"Light three incense sticks, prepare candles, and offer sacrifices—"
The snow in the camp was swept away, and a simple wooden platform two meters high was built. Following Qu Yuanfeng's instructions, Liu Jianwu set up the altar facing the Dadouba Valley in the distance, lit incense and candles, and offered a bleeding sheep.
"General Qu also knows magic?"
Looking at the incense and candles with smoke curling up, Yang Guang turned around and looked at Qu Yuanfeng, who had undone her hair and let her hair down. The latter held the scroll in both hands, pursed her lips and hesitated for a moment.
“Yes… I used to.”
The piece of paper between the fingertips contained the master's instructions, which consisted of only a simple sentence - spread the scroll, pour wine on it, and shoot rockets!
This technique is not for me, remember!
Qu Yuanfeng knew that this was a painting specially prepared for him by his master because his master realized that he had lost his cultivation. However, he roughly understood the meaning of the last sentence.
After standing for a while, he slowly walked onto the wooden platform holding the scroll, turned to the east, bowed in the direction of Chang'an, and then slowly unfolded the scroll in his hand on the altar.
Above, dark blue ink outlines the thick and dense dark clouds, which are surging and undulating layer by layer. The forests on the foothills below seem to be bent and hunched by the strong wind, and the branches and leaves have fallen off and are floating in the wind.
"Bring some wine!" Qu Yuanfeng, who was kneeling in front of the painting, whispered. Liu Jianwu, who was standing on the side, nodded, waved his hand and shouted, "Come on, bring me some wine, jar by jar!"
When the soldiers carried the wine up on their shoulders, Qu Yuanfeng looked at the scroll and gently stroked the edge. Suddenly he said, "General, please take people to Dadouba Valley and prepare rockets. When it rains over there, shoot arrows in!"
Rain, shoot rockets
The general, who had been in the military for half his life, found it a little ridiculous. He looked down hesitantly and saw the emperor nodding with his hands behind his back. He sighed and had to do as he was told. He got off the wooden platform and took his men to prepare kerosene, arrows and other equipment. Soon, he quietly left the camp with more than 3,000 archers and headed towards the canyon.
"General Qu, when will the ritual begin?"
Liu Jianwu and his men had been gone for a while. Yang Guang stood there, walking back and forth with his hands behind his back. The anger that had been pent up in his eyes rose again, and he frowned as he looked at the motionless figure above him.
"Your Majesty, wait a moment."
Qu Yuanfeng looked up at the azure blue sky and the floating white clouds. He had no magic power now and naturally could not activate the scroll. But since his master had asked Yuelong Sword to deliver the scroll, there must be other ways to trigger it. The only possibility was the right time.
From Chenshi to Yusishi, there was no change in the sky, and the scroll spread on the ground was motionless. The blue and ink painting did not move at all, but was slightly swaying in the wind.
Yang Guang was waiting below, and the soldiers who had been standing behind him for a long time were getting a little impatient. It was almost noon and their stomachs were growling.
"Master..."
Qu Yuanfeng's knees were numb from kneeling, his body was stiff and trembling slightly, but he still had no intention of getting up. The next moment after he murmured, the sun hanging high in the sky tilted slightly, and it was just past noon!
Suddenly a strong wind blew up on the flat ground, and the dust and snow on the ground swirled up and stuck to people's clothes and faces. The originally bright sun suddenly became dark in people's field of vision.
Yang Guang grinned with an excited smile on his face. He spread his sleeves and looked at the dark clouds gathering in the sky. "The Imperial Master has shown his spirit. The Imperial Master's paintings have shown his spirit! Haha—"
The wind was blowing hard, and the flags in the camps were fluttering in the wind. Qu Yuanfeng looked around excitedly, and with a trembling hand he reached out to the wine jar, smashed the mud seal on it with one punch, and then pushed it down!
Large streams of clear wine flowed out from the gap and fell onto the painting. Instead of soaking the paper, it disappeared in an instant.
boom-
A loud thunder suddenly sounded in the gloomy sky, and a bluish-white lightning flashed in the rolling clouds across the dark sky and earth.
Murong Fuyun, standing high in the Dadouba Valley, looked at the suddenly changing sky in panic, stretched out his hand to pull the sleeve of the old monk's shirt, "Master, what's going on?"
"The Emperor of Sui invited a master."
Fo Lianzun fiddled with his Buddhist beads with a solemn expression. There were many masters in the Sui Kingdom, but he only knew one, Lu Liangsheng, the national master of the Sui Dynasty. He had witnessed the other party's cultivation level with his own eyes when they met the monster in the Huangfeng Mountain cave. In a head-on fight, he had no chance of winning at all.
However, it seems that he didn’t come in person… Maybe he can delay it for a while.
Thinking roughly like this, the old monk uttered a Buddhist chant.
"Amitabha-"
The solemn Buddha's name spread out at the same time that a drop of coldness fell on the upright Dharma seal. Looking up, the rolling dark clouds pulled out countless rain lines.
Wow!
The whole space between heaven and earth was filled with the sound of falling rain.
"It's raining?"
Murong Fuyun wiped the coldness off his face, his beard stretched out in panic, and he grinned, tilting his head to look at the old monk: "Master, are the Sui people trying to fill the canyon with water?"
“Hmm…” Fo Lianzun did not answer. He looked at the rain curtain falling into his eyes under the flashing lightning with puzzled eyes. At this time, he seemed to see faint fire in his peripheral vision. He subconsciously looked towards the direction of the valley entrance. What caught his eyes was dense fire spots lighting up in the distance.
Murong Fuyun walked forward and laughed even louder.
"Rockets? We still need rockets in such a heavy rain?! The Sui people know that we are short of arrows, so they send rockets to me? Haha!"
However, the Khan suddenly wrinkled his nose, put the rain water accumulated on his open palms under his nose and smelled it, and the smile on his face gradually froze.
The originally ordinary rain gave off a scent of wine, even stronger than the strong liquor we usually drink.
"liquor… "
Murong Fuyun turned around to look at his own imperial teacher while muttering in doubt. At that moment, from the other side of the palace in the deep valley, Tuyuhun soldiers holding torches appeared. The falling rain touched the torches, and with a bang, the whole person instantly burned into a ball of fire.
"ah-"
He let out a series of shrill screams, ran in confusion, crashed into the edge of the cliff, slipped and fell to the bottom of the valley, and a dull bang was heard in the distance.
not good!
He immediately understood what the expert invited by the Sui people was going to do. In a few breaths, Fu Lianzun pulled Murong Fuyun and flew down the valley, ignoring the guards waiting below, and his footsteps were flying madly on the rocks at the same time.
Outside the Dadouba Valley, Liu Jianwu rode forward, looked at the rain over there with admiration, slowly drew out his sword, and raised his arm above his head.
Then, a cold sword light slashed down!
"put!"
The next moment, the sound of strings rang one after another, and dense fire points rose into the sky, dragging burning black smoke, across the sky, and fell towards the canyon. The burning arrows banged on the rocks and bounced off, falling to the ground, and more of them were nailed to the ground at the bottom of the valley with flames. The moment the flames touched the wet soil, light blue flames sprang up, and quickly spread in all directions along the flowing wine.
At a certain moment, bright flames shot up several feet. The melted snow formed a flow under the sediment, burning the entire valley. The towering flames licked the cliffs and bluestones and burned up. On the wet mountain wall, Fu Lianzun pulled Murong Fuyun into the temple gate. The cliff behind them was covered by fire, forming a sea of fire. The soldiers who did not have time to escape were caught in it.
"Close the door of the palace quickly!" Murong Fuyun had lost his previous high spirits. It was the first time for him to see such a huge sea of fire. He shouted to the soldiers who remained in the hall to close the door of the palace. Some soldiers also rushed to the door with a basin of water and jumped into the fire.
boom!
The clean water that was thrown out fell into the sea of fire, and a huge fire instantly jumped out and hit the soldier. The whole person suddenly turned into a ball of fire and screamed hysterically. He was kicked out by someone and the palace door closed with a bang.
Outside, a large number of Tuyuhun soldiers were running in the sea of fire. Their leather coats, which were extremely flammable, were covered with flames. They made terrible burning noises and screamed heartbreakingly. They fell to the ground and rolled around frantically. Then they gradually became silent, their bodies curled up by the flames until they were charred black.
The huge flames illuminated the gloomy sky, and the entire valley turned into a burning mountain. The team retreated several miles away could feel the burning heat in the air that stung their skin, and could hear one or two terrifying screams occasionally from inside, which made everyone tremble with fear.
In the military camp more than ten miles away, Yang Guang ran up to the sentry tower, looked at the flames rising into the sky, held the fence tightly with his hands, and his mouth opened for a long time without closing.
…This is the magic of the national teacher.
After several hours, the gloomy clouds gradually dissipated, the continuous rain of wine stopped, and the flames all over the mountains and fields also went out. Soon, Yang Guang led his troops into the charred valley. The scorching ground made it impossible to get close, and only dared to go in until the night deepened and the cold air hit.
The Sui soldiers climbed up the building that was built against the mountain and saw countless charred skeletons. They poked them with their weapons and the skeletons broke into pieces and scattered all over the ground.
The crowd pushed open the heavy rock door and entered carefully, then ran out while covering their mouths and noses. The lights were still burning in the hall, and the illuminated area was filled with corpses piled up in all directions, like a pile of steamed meat, emitting a disgusting smell.
The Tuyuhun Khan Murong Fuyun, who was sitting in the first seat, had loose skin and flesh that drooped down, revealing wisps of flesh and his white bones. Next to him was a one-armed monk who was intact, but had lost his voice.
"Win..."
Looking at the extremely horrifying scene, Liu Jianwu almost couldn't hold the sword in his hand. Soon, the news of Murong Fuyun's execution was passed back and was also spread to Chang'an, farther east, at the fastest speed.