"What else can be done, of course it's conscription!"
The old man with a white beard sitting in the corner took a big gulp of a bowl of strong wine, slammed the porcelain bowl on the wooden table and couldn't help but lament several times.
"Maybe there will be another war in our Chen country."
"ah?"
The young man on the side quickly shrank his neck, looking a little frightened.
"Are we going to fight again? With whom? Didn't we just negotiate peace with Zhao State next door some time ago?"
"Maybe we have another conflict with Xu Guoqi in the north."
The old man with a white beard patted the young man on the shoulder and comforted him.
"But don't worry, I have many connections with your Uncle Qian, and I will ensure that you get into a safe position without having to go to the battlefield."
"Then let me thank Uncle Qian first!"
Hearing this, the young man quickly offered a bowl of wine to the old man Bai Hu.
But at this time, the skinny old man who was drinking alone at the side suddenly spoke up after hearing what they said.
"Who's conscripting troops to summon to the palace?"
"Then what are you talking about?"
Seeing that his friend had different opinions from his own, the old man with white beard put down the porcelain bowl angrily.
"You can't say that the current emperor likes men, so he summons his male favorites to the palace, right? Then our country should be defeated and annexed by others."
"Actually, that's not the case."
The thin old man suddenly pulled the two people's shoulders, and after the three of them buried their heads in fighting together, he whispered.
"I heard that those people were dragged to do hard labor. The emperor seems to want to build an altar in the palace!"
"altar?"
Hearing what the thin old man said, the old man with a white beard couldn't help stroking his beard and looked puzzled.
"That's not right. I don't remember that our current emperor believes in anything. At most, he only goes to temples to pay homage."
"Doesn't he still need to tell you what he believes in?"
The thin old man said with a mysterious face.
"And I also heard that living people were used as sacrifices on that altar, and the blood stained the surrounding soil... Uh-huh!"
Before the thin old man could finish what he said, the old man with a white beard covered his mouth and looked around in confusion. When no one noticed them, he let out a sigh of relief and put down his hand.
"Are you crazy? Dare you talk about the current Holy Emperor like this? If the news reaches his ears, he will chop off your head!"
"Even if he wants to kill my nine tribes, I have to say it!"
The thin old man was obviously a little excited, which attracted many drinkers to look at him in surprise. Seeing this, the old man with the white beard quickly grabbed him and smiled apologetically. After the atmosphere calmed down, he gave him a hard knock on the head.
"Just say what you said, what are you shouting for! People really get stupider as they live more!"
"I'm just stupid, what's wrong?"
Perhaps he touched some sad spot, the thin old man suddenly wiped away his tears, with a hint of crying in his tone.
"My son has not returned to the palace yet. If he didn't use a living person as a sacrifice, why hasn't he come out yet?"
"Hey, don't cry. Maybe it's just that things have been delayed or you haven't finished your work."
The old man with the white beard comforted the thin old man softly, and then asked softly.
"Then how do you know about human sacrifices?"
"My son's friend said it."
The thin old man suddenly stopped choking. He held his head with his hands and his eyes bulged, as if he had seen something horrifying, and his tone trembled.
"It rained lightly that night, and I saw a red figure climbing over the fence into my yard in the rain."
"I looked closer and realized he was my son's friend."
"I originally wanted to take him into my home to take shelter from the rain, but he held my hand and said, 'The emperor is using human beings as sacrifices, so run!'"
"Afterwards, he turned into a red paper man soaked by rain!"
"???"
The thin old man's terrifying description really shocked the white-bearded old man. Even the young man who was listening attentively on the side couldn't help but shudder and asked with horror on his face.
"Paper man? Real or fake? Mr. Sun, are you mistaken?"
"I have seen this kind of thing with my own eyes, how could I be wrong?"
The thin old man's hands were shaking violently, blood gradually oozed from his facial features, and he seemed to be going a little crazy.
"In order to win the war, he actually thought of turning all the soldiers into paper dolls! He is a madman! He is a heinous monster!"
"..."
After hearing the skinny old man's roar, many people gathered around the tavern, and the originally noisy atmosphere suddenly became noisy.
But Chu Ming didn't care. He put down a few coins and left the tavern.
Because he sensed with his spiritual consciousness that the thin old man had already turned into a paper man controlled by others, he used his mental power to cut off the spiritual consciousness controlling him.
As for what kind of sensation he would cause in the noisy tavern when he returned to his original form, these were not things that Chu Ming worried about.
For him, the focus now is to find out what happened in Chen Guo's palace.
"Maybe this should be fun?"
Late at night, looking at the closed door and the splendid palace, Chu Ming smiled slightly and floated in. This made the patrolling guards tremble all over and glare at each other.
"Which of you is blowing wind on the back of my neck?"
"No! Maybe it's Night Breeze."
…
Chu Ming didn't need to search at all. He just used his spiritual sense to detect where the altar was.
But as they got closer, more and more guards were patrolling around, and there were even Jin Yiwei with high cultivation level.
"Who are you?"
Looking at the swaggering figure, the armored and sharp guards quickly took out their swords, and the surrounding spiritual energy condensed instantly.
But the next second, they were stunned in place as if struck by lightning, unable to move their bodies, and the surrounding spiritual energy melted instantly and dissipated like snow on fire.
"Sorry, I have something to do, please lend me a hand."
Chu Ming knew that these Jinyi guards were paid to do things and had no hatred towards them, so he just stopped them and continued walking towards the altar.
Why?
When they saw Chu Ming swaggering past them, the Jinyi guards all showed frightened expressions.
A group of us who are about to break through the foundation-building realm are trapped so easily?
seriously!
This young man, who seems to be only eighteen or nineteen years old, has such a terrifying cultivation level?
But the next second they lost the ability to doubt, and their originally clear consciousness instantly fell into endless darkness.
…
As the altar in front of him got closer and closer, Chu Ming narrowed his eyes and felt suddenly startled.
Because he discovered that the altar in front of him was not a traditional altar, but a huge instrument similar to a stove, with a lot of coal and wood piled underneath, and a huge iron pot on top.
what is this?
Chu Ming was also a little surprised by the strange altar in front of him. He was about to step forward to check it out, but a gust of wind blew by, and he suddenly remembered the particularly scary golden ringing sound around him.
"Jingle Bell--!"
"--Jingle Bell!"
"Who is coming?"
At this time, an old man in yellow robe suddenly jumped out of the "iron pot" at the top of the altar, followed by colorful paper cranes pouring out from inside, flapping their wings wildly and flying outward, clinging to them by the way. He slowly floated down to Chu Ming.
"You were able to sneak up to this place quietly and without my consciousness... Who are you?!"
"Before asking someone else's name, should you give your own name first?"
Facing the countless paper cranes suspended in mid-air around him, Chu Ming's indifferent expression did not change, and then he slowly called out the dragon bones and let out a loud roar.
"break!"
In an instant, the sound waves spread out crazily with him as the center of the circle, mixed with the terrifying dragon power and astonishing spiritual power fluctuations. In an instant, large pieces of paper cranes were blown away, and many of them returned to the top of the altar with their wings in despair. In the "iron pot", the old man in yellow robe couldn't help but look frightened.
? ? ?
Just roaring and scaring away all my paper cranes?
They are all spiritual paper cranes that I cut out with great effort!
Each one has at least the strength of the Foundation Establishment Realm. I originally thought of constructing a "paper crane" array to test the depth of the boy in front of me...
Okay, now it's been tested. He has definitely broken through the Foundation Establishment Realm for a long time. He may even be on par with me and have also broken through the Core Formation Realm!
Who is he?
The old man in yellow robe had no intention of controlling the spiritually chaotic paper cranes and continued to gather around him. Immediately, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His confused gaze kept staring at the calm and composed Chu Ming in front of him, and he couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation.
He must have used a secret method to transform his appearance into that of a young man. It is impossible for him to have such terrifying cultivation at his age!
You know, even the saints of the Blazing Fire Immortal Sect have not broken through to the Dan Formation Realm. How could he possibly do it?
I have never heard of such a genius emerging from the Tianyan Sect...
"You must be the paper cutter, right?"
Chu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, stepped forward with his right foot, and the indifference in his eyes suddenly became much sharper.
"Since you call yourself me, you should be the current emperor of the Chen Kingdom, Chen Taizu?"
"Tell me, as the king of a country, why do you want to cut dead people into paper figures of yourself and control them? What is your purpose in doing such an inhumane thing?"
"To win the war, of course!"
Chen Taizu didn't know why he had to tell Chu Ming so much, but he suddenly felt a sense of luck after he asked.
Didn't the boy in front of me come to disrupt my plan?
Maybe he can be roped in?
"The State of Zhao and the State of Xu actually conspired to make an agreement to unite and annex my State of Chen. How could I just surrender?"
"Is this just an excuse you made for yourself?"
Chu Ming's eyes narrowed slightly. He used his spiritual consciousness to sense that there was a mysterious aura slowly floating around him. Although he was not afraid, it was better to be careful.
"You yourself borrowed evil methods to absorb other people's spiritual power. Not only do you have no regrets about this, but you are also not satisfied. You actually tried to use war to improve your own cultivation!"
"What is the evil way?"
Upon hearing Chu Ming's words, Chen Taizu instantly became furious and reprimanded sternly.
"I cut dead people into paper figures and help them resurrect, but it's too late for them to thank me. How is this evil?"
"As for them helping me absorb spiritual power, this is just a reward for resurrecting them. They did it on their own initiative, and I didn't force them."
"Not forced yet?"
At first glance, Chen Taizu's words seemed quite logical, and Chu Ming looked slightly stunned when he was deceived. However, when he thought about it carefully, there were many loopholes in it.
What does it mean to not be forced?
You control a group of paper men to do evil everywhere and kill people to absorb spiritual power. Is this called no coercion?
And the most important thing is not to give them rewards, but also to set work indicators such as how much spiritual energy they absorb every day. How dare the evil landlords squeeze the labor force in front of me?
Chu Ming's eyes suddenly turned cold, his calves became strong, and he held the dragon bone and rushed towards Chen Taizu. Such overwhelming power scared him so much that he waved his hands and shouted to stop.
"Wait!"
"Is there anything else you want to explain?"
Chu Ming was very considerate to Chen Taizu and stopped to listen quietly to what he wanted to say.
"Hurry up, my hands are itchy right now."
"How about we cooperate?"
As if feeling the terrifying spiritual energy fluctuations in Chu Ming's body, Chen Taizu quickly restrained his previous arrogance, and did not even dare to call himself "I", but called me.
"The paper figures I cut out can share their spiritual power with others. How about I share some with you, and you become my teacher and learn the art of tailoring?"
"Ah!"
Chu Ming was so amused by Chen Taizu's words that he couldn't help but laugh.
"I want you to be my teacher? Are you sure..."
Before Chu Ming could finish his words, he couldn't help but his pupils shrank suddenly, and suddenly he felt that the emotion planted by Wu Zuirao in his consciousness suddenly erupted with violent fluctuations, which was filled with strong jealousy, as if it would happen in the next second. Condensed the true form of the fox to crush Chen Taizu in front of him!
"Master! Wait! Don't worry, let me practice my skills, my disciple!"
Chu Ming shouted loudly in his heart, which suppressed Wu Rao's restless emotions, and he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
Scared me!
If Master really took action, wouldn't her visit to King Chen be in vain?
"You don't want to?"
Seeing Chu Ming's abnormal behavior, Chen Taizu narrowed his eyes slightly, formed seals with his hands secretly, and his tone became sinister and cold.
"If that's the case, then go die!"
After that, the permeating golden bell rang again. Suddenly, after a gust of wind blew by, the ground that was originally stained red by blood slowly "lived", with countless red paper figures standing up, and the color of the soil would be restored. It turned out to be the same as before, which made Chu Ming couldn't help but marvel.
"So the reason why the ground turned red is because you arranged for paper figures to be pasted on it? You're so clever."
"Die!"
Chen Taizu shouted loudly, and countless paper figures around him rushed towards Chu Ming. Immediately, he took out a piece of red paper and a pair of scissors from nowhere, and cut them carefully against Chu Ming's pattern.
Even if the guy in front of me has the cultivation level of the Dan Formation Realm, as long as I use a paper man to hold him down, and then I cut out a "mirror flower paper man" like him, no matter how deep your cultivation is, you will be able to There is no way to escape from my grasp!
Chen Taizu couldn't help but bring up a proud smile.
However, the beauty in imagination is often broken down by the cruelty of reality.
"boom!"
Accompanied by a violent roar, a brilliant fire suddenly lit up in the middle of the night, and all the paper figures around him ignited with blazing flames! (End of chapter)
