Chapter 71: The Shangqing Sect's Calamity

Yan Duo knew what refusing Zhou Shouxian would cost him. You took benefits under another man's roof, yet when trouble came you refused to step forward. Where beneath Heaven was there such a convenient arrangement? Whether Zhou Shouxian would ever give him anything again was one matter. Once word spread, other powers would not dare employ him either. Who would hire a man who retreated the moment something happened? The consequences were severe enough to ruin his entire future.

But Yan Duo understood even more clearly that this was something he simply could not accomplish. Going there would amount to throwing his life away. He too was a Golden Core Realm cultivator, but he knew perfectly well that he was no match for Bai Yao, much less the Tianyu Sect behind him. Once the deed was done, the Tianyu Sect would never let him go. Even sect cultivators were unwilling to openly break with the Tianyu Sect. Where would an independent cultivator like him find that kind of courage? He would have to be tired of living.

Refusing Zhou Shouxian might destroy his prospects, but at least it would preserve his life. As long as he lived, possibilities remained. Once he died, there would be nothing.

The fact that he had said, "You should seek someone more capable," already showed that he knew he had failed to repay Zhou Shouxian's patronage. Zhou Shouxian would not even need to drive him away afterward. Yan Duo would leave on his own.

Zhou Shouxian waved a hand and tried to persuade him pleasantly. "Hear me out first. I'm not asking you to go alone. I have already secretly transferred ten thousand elite troops and hidden them along the road Shang Chaozong must take. They will cooperate with you in the interception. Another fifty cultivators will be placed under your command. Counting you, ten of them are Golden Core Realm cultivators. Whether in soldiers or cultivators, our numbers exceed theirs. Holding down the troops from Guangyi Commandery and Bai Yao's group should not be a problem. You should have ample opportunity to dispose of Shang Chaozong."

Yan Duo froze. Ten thousand elite troops. Fifty cultivators, ten of them Golden Core Realm cultivators. All of that just to kill one Shang Chaozong. The force arrayed for the task was anything but small. He weighed it briefly. If they acted this way, there truly was a chance of success. But after thinking it through, he still cupped his hands apologetically.

"Provincial Governor, forgive me."

He was still refusing. The crucial problem remained the Tianyu Sect. Yan Duo had a wife and daughter. An independent cultivator like him could not afford to provoke such a sect. Zhou Shouxian's eyes narrowed slightly. His tone slowed.

"Yan Duo, Zhou has not treated you poorly these past years, has he?"

"The Provincial Governor's favor has been generous. I will certainly repay it in the future and will never break my word. Farewell!"

Yan Duo cupped his hands, turned, and walked away.

Zhou Shouxian called after him, "No hurry. There is something I want you to see. It won't be too late to leave afterward."

Two men flashed in from outside the pavilion and took positions on either side of Yan Duo. They were Zhou Shouxian's personal retainer cultivators. Yan Duo had reached the stairway when his body went still. He slowly turned around, maintaining the highest vigilance. He feared Zhou Shouxian intended to kill him to silence him. Instead, the man to Zhou Shouxian's left casually tossed two objects over. Yan Duo spread his fingers and drew them into his palm. One glance was enough to drain the color from his face.

He jerked his head up.

"Provincial Governor, what is the meaning of this?"

Two jade pendants lay in his hand. Others might not have recognized them, but Yan Duo knew them all too well. They belonged to his wife and daughter. Zhou Shouxian sneered inwardly.

I supply you with resources in ordinary times, and the moment I need something done, you turn around and leave? Where is there such a good bargain? Do you think my doors are somewhere you can enter whenever you please and leave whenever you please? Outwardly, however, he remained perfectly calm.

"Rest assured. Your honored wife and daughter are perfectly well. Nanzhou has quite a few scenic places, so someone has accompanied them on a little tour of the mountains and waters. They're in excellent spirits and know nothing at all. Once Brother Yan returns, your family will naturally be reunited in peace and harmony. They won't suffer the slightest fright."

He had plainly taken Yan Duo's wife and daughter hostage. The warning could not have been clearer: do not refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a penalty cup. Rage flooded Yan Duo's chest.

He wanted nothing more than to lunge forward, seize Zhou Shouxian as a hostage, and exchange him for his wife and daughter. But one look at the guards to either side told him the other man had prepared for exactly that possibility. His chances of succeeding were virtually nonexistent. The situation was plain. If he refused, not only would his wife and daughter's lives be in danger, but Yan Duo himself might not leave easily. After weighing matters again and again, he had no choice but to suppress his anger.

In a heavy voice, he asked, "Which sect do those fifty cultivators belong to?"

Zhou Shouxian said, "Like you, they're all independent cultivators. For now, they don't know what they're being called to do. To prevent word from leaking, this isn't the sort of affair one can publicize too early."

All independent cultivators?

Yan Duo's voice remained heavy. "Is the Provincial Governor certain they'll still dare attack people from the Tianyu Sect once they know the truth?"

"The people chosen were all carefully considered. No one was gathered at random. Before you act, show them a few things. Naturally, they'll listen to you."

The man on Zhou Shouxian's right took a cloth bag from behind his back and tossed it over. Yan Duo caught it and opened the mouth. Inside were jade pendants, hairpins, and all manner of personal odds and ends. One look was enough for him to understand. Those cultivators were in the same situation as he was. They would have little choice but to obey.

To seize the vulnerabilities of so many cultivators at once was not something an ordinary person could accomplish. Yan Duo could easily guess that sect cultivators had acted secretly behind the scenes, and probably more than one or two sects. Hatred rose in his heart.

Those sect people did not dare openly tear away all pretense with the Tianyu Sect because they feared retaliation, so they were forcing independent cultivators to do the dirty work instead.

"The Provincial Governor truly has excellent methods!"

Yan Duo gave a cold snort of praise.

"To eat a ruler's stipend is to be loyal in his service. His Majesty has issued a decree. As ministers, we should naturally exhaust ourselves to the utmost."

Zhou Shouxian lowered his brows and eyes as he answered, ignoring the mockery.

Then he looked up and warned solemnly, "Let me say the ugly part first. Every person who takes part must conceal their identity completely. Whether this affair succeeds or fails, it has nothing to do with the imperial court, and nothing to do with me."

Yan Duo replied, "How would I dare disobey the Provincial Governor's instructions?"

Zhou Shouxian said, "Do not delay. Set out immediately. Once you arrive, someone will meet you and take you to the ambush site."

Clearly, even now he did not intend to reveal the entire arrangement. When he finished, one of the men beside him walked over to Yan Duo and extended a hand.

"Brother Yan, please."

Yan Duo cupped his hands toward Zhou Shouxian, then turned and strode away. The anger in his eyes had not faded...

Whoosh! Bang!

A signal arrow shot out of the forest and burst in the sky.

Alarm!

The sentries farther back immediately spotted it and fired their own signal arrows. One warning after another rose into the sky, carrying the alarm all the way into the heartland of the Shangqing Sect.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

Alarm bells rang without end.

Enemy attack!

The warning bells had not sounded for many years. Disciples poured out of buildings across the Shangqing Sect's mountain peaks and gathered in haste.

Tang Yi, Luo Yuangong, Su Po, Tang Susu, and the assembled disciples stood in an open area, each wearing a grave expression as they looked toward the direction from which the signal arrows had come. Ever since Song Yanqing's death, the Shangqing Sect's senior figures had been worrying about this day. It seemed the feared disaster had finally arrived. And indeed, it had.

A mass of cultivators was approaching from the rear mountains, skimming above the treetops through the verdant forest. From time to time, the sounds of fighting carried over. The fate of the disciples assigned to the outer watchposts after offering even token resistance was easy enough to imagine.

"Wretch!"

Tang Susu ground the word through her teeth. Luo Yuangong and the others knew whom she meant. There was hardly anyone it could be besides Song Shu. In truth, all of them believed this attack was the Song clan's retaliation for Song Yanqing's death.

What they did not know was that the Song clan, constrained by certain concerns, had not originally intended to destroy the Shangqing Sect at all. They had merely planned to teach it a lesson. The Shangqing Sect had been caught up in a larger struggle of powers. This was not the Song clan's doing. Other people simply no longer wished to see the Shangqing Sect continue to exist. For some, destroying the Shangqing Sect required no more than a single sentence.

"It's the Liuxian Sect!"

Luo Yuangong's voice was heavy. By now they could clearly make out the approaching figures. There were at least a thousand of them, each carrying a pair of crescent-shaped moon wheels.

Shing!

Tang Yi, as Sect Leader, was the first to draw her treasured sword. Her expression was exceptionally grave.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Swords came free all around her. Everyone prepared for a fight to the death. More than a thousand enemies were visible already. The entire Shangqing Sect could field only a few hundred people.

If they retreated now, it would be little different from a rout. A brutal pursuit would follow. The weaker disciples simply could not flee fast enough; retreat would amount to abandoning them to die. Worse, no one knew how many men the enemy might have hidden elsewhere. The surprise attack had already reached this far before the Shangqing Sect reacted. It was too late. They had only two choices: abandon most of their people and break out with a small group, or fight to the end.

The Shangqing Sect might have fallen into decline, but before battle had even begun, it still could not bring itself to abandon its own disciples and flee. Some disciples, however, could not withstand the pressure.

Seeing the enemy bearing down upon them, one man slowly stepped backward. After putting a little distance between himself and the others, he abruptly turned and ran. One man fleeing shattered the resolve to fight to the death. Dozens more broke almost immediately and fled the battlefield, running desperately toward the depths of the forest.

"Traitors!"

Luo Yuangong looked back and trembled with rage. Tang Yi glanced behind her as well. Her heart filled with grief and indignation. For the first time, she felt the full bitterness of the Shangqing Sect's decline. Its people's hearts truly had scattered.

A great enemy was upon them, yet rather than think of resisting, dozens of disciples had deserted before the battle had even begun. What dignity did that leave her, the Sect Leader?

But with the enemy before them, this was no time to divide their attention and clean house. Doing so would only throw their own ranks into chaos. They had no choice but to let the deserters run. The thousand-plus disciples of the Liuxian Sect rose and descended in succession.

Led by Elder Wu Shaohuan, they quickly spread into a crescent formation and surrounded the Shangqing Sect disciples, facing them across the open ground. Luo Yuangong thrust his sword forward.

"Wu Shaohuan! The Shangqing Sect and Liuxian Sect have neither grievance nor enmity. Why have you forced your way into our mountain gate?"

Wu Shaohuan answered calmly, "Brother Luo, blessed spiritual lands belong to those with the virtue to possess them. The Shangqing Sect has so few people, yet occupies such an excellent place. Isn't that a little excessive? You've enjoyed it for so many years. By rights, you should have enjoyed enough. The Liuxian Sect doesn't wish to make things difficult for you. As long as the Shangqing Sect agrees to hand this blessed spiritual land over to us, we'll let you leave immediately and won't trouble you further. What do you say?"

Calling the Shangqing Sect's territory a blessed spiritual land was no exaggeration. Its founding patriarch had once served as the State of Yan's National Preceptor. Naturally, the place he chose for his sect within the State of Yan had been among the very finest. No one knew how many people had coveted it over the years. But to the Shangqing Sect, this was the sect's ancestral ground. Generations of predecessors lay buried here.

If they meekly handed away an inheritance preserved for so many years, how could the Shangqing Sect ever again show its face in the cultivation world? There was no possibility they would accept such a condition. The demand was plainly nothing more than a pretext for trouble.

"If you want to seize it, first see whether you have the lives to take it!"

Sect Leader Tang Yi shouted fiercely, anger blazing across her face. Wu Shaohuan sneered.

"You must be Sect Leader Tang. It seems the Shangqing Sect truly has no one left, to put a yellow-haired girl in charge. Your destiny is indeed exhausted! In my opinion..."

"ROAR!"

A bellow shook the mountains and forest. Everyone turned in alarm. Atop a nearby peak stood a fierce beast that resembled a lion without truly being one. It lifted its head and roared toward the sky. Its entire body was covered in sleek golden fur that blazed brilliantly beneath the sunlight.

"A Golden-Furred Hou!"

Someone cried out in astonishment. The expressions of many Liuxian Sect disciples changed at once.

[End of Chapter 71]