Chapter 65: Chapter 59: The Battle of the Two Depots

’It seems he was right. The Xuanlong Emperor was a wise ruler who restored his dynasty, but fate is cruel. He still died at the hands of his own son...’

’The Celestial Family is the most heartless. It was true for Great Liang, and it’s true for the Zhou...’

Aboard the Tower Ship, Yu Zhong stood at Su Chen’s side.

Su Chen couldn’t help but sigh with emotion as he read about the Xuanlong Emperor’s various policies.

’What a pity.’

’The thirty million people of Great Liang will have to suffer again.’

The Nujiang River churned violently, and only a First-Grade Tower Ship could navigate its center. But at this moment, a figure appeared, walking on the waves. He had a feminine air and wore a Purple Robe.

"Master Su, he’s here."

"This is the master of the Ten Thousand Mile Jinjiang River and the Hundred Thousand Peach Blossom Docks. He’s the one who controls the Eastern Depot, Lord Zhang’s adopted son, the new number thirty-one on the Earth List, the purple-robed Little Thousand Years, Zhu Xiao..."

"The decade-long dispute between the Eastern and Western Depots might finally come to an end..."

Yu Zhong grew tense.

The terrifying giant wolf, a hundred meters tall and large enough to blot out the sun, could shatter a city wall, yet it couldn’t touch this purple-robed figure in the slightest.

This was a First Grade expert.

A Peak First Grade expert.

’He looks so much like him...’

In a daze, the man before him seemed to merge with the purple-robed figure who had once drank and laughed heartily with him.

But alas.

His old friend was gone.

No matter the resemblance, it wasn’t him.

"Zhu Xiao pays his respects to Master Su."

The Feminine Eunuch stopped a hundred zhang before the Tower Ship, as if gathering his emotions. He then snapped his eyes open, and a monstrous hostility converged in his chest, transforming into boundless Killing Intent.

"Zhu Xiao has three questions for Lord Su!"

"First question."

"My father, Zhang Gui, was your sworn brother. But the traitorous son Xu Han took control of the Western Depot and slaughtered the old guard of the Eastern Depot. What is Lord Su’s opinion on this?"

Zhu Xiao took his first step.

BOOM!

The Nujiang River surged as if it were crying out.

"Second question!"

"In the past, the Western Depot’s Embroidered Depot Agents slaughtered the Eastern Depot’s old guard. When Great Liang fell and the Zhou came, the Western Depot held power in the court while the Eastern Depot hid in the wilderness. A life for a life—is that wrong?"

Zhu Xiao took his second step.

BOOM!

The great waves roiled as if they were roaring.

"Third question..."

At this moment, Zhu Xiao’s feminine eyes twisted with emotion. The boundless Killing Intent made his blood boil, and he could barely contain himself.

"In the past, outside the Library Pavilion, that traitorous son Xu Han betrayed my father! He led Dugu’s troops to encircle and annihilate my father, using him as a stepping stone to climb higher!"

"Lord Su, what do you think of my father’s traitorous son, Xu Han?!"

Zhu Xiao roared.

In that instant, the Nu River roiled!

Ten thousand waves surged forth!

At the same time, the sky-filling ice and snow converged with the boundless, angry waves. Zhu Xiao, his Purple Robe whipping in the wind, strode across the water. He drew upon the river’s power, forming a heaven-shaking Sword Wave a hundred zhang high. He brought it down in a reverse slash toward the Tower Ship, vowing to obliterate Yu Zhong, leaving no trace behind.

"Remnants of the Western Depot, pay your blood debt with blood!"

On the Nujiang River, countless black-canopied boats appeared, their occupants mere shadows. Endless shouts echoed across the Ten Thousand Mile Jinjiang River.

Between heaven and earth, there were only cries of blood and tears.

"Lord Su..."

Yu Zhong was scared out of his wits.

Su Chen sighed.

’This sword strike is at the Peak level.’

’But why are you also cultivating the Heaven-Devouring Demon Technique? You’ll follow in his footsteps. If he were alive, he would never want to see you like this...’

Su Chen rose to his feet.

He walked to the bow of the Tower Ship, facing the heaven-shaking sword strike born from the Nujiang River’s churning waves.

Zhu Xiao was forcing him to choose.

The Eastern Depot? Or the Western Depot!

Su Chen could not choose.

One was a friend; the other was like a son to him.

But he didn’t want to let Yu Zhong die...

"Then Lord Su can receive this Peak sword strike of mine!"

Zhu Xiao roared.

A thousand pains and ten thousand questions had been suppressed in his heart for nine years, all poised to be unleashed in this one sword strike tonight.

He vaguely remembered.

Years ago, as a boy, a remnant of the defeated Zhu Country, he was found by a Liang General at the border. He was thrown into a dog cage, humiliated, and whipped. He ate and lived with pigs and dogs, cast into an Abyss where he never saw the sun. He lived in constant terror, wishing only for death.

That year, a man in a Purple Robe came from the east. He plucked a plum blossom, killed ten men with a single step, and slaughtered all three thousand one hundred Liang Generals at the border before placing the blood-stained flower in his hand.

"My name is Zhang Gui. Tonight, I killed three thousand one hundred men for you. From now on, you’ll do the killing yourself. Remember, your name is Zhu Xiao!"

That night, the ice in his heart melted.

But on the night of the assassination, he fell back into darkness!

It was a cold that pierced his very bones.

And no one could pull him out again.

"Lord Su, why do you favor Xu Xiaohan! He may be like a son to you, but wasn’t my father your dearest friend, your brother?"

In Zhu Xiao’s frenzy, the Peak sword strike, wreathed in ice and snow, waves and tides, slashed down upon the Tower Ship.

Su Chen did not act.

Under the moon, he stood alone in his Profound Robe. He could not choose, nor could he simply watch Zhong die. Taking this strike would cost him a mere thirty wisps of Longevity Qi and thirty days of recovery.

BOOM!

The wave-like sword strike split the Tower Ship in two! The Peak attack had gone astray, not striking anyone.

The only thing harmed was the Tower Ship.

A Token was delivered into Su Chen’s hand.

"This is the Eunuch Su Order. It can command the remnants of the Eastern Depot. It was personally forged by Lord Zhang and should have been delivered to you nine years ago, Lord Su."

"Today, it is returned to its rightful owner. Lord Su is still the Eastern Depot’s Lord Su, but the remnants of the Western Depot remain our sworn enemies. This will not change, not even in a thousand years!"

Zhu Xiao left.

On the Nujiang River, the countless black-canopied boats departed with him.

Only the Nujiang River continued to roil, unleashing its natural might!

’So, the Eastern and Western Depots can no longer be reconciled?’

’Han.’

’You’ve left me with quite the problem.’

Su Chen sent Yu Zhong ashore and, taking Cyan Sparrow with him, prepared to leave as well.

Cyan Sparrow was about to wake up.

With the world in chaos, it was time to finish teaching his apprentice and return to the Imperial Palace.

"Oh, right."

"Who is the leader in charge of the Western Depot?"

"Are they a First Grade expert as well?"

In the carriage, Su Chen settled the still-unconscious Cyan Sparrow, then turned to ask Yu Zhong as if he had just remembered something.

"Not a First Grade."

"Someone unknown."

"Apparently just an ordinary Eunuch... from some pharmacy. Lord Xu also came from a pharmacy back in the day. Before he left, Lord Xu specifically instructed his Eight Tigers to find this person to take over the Western Depot!"

"It’s been three years, and they still haven’t found him."

"What was his name again?"

"Oh, oh, I remember now..."

Su Chen had a bad feeling.

"Xu Ge!"

"That person, Xu Ge from the pharmacy, once even angered Lord Xu at the Palace Gate..."

’What a move, Xu Xiaohan!’

’To think he would leave a trick like this up his sleeve.’

No one in the world knew who Xu Ge was.

But wouldn’t Xu Han himself know?

"Giddy-up!"

Su Chen cracked the whip and drove the carriage away from Jinjiang City, heading for the ruined bamboo manor twenty li away.

The bamboo ruins and a lone grave were visible in the distance.

The Tree Whiskers surged.

In a flash, the Peak of the world, the graceful Wind Snow Little Grandmaster who moved like a Direct Immortal descending to the mortal realm, vanished. In his place was the somewhat handsome, twenty-something-year-old Xu Ge from the pharmacy.

’Speaking of which,’

’I’ve been cultivating this Third Realm of Longevity for a long time. It’s about time I stepped into it.’

At that moment, inside Su Chen’s body, the Longevity Dao Seed, which resembled a small sapling, extended a tiny new branch...

He had reached the Third Grade of Longevity.

Upon the thick, surging Tree Whiskers within his body, many fine rootlets had also appeared.

Following the Fifth Grade’s Rapid Maturation Treasure Medicine and the Fourth Grade’s Shapeshifting and Face-Changing, Su Chen had obtained another Innate Divine Technique...

Third Grade: Memory Soul Fusion.

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