Longzang

Chapter 687 The Secrets of Heaven Remain Undetermined (Bonus Chapter)
The Vajra Zen Temple, located in Yingdu, the capital of the Western Jin Dynasty.

Winter dusk arrives exceptionally early; just an hour after lunch, the sky was already growing dark. The iron-gray sky held a large, dim sun, hanging listlessly in the heavens, radiating a thin, unwelcoming light.

A few crows flew past with mournful cries. Some alleys in the city were so dark that the road surface could not be seen. There was a desolate atmosphere in the Vajra Zen Temple. Fallen leaves rustled on the ground, and the bare branches of trees stood menacingly against the sky, like cracks in the heavens.

The temple was chilling and gloomy. The main hall was pitch black; any light that pierced the darkness was immediately swallowed up. Only a dim, yellow light shone from a side hall, the only place in the temple that offered any warmth.

A violent cough suddenly erupted in the side hall, as if the person was coughing up their lungs, a sound that was heartbreaking to hear.

There was only one dim lamp in the hall. Prince Jin and Qing Tong sat facing each other. Prince Jin was hunched over, his appearance was emaciated, and he was coughing hysterically.

He finally calmed down a bit and said with a wry smile, "When I was young, I was single-mindedly pursuing cultivation, but I never expected that the higher the cultivation level, the more painful it would be to dissipate my power."

Qing Tong, with her eyes still closed, said, "It's not time for homework yet, don't let your mind wander."

"Homework? What's the point of doing this homework now? Every extra day we live is another day of suffering."

At this time, the Prince of Jin's hair was mostly white, his eyes were sunken, and his face was covered with wrinkles and large and small brown patches. He looked exactly like an old man on his deathbed.

Qing Tong slowly opened her eyes and said, "You went against the will of Heaven, so naturally you will suffer, but it's not too late to regret it now."

The Prince of Jin was breathing heavily, as if each breath was his last, and there would be no next time. He said intermittently, "I ask myself if I am heartless and unrighteous, and I do not care about the suffering of the people. I have done many perverse things in the past, but in fact, it was all for the sake of this little bit of self-cultivation."

Qing Tong said, "You have been cultivating with me for some time now, so you should know that my method is the righteous path of heaven and earth. Your natural talent was not high to begin with, and you were also half-hearted during this period, but even so, how much have you improved over the years? Without my heaven-reaching method, how could you have achieved what you have today?"

The Prince of Jin sighed, “I already know the Great Dao, and I understand the principles of law. I understand all of this. Seeing the people's livelihood decline and the nation's fortunes perish, while my own constitution is improving and my cultivation is increasing, how could I not know the power of this method?”

Qing Tong said, "My method emphasizes fate, not force. The fate of the nation is the shackles on your feet, and the millions of people are nothing more than bloodsucking worms attached to you."

The founding emperor of the Great Tang Dynasty restored the ancestral system, and the founding emperor enfeoffed various states, all to firmly secure your respective branches on the throne, using your bloodline and vital energy as the foundation supporting the Great Tang. What I am giving you is the method to break this deadlock, so why hesitate?
If we're talking about merits and demerits, it was the Great Tang Emperor Taizu and Emperor Wuzu who set the trap first, and all the sins are theirs to bear. Heh, do you think they foresaw this? If I'm not mistaken, the true scale of the two ancestors' tombs is probably astonishing; their interior arrangements would leave even immortals in awe.

The Prince of Jin looked at his withered hands and his hair that hung down like dry branches, and said slowly, "These days, I have been suffering from the pain of losing my power day and night. I have suddenly realized that death is not so terrible. Once I realized this, many of my thoughts changed."

Qing Tong sighed softly, her voice softening, and said, "We have cultivated together for so long, there must be some bond between us. I can't bear to see you end up like this. You could have been a wise and benevolent ruler. Fine, I will sacrifice this pond of golden lotuses to change the course of fate for you."

"No!" Prince Jin reached out, trying to stop Qing Tong.

Qing Tong smiled slightly and said, "This pool of golden lotuses came from you anyway, so I'm returning it to you now. That's all."

At that moment, a thunderclap suddenly fell outside the palace in winter, the sky and earth changed color, and all the golden lotuses in the pond withered!
Although Qing Tong had no hair, a few of her eyebrows had quietly turned gray.

She raised her hand and plucked out each of the white eyebrows, gently placing them into the lamp. The lamplight flickered, casting their shadows on the two figures, like two wandering souls, the last remaining spirits in the world.

The King of Jin sighed, "Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"It's nothing more than wasting a few decades. Life is too short to have everything go as planned."

The Prince of Jin looked up at the palace ceiling, but he still couldn't stop two murky tears from flowing down his cheeks. He sighed, "I have failed you..."

"The future is uncertain, so let's wait and see what happens." Qing Tong suddenly raised her hand, plucked out a white eyebrow, and threw it into the lamplight.

The lights flickered up again.

……

In the western regions of the Great Jin Dynasty, military spirit has already gathered, towering like mountains, connecting the earth and the sky.

Looking at the vast army, Wei Yuan said sincerely, "I only brought 100,000 men to the capital to meet the emperor. I am truly a virtuous minister of the Great Jin Dynasty for all time."

Xu Yi covered her mouth and laughed, while Cui Yu couldn't help but roll his eyes. Wei Yuan had indeed only brought 100,000 troops, and the 150,000 following behind could only be considered armed laborers. Now that the Qingming army was moving out, they could no longer advance lightly as before, with the number of troops they could command being exactly what they wanted. Now, if Qingming wanted to send 10,000 troops, at least 30,000 troops would have to follow behind to transport supplies.

This was a military campaign within the Western Jin Dynasty. Wei Yuan had overturned the laws of Jin and Tang, and according to regulations, he went to the capital to meet the emperor. The counties and prefectures along the way were supposed to be responsible for receiving and supplying him.

Therefore, Wei Yuan did not bring much food and supplies, but mostly ammunition. The journey was winding and would pass through seven counties and take two turns before he reached Yingdu, the capital of Jin.

These seven prefectures were all governed by the Crown Prince's trusted confidants.

The appointed time had arrived, and with the sound of bugles, the army set off one after another.

Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked those around him, "Has the letter to Xiao's family been sent yet?"

"A special person was sent to deliver it early this morning."

Wei Yuan was relieved.

Cui Yu couldn't help but say, "Could you write a few fewer letters? If you keep going like this, I think Junior Brother Xiaoyu's Dharma form is a bit mysterious."

Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised: "Shouldn't you share your new achievements with your fellow disciples?"

Cui Yu had nothing to say.

The deployment of hundreds of thousands of troops shocked both the states of Jin and Zhao.

Upon receiving the news, Li Chengfeng was immediately intrigued and led a large army to the border of Qingming. However, they were intercepted by Bao Yun's First Army after only a few hundred miles of leaving the territory.

Looking at the Qingming First Army, which numbered only 20,000, Li Chengfeng, who commanded 70,000 men, hesitated for a whole day and ultimately did not dare to make a move, returning to Bishui.

At this time, Wei Yuan had already dispatched more than ten light cavalry squads, each with several hundred riders, to advance to various counties along the way to inform the local authorities to prepare to receive the army that was to meet the emperor. However, Wei Yuan only planned to travel through seven counties, but these cavalry squads covered more than twenty counties, including almost all the counties along the route from the Western Regions to the capital.

Qingming's light cavalry were exceptionally arrogant and unreasonable. Wherever they went, they would survey key terrain and study city defenses. When local government troops tried to stop them, conflicts would often break out between the two sides. As a result, there were often scenes of thousands of local garrison soldiers being chased and beaten around the city by a hundred or so knights.

These knights were very careful; they didn't kill anyone, only breaking their limbs.

Wei Yuan's army marched in a mighty procession, bypassing Hanyang Pass and heading north.

At this time, a grand auction was being held inside the pass for ten days, and the atmosphere was extremely lively. Many people even traveled to the outside of the pass to observe Wei Yuan's army from afar. The terrifying military aura left them speechless with awe.

No sooner had Wei Yuan's army passed than a bandit force of over ten thousand men suddenly appeared and stormed into Hanyang Pass. The vanguard of this bandit force of three thousand men was exceptionally powerful, with incredibly fierce firepower. The tens of thousands of defenders collapsed at the first contact, and in the blink of an eye, they surrendered along with over two hundred thousand new soldiers.

Many veterans had experience with this: being captured by bandits was like being captured by Qingming; as long as they didn't do anything foolish, they could pay a ransom and get back. Among the 50,000 garrison troops, many had already paid ransoms two or three times.

If you're so poor that you can't even afford the ransom, that's fine too; staying in Qingming might actually make things better.

The speed at which the defending troops surrendered astonished the bandits, who almost didn't have time to take over the territory.

Such elite bandits were naturally the Extinction Gang. Their target this time was not the Xu family, but rather to sweep through all the merchants within the pass, and incidentally capture all the important figures from various merchants and families who came to participate in the auction.

After a selection process, the Extinction Gang took half of them and left Hanyang Pass, looting their merchant houses along the way.

Several days later, when the merchants and families who had heard the news rushed over with a large ransom, they were met with devastating news: the bandits had already returned everyone's heads.

These people include second-generation rich kids, the most beloved grandsons of the ancestors, some are powerful elders and key members, and even three of them are the heads of the family themselves.

They came from different backgrounds, but they all had one thing in common: their families or businesses were more or less involved in the robbery of the Qingming caravan.

(End of this chapter)