Xuanxia

Chapter 853 The Divided Kingdom of Yeonggu

Fu Qingzhou used his true energy to dry his wet hair, tied it up, stood in front of the bronze mirror, and looked at his appearance.

At this time he had cut off his beard and regained his youthful appearance.

But in the mirror, he could still see his slightly weathered eyes.

Not only that, the countless battles before also left scars of varying depths on his body.

The true energy in his body can repair injuries, but the previous battle was too fierce, and his true energy was exhausted several times. Naturally, some injuries were not repaired completely, leaving these scars.

Compared to the horrific injuries he had suffered before, the number of these scars was naturally not large, but they were shocking enough.

After a moment's silence, Fu Qingzhou looked at the gorgeous silk clothes on the hanger beside him - this was prepared for him by Qiluo Palace, but he still picked up the Taoist robe hanging beside him and put it on.

"Now that the Qi Ran and Yi Ran secrets have been integrated, they should also have individual names."

"Well... they come from the way of heaven, so let's call them the Natural Secret."

He was also bad at naming, so he just casually decided on the name, not wanting to think too much about it. After all, the name was just a code name.

Fu Qingzhou pushed the door open and walked out. Before he took two steps, a strong fragrance hit his nose, making his stomach growl.

Changsun Jiansu and Gongyang Xunyan had already prepared wine and food.

"Hahahaha, Junior Brother Fu, come quickly."

Gong Yangxunyan saw Fu Qingzhou find the dining room by himself, so he smiled and said, "This is the dish I learned from the restaurant in Beijing. It should suit your taste!"

"Gong Yang... Senior Brother."

Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "That's thoughtful."

He stopped being pretentious and simply sat down.

The wine was filled and the meat was put into the bowls. The atmosphere quickly became warm and after a few pleasantries, they started chatting.

The person who was mainly responsible for speaking was naturally Gongyang Xunyan, who had just returned from the capital of Yan State and had a better understanding of the situation in Yan State.

"Today, the Kingdom of Yan has been divided into two major parts."

He looked solemn and said slowly, "One group is led by the Xishuo Army under the Xishuo King. The other group is led by the rebel army led by Ning Wushu and Hong Zhi."

"Sister Wushu? The Rebel Army?"

Fu Qingzhou was startled: "Where is the court's own army?"

"This matter is a bit complicated."

Gong Yangxunyan considered his words and said, "The internal strife in the capital is extremely serious. The aristocratic families control the government, and the Yuan family, at the head, has been cleaning up the royalist forces. However, the royalists have three major backers, Yan Shoufu, Zhangjian Academy, and Mingjian Pavilion, and can still hold on."

"Under such circumstances, the Yuan family wanted to open the gates and welcome the Xishuo army into the capital as soon as possible. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice were all their people. However, in the great war three years ago, Dean Dong led the Palm Sword Academy and joined hands with Master Huikong to purge the military forces belonging to the aristocratic families in the capital... Only the Imperial Guards were left and could not be completely eliminated."

"Nowadays, the aristocratic families and the royalists are always circling around the capital. The Yuan family has two sword bearers, Yuan Zizhen and Lan Xiyu, and the imperial guards are there. It is difficult for Dean Dong and his men to completely recapture the capital. So they can only pin their hopes on the righteous army, hoping that they can wipe out the Xishuo army."

"The current situation is that in the capital, the two sides are maintaining a dangerous balance. War may break out at any time, but they have to maintain peace for the time being. In Yan State, the Xishuo Army and the Yi Army are facing each other with Fuhe Province and Wanbao Province as the boundary. They have been fighting intermittently for three years."

"The capital is currently under siege by the rebels, but it is not easy for them to attack the capital, as that would be against justice... After all, the Yuan family did not openly establish a new emperor. Now the rebels only control the main roads around the capital. Under normal circumstances, they do not prevent ordinary merchants and pedestrians from traveling."

Fu Qingzhou's forehead was covered with cold sweat when he heard this.

The territory of Yan State has become so chaotic!
He didn't ask too many details, but just grasped the key points: "The capital is in such a mess, where is Emperor Zhao...?"

"Gone." Gong Yangxunyan had a complicated expression: "No one knows where he went."

"No, it's gone?!"

Fu Qingzhou was shocked. He still remembered that when Zhao Yuan saw the situation was not going well during the battle of Xuanmeng, he ran away by himself... and then he disappeared?
"Was he captured by King Xishuo?" he blurted out.

"Probably not."

The moment he asked the question, he answered it himself without waiting for the other party to answer: "If the Xishuo army really captured the emperor, they would definitely publicize it. Similarly, if the rebel army found the emperor, they would definitely welcome him back to the court with great fanfare."

"Yes." Changsun Jiansu nodded with a smile: "Everyone believes that Emperor Yan is probably lying dormant and secretly accumulating strength."

"Is this so..."

Fu Qingzhou thought for a moment, then turned to Gong Yangxunyan: "Brother Gong Yang, I have another question, the Northern Frontier Army..."

"I was just going to mention them."

Gong Yangxunyan replied: "The Northern Frontier Army does clearly support the royalists, but... in the past few years, the Northern Barbarians have been invading the territory of Yan State like crazy. There have been constant wars in the Northern Frontier, and the Northern Frontier Army has never been able to return to provide assistance."

"what?"

Fu Qingzhou immediately thought of the key point: "King Xishuo colluded with the Northern Barbarians?!"

"There is no clear evidence, but... everyone thinks so." Changsun Jiansu said leisurely: "So Junior Brother Gongyang went to the capital this time to accept the invitation of the Sword Academy... They want to ask Qiluo Palace to help deal with the Northern Barbarians."

"I see."

Fu Qingzhou narrowed his eyes.

"Brother Gong Yang," he asked, "is there anything else worth noting?"

"Xuanmeng."

It was Changsun Jiansu who answered: "We know that the Xuan League was originally promoted by you, Junior Brother Fu. Now the Xuan League is also very popular in Yan State. The leader of the Xuan League, Baihe Zhenren, also came here in person and invited Qiluo Palace, but we refused."

The leader of Xuanmeng, Master Baihe.

Fu Qingzhou's eyes moved slightly.

This is very reasonable. Master Baihe is brave and resourceful, and has already broken through the Xuanxing realm. She also has the ambition to control everything. This is the most reasonable result.

"What is Xuanmeng doing now?" he asked.

"Disrupting the Xishuo Army and assassinating important figures of the family."

Gong Yangxunyan sighed and said, "In the past three years, the Xuanmeng has done nothing but cruel and violent things. Although they are trying to maintain the stability of the country, their methods are a bit excessive... We in Qiluo Palace don't quite agree with it, so we rejected the invitation of Master Baihe."

This is also very reasonable, and it is exactly how Master Baihe handles things.

Fu Qingzhou was curious about something else: "The Xuanmeng has the powerful Xuanxing master Baihe Zhenren, and a group of Dongtian masters. No matter how powerful the Xishuo Army and the aristocratic families are, they can't withstand their day and night stalking and assassination, right? How can they hold on until now?"

"Demon cult, ghost cultivator."

Zhang Sun Jiansu said quietly, "Two groups of people appeared in the Xishuo army... One is the descendant of the evil sect, and the other is the ghost cultivator who disappeared for a thousand years."

"Their cultivation methods are extremely extreme, but their cultivation speed is also much faster than that of ordinary people."

"In the past three years, King Xishuo has used the cultivation methods of the Demon Cult and the Ghost Cultivation to train a large number of experts to hide in the army and protect important figures of the aristocratic families... Among them, there is even a Xuan-star strongman. You should have heard of his name."

She looked into Fu Qingzhou's eyes and said slowly, "Ning Wuwang."

Fu Qingzhou let out a long sigh.

"Okay, I probably understand."

He said softly, "Now, I want to ask Senior Sister Changsun...what is the connection between the tomb you want me to explore and the situation in Dayan?"

(End of this chapter)