There were eyewitnesses? By all rights, Yun Ya should indeed be protecting the Wei King, ensuring his safety to prevent the tragedy of the old Wei King Pingzhang from repeating with his son.
But Feng Miaojun always felt that things couldn’t be so simple. Of course, being thousands of li away with not a shred of evidence, she was relying purely on intuition.
With the Golden City in hand, Yao Kingdom could handle a lightning war without fear. The Wei people had already suffered once, even losing their ruler. How would they respond this time?
Two days later, before news of the war in Yao territory arrived, the outcome of the Yan-Xi conflict in the Southern Continent came first:
Despite Xi Kingdom’s extremely tenacious resistance, they continued to retreat under Yan Kingdom’s offensive, quickly falling back to the Niumu River.
Due to the Xi King’s previous broken promise, the Wei people no longer sent troops to assist; Pu Kingdom and Taoyuan Territory in the Southern Continent also kept to themselves, ignoring his pleas for help. Therefore, this time when the wolf came, the Xi people had to fight alone.
Seeing the long list of casualties in the battle report, Feng Miaojun couldn’t help but admire the Xi Kingdom’s soldiers and cultivators as brave men. Even with inferior armor, weapons, medical logistics… and a ruler far inferior to their opponent, they still managed to hold on for so long.
But the gap between the two sides was undeniable—from national strength to elemental power, from strategy to equipment, the disparity was simply too great. Their bloody struggle merely slowed the enemy’s advance.
The Yan army still pressed to the banks of the Niumu River.
Once they crossed the river, they could march toward the Xi Kingdom capital across the vast plains.
At this moment, the Xi King made a move no one could have anticipated:
He abandoned the capital and fled!
He forsook the existing capital, taking the entire royal court to the Red Cotton Highlands in the north, and designating Qianshui City as the temporary capital. Qianshui City was hundreds of li away from the old capital, and most importantly, the Red Cotton Highlands were an entire elevated mountain range with treacherous terrain, guarded by several strategic passes that were naturally defensible and difficult to attack.
Strategically speaking, the location was well-chosen. Once the old capital fell, this place could allow the Xi royal court to barely survive.
But this action was too…
The entire New Xia court was stunned by this news. With a national ruler showing not an ounce of backbone, what were the Xi people still fighting at the front lines to think?
The Xi people quickly responded with action:
Despite the generals’ efforts to intercept this news, rumors spread rapidly, and the frontline defense at the Niumu River subsequently collapsed.
If the king had abandoned them, why should they continue to shed blood and sacrifice their lives?
To hell with it all!
Thus, the Yan army captured the ferry crossing without much effort.
The Niumu River battle—another defeat for the Xi army after months of hard work and countless lives lost. They weren’t forcibly crushed by the enemy but disintegrated by their king.
Seeing this, Feng Miaojun couldn’t help but sigh: “Has the Yan army crossed the river already?” As the saying goes, “One bear of a soldier is bad enough, a den of bear-like generals is worse,” then what about the ruler?
If the Yan army crossed the river, the outcome of this great war would be essentially determined.
Setting aside emotions and dignity, the Xi King’s actions weren’t entirely wrong. Seeing that the capital couldn’t be defended, his quick escape could extend Xi Kingdom’s life a little longer, perhaps allowing it to survive a few more years.
“They haven’t,” the minister of military intelligence shook his head. “Although the Yan army has captured the crossing, the Chi Dragon clan in the Niumu River is causing trouble, destroying boats and preventing the Yan people from crossing.”
The court officials were greatly surprised, all uttering sounds of astonishment.
Feng Miaojun was also very interested: “Does the Chi Dragon clan also take orders from Xi Kingdom?” Currently, humans stand at the center of the world stage, and the relationship between demon clans and humans has become very delicate. Monsters dwelling in mountains and rivers often signed contracts with humans. Yao Kingdom’s guardian divine bird was a great monster, and even the liquid metal monster White Board hanging on her ear was originally a water deity of Yao Kingdom.
“Sort of,” Fu Lingchuan answered this time. “The Chi Dragon clan doesn’t receive titles from the Xi King, has no official positions or divine status, and doesn’t associate with the Xi royal court.”
“Yet they still dwell in the Niumu River?” Chi dragons were dragon-like creatures without horns, with a trace of true dragon bloodline, and were monsters capable of causing calamities. For such great demons, human kingdoms would have driven them to uninhabited deep mountains and great rivers, not allowing them to remain in bustling areas. The Niumu River was busy with boats, one of the busiest riverside transport lines. How could Xi Kingdom tolerate this?
“The State Preceptor of Xi Kingdom, Yu Haizhen, vouched for the Chi Dragon clan, allowing them to dwell at the bottom of the Niumu River,” Fu Lingchuan shared his knowledge. “Legend has it that she once saved the Chi Dragon clan leader years ago. Their friendship runs deep, and Yu Haizhen often visits the Chi Dragon clan at the river bottom.”
Feng Miaojun snorted lightly: “The Xi people have all fled, yet it falls to monsters to keep Xi Kingdom alive.”
It seemed Xi Kingdom’s fate was sealed, and any further struggle would only extend its life by a few years. The question was whether the Yan King would conquer the Xi Kingdom first, or Xiao Yan would annex the Yao Kingdom first.
Zhao Hongyin said in a muffled voice: “Monsters are much more loyal and righteous than humans.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Fu Lingchuan shook his head. “Before the current era, the great monsters who could participate in heaven and earth’s creation had more schemes than holes in a sieve. Now that monsters’ powers have declined, they appear more simple and honest.”
Zhao Hongyin, who had never gotten along with him, rolled his eyes.
That night, the moonlight was like water.
Feng Miaojun sat cross-legged, regulating her breath in the moonlight, her entire body enveloped in a thick layer of white mist.
Previously, she had envied Yun Ya for showing such unusual phenomena during meditation. Now she could achieve it herself.
Only when the moon crossed the center of the sky did she slowly finish her practice. Her forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat, but her face wore a smile.
She stood up and walked toward the window.
The wooden window of the palace chamber was quite high, at least four chi from the ground. Feng Miaojun’s first two steps were on the floor tiles, but then she surprisingly rose from the ground, walking higher and higher. Her pace was slow but steady as if strolling in a garden as if she wasn’t walking on air but on a pebbled path.
Then, she passed through the window and slowly walked toward the eaves.
The farther from the ground, the stronger the feeling of gravity. Just before sinking, she grabbed the corner of the eaves, using the momentum to flip herself onto the high roof.
She was now four zhang away from the ground.
Her energy was flowing smoothly, and all meridians were in harmony. At this moment, her mind was at ease, and she just wanted to let out a long howl.
The final move of the “Mortal’s Path to Immortality” was finally mastered.
Emperor Haoli’s personally annotated “Mortal’s Path to Immortality” became increasingly difficult with each move. Even for other cultivators who practiced it later, the difficulty felt insurmountable. This led to the later abridged version—such a difficult mental technique, that few in the world could master it.
Since receiving this set of mantras at age thirteen, Feng Miaojun had studied diligently without cease. The second-to-last move took her half a year, and this final move had taken a full two years!
Until today, until this moment, she had finally reached this natural achievement.