Stealing The Heavens
chapter-183

While Yan Dan was setting up a trap to capture the people of Wei Clan, Wu Qi had brought Meng Xiaobai and some other men and arrived at the capital city of Gao Ling Kingdom, the Green Sun City.

On the back of Gao Ling Kingdom's capital city were the Little Green Mountains. The south side of it spread to the left and right like two great arms, surrounding a flat, fertile land washed out by the Silver Sand River. Green Sun City was sitting right on this vast open field. As the capital city of a vassal kingdom located at the western frontier, the size of Green Sun City was far smaller than Ji City. With its length and width of less than ten miles, and including several satellite towns and clusters of nearly one hundred villages, the population here was less than a million.

Currently, all these one million people had gathered and were packed inside Green Sun City. All were given various weapons and armors, as they were called up to protect the city.

Apart from this militia of one million ordinary civilians who had just been equipped, there was also an army of elite soldiers who survived from previous battles - roughly thirty-seven thousand of them. The sudden strike from the Lu Kingdom, Li Shan Kingdom, and Tie Clan, had routed Gao Ling Kingdom's army of one hundred thousand soldiers, who was confronting Li Shan Kingdom's army on the bank of Chang Lang River. The army was pursued for a distance of thousands of miles, and merely thirty thousand of them could return safely to Green Sun City.

Three parties had joined hands in besieging the Gao Ling Kingdom. In just a few months of time, they had annexed sixty percent of Gao Ling Kingdom's land. Now, as long as they could take down Green Sun City, there would be no more barrier and defensive force that could hold them back from taking over the remaining lands, and the Gao Ling Kingdom would become a name that only existed in the history.

During this few months, the emissaries of Gao Ling Kingdom had kept sending official complaint papers to Ji City, requesting the mother empire to come out with a judgment on this issue. However, the person who supposed to make a ruling on this issue, the West Supervisor of Great Yan Dynasty, Lu Chengfeng, was sitting right in the allied forces' field headquarter. As a result, whenever the emissaries of Gao Ling Kingdom dropped the complaint paper into West Supervisor Court, they would be ambushed and killed by Lu Chengfeng's subordinates in Ji City. At present, Gao Ling Kingdom had no more combative forces internally that could fight the war, and they could not get any reinforcement externally. They had come to the end of their resources.

Right at this moment, Green Sun City was besieged by an allied army consisting of over five hundred thousand soldiers. Except for the northern side, which was where the Little Green Mountains lied, all the other three directions were packed with soldiers. On top of that, this army of five hundred soldiers was the most elite army from the Lu Kingdom, Li Shan Kingdom, and Tie Clan. Thus, their combative strength and that of the routed army and beaten general inside of Green Sun City was totally not on the same level.

On the top of a mountain in Little Green Mountains where one could have a bird’s eye view of the Green Sun City, Wu Qi met Lu Chengfeng at last. Naturally, both men had their hearts filled with joy upon meeting, and after exchanging a brief greeting, the latter began explaining the current situation to Wu Qi. Green Sun City had decided to defend their position to the last and refused to open their gates. As a result, Lu Chengfeng had deployed a Fire element Great Explosive Formation near their main city gate. Once it was triggered, the entire main gate would be blown up into the air. However, out of everybody's expectation, seven Human Immortals from Heavenly Spirit Sect came visiting Green Sun City. They claimed they were here just to have a temporary rest, yet it had been one whole month, and they were still here. When faced with these Human Immortals of Gold Core realm that assumed an ambiguous attitude, Lu Chengfeng did not have the courage to strike.

The great allied army of Lu Kingdom, Li Shan Kingdom, and Tie Clan dared not lay siege on the city either, as those resting inside the city were seven Human Immortals of Gold Core realm, not seven Daoists of Xiantian realm. If they were just seven warriors of Xiantian realm, the allied army could have crushed them easily. Yet, they were Human Immortals, existences equivalent to half-immortals, and Elders from Heavenly Spirit Sect, one of the thirteen Immortal Sects of Great Yan Dynasty. How could these few vassal kingdoms dare to offend them?

"With these seven Human Immortals of Gold Core realm here, the army can never attack the city." Lu Chengfeng knitted his brows into a tight frown, breathed out a long sigh and continued saying, "The foundation of Lu Kingdom, Li Shan Kingdom, and Tie Clan are not deep enough. The daily expenses for the army consisting of five hundred thousand soldiers sum up to a huge number. If we maintain the current situation without attacking the city, the military expenditure would be too much for them to bear. I am curious as to why these seven b*stards come to Green Sun City at this moment for no apparent reasons?"

Wu Qi sneered, then said with a cold voice, "They are here to pick up their Grand Elder, Ling Wuju. It seems they are pretty clever, huh? Knowing that they should not pick him up openly in the Lu Kingdom. Thus, they came to stay in the capital city of Gao Ling Kingdom. After all, apart from the capital city of Lu Kingdom, this is the city that located closest to Meng Mountains. But too bad, that had turned out to be mere wishful thinking of theirs."

He then kept quiet and pondered for a brief moment, and finally turned to look at Lu Chengfeng, who was wearing a puzzled expression. He smiled and said, "The secret chess piece I asked you to prepare, is it ready?"

Lu Chengfeng nodded and said, "The Brotherhood of Mountains had sent all their seventy thousand elite soldiers here, and had been laying in ambush in Little Green Mountains for two months. These barbarians are not easy to deal with. Although my grandfather has been maintaining a very close relationship with them for many years, and using the excuse made up by you, we managed to borrow seventy thousand elite soldiers of them, telling them that we will split the profits with them after they help us defeat the Gao Ling Kingdom. But, as these barbarians have not seen enough gold, silver, and jewelry these days, they are getting ready to return home."

Wu Qi let out a cold laugh, tilted his head up and said coldly, "Returning home? That will not be an easy task for them! In the military law of Great Yan, killing any barbarians will bring great merits. As a matter of fact, the purpose of Wu Qi bringing this army of seventy thousand elite barbarian soldiers here is to let young master, you, claim a great merit, as the sacrificial offering that could allow you to sit firmly on the position of West Supervisor. Send the order to those elite barbarian soldiers, requesting them to lay siege to the city immediately. As for those seven Human Immortals of Heavenly Spirit Sect, just leave them to me."

Lu Chengfeng was struck dumb with amazement. In a daze, he stared at Wu Qi and cried out, "What did you just say?"

Wu Qi did not answer him. He casually pointed his finger out, unleashing the Heavenly Star Positioning Disk from his body. It transformed into a round jade-colored disk that flew high up into the sky while emitting wisps of starlight and razor-sharp aura, brightly illuminating the surrounding skies and earth. Very soon, loud bawls could be heard coming from inside Green Sun City. Then, seven bright beams left the city and flew at a high-speed towards Wu Qi's direction. Without hesitation, Wu Qi cried out, "Send the elites soldiers from Brotherhood of Mountains to attack the city! Wait until they and the guarding soldiers in Green Sun City end up in an internecine outcome, then kill both of them together! The monarch of Gao Ling Kingdom had been secretly colluding with barbarians, committing crimes and harming the neighboring vassal kingdoms. No matter what, you have to tie this crime tightly to the monarch of Gao Ling Kingdom! As for these seven good-for-nothing Gold Core cultivators, I'll bring them away now!"

Waving his hand and summoning back the Heavenly Star Positioning Disk, Wu Qi then leaped onto his sword beam and flew away. The flying speed of Sword of Greedy Wolf was extremely fast. One could only see a black beam pierced through the air into a far distance, then in a blink of an eye, it had reached to a distance of several dozens of miles. The seven bright beams were following closely behind Wu Qi, daring not to slacken, chasing up at top speed. In just the time of a few breaths, all few bright beams had disappeared without a trace.

Lu Chengfeng threw a worried look over at the direction where Wu Qi disappeared into, then fiercely stomped his feet and gave a stern cry, "Beat the drums and sound the bugle, raise the torch as the signal, ordering the seventy thousand soldiers from Brotherhood of Mountains to lay siege on the city! Requesting Marquis Yuanyang to tell those barbarians, once Green Sun City is taken down, they will be the first to choose what treasures and women they want. Everything they have their eyes on will be given to them!"

Upon hearing his orders, those generals and captains who standing around Lu Chengfeng immediately jumped into action. Tie Kaishan, the Marquis of Yuanyang, also sent out his loyal messenger immediately to the valley where the seventy thousand soldiers from Brotherhood of Mountains were hiding. Several months ago, Marquis Yuanyang had already sent a loyal subordinate of his to inform the leader of Brotherhood of Mountains, who he had maintained a very good and prolonged friendship with, asking him to send out an army and help Tie Kaishan attack the Gao Ling Kingdom, while promising him countless benefits.

The leader of Brotherhood of Mountains and Marquis Yuanyang's clan had been maintaining a friendship for over two hundred years. These barbarians had received a great support from Marquis Yuanyang's clan, as all their clothes, armors, weapons, military provisions, and many other things were provided by Marquis Yuanyang. So naturally and reciprocally, many rare and precious resources were produced in the mountain regions controlled by Brotherhood of Mountains had been solely supplied to Marquis Yuanyang. Such a relationship had gone on for a very long time, and trust had been strong between the two clans, as both parties had obtained a great benefit from the long-standing relationship. Therefore, when Tie Kaishan's messenger brought the request to them, the barbarians from Brotherhood of Mountains immediately sent out all seventy thousand most elite, youngest and strongest soldiers to join in the attack against the Gao Ling Kingdom.

Now, with the same messenger bringing the message into the valley where the army of elite barbarian soldiers had been impatiently waiting, it made them immediately swarm out like the fiercest hornets. Among the seventy thousand barbarian soldiers, thirty thousand of them were riding on various wild beasts. Amidst the shrill cry of bugles, these thirty thousand riders charged at the forefront while the rest of forty thousand soldiers followed closely behind, mixed with a group of nearly two thousand barbarian beast warriors, whose backs were flashing and blinking with faint gleams and shadows of wild beasts. Like a raging tidal wave, they charged towards Green Sun City.

On the top of Green Sun City's wall, some guarding soldiers saw the incoming barbarians. It immediately seized them with terror, and forced them to cry out in alarm. They never expected that just right after their last protective barrier - the seven Human Immortals left, the enemies would begin to lay siege on the city. However, why were they not attacked by the allied army of Lu Kingdom, Li Shan Kingdom, and Tie Clan, but instead, an army of barbarians, whose bodies were full of ferocious tattoos?

There was the Lu Kingdom standing between the Gao Ling Kingdom and Meng Mountains. Unless the Lu Kingdom was completely wiped out by these barbarians, how was it possible for them to appear right in front of Green Sun City?

Despite how the people of Gao Ling Kingdom were thinking in their minds, the barbarian soldiers had been howling and yelling crazily, using all kinds of strange and bizarre abilities. The poisonous prickles swept across the top of the city wall like a raging rainstorm, killing over tens of thousands of militias standing there. Their poisoned blood splashed and sprayed everywhere; their bodies shrunk rapidly, and eventually turned into small black meatballs that looked extremely frightening and vile. The morale of these militias had not been high, and the attack simply threw them into confusion, with many of them crying and yelling, running amok in every direction.

Upon looking at the chaotic situation on top of the city wall, the captain who commanded the soldiers from Brotherhood of Mountains immediately let out a great howl, ordering his soldiers to rush up onto the city wall. Among the barbarian riders was a group of several thousand barbarians who rode on wild beasts with amazingly strong leaping ability, and with each leap, they could reach dozens of feet up the wall. These riders came to the top of the wall, showering the soldiers of Gao Ling Kingdom with rounds of fierce and savage slaughtering. Blood flowed into streams, and human heads rolled and flew everywhere.

With the help of nearly two thousand formidable barbarian beast warriors who could bring a combative strength equivalent to experts of Xiantian realm once they unleashed their beast souls, no other defending force in Green Sun City could hold the enemies back. Perhaps, some wealthy clans hiding cowardly in Green Sun City might be able to put together many warriors and cultivators of Xiantian realm, but these sinecures were used to protecting their own safety. How could they allow them to fight the enemies on top of the city wall?

Before long, the army of seventy thousand barbarian soldiers had breached all four city gates of Green Sun City and swept into the city.

Meanwhile, the allied army of three parties, a total of five hundred thousand soldiers, was quickly deployed, surrounding the entire Green Sun City from all four directions. After that, Lu Chengfeng performed an incantation gesture and triggered the many Great Explosive Formations placed near the main entrances of Green Sun City. Frightening explosions towered to the sky, as blinding flame, dust, and shockwave swept across the land to over one mile away. Over several tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers and Gao Ling Kingdom's soldiers were rolled up into the flame, and many were killed on the spot by the violent explosion.

Deafening battle cries rang out everywhere, as the allied army of five hundred thousands soldiers stormed into Green Sun City, with their hands wielding blades of massacre.

Amidst rolling streams of people, countless captains of allied army kept roaring with a loud voice, "Gao Ling Kingdom has secretly colluded with barbarians in attacking allied kingdoms, committed a crime for which even death cannot atone! Any brave souls from Great Yan will have the rights to kill them! Kill! Kill! Kill! Capture Gao Ling Kingdom, annihilate the Gao Ling Kingdom!"

At last, Green Sun City was captured, and all the members of the monarch's clan were captured as well. Then, on the very same night, a fire broke out in the camp that used to hold prisoners of war, burning all the members of the monarch's clan into hard coke. With that, the enormous wealth that had been accumulated over several hundreds of years since the Gao Ling Kingdom was founded was equally split by the three parties, while the properties of numerous wealthy clans in the Gao Ling Kingdom were given to all the generals, captains, and soldiers of the five hundred thousand allied armies. Virtually all of them had become rich men overnight.

The people of Gao Ling Kingdom were howling and crying mournfully, yet the soldiers of the allied army were laughing joyfully. The gold mine on the upper reach of Chang Lang River was taken over by three parties. The land of Gao Ling Kingdom was quickly dismembered, becoming the fruits of victory for the three parties. A piece of land was separated from the Lu Kingdom, and together with the land obtained from the Gao Ling Kingdom, the Tie Clan of Marquis Yuanyang was finally able to establish their own vassal kingdom, and quickly submitted a letter of credence to the West Supervisor of Great Yan Dynasty, Lu Chengfeng, swearing their allegiance to the dynasty.

In just less than fifteen minutes, Tie Clan had completed all the official procedures of establishing the Yuanyang Kingdom, became one of the vassal kingdom loyal to Great Yan Dynasty.

Now, as long as Tie Kaishan paid a formal visit to Yan Dan at Ji City, Yuanyang Kingdom would officially become one of Great Yan Dynasty's vassal kingdom.

As for Gao Ling Kingdom... what was the Gao Ling Kingdom? Did this vassal kingdom ever exist in the history before?