Chapter 538: Beneath the Ages, Walk Together with Ease

Ziyang Zhenren and the old Monk looked at the Qin Wang standing quietly over there.

A surging momentum churned within the Qin Wang's body; that intense, spiritually roaring aura stirred his Yuanshen, and the friends he had, the confidants he had, everything he possessed—all of it shattered just as things were finally falling into place.

The wind howled, sending ripples spreading.

Ziyang Zhenren slowly raised his gaze, looking up at the vault of heaven, where ink-colored clouds gradually gathered, collided, and swirled; the long wind surged, faintly taking on the forms of a Bai Hu and a Crimson Dragon, then collapsed apart again.

Ziyang Zhenren's heart trembled.

The turning point of a Martial Dao legend?!

He looked at the young man before him, but the fire kindled by such fury had ultimately burned itself out. A Martial Dao legend was not a barrier one could break through by a bellyful of rage and surging emotion—if it were so, how could legends under heaven be so rare?

Ji Ning'er stretched out her small hand to wipe the tears from the Qin Wang's face.

"Don't cry, don't cry."

Li Guanyi grinned, but that smile only made his nose sting all the more. He simply raised a hand and roughly wiped his cheek with his sleeve, looking just like that wandering street-to-street pharmacist of years past, who never minded such things.

He looked toward Ziyang Zhenren and the Living Buddha, and said: "Forgive the laughter of two Palace Masters."

Ziyang Zhenren said he dared not.

The young man before him was already a figure of unmatched bearing in this age, a hero of overlord-caliber mettle for all eternity. Yet before this world of strife could reach peace, it was precisely these rare heroes of former days who would be locked in slaughter.

The old Monk said: "Gongyang Su Wang is still in the Central Province, the ruins of the Academy are still there; we too must return to keep Gongyang Su Wang company…"

"Old friend, you."

This foremost figure of the Central Lands' Buddhist sect looked toward his friend Ji Yanzhong.

Ji Yanzhong seemed to have been thinking for a long while. He sat quietly, then suddenly spoke, saying: "Qin Wang, Your Majesty, this child is the last bloodline of Ji Zichang and his wife. Now that the realm is in chaos, who knows how many people wish to borrow her name to stir up the storms of these troubled times."

"In life and death, the one she trusts most is you."

"Ning'er, I entrust her to you."

The Qin Wang looked at this old imperial uncle and elder, and understood Ji Zichang's resolve. He controlled his emotions, held Ji Ning'er in his arms, and said solemnly: "From this day forth, she is my daughter. I swear before Heaven and Earth: I will use the sword in my hand to protect her. The world is vast, and I will not let her come to any harm."

"She is the child of Brother Changwen and his wife of the Wen family."

"From this day forth… she shall be called Chang Ning'er."

Ji Yanzhong said: "Changle, Changning—these are good omens for an age of peace."

He reached out and patted Ji Ning'er. This broad-hearted old man did not linger long in the end, declining the Qin Wang's request that he settle here, nor did he go to see his disciple Yue Qianfeng. He only said: "Central Province is my homeland, and my past."

"Compared with you lot, this old fogey is, in the end, just an old fogey."

"Soft-hearted, without the kind of resolve you have. Facing the great tides of this world's affairs, I cannot make such clean, decisive choices. So I might as well go back to the Academy with the old Monk and the old Daoist Priest…"

"At the very least, I want to return to my homeland."

"Go home."

Ji Yanzhong forced a smile, took his leave of the place, and together with Ziyang Zhenren and the old Monk, hurried back toward the Central Province Academy to seek out Gongyang Su Wang and Zhao Laoqi, who remained alone at the Academy.

The various Palace Masters of the Academy had cultivated together for who knew how many years.

Their bonds ran deep.

With Gongyang Su Wang alone within, worry filled their hearts.

Yet as the three hastened back, Ji Yanzhong parted ways with the two Palace Masters, choosing a different road. Ziyang Zhenren stood among the mountain ridges, gazing at that figure who had spoken of quenching his thirst yet seized the moment to depart, and was silent for a long while.

Turning his head again, he saw the old Monk, whose private friendship with Ji Yanzhong ran deep, walking step by step forward without looking back, and called out: "Old Monk, Ji Yanzhong—the old imperial uncle has gone off somewhere unknown."

The old Monk replied: "I know."

Ziyang Zhenren sighed and said: "With the Crimson Emperor's line perished, Ji Yanzhong grew up there; his past has ended too. When a person suffers a great upheaval, they often lose their composure."

"I fear his spirits are low, and he might do something rash."

The old Monk said: "Can you piss for him?"

Ziyang Zhenren said: "Old Monk, do not speak in riddles."

The old Monk kept walking forward and said: "He no longer walks the same road as us."

Ziyang Zhenren said: "Sad to hear, worth discussing, a pity."

He suddenly let out a long howl. A breath of pure Daoist true essence, vast and mighty, his voice like metal-splitting stone-rending, shot up into the clouds, and he called out clearly: "Gong, do not cross the river! Gong, do not cross the river!"

"Gong crossed the river and died."

"What could be done for him?!"

There was no reply. Ziyang Zhenren sighed for a long while.

He saw only range upon range of mountains, dense clouds and heavy fog, rustling bamboo groves—strangely still, with no sign of that broad-hearted old man.

Ji Yanzhong simply pressed forward with lowered head, no one knew where he had gone.

At the Seventh Heaven realm, his masterful martial arts could not change the situation of this chaotic age, but it did elevate him to the level of those top figures; when he deployed his movement technique, it was truly like a Crimson Dragon coiling through the air.

He charged forward wildly all the way.

He did not know where he had gone; in a daze, he had already seen countless threads of cooking smoke.

Yet he had already arrived at a small town. Ji Yanzhong stood dazed and lost; he looked at this town under the governance of Tiance Prefecture, and did not know how he had walked into it. The passersby, seeing his appearance, were concerned for him.

A strapping young man in the town, seeing his white hair in disarray and the bloodshot in his eyes, worried for the old man, and so invited him to sit for a while at his home. He set down his farming tools, called to his family to bring out coarse rice and some pickled vegetables, and came out to host this old man.

This strapping fellow was a hunter by origin. Because the mountain forests all belonged to the great noble families, the birds, beasts, and fish within naturally belonged to the noble families too; he could only poach a bit here and there, and even when he sold it, he could only get a miserably low price.

He merely got by, sometimes hungry, sometimes full.

Let alone having a household and a home of his own, or building a house.

His days had not been good to begin with, but in recent years, thanks to the new policies of the Fire Qilin Army, land had been distributed, and one could also hunt according to the seasons. Life had suddenly gotten much better. Now he had married his childhood sweetheart and had a child.

"I'm planning to teach her the bow-and-arrow skills later, and let her go to the Qin Wang's public school. I heard there's a Grand Master Hou Zhongyu who gives out Qi-Nourishing Powder pills, and any child of the right age can receive them. There are also dedicated martial artists who teach Wu Gong."

"It's the 'Fire Qilin Army Fifth Set of Basic Wu Gong.'"

As this fellow hosted Ji Yanzhong for a meal and chatted, the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smile—plainly brimming with joy at his present life, animated and lively. He said: "His Majesty personally gave it a name, called…"

"Something like 'Young Eagle Spreads Its Wings!'"

"Hey, look at this name, how grand it is!"

"Truly wonderful, both imposing and powerful!"

Suddenly a guest arrived—it was a man from the hunting party they had formed together, coming to look for him. He got up to receive the guest. His wife was cooking; because they were hunters, their household was never short on meat.

The meat was wind-dried by a rustic method, and very flavorful.

Ji Yanzhong looked at these green vegetables, the coarse grain rice, and some wind-dried meat.

For the imperial household, this would be considered simple and plain.

But for the common folk of a small town, these were things they had not dared to dream of for the past ten or twenty years.

Especially, there were pills inherited from a master of the mystic arts whose origins were no ordinary matter, the 【Martial Codex】 personally refined by the Sword Madman Elder Murong Longtu, and the foundational entry-level skills painstakingly worked out by the master-level martial artist Ximen Hengrong from the experience he had spread throughout the northern lands of Chen through the Motian Sect.

They could learn to read and study the mystic arts.

And a path of advancement had been opened.

All of these things radiated a vigorous vitality.

Ji Yanzhong saw the future, and suddenly thought of many things—thought of Jiang Wanxiang, Emperor Ji Zichang, thought of the words General Yuwen had spoken to him. The old man's eyes lowered.

'Besides, she is no longer a Princess.'

'The one who survives is not a Princess.'

'Your Majesty's realm is vast enough to shelter a mere child, but it cannot shelter a rebel of the Scarlet Emperor.'

'Ji Yanzhong.'

'Take good care of yourself.'

Ji Yanzhong seemed at last to understand something. He realized that the burden he needed to carry was heavy enough, and he wondered whether he should follow Emperor Ji Zichang's wish and sever the last legend of the Scarlet Emperor's line.

He was silent for a long while, then heard a soft sound. Ji Yanzhong raised his head to look.

On the chair opposite sat a child.

The hunter clearly doted on his daughter; he had commissioned the carpenter in town to make such a fine chair, so that a child of only three or four could sit in it without falling out. On the small table before her was a small tray, with a wooden bowl holding rice porridge.

The little girl gripped a wooden-handled spoon, earnestly trying to feed herself.

She raised her head, a pair of eyes bright and sparkling.

Because she was only a commoner's child, although she was a year or two older than Ji Ning'er, in appearance they looked about the same size. A thought arose in Ji Yanzhong's heart.

To use this child in place of Ji Ning'er.

To conceal the last traces of the Scarlet Emperor's line…

Ji Yanzhong slowly rose and walked to stand before the child.

The child looked at him curiously, then broke into an innocent, radiant smile. She gripped the wooden-handled spoon in her fist, a bit like holding a dagger, scooping sideways; quite a few grains of rice tumbled down, sticking to a cloth bib in front of her clothes. Her eyes were bright.

Ji Yanzhong slowly reached out his hand and rested it on the child.

"I'm sorry."

"Child."

………………

"Hahaha, good, we've found a big wild boar! This wretched beast comes out to ruin the fields and attacks passing common folk too. Hmph, we've had our eyes on him for how long now, and at last he's shown himself!"

"It's already the sixth month. If we finish it off before the autumn harvest, we can go claim the bounty from the Fire Qilin army—that counts as 【pest extermination】. The hide and tusks, the Fire Qilin army wants; the meat gets divided among the folks. Even though it's an uncastrated pig, it's still meat!"

"Hahaha, good, you lot gather the brothers together after this."

"We'll do this thing—ridding the people of a pest!"

After the man finished chatting with his friends, he came back laughing and said: "Haha, old sir, sorry about that, we got held up with some business. Look at me, the moment I get talking about this sort of thing, I forget everything else…"

His voice cut off abruptly, for he saw that the old man had suddenly vanished.

At first he was stunned, bewildered.

But when he saw that his own child was also gone, his face changed drastically. His heart gave a lurch, fearing he had run into one of those who pluck the living and maim them. Anxious, he had thought he was right at the door, yet the old man seemed to possess divine abilities and was gone in an instant.

He lunged forward, shouting: "My child…"

But after two steps, the view that had been blocked by the table opened up, and only then did he see.

His own child was standing right there on the ground. The outer garment that children of this age wear had been taken away, leaving her in just the inner clothes, yet she did not feel cold. In her hand she held a pearl.

The man said: "Cui'er, you're all right. This is… what?!"

The child said, puzzled: "Just now, that grandpa left and gave me this."

"Called for the clothes mama sewed for me."

Though this hunter was of poor birth, he still knew his goods. Seeing this pearl, round and smooth, clear and pure, with what seemed to be a ball of fire burning within it—clearly a fine thing—he said: "Hand it here."

The child pouted: "That old grandpa gave it to me!"

But the hunter paid no heed, simply took the thing from the child's hand, did not indulge his four-year-old daughter, and rushed outside, shouting loudly: "Senior! Old sir! You left your thing behind!"

"Please come back and take it. That piece of clothing, just keep it."

But no matter how loud his voice, the sound carried out and gradually died away. All that met his eyes were the distant mountains and the small road being built toward the main thoroughfare nearby. Where was there any person to answer?

The man stood there holding the pearl, at a loss for the moment, not knowing what he ought to do.

…………

Ji Yanzhong was striding forward.

With every step, his sleeves billowed, and he had already swept an immense distance away. In his arms he had the child's outer garment, and he had taken some dry grass and straw to stuff inside, so that it looked as though he were holding the child.

He had said he was sorry because at that moment he had truly intended to take the child as a substitute to die in her place. Throughout the annals of history, the body doubles and substitutes of emperors and generals—how many there were. How many so-called wise rulers and great heroes had done such things.

It was to fulfill the Scarlet Emperor's dying wish, to take the first step toward opening a peaceful realm for the world.

Such a tragic and heroic deed.

Yet to use the life of an ordinary person as the price—this seemed not something worth hesitating over. A real body of flesh and blood would naturally be easier to trust than straw. Those outside had not seen much of Ji Ning'er; with some manipulation, deceiving the world would be no difficult matter.

But in the end, Ji Yanzhong was only a soft, honest, yet kind-hearted ordinary person.

Even though the old man could have done what heroes and tyrants in history accomplished without blinking, he could not bring himself to act; he merely took the clothes, overwhelmed by profound shame for the thoughts he had entertained, and left behind a pearl from his own person.

Under the Qin Wang's rule, that pearl was merely something valuable but not excessively so—its worth fell short of being forbidden.

Moreover, it carried a gentle fire element.

It could keep the child, stripped of his outer garment, warm and prevent him from catching a chill.

Prince Ji Yanzhong held the "child," his eyes lowered; he drew a deep breath, then finally stepped forward, heading toward his homeland, his past, his ideals, and the final charge of the Red Emperor Ji Zichang.

The Emperor of Ying, ruling for eight hundred years under the weight of fate, had committed countless brutal acts—slaying noble families, exterminating aristocrats, and driving the young of the remaining clans into Ying's territory. After Yuwen Lie returned, he knelt halfway to the ground and confessed everything he had done.

He Ruo Qinhu erupted in fury: "Rogue! How dare you!"

"How could you possibly understand the hearts of all under heaven?"

"Countless others covet that so-called Princess, seeking to exploit the Red Emperor's bloodline and reignite chaos. You pity this lone woman—yet how many will die in the coming fires of war? Do you pity them?!"

Yuwen Lie gazed coldly at He Ruo Qinhu:

"A mercy too small to spare for a lone orphan girl."

"And now you speak of the future of all under heaven?!"

He Ruo Qinhu flew into a rage; though he had once saved Yuwen Lie on the battlefield, he was a general hardened by too many trials, utterly incompatible with Yuwen Lie's nature—he could barely restrain himself from drawing his blade and fighting him.

"Enough."

The Emperor of Ying spoke.

Both generals halted their movements. The Ying Emperor said: "She is but a lone orphan. Yet Yuwen ultimately failed to eradicate her completely—this is a grave crime, deserving of severe punishment. Such an offense merits execution and public display."

"But given the current upheaval, your head shall remain on your neck—for now. Earn glory on the battlefield, and then we shall speak again."

With a casual word, the matter was swept aside.

He Ruo Qinhu felt regret, yet bitterness lingered in his heart. As the army, dragging behind it the private troops of the noble houses, neared Ying's borders, the camp suddenly erupted in unrest.

Someone had entered the camp.

The two generals went out to investigate.

They found many armored soldiers lying on the ground, several warlords spitting blood, barely alive; an old man with white hair sat upon a rock, holding a child in his arms. The wind brushed past, causing his temples to droop, radiating a sense of weariness. He Ruo Qinhu said:

"Ji Yanzhong…?!"

He looked at Yuwen Lie, then at Ji Yanzhong.

The Ying Emperor sensed something, and stepped forward.

Ji Yanzhong had come here. The old man gazed at the Ying Emperor and felt the surge of fate tied to the eight-hundred-year Red Emperor era emanating from him. A complex expression flickered across Ji Yanzhong's face, but in the end, he spoke softly:

"Traitorous rebel."

"My nation is dead. How can I coexist with a traitor like you? I, Ji Yanzhong, have come here today only to avenge my country."

Ji Yanzhong held the child in his arms, then stepped forward.

Amid a dragon's roar, the crimson dragon's manifestation reappeared; the might of the Seventh Heaven shattered the front ranks of the formation. The armored soldiers were no match for him—he merely raised a hand and stamped a foot, hurling them all into the air.

Yuwen Lie gripped his spear; He Ruo Qinhu watched as the old man charged forward.

Both divine generals saw Ji Yanzhong's resolve.

"Foolish…"

"A pity."

They struck together. Ji Yanzhong reached the end, arriving before the Ying Emperor, pierced through the body by Yuwen Lie's heavy spear and He Ruo Qinhu's horseman's halberd. The old man froze in place, blood streaming from his mouth, staring at the solemn Ying Emperor.

The two divine generals withdrew their weapons. The broad-shouldered old man now bore multiple gaping wounds; blood poured down, staining his already filthy robe crimson. It dripped onto the ground. Even a Grand Master's fate had reached its end.

Around them, tens of thousands of soldiers tightened their grip on spears and crossbows, slowly advancing.

The spearhead blazed fiercely. A Seventh Heaven martial cultivator charging into a position guarded by two supreme divine generals was as cruel and foolish as walking into death.

The Ying Emperor looked down upon him and said:

"Do you have any last words?"

Ji Yanzhong's white hair was disheveled and soaked in blood; his eyes were vacant, fixed on the Ying Emperor.

Suddenly, he spoke.

He spat a mouthful of blood onto the Ying Emperor's imperial robe.

"I spit!"

This broad-shouldered, gentle, and unassuming old man had just performed the boldest act of his life. Around him, weapons rang with a chilling, deadly hum—but he held the "child," smiled, then laughed loudly.

His eyes grew dim and unfocused.

Then he turned, stumbling away, his steps unsteady. The soldiers, spears and swords poised to strike, were halted by Yuwen Lie and He Ruo Qinhu—or perhaps by the Ying Emperor himself.

So the spear and cavalry formations merely retreated slowly backward, watching the old man, his robe stained with blood, step forward; watching the blood drip from his lips onto the ground; watching his spine remain straight, holding the child, as he walked beyond the camp.

The Ying Emperor, Yuwen Lie, and He Ruo Qinhu walked slowly behind.

The other noble families, held captive, and the other valiant generals within the army followed, watching the white-haired, blood-soaked, battered man—who since Ji Zichang's death had never rested his eyes—move forward.

Bloodstains marked the ground.

Following military custom, the camp had been built with its back against a cliff, to avoid surprise attacks.

Outside lay a cliff, beneath which flowed the Dajiang. Now in midsummer, the water crashed ceaselessly against the shore. Ji Yanzhong, drenched in blood, walked step by step to the edge. He gazed at the cliff, holding the "Princess Changle," above him the open sky, below him the river and cliff.

Ji Yanzhong choked out:

"I, old man, cannot punish the traitor to the state—but how can the blood of a sovereign survive in shame?!"

"Princess Changle, you are the Emperor's bloodline. You must die for your country!"

A general from a noble house and a strategist suddenly cried out in alarm: "No!"

"He holds Princess Changle—he means to…"

The old man murmured, holding the "child": "Changning… Changle."

His eyes still held a gentle expression, then he turned, gazing at the Ying Emperor's haughty gaze, his white hair fluttering—and suddenly pointed a finger, roaring: "Jiang Wanxiang, I curse that I lack the divine power to slay you in this world! But your deeds shall never end well!"

"I will stare with wide eyes from beneath the nine springs, watching you—watching your ending!!!"

Emperor Ying said: "Good."

Prince Ji Yanzhong laughed bitterly.

Then he looked at Emperor Ying, and in the midst of ten thousand troops, embraced Princess Changle, and leapt from the cliff to die for his country, his body drenched in blood, falling into the surging waves.

Thus, the entire bloodline of Emperor Chi was extinguished.

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