Chapter 24 Part III
Just now, she saw the character pattern!
Even if only for a brief mont, she was on the right track.
She gripped the black stone tighter, but this ti, she couldn’t see the character pattern again. The oppressive energy made her hair stand on end, and her breathing beca erratic. The murderous aura was more intense than ever. Despite this, Zhenzhu didn’t give up. She concentrated harder. The power of the dark character seed to sense the threat and intensified its power, becoming twice as strong. Even the inscription masters inside the tent felt it and rushed out in alarm.
"What happened?!" Once they looked near the stream, they saw the power of the dark character enveloping Zhenzhu, attacking her relentlessly. Despite this, the stubborn girl refused to let go of the stone.
"Did Lady He trigger sothing? Why is the energy so intense?"
"She seems unable to take it. Should we stop her?"
"Don’t go in now. If the energy rebounds, the resulting shock could be even more dangerous," said Master Yue.
"Then, what should we do, Master Yue?!"
"Go fetch the Young General and Taizi."
"Understood!"
anwhile, in a small, cramped room, a large middle-aged man was sitting with his eyes closed. In front of him lay several small pieces of cloth resembling talismans, arranged in a circle. Inside the circle was a piece of white paper covered with a complex character pattern, not drawn with ink but with blood. For a mont, it seed as though a stream of energy swiftly swept across the character pattern.
"Hmm." The man opened his eyes, as dark as the night.
Soone dared to challenge him? How intriguing. No inscription master had ever been able to inspect his characters. Yet, just now, soone had tried. Although their power was weak, it was still quite interesting.
So, you want to play with ?
He rolled up his sleeve and sliced his hand, using his blood as ink. He deftly traced mysterious characters over the existing pattern.
Thud!
As soon as his fingertip completed the final stroke, a surge of powerful power of the character struck the dantian spot of Zhenzhu.
Cough, cough, cough.
Dark blood spewed from Zhenzhu’s pale lips. Her chest burned as if it were on fire, and her tiny hand was forced to release the stone.
"Lady He! Are you alright?!"
The inscription masters rushed to her in a panic. Why was the backlash so severe? Lady He, who had been able to withstand the power of the dark character the longest, was now completely overwheld. What hope did they have?
Zhenzhu didn’t respond to their questions. Her chest burned intensely, but simultaneously, she felt an unusual lightness inside her.
"Consider it a luck amid the misfortune." Baihu, sprawling near the stream, lifted its head slightly to look at her before lying down again.
"What do you an by luck amid misfortune?" Zhenzhu asked, confused. The burning in her chest had not yet subsided.
"You just expelled so bad blood. You’ll be fine. Go rest," it said.
"Baihu, if I rest and recover, will I still be able to see the character pattern once I touch this stone again?" She had seen the character pattern just monts ago.
"It will be harder now unless your spirit energy advances by a tier or two," Baihu said.
"Can’t you or Xiao She help at all?"
"No, my spirit energy is at the sa tier as yours. But there still is a way."
"What good idea do you have?! Tell !" Zhenzhu asked excitedly.
"Like Body Lending for Inscription, you need to find soone with spirit energy two tiers higher than yours to channel their power through you. However, this thod is dangerous because your body might not withstand such high spirit energy. Xiao She and I will help as much as we can."
"So, I need to find soone with white-tier spirit energy?" Finding soone with white-tier spirit energy wasn’t easy. There were only a handful in the Yan Region. How could such high-tier spirit energy be common?
"That’s right."
"Okay." Zhenzhu nodded. She would discuss this with Brother Hao and Brother Lang. At least it was a potential solution. Zhenzhu turned to the inscription masters who was looking at her with concern.
"I’m alright."
"Oh! Lady He, we were scared to death. Why was you being backlashed like that?”
"I saw the character pattern, but only for a fleeting mont, and it was very faint," she said, sighing wearily. Her body felt utterly exhausted.
At the sa ti, Yong Saiweihao arrived on horseback. He skillfully dismounted and, upon seeing a young girl sitting by the stream with fresh blood on the corner of her mouth and her light blue garnts stained red, his calm eyes reflected shock and worry.
“How are you?” He quickly grasped her small wrist to check her pulse. Relieved to find it steady, he exhaled deeply.
“I’m fine, Brother Hao. Just a minor mishap.”
“Hey!...” Before she could finish speaking, she was suddenly lifted off her feet. In the next mont, she found herself in the arms of the Young General.
He strode purposefully towards his horse, effortlessly placing her on its back before mounting behind her.
“Brother Hao, where are we going? I haven’t finished my work,” Zhenzhu protested loudly.
“No need to continue. Let the royal inscription masters handle it.”
“No. They need my help.” No matter how she told him, he still riding straight towards the guest residence. As they passed, she caught a glimpse of Brother Lang riding in the opposite direction, but Brother Hao’s horse remained unwaveringly on course, obediently following its master’s lead.
All Zhenzhu could do was sit quietly on the horse. Soon, they reached the guest residence where she had been staying since the first day she got here.
“Rest.”
“Brother Hao, once I rest, can I go back to the stream?”
“Rest until you’re fully recovered first. I’ll have the servants take care of you.”
“Brother Hao, I almost found the character pattern.”
“Hmm, very impressive,” the young man praised, causing Zhenzhu to beam like a dog wagging its tail after receiving praise from its owner for bringing back at. Unable to resist, Yong Saiweihao ruffled her hair.
“Brother Hao, I found a way to decipher the characters. I want to discuss it with you.”
“Rest first, then we’ll discuss it.”
“But this is urgent, it must be addressed imdiately.”
“No.”
“Brother Hao!”
“Rest and recover fully first, then we’ll discuss it, alright? Be a good girl,” he patted her head once again.
Zhenzhu’s resolve softened. Hey! Young man, don’t... don’t! Don’t look at like that. If you keep looking at that way, I’ll drag you into the room right now. She wasn’t a child anymore; if you counted her previous life, she was thirty years old. Would a handso man like this have a soft, tender flesh to nibble on?
“O... Okay.” Her heart lted, and she agreed. Her body was exhausted. With a young General worry about her like this... sleep! I will sleep till morning!
Zhenzhu went inside, washed herself, and lay down on the soft bed. She quickly fell asleep.
Yong Saiweihao sighed deeply. This girl was a bit stubborn, but being around her made his heart itch. What a weird symptom.
“General, urgent news.” A soldier ca to report an urgent matter.
Yong Saiweihao left Zhenzhu’s guest residence and returned to his own.
“What is it?”
“Master Shu Pi has gone missing. One hundred thirty thousand carts of supplies ant for here, so have been stolen, and the rest have been burned to ashes.”
“Damn it!” Yong Saiweihao swore. How could they let the supplies get burned? The enemy couldn’t burn the supplies in the camp, so they targeted the supply line instead.
Before they could solve the first problem, another one erged. Master Shu Pi was the noble responsible for gathering supplies for the army. Despite Yong Saiweihao safeguarding the army’s supplies as if they were newborn babies, the supplies outside the army’s care were not under his watch. With this incident, how could the royal court quickly gather enough supplies?
The enemy was severing all of Yan’s supply lines, cutting off both food and water. An army could lack many things, but not supplies. His handso face imdiately turned serious.
"Call an ergency eting. Summon the supply overseers to report the current supply status in the camp."
"Understood."
Soon, high-ranking soldiers were urgently summoned once again. This issue was as serious as the problem with the dark characters. Generals and commanders, upon learning about Master Shu Pi’s disappearance and the new batch of supplies being burnt to ashes, everyone’s faces grew more tense. They hadn’t even solved the dark character problem, and now another major issue had arisen. What should they do?
"Young General, the current supplies in the army will only last for one month.”
Hearing from the supply unit overseer, everyone had different expressions, but shared the sa concern. Only one month left. How could they gather enough supplies in such a short ti?
Was this the ti for the Yan soldiers to starve?
They spent four hours in the eting, trying to find a solution. The only way was to urgently gather supplies.
“I will go back and handle the collection of supplies,” Wenlang concluded. Even if they couldn’t gather much, it would at least alleviate so hunger. The royal granary was likely running low too. The farrs’ tributes had ceased, and with the new planting season starting, it would take several months before the crops were ready.
But the army’s supplies couldn’t run out. They needed to gather enough to last 4-5 months until the new harvest.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
The generals and commanders expressed their genuine gratitude to Taizi. What other Region’s crown prince would co and solve army problems personally? The people of Yan were truly fortunate.
"A’Hao, take care of things here," Wenlang entrusted the dark character issue to Yong Saiweihao. With multiple problems, they needed to divide responsibilities.
"Alright."
The next morning, Zhenzhu woke up early, feeling much better. Her body felt slightly lighter. The chirping of sparrows on the large tree was a bit annoying. She got up, stretched to relieve her stiffness, and went about her personal tasks before stepping out of the residence.
"Miss, where are you going? The Young General instructed you to rest. I brought you so food," said Yinghua, the sa servant, as she entered the residence carrying a tray of food.
"Oh, thank you. Where is General Hao?"
"He’s organizing the troops at the training ground, miss. He’s currently busy."
"When will he be free? I have sothing very important to discuss with him."
"It might take a while, miss. Perhaps you should have your breakfast first and then wait for the Young General at the observation tower."
"Alright, I suppose." Reluctantly, Zhenzhu walked back to eat the breakfast Yinghua had prepared. However, today’s breakfast was sparser than usual. Yinghua typically brought her a variety of dishes, at least five or six. Today, there was only a simple bowl of ginger porridge. Zhenzhu wasn’t particularly picky about food. The food Yinghua brought to her, how could she finish it herself? There were many leftover foods every day. She felt it was quite a waste of food. So, having just one dish like this was fine. She was actually helping His Majesty save resources.
"Why did you only make one dish today? Is the cook sick?" Zhenzhu asked, trying to make conversation with Yinghua to avoid the silence.
"Apologies, miss. Our army needs to conserve resources right now, so we didn’t prepare many dishes. But if you wish, I can ask the cook to make more."
"No need, no need. I was just curious. You used to make several dishes before."
"The army is in a difficult situation, miss. I’ve heard that the supplies were stolen, and the lord in charge of the supplies at the capital has disappeared. Yan Region lost tens of thousands of carts."
"Tens of thousands of carts!?" Zhenzhu was shocked. Such a significant loss—how would they feed the soldiers?
"Yes, miss."
"What will they do now? Won’t the soldiers starve?" Without supplies, not only would they be unable to fight, but they wouldn’t even have the strength to leave the camp. Without supplies, they were lost even before entering the battle.
"Taizi has returned to the capital to gather whatever supplies he can. They have to manage sohow for now, especially since the farrs are resting their fields and starting the new planting season. We don’t know if Taizi will be able to gather enough supplies to get through this period."
Hearing this gave Zhenzhu a headache on Yong Saiweihao’s behalf. Problems kept arising one after another. How strong must his heart be to bear the burden of expectation and be the moral support of the entire army? Despite his young age, his capabilities were not to be underestimated.
Zhenzhu quickly finished her al and followed Yinghua to the observation tower to wait for the young man who was currently commanding at the training ground. The tower was quite tall, so when she looked down, she saw Yong Saiweihao training the soldiers in battle formations. She exclaid in surprise.
"Human formations?" She had read about these formations in books but hadn’t paid much attention to them since she never thought she would need to use them. She had focused on natural formations instead.
In her heart, she admired Yong Saiweihao greatly. He was truly a man of many talents. It was said that human formations were incredibly difficult to execute because they required many people and precise control over positions and movents. A single mistake could disrupt the entire formation and lead to defeat.
Zhenzhu watched the various formations of the Yan army with great enjoynt. Only now did she realize how strong the Yan army truly was.
It took almost half the day before Yong Saiweihao took a break.
"Brother Hao, I’ve been waiting for you for what feels like a hundred years." She was waiting till she felt hungry again. Zhenzhu sat on the railing of the observation tower, her little feet swinging back and forth, making onlookers nervous that she might fall backward.
"You’ve been waiting that long?" Yong Saiweihao raised an eyebrow.
"Yesssss.”
"Then co down. You might fall before we could talk.”
"Okay," she jumped down imdiately.
"Brother Hao, you must be exhausted. Rest a bit first, and then we can discuss things," Zhenzhu quickly called a servant to prepare lunch for him.
The general’s lunch was just a simple al with a bowl of pickled vegetables.
She and Yong Saiweihao ate lunch together at the observation tower. Zhenzhu picked up so pickled vegetables and asked.
"Brother Hao, I heard that the supply convoy was raided?"
"Yes," he nodded.
"Was the damage severe?" This was a difficult situation to manage, similar to the previous droughts where there wasn’t enough food for the people. But now it was happening in the army. The soldiers would be starving if they couldn’t find enough food to last through the planting season. The Yan army wouldn’t be able to resist the Tang army. How could weakened soldiers without enough strength to lift a sword fight against the enemy?
"The damage was significant."
"If there is anything I can do to help, please let know. I can send a letter to my father to gather supplies from Fengfu City to assist. It might not be much, but it should help us get through a few more days." Fengfu City might be providing food for the southern refugees who had moved north, but it wasn’t as impoverished as it used to be. They had so reserves stored.
"Alright. Thank you," Yong Saiweihao nodded and looked up from his rice bowl to gaze at her with a complex expression.
After finishing their al, Zhenzhu got to the issue she wanted to discuss with him today. She set aside the supply issue for now and focused on solving the water problem first.
"Brother Hao, Baihu told that the person who inscribed the dark characters have a spirit energy tier of white, making their characters extrely powerful. To decipher the characters pattern, one must have a similar or not vastly different tier of spirit energy.”
"Go on?”
"I have a silver-tier spirit energy, and the other inscription masters can’t even perceive the character patterns. Baihu suggested another way, similar to Body Lending for Inscription. We would use an inscription master as a dium to channel power from a higher-tier spirit energy cultivator. I need to find a white-tier spirit energy cultivator to join this mission. That’s why I need Brother Hao’s help." She had heard that he was one of the few white-tier spirit energy cultivators in the region, which made him highly respected among the soldiers despite his young age.
"Is it dangerous?"
"It’s not dangerous for a high-tier spirit energy cultivator who will be using my body.”
"Is it dangerous for you?"
"For ... um... it shouldn’t be dangerous," she said hesitantly. She had used a similar thod before, Body Lending for Inscription, to inscribe the dinsional stone for the first ti. At that ti, she had used her father’s dark blue-tier spirit energy through her blue-tier body. The energy tiers were only one tier apart, but this ti there was a two-tier difference. However, Baihu had assured her that he and Xiao She would assist, so it shouldn’t be too dangerous.
"Shouldn’t be?" ’Shouldn’t be’ ant uncertainty, and Yong Saiweihao frowned.
"Oh, Brother Hao, you don’t need to worry. Baihu and Xiao She will help. Nothing will happen to .”
"Can we use soone else instead of you?"
"No, it has to be alone." How could she use soone else? She was already close to deciphering the character pattern. This task had to be done by her. She didn’t trust anyone else to touch it. If the pattern was deciphered incorrectly, could the character even be removed?
"Let think about it."
"Brother Hao! This is the only solution we have. You need to decide quickly. This is urgent. We can’t let ti slip away. You still have the major issue of supplies to resolve."
Yong Saiweihao frowned. Of course, he wanted to solve the problem, but if it ant putting her in danger, it wasn’t worth the risk. If the issue hadn’t been resolved, they would have to find a safer thod. It was fine if he was the one at risk, but if anything happened to her, how would he report back to Taizi and her father?
"Let’s discuss it tomorrow. I’ll give you an answer then."
"But..."
"Yang Zhuang, bring my horse," Yong Saiweihao ended the discussion, calling his confidant to bring his horse. He then rode off, leaving Zhenzhu sitting there with her mouth open.
"Ugh!" She could only grumble in frustration.
With nothing else to do, Zhenzhu decided to return to the stream, hoping to find so progress from the other inscription masters. But when she arrived on a horse’s back, they still couldn’t even sense the shadow of the character pattern.
As Zhenzhu was about to step towards the stone, one of the inscription masters called out to stop her.
"Lady He, Taizi has ordered that you are not to touch the stone yet, fearing it might be dangerous again."
"It won’t be. I’m fully recovered. Yesterday, I only spat out bad blood.”
"Still, it’s not allowed. If General Hao and Taizi find out, we will be reprimanded."
"Hey! It’s too much!" Zhenzhu was frustrated. They had called her to solve the problem, so why were there so many restrictions?
"Lady He, please don’t be angry. Once you are stronger, you can touch it again. Please be patient.”
"Fine," she agreed. I told you I am strong enough. Couldn’t you understand? Sigh... It was so frustrating.
With nothing else to do, Zhenzhu wandered around the military camp to explore. Tomorrow, she would seek another answer from Brother Hao.
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