Yao Zhiyi said, "These six words capture the essence of cultivation in this realm.
"What is the True Form? It is the fundamental form of the self. Some believe that so long as one retains awareness of the self, then 'I' am still 'I.' Others believe that only when spirit and body are unified can one be called the self. But regardless, one must hold fast to the self. This is something that must never be lost.
"As for the Spiritual Visage, it is the external manifestation condensed and shaped from your fire of spirituality, used for combat. You could also call it the outer form. The self comes first, followed by the outer form. You cannot stray from this path. You must do everything possible to preserve your fundamental self before attempting to gather and shape an external manifestation.
"At present, this path broadly branches into three directions: none other than the Visages of Man, the Divine, and the Aberrant.
"The Visage of Man centers primarily upon the form of the self. The physical vessel remains unaltered while the spirit preserves the foundation. This is the most mainstream path. The Visage of the Divine is quite the opposite: it treats the physical body merely as a vessel, taking the spiritual self as the true origin. This lineage was rather uncommon in the past, but now, with the rapid development of biotechnology, the number of people taking this route is steadily growing.
"And the last is the Visage of the Aberrant. In the past, some among us called it the Monstrous Visage, though that was somewhat prejudiced. While our peers may disdain someone's character, it is best not to harbor biases when discussing cultivation. That only blinds oneself. If you ever run into someone with genuine mastery, you'll be the one who suffers.
"Wei Guochan cultivated the Visage of the Aberrant. If I had to make an analogy... well, since you are an instructor at our Wuyi Academy, you must have seen those two golden-armored divine generals standing at the main gate through your boundary credential when you first enrolled, right?"
Chen Chuan nodded. "I saw them." Those two divine generals had left a deep impression on him at the time.
"Mm. The path Wei Guochan walked, once cultivated to its culmination, roughly transforms into that kind of appearance—a divine guardian of the nation."
Yao Zhiyi pondered for a moment and added, "I'm not sure if you've ever visited Lianguang Temple, the famous scenic site in Xichuan Circuit. There are eighteen lifelike guardian statues there. Wei Guochan corresponds to the eighth divine general, the one with eight arms and three heads. Only, he had cultivated merely six arms so far, with two yet incomplete, and attaining the three heads was still nowhere in sight.
"Even so, there are indeed people within the former imperial house who have perfected it..."
Wan Yunshan seized the opportunity to chime in. "Junior Brother, most of those people from the former imperial house walk the path of the Visage of the Aberrant because they were never purely human to begin with. Besides them, the aberrant entities within certain parts of the Confluence shouldn't be underestimated either.
"They could be considered natives of the Confluence. Back before there was the Ring of Worlds, they often invaded our world through the fissures, and some were even worshipped as deities. Others were formed after being possessed and melded by entities from the other side for a prolonged period, or were the offspring those entities bore, while some simply 'degenerated' from those entities altogether. Every single one of them has an utterly bizarre shape. Even I couldn't make heads or tails of them. Once..."
Yao Zhiyi cut him off. "You're straying too far. Still, you'll have to face some of the situations on the other side sooner or later. Once we return, designated personnel will interface with you and brief you on all of this." He picked up his teacup, took a sip, drained the tea in one go, and set it down before Wan Yunshan. "Pour the tea."
"Right away."
***
Long after the airship carrying the three men had departed, a detachment of cavalry from the former imperial house charged into the area where the two sides had clashed. Mounted on their horses, they looked around at the ground—which appeared as though it had been thoroughly blasted by heavy artillery—their hearts seized with dread.
All of this unquestionably proved that a battle between martial artists had taken place here; otherwise, there would never have been destruction on such a colossal scale. However, they had just seen that the airship belonging to Great Shun had flown away at last, and it had departed carrying the radiant glow of the relic. This caused an ominous foreboding to rise in everyone's heart, which was why they had rushed over to investigate the moment the commotion died down.
Yet after surveying the area for a while, they saw no sign of Wei Guochan. Had the Grand General departed?
One of the officers forced himself to remain calm and said, "In my view, the Grand General most likely finished off the incoming enemies and took their airship back."
The others chimed in with agreement. That was the only outcome they were willing and able to accept; as for any other possibility, they didn't dare entertain it for a second.
Just then, an exclamation of horror rang out not far away. Everyone's heart skipped a beat, and they immediately spurred their horses over.
When they arrived, they discovered what looked like a deep crater blasted open by a massive artillery shell. At the bottom of the crater lay a mangled, headless corpse, pulverized into near ruin.
From the dark silhouette, one could discern the vague shape of several arms, with fragments of shattered armor still adhering to it, faintly outlining the appearance of that suit of armor.
Seeing this, the bodies of every cavalryman began to tremble uncontrollably.
They were all too familiar with the design of Wei Guochan's armor—it was undeniably the one before their eyes. Furthermore, multiple arms were a feature unique to the Grand General, something he had manifested before the troops on many occasions.
Putting all these details together, this had to be...
Their faces turned deathly pale. They were unwilling to believe this outcome, and terrified to accept it.
After a long silence, someone finally spoke. "It's the Grand General..."
The crowd instantly glared at him and shouted in harsh rebuke, "Qu Xian, what nonsense are you spewing?! How could this be the Grand General? How could it be!"
The others also cursed furiously, and some even looked ready to draw their swords and strike him down.
The man ignored them, dismounted directly from his horse, walked down into the crater, and came beside the mangled remains. He picked up a square jade seal from the ground beside it and held it up in his palm for all to see.
"Th-this is the Grand General's private seal..." The lips of those who recognized it trembled violently. This was the personal possession of the Grand General, something that could never be faked.
"It... it really is the Grand General."
"The Grand General fell in battle? H-how is this possible..."
"Who was it? Who killed the Grand General?!"
Most of the cavalrymen felt as if the sky were collapsing. Chaos broke out on the spot. Some bellowed with bloodshot eyes that it was impossible; others swayed unsteadily, tumbling weakly from their saddles, only to break down into bitter weeping on the ground.
Nearly half an hour passed before someone finally said through chattering teeth, "Quick... quickly send a telegraph to the rear. Say that the Grand General... the Grand General was ambushed and has fallen..."
"No, you can't say that!"
Someone immediately barked out a refusal. Wei Guochan held an extraordinary status in the hearts of the tens of thousands of troops in the Confluence; he was the spiritual pillar of them all. If this news got out, army morale would collapse in an instant.
Even though Great Shun would certainly disseminate this news afterward, so long as their side refused to admit it and managed to fabricate a plausible excuse, they might barely maintain troop morale.
Yet as for what specifically to do next, none of them knew. After some discussion, they decided to take the Grand General's remains back first and let the superiors decide on the next course of action.
***
Meanwhile, half an hour later, Chen Chuan and the others picked up Xu Chan's party aboard the airship, which then flew on its return course. By afternoon, they finally drew near the forward perimeter of the Great Shun military encampment.
At this moment, the faint, rumbling roar of artillery fire could be heard from ahead. The scale sounded massive, as if hundreds of cannons were thundering at once.
Wan Yunshan's spirits lifted, and he said, "Has a full-scale offensive begun?" He turned to Yao Zhiyi. "Headmaster, does that mean Mr. Xue struck first?"
Yao Zhiyi found it somewhat strange. Reasonably speaking, after receiving the news, Xue Shou should have waited for them to link up before making a move, which would have been far safer. However, even he could not see through the depths of Mr. Xue's strength; perhaps the man was completely confident.
"Report!"
A signal corpsman called out from outside. An adjutant went forward, retrieved a telegraph, glanced over it, and came back to hand it to Yao Zhiyi, saying, "Headmaster, a telegram from Mr. Xue. He says he did not find Gai Shuhe in the former imperial house's army."
"Not there?"
"Yes. He said the banner is still flying there, but the man is gone."
Yao Zhiyi knit his brows. "Could he be hiding somewhere?"
Just then, a voice spoke up. "He has already fled ahead of time."
Chen Chuan turned his gaze and saw Xue Shou leaning back in a chair beside them, having appeared without anyone noticing. But upon closer inspection, Chen Chuan could clearly discern that this was merely a wisp of spirit. Even so, he greeted him respectfully. "Teacher Xue."
Xue Shou smiled and gave him a nod.
"He fled?"
Neither Yao Zhiyi nor Wan Yunshan seemed surprised by his appearance. Wan Yunshan asked, "Mr. Xue, did you not intercept him?"
Xue Shou replied, "After receiving your message, I prepared to head over and keep an eye on him first. But once I got there, I learned that he had merely shown his face before slipping away. So I notified the Defense Department, telling them to launch an attack during this opening to avoid missing the opportunity."
Yao Zhiyi's expression grew slightly solemn. "Did that Gai brat figure something out?"
He knew that an army of the former imperial house had been positioned outside the area where they had fought earlier. While those men likely couldn't see the specific details of the battle, the sight of an airship being shot down was something that couldn't be hidden. If Gai Shuhe had been sufficiently cautious, he truly could have retreated a step ahead.
Xue Shou said, "Perhaps. But I can confirm that he has indeed left."
Yao Zhiyi gave a cold sneer. "As a commanding general of the garrison, to abandon tens of thousands of troops and flee on his own—should one call him decisive, or a coward?"
Xue Shou chuckled softly. "He is nobility as well as a martial artist. The rules are different for him. Even if he abandoned tens of thousands of troops, so long as he can concoct an excuse, nothing will happen to him once he returns."
"Indeed. Wasn't that exactly how the former imperial house operated back then?" Yao Zhiyi remarked in a heavy tone. "They have never changed."
"Regardless, we have won this battle," Xue Shou said with a smile. "Winning this resolves a great many issues."
Yao Zhiyi nodded repeatedly. "We still must thank Mr. Xue for your assistance."
Xue Shou smiled gently. "You are too polite; this is my duty as well." He turned to Chen Chuan. "There is one more matter. Night will soon fall. To keep the army's operations moving, the relic needs to be brought to the front. That way, we can ensure the former imperial house's army cannot slip away under cover of darkness."
Chen Chuan promptly retrieved the relic and set it upon the table.
Yao Zhiyi picked it up and tossed it over to Wan Yunshan. "Xiao Wan, take this trip yourself."
Wan Yunshan rolled his neck, producing a series of cracking sounds, and said with immense excitement, "Leave it to me!"
Chapter 771