Free Web NovelChapter 265: Chapter 154: Chaos in the Northwest
The battle between the Great Realm Cultivators on Shangning Road was suppressed by three Pacification Envoys, fulfilling the duties of the Daoist Scripture Hall.
However, the sudden conflict had shattered all pretenses. While the masters themselves no longer took to the field, their disciples and the factions under their control descended into utter chaos.
In just one month, over twenty established sects on Shangning Road, Zhushan Road, Lin Chuan Road, and West Stone Road were attacking one another. The Demon Race and bandits also got involved. Hiding in the shadows, the so-called First Heaven and the Taiyin Evil Cultivators also made their appearance, each controlling their own proxies in an attempt to profit from the chaos.
「Late July.」
A hint of autumn cool now touched the Northwest air, and the prolonged, chaotic fighting had left the various Government Armies exhausted.
In the morning, a light rain that had persisted for days continued to fall. Zhang Xinghuai received a dispatch from Shangjing City. A smile crept across his placid face as he read it. He then went to find Wang Lian, who was drilling his troops.
"The Court will soon issue an order for you to lead your forces south of Changning Lake, under the guise of ’inspecting the Northwest.’ We can seize this opportunity to take complete control of the surrounding region."
Wang Lian took a deep breath. "Very well. I want to see for myself what has become of that place."
"A wasteland of scorched earth!"
Zhang Xinghuai said coolly, "But rebirth on scorched earth is what goes most unnoticed."
「Half a month later.」
South of Changning Lake, a vast army on the march halted at the edge of the scorched earth. The land was blanketed in smoke and dust, and several scout squadrons were already galloping across the barren expanse.
Flanked by his personal guard, Wang Lian rode across the dust-choked ground. He frowned, his gaze fixed on the hazy gray sky and the blackened earth before him.
Shortly after, he came to a rise in the terrain.
From this vantage point, an endless sea of scorched earth stretched out in every direction.
Less than two months ago, a wide main road had run through here, bustling with merchants traveling north and south. Teahouses dotted the roadside every few miles, and from a high perch like this, one could see over a dozen towns.
Wang Lian murmured, "This realm..."
"This is simply the way of the realm!"
Zhang Xinghuai finished the thought for him. He glanced at the personal guards following behind them and said, "Some are high above, like gods. Others are as lowly as ants."
"Look..."
He pointed south.
Over there, a dozen or so Qi Cultivators from the Daoist Scripture Hall, specialists in Wood and Earth Spirits, were planting new vegetation, attempting to reawaken the land’s vitality.
"To those truly in power, they wouldn’t so much as blink an eye if all of Zhongzhou were turned to ash. They have both the means and the time to restore it."
Zhang Xinghuai smiled. "This place was destroyed to prevent all of Zhongzhou from being destroyed. Do you understand what I’m saying?"
"Of course. The Scriptures of the Sages may be filled with perfect commentaries, perfect benevolence and righteousness, perfect loyalty and filial piety... but I understand the difference between what is written and what is real. Reality requires sacrifice!"
Wang Lian dismounted and commanded his Order Officer, "Relay my orders! We make camp on this spot!" After the officer departed, he turned to the guards at his side. "Help me out of my armor. I want to go in for a closer look!"
Two personal guards immediately stepped forward to help Wang Lian out of his heavy plate. Then, Wang Lian remounted his horse, popped an Elixir into his mouth, covered his nose and mouth with a specially treated gauze, and began to ride slowly toward Changning Lake.
「Half an Hour later.」
The party’s advance slowed. The ground had become muddy, mixed with black soot, and the sky now wept black raindrops from time to time.
These were no ordinary guards. They produced a medicinal herb, feeding some to their horses and burning the rest to disperse the toxic fumes that had formed in the black rain.
As they drew nearer to Shangning Lake, a nauseating, fishy stench washed over them. A constant buzzing droned in their ears—the sound of flies, creatures that could survive any environment.
Near the lakeshore, they could see several Cultivators from the Daoist Scripture Hall working. They were ensuring the lake water remained uncontaminated, as this was the headwaters of the Nong River.
"Three hundred thousand dead. Three county seats, over a dozen towns, and hundreds of villages."
Wang Lian quietly recited the figures.
Zhang Xinghuai added, "You’ve undercounted. Including the month of war that followed, several million people have been displaced."
As he spoke, he grabbed a handful of seeds from a storage pouch and scattered them on the ground. He then formed a Spell with his hands, activating the Wood Spirit Vein planted within his body. A few breaths later, green grass and Thorny Vines sprouted from the earth, growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"What do you think of this land? In the next ten or twenty years, this will be our foothold. Our forces can grow from twenty thousand to fifty, even a hundred thousand. Then we’ll occupy Liuzhou Prefecture. Once we do, our armies can strike south to the Vice Capital of Anqing, or march north to threaten the Northwest Four Roads."
Staring at the distant, busy disciples of the Daoist Scripture Hall, Zhang Xinghuai spoke in a deeply tempting tone, "And should the realm fall into turmoil, you could even march on Shangjing City itself!"
Wang Lian, however, remained composed. "We are mere mortals. To a Great Cultivator, we are nothing but ants that can be wiped out with a sneeze."
"Haha!"
Zhang Xinghuai laughed. "It’s not as if we’re fighting alone!"
...
The party made a full circuit of the disaster area around Shangning Lake before riding back to camp.
The fortified camp was already more than half-built, and scouts had returned with news from the surrounding region. All in all, the situation was fairly good. At the very least, this scorched land had a chance to recover—a promise made by the Cultivators from the Daoist Scripture Hall. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
After hearing the scouts’ reports, Zhang Xinghuai withdrew from the Central Army Camp and returned to his private tent, where two Scholars were tidying the books he had brought with him.
He settled casually onto a wool blanket, pulled a book from a nearby shelf, and began to read. An observant Scholar immediately brought him a cup of hot tea.
"To smell the aroma of southern bitter tea in this wasteland is a rare treat indeed." A man in Scholar’s robes appeared at the entrance to the tent. The flap faced the sun, and the light was so bright that those inside could not make out the visitor’s face.
The two Scholars at his side were about to issue a rebuke, but Zhang Xinghuai stopped them. "You two are dismissed!"
"Yes, Teacher!"
The two Scholars bowed as disciples would to a master and withdrew from the tent without another word.
Strangely enough, the moment the two Scholars exited, the sunlight dimmed, revealing the face of the man at the entrance.
It was Guan Xi!
"Would you care for some?" Zhang Xinghuai asked.
"No need for the trouble." Guan Xi shook his head. He stepped inside, surveyed the tent, then sat down beside a bookshelf and picked up a book on military strategy, flipping through its pages.
"Were you satisfied with how things turned out last time?" he asked, his eyes still on the book.
"Completely satisfied." Zhang Xinghuai’s gaze instinctively flickered to the scorched hills barely visible outside the tent. "But there is one thing I don’t understand. Since you possess such abilities, a minor figure like myself seems... disposable, doesn’t he?"
"No one in this realm is expendable. Not even the commoners who died here."
For some reason, those words disgusted Zhang Xinghuai. He raised an eyebrow. "Sir, I was raised on the Scriptures of the Sages, you know."
Guan Xi gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Perhaps we aren’t talking about the same thing."
He glanced up at Zhang Xinghuai. "Every piece on the board in the Northwest is, in all likelihood, already dead. Your uncle-master thinks very highly of you. Are you really willing to waste your time here?"
"Only on a game board can a piece be truly dead. In the grand game of this realm, there is no such thing." Zhang Xinghuai stared at Guan Xi, who had returned to flipping through the military treatise. "Do you know my uncle-master well?"
"Even if you could bring this situation back from the brink, you’d only be doing the work for someone else to claim the prize." Guan Xi neatly avoided the subject of his relationship with Wang Ping.
"You needn’t trouble yourself with that. I will fulfill my end of our bargain." Zhang Xinghuai rose and cupped his hands in a salute. "I only ask that you do not forget my reward."
"Rest assured. Everything you are doing is conducive to the balance of Zhongzhou, which aligns with the Saint’s Dao. I will guarantee your breakthrough into the next realm. If you can truly turn this game around, I can even give you two more slots for others to break through as well."
Sensing the undertones in Guan Xi’s speech, Zhang Xinghuai stared at the book in the man’s hands. "I’m suddenly starting to believe in this Saint of yours. But for that very reason, my logic tells me I should stay as far away from him as possible!"
"But your emotions tell me you’re desperate for it. You crave even more. For instance, everything your uncle-master currently possesses..."
"I won’t deny it. I am human, and humans have desires. But we also know how to control them. We know what should and should not be done." freewёbnoνel.com
"You’re a true contradiction. But an authentic one. Not like your uncle-master... No, that’s not right. Your uncle-master is also a contradiction, but he spends most of his time suppressing his inner restlessness with logic." Guan Xi closed the book and met Zhang Xinghuai’s gaze. "Can you tell me, why are you doing all of this?"
For a fleeting moment, Zhang Xinghuai’s gaze lost its focus. Then, his expression hardened. "My master once taught me the ways of the Saints, but I see no sign of those ways in this world. A Saint cultivates himself. I... I want to cultivate the world itself!"
"Haha... Hahaha, HAHAHAHA!"
Guan Xi burst into laughter, an uncontrollable fit. "Apologies, apologies, I know you’re being serious, but... hahaha... it’s precisely *because* you’re serious that I can’t stop... haha."
At first, Zhang Xinghuai felt a flash of annoyance, but then he thought better of it. His irritation faded, and he grew calm, simply waiting for Guan Xi’s laughter to subside.
Guan Xi got to his feet, struggling to contain his laughter. He offered a cupped-fist salute. "A noble ambition. I wish you success!"
With that, his form vanished in a blinding flash of white light. The light merged with the sun’s rays, silently traversing miles of scorched earth to land atop a barren mountain peak.
"I met a rather interesting person!" Guan Xi said softly to the empty space beside him, his gaze sweeping across the horizon as if scanning for something.
"The disciple of that Human Dao Saint?" A voice answered from nearby, though no one was visible.
"That’s the one."
"He is interesting indeed. So I’ve decided to stay here for a time."
"Now that makes things even more interesting... Haha, I never thought repaying a favor could lead to something this entertaining."
"When will you ever finish repaying all your favors?"
"I’ve got a long way to go!"
