As the Purple Gold Pill entered her mouth, Ice Shadow Sovereign pressed her fingers to her disciple’s brow, using spiritual power to dissolve the supreme-grade pill.

Once dissolved, the medicine didn’t flow into her stomach but transformed into purple qi, gathering and swirling around Li Miaozhen’s brow.

This process didn’t last long—less than a quarter-hour—before the purple qi gradually condensed, forming a purple marking on her brow. The marking matched the patterns on the pill perfectly, symbolizing the settled medicinal power.

Li Miaozhen’s Fourth-Rank body couldn’t fully absorb the medicine’s power.

She soon regained consciousness, her vision clearing from blur to focus. The first thing she saw was Li Lingsu, his eyes and nose red from crying. Li Miaozhen was momentarily confused, thinking, “Senior Brother, have you come to accompany me too?”

Then she saw her master Ice Shadow Sovereign and her grand-master, Elder Xuancheng.

She understood what had happened.

With a pale face and dry lips, she managed a weak smile:

“Thank you, Master, for saving my life.”

Surviving a great calamity should have been a joyous occasion, but seeing her fallen comrades on the battlefield, her heart felt heavy, without a trace of happiness.

“You are the Holy Maiden of the Celestial Sect and one of the heirs to the Sect Leader position. It was my duty to save you,” Ice Shadow Sovereign said in an emotionless voice. “Your grandmother Xuancheng and I came down the mountain by Heaven Lord’s command to bring you and your senior brother back to the sect. After the Heaven-Human conflict, the Celestial Sect is sealed. No one is allowed to descend the mountain again.”

Li Miaozhen assessed her condition—multiple damaged organs, her physical body hanging by a thread, though her burned divine soul had been fully repaired.

Knowing she had no power to oppose her master, she remained silent for a few seconds before asking:

“How will the Heaven Lord punish this disciple?”

Ice Shadow Sovereign shook her head, saying flatly:

“That is the Heaven Lord’s affair.”

Li Miaozhen didn’t press further. Instead, she turned to Li Lingsu and said:

“This disciple has one last wish. Qi Guangbo’s surprise attack on Xun City is urgent—we must relay this information to Commander Yang Yan and the other leaders. Please, Master, have mercy and grant this disciple’s wish.”

Ice Shadow Sovereign frowned:

“Having died once already, you still can’t let go of mortal affairs?”

Li Miaozhen looked again at the battlefield strewn with corpses, her gaze sorrowful. “My friends remain on the battlefield. I cannot leave them behind.”

She couldn’t leave—not in her heart.

Ice Shadow Sovereign nodded. After all, this disciple had already committed too many “mistakes.” She wouldn’t force her disciple out of anger or disappointment. No, she felt no emotions now, not even anger.

Elder Xuancheng felt the same, though he added one condition. He took out a jade-green pill and handed it to Li Lingsu, saying:

“To prevent you from escaping again, take this.”

Soul-Consuming Pill!

This pill was unique to the Celestial Sect. Once taken, without the antidote within three days, one’s divine soul would wither. None below the Transcendent Realm could survive it.

As the Holy Son, Li Lingsu naturally recognized this pill. He looked at Elder Xuancheng in disbelief, his voice trembling:

“Master, I… I’m the disciple you’ve raised since childhood. Doesn’t your heart ache? Don’t you feel guilty?”

Elder Xuancheng’s expression remained blank, his tone cold:

“Do you think your master would?”

Damn, these Supreme Emotionless cultivators… Li Lingsu accepted the command and left, riding his flying sword into the azure sky. He was now certain that his master’s mortal heart didn’t extend to him. There was no point in staying in this Celestial Sect anymore.

The day before Spring Festival.

Usually, the Spring Festival was the most festive time for every household in the Central Plains. It symbolized the return of spring and the revival of all things. Each year during the Spring Festival, the imperial court would hold grand ceremonies to pray for favorable weather and peace throughout the nation.

Common folk would also slaughter sheep and pigs on this day, making offerings to Heaven and Earth, and praying for a bountiful harvest in the coming year.

This year’s Spring Festival was particularly difficult for the common people. While wealthy households maintained their traditions, poor families could only use straw effigies as offerings.

As for the imperial court, it seemed that officials at all levels had little heart for Spring Festival ceremonies.

It wasn’t a matter of lacking funds—even in times of scarcity, the court could still manage Spring Festival ceremonies. Rather, it was the war in Yong Province that weighed heavily on everyone’s minds.

Eight days had passed since Luo Yuheng’s tribulation, and during this time, the war in Yong Province could no longer be described simply as “heroic” or “tragic.”

First came the Yun Province army’s surprise attack on Xun City, where only three thousand survived from the original twenty thousand defenders. The former Qing Province Administrative Commissioner, now Yong Province General Yang Gong, lost an arm in the city’s defense, and the Heart Insect Division’s Flying Beast Cavalry was annihilated.

When Xun City faced its darkest hour, Xu Xinnian and other forces patrolling the defensive line returned just in time to provide support. The gravely wounded Yang Gong made a decisive move, personally leading the remaining defenders out of the city to launch a pincer attack with reinforcements against the Yun Province army.

Qi Guangbo, the Yun Province commander who had failed in his surprise attack on Xun City, had already passed the point of no return. He could only grit his teeth and order his elite central army to engage in a fierce battle with the Great Feng forces.

The two sides fought an intense battle outside Xun City for a day and a night, with blood flowing like rivers. According to reports reaching the capital, the corpses of men and horses were piled so thick that cavalry could not advance, forming natural barriers.

This battle originally had the potential to consume the Yun Province central army, perhaps becoming one of the turning points in the Central Plains war.

Until a terrifying cavalry force appeared, breaking through the battlefield with almost unreasonable might, working in concert with the Yun Province central army to repeatedly pierce through the Great Feng cavalry from both inside and out.

The Great Feng forces, despite their initial advantage, could not contend with this cavalry force on open ground and had to retreat into the city to catch their breath.

This cavalry force is now firmly etched in the minds of the Great Feng court officials, known as the “Xuanwu Army.”

Though it had never appeared on the Qing Province battlefield before, it became famous in a single battle, becoming the nightmare of the Great Feng army. Even court officials would feel their scalps tingle at the mere mention of “Xuanwu Army.”

Qi Guangbo was determined to take Xun City, launching another attack that night, committing troops regardless of cost. By dawn, Xun City had fallen.

As the Great Feng army retreated from Xun City, Yang Gong and the three great scholars Zhang Shen and Li Mubai led eight hundred troops to cover the retreat. The Yunlu Academy’s great scholars, with their superior and mysterious techniques, successfully protected the Great Feng forces’ withdrawal.

However, Yang Gong, due to frequent use of his Words Become Reality technique and his severe injuries, suffered a backlash from his art. Under both internal and external afflictions, he fell unconscious after retreating to Yong City, his life hanging by a thread.

This battle directly depleted what remained of the Great Feng army’s elite forces. Since the autumn harvest, half of the hundred thousand troops had died at Jing Mountain City, leaving the Great Feng elite forces in a precarious position.

During the Qing Province campaign, the court mobilized nearly all available elite forces from various provincial garrisons to Qing Province.

As a result, nearly fifty thousand men died on the battlefield, with the remnants retreating to Yong Province.

After the Empress ascended to the throne, the Minister of War grudgingly transferred another ten thousand troops from nearby provinces.

The battle for Xun City had nearly exhausted even these reserves.

Meanwhile, the Martial Arts Alliance, Li Miaozhen, and other volunteer forces were similarly destroyed in this siege battle that would surely be recorded in history.

The Martial Arts Alliance lost two Fourth-Rank sect leaders, with eighty percent of their disciples killed or wounded. Most notably, Li Miaozhen’s Flying Swallow Army was annihilated, and she and her senior brother Li Lingsu were taken back to their sect by their elders, with no further news.

After taking Xun City, the Yun Province army completely halted their advance, entering a stalemate with the Great Feng forces.

When the Yun Province army left Yun Province, they had sixty thousand core troops divided into left, center, and right armies, all elite of the elite, not counting militia.

After occupying Qing Province, they used their ample supplies of money and grain to recruit martial artists and refugees, expanding their forces to one hundred thousand, creating a phenomenon where the Yun Province army grew larger while the Great Feng army shrank with each battle.

Great Feng’s treasury was empty and refugees were everywhere, while Yun Province had prepared for twenty years.

In essence, it was a contest of foundations.

In the Qing Province campaign, though the Yun Province army appeared to grow ever larger, in truth their left army of thirty thousand elite troops had been nearly decimated by the Great Feng forces.

After the Yong Province campaign began, both irregular troops and elite forces steadily diminished. By the end of the recent bloody battle for Xun City, General Qi Guangbo’s direct central army was completely depleted.

The recruited martial artists and irregular troops were nearly gone. The once-mighty Phoenix Army that had dominated the battlefield and soared through the skies was reduced to merely twenty or thirty riders, relegated to aerial scouts.

Currently, Yun Province relies solely on their right army’s main force and the Xuanwu heavy cavalry to maintain their position.

This was why after the Yong Province campaign began, Qi Guangbo changed his tactics, adopting a strategy of sustaining war through war itself.

Even Yun Province’s foundation had its limits; they couldn’t sustain losses indefinitely.

However, the battlefield situation has changed recently. Perhaps because the Transcendent battle in the Northern Borders showed no signs of ending, the Yun Province army sensed something amiss.

Qi Guangbo gathered all his elite forces and deployed them outside Yong City. A major battle was imminent.

If they took Yong City, the Yun Province army could march straight to the capital. Even if they couldn’t immediately take the capital, they could still let Xu Pingfeng assimilate Yong Province to strengthen their foundation.

Besides the tribulation battle that affected the entire Central Plains situation, another Transcendent battle was also reaching a critical point.

According to scouts and Night Watchers’ intelligence, the Martial Arts Alliance’s Old Warrior had been ambushed several times by Xu Pingfeng and forcibly teleported to Qing Province.

This peak Second-Rank artificer wanted to kill the Old Warrior on home ground. But the Old Warrior, living up to his long-standing reputation, though beaten badly each time, managed to fight his way back from Qing Province to Yong Province through sheer martial artist’s toughness, always returning for more.

Compared to the peak battle between two Second-Rank artificers, the fight between Sun Xuanji and Ji Xuan was noteworthy but received less attention from the spies.

In the Imperial Study.

The white-haired Minister of War tearfully reported to the Empress:

“Your Majesty, except for the elite forces stationed at the borders, the Ministry truly has no more troops to deploy. We’ve exhausted all usable forces from provincial garrisons, maintaining only minimal forces to maintain stability in each province.

“Spring Festival approaches, but warm weather is still some time away. We need troops to suppress refugees and bandits. If we empty the garrison forces, the consequences would be unthinkable.”

Qian Qingshu stepped forward and berated:

“The battle for Yong Province is imminent, but the defenders are too few to hold it. If the Yun Province army successfully occupies Yong Province, their next step will be the capital. What choice do we have now except to rob Peter to pay Paul?”

The officials argued heatedly in the Imperial Study.

With the war reaching this stage, even these old foxes found it difficult to maintain composure.

After the great case, the Empress’s bearing was majestic. She slightly raised her eyes to look at the Minister of War and said coolly:

“When I tell you to deploy troops, deploy them. I don’t want to hear any excuses. I only want obedient people.”

The Minister of War’s heart trembled, and he replied dejectedly:

“Your servant understands.”

The officials exchanged glances, their arguments gradually subsiding. The Minister of War was one of Wei Yuan’s trusted subordinates, yet the Empress disciplined him without any regard for sentiment.

Huaiqing looked around at her officials and slowly said:

“Let the Yun Province army fight if they want. In five more days, the Imperial Preceptor’s tribulation will end. Within these five days, the Yun Province army cannot reach the capital. And after five days, if the Imperial Preceptor successfully advances to First Rank, we still have a chance.

“Otherwise, all is lost, and whether the Yun Province army takes Yong Province will no longer matter.”

The fate of Great Feng depended on the situation in the background… The officials’ feelings were complex, some worried, some hopeful, some pessimistic.

Huaiqing continued:

“Tomorrow at Spring Festival, I will have Prince Yu perform the heaven worship ceremony in my place. I have other matters to attend to and will not participate.”

The officials felt this was inappropriate, but examining their hearts, they too had no mood for Spring Festival celebrations. Putting themselves in her position, they could understand the Empress’s feelings.

Therefore, no one offered remonstrance.

Spring Festival.

A luxurious carriage made of golden nanmu wood slowly stopped outside the Star-Observing Tower.

While the capital’s officials participated in Spring Festival ceremonies, Huaiqing, ruler of the nation, wore plain imperial yellow clothes and stepped down from the carriage using a wooden stool placed by eunuchs.

She stood in the vast square, raised her eyes to look at the tower that reached into the clouds, and then turned to instruct the eunuchs:

“Before I come out, no one is to approach the Star-Observing Tower.”

The Chief Eunuch bowed:

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Huaiqing immediately entered the Astronomical Bureau, climbing silently from the first-floor hall to the seventh floor. White-robed artificers greeted her along the way, but she ignored them.

Her steps grew faster, as if impatient.

Soon, she reached the seventh floor. In the spacious alchemy room, Song Qing had been waiting for some time. He bowed and said:

“Your Majesty, if you hadn’t come, I would have resurrected Wei Yuan already.

“After all, I still have several alchemy experiments to conduct, and I’m busy.”

Huaiqing glanced at Song Qing, who believed “nothing is greater than alchemy experiments,” and nodded expressionlessly:

“Lead the way!”

There was nothing to reproach him for. Having been friends with Chu Caiwei for so many years, Huaiqing was long accustomed to the temperaments of her senior brothers.

Speaking of which, after Caiwei was “expelled” from the Astronomical Bureau by the Observatory Master, she initially wrote frequent letters sharing local delicacies. Gradually, she began writing about disasters and people’s livelihood, her words losing their cheerfulness and gaining gravity.

Later, the letters stopped.

Huaiqing’s most recent news of Chu Caiwei came through the Earth Book, learning from Li Lingsu.

The gluttonous girl was gathering herbs across mountains and plains, treating sick refugees during the cold disaster, or regularly purchasing grain to aid disaster victims.

The two arrived at the secret chamber. Song Qing opened the iron door that even Fourth-Rank martial artists couldn’t budge, revealing Wei Yuan sleeping on the bed.

This body contained Wei Yuan’s celestial soul.

When Zhao Shou used his Words Become Reality technique to have Wei Yuan return triumphantly, the Confucian Saint’s knife and Sub-sage’s crown brought back Wei Yuan’s celestial soul.

Subsequently, Nan Gong Qianrou provided the lotus seed, and Song Qing refined the body, allowing the celestial soul to perfectly merge with this new body.

Now they only needed to recall Wei Yuan’s spirit to complete the three souls, and he would awaken.

Xu Qi’an had returned from his travels through the jianghu, gathering the materials needed to forge the Soul-Summoning Banner, and finally completing the great task.

Huaiqing’s hand lightly touched Wei Yuan’s shoulder. Her spiritual energy lifted him to float in the air, following her as she left the secret chamber toward the Eight Trigrams Platform.

Song Qing followed closely behind.

Ascending the platform, Huaiqing first saw a circular array carved in cinnabar, its patterns complex and dense.

“This was left by Senior Brother Sun before he left, a soul-summoning array that matches the banner.”

Song Qing gestured for Huaiqing to place Wei Yuan in the center of the array. Then, he took a brocade pouch from his waist and removed a banner twice as tall as a person.

The banner pole was made of dark golden metal filled with air holes, hanging a pitch-black flag covered in tadpole-like array patterns written in gold powder.

“Here you go!”

Song Qing hastily thrust the Soul-Summoning Banner at Huaiqing, as if it were a hot potato.

“This banner contains the deadly poison and yin cold of a thousand-year corpse. Your Majesty has only a quarter-hour. If you cannot summon Wei Yuan’s spirit within that time, we’ll have to wait three months.

“Because the next suitable day for soul-summoning is in late spring, three months from now.”

Three months later would be too late for Great Feng… Huaiqing nodded and said coolly:

“What else does this one need to do?”

Song Qing answered readily:

“Wave the Soul-Summoning Banner and cry out: ‘Wei Yuan, soul return!’

“Sigh, this task was originally for Xu Ning Yan, after all, he’s practically Wei Yuan’s son, and his blood pill for advancement came from Wei Yuan. With Your Majesty instead…

“Don’t take offense at my directness, Your Majesty, but how well do you know Wei Yuan? If you’re not close, he might hear your call and ignore it, then we’re finished.”

Song Qing was as irritating as ever… Huaiqing’s expression remained blank:

“You need not worry about this. Before Xu Ning Yan departed for the Northern Borders, he entrusted this matter to me.”

With these words, she walked to the edge of the Eight Trigrams Platform and raised the Soul-Summoning Banner.

Song Qing lit an incense stick.

Just then, drums and music began to sound from the direction of the imperial palace. Spring Festival ceremonies had begun.

Whoosh… Huaiqing waved the Soul-Summoning Banner, her clear, cold voice crying out:

“Wei Yuan, soul return!”

The Empress danced with the banner, her spirit no less than any warrior’s.