Dragon Canon

The smoke of battle cleared, leaving behind only blood and corpses.

Amid the piles of bodies, Luo Bingtian leaped to his feet, roughly wiped the blood from his face, and let out a bestial roar. “Brothers, charge! Slaughter them all! Avenge our fallen comrades!”

In the distance, the 20,000 cavalry began to stir. Thousands of cavalrymen had broken ranks to answer his call. As Yue Jinshan had already taken his leave, the generals were left without a leader. Some tried to shout for order, while others remained silent.

Luo Bingtian pounded his fist against his chest, and a blood-stained projectile flew out of his back. He then raised a horse-cutting saber and shouted in a completely hoarse voice, “I’m done being a general! If you’re my brothers, then follow me to avenge them! Men of the northern frontier do not stand by and do nothing after their brothers have died before their eyes!”

The cavalry ranks behind him stirred once more, and another few thousand cavalrymen broke ranks to join the advancing crowd. In the blink of an eye, over 10,000 of the 20,000 cavalrymen who had previously held their ground were charging toward the battlefield.

Agitated by the sudden resurgence of the enemy’s army aura, the 30,000 youngsters of Qingming spontaneously closed ranks and formed a dense square formation. They drew the sharp knives hanging behind their waists and simultaneously fitted them onto their now-empty gun-spears. The youngsters moved with such perfect unison and precise rhythm that as the blades were fitted, only a single, crisp clack echoed. Then, they lowered their centers of gravity, took a step back, and assumed a melee battle stance. Their army aura surged skyward, and the world around them grew three parts darker!

Luo Bingtian, saber in both hands, roared as he charged toward the formation. The 10,000 cavalrymen behind him, spurred on by his lead, began to accelerate as well.

Just then, Luo Bingtian suddenly heard footsteps. It was calm and composed, each step seemingly resonating with heaven and earth themselves. That was when he saw Wei Yuan, gun-spear in hand, stepping onto the battlefield and standing composedly before the 30,000 youngsters.

“This fratricidal slaughter ends here!” Wei Yuan’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it rang in everyone’s ears.

Luo Bingtian roared furiously, “Anyone who dares stand in my way as I avenge my brothers shall die!”

“Is that so? Come and try me then.” A bright red immortal sword appeared in Wei Yuan’s left hand, and he slapped it onto his gun-spear just below the tip.

Then, while holding the weapon with one hand, he pointed the tip of the immortal sword—now transformed into a spearhead—toward the ground, causing a violent gale to suddenly sweep through heaven and earth!

Standing in the eye of the storm, Wei Yuan waved his left hand backward. The youngsters immediately and simultaneously lowered their spears and rearranged their formation. Row by row, squad by squad, they began retreating into the depths of the realm of Qingming.

Wei Yuan held his gun-spear in front of him. It was clear he intended to block the path into the realm all by himself.

A few northern frontier generals sensed that something was amiss. Finally, they stopped watching from the sidelines and rushed over to restrain Luo Bingtian. Glancing back at the 10,000 cavalrymen behind him, then at the 10,000 corpses littering the ground in front of him, the general felt as if his heart would burst from all the grief and rage that were growing within. He pointed a finger at Wei Yuan and roared, “Fine! We won’t mobilize the troops, but I demand that you fight me in a duel to the death! No one is to interfere!”

His colleagues were taken aback as a matter of course. They tried to reason with him while desperately holding him back.

But Wei Yuan suddenly withdrew his aura, removed the crimson immortal sword from his gun-spear, and stowed it within his body. At the same time, a blue steed with clouds swirling around its hooves galloped over to his side and came to a halt. Wei Yuan leaped onto the horse and casually slung his gun-spear over the saddle.

Utterly baffled by this sudden turn of events, Luo Bingtian shouted, “What are you doing? Where are you going?”

Wei Yuan glanced at him and replied, “You’re not even an Avatar. Defeating you would only sully my honor.”

Luo Bingtian flew into a rage and roared, “Let me go! I’ll cut this bastard down today if it’s the last thing I do!”

Wei Yuan replied indifferently, “If you’re truly fearless, then turn your ire against the foreigners. At least then I might look upon you with a bit more respect.”

Wei Yuan then spurred his horse toward the realm. As he rode off, the thousand or so riders who had stood motionless all this time followed in his wake.

The riders hadn’t seemed anything special when they were standing still, but the moment they started moving, each and every one started radiating a formidable presence. Countless auras converged into a single surging killing intent, rolling like waves and tides as they followed behind Wei Yuan. Looking at their army aura alone, the thousand or so riders were in no way inferior to the 10,000 iron cavalry of the northern frontier.

The youngsters had suffered several hundred casualties. As they retreated, they carried away the bodies of their fallen comrades. Wei Yuan left the battlefield to his opponents so that they could gather the bodies of their fallen as well.

The 10,000 or so cavalrymen that had broken ranks to join Luo Bingtian did just that.

Amidst the pile of corpses, a cavalryman groaned as he awoke from unconsciousness. Two cavalrymen searching the area immediately rushed over and picked him up, ready to carry him to the rear for medical treatment.

There was a clang, and an object fell from the wounded cavalryman’s body. The rescuing cavalryman picked it up and saw that it was a palm-sized, conical spike the width of a chicken egg. It was covered not only in blood but also fragments of internal organs.

The cavalryman who picked it up stared at it in a daze. Was this the thing that had killed so many of his comrades? Where had they come from?

Suddenly, there was a splash, and a torrent of blood and bits of internal organs poured out from the wounded cavalryman’s armor, the light in his eyes swiftly fading with them. Startled, the two cavalrymen carrying him hurriedly examined him only to discover that there was a hole the size of a hole in his abdomen. It had pierced all the way through his torso, though not the back armor.

......

One day later, the Council of State, the royal capital of Western Jin.

Over a dozen high-ranking ministers knelt on the floor and chanted in unison, “We humbly welcome His Holiness!”

“You may all rise,” the King of Jin returned casually, then strode into the Council of State and took his seat at the head of the table.

The ministers rose and took their places on either side of the hall. An eunuch carried a tray and placed it before the King of Jin. In the center of the tray lay a conical object about the width of an egg.

The King of Jin reached out to pick up the sharp object and examined it for a moment. He then said, “Is this the thing that slaughtered this lone one’s ten thousand iron cavalry?”

The King of Jin was tall and imposing, with the appearance of a man just entering his middle age. His face was slightly effeminate but handsome, and his voice was soft and magnetic. But everyone knew that the more he sounded like a woman, the greater his fury.

The Minister of War replied, “Although this object is novel and fairly formidable, it was not the true cause of our defeat. In truth, Yue Jinshan lost simply because his forces weren’t strong enough. Qingming possessed a secret technique capable of instantly enhancing a soldier’s strength. During that battle, all thirty thousand of the enemy’s forces possessed the strength of a peak bone-tempering stage cultivator. It is natural for thirty thousand soldiers peak bone-tempering stage cultivators to win against ten thousand peak Body-tempering stage cultivators.”

“Secret technique? Interesting. Are there any limitations?”

The Minister of War replied, “Unfortunately, I do not have much information on this. All I know at the moment is that this secret technique does not work outside Qingming’s domain. The rest, I do not know.”

The King of Jin nodded slightly and remarked, “Even if it does not function outside the realm, it is still quite formidable. Can it be put to use for this lone one?”

The Minister of Works stepped forward and reported, “If this secret technique is tied to the immortal stone Qingming, then it will likely disappear as soon as the stone is removed.”

The King of Jin tossed the sharp object back onto the tray and said, “Without this secret technique, Qingming’s worth becomes quite dubious. This lone one is hardly lacking in fragments of realm stone.”

A rather young official standing outside the hall stepped forward and said, “If we secure Wei Yuan, we effectively secure this secret technique. Since this technique excels at defense but is useless at offense, placing it in the far west would be ideal for guarding the state’s borders. I beseech Your Holiness to revive our ancestral tradition and make Wei Yuan an commandery administrator.”

The official, surnamed Wang and named Wei, held the post of Oversight Advisor-in-chief and had been granted the title of Vice Counselor of Governmental Affairs. It granted him the right to stand under the dais and speak when matters arose.

The King of Jin fell silent, deep in thought and seemingly moved by the suggestion. It was at this moment a general standing at the rear of the Council of State spoke in a deep voice, “This must not be done under any circumstances!”

The King of Jin’s eyebrows twitched slightly. “Why not?”

The general was surnamed Lü and named Zhongzhi. He served as the Commander-in-chief of the Nine Gates and the captain of the royal guard. In terms of position in the family hierarchy, he was the King of Jin’s nephew and the only true military officer in the Council of State. All other military affairs were handled by the Right Counselor and the Ministry of War.

Lü Zhongzhi said, “The northern mountain gate of the Palace of Absolute Beginning continues to expand, already blocking half of Great Jin’s route northward. Meanwhile, Qingming is situated in the far west. If we grant him the title of commandery administrator for a century, would that not be akin to ceding the western frontier to the Palace? Would that not mean that Great Jin must look to the Palace for approval when expanding its territory?”

The King of Jin’s expression darkened slightly, and he nodded. “Very well. We shall discuss this matter another time[1].”

After that, the king rose to leave the Council of State. While passing by the Minister of War, he shoved the conical object[2] into his hand and said, “You have so many learned scholars, military experts, and artisans under your command—they cost me tens of millions of taels of immortal silver every year—so how is it that you cannot produce even this small object?”

The Minister of War broke out in cold sweat and dropped to his knees with a thud. He cried out repeatedly, “This old servant is incompetent!”

The King of Jin grunted and walked out of the Council of State.

It was between late spring and early summer, and the weather was perfect. The First Consort, dressed in casual attire, was reclining on a couch while cradling a snow-white cat in her hands. And yet, it was difficult to tell which was whiter—her hand or the cat.

Wang Qian, the Xiang Marquis, sat in the hall and said, “This morning, His Majesty went to the Council of State intending to appoint Wei Yuan as a commandery administrator, but was blocked by Lü Zhongzhi, Commander-in-chief of the Nine Gates. Isn’t Lü Zhongzhi one of your men? Should we drop him a hint?”

The First Consort of Jin replied lazily, “Lü Zhongzhi belongs to me and also the Eunuch Clique. But above all, he belongs to His Majesty.”

Wang Qian exclaimed in realization, “I see! If this is His Majesty’s will, we’ll likely be facing more complications in the future. Still, no one could have foreseen how Yue Jinshan’s defeat would be. From now on, anyone who dares to touch Qingming would have to think thrice before committing to an action. I fear that the Crown Prince won’t let this rest, though.”

“Killing just ten thousand wasn’t enough to make everyone give up. If it were me, I’d have slaughtered all thirty thousand of those cavalry! Had that happened. forget a single commandery, the entire Ningxi would have become his. Little Yuan is still too merciful and soft-hearted. You must teach him a lesson when you get the chance.”

The cat suddenly let out a yowl of pain. It wriggled free from the First Consort’s grasp, hit the ground, and fled.

“His Majesty has rejected this matter. What are we to do now?”

The First Consort sneered. “A futile effort. I’ve already made the arrangements. In time, whether he likes it or not, His Majesty will grant Little Yuan a position. But by then, just the position of a commandery administrator won’t be enough anymore. Not even close.”

Wang Qian praised her, “I knew you’d have a plan!”

The First Consort sighed and complained, “We sisters have to figure everything out ourselves. What’s the point of you again, uncle?”

Wang Qiang wasn’t the least bit annoyed. He smiled faintly and said, “With a niece as resourceful as yours, the most important thing to do as your uncle is not to act on my own initiative or think I’m cleverer than you. All I need to do is to do whatever you say.”

The First Consort snorted. “You really are hopeless! How’s my sister doing?”

“She’s already met with five, maybe six young men from various noble clans, but none of them have caught her eye. It’s still early, so I thought I’d let her look around and take her time to choose. However, the capital’s aristocratic circles are already abuzz—all the young and talented are eager to try their luck—and even the Eighth and Ninth Prince have set their sights on her. After all, Chunyi bears a marked resemblance to you.”

The First Consort sat up straighter, pulled out a piece of jade paper, and handed it to Wang Qian. She said, “This is a list of the most promising young men of late. I’ve circled a few names; she should meet with them.”

Wang Qian accepted the jade paper and took a glance. He then tucked it into his robe and chuckled. “Chunyi is incredibly prideful; you know she wouldn’t settle for just anyone. Oh right, she’s been clamoring to go to Qingming and meet Wei Yuan again. ‘Now that’s a man worth going after!’ Said her.”

The First Consort snorted and did a little wave. The white cat hiding in the shadows let out a wail before flying into her devilish grasp. Although she was stroking it gently, yet the animal only trembled harder and harder.

“Children are prone to imagining all sorts of nonsense. As her uncle, you really ought to discipline her more strictly.”

Wang Qian’s smile grew stiff, and his voice sounded dry as he replied, “Of course, of course.”

1. Just a reminder that you should never judge a scene based on appearances alone. I think this book more than most books is a classic example of don’t judge a book by its cover. ☜

2. I’ve complained about this before but I must complain again: this goddamn author just can’t help but use 3 different terms to describe the same goddamn thing! ☜

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