Chapter 251 : The Way of an Emperor (2)
"When I was small, I had always thought my father and my mother enjoyed matrimonial harmony. Even though that man was surrounded by beauties all the time, he had treated my mother civilly and with respect – that was before I had learnt the lying nature of that man. Things became much clearer after my mother died, my maternal family massacred, and the few that remained of the once prosperous family were banished to the borderlands. It was ironic that only when things had unfolded to that extent, while I was imprisoned in my lavish cage of a palace, and slowly given chronic poison that things were painfully simple that I had trusted the wrong person. I had hated him then, and I had the notion that I had ridden myself of the so called benevolence."
"But it has been proven now, I am still a fool. Jun Wu Xie, I owe you so... so much. Too much that I will not be able to repay you adequately in this life. My life, henceforth, is yours. Whatever you say, whatever you do, I will never again raise any objection against you." Mo Qian Yuan was now clearly aware that, to be compassionate to your enemies, was just being cruel to yourself.
He's had enough of the cruelty inflicted on himself. No longer is he going to be the easy target he had always made himself to be, and he refused to just wait for rescue from others from the plights he had gotten got himself into.
Only when Mo Qian Yuan had spoken himself hoarse, did Jun Wu Xie finally decide to grace him with a reply.
"I do not want your life. And neither should the Emperor of the entire Qi Kingdom need to listen to me."
Mo Qian Yuan had wanted to retort, but his dry parched throat did not allow him to squeeze a single word out.
"The whole of the Qi Kingdom lies within your hands, what you want to do should not come from anyone's orders, but you need to learn the way to be an Emperor. With the recent brush with the Qing Yun Clan, I believe you already know what you should do, and what you shouldn't do. I will be away next month. It might take me three months at least, or six months at most before I return and I will leave Bai Yun Xian behind. She is not trustworthy, but her skills in medicine are many times better than all your Royal Doctors. I will leave the antidote for her with my uncle, and the recipe with you. To transform Bai Yun Xian into someone useful to you, will be the task I assign to you." Jun Wu Xie said without any expression.
She had no intention to kill Bai Yun Xian any longer. Jun Wu Xie could not be bothered to and she had to make preparations to depart from Qi. The skills of the doctors in Qi were laughable, and though Bai Yun Xian's skills when compared to hers, were insignificant, but if compared to all the doctors in Qi, Bai Yun Xian surpassed them by leaps and bounds.
It can be said, keeping Bai Yun Xian around, would be akin to keeping a double edged sword. Whether Mo Qian Yuan could forge the sword to fit within his hand, would prove whether this Emperor was capable.
The Emperor of the Qi Kingdom was named Mo, and not Jun!
She had finished what she came to say and Jun Wu Xie proceeded to check on Mo Qian Yuan's injuries. Mo Qian Yuan had a lot he wanted to say to Jun Wu Xie, and to ask where she was going. But upon seeing Jun Wu Xie's cold expression, he swallowed all his words and clamped his mouth shut.
Jun Wu Xie wanted him to learn to be independent, and he did not want to betray that trust.
Mo Qian Yuan had been very severely injured this time. It was fortunate he had consumed the seed of the Snow Lotus previously, and that had shielded his body a little. With the addition of Jun Wu Xie's generous heaps of precious rare elixirs, his life was finally saved.
Under Jun Wu Xie's miraculous healing hands, it was expected that Mo Qian Yuan would not suffer any residual side effects when he recovered, but the pain and agony to be suffered on his road to recovery was nevertheless unavoidable.
Over the period that Mo Qian Yuan was bedridden, the court officials were exempted from attending court. Without having to attend court, the various court officials found a new place to haunt.....
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The Lin Palace.
Ever since Jun Wu Xie led the charge into the Imperial Palace to rescue Mo Qian Yuan, a whole bunch of stubborn and unyielding old court officials suddenly saw Jun Wu Xie in a good light, and the usually shunned Lin Palace to avoid sparking off any rumours of collusion, suddenly became a highlight for them to visit in the course of their daily routines!
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Chapter 252 : Preparations
These few days, Jun Xian had been suffering from headaches for a different reason. The Lin Palace was not accustomed to mixing with officials of the Imperial Court. Military generals had shunned them to avoid gossip and Jun Xian could not stand the endless gabbing of the literary officials.
But over the course of the past few days, all the court officials, be it military or literary, had seemingly all agreed to come visit the Lin Palace daily. As they stepped in with their smiles in full bloom, all their conversations led to queries on Jun Wu Xie.
Jun Xian had initially been clueless on their various unannounced visits. But as all the conversations tended to fall upon the topic of his granddaughter, it finally dawned on Jun Xian.
These court officials all had their eyes set on his Wu Xie, and had all come to propose a betrothal!
Jun Wu Xie's reputation in the Qi Kingdom had previously been so bad that it couldn't have gotten any worse. She was willful and unruly, and the addition of her dalliance with the previous Second Prince, Mo Xuan Fei had many of the court officials deemed a disgrace. Even when the newly crowned Emperor had heaped loads of praise upon Jun Wu Xie, it had not been enough to change the perception that the court officials had for Jun Wu Xie.
But! The tables seemed to have turned!
Jun Wu Xie's heroic and glorious deed of breaking into the Imperial Palace to rescue the Emperor of Qi, had spread like wildfire throughout the entire Imperial City, and the prenotions that all the court officials, be it military or literary, had of Jun Wu Xie had drastically been altered and overturned then!
The young maiden was stunningly beautiful, and possessed both brawn and brains. She would make the perfect daughter-in-law!
Hence, any with a son or grandson in their family, started to fix their eye on the exquisite Jun Wu Xie, who had bloomed delicate as a flower and grown refined as the finest jade. If it wasn't for the prodigious prestige of the Lin Palace, the various officials might have been tempted to carry out an abduction for the marriage.
But the Lin Palace had the Rui Lin Army standing guard and that had quelled any thoughts in that direction, and they were left with the lone option of attempting to move them through emotions and have them listen to reason. They praised their own sons and grandsons to the skies, and expounded on the heroics of Jun Wu Xie, and criticised the other candidates of the competition.
It had sure been lively for the Lin Palace!
Jun Xian had been helpless against them, as he had lived never to rebuff a smiling face. When the court officials had shown up cordially, he could not make himself expel them out, and sat through the pompous spectacle patiently as they presented their plans to steal his precious granddaughter from him.
Jun Wu Xie had not been aware of this, as Jun Xian had held them off at the front yard, and any who decided to attempt to enter the premises were shown their way out firmly by Long Qi, who stood guard before the doors.
There were twenty three more days before the Qing Yun Clan opened their doors to receive the next batch of applicants to enter under their tutelage. During this period, there was not much that Jun Wu Xie had wanted to do except to prepare for her long trip.
Before she was to leave the Qi Kingdom, she wanted to ensure that there was adequate elixirs and medicine for the Lin Palace, and another frustration that bugged her was the development of her spiritual powers.
Her current development of her spiritual powers had been wholly based on the methods shown on the ancient text to cultivate the Snow Lotus, and the cultivation of Snow Lotuses needed Jade Nectar. But it was impossible for Jun Wu Xie to lug jars and jars of Jade Nectar all the way into the Qing Yun Clan.
Without Jade Nectar, she would be unable to cultivate Snow Lotuses, and that had also meant, Jun Wu Xie would not be able to develop her spiritual powers in the months that she would be in the Qing Yun Clan.
That was not what she wanted. This was not a desirable outcome for her!
Without any other choice, Jun Wu Xie could only continue to flip through the delicate pages of ancient texts to find other plants she could cultivate to develop her spiritual powers.
But all she could find recorded within were names of plants that she had never even heard of before. It seemed that finding an alternative to develop her spiritual powers was not going to be that easy.
On the seventh day after Qin Yu Yan was imprisoned within the Royal Dungeons, Mo Qian Yuan sent word on the passing of Qin Yu Yan.
Qin Yu Yan had not expected till the end of her days, that as the Eldest Miss of the mighty Qing Yun Clan, she would die so pitifully within the dungeons of such a tiny and insignificant kingdom.
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Chapter 253 : Journey
Without any alternatives to develop her spiritual powers, Jun Wu Xie had no choice but to divert her attention to other plant life.
Her spiritual powers had been developed through the cultivation of the Snow Lotus, would the cultivation of other plant life bring about the same effects?
To prove the point, Jun Wu Xie had to experiment with planting and cultivating various types of medicinal herbs. After going through ten days of exhaustive experiments, she found that the cultivation of common plants and herbs did not provide her with any spiritual energy, and only the cultivation of rarer plants and herbs was able to give her a little bit of spiritual energy. But the speed of growth and development they provided when compared to the Snow Lotus, was absolutely negligible.
But negligible was better than none.....
There were seventeen more days till the fifteenth next month, when Jun Wu Xie waved goodbye to Jun Xian and Jun Qing and stepped onto the horse drawn carriage heading to the Qing Yun Clan's peaks. To see her off, the largely recovered Mo Qian Yuan came to the city gates and looked on cheerlessly as the Jun Family members sent Jun Wu Xie on her way out of the city.
With this parting, he did not know when he will see her again. Mo Qian Yuan was solemn as he watched the carriage slowly shrink and finally disappeared from his sight.
Within the carriage, sat a delicate and pretty youth, quietly carrying a docile little black cat in her arms.
Before she had left the Lin Palace, Jun Wu Xie had changed her appearance. She had changed herself to become the youth that had gone into Ghost City. She had only brought the little black cat, Little Lotus, and lugged a few jars of Jade Nectar onto the carriage to allow her to continue to develop her spiritual powers throughout the journey. Before she left, she had wanted to bid Jun Wu Yao goodbye, but there had been no sign of him, and she gave up on it.
[Mistress, you're really going to that funny clanny place? To become their disciple?]
The little black cat asked as it snuggled deeper to find a comfortable position. Although it was aware of Jun Wu Xie's purpose for going to the Qing Yun Clan, the thought of its mistress having to pretend to call some quack her teacher made it feel uncomfortable nevertheless.
In this world, a teacher capable to school Jun Wu Xie in medicine had not been born yet!
"Qing Yun Clan." Jun Wu Xie reminded.
From the intelligence from Bai Yun Xian, Jun Wu Xie had decided to set her target for this trip to the Qing Yun Clan was to be admitted to Mu Chen's Cloud Treading Peak. The enemy of her enemy would be a friend, and Jun Wu Xie did not mind having an ally.
The horse drawn carriage rumbled on further gradually, and the carriage was no longer visible from the Imperial City.
Outside the city gates, Jun Wu Yao's eyes stared fixedly at the point where the carriage had disappeared, his jet black eyes thoughtful.
A shadow formed and a man in black knelt by the foot of Jun Wu Yao, his eyes puzzled. His Lord had known that the Miss would depart on her journey today, but he had stayed hidden. Only after the Young Miss had left, he had come to stand outside the city gates for a long time. Having served His Lord till now, he knew His Lord would have wanted to accompany the Young Miss on her journey.
"Ye Sha" Jun Wu Yao called out suddenly.
"Right here." The man in black, Ye Sha, answered promptly.
"Follow her, and protect her well." Jun Wu Yao narrowed his eyes. If he did not still have unfinished business here, he wouldn't have allowed his little darling to leave on her own.
"Your command will be carried out." Ye Sha acknowledged and had expected as such.
"If she is in no danger, do not reveal your presence." Jun Wu Yao added, his voice cold as ice.
The tiny Qing Yun Clan was an insignificant speck before his eyes. If it was only the Qing Yun Clan, he believed his little darling would be able to deal with them herself, what caused him concern was the hidden powers behind the Qing Yun Clan.
One of the palaces among the twelve, no matter which palace it was, was not something the present Jun Wu Xie could handle on her own.
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Chapter 254 : Cloudy Peaks (1)
The fifteenth of every month was the busiest time the Cloudy Peaks of the Qing Yun Clan were most lively, always bustling with activity. The Cloudy Peaks bordered a few countries but belonged to none and was independent. The Cloudy Peaks were steep and treacherous, and had a total of twelve peaks. However, there was only one lone path from the foot to the summit.
The Cloudy Peaks were revered not for their majestic peaks, but for the Qing Yun Clan occupying the entire twelve peaks!
Famed for their medical skills, the mightiest clan across the lands opened their doors to the mountains, to recruit talents who were medically inclined through a series of tests. For those who passed, they stand a chance to be admitted into the Qing Yun Clan as a disciple.
The Qing Yun Clan sat upon vast tracts of lands, had centuries of history behind them, and had exceptionally skilled Elders overseeing each peak.
There were countless sacred medical writings and records hidden within the Qing Yun Clan, and was a sacred haven for any in their pursuit of medicine. Anyone accepted into the Qing Yun Clan, had their status quickly escalated, and if they were admitted into the Inner House, their status immediately shot into the skies.
Countless people would give anything to secure a position within the Qing Yun Clan, and on the days they opened their doors for recruitment, the wide road leading towards the summit was always jam packed with people from all across the lands.
A nondescript horse carriage stopped at the foot of the mountain and a scholarly looking youth with delicate features dressed in plain and simple clothes stepped out. After a few words with the coachman, the little youth set off towards the Cloudy Peaks.
The main thoroughfare towards the Cloudy Peaks was packed with people heading into the mountains. There were all not too old in age, eighteen years of age at the most, and fourteen years at least.
The Qing Yun Clan had a hard and fast rule in their recruitment. They would only accept youths between the ages of fourteen to eighteen years. Anyone who were older than eighteen years or younger than fourteen years, no matter how prodigious, would be turned away firmly.
The rule did not seem like much to others, but Jun Wu Xie looked at it differently.
From the age of fourteen to eighteen, it was when a person underwent the most critical four years after their ring spirits are awoken. It was also the period that the youth were the muddled in consciousness and thinking on their path to maturity and adulthood. The Qing Yun Clan had wanted to recruit disciples of that age to better manage them by brainwashing and easily instilling in them the principles and philosophies of the Qing Yun Clan.
Within the bustling crowd, many youths confidently assured their family members and strode onwards, putting up a brave front.
Only the youths who were applicants themselves can go up towards to Cloudy Peaks, and their family members could only wait at the foot for news. If anyone were to breach the rule, they would be promptly thrown out by the Qing Yun Clan disciples who stood guard at the mountain's foot.
Many were also spotted pulling at their hair, their heads buried deep into medical books at the mountain's foot in a last minute's futile attempt to cram every single word in the books into their brains.
Jun Wu Xie looked indifferently, observing the various hilarious sights around her. She could not figure out why, a clan with such mediocre skills in medicine, would attract so many people to clamour and fight just to be granted admission into the clan.
Jun Wu Xie's unperturbed calm, had also attracted the stares from many of the other nervous hopefuls. They cast their eyes upon the small youth who stood apart from the others, noticed that she was dressed in plain clothes without any adornments, and scoffed at her young age. They all then broke in sneering laughter.
"A young brat like you wants to get into the Qing Yun Clan?"
"No, he's just here to see the world. Look! Don't you see he came empty handed?"
"That's right, after you get rejected by the Qing Yun Clan, you would have at least opened your eyes to the might of the largest clan..... Sigh, I must say, the Qing Yun Clan's threshold for new recruits are too low, even the stray cats and rabid dogs have come to join in the fun." The several finely dressed youth who boasted from having come from a lineage of medical practitioners put down their books and started mocking and pointing their fingers at Jun Wu Xie, who had stuck out conspicuously.
Little did they know, the youth that they mocked at, would soon have their highly revered mightiest clan throughout the lands, smashed into oblivion.
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Chapter 255 : Cloudy Peaks (2)
Squeezed within the crowd, Jun Wu Xie frowned deeply. Having broken her spiritual powers through to the orange level had heightened her five senses. Every single mocking word fell into her ears but she ignored them all.
These children were beneath her notice.
Due to the overwhelming number of applicants, the Qing Yun Clan could not assess every single one of them individually or it would have taken them weeks. Hence, the Qing Yun Clan had prepared a simple test as the first round of screening.
It was a most basic test, identification of herbs.
At the halfway point up the mountain, two long rows of a hundred tables lined the sides of the path, and heaped upon the tables was a mess of grass, herbs and a variety of plants. Every single applicant, had five minutes to identify and pick out the herb the Qing Yun Clan had set as the question for the test from the mess.
It was not difficult to identify specific herbs, but if they were mixed up in hundreds of other kinds of herbs, it was a different level of difficulty all together.
The herbs heaped on the tables were obviously freshly picked and many still had mud clinging on their roots and none of them were whole, like they had been roughly yanked out and many had broken into pieces. The various candidates who had been brimming with confidence when they received their questions had now paled visible when they saw the weed filled tables.
To identify herbs, they must first and foremost recognise its outward shape and appearance. But the herbs in the heaps had been broken and badly ravaged, how were they expected to identify them?
The first seemingly easy test, had left a great number of applicants stumped.
For a youth in their teens, even if they had come from a line of medical practitioners, and had been exposed to herbs from a young tender age, it was impossible for them to remember and commit to memory all the different and myriad varieties, not to mention, identify and pick them out from these badly ravaged and broken tiny pieces of herbs and other plants.
The smug looks of confidence soon turned to dismay as they stared at the mess of plants before their eyes and they buried their heads deep inside trying to locate the right herb as time was fast running out.
In the meantime, Jun Wu Xie walked unhurriedly to stand before a table. When she had reached the midpoint of the mountain, the Qing Yun Clan disciples had passed her a tag indicating the name of the herb she was supposed to locate.
Identification.
To locate a commonly used herb that appeared closely similar to weeds. A few youths that had come at the same time as Jun Wu Xie received the same task and when they saw the name of the herb they were supposed to locate, their faces had lit up with joy but were now quickly replaced with a look of helplessness.
"How do they expect anyone to find it?" A sobbing youth held his tag so tight he crushed it in his hand.
With many of them scurrying around different tables in all directions, Jun Wu Xie walked past a table and grabbed at a small piece of herb just half a finger's length and proceeded onwards without a moment's hesitation.
A few youths who were behind her noticed that Jun Wu Xie had picked her herb quickly and was proceeding to leave, and they stood stunned watching her walk away.
Jun Wu Xie had just taken a few steps when two other youths stood before her, blocking her way. She raised her head to look at them and recognized them to be the finely dressed youths who had criticised her earlier from head to toe at the foot of the mountain.
"Move." Jun Wu Xie said coldly.
The two youths had no intentions of letting Jun Wu Xie pass, and their eyes were locked onto the herb held within Jun Wu Xie's hand. It was a small piece, but it was enough for them to ascertain that the piece she held was genuine.
How this the little brat manage that? They had received their tags at the same time, and in the blink of an eye, before any of them could make head or tail of the task they were given, the little brat had managed to locate the herb without thinking?