The black eagle pavilion sent to welcome the heir of the Prime Minister's Manor back to the capital arrived at Zhenxi Prefectural City on the seventh day after the battle. Arriving alongside it was a vast flock of flying demon beasts bearing various disaster relief supplies.
The speed of disaster relief in the Great Yan Dynasty had always been a rather Schrödinger-esque matter.
When disaster struck in some regions, the dynasty's celestial troops and relief goods would arrive on the scene by the very next day.
In others, however, even long after the catastrophe subsided, not a single scrap of aid would ever appear.
As for the local victims who perished?
Nobody cared in the slightest.
They were merely collateral damage in the struggle between the imperial court and the sects.
In theory, despite being a vital strategic pass, the territory surrounding Zhenxi Prefectural City still belonged to the latter category.
All because of the ambitions of Li Chaoxian, the Marquis of Zhenxi.
When he first founded Zhenxi Manor, he had tried every possible means to break free from the court's economic control, step by step. From that very moment on, in the eyes of the imperial court, Zhenxi Manor had ceased to be a border army driving out foreign invaders and had instead become the personal army of the Marquis of Zhenxi.
A military command declaring de facto independence was something no unified dynasty could tolerate, yet the Great Yan court had endured it.
First, because Great Yan was vast enough to accommodate a border warlord; second, because in that era, compared to the sect threat, Zhenxi Manor was merely a drop in the ocean.
Although the Marquis of Zhenxi had seized military command, he had never managed to reach his hands into taxation and civil administration—or rather, he had tried, but the hands he reached out had been severed by those two figures in the imperial court.
Reflecting on it now, without the support of civil administration and tax revenue, the finances of an establishment of Zhenxi Manor's scale would almost certainly have collapsed directly. Yet it had not. Thus, the sects' infiltration had likely begun back then.
Xu Yuan could not judge whether his bosom brother's father had been right or wrong.
Aspiring to greater power and pursuing loftier ambitions was the birthright of the capable.
Besides, what his own father had done was likely far more egregious than the Marquis of Zhenxi's actions.
It was just that in this grand game of chess, one had successfully leapt off the board to become a player, while the other had failed, reduced to a pawn between another's fingers.
The Marquis of Zhenxi had trespassed into the forbidden domain of power, yet he lacked the ability to reach the distant shore in an era overrun by monsters.
The cries of countless colossal beasts circling the sky drew the gazes of the soldiers and civilians throughout the city. Having just endured war, the common folk were as easily startled as birds fleeing a drawn bow, but the Zhenxi Army quickly calmed their panic under orders.
The flying beasts laden with relief supplies touched down, accompanied by various talents dispatched by the Prime Minister's Manor. They disembarked from the demon beasts in an orderly fashion and began taking over everything within the city.
On the seventh day after Li Junwu's death, the Prime Minister's Manor's gradual swallowing of Zhenxi Manor had officially begun.
Turning around in silence, Xu Yuan walked toward the black eagle resting not far behind him.
It was cruel.
Yet from the perspective of power, it was entirely natural.
The sects had already penetrated into the very marrow of Zhenxi Manor's bones; they had to purge everything with thunderous resolve.
Di'an's intention was for him to remain in Zhenxi Manor to oversee the overall situation.
His father was paving the way for him.
Moreover, behind this directive, his father had, as usual, taken Xu Yuan's feelings into account. He would not need to do anything, nor listen to anything; he only had to stay in the Western Desert, and once the Chancellor's Manor swallowed all of the Marquis of Zhenxi's domain, the entirety of that achievement would be credited to him.
Yet Xu Yuan had still refused his father's command.
In the blueprint he had envisioned, Zhenxi Manor and the Chancellor's Manor were supposed to cooperate through him and her, not be merged through an annexation bought with her death.
Everything unfolding before him was not the future Xu Yuan wished to see, yet he was powerless to stop it, nor did he have any reason to.
Only this way would Li Junwu's death not be in vain.
Only this way could Zhenxi Manor become a sharp blade thrust toward the sects, rather than a shield protecting them.
Amid the silence, on the vast, open drill grounds, Xu Yuan walked toward the flying beast sent to receive him.
It was a black eagle, but it was fully twice the size of Xu Changge's mount. The long feathers on its surface resembled armored scales, patterned all over with pitch-black markings. Merely standing in place with its eyes closed to rest, it unsettled the countless birds around it, provoking uneasy cries.
The pavilion carried upon its back featured carved beams and painted rafters, majestic and grand, with a lifelike black dragon coiled across its facade.
This was the aerial palace of the Great Yan Chancellor.
A mobile palace that only the Chancellor himself was permitted to use.
As Xu Yuan approached with measured steps, the majestic beast, hundreds of feet long, slowly lowered its head and prostrated itself at his feet.
Xu Yuan stood still for a moment.
The meaning behind this black eagle's arrival here was self-evident.
The moment he rode this aerial palace back to the imperial capital, it would mark the day Xu Changtian officially became the young master of the Chancellor's Manor, that colossal behemoth!
*Tap, tap, tap.*
Just as the formation-carved staircase extended downward from the pavilion on the beast's back, a flurry of hurried footsteps sounded behind Xu Yuan.
Looking back, he saw a middle-aged man clad in luxurious brocade robes running toward him. Judging by his attire, he was likely the leader of this contingent of reinforcements from the Prime Minister's Manor.
Upon drawing near Xu Yuan, the middle-aged man knelt without the slightest hesitation and prostrated himself.
"Third Young Master, your subordinate has matters to report."
Xu Yuan looked down at him calmly.
He did not stop him from kneeling, nor did he object to the man referring to himself as a subordinate.
He simply said in a flat tone, "I remember you. Bai Zhao—or rather, Bai Jingtian. To attain such a station in barely two years after the Wanxiang Sect affair, you have done well."
Bai Jingtian pressed his forehead tight against the ground.
"Your subordinate is unworthy of such praise."
Looking at this seed he had casually planted back during the battle of Wanxiang Sect, Xu Yuan said serenely, "I merely gave you an opportunity. That you seized it is your own capability."
Bai Jingtian pressed his head down even firmer, answering in a solemn voice, "Everything your subordinate has was bestowed by you, Young Master. Were it not for you, I would likely have wasted away my entire life in that remote corner."
Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.
"Rise and speak of business."
Hearing this, Bai Jingtian slowly stood up, but he kept his head bowed, not daring to look directly at Xu Yuan's face.
"At the start of the year, your subordinate received orders from Chief Lou to travel to the Far North—"
"Wait a moment."
Interrupting him halfway through, Xu Yuan glanced back at the black eagle pavilion behind him and called out softly, "Xiao Bai."
The moment the words left his mouth, a head poked out from the pavilion. Bai Muxi's bright eyes were filled with bewilderment.
Xu Yuan pointed to the middle-aged man before him. "Come down and listen together. This concerns your clansmen."
Bai Muxi's eyes instantly widened at his words. Leaping straight out of the window, she landed behind Xu Yuan and called softly, "Young Master..."
Xu Yuan smiled faintly at her, then turned his gaze back to the man. "You may continue."
Deliberating over his wording for a moment, Bai Jingtian spoke swiftly, "The relocation of the crypt remnants has concluded. With the assistance of Chief Hua, of the three hundred and seventy thousand crypt remnants, aside from roughly a thousand who fell ill and died along the journey due to failing to adapt to the climate, all the rest have been relocated into Huizhou New City in batches."
Hearing this, Bai Muxi's beautiful eyes widened incrementally. Her chest, bound by her ruqun, heaved erratically, and her tightly clenched fingertips dug deep into her palms.
Xu Yuan's reaction to this was quite calm; he merely murmured, "A journey of ten thousand li, with only about a thousand lost. Very well done."
"The crypt remnants are all hale and hearty folk without the burden of the elderly or young, and they form a military structure of their own. Achieving this outcome was not my doing," Bai Jingtian said truthfully, making no attempt to claim credit. "Along the journey, it was that General Qin from the crypt who oversaw the vast majority of the management and control over the remnants."
*A General Qin...*
Recalling briefly, the face of a cold, ruthless, yet handsome man surfaced in Xu Yuan's mind.
Qin Yuan.
The man who, for the survival of the crypt, had directly struck down Xiao Bai's devoted pursuer.
With that thought, Xu Yuan glanced back at Xiao Bai's agitated expression and said softly, "Xiao Bai, it seems Qin Yuan fulfilled the promise he made back then."
Bai Muxi pressed her lips together into a smile, bowed deeply to Xu Yuan, and said, "For your great benevolence, Young Master, Muxi can never fully repay you."
Xu Yuan smiled faintly, then looked toward the hesitating middle-aged man before him. "Speak whatever else you have to say. No need for reservations."
At those words, a trace of awkwardness appeared on Bai Jingtian's face. Choosing his words carefully, he said in a low voice, "Chief Hua of the Tian'an Chamber of Commerce asked me to pass a message to you, Young Master: he fronted the expenses for Huizhou New City and the supplies consumed during the crypt remnants' relocation, but the interest is 'lend nine, return thirteen.'"
The image of that white-bearded old man flashed through his mind, and Xu Yuan let out a helpless chuckle.
"That interest is indeed exorbitant. Once I return to the capital, I shall pay him a visit in person. Is there anything else?"
Bai Jingtian's eyes, fixed on the tips of his own boots, flickered for an instant before he ventured hesitantly, "There is also... it seems a certain Highness learned of the crypt remnants. Some time ago, he went to stay in Huizhou New City for quite a while."
*A Highness? An imperial prince?*
The crypt remnants were top secret; how could someone from the imperial family know about them?
Xu Yuan frowned and pondered for a moment. "Li Junqing?"
"Yes," Bai Jingtian replied.
Xu Yuan's heart eased slightly.
If anyone else had learned of this information, it might pose a threat, but Li Junqing would not.
Whether it was keeping his identity secret when they first met, or later concealing his faked death, everything showed that this prince merely wanted to escape, fleeing to Dongying to rule as a local king.
After musing briefly, Xu Yuan asked, "Why hasn't he departed for Dongying yet? If I recall correctly, when I left the capital at the beginning of the year, the decision to dispatch troops to Dongying had already been approved by His Majesty."
Bai Jingtian answered respectfully, "The army has already set out, but the Third Prince has temporarily remained within Great Yan under the pretext of raising military funds and provisions."
"Heh..."
Xu Yuan reached out and patted the middle-aged man's shoulder. "Understood. Settle the affairs of Zhenxi Manor properly; I will await you in Di'an."
Bai Jingtian's pupils quivered. With a thud, he dropped to his knees once more, his voice trembling.
"...Yes, Young Master."
Xu Yuan cast him a glance, patted Xiao Bai's back, and turned to step onto the formation-carved staircase behind him.
Yet right at that moment, Bai Jingtian's hesitant voice sounded once more:
"Young Master, the Second Prince has already led his army to the vicinity of Mount Jiu'an, where the imperial mausoleum lies. He will likely return to the capital at the same time as you, half a month from now."
His steps pausing, Xu Yuan's narrow eyes slowly narrowed into slits. A swirl of qi coalesced around his body. After a brief silence, his voice rang out, detached and indifferent:
"Well, isn't that quite a coincidence."
With those words, he climbed steadily up the stairs and stepped into the pavilion that belonged exclusively to the Chancellor. The black eagle rose, whipping up yellow sands that veiled the staircase he had just ascended.
***
Mount Jiu'an.
*From a thousand hills all birds have vanished; along ten thousand paths human tracks are erased.*
Swirling white snow still blanketed the entire realm, concealing any path leading to the summit.
Li Zhaoyuan walked alone through this pathless, snow-covered forest, searching for the way to the mountain's peak.
With every step he took, the path behind him and the footprints he left were instantly buried by the heaven-and-earth blizzard.
He walked very slowly, walked with great difficulty, yet walked without the slightest hesitation.
Amid the boundless storm of wind and snow, the very concept of time seemed to have vanished.
No one knew how long had passed.
Li Zhaoyuan raised his eyes. The mountain's summit was already right before him. When he looked back toward the path he had climbed, he found that the route down the mountain had been utterly sealed off by the driving snow.
After a moment of silence, Li Zhaoyuan smiled and continued upward, treading upon the endless withered bones buried deep beneath the snow, continuing his ascent.
Chapter 699