Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the seat of honor in the hall of Mohist City of Traps…
Xiang Shaoyun was sitting.
His subordinate martial arts practitioners and generals were sitting below him. The rain was dripping off each of their armors. All of them looked excited.
The Mohist City of Traps was said to be the most difficult walled city to capture. Regardless, these armored horsemen from Western Liang had laid siege to the impenetrable city anyway.
Each one of the Western Liang warriors felt they had accomplished a great thing.
They frantically looked at the Overlord who was sitting in the seat of honor. He was their spiritual pillar.
Xiang Shaoyun was reading the letter passed on to him.
It was sent from the capital city.
He crumpled it up after he was finished reading.
“Yuwen Xiu is still too young… Mo Beike is a total villain indeed.”
Xiang Shaoyun leaned on the back of the giant chair, which symbolized the position of the Mohist giant.
“Jiang Li is a brave general. As long as he is there, even though Yuanchi City was captured, it will be impossible for the North County Army to march into the capital city.”
“So Mo Beike adopted the soft-line approach when he found the hard-line approach didn’t work… Great Zhou’s imperial government has decayed since a long time ago. Except for the Imperial Advisor Kong Xiu, the other ministers are just some posers.”
“That’s exactly what Mo Beike is taking advantage of. Jiang Li is a hard bone to chew, but Mo Beike is going to cut him open with a soft knife,” Xiang Shaoyun said slowly.
Below, the generals from Western Liang were all listening to him attentively.
They knew the Overlord was going to plan the next step.
The Overlord was not just targeting the Mohist City of Traps. Instead, he was targeting the whole world.
The Overlord stayed silent for a long time, tapping his fingers on the armchair lightly.
Since Mo Beike had left, he did not have any advisor with him. However, he was Xiang Shaoyun. He would succeed even without an advisor.
With his fighting power as a cultivator, plus those Western Liang warriors who were fearless about death…
He would absolutely be the big winner in the end.
Any schemes would just be illusions in the face of real strength.
Xiang Shaoyun fully realized this in the siege on the Hidden Dragon Ridge.
If his strength could be compared to that of an Immortal’s, then the world would easily fall into his hands.
Xiang Shaoyun got to his feet. With his hands behind his back, he paced slowly. Affected by the powerful Qi and blood he was giving off, the generals felt so oppressed that they could not even breathe.
“Send the army straight into the capital city,” Xiang Shaoyun said in a deafening voice while gazing at the cliff outside. His eyes were ablaze like torches.
His subordinate martial arts practitioners and generals showed a frantic look.
And they roared all together.
******
Yuanchi City.
Great Zhou’s barracks.
In a tent…
Jiang Li, donning a silver armor, was reading the imperial decree he was holding in hands. He looked emotionless.
Kneeling on the ground, the envoy from the capital city did not have the nerve to move.
After a long while…
Jiang Li let out a long sigh.
He looked at the envoy after closing the imperial decree. “Go back to report to His Majesty… A general in the field is not bound by orders from his sovereign.”
The envoy was shocked.
Jiang Li was going to defy the imperial decree!
“If I go to the capital city, then no one will be lead the Great Zhou’s elite army… The North County Army won’t let such a good opportunity slip away. By then, our army will lose in a landslide,” Jiang Li said.
The envoy, kneeling on the ground, replied, “His Majesty understands that too. His Majesty doesn’t really want the General to go to the capital city, but… Those ministers were trying to impeach the General. All courtiers knelt down, crying. His Majesty is under huge pressure.”
“And those courtiers submitted a memorial to the throne together, saying that the North County Army only left a thousand soldiers guarding Yuanchi, and the remaining had retreated until ten miles away from Yuanchi City… They claimed it was because the North County Army was pressured by Great Zhou’s power, and thus about the war, and there was nothing to worry about anymore. So, General, please go to the capital city as soon as possible. It’s really urgent,” the envoy said, cupping his hands.
Sitting in the chair in his tent, Jiang Li looked extremely cold.
Even he could not help but close his fist tightly.
The officials were corrupt. The aristocratic families were evil-intentioned. And there was the Mohist manipulating everything in the dark.
The capital city was really in turmoil.
If he really gave up the battlefront and went back to the capital city, the North County Army would absolutely launch an attack the next day.
Jiang Li closed his eyes. He did not open them until a long time had passed.
He defied the imperial decree in the end.
The envoy went back to the imperial city on horse immediately to take the news back.
The news came as a shock in the imperial city.
Memorials asking to impeach Jiang Li came into Zijin Palace like a storm.
The eunuch could hear nothing but heavy groans in Zijin Palace as if it was threatening to storm.
Yuwen Xiu went to the Book Pavilion once again, but Mo Tianyu again stopped him at the door.
“Your Majesty, Master won’t see anyone,” Mo Tianyu said with a smile.
“Except Young Master Lu from Beiluo…,” he added after thinking.
“Why?!”
“We are pretty lost. We need Master’s instruction.” Yuwen Xiu gazed at Mo Tianyu. His eyes were bloodshot.
He had suspected it was Jiang Li who had killed his Father Emperor. As the rumor spread more and more, the seed planted in his heart broke from the soil and sprouted.
He had asked this question to the Imperial Advisor. However… by then, rumor had it even the Imperial Advisor was involved. Consequently, Yuwen Xiu was really bothered…
Mo Tianyu shook his head.
“Master won’t see anyone.”
“Your Majesty, would you like your humble servant to tell a fortune for you? The results of my fortune-telling are very accurate…,” Mo Tianyu said.
Yuwen Xiu was pretty disappointed at the response he had got. Looking at the Book Pavilion, he could vaguely see a figure sitting in the rocking chair, rocking before the window on the second floor.
As to Mo Tianyu’s fortune-telling…
Yuwen Xiu turned around and left without hesitation.
“That really hurts, Your Majesty…,” Mo Tianyu thought.
Yuwen Xiu refused to see anybody after returning to Zijin Palace.
He was struggling. He was fighting a struggle between his reason and his desire…
Yuwen Xiu knew that the North County Army’s retreat from Yuanchi City must be a trick.
“Your Majesty, all courtiers are kneeling outside of Zijin Palace, asking Your Majesty to punish General Jiang Li for defying the imperial decree.”
“Your Majesty, people are holding a demonstration in the imperial city, claiming they are seeking justice for the late emperor…”
“Your Majesty, rumor has it that Your Majesty has become a puppet of those who slew the late emperor, that Great Zhou is not Great Zhou anymore…”
******
News came to Yuwen Xiu one after another.
Yuwen Xiu’s face was almost distorted. He took off the crown. With his messy hair, he looked like a madman.
There were nine imperial decrees on the desk. The ink had not been dry yet.
He was still hesitating whether to issue these imperial decrees.
Yuwen Xiu was not dumb. He perfectly knew what it would mean for Great Zhou once these nine imperial decrees were issued.
He was having a hard struggle.
All of a sudden…
With his messy hair hanging down, Yuwen Xiu recalled what Mo Tianyu had told him outside of the Book Pavilion.
“Your Majesty, Master won’t see anyone.”
“Except Young Master Lu from Beiluo.”
In Zijin Palace, as dark as pitch, Yuwen Xiu’s eyes gradually lit up.
“Is that Master’s instruction for me?”
“Lu Ping’an from Beiluo…”
Yuwen Xiu’s breathing became shorter and faster.
“Guards, prepare wagons! We are going to Beiluo City!”
Outside of Zijin Palace…
The old eunuch was dumbstruck by Yuwen Xiu’s excited voice.
Then something seemed to occur to him. He could not help but tremble, but he managed to control the fear that arose in him. He bowed to Yuwen Xiu.
“Yes.”
******
Beiluo Lake Island.
Lv Mudui trembled somehow as soon as he got onto the island. He had a hunch that something terrible would happen.
He swallowed his saliva. Lake Island had changed a lot. The air was fresher, and even breathing it seemed to make one’s soul feel sublime.
The peculiar chrysanthemums growing on the island flourished even more.
In the distance, a pale blue airflow was circling the little girl Ni Yu. Before her was a black pot, in which something dreadful seemed to be boiling.
On the other side, Nie Changqing cut the lake surface in half with his butcher knife without even touching the water. A white trace was produced on the water surface. The water did not calm down until a long time had passed.
Yi Yue was practicing martial arts. Her whip method, modified by Lu Fan, was hard to trace. With every whip, the air seemed to be torn apart.
Ning Zhao was peerless. With her white dress fluttering in the wind, she stood on the lake surface.
She looked kind of normal, but it was not true.
Ning Zhao opened her eyes. The lake surface was dented immediately by a dreadful pressure.
Lv Mudui was shocked. These cultivators were frightful…
By then he only wanted to take the Immortal encounter Young Master Lu had agreed to give him and leave this horrifying island immediately.
On the second floor of White Jade City’s pavilion…
Lu Fan was feeling the gentle breeze by the rail. In white clothing, he waved at Lv Mudui with a smile.
Seeing the couplet on the door of the pavilion, Lv Mudui felt a dreadful pressure. Without the nerve to look straight at it, he lowered his head and went up to the second floor directly.
He finally met the elegant and noble Young Master Lu in person.
His nervousness calmed down somehow.
Lu Fan looked at Lv Mudui, smiling. With a wave of his hand, a full cup of green plum wine floated into the air and stopped before Lv Mudui.
“You did a good job in the incident that happened on Hidden Dragon Ridge,” Lu Fan said with a smile.
“Thank you, Young Master Lu. I came here today for the promise Young Master once made,” Lv Mudui said seriously.
“I never go back on my word. I promised to give you a wisp of Immortal encounter. So I will do.”
Lu Fan waved his hand slightly with a smile. Then a wisp of Spirit Qi flowed into Lv Mudui’s body.
Lv Mudui’s body shook. His hair and beard stirred. In his Qi Core, there was Spirit Qi surging. He looked more refreshed and vigorous instantly.
“This is Spirit Qi!”
Even Lv Mudui’s beard was shaking. He was extremely excited.
“Lv, take a seat.”
Lu Fan leaned on the back of his wheelchair. The hair on his forehead was blowing in the wind. He cupped one hand around his jaw and put the other hand on the wool blanket covering his legs.
“There is something I want to discuss with you about,” Lu Fan started.
Lv Mudui’s excitement was instantly gone.
“Young Master Lu, what is it about?”
Lu Fan showed a gentle smile. He took a sip of the tepid green plum wine and then smiled again.
“Nothing important. You should know that the opening of the Immortal Palace of the Hidden Dragon Ridge signifies the start of an era of cultivators. However, the current world knows nothing about the cultivator’s system, techniques, mysteries… And we, White Jade City, as the first power started by cultivators, have the responsibility of imparting the knowledge of cultivation to the world.”
“Consequently, we will need a perfect information system.”
“However, I don’t want too many troubles. So I think maybe Tianji School can be incorporated into White Jade City,” Lu Fan said indifferently after taking a sip of the warm wine.
“It’s all right. I’m a good-tempered person. Just spill your guts,” Lu Fan added.
“If you don’t oppose my proposition, just go back and tell the philosophers of Tianji School about this. They can come to Lake Island and discuss more details with me.”
Lv Mudui felt cold. Although Lu Fan was smiling at him, he felt a dreadful power had grasped his heart.
“Young Master Lu, are you good-tempered?”
That’s ridiculous!
In a trance, Lv Mudui left the pavilion of White Jade City.
He got onto his boat and propelled it by pushing against the riverbed with his pole.
He did not come to himself until he had been far away…
The Immortal encounter did not make Lv Mudui happy at all.
He knelt down on the boat suddenly.
He had come to Beiluo City to take the Immortal encounter…
But why, all of a sudden, did he sell Tianji School?
Oh gosh, what on earth did he do?