Chapter 525 Sima Yi’s Struggle 2
Chapter 525 - Sima Yi's Struggle (2)
= Lujiang Government House =
An 8-black-wing stunning beauty and a cute legal loli with 8 white wings were sitting in a guest room, drinking tea and discussing the movements of other forces among themselves.
\"What a load of bullshit.\"
Diaochan clicked her tongue as she read Sima Yi's public messages. Not one second that she believed in Sima Yi's promise as she could see the latter's demeanor with her immortal sight.
The immortal sight was the power of an 8-wing immortal, which Liu Yang, Medusa, Tong, Lu Bu, and other cultivators with 8 wings or higher could use. With this kind of power, the HUD map in Zhang He's possession became an obsolete tool.
\"What's the matter, sister?\"
The jail-baiting legal loli wife of Tong, Wang Yi, aka Liu Yang, was sitting next to Medusa, sipping tea as she observed the country with her god's eye as well.
\"Sima Yi is playing a victim. He's begging us to spare his life and promising that he will retire from the politic world.\"
Liu Yang shrugged, \"Want me to kill him for you?\"
Diaochan hesitated. She too wanted to weed out the source of trouble right now, but the situation didn't look right.
Currently, Sima Yi was telling everyone that he wanted out. If they were to kill him right now, everyone in the clan would have thought that Diaochan, Dong Bai, and Li Feihong were bullying Sima Yi because he used to woo Zhang Min. Then, repercussions would be dire as they hadn't settled the score with Cao Cao and Sun Ce yet.
They could expect that several more generals would consider jumping ships to Lilim's side!
Diaochan didn't forget that the key officers of their legion used to work for Cao Cao. She couldn't risk ruining Tong's hard-earned image and resulting in Zhang He, Xu Huang, or Zhang Liao switching sides. After all, she needed their help to fight Lilim in the upcoming years.
\"No. Sima Yi is playing a mind game with us since he knew that we have to fight against Lilim next. We'll play along with him and try to extort his immortal oath.\"
\"Okay… By the way. Who is this guy next to Sun Ce? How does he have the same cultivation as us?\"
Liu Yang referred to the mysterious cult leader, who was currently sheltering Sun Ce. It was an old man whose appearance was in his 80s. He had long white hair, long white full beard, and a wide forehead.
She was wary of this old man. The latter also gazed back at them while he was revealing his 8 black wings, displaying his power without fearing Diaochan and Liu Yang's immortal sight.
\"He is going by the alias of Yu Ji, but his real name is Gan Ji. He is leading the current Gan Sect in Yang Province.\"
Diaochan had been doing her homework. She investigated this mysterious cult, which popped up in Jiangdong out of nowhere. Shockingly, by the time that Diaochan entered this dimension, she found out that Gan Ji had already had 8 wings from the start.
She could also sense a familiarity between Zuo Ci and Gan Ji. Diaochan speculated that this man should also be another local cultivator who initially served the dimension administrator, Lilith.
Facing against another hidden enemy, Diaochan couldn't afford to let her guard down. She required all the help from all remaining generals to vanquish Lilim's followers.
Therefore, Diaochan couldn't afford to handle the consequences of killing Sima Yi right now. Until Gan Ji, Sun Ce, and Cao Cao were killed, they had to put up with Sima Yi's tantrum.
Still, if push came to shove, they could always assassinate Sima Yi and his brothers any time since they outnumbered Lilim's 8-wing cultivators at the moment … as long as Zuo Ci and Guan Yu didn't join the battlefield.
Suddenly, someone sent Diaochan a private message.
Guo Jia: \"Please excuse my rudeness, but I have a suggestion to make regarding Sima Yi and his family.\"
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Two kilometers east of Jianye, a cultivator town situated there. These settlements had been built during the time that Sun Ce snuck into Zhongshan and coaxed Zhen Yi to join their side.
The white hair sect leader, Gan Ji, was gazing back at Diaochan and Liu Yang's god eyes while he was spying on Dong Bai's military activities and searching for Li Feihong's whereabouts.
In the face of the three 8-wing cultivators, Gan Ji didn't look stressed. Instead, he revealed a mocking smile and laughed at the eyes of the two immortals.
\"My, oh my. We're pretty much screwed, Bofu.\"
Gan Ji cackled and teased Sun Ce, who was sitting cross legs and recovering from soul injury backlash. Behind Sun Ce's back, 7 cracked white wings fluttered.
\"Please be quiet, Great Sage. I'm trying to recover here.\"
\"Look, kiddo. Had I not helped you, you would have been dead. Who asked you to attempt the ascension breakthrough prematurely? It's your fault for trying without a firm foundation.\"
Sun Ce had tried to get his 8th wing, but he failed because of his unstable foundation. Without the guidance of a master like Diaochan, he didn't know about the consequence of rushing awakening.
In the end, he lost one of his virtues permanently. Sun Ce now had to perform more good deeds to obtain a new virtue.
Lilim was also at fault for neglecting Sun Ce as she never taught anyone about the late-stage cultivation nature. The dimension system ended up spoiling every cultivator without a master to the point that none of them was aware of this backlash.
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In the other timeline without the cultivation and Lilim, Gan Ji was an ordinary Taoist priest, who acted as a local healer just like Zhang Jiao. However, he was influenced by the Yellow Turban's trickster way, in which Gan Ji practiced similar feats, and the townspeople mistook him for a sorcerer.
Sun Ce was afraid that Gan Ji would incite the local peasants and create another rebellion cult similar to the Yellow Turban. He sent his men to capture Gan Ji and execute him on the spot.
Ironically, Sun Ce's life was in Gan Ji's hands in this world. Had Gan Ji not been there for Sun Ce, the latter would have died from the backlash.
Karma
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\"… I'm sorry.\"
Sun Ce didn't know what he should say to this sage. He owed too much to Gan Ji that he had no way to repay this debt.
\"You'd better recover as soon as possible. From the looks of it, they will attack us next month. The only reason that they haven't launched their assault is because of Sima Yi and Cao Cao. You should be thankful to them that they bought time for us.\"
\"I understand that Cao Cao has decided to join us, but is Sima Yi trustworthy? He swore allegiance to Lilim too, right?\"
\"Haha! Unfortunately, no. He hasn't done that yet.\"
\"Then, can we trust him!?\"
\"That's also NO. He still wants you dead since your men killed his father. This is your mistake, Bofu. Hadn't your men killed Sima Fang, we could have drawn the entire Sima Clan to our side.\"
Gan Ji stopped talking and shifted his god's sight toward other regions.
Currently, the Red Hare Legion under Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were entering the city without a fight. It seemed that Liu Biao surrendered to Zhang Liao despite the fact that this warlord had sworn allegiance to Lilim.
At Zitong, Yi Province, the Ghost Legion of Zhang He was welcomed by Huang Zhong with open arms. Moreover, this old archer general agreed to join Tong's side, judging from the conversation Zhang He had with Huang Zhong.
\"I have more bad news. Yi Province and Jing Province have fallen to Zhang Tong. We can't expect reinforcement from them now.\"
Gan Ji was aware that Huang Zhong had promised Tong that if the latter became a good liege, he would offer his service to Tong. And now, Huang Zhong adhered to his commitment.
The seed that Tong had planted in Huang Zhong's heart many years ago had grown and bore fruits.
It was a matter of time that all Tong's supporters gathered in Lujiang and the Jing Province. Then, they would march toward Jianye to finish off Sun Ce and Gan Ji.
\"How can we fight them without Lilim's help!? Where is she when we need her the most!? Was her promise just a farce!?\"
Hearing Sun Ce's complaint, Gan Ji cackled again.
This sage had been trained and appointed as a deputy administrator in this fragmented dimension together with Zuo Ci since Lilith's reign, so he understood Lilith's personality and Lilim's temperament.
This demon family had a few things in common - Lunacy, shrewdness, and responsibility. Their behavior was unpredictable, yet they always got things done in a remarkable way.
For example, when Lilith was asked to handle to trial, she maintained the system and protected the civilians from wicked otherworlders' skills without playing favoritism. All evil otherworlders who killed random civilians to get stronger were all killed by her and Zuo Ci.
When Lilim replaced Lilith, the former immediately prioritized completing this dimension, and she succeeded by abusing the system administration to draw in lifespan from various cultivators and unused planets. Then, she gave souls to the local civilians and finished the project.
Thus, Gan Ji had faith that Lilim would help them eventually. The reason she ignored their plea should be the mating session with Tong that he had learned from Lilim's auto-messages.
Gan Ji believed that Lilim might have schemed something so that she had to play along with Zhang Tong. Therefore, he didn't mind it.
\"Have faith, Bofu. We're not outnumbered. In fact, Lilim is probably letting Medusa and Liu Yang get the upper hand first. Then, she will destroy them and give them despair. Imagine, if you were to fight an army of peasants without proper weaponry, would you destroy them right away?\"
\"Of course not! I would have tortured their 9 generations in front of them and …\"
Sun Ce paused. He understood Gan Ji's point.
\"Lilim gives them a handicap … They are never her opponent! She's playing with her prey!\"
Gan Ji's laughter got louder, \"Of course! When you're absolutely sure of your victory, why not playing with your prey?\"
\"AHAHAHAHA!!\"
\"KYAKAKAKAKA!!\"
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Eavesdropping and peeking Gan Ji and Sun Ce's action through their senses, Diaochan and Liu Yang's faces grimaced.
They were aware that their current cultivation level was not a match for Lilim since she could singlehandedly kill all of them without the dimension system's help. However, hearing the words right from their opponent's mouth shook their spirits.
\"C-Can we defeat Lilim, sister?\"
Diaochan groaned, \"Don't lose hope. We still don't know how Tong is doing in Lilim's space, and we have another trump card.\"
She prayed that Li Feihong could obtain his 10th wing soon.
Also, they had faith in their mixed wing cultivators.
Local strategists and Li Feihong would take care of Sima Yi.
Mixed wing cultivators, Zhang Ying and Sun Quan would become their reserve forces against Lilim.
And two more joker cards appeared in their hands.
Sun Shangxiang
And the newborn baby of Zhang Min…
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*Flutter*
At Qiao City, Sun Quan's private quarter in his army, the grand commander of the new legion, Wu Legion, was busy cultivating during his free time.
Sun Quan's wings were no longer black and white. Instead of having 6 mixed wings, he had three glowing rainbow wings. His strength also degraded into that of a 3-wing cultivator.
However, something was different in his life force. It leaked out lifespan instead of gathering the life essence in the air. The cultivation power in Sun Quan's body now generated life force, becoming a lifespan factory.
*VIIIIING*
The fourth rainbow wing manifested and completed the pairs.
Sun Quan broke through, returning his cultivation strength to a 4-wing immortal. However, his strength could match that of an ordinary 6-wing cultivator.
The life essence around Sun Quan became thicker. Confidence and hope glittered in Sun Quan's eyes.
Diaochan: \"Good job. Now, stabilize your foundation. Don't forget to use your sense to locate nearby karmic chains and attract all lingering souls to yourself.\"
Sun Quan: \"Can I rest? I can barely maintain my sanity right now.\"
Diaochan: \"No. You have to continue until you can stand without getting distracted by the wandering karma chains. If you can't, your memory will be erased by all the reincarnation wine inside you. Keep going!\"
Sun Quan: \"Okay, master.\"
…
Sun Quan closed the private chat messenger as he panted in exhaustion. The unified cultivation method that combined angel blessings and demonic curses together was harder than what it seemed to be.
He wished that he should have declined Diaochan's tutorship and continued his angel cultivation normally. Now, he regretted that decision.
'Damn it. Did Zhang Tong go through this kind of training, too?'
He shifted his gaze toward his little sister, Sun Shangxiang.
*RUMBLE*
7 Wings glowed behind Sun Shangxiang's back. However, there were a few differences between an ordinary angel and her wings.
Common angels had white glowing tentacle wings as their status indicator, but Sun Shangxiang had silver feather wings!
It was a matter of time that she would become another key player in this new world.