hold on much longer. Hurry! Houqing’s corpse poison seems to be eroding Lass Wanyu’s three spiritual souls. They are shattering! Hurry! Save Wanyu!” A weak voice came from the clump of dark yellow energy.

“Demonic phantom, you did not have any good intentions in possessing Wanyu. Initially, we planned to destroy you after Houqing hit you out. However, since you blocked most of the damage for Wanyu, we will spare you,” Long Zhanguo said coldly.

“Although I want to merge with her, I watched her grow up, after all. Cough! Cough!” the demonic phantom said weakly.

“Humph! You watched her grow up? You would not have existed if not for her!” Long Zhanguo said coldly.

The demonic phantom seemed somewhat upset. “What do you mean by I wouldn’t have existed? When this demon phantom was alive, I was—”

“When you were alive? Eight hundred thousand years ago? Even back then, you were nothing. Wanyu is injured, and her three spiritual souls are damaged. Only one person can save her. You know Houtu, right? I’ll spare you. Go to Houtu and heed her instructions,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Ah? The nether realm’s Lady Houtu? She will kill me! No! I don’t want to!” the demonic phantom shouted.

“It is not up to you!” Long Zhanguo said coldly.

Long Zhanguo extended his hand and shot out a beam of red light. The red light wrapped around Long Wanyu, who was on the verge of fainting, forming a colossal egg.

“Old fogey, sorry…,” Long Wanyu said deliriously.

“There’s no need to apologize to me. You did not let me down,” Long Zhanguo said kindly.

“I cannot help you predict the future anymore. I…,” Long Wanyu said.

“Hahaha! Predict the future? The future can be changed. Predictions do not matter. Whether you predict it or not, I will fight the Six Paths Immortal. Don’t worry. It’s fine,” Long Zhanguo said kindly.

Long Wanqing looked at Long Zhanguo in confusion. Long Zhanguo had always indulged Long Wanyu. Was that not because of her abilities as a seer? Otherwise, why would he treat the two granddaughters so differently?

“Then, why…?” Long Wanyu said weakly.

“You will know in the future. Just work on recovering. Lady Houtu will save you,” Long Zhanguo sighed softly.

Long Wanyu nodded in a daze.

“Elder Sister, don’t cry. I wanted to accompany you until Brother-in-Law returned. I can no longer do that. I can’t wait anymore,” Long Wanyu said with some regret as she slowly closed her eyes.

Buzz!

Long Zhanguo completely sealed Long Wanyu in the red light from his hand.

“Wanyu!” Long Wanqing cried in sorrow.

“What are you crying for? She’s not dead yet,” Long Zhanguo said heavily.

“Your Holy Eminence, we just have to find Lady Houtu? I’ll go find her! I’ll go!” Long Wanqing cried.

“I’ll go! Even if I have to kneel to Lady Houtu, I’ll beg her!” the Unborn Man said in sorrow.

“Kneel? There’s no need. Just bring the demonic phantom and find her. Oh, right. Lady Houtu is in the nether realm. Get Houqing to bring you,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Alright. Alright!” Long Wanqing clenched her fist.

“Will Lady Houtu help us?” The Unborn Man looked at Long Zhanguo.

“She will. When she sees Wanyu, she will save her,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Why?” the Unborn Man asked in confusion.

“There is no why. Don’t bother thinking about it. You just need to know that we won’t be wrong. That’s all,” Long Zhanguo replied.

“Alright, alright. We’ll leave immediately,” the Unborn Man said.

“I’m not going! I’m not going!” exclaimed the dark yellow energy that the demonic phantom turned into.

“It is not up to you. However, don’t worry. You saved Wanyu. Lady Houtu won’t kill you,” Long Zhanguo said.

Long Zhanguo extended his hand and squeezed, shaping the demonic phantom into a yellow ball and handing it to the Unborn Man.

Then, Long Zhanguo got up and turned his head to look at Houqing, who was in a distant, deep crater.

Although Houqing was severely injured, he climbed out of the crater with much difficulty, intending to flee.

Rattle…!

Long Zhanguo waved, and many chains rushed out. They pierced Houqing’s body and attached to Houqing’s bones.

“Cough! Cough! Cough! Ptooey! Long Zhanguo, why do you keep pitting yourself against me?” Houqing roared as he spat out blood.

Long Zhanguo looked coldly at Houqing. “Humph! Houqing? Do you know that if Lady Houtu knew of your offense today, she would not protect you, either? She would kill you even without me doing anything.”

“You!” Houqing glared at Long Zhanguo.

“Bring them to meet Houtu and save Long Wanyu, and we will spare you. If she does not survive, you can forget about living. Even if you have turned into an indestructible zombie, we can destroy your spiritual souls. Do you believe that?” Long Zhanguo said with an icy expression.

“You!” Houqing revealed a trace of alarm on his face.

Rattle…!

When the chains pulled on Houqing, he cried out in pain.

“Here. Take Houqing!” Long Zhanguo handed the chains to the Unborn Man.

Whack! The Unborn Man slapped Houqing’s face.

“How dare you?!” Houqing glared.

The Unborn Man pulled on the chains.

“Argh! Argh! Argh…!” Houqing cried out in pain.

“Wanqing, stay in Borderless Heavenly Capital. I’ll go to the nether realm,” the Unborn Man said.

“No. I’m going too,” Long Wanqing said in a determined tone.

“You are now the Han Royal Dynasty’s empress. You promised Gu Hai you would protect Borderless Heavenly Capital,” the Unborn Man reminded anxiously.

“No. Let me go! There cannot be any more accidents. I have to go! I’ll send Gu Hai a message,” Long Wanqing said anxiously.

The Unborn Man looked at Long Wanqing in silence for a while before eventually nodding.

“Don’t worry about Borderless Heavenly Capital. We will leave a mark here. No one would dare cause any trouble,” Long Zhanguo said.

As Long Zhanguo spoke, he waved his hand.

Boom!

The image of an ax suddenly appeared in the sky.

“Any attackers will activate the ax, and it will give off a powerful aura to deter all troublemakers in the surroundings,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Yes, many thanks, Your Holy Eminence!” Long Wanqing said gratefully.

“Thank us? There’s no need. This would not have happened if we had not asked Gu Hai to help us with Divine Farmer City. Speaking of which, we owe him this,” Long Zhanguo said.

“Alright, we are leaving now,” Long Zhanguo said.

After Long Zhanguo spoke, he pushed off the ground.

Whoosh!

Long Zhanguo instantly vanished into the horizon.

Now, all the Han Nation officials came over.

“Imperial Mother, how is Princess Wanyu?” Gu Qin asked worriedly.

“We can’t wait for Gu Hai to return. We will go to the nether realm and seek out Lady Houtu to save Wanyu first. You take charge of informing him. Tell him not to worry. Since the Qian Heavenly Emperor said Lady Houtu would help, she will,” Long Wanqing said.

“Yes!” Gu Qin nodded.

Whoosh! The Unborn Man pulled on space, immediately creating a spatial tear.

“Let’s go!” the Unborn Man said.

Long Wanqing nodded and entered the nether realm with Long Wanyu, Houqing, the demonic phantom, and the Unborn Man.

Buzz!

The group vanished from Borderless Heavenly Capital.

Now, rubble filled the environs of Borderless Heavenly Capital, and an enormous image of an ax hung in the sky.

The earlier battle had been overly intense. The Borderless Heavenly Capital citizens felt incredibly shocked, unable to recover their wits for a long time.

Fortunately, Gu Qin took charge of the situation, assigning the various officials to where they were needed.

In a large palace hall in the palace:

“Your Highness, we have already sent the message via the zither puppet. As long as His Majesty takes out the zither puppet, he will know what happened here,” an official said respectfully in a soft voice.

“Keep sending the message. Don’t stop until His Majesty replies,” Gu Qin instructed.

“Yes!” that official answered.

Gu Qin looked north and muttered to himself, “Imperial Father, Long Zhanguo left in a hurry earlier. It seems like something major is about to happen.”

——

Gu Hai’s flying ship, in the sky of the Divine Continent’s eastern region:

Gu Hai and the Mosquito Daoist drank together happily on the flying ship’s deck.

They had been pointing swords at each other earlier but had stopped doing that. Since the Mosquito Daoist reached a deal with Gu Hai, he found Gu Hai much more congenial. This was especially so since he thought he was weaker than Gu Hai yet Gu Hai was still so amiable. He immediately felt grateful to Gu Hai for being a nice person.

As the two drank, the Mosquito Daoist endlessly described the various things he had done in the past. He regaled Gu Hai with stories of how he faced Sect Master Heavenly Access and the Present Buddha, talking about how incredible he was.

Gu Hai only smiled as he listened. The Mosquito Daoist happily disclosed his past.

The two chatted happily while the bystanders Ao Shun, Yehua, and Yanxuan showed incredibly strange expressions.

The flying ship continued flying.

Boom!

Suddenly, a gale blew. A man carrying a yellow calabash on his back appeared amid the wind. He had an icy and fierce look.

That man approached instantly, coming to a sudden halt in front of the flying ship. The gale shook the flying ship.

“Who is it?” Ao Shun’s expression changed as he shielded the group.

“Crown Prince Lu Ya?” Yanxuan goggled.

“Crown Prince Lu Ya? Save me, Crown Prince Lu Ya!” Yehua cried out excitedly.