The Great Battle at the Yellow Spring Ferry Erupts

Wang Hao frowned the moment he saw it.

“Even the Yellow Springs Demon Sect would be ashamed of this handwriting.”

Xue Wuhen looked embarrassed.

“I’ll practice next time.”

Wang Hao waved a hand.

“No need.”

“Being a little uglier makes it look more like a demon cultivator’s handwriting.”

Afterward, Wang Hao personally entered the depths of the mine.

Within the Cold Moon Mine, millennium-old cold marrow was embedded in the rock walls like the crystalline bones of an ice dragon.

Drops of Moonspirit Essence fell from the stone stalactites into a jade pool, each drop producing a crisp, ringing sound.

This was one of the Lunar Shade Holy Land’s most important resources.

It could be used to refine pills, forge artifacts, and assist in cultivating cold-attributed techniques.

Its value was extraordinarily high.

Wang Hao’s eyes lit up instantly.

“Pack it up.”

Yin Jiuyou had been prepared for this.

One specially made storage pouch after another was opened.

The cold marrow was dug out.

The Moonspirit Essence was drained dry.

Even the cold jade bricks paving the Lunar Shade Holy Land’s floors were pried up three layers deep at Wang Hao’s command.

Han Shanyue’s eyelids twitched violently.

“Your Majesty, you want the bricks too?”

Wang Hao answered seriously, “These are construction materials.”

“Once we take them back to Great Xia, they can be used to cool the imperial treasury’s ice cellar.”

Han Shanyue was rendered speechless.

The New Emperor Sword flew to a section of the mine wall, its voice filled with excitement.

“Master, there’s a corrupted cold stone here!”

Wang Hao’s eyes shifted.

Corrupted material?

Good stuff.

“Eat it.”

The New Emperor Sword was overjoyed. A strange crack appeared across its body, and it swallowed the cold stone whole.

A moment later, it belched.

The chill radiating from its blade grew even stronger.

Its ranking had not changed, but its aura was clearly more condensed.

Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction.

“Not bad.”

“From now on, whenever you find a corrupted object, you can sniff it first.”

The New Emperor Sword trembled with emotion.

“Master, you’re finally treating me well.”

Wang Hao added, “Whatever you leave behind goes to the national treasury.”

The New Emperor Sword fell silent.

Sure enough.

He was still the same familiar master.

The looting lasted less than half an hour.

Wang Hao had been remarkably restrained.

He had not emptied the mine completely.

He had only dug out eighty percent.

The remaining twenty percent was left so that the Lunar Shade Holy Land could see just how terrible its losses were.

If everything had vanished, they would only have been enraged.

But if a little remained, it would hurt even more.

Every time they saw those remaining deposits, they would be reminded of the eighty percent they had lost.

Before leaving, Wang Hao placed a Yellow Springs Soul Talisman deep inside the mine.

Yin energy swirled around it.

The evidence was conclusive.

When reinforcements from the Lunar Shade Holy Land arrived, all they found was a scene of devastation.

A Lunar Shade Martial God lay heavily wounded on the ground, gnashing his teeth.

“The Yellow Springs Demon Sect…”

“The Yellow Springs Demon Sect did this!”

The news quickly reached the Lunar Shade Holy Land.

The Lord of Lunar Shade was furious.

Inside the Cold Moon Hall, frost spread across a thousand zhang.

“The Yellow Springs Demon Sect has gone too far!”

“Pass down my order!”

“Freeze the Yellow Springs trade routes!”

“Kill every disciple of the Yellow Springs Demon Sect on sight!”

That same day, the Yellow Springs Demon Sect received the news as well.

They were told that the Lunar Shade Holy Land had accused them of looting the Cold Moon Mine and was using the excuse to slaughter Yellow Springs disciples.

Meng Xuan laughed in fury.

“What a fine Lunar Shade Holy Land.”

“They refined souls first, then framed us afterward.”

“Do they truly think our Yellow Springs Demon Sect is easy prey?”

The Yellow Springs Ancestor spoke coldly as well.

“Since they claim we robbed their mine…”

“Then let’s really rob one.”

“That way, we won’t have taken the blame for nothing.”

And so, the Yellow Springs Demon Sect officially dispatched men to attack another medicinal herb valley belonging to the Lunar Shade Holy Land.

When Wang Hao heard the news, he was counting pieces of cold marrow.

He froze for a moment.

Then he sighed with emotion.

“The demon sect is quite considerate.”

“They know they can’t let me take all the blame alone.”

Yin Jiuyou remained silent for a long while.

“Your Majesty, they were deceived by you.”

Wang Hao waved his hand.

“The result is the same.”

The spring breeze continued to blow.

The rumors continued to spread.

In the short span of ten days, one hundred and thirty-seven small-scale clashes erupted across the Central Continent and the Land of Darkness.

Forty-six of them were direct conflicts between holy lands and demon sects.

Sixty-two involved affiliated forces.

Twenty-nine were the result of wandering cultivators being accidentally injured, robbed, or framed.

The Lunar Shade Holy Land’s Cold Moon Mine was looted.

Ten outer sword pavilions belonging to the Sword Ruins were massacred by the White Bone Demon Sect.

Three material caravans belonging to the White Bone Demon Sect were burned by sword cultivators.

A blood pool belonging to the Blood Prison Demon Sect was poisoned.

A team of craftsmen from the Golden Vault Holy Land, transporting Soul-Suppressing Towers, mysteriously disappeared.

Outside the Ancestral Soul Hall of the Myriad Souls Demon Sect, a Soul-Suppressing Nail engraved with Golden Vault runes was discovered.

Every incident, viewed individually, contained suspicious details.

But when they all happened at once, no one had the patience to investigate those details anymore.

Everyone believed the other side had already begun laying the groundwork for war.

The holy lands thought the demon sects had gone mad.

The demon sects thought the holy lands were finally dropping their masks.

The Land of Darkness became a complete mess.

Some wandering cultivators raised the banner of the Yellow Springs Demon Sect and robbed Lunar Shade caravans.

Some demon cultivators dressed in Lunar Shade robes and launched surprise attacks on White Bone strongholds.

Some merchant associations forged recruitment orders from the holy lands and tricked wandering cultivators into serving as free escorts.

There was even a minor sect that took advantage of the chaos to announce that it was the “Thirteenth Holy Land.”

It was wiped out that very day by passing Blood Prison demon cultivators.

Their reason was simple:

“The Twelve Holy Lands are already troublesome enough. Why are you trying to make up the numbers?”

When Wang Hao heard about it, he laughed for quite some time.

“An impressive talent.”

“Too bad he had a short life.”

Amusing as it was, the situation had already plunged completely into the abyss.

The Twelve Holy Lands began mobilizing their main forces.

The Nine Great Demon Sects began gathering their armies as well.

The wounds left by the Battle of Yellow Springs Ferry rapidly festered amid countless rumors and genuine clashes.

Dark clouds pressed down over the city.

Holy light split the heavens.

Everyone knew it.

The small skirmishes were about to end.

A true large-scale war was about to erupt.

At this moment, Wang Hao had already set his sights on his next target.

It was an ancient ruin jointly contested by the Sword Ruins Holy Land and the White Bone Demon Sect.

It was known as the Tomb of Broken Swords.

Legend said that a broken sword belonging to a Transcendent sword cultivator was buried there.

So was an undying ancient corpse.

The Sword Ruins wanted the sword.

The White Bone Demon Sect wanted to refine the corpse.

Wang Hao studied the intelligence, his eyes shining.

“A sword is good.”

“A corpse is good too.”

“Neither can be wasted.”

Yin Jiuyou asked in a low voice, “Your Majesty, who are we framing this time?”

Wang Hao smiled faintly.

“Only children make choices.”

“This time, we’ll frame both sides.”

The Tomb of Broken Swords lay in the northwest of the Land of Darkness.

It had once been nothing more than a barren mountain range.

Three thousand years ago, a Transcendent sword cultivator had fought an ancient Corpse King there.

The sword cultivator’s blade had broken.

The Corpse King had been buried beneath the earth.

After a thousand years of entanglement between sword intent and corpse aura, the entire mountain range had eventually become a forbidden zone.

The peaks resembled broken swords thrust upside down into the earth.

The ley lines twisted like coils of white bones.

Whenever the moonless night arrived, the mountains resounded with sword cries and corpse howls at the same time.

Ordinary martial artists who entered were either torn apart by the remnants of sword intent or corrupted by corpse aura until they became half-human, half-corpse creatures.

Yet dangerous places often concealed great opportunities.

The Sword Ruins Holy Land had its eyes on the broken Transcendent sword.

The White Bone Demon Sect had its eyes on the remains of the ancient Corpse King.

The two sides had fought over them for centuries.

Since neither side could do anything to the other, the Tomb of Broken Swords had remained under a state of partial lockdown.

Until recently.

With the outbreak of the Battle of Yellow Springs Ferry, friction between the holy and demonic factions had sharply intensified.

The grudge between the Sword Ruins and the White Bone Demon Sect had grown even deeper.

The Tomb of Broken Swords had consequently become one of the places most likely to witness a great battle between the two sides.

When Wang Hao arrived outside the Tomb of Broken Swords, dusk had already fallen.

Dark clouds hung low, pressing down on the mountain range like a burial ground on the verge of collapse.

Sword qi soared into the sky in the distance.

On the other side, corpse mist rolled and churned.

Three Martial Gods from the Sword Ruins Holy Land had arrived.

The White Bone Demon Sect had also sent three Martial Gods.

The two sides faced each other across the entrance to the tomb.

The atmosphere was colder than a corpse’s face.

Wang Hao stood in the shadow of a cliff.

By now, he had already changed into a new identity.

Half of his face was covered by a white bone mask.

The other half was painted with sword patterns.

Yin Jiuyou fell silent for a long time when he saw him.

“Your Majesty, what kind of outfit is that?”

Wang Hao answered calmly, “A neutral party.”

Yin Jiuyou looked at the half that was white bone and the half etched with sword patterns.

“This looks neutral to you?”

“Of course.”

Wang Hao answered seriously:

“Neither side is human, so that makes it neutral.”

Yin Jiuyou thought it sounded very reasonable.

But he also felt that it was better not to think too deeply about it.

This time, Wang Hao had brought an elite squad with him.

Yin Jiuyou, Xue Wuhen, Han Shanyue, the Demon Lord, and the New Emperor Sword.

In addition, there were more than a dozen covert guards from Great Xia.

Their mission was simple.

Enter the tomb.

Retrieve the treasures.

Frame someone else.

And if the opportunity arose, kill a few people along the way.

At the entrance to the Broken Sword Tomb, a Martial God from the Sword Ruins spoke coldly:

“Where is Gu Ming?”

A gaunt Martial God from the White Bone Demon Sect leaned on a bone staff, his voice hoarse.

“There is no need for the Grand Elder to come personally.”

“Dealing with a few sword slaves like you is more than enough for this old man.”

The Sword Ruins Martial God’s eyes turned icy.

“The White Bone Demon Sect insulted the ancestors of the Sword Ruins, and now you still dare to come to the Broken Sword Tomb?”

The White Bone Martial God sneered.

“Your Sword Ruins disciples robbed my convoy, burned my corpse materials, and slaughtered our outer strongholds.”

“And now you’re pretending to be innocent?”

“As expected of people from a holy land. Your skin is thicker than corpse hide.”

Another young Martial God from the Sword Ruins shouted angrily:

“That was because you refined the remains of our Seventh Sword Lord first!”

The White Bone Martial God’s face darkened.

“Nonsense!”

“If our White Bone Demon Sect truly had the remains of a Sword Lord, would we need to hide them?”

“We would have put them on display and sold tickets long ago!”

The remark was far too honest.

For a moment, the people of the Sword Ruins were left speechless.

In the distance, Wang Hao nodded as he listened.

“Makes sense.”

Yin Jiuyou looked at him.

“Your Majesty, weren’t you the one who started that rumor?”

Wang Hao replied calmly:

“Those involved should still be allowed to deny the rumor.”

“That way, everyone gets to feel involved.”

Yin Jiuyou: “……”

The standoff did not last long.

A thunderous boom suddenly erupted from within the Broken Sword Tomb.

Boom!

A broken peak split apart.

Gray-white corpse aura and silver sword light erupted into the sky at the same time.

The seal was loosening.

The Sword Ruins and the White Bone Demon Sect both changed expression.

“Enter the tomb!”

The six Martial Gods charged forward almost simultaneously.

The disciples behind them followed close on their heels.

Wang Hao’s eyes lit up.

“Let’s go.”

The group slipped in through a mountain fissure from the side.

The interior of the Broken Sword Tomb was even more terrifying than the outside.

The earth was a dark crimson, as though it had been soaked in blood and then dried by the passage of a thousand years.

Broken swords were embedded all over the cliff walls.

Some had already decayed, while others still retained a chilling glint.

Half-buried bones could be found everywhere across the ground.

Some belonged to humans.

Some belonged to demonic beasts.

And some were so enormous that they clearly had not belonged to any ordinary creature.

The air was permeated by two different forces.