The civil and military officials, the meritorious nobles, and the imperial clansmen filling the hall, every eye was fixed on that figure in azure robes.
Wei Yuan… he had returned.
The familiar azure robe, the familiar face, the familiar bearing, the familiar… greying temples.
Inside and outside the hall, in that instant, an extraordinary silence fell.
The loudest sound was no sound at all. After shock reached its peak, there was only silence.
“Wei Yuan greets Your Majesty!”
Wei Yuan walked to the front of the throne and cupped his hands in salute.
Huaiqing’s gaze swept across the assembled officials, and the corner of her mouth lifted:
“My lords, why do none of you speak?”
Even now, the hall remained silent. No one answered the female Emperor’s words. They stared fixedly at Wei Yuan. Some widened their eyes, trying to find proof that this was a fake. Some had reddened eyes, tears already welling up. Some were wild with joy, trembling all over with excitement.
“D-Duke Wei?”
Liu Hong, now the leader of the Wei Clique, stepped forwards with reddened eyes and a trembling body. After examining him carefully, he said in a choked voice:
“Weren’t you killed in battle at Mount Jing City?”
He voiced the doubts of all the officials in the hall. Faced with the azure-robed man before them, the gathered lords all harboured suspicion.
Wei Yuan had died at Mount Jing City nearly half a year ago. Outsiders only knew that Wei Yuan had sacrificed himself for the country, but they knew more of the details. At the time of his death, even his body had not been brought back.
If even the body was gone, how could he be brought back to life?
Wei Yuan smiled gently:
“I merely returned from the dead. There is nothing strange about it.”
Returned from the dead, merely?
The female Emperor added:
“After Duke Wei sacrificed himself, Xu Qi’an had been seeking a way to revive him, rebuilding his body and refining a magic artefact to summon back his soul. On the day of the spring sacrifice, we personally recalled Wei Yuan’s soul.”
Only then did the officials understand why the female Emperor had not appeared at the spring sacrifice that day.
They had assumed she had been in low spirits and had no heart for the ceremony. Who would have thought she had secretly revived Wei Yuan?
It was Xu Qi’an who had rebuilt his body and recalled his soul… The civil and military officials suddenly understood, and much of the doubt in their hearts at once dispersed.
It was not that they did not trust the female Emperor. Well, all right, it was exactly that they did not trust her.
Though the female Emperor was brilliant, she was, in the end, still only a mortal. If she said she had revived Wei Yuan, the gathered lords did not believe it from the bottom of their hearts.
But if it was Xu Qi’an, then they were willing to believe it. Because Xu Qi’an was second rank, one of the foremost figures in the world.
“So Silver Gong Xu already had a plan.”
“He had been secretly working all along to revive Wei Yuan. He had been planning this for a long time.”
“If we’d known earlier, we needn’t have worried day after day.”
The assembled lords discussed it in complicated moods, but inwardly they were greatly reassured.
So without anyone realising it, Xu Qi’an had already done so much. At times that lad made people’s teeth itch with hatred, but the same old saying still held true, when one stood in the same camp as him, one somehow felt at ease.
As the officials began discussing things again, the core members of the Wei Clique were flushed with excitement, almost incoherent. The female Emperor cast a glance at the seal-holding eunuch.
Crack!
The middle-aged eunuch flicked his wrist, and the whip lashed across the gleaming floor.
The officials quietened down.
The female Emperor’s voice was cold and majestic:
“Leave reminiscences until after court is dismissed.
“The withdrawal to defend the capital was Duke Wei’s idea. What do my lords think?”
The same question was asked a second time, yet this time none of the assembled lords spoke.
They looked at one another, then glanced at the female Emperor, then at Wei Yuan. After quite some time, Liu Hong, Zhang Xingying, and the other members of the Wei Clique cried out:
“We leave everything to Your Majesty’s judgement.”
Next came Qian Qingshu and the members of the Wang Clique, each expressing that they would follow the female Emperor’s decision, withdraw to defend the capital, and fight the Yunzhou army in a decisive battle.
They were not merely bowing to the tide of events. They truly felt hope. Even the Wang Clique, once Wei Yuan’s political enemies, had, at the moment of seeing Wei Yuan appear, felt as if a beam of dawn had split the dim sky.
From the war in the North, when he first emerged, to the battle of Shanhai Pass that had shaken past and present, and then at harvest time, when a hundred thousand troops had flattened the Church of the Warlock God’s headquarters at Mount Jing City, the Great Feng’s God of War had never known defeat.
…
Huaiqing pressed her lips together and said, in a somewhat complicated mood:
“We must trouble my lords to assist Duke Wei and defend the capital together.
“Court is dismissed!”
…
“Hyah!”
A luxurious carriage raced along the broad streets of the imperial city. The wheels thundered as they rolled, and the driver kept whipping the horses, not because he himself was anxious, but because the Prime Minister in the carriage kept urging him on.
An ominous feeling rose in the driver’s heart. He suspected old Prime Minister Wang Zhenwen had not long left to live, and Prime Minister Qian was hurrying to see him one last time.
Very soon, the carriage came to a halt outside the Wang residence. Qian Qingshu did not give the attendants a chance to help him down, but leapt steadily from the carriage and strode into the residence.
Passing through the outer courtyard and winding corridors, he arrived outside Wang Zhenwen’s bedchamber, accompanied all the way by the Wang household steward, who said:
“Prime Minister Qian, Prime Minister Qian… please allow this humble one to inform my master.”
Qian Qingshu ignored him and went straight to the bedchamber door, only then turning to the steward and signalling for him to knock.
The steward obeyed with a mournful face and said softly:
“Master, Prime Minister Qian has come.”
He did not dare raise his voice for fear of disturbing Wang Zhenwen’s rest.
Before long, a young maidservant opened the bedchamber door and said in a low voice:
“Master asks you to enter.”
Qian Qingshu stepped over the threshold and entered the room. He saw Wang Zhenwen sitting propped against the bed, his complexion ashen, turning his head to look over.
“Judging by your expression, something major must have happened.”
Wang Zhenwen let out a turbid breath and said in a deep voice, “Has Yongzhou fallen?”
After Xunzhou had fallen, Wang Zhenwen had often suffered from insomnia and startled awakenings. His spirit had grown ever more weary. With his experience and insight, he knew it was only a matter of time before Yongzhou fell.
He had only not expected it to happen so quickly.
Once Yongzhou fell, the Yunzhou army would be at the gates of the capital.
Qian Qingshu was silent for a moment as he chose his words, then said:
“Yongzhou is indeed lost, but this was by Your Majesty’s order. She said we were to withdraw to defend the capital and fight the Yunzhou army to the death.”
Wang Zhenwen looked full of sorrow:
“This is a dangerous move. I understand Her Majesty’s intention. Fighting in the capital will certainly be better than fighting in Yongzhou. Whether in troops, city walls, weapons, or supplies, the capital’s stores are exceedingly abundant. We can wage a prolonged war.
“But she has overlooked human nature. With the enemy army pressing on the capital, panic among the people and officials is inevitable. Once people’s hearts scatter, the battle can no longer be fought.”
“Brother Wang sees it clearly indeed!” Qian Qingshu sighed.
“When I heard today that Her Majesty had voluntarily abandoned Yongzhou and chosen to withdraw to defend the capital, I too felt a panic as though the end of days were at hand. But… Wei Yuan has returned.”
The moment he said those words, he saw Prime Minister Wang’s expression abruptly freeze, like a painted scroll turned motionless.
Only after a long while did the old man twist his neck and turn his withered face over, staring fixedly at Qian Qingshu as he said, one word at a time:
“What did you say…?”
Qian Qingshu answered solemnly:
“Wei Yuan has been resurrected. Xu Qi’an rebuilt his body for him, and on the day of the spring sacrifice, Her Majesty personally recalled his soul. Today in court, I observed him again and again. It truly was Wei Yuan. Appearance may be altered, but that bearing, those eyes, that manner of speech, those cannot be imitated.
“Besides, among the meritorious nobles there are no lack of experts. If it were disguise, they would have seen through it already. Her Majesty said that withdrawing to defend the capital was Wei Yuan’s decision.”
After hearing this, Wang Zhenwen sat in a daze for a long time, then asked:
“How did the civil and military officials react?”
Qian Qingshu replied:
“They are now actively taking part in the defensive preparations, each performing his own duty. When court was dismissed, I looked carefully. Though their expressions were still far from good, none was pessimistic. Ah, when it comes to commanding armies and waging war, so long as Wei Yuan is there, one simply feels at ease.
“He returned at exactly the right time. The hearts of the capital can now be steadied…”
As he spoke, he suddenly realised Wang Zhenwen’s head had tilted to one side, his eyes closed, and he had not moved for a long time.
Qian Qingshu’s heart suddenly tightened. His lips trembled as he called softly:
“Brother Wang?”
He stretched out a trembling hand, grief in his eyes, and carefully tested for breath.
The next moment, Qian Qingshu was flooded with relief and his expression loosened.
He had merely fallen asleep.
The maid beside them said softly:
“Master has not been sleeping soundly these past few days. Even when he does fall asleep, he often wakes with a start and then lies there alone with his eyes open in a daze.”
Qian Qingshu nodded slowly and said in a quiet voice:
“Take good care of him. Do not disturb him.”
Before leaving, he paused at the door and looked back at Wang Zhenwen’s peaceful sleeping face.
At last, you can have a proper night’s sleep.
…
The North!
A white-robed figure flickered again and again amidst rising clear light, each flicker carrying it three li.
This white-robed figure had exactly the same appearance as Xu Pingfeng. It was an avatar he had refined. In essence it was a puppet, forged from refined iron and inscribed with twenty-eight formations, with battle strength roughly equal to an expert who had just entered fourth rank.
Xu Pingfeng had split off a wisp of consciousness and lodged it in the puppet, using it as an avatar.
Of such avatars, he could control at most two at once, one left in Qianlong City, one carried with him.
Any more than that, and his mind would easily become too scattered. Ordinarily that would not matter, but he still had to deal with Kou Yangzhou, that second-rank martial artist, so he could not possibly divide off too much consciousness.
The battle in the North concerned the entire campaign. Baidi and Agaruka had still not won, and that made Xu Pingfeng catch the scent of something amiss.
He had to see for himself what was happening.
Passing through the vast uninhabited lands and gazing into the distance, he saw at the end of the desolate plain dark masses of cloud and a sandstorm that blotted out the sky and sun.
From the distant cloudbank, Xu Pingfeng sensed the aura of heavenly tribulation.
So Luo Yuheng’s thunder tribulation really hasn’t ended. Judging by this aura, it should be the earth thunder tribulation… Xu Pingfeng lowered the speed of his teleportation and approached cautiously.
After all, this puppet was only at the level of one just entering fourth rank. A mere trace of the heavenly tribulation’s aura, a mere ripple from a battle of beyond-mortals, could reduce it to ashes.
Boom!
When he came within three li of the tribulation cloud, a terrifying shockwave surged up like a raging tide.
Xu Pingfeng immediately activated a defensive formation, condensing a hexagonal barrier before himself.
Bang!
The defensive formation lasted only three seconds before the violent shockwave tore it apart. The puppet body was sent flying on the spot, its chest deeply caved in.
Had it been a fourth-rank Arcanist, such an injury would have been enough to rob him of his combat strength.
But a puppet would not die, nor did it know pain. Sticking close to the ground, Xu Pingfeng teleported twice more and finally arrived at the edge of the tribulation cloud.
At the same time, he saw two battlefields. He saw Baidi and Xu Qi’an. He saw Agaruka, al-Asura, Daoist Jinlian, and Zhao Shou.
He skimmed over everyone else directly. Xu Qi’an’s appearance left Xu Pingfeng momentarily bewildered.
Comments for this chapter. You will need a GitHub account. Please follow all terms and conditions of GitHub issues and maintain etiquette in the comments. Cookies are required for this functionality.
If you want to talk with other readers about Nightwatchers (or other cultivation type books) you can join our cultivation groupreading discord server!
I also have a Kofi, which for legal reasons is definitely for supporting my digital art only (promise!): ko-fi.com/yanxin ... plus I guess server space isn't free, and I don't want to put ads/trackers... ever, so thank you if you do!