Chapter 574: Foreign Divine Maiden, Li Longyu |
Hou Tong was fifty-three this year. When he was born, Zhaoyang was already a Giant Camp, and with the special background of the Longyou Alliance, he had early contact with the Longshan Camp, which was nearly at the level of a quasi-feudal town. Compared to everyone in the Southern Foothills region, his resume was by no means humble.
Not coming from humble origins meant he already possessed a certain breadth of vision.
That vision, coupled with Great Xia’s rapid development in recent years and now with initial contact between Great Xia and the Four Feudatories of Mo'ao Chuan, meant that as the Beizhao Army Commander-in-Chief, he held a certain status in Xia City and naturally encountered many matters related to the Four Feudatories. His perspective had steadily risen.
Yet even so, at this moment as he looked up at the white-clad woman above him, fear showed in his eyes, and a deep sense of inferiority still revealed itself; he even unconsciously bowed his head. He knew full well that his reaction was not born of fear alone, but that inner inferiority was at work.
The woman wore a translucent white long dress. Golden thread and cloud patterns decorated the chest and sleeves, not the crude dyed gold he had seen before but a nearly transparent golden material he had never encountered. Against the pearly white dress, the gold-and-white sheen lit up the night within a radius of a dozen meters or so, and the woman at the center of that glow stood like a deity, stealing the sky’s colors as if the heavens themselves had been upstaged.
On her head was a gilded crown whose rim was inlaid with a ring of blue-green jadeite, about thirteen pieces. Even from dozens of meters away, Hou Tong could feel the powerful energy emanating from those jades; the front of the crown was also set with a pearl about half an inch in diameter that emitted a bluish beam, occasionally sweeping horizontally like a heavenly eye surveying the surroundings.
Her hair, jet black, was half bound by the crown and fixed with two blood-colored warm-jade hairpins tipped in gold; two pendants dangled from her forehead, while the rest of her hair flowed down her back. According to most Ice Abyss camp customs, this indicated the woman had not yet been formally married.
Around her neck she wore three pieces—two gold and one jade—and at her waist hung two jade pendants, one red and one blue. From their appearance alone, their carving quality far exceeded Great Xia’s workmanship.
That alone would be striking, but the crucial point was the uncanny energy leaking from those accessories, which made the Suppress Specter Jade at Hou Tong’s chest react violently; he even felt a faint pain in his chest.
Hou Tong did not dare look at the white-clad woman’s face directly. Though by clothing and appearance she seemed human, the Suppress Specter Jade left him certain she was an especially powerful specter that had only just come into the world.
“I’m dead, I’m dead, this is it!”
Despair nearly overflowed from Hou Tong’s eyes. He couldn’t imagine that a single return trip to the Southern Foothills would result in such an encounter.
“Calm down, calm down… calm down. The other party hasn’t killed me outright, so there may be room to maneuver. Though specters love blood, they possess intelligence; they might have other aims. She just asked me two things: what year of Great Xia is it now? Where is this place?”
Hou Tong forced himself to calm, recalled the two questions asked, drew a breath, thought it through in his mind, his body trembling slightly as he bowed his hands and then slowly answered:
“Replying to Your Excellency, it is the thirteenth year of Great Xia, the seventh day of the first month. This place is the Bone-Erosion Path, about fifteen kilometers from the southern exit…”
That the specter knew Great Xia and asked for the specific date strongly suggested it was native to Mo'ao Chuan; but not knowing its exact position implied it had likely been dormant until recently, just awakened, and therefore should have no particular grievance with Great Xia.
Hou Tong’s thoughts were clear. After a brief consideration he continued: “My name is Wang Ming, I am from Caiqiu in Mo'ao Chuan. I was fleeing south to Great Xia to escape pursuers. If Your Excellency has need of me, just say the word. Whether it’s climbing a mountain of knives or walking through a sea of flames, I will not refuse!”
After all, that was to save his life; telling a small lie was harmless, and he could still claim alignment with his Xia people identity.
After Hou Tong finished speaking, there was no response for quite a while. Summoning courage, he looked up and when he saw the white-clad woman’s face he was stunned.
What a peerlessly beautiful face it was!
He couldn’t even find words to describe it. The most beautiful woman he had previously seen was Madam Li Xuanling, Lord Leader Xia Hong’s wife, but this girl’s face in front of him was in no way inferior. With the radiant ornaments overflowing around her, she even seemed more noble than Madam Li.
Divine maiden elegance, nowhere to be found among mortals!
The eight words popped into Hou Tong’s mind at once, and he stood frozen, mind ensnared in conflicting thoughts: on one hand the specter’s outer shell was irresistibly attractive and he wanted to keep looking; on the other he knew how dangerous such a move could be.
When his gaze met the girl’s eyes—eyes as if able to see through everything—he immediately dropped his head, filled with sudden guilty apprehension.
She knew he was lying.
“People of Caiqiu? Wang Ming?”
No sooner had the thought formed in Hou Tong’s head than the girl let out two teasing questions. He still clung to a sliver of hope that she was merely testing him.
“You should be called… Hou Tong, right?”
But the girl’s next sentence shattered that hope completely.
Hou Tong’s body jolted. He dropped to his knees midair and prostrated himself on the ground, repeatedly begging forgiveness: “Your Excellency, forgive me, Your Excellency, forgive me…”
“Princess!”
Hou Tong’s pleas were interrupted.
From the fissure in the sky, two more blue-robed women flew out.
The two blue-robed women immediately landed in front of the white-clad woman, their posture very respectful—clearly her attendants.
Though their attire was an inferior grade to the white-clad woman’s, Hou Tong still felt they were supremely noble. Even leaving aside their accessories, the fact that their clothing shimmered was something he had neither seen nor heard of in all his years in Great Xia.
Not even the Four Feudatories of Mo'ao Chuan had such garments.
And the title “Princess”—in all his years, he had never heard that term used.
The highest female title in the feudal towns was merely “Commandery Princess.” What rank was “Princess,” then?
Right. Lord Yuwen had once mentioned that above feudatory-level camps could be state-level. This “Princess” likely meant a state noblewoman.
A state noblewoman?
This white-clad girl was a specter!
Could it be that specters had formed their own clearly ranked states?
Hou Tong’s mind was a mess of pulp and confusion, but this was hardly the time for puzzlement. The white-clad girl had not only seen through his lie at a glance but had even called his true name.
What mattered even more was that the two blue-robed attendants who had appeared after her exerted a pressure on him that was no weaker than a lord’s presence; they felt even stronger than Cai Qianshan, whom Hou Tong had confronted before in Jinyang.
Gulp...
Hou Tong swallowed. His mind blank.
Two attendants stronger than Cai Qianshan—what did that even mean?
No matter this girl’s origin, his prospects today were bleak!
“Why are you here?”
Though despair filled him, Hou Tong still pricked up his ears to listen, hoping to glean a thread of salvation from the girl’s words.
“Princess, matters have come to this point. Why still listen to Xue Kong’s persuasion? Your coming here is useless. Wei Bo’s downfall has been decided, and Madam also…”
The left attendant spoke, and the white-clad girl’s expression immediately went cold; the surrounding temperature seemed to drop. The attendant, looking up into the girl’s eyes, immediately closed her mouth.
The white-clad girl seemed to realize she needn’t quarrel with her attendant and calmed slightly, but then something else seemed to occur to her and a mist of moisture gathered in her beautiful eyes, revealing profound sorrow.
“Wei Bo’s fall, my mother’s self-inflicted death—every blame falls on me. I should never have been born into this world. Rather than let Mother bear the disgrace and Father be embarrassed, I should solve it myself. This will be my filial duty.”
The girl spoke with resolute finality, as if she knew she was stepping onto an irreversible path. Seeing the two attendants preparing to plead again, she waved them off and cut them short in a cold voice: “Since you followed me, you must obey everything I say. You heard what Xue Kong just said and should know the precautions. I will not waste time repeating them.”
The two blue-robed attendants saw the princess’s resolution and their faces filled with hurt. After exchanging a look, the attendant on the right seemed about to speak but then met the other’s gaze and fell silent. She cupped her hands towards the white-clad woman and said, “Qingyu and I have always been the princess’s attendants. Naturally, we will obey the princess in all things.”
The white-clad woman gave no immediate response, only casting a glance down at Hou Tong before issuing a curt order: “Come with me. I will have use for you later!”
Wei Bo’s collapse is a foregone conclusion—what did that mean?
The white-clad woman called herself “this palace,” and she said that her mother took her own life after Wei Bo’s fall. Why? What did the terms “Father King” and “Mother Empress” signify in her parlance?
Hou Tong’s head buzzed with nonsense, but before he could straighten his thoughts the white-clad girl called for him to follow. He looked up at the three who were already over a hundred meters ahead, hesitated, and lacking the courage to flee, hurriedly followed.
“The specter energy is intense, but her behavior doesn’t really match a specter’s. More importantly, when she looked at me there was no hostility, not even a hint of murderous intent. She even seems to know me. If I behave and obey, there probably won’t be harm.”
Hou Tong followed the three while silently praying.
He did not notice that as he approached, the white-clad girl’s brow twitched and the corners of her mouth curved into a faint smile.
“Is he General Hou?”
Qingyu, trailing behind, turned her head to glance at Hou Tong and seemed to recognize him at once. Seeing his nervous face, she showed an odd expression and quietly checked with the white-clad girl ahead.
The white-clad girl said nothing, merely nodded.
At this, Qingyue beside her seemed to find something amusing and turned to look back at Hou Tong. Seeing his anxious posture, her eyes immediately curved into crescents and she almost could not suppress a laugh.
“From now on, my name is Li Longyu. You two are Xiao Yu and Xiao Yue. We all come from a foreign state—don’t blow our cover.”
“As you command, Princess!”
“Change the form of address; from now on call me ‘Young Master.’”
“Yes, Yo—Young Master!”
The white-clad girl instructed the two attendants to change how they addressed her. Then, as if struck by an idea, she moved slightly and the radiant white-and-gold dress on her body began to contract and stretch. In three or four breaths it had transformed into a very ordinary white male-style Xia attire.
Not only the clothes: the girl’s hairstyle and posture changed too. She had fully become a young man in his early twenties, with sword-like brows and bright eyes.
The two attendants imitated her; though they retained feminine features, their clothes and accessories became ordinary and far less conspicuous than before.
But after they changed, when they looked at Princess Li Longyu in front of them, they froze.
“What are you staring at?”
Li Longyu noticed the attendants’ faces and looked puzzled. Before they could answer she realized that Hou Tong at the back was staring at her in astonishment and grew even more curious.
She took a mirror from her sleeve and checked her reflection.
At once she understood!
“You look too much like her, Princess. Maybe don’t do male disguise…”
“I know!”
Li Longyu flushed with embarrassment and restored her female appearance, though she removed the radiant, gilded accessories so her dress became as plain as the attendants’.
“On the seventh day of the first month, Xue Kong deliberately sent me here. He planned it thoroughly, but all I needed to do was stop them from meeting; there was no need to be seen in person…”
Li Longyu turned her head and glanced at Hou Tong, her eyes flashing slightly.
“They were returning to Xia City tonight. Intercept them first, then draw Father King away from the Bone-Erosion Path. If Mother and Father do not meet, there will be no birth.”
Li Longyu mulled it over in her mind, then suddenly stopped and raised her voice slightly: “Hou Tong!”
Hou Tong had been thinking and was caught off guard by the sudden call. He lifted his head and instantly met Li Longyu’s gaze.
The moment their eyes locked, a red light shot up from Li Longyu’s pupils and sped straight to the center of Hou Tong’s brow.
Hou Tong’s expression immediately went blank, his posture turning dazed and muddled.
“Did the Young Master erase his memories?”
Qingyu could tell at once what had happened. When she heard Qingyue’s question, she nodded: “Fool, seeing the Young Master’s male disguise, he might suspect something, and he heard what we said earlier. To prevent discovery, his memories had to be wiped.”
Qingyue was strong but not as clever as her sister. She cocked her head and thought for a moment before understanding, then laughed: “Right. When we passed through the tunnel earlier, Xue Kong said our origins, that once known we could no longer stay here.”
After saying that, Qingyue thought of something and looked up at Li Longyu, silently lip-syncing a sentence to her sister Qingyu.
“Sister, why didn’t you tell the princess what Wang said?”
Qingyu was silent for a moment in response, then answered back the same way: “When we passed through the fissure, Wang transmitted a voice to me telling me not to tell the princess. I don’t know why either.”
Qingyue was not very bright and hearing that grew even more puzzled.
“Stop dawdling and come here!”
At the command, the two attendants immediately flew over.
Hou Tong’s expression cleared, but compared with before his face showed far more fear, and the unease between his brows deepened.