Chapter 53: Deploying the Troops

Great Chu Imperial Capital, Peng City.

Fifty miles beyond the city walls stretched a range of desolate mountains and rolling hills. Unlike the bustling capital, these wild lands showed no trace of human presence—only the echoing cries of apes in the ravines and the gentle murmur of streams winding through the woods. Overhead, beneath a cerulean sky, a few white-feathered hawks soared, circling as they searched for prey.

Suddenly, a flash of crimson descended upon the mountain peak—a woman. Her gaze was proud and unyielding as she looked down from the summit, like a deity surveying the world beneath her feet.

“Is it truly only fifty miles left to Peng City?” Her voice was even more imperious than her eyes.

“Be at ease, Sister Feng.” A man in dark robes stood half a step behind her, his tone gentle, though he dared not stand at her side.

He smiled. “The map Chong provided marks this mountain range clearly. The Chu army has garrisons to the east, west, and south of Peng City, but this terrain is too complex to defend—so the imperial guards abandoned it.”

“Hmph!”

The woman scoffed. She was none other than the last Holy Mistress of the Brahma Sound Sanctuary, Xue Feng.

“To think the assassination of a mere Grand Chancellor of Chu would require my intervention! Nangong Yan, with your ambition, I doubt you’ll ever ascend in this lifetime.”

The man—Nangong Yan, current head of the Sect of Blazing Fire—looked somewhat embarrassed, forcing a smile. “Sister Feng, if the goal was simply to kill Fan Li, I could do so alone. But your presence is needed to intimidate the imperial family, to make the emperor abdicate and surrender the throne to Chong.”

Xue Feng’s expression softened.

“Once Xiang Chong is enthroned, he must make Zhier the Empress of Chu. And he shall have only one empress in his lifetime—no concubines, no lesser wives. If he dares defy this, even as emperor, I will not spare him.”

Her cultivation was profound; her anger alone sent a tremor through the forest, causing hundreds of birds to flee in terror.

Behind them stood another young woman, resplendent in jewels and fine robes—hardly the appearance of an ascetic, but rather that of a pampered noblewoman preparing for marriage.

“Mother, Brother Chong has sworn to love only me. You may rest assured,” said Nangong Zhi sweetly.

“Hmph. He knows his place,” Xue Feng replied coldly.

Zhi, ever curious, asked, “Mother, Brother Chong does not bear the true Mandate of Heaven. Can he truly hold the throne?”

“Of course not,” Xue Feng replied without hesitation. “Without the Mandate, he cannot reign for long. But with me here to anchor the fate of Chu, a century of peace is guaranteed.”

Zhi’s eyes sparkled. “In a hundred years, if I bear him children, perhaps one will be born with the Mandate of Heaven?”

Xue Feng smiled and nodded. “The Mandate is born of fate, but it is most likely to appear in the imperial bloodline.”

So, in the eyes of this family, Xiang Chong was little more than a seed-bearer.

Suddenly, a group of figures appeared behind them—two elders of the Sect of Blazing Fire and seventy disciples.

“Holy Mistress, Sect Master, I bring word from Xiang Chong. The whereabouts of the four Fan siblings have been uncovered.

“Fan Ming, the head of the family, oversees all their business dealings. He is now in a secret manor outside Peng City, meeting an envoy from Dong Zhuo, Grand Preceptor of Han, to negotiate a staggering transaction.”

As the chief elder spoke, Nangong Yan sneered, tinged with jealousy.

“A transaction? More like abusing Fan Li’s authority for personal gain! The Fans are despicable, colluding with that infamous traitor Dong Zhuo!”

Yet inwardly, he could not help but covet such profits—smuggling on this scale would yield revenues dozens of times greater than his own sect.

“Fan Chun has gathered several generals for a hunt in the southern hills outside Peng City and is thoroughly enjoying himself,” the elder continued.

“I hear Fan Chun is a martial prodigy, once killing a cultivator of the Integration Realm above his rank. Yet now he squanders his talent in games—hardly promising for the future,” Nangong Yan remarked.

“He has no future. The doomed need not concern themselves with destiny,” Xue Feng replied coolly, and Nangong Yan quickly nodded, not daring to contradict her.

“Fan Yuehua, at the pinnacle of Nascent Soul, is called the Moonlight Fairy. She, too, is out at play, reciting poetry and drinking with the young elite amid the peach blossoms west of Peng City.”

At this, Nangong Zhi felt a surge of inexplicable anger.

She had spent her days cultivating in the Pure Land of Brahma, living in austerity, devoting herself to bitter training until her power far exceeded Xiang Chong’s. Now she heard of a woman, weaker than herself, living grandly and beloved by men—titled a “fairy” no less?

“Mother! Leave Fan Yuehua to me—she’s but a weakling at the Nascent Soul stage!” Zhi declared through gritted teeth.

Xue Feng nodded, her gaze turning once more to the chief elder.

But what of Fan Li—the most crucial of them all?

“Well… Fan Li’s situation is unusual. Xiang Chong reports that he entered the Dragon Shrine of Chu to meet Wuzhui, the nation’s guardian spirit-beast. No one knows what transpired, but Wuzhui has imprisoned him in the shrine for three days now.”

At last, Xue Feng’s eyes held a hint of gravity.

“I hear Wuzhui has taken dragon form, reaching the first level of the Great Ascension stage?” Nangong Yan murmured, knowing such power was beyond his reach.

But Xue Feng was undaunted. “Millennia of cultivation and just barely at the threshold. Truly, humanity is the finest creation of heaven and earth; all others are but mongrels, their gifts incomparable. If Wuzhui is wise, she’ll hand over Fan Li. If not, I shall show her no mercy.”

Nangong Yan hurried to agree. “Likely Wuzhui loathes Fan Li as well, but refrains out of respect for his rank. If you kill him, perhaps she’ll owe us a debt.”

“Indeed,” Xue Feng replied with satisfaction. “Within five centuries, I will reach the peak of Ascension. When I become immortal, Wuzhui may serve as my steed.”

With the Fan siblings’ whereabouts known, it was time to divide their forces and strike.

Nangong Yan began assigning tasks. “Lady, I must trouble you to visit Peng City and demand Fan Li from Wuzhui at the Dragon Shrine. I will go to the secret manor and deal with Fan Ming. The chief elder will lead seventy disciples to the southern hills to hunt down Fan Chun—waste no words, kill him and his companions at once. Zhi, you and the Second Elder will intercept Fan Yuehua in the peach grove. Make sure she does not escape.”

Zhi’s eyes lit up. “With Second Elder by my side, I will kill Fan Yuehua myself!”