Thump, thump, thump, thump …
In the Pure Land temple, the abbot Yangon struck the wooden fish hurriedly as he constantly chanted scriptures. He seemed to be praying for blessings, but also like he was releasing souls from purgatory.
Suddenly, the sound of the wooden fish came to a halt.
The monks were surprised. "Abbot?"
The abbot raised his hand to stop the monks from questioning him. He listened intently.
With a crackle, the flickering flames in the braziers cast Li Qingshan's figure onto the wall. He climbed all the way up to the high ceiling and looked down.
The soldiers discussed among themselves. The cavern buzzed with activity.
Everyone in Black Cloud city knew about this person. In the recent competition of the entire army, he was unrivalled among millions of soldiers, sweeping through all the generals. There was now another explanation for the "Crawling General". He liked to beat people up until they crawled all over the ground.
The generals and colonels of the Xuanwu Army all rushed over and stood at the very front. They looked at Li Qingshan with various expressions.
"The city is about to fall!"
Li Qingshan said sternly. The cavern immediately fell silent.
Even though all the regular soldiers could vaguely sense this, none of them were bold enough to say it so directly. Spreading rumours and disrupting the morale of the army was a crime punishable by death. It was just four words, but they were deafening!
The expressions of the generals and colonels all changed drastically. They understood the situation better than the soldiers, but all they could do was placate them normally. Otherwise, no one would be able to shoulder the responsibility if the army descended into chaos.
"Senior brother, please be careful with your words …" A general tried to stop him from continuing.
"Shut up!" Li Qingshan glanced past them and silenced them. Basically all of them had been beaten up by him before.
Li Qingshan pointed outwards and said sternly, "These walls and formations are completely useless. They can't stop the demonfolk at all!"
This was everyone's fear. The cavern immediately fell into an uproar.
Li Qingshan was unfazed. He continued, "Those lofty cultivators might be able to escape alive. They might even just crawl into the teleportation hall and hide back in the Myriad Phenomenon sect. What are you going to do? "
The uproar grew more and more intense, igniting everyone's fury. It rumbled through the mountain like thunder.
Someone cried out, "Is the general going to abandon us?"
Someone begged, "General, save us!"
Others lowered their heads and asked themselves, "What should we do?"
All doubts, fear, anger, hope. All of them pointed at Li Qingshan on the high platform.
This kind of enormous pressure was enough to make an ordinary person have a mental breakdown, and even cultivators would be at a loss. Even the generals and academies below the stage were panicking, and the soldiers around them were looking at them suspiciously.
"Haha!"
However, Li Qingshan laughed, and he laughed very happily. It turned into a loud laughter that drowned out the muffled thunder-like commotion. He pointed below the stage and said resolutely, "I can't save all of you. All of you will die!"
Then he disappeared from the high platform. Everyone was enraged. The crowd surged forward, pushing back and forth. Someone shouted, "Rebel, rebel!" Someone shouted, "Kill them all!"
But most of them were just roaring in despair. The clamor grew louder and louder, as if the entire Black Cloud City was about to be overturned. However, they were trapped in the belly of the mountain, with no way out.
This was a world of cultivation where gods and Buddhas descended. Everyone understood one thing, and that was that they were just mortals. Perhaps their physiques were much stronger than the average person's, and they had more ways to train their Qi, but compared to real cultivators, they were still like ants.
If there were no cultivators to command them, just the Roaring Black Cloud Thunder Formation above their heads would be enough to kill them all. It could turn all of them into ashes.
Abbot Yangon heaved a long sigh. "All living beings are suffering!"
Even though the generals possessed great strength, they still felt like a lone boat in this surging sea of people. They cried out in their hearts. Could it be that this fellow was here to mock them? However, what were they supposed to do? The demonfolk outside had surrounded the city. Were they supposed to suppress them with brute force? But after suppressing them, would the Xuanwu Army still exist?
Boom!
With a loud bang, the cave shook violently, and the rumbling sound reverberated continuously. Gravel fell from the dome. Everyone looked up in shock, thinking the cave was about to collapse.
When they lowered their heads again, they discovered that Li Qingshan had returned to the platform. He announced, "I've already destroyed the teleportation hall!"
Everyone was stunned.
Li Qingshan snickered and asked loudly, "Who do you think I am?"
"Everyone will die. You will die, and I will die too! Even if there are gods and buddhas, I don't believe they're truly indestructible. However, they shouldn't linger on like rats and die in a godforsaken place like this. That's not how a man should die! "He smiled at the female generals." It's not how a woman should die either.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you. I'm already the commander of the Xuanwu Army. I'll be leaving the city tomorrow to fight the demonfolk to the death! As for that teleportation hall or whatnot … "
"Hmph, I want to fight to the death. Who dares to flee first?!"
He swept his gaze past the generals and colonels of the Xuanwu Army. They were the backbone of the Xuanwu Army, an important node where the morale of the army gathered. However, it was exactly because of their certain statuses that they probably still harbored the thought of returning to the Myriad Phenomenon sect through teleportation.
If he could not cut off all means of retreat and sever this thought, how could he gather the morale of the army? How could the regular soldiers not resent him? If he did not do something, was he supposed to rely on words alone? As for whether he would offend those true disciples, he did not care.
"General!"
In the surging sea of people, pairs of eyes suddenly lit up, twinkling like stars as they gathered on Li Qingshan.
They were all fierce warriors that had been handpicked. Not a single one of them was afraid of death. What they were afraid of was dying sullenly, without hope, and even being discarded like chess pieces.
Finally, there was someone who was willing to look them in the eye, to trust them, to fight alongside them, to live and die with them, to see a sliver of hope in the face of despair.
The cheers went from low to high, growing louder and louder.
"Li Qingshan! Li Qingshan! Li Qingshan! "
The morale was like a rainbow, the unity was like an impregnable fortress.
In a situation where there was no military formation, there was actually surging military qi gathering towards him, condensing into a giant. Although it was blurry, it shocked the generals. Even Chao Tianjiao did not have this kind of magical power. Li Qingshan had abandoned them to communicate with all the soldiers, and the soldiers had also abandoned them, offering their loyalty.
Li Qingshan also felt his blood boiling, the giant condensed from military qi waved his hand towards the people below the stage.
In an instant, the cheers thundered!
In the Pure Land Temple, Abbot Yangon smiled slightly. Only those who had the "equality of all living beings" in their hearts could truly receive the support of all living beings. However, he frowned again. There was a sentence that made him extremely uneasy. Even the gods and buddhas of the heavens, I do not believe that they are immortal!
Even mortals, after having a certain status, would be greedy for life. Among the cultivators, who did not seek immortality, who did not want to be a god or buddha? This kind of temperament, this kind of thinking, was really terrifying.
Li Qingshan smiled slightly, looking at the ordinary faces below the stage, a thought became more and more profound, "I am also just a mortal. I am neither a god nor a devil, if one day I forget this, I will no longer be me. "
Thinking of this, many of the bottlenecks in his heart were suddenly cleared, and he felt incomparably free.
The Book of Freedom circulated, a new Yin Spirit, no, Yang Spirit, began to condense in the small world.
He waved his hand, "In tomorrow's battle, I will stand at the forefront, those who are afraid of death, stay here! Those who are not afraid of death, fight with me! "
The generals lowered their heads and cupped their hands, loudly agreeing, "We are willing to fight with the general to the death!"
The army shouted in unison, "We are willing to fight with the general to the death!"
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