Until it met its beloved female cicada, it feared that the next time reversal would cause it to lose its mate. It went to beg the god to grant the female cicada the same reversal ability, but the god refused. The cicada then begged the god to take back its time reversal divine power, but the god refused again, because from the very beginning… the god had warned the cicada that time reversal would come with a price. Even the cicada, the god’s beloved pet, had to take responsibility for its own choices.
The cicada possessed endless life, but was unwilling to watch helplessly as its wife disappeared forever because of its immortality. Without the female cicada’s companionship, the longer life became… the lonelier it would be.
From then on, the cicada became melancholy and despondent, never singing songs again…
Later, the god promised the cicada that when its life was about to reach its end, he would transform the cicada and its female cicada into jade cicadas, allowing them to be together forever.
Later still, the god entrusted this pair of jade cicadas to the monarch of Tianfeng Kingdom, his faithful believers, for safekeeping. By chance, the monarch’s queen accidentally knocked over the pair of jade cicadas that the monarch worshipped, and when she picked them up and held them in her hands, time reversal occurred.
The Tianfeng Kingdom queen thus helped the monarch avoid several assassination attempts, and during the earliest great war when Tianfeng Kingdom destroyed Hanying Kingdom, the queen used the jade cicadas’ time reversal ability to foresee several of Hanying Kingdom’s strategies in advance, enabling Tianfeng Kingdom to decisively defeat Hanying Kingdom.
The queen claimed that for this… she lost her three children, parents, and siblings, and later lost her husband early as well. She thought the jade cicadas were cursed, so she sent people to carry the jade cicadas far away – one to the east… one to the west, forbidding the Tianfeng Kingdom royal family from ever touching the jade cicadas again.
Just when everyone thought these jade cicadas were merely ancient legends of Tianfeng Kingdom, the Great Shaman of Tianfeng Kingdom found one of the jade cicadas.
Sa’er Khan’s grandfather and the Great Shaman had been studying it constantly, but neither could successfully trigger time reversal. The Great Shaman then speculated… perhaps both jade cicadas needed to be gathered together to enable time reversal.
If Tianfeng Kingdom had these two jade cicadas, even if they lost battles, as long as they could reverse time, they would be invincible in war. Moreover, the monarch could gain eternal life – how could this not be tempting?
Since the other jade cicada was lost, three generations of Tianfeng Kingdom monarchs had been searching within Tianfeng Kingdom’s territory…
It was also because the successive monarchs of Tianfeng Kingdom had no idea that beyond the snow mountains where the god resided, there was such a vast land.
Now that they knew the other jade cicada had once appeared in Great Zhou, and the Great Zhou Emperor’s deceased husband had once possessed an identical one, then even if it wasn’t buried with the Great Zhou Emperor’s husband in his tomb, it should still be in Great Zhou.
So for Sa’er Khan now, finding the other jade cicada… was as important as taking the territories of Great Zhou and Yan Kingdom and establishing a firm foothold in this land.
Because of this, upon learning that Li Tianfu and his forces had attacked Great Zhou and returned in disastrous defeat, Sa’er Khan immediately sent envoys to Great Zhou and also dispatched envoys to Great Yan…
After all, the Great Zhou and the Great Yan had already allied, and the Yan Kingdom had also deployed troops last night, so both countries had to be visited.
At this moment, neither envoy had returned yet, and Sa’er Khan was restless with anxiety.
Regardless of what happened with Great Yan, he had to stabilize Great Zhou. Only by allying with the Great Zhou could he further investigate the jade cicada’s whereabouts.
Otherwise, if war truly broke out, finding this jade cicada would certainly become much more difficult.
Sa’er Khan clutched the jade cicada in his hand, extending his other hand to warm it by the fire. Hearing footsteps outside, he looked up to see a soldier enter to report that the Great Shaman’s disciple had arrived.
“Let the Great Shaman’s disciple come in!” Sa’er Khan hid the jade cicada in his sleeve, looking up at the Great Shaman’s disciple who lifted the cotton tent curtain. He adjusted his sitting posture, used a cloth to lift the teapot from the brazier, poured a bowl of tea for the Great Shaman’s disciple, and gestured for him to sit. “Have all the people sent to apologize returned?”
The Great Shaman’s disciple shook his head, bowed to Sa’er Khan, and sat down across from him: “We suffered heavy losses last night. Not only did we lose four giant elephants, but I went to examine the elephants that escaped back and saw burn injuries on them. It seems the Great Zhou and Yan Kingdoms have already found methods to deal with our giant elephants. In winter, our giant elephants all need fur for warmth. This time Great Zhou and the Yan Kingdom weren’t adequately prepared, so our elephants’ burns weren’t very severe, but having experienced this battle, the Great Zhou and the Great Yan have probably realized they can use fire oil against fur-clad giant elephants!”
“If Great Zhou and Yan Kingdom spare no cost and use sufficient amounts of fire oil…” The Great Shaman’s disciple looked worried, “In winter, our giant elephants move relatively slowly to begin with, and once it snows, the ground becomes very slippery. According to what the soldiers who escaped back said, the giant elephants are massive and wear heavy armor – if they fall, it’s very difficult for them to get back up.”
Hearing these words, Sa’er Khan lowered his eyes to look at the red-hot charcoal crackling in the fire, asking the Great Shaman’s disciple: “If war truly breaks out, can we defeat Great Zhou and Great Yan?”
“Your Majesty, I am not the Great Shaman and cannot communicate with the god, so… I dare not be certain.” The Great Shaman’s disciple looked at Sa’er Khan, “But Your Majesty, based on what the soldiers said, I believe… if war truly breaks out, in weather suitable for elephant activity, we can be invincible. But in winter… It’s hard to say.”
“You might as well speak directly – if it’s winter… we cannot win!” Sa’er Khan’s voice was cold and hard.
The Great Shaman’s disciple lowered his head, striking his chest with his fist: “Our Tianfeng Kingdom has the god’s protection and is the god’s favored child. The god granted Tianfeng Kingdom giant elephants… our Tianfeng Kingdom must be invincible. It’s just… the gods chose masters for this land, and the masters are not our Tianfeng Kingdom, so I dare to say that winter might be uncertain.”
Sa’er Khan extended his hand to warm by the fire, and after a long while closed his eyes: “Is there any possibility of breaking the alliance between Great Yan and Great Zhou, forming an alliance with Great Zhou, or forming an alliance with Great Yan, and attacking only one Kingdom?”
“Western Liang’s emperor Li Tianfu and Great Zhou… are irreconcilable enemies.” The Great Shaman’s disciple spoke.
Sa’er Khan looked up: “In that case, when the envoys sent to apologize to Great Zhou and Great Yan return, if both countries are determined to go to war, then let Li Tianfu personally go to Great Yan and have her use any means necessary to ally with Great Yan. Also, yesterday… that Western Liang Prince Yan Li Zhijie, has he still not been found?”
The Great Shaman’s disciple nodded: “Yes, he still hasn’t been found. Either he died on the battlefield, or he escaped.”
“Li Tianjiao being alive is a hidden danger. The major families of Western Liang submit to Tianfeng Kingdom on the surface out of fear, but secretly, there are still those who support Li Tianjiao and want him to regain the throne!” Sa’er Khan gritted his teeth, his eyes growing even colder, “So until now we have no idea where Li Tianjiao, Yun Poxing, and others are!”