“Your Majesty.”
“Your Majesty!”
By the time the Great Khan entered the human encampment, it had already fallen entirely into barbarian hands. The towering warriors set down their spoils one after another and dropped to their knees, saluting him according to barbarian custom.
He continued through the camp until he stopped before the great command tent at its center.
A total of 300 surrendered soldiers, the survivors of the 5,000 elite troops of the Feathered Forest Army, had been gathered there. Their shoulder blades had all been pierced through, and they knelt upon the ground. In the middle of them sat a valiant-looking, middle-aged man who had been stripped of his armor.
The glow of torches flickered all around them. Fully armed barbarian elites stood guard on every side, each built like an iron tower with a weapon in hand.
As though sensing something, the middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the barbarian striding through the snow.
With the help of a nearby bodyguard, he rose and walked out from among the captives, calmly staring at the approaching Great Khan.
The bonfire crackled between them.
The Great Khan stopped two meters away.
The middle-aged man was powerfully built, but even he seemed rather small beneath the Great Khan’s iron-tower frame. He held his back perfectly straight. “So you’re the Great Khan?”
“I am. This khan remembers you.” The Great Khan stared at him. From his hoarse throat came a sentence in stiff, halting speech of the Great Flame Empire. “You were one of the commanders who stood beside Wuyuan on Black Dragon Mountain.”
The middle-aged man grinned. “I’m truly overwhelmed that the great Great Khan remembers a lowly man like me. Though I can’t say I ever saw you on Black Dragon Mountain. You were always hiding behind your army and refusing to come out.”
The Great Khan did not grow angry. He merely said calmly, “This khan assumes you did not surrender simply because you were eager to die.”
The middle-aged man nodded and answered, “Sharp as ever, Great Khan. I surrendered for two reasons.”
The Great Khan regarded him for a moment, then nodded. “Once you have said your piece, I will grant you a dignified end.”
The middle-aged man cupped his fists. “Then allow me to thank Your Majesty in advance. The first matter is that I have a message for you from my princess.”
At that, the corners of the Great Khan’s horn-plated lips seemed to curl into a smile. There was something meaningful in his gaze. “It has been two months since we parted at Black Dragon Mountain. This khan thought he would meet Wuyuan here at Cloudflow Ridge, but Her Highness apparently had more pressing affairs and departed ahead of time. What does she wish to tell me?”
The middle-aged man stared at the Great Khan without the slightest trace of servility or arrogance. His voice was deep and steady. “Her Highness asked me to pass a message on to you. ‘The time was not yet ripe, so I shall return this horn to the Great Khan for now. One day, I will reclaim it together with your head.’”
As he spoke, the middle-aged man reached into his plain robes and pulled out half of a horn-like object, offering it to the towering khan before him.
The Great Khan accepted it without a change in expression. It was the bone spur Princess Wuyuan had severed from his body at Black Dragon Mountain.
“Very well. This khan will wait for her.
“What is the second matter?”
The middle-aged man did not answer immediately. Under the watchful eyes of the surrounding barbarians, he knelt and bowed deeply toward the south. Then he rose and glanced back at the 300 surrendered soldiers kneeling on the ground. A smile appeared on his face. “We of the Thousand-Thorn Battalion would like to present the Great Khan with a grand gift on behalf of Her Highness.”
The instant the words left his mouth, the atmosphere changed.
Killing intent flashed through the middle-aged man’s eyes. Without the slightest warning, he flattened his fist into a palm and drove it toward his own chest.
The Great Khan saw everything, yet his expression remained calm. He made no attempt to stop him.
Behind the middle-aged man, half of the three hundred surrendered soldiers had made the exact same move.
Source crystals. These human soldiers had swallowed the source crystals from the storehouses, each one packed with violently unstable source qi.
A heartbeat later, booming laughter rang throughout the encampment.
“Your Highness, my life ends here! In the next life, I, Kong Yanghao, would still gladly serve beneath your banner!”
The next instant, a savage wind erupted. Flames soared into the sky, and an enormous mushroom cloud rose above the snowy night, sending a roaring shock wave across the land.
In the 45th Year of the Glorious Radiance, a great blizzard descended upon the northern frontier.
Princess Wuyuan was defeated and withdrew from Cloudflow Peak.
All 5,000 soldiers of the Thousand-Thorn Battalion perished.
Seven days later, Marquis Wucheng suddenly appeared in Northseal and led the Four Garrisons of the Northseal Army into the snowy wastes of the northern wilderness.
At the same time, a certain piece of unofficial news began spreading through the bustling streets of the Imperial Capital, Emperor’s Hold.
The Xu Clan’s Third Young Master had returned to the capital.
??
Compared with the turbulent changes sweeping across the northern battlefront, Xu Yuan’s life in the Imperial Capital was remarkably peaceful.
For the moment, his old man seemed to have no intention of making him take over any family affairs. On the surface, the official heir remained his insufferably dramatic elder brother.
As a result, Xu Yuan had little to do and spent his days in leisure.
That lasted until two days later, when Xu Yinhe summoned him to the study, handed him a letter, and asked whether the man described inside was Zhou Chen or Xu Yuan himself.
The letter had been signed by Li Yunqing, the younger brother Xu Yuan had only recently acknowledged.
Xu Yuan burst out laughing the moment he read the letter. The wording was restrained, without any grandiose or flowery praise, yet the intent to flatter him into ruin was obvious at a glance.
He had expected his old man to question him about the matter, but Xu Yinhe merely gave him a subtle warning: should he ever go out for entertainment and happen to run into the Third Prince in one of the capital’s pleasure quarters, he had better not give the game away.
For now, however, Xu Yuan had no intention of visiting such places. He needed to focus on cultivation.
The Nine Origin Calming Art allowed him to cultivate at all hours of the day, but it was still slower than actively training himself.
In this extraordinary world, where martial strength reigned supreme, cultivation might not solve every problem, but anyone hoping to sit in his father’s position could not afford to be weak.
And so, his life in the Imperial Capital was not much different from his days in Stillwater.
The only real difference was that cultivation resources such as pills and source crystals were now supplied without limit.
As the heart of the Great Flame Empire, Emperor's Hold drew vast quantities of resources from every corner of the nation. Naturally, the Chancellor’s Manor had storehouses overflowing with them.
Only now did Xu Yuan truly understand what it meant to have enough money to behave irresponsibly. Rare pills worth 100 taels of silver each were swallowed like candy. He could burn through over 1,000 taels in a single day without even trying.
Every so often, he would also take a supreme-grade pill worth 10,000 taels. Compared to the cost of cultivation, the money he had once spent wandering through pleasure houses was barely worth mentioning.
Take pills. Cultivate. Eat. Take more pills. Cultivate again. Soak in a medicinal bath. Sleep.
The lives of the rich were just that dull and monotonous.
Fortunately, his elder brother Xu Changge would occasionally find time in his busy schedule to visit him and bring a little pain into that dull and monotonous existence. He claimed it was to improve Xu Yuan’s practical combat skills.
They sparred with swords. Under their gentleman’s agreement, Xu Changge would use only sword skills and no source qi, while Xu Yuan was free to use the Sage’s soul power.
With more than ten years of combat instincts from the illusion realm now engraved into his body, Xu Yuan had not been particularly afraid of his elder brother at first.
After being beaten like a dangling sack several times, however, Xu Yuan reflected deeply upon his mistakes. Then he chose the wisest possible solution. He played dead, gave up entirely, and refused to fight anymore.
Apart from that, the greatest impression the Chancellor’s Manor left on Xu Yuan was that high-ranking cultivators were as common as cabbages.
On an occasional walk around the wetland lake after dinner, he might encounter six third rank Grandmasters arriving to report on official matters. Most of the estate guards were at least fifth rank, while even the lowliest maids and servants generally possessed cultivation around the eighth rank.
After roughly half a month of this life, news of Xu Yuan’s return to the capital was deliberately allowed to spread.
And so, another activity was added to his dull and monotonous routine. Visiting pleasure houses to listen to music.