Chapter 876: The Wind Rises

Chapter 876: The Wind Rises

As Tang Wanzhuang entered the hall, the slightly noisy room instantly fell dead silent, with many holding their breath.

It was not an oppression brought about by rank or status, but her appearance.

She was truly far too beautiful.

It was almost as if all the spiritual elegance of Wu and Yue's landscapes were gathered in her single person, seeming that as long as she stood there, she spoke for Jiangnan.

Once her sickly demeanor had added to her charm; though no longer weak now, her elegance remained as delicate and graceful as ever, her charm undiminished. Compounded by her thirty years of holding supreme power over the world, that aura of majesty added yet another layer of allure, crafting a beauty that truly left one breathless.

That unchanging countenance seemed like the heavens declaring such a masterpiece should not fade, a beauty ordinary folk need not envy, for the heavens simply refused to let her see white hair.

A uniform greeting from the young men broke the silence of the hall: "Your grand-nephews send their regards to Great-Aunt."

The assembled guests: "..."

The landscape of Wu and Yue shattered all at once, turning into a rural bamboo fence where chickens and dogs could be heard.

Tang Wanzhuang's beautiful eyes lingered on Zhao Changhe for a brief moment, then spun a few times over Baoqin's hair bun before she responded softly: "There is no need for such ceremony. Baoqin, is this the husband you found?"

Baoqin smiled obsequiously and did not answer.

"The hour is still early; we shall speak at the evening banquet. Buqi, attend to the guests for now. Baoqin, accompany me back to the old house for a chat, and bring your husband along."

"Yes."

Tang Wanzhuang left almost as soon as she entered, with Baoqin and Zhao Changhe following behind without a word. Ling Ruoyu instinctively reached out her hand; she also deeply wished to meet the revered Chancellor Tang, but she did not know from what standing.

If Queque had not lied, then the revered Chancellor might be a love rival to her own master.

Tang Buqi gave a dry cough and sat back in the main seat, his tone majestic: "That young lady over there, is that Longque you are holding in your arms?"

Coming to her senses, Ling Ruoyu could only reply: "Yes, junior Ling Ruoyu has guarded the blade southward to deliver the sacred weapon to the Marquis of Wu. I hope the Marquis will organize men to escort it back to the capital."

A slight commotion arose in the hall: "So she is Ling Ruoyu! Remarkably young."

"Flashing through the Book of Chaos several times in a single day, reaching number eighteen on the Human Ranking at only sixteen years old. None among the current younger generation can surpass her."

"Even if the Sunset Divine Sword of yesteryear were to reappear in the martial world, he would likely feel inferior."

Ling Ruoyu: "..."

Say no more, I am afraid of getting beaten when I go back.

Tang Buqi's lips twitched. The vast majority of people did not know Ling Ruoyu was Yue Hongling's disciple, nor did Tang Buqi, but he only needed to know who had been accompanying Ling Ruoyu just now. The principal himself is right by your side, yet you hand this broken blade to me?

That man surnamed Zhao is playing quite a colorful game nowadays; is this some new type of trick to pick up girls?

Tang Buqi straightened his face and said solemnly: "Young people should not abandon tasks halfway. You have guarded this blade for so long, so it naturally should continue to be carried to the capital by you. Throwing it to outsiders is not the way of a swordsman."

Ling Ruoyu opened her mouth, feeling that something was wrong with these words. I guarded the blade southward precisely to hand it to you, otherwise why would I come south?

If Tang Buqi had stated this position yesterday, Ling Ruoyu would have definitely dropped the blade and turned around to leave, since my delivery was made and it would be none of my business. But today she actually felt a sense of relief instead; before entering the door she was still pondering that she did not really want to give up the blade, and as it turned out, the Marquis of Wu truly did not want it... worthy of an esteemed senior, so considerate.

Truly strange, that broken blade's personality was both annoying and snobbish, so why was she reluctant to part with it... well, it must be to carry her along to look at the river of stars.

The young girl sat in the corner holding Longque with a chaotic mind, watching guest after guest offer congratulations and gifts, her thoughts turning distant, drifting off to who knows where.

Her sword-heart seemed instinctively to sense malicious gazes among the crowd of guests; the girl suddenly raised her head to scan around, but could find nothing.

"Queque, do you sense any malicious prying?"

"Yes, I am most sensitive to this. Let me tell you, back in the day..."

"Alright, alright, stop bragging about your past. Do you know which one it is? On the Marquis of Wu's birthday banquet, with all the heroes gathered, someone actually dares to covet you..."

"It is not one, it is many."

Startled, Ling Ruoyu was about to stand up: "This must be reported to the Marquis of Wu."

"Did Tang Buqi let you get close? If you run over there now, be careful not to be seized as an assassin first."

Ling Ruoyu turned her gaze toward Tang Buqi's direction, where a young man was currently bending down to say to Tang Buqi: "That Miss Ling possesses such beauty and strength, your son wishes to..."

With a loud slap, Tang Buqi struck his son, sending him spinning in a circle: "You bastard, she is either your great-aunt or your aunt!"

The son: "???"

Ling Ruoyu did not hear clearly what was said over there, but seeing the Marquis of Wu beat his son made her shudder involuntarily.

As expected of the legendary majestic and stern figure, so fierce.

Tang Buqi was currently rubbing his forehead: "Why do I feel this birthday will be a tragedy... go and reinforce the Marquis mansion's guards again, screen and check if there are any unusual situations."

"Great-Aunt herself has arrived, does anyone still dare to cause trouble?"

"It is precisely because she arrived looking for trouble that it proves someone is causing trouble." Tang Buqi scolded his son: "Otherwise do you really think she would travel thousands of miles just for my birthday banquet, does the grand Chancellor of the Great Han have nothing to do? But then again, with them here, even if there is trouble it will become no trouble. The reason we do our homework thoroughly is to avoid making a fool of ourselves. At my age, still needing my aunt to wipe my backside, do you want your father to go jump into a river?"

Tang Buqi had another sentence unspoken in his heart; his aunt of course did not necessarily come for business, she could completely have come purely to find her man. But wherever that man was present, there was never any good fortune.

Thinking of that fellow's youthfulness that remained just as in the past, those green years of riding horses through the martial world and singing wildly while drinking deeply flashed through his mind. Tang Buqi sat there blankly, the birthday congratulations of the guests before his eyes growing exceedingly distant, turning indistinct to his ears.

"I did not expect you to be here." In the water pavilion where Tang Wanzhuang once resided, she brewed tea with her delicate hands, sitting opposite Zhao Changhe, her voice calm. Baoqin stood to the side holding the zither to attend them, like a jammed tape rewinding, a flash back to the past.

The flowing water remained and the cicadas chirped as before; what had changed was that the little maid holding the zither had done up her hair into the bun of a married woman, and the moss marks covering the foot of the bamboo pavilion bore witness to the mottled traces of time.

"So your coming here was for the river of stars?"

"Yes, it happened to coincide with Buqi's birthday, and I also wanted to see family... I just did not expect to see you." Tang Wanzhuang's beautiful eyes glanced over Baoqin, her expression half-smiling: "You have grown capable, not even sending a letter, just to steal a taste?"

Baoqin offered an obsequious smile: "Baoqin knew young mistress would come this time, there was no need to send a letter, so I stole a single day."

How could Tang Wanzhuang truly blame her? Her heart felt tender, as if speaking to herself: "It is quite good..."

Baoqin sniffled: "Young mistress..."

"Alright, you are now the Chief Secretary of my Chancellor's mansion, my left and right hand."

"That will not do. Without me, who would hold the zither for young mistress?"

"Give me the zither."

Baoqin handed over the zither, and Tang Wanzhuang placed it on the table, reaching out to gently stroke out a string of clear notes, then raised her eyes to look at Zhao Changhe: "What melody do you wish to hear?"

Zhao Changhe said: "Anything. As long as it is you playing, I will listen."

The music of the zither arose, still the high mountains and flowing water, speaking only to an intimate friend.

Zhao Changhe sipped his tea, quietly listening to the melody, looking at Tang Wanzhuang's soft and smiling expression, feeling that tea was more intoxicating than wine.

Meeting Wanzhuang could be called the greatest turning point of his own transformation. Outwardly he had restrained that lawless air of the greenwood, but in truth, from a mere corner of the martial world he had come to see the rivers and mountains, stepping out into the wider world.

Wanzhuang herself had also stepped out from the Demon Suppression Division that suppressed the world's fiends, moving into the broader and more mind-taxing administrative affairs of the court. Even when Xia Chichi personally led imperial expeditions, the political situation at court had always been maintained in stability by Wanzhuang, sheathing all her sharp edges to act only as the woman behind the scenes.

Surpassed and crushed in cultivation by Huangfu Qing, with whom she had contended for a lifetime, she no longer sought to give chase either.

Those things held no meaning... for the remainder of her life, she lived only for her lord.

Playing the zither and brewing tea with her husband in the back courtyard was perhaps the canvas Tang Wanzhuang anticipated most.

With a sharp ring, Tang Wanzhuang pressed her hand down over the zither strings, the lingering notes echoing softly, winding together with the fragrance of the tea.

"Thirty years could not yield such zither and tea; can it be so from now on?" Tang Wanzhuang asked.

Zhao Changhe said: "Soon."

Tang Wanzhuang smiled slightly, stood up, and walked to the window of the water pavilion to gaze at the scenery.

Zhao Changhe stood by her side, accompanying her. No matter how boisterous the main hall in the distance, here it was but a garden apart from the world—a stream of flowing water, a field of flowers.

Tang Wanzhuang watched the bees bustling among the blossoms and casually said, "Walk with me?"

"Mm."

The two walked side by side among the flowers, yet for a long time, neither spoke.

Was it because the quiet companionship of strolling through the garden was already a beautiful expectation, or because so much time had passed that they could not find a topic?

Zhao Changhe did not search for one either. He simply reached out and took Tang Wanzhuang's hand. Her slender fingers were still as smooth as jade, but no longer carried the icy chill of earlier years. As they held hands gently for a while, each could feel the warmth passing between them, and their long-silent hearts began to beat in rhythm together.

"After so many years of quiet, pouring all my thoughts into governing the land, I thought I had nearly forgotten you," Tang Wanzhuang finally murmured after a long pause. "But the moment we met, that single spark of memory quickly spread, filling my heart to the brim."

Zhao Changhe was silent, not offering words of apology. He had said too many of those lately. What they wanted was not an apology, but a far longer future.

"In the past, when you saw me, you could hardly wait to be forward, just to see my hairpin askew and my brows furrowed in shy annoyance. Why are you such a gentleman today?" Tang Wanzhuang tilted her head to look at him, smiling. "Is it that our King Zhao feels guilty, too embarrassed?"

Zhao Changhe said, "How could I meet you after so long and only think of that... What do you take us for..."

"But I do think of it," Tang Wanzhuang said calmly.

Zhao Changhe stopped in his steps. Tang Wanzhuang turned around and hugged him tightly around the waist, burying her face in his chest.

Her arms wrapped around him with such force that even Zhao Changhe, with his tempered body, felt the pressure. Only then did he realize how fierce a torrent lay hidden beneath the calm of her zither-playing and tea-brewing.

"I was a little afraid before..." Tang Wanzhuang murmured into his chest. "Though I knew that for you, it was but a single sleep, I always feared that thirty years might have passed and you would prove fickle and faithless. Or that I would wake up and find we were both sixty, old women—how dreadful and ugly that sounds—with youths your age calling us 'grandaunt.' Would you then flee from us? Just now in the hall, I wished I could silence those brats' mouths."

Before she finished, Zhao Changhe leaned down and kissed her, first silencing her lips.

Tang Wanzhuang swallowed the rest of her words, obediently parting her teeth slightly, yielding to his fierce kiss.

After a long moment, they parted. Zhao Changhe breathed heavily and whispered, "This is punishment for your doubts."

"Mm..." Tang Wanzhuang nestled softly in his arms. "Actually, when I saw Baoqin's hair bun, I was very happy inside... Since you do not disdain Baoqin, of course you would not disdain us either."

Zhao Changhe said, "Don't speak of your beauty as if it were still fresh. Even if you were truly white-haired and aged, I would still be willing to stay by your side, playing the zither and brewing tea together."

"Really?"

"Really. Buqi said, 'How unfair...' But I think he was just fine that way. I too want a house full of children and grandchildren. How many do you want to give me?"

Tang Wanzhuang's face lit up with radiance: "I only want one son and one daughter."

"Then one son and one daughter it is."

Tang Wanzhuang regained a hint of girlish delight. She took his hand and led him to sit by the riverbank, resting her head on his shoulder as they watched the flowing water in silence.

In her heart, she was already scheming: let whatever crisis that must come today arrive quickly, so that after the battle, she could sleep with her husband and make children. But would others come tonight as well...?

Ah... actually, it was still early. Could they steal a moment now...? But wouldn't that seem too eager, losing all dignity, and Baoqin would laugh at her.

Tang Wanzhuang shot a fierce glare at Baoqin, who was spying from behind the waterside pavilion.

Baoqin: "?"

What did I do? Didn't you say you were happy that I stole a march on you? I've hidden myself in the pavilion so as not to disturb you—am I not the most considerate maid...?

Tang Wanzhuang silently calculated for a while but still could not bring herself to seek intimacy at such a moment. In truth, she also deeply enjoyed the quiet feeling of sitting by the stream with her head resting on his shoulder. So she let go of that thought and turned to business: "Everyone hasn't seen you yet. They haven't asked what result your arrow achieved back then. We've only acted on analysis, and we don't know if it matches."

Zhao Changhe said casually, "Ye Wuming, over two epochs, erased all the ancient demon gods born from the Heavenly Dao, reducing its influence on this world to a minimum. If her final desperate strike had succeeded, she would have perished together with the Heavenly Dao. Then what we call 'heaven's will' would be but a vague shadow, unable to interfere with anything—even the Book of Chaos would only appear passively. This world would be free. But if she failed, the laws she represented would be reclaimed by the Heavenly Dao, dissolving into the various demonic energies of today, giving birth anew to the three thousand demon gods of old. Those things were originally created by the Heavenly Dao; it can certainly create them again."

"Mm."

"When I shot that arrow, Ye Wuming—no fool—naturally canceled her original plan and instead coordinated with my arrow to attack. Caught in this pincer, the Heavenly Dao was wounded and fled far away. Ye Wuming used the Heavenly Book to seal off this world, preventing the Heavenly Dao from slipping in through cracks. So the situation now is actually quite simple: both sides have been recuperating until now. Its wounds have healed, and I have repaired my flaws. It's time to restart the final battle."

"Indeed simple, much as we guessed." Tang Wanzhuang said, "Fortresses are always breached from within. The Heavenly Dao is trying to mobilize the 'demonic energies' still lurking inside, using them to obtain the Star River and break through this world from within. And we, in turn, want to take this opportunity to wipe out its remaining demonic energies once and for all, eliminating internal troubles forever. At the same time, we can trace those demonic energies back to the Heavenly Dao's location and then see how to counterattack. In short, this battle is not complicated at all. Since the Heavenly Dao doesn't know you've awakened yet, we have a slight advantage."

"But without reaching an agreement with Ye Wuming, we cannot counterattack. No matter what you think of her, these matters absolutely cannot bypass Ye Wuming."

"We have no particular opinion of her. We don't even know her. It's Jiuyou and Piaomiao who have opinions," Tang Wanzhuang said leisurely. "But from a power perspective, Your Majesty should indeed conquer the Night Palace."

Zhao Changhe was taken aback for a moment before realizing that "Your Majesty" referred to him. In Wanzhuang's heart, the emperor had always been Zhao Changhe; Xia Chichi was merely a caretaker. He couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile.

Seeing his smile, Tang Wanzhuang also laughed: "Anyway, you are now the Night Emperor. The Night Palace is yours by right. Even Ye Wuming herself said you should be the Celestial Emperor dwelling in the Night Palace. I think you can go to her openly and demand the palace. If she won't move out, then she can be a consort inside."

Zhao Changhe turned his head to look at her.

A faint blush finally crept onto Tang Wanzhuang's face: "What? Isn't it good to take a concubine for your husband and earn a reputation for not being jealous?"

"Nothing." Zhao Changhe couldn't help but laugh. "But I think if someone is spying, she's probably furious right now."

"What? She can bully Ruoyu, but does she think she can bully us?" The moment she saw Zhao Changhe, Tang Wanzhuang had guessed that the earlier accounts in the Book of Chaos about Ling Ruoyu's deeds were Ye Wuming's way of messing with the girl.

Zhao Changhe laughed: "How much do you know about Ruoyu's situation?"

Tang Wanzhuang said, "As you know, Hongling always liked to wander alone and help people, rarely interacting with everyone. No one knew when she took this disciple, and no one had seen her. It was only last year that she was sent out to gain experience. The little girl never revealed that her master was Yue Hongling, and she made a name for herself in the martial world through her own efforts—truly not easy. During that time, Yangyang and Baoqin both met her and had much praise."

"That's all?" Zhao Changhe asked. "Is there anything special?"

"There is one thing, though I'm not sure if it's special... Since she appeared in the martial world last year, rumors of the Star River appearing in various places have also begun to spread. But since the locations of those rumors didn't match her movements, normal analysis still considered it a coincidence."

Zhao Changhe nodded slightly. Just as he was about to say something, a guard from Tang Wanzhuang's retinue reported from outside the courtyard: "Chancellor, it is said that Tiger Hill is in turmoil, a sword spirit has appeared in the void, and the Marquis of Wu has led his men there."