After the Purple Gold Pill entered her mouth, Bingyi Yuanjun pressed two fingers to her disciple’s brow, using her magical power to dissolve the supreme-grade pill.
Once the pill dissolved, it did not flow into her stomach. Instead, it turned into violet qi, lingering thickly at Li Miaozhen’s brow.
The process did not last long. In less than a quarter of an hour, the violet qi slowly drew in and formed a purple mark at her brow.
The purple mark was exactly like the pattern on the pill. It was a sign of medicinal power settling.
With a fourth rank body, Li Miaozhen was unable to absorb the full power of the medicine.
She soon woke. Her vision went from blurred to clear, and the first thing she saw was Li Lingsu, his nose and eyes red from crying. Li Miaozhen was dazed for a moment and thought, Senior Brother, have you come to keep me company too?
Then she saw her master, Bingyi Yuanjun, and her senior uncle, Daoist Xuancheng.
Only then did she understand what had happened.
Her face pale and lips dry, she forced a smile and said:
“Many thanks, Master, for saving my life.”
Having survived a great calamity, she ought to have been happy, but as far as her eyes could see were the old friends who had died in battle. Her heart felt heavy, without the slightest trace of joy.
“You are the Heaven Sect’s Holy Maiden, and one of the candidates to inherit the position of sect leader. Naturally, as your master, I should save you.”
Bingyi Yuanjun spoke in a voice devoid of feeling:
“Your senior uncle Xuancheng and I came down the mountain this time by order of the Heavenly Venerable, to bring you and your Senior Brother back to the sect.
“After the conflict of heaven and man, the Heaven Sect will seal the mountain. No one may come down again.”
Li Miaozhen sensed her own condition. Her organs were damaged in many places, and her body was in a precarious state. By contrast, her burnt primordial spirit had already been fully repaired.
Knowing she had no power to oppose her master, she was silent for a few seconds, then said:
“How will the Heavenly Venerable punish this disciple?”
Bingyi Yuanjun shook her head and said lightly:
“That is the Heavenly Venerable’s affair.”
Li Miaozhen asked no more. Instead, she looked at Li Lingsu and said:
“This disciple has only one final wish. Qi Guangbo launched a surprise attack on Xunzhou city, and the situation is urgent. This matter must be delivered to Yang Yan and the other generals. I beg Master to show mercy and grant this disciple’s wish.”
Bingyi Yuanjun frowned:
“You have already died once, and still cannot let go of mortal affairs?”
Li Miaozhen looked once more at the battlefield strewn with corpses, sorrow in her eyes.
“My friends all remained on the battlefield. I can no longer leave.”
What she could not leave behind was her heart.
Bingyi Yuanjun nodded. In any case, this disciple had already done far too many “wrong” things. She would not force her disciple out of anger, disappointment, or any such feeling.
No, in truth, she didn’t have any feeling at all. Not even anger.
Daoist Xuancheng was the same, but he added one condition. He took out a green pill and handed it to Li Lingsu.
“To prevent you from running away again, eat this.”
Spirit-Devouring Pill!
This was a pill unique to the Heaven Sect. After taking it, if one did not receive the antidote within three days, one’s primordial spirit would wither away.
All below beyond-mortal were unable to escape it.
As the Holy Son, Li Lingsu naturally recognised the pill. He stared at Daoist Xuancheng in disbelief and said in a trembling voice:
“Master, I, I’ve been your disciple since childhood. Doesn’t your heart ache? Don’t you feel guilty?”
Daoist Xuancheng remained expressionless, his tone cold:
“Do you think I would?”
That blasted supreme detachment from emotion… Li Lingsu accepted the order and left, riding his flying sword into the blue horizon.
At this moment, he was utterly certain that his master’s mortal feeling was definitely not with him.
There was no need to stay in this blasted Heaven Sect.
…
The day before the Spring Sacrifice.
In past years, the Spring Sacrifice had always been the liveliest time of year for households across the Central Plains.
It symbolised spring’s return to the earth and the revival of all things. Each year during the spring sacrifice, the court held a grand sacrificial ceremony to Heaven, praying for favourable winds and rains, and peace and prosperity for the realm.
The common people also butchered sheep and pigs on that day, offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and praying for an excellent harvest that year.
This year’s spring sacrifice was the most difficult for the common people. Wealthy households were unchanged, but poor families could only use straw offerings as substitutes.
As for the court, from top to bottom, the officialdom probably had no mood for the spring sacrifice ceremony at all.
It was not a matter of lacking silver. However strained the court might be, it was not so poor that it could not hold the rite. The real cause was that the war in Yongzhou had everyone deeply anxious.
Eight days had passed since Luo Yuheng underwent her tribulation. During that period, the fighting in Yongzhou could no longer be described merely as “tragic” or “fierce”.
First came the Yunzhou army’s surprise assault on Xunzhou. Of the city’s twenty thousand defenders, only three thousand were left alive. Yang Gong, former Administrative Commissioner of Qingzhou and now General Commander of Yongzhou, lost an arm in the defence of the city. The flying beast cavalry of the Heart Gu Tribe was wiped out to the last.
At the critical moment for Xunzhou, Xu Xinnian and the other forces moving along the defensive line returned in time to reinforce it. Gravely wounded, Yang Gong made a prompt decision and personally led the remaining defenders out of the city, striking the Yunzhou army from inside and out together with the reinforcements.
After the failure of the surprise attack on Xunzhou, Yunzhou’s commanding general, Qi Guangbo, had already drawn the bow and could not turn back. He could only grit his teeth and order the elite of his central army under his command to engage the Great Feng forces in a bitter battle.
The two sides fought savagely outside Xunzhou city for a full day and night. Blood flowed like rivers. According to the intelligence sent back to the capital, the corpses of men and horses were piled so thickly that cavalry could not even advance through them, forming a grotesque natural barrier of dead mounts.
This battle had originally offered a chance to swallow up the Yunzhou central army. If successful, it might have become one of the turning points of the war in the Central Plains.
That was until a terrifying cavalry force appeared, plunging into the battlefield with a tyrannical momentum that bordered on unreasonable. In coordination with the Yunzhou central army, they smashed through the Great Feng cavalry again and again, from inside and out.
The Great Feng army, which had originally held every advantage, found it impossible to contend with this cavalry force on open ground and had no choice but to retreat into the city, only then managing to catch its breath.
This cavalry force was now firmly engraved in the minds and hearts of the court officials of the Great Feng. It was called the “Black Warrior Army”.
It had never appeared on the Qingzhou battlefield before, yet after a single battle it became famous, turning into the nightmare of the Great Feng army. Even the court officials felt their scalps go numb at the mere mention of the three words “Black Warrior Army”.
Qi Guangbo was determined to break Xunzhou. That very night, he launched another siege, throwing troops into it regardless of cost. By dawn, Xunzhou had fallen.
The Great Feng army withdrew from Xunzhou. Yang Gong, together with the two great scholars Zhang Shen and Li Mubai, led eight hundred men to cover the rear. The great scholars of Cloud Deer Academy possessed profound and uncanny methods, and successfully covered the retreat of the Great Feng defenders.
But because Yang Gong had repeatedly used the art of Laws follow Commandments, and because he was already heavily wounded, the backlash from his spells caused his internal and external injuries to erupt together. After retreating to Yongzhou city, he fell unconscious and hovered on the brink of death.
This battle directly used up the last of the Great Feng army’s remaining elite. Ever since the autumn harvest, when half of the hundred thousand strong army died at Mount Jing City, the Great Feng’s elite forces had already been stretched thin.
During the Qingzhou campaign, the court transferred troops from every direction, drawing almost all the elite that could be mobilised from the garrisons of the various provinces into Qingzhou.
In the end, nearly fifty thousand died on the battlefield, and the remnants fell back to Yongzhou.
After the female Emperor ascended the throne, the Minister of War ground his teeth and transferred another ten thousand troops from several nearby provinces.
After the battle of Xunzhou, even that little remaining capital had been almost entirely spent.
At the same time, the righteous volunteer forces of the Wulin Alliance and Li Miaozhen were likewise obliterated in this brutal siege, one that was certain to be recorded in history.
The Wulin Alliance lost two fourth rank sect masters, and eighty per cent of its followers were killed or wounded. Li Miaozhen in particular suffered terribly. The Flying Swallow Army she led was annihilated, and she herself, together with her senior brother Li Lingsu, was taken back to the sect by the elders of the Heaven Sect, with no further news since.
After Xunzhou fell, the Yunzhou army finally lowered its banners and ceased operations, entering into a standoff with the Great Feng forces.
When the Yunzhou army left Yunzhou, it had a total of sixty thousand core troops, divided into left, centre, and right armies, all elite among elites. That did not even include the militia.
After occupying Qingzhou, with its ample reserves of money and grain, it recruited people from the jianghu and refugees, expanding its strength to a hundred thousand. This led to the phenomenon of the Yunzhou army growing larger and larger, while the Great Feng army grew smaller and smaller with every battle.
The Great Feng treasury was empty and refugees were everywhere. Yunzhou had come prepared, with twenty years of accumulation behind it.
In truth, what they were competing in was foundation.
In the Qingzhou campaign, the Yunzhou army looked, at first glance, as though it kept growing bigger and bigger. In reality, the left army’s thirty thousand elite had already been worn down by the Great Feng army to little more than scraps.
After the Yongzhou campaign began, both the miscellaneous troops and the elite steadily dwindled, until this recent brutal battle for Xunzhou ended and General Qi Guangbo’s direct central army had been completely spent.
The recruited jianghu fighters and miscellaneous troops were also almost gone. The Vermilion Bird Army, once galloping across battlefields and soaring through the skies, now had only twenty or thirty riders left, reduced entirely to aerial support.
At present, Yunzhou was being held up solely by the main strength of the right army and the Black Warrior heavy cavalry.
This was also why, after the Yongzhou campaign began, Qi Guangbo changed his tactics and adopted a strategy of sustaining war through war.
Yunzhou’s reserves too were limited. They could not afford endless losses.
However, in recent days, the situation on the battlefield had changed again. Perhaps because the beyond-mortal battle in the northern frontier had still not ended, the Yunzhou army had sensed something ominous.
Qi Guangbo gathered all his elite forces and arrayed them outside Yongzhou city. A great battle was about to erupt.
If Yongzhou fell, the Yunzhou army would be able to advance directly on the capital. Even taking a step back, if the capital could not be seized for the time being, Xu Pingfeng could still refine Yongzhou and increase his foundation.
In addition, apart from the tribulation battle that affected the whole situation of the Central Plains, there was another beyond-mortal battle that was likewise full of peril.
According to observations from scouts and Nightwatcher agents, that old man from the Wulin Alliance had been ambushed several times by Xu Pingfeng and forcibly teleported into Qingzhou.
This peak second rank Arcanist intended to kill the old man by force on his home ground. The old man truly lived up to his long-standing fame. Though he was beaten until he howled every time, he still relied on a martial artist’s thick skin and sturdy flesh to fight his way back from Qingzhou to Yongzhou each time, returning for more.
Compared with the peak clash between the two second ranks, the battle between Sun Xuanji and Ji Xuan had its merits, but the agents did not pay it much attention.
…
Inside the imperial study.
The grey-haired Minister of War tearfully complained to the Emperor:
“Your Majesty, aside from the portion of elite troops stationed at the borders, the Ministry of War truly cannot scrape together any more forces. The troops that could be used from the garrisons in each province have all been used up, and only the bare minimum remains to maintain stability in the provinces.
“The spring sacrifice is near, but there are still some days before the weather turns warm. Refugees and bandits still need troops to suppress them. If the garrison forces are emptied out, the consequences would be unthinkable.”
Qian Qingshu stepped forward and rebuked him:
“A great battle in Yongzhou is about to break out, yet the defenders are too few to hold Yongzhou. If the Yunzhou army succeeds in taking Yongzhou, their next step will be to march on the capital. At a time like this, what can we do except tear down the east wall to patch the west wall?”
The lords of the court argued endlessly in the imperial study.
With the war having reached this point, even these old foxes could no longer maintain their composure.
Behind the great desk, the female Emperor sat in solemn majesty. She lifted her eyes slightly, glanced at the Minister of War, and said coolly:
“If we order you to transfer troops, then transfer them. We do not wish to hear any reasons. We only wish for obedient people.”
The Minister of War felt a chill in his heart and said dejectedly:
“Your servant understands.”
The assembled ministers looked at each other. The noise of argument gradually died down. The Minister of War was one of Wei Yuan’s trusted associates, yet when the Emperor struck at him, she showed not the slightest regard for past ties.
Huaiqing looked around at the gathered ministers and said slowly:
“If the Yunzhou army wishes to fight, then let it fight. In another five days, the National Teacher’s tribulation will end. Within five days, the Yunzhou army cannot possibly reach the capital. And after five days, if the National Teacher advances smoothly to first rank, then we will still have a chance.
“Otherwise, everything will be over. Whether the Yunzhou army captures Yongzhou will no longer matter.”
Whether the Great Feng survives or perishes depends entirely on the situation in the northern frontier… The many ministers of the court felt mixed emotions, worry, hope, pessimism.
Huaiqing continued:
“Tomorrow is the spring sacrifice. We will have Royal Uncle Yu perform the sacrifice to Heaven on our behalf. We have other important matters, and will not attend.”
The assembled ministers felt this was improper, but to search their own hearts, they too truly had no mood for the spring sacrifice. Putting themselves in her place, they could understand the Emperor’s state of mind.
Thus no one remonstrated.
…
Day of the spring sacrifice.
A luxurious carriage made of golden nanmu wood slowly came to a stop outside the Sitianjian’s Stargazing Tower.
While the officials of the capital were attending the spring sacrifice, Huaiqing, as ruler of the realm, wore a light yellow informal robe and stepped down from the carriage onto the wooden stool placed for her by a eunuch.
Standing outside the broad square, she raised her eyes and glanced at the Stargazing Tower soaring into the clouds, then turned and instructed the eunuch:
“Before we come out, no one is to approach the Stargazing Tower.”
The chief eunuch bowed and said:
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Huaiqing immediately entered the Sitianjian. From the first-floor hall to the seventh level, she climbed in silence. White-robed Arcanists greeted her along the way, but she paid them no heed.
Her steps grew faster and faster, as if she could hardly wait.
Before long, she reached the seventh floor. In the spacious alchemy chamber, Song Qing had long been waiting. He bowed and said:
“Your Majesty, if you had come any later, I was about to revive Wei Yuan myself.
“After all, I still have several alchemy experiments on hand. I really am very busy.”
Huaiqing looked at Song Qing, whose creed was clearly “nothing in Heaven or Earth is greater than alchemy experiments”, and nodded expressionlessly:
“Lead the way!”
There was really nothing to reproach him for. Having been friends with Chu Caiwei for so many years, Huaiqing had long since grown used to what her senior brothers were like.
Now that she thought of it, after Caiwei had been “expelled” from the Sitianjian by the Jianzheng, she had at first written to her often, sharing the delicacies she found in various places. Gradually, she had begun writing instead about disaster and the people’s livelihood. Her words had lost some of their cheer and gained a touch of heaviness.
Later still, she had stopped writing altogether.
The last time Huaiqing heard news of Chu Caiwei had been through the Earth Book, learning it from Li Lingsu.
The greedy little girl had been gathering herbs all over the mountains and fields, treating sick refugees during the cold disaster, or every few days paying out of her own purse to buy grain and provide relief to disaster victims.
The two entered the secret chamber. Song Qing opened the iron door, which even a fourth rank martial artist could not shake open, and they saw Wei Yuan lying unconscious on the bed.
Inside this body was Wei Yuan’s Heaven Soul.
Back then, Zhao Shou had used the art of Laws follow Commandments to let Wei Yuan return in triumph. The Confucian Sage’s carving knife and the Lesser Sage’s Confucian cap had brought Wei Yuan’s Heaven Soul back with them.
After that, Nangong Qianrou had produced a lotus seed, Song Qing had refined a new body, and the Heaven Soul had been made to fit this new body perfectly.
Now, so long as Wei Yuan’s soul could be summoned back and the three souls completed, he would awaken.
After returning from his travels through the jianghu, Xu Qi’an had gathered all the materials needed to refine the Soul-Summoning Banner, and at last the great task had been accomplished.
Huaiqing lightly rested a hand on Wei Yuan’s shoulder. Guided by her qi, he floated up into the air, and followed as she left the chamber and headed for the Bagua Platform.
Song Qing followed closely behind.
Once atop the Bagua Platform, the first thing Huaiqing saw was a circular formation drawn in cinnabar, its array lines intricate and densely packed.
“This was left behind by Senior Brother Sun before he departed, a soul-summoning formation matching the Soul-Summoning Banner.”
Song Qing signalled for Huaiqing to place Wei Yuan in the centre of the formation. Then he removed the brocade pouch at his waist and took out a great banner taller than two men.
The banner pole was made of dark golden metal covered in pores, from which hung a jet-black banner. On the cloth were tiny formation glyphs written in gold powder, as small as tadpoles.
“Here.”
Song Qing hastily tossed the Soul-Summoning Banner to Huaiqing, as if it were a hot potato.
“This banner carries the poison and yin chill of a thousand-year-old corpse. Your Majesty has only a quarter of an hour. If after a quarter of an hour you still cannot call back Wei Yuan’s soul, then you can only wait another three months.
“Because the next suitable day for summoning a soul will be in late spring, three months from now.”
Three months from now, the Great Feng cannot not wait… Huaiqing nodded and said lightly:
“What else do we need to do?”
Song Qing answered every question:
“Wave the Soul-Summoning Banner and shout: Wei Yuan, ye soul return!
“Sigh, originally Xu Ningyan was meant to do this. After all, he counts as half a son to Wei Yuan, and the blood pill for his advancement was given by Wei Yuan. But with Your Majesty instead…
“Your Majesty, do not think this Song is too blunt, but are you and Wei Yuan even close? If you’re not, and he hears it’s you calling him and ignores you, then we’re finished.”
Song Qing is as irritating as usual… Huaiqing remained expressionless:
“There is no need for you to concern yourself with this matter. Before Xu Ningyan went to the northern frontier, he already entrusted it to us.”
With that, she walked to the edge of the Bagua Platform and raised the Soul-Summoning Banner high.
Song Qing, meanwhile, lit a stick of incense.
Just then, from the direction of the imperial palace came the sound of drums and court music together. The spring sacrifice had begun.
Rustle, rustle… Huaiqing waved the Soul-Summoning Banner and called out in a cool, clear voice:
“Wei Yuan, ye soul return!”
The Emperor waved the banner, and her bearing lost nothing to any man.
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