Chapter 28 Not A Big Deal

It was quiet in the Evergreen Palace today. All people in the imperial palace where the emperor of Dazhou lived had learnt what happened on the frontier, so they didn’t dare to comment. Everybody knew that the emperor looked gentle, but there was a restless heart hidden in his chest. Like all the emperors in the history, this emperor was quite confident. Now that something significant happened, he couldn’t be in a good mood. The palace guards working outside the Moral Hall didn’t know how many times they had heard the emperor’s curse coming out. The imperial court session this morning lasted for a long time not because of the war on the frontier, but because several old courtiers asked him to issue a decree to surrender instead of considering how to cope with the difficulty as soon as they heard about the letter from the battlefield. It made the emperor so furious that he smashed many precious treasures, and a vase more than two hundred years old was thrown to an old courtier’s forehead who was speaking.

If the old courtier hadn’t shrunk back, he might have died in the Moral Hall.

Standing in front of all the officials, the emperor roared, with his hands behind his back, “I haven’t thought that I would be the last emperor of a country, but you want to be the last courtiers? You always say that you get your salary from me and would share my worry, but now, you just consider protecting yourselves faced with imminent disaster? You stay in your mansions in the prosperous Shaoliang City every day and live in comfort. But have you imagined that if our country surrenders, our people would have to go to Yanling to work every day and what the people produce with efforts would be given to others? Our ancestors founded the country from nothing. How can they allow me to lose the spirit? When I face them in the future, how can I be regretless?”

The prime minister, the leader of all the officials, Li Ji, who was trusted by the emperor all the time, closed his eyes and kept silent. He turned to the officials and announced after the emperor cursed all of them and vented some of his anger, “Everyone, Dazhou has never had such a difficult time since it was established two hundred and seventy-five years ago. It’s normal that all of you are in panic, but only because you are panicked, you want the country to surrender, which is too much. Our country has gone through all ups and downs in the past more than two hundred years and we have a deep foundation. How can we surrender?”

Li Ji had great prestige among all the officials. In the past, if the prime minister said something, nobody at the imperial court would disagree with him, but this time, after he spoke, somebody refuted him soon, “What was the situation in the past? What’s going on now? How can they be mentioned in the same breath? Prime Minister Li, will you explain to us about the two words ‘extraordinary people’ in the letter?”

Li Ji turned to the old lord who asked and found that it was the old guy who was almost killed under the vase thrown by the emperor. He smiled and asked peacefully, “Extraordinary people are cultivators. Why would I dare not speak out?”

The old lord who had been working in the Ministry of Rites for many years stated with disdain, “It is said on the letter that such cultivators can’t be defeated by men. Prime Minister Li, do you think that Dazhou can resist them?”

Li Ji stayed quiet for a long time and then answered calmly, “No.”

“Then why don’t you surrender?”

Li Ji stopped talking and then turned to look at the emperor.

The emperor replied with no emotion, “Because none of our people is willing to surrender.”

The northern border of Dazhou asked for emergency help, as two hundred thousand soldiers sent to the south by the Chen Country had passed Beiyan County in Dazhou and were coming to Shaoliang City.

Before Li Fuyao went out of Shaoliang City, the news came from the frontier of Dazhou, which couldn’t be false because almost all the common people in half of the city could see the bright mark made by the wooden bird the Ministry of Works had produced as it came to Shaoliang City from the northern border. It hung in the sky, like a piece of red silk and the sunset glow.

After six hours, the battlefield report from the frontier was posted everywhere in the capital city. Under the pride of Dazhou, the imperial court was never willing to withhold the significant news and everybody should take responsibility for the country.

Dazhou was powerful these years. It ignored the requirements of Yanling as always and had even ambitiously expanded the territory. Under the situation, the Yanling Empire finally couldn’t stand it. So, early at the beginning of the last month, after the Chen Country and some other small neighboring countries of Dazhou sent envoys to Luoyang City, although they didn’t see the emperor of Yanling who controlled one of the top three empires in the human world, they convinced the emperor to send armed forces to suppress Dazhou.

The army of Dazhou had gained its fame on the battlefield to the southwest of Yanling in the past hundred years, and the neighboring countries could only end in a draw if they fought against Dazhou, so how could they afford to pass the border and come to Dazhou? However, since Yanling nodded this time, it did more than urging these countries to fight like before and sent more than ten cultivators to the south with the two hundred thousand soldiers of the Chen Country. After the cultivators, most of whom had cultivated in Yanling Confucian Temple, came to the border of Dazhou from Yanling, they didn’t do something world-shaking but just killed all the generals and commanders in the North Army of Dazhou, making the powerful army lose its leaders for now. So in merely several days, the two hundred thousand soldiers of the Chen Country had crossed Beiyan County and come to the north of Dazhou, which was less than one thousand miles away from Shaoliang City. It appeared that they could go to the south soon and destroy Dazhou, making the country go down in history.

Now there were armed soldiers posting the notice to inform the common people everywhere in Shaoliang City. At the same time, Li Fuyao was packing up in the hotel room beside the window. After he carried the machete on his back, he raised his head to look out of the window. Seeing the sunset glow hung in the sky, he remained calm and tightened the cloth belt on him. Then he lowered his head to check his things which he had sorted out. Qing Huai with a pot of liquor pushed the door open and entered, glancing at him. This young girl from the demonic land who gradually liked drinking leaned against the window and looked into the distance, asking, “Li Fuyao, the Zhou Country is in danger. Will you still go?”

Li Fuyao frowned as somehow, he didn’t like the words “Zhou Country”. He raised his head to glance at Qing Huai and expressed impassively, “Yanling has taken actions. The extraordinary people mentioned on the notice are cultivators. It looks like there are a lot of cultivators.”

Qing Huai threw her head back to drink some liquor and laughed, “So what? I guess they are just small fry.”

Li Fuyao pointed at himself and stated, “The smallest one is here.”

Qing Huai sneered, “The other day, didn’t you talk with the emperor happily, like you are bosom friends? Now the country suffers from such a disastrous calamity, but you want to leave. You said you are partly from Dazhou. Are you a civilian of Dazhou when it’s peaceful? And you become a member of Yanling when Dazhou is in danger?”

Li Fuyao lowered his head and planned to ignore her, but she continued endlessly, “It’s not a big deal to kill more than ten cultivators. They don’t take Dazhou seriously, so they wouldn’t send masters in higher stages. At most, they are a group of insignificant cultivators who haven’t completed the Awakening Stage. I will kill all of them no matter how many there are.”

Li Fuyao sat down and asked angrily, “After you kill these, the next ones will come. Can you kill all of them? In the end, if Yanling asks one of the Confucian sages to come, what should you do? Will you kill him?”

When Qing Huai was about to say two words “my father” subconsciously, it occurred to her that she couldn’t say that, so she held back immediately. After a pause, she sneered again, “Li Fuyao, you know that the sages wouldn’t get involved in something insignificant like this. Moreover, in the sages’ eyes, destroying a country might be inferior to something insignificant. Those old guys always think about how to take a step forward and leave this human world.”

Li Fuyao was unable to reply and seemed to think that the human world was great. Why would they leave?

Since the guy didn’t say a word, Qing Huai started to provoke him, “You swordsmen are the most fearless cultivators in the world since six thousand years ago. Now none of the other cultivators dares to go to the demonic land, but only swordsmen dare to and would kill several masters in high stages occasionally. What? You are a swordsman who even has no sword, so you don’t dare to cope with some Confucian cultivators of low level?”

Li Fuyao shook his head decisively, “No. I am going to the Sword Mountain.”

Qing Huai declared indifferently, “Anyway we will go to the north. Just kill them on the way if we meet them. It won’t take long to kill such negligible cultivators. With me, how would you need to take actions? Just cheer for me.”

Li Fuyao looked up at the girl’s complacent face and asked seriously, “You will kill them? Why do you insist on asking me to join you?”

Qing Huai smiled, “You are one of the people from Dazhou. It’s reasonable for you to fight since Dazhou is in danger, but I am not, and I have solved the grudge against Yanling Confucian Temple. What’s more, those cultivators who can be compelled by the secular empire just have no extraordinary talent. They must be unable to make progress in Yanling Confucian Temple, so they left the temple unwillingly and then returned to Yanling to work as officials. You can’t say that they have something to do with Yanling Confucian Temple, and they don’t come to bully me, so how can I find a reason to fight against them? Only when you start fighting and are bullied can I take actions because I have promised to your master. So, it’s quite reasonable.”

When a girl who didn’t like to reason started to reason the matter out unexpectedly, and what she said made sense indeed, anyone would be surprised.

After Li Fuyao put away everything on the table, he stood up, “I don’t want to die, especially for something without reason.”

Qing Huai patted her weak chest, “Believe me. I won’t let you die.”

“But it’s unworthy to take risks for Dazhou.”

This time, Qing Huai glanced at Li Fuyao in surprise.

Li Fuyao looked out of the window and explained calmly, “In fact, my conversation with the emperor has little value. Only when I am powerful enough can I protect somebody. Now I still need your protection, so how can I say something?”

Qing Huai didn’t speak more. This smart girl from the demonic land was clear that if she couldn’t find a reason which Li Fuyao thought reasonable, this guy would never take actions.

Since they first met, in fact this guy had stood out regardless of anything only for once, that night.

That night, the teenager stood out with a stick because of her.

Qing Huai sighed all of a sudden, “If they fail in destroying Dazhou this time, would the emperor of Yanling be unhappy?”

Li Fuyao frowned, “Nobody would be happy if something like this happens to them, especially when he thinks that it is a piece of cake but it doesn’t succeed.”

“The pride of the people from Dazhou comes from themselves, but the people from Luoyang are also proud, yet because of the situation in Yanling. The noblemen stay in a huge city and wouldn’t take the outside world seriously…”

Li Fuyao stopped speaking abruptly.

Qing Huai responded with a smile, “You want to make the noblemen in Luoyang City unhappy or even suffer pain. You don’t care how many of them are your enemies. Anyway, they would suffer together.”

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Li Fuyao was amazed as Qing Huai could find what he wanted most to do and wrinkled his brows, “But I will take too many risks.”

Qing Huai shook her head, “You should know the word ‘Intent’ of swordsmen.”

Li Fuyao kept silent.

At last, he expressed peacefully, “At least, I have to find a sword.”