Chapter 288 - 180: Xiao

Chapter 288: Chapter 180: Xiao

The monster sought out Leng Xuanshuang on its own.

When the princes of Great Xia rebelled, the strain caused the late Emperor’s health to fail, leading to his premature death.

And so, the Young Emperor ascended the throne.

Although the succession itself was peaceful, the princes’ rebellion lingered, threatening the tranquility of Great Xia.

Leng Xuanshuang was very close with the Young Emperor. They were full-blooded siblings, but their mother had died in childbirth while delivering the Young Emperor.

A motherless child would have a hard time surviving in the inner palace. If his older sister, Leng Xuanshuang, hadn’t protected him, the Young Emperor might not have safely lived to be a month old.

When she first began to rule as regent, holding the Young Emperor in her arms, Leng Xuanshuang had no intention of emulating the Holy Virtue Empress. She simply felt she had to protect her little brother. The court officials were like wolves eyeing their master, and she felt powerless.

But in truth, she was completely clueless about matters of state.

She was utterly ignorant of the court’s treacherous etiquette, and the words of the civil and military officials were always laced with hidden meanings.

After all, every official who made it to the imperial court was a master of intrigue. She was less than half their age; how could she possibly outmaneuver them?

Beset by internal strife and external threats, she had to exhaust herself daily just to maintain a precarious foothold in the turbulent court.

The turning point came one night.

After lulling her younger brother to sleep, Leng Xuanshuang walked out into the gardens of the Imperial Palace under a starless sky.

As she wandered aimlessly, lost in thought, she heard a voice.

"Do you want to win?"

Leng Xuanshuang turned. Coiled atop a rockery in the palace garden was a serpentine monster.

She jumped in fright but quickly composed herself.

The world had Immortals, which meant it also had plenty of spirits and demons. The Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master was the one responsible for eliminating such creatures.

’It’s nothing to be surprised about.’

Leng Xuanshuang said, "Who are you? If you don’t leave at once, I will summon the Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master to deal with you!"

The Snake Monster’s face was hidden in the shadows, so Leng Xuanshuang couldn’t see it clearly, but she could hear its laughter.

That night.

Leng Xuanshuang learned that with the intervention of an Immortal, the course of a war could be rewritten with ease.

To test the Snake Monster’s words, Leng Xuanshuang appointed an obscure figure as the general in charge of suppressing the rebellion during a court assembly.

The civil and military officials all thought she had gone mad. They sneered, ready to watch her make a fool of herself. But they never expected that the campaign to quell the rebellion would go exactly as the Snake Demon had said—a completely smooth road. The no-name general quickly became famous throughout Great Xia.

The general’s surname was Shi.

The court officials could only conclude that General Shi was a god of war descended to earth, and Leng Xuanshuang, naturally, earned a reputation for her keen eye for talent.

As the rebellious princes were defeated one by one, Leng Xuanshuang’s prestige and power swelled. At the same time, a certain ambition within her began to grow, spreading like wildfire.

Once the long-sheltered Eldest Princess got a taste of the power that came with that throne, she couldn’t get enough.

When General Shi met with her in private, he advised her with a wry smile, "Your Highness, I don’t actually have any special skills. I just... don’t know why, but the enemy can never seem to defeat me."

Often, General Shi himself found his victories baffling, as if the enemy had no idea how to wage war, or their soldiers had suddenly forgotten how to use their weapons.

Leng Xuanshuang told him, "You just focus on leading the army’s attack. I have taken care of everything else."

General Shi could only praise the Eldest Princess’s sagacity before taking his leave.

The princes’ rebellion was thoroughly crushed, and the Eldest Princess’s reputation among the common folk grew ever stronger.

But it wasn’t enough.

So, Leng Xuanshuang set her sights on a neighboring country—a rival that had been a thorn in Great Xia’s side for a century became her next target.

For no particular reason, Leng Xuanshuang recalled the words of the Snake Demon from their first meeting.

"’A deal? No, this isn’t a deal. It’s a gift. I love war. As long as you keep waging it, you will keep on winning.’"

In the dead of night, the Snake Monster’s laughter was chillingly cold.

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

Lu Changyuan fled the inn, leaving the Black Skirt Fairy and the Silver-haired Maiden to stare at each other, wide-eyed, in the room.

He hadn’t been lying to Qiu Yuehan; he truly had something to do that night.

Great Xia’s victories were... strange.

So, Lu Changyuan intended to see for himself what was really going on.

The first step, naturally, was to check on Great Xia’s famous General Shi and see what he was all about.

Thanks to his string of victories, Leng Xuanshuang had rewarded General Shi with a mansion in Luoyang. The Shi Mansion wasn’t too far from where Lu Changyuan was staying.

Before long, Lu Changyuan arrived before the General’s Mansion.

Two stone lions flanked a large, red gate. Above the seven steps leading up to it, a massive ebony plaque hung from the lintel.

Lu Changyuan vaulted over the high gate and headed straight for General Shi’s master bedroom.

"General, if you truly wish to be served in *that* way, allow me to return on another day. I shall fast and drink fragrant oils to prepare myself."

Having returned triumphant to his own residence, General Shi was naturally looking to enjoy a warm reunion with his beautiful wife.

Lu Changyuan had no interest in eavesdropping on such matters. With a flick of his hand, the doors to the room flew open, and General Shi was snatched right into his grasp.

"Who are you?!"

Gone was the high-spirited and vigorous general from the daytime. Now, he stared at Lu Changyuan in terror.

The Profound Robe Youth wasn’t choking him, merely restraining his movements.

"An Immortal?! Great Immortal, please don’t kill me! I’ll do anything you ask, Great Immortal!"

’General Shi was a sensible man. His life was his own. He had struggled for so long to finally make a name for himself and hadn’t had a chance to enjoy it yet. He couldn’t just die like this.’

Lu Changyuan said coolly, "Don’t move. I’m not going to kill you."

Just as Lu Changyuan suspected, General Shi indeed had no Cultivation.

Hearing that Lu Changyuan wouldn’t kill him, General Shi breathed a sigh of relief. But in the next instant, Lu Changyuan stripped him of his clothes.

"Great Immortal?"

Lu Changyuan kicked General Shi.

The Five Desires and Six Dust Heart Transformation Technique activated, and the desire for wealth immediately flooded General Shi’s body.

General Shi quickly lost consciousness, murmuring, "Money... so much money... hehe!"

In the next moment, something even stranger happened. A bizarre mark suddenly appeared on General Shi’s shoulder.

It was a blood-red sigil. Lu Changyuan reached out, peeled the sigil right off the general’s skin, crushed it in his hand, then turned and flew off, heading straight for the Imperial Palace.

’From the very beginning, Lu Changyuan had found this whole situation very strange.’

’Cultivators of the Life Cultivation Dao wouldn’t help a Mortal Dynasty win a war. Not only are the major Daoist Sects watching from on high, but it’s simply not a worthwhile endeavor.’

’With the exception of Su Youwan, Fate Dao cultivators suffer backlash whenever they use their Magic.’

’Doing so for the sake of mortals was clearly not worth the price.’

Based on Su Youwan’s investigation of the Dragon Vein, his conversation with the Seeking Dragon Pavilion Master, and what he was sure the cultivators from the Qingcao Sword Sect must have already looked into, Lu Changyuan was certain the oddities in Great Xia were not of human origin.

Furthermore, Lu Changyuan was certain this was a method that hadn’t been seen in a very long time. Otherwise, the cultivators of the Qingcao Sword Sect would have had a way to deal with it.

’It had to be a Foreign Race, and one that hadn’t caused trouble in a long time. So, which of the Foreign Races possessed such an ability?’

’As it happened, Lu Changyuan knew of one such race—one that could influence wars while leaving almost no trace.’

This race hadn’t been seen in the Cultivation Realm for nearly a thousand years. Because Lu Changyuan himself had wiped them out.

Cat-faced and snake-bodied, they brought endless war and chaos wherever they went.

Their name was.

The Xiao.