Chapter 283 - 178: Holy Virtue Empress

Chapter 283: Chapter 178: Holy Virtue Empress

Lu Changyuan’s gaze remained fixed on the window.

The young woman followed his gaze.

"Huzzah!"

The first cheer erupted from the throat of an old man with a snow-white beard and hair, instantly igniting a commotion that swept through the entire street.

"Huzzah!"

People waved whatever they could find—sweat towels, hats, even freshly unwrapped steamed buns still giving off heat. A young boy squeezed into the front, his face flushed red and the veins on his neck throbbing, screamed with all his might.

Cheers soon rose and fell along the street. The victorious subjects of Great Xia watched their triumphant general, shouting their approval again and again.

But Lu Changyuan wasn’t looking at the people on the street. He was watching a woman behind the crowd, a bamboo basket on her arm. She quietly wiped the corners of her eyes, an emotion too complex to describe welling within them.

"Young Master Lu?"

Lu Changyuan shook his head. "It’s nothing."

He had once been a member of a defeated nation. Taken captive, he had walked a long, long way to a distant victor’s country to become a slave.

His life had been terrible back then, and those who traveled with him were like the walking dead.

For a defeated nation, with the country shattered and families broken, the common people are the unfortunate ones.

Lu Changyuan said, "The Holy Virtue Empress could have expanded Great Xia’s territory even further back then, but she stopped. She had exhausted Great Xia’s century of accumulated wealth and knew that if the fighting continued, the people would surely starve. So she ceased all military campaigns, exempted taxes, and distributed pensions."

She ascended the throne, expanded the borders for four years, and then achieved Ascension, returning the throne to her younger brother. Only then was she granted the title ’Holy Virtue’.

Neither Qiu Yuehan nor Su Youwan knew why Lu Changyuan was talking about this.

Only Lu Changyuan remembered that year, when Leng Moyuan sat across from him and told him many things.

"As a woman, if I wanted to be respected after ascending the throne, I had no choice but to do better than anyone else. For a Mortal Dynasty, expanding the borders is the greatest achievement. So, I selfishly started wars. Thankfully, I was at least capable of choosing the right people, and we won all the way."

"Why did you usurp the throne back then?"

A regent would have had the same power.

"I’d always wanted a turn on the throne, but once I sat there, I realized it was rather dull. Cultivation is far more comforting; political affairs are just vexing... It’s all just matters of the Mortal World. Now, I am simply my master’s disciple."

’He had no idea why his unruly disciple had chosen to tell him all of that. Perhaps it was just to win his favor.’

After all, there had always been rumors among the common folk that the Chang’an Daoist always protected mortals. Because of this, there had even been temples to the Chang’an Daoist in the Mortal World, but he later issued a decree to have them all removed, and not a single one remained.

~~~~~~~~~

When Wang Dayun was a child, he believed that all of humanity’s suffering came from poverty.

As long as you had money, lots and lots of money, life would be free of all hardship.

Money could buy anything.

A future, a successful official career, a beautiful girl, and three acres of land.

He had never heard of a rich person having any troubles.

Later, after he began to cultivate, he still believed that for mortals, having money meant having no worries.

Cultivators were another matter entirely.

Wang Dayun didn’t go directly to the capital, Luoyang. Instead, he first went to his hometown.

He hadn’t been back in many years.

His hometown was a small village, nothing like the bustling Luoyang. Dilapidated mud-brick houses were everywhere.

A single glance revealed that everyone on the street was wearing patched clothes.

"Dayun, you’re back?!"

An old man leaning on a wooden stick limped over.

Wang Dayun nodded. "Yes."

The people in the village didn’t know he had gone off to cultivate the Dao; they all thought he had joined the army.

This old man wasn’t some elder from a senior generation; he was actually the same age as Wang Dayun. He had joined the army over twenty years ago and lost a leg on the battlefield against the Great Yue Kingdom, after which he returned to his hometown.

The old man said, "How are things on the front lines? We’re about to win, aren’t we?"

Wang Dayun hadn’t returned to Luoyang yet and had been away training for a long time. He only knew that Great Xia was at war, but he wasn’t clear on the details of the situation.

He could only say,

"We’re about to win."

"That’s good, that’s good."

Wang Dayun looked for his home, only to find that the mud-brick house had collapsed, leaving him at a loss.

The last time he came back, his parents had already been buried. Now his old house was gone too. In the future, he might never have a reason to return.

"Come, come to my place for a cup of tea."

The old man pulled Wang Dayun to his house.

Inside the house, which was bare to the four walls, a dirt-streaked woman handed Wang Dayun a cup of tea.

Wang Dayun asked, "How have things been these past few years?"

"How else? We’ve just been getting by. Thank goodness the war is finally over." The old man gave a bitter smile. "If the war hadn’t ended, we wouldn’t have survived this winter."

Great Xia had to fight a war.

A war requires conscripting soldiers and levying grain.

All of these things are taken from the common people.

"We won, we won!"

The old man was quite happy.

Wang Dayun turned and saw a child as thin as a rail. He couldn’t bear the sight. "This is?"

"My grandson. His name is Fugui."

The last time he was back, the old man’s son had just been born. He never expected that in the blink of an eye, more than twenty years had passed, and the old man now had a grandson.

"What about Ah Qiu?"

Ah Qiu was the old man’s son.

"He left home a few years ago to serve the country. Now that the war is over, he should be coming home soon."

One family: the grandfather went to war and lost a leg; the father went to war, his fate unknown; and now only a frail child remained.

Wang Dayun took a deep breath. "How have things been recently?"

’He really couldn’t think of anything else to say.’

"Quite good. And now that the war’s over, it’ll be even better."

Great Xia’s war had been raging for a long time.

Years ago, the rebellion of the princes dealt a heavy blow to Great Xia. The rebellion lasted for a long time, and it wasn’t until Leng Xuanshuang became regent two years ago that it was finally quelled.

But after quelling the rebellion, Great Xia was not given time to rest and recover. Instead, it once again dispatched troops to counterattack the Great Yue Kingdom.

Before Leng Xuanshuang’s regency, the entire Great Xia Dynasty was already in decline. After quelling the rebellion, the National Treasury was completely empty. To wage war again, in Wang Dayun’s eyes, was no different from an all-or-nothing gamble.

If they lost, the country would be shattered and families broken. If they won, they could ride the east wind of victory to rise again.

The Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master thought Leng Xuanshuang was mad, and so did Wang Dayun.

But neither of them could interfere with the Mortal World. The Dragon-Seeking Pavilion’s purpose was only to eliminate Demons from the Mortal World, not to meddle in human affairs.

Wang Dayun had left Luoyang two years ago, unwilling to watch another war begin. Before leaving, he met with the Eldest Princess.

He broke the rules and told the Eldest Princess, "This war is not good for the people."

The Eldest Princess paid him no heed.

Wang Dayun didn’t dare say more, so he left Luoyang and went to the outer regions to search for the Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master’s sect, right up until he participated in the Celestial Dao Grand Competition.

And it was from that moment on that his luck became exceptionally good.

"When there’s a war, life is hard for everyone."

Great Xia’s wars had been fought for too long. The starving common people were already on the brink of collapse.

The old man chuckled. "Things are about to get better. You can’t blame the Eldest Princess for this. It was really Great Yue that went too far, sending troops to bully our Great Xia while those princes were rebelling."

Wang Dayun looked at the old man in silence. After a long moment, he asked, "Who told you that?"

"The Lord Official who came for conscription."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

「Deep within the Luoyang Imperial Palace」

Leng Xuanshuang had personally overseen the construction of a side hall after becoming regent.

The hall’s doors were always kept locked. No one but her was permitted to take even half a step inside. Even her closest attendants could only stand guard in the outer corridor, far away.

Incense burned within the hall year-round, its fragrance as thick as cream. Wisps of smoke drifted from several censers, coalescing into a swirling, misty barrier. Inside, a person couldn’t even clearly see a pillar three steps away.

But Leng Xuanshuang moved through the hall as if she had memorized its layout, walking unerringly toward a long ebony table in the back. A painting hung above the table.

Leng Xuanshuang looked at the painting and said, "Wang Dayun is coming back. The fruit planted two years ago is ready to be harvested."

Her voice was exceptionally clear in the empty hall.

There was no one before her, so she seemed to be talking to herself.

"The war must continue. Great Yue has been broken, so let’s find the next country."