Chapter 36 – Evasion

Zhan Changfeng tended to her wounds and began cultivating the Nine-Cycle Rebirth Art. The “Nine-Cycle” aspect primarily tempered the bones; at her current stage it granted no offensive power, yet her constitution had grown considerably stronger.

The “Rebirth” aspect cultivated the soul, using the power of the divine soul to form techniques that struck at the souls of others.

“Rebirth” was the only aspect she could currently cultivate.

Although the Five Elements Dao Scroll within the Dragon Scale Divine Scripture was also a method of cultivation, it required drawing qi into the body. With half her body devastated as it was, attempting to practice such a qi-based path was nothing short of fantasy — forget the greater and lesser heavenly circuits, she could not even circulate through the eight extraordinary meridians.

The first step of “Rebirth” was to find the soul’s sea of consciousness.

Zhan Changfeng sat cross-legged, casting aside all stray thoughts, reciting the heart sutra, gradually entering a state of empty stillness. A thread of mysterious sensation drew her onward — novel and elusive, difficult to grasp.

She had reached this state before, yet it always felt as though she were one step short of crossing the threshold, unable to truly glimpse her own soul’s sea of consciousness.

That membrane appeared again.

To describe it philosophically — it was like a person who had lived from birth toward death, lived many years, done many things, played many roles, yet had never once touched their own soul.

In terms of cultivation, it was the cognition of the self, the ego, and the superego.

In practical terms, it meant being unable to control soul power.

Zhan Changfeng remained in stillness for a long while. Her perceptive abilities had grown considerably, yet her soul power remained too hazy and elusive to capture.

She understood deeply that such things could not be forced. One entered stillness naturally, and awakened naturally.

Her outward perception detected a presence at the door. “Come in.”

“Your Highness,” Zero-Two clasped his hands and bowed, his voice filled with concern, “How does Your Highness feel? Do you require a physician or medicinal herbs?”

“No need. How long have I been in seclusion?”

“Two days and one night.”

Zhan Changfeng knew she had been unconscious for most of a day due to the backlash, so the time spent in still meditation was not very long after all. “Have those people tracked us here?”

“This is precisely what this subordinate came to report,” Zero-Two said, his expression grave. “I had originally thought that hiding in a bustling town would make them show at least some restraint — but who could have anticipated that they would saunter into the city and go straight to the county office, assume the authority of imperial envoys to oversee Linyuan Town, seal all the exits, and search every household door to door!”

Zhan Changfeng’s phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, the long corners of her eyes lifting into an arc that shook one’s heart. “What you mean is, they are Li Mao’s people.”

“Li the traitor controls the court, has slaughtered all loyal subjects, and also commands a force called the Jingyu Guard — filled with experts as numerous as the clouds, no less capable than the former Imperial Guard,” Zero-Two said. “I suspect those pursuing us come from the Jingyu Guard; their level of power would be consistent with that.”

“Not necessarily.” The candlelight in the stone chamber flickered dimly, casting even the mood into shadow.

The Imperial City’s Imperial Guard were martial prodigies cultivated at great cost by the royal family — every one of them approaching the peak of the Postnatal realm, capable of fighting a hundred opponents alone. Sent into the martial world, they could wipe out entire martial sects several times over. They were the palace’s most formidable defenders.

One had to ask: aside from the royal family, who could cultivate and command tens of thousands of martial experts? That was why the imperial palace had always been the safest place under heaven.

And yet, during that coup, the greatest shock was that half the Imperial Guard had betrayed them.

This was something that had long puzzled Zhan Changfeng.

Whether analyzed by probability or by Li Mao’s capabilities, he was entirely incapable of turning them to his side.

Rather than believing the Imperial Guard had defected, she was more inclined to believe that those men had been replaced.

And who could replace the Imperial Guard without anyone noticing? Only those strange individuals from Cangyun Ravine.

“It wasn’t Li Mao who formed the Jingyu Guard — it was they who gave the Jingyu Guard to him.” With this, some of the knot in Zhan Changfeng’s heart over the fall of her dynasty loosened, yet a deeper fog also descended. Who exactly were these people, and was what they wanted truly only the Dragon Scale Divine Scripture?

“What is the situation outside right now?”

“The soldiers have already come to search the inn once; the underground chamber was spared for the time being,” Zero-Two said. “I fear that once they search the entire city and still find no one, they will take more dangerous actions. Therefore, I wish to get you out of here as soon as possible.”

“Very well. Make the arrangements.”

“Yes.”

Zero-Two left the underground chamber. The tension in his expression eased, a flicker of inner conflict crossing his face before resolve returned.

A day later, Zero-Two pointed to a tunnel dug out in the rear courtyard and said: “Your Highness, I dug this tunnel over the past several days. It connects to Linyuan Town’s underground drainage channel. The channel is constructed of brick and stone, 3.2 meters wide, 2.3 meters deep, and 9.6 kilometers in total length. There are four outlets: two drain into the Zimu River to the east of the city, and two drain into the Qiyuan River. With little rain lately, there is not much standing water in the channel — it is passable.”

Zhan Changfeng gazed at the muddy tunnel and nodded. “You have quite the resourceful mind.”

She estimated that if she went through a few more experiences like this, her fastidiousness about cleanliness might cure itself.

Zero-Two was rather pleased with himself. “Indeed, Your Highness. This method will surely allow us to leave without obstruction.”

Zhan Changfeng was well aware that soldiers were posted throughout Linyuan Town. If discovered, a fierce battle would be unavoidable. Given that a less costly option lay before them, there was no reason not to use it.

“Let’s go.”

The air below was extremely thin, and the smell was best left undescribed. Zhan Changfeng waded through the foul water behind Zero-Two, doing her best to breathe as shallowly as possible.

Zero-Two held up a fire-starter and briefed her as they moved.

The men and horses he had brought had created a diversion of fire and chaos to draw away Gongsun Jing and the Gaotian Tribe’s attention. Fearing they might attract spies if they retreated in the same direction, they had withdrawn another way — and were now gathered at Hengzhou.

Hengzhou was the place outside the capital where the royal family held its strongest grip — the center of the royal family’s enterprises and intelligence networks.

Once they exited the drainage channel, they would reach the Qiyuan River. From there, a boat ride of three to five days would bring them directly to Hengzhou.

About the time it takes to burn half an incense stick after they descended, soldiers came to search the inn once again. The two servants tasked with filling in the hole in the rear courtyard panicked. Though they had simply been following the innkeeper’s instructions and didn’t even know what the tunnel was for, the whole town was now under martial law — people were dying every day — and this suspicious digging, if it fell into the soldiers’ hands, would be impossible to explain.

“Run, run!” One of the servants, his brows furrowed in distress, flung his spade away as though it were a hot coal and fled in a panic through the back gate.

The other servant didn’t dare stay either — the soldiers’ voices were getting closer and closer. “Hey, wait for me, wait for me!”

The gate was pushed open. The rear courtyard was not large; the lead soldier spotted the digging marks on the ground at a glance. “What is going on here!”

The hole hadn’t been fully filled — it looked as though it had just been dug. The portly innkeeper thought quickly and smiled apologetically. “A fortune-teller told me this spot lacked water energy, so I was planning to dig a small pond here and place a decorative rock garden beside it.”

“What the — ugh!”

The sudden cry changed the innkeeper’s expression. Just where had this soldier come from who couldn’t watch where he was putting his feet?!

The servants had been lazy — the hole hadn’t been packed solid, just covered with a thin layer of loose dirt. While the innkeeper was talking, one of the soldiers ran over and stomped on it a few times, sending himself plummeting straight through!

Immediately the lead soldier pressed his blade against the innkeeper’s neck. “Speak. What exactly is going on here? Are you harboring a wanted criminal?!”

The innkeeper lowered his head and said nothing. In truth, when the inn’s backer had suddenly appeared a few days ago, combined with the behavior of the county office, he had a rough idea of what was happening — but there was a duty owed to one’s liege, and his conscience was still intact. Some things, even beaten to death, he would not say.

A voice drifted up from below. “Ah — pfft — my lord, there’s a passage down here!”

The lead soldier, upon hearing this, slammed the hilt of his blade down on the innkeeper and knocked him to the ground. “You scheming wretch — you’ve made your lord exhausted for so many days!”

“Quickly, report to the imperial envoy — the fugitives’ trail has been found!”

Not long after the message was relayed, Gongsun Jing and his party descended from the rooftops like divine soldiers from the heavens, startling the soldiers into stunned stillness on the side.

“What is down there!” Gongsun Jing demanded sharply.

The lead soldier hurried forward. “Below is a drainage channel — it connects to the Zimu River and the Qiyuan River!”

“A drainage channel?” Gongsun Jing’s expression twisted for a moment, then he broke into wild laughter. “Look at this — so this is the Crown Prince of the Yin Dynasty, hiding in a foul ditch like a rat in the earth!”

“You — ride at full gallop to seal the outlets! Guard the riverbanks and docks!”

“You — descend into the drainage channel to give chase and cut them off!”

“I want this rat to have nowhere left to hide!”