On the city wall, the banner representing Jiacheng fluttered in the wind.
The people of Qi favored purple.
The State of Yang had always revered the color red, with the sun as its totem, but ever since becoming a vassal state of Qi, the customs had gradually changed.
Now, purple had also become the dominant color of prestige.
There were still a few places that retained their traditions. Jiacheng was one of them.
The city banner of Jiacheng had a red background, with carp patterns embroidered on the corners, and the character "Ji" in raised relief at its center. The only places where one could still see the Yang script were on banners like this one.
Whether willingly or not, the entire Yang state officialdom was already implementing the Qi script.
The lake fish of Jiacheng were famously delicious, and there was a legend that the carp could transform into dragons. The carp pattern on the banner was both a gathering of good fortune and a declaration of this city's ambition.
From afar, the red banner looked as if it had been dyed with fresh blood.
Indeed, the ancestors of the Xi family had shed their blood to lay the foundation of present-day Jiacheng. It took several more generations of cultivation before Jiang Chen first witnessed the prosperous Jiacheng.
At this moment, Jiang Chen stood alone before the inner city gate, one man and one sword besieging the city.
But was it Jiang Chen who besieged the city?
It was the plague raging everywhere.
Those invisible, silent transmissions...
Those visible, tortured deaths...
The plague was like a great army besieging the city.
On the city wall, Xi Munan, the city lord of Jiacheng, stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
The great army had already surrounded the city, with Chu songs of defeat on all sides.
Today, hearing the war drums...
From among you, who will follow?
Jiang Chen looked up: "May I ask, Lord City Master, will killing you suffice to honor the red flag?"
A moment of silence.
Xi Munan had come to observe Jiang Chen's attitude, or more precisely, to understand the attitude of the Zhongxuan family behind him.
He had not expected Jiang Chen to be so resolute. There was not the slightest room for compromise.
But after all, he was Xi Munan, the lord of Jiacheng. After only a moment of silence, he pointed his halberd downward.
Since words were useless, then there was no need for words.
Now that it had come to this, they would decide life and death. Xi Munan would not let anyone look down on the courage of the Xi family.
The transcendent guards behind him fell like rain, as arrows leave the string!
Fifteen transcendent cultivators leaped from the high walls, forming a long arrow.
Two Heaven-Piercing realm cultivators formed the arrowhead, four Cycle realm cultivators formed the fletching, and nine Roaming Meridian realm cultivators formed the body.
In an instant, they accelerated to their utmost, all their strength blended together to form this immense and supremely sharp arrow!
No matter how small the State of Yang was, it was still a state. No matter how weak Jiacheng was, it was still a city.
Naturally, it had the arts of battle formations and the methods of the Military School.
The combined power of fifteen transcendent cultivators was sufficient to fight across realms.
In fact, what made Military School cultivators most terrifying was also the foundation upon which they stood—the arts of battlefield slaughter. Among these, the arts of battle formations were the most well-known.
On the battlefield, super formations composed of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of soldiers were capable of toppling cities and annihilating states, using mortal bodies to break the transcendent!
On the battlefield, countless transcendent cultivators had died at the hands of ordinary soldiers.
Therefore, in the eyes of true Military School cultivators, there was never a barrier between mortals and the transcendent.
This elite squad of fifteen transcendent cultivators was employing the battle formation method passed down through the Xi family for many years.
This method was derived from one of the fundamental Military School formations—the Arrowhead Formation—but with unique innovations, emphasizing lethality.
However, even within the Heaven-Piercing realm, there were chasm-like differences.
These two Heaven-Piercing realm cultivators were merely ordinary experts of that realm.
But Jiang Chen was one of that small minority who had reached the limits of the Heaven-Piercing realm.
The "arrow" forged by the fifteen transcendent cultivators plunged headfirst into a sea of flowers.
Vigorous qi churned, the sea of flowers surged, yet the fresh flowers withered and revived.
The complex sea of flowers obscured their directions, turning this "arrow" into a headless fly. They were also seasoned battlefield veterans who knew that in such situations, they absolutely could not separate. Instead, they invested even more into the battle formation technique, merging into a single whole.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
That was the sound of the interspersed Flameblooms continuously colliding with the "arrow," exploding one after another.
However, once an arrow left the string and stopped, its momentum was spent, its sharpness blunted.
A spent arrow could not pierce even the finest Lu silk.
Jiang Chen's single sword cut forth with the sun, moon, stars, and galaxies, piercing the sky, shattering the battle formation, scattering this "arrow," and even cutting open the sea of flowers he himself had set up!
The fifteen transcendent cultivators were scattered in midair, and at that moment, Xi Munan, who had intended to join the attack, had only just descended.
From below, Jiang Chen drew his sword horizontally across the sky once more.
One sword bearing mountains and rivers!
The rolling momentum was unstoppable.
Xi Munan had just pounced to this point when he was sent flying back to the city wall by a single sword stroke!
And Jiang Chen, riding the momentum, turned around. His Ever-Thinking sword moved like a flood dragon or a flash of lightning, sweeping horizontally left and right.
Fifteen consecutive turns of the sword!
Jiang Chen planted his sword on the ground.
Thud! Thud! Thud!...
Fifteen successive thuds, fifteen corpses fell!
Like a blooming flower, enveloping Jiang Chen within.
Each corpse was a petal, and Jiang Chen was like a flower's stamen. He raised his head once more to meet Xi Munan's gaze.
Fresh flowers filled the sky, covering the inner city walls from top to bottom.
The Sea of Flowers opened once more.
Today's Jiang Chen was even stronger than when he had slain the Pig-Bone Mask.
Only now did such a refined Dao art as the Sea of Flowers display its full power, leaving Xi Munan momentarily disoriented, not knowing where he was.
On the city gate tower, Xi Munan spread his great sleeves, a seal appearing in his hand. His mouth opened like a great bell, issuing a decree: "Wither, all hundred flowers!"
This seal was the City Lord's Seal of Jiacheng.
Xi Munan harnessed the power of the entire Jiacheng city domain, issuing a downward decree. Every movement received the blessing of myriad powers.
Taking the State of Yang and comparing it to the State of Zhuang, regardless of whether the imperial court was independent or not. Just speaking of the city domains.
The power of the lords of major city domains in the State of Yang was far greater than the power of city lords in the State of Zhuang.
Although both countries had a county-city system, and the city lords of each place were like feudal lords, nominally enjoying autonomous powers.
But in the State of Zhuang, under the masterful manipulation of the imperial court, whether openly or covertly, no city domain had an independent family in control for more than three generations.
For example, Maple City had already reached Wei Lin, a new generation of fief lords.
Whereas the Xi family had been in Jiacheng for several generations, this place had effectively become a state within a state.
This situation was not unique in the State of Yang.
This was also the reason why the Xi family so vehemently rejected the Yang imperial court's interference in Jiacheng's political affairs, because it concerned their vital interests!
And the benefit of such cultivation for the Xi family was that they had successfully bound Jiacheng and the Xi family together as one.
One concrete manifestation was the ability to truly harness the power of the entire Jiacheng city domain!
When Wei Lin had fought to his death in the City Lord's Manor, it was not because he did not want to harness the city domain's power, but because he could not.
He had not cultivated Maple City long enough; his power had been granted by the Zhuang court. Yet the Unborn-Undying Array had severed his connection with the Zhuang court.
And in Jiacheng, with Xi Munan holding the Jiacheng City Lord's Seal, blessed by the power of the city domain, once he issued a decree, the fresh flowers gradually withered and died.
Jiang Chen's sword-wielding figure was clearly imprinted in his eyes.
The Sea of Flowers was destroyed! And could not be raised again for a short while.
Xi Munan's face was iron-green, deep hatred in his heart, and he issued another decree: "Your crimes deserve execution!"
Rumble!
Thunder erupted from the clear ground.
From the clear high sky, a sudden thunderclap exploded, instantly descending upon Jiang Chen's body.
Flameblooms bloomed one after another.
In an instant, Jiang Chen released seven Flameblooms.
They formed a vertical line, crashing into the thunder one after another.
But they could not delay even a single breath's time. The Flameblooms exploded and scattered, the thunder struck him head-on.
Densely packed vine-snakes intertwined, wrapping Jiang Chen within.
The Vine Serpent Wall.
The Flower of Devouring upon it bloomed, but just as it opened, it was destroyed.
The entire Vine Serpent Wall collapsed!
All of this happened so quickly that the sounds of the seven Flameblooms exploding and the Vine Serpent Wall collapsing merged together, yet were all drowned out by the thunder!