Ninth Uncle had devoted himself wholeheartedly to Yan Kingdom, to the Murong family… to him as the Yan Emperor. He absolutely could not chill Ninth Uncle’s heart.
It was also fortunate that when he had initially discussed the merger of Great Zhou and Great Yan with Ninth Uncle, he had persuaded Ninth Uncle not to let Mother know. Otherwise… Mother would have misunderstood Ninth Uncle even more severely.
At this moment, Murong Yan sat in his study with a cold expression, instructing Wang Jiuzhou to send people back to investigate why the Empress Dowager had already arrived at Meng City while their people knew nothing about it.
Not long after, Murong Li, having settled Empress Dowager Yan, came to Xiao Rongyan’s study.
He wanted to enter but didn’t know how to apologize to Ninth Uncle. Standing in the corridor, looking at the white snow accumulated on the azure roof tiles, he hung his head low without going in.
Feng Yao was carrying strong tea over, about to deliver it to Murong Yan, when he saw A’Li and quickly bowed: “This old servant pays respects to Your Majesty…”
“Grandfather Feng!” Murong Li bowed deeply to Feng Yao just as he had when his father was still alive, not putting on imperial airs.
Feng Yao quickly stepped aside to avoid Murong Li’s bow, smiling: “Why doesn’t Your Majesty go in after arriving?”
Murong Li glanced toward the study, then lowered his head again: “I…”
“A’Li, come in…”
Hearing his ninth uncle’s voice, Murong Li finally responded: “Coming!”
Feng Yao held the hot tea in one hand and lifted the cotton curtain for Murong Li with the other, following behind him as they entered.
Upon entering, Murong Li saw his ninth uncle sitting behind the desk through the gauze screen, holding a purple brush and writing a letter. He glanced at Feng Yao, took the hot tea from his hands, walked to the desk, and placed the hot tea in front of Murong Yan: “Ninth Uncle, about today’s matter… A’Li apologizes to Ninth Uncle on Mother’s behalf!”
Murong Li didn’t avoid Feng Yao and bowed deeply to Murong Yan.
“We’re all family, no need for such formality…” Murong Yan finished writing the letter to Bai Qingyan, blew it dry, then sealed it in an envelope and handed it to Feng Yao. “Uncle Feng, please make the trip personally and deliver this letter to the Great Zhou Emperor. If she asks you about the jade cicada matter, Uncle Feng must not hide anything – tell her everything. She can be trusted.”
Feng Yao received the letter with both hands. Naturally, he could trust Bai Qingyan – she was not only the sister-in-law recognized by the Late Emperor, but also the young master’s beloved, and now carried the young master’s flesh and blood: “Young Master, rest assured. This old servant will certainly tell the Zhou Emperor everything without reservation.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Uncle Feng!” Xiao Rongyan nodded.
Feng Yao acknowledged and left.
Xiao Rongyan didn’t take out his earlier frustration on Murong Li, only saying: “The Empress Dowager left the palace to come here, yet we received no news whatsoever. Ninth Uncle will investigate this matter thoroughly – you shouldn’t make any moves.”
“Mm!” Murong Li nodded.
Xiao Rongyan hung the brush back on the brush rack and wiped his hands with a handkerchief before picking up his tea cup: “Tomorrow Great Yan and Great Zhou will deploy troops simultaneously. The soldiers of Great Yan still need you to personally go and boost their morale. Go change your clothes and we’ll go together!”
“Yes!” Murong Li responded.
·
After Li Tianfu and that Tianfeng Kingdom general escaped back from the battlefield outside Pingyang City, that very night… Sa’er Khan beheaded the general who hadn’t yet awakened, using this to intimidate those generals eager for merit and forbidding any more incidents of disobeying his orders.
Although Tianfeng Kingdom determined noble ranks by military achievements, Sa’er Khan had no use for generals who didn’t follow his commands. Moreover… this time, because of this general’s greed for glory, he had lost twelve giant elephants in one stroke. The most precious wealth of Tianfeng Kingdom was these giant elephants – in Sa’er Khan’s view, the elephants’ lives were far more precious than this general’s!
Not to mention that because of this general’s recklessness, his plan to first occupy the Great Zhou and the Yan Kingdom’s lands… then gradually devour their territories was completely disrupted.
If he had known, he would never have sent the elephant army to follow that madman Li Tianfu to demand Li Zhijie’s return, just to capture Li Zhijie.
But not sending people to Great Zhou to demand the person’s return wouldn’t work either – Sa’er Khan was worried that Li Zhijie would tell the Great Zhou Emperor… the secret of the jade cicada.
Sa’er Khan was filled with irritation.
Now that Great Zhou and Great Yan had witnessed the power of the elephant army, they would certainly no longer lease land to the Tianfeng Kingdom. Perhaps… they would even join forces to lock Tianfeng Kingdom within Western Liang’s borders, or even drive them back to the other side of the snow mountains, then establish checkpoints at the already narrow passage from Tianfeng Kingdom to Western Liang…
At that time, it would not be so easy for the Tianfeng Kingdom to reach this land again.
If the Great Zhou and the Yan Kingdom were even smarter, they might already be preparing to move against the Tianfeng Kingdom.
It was all because of this damned fool who listened to Li Tianfu’s instigation and wanted to steal glory, but instead… disrupted Tianfeng Kingdom’s plans and pace. Even if this general died ten thousand times, it would be difficult to quell Sa’er Khan’s hatred.
More importantly, there was still the jade cicada…
The jade cicada was in Great Zhou and had once belonged to the Great Zhou Emperor’s husband, so the jade cicada must still be in Great Zhou. No matter what, he had to obtain the jade cicada.
Sa’er Khan sat before the brazier, taking out the jade cicada to fondle it in his hands. Under the reflection of the brazier’s red-hot charcoal fire, the jade cicada emanated a warm, lustrous glow.
The “Heavenly Book” of Tianfeng Kingdom recorded that this jade cicada had once been living. Because it could speak eloquently and sing… it brought some joy to the god’s endless, lonely life, thus becoming the god’s pet and deeply beloved by the god. However, a cicada’s life ultimately had limits – after growing from a larva into an articulate adult insect, it had only three short months of life remaining.
The cicada, knowing it was deeply favored by the god, prayed to the god to grant it eternal life. The god said… even if he granted the cicada eternal life, the cicada still couldn’t survive the harsh winter.
The cicada then prayed for the god to grant it eternal life while keeping the seasons forever in summer. The god said… he couldn’t grant the cicada eternal life while keeping the seasons forever in summer, but he could bestow upon the cicada the ability to reverse time, though this time reversal would come with a price.
The cicada didn’t ask clearly what price would have to be paid, but gladly begged the god to grant it this ability, willing to serve the god forever and sing for him.
Thereafter, the cicada gained the ability to reverse time, which is why Tianfeng Kingdom had no harsh winters and remained in a warm climate suitable for cicada survival year-round.
The cicada’s ability to reverse time was not something the cicada itself could control – it was simply that whenever the cicada’s life was about to enter its final countdown, time would reverse back to when the cicada had just become an adult insect.
Initially, the cicada was very happy to possess such an ability. It would use time reversal and its knowledge of the future to obtain anything it wanted among the cicada swarm and change anything it wanted to change.
But each time the cicada reversed time… it wasn’t without cost. Each time reversal caused it to lose something especially precious to it – such as its favorite tree, its friends, even its brothers and sisters…