Chapter 542: - The Immortal Elder

A fine, unbroken drizzle fell, settling the dust and lending the military camp a measure of quiet.

An army camp ought to be a noisy place. To the soldiers and generals inside, it certainly was. Yet to an outsider, it often appeared extraordinarily still, like a vicious beast choosing whom to devour, its cold eyes sweeping the world around it.

Tian Wujing appeared outside the central army encampment.

Beside him walked a Daoist.

Had Zheng Fan been here, he would have recognized the man.

Back when Zheng Fan stayed at the Marquis of Zhenbei Residence, he had seen this occultist, whose Daoist name was the Drunken Immortal Elder, arrange a formation around Sha Tuo Queshi’s corpse. Because of Little Sixth, the Drunken Immortal Elder had even come over afterward and exchanged a few idle words with Zheng Fan.

During the late emperor’s reign, Great Yan had placed great faith in fangshi, occultists, all manner of gods and spirits, Daoism, Buddhism, and the rest. For a time, Yanjing had been turned into what could only be called a complete miasma.

After Emperor Yan ascended the throne, he swept away the old practices in one stroke, nearly launching a campaign to eradicate Buddhism and Daoism. Every other breed of ghost-and-god charlatan was likewise purged and arrested.

However much they had eaten from the imperial house in the past, they ended up spitting back twice as much.

That did not mean Great Yan had no men who stood outside ordinary worldly life.

One need look no farther than that old grandee who had once lived in the palace. Had he not been a Qi Refiner?

Emperor Yan valued useful arts and had little patience for doctrine. Men beyond the mundane world who could actually be put to use were still welcomed by the court.

The Drunken Immortal Elder was one such man.

He truly did possess some skill.

But on battlefields stretching a thousand li, amid the clash of armies by the million and the painted grandeur of spears and iron cavalry, there truly was no room for Daoist robes, Buddhist cassocks, or an occultist’s ritual crown.

Put one into such a scene and he only looked superfluous.

This was not their battlefield.

Here, it was also difficult for them to exert any material effect.

That was precisely why Master Zang of Qian had not remained at the Three Frontiers to defend them, but instead penetrated deep into Yanjing to sever Great Yan’s dragon vein. Against iron cavalry whose might could swallow ten thousand li like a tiger, his abilities were, in truth, not worth very much. At the very least, they were not enough to matter there.

There were ten thousand roads of cultivation, and ten thousand roads beneath one’s feet. For the most part, each drew its own line and pulled toward its own side.

The Drunken Immortal Elder spoke.

“On the way here, I heard from the scouts that Count Pingye has earned another great merit. Since it happened right here with Your Highness’s central army, why have I not seen him?”

Tian Wujing answered:

“The fighting at West Mountain Fort was deadlocked. Li Fusheng had attacked for a long time without taking it. Yesterday, this Prince sent Zheng Fan over to help direct the battle.”

The Drunken Immortal Elder laughed.

“That truly was making things difficult for Li Fusheng. He is a man of Beifeng Commandery. He spent half his life commanding troops across that endless desert. How would he know how to besiege a fortress?”

“Zheng Fan seems to be from Beifeng Commandery too.”

“That one is an exception.”

“An exception?”

“Yes.”

Tian Wujing stood on the hillside and gazed into the distance. Behind him rose rank upon rank of imposing, orderly military camps.

“According to the habits of jianghu occultists, should your next line be that the first time you saw him, you already knew he was extraordinary?”

“Hahahaha. I would not dare claim that. If I had truly seen it, how could I have let our meeting end so hastily? Still, I have always remembered the ten-character line Count Pingye once said to me. He said people like this old man, occultists and such, make our living doing nothing more than speaking human words to humans and ghost words to ghosts.”

“Accurate enough.”

“Indeed. My only regret is that I never got to feel Count Pingye’s bones back then.”

“When he returns in a couple of days, go feel them. Say a few auspicious things about fortune and longevity. He will be happy enough to hear them.”

“He can return in two days?”

West Mountain Fort should have been exceedingly difficult to take. Otherwise a seasoned field commander like Li Fusheng would not have remained deadlocked there for so long.

Just then, a squad of personal guards came galloping over.

“Your Highness! Report from the western line! Our army has entered West Mountain Fort and is presently clearing out the remaining enemy!”

Tian Wujing waved one hand.

The guards immediately withdrew.

The Drunken Immortal Elder stroked his white beard and sighed.

“It... fell just like that?”

Tian Wujing nodded.

“Much earlier than I expected.”

“How did he do it?”

“You can ask him yourself tomorrow.”

“Your Highness does not know either?”

“When His Majesty employs you to accomplish something, must he personally master occult arts first?”

“Your Highness is absolutely right.”

Tian Wujing sat down directly on the ground.

The Drunken Immortal Elder lowered himself cross-legged beside him as well.

“This old man also saw Eunuch Huang from the palace arrive.”

“Mm. He brought an oral decree.”

“It must have been extremely important.”

“His Majesty asked this Prince how much longer this war will last.”

The Drunken Immortal Elder’s expression suddenly froze.

He truly had not expected the Prince of Jingnan to repeat His Majesty’s oral decree to his face so casually.

A red-robed eunuch had been sent a thousand li solely to deliver those words.

How could they possibly be simple?

Why go to such trouble?

Precisely because those words were not suitable for putting on paper.

“This...”

Tian Wujing said calmly:

“His Majesty is counting the days, trying to hold on until the campaign against Chu is over.”

Though the Drunken Immortal Elder was a man beyond worldly affairs and, in theory, someone who ought to stand outside the Five Elements, hearing those words still sent several successive shudders through his bones.

If he were alone in the world, with no ties to anyone, perhaps he truly would have feared nothing.

But he had disciples.

And their disciples had disciples.

People imagined the mysteries of Heaven were unfathomable.

In truth, the storms and struggles of the imperial court were the real great terror.

Tian Wujing turned his head and looked south.

Zhennan Pass lay in that direction.

“His Majesty has always possessed great pride. He dislikes admitting defeat. Since he says he intends to hold on, then he will certainly hold on until the campaign against Chu ends. When you came to Jin, you should have passed through the capital. You did not go see him?”

The Drunken Immortal Elder’s face had already taken on a waxy yellow cast.

He truly did not want to become entangled in a topic like this.

One careless step could send him falling into an abyss without bottom.

But after hesitating for a moment, he relaxed instead.

Since the Prince before him could speak and ask about such matters this calmly, he could simply listen and answer with the same calm.

In any case, the man before him disdained becoming an informer and would never do such a thing. If the Drunken Immortal Elder continued shrinking from every word, he would only lose face.

“I did pass through Yanjing. I ate roast duck. I saw Eunuch Wei. But I did not see His Majesty. His Majesty still trusts the imperial physicians more.”

Then the Drunken Immortal Elder shook his head.

“What people like us ought to do, I imagine that old grandee in the palace already did long ago. At this point, one can only rely on the physicians. Still, if this old man did not know, that would be one thing. Since I do know now, from tonight onward I will recite a round of scripture for His Majesty every evening.”

“He would only find it annoying. Years ago, when he learned that I had studied some Daoist arts, he asked me: ‘Do you also wish to attain the Dao and knock upon the mysteries of Heaven?’”

The Drunken Immortal Elder smiled.

He assumed the Prince of Jingnan was reminiscing about the old days.

Everyone knew that in his youth, the future Prince of Jingnan had followed behind the then Crown Prince, now Emperor Yan, and Li Liangting, then heir of the Marquis of Zhenbei Residence, as the three of them grew up together.

“I told him I did not know,” the Prince of Jingnan continued. “He said, ‘If you do not know, then come ask me.’”

The Drunken Immortal Elder began to sense that the flavor of the story was wrong.

Tian Wujing’s gaze narrowed slightly.

He continued, slowly:

“He has always wanted to be a true Son of Heaven. He once said that Heaven’s will must first reveal itself through celestial signs. Then those signs must be interpreted by the men of the Directorate of Astronomy. If they interpret them wrongly and misunderstand Heaven’s meaning, then the whole thing amounts to nothing. But a true emperor carries Heaven’s law in his mouth. One word decides the lives of ten thousand subjects. One sword can overthrow a state. The Heavenly Dao is too high, too distant, too elusive. The emperor is right here.”

“His Majesty’s civil and martial accomplishments are such that few emperors since antiquity can compare.”

Tian Wujing replied:

“Yet the Heavenly Dao is vast and dim. Elusive though it may be, an emperor of the mortal world can never escape being one sovereign, one reign, one dream.”

“Actually, Your Highness, the reason this old man entered Yan all those years ago was that while observing the heavens one night, I saw the Purple Tenuity Star shining in the northwest of the Central Lands. Only then did I enter Yan, seeking an opportunity to use imperial qi to verify my Dao. I imagine Master Zang of Qian calculated much the same thing. That was why he went beneath the walls of Yanjing to sever the dragon vein. Every lotus bloomed, and in the end only one broken lotus managed to return.”

“This Prince may have studied Daoist arts, but I have never had much patience for mystical muttering. Great Yan’s ancestral lands were defended through eight hundred years of bloodshed by countless forebears. These Jin lands were conquered by this Prince personally, leading the sons of Great Yan. What Heaven’s will? What predestination? What nonsense about the fortune of a state being destined to rise? To think that way is only to profane the sons of Yan buried in lonely graves and nameless mounds.”

“Yes.”

The Drunken Immortal Elder had no desire to argue.

By now he could see it clearly. Though the Prince of Jingnan himself knew some Daoist arts, at his core he was exactly the same kind of man as His Majesty.

“How are matters at the Wang River?”

Now they had reached real business.

The Drunken Immortal Elder immediately replied:

“The Fifth Prince has been a great help. This old man may understand hydrology and celestial phenomena, but the Fifth Prince’s ingenious mechanical arts have truly broadened my horizons. We have already begun diverting the water. But if we want to guarantee absolutely nothing goes wrong when the gates are broken, we still need more time.”

Tian Wujing shook his head.

“Time cannot be given. But you may tell Yingdu that, aside from the civilian laborers needed to transport grain, fodder, weapons, and military equipment, the rest may be requisitioned in greater numbers for the riverworks.”

Now that East Mountain Fort and West Mountain Fort had both been taken, the Chu defensive system before Zhennan Pass had effectively been ripped open by a massive breach.

The remaining forts and camps would be far easier to seize.

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

That was, in fact, the reason the Drunken Immortal Elder had come this time.

Officials from Yingdu ought to have come themselves.

None of them dared risk provoking the Prince of Jingnan.

“I remember you once read the bones of several princes.”

“Yes, Your Highness. The First Prince was a fierce tiger opening the frontier. The Crown Prince was a Crouching Dragon in the Wild...”

“Talk about Little Sixth.”

“The Sixth Prince... the Sixth Prince was a wealthy gentleman destined for leisure.”

“Little Sixth is the one most like His Majesty. Are you saying His Majesty is also a wealthy gentleman destined for leisure?”

The Drunken Immortal Elder smiled.

“Some things must naturally be avoided.”

The Prince of Jingnan asked no more.

Instead, he rose and beckoned with one hand.

In the distance, a personal guard who had been keeping watch outside the perimeter immediately rode over to receive orders.

“Pass the order. Today, the central army may drink.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Ordinarily, private drinking was forbidden in the army.

Violation meant death.

But at times, a commander might permit wine to raise morale. Even then, the amount was tightly controlled. No one would be allowed to become genuinely drunk.

The Drunken Immortal Elder stroked his beard and smiled.

“Looks like this old man is in luck today. I can even freeload a bowl of wine from Your Highness. Is Your Highness celebrating the fall of West Mountain Fort?”

Tian Wujing shook his head.

Very calmly, he said:

“No. I am simply happy.”

[End of Chapter 542]