ffsc_44.1

Chapter 44.1: Dragon-Slaying Blade

"Immortal Master, fine tea of golden silk and jade dew has already been prepared within the hall. Would the Immortal Master care to step inside and partake?"

"Should the Immortal Master have need of anything, the imperial palace guard stands ready to help you search for whoever you seek."

Yao Kingdom's ruler stood behind his attendants, his expression mild, his tone deferential, an utterly different man from a moment before.

Chen Moqing: "No need."

Yao Kingdom's ruler watched as the young immortal's broad sleeve swept past casually, like wind passing over magnolias in the night—beneath the moonlight, a man in black hung suspended high above the palace, as though strung up by invisible threads, his face flushed red, struggling desperately to no avail.

"Does Your Majesty recognize this man?"

At the immortal's question, Yao Kingdom's ruler lowered his head: "Perhaps someone from some sect or other. Might the Immortal Master take him beyond the capital to deal with him? Should a cultivator die within these grounds, I fear it may bring calamity down upon our Yao Kingdom."

The man cried out in desperate terror, begging again and again for mercy: "Spare me, immortal elder! Immortal—"

Before he could finish speaking, a faint glimmer of light flashed briefly between his brows.

He detonated himself on the spot!

It all happened in the space of an instant. No one had expected that this cultivator, who only a moment ago had been begging desperately for his life, would explode without warning, his body dissolving into a mist of blood that splattered across the palace hall—his soul destroyed utterly.

Chen Moqing looked down over the imperial palace, seeing only the cold, tiled rooftops rippling away into the night.

【A mark seared into the soul】 Cang Shun said from his shoulder with a scornful laugh. 【A low, unrefined trick favored by evil cultivators, even if the one who carved the mark is dozens of li away, it can still be triggered in an instant】

"…Immortal Master, this matter—"

Below, in the palace hall, Yao Kingdom's ruler wore a look of difficulty.

Chen Moqing said, "This has nothing to do with any of you."

Seeing that the immortal had no intention of holding them responsible, Yao Kingdom's ruler let out a heavy breath of relief, then cupped his hands and said, "That an immortal should visit our Yao Kingdom is an honor for the whole nation. Might I ask the Immortal Master to bestow a blessing upon our kingdom?"

Chen Moqing glanced at the faint dragon's aura hovering above the palace and said, "A nation's prosperity lies in its people. If Your Majesty cherishes the people as his own children, the nation's fortune will naturally flourish."

Yao Kingdom's ruler said solemnly, "I shall heed the Immortal Master's teaching with reverence."

The night's stirring winds settled once more into stillness.

Beneath the window of the bamboo pavilion where he was staying, Chen Moqing sat once again atop a great ball of fluff.

He lowered his head. The fluffy creature opened a pair of crimson demonic eyes, blinking up at him, its fur rising like mountain ridges, rubbing against him everywhere.

Chen Moqing allowed himself to be enveloped in the fur, closing his eyes and beginning to cultivate.

The next morning, he went to look for Madam Yue, and learned that she had accompanied Yao Kingdom's Empress Dowager to offer incense and pay respects to the Buddha.

"The Empress Dowager thinks highly of our mistress, and invites her often. These past two years, with the mistress gravely ill and unable to leave the house, but now that word has gotten out she's much improved, the Empress Dowager has sent for her again," Auntie Lan of the moon estate explained to Chen Moqing with a smile. "The mistress will be back in two or three days. Worried that the young immortal master would find himself in an unfamiliar place, she specially asked me to stay behind. If you have any needs at all, please just tell me directly."

Chen Moqing said, "If she returns, I'd trouble Auntie Lan to let me know."

"You honor me, you honor me too much."

Auntie Lan agreed readily, again and again, watching the young white-robed cultivator take his little white tiger and leave. She thought to herself what a fine temperament this young immortal master had—gentle in speech, treating them all without the slightest airs, so unlike the other immortals she'd met before, every last one of them looking down their noses at everyone else.

The imperial capital of Yao Kingdom remained peaceful for two days. A carriage stopped before the gates of the moon estate, and Madam Yue lifted her skirts and stepped down, catching sight of the young cultivator waiting for her.

He stood beneath the eaves, calm as ever, just as when they'd first met: "There is something I must tell you, Madam."

Madam Yue froze slightly, her fingers instinctively tightening, but she quickly recovered and smiled as usual: "Very well, let's go inside and talk it over slowly."

She led the group back into the room, and rather than taking a seat, went first to the wardrobe, drawing out a small bundle.

"This is something I finished sewing the other day. A mortal's stitching is rough and crude, I'm afraid it won't be worthy of the young immortal master's eye. But please accept it as a small token of my regard, and do with it as you please."

Madam Yue smiled and held it out. Chen Moqing took the bundle, light but solid in weight, and undid the four corners to find a small, short jacket inside.

The fabric was moon-white cloud brocade, its sheen shifting and flowing, with four openings cut into it—just the right shape for a small beast to wear.

"I've also made the young immortal master a spring robe for next year, but that one will need some more time yet. This shorter piece, I managed to finish first."

Listening to Madam Yue's cheerful words, Chen Moqing gently draped the little jacket over the little snow-white beast's back.

Cang Shun met his gaze and, most cooperatively, lifted his paws and worked them through the jacket's openings—the fit was just right.

And so Chen Moqing found himself with an armful of little snow-white fluffball now dressed in a fine little outfit.

Madam Yue smiled warmly: "It seems my eye is still as good as it ever was."

The little snow-white beast rolled over on Chen Moqing's arm, its tail curling gently around his wrist, looking up at him.

Chen Moqing's lashes lifted slightly: "Madam Yue—"

"Madam, something's happened!" Auntie Lan rushed in, her face full of urgency.

"They searched General Ji's household and found letters proving collusion with the Yi Kingdom! The old general has been charged with treason and thrown into prison! Young General Ji is nowhere to be found—they're saying she's defected!"

Twenty li outside the city, a woman in tight battle garb, her hair tied back, rode alone with a single spear, her horse racing at full gallop, her bright crimson robes whipping wildly in the wind.

She leaned low over her mount, then suddenly twisted her body, drawing her bow, loosing an arrow like a bolt of thunder!

The arrow tore through the air, only to be caught steady in an aged hand, its feathered shaft still trembling.

"Heh heh... Young General Ji, submit to your execution." The elder who had caught the arrow hovered aloft on his white crane, looking down at her from on high. "Your Ji family is nothing but mortal, a single speck of dust. However fiercely you resist, your end is already sealed.

Ji Duanxue laughed coldly: "A mere mortal family, and yet it takes an immortal's painstaking scheming to bring us down. You lot claim to stand above it all, untouched by mortal affairs, yet here you are, scrambling and snapping over scraps just like pigs and dogs!"

The elder's expression turned cold. He raised a hand, pointing toward the heavens, laughing sharply: "No need to say more. Today the Ji family shall surely fall, let the heavens bear witness!"

A crack of thunder—!

Lightning struck down from the heavens above. The white crane fled in fright, and the elder plummeted from the sky, his body charred black, twitching uncontrollably.

Ji Duanxue reined in her horse, and saw a graceful figure in white robes touch lightly down upon the scattering crane feathers, a young immortal with calm, tranquil brows, cradling a little fluffy white tiger in his arms, landing gently on the ground.

She gazed at those unfamiliar features before her, arching a brow slightly: "You and I... have we met somewhere before?"

Chen Moqing didn't answer.

Ji Duanxue cupped her fist and smiled: "Well, whoever would save me must surely be a good person. I won't waste words thanking you—if I, Ji, manage to survive this storm, the young immortal master need only say the word. I have nothing else to offer but this one life of mine, and I'll give it wholly!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than she heard the immortal's clear, pleasant voice: "The Ji family has guarded this nation for a hundred years. Who would move against you?"

Ji Duanxue let out a scornful laugh, her smile turning cold: "That's far too long a list to name... I simply never imagined they'd manage to enlist a cultivator."

Cultivators had always refrained from meddling in mortal affairs—many sects even had strict rules forbidding their disciples from setting foot in mortal courts. Because once a cultivator intervened, mortal fates became as flimsy as blades of grass, easily bent and rearranged at will. Just like that, a military house that had guarded the nation for a hundred years could be brought crashing down overnight.

"I don't know why the young immortal master is here, but hear me out—leave. Don't get dragged into this storm. Yao Kingdom is about to change hands very soon."

Chen Moqing straightened the little moon-white jacket on the little snow-white beast in his arms and said calmly, "It seems General Ji knows something. For instance, that there's a formation array beneath Yao Kingdom's imperial palace."

Ji Duanxue fell silent for a moment, then said, "It was only a guess before, I only confirmed it yesterday. And because of that, calamity has fallen upon the Ji family... Young Immortal Master, ask no more. You're alone, and you can't stand against so many of them."

Chen Moqing: "You're alone too. Where are you headed?"

"My father still has some old subordinates outside the city," Ji Duanxue said, gripping her spear tightly, her eyes cold and sharp. "Once I've called them back, I'll fight my way in and get my father out."

No sooner had she spoken than the ground shook violently, a deep, muffled rumbling rising up from beneath the earth in waves, as though some great earth-dragon were turning over, churning the land beneath.

In Yao Kingdom's imperial capital, though it was still broad daylight, the sky had grown thick with dark clouds, hanging low as if about to fall, and within the once-magnificent palace, silence reigned everywhere.

A shrill, piercing voice rang out: "Where's the Crown Prince gotten to?"

"Reporting, Eunuch, the men have already been sent out in greater numbers to search for him."

"Good. Remember, he must be found, and brought properly before Prince Ning."

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