Chapter 402: All Won

Chapter 402: All Triumphant

Over to one side, Zhao Changhe congratulated himself on his shrewdness, having seized upon the subtle detail that Huangfu Qing had lagged behind Tang Wanzhuang. Sensing his own clever brilliance, he probed into what he deemed a more critical oversight: "You had the Marquis of Wuping escort Wang Daozhong by relying on the fact that Wang Daoning remained oblivious to the disaster. But now that the Chronicle of Troubled Times has broadcast it to the world, Wang Daoning must be well aware. What if he moves to ambush the convoy and free the prisoner?"

Tang Wanzhuang’s eyes lingered cuttingly upon Cui Yuanyang, who remained nestled snugly within his embrace, for a long beat before she spoke: "There are several routes leading to the capital from here. Coming from Liangya, which one could Wang Daoning possibly hope to blockade?"

Zhao Changhe countered, "What if he blockades the capital directly?"

Tang Wanzhuang let out a somewhat melancholy sigh. "If, beneath the very eyes of the Son of Heaven, Wang Daoning can freely snatch away a high-value convict of the Demon Quelling Bureau... then it means His Majesty has utterly lost all semblance of control. Wang Daoning might as well raise his rebel banners the moment he returns. What use would all our calculated scheming be then?"

Zhao Changhe fell silent.

"If he truly possesses the audacity to intercept someone at the gates of the capital, Empress Wang would just as boldly command the dungeons to release him herself. You would not be able to keep him locked up anyway, so if he can indeed be rescued, so be it," Huangfu Qing remarked, her arms crossed. "Just do not expect this Palace to return and clash with Empress Wang on your behalf."

Zhao Changhe cast a glance at her, silently reflecting that from the perspective of the Four Symbols Sect, she would not wish to see Wang Daozhong utterly ruined. Their Venerables still required the Wang family to rebel; they could not afford to weaken them excessively. A successful rescue might actually better suit the sect's ambitions. Yet, she had still lent her hand to assist, placing Zhao Changhe above her own sect at that pivotal moment. It was truly no easy concession for her to make...

At this thought, his heart softened, and he murmured softly, "Then it depends on whether Wang Daoning has the courage, and whether Old Xia will intervene. We have done what we ought to do; we cannot fret over every last detail ourselves."

As the group openly debated who might rebel, whether to defy the Empress, and casually referred to the Emperor as "Old Xia," Yang Jingxiu stood to the side, his gaze fixed upon his nose and his nose upon his heart, rendering himself as still as a statue.

The aristocratic clans were already reckless enough in their private speech, but this lot behaved practically like bandits. To make matters worse, Tang Wanzhuang was among them, and that little girl of the Cui family had been burrowing into Zhao Changhe's chest this whole time, showing no intention of coming out.

Old Yang felt that the very assembly of this particular crowd was nothing short of a miracle...

Of course, his silence did not mean he was made of clay—he was the aggrieved party in this whole affair, after all! If Wang Daoning were to snatch the prisoner at the city gates, so be it; but if not, and it was Empress Wang who chose to release him, did they truly believe a Grand Commander was merely a decorative title? At this moment, Yang Jingxiu had no heart to dwell on the aftermath here; he desired only to rush to the capital to stabilize the situation. It would be best if he could covertly ensure Wang Daozhong met his end within the shadows of the dungeon...

Just then, he heard Zhao Changhe speak: "Very well, now that the storm has cleared, I shall attempt to awaken the Lianshan Sword."

Yang Jingxiu was momentarily dazed. "You can truly cure it?"

Could it be that you did not deliberately come here just to stir up trouble for Wang Daozhong? Do you truly possess a method to aid the sword?

Zhao Changhe replied, "As I have said, I have a few ideas, but they require testing..."

With that, he carried Cui Yuanyang directly toward the Lianshan Sword, still cradled in his arms. "Yangyang, let us cooperate."

Cui Yuanyang nodded with immense delight. "Mm!"

Beholding her radiant, blossoming smile, where was any trace of the frightened little rabbit who had hidden away in a man's embrace?

What an excellent pretext she had found to burrow into his arms... Tang Wanzhuang and Huangfu Qing flanked them on either side, their eyes slanting askance, their teeth simultaneously grinding in unison.

Each had deemed the other her true rival, never imagining that the most troublesome little creature was right here.

"The heroes of the realm are but you and I, amidst the twin fires of Chibi and Yiling..."

On the other side, Zhao Changhe carefully scraped away the Mystical Light Nether Soil that coated the Lianshan Sword. In truth, having lost its yin energy, the soil retained virtually no reason for being. He then pressed the hilt into Cui Yuanyang’s hand. "Your turn."

Cui Yuanyang grasped the hilt and closed her eyes.

Zhao Changhe’s recently enhanced Rejuvenation Technique had proven effective for Tang Wanzhuang, so it ought to possess some efficacy for a sword spirit as well. How much it could achieve remained to be seen; the crux of the matter lay in his inability to directly contact the sword spirit. Unable to pinpoint the exact location for the technique to take effect, he could not even begin to test it.

After all, a sword differed from a human. A human possessed a spiritual terrace and a sea of soul, but where did these coordinates manifest within a blade? Did they vary from sword to sword? With his meager level of skill, he could hardly cast a wide net across the entirety of the weapon.

If he were a powerhouse of the Triple Mystic Treasure, he might have been able to delve deep into the sword with his divine soul to inspect the particulars. However, Zhao Changhe was still a far cry from tempering his divine soul and possessed no means to accomplish this.

Yet Cui Yuanyang could... not because her divine soul was sufficient, but because she possessed the experience of awakening the Qinghe Sword, knowing how to prompt the sword spirit to actively respond to its wielder.

At this moment, Cui Yuanyang’s mind was clear and bright. Within her soul sea, a purple qi seemed to rise from the east, gathering into the shadow of a sword that pierced the firmament. The dense purple mist cloaked the rivers and mountains, rendering the vast domain entirely righteous and awe-inspiring.

This was the unique sword intent of the Cui family, forged and gathered from youth by the descendants of these clans who possessed divine swords, based upon the very foundations of those blades. Their ultimate purpose was to echo their family’s divine sword, anticipating the day they might win its recognition and become its master. This was a feat neither the Vermilion Bird nor Tang Wanzhuang could achieve; they possessed their own intents, but those intents were not tailored to the sword, belonging to an entirely different path.

Cui Yuanyang used this Purple Qi of the Clear River to call upon the resonance of the Lianshan Sword. Though they seemed mismatched, their essence allowed a form of communication to be forged.

Watching from the side, Yang Jingxiu’s expression shifted slightly.

He, too, could naturally achieve this manner of communication. Strangely, however, the Lianshan Sword paid absolutely no heed to him, its rightful master, yet gave a faint response to Cui Yuanyang’s intent, which strayed tens of thousands of miles from its own nature.

In Cui Yuanyang’s perception, it felt as though majestic mountains loomed before her, their purple qi like clouds, blocking her path forward.

A faint consciousness drifted over, conveying a sense of: "The master of the Qinghe Sword? Have I been plundered away by someone?"

Cui Yuanyang: "..."

"No, you are not the master of the Qinghe... The Qinghe is vast and boundless, while your essence is a bit petty, resembling at most a delicate little stream... Still, it is slightly better than that flock of useless fools in my own house; at least it has not strayed too far. As for their intent—heh, I cannot even be bothered to notice it."

Cui Yuanyang: "..."

"Did the elders of your household seize me from the hands of my incompetent master to give to you as a plaything? Begone, you are unworthy."

Cui Yuanyang’s small mouth puckered, and she nearly cursed aloud.

Yet beside her, a gentle breeze suddenly wafted past, quietly brushing across her spirit with incomparable comfort. Cui Yuanyang felt as though spring had arrived—the very season when a rabbit ought to be up to something...

The Rejuvenation Technique.

Though Zhao Changhe remained ignorant of what the perceptual world on her end looked like, holding her thus in his arms allowed him to capture the intersection of their two divine souls regardless. He decisively applied the Rejuvenation Technique to the very epicenter of their convergence.

"Oh..." The Lianshan Sword seemed to transmit a note of astonishment, which quickly fell silent once more.

Cui Yuanyang clearly sensed the mountains before her growing tranquil, as though a touch of verdant green were gradually sprouting upon the grey, barren peaks.

It was working.

But it was not of grand effect...

Zhao Changhe’s consciousness finally drifted into the point of convergence: "You have the cheek to decry my Yangyang as unworthy, yet it is you who are unworthy. You are not even a whole entity, merely a half. Where I come from, this is called being brain-deficient, yet you still put on airs."

With a resounding boom, the humiliated and enraged Lianshan Sword expelled the consciousness of both Zhao Changhe and Cui Yuanyang entirely, closing its doors to any further guests.

Cui Yuanyang returned the blade to its rack, tucking her hands into her sleeves.

Zhao Changhe kept his arms wrapped around her, tucking his own hands in alongside her.

Yang Jingxiu watched the pair anxiously from the side. "How... how is it? I felt a fluctuation in the aura of the Lianshan Sword. It has never been this violent in all these years..."

When a person in a vegetative state threw a tantrum, their family would absolutely not blame you for angering them; instead, they would be wild with joy.

Yet, looking upon the ecstatic patriarch, Zhao Changhe wondered whether he ought to reveal the truth to him.

The truth was that these sword spirits were incomplete. There was an overwhelming probability that Xia Longyuan had plundered half of their essence away to serve his own grand purposes.

In terms of a sword spirit's nature, being deprived of half its essence was not fatal. A sword was inherently soulless; the birth of a sword spirit was nurtured solely by the intent of its master. If the current master were perfectly aligned, it would not take long for a complete spirit to be reborn. Unfortunately, the intent of the current master did not align, leaving the remnant soul with nothing but aversion. Even communication had become difficult, creating the illusion that the "sword spirit had vanished" or "fallen into slumber."

Once the Cui siblings began to align with the intended spirit of the Qinghe Sword, its spirit naturally responded once more. Yet, the remnant soul had still failed to thoroughly restore itself to normal; after all, the Cui siblings were still too weak, lacking the proper qualifications.

This was the root cause behind why the sword spirits of every clan had gone awry, brought about by a duality of reasons.

The reason the Wang family had managed to resolve theirs was precisely because the soul power of the Sea Race had been fused into the sword spirit, filling the void. Naturally, the sword spirit "awoke," though whether it could still be considered the spirit of the Sea-Quelling Sword remained up for debate.

The various clans might well have guessed that Xia Longyuan had interfered, but they possessed no concrete proof. If he were to utter these words, it would serve as an ironclad confirmation, unleashing unimaginable consequences.

And if one did not demand the other half of the sword spirit from Xia Longyuan, relying solely on his own Rejuvenation Technique could indeed resolve this issue. Though the sword spirit was damaged, its nature differed from a human soul; it lacked any cognitive deficiencies, suffering purely from a massive depletion of soul power. It was a textbook case of restoring a weakened spirit.

However, this not only demanded that the Rejuvenation Technique continue to advance, but also required his own soul power to be sufficiently robust. Otherwise, his current measure of soul power was akin to stirring a massive cauldron with a mere toothpick—woefully inadequate. Furthermore, it would be best to deepen his understanding of swords, given that these were, after all, sword spirits.

Not only could he resolve the Yang family's issue, but the Cui family's could be settled as well—and theirs would be even simpler...

After weighing his options for a long while, Zhao Changhe ultimately chose not to speak of the pathology. Since the family cared most about whether a cure was possible, he opened his mouth to say, "I can treat this ailment..."

Yang Jingxiu was ecstatic. "Whatever Your Highness requires, we..."

Zhao Changhe interrupted, "But my current proficiency is insufficient, much like how I still lack the skill to fully cure Wanzhuang. I need to be given some time. Senior need not fret; this sword spirit will not dissipate on its own. In terms of longevity, it will outlive me by far."

The corners of Huangfu Qing's lips curved into a subtle smile.

Count him clever for executing the very leverage they desired. With these words spoken, would the Yang family not follow their lead in the days to come?

Yang Jingxiu rubbed his hands together, nodding repeatedly. "Understandable, perfectly understandable."

This fellow is after all but a single secret cache, having studied medicine for only ten-odd days; it's only natural that he still needs improvement.

Yang Jingxiu thought for a moment, then asked, "If Your Highness wishes to advance in the medical arts, what does our Yang family need to provide? Seek out renowned physicians? Or perhaps scriptures and medicinal herbs? Or simply items to enhance martial arts?"

Zhao Changhe said, "I hear the Yang family possesses Soul-Entwining Grass. I would like some. Uh, not too much—just one plant will do."

Yang Jingxiu thumped his chest: "A trivial matter. Bugui, go fetch three stalks of Soul-Entwining Grass!"

Zhao Changhe let out a sigh, observing this lavish generosity; he had worried that they might have only one plant and would keep it for their own sword spirit, unwilling to give it away, but here they were casually offering three.

A smile also curled at the corners of Tang Wanzhuang's lips.

He hasn't forgotten to find medicine for me after all...