Chapter 719: Rumors and Slander

"Going to Jingcheng after the New Year?"

"Mm. I have to go."

"Sigh..." At the wine table, Xue Yeyu picked up a piece of Feilong Meat for him with her chopsticks and said, "It's truly exhausting. You finally managed to steal half a year of rest, and in the blink of an eye, you're off to rush about again. It's the New Year, and there's danger too..."

Tang Zhao hurriedly gave Xue Yeyu a quiet tug and said, "Sister, keep your voice down, Master is right there. I told him I'm going to Jingcheng to pay respects to the Emperor after being enfeoffed as a Marquis; it's just routine procedure. He doesn't know anything else. No need to mention any danger to him; that's our secret."

Xue Yeyu was startled and looked toward a figure in front of the wine table, waving his arms and dancing from east to west, looking just like a crane in mid-dance.

This was the annual New Year's Eve dinner at Zhuoyu Villa. Although everyone was drinking and having a good time, there was only one person who could be this uninhibited: her old father, Xue Xianyun. Having drunk too much at the banquet today, he was currently pestering the now-recovered Xue Laiyi to compete in drinking, truly becoming the focus of the entire room.

Under these circumstances, unless one shouted directly into his ear, he likely wouldn't hear a thing.

Only then did Xue Yeyu turn back and say crossly, "Forget it, 'our secret'? You make it sound like you and I are so close, when in fact you were hiding it from me too. I had to guess it myself. It's a pity that kid Shen Yi doesn't have your level of composure; he wears his worries all over his face. I only found out after I asked him; otherwise, I would have thought your rushing to the capital after the New Year was a good thing."

Tang Zhao said with a grin, "It's not exactly a good thing, but it's not that dangerous either. Does Sister not trust me? It's not me boasting, but there aren't many people left in this Human World who can threaten me."

Xue Yeyu shook her head and said, "If you didn't boast, I would believe you. Since you're suddenly bragging like this, I don't believe you at all. Don't think I don't know—if it were anywhere else, you could naturally run wild without hindrance, but Jingcheng... isn't the Imperial Preceptor there? With him around, who would dare say they can definitely retreat unscathed? He is still the most powerful person in the world, isn't he?"

Tang Zhao laughed, "The Imperial Preceptor is indeed powerful, but I'm not going there to fight him head-on, and Yunzhou actually has a decent relationship with him. Besides him, can I not run wild in front of anyone else?"

Xue Yeyu said, "If you truly had confidence, why wouldn't you let Shen Yi go with you? He quite likes to travel. If this were just an official errand or a sightseeing trip, he would certainly want to go see the bustling world of the capital, and you wouldn't refuse him. But now, he doesn't even mention it, and you're only going with Weise. Isn't that a consideration for being able to escape easily if you encounter danger?"

Tang Zhao had intended to continue arguing, but suddenly he smiled wordlessly and said, "Sister sees through everything; I can't hide it from you. This time it really isn't easy to deal with. Senior Brother isn't suitable to go; after all, this is a matter for the Imperial Court."

He paused and immediately followed up, saying, "Actually, I'm not going as just one or two people this time. Although Senior Brother isn't going, I will join the Yunzhou contingent after I descend the mountain. Our group is quite large, over a hundred people."

Xue Yeyu asked in surprise, "That many?" Although she came from a wealthy background and her status wasn't low, she was not from a noble, powerful family and did not know the extravagance of the upper-class elite; for a Marquis to travel with over a hundred people was not considered many.

Tang Zhao said, "This is nothing. For a feudal lord to enter the capital with only a hundred or so people is already very low-key and very submissive. Any fewer, and it would be better to just be escorted in as a prisoner."

Xue Yeyu was even more surprised and said, "Even your Marquis has to go?"

Tang Zhao said solemnly, "She has to. All feudal lords must go. I think in a few days, even on the mountain, we will hear this news: the Emperor is summoning all the feudal lords of the world to the capital."

A short sentence, yet the meaning was like a thunderclap. Even Xue Yeyu, this "grassroots woman of the pugilistic world," was stunned and muttered, "This... this... this is a huge deal, right?"

Tang Zhao nodded, and Xue Yeyu said, "Could it be that those people who came before the New Year were here to tell you to go to the capital? Is it that sloppy? Shouldn't there be an Imperial Envoy bringing an Imperial Edict?"

Tang Zhao said, "The Imperial Edict hasn't been issued yet, and it won't be sent to our mountain; it might have reached Zhongtian Prefecture in the last two days. The ones who came before were just here to leak the news first. There are no walls without cracks in this world; the more people you know, the more news leaks. I've only had two groups come to me; the Marquis must have had even more people come to pass the message, asking her to prepare early. But whether she prepares or not, she has to go; it's just so she has an idea of what's coming."

Xue Yeyu nodded. She was truly an outsider; she instinctively knew this was a big deal, but she didn't know how big. She pondered for a moment and said, "In the pugilistic world, they say there is no such thing as a free banquet. Could the Imperial Court be the same? Summoning all the feudal lords to the capital right after the New Year—it can't be to hand out fruit to everyone, right?"

Tang Zhao said, "That's right, it might be a trap."

Seeing Xue Yeyu frown, Tang Zhao thought this might be an unfamiliar allusion to her, so he smiled and said, "Of course, it might be ill-intentioned, but it won't be some petty trick like luring everyone in, throwing a cup as a signal, and having five hundred axemen rush out from both sides. Not to mention the strength of the various feudal lords, those who truly don't obey orders simply won't go. Those who go are the nominal 'Pro-Imperial Faction.' If they were all wiped out, it would truly be a case of hurting those close to you and gladdening your enemies. Although the news from Prince Chun was vague, it is said..."

He leaned in close to Xue Yeyu's ear and said, "It is said that there has just been a transfer of power in the capital. Our little Emperor has grown up and had a showdown with the Empress Dowager. The result was that the little Emperor won. The young monarch wants to flex his muscles and consolidate his power, so he is inviting those who still listen to him to the capital to gather—firstly to show loyalty, and secondly to distribute the 'fruit.' Those who come will certainly get benefits; those who don't come will probably no longer be considered 'one of us.' There might even be policies to reduce the power of the feudal lords, or perhaps even a war."

Xue Yeyu suddenly understood and said, "When we are living in peace, the outside world is a bloodbath. There are so many things happening in the world. But for an Emperor to summon outside troops into the city—isn't that considered bad in the stories someone tells?"

Tang Zhao pointed at himself and said, "That's a story I tell. Actively summoning border troops into the city is a recipe for disaster. However, those who come this time will be small teams of one or two hundred; there won't be a large army entering the city. Besides, in this day and age, rather than worrying about thousands of troops entering the capital, one should worry about a master expert using the power of a single sword to topple the imperial family and physically change the dynasty. However, since the Imperial Preceptor is still in the capital, the capital is as stable as Mount Tai. Why would we outsiders need to worry?"

Xue Yeyu nodded repeatedly. She didn't actually care about the Imperial Court, nor was she a rebel who feared the world wouldn't be in chaos; she just didn't care. The people of Yunzhou had long lived on the frontier; they were all peripheral figures of Shenzhou and mostly didn't care about the Imperial Court or the old Emperor. Xue Yeyu was focused on raising her owls; even if the Imperial Court were truly overthrown, as long as the fighting didn't reach Yunzhou or the foot of Jiugao Mountain, she wouldn't care.

But she cared about Tang Zhao, so she hurriedly said, "But at a time like this, the forces in the capital are intricate and complicated; it's still very troublesome, isn't it? Sometimes it's not that people really want to fight, but friction might arise, and before you know it, things might descend into chaos, right? Furthermore, you aren't really a feudal lord, are you? The feudal lords they talk about are those with land and borders; where do you have any territory? You're just a lone commander, at most with Weise, plus us fellow disciples, the shop, and that turtle. Why bother getting involved in that mess? Besides, the Gaoyuan Marquis of Yunzhou has to go, which is already a risk. Aside from her, you are the strongest in Yunzhou; you should stay behind to guard the home and prevent any unexpected events at a critical moment."

Tang Zhao was quite surprised. Although Xue Yeyu didn't know the inside story, her instinctive deductions were all correct. When he communicated with the Gaoyuan Marquis, she had strongly requested that he stay in Yunzhou to be safe. As for the Imperial Court's orders, if one wanted to stall, there were always ways—just say a dignified Sword Hero was sick, had a cold, sprained an ankle, was going bald... what could the Imperial Court do?

Tang Zhao also knew it should be like this, but he had reasons he had to go.

The news he received wasn't just from Prince Chun; there was another message from the Nine Heavens Dao Palace in the capital. It was that slip of paper stuffed into Jiang Shenyi's hand. Because it was addressed to Tang Zhao, Jiang Shenyi didn't care at first and handed it to Tang Zhao.

But when Tang Zhao saw the message clearly and relayed it to Jiang Shenyi, Jiang Shenyi also became restless. Ever since eating that hotpot, he too had been unable to taste his food for several days.

The letter was sent by Senior Brother Xu, stating that there was reliable news that rumors of the Lingzhi Sword Deity had surfaced in the capital. The rumors were vivid, saying that the auspicious sign had already appeared, carrying the imperial purple Qi, and that it could not only bless people with success in everything, but whoever obtained the auspicious sign could also obtain the world.

This news sounded absurd, but in the Great Jin, it had a precedent. It was said that the reason the Great Jin's founding ancestor was able to rise rapidly, becoming a Sword Guest at the age of sixty, breaking through to Sword Hero in a short time, becoming a master who dominated the world in a few years, and even becoming the leader of the Sword Guest army, sweeping across the world and establishing the foundation of the empire in just a few years, was because he had received the blessing of a Lingzhi Sword Deity—everything went smoothly, he was protected by the heavens, and he almost reached the point where he could get whatever he wished for.

Now that the news of the Lingzhi's reappearance had spread in the capital, Xu Zhongnan didn't care at first; he thought it might be bait released by the Imperial Court. After all, those disobedient feudal lords didn't want to come to the capital, so the little Emperor might have thought of this trick to use a "Mandate of Heaven" to lure the rebellious ones into the capital to deal with them slowly.

But gradually, the wind began to change. Even in the Dao Palace, he heard people discussing this news, and it was already detailed, saying that the Lingzhi Sword Deity was recovering its strength and was about to appear, and that the Sword Deity had already chosen a Spirit Envoy and was recuperating in the Spirit Envoy's hands. In the last few days, he even heard people say for certain that the Lingzhi was currently in the North!

Xu Zhongnan was already feeling guilty, and hearing this made him extremely anxious, one day worse than the next. But precisely because he was suspicious, he didn't dare to return to the mountain easily, fearing this was a scheme to lure the snake out of its hole, and fearing that his leaving the capital at this moment would arouse suspicion. He had no choice but to pass messages through others, telling them to hide Zhu Ying quickly.

Tang Zhao was also facing a formidable enemy. On one hand, he hurried to prepare to move Zhu Ying, and on the other, he felt that running away was not a long-term solution. Who knew how the Lingzhi had been exposed? What if it had been calculated? Therefore, he had to get to the root of the matter, find out who released the news, and what their purpose was.

Thus, with the matter of summoning the feudal lords to the capital also coming out, he had no choice but to make the trip.