Two days later.
Daze City. Night.
The clear, resonant notes of a qin flowed out from the residence of the Governor of Daze City. At first listen, the music was extraordinarily graceful and gentle, but if one listened carefully, there was something chilling about it, as though one were watching from afar a peerlessly beautiful woman in elegant red garments, only to approach and discover that she was a female ghost whose feet did not touch the ground as she drifted eerily through the air.
A Liao cultivator dressed in blue hurried around the corridor and approached the main hall from which the qin music came. Standing outside with his arms folded, he said, “Imperial Preceptor! The watchtower outside the city has discovered that the Chonghua army is approaching! At most another half an hour, and they will reach the outskirts of Daze City!”
There was no reply from the person inside. Only bright orange-yellow lamplight seeped outward through the white silk stretched across the lattice windows.
Only after that eerie and sinister piece of music slowly came to an end did the main doors finally creak open.
The Imperial Preceptor of Liao strolled out unhurriedly.
The man wore an exquisite golden face covering and a golden-threaded crown. Though he was merely an Imperial Preceptor, he brazenly overstepped all boundaries, wearing an ornate yellow-silk robe embroidered with coiling dragon patterns. The robe was edged in silver, and its patterns were woven from threads refined from the tail feathers of spirit sparrows. Under the moonlight, it shimmered brilliantly.
“So soon?” The Imperial Preceptor said casually. “I thought it would take them at least three days to arrive. Looks like occupying Daze has really provoked that young brat sitting on Chonghua’s throne.”
He smiled and said, “Since the righteous army has already come so impatiently to settle things with us, what are you waiting for? Hurry to the city walls and make proper preparations. Don’t disappoint our guests who have traveled so far to come here.”
The messenger cultivator still stood with his head lowered and arms folded. Although the Imperial Preceptor’s tone sounded calm and his face looked amiable, the messenger did not even dare raise his head in front of him.
Everyone in Liao, even children who had barely learned to speak, knew that in this dark kingdom, the most terrifying person was not the sovereign, but this Imperial Preceptor who wielded power through the ruler.
This man was unpredictable in his moods and cruel in his methods. The things he did could not possibly be measured by reason or rules. Not to mention anyone else—even the young Lord of Liao was nothing more than a lump of mud in his hands, something he could discard whenever he wished.
Back then, when the Lord had first ascended the throne, he had once wanted to join forces with his mother’s clan to eliminate this man who abused his authority.
But what was the result?
Before they could even set their trap, the Imperial Preceptor had already ripped out all their fangs. Every minister involved was chopped into minced meat. The Lord was driven to despair and collapsed completely. He ran crying to his mother for comfort, but on that cold night, the Imperial Preceptor personally entered the sleeping quarters of the Lord’s mother.
It was as though he deliberately wanted to test the new sovereign’s temperament and see whether he possessed any bloodlust. He actually went so far as to humiliate the woman in front of the young Lord, then laughed wildly as he beheaded her.
Inside the dim, extravagant sleeping quarters, the Imperial Preceptor lazily opened his collar, exposing a large expanse of solid chest. He dipped his fingers into the woman’s warm blood and, laughing playfully, smeared it across the Lord of Liao’s face.
And the Lord?
He trembled violently. The first emotion he erupted with was not hatred over his mother’s murder, but fear.
“Don’t kill me… Don’t kill me…”
The Imperial Preceptor’s smile did not reach his eyes, and it was impossible to discern his emotions.
“Don’t kill you? You’re truly a coward.”
“Wuwuwu… Imperial Preceptor… Please… Please…”
“But that’s good, too.” The Imperial Preceptor gazed at the bloodstains on his fingertips and smiled faintly. “If you were as fierce as your mother, playing with you would certainly be exciting, but keeping you by my side would be raising a tiger as a threat. Being a little more useless isn’t so bad.”
At the time, between ruler and minister, who was superior and who was subordinate was obvious even to a blind man.
There had even been members of the Liao aristocracy who directly remonstrated with the Imperial Preceptor, telling him that he might as well take the throne himself.
But the Imperial Preceptor had no such intention.
“What’s interesting about being the sovereign? It’s too tiring. Being the Imperial Preceptor is better. The position of Imperial Preceptor is tempting.”
“The thing I’ve wanted to do most in my entire life is become an Imperial Preceptor.”
The man smiled sweetly.
“Don’t force me to ascend the throne. I’m very well-behaved. Where would I have such wolfish ambitions?”
He did not possess the ambitions of a wolf.
He himself was a vicious beast that devoured flesh and drank blood.
And yet, he particularly enjoyed pretending to be affectionate. Even when he raised his head from a victim’s entrails, he could still reveal the sweetest smile with that blood-soaked face.
Thus, throughout the Nine Provinces, everyone actually knew very clearly that the world of Liao was not controlled by its sovereign.
It belonged to that ill-tempered man.
The Imperial Preceptor of Liao was the true master of this dark kingdom.
At this moment, the messenger was serving this man at his side, so he naturally understood the stakes very well.
Before him, thirty-two messenger cultivators had already died in Liao that year alone. Some had not even known until the moment of their deaths which particular sentence they had spoken that had displeased the Imperial Preceptor enough to warrant beheading.
Or perhaps the Imperial Preceptor had not been displeased at all.
Perhaps he had simply wanted to chop off some heads.
“Why are you still standing there? Go tell the troops guarding the city gates to prepare themselves.” The Imperial Preceptor smiled sweetly. “You can’t even handle such a small matter properly. Do you intend to disturb me while I’m playing the qin tonight?”
The messenger felt every hair on his body stand on end. He hurriedly said, “Yes, yes, yes! I-I’ll go right away! Right away!”
He fled in a panic.
The Imperial Preceptor smiled as he watched the man’s hurried retreat. He stood in the courtyard for a while before turning around and returning to the main hall.
The main hall had now become a living hell.
The corpse of the Governor of Daze City, who had committed suicide by slitting his own throat, had not yet been carried away. The governor’s wife and concubines, along with his six children, had all hanged themselves, and their bodies had not been taken down either.
He leisurely walked through the hall, his slender fingertips brushing against the swaying corpses hanging overhead. His expression was relaxed, as though he were brushing against wind chimes.
The Imperial Preceptor greatly enjoyed such scenes.
Precisely because of this perverse preference, even though he had occupied the governor’s residence for two days already, he had not allowed anyone to clean up the corpses.
He walked all the way to the very end of the main hall.
There, an ancient qin belonging to him was placed.
Under the bright lamplight, it could be seen that the qin’s surface was made from human skin, its strings from strands of hair, and nine eyes had been embedded into it. They rolled around frantically.
He sat down beside the ancient qin, plucked the strings a few times, then closed his eyes and began playing leisurely once more.
“Ten thousand li west of the bridge, a thatched cottage stands; the waters of the Hundred Flower Pool are the Canglang. The wind holds the emerald bamboo, slender and pure; rain moistens the red lotus, slowly releasing its fragrance. Old friends of generous rank have ceased to send letters; my constantly hungry children wear sorrowful expressions. I wish to fill the ravines with my bones, asking only for freedom; I laugh at myself, a madman who grows madder with age.”
His fingertips plucked and caressed the strings.
The melody was long and lingering, leisurely and tranquil, mournful and sorrowful, soft and gentle…
And when he played a little folk tune used to lull children to sleep, the distant city walls were already echoing with the explosive clash of magical techniques.
A long time passed.
Perhaps an hour.
Perhaps two.
Then came a tremendous boom, so loud that it seemed even the earth itself trembled—
From the distant city gates came indistinct screams:
“Activate the barrier! Activate the defensive barrier!”
“Send defensive cultivators to the eastern city gate!”
The cries of blood and fire erupting at the city gates had become broken, fragmented remnants of sound by the time they reached the governor’s residence, further washed away by the music of the Nine-Eyed Qin until they seemed as insubstantial as flowers reflected in a mirror or the moon reflected in water.
“That piece is finished.”
The Imperial Preceptor finally raised his head and calmly ordered, “The attack on the city is quite fast. Go out and ask who the commanders of Chonghua are this time.”
The attendant standing nearby immediately received the order and left.
After a while, the attendant hurried back and bowed his head as he reported, “Reporting to the Imperial Preceptor, the brothers in the city-defense camp say that the commander-in-chief Chonghua sent this time is their Lord Xihe, Mo Xi!”
The Imperial Preceptor said calmly, “Not surprising at all. The Mo family name is known for bravery and skill in battle, but the only person he cannot fight against is his senior brother. Now that Gu Mang has been sent back by us, it is hardly strange that Chonghua would send him here. What about the deputy commanders?”
“Murong Lian.”
The Imperial Preceptor smiled. “Just an opium addict.”
“There… there’s another one.”
“Oh?” The Imperial Preceptor became interested. “Who?”
“Murong Mengze.”
The fingers of the Imperial Preceptor, which had been resting on the qin strings, stopped.
Then he scoffed.
“They sent a woman as deputy commander? Is Chonghua about to perish, or is that old Lord of theirs planning to let his younger sister build a closer relationship with Mo Xi? Murong Mengze… a medicine cultivator with a failing spiritual core, serving as deputy commander—how many troops did Chonghua give her?”
“Fifty thousand.”
The Imperial Preceptor giggled.
“Fifty thousand? Even if Murong Mengze has great strategic talent, with her body this frail, aren’t they afraid she’ll drag everyone else down? That girl has quite a thick skin.”
“The Imperial Preceptor is absolutely right.”
“By the way.” The Imperial Preceptor paused for a moment before suddenly asking, “How is Gu Mang? I heard that his relationship with Mo Xi has been growing increasingly harmonious. Mo Xi even brought him back to his own residence and took him in as a servant. Did he come to this campaign?”
“Reporting to the Imperial Preceptor. Marshal Gu—”
The attendant realized he had misspoken and hurriedly corrected himself.
“Your subordinate misspoke. Gu… Gu Mang—”
But the Imperial Preceptor merely smiled.
“No matter. He did, after all, serve my Great Liao for five years. My Great Liao does not have as many rigid rules and regulations as Chonghua. If you wish to continue calling him Marshal Gu, there is nothing wrong with that.”
Although he said so, how could the attendant dare call Gu Mang “Marshal” again?
The attendant immediately said, “Please forgive me, Imperial Preceptor. According to intelligence obtained two days ago by Great Liao’s Military Intelligence Bureau, Gu Mang was sent by the Lord of Chonghua to serve as a test subject for the Black Demon Trial. When he emerged, he was already on the verge of death, his life hanging by a thread. Unless a great immortal intervened, even if his entire body were immersed in Heavenly Fragrance Life-Continuing Dew, there was absolutely no way he could recover enough in such a short period to come to the front line.”
Upon hearing this, however, the Imperial Preceptor showed no sign of relief.
He narrowed his eyes, a mysterious glint flashing within them.
“Who says Chonghua has no great immortals? Isn’t Jiang Fuli a sage capable of bringing the dead back to life and restoring flesh to bare bones?”
There was even a hint of mockery in his words.
The attendant hurriedly said, “The spies watching Jiang Fuli reported that Jiang Fuli has gone traveling again. He is not in the capital of Chonghua.”
“His lightness kung fu is excellent, and he has always been elusive. If he doesn’t want you to discover him, then no matter how tightly you watch him, he can always find a gap to slip through.” The Imperial Preceptor said, “Among this enemy army, there is no need to pay too much attention to Murong Lian or Murong Mengze. Just keep an eye on Mo Xi. And also… if there is anyone who resembles Gu Mang in any way, report to me immediately.”
“Yes!”
The Imperial Preceptor flicked his sleeve.
“Go. Tell them to guard the city well. I will enter seclusion for three days. After three days, I will personally deal with these young ones.”
The attendant respectfully acknowledged the order and soon bowed out.
The Imperial Preceptor’s fingertips once again rested upon the qin strings. He lightly plucked several notes, then continued playing that long, lingering melody.
“Old friends of generous rank have ceased to send letters; my constantly hungry children wear sorrowful expressions. I wish to fill the ravines with my bones, asking only for freedom; I laugh at myself, a madman who grows madder with age…”
The night grew deeper.
The distant sounds of slaughter and explosive clashes were so clear that they could be heard distinctly.
Outside the city walls, the cultivators of Chonghua and Liao were locked in a fierce stalemate. Gradually, blood flowed like rivers.
Yet deep within the city, in the governor’s residence, the Imperial Preceptor’s qin music never ceased.
By the time the Wu Hook moon hung high overhead and white frost settled upon the roof tiles, an oil lamp inside the governor’s residence had burned to its limit. It suddenly sputtered out a string of sparks and went dark.
The governor’s residence, with so many corpses hanging throughout it, became even more ghostly and sinister in the dim light.
But precisely because the light had suddenly dimmed, one could see what lay behind the curtains.
Behind the gauze screen, just one zhang away from the Imperial Preceptor, there had apparently been a hazy ball of light floating in midair all along.
The light was simply too dim and obscure. It had not attracted attention before, hiding in a corner as it rose and fell slightly, so frail that it seemed as though it might disperse at any moment.
The Imperial Preceptor raised his eyes.
His gaze emerged from behind the golden face covering and settled upon that indistinct ball of light.
He clenched his pearly teeth and said to it in a low voice, “…Jingchen, look. I’ve been coaxing you for so long. Are you still unwilling to wake up?”
The light that he called “Jingchen” weakly flickered once.
Slowly, it dimmed again…
The Imperial Preceptor narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice, “There should be a limit to your stubbornness. Recover soon, then come back with me. If you fall into the hands of the people of Chonghua, that bunch of hypocrites won’t understand you the way I do.”
“You don’t want to be sealed again. Do you?”
“Be good. Awaken…”