Chapter 314 (1/2)
Chapter 314: Life is Hard
This sentence clearly showed the att.i.tude of the Academy and how they had no intention of joining the fight for the ”Ming” Handscroll of the Tomes of Arcane. But why had the Academy changed the training grounds to the frontier fortress of North of Yan Kingdom? Why had the back of the mountain sent Ning Que all the way to the north?
Ye Su slightly frowned and clearly did not understand why they defined themselves as pa.s.sers-by. Ye Su looked at Eldest Brother and had something that troubled his mind. Apparently, Xia Hou did not expect this situation, either. Then, he suddenly tilted his thick brows. If the Academy people left, what was he supposed to do stuck between the Taoist sect and the Devil's Doctrine?
Tang looked at Xia Hou and said in a low voice, ”I have already said that you are old. Only an old and dying person would want to change his fate through a myth or the Tomes of Arcane. If a scroll of Tomes of Arcane could change everything, why did the Enlightenment Doctrine disappear back in the day? And how could the abbey dean continue to drift on the South Sea?”
When Ye Su heard that his teacher was still drifting on the remote South Sea, his furrowed brows got even more tightly knit together.
Xia Hou indifferently looked at Tang and said, ”If you're not interested in the Tomes of Arcane, why did you come?”
Tang said, ”I came here to kill you.”
Ye Su did not pay attention to the confrontation between the two powerhouses of the Devil's Doctrine. Although Xia Hou was the visiting professor of West-Hill Divine Palace, it was evident that this general had shown disloyalty to the Divine hall for the act of attempting to steal the Tomes of Arcane–the same way he was disloyal to the Tang Empire.
He quietly looked at eldest Brother of the Academy, and he slowly measured up this scholar with no sense of presence. He wanted to see through the other party's intentions behind this decision.
Xia Hou slowly lowered his head and looked at the iron box clasped in his hand.
At this time, the sound of hoof beats came like a torrential storm from the sh.o.r.e of Hulan Sea.
The ground shook slightly, and the countless strongest black-armored cavalry of the Tang Empire rushed over from the south. The knights who had ridden through the wilderness in winter came like an endless black tide with seemingly unstoppable momentum.
Soon hundreds of black-armored Papal Cavalrymen with golden talismans in the West-Hill Divine Palace, who had rushed from the east of the Wilderness, came to Hulan Sea in a very short time. They were silent, intimidating, and inviolable like an army that had descended from the heavens.
Two cavalrymen came to the sh.o.r.e of Hulan Sea, and each of them started setting up the formation. They silently sat on their saddles with the horses next to the ice, ready to launch an attack at any moment.
It was rather oppressive in the sh.o.r.e of Hulan Sea and under Tianqi Mountain.
In the eyes of the others, the Tang Empire's black-armored cavalries and the Papal Cavalrymen of West-Hill Divine Palace were undoubtedly two most powerful and fearsome cavalries. However, because of some historical, political and religious factors, the two cavalries were never confronted on a battlefield, at least in the recorded history.
Today, the two cavalries suddenly moved away from the Central Plains and went deep into the cold lake of the Wilderness. As reinforcements, they were an essential part in the s.n.a.t.c.hing of the ”Ming” Handscroll of the Tomes of Arcane. Is the fight going to break out today?
With surprising speed and a terrifying impact like a moving hill, the heavily armored cavalry had always been a nightmare for various cultivators on a battlefield. Because the carefully crafted armors could protect war horses and riders from the attacks like the flying swords.
At this time, these people standing at the foot of the mountain in the northern Hulan Sea were the strongest men in the world, and they were certainly not the ordinary cultivators who would easily perish on the battlefield. The cultivators maintained their wits and remained confident about their chances even as they faced the black armored cavalry. However, even the Grand Cultivator in Knowing Destiny State was also unwilling to get locked into a drawn-out battle with the armored cavalries on the Wilderness. Because in the historical records of the West-Hill Religious Code and the open-edge campaign records of the Tang Empire, some cavalry leaders had become mad and had sacrificed hundreds of precious heavy armored cavalry soldiers for a few deaths on the side of the cultivators in the Knowing Destiny State.
As the cavalries gathered together like dark clouds and black tides, they started to s.n.a.t.c.h the ”Ming” Handscroll of the Tomes of Arcane in public rather than in secret.
Looking at the Tang Empire's armored black cavalry besides the Hulan Sea, Eldest Brother hid his gentle smile and looked at Xia Hou, whispering. ”General, are you going to revolt?”
Ye Su lowered his head and whispered. ”Does Elder Xia want to betray the Taoist sect and return to the Devil's Doctrine?”
These two people spoke very calmly and gently. They represented two most powerful forces in the world: the Tang Empire and the Haotian Taoism sect. Even if Xia Hou were strong and had a loyal northeastern border military force, he would only be dead if he was abandoned by both of the powerful forces currently backing him.
Xia Hou said after a short silence, ”I'm really old... The Tomes of Arcane are useless to you, so you don't have to care about it. But they're useful to me. Well, at least I hope it can be. So I care about it very much.”
And then he looked at
at Ye Su and said with an emotionless expression, ”I'm the visiting professor of West-Hill as well as the general of the Tang Empire. As a man of the secular world, I must rely on the power of the secular world. Today, neither you nor Tang has the confidence to defeat me. I suppose Mr. First won't meddle in it. So I'll take away the Tomes of Arcane.”
Eldest Brother seemed to have thought of something and sighed. ”Why won't I meddle in it?”
Xia Hou said indifferently, ”Because I'll present the 'Ming' Handscroll to the Emperor of the Tang Empire. Today, in front of all people, I ask Mr. First to testify. According to the rule set by the Headmaster, this is a state affair. No one in the Academy shall interfere.”
As an imperial general, he was far from the station without any imperial order, and at the moment he even ordered over one thousand armored black cavalries to the depth of the Wilderness without permission. This would be considered treason under anyone's eyes. However, Xia Hou could justify all his behaviors as long as he could really present the ”Ming” Handscroll to the Emperor afterward.
If the Tang imperial court accepted the Tomes of Arcane, it would be a matter of state affairs. According to the Headmaster's strict order, no matter how unwilling the people in the Academy were, they must remain silent and should even offer a.s.sistance in secret.
Today in Hulan Sea, if Eldest Brother no longer meddled in it, Ye Su and Tang, the World Wayfarers of the Taoist sect and Devil's Doctrine would be even less inclined to together fight with him. So there was no doubt that Xia Hou, under the escort of over one thousand cavalrymen, had the best chance to s.n.a.t.c.h it.
Eldest Brother sighed and said, ”After doing so many things, all you want is to take a glance at the Tomes of Arcane?”