During the solar term of Cold Dew, night fell upon Guangyang Prefecture.
Influenced by the cold front sweeping south, Guangyang Prefectural City, built along the waterways, seemed somewhat desolate.
A flurry of light snow drifted from the heavens. A thick sheet of ice had sealed the canal, halting water transport entirely, yet the severed waterways had driven an even greater surge of beast carriages along the official highways.
More than ten converging highways saw long queues snaking outside the city walls.
Guangyang Prefecture was a confluence of storms and ambitions. Sensitive speculators needed only to glance at the court's public gazettes to sniff out the commercial opportunities here.
If even low-level merchants were like this, how much more so for the well-informed?
Speculative traders, sword-wielding wandering martial artists, mobilized troops, sect disciples, and travelers of every stripe streamed past in an endless tide.
Looking into the distance under a sky blanketed by a misty white dusting of snow, across the vast earth stretched countless beast carriages, while in the sky above, birds converged toward the colossal city like a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix.
Embellished by the lights of the great city, a bustling nightscape of an ancient metropolis unfolded.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, a lion-eagle beast slipped quietly into the city under cover of night, veiled among the flying beasts, drawing nobody's attention.
At the same time, in an elegant pavilion overlooking the water, a handsome young man with thin lips and peach-blossom eyes leaned against the balustrade. Looking down from on high at the bustling street below, he held a folding fan and chuckled softly to himself:
"This vital artery leading to the three northern provinces hasn't been this lively in nearly twenty years. Still, too much excitement isn't necessarily good—even the prices at Zuixian Tower have jumped because of it."
Behind the handsome youth stood a woman clad in form-fitting martial attire.
Leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, she had hair dark as clouds, snow-white skin, and vermilion lips, marred only slightly by a deep scar running along her swan-like neck.
The two were none other than Luo Qingfeng, who had fled here, and the handsome young master from the Wanyao Sect.
Luo Qingfeng fixed her gaze on the man's back. "When will your Wanyao Sect introduce me to the elders of the Sect Alliance?"
The handsome young man smiled, turning around with a feminine grace. "Miss Qingfeng, do not be in such a hurry. You disobeyed orders on the battlefield during the decisive engagement with the Barbarians, making you a criminal.
"Now that all factions have converged on Guangyang Prefecture, this young master already incurs immense risk just hiding you, to say nothing of introducing you to the Sect Alliance elders. Every single one of them might be watched."
Luo Qingfeng narrowed her eyes, an edge creeping into her voice. "Fu Qingye, this is already my ninth day in Guangyang Prefecture."
Fu Qingye rubbed his chin. With a sharp snap, his folding fan struck his palm as he smiled without haste. "As I have said, if you have something urgent, tell me, and I will relay it to the Alliance elders on your behalf."
With that, as the chilly, snowy breeze brushed past, Fu Qingye strolled into the pavilion room. Passing by the doorframe where she leaned, he paused, glanced at her, and smiled. "This young master is truly curious: when you had that final battle with the Barbarians beneath Mount Guxuan, what exactly happened?"
Luo Qingfeng curled her lips into a faint smile. "It seems your Wanyao Sect doesn't intend to collect its remuneration?"
The Wanyao Sect engaged in the battlefield triage and rescue business. War had raged incessantly across the Northern Border for decades, making the northern sects long-standing clients.
And regular clients enjoyed perks—generally, payment upon delivery, settled once every three years.
At her words, snow continued falling outside, and the streets remained bustling, but the atmosphere inside the pavilion abruptly froze.
After a breath of mutual stare-down, an uncanny aura flickered within Fu Qingye's peach-blossom eyes. He grinned, his eyes narrowing, his red lips and white teeth flashing with a dangerous gleam.
"Miss Luo, to this day, no one has dared renege on a debt owed to the Wanyao Sect. Do you northern sects wish to be the first?"
"......"
The two stood very close. In the cold wind drifting through the window, Luo Qingfeng could even smell the rouge on Fu Qingye—or rather, a medicinal fragrance.
Yet she did not yield. Her cold voice stressed every syllable: "If you don't want us to renege, then arrange my meeting with the Alliance elders as soon as possible."
"Sigh." Fu Qingye reined in his cultivation technique, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Everything requires a reason, doesn't it? Otherwise, it would hardly be appropriate for me to disturb Elder Wan. If you don't tell me why, there is no way I'm seeking them out."
"......"
Hearing the firmness in his voice, Luo Qingfeng fell silent for several breaths. Then, in a low tone, she spoke a single sentence:
"On the surface, the imperial court issued the Barbarian Slaughter Order, but in truth, the Beifeng Army has already incorporated a large force of Barbarian wolf riders."
"Oh?" Fu Qingye's peach-blossom eyes narrowed.
Luo Qingfeng's tone turned solemn. "Our northern armies have never taken Barbarian captives, and they imposed an absolute news blackout. You should know very well what that implies."
"It implies... the war must continue, and the court needs to make use of the Barbarians?" Fu Qingye remarked with a hint of amusement. "That is what you mean, isn't it, Miss Luo?"
"Yes. Right now, not one in ten remains of our coalition of sects across the three northern provinces. Furthermore, heavy snow has sealed the mountains and blocked the roads, leaving us unable to coordinate with one another." Luo Qingfeng's voice was very soft, but her fists clenched involuntarily. "Meanwhile, the imperial military formations remain intact. If at this time..."
"Careful with your words." Fu Qingye cut her off, a touch of gravity finally appearing in his eyes. "Does anyone else know of this?"
"There was Jiancheng..." Luo Qingfeng shook her head lightly, glancing back through the lattice window toward the north. A sigh flickered in her beautiful eyes. "But to buy me time to escape our pursuers, he led several thousand battered remnants to stall three battalions of Black Scale Iron Cavalry. He is likely already dead."
A glint of realization crossed Fu Qingye's eyes. In a low murmur, he said, "So your so-called defiance of military orders was actually because you discovered something you were never supposed to know?"
Luo Qingfeng bowed slightly to Fu Qingye. "If not for Young Master Fu's timely rescue, Qingfeng would likely have been hunted down by the army's experts and killed. I have told you everything I know. I only hope you will contact the Sect Alliance without delay. A monumental upheaval looms over the Northern Border."
"......"
Fu Qingye did not answer immediately. His mind spun rapidly, weighing the pros and cons.
If what Luo Qingfeng said was true, this was earth-shattering intelligence.
The problem was that he did not know whether the Sect Master and the elders had already received this news, much less what the Sect Alliance's stance toward the northern sects was.
Being in charge of liaising with the entire Northern Border's business, he held a high status in the Wanyao Sect.
However, this status was not that of the core decision-making circle. Rather, he was being groomed as a potential successor—and there were six others like him in the sect.
In other words, he was expendable.
If he reported this, would it lead him along a bright path upward, or down a road to his grave?
As he thought, Fu Qingye suddenly realized something, and cold sweat began to break out across his back.
For a matter this massive, the Sect Alliance must have received some word.
He knew all too well the methods of those intelligence-gathering freaks, just as he knew how thoroughly those old foxes commanded the pulse of the realm.
Three hundred thousand elite sect troops of the Northern Border had been buried, and hundreds of thousands of the Barbarian host slaughtered. Those two facts alone were enough to extrapolate a trajectory—not to mention that the true upper echelons undoubtedly possessed intelligence that he, Fu Qingye, did not.
Which meant the Sect Alliance leadership was very likely aware of this, or had at least anticipated it.
Under such circumstances, he—one of their key frontline personnel in the north—had received no word at all...
"......"
The way Fu Qingye looked at Luo Qingfeng gradually changed, turning into a look reserved for a harbinger of doom.
Motherfucker.
He had thought he was plucking a low-hanging fruit of profit, only to find he had picked up a live bomb!
Fu Qingye knew all too well what fate awaited someone who learned crucial intelligence far beyond their station.
If word of this leaked, he would be dead as well.
He had to pretend he knew nothing.
Having made up his mind, Fu Qingye offered a gentle smile, helped Luo Qingfeng to her feet, and whispered, "Miss Luo, why such grand ceremony? Your father and my master are old friends. If the imperial court truly dares to commit such an act, they make an enemy of every sect under heaven. Tomorrow, I shall pay a visit to Elder Wan."
Hearing this, Luo Qingfeng's eyes brightened with a smile. "Then Qingfeng thanks Brother Fu."
For a moment, the tension in the pavilion room softened.
Suppressing the killing intent in his heart, Fu Qingye released the woman's slender arms, walked over to a prayer mat before the low sandalwood table in the room, and sat down.
"By the way, Miss Luo, I recall that Brother Jiancheng seemed to have grown up with you?"
"......"
Luo Qingfeng suddenly fell silent, lowering her gaze without a word.
Amidst the chaotic melee, the battle cries had shaken the heavens. Covered in blood, he had smiled as he told her to run first—an image etched into her very marrow.
At his coming-of-age ceremony,
that fellow had told her,
he would do anything for her.
Even die.
She had never expected that those words would turn into such a grim prophecy...
Seeing the expression on her face, Fu Qingye let out a soft sigh. Silently, he produced a jug of wine and two bronze cups, poured himself one, and took a gentle sip.
"Do not grieve too deeply, Miss Luo. Your survival is surely what Brother Jiancheng wished to see.
"Besides, only by living do we have a chance at vengeance."
Luo Qingfeng walked to the opposite side of the low sandalwood table, knelt upright, pursed her lips, and forced a wry smile.
"When the sect's very survival hangs in the balance, how can I indulge in personal sentiments?"
A flicker of pity passed through Fu Qingye's peach-blossom eyes. Inconspicuously, he filled the bronze wine cup before her to the brim and sighed softly.
"It seems the rumors of His Majesty nearing his final days are true; otherwise, the court would never act with such haste."
Luo Qingfeng glanced at the wine cup, picked it up with her slender fingers, and brought it to her lips.
Fu Qingye did not look at her. With a solemn expression, he poured himself another drink, waiting for her to swallow the poisoned wine.
Just as Luo Qingfeng's crimson lips brushed the rim of the cup, a clear, resonant voice suddenly echoed from the terrace outside the room:
"Qingye, come out."
"......" Luo Qingfeng froze.
"......" A chill shot through Fu Qingye's heart.
Their gazes locked for an instant.
Fu Qingye slowly stood up and smiled at Luo Qingfeng. "My master has arrived. Why don't we go out together to greet him?"
Luo Qingfeng's eyes flickered. She set down the wine cup, nodded, and rose as well. "Indeed, it has been a long time since Qingfeng last saw Senior Liu."
With that, Fu Qingye put away the wine jug and cups, his heart heavy as he accompanied Luo Qingfeng toward the pavilion's exterior.
Outside on the terrace, a young man with snow-white hair and beard had appeared at some unknown moment.
Fu Qingye and Luo Qingfeng bowed in unison.
"Master (Senior Liu)."
Liu Guangbai, Third Elder of the Wanyao Sect. Though he possessed the countenance of a youth, dressed in a moon-white brocade robe with a slender frame and features refined as a painting, his elegance was beyond description.
Preserved through cultivation techniques and medicinal herbs, he was past a hundred years of age, yet bore not a single trace of senility.
He looked at Luo Qingfeng with a faint smile. "Little Feng, what you spoke of with Qingye, this seat overheard just now. In a matter of such gravity to the sects, I will pass the word along to old man Wan on your behalf today."
Luo Qingfeng's breath hitched. Just as she was about to bow in gratitude, she felt herself supported by Source Qi.
Liu Guangbai's smile was gentle and refined. "No need for ceremony. This seat has business with Qingye. You may continue resting here."
Luo Qingfeng lowered her eyes and bowed her head. "Understood."
When she looked up again, both men had vanished into thin air. Returning to the room, she cast a glance at the table where she had nearly drunk the wine, letting out a faint, weary sigh in her heart.
Through the drifting light snow, two figures sped through the air above the bustling streets.
Looking at his master ahead, known by the venerated epithet "King of Medicine," Fu Qingye asked tentatively,
"Master... how long have you been in Guangyang Prefecture?"
"Since yesterday."
"Then Master, you heard earlier...?"
Liu Guangbai looked back at him. "You wanted to kill that girl?"
Fu Qingye's eyes flickered. Knowing denial was useless, he admitted, "Yes. The intelligence she brought was far too dangerous for your disciple."
"Well done. One must possess such decisiveness to achieve great things."
"Then why did you, Master..."
"The situation has changed."
Liu Guangbai's voice was leisurely as he spoke in a low tone. "I received word: the imperial court deliberately left her alive so she would deliver the message."
"What?" Fu Qingye was stunned.
A hint of amusement flashed in Liu Guangbai's eyes. "Did you really think that with merely the cultivation of a third-rank Grandmaster trained in military arrays, she could escape the pursuit of the experts accompanying the Black Scale Army? Your strength is decent, Qingye, but if the Prime Minister's Manor truly wanted her dead, you would likely have been dragged down with her."
Speeding through the night, his long hair trailing in the wind, Fu Qingye furrowed his brows slightly. "The court deliberately kept her alive to deliver the message... What are they trying to do?"
Liu Guangbai looked toward the dark night sky. "For Chancellor Xu to release her to deliver the message at this juncture is to offer the northern sects an opportunity to surrender."
"The Chancellor and His Majesty intend to lay all their cards on the table?" Fu Qingye's thoughts raced. After a brief pause, he murmured, "Indeed, the court would not want a Northern Border that is completely battered to pieces."
Liu Guangbai looked down at the prosperous Guangyang Prefectural City and said quietly, "By now, two divisions of the Feather Forest Guards have garrisoned Guangyang Prefecture. Fifteen minutes ago, they formally severed all official highways heading north. With the heavy snow sealing the roads across the three northern provinces, the sect strongholds cannot form mutually supporting positions at all. They have already become fish on the chopping board."
Fu Qingye's breath hitched slightly. He understood his master's implication, though a sliver of uncertainty remained. "Master, does the Sect Alliance truly intend to abandon the Northern Border? If we do that, the northern sects, having lost all their elite forces, will most likely surrender outright..."
"So how could we possibly abandon them directly?"
Liu Guangbai's gaze turned dark, and he chuckled softly. "If we abandon them outright, left isolated and helpless, most of the northern sects will indeed turn spineless. Therefore, we must give them hope. The Sect Alliance has already prepared a few grand gifts for the court in other provinces.
"Since the imperial court wants the three northern provinces, we shall hand them a Northern Border battered into utter ruin!"
Hearing this, Fu Qingye was silent for several breaths before exhaling. "So you and the others had counter-measures prepared all along. But Master, what is your purpose in calling me out tonight?"
A smile appeared on Liu Guangbai's youthful yet white-haired face. "I am taking you to meet an esteemed personage."
With that, he descended toward an exquisitely elegant courtyard below.
Following him down, Fu Qingye scanned his surroundings, only to find not a single attendant in sight. Without asking further, he followed Liu Guangbai to the exterior of a brightly lit room.
Liu Guangbai halted his steps. After a brief hesitation, he knelt prostrate on the ground and bowed deeply.
"Your Highness, Liu requests an audience."
Fu Qingye hastily dropped to his knees as well.
After the words fell, silence ensued.
"Creeeak—"
The door swung open.
A man with sword-like brows and eyes bright as the stars appeared at the entrance. With a calm smile, he stepped forward to help them up.
"Mr. Liu, please come in."
Chapter 338