Chapter 43 – Settling the Affairs of the Yin Dynasty (4)

Zhan Changfeng had no intention of dwelling on the matter further. “I’m still standing here, so you don’t need to worry about my safety. Imperial Aunt, today I have something far more important to tell you.”

Yi Shang said nothing, stubbornly holding her gaze.

Only when her eyes began to ache did she finally relent. “Fine. You won’t say it, and I won’t ask. I only hope that no matter what you face in the future, you remember to preserve yourself.”

Seeing Zhan Changfeng agree, Yi Shang then said, “Tell me what you wish to say — let us go inside.”

Once inside, the two sat down, and Zhan Changfeng drew out a book. “The history of the land of Shenzhou is far from as simple as it appears on the surface. This is a summary I have recorded — from it, you can glimpse eight thousand years of its journey.”

Five thousand years of a vanished civilization, three thousand years of a newly born one — from backwardness to enlightenment, and then a return to primitivity. Yi Shang had only flipped through a few pages before she was left utterly dumbstruck. “Is this true?”

“Many truths were known only to successive Sons of Heaven. Now that the Scripture Repository has been destroyed, some things may never come to light again.”

Zhan Changfeng picked out the key points. “However, the current pace of progress is truly far too slow. I intend to begin a new round of reforms.”

Yi Shang furrowed her brow.

Zhan Changfeng continued, “In truth, it is quite simple. Imperial Aunt, can you allow women to become generals and ministers — to stand openly in this world?”

Yi Shang had indeed recently entertained the idea of forming a women’s army. “I can, but it will be difficult. The people of the world will not allow it.”

“I know.” Zhan Changfeng made no grand speeches about it. “Since ancient times, the learned cultivate wisdom and the martial cultivate the heart. I hope that girls can enter schools to learn to read, to study the works of a hundred schools of thought, to practice martial arts, and to become independent and self-reliant. Can this be done?”

She had asked two “can it be done” questions.

Both reason and feeling demanded that Yi Shang give her an affirmative answer.

Can they learn to read? Can they practice martial arts? Yi Shang’s eyes blazed with conviction. “They can!”

Zhan Changfeng smiled. That was enough. Change always had to come little by little.

“The Heavenly Strategy contains the essence of the Imperial Arts. I hope that Imperial Aunt will study it thoroughly.” Zhan Changfeng thought it over, and ultimately decided to tell her about the remnants of the Jialán Tribe.

“Much of the Yin Dynasty’s current state has been pushed along by the remnants of the Jialán Tribe from eight hundred years ago. Imperial Aunt should be more vigilant in her daily affairs.”

“The Jialán Tribe?” Yi Shang was pensive. “I recall that the Gongsun bloodline of the Jialán royal family was entirely exterminated back then. How could they appear now?”

“It seems some fish slipped through the net and hid in the Cangyun Ravine.” Zhan Changfeng explained a thing or two about the Cangyun Ravine. “I don’t know much about the Cangyun Ravine myself, but from my dealings with them over recent days, the people within are mostly of great martial prowess or possess strange and unusual abilities. But that is not the most important matter.”

“What concerns me is this: the Gongsun clan made no move for several hundred years, so why have they emerged now? Are they seeking something? Or have they come to believe they are now powerful enough to destroy the Yin Dynasty? Or perhaps both?”

Yi Shang was a sharp person — her eyelid twitched. “You are going to the Cangyun Ravine?”

“Yes,” Zhan Changfeng saw no reason to deny it. “I am very curious about that place, and moreover, it is the stronghold of the Gongsun clan.”

Yi Shang said nothing, but the index finger rapidly tapping the tabletop betrayed her anxiety and urgency. She opened her mouth, yet no words came out.

Yi Shang let out a sigh. She had known that Zhan Changfeng was uncommonly clever since childhood, but in the year and more they had been apart, she had grown even more preternaturally intelligent — it was almost uncanny. She worried about nothing else; she only feared that such extreme brilliance would ultimately bring her harm.

And she was so recklessly bold, on top of it all.

“Zhan, can you guarantee your own life?”

She had given her an affirmative, and Zhan Changfeng returned one in kind: “I can.”

“Very well!” Yi Shang was a person of clean, decisive action. “Trying to dissuade you is unlikely to do any good, so just go. The Yin Dynasty has me.”

“Thank you, Imperial Aunt.”

The night was deep and the dew heavy. Zhan Changfeng put on her outer robe and sat up, then pushed open the door.

Zhu Yan was in the courtyard, chasing fallen leaves in play. Seeing her, it obediently crouched down beside her.

Zhan Changfeng tilted her head and asked, “Have you grown accustomed to it here?”

“It’s very comfortable.”

“How so?”

Zhu Yan mimicked her head-tilt. “There is a lot of killing energy here. I cultivate killing energy.”

“Heh.” Zhan Changfeng laughed. The legendary Zhu Yan was a divine beast of war and calamity — what it devoured was precisely killing energy. Though it had come to life from a bronze statue, this particular trait was the same.

“Wars are raging everywhere now, so killing energy is naturally plentiful. This place suits you perfectly. Stay here and cultivate.”

Zhu Yan shook its head back and forth, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration. “But I want to follow you. If I follow you, I can cultivate too.”

“It’s not suitable.” Zhan Changfeng gave no further explanation — simply a refusal.

Zhu Yan was both anxious and at a loss for how to speak up. Its iron tail thudded against the ground again and again, dejected and utterly aggrieved.

The aura on her was far more comfortable than this place — even more so than its master’s.

“However,” Zhan Changfeng, bearing in mind that Zhu Yan had been brought to life by the warmth of the Purple Tenuity Imperial Aura, had been considering having it cultivate the Five Elements Dao Scroll.

After receiving the Dragon Scale Divine Scripture, she had come to understand that a person capable of housing the Dragon Scale Divine Scripture’s inheritance must reside in the Emperor’s Life Palace and personally possess the Purple Tenuity Imperial Aura.

Such a person was one in ten thousand — exceedingly rare to encounter. Though she did not know the details of Zhu Yan’s Life Palace, it did at least possess the Purple Tenuity Imperial Aura.

“However what!” Zhu Yan pressed eagerly.

“I wish to test you. If I return one day and you are able to satisfy me, I will take you along.”

It grew excited. “What kind of test?”

Zhan Changfeng condensed half a volume of the Five Elements Dao Scroll from her soul intent and sent it into Zhu Yan’s spirit sea. “While I am away, cultivate this. I want to see how far you can take it.”

Zhu Yan wagged its tail vigorously, confirming again and again, “You promise?”

“My word is as weighty as nine sacred tripods.”

Zhu Yan went off happily to cultivate.

By the reckoning of a spirit’s age, it was truly only five or six years old — simple, and utterly straightforward.

Zhan Changfeng had originally planned to secretly pass the Five Elements Dao Scroll to Yi Shang. She had asked Master Huang to read Yi Shang’s fate, and Yi Shang’s stars were indeed aligned with the Emperor’s constellation.

But Yi Shang could not cultivate.

Master Huang had said that to become Empress was already an immeasurable act of virtue — how could she go further and pursue cultivation, defying the natural order?

Then the problem could only lie with the Purple Tenuity Imperial Aura.

In truth, it would be a good thing if Zhu Yan achieved mastery. First, it would be able to protect Yi Shang. Second, it would not be a waste of this technique.

Zhan Changfeng stood in silence for a long while, calculating once and then again. All matters had been arranged — nothing should have been overlooked.

For the reforms, Yi Shang would be the driving force. When the contradictions accumulated to a sufficient degree, Zero-Two would release the Earth Repository and carry these ideas to every feudal lord and every common person. By then, whether to cut away the rotten flesh and usher in a new era, or to burn the heretics and maintain the status quo — that would no longer be a matter for one or two people to decide.

The world, in the end, would be decided by all those who lived in it.

As for the Burial Forest — there had been responses before, but recently it had gone quiet, for reasons unknown. However, things on that side had been the same for several hundred years, so there was no need to worry. She had given Yi Shang the method of contacting the Burial Forest, so that Yin soldiers could be sent out to fight if necessary.

Everything that needed to be done had been done. Zhan Changfeng picked up her sword and left the Governor’s Residence without a backward glance, leaving Hengzhou behind.

The seventh month of the first year of the Young Xiandi Emperor’s reign.

The Hall of Statecraft.

Li Mao shoved Li Chonghua to the ground with one push. “What use are you to me!”

Yi Shang had denied Li Chonghua’s legitimacy — would the other feudal lords still acknowledge it?! Li Mao had completely and irrevocably earned the title of usurper — there was no taking it off now.

Li Chonghua lay sobbing on the cold floor. He did not understand how things had come to this, nor did he understand why his beloved uncle treated him with such violence.

He was his son. He was his nephew.

He was the Emperor.

And yet, just now, Li Mao had nearly killed him!

Li Chonghua was terrified beyond measure. In the vast emptiness of the Great Hall, he screamed himself hoarse, “Shuang Ban, Shuang Ban!”

“Shuang Ban! Shuang Ban!”

A bird flew in. It had grown feathers, transforming into a resplendent Chongming Bird.

Li Chonghua seized upon it like a drowning man clutching at a lifeline. “Shuang Ban, take me away. I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

The Chongming Bird preened its feathers. “Then are you willing to pursue cultivation?”

“Yes, yes, yes — I will cultivate!”

(End of Chapter)