Book 16 Chapter 22

New Playback

-Destruction and regeneration

"Okay, now that you know the whole story, is there anything you want to say?"

asked.

"No, let's not do that, it's annoying, it's lame."

The Grand Duchess replied in a surprisingly docile and calm voice.

"I think you've been caught, and I don't think you'll believe me if I make excuses here."

He admitted, crisply and simply. There was a murmur of astonishment here and there.

"Then it was you who killed Ahn Myung-hoo?"

"I didn't do that. But let's say it's not irrelevant. Well, you can pretend I did, because if I used a tool, it was my tool anyway."

"Why are you doing this, and to what end?"

"Do you want to hear why?"

"Of course!"

Bi Ryuyeon nodded.

"Out with the old and in with the new!"

Rain replied, her eyes shining with conviction.

"New play? Why?"

Bi Ryuyeon asked in disbelief. For what reason do you want to destroy the current powerhouse mold?

"Are you really asking because you don't know?"

"You're not asking because you don't know, are you? You can't possibly think that what you know, everyone else knows, and that's just as stupid as thinking that there's nothing in the world that I don't know!"

Bi Ryuyeon said in an unnerving voice.

"Then I'll tell you for sure, for this martial forest is now a rotten puddle. A tainted lake, that is the true state of the Jiang Clan today. A fetid, maggot-infested cesspool, lulled into complacency by the authority and vested interests passed down from generation to generation from the past, drinking only its honeydew!"

The Archduke exclaimed, as if he were about to spit out something filthy.

"The standardized framework of education, the myths that encourage blind obedience to authority, and the questioning of what is taught in the name of preserving tradition! Foolish people who think it is best to merely repeat and imitate the teachings handed down from the ancestors! What new creation is born from merely repeating the standardized, formalized teachings? Are you so afraid of losing your vested interests that you'd rather destroy such a mold, for only destruction brings about new rebirth!"

"Tradition is useless for progress and development?"

"That's your word, not mine. I never said that tradition is useless. I am saying that imitation of tradition undermines tradition and truth. Imitating and carrying on the teachings of the past is one thing, but imitating them is another. If you see them as the same thing, all I can offer you is contempt."

The fire-breathing oratory continued.

"How much has changed in the past hundred years in this powerhouse, how much progress has been made, how many people cling to the words that Zhao Zi has transmitted rather than the true intentions of the ancestor?"

"Does this mean that the creation of the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Heaven was not the price of progress?"

"I think it was a pretty good attempt. But the system was not perfect. Instead of exploring the true Brood, you replayed the factional battles within it. To distract yourselves from the anxiety and fear of 'us,' you distracted yourselves with other chores. It didn't matter about the peace of the mighty, because you didn't believe there was such a thing in the first place. How can you sincerely pursue something you don't even believe in?"

The hot fever suddenly turned to cold cynicism.

"Hmph, upholding tradition, doesn't that just undermine the work of the prophets? I'd rather tear down ranches that produce nothing but flocks of sheep! All the mighty need is a dragon and a bum to save the truly mighty!"

There was no hesitation, no question in his voice, as if he harbored no doubts about the justice he believed in.

"Bam!"

Suddenly, there was a clapping sound. The person who clapped without realizing it was none other than Bi Ryuyeon.

"That's so true, you can't move forward if you can't break the mold that binds you, because there's value in the present in moving beyond the past."

"What do you want me to do about it by agreeing with him?"

Jang Hong was furious. He didn't deserve Bi Ryuyeon, who was quite suspicious, whether she couldn't read his mood or wasn't doing it on purpose.

"But!"

Ryu-yeon Bi paused for a moment.

"Just because the theory is right, just because the words are right, doesn't make the behavior acceptable."

Bi Ryuyeon's eyes lit up.

"Right words have value only when they are met with right action. Before that, they are just a bunch of rhetoric, and I don't think you're doing much of that right now. Abandoning the middle ground and going to extremes only upsets the balance and doesn't lead to new creation. Going to extremes without knowing the middle ground only invites backlash and presides over destruction. Instead of destruction for new creation, you become destruction for destruction's sake, and that's no fun!"

Everyone who knew him was freaked out by the sound of his mouth.

"Yes, and besides, your plan has already been discovered, and we have all the Yin Wu in the warehouse. Give up, you don't have the power!"

Jang Hong exclaimed.

"No power? Cackle!"

Suddenly, from the rain's mouth, a ghastly bull oozed.

"You thwarted the plan? Where did you thwart it? You captured a pyramid like this? What you found was just bait, a leftover scrap. It's too late, you foolish maggots, you power-eating worms! We've already made all the arrangements. The plan is on schedule!"

It was a creepy voice that sent chills down my spine. It was not the voice of the usual Archduke Bi.

"What, what, what!!!"

There was an outcry from the crowd.

"It's a shame! I wish I'd come all the way here… I could have wiped them out in one fell swoop……. I'll show you the proof now."

The Archduke raised his hand, and the mountain began to tremble.

"What, what is it, an earthquake?"

The valley shook violently, as if it had been struck by an earthquake. The Archduke and his men chorused in unison.

"Stagnant water rots, and unused swords rust! Fiery dragons shall fly, and floods of fire shall cover the mountains; and from the ashes the phoenix shall rise!"

Like someone chanting a mantra, the rain and his followers shouted.

"I, the flame, announce the beginning of a new world!"

The Second Coming!

And the gin was triggered.

Pillars of flame rose from the twelve directions of the circular valley. Like a backwater waterfall…….

The rushing flames, the waterfall, were just the beginning of the awakening of the sleeping dragon.

"Stop! Do you think you can escape from the hands of the three of us?"

Swordsman said in a high-pitched voice. That flame was dangerous, his instincts told him.

"It's no use."

"What?"

"There's nothing I can do to stop a fire dragon once it's activated, and it won't unleash its fury until it's consumed everything, and I'm not going to get caught."

Rain pulled back with such speed that I was momentarily blinded.

Quack, quack, quack!

At that moment, the stage exploded with a tremendous sound. The hypothesized salt thunderbolt had exploded on cue. A tremendous shockwave and storm swept over the people. Using that as a cue, a series of explosions began to occur all over Hongmae Valley. It was as if they were trying to grind the place to powder.

"Do you think you can get away with it?"

Killing Blade of Unreliability

Meteor Fist

The shadows of dozens of blades extending from Bi Ryuyeon's arms rushed toward the Grand Duke's body like meteors. For a moment, it seemed like his body would be pierced by a sharp meteor shower. Suddenly, the Grand Duke's body split into three layers. The meteor-like sword streams fleetingly sliced through the first and second shadows of the rain.

"No way, the Three Wings?

Rain's poisonous tattoo technique. What Bi Ryuyeon had just unleashed was not the same as it, but it was a very similar technique. The Grand Duke dodged Bi Ryuyeon's attack and immediately spread his hands as soon as he landed. He didn't want to give himself a chance to be attacked again.

Thunderstorm aftermath (殘痕)

The invisible blades slashed at his body with murderous intent, but he paid them back in kind. True to the Law of Equivalent Exchange, he dodged the onslaught of rain that swept in from all directions.

"No way, you dodged it all… that was three times as powerful as that attack!"

A grimace escaped the Archduke's mouth.

"Did you really think you'd fall for it again? This technology, it seems you were the one on the other side of the darkness back then. I was so nervous……."

It turns out his hunch was right.

"Well, I guess we'll have to add arson, bombing, murdering teachers, and kidnapping to the list of crimes."

Bi Ryuyeon said, pointing her finger at the sins one by one. The Grand Duke frowned in displeasure. But a second signal was rising into the sky.

"I'm sorry, but I can't play with you anymore, my time is up! Time for the dragon to fly!"

Any more delay and he and his men would be sacrificed to the fire dragon. No great deed could be accomplished with a charred body, so Vi quickly withdrew.

From a special device known as a "descending dragon," buried along the sixty-four directions of the zodiac, a dust-fine gunpowder called longlin spewed out, along with the salt rain. It spread through the air and began to form a single, gigantic band of blackness, with flames roaring and racing across it.

Activate Fire Dragon Destruction Jay Stage!

The sleeping dragon opened its eyes. It spat out flames of rage, turning the earth into a river of fire. The searing flames drove its scaly body as it sprinted. Black smoke engulfed the space in an instant. The searing heat brought the atmosphere to a boil. The rapidly heated atmosphere churned violently, threatening to explode.

Blah blah blah!

The fire dragon's mouth snapped shut, and a great wall of flame rose up to trap them.

Screams erupted here and there in the terrifying heat. Confused, the men began to pace around.

There was only one entrance to the Hongmae Valley. The moment a Fire Dragon Terrifying Formation was transposed from the First Stage to the Second Stage, a pathway would open for a brief moment. If it is missed, the infernal horrors will sweep everything away.

The Grand Duke quickly subdued the Duke of Poison and led his men out of the city. Bi Ryuyeon, who tried to follow, was trapped by the jersey of the Thousand and Seven and had to give up the chase.

As Meng Bi and his men passed through the entrance after picking up a woman, the entrance to the Hongmae Valley collapsed with the thunder god's drums. No more people could enter or leave. Hongmai Valley was completely isolated.

A quasi-synchronized deterioration has brought the Superheat Inferno into the present. Floods of fire threatened their lives. The Heavenly Three and the Revolutionary Three gathered their strength and tried to control the flames, but they were helpless. They could not control the fire dragon, just as the fire dragon could not control them.