Chapter 658: 299: The End of the Western Expedition
However, in such scorching weather, the Nanzhao Army in the south of the city did not feel any heat at all. Instead, an enormous chill enveloped them in an instant.
A towering stone pillar broke through the ground for about three meters, and on it hung a headless corpse, pierced by time in the abdomen. Bright red blood flowed down the stone pillar, quickly forming a pool of blood on the ground.
A disbelieving face rolled, ultimately stopping about thirty yards southwest of the stone pillar, looking up obliquely at the pillar, its vacant eyes staring at the familiar body above, gradually losing their light.
Countless people in front of the two armies watched this scene, falling into a deathly silence for a moment.
But soon, the silence was broken.
Turmoil arose among the Nanzhao Army.
“The Big Emperor Son, Big Emperor Son is dead?”
“Impossible, the Big Emperor Son was so strong, protected by the Great God Wu Yu, how could he die?”
“How could that man have killed the Big Emperor Son?”
“He’s not human!”
Gasps and panic spread rapidly among the Nanzhao Army soldiers, and as the news reached the rear, the chaos grew.
As the commander of the army, especially an Inborn Grandmaster, after a series of victories since the Northern Expedition to Xichuan, Zhao Changqing’s position in the Nanzhao Army was unparalleled.
To put it bluntly, this Big Emperor Son was probably similar to Lu Yuan in the hearts of the Chu Army.
Although there is a wide gap of strength and ability between the two, it is far from comparable.
But the impact of Zhao Changqing on the Nanzhao Army can be seen from this.
Yet such a figure was killed by Lu Yuan in front of everyone, just like that.
With absolute strength, without any cheating or chicanery, he was killed outright.
The blow brought by this fact and outcome almost instantly shattered the psychological defenses of many Nanzhao Army soldiers. For a time, they thought Lu Yuan was like a god and demon, absolutely unmatched.
Their original courage and fighting spirit were shattered in an instant.
At this moment, scattered soldiers in the Nanzhao Army began to flee, and as those people took the lead, this trend of fleeing continued to expand.
In particular, in the Chu Army formation, successive cheers of “Majestic King!” and “Long live Chu!” made even more people flee.
Their own king, in front of the whole army, personally killed the opposing commander.
This not only struck a blow to the enemy’s morale but also brought unimaginable joy and encouragement to their own side.
At this moment, in the Chu Army formation, many soldiers were surging with blood, unable to restrain themselves from wanting to rush forward, to slaughter the Nanzhao Army, and share this honor and victory with the king.
Meanwhile, amidst the cheers and noise,
Lu Yuan, who watched Zhao Changqing die easily, was also somewhat surprised.
Although he knew that with his strength, defeating such a newly promoted Inborn Grandmaster from a remote place would be no difficulty.
But the fact that the opponent was killed so easily did indeed go beyond his expectations.
After all, no matter how one looks at it, this was an Inborn Grandmaster.
This was not the same as the previous Gui Lianyun, Zhang Chanyi, and Shi Li Clan Grand Shaman.
All three of them had been worn down by others, their states damaged, and were sneakily attacked and assassinated by Lu Yuan.
Under those circumstances, it was only natural for the three of them to be disposed of without any resistance.
But Zhao Changqing was killed openly and uprightly, even though he was already on guard.
Albeit that he didn’t know Lu Yuan’s true strength and was careless, this already revealed many problems.
‘Is it because I’m too strong?’ Lu Yuan thought to himself.
Although it may sound vain, to be honest, he did not have much concept of being too strong.
After all, to outsiders, King Lu Yuan of Chu had a formidable record.
Before the conquest, the record that was visible was the slaying of two Inborn talents.
With the spread of the deeds of slaying the Great Witch Sacrifice and Zhao Changqing over the past two months, the terrifying record of four Inborn kills will be widely spread and admired by the world.
However, the actual battles between Lu Yuan and the four lost souls were not many.
Often, life and death were decided within one or two moves.
Therefore, in terms of battlefield combat, Lu Yuan’s experience in fighting enemies was not much.
At least not as much as that of the veteran Grandmasters in the powerful nations of the world.
The other Grandmasters did not have his unconventional strength, and without the combination of immortal and martial arts, they often had to fight their opponents for dozens or hundreds of moves, risking mutual annihilation, to decide the outcome.
Even if they won, it would be difficult to capture the enemy in that state, which is why there was a consensus that Inborn talents were hard to kill.
And it was thanks to this extremely strong ability to survive that Inborn Grandmasters became the strategic deterrent of the various nations.
Without absolute certainty of killing an Inborn Grandmaster, it acted like a nuclear weapon, making other countries wary and hesitant to launch wars of annihilation lightly.
From this perspective, Lu Yuan has, in fact, become a deterrent force beyond conventional Grandmasters.