Gao Tiansheng was shocked.
But he soon lost consciousness.
The ink that wrapped him returned to the inkstone in Shen Herong's hand.
In the distance, there were also ink dots that wrapped people in the valley. They flew back sporadically and fell into the inkstone.
Huan Tianlong roared in the sky and landed on the ground. Ao Kong's tall figure reappeared.
"Is it about time?" he asked.
The ink dots flew back one after another until there were no more ink dots flying over.
Shen Herong nodded. "Everyone is here. Shang Jie has also been found. Let's go back to Chang 'an."
The two figures, one big and one small, disappeared in the snowstorm.
Only the empty Icefire Valley was left. It was silent inside and outside.
Only the unextinguished flames in the valley burned quietly.
The night passed. At dawn the next day, it was still silent.
After an unknown amount of time, someone came again.
Before he got close to the valley, he felt strange.
In the past, the sound of metal clashing could often be heard from the valley.
He continued to get closer and didn't see any disciples of the Icefire Valley stop him.
This person had a bad feeling and rushed into the valley.
However, there was no one in the valley.
It was as if everyone had disappeared into thin air at the same time.
In the huge Icefire Valley, there were thousands of people, including their families.
One of the five great sects of Northern Qi, the Icefire Valley, which had a Ninth Realm master, was actually wiped out?
Moreover, there was no news at all.
"This is … the traces left by the Icefire Valley's Red Drill Burning Gold Palm and Flying Snow Sky Blade?"
The person who came checked carefully and found traces of battle.
However, there were very few traces of battle and no signs of external enemies.
"Prince … where is Prince?" The person who came was a follower of Northern Qi's Prince Xuantong, Gao Tiansheng.
He hurriedly looked for Gao Tiansheng but found nothing.
Gao Tiansheng had also disappeared with the people of the Icefire Valley.
He could barely find traces of Gao Tiansheng using the Wind Snow Divine Blade, but there was no clue as to his whereabouts.
Standing in the empty valley, this person felt as if he had come to a mysterious ghost realm.
He didn't dare to stay and hurriedly left. At the same time, he flew to the capital.
When Prince Qi, Gao Tiankai received the news, he was silent for a long time.
His eldest son, Gao Ju, stood beside him. He took the letter from King Qi, and after reading it, his face was filled with shock.
"The Icefire Valley has been wiped out?" Gao Ju let out a long sigh.
The Prince of Qi rose and walked to the window. Gazing out, he said, "Someone has done something that We have always wanted to do, something that We did not wish to happen recently."
"Chang 'an City?" Gao Ju frowned. "But there's no news at all."
If it was just to destroy the Icefire Valley and hunt down Valley Master Guan Hao, King Qi alone could do it.
The difficult part was that the other four great clans might interfere.
If he mobilized troops to encircle and annihilate the Icefire Valley and ensured that no one could escape, it would cause a huge commotion, and it would be difficult to hide it from others.
Moreover, it might take a long time.
But now, someone had wiped out the entire Icefire Valley overnight.
Gao Tiansheng, the Commandery Prince of Xuan Tong, went to check because he didn't receive any messages from him within a day.
It had not even been a day and a night since the two of them had separated.
Then, Gao Tiansheng, like everyone else in the Icefire Valley, didn't even have a corpse left. It was unknown whether he was dead or alive.
King Qi was inwardly alarmed by these methods.
"What do you think?" he asked.
His eldest son, Gao Ju, pondered. "If the other three great clans don't interfere, one of them can join forces with the royal family."
"At least two Ninth Realm masters, and many Seventh and Eighth Realm masters to help."
The Prince of Qi nodded. "The Eastern Tang and Hong Xiao did not die unjustly."
"The other party has carefully searched both inside and outside the Icefire Valley. There are no traces left to prove their identity," Gao Ju said.
"There's no need for the Eastern Tang and Western Zhou," the Prince of Qi said. "Since it's not me, then it can only be Chang 'an."
"Father, what should we do next?" Gao Ju asked.
"Inform the other four great clans, as well as the Eastern Tang and Western Zhou," the Prince of Qi ordered. "At the same time, send troops to reclaim the few counties that the Icefire Valley had previously occupied."
"Yes, father," Gao Ju replied after a slight hesitation.
The Prince of Qi turned to look at him.
Gao Ju lowered his head. "This way, there will be no buffer between us and Chang 'an."
"If we don't occupy them, Chang 'an will occupy them," the Prince of Qi said calmly. "There will be no buffer either."
Gao Ju bowed and saluted. "I understand."
When the news spread, everyone was shocked.
Especially Misty Sky Peak.
The elder who was temporarily in charge of the situation at the mountain gate immediately flew to the south to report to the leader of the Eastern Tang, Lin Ying, and asked her to be careful.
In the direction of the Western Zhou Dynasty, after the Prince of Zhou received the news, he immediately ordered the border guards to be on guard.
In the direction of the Eastern Tang Dynasty, after the King of Tang heard the news, he was silent for a long time.
Grand Commandant Xiang Junming frowned. "If Chang 'an is so powerful, why didn't we see it when they were fighting against us and the Qi army at the border?"
The Eastern Tang and Northern Qi had sealed off the borders of Chang 'an's territory and prohibited the people of the two countries from trading with Chang' an.
Under the command of Zhang Dongyun, Chang 'an had been clashing with the Tang Dynasty army and the Qi army for the past few days.
Overall, Chang 'an was stronger.
However, the strongest cultivator who showed up was only at the eighth level. There were never any ninth level cultivators.
"Maybe our previous guess was right," Old Prince Li Dong said Slowly.
The emperor and his ministers in the hall were all deep in thought.
The power to destroy Icefire Valley was indeed enough to take down the people of White Horse College and the Tang Dynasty army led by Li Xuannian.
However, after that battle, the other party did not appear to be very strong.
They even had a tacit understanding with Eastern Jin and Southern Chen and formed an alliance secretly.
At that time, everyone guessed that Chang 'an was also injured in the battle with the dean of White Horse College, Hong Xiao, and needed to rest.
Today, Chang 'an suddenly showed its fangs again. Was it because they had recovered in the past two months?
So, they attacked with a heavy punch and showed their fangs again.
Then, Northern Qi's Icefire Valley Master, Guan Hao, and the dean of White Horse College, Hong Xiao, were both ninth level cultivators. After the battle between Chang 'an and Icefire Valley, would they enter a period of rest and recuperation?
Or would they rest for about two months?
Should the Eastern Tang take advantage of this opportunity to take down Chang 'an and attack it when it is weak?
Everyone looked at King of Tang.
King of Tang turned his head to look at another person in the hall.
It was a Taoist priest with a head full of white hair but a youthful face.
Like King of Tang, the Taoist priest was a ninth level cultivator of Green Cloud Monastery, Green Leaf Taoist Priest.
Green Leaf Taoist Priest was deep in thought. At this moment, he felt King of Tang's gaze and immediately looked up.
"This is the first time Chang 'an has taken the initiative to attack and set up such a big formation."
Hearing this, everyone fell silent.
"Chang 'an is too mysterious. No one knows its true background," Green Leaf Taoist Priest continued.
King of Tang said, "There is one person who might know."
"Oh?" Hearing this, Green Leaf Taoist Priest was slightly surprised.
King of Tang said, "My people are about to find him. When the time comes, please help. Through this person, we may understand Chang 'an and find a way to deal with the enemy."
Green Leaf Taoist Priest looked at King of Tang. After a while, he nodded and said, "That's great."
He noticed that most of the Eastern Tang officials in the hall also had blank looks on their faces.
"His Majesty, what should we do with Chang 'an now?" Grand Commandant Xiang Junming asked.
King of Tang said, "For the time being, we can relax a little and let them be careless."
Xiang Junming nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."
In fact, the emperor and his minister had a tacit understanding.
Right now, the Eastern Tang had loosened its blockade of Chang 'an City. Admittedly, it was because the Eastern Tang had shifted its attention away from Chang' an City and was preparing to deal with the person the King of Tang had mentioned.
Icefire Valley's sphere of influence was located in the southwest of the Northern Qi Dynasty, bordering Chang 'an.
Now, it was not certain whether Chang 'an would take over after destroying Icefire Valley.
After all, this was still the territory of Northern Qi.
If Chang 'an took over, it would change the previous situation and finally set foot on land outside of Eastern Tang.
The Northern Qi Dynasty would not let it go.
The Eastern Tang was now reducing the pressure on Chang 'an in the east so that Chang' an could focus on Northern Qi without worry.
Before, when dealing with Chang 'an, the Eastern Tang had always been the main force, with Northern Qi as support.
The Northern Qi Dynasty did not put in much effort.
Now, the Eastern Tang hoped that Northern Qi could also put in some real effort and fight Chang 'an.
And the situation was moving step by step in the direction that the Eastern Tang wanted to develop the most.
The Northern Qi army went all the way south, carrying the provinces that Icefire Valley had previously dominated.
But here, they met Chang 'an's army head-on.
Zhang Dongyun destroyed Icefire Valley for three reasons. First, he needed these laborers. Second, he wanted to take over all of Icefire Valley's businesses and markets. Third, he wanted to firmly control the Xifeng iron mine.
How could he let go of the provinces in Northern Qi where Icefire Valley was located?
However, he and Mr. Dark Cloud could not leave the city. The rest of his men were not enough to quickly destroy Icefire Valley, leaving no time for the other forces in Northern Qi to react.
That was why he let Ao Kong and Shen Herong take action.
The two of them did not travel with anyone else in order to keep their identities secret.
But after they destroyed Icefire Valley as the vanguard, there would naturally be others to take over.
Not long after Gao Tiansheng's follower sent the message, the deafening sound of horse hooves came from the south of Icefire Valley.
Under the leadership of Purple Sun and Dahe Longmen elder Han Zhe, the Chang 'an Right Guard, which had been reorganized from the captives of the Tang Army in Yunzhong County, officially set foot on Northern Qi soil. They killed their way here and took over Icefire Valley.
Behind them, there were masters like Chen Jiezhi leading the way. Batch after batch of Chang 'an troops arrived to support the vanguard.
They clashed head-on with the Northern Qi army, which was a step behind, and fought over this piece of Northern Qi land.
The three prefectures closest to Chang 'an — Yuanhe, Yuanxi, and Yunbei, which directly bordered Longbei and Yunzhong Counties — first fell firmly into Chang' an's control.
The Xihai County, which contained the Xifeng iron mine and where Icefire Valley was located, was the focus of both sides.
Chang 'an's army, which had arrived first, firmly occupied Xihai County and did not yield an inch. They resisted Northern Qi's attack and even continuously attacked the provinces further north, forcing the Qi army to retreat.
The Northern Qi army was still unable to enter Xihai County. They could not help but feel anxious and continuously send more troops.
Chang 'an also did not have any intention of backing down. Large numbers of masters and soldiers went over to support.
The Xifeng iron mine, which had already been occupied, continuously produced such treasures and transported them back to Chang 'an.
The Chang 'an weapon factory went all out, and the quality and output soared, quickly occupying the market left behind by Icefire Valley.
Chang 'an produced weapons and armor, officially replacing Icefire Valley and becoming famous far and wide.
The momentum of the dragon's head had already been stabilized.
Within Daming Palace, a system notification sounded out in Zhang Dongyun's mind:
[The Chang 'an Weaponry Factory built by the City Lord is the leader of the industry. It has become famous far and wide and is the leader of the industry. It radiates the influence of the city to the wider world around it. Construction Mission 6.3 completed. Obtained 2,000 experience points to upgrade.]
Zhang Dongyun let out a long breath.
Not to mention occupying Yuanhe, Yuanxi, Xihai, and Yunbei, the four prefectures of Northern Qi, there were many tangible benefits.
Just his own system reward alone was a sizeable income.
His construction experience points had now reached 6,100. He was close to the requirement of 7,000. Victory was right in front of him.
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