NOVPUB# 473. Yang Qianhuan's Arrival
In the dark of night!
On the wall in the gatehouse, the charcoal brazier burned quietly, dispelling the chill of the autumn night.
Water bubbled in a copper kettle. Li Miaozhen dipped a bloodstained sweat cloth into the warm water and gently wrung it. The basin turned crimson in an instant.
“What’s going on? If he keeps bleeding like this, he won’t last the night!”
Zhang Kaitai paced anxiously inside the hall.
The other officers sat or stood, scratching their heads in distress, brows furrowed with worry but utterly helpless.
After Zhang Kaitai brought Xu Qi’an back to the wall, he had remained unconscious, his breath faint. When they tore open his clothes to check his wounds, everyone was horrified, his body was covered in cracks, not a single spot intact.
From those porcelain-like fissures, blood oozed ceaselessly.
Especially the horrific wound at his waist, nearly severing him in two, it made the onlookers’ scalps go numb. Even for them, wounds of this severity, if not treated promptly, could be fatal within the hour.
A fourth-rank martial artist lacked the undying body of third rank, and unlike the Warlocks' blood spirit techniques, had no way to stimulate qi and blood to heal.
Li Miaozhen, as a disciple of the Daoist sect, had some medical knowledge. After all, to refine pills, one had to master pharmacology. She also carried some external injury healing pills.
But they had no effect whatsoever on Xu Qi’an’s injuries.
Ingested, they did nothing.
Ground into powder and applied to his wounds, still no use.
“This won’t do. We need to take him back to the capital. Only the Sitianjian can save him,” Li Miaozhen sighed.
She had no idea how the nearly fatal waist wound had come about.
But the porcelain-like cracking all over his body, she suspected, was due to the backlash from the Confucian “Laws follow commandments” technique.
Just like that time when he’d forced himself to defeat her and Chu Yuanzhen, resulting in his soul nearly being scattered.
Li Miaozhen recalled, back then, Xu Qi’an had used Confucian spells to enhance his primordial spirit, which led to backlash. This time, the cracks and bleeding might be from enhancing his qi.
“Thank you for your efforts, Daoist Li.”
Zhang Kaitai perked up, his eyes filled with urgency as he stared at her.
Li Miaozhen slowly shook her head, her expression dim. “My golden core is inside him. It’s stabilising his condition to a degree. Without it, he might already be…”
If she didn’t retrieve the golden core, how could she fly by sword?
But if she did, Xu Qi’an might not even survive the journey back to the capital.
Despair appeared on the faces of Zhang Kaitai and the other officers.
Her gentle fingers brushed Xu Qi’an’s cheek, and a clear, sorrowful feeling welled up inside her. *You saved Yuyang Pass, saved fourteen thousand soldiers, so what can I use to save you?*
She grieved for a moment, then suddenly had an idea. While reaching into her robe for the Earth Book fragment, she walked out of the gatehouse.
“You all watch over him. I’ll be right back.”
When she opened the gatehouse door, she froze. In her view, there was a mass of people, densely packed.
On the ramp leading up, centred around the gatehouse door, the crowd stretched out to both sides, disappearing into the distant darkness.
Not a sound could be heard among the thousands and thousands of men. As if they were afraid of disturbing the man inside.
“You can save Silver Gong Xu, right? You can save him… right…”
In the crowd, a soldier pleaded with a face full of desperation.
They had heard everything said inside.
When Li Miaozhen looked at them again, she realised that these blood-soaked men all had reddened eyes.
At that moment, she truly understood what it meant to feel a blow to the chest.
“I will…” she nodded gently and stepped back into the gatehouse.
Shutting the door behind her, she didn’t turn around. With her back to Zhang Kaitai and the others, she took out the Earth Book fragment and sent a message:
【Everyone, I’m with Xu Qi’an at Yuyang Pass on the Xiangzhou border. He is gravely wounded and barely clinging to life…】
In three short parts, Li Miaozhen concisely described Xu Qi’an’s condition.
Then she asked: 【What should we do now?】
【SIX: Sir Xu is in such dire straits?! Amitabha… this poor monk now wishes to travel northeast and guide those barbarians to reincarnation.】
Even through the Earth Book fragment, everyone could feel Master Hengyuan’s anxiety, worry, and helpless fury.
【ONE: Your golden core is inside him, holding him together for now?】
*Every time it involves Xu Qi’an, Huaiqing suddenly becomes active, not her usual quiet manner…* Li Miaozhen frowned subtly and replied:
【Yes. Without the golden core, I can’t fly by sword. But if I take it back, Xu Qi’an might not survive the trip to the capital. I… I can’t gamble with his life.】
*What do you mean you “can’t gamble with his life”? With your usual Lady Flying Swallow personality, shouldn’t it be: three parts fate, seven parts fight, “I’m taking you back to the capital, brother. Whether you live or die, it’s up to your luck”? …* Chu Yuanzhen couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.
【ONE: How long can he hold on?】
【TWO: He should be safe until midday tomorrow. But if I take the golden core out, he might only last an hour or two, perhaps less.】
Before Huaiqing could reply, Chu Yuanzhen jumped in:
【Then that makes things simple. If you can’t return, get the Sitianjian people to come to you. Yang Qianhuan’s teleportation array is even faster than sword flight. He should have time to come from the capital and return before midday.】
Li Miaozhen’s eyes lit up.
Such a simple idea, and she hadn’t thought of it. Clearly, worry clouds the mind.
Chu Yuanzhen continued: 【It’s already curfew, so Lina and Hengyuan can’t move about in the inner city. One, this matter can only fall to you.】
Number One held a high post in court. A curfew couldn’t stop them.
【ONE: Alright.】
Lina breathed a sigh of relief and added: 【If there’s any trouble, just say so. We’ll solve it together. It’s great to tackle problems as a team.】
*You didn’t do anything though, what’s with this tone, like you were a key contributor…* All the Heaven and Earth Society members felt a similar silent complaint in their hearts.
【ONE: Four, how is the northern front?】
【FOUR: The Jing cavalry has withdrawn. We expected the fighting to drag on for months, but Duke Wei struck the Church of the Warlock God’s headquarters in just ten days…】
After sending this, Number Four fell silent.
A few seconds later, Number One, Huaiqing, changed the subject: 【Li Miaozhen, can you now tell us the full details?】
Chu Yuanzhen sighed inwardly, then joined in eagerly:
【Yes, can you tell us what happened? Was it Nurhaci who injured him? If I recall, the King of Yan is dual-path fourth-rank peak, about the strongest beneath third rank.】
Li Miaozhen had only said that the eighty thousand troops of the two nations had attacked the city. She hadn’t had the time or mood to go into detail.
Chu Yuanzhen felt that with Xu Qi’an’s golden body and strength, a normal fourth-rank wouldn’t leave him on the verge of death.
Now that the greatest weight had been lifted from her heart, Li Miaozhen was less flustered than before. She replied via transmission:
【Xu Qi’an was wounded breaking the formation alone.】
She had just sent off the transmission and was about to continue writing when Chu Yuanzhen sent a terse message: 【Nonsense!】
【ONE: How could he be so reckless?】
Huaiqing frowned, her heart flaring with anger. This was indeed something Xu Qi’an would do, but her anger, born of worry, did not contradict that.
【SIX: Sir Xu is far too impulsive. This is no different from throwing his life away!】
It really was a death mission. Given Xu Qi’an’s current state, if not for Li Miaozhen’s golden core protecting him, he would have already perished.
Lina, holding the Earth Book fragment, furrowed her fine brows. Had she known, she would have gone with him to Yuyang Pass that day, never mind ten thousand troops, she’d have smashed them all flat.
*Seriously now, let someone finish talking for once…* Li Miaozhen pursed her lips and calmly sent another message:
【He broke through the formation single-handedly, holding off nearly all of the enemy elite. Twice, he shattered their morale and sent them fleeing in panic. After the battle, the defenders tallied the corpses. A rough estimate suggests he killed at least nine thousand in this battle alone.
【Yesterday, in the defence of the city, he slew Sugudu Hongxiong. Today, after breaking through the formation, he single-handedly killed Yan King Nurhachi and drove off the remaining fifty thousand enemies.】
Silence fell in the Earth Book chat group.
The minds of the Heaven and Earth Society members were full of question marks.
*One man, killing nine thousand, slaying two peak rank fours in succession, one of whom was considered the strongest below rank three? That had to be a lie. It had to be…* Scholars were calm and composed. Chu Yuanzhen had travelled across Jiuzhou for years and had seen much, yet now he just wanted to grab Li Miaozhen by the collar and tell her to stop joking.
Lina didn’t believe it either. She might not be clever, but when it came to fighting and cultivation, she still had some strengths.
Hengyuan couldn’t believe Li Miaozhen’s words. Achievements like this, surely only a third rank could manage them.
He remembered Xu Qi’an was a fifth rank Transforming Force. At that level, never mind killing nine thousand, killing two thousand would exhaust him.
*Li Miaozhen wouldn’t lie, and especially not about something so meaningless…* Huaiqing’s heart stirred. She sent a message: 【What trump card did he use?】
【TWO: He advanced to fourth rank overnight.】
If only they weren’t communicating via Earth Book fragments, they’d have heard the collective sighs from Hengyuan, Chu Yuanzhen, and the others.
Chu Yuanzhen felt a mix of admiration and pity. He remembered that before the campaign, Xu Qi’an had been stuck at the Intent stage, unable to break through. He hadn’t been in a rush either, cultivating steadily with an attitude of “epiphany would be great, but otherwise I’ll take my time.”
You could call that a good mindset, or laziness.
No one expected that after Wei Yuan’s death, he would break through to rank four overnight.
That man’s death must have hit him hard.
At that moment, tears glimmered in Huaiqing’s eyes. He had broken the enemy’s formation alone, without care for his own life, was that not the mark of a heart riven by grief?
The Earth Book group fell quiet again.
Li Miaozhen waited a long time. Seeing no one speak, she realised they were all lost in their own emotions and unwilling to continue.
She stowed away the Earth Book fragment and turned back to the plain bed, saying:
“Before dawn, Yang Qianhuan of the Sitianjian will arrive.”
Zhang Kaitai let out a long breath, as though fatigued from a wave of joy and sorrow.
The soldiers all smiled from the heart. If Silver Gong Xu had died here, it would’ve haunted them for life, they’d have lived forever with guilt and remorse.
Zhang Kaitai’s stern face forced out a smile:
“All right, go tell the lads to scatter. Get some rest if you need to, dress your wounds if you’re hurt. Don’t just stand there, we’ve been fighting all day, everyone’s exhausted.”
The soldiers wouldn’t budge. These were all honest, stubborn brutes, unless they saw Silver Gong Xu improve, they wouldn’t leave.
Some of the tougher ones even argued with Zhang Kaitai, stiff-necked.
In the end, they just let them be.
…
In the wilderness a hundred li from Yuyang Pass, a figure in white flickered across the land. Beneath his feet, formations of pure light flared into view, one after another. He moved so swiftly that the light patterns seemed to overlap like raindrops striking water.
Before long, the imposing outline of the border fortress emerged in the darkness.
“A towering aura of blood… there was a fierce battle here just now…”
The white-clad figure spoke in a low, grave tone, like a sage grieved by the world's suffering.
After another flicker of teleportation, he appeared atop the city wall. Looking around, he was surprised to see only a handful of soldiers patrolling the ramparts.
When he glanced toward the gatehouse, he understood, most of the soldiers had gathered there.
He was inevitably a little puzzled. In the dead of night, why weren’t they resting or guarding the walls? What were these coarse, simple-minded soldiers doing?
“There are quite a few people about… good thing I came prepared.”
The white-robed figure chuckled softly, full of confident ease as though everything was in his grasp.
…
As she dozed at the table, Li Miaozhen suddenly felt a jolt in her heart and woke with a start. Looking up, she saw a white-robed figure standing in the room.
He wore a veiled hat, beneath which was a mask, and beneath the mask appeared to be cloth wrappings.
“Yang Qianhuan?”
Li Miaozhen ventured.
“To think that even with such a low-key disguise, I still cannot hide my natural brilliance. Daoist Li, it seems I have left an indelible impression on you,” Yang Qianhuan said happily.
*You’re here because I had someone invite you…* Li Miaozhen was just as pleased. Though Yang Qianhuan was eccentric, he was incredibly reliable, never absent, never late.
“Why are you dressed like that?” she asked, puzzled.
“There are too many people here. No matter where I stand, someone is bound to see my face. That would not suit my image as a reclusive master who turns his back on the world,” Yang Qianhuan said solemnly.
Li Miaozhen was impressed, this third disciple of the Jianzheng truly had an obsessive commitment to only showing people the back of his head.
She didn’t waste time. “Quick, take a look at Xu Qi’an!”
Yang Qianhuan sat at the bedside, examined Xu Qi’an, took his pulse, and after a long while, sighed and shook his head.
Li Miaozhen’s heart sank, the joy she’d just felt snuffed out like a flame doused in cold water.
“He… he can’t be saved?”
“Oh no, he’s still salvageable.”
Li Miaozhen stared at him blankly. “Then why did you sigh and shake your head just now?”
Yang Qianhuan replied with utmost seriousness, “No special reason. It just makes me seem more important, doesn’t it? At a critical moment, it still takes me to save the day.”
Li Miaozhen wanted to kill him.
“How did he end up this badly hurt?” Yang Qianhuan asked.
…Li Miaozhen narrowed her eyes and said slowly, “You don’t know?”
Yang Qianhuan snorted. “Why should I? Don’t tell me you, like Junior Sister Caiwei, think I’m copying him?”
Li Miaozhen smiled.
