Chapter 48 Unsettled and Dropped

"Ding! Lü Shenmo's skill 'Martial Madness' has been activated.
Martial Madness: Born for martial arts, driven mad by combat.
Effect 1: Increases martial prowess by 6 when facing an enemy.
Effect 2: Increases command by 3 when commanding cavalry; increases command by 1 when commanding infantry.
Effect 3: Reduces the enemy general's martial prowess value by 1 to 6 points during a duel.
Effect 4: Reduces the martial prowess value of all enemy generals by 3 points during a group battle.
(Note: It is detected that this skill has undergone one evolution.)"

"Hiss..."

Wang Yu immediately drew a sharp breath. Lü Shenmo truly deserved to be ranked third on the Dragon, Tiger, Wind, and Cloud Rankings; every single one of his skills was top-tier.

Leaving aside the God of War and Demon God configuration skills typical of true divine generals, the effects of this Martial Madness skill were already formidable. It surprisingly possessed four layers of effects, and the maximum reduction to the enemy's martial prowess reached a staggering 6 points. Even in a group battle, it carried a martial prowess reduction effect of 3 points—this was simply too outrageous!

Furthermore, once his weapon and warhorse were fully equipped, Lü Shenmo's actual combat strength would soar to an astonishing 139 points. Such a martial prowess value was indeed at the very peak of the Great Cang Dynasty, and even the entire Tianqi Continent.

Moreover, this skill not only provided a boost to martial prowess but also to command ability, especially when commanding cavalry, where the boost to command was terrifyingly powerful.

A martial general who could rank third across the entire Tianqi Continent was indeed extraordinarily formidable! However, little did Wang Yu know that although ranked third, the gap between him and the second-ranked was merely a matter of six of one and half a dozen of the other!

At this moment, Wang Yu was already rejoicing that he had summoned the divine general Hou Yi. Otherwise, if it were only Ling Donglai alone, he truly might not have been able to handle this God of War of Great Cang.

However, he wondered whether Hou Yi was already a true divine general now! The Dragon, Tiger, Wind, and Cloud Rankings, along with the Four Directions Fiend Rankings, were jointly compiled by the prominent philosophers of the Hundred Schools of Thought and the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, a major Jianghu faction, encompassing all the experts in the world who had ever demonstrated their skills. This ranking list was still quite reliable!

Based on what Wang Yu knew, there were only two people in these two rankings famous for archery. He wondered what level their strength had reached, and whether they had attained the status of divine generals? If these two had reached the level of divine generals, would it conflict with Hou Yi's advancement into a true divine general?

"Ding! Lü Shenmo's Martial Madness skill Effect 1 has been activated. Increases martial prowess by 6 when facing an enemy. Current martial prowess has risen to 138."

Fortunately, fortunately, Lü Shenmo was not riding a warhorse at the moment, otherwise today's trouble would have been even greater. This was not just a matter of a single point of martial prowess; a cavalry general could only unleash one hundred percent of his strength when mounted on a warhorse.

Ling Donglai knew that Lü Shenmo's incoming strike was absolutely impossible to meet head-on. If he met this move frontally, even the protective barrier formed after the condensation of Qi could not possibly block it.

Yet, this move was also utterly impossible to dodge. With martial arts cultivation having reached the realm of these two men, their combat engagement was not merely a clash of martial skills, but also a clash of momentum.

At this moment, Lü Shenmo's momentum had completely locked onto Ling Donglai. If Ling Donglai were to dodge, it would only plunge him into an even greater crisis!

"Hoo!" Ling Donglai let out a heavy breath, his imposing demeanor churning to life, yet he did not rush to make a move.

When encountering a formidable enemy, one must not be hasty. Stabilizing one's own footing first was of the utmost importance; one had to endure and refrain from striking prematurely. No matter how accomplished an opponent might be, their moves would never be flawless. One must constantly search for the opponent's flaws, and launch a full-strength strike only when an opportunity presented itself.

Ling Donglai steadied his mind, using his fingers as a sword. Surging sword qi surged forth, protecting all the vital points of his entire body as he executed his unique mastery, the Seven Stances of Stored Sword, contracting his sword qi and concentrating entirely on defense.

In terms of pure destructive power, the swordsmanship of the Seven Stances of Stored Sword was not particularly remarkable to outsiders, but it was exceptionally suited for defense. The tighter it was retracted, the greater the stored power, and the stronger the elasticity—the opponent would need to expend significantly more effort to breach the defense.

"His Majesty's imperial edict!" A shrill voice rang out. At the same instant, the figure of a hairless, fair-faced eunuch with a slightly hunched back suddenly materialized.

The moment this person appeared, although Lü Shenmo wore a displeased expression, he still obediently put away his halberd, and the blood qi swirling around his body gradually vanished into nothingness.

Seeing Lü Shenmo halt his attack, Ling Donglai naturally did not continue either. The violent Qi slowly dissipated, and the milky-white internal energy retreated back into his body. Ling Donglai had a premonition that had Lü Shenmo's previous strike truly landed, he would very likely have sustained some degree of injury.

Simultaneously, Wang Yu, who was still observing the battle from atop the Drunken Dream Tower, could not help but let out a sigh of relief. If the fight had truly continued, he feared he really would not have been able to resist ordering Hou Yi to intervene.

However, the very next moment, Wang Yu nearly blurted out a "What the hell" in his mind. What on earth was this? How could some random old eunuch possess the cultivation of the Heavenly Human realm? Although it was only the initial stage of the Heavenly Human realm, it was far inferior to Ling Donglai at the late stage of Heavenly Human, and even less comparable to a true divine general like Lü Shenmo, whose base martial prowess was as high as 109.

Yet, how could Wang Yu recognize him? This person was the personal eunuch attendant by the Emperor of Cang's side, and moreover, one of the strongest guards beside the Emperor of Cang, having existed since the reign of the previous Emperor of Cang.

Although merely a eunuch, his status within the palace was extremely lofty. Even imperial princes and princesses had to address him respectfully as Eunuch Hai.

Upon hearing the Emperor's imperial edict, everyone naturally stepped forward obediently to pay their respects.

"His Majesty's imperial edict: Children are fighting, so the adults should each return to their respective homes and avoid meddling in other people's business!"

Seeing that the two men had finally ceased hostilities, Eunuch Hai also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The strength of either of these two men was truly above his own. If they had stubbornly insisted on having their way, he genuinely would not have been able to stop them.

That being said, His Majesty's imperial edict really was... Wang Yu muttered endless complaints internally.

However, today's affair could finally be brought to a close.

"This general obeys!" Lü Shenmo retracted his halberd and bowed in salute to the old eunuch. Although the old eunuch lacked the qualification to command a salute from him, the other party was, after all, representing His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Great Cang.

As an imperial guard general of Great Cang, he could ignore a Heavenly Human expert, but he had no choice but to pay respects to the Emperor of Great Cang.

"Order received!" Ling Donglai likewise bowed in salute, after which he vanished in a single instant, returning to stand behind Wang Yu.

While experts of the Heavenly Human realm were undeniably peerlessly powerful, compared to an entire imperial dynasty, they were no different from ants. An imperial dynasty might acknowledge the status of a Heavenly Human expert, but a Heavenly Human expert still had to conduct themselves within the rules established by the dynasty.

To say nothing of a million-strong army, even facing an army of one hundred thousand, experts like Lü Shenmo and Ling Donglai would not dare to confront them head-on.

Faced with the heavy encirclement of an army, if they stubbornly desired to flee, they indeed possessed the capability to escape. But if they were to fight to the death to the bitter end, they would ultimately be worn down and ground to death by the army piece by piece. Not to mention, an imperial dynasty possessed far more than just its military forces.

Centuries ago, when the world was still in the previous era of chaos, a great number of Heavenly Human experts had been active during that period as well. Yet it was precisely in that era that more than one Heavenly Human expert perished within military formations.

In this world, although the martial arts system was highly developed, there had never emerged a level of existence capable of single-handedly defying an entire nation.