Chapter 618: Chapter 618

As Han Wu said, "Alas! If I could truly be like the Yellow Emperor, I would view leaving my wife and children as simply removing my shoes!"

Since ancient times, the greater the achievement, the more ruthless the person, often loving only themselves!

This is also something often said by cultivators: To achieve great success, one must first overcome emotional barriers.

Xu Qing rarely delved into these matters; anything he liked or cared about, he tried to preserve. This was both a desire and his driving force.

For Xu Qing, the meaning behind things wasn’t important; the crucial aspect was taking action. Newest update provıded by N0veI.Fiɾe.net

On another note, he was pleased with Tianling Shangren’s change in attitude, seeing the second "tool person" after Fu Xuan gradually being developed.

He always advocated for a win-win situation: minimizing the enemies and maximizing one’s own people, which is the true way of the world.

Although Xu Qing verbally blamed Black Mountain Old Demon and the Snowfield Living Buddha, along with Murong Grandmaster, for cooperating because the old demon lacked confidence, he knew in his heart that the more the old demon acted this way, the less he could be underestimated in actual combat.

After all, for a lone wolf like the old demon to have such a change in mindset, it was enough proof that he was someone not bound by formality to achieve his goals.

Once a person’s mindset is free from past experiences’ constraints, they can unleash terrifying creativity and achieve unimaginable success.

For example, in the past life, even without Daoist Skill, one could still reach the Nine Heavens to grasp the moon and dive into the Five Oceans to catch turtles.

Xu Qing also heard Fu Xuan mention that Murong Grandmaster once said that Black Mountain Old Demon, over a hundred years ago, traveled through the stars with his primordial spirit, reaching the Ying Huo Star and entering the Inner Heaven and Earth of Shakyamuni Venerable — the Great Leiyin Temple, obtaining two magical treasures there: the Morning Bell and the Evening Drum.

He was actually quite shocked by this, and hence he didn’t dare to underestimate the old demon’s potential to regain peak strength. Therefore, he must be fully prepared.

Meanwhile, at the Southern Ocean port, the joint actions of Western Ocean pirates and native tribes became increasingly urgent.

They were secretly amassing forces, preparing to launch a surprise attack on the ports not yet taken over by the Great Yu Dynasty.

Xu Qing’s local agents also sprang into action, using their familiarity with the local situation to gather intelligence. However, some of them harbored ulterior motives, attempting to leak information to the enemy for personal gain.

Meng Yuxuan closely monitored these agents’ every move. If he noticed anything suspicious, he immediately sent people to secretly surveil them. He knew that the success or failure of this intelligence-gathering mission would directly affect the direction of the entire battle.

Meng Yuxuan paced back and forth in the Old Port’s military camp, his brow furrowed, worrying silently. Despite having arranged for monitoring of the suspicious agents, he still felt uneasy. This imminent battle concerned the future of the Great Yu Dynasty in the Southern Ocean and allowed no room for error.

"Report!" A scout rushed into the tent, kneeling on one knee, panting, "General Meng, reliable sources state that the Western Ocean pirates have brought a new type of firearm this time, with great power, reportedly able to pierce our ship’s armor from a hundred meters away!"

Meng Yuxuan’s face changed suddenly, a strong sense of foreboding surging within him. The introduction of new firearms undoubtedly worsened the battle situation. He immediately ordered, "Continue to closely monitor and investigate every move of the enemy, especially the specifics of this new firearm, including quantity, firing rate, operation method, etc. Do not overlook any detail."

The scout received the order and left, while Meng Yuxuan turned to the map, racking his brains for a countermeasure. He understood that he must quickly devise a strategy to counter the enemy’s new firearms; otherwise, the Great Yu Navy would suffer heavy losses.

Xu Qing quickly received the relevant information and discussed it with Tianling Shangren in a dream. After all, the Southern Ocean used to be Tianling Shangren’s domain, and he had rich experience in fighting against Western Ocean pirates.

"Xu Qing, even though you defeated us, Western Ocean pirates are definitely not easy to deal with. If it weren’t for most of our core members being gathered at the Old Port Headquarters during my heavenly tribulation, even with your powerful navy and two ancient beings’ assistance, we wouldn’t have fallen so quickly, allowing you to take over the Old Port with minimal cost."

Tianling Shangren’s tone was half schadenfreude, half indignation.

Xu Qing’s timing was simply impeccable. Just before his heavenly tribulation, he had summoned most of Fang Immortal Dao’s overseas core figures back, providing Xu Qing the opportunity for a decapitation strike and complete capture.

Otherwise, even if the Old Port had been breached, Fang Immortal Dao could have relied on its deep foundations to conduct guerrilla warfare in the Southern Ocean Islands, dragging the Great Yu Navy into the quagmire of war.

Now, things are different. The leaders of the overseas branch of Fang Immortal Dao were almost wiped out, and the forces at other ports became headless, unable to form an effective counterattack. Certainly, this was due to the intervention of Daoist Gu and Princess Dongming.

Otherwise, how could Xu Qing seize the opportunity so precisely and raid the Old Port?

In the end, Tianling Shangren underestimated Xu Qing and the Great Yu Dynasty’s significance.

This was because Tianling Shangren received news that the Great Yu Dynasty was plagued with natural disasters, having a large number of refugees, and facing invasions from grassland and Liao Dong, making the military pressure extremely high.

He couldn’t have imagined that Xu Qing would resolutely send troops to the Southern Ocean under such circumstances.

However, in hindsight, this move indeed successfully resolved the dilemma that the Great Yu Dynasty was facing.

One must admit that Xu Qing’s vision and courage were top-notch in the world. In fact, the dispatching of troops by Xu Qing was against all opposition. If it weren’t for his insistence, this military operation would not have gone so smoothly.

If this golden opportunity had been missed, once Tianling Shangren overcame the weakness caused by the heavenly tribulation, it would have been almost impossible to seize such a chance again given the current military pressure on the Great Yu Dynasty.

In the future, it might even require ten or a hundred times the effort to achieve even a tenth of the current successes.

Facing Tianling Shangren’s emotions, Xu Qing appeared calm and composed, smiling and saying, "Senior, isn’t the strength of the Western Ocean pirates also a good thing?"

"How is it a good thing?" Tianling Shangren immediately became alert. This kid suddenly started calling him senior and humbling himself, surely nothing good could come of it.

But upon further thought, in his current situation, how much worse could it get!

Xu Qing chuckled, unhurriedly saying, "This battle, on the surface, is a confrontation of military forces, but in essence, it’s also a contest of wisdom. Even though the Western Ocean pirates have new firearms, we also have our own advantages."

"Like what?" Tianling Shangren inquired.

"We have local agents familiar with the terrain, a well-trained navy, and..." Xu Qing’s tone carried a hint of craftiness, "we have you, senior!"

Tianling Shangren was slightly startled, then suddenly realized: "You mean, you want to use my expertise in Mechanism Skill to counter their firearms?"

In the dream, Xu Qing respectfully clasped his hands and bowed, "Senior, I humbly request your assistance."

Tianling Shangren was shocked by Xu Qing’s shamelessness!