I, the Villain, Become Invincible the More Descendants I Have

Chapter 39 The City Falls in Three DaysEmperor Cao Xukun was squatting in the courtyard, teaching Crown Prince Cao Hao how to use a slingshot, aiming at Li Tieniu’s wine gourd hanging from a tree, when they heard a flurry of hurried footsteps outside.

Li Tieniu, carrying his broadsword with his face as black as a pot bottom, stormed in and roared, ”Emperor Xuan! Those bastards in the Western Regions have rebelled!”

”What? Rebelled?” Emperor Cao Xukun’s hand shook, and the slingshot shot went wide, striking Li Tieniu’s helmet directly. ”Did I hear that right? Weren’t they just kneeling and offering me their treasure vault last week? It’s only been a few days, and they’re already daring to jump out and cause trouble?”

”Exactly!” Li Tieniu stomped his feet in anger. ”Those three old things heard that an envoy from the Immortal Realm is descending, and thinking you were finished, they immediately tore up the surrender documents, killed the tax officials we sent, and assembled an army of fifty thousand. They’ve occupied seventeen cities in the Western Regions and are declaring that they want to ’Cleanse the Court and execute the traitor Cao’!”

Consort Su Qingyue walked over, supporting her pregnant belly, and frowned. ”Those three old foxes are truly fickle. Their surrender before was just for show; now that there’s the slightest sign of trouble, they’ve immediately rebelled.”

”Cleanse the Court? Are they even worthy?” Emperor Cao Xukun sneered and tossed the slingshot to Crown Prince Cao Hao. ”I think they’re tired of living and want to meet the King of Hell early. It’s perfect timing; I just finished reorganizing the First Army and haven’t tested their combat strength yet. I’ll use them for target practice.”

”Emperor Xuan! Let me go!” Li Tieniu snapped a salute and slapped his chest. ”Give me thirty thousand elite troops, and I guarantee that within half a month, I’ll twist off those three old fogeys’ heads and use them as chamber pots for you!”

”Half a month? Too slow.” Emperor Cao Xukun waved his hand and held up three fingers. ”I’ll give you three days. Within three days, take all seventeen cities in the Western Regions and bring those three sect leaders back to me alive.”

”Three days?!” Li Tieniu’s eyes widened. ”Emperor Xuan, that’s seventeen cities! Even if I were just running, I couldn’t finish in three days, could I?”

”Why would you be running?” Emperor Cao Xukun rolled his eyes at him. ”Their troops are just a rabble gathered to make up numbers; they’ll collapse at the first touch. Take the First Army’s cavalry; don’t worry about prisoners or looting, just push straight through. Focus on overwhelming force and a quick resolution.”

”What if I lose?” Li Tieniu scratched his head.

”Lose?” Emperor Cao Xukun raised an eyebrow. ”If you lose, don’t bother coming back. Stay in the Western Regions and be a beggar, keeping Alliance Leader Wang Teng company.”

”Don’t worry, Emperor Xuan! If I lose, I’ll twist off my own head!” Li Tieniu’s blood boiled, and he grabbed his broadsword and ran outside. ”First Army, assemble! March west!”

That afternoon, Li Tieniu led thirty thousand cavalry in a grand march toward the Western Regions.

Meanwhile, in the Western Regions, the leaders of the three major sects were gathered in the main hall, drinking and celebrating.

The leader of the Vajra Sect slapped the table and laughed. ”Hahaha! That brat Emperor Cao Xukun surely never expected us to rebel! Once the Immortal Realm envoy arrives, he’s as good as dead! By then, the entire Central Province will be ours!”

”Exactly!” the leader of the Poison Sand Valley said sinisterly. ”I have already laid virulent poisons along the route. As long as the Great Xuan army dares to come, I guarantee they won’t return! Within three days, I will leave Li Tieniu’s corpses scattered across the field!”

”Everyone, rest assured. I have already sent people to contact the barbarians in the Northern Territory. When the time comes, we will strike from the north and south, and we will surely be able to capture Luoyang in one fell swoop!” the leader of the Hehuan Sect said smugly.

As the three were boasting wildly, a soldier suddenly crawled in, stumbling and scrambling. ”Bad news! Sect Leaders! The Great Xuan army is attacking! They’ve already broken through the first line of defense!”

”What?!” The Vajra Sect leader jumped to his feet. ”Impossible! They only set out from Luoyang yesterday; how could they be this fast?!”

”It’s true! Li Tieniu led the cavalry like he’s gone mad. Our defensive lines are like paper; they shatter at the slightest touch!”

Before the words had even faded, another soldier ran in. ”Report! The second line of defense has fallen! The third is gone too! Li Tieniu has already reached Black Stone City!”

”It’s only been half a day!” The Poison Sand Valley leader’s face went pale. ”What about my poisons? Why didn’t they stop them?”

”They didn’t even take the path where we laid the poison; they circled around behind us! And they burned our grain supplies!”

The three sect leaders panicked instantly, looking at one another; none of them had expected the Great Xuan army to be this ferocious.

Over the next two days, battle reports flew in like snowflakes:

”Report! Li Tieniu broke through five cities in one day! More than half the defending troops have surrendered!”

”Report! Seven cities broken on the second day! The Vajra Sect’s main headquarters has been breached!”

”Report! Five cities broken at dawn on the third day! All seventeen cities have fallen! The Great Xuan army has already reached our city gates!”

In three days, a total of seventeen cities were all taken by Li Tieniu.

On average, a city was broken every four hours. There were more surrendering defenders than soldiers in the Great Xuan army; in many places, the city gates opened on their own, just waiting for the Great Xuan army to take over.

Li Tieniu sat on his horse, standing under the gates of the last city, and shouted up at them, ”Listen up, people inside! Open the gates and surrender immediately! Otherwise, I’m attacking! I’ll count to three; if the gates aren’t open, I’m setting the city on fire!”

”One!”

”Two!”

Before the word ”three” could leave his lips, the city gates creaked open.

There, the three leaders of the Vajra Sect, Poison Sand Valley, and Hehuan Sect walked out shirtless, carrying thorny switches on their backs, their hands tied behind them, heads bowed, followed by a group of dejected elders.

”General Li, spare our lives! We were wrong! We were truly wrong!”

”We were blinded by greed and dared to betray Great Xuan! We beg General Li to spare our lives!”

”We are willing to offer up all our sect’s treasure vaults and all our disciples, if only Emperor Xuan will show mercy!”

Li Tieniu looked at their pathetic appearance and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. ”What were you doing before? When you were cursing our Emperor Xuan, weren’t you quite arrogant? Now you know you were wrong? It’s too late!”

He waved his hand. ”Tie them all up! Take them back to Luoyang! Hand them over to Emperor Xuan to deal with!”

That afternoon, Li Tieniu escorted the three sect leaders and returned in triumph with the Great Xuan army.

The entire city of Luoyang was in an uproar; the citizens lined the streets to welcome them, with cheers rising one after another.

Emperor Cao Xukun sat on his throne, looking down at the three kneeling sect leaders, and said with a mocking smile, ”Oh? The three sect leaders, how have you been? Didn’t you say you wanted to ’Cleanse the Court and execute the traitor Cao’? Why have you come here tied up yourselves?”

The three sect leaders were trembling with fear and didn’t dare to lift their heads. ”Emperor Xuan, spare us! We were momentarily confused; we beg you, as a magnanimous ruler, to spare our lives!”

”Spare you?” Emperor Cao Xukun sneered. ”You killed my people and rebelled against my country, and now you want to be finished with just a word of ’confusion’? How could things be so cheap?”

”However,” he changed his tone, ”in light of your voluntary surrender, I will not kill you. Death penalty spared, but living punishment is unavoidable. The three of you will have your cultivation base crippled, be demoted to commoners, and remain in Luoyang as street sweepers.”

”As for the Western Regions,” Emperor Cao Xukun looked at Li Tieniu, ”establish the Western Regions Province, send officials to take over all the cities, and keep the structures of the three major sects, but confiscate all military equipment and increase their taxes by twenty percent as a punishment.”

”Understood!”

When the three sect leaders heard they wouldn’t die, they hurriedly kowtowed in gratitude. ”Thank you, Emperor Xuan, for your mercy! Thank you, Emperor Xuan, for your mercy!”

After handling everything, Emperor Cao Xukun stood up, walked to the entrance of the main hall, and looked toward the Western Regions.

The entire Western Regions were pacified, and the territory of Great Xuan had expanded by another third.

Now, in the entire Xuanhuang Mortal Realm, only the barbarians of the Northern Territory and the three great ancient remnant clans remained.