In the royal study of the palace, the King of Zhao was painting a landscape.
It was a grand piece, ten feet long and three feet high, yet at the moment only a scattering of peaks was visible on the scroll. The King of Zhao placed a stroke here to the east, another there to the west, seemingly scribbling at random, yet the whole realm of mountains and rivers lay clear within his mind.
Li Chengfeng stood at his side, recounting the entire course of the battle in full detail.
The King of Zhao did not interrupt him once. Only when his son finished speaking did he ask, "Wei Yuan deployed eighty thousand men in all?"
"Yes." Li Chengfeng's expression remained steady, his heartbeat calm.
What he did not mention was that, judged by their Body Casting cultivation, the only troops that could truly be considered elites were the three thousand in the vanguard wielding flying-sword guns, one thousand of the five-thousand-strong artillery corps, and the five thousand cavalry led by Wei Yuan himself—a total of nine thousand men. Among the rest, fifty thousand were mere laborers who had only reached the Sinew and Muscle Realm of Body Casting.
The King of Zhao finally looked up and glanced at him. "Fifty thousand against eighty thousand—it is only natural to lose. Wei Yuan faced a superior foe as the underdog and routed the Land of Rain's army of millions; how could that be compared to your petty skirmishes? Do you now understand that heroes abound under heaven, and that building a lasting foundation is no easy task?"
Though nearing fifty himself, Li Chengfeng still behaved with utmost deference. "Father speaks the truth. I have taken the lesson to heart."
"Aside from those two conditions, what else did Wei Yuan ask for?"
"This child was bold enough to yield my own turn to Wei Yuan, allowing him to draw once from the Scroll of the Phoenix Fire Immortal Palace."
"Did he draw anything?"
"This child could not see clearly, but it appeared to be a handful of moss clinging to soil."
"Where is the scroll?" the King of Zhao asked.
Li Chengfeng presented the immortal scroll with both hands. The King of Zhao unrolled it, gave it a look, and ordered his attendants to deliver it to the ancestral treasure vault for nurturing to await its next opening.
Then he said, "Wild growth is unlikely to hold much value. Even if he drew a Scenery Command spiritual treasure, it would still fall far short of a Bishui territory. You showed quick wit in handling the matter; you did well."
Li Chengfeng let out a sigh of relief, cold sweat instantly drenching his back.
The King of Zhao glanced sideways at him. "What makes your conscience so uneasy?"
"This child initially feared that allowing an outsider to desecrate the immortal treasure passed down by our ancestors was a grave offense, and dreaded Father's censure."
The King of Zhao gave a cold snort. "Who taught you such nonsense? Spend less time keeping company with those pedantic scholars! Hmph. Desecration? Over the centuries, no fewer than two hundred sons of our Zhao clan have touched that treasure. How many of them amounted to anything worthwhile?
"Unworthy descendants like that are the true desecration. In using the scroll to preserve the Bishui territory, you actually handled the matter properly."
Li Chengfeng had never imagined he would receive praise. Beside himself with pleasant surprise, he knew he had finally found favor in his father's eyes. The only regret was that the King of Zhao possessed supreme cultivation and might even achieve the Scenery Command realm. Before reaching a hundred years of age, Li Chengfeng had no hope of entertaining any thoughts of the throne.
At this thought, Li Chengfeng became all the more determined never to let his father discover what Wei Yuan had truly drawn.
He replayed the moment in his mind. When Wei Yuan pulled the object out, phoenix fire had rushed toward them. Most of the onlookers had likely seen nothing clearly, but a few faces had shown strange expressions.
Li Chengfeng noted down those three individuals in his mind, intending to deal with them secretly the moment he returned. He could leave no loose ends.
The King of Zhao spoke again: "My tens of thousands of Zhao soldiers cannot remain on foreign soil for too long, lest it chill the hearts of the troops. A few tens of thousands of dan of silk is no great matter; go see to it shortly. You may use those skyships for a few more days."
Li Chengfeng was overjoyed. "Thank you, Father!"
"Is there anything else to report?" the King of Zhao asked.
"One more thing. This child has recorded the appearance, power, array formations, and operating procedures of the weapons Wei Yuan used this time, binding them into this booklet. This child believes that what he calls artillery is a divine instrument of war. We must catch up with all haste."
A trace of a smile finally touched the King of Zhao's face. "It is very good that you thought of this. I had originally intended that if you failed to hold Bishui this time, you would return and serve as Minister of Works for a few years to familiarize yourself with the foundations of state governance.
"Now that the territory remains in our hands, you shall continue to serve as its lord. The border's Gefeng Commandery is rich in mineral deposits; you shall oversee that as well. I will grant you the authorization and equipment for a new army of one hundred thousand. Train them well. Before long, we will fight Wei Yuan once more."
"Thank you, Father!"
***
Qingming.
Wei Yuan returned triumphant and ordered a campsite marked out beside Zhike Town to house the Zhao soldiers. He provided only military tents and construction materials; the Zhao troops had to build the camp themselves.
These Zhao soldiers were true elites. In half a day, they had erected an orderly, well-laid-out encampment complete with all necessary facilities, stationing only sentries without setting up defensive works.
Wei Yuan gave an approving nod at the sight. Seeing that the Zhao troops understood their place, he harbored no further suspicions.
Of the fifty thousand elite Zhao troops in this campaign, ten thousand had been slain on the spot, thirty thousand were wounded, and only ten thousand remained unhurt. Moreover, those ten thousand had surrendered their armor and weapons, leaving them utterly powerless before heavily armored warriors.
Wei Yuan ordered meals sent over, while over a dozen lovely female disciples from the medical clinic arrived with several hundred apprentices to tend to the wounded.
Having meat in the meals was surprising enough. But the sight of those beautiful physicians dressed in white left the rough Zhao soldiers dumbfounded. To think that being wounded in Qingming came with such treatment—no wonder everyone fought to the death on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan summoned the cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning and took out the piece of Phoenix Blood Longevity Moss to assess its properties. At the time, he had only surveyed it briefly using his qi-observing technique, knowing it to be an immortal treasure. As for its exact nature, it still required careful appraisal by someone skilled in such matters.
The moment Xu Henshui saw the moss, her face instantly turned green. She leaned in gingerly to take a soft sniff, then closed her eyes. Her delicate, lovely face shifted from green to a flushed red, and she swayed unsteadily as if drunk.
Yu Zhizhuo's gold essence bird dared only watch from afar, letting out mournful cries if urged any closer. Fire overcame metal, and the divine phoenix was the sovereign of all birds, holding an absolute counter over the little gold essence bird.
Yet counter or not, it made the bird all the more sensitive, allowing it to discern the material's properties with greater precision.
The cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning were fully absorbed. An immortal spiritual aura originating from a supreme divine beast, even if merely sensed, offered immense aid in comprehending the Great Dao of heaven and earth.
After swaying for a long time, Xu Henshui suddenly cried out, "I know! This is the primary ingredient from that ancient recipe!"
"Which ancient recipe?"
"The Kunyuan Longevity Pill!"
The name sounded familiar to Wei Yuan. Searching his memory, he recalled that there indeed existed such an ancient recipe. He had comprehended its final true-intent inheritance and recorded it within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. One of its three primary ingredients matched the appearance of this very piece of moss.
The moss in the ancient recipe held the intent of longevity, whereas the Phoenix Blood Moss leaned toward the intent of imperishability. While their fundamental root was the same, there were subtle nuances between them. Still, it could certainly serve as the primary ingredient in the immortal recipe.
Wei Yuan had previously assumed the ingredients in that ancient recipe were long extinct, so he had never paid it much heed. He had not expected to secure one of its primary ingredients today. Come to think of it, the Phoenix Fire Immortal Palace was likely an ancient realm that had fallen into ruin untold ages ago; only in such a place could one find materials that had vanished from the world.
With the purpose of the Phoenix Blood Longevity Moss determined, the time had also come for Consort Yuan to return to the Jin capital.
Since her departure was set for the following day, Wei Yuan visited her quarters a day in advance.
"Can you really not stay?" Wei Yuan attempted one final plea.
Consort Yuan sighed. "After all, it is an edict from the King. Putting everything else aside, if I do not return, you would have to rebel immediately. It is not yet the right time."
Wei Yuan nodded, then caught himself. Why was he nodding?
Consort Yuan covered her mouth with a soft chuckle. "You don't need to worry so much about me. Didn't I manage just fine before I came here? The Crown Prince may have his schemes, but I am no pushover. Back when his mother was alive, she couldn't get the better of me. Now that he stands alone, I have more than enough means to protect myself."
"What if he resorts to force...?" Wei Yuan remained uneasy.
Consort Yuan rolled her eyes at him. "Do you think everyone is like you?"
Wei Yuan felt rather wronged. When had he ever resorted to force?
Consort Yuan smiled. "All right, let's not dwell on unpleasant things. The stronger you are out here, the safer I will be in the palace. I heard you thoroughly routed Li Chengfeng—tell me the details?"
Wei Yuan recounted the entire course of the battle without holding anything back.
Consort Yuan listened quietly before asking, "In your view, how strong was this new army of Li Chengfeng's?"
Wei Yuan replied, "Twenty thousand Spirit Refinement, thirty thousand Jade Bone, well-trained and strictly disciplined—even the Nine Armies of Great Tang are no better than that. Aside from the Longxiang and dragon guard corps, the only forces in Qingming that can compare to them number around ten thousand, making our totals roughly equal.
"Li Chengfeng lost because he had no concept of artillery warfare. Meeting us head-on in open terrain, he deployed in dense formations and was shattered by a single barrage of cannon fire. Had both sides relied only on bows, crossbows, and blades, I would have needed at least two hundred thousand men surrounding him on all sides to guarantee victory."
Consort Yuan said, "By your account, in a head-on clash, that army could defeat Yue Jinshan's Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry one-on-one. The new army trained by Prince Ying is considered elite, yet even at four-to-one odds, it would likely suffer defeat."
Wei Yuan was taken aback. "Li Chengfeng was that strong?"
"If he weren't, would the King of Zhao have entrusted him with one hundred thousand elite troops and a Bishui boundary stone?"
Wei Yuan pondered this carefully and realized that had Li Chengfeng's army been deployed on an ordinary battlefield, it could have bested forces numbering three or four hundred thousand. Yet he had routed them with virtually no losses. Thinking about it in that light...
Wei Yuan remarked with a hint of astonishment, "Turns out I'm actually pretty strong?"
Consort Yuan rolled her eyes at him. "What did you think, Lord Military Commissioner? If you weren't this strong, would I have fled to your territory to seek refuge?"
Wei Yuan suddenly slapped his thigh. "If I'm already this strong, why do I have to put up with being pushed around?"
"Who pushed you around?"
Wei Yuan explained that when he had brought Consort Yuan back to Qingming, he had sent another squad to capture the surviving assassins.
Along the way, however, an army had intercepted them. The commander was exceedingly arrogant, presenting a personal hand-order from the Left Prime Minister, co-signed by the Right Prime Minister and several grand secretaries, and forcefully took all the assassins away.
At the time, Wei Yuan had lacked foresight and had not carried his change of clothes, so he had dispatched Qingming's regular army rather than the Heaven-Extinguishing Gang, leaving him no choice but to hand over the assassins. Otherwise, Wei Yuan felt, he might have been pushed straight into open rebellion.
Now that he recognized his true strength, the realization finally dawned on him: if he was already this strong, why did he have to endure being pushed around? Shouldn't he be the one pushing others around?
Wei Yuan asked himself: once he possessed the power, would he bully others?
Yes, he would.
Wei Yuan never lied to himself.
And so Wei Yuan turned to Consort Yuan and said, "Don't rush to leave tomorrow. I need to make proper arrangements."
Chapter 673