What Do You Mean by That?

By the edge of a small lake beneath a snow pine, Cui Zhengxing held a freshly boiled red clay pot and poured snowmelt into two new cups. The fragrance of tea immediately filled the air. With a light flick of his sleeve, the two cups glided before Wei Yuan and Zhang Sheng. "This Snow Peak Pine Needles of mine is not commonly found," he said. "Drinking it helps solidify one's foundation and enhance one's comprehension. Give it a try." At this moment, Wei Yuan and Zhang Sheng sat directly before Cui Zhengxing. The words "solidify one's foundation," Wei Yuan heard on Zhang Sheng's behalf; the words "enhance one's comprehension," Wei Yuan heard for himself. The items kept on hand by an immortal truly were never ordinary. Without standing on ceremony, Wei Yuan took the tea and drained it in a single gulp. Instantly feeling a clarity wash over his mind, he said, "My thanks to the Immortal Monarch." Zhang Sheng also drank hers down in one gulp, but said nothing, gesturing for Wei Yuan to do the talking. Cui Zhengxing said, "Wanyi suffered many misfortunes in her youth. Her mother died taking a tribulation in my stead, so I have always harbored guilt and could not help spoiling her. In the end, it fostered this arrogant, willful disposition of hers. If Wanyi were to die, it would obstruct my Dao heart; thus, I must preserve her life. "However, that does not mean I intended to send you two to your deaths. My coming here in person was precisely so I could control the Life-Binding Pearl at any moment. When necessary, I would naturally have retrieved the pearl without harming your lives or your Dao path." This sounded plausible enough. Wei Yuan said nothing and continued waiting for the immortal to name his terms. Since Immortal Monarch Cui had come in person to negotiate, the offer would surely not be too shabby. Cui Zhengxing sighed softly and said, "Chengxiao and Wanyi secretly gave the immortal medicine promised to Cui Yu to Lianxi, and then used the New City's karmic luck to mend Lianxi's foundation, before stripping Cui Yu of his castellan position. By the time I learned of it, matters had spiraled out of control and the fighting was already over. But rest assured: as an immortal, I certainly will not renege on an immortal medicine owed to a junior. It is merely that the immortal medicine is rare; I am still short two ingredients before I can fire up the furnace again. Only after roughly a year or so will there be seven more pills. On this, you will need to wait a little." Wei Yuan said, "The Immortal Monarch worries overmuch. I already have another method for Brother Cui's Dao path, so that immortal medicine is no longer strictly necessary. The Immortal Monarch need not trouble himself." Cui Zhengxing was taken aback. "You possess such a marvelous method?" "Merely a fortunate coincidence." Wei Yuan hesitated, stopping short. The unspoken half of his sentence was: *Since our agreement is void, please have the Cui family uproot your boundary stone and leave.* Wei Yuan believed Cui Zhengxing would grasp this subtext; it now came down to what price he would offer to salvage the situation. Cui Zhengxing slowly finished the tea in his cup. Setting it down, he had already reached a decision. "Mujia is quite compatible with Qingming, and the position Chengxiao and the others chose to place their boundary stone was somewhat improper anyway; a conflict would arise sooner or later. In that case, why not subordinate the Mujia boundary stone to Qingming as Qingming's child stone? The New City will still belong to Song Cui, and all future military supplies will be procured directly from Qingming. Furthermore, from now on, half of all tax revenue and karmic luck from the entire Mujia realm will be allocated to Qingming. What do you say?" This time, it was Wei Yuan's turn to be utterly astonished. These terms were simply too generous—so good that Wei Yuan had never dared imagine them before. Now Song Cui would fight the battles, Song Cui would suffer the casualties, yet Qingming would take half of all yields, and Mujia itself would become a child stone to Qingming, eliminating any future trouble. Making a prompt decision, Wei Yuan bowed in salute. "Many thanks, Immortal Monarch! The Immortal Monarch is truly magnanimous!" Cui Zhengxing nodded. A wisp of snowmelt flew from the red clay pot and sank into the earth below. He then said, "In three days, Mujia will begin merging into Qingming; after eighty-one days, the fusion will be complete. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave." Wei Yuan rose and bowed once more with a respectful demeanor and a sincere tone. "Respectfully seeing off the Immortal Monarch." Before departing, Cui Zhengxing seemed to want to say something to Zhang Sheng, but in the end said nothing and vanished on the spot. *** In the Cui family's New City, the castellan's manor was suffocatingly oppressive. Every servant held their breath, not daring to utter a whisper. The Immortal Ancestor was presently in the manor; nothing occurring in any corner of the city could escape his notice, and anyone gossiping behind his back would be courting death. In the main hall, Cui Chengxiao and Cui Wanyi stood before the Immortal Ancestor, both wearing looks of disbelief. Unable to restrain herself any longer, Cui Wanyi cried, "How could you agree to such terms with them?! If you ask me—" *Smack!* A wisp of immortal qi materialized out of thin air and struck Cui Wanyi fiercely across the face! Her ageless face instantly swelled, the corners of her eye and mouth splitting open. Clutching her face, Cui Wanyi could scarcely believe it. She wanted to scream hysterically, only to discover she could not make a sound—her mouth was already sealed by immortal power. Cui Zhengxing commanded, "Someone take her away. Escort her back to the main family immediately and confine her for ten years." Two maidservants stepped forward and dragged the frantically struggling Cui Wanyi away. Once silence returned to the room, Cui Zhengxing finally spoke: "Do you know why I agreed to such terms?" Cui Chengxiao answered honestly, "I truly do not know. Even if Wei Yuan and Zhang Sheng had spoken without restraint, they surely would not have dared demand such terms." Cui Zhengxing said, "Originally, I was unwilling as well. But after observing your series of defeats, I made up my mind. In today's decisive battle, leaving aside that Wanyi was facing certain death to begin with, even if she could have defeated Zhang Sheng, I would have intervened in secret to ensure she lost this round." This time, Cui Chengxiao was genuinely shocked. "Why would that be?" Cui Zhengxing said, "My Cui family's cultivation method differs from Xu Wangu's. The State of Song is the Cui family, and the Cui family is the State of Song. Family and state differ only in name; in truth, they are one entity. If Song is strong, I am strong; if the state weakens, I weaken. Over the past century, Song's fortunes have flourished—singing and dancing everywhere in peace and prosperity, the common folk living in contentment, literature blossoming, and celebrated scholars emerging one after another. "By all reason, this should be the spectacle of a renaissance, yet my cultivation did not advance; instead, it declined. I racked my brains unable to fathom why, until I saw your string of defeats, and only then did I understand. Fifty thousand elite troops, squeezed into a long serpent formation by Qingming's five thousand, slaughtered from head to tail! Six or seven thousand died from trampling alone—an utter rout! And then our two commanding generals were truly impressive: one, utterly incompetent at command, could only vent her wrath by butchering her own soldiers. The other cared only for his own duel, fleeing the moment the rout began!" Cui Chengxiao's face flushed crimson, his head hung low in silence. Cui Zhengxing grew increasingly furious as he spoke: "Nowadays, court officials are not selected for virtue or talent, but by family background and lineage! Military generals are not chosen for tactics and strategy, but solely by proximity of bloodline to me! This is Song's so-called golden age! "If not for this atrocious battle actually being fought, even if I had said fifty thousand elites might not beat five thousand enemies, surely even you would have remained unconvinced. But this battle was fought just so, right there for all to see! "Song borders the Tang dynasty and shares no frontiers with foreign races. Indulging daily in revelry and song, it has fostered a state of affairs fair without but foul within! "Let me ask you: Qingming possesses a million fierce tiger-and-wolf troops. Even if I handed you all eight million soldiers of the entire State of Song, could you win?" "B-but..." Cui Chengxiao still felt some defiance, yet dared not say more. The Immortal Ancestor was in a towering rage; he naturally could not argue that the defeats had all been suffered under Cui Wanyi. Seeing his expression, Cui Zhengxing's fury only mounted: "If not for the utter lack of promising talent among the younger generation, how could it have fallen to you to oversee the Western Regions?! Right now, Song is wealthy but not strong—mere meat upon another's chopping block! The situation is perilous in the extreme; I can no longer indulge your willful whims! Can you handle the affairs of the Western Regions this time? If you cannot, get the hell out right now!" Cold sweat rolled down Cui Chengxiao's face. Falling to his knees with a thud, he cried, "This time, I shall never fail the Immortal Ancestor's trust!" Cui Zhengxing's expression softened slightly. "Upon my return, I shall scrape the bone to cure the poison. The Western Regions here is a training ground; I will continuously dispatch forces from various fronts here to battle the foreign races, tempering them into fierce tiger-and-wolf troops. "You have two tasks. First, invite He Zhiyou back. Talents are hard to find; if every elder in the clan shares the Cui surname, decline will not be far off. Second, train and drill a new army to battle the foreign races. As for how to organize this new army, you may model it after Qingming, buying whatever equipment is available. "I do not fear casualties; I want victory! If your campaigns fail, you can resign your elder post of your own accord and become an unattached wanderer." Cui Chengxiao repeatedly promised he would do his utmost. Finally, Cui Zhengxing said, "I promised half of the tax revenue and karmic luck to Qingming. No one is permitted to lay a finger on that half. If you want to embezzle or take a cut, take it from our Cui family's share. If you dare touch Qingming's portion, losing your post and becoming a wanderer will be the least of your concerns." Cui Chengxiao fell to his knees once more, not daring to utter a word, merely kneeling. Moments later, when he raised his head, the seat above was already empty; the Immortal Ancestor had departed. *** Having struck an agreement with the Cui family's Immortal Ancestor and with Zhang Sheng having forged an unrivaled dharma idol, Wei Yuan was in high spirits. He then resumed Qingming's affairs, which had been neglected for several days, summoning the cultivators for a council to make up for lost time. Because Zhang Sheng needed to consolidate her dharma idol, she did not attend. Unfurling the sand-table map, Wei Yuan said, "Whether it is Qingming or Qingyuan, both rely on invincible military might. Our army cannot sit idle. Let us first survey what hidden perils remain in our surroundings, and neutralize them before our realm expands there. Hmm, are there any enemies within four thousand li?" Cui Yu replied, "None." "Hmm? The Shamans are that well-behaved?" Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised. He asked again, "What about six thousand li?" "None either." "...Eight thousand li?" "None." "—Ten thousand li!" "None." Wei Yuan widened the scope of the sand table continuously, but the map was a sea of fresh green, without a speck of red representing enemies. "What is going on? Is the map broken?" Wei Yuan was thoroughly bewildered. The cultivators kept silent, their gazes all falling upon Wang Hu and Xiaoyu. Wang Hu was newly arrived, possessing formidable strength and senior generation status. As for Xiaoyu, he had always clashed with Wei Yuan. Sure enough, Xiaoyu was unwilling to pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He said, "All the larger Shaman strongholds within ten thousand li have already been uprooted. We split into multiple columns and spent about four months on it. Sister Bao went so far as to attack right into the homes of mountain folk fourteen thousand li away just looking for an enemy. Later, Teacher Zhang said going any further was pointless, so the troops were finally pulled back. "As for nearby factions, the garrison of Song Cui's New City has already been wiped out one and a half times over. Li Zhi has been hammered several times and has fallen in line. Li Chengfeng has fallen in line, but hasn't been let off the hook yet. We are currently discussing whether to stage a few drills with him to see how fast we can wipe out his hundred thousand men." Given Wei Yuan's temperament, even he felt this was perhaps a bit too much like bullying. Just as he was about to call off the exercises, a thought suddenly struck him: What did Xiaoyu mean by saying all this?!