magic high school

Chapter 75: The Heavens Are Dead

"Young Master Cao, you may leave. I will not reveal your whereabouts. And do not treat your soldiers like I have. This bronze talisman is my token. The Deng family will help you if they can."

"Also, Wang Mai, the Commandant of the North Gate of Luoyang, is one of my former subordinates. If you can see him, tell him..."

He paused, then spoke slowly and deliberately:

"Deng Shizai did not plot a rebellion; he was murdered by the child Zhong Hui."

Li Ge was taken aback: "This... will it work?"

Deng Ai then gave a bitter laugh: "It's no use, but perhaps... he will remember that I once saved the lives of his entire family."

"Young Master Cao, take care. This is Shi Zai's last strength and gratitude. As for Deng Shi Zai, he will die here today. Wait for the Sima family's blade to come and kill me personally." Deng Ai smiled, looking towards Luoyang, his hands behind his back, letting the cold wind of early spring ravage his wounds.

Li Ge fell silent. Perhaps he had foreseen this moment before he saved Deng Ai.

Even if they recruited under a false name, it was just doing their best and leaving the rest to fate, and that's exactly what happened.

Deng Ai was a protégé of the Sima clan, and he could not possibly betray them. Moreover, by this time, he had already resolved to die.

All he could leave behind as a final expression of gratitude was a promise from the Deng family and intelligence from Wang Mai, the military officer of the North Gate of Luoyang.

Li Ge could only cup his hands in farewell and say, "Take care!"

Deng Ai stood with his back to them in the wilderness, like a stone statue.

This parting will be the last time we see each other.

……

Valerie, who had watched the whole thing from beginning to end, was in a state of bewilderment and relief.

After Li Ge left, he immediately noticed that the hundreds of foot soldiers were now looking at Yi Lian as if she were a god.

Li Ge gasped, then went over to Xiao Ye, who was hiding in the shadow cloak, and asked, "What happened?"

Although Xiaoye was also curious as to why General Deng hadn't come out, she first explained: "After Yilian temporarily transformed herself into a water-person, she said a few words about religious beliefs and other charlatan-like things, and these soldiers immediately bowed down and shouted things like 'Yellow Heaven and Earth' that they couldn't understand."

Li Ge: "..."

He almost forgot that Yi Lian's mimicry ability was only affected by the magic ban, but Yi Lian herself is a water person. By showing her water person form in front of everyone, coupled with the strange and mysterious things that Li Ge and the others had done before, she stunned everyone.

As for the so-called Yellow Heaven and Earth, Li Ge wasn't sure if it was related to Zhang Jiao's Yellow Heaven, but it was probably some kind of belief from that era.

But regardless, this had won them over. Looking at the undisguised fanaticism and faith in their eyes, Li Ge opened his mouth, only able to say, "In this era, pretending to be a charlatan is really useful..."

Actually, let alone this era, if Li Ge were to activate his Golden Eyes directly in Luoyang, even the Sima family's personal guards wouldn't dare to kill him. Li Ge doesn't really have much of a concept of prophecies and superstitions in this era.

"And you, how's that old general?"

Li Ge simply shook his head. Deng Ai had chosen to face death calmly. He couldn't stop someone who wanted to die. Perhaps Li Ge had known all along that this would be the outcome.

"Let's go," Li Ge sighed.

They still had to rush to Chengdu, but they didn't know what the situation was like there, or whether Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui had rebelled yet.

Too much time has been wasted, but there have been gains. Whether it's the hundreds of fanatical soldiers or the tokens and intelligence given by Deng Ai, they may all come in handy.

As Li Ge and his companions traveled towards Chengdu through the night, they looked back and, through the moonlight, saw a figure standing upright in the camp in the distance, like a stone statue.

He didn't turn back, but said to Yilian, "You could burn some talisman paper with liquid fire, and then send them a batch of talisman water or something. These people might trust you more then."

So, Yi Lian put on another performance, following the script Li Ge had taught her.

"I am a descendant of the Yellow Heaven, sent down to the mortal realm to punish injustice!"

He casually picked up a piece of paper, activated the liquid fire paper to ignite a ghostly blue flame, and it turned to ashes in a moment.

"This fire is heavenly fire; those who drink this talismanic water will receive divine protection!"

The soldiers were stunned at first, then they knelt down with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly.

Everyone became even more enthusiastic.

However, Yi Lian later admitted that her liquid fire was now so weak that she could barely light a piece of paper with it.

Li Ge simply shrugged.

These people were already exhausted from marching all day, but for some reason, they seemed to have inexhaustible energy, and they traveled day and night to Chengdu.

According to some veterans, this place is only a day's journey from Chengdu, meaning they had just left Chengdu not long ago.

Li Ge roughly calculated that Deng Ai died after leaving Shu, which means that there is a high probability that a rebellion has not yet occurred in Chengdu, and they still have time.

So the group hurriedly headed to Chengdu.

Along the way, they saw a large number of refugees, including those created by the Wei army's looting and those fleeing from Chengdu.

Li Ge remained silent. He had long anticipated how the Wei army's discipline had been since Cao Cao's time.

The bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no cock crowing for thousands of miles.

This is a poem that Cao Cao wrote after witnessing the devastation in Xuzhou.

And now, it basically matches the current situation in Chengdu. This is the most desperate situation. Li Ge even realized that even if Jiang Wei succeeded, Shu Han would basically be dead. Yizhou had been completely ravaged by the Wei army and was no longer in any condition to support the people or build up its foundation.

Heaven is dead.

……

Meanwhile, in Chengdu.

Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui planned to use Empress Dowager Guo's will as a pretext to detain the generals of the Wei army and began preparations for a mutiny.

The conspiracy was completed tonight. Jiang Wei even used his last strength and sent the secret letter, which was destined to be passed down to future generations, to Liu Shan in Luoyang.

Even though he knew it was a plan with almost no chance of success, it was the last thing he could try at that moment.

Tomorrow, Zhong Hui will imprison the Wei generals and, based on Empress Dowager Guo's will, declare himself emperor of Shu Han. After controlling the Wei army, he will attempt to counterattack Hanzhong.

Meanwhile, Jiang Wei took the opportunity to communicate with some people in the name of the Han Dynasty. After Zhong Hui declared himself emperor, Jiang Wei attempted to betray Zhong Hui and rescue Liu Shan, thus completing the great cause of restoring the country.

Even so, the entire Shu Han state had been hollowed out, and even places like Hanzhong, Jiange, and Dingjun Mountain had been lost. Shu Han was essentially dying slowly, but he had no choice. This was the last plan he could think of.

Whether it succeeds or fails, we'll see tomorrow.

However, what Jiang Wei was unaware of was that their conspiracy had already been leaked at this time.

But the next moment, it seemed that chaos was about to break out in the whole of Chengdu. Countless Wei troops were mobilized, and the torches and the movements of the Wei troops immediately shocked Jiang Wei.

"How could this be? How could this be? Our secret plot has been exposed!" Jiang Wei looked at the large banner with the character "Hu" standing in the distance.

Jiang Wei's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, his knuckles turning white.

Could it be... that Heaven truly intends to destroy our Han Dynasty?

In the distance, torches blazed like dragons, and shouts of battle could be faintly heard.