Ch62 - Clouds of doubt in the northern desert

This was a new city built upon barren land, once known as the North Palace and the result of the previous fatuous emperor’s large-scale construction project. Hong Yao loathed the Heavenly Saint Church’s luxurious and extravagant style, so Xindu’s architecture was orderly and devoid of complicated, intricate paintings or carvings. Everywhere stood buildings of wood and stone in their original shades.

The palace was designed to have three separate halls and their auxiliary buildings, including bedrooms, imperial gardens and a stargazing platform. There was no location for the harem, while the area outside the buildings were patrolled by guards and palace maidens in charge of housekeeping.

Currently, the city was in a frenzy of construction.

Pei Xiuyi had already formally assumed office as minister and was on a tour of the fledgling academy.

Pei Wenzheng was directing the Xuanji Pavilion members to move their farming machinery and the rest to the agricultural department.

The Ministry of Works officials who came in on fast horses were measuring out positions of city walls and streets on a map because they had yet another heavy task to perform: construct a new city well. The people of Xindu included the refugees who’d joined the caravans and those who’d been living here from the start: most were stonemasons, carpenters, and bricklayers.

For the last decade, these craftsmen had built a spacious palace for the emperor in the wilderness, only for the dynasty to change and them to become residents of the new capital city. Their descendents were curious but apprehensive, hiding behind the trees as they watched the endless stream of carriages drive by the road.

The children were thinking,Why are these bigshots abandoning Zhaoge for North Palace, a place where birds won’t even come to poop?

They’d heard that Zhaoge’s streets were paved with gold bricks and that the lords ate their meals with hundreds of servants in attendance. Exotic delicacies from distant places were tasted once and then thrown away.

“Children! Hide further back, they’re going to deliver giant lumber logs next!” Zhong Zhen shouted.

He was carrying three large meowing furballs in his arms. A rope on each arm leashed three mutts wagging their tails behind him, making his progress difficult.

The children took one look at his ferocious-looking face and started wailing.

“……” said Zhong Zhen.

If these weren’t the city gates and the donkey carts hadn’t been hijacked by the “hooligans” from the Ministry of Works to use for carrying other things, would he be in such a sorry state?

These dogs and cats were gifts for Xie Huaian.

A while later, at the State Preceptor’s Residence.

“This is from after sifting through the candidates. They’re well-tempered, not pushy, and won’t bite. But it’s better to raise them in the yard, not indoors.”

Zhong Zhen squeezed out a grin as he glanced a few times at Xie Huaian while introducing each cat one-by-one.

“Teacher, choose one,” Hong Yao had his arms folded over his chest, looking between his martial arts instructor and amnesiac teacher in mirth.

Xie Huaian joyfully fell into the dilemma of choosing a cat.

Originally, he wanted them all, but Hong Yao said they couldn’t manage that many cats and dogs, so he could only pick two out of the six. The remaining four would be sent to the Academy as inspectors, responsible for patrolling the mountains.

As he settled down to pick, Xie Huaian noticed something off.

yFF mL EDvXv Nvdv Emm LsvdSv! fDvdv hsh EDv zvMvdQF LsMh SQEX QMh hmzX Fsqv EDvXv? aDvr Nvdv Q LQd Sdr LdmW EDmXv sM DsX sWudvXXsmM.

“Just these two, then…” Xie Huaian chose a long-hairedDragon Li catand a yellowish-brownXigoudog, naming themMeowy (咪咪) and Beany (豆豆), respectively. Then he felt embarrassed and lifted Chubby for a hug.

“IQM Nv XvMh EDvW QFF Em EDv ySQhvWr Em dQsXv? o DQxv Mm vGuvdsvMSv QMh LmdzmE IDPkkr WszDE kv LdszDEvMvh kr EDvW.”

“fsFF hm. jmM’E Nmddr, avQSDvd, o’FF DQxv uvmuFv EQqv zmmh SQdv mL EDvW Lmd rmP,” tmP nv kvQE DsX SDvXE QX zPQdQMEvv.

“LZ’R aDRZ ZA yOERD ZqDS AjZREmD. FEdqZ lAz…LSSAyZOx vORZDy’R qDOxZq ERl’Z OR dAAm OR aDwAyD, RA EZ’xx aD aOm Ew ZqDc RXyOZXq cAj ac OXXEmDlZ,” QqAld QqDl ROEm aDwAyD zOEZEld wAy KAld rOA’R TDySERREAl ZA yDxDORD ZqD xDORq Olm RqAz WED KjOEOl RASDZqEld qD jRDm ZA xAoD zOZXqEld:

Meowy dashed out of sight as soon as it was free, while Beany started chasing its own tail and jumping up and down. Chubby tilted its head in curiosity at first, before getting afraid and puffing up its feathers to squawk. It burrowed against Xie Huaian’s hand with all its might.

“Aish, aish, it’s okay. Be good.” Xie Huaian hadn’t stopped smiling once. He happily watched the cat and big dog run all over the place, accepted the medicine that Kong Qing handed over, and drank it all before going to change clothes and rest.

“Auntie, don’t worry. I’ll sleep right away,” Xie Huaian promised.

Kong Qing tenderly tucked in the corners of his quilt for him before arranging the bedwarmer in its rightful place. “The north is colder than Zhaoge, so Teacher must rest more often. Ring the bell if you’re feeling unwell. His Majesty is deliberating with General Zhong in the front hall.”

“Okay,” Xie Huaian’s eyes curved into smiles.

When Kong Qing left, he quietly opened his eyes before turning over to lift the bed tent. Hong Yao advocated frugality, but he had built the State Preceptor’s Residence into Xindu’s most precious estate. The glazed windows let in warm light, the floors were covered in soft blankets and heated surfaces so one could sit, and there was an exquisite hot spring in the rear courtyard.

Xie Huaian liked the big windows of the main building and looked at them when he was idle.

The sky over the eaves was such a beautiful blue that he couldn’t peel his eyes away. Xie Huaian stared for a while before he brought up the System’s Lost & Found interface to ask inside his head:“I want know the location of the Anli Star fragment that fell into the northern desert.”

This could betraced backto the big bathing pool in Cloud Radiance Hall. When Xie Huaian had been soaking in the baths back then, he’d argued with the System and discovered that the Heavenly Master’s powers came from the celestial fragments of the Anli Star. Back then, the System had told him this star had split into a mother fragment and two son fragments. The mother fragment landed in Zhaoge, while the son fragments landed in the northern desert and within Great Jing’simperial palace.

Xie Huaian had made a note of this, but after ascending the altar to eliminate the Heavenly Master, one thing followed another until he’d forgotten it at the back of his head. While relocating to the capital, he’d been sick and delirious, including a spell when he was burning up so much it was difficult to breathe. After he recovered, he discovered that Hong Yao had delayed the pace with plenty of rest stops so that they arrived nearly half a month late.

Xie Huaian had been perched on the windowsill of the carriage, looking at the vast expanse of land as he breathed in the steadily colder air, when he suddenly remembered in a flash. He took advantage of fake sleeping in the carriage to borrow the Lost & Found function of the System to ask about the fragment’s location in the northern desert.

But the answer he got was….

Black that glittered in an array of different colors.

Xie Huaian didn’t understand what he saw.

After the System’s novice mode ended, it stopped beeping annoyingly at Xie Huaian, leaving him to figure things out by himself. Its interface displayed the version number and current deviation value, which was 71608581.70. As time passed, it declined at an extremely slow pace, meaning that Great Jing was still in the post-disaster reconstruction stage and some distance away from its flourishing era. Thus, he couldn’t determine the status of the son fragment in the northern desert right now.

Xie Huaian deliberately and inadvertently mentioned the northern desert a few times in his conversations with Hong Yao, but found no useful intel there, either. Hong Yao only fell silent before replying, “That’s a very faraway place.”

Perhaps the System was malfunctioning, Xie Huaian thought uncertainly. So he decided to try again in a few days, and who knows what kind of answer he’d be getting now—

Xie Huaian leaned against the bed to quietly await the results.

The screen displaying his question disappeared like ripples before the same image of the phantasmagoric light against a black background emerged from the depths.

There were no strange or horrible sensations from the scene, but neither did it seem like a harbinger of peace and tranquility, so its meaning remained cryptic.

Weird.

**

In the meeting hall of the State Preceptor’s Residence, Hong Yao and Zhong Zhen sat facing each other.

“Commander Zhong,Zhenalready knows of the city defenses. From now on, set aside your position as instructor of the imperial guards and helpZhencomplete a task.”

Zhong Zhen simply unloaded the waist token that proclaimed his position and replied, “Please speak, Your Majesty.”

Hong Yao’s voice was warm. “Commander Zhong, relax a bit. If anyone saw you now, they would thinkZhenwas ordering your death.”

“Your Majesty is a wise sovereign now who only kills the guilty. What does this subject have to fear?” Zhong Zhen replied. “This subject is only worried that my Youyun Fortress brothers might cause trouble if they don’t know what’s going on.”

“Have you heard the rumors among the people?” Hong Yao asked lightly. “Someone says Commander Zhong wields theShangfang Swordto slaughter imperial clansmen and protect the northern borders. He’s so powerful that Xindu’s imperial guards only recognize his authority, notZhen’s,so the dynasty’s liable to turn upside down overnight.”

Zhong Zhen wrinkled his brows. “Academy students can use their mouths to kill people like knives. May Your Majesty be clearheaded.”

Hong Yao left his seat to place the waist token back into Zhong Zhen’s hands.“Those are real academy students, just a bunch of idiotic, arrogant people skilled in taking advantage of things. They only knew how to memorize scriptures before, and now they’re distorting people’s thinking.Zhenwill deal with them.”

Zhong Zhen replied, “They’re right about one thing, Your Majesty. Your Majesty should personally cultivate some crack troops for an elite force. There should also be at least one more chief instructor, not just myself.”

When he finished, he expressed, “This oldNorthern Generalonly has two wishes. One is to maintain peace in Zhaoge, and the second is to guard the northern border from foreign enemies. When Xindu is established, I’d like to take up my ancestors’ mantle to protect the north.”

“Future affairs can be discussed in the future,” Hong Yao said. “Right now we’re short on people everywhere soZhenwants to put Commander Zhong’s abilities to the best use.”

Zhong Zhen lowered his head, his smile a little more genuine. “Little Xie…Immortal Master Xie used to put on airs and say to think thrice before doing anything, and to not be impulsive but to maximize the benefits.”

Hong Yao smiled. “Actually, he just said that to convince Commander Zhong to stop waking him up early so often for martial arts practice so he could sleep in more often.”

“…Your Majesty still remembers?”

The corners of Hong Yao’s lips quirked up. “Commander Zhong, you and Minister Pei both worry too much.Zhenis still someone who remembers old ties, not one who suspects everyone of treachery all day long…enough, enough. Looking at your face,Zhenis just making things worse by explaining.”

Zhong Zhen bowed deeply. “May Your Majesty forgive me.”

“Rise already. Youyun Fortress’s soldiers are Great Jing’s loyal elite who hope for peaceful and tranquil times.Zhenwill never break my own blades.” After that statement of support, Hong Yao’s smile faded somewhat. “Commander Zhong, this timeZhenis entrusting you with something not only related to Teacher, but the imperial princess.”

Theimperial princesswas Hong Yao’s elder sister, PrincessZhaochun (昭纯).

Beyond Great Jing’s northern borders were endless forests, swamps, and deserts, with the end of the desert crisscrossed by its cavalry. Before the descent of the Holy Stone, the northern desert soldiers would frequently head south during the winter to demand grain and even massacred a city once for supplies. Yet after the Holy Stone fell, perhaps it induced mutations in the forests. A maze of barriers and foreigners plants made travel extremely dangerous, so the chaos in the northern deserts died down.

During Emperor Yongshou’s reign, the Mi Tribe (密族) of the northern desert had sent messengers south saying that its 18 tribes showed signs of unification. As the most powerful tribe, the Mi requested the support of the living dead army to ascend as kings of all the tribes and rule over the northern desert. As payment, they would hold back from invading south for 100 years.

The Heavenly Master regarded this as matter as adding to his accomplishments and readily agreed, but instead of sending the living dead soldiers, he asked the Mi Tribe to trade with sorcery instead. After a stalemate on both side, the Mi Tribe sent a large number of slaves, cattle, and sheep, as well as a beautiful spiritual deer; delighted by the gifts, the Heavenly Master sent double the gold, silver, and onyx, promising that if Great Jing ever birthed a princess, she would be delivered as a gift, too.

Because of his words, five-year-old Hong Yao ascended the throne in the same year his 13-year-old sister Zhaochun was married off in the distant northern desert. In the eyes of the Heavenly Master and Holy Tower, imperial princesses and emperors were both playthings to be given away on a whim. No one else remembered this incident again once it was over.

Hearing this, Zhong Zhen’s first reaction was that the emperor wanted to recover the imperial princess and restore the prestige of Great Jing. He said in a solemn voice, “The northern borders are cold and confusing, so even the most elite FlyingLuanGuards will lose their way. No one else besides this subject is more suitable to go. I will find the imperial princess and investigate the status of the 18 tribes of the northern desert.”

Hong Yao replied, “Commander Zhong should pay extra attention to their secret arts and see if they share similarities to the Heavenly Master’s powers.”

“Your Majesty means to say…”

“Zhenpreviously thought that those secret arts were identical to trueqi,which can be enlightened via nature. But since the Heavenly Master’s powers come from the Holy Stone, we should be prepared for all possibilities.”

“Understood.”

“There’s another point Commander Zhong should pay attention to…” Hong Yao went on slowly. “We both know Teacher’s personality. He’s a homebody who likes to sleep and soak in hot springs. Even if something earthshaking happens, it won’t be the end of the world for him.”

As he spoke, he recalled how Xie Huaian had suddenly brought up the northern desert with him in the carriage. His smile turned ugly at the memory.

“After Teacher went missing the first time, the FlyingLuanGuards and Xuanji Pavilion searched for him across Great Jing for a decade, but never tried north of Luo An Mountain… perhaps he went to the northern desert then.”

Zhong Zhen lowered his voice. “This subject will do my best to find any old traces.”

“The road ahead is difficult, so Commander Zhong must be careful on your journey.Zhenwill await your good news.”

—

The author has something to say:=3=