Immortal Master Li, alone with his sword, charged towards the Overseas Hongmen. Defeated, the Great Dragon Head Yuann Jinxiong detonated a nuclear bomb, choosing mutual destruction. The news had just spread back to Huaxia not long ago. Shortly thereafter, another earth-shattering event took place within Huaxia.
The predecessor Sect Leader of the Taiping Sect, the Taiping Ancestor, had emerged from seclusion!
Unlike other ancestors, the Taiping Ancestor was not a single person but three.
To be precise, a trio of triplet brothers.
They inherited the titles from the founder of their sect, known respectively as the Heavenly Taoist, the Earthly Taoist, and the Human Taoist!
It is said that on the day of their emergence, thunderstorms circled Taiping Mountain incessantly. Monkeys cried and the Immortal Cranes called out, saying:
"The Azure Heaven has perished, the Yellow Heaven shall rise. In the year of Jiazi, the world shall thrive."
These were the slogans raised by Zhang Jiao, the Great Sage and Heavenly General, the founder of the Taiping Sect during his rebellion.
Today, with the Taiping era in its prime and the nation wealthy and strong, it is natural that Taiping Sect would not confront the government.
Not long ago, Immortal Master Li had just been killed by a nuclear bomb. Those who are good at connecting the dots can easily link these two incidents.
"The Azure Heaven has perished" refers to Li Chen and his Star Pavilion.
The founder of the Taiping Sect, Zhang Jiao, started from the Yellow Turban Army. After his death and disappearance of his Dao, his followers revered him as the Yellow Sky Immortal.
This "Yellow Heaven shall rise" naturally refers to their Taiping Sect.
Moreover, in the last two years, Immortal Master Li, with his own power, had turned the worldly society of Huaxia upside down. The great enemy of the Taiping Sect, the Heavenly Master Sect, had been destroyed, Medicine King Valley existed in name only, the Yuann Family had been utterly weakened, and other powers also declined like a sinking river, day by day.
The situation was excellent; it was a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for them to unify the Huaxia Martial World!
It also happened to coincide with the phrase "In the year of Jiazi, the world shall thrive."
On September 1st, the Taiping Three Ancestors performed a heavenly offering.
On September 3rd, the trio went to the Star Pavilion Headquarters in Yanzhou to challenge them. They killed nearly a hundred inside disciples and jointly inflicted severe injuries on the acting Pavilion Master Lian Hongshang.
Had it not been for the sudden intervention of a Snow Monster that fought them to the death, the Miao Territory Empress would have likely perished.
Worried about moving too hastily and forcing the Star Pavilion into a desperate situation where mutual destruction was sought, the Taiping Three Ancestors adopted a more gentle policy of co-opting after severely injuring Lian Hongshang.
Unfortunately, their attitude remained extremely tough, with little effect!
The Taiping Three Ancestors feared that if they dragged this out, Lian Hongshang’s injuries would heal. Furthermore, the possibility that the Imperial Capital Li Family might get involved was high—procrastination brings many risks. So, shortly after mid-month, they dispatched Elder Hu Ping to Yanzhou to deliver the final ultimatum.
Because of the Taiping Sect’s rapid rise, with the faint momentum of unifying the Huaxia Martial Arts, Elder Hu carried himself with an inflated sense of importance.
Although it was a three thousand li journey from Taiping Mountain to Yanzhou, by using modern transportation means, one could arrive in no more than a day.
However, Hu Ping took a full three days.
He did not do so to buy time for Star Pavilion, but intentionally took a detour, accepting tributes from various small and medium-sized sects. From villas and luxury cars to gold, silver, and jewelry, as well as Magical Treasures and beautiful women, he refused nothing.
His gains in these three days were more than double what he had accumulated over the previous fifty or so years.
Outwardly extravagant, even as he entered Star Pavilion’s territory and reached the Yanzhou border, he remained unrestrained, wasteful as one who squandered wealth unwisely.
In his view, with Immortal Master Li dead and Vice Pavilion Master Lian Hongshang severely injured, the vast Star Pavilion was like a dragon without a head. By the end of the year at the latest, all would fall under their Taiping Sect—what did he have to fear?
Therefore, he marched right into the Star Pavilion Headquarters, his demeanor exceedingly arrogant and haughty.
At present, the ones in charge of the pavilion were Qin Feng and Mei Ruohua.
Mei Ruohua, known for her fiery temper, drew her sword immediately, the sharp Sword Shadow pointing directly at Hu Ping.
"Elder Hu, you dare to barge into Yanzhou unannounced, believing that Star Pavilion is defenseless?"
Hu Ping, startled by the sword’s murderous intent, took a step back. However, he quickly steadied himself.
"I am an envoy of the Taiping Sect, on behalf of our Elder, delivering a final ultimatum to your Star Pavilion!"
As he spoke, he took out something resembling an ancient imperial edict. Clearing his throat, he began to read.
"The blue sky is dead, the yellow sky will stand. In the jiazi year, all under heaven will be fortunate. Our Taiping Ancestor, with a heart for the common people, is unwilling to see kin fight against each other. Star Pavilion is hereby given until the eleventh day to surrender unconditionally. Otherwise, on the National Day, your pavilion will be completely eradicated from the Huaxia Martial World!"
However, before he could finish speaking, Mei Ruohua harshly drew her sword and split the object in Hu Ping’s hand in two.
"You’re talking nonsense, think Star Pavilion will be wiped out? Your Taiping Sect is not qualified enough!"
Hu Ping had not anticipated Mei Ruohua’s volatility, that mere words would provoke a sword-drawing, and he was frightened into a hasty retreat.
"What are you doing? This is the final ultimatum from our Taiping Ancestor to your pavilion; don’t be unwise. If you kill me, prepare for the Thunderous Fury of our Ancestor!"
Faced with Hu Ping’s exceedingly provocative taunts, Mei Ruohua was brimming with rage and wanted to strike him down with her sword. Nevertheless, she was restrained by Qin Feng and the others.
Li Chen’s life and death were unknown, Lian Hongshang was severely injured and could not fight, and Miyamoto Sakura was loyal only to Li Chen, she would certainly not intervene on behalf of Huaxia. Their only hope now lay with the Imperial Capital Li Family.
Chen Buyi had entered the capital yesterday to meet Li Lingtian at Yan Mountain, hoping to mediate the situation.
If they were to kill Hu Ping now, they would inevitably give the Taiping Sect the excuse they needed to declare an all-out war on Star Pavilion. By that time, their situation would grow even more dire.
Seeing Mei Ruohua and Qin Feng wary of the Taiping Sect behind him, Hu Ping became even more insolent.
"Does the Star Pavilion have no more men left, always letting women take the lead? Not long ago it was Lian Hongshang, and now it’s Mei Ruohua. Why don’t you guys just change your name to ’Women’s Pavilion’?"
Then, turning his gaze to Mei Ruohua, he deliberately stuck out his head and tauntingly shouted:
"I’m standing right here, come and kill me, come on, kill me!"
"Hmph, what’s that, you dare not? I’ll tell you, if you dare touch a single hair on my head, my master, the Taiping Ancestor, will decimate your Star Pavilion. He will slay each and every one of you, leveling it to the ground!"
"Ah, you women, so pretty, your skin so soft it could squeeze out water, must be a delightful taste. How about this, if you all obediently comply and serve our Ancestor well, perhaps he might even show mercy and spare your lives!"
Hu Ping became increasingly unrestrained in his speech, even publicly harassing Mei Ruohua and Qin Qingwu.
Let alone Mei Ruohua’s inability to endure it, even the typically composed Qin Feng was driven to his wit’s end.
Seeing the seething fury and intent to kill in their eyes, Hu Ping worried that he might truly provoke a disaster and, with an arrogant flick of his sleeve, said, "That’s all I have to say for now. The deadline for the ultimatum is the end of this month, I hope you can reply quickly, don’t keep our Ancestor waiting!"
"There’s no need to wait until the end of the month; you can have a definitive answer now!"
The speaker this time was not Mei Ruohua, nor Qin Feng, nor Lian Hongshang, but a voice coming from outside the door.
At the sound of that familiar yet somewhat foreign voice, a wave of surprise thrilled through the hearts of Mei Ruohua, Qin Feng, and the others. They exchanged looks, scarcely believing their own ears.
Then, they saw a young man with a noble bearing, bright-eyed, and fair-faced, striding in from the outside.