Chapter 768: Dark Currents of the Qing Court

The palace walls of Hetu Ala shimmered with a dark blue under the moonlight.

It was not the color of the stone itself, but the sticky, glowing mycelium constantly seeping out from the wall cracks and on the brick surfaces.

The whole palace was like a huge living creature that was slowly breathing.

Deep within the main hall.

Nurhaci lay upon a throne woven from crystal bone.

His chest was bare; beneath his skin, instead of flesh and blood, lay a tangled network of dark blue meridians.

A fist-sized, pulsing core was embedded at the center of his chest, its light flickering with his breath.

With each flicker, the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen a little.

"Father Khan."

Hong Taiji knelt on the steps below, his voice respectful.

"The three hundred newly organized war slaves of the Plain Yellow Banner have completed training. The Earth-Digging Beasts of the Bordered Blue Banner have also increased to fifty."

"After the spring thaw, Jinzhou can be taken in one battle."

A heavy breathing sound came from the throne.

After a long while, Nurhaci finally spoke, his voice hoarse like a broken bellows.

"Where is Amin?"

Hong Taiji's eyelid twitched.

"The Second Prince has been… frequently visiting the Soldier's Nest lately."

"What is he looking at?"

"He's observing the cultivation process. He also asked the artisans for details about the Dark Energy Core Implantation."

Silence fell within the hall.

Only the faint glow of the pulsing core illuminated the faces of father and son.

"He has begun to suspect."

Nurhaci suddenly said.

"It's not suspicion; it's fear."

Hong Taiji lowered his head.

"The Second Prince saw the final state of those war slaves, saw that they had even forgotten their own names…"

"That is why he fears."

Nurhaci's laugh was dry and raspy.

"Afraid that one day he, too, would become like that ghostly figure."

He slowly sat up.

The meridians writhed beneath his skin, emitting a faint, sticky sound.

"Tell him, being afraid is useless."

"From the day we accepted the master's gift, this road can only lead to darkness."

"Yes."

Hong Taiji replied.

"He did not rise."

"There is one more matter."

"Speak."

"Several Company Captains of the Plain White Banner privately complained that the blood tribute demanded by the Soldier's Nest was too much."

"This month alone we have sent over two hundred captives in, even those Han artisan households recently captured and still able to work…"

"Not enough."

Nurhaci interrupted him.

"The master wants data. He wants data from live experiments."

"Without sufficient materials, how can we create a vanguard capable of adapting to the potential-energy environment?"

Blue light flashed in his eyes.

"Tell those Company Commanders that if they desire wealth and honor, immortality, they must pay the price."

"If they are unwilling to give up the captives, then take them from their own bondservants."

Hong Taiji lowered his head even further.

"Son understands."

"Go."

Nurhaci lay down again.

"Watch over Amin."

"When necessary…"

He paused.

"You know what to do."

Hong Taiji bowed and withdrew.

The hall doors slowly closed behind him.

The body inside, gradually merging with the crystal bone, was isolated in the dark blue light.

Amin was indeed in the Soldier's Nest.

He stood on Observation Platform No. 3, gazing through the transparent membrane at the scene within the chamber below.

A newly remodeled war slave is rising from the nutrient fluid.

It was originally a Mongol warrior, captured three days ago during a sweep of the grasslands.

Now, its face is reduced to a blurred outline.

Crystal bone spikes protrude from its forehead, forming fearsome bone spurs on both cheeks.

Its eyes have become two dim blue points of light.

"Has the memory purge been completed?"

A Min asked the dark energy artisan beside him.

"Completed, sir."

The artisan gave a wooden reply.

"Implanted with the basic orders: serve the Great Khan, kill the Ming people."

A Min's hand rested on the railing of the observation platform.

The railing was icy cold, its surface covered with fine fungal threads.

"Will it still remember who it is?"

"... No."

"Will it still remember that it has a son waiting for it on the Khorchin Grassland?"

The artisan remained silent for a long time.

"No."

A Min nodded.

He turned and left the observation platform, walking outward along the passage coated in flesh membrane.

On both sides of the passage, countless transparent cultivation pods were lined up.

Each pod held a body suspended within, undergoing remodeling.

Some still retained a human shape.

Others had become twisted beyond recognition.

A Min's steps grew faster and faster.

Until he rushed out of the Soldier's Nest and into the snowy expanse outside.

A cold wind blasted his face.

He bent over and retched violently.

But nothing came out.

Since receiving the Initial Binding three years ago and having a grain‑sized dark energy core implanted in his chest, his body no longer needs ordinary food.

He lives on dark energy.

And he will eventually die, his existence returning to dark energy.

"Second Prince."

A voice came from behind him.

A Min straightened up and wiped his face.

It was E Tuo, the Banner Commander of the Bordered Blue Banner.

A scar‑covered veteran, he was among the first to undergo the Binding and become an officer.

"Your complexion looks poor."

E Tuo said.

"Anyone who stays too long in the Soldier's Nest ends up like this."

A Min waved a hand.

"What do you need?"

"Yes."

E Tuo glanced left and right, then lowered his voice.

"Some of the brothers in the companies below are feeling… uneasy."

"Speak."

"Half of this month's blood tribute comes from the bondservants of our Bordered Blue Banner."

E Tuo's voice trembled slightly.

"Those bondservants have followed us for decades, earning merit in campaigns against Korea and Mongolia..."

"... but now they're being sent in just like that, and the brothers feel bitter about it."

A Min looked at him.

Looking at this Han man who once cleaved three Ming army officers on the battlefield without blinking, now his eyes hid deep fear.

"Even if it hurts, they must be sent."

A Min's voice was cold.

"This is the Great Khan's order."

"And it is the master's will."

E Tuo's lips moved, but he ultimately said nothing more.

He simply bowed deeply and retreated into the shadows.

A Min stood where he was, letting snowflakes settle on his shoulders.

He lifted his gaze to the massive, pulsing entrance of the Soldier's Nest.

Like a mouth in the act of chewing.

He suddenly remembered what his father had said long ago, when his father was still alive.

"A Min, we Jurchen people, to survive in this world, must be fiercer than wolves, more vicious than tigers."

He now understood.

Father was wrong.

Not to be fiercer than wolves, more vicious than tigers.

It is to be more monstrous than monsters.

He turned and walked toward his mansion.

Deep footprints were left in the snow.

But soon they were covered by new snow.

Midnight.

At the edge of the Bordered Blue Banner's garrison, in a low earthen house.

The oil lamp was as small as a bean.

Five old veterans sat cross-legged on the heated brick bed.

They all bore traces of yin-energy binding—either crystals embedded in their arms, or blue patterns crawling up their necks.

But none were deep.

"E Tuo, the elder brother, went to see the Second Prince today."

The youngest one said softly.

"How so?"

"What else can it be? The Great Khan's order, the master's will."

Someone snorted coldly.

"Damn the orders!"

A one-eyed old veteran fiercely hammered the edge of the heated brick bed.

"My bondservant A Ji has followed me for twenty years! He started following me from Fushun!"

"Last year at Guangning, he took an arrow for me; the arrow was poisoned, rotting half his body, yet he didn't die!"

"Now he's fine—he didn't die in the hands of the Ming, but was sent to the soldier's nest, turning into something neither human nor ghost!"

Tears welled in his one eye.

"If I had known this would happen, I'd rather have let him die at Guangning!"

The house fell into dead silence.

Only the oil lamp crackled.

"Not just A Ji."

Another person spoke.

"I had three bondservants under me sent away last month. Yesterday I went to the soldier's nest to collect new war slaves, and I saw one of them."

"It... it still recognizes me."

"Through that membrane of flesh, it looks at me, its lips moving."

"I understood: it was shouting, 'Master, save me!'"

His voice choked.

"But I can't save it."

"Damn it, I don't even know how long my own life will last!"

The five on the heated brick bed began to faintly glow in their chests.

That was the reaction of the yin-energy core fluctuating with emotions.

"We can't go on like this."

The youngest one suddenly said.

His name is Ba Yan, he is E Tuo's nephew, only nineteen years old.

The binding time was the shortest, and his mind was the clearest.

"If we keep sending them away, the hearts of the Bordered Blue Banner's people will scatter."

"And what if they scatter?"

The one-eyed veteran gave a grim smile.

"What we eat, use, and our strength in battle—none of it is not given by the master?"

"Without the master, we couldn't even survive this icy snow!"

"Then let's find a new way."

Ba Yan's eyes gleamed in the light of the oil lamp.

"I've heard that the Ming side has something that can restrain yin energy."

"What is it called... strange iron."

"They even forged spears that can pierce bone demons."

"If we..."

"Shut up!"

The one-eyed veteran bellowed to stop him.

He glared fixedly at Ba Yan.

"If this gets out, you, me, everyone in this house will become material in the soldier's nest by tonight!"

Ba Yan's face turned pale.

But his hand, clenched quietly under the kang table.

The oil lamp's light flickered in his eyes.

Like a spark that refuses to be extinguished.

At the same moment.

The deepest part of the Soldier's Nest.

Lao Salman's tentacles slowly withdrew from the control node.

Amuhan stood with head bowed.

"My lord, abnormal emotional fluctuations have been detected in the Bordered Blue Banner's garrison."

"Intensity?"

"Level three. It poses no threat yet, but requires monitoring."

Blue light flowed in Lao Salman's eyes.

"How long did Amin stay at the observation platform today?"

"Half an hour."

"What did he say?"

"He asked about the war slaves' memories, whether they still remembered their kin."

Lao Salman fell silent for a moment.

"He is wavering."

"Does he need… to be dealt with?"

"Not for now."

Lao Salman's tentacles swayed gently.

"Huang Taiji will be watching him."

"As for those restless soldiers…"

His voice was ice-cold.

"Next battle, send them to the front line."

"Let them die at the hands of Ming people; it's more honorable than dying at the hands of their own kin."

Amuhan bowed.

"The monitoring of the light curtain's weak point…"

"Continue."

Lao Salman lifted his head.

As if he could see through the thick rock strata to that invisible barrier.

"Nine months."

"We still have nine months."

"Before then, we must clean up all unstable factors."

Inside the cavity, the dark blue light flickered.

It illuminated countless bodies floating in the nutrient fluid.

It also illuminated the face, gradually twisting in the shadows yet straining to keep a human shape.

Amin returned to the mansion and closed the door.

He took off his outer robe.

At his chest, the dark energy core pulsed steadily.

He reached out, his fingertips lightly touching the edge of the core.

A cold sensation.

Like touching his own tombstone.

Outside the window, the wind and snow intensified.

The night in Hetu Ala had never been so long.