“It has been almost five days since we sent the letter. Why has there still been no word from Shimen?”
“In war, the quality of soldiers matters more than their numbers. Shimen has only a little over ten thousand men, and they’re all pampered garrison troops. Even if they came, they’d only waste our food. Better if they stay away.”
“You can’t put it that way. Even ten thousand men could at least divert some of the enemy’s forces.”
“The Shimen garrison commander…”
When Mengwu’s army attacked, Yanmen Pass had sent an appeal for reinforcements to Shimen but received no reply. Now the garrison commander and his deputy were arguing over the matter.
Three days had passed since Fu Xi Yan arrived at Yanmen Pass. During those three days, Mengwu’s attacks had gradually gone from fierce to mild. Abandoning its earlier preference for quick victories, the enemy appeared to be settling into a prolonged standoff, as though intending to stare across the battlefield forever. The commander grew increasingly uneasy. Remembering the news of Yulin Town’s fall, they suspected Mengwu was waiting for the northern army, and were debating how to respond.
Fu Xi Yan listened for a while without finding an opening to speak, then decided to go up onto the walls and visit his daughter, Fu Gui Gui, who had been working so hard.
If the past three days had brought any reward, witnessing his daughter’s growth was certainly one of them.
Once their identities were exposed, Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin stopped hiding Fu Gui Gui and let her appear openly before everyone. They had merely intended to reveal what they had been keeping secret. They never expected to uncover a hidden treasure.
During one Mengwu assault, Fu Gui Gui flew to the wall to watch the commotion. When the battle grew intense, she personally joined in, grabbing a siege ladder and dragging it all over the place. She drew the attention of a whole group of catapults, which kept firing after her, and utterly disrupted the rhythm of Mengwu’s attack.
Afterward, the commander generously rewarded her with a tender young lamb. She was beside herself with delight as she ate, and Fu Xi Yan saw for the first time just how expressive a bird’s face could be.
The next time Mengwu attacked, Fu Gui Gui eagerly took the field. From then on, she became an unofficial yet formidable member of the Yanmen garrison. Every day she flew a patrol at first light, came back for meals, and went out for another circuit in the afternoon. Sometimes, after dinner, Fu Xi Yan could still see her winging her way north. Watching her discharge her duties so conscientiously made Fu Xi Yan wonder whether his own attitude toward work was a little too lackadaisical. He soon found a satisfactory answer. Like father, like daughter. Fu Gui Gui could never have achieved so much without his excellent teaching and personal example. His contribution had clearly been enormous.
As Fu Xi Yan climbed the gate tower, the soldiers along the way regarded him with admiration.
He knew that above him were the Martial King and Martial God stages, and even the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Transformation stages. But to ordinary soldiers, an expert who could fly about in the air was already beyond anything they could imagine.
At that moment, Fu Gui Gui was soaring through the sky.
Mengwu used eagles for scouting and communication, but beside Fu Gui Gui they were hopelessly outmatched in size, let alone strength. The moment they spotted her in the distance, they steered well clear.
Thus, beneath the blue skies and white clouds beyond Yanmen Pass, Fu Gui Gui was the only bird left to perform the lonely drama of a peerless king.
Fu Xi Yan signaled to her. She circled over his head, recognized him, and finally landed.
He tugged a feather on her wing. “Your other father isn’t here. Remember to keep me company at meals for the next couple of days.”
With no news from Haojing or Yulin Town, they could not simply abandon Yanmen Pass. After discussing the matter at length, they finally decided that Pei Yuan Jin should make a quick trip to nearby Shimen.
The Immortal Treasury Palace maintained a branch in Shimen, which would make gathering intelligence and mobilizing assistance much easier.
Father and daughter shared a meal, then Fu Gui Gui hurried anxiously back to work. With nothing else to do, Fu Xi Yan went along. But Mengwu’s army was unusually well behaved that day. It sent only a handful of riders to scout the defenses. As soon as Fu Gui Gui flew out toward them, they turned their horses and fled without looking back.
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, Fu Xi Yan stepped out stretching his arms and saw Pei Yuan Jin approaching in the dawn light. His already dashing figure appeared even more magnificent thanks to the takeaway in his hand: Benggan, the local delicacy.
Fu Xi Yan was so moved he could find no words. Only by devouring it with gusto could he properly express his gratitude!
They were not fussy about where they sat. They settled on the roof of their temporary quarters and chatted as they ate.
The taste of Shimen brought back memories that were not even particularly distant. “How is the Gao Yi Sect doing?” Fu Xi Yan asked.
Pei Yuan Jin answered, “Boiling Snow Hall has left Shimen.”
The feud between the Gao Yi Sect and Boiling Snow Hall had lasted generations. Eventually Boiling Snow Hall gained the backing of Wang Kang, Supervising Manager of the Thunder Division in Youzhou, and drove the Gao Yi Sect to desperation, forcing its people to stop a carriage and petition for justice. At the time, Tian An, one of Wang Kang’s subordinates, handled the matter. Pei Yuan Jin ordered him to supervise both sides, keep them within their proper bounds, and restore their businesses to the state they had been in before the Immortal Treasury Palace intervened.
Boiling Snow Hall had invested heavily in bribing Wang Kang, expecting to recoup the money after crushing the Gao Yi Sect. Instead, the plan backfired and left them ruined. They had no choice but to sell their property and move far away.
The Gao Yi Sect appeared to have learned a lesson from Boiling Snow Hall’s fate. Instead of kicking its rival while it was down, the sect concentrated on running its own modest businesses. With Xia Xue Nong’s support, it quickly recovered and even showed signs of surpassing its former prosperity.
Fu Xi Yan was pleased to hear it. “Treating others kindly is treating yourself kindly.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “I met with the administrator of the Shimen branch.”
Seeing an unusual look on his face, Fu Xi Yan asked, “Hmm? How did it go?”
Pei Yuan Jin answered, “It was Wang Kang.”
Fu Xi Yan was startled too.
Back then, Wang Kang had dared to openly shelter Boiling Snow Hall only because someone powerful stood behind him: Zhao Tong Qu. Over the past year, Jing Luo had begun reforming the Immortal Treasury Palace. Ostensibly, he abolished the Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning Divisions and united them under regional branches, making personnel transfers a natural consequence. Behind the scenes, however, he had been driving away Zhao Tong Qu’s followers or demoting them.
Zhao Tong Qu had originally been chief steward of the Thunder Division, and local Thunder Division offices were his power base. Wang Kang was one of his known men. After everything that had happened, Fu Xi Yan had assumed he would have been removed long ago.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Moving from administrator of the Youzhou Thunder Division to administrator of the Shimen branch was already a demotion.”
Fu Xi Yan asked, “How is his performance?”
“Extremely enthusiastic.” Pei Yuan Jin drew a sheet of paper from his robes and passed it over. Fu Xi Yan examined it. The page was densely packed with news received in Shimen from various places over the past two months. Despite the impressive amount of writing, very little was useful.
Truth be told, abolishing the four divisions had both advantages and disadvantages. On the positive side, the organization was simpler, orders traveled more efficiently, and the divisions could no longer shift responsibility back and forth. The disadvantage was equally obvious: each branch had lost some of the old divisions’ specialized expertise.
Fu Xi Yan said, “Nothing else?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “I have already told him to send people to Yulin Town.”
The Immortal Treasury Palace had never devoted particular attention to affairs of state. Even if a branch near Yulin Town received the latest news of Northern Zhou’s war, it would not immediately distribute that intelligence everywhere. It would be sent along with other reports, inevitably causing delays.
Fu Xi Yan said, “By the way, Yanmen Pass asked for reinforcements several days ago. Shimen still hasn’t replied. Do you know why?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Shimen’s garrison commander discussed it with the prefect. The prefect fears that if he sends reinforcements and Yanmen Pass falls anyway, Shimen will be doomed along with it.”
Fu Xi Yan was furious and speechless. “If they won’t stick together now, are they planning to help the enemy defeat them one by one?”
It was not as though the prefect of Shimen necessarily failed to understand such a simple truth. But when people faced matters of survival and defeat, they often became selfish and narrow-minded. They wished everyone else would bear the risks while they themselves collected the rewards.
“It isn’t all bad news,” Pei Yuan Jin said. “When the Gao Yi Sect heard that Yanmen Pass was in danger, they resolved to organize fellow martial artists to come and help.”
Fu Xi Yan paused, then praised them. “A sect named Gao Yi, High Righteousness, truly lives up to its name!”
When the garrison commander heard that Pei Yuan Jin had returned, he immediately came with his deputy to see them.
Fu Xi Yan told them what Pei Yuan Jin had learned in Shimen.
On hearing that the prefect had decided to keep his troops in place, the deputy commander flew into a rage. “When the nest is overturned, how can any egg remain intact? The prefect of Shimen knows we need help and refuses to send it. How is that different from betraying the country?”
Seeing his righteous indignation, Fu Xi Yan recalled how the same man had previously complained that Shimen’s troops were pampered and would only waste food. Now that they refused to come, he had changed his tune completely. It was rather amusing.
The garrison commander remained calm. “If they do not come, it matters little. With Young Master Pei, Mirror Master Fu, and Miss Fu assisting us, we have more than enough strength to deal with Mengwu.”
Worried that he was being too optimistic, Fu Xi Yan reminded him, “Mengwu has no shortage of experts either.”
Mengwu possessed plenty of experts at the Mortal-Shedding and Dao-Entry stages, but so far no Martial King or Martial God had been reported. If such a person did appear, it would most likely have something to do with Zheng Jiao Jiao.
Fu Xi Yan thought of Mei Xia Ying, who had parted from Wen Ping, Wang Ku, and the others midway through their journey. For some reason, he felt vaguely uneasy.
His unease was answered by another peaceful day.
For two consecutive days, Mengwu made no attack. It merely sent people to circle outside the pass and admire the walls, still towering beneath the spring sun, like tourists checking off a scenic destination.
People of Northern Zhou were accustomed to preparing for danger even in peaceful times. Mengwu’s behavior, neither leaving nor attacking, struck both the commander and Fu Xi Yan as deeply suspicious. Rather than wait to repair the damage after the enemy carried out some scheme, they decided to take the initiative.
That night, Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin made a secret visit to the Mengwu army’s camp.
Before leaving, Fu Xi Yan instructed Fu Gui Gui to circle the encampment deliberately and terrify the eagles Mengwu kept there into staying indoors. Without its eyes in the sky, the enemy would have much more trouble spotting the two men.
The tents in Mengwu’s field camp were flimsy compared with those in the royal encampment. When lamps burned inside, people standing outside could see the occupants’ silhouettes.
They advanced into the camp, passing countless tents. At first everything seemed normal, with figures walking about or sitting cross-legged within. But the closer they got to the center, the more empty tents they encountered. They were dark, with not even a sound of breathing. It was as though they were just tents, never intended to house anyone.
The more Fu Xi Yan saw, the stranger it felt, especially when they reached the largest tent at the very center. This one had thick walls, so no light escaped and no silhouettes could be seen. He could hear breathing inside, however, and only one of the breathing sounds seemed human.
Fu Xi Yan secretly raised a corner of the entrance flap and looked in. A slightly hunched man stood with his back to the door, feeding a late-night meal to the eagles that Fu Gui Gui had frightened into turning in early.