classifiedscript Chapter 973 - 827: Fast
Chapter 973 - 827: Fast
In the Battle of Great Pardon, there was only one final outcome: whichever side had more Tokens in hand, that side won.
The Five Great Teams had three thousand Tokens each, a total of fifteen thousand, which meant whichever side obtained seven thousand five hundred and one Tokens was guaranteed victory.
Of course, their holdings had to be maintained until the very end.
At the Heavenly Court Team Central, Commander Manxi had people repeatedly calculating and confirming the Token count. Just as Wei Mo had guessed, as long as their total reached the absolute winning number, Manxi would order the Heavenly Court forces to withdraw back into the Extreme Abyss again, letting Dongguo Shou and Shi Chun jointly guard those Tokens until the battle was declared over.
This was also to avoid unnecessary losses for the Heavenly Court forces—if they could win, there was no need to keep sending people below to risk their lives.
But the statistics were not what he wanted. His subordinate Mo Hei came back to Manxi with a helpless face and reported, "My lord, we still can't pin it down. Dongguo Shou is still being vague. He says over two thousand, but exactly how many over, he still can't make it clear."
Manxi flared up again, secretly gritting his teeth. "What exactly is he trying to do?"
With a subordinate like this, he was truly furious; it was like Dongguo Shou didn't take him, the Commander, seriously at all.
Yet, he really couldn't do anything to Dongguo Shou. Could he publicly declare that Dongguo Shou was defying orders? For people with no background, he could enforce the rules hard as iron, but if he directly forced Dongguo Shou onto a dead end, he wouldn't be able to explain it to the Carefree Sect.
Besides, if he really managed to sit in the Domain Master's seat in the future, Dongguo Shou would be someone who had rendered great merit.
His heart blazing, he could only tamp his own fire down, but this knot in his heart was hard to untie. He was thinking that, if he really became Domain Master, Dongguo Shou would definitely end up as a Commander. With such a subordinate, how could it not be maddening to give orders?
The biggest problem now was that with Dongguo Shou pulling this stunt, he couldn't get an exact number here, which meant he couldn't make the final strategic decision.
He had no choice but to swallow his anger and say, "Keep talking to him."
Mo Hei was helpless as well. He understood the Commander's helplessness and answered, "Yes."
Manxi then went over to Mulan Jin and poured out his bitterness, scolding Dongguo Shou by name but actually talking about Shi Chun's side, because Shi Chun's people also weren't very obedient—they only listened to Mulan Jin's word. He was hoping Mulan Jin would understand the bind he was in.
With the championship in sight, he had already started worrying about the future.
Just then, Mo Hei, who had just left not long ago, ran back in a rush to report, "My lord, the Sky Splitting Sword has shown up. It's in East Victory's hands…"
The Mirror Image had already been switched to the corresponding location. They saw a force of over a thousand people launching a surprise attack on a West Niu team.
The Sky Splitting Sword was in the hands of the former. Over a thousand people were taking turns using this sword. Each person cleaved one strike, then immediately handed it to the next.
One after another, rifts in the torn void slaughtered the West Ox Team, leaving them with no power to fight back. In just a short while they had snatched more than a dozen Tokens, then quickly shifted to another location, their raiding efficiency extremely high.
The other Command Centers were also focused on this scene, their expressions varied. Niu Qian's cheek twitched as he quickly pulled out his Mother-child Talisman to contact Wei Mo and question him—or rather, to mock him: Didn't you say the Sky Splitting Sword wasn't in your hands?
Wei Mo's reply was simple: Just found it. Don't blame me. If others can rob, now that I've got the strength, of course I'm going to start robbing too.
Cursing up a storm behind his back, Niu Qian could only contact Ming Chaofeng. Now that they had confirmed whose hands the Sky Splitting Sword was in, the two sides could finally settle down and talk about alliance and coordination.
With the Sky Splitting Sword appearing, the Heavenly Court Command Center also immediately notified their own forces to be careful.
Upon hearing this, Dongguo Shou immediately asked for the exact location of the Sky Splitting Sword, told the Command Center to keep a tight watch, and then shot straight toward it.
When Manxi heard the report he was slightly startled. He asked for the Mother-child Talisman used to contact Dongguo Shou and personally sent a message: This seat is Manxi. Dongguo Shou, what are you doing? You must not set your sights on the Sky Splitting Sword. East Victory not only has the Sky Splitting Sword, they also have a hidden Blue Child. You must not act rashly.
Dongguo Shou appeared out of thin air, hovering in the sky, and took out the Mother-child Talisman to glance at it. He hadn't intended to respond, but thinking that the Sky Splitting Sword's position was constantly shifting and he still needed the Command Center's help to locate it, he replied: Rest easy, Commander. I won't be reckless. I'll act when the opportunity comes.
Manxi read this and his anger spiked. He took a step back and tried a compromise: If you insist on going, I won't stop you. First send all the Tokens in your hands to the Extreme Abyss and hand them over to Shi Chun for safekeeping.
Dongguo Shou thought for a moment and replied: Not a single Token will be missing when I hand them over to him.
Seeing that he knew what was what, Manxi let out a breath and immediately turned his head to instruct Mo Hei, "Dongguo Shou will hand all the Tokens over to Shi Chun. Contact Shi Chun's side and tell him to be ready to receive them."
At this time, Shi Chun had sent Shen Moming to the shallow edge of the Extreme Abyss to lie in ambush in secret, keeping contact with Central. Mainly Shi Chun's side also wanted to keep informed of the battlefield situation in real time.
"Understood." Mo Hei accepted the order.
However, the Heavenly Court Command Center soon realized something was wrong. It was plainly visible on the Mountain River Map that the direction Dongguo Shou was heading in was nowhere near the Extreme Abyss; he was still rushing toward the Sky Splitting Sword's location.
Manxi flew into a rage again and contacted Dongguo Shou once more, demanding: Dongguo Shou, what exactly are you doing?
Dongguo Shou replied: Going to rendezvous with my mount.
Manxi was speechless for a while, but still issued his sternest warning: Dongguo Shou, this seat warns you—if the Tokens don't reach Shi Chun's hands, if anything goes wrong, don't blame me for disregarding our ties and charging you with disobedience!
Dongguo Shou replied with two words: Understood.
Manxi was so angry he wanted to smash the Mother-child Talisman, but in the end he refrained from losing his composure in public. Still, it pushed him into a decision: he would no longer disclose the exact location of the Sky Splitting Sword to Dongguo Shou.
At the East Victory Team Central, Tao Zhi, who was staring at the Mountain River Map and muttering with others, suddenly turned around and sent a voice transmission in Wei Mo's direction: "My lord, the fish has taken the bait. Dongguo Shou is heading toward the Sky Splitting Sword."
Wei Mo's eyes shone with excitement as he replied by voice transmission, "Good. I knew a Disciple of a Great Sect couldn't swallow the shame of losing his sword. Is he wearing the Battle Armor from Shi Chun's group?"
Tao Zhi said, "I don't know. I'll go check right away."
How else could he check? The fastest way to scout was nothing more than taking a look with the Heavenly Mirror.
Wei Mo immediately stopped him. "Forget it, don't check yet. If the Mirror Image sweeps over everything, it'll easily alert the snake in the grass. Pretend we haven't noticed. As for the Blue Child, contact him again. Tell him to be absolutely ready. If we can't get the Sky Splitting Sword, there must be no slipups on his end!"
"Yes." Tao Zhi accepted the order in excitement. He knew the critical moment was coming.
After that, he kept a close eye on Dongguo Shou's movements on the Mountain River Map. Although this wasn't the first time he had paid attention, every time he watched, he still couldn't help but secretly let out a sigh of amazement.
The Tokens on the Mountain River Map that represented other people moved slowly, but the Token on Dongguo Shou was the only anomaly on the Mountain River Map, blinking on and off.
Whenever it started flickering on the Mountain River Map, the audience knew he was using the "Inch and Mile" Divine Skill to rush on his way.
After that conspicuous light marker had flickered for quite a while, it suddenly stopped, and stayed motionless for a long time; Tao Zhi wanted to check it, but forcibly held back.
At this moment Dongguo Shou had indeed halted, standing on a mountaintop frowning, because Manxi was no longer providing him with the precise position of the moving Sky Splitting Sword.
Fortunately this didn't stump him; he took out the Mother-child Talisman and quickly contacted the core members of the team he had previously led, asking them to secretly help inquire.
After confirming the movement and direction of the Sky Splitting Sword, he took out a bluish-purple Bone Flute, placed it at his lips, and blew a low wailing note.
After waiting for quite a while, a clump of white cloud swept past in the sky, and a big cat descended from above, landing before him—it was his mount, the Cloud Demon.
Dongguo Shou put down the Bone Flute, lightly touched the Cloud Demon's nasal wings with his forehead, raised his single arm to stroke its fluffy cheek, and softly muttered for a while.
The Cloud Demon answered with a "meow," and Dongguo Shou patted its cheek, then flashed away again…
Just as the light dot representing Dongguo Shou on the Mountain River Map was about to merge with the light dots representing the people with the Sky Splitting Sword, Wei Mo sent a voice transmission to Tao Zhi, "Switch over and take a look. If we keep pretending we haven't noticed, that'll only make people suspicious."
After Tao Zhi obeyed and executed the order, he discovered that even switching over, it was hard to capture Dongguo Shou's position—his almost-teleportation Divine Skill left even the person controlling the Heavenly Mirror at a loss.
They weren't the only ones troubled by this; the other four families were the same. By now everyone had realized that Dongguo Shou was going to collide with East Victory's Sky Splitting Sword team.
"Have they dodged yet? Has that group from East Victory wielding the Sky Splitting Sword dodged yet?"
Manxi's roaring voice kept echoing in Mo Hei's ears via voice transmission.
"Still no." While replying, Tao Zhi had already frozen the Mirror Image on that thousand-strong East Victory team.
Not long after, the Mirror Images of each team finally all captured Dongguo Shou's figure.
Because he had already stopped in midair, hovering in front of that thousand-strong team.
The thousand-strong team, mentally prepared in advance, urgently halted and formed formation.
Wei Mo's eyelids twitched abruptly as he stared at the Mirror Image; he felt something was off, and suddenly turned to ask Tao Zhi, "Wouldn't a sneak attack have been better? Why insist on carrying all those blatant Tokens? Is Dongguo Shou really that arrogant?"
Tao Zhi hesitated and said, "With Yan Zhili and the others out of the way, no one can be his match. It's understandable if he has no one in his eyes, right? Besides, having the Tokens on himself is safer."
In his heart he was grumbling something else altogether—was there any point wondering about this now? It was already too late.
It was indeed too late; the sword-bearer of the Sky Splitting Sword team had already swung his sword. A pitch-black fissure that tore space itself suddenly ripped open the void—war without prior declaration.
At the very moment he swung his sword, Dongguo Shou, who had been closely observing, also confirmed the position of the Sky Splitting Sword; this was exactly the moment he had been waiting for.
Before the rift that tore space could carve through, he had already vanished from his original spot out of thin air.
Over there, the people guarding around the Sky Splitting Sword immediately realized something; someone shouted anxiously, "Switch wielders…"
This was a pre-set defensive plan specifically for dealing with Dongguo Shou; even without being told, the sword-bearer had already quickly tossed the sword.
Unfortunately, he had to let the momentum of the swing run its course before switching wielders, whereas Dongguo Shou had already used shifting and swapping the moment his opening stance appeared.
Thus, the sword-bearer only saw a blur before his eyes, Dongguo Shou's shadow flashing by; Dongguo Shou had already conveniently caught the sword he had just thrown out of his hand.
This scene made Wei Mo's eyelids twitch nonstop as he watched before the Mirror Image.
"Ah!" Several people cried out in shock, intending to attack in unison.
But a light-and-shadow like evening clouds at dusk erupted first, covering the man who swung the sword, covering the man who snatched the sword, and also covering those around them who were about to strike together.
The one who had acted was a nearby man with a rigid face.
This scene made Manxi of the Heavenly Court Team's central command feel his heart leap into his throat.
The group who had moved to besiege only saw a blur, and Dongguo Shou, who had plucked the sword, had already vanished within the erupting rosy glow.
The rigid-faced man withdrew the glow and, like the others, looked around in all directions; Dongguo Shou's figure was nowhere to be seen.
Wei Mo sucked in a breath of cold air as he stared at the Mirror Image, muttering, "So even the Sky Splitting Sword really couldn't stop him. He actually came all this way and didn't grab the Tokens, only the Sky Splitting Sword…"
This was truly beyond his expectations. Then, as if suddenly enlightened, he turned back and shouted urgently, "Hurry and ask the Blue Child—did it succeed?"
Tao Zhi hurried to comply, and soon replied excitedly, "He says it worked. As long as you're shone by the light, it works. Within ten breaths he'll surely collapse. He says to quickly lock onto his position, so others don't beat us to it."
"Move!" Wei Mo shouted.
In the Heavenly Court Command Center, Manxi, who had personally witnessed Dongguo Shou snatching the Sky Splitting Sword from the flames, also sucked in a cold breath. He hadn't expected that bastard to snatch the sword back with such ease. Yet thinking of that burst of light, he snapped to alertness and shouted, "Quick, hurry and see what's happening to him."
The images in the Mirror Images of several families all froze; they all locked onto Dongguo Shou.
Dongguo Shou, who had been repeatedly casting the "Inch and Mile" Divine Skill in one direction, suddenly felt something was wrong; he stopped, staggered as he landed, and, swaying, stowed away the Sky Splitting Sword and hurriedly took out the Bone Flute, putting it to his lips and blowing a low wail.
He knew he might get hit and had guessed that the Blue Child might make a move. He had thought that even if he was struck by the Blue Child's poison, he should be able to hold out for a while. To be safe, he had even disregarded those Tokens, grabbing the Sky Splitting Sword and leaving at once. Who would have thought the poison would act so fast—much faster than he had imagined.
Moreover, it was different from ordinary poisons. He hadn't sensed any process of it taking effect; his vision suddenly just began to blur, so fast that he didn't even have time to make it back to the Cloud Demon's side.