Star Trace Gate

Chapter 959 Killing to Establish Authority, Heavenly Venerable Successfully Seizes Power Through Son

The garrison headquarters, banquet hall.

After Wang Anquan left, the dozen or so military officers began to chat amongst themselves.

Han Li, the right flank commander guarding the No. 1 North Tower teleportation array tonight, looked at a middle-aged man beside him with a slightly flushed face, and then asked in a low voice, "Old Zhou, what do you think Wang Anquan is after? He treated us to food and drinks today, and even offered to tell us some inside information."

"This guy is spineless and incredibly cunning. Who the hell knows what he's up to?" the middle-aged man cursed.

"Do you think that now that Lord Niu is gone, he might be secretly trying to take over the position of commander of the Martial Monks' Mansion, which is why he's trying to curry favor with us and build a relationship with us?" Han Li asked tentatively.

"Him?! He's a former general who surrendered, yet he wants to be the highest-ranking military officer in the Martial Monk's Palace? Isn't that just wishful thinking?" The middle-aged man paused for a moment, then shook his head decisively and said, "The reason the temple still lets him serve as the garrison commander is to give those generals in the Divine Court a label, to tell them that surrendered generals also have status... Apart from that, the temple will never trust someone who surrenders voluntarily."

"That's true." Han Li took a sip of wine, then seemed thoughtful and didn't say anything more.

"Damn, this century-old wine is really potent! I'm feeling all hot and bothered, my desires are rising...!" The middle-aged man, known as Old Zhou, was extremely rude and swearing. He chuckled, "Heh, damn it, I wonder if Wang Anquan has arranged any women from the Embroidery Brothel for us to enjoy tonight... If not, then I'll just have to have his wife, He Zhuzhu, come and keep us company...!"

"My God, his wife weighs over 200 pounds and is a strong and powerful woman. How could you eat that?!" Han Li exclaimed in shock.

"You don't understand. Only a strong and powerful woman can give me the pleasure of being evenly matched with someone..." Old Zhou replied in an extremely vulgar way, and then drank the wine in his glass.

"Hahahaha!"

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this, and they all followed Old Zhou's lead, making fun of Wang Anquan's wife. This shows how highly regarded Wang Anquan, this surrendered general, was in the eyes of everyone.

"Hey, this wine is really not right...!" After drinking another cup, Old Zhou felt an even stronger heat throughout his body, and his star core and soul began to ache faintly.

He frowned as he stared at the wine glass, and tried to circulate the spiritual energy in his abdomen, only to find that his star core felt like it was being pierced by thousands of needles, causing him excruciating pain.

No matter what, Old Zhou was a battle-hardened general. After sensing the state of the star core inside his abdomen, he immediately sobered up considerably. He then abruptly stood up and exclaimed, "Damn it, the food is wrong... Someone has poisoned it! My spiritual energy is restricted. Something's not right, something's really wrong! Quick, quickly call the guards inside...!"

Upon hearing this, everyone instinctively sensed their own star cores and discovered the anomaly.

"Damn it, Old Zhou was right, I've been poisoned too...!"

"The sealing poison is causing me excruciating abdominal pain...!"

"Who did this?!"

"Damn it, why are you still asking who did it? Hurry up and call for help!"

"Oh no! There's something here that isolates us from the outside world. We're trapped! The guards outside can't sense our presence...!"

"...!"

In an instant, chaos erupted inside the hall. All the military officers stood up and, before the medicine had fully taken effect, forcibly summoned their natal magic weapons.

In the corridor at the back of the hall, Yu Tiange walked steadily, holding a folding fan, a confident and composed smile on his face.

Behind him followed closely five masked teammates, whose roles were clearly defined. As soon as they stepped into the inner hall, one of them activated a magical artifact that isolated space and set up various traps and formations to suppress the aura of the place, causing their own divine light to shimmer.

"Tap tap...!"

With light footsteps, Yu Tiange emerged from the corridor amidst the chaos in the inner hall, stood beside Wang Anquan's seat, and squinted at the dozen or so military officers.

When everyone saw six strangers walk in, they were all stunned and stood there frozen in place.

"Who are you?! Where is Wang Anquan?" Qu Acai, the commander of the Brown Robe Camp who was not one of Niu Dali's direct subordinates, clutched his stomach and subconsciously asked Yu Tiange.

Yu Tiange stood arrogantly on the high platform, looking down at more than a dozen military officers. With a snap, he opened his folding fan and said, word by word, "I am a secret agent of the First Prince of the Divine Court. I have come to Beifeng Town for only three things—to seize the city, to escort, and to kill."

As soon as he finished speaking, the room erupted in an uproar. Everyone froze on the spot, realizing that tonight's dinner party was a trap set by Wang Anquan, with no bribes or inside information involved.

They were furious, but had no way to deal with what was happening before them; they were only bewildered and incredulous.

Were they really that stupid? Did they really trust Wang Anquan, this surrendered general, so easily? Actually, no. They didn't trust Wang Anquan, but rather they had complete faith in themselves and were certain that this surrendered general wouldn't cause any trouble.

From their perspective, Wang Anquan's entire family had been confined to the garrison headquarters, and there were no large numbers of Divine Court troops in the city, at most just a few insignificant spies. In addition, Wang Anquan was already a defector and had hosted countless banquets for everyone before, so the possibility of him turning to the Divine Court again was extremely slim. Therefore, no one expected that he would suddenly do this.

"Oh!"

The hot-tempered Old Zhou kicked over the table in front of him, gritting his teeth and cursing, "That damn Wang Anquan! He's betrayed us again???! I'm going to kill his whole family!"

Standing on the high platform, Yu Tiange was eager to find a "breakthrough" to establish his authority. So, as he listened to Old Zhou's angry curses, he gently fanned himself with his folding fan like Zhuge Liang and said in a calm tone, "Oh my, judging from this gentleman's tone, he seems to be quite brave."

Old Zhou may be short-tempered, but he's not stupid. He knows that sticking out at this time will not do him any good, so he chose to remain silent and not respond.

However, Yu Tiange seemed to have already locked onto him in her mind. She simply shook her folding fan and spoke again, "Hehe, let's be polite first and then use force. Now that I've explained my purpose, it's time to get down to business. I see that this gentleman likes to talk, so let him say a few more words. Can you point out to me which of the military officers in this hall is Qu Acai, the commander of the Brown Robe Battalion?"

When Lao Zhou saw that the other party was coming at him again, he suppressed his anger and humiliation and replied coldly, "I don't know who Qu Acai is."

Although he was standing at the front and couldn't see his colleagues behind him, he knew very well that Qu Acai, the commander of the Brown Robe Battalion, was definitely watching him.

"Oh." Upon hearing this reply, Yu Tiange was not angered. Instead, she walked with steady steps, looking at the extremely sumptuous dishes on the square table as if admiring a sight, and said, "Oh my, this banquet looks extremely lavish. Sixteen dishes, all made with rare and exotic animals and precious tonics. It seems that the lives of these surrendered generals and prisoners are indeed not easy. They have to spend a lot of money and have to be treated with respect... Otherwise, their fate would probably not be much better than these live food ingredients."

The generals naturally understood his unspoken message, but none of them were mentally prepared, and each had their own thoughts. At this moment, they could only try to remain silent, not wanting to be targeted by the outstanding young man in black robes.

As soon as she spoke, a woman with a graceful figure, fair skin, and a veil on her face stepped forward and walked up to Yu Tiange.

She is Yu Tiange's cousin, named Ruyue. She possesses a knife named "Great Cold," signifying the imminent arrival of a great cold, when all things will perish and life will be extinguished.

Ruyue stepped forward, her voice ethereal and melodious, yet her tone icy as she addressed Old Zhou: "Point out Qu Acai within three breaths, and I will not kill you; if you do not find Qu Acai after three breaths, you will find it difficult to die."

"Thump thump...!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Ruyue stood tall and graceful, her delicate feet lightly stepping on the steps, and walked towards Lao Zhou.

As she approached, all the military generals present felt an extremely strong sense of oppression, as if they were in a dangerous secret realm, where they did not know when they would face annihilation.

Old Zhou stared at Ruyue's slender figure, but he was already drenched in sweat. This was partly because Ruyue's aura was too strong, like a peerless treasure sealed for eternity, about to be born. Although its divine light was restrained, it faintly exuded an aura that made people's souls tremble. Secondly, the food and wine had been laced with a "poison" that could seal spiritual power, causing his condition to decline rapidly. He no longer had more than three-tenths of his spiritual power left, and thus lost his usual arrogance and confidence.

"One breath!" Ruyue looked at Lao Zhou with extremely cold eyes and reminded him.

Old Zhou clenched his fists, inwardly cursing himself for his foolishness in speaking, which had led to him being targeted and finding himself in a dilemma. If he didn't point out who Qu Acai was, he would definitely be used as a scapegoat. But if he publicly identified Qu Acai, and even if just one person left alive today, he would be accused of betraying his comrades, and if Tianzhao Temple found out, he would also face death, and even his family members living in Tianzhao City would be implicated.

He was the commander of the barracks stationed in the important town of Beifeng, in charge of more than a thousand monk soldiers. He was a legitimate general of Tianzhao Temple. How could he betray and surrender immediately after being pressured by the people of the Divine Court? If he did so, in the eyes of the high-ranking officials in the temple, he would certainly be considered to be even less virtuous than Wang Anquan, and he would surely die.

"Two breaths." As Ruyue spoke, she had already arrived ten steps away from Lao Zhou.

"Damn it... I, the commander of a thousand-man battalion in Beifeng Town, do you think I'd be intimidated by a little woman like you?!" Old Zhou ultimately chose not to implicate his family and, at this moment, to be a loyal and courageous man. So he jumped up and cursed, "I came to the banquet, and if I haven't returned within an hour and haven't returned to my post to take charge, my men will definitely find me here! If you touch me, you'll all die!!"

“Little wench! I’ve been through countless battles and have long since disregarded life and death! But if you are captured, your fate will be terrible! There are not only 12,000 monk soldiers here, but also more than 4,000 spirit beast warhorses…”

As Ruyue listened to the other party's angry curses, no anger was shown on her pretty face.

"boom!!!"

Just as the curses echoed through the inner hall, Old Zhou suddenly unleashed his power and shouted, "Brothers, if we don't fight, we'll die! Fight alongside me, and if we can break this illusion, we'll surely be able to escape unscathed!"

"brush!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Old Zhou used the last bit of spiritual power he had left to activate a gourd-shaped magic weapon. He then placed it in mid-air, causing it to emit a monstrous black light, and then struck Ruyue upside down on her head.

Behind him, the group of generals, upon hearing Old Zhou's words, also prepared to make a desperate gamble, hoping to forcefully break through the illusion before their spiritual power was completely imprisoned and find a glimmer of hope.

"Ong!"

Just then, Ruyue raised her left arm, and with a sweep of her fair hand, a long sword gleaming with a cold, eerie light appeared before everyone's eyes, radiating an extremely chilling aura.

The sword was about three feet long, with a narrow blade and a natural curve. In terms of shape, it looked very much like the Tang sword, which was highly regarded on Earth. However, the scabbard of that sword was inlaid with strange stones that nurtured the spiritual energy of the sword, making it look very dazzling.

"brush!"

Ruyue reached forward with her right hand, gripped the hilt of the sword in reverse, drew the sword horizontally, and her delicate body flashed past.

"Ding, click...!"