Volume 5, Chapter 14 – Demon God

The next day, Bai Zhuqing woke on her couch, yawning as the maid Xiao Tao helped her put on her phoenix robe.

This crimson phoenix robe patterned with gold belonged to the office of Regent of the Imperial Court. In ordinary times, she found the clothing too cumbersome and usually just threw on a single outer robe and tied a sash around her waist. But when it came to a formal occasion, that would not do. She had to dress and prepare herself properly.

“Your Highness carries more and more majesty by the day,” Xiao Tao praised as she arranged Bai Zhuqing’s hair. “Your glances shine, your red makeup faces the mirror… At this rate, I’m afraid one day Your Highness may replace the phoenix with the dragon and change into new robes~”

“Don’t talk nonsense!” One moment, Bai Zhuqing was still listening with faint satisfaction as Xiao Tao praised her. The next, her face had hardened, and she rebuked the girl with severe harshness.

“What do you mean, replace the phoenix with the dragon? All you ever do is let your imagination run wild!”

Xiao Tao had not been wrong about one thing. After all these years of rule, Bai Zhuqing had indeed developed an overwhelming aura of nobility.

She herself was unaware of it, but when the authority to bestow cultivation rested in her hands alone, when the development and operation of all fifty-six base cities of the nation and the entire body of civil and military officials depended on her supervision and decisions, then no matter how relaxed or casual her manner toward others might seem, that person would still feel a mountain-like pressure in her bearing.

Fang Wenya was a perfect example. At times, she still dared joke with Bai Zhuqing and say highly intimate things, but the moment the topic turned serious, no matter what expression Bai Zhuqing wore, Fang Wenya had to weigh every word with great care and only dared speak after thorough thought.

So when Xiao Tao saw her lose her temper this time, her face went pale at once. She hurriedly threw herself to the floor, and her plea for mercy was almost tearful.

Under ordinary circumstances, Bai Zhuqing would not have been too hard on Xiao Tao. A few scoldings would usually have been enough.

But this time, Xiao Tao had touched upon a forbidden subject, and worse, she had done so knowingly. It was not as though Bai Zhuqing had never shown her displeasure and wariness on this point over the years. The offense was therefore a serious one.

“You will forfeit a year’s pay.” Bai Zhuqing waved a hand at Xiao Tao. “For one year, you are not to leave Zhengyuan Palace. Go tend the garden next door for me.”

“Yes…” Xiao Tao accepted the punishment with a miserable face, knowing in her heart that even so, this still counted as exceptional mercy from her mistress.

But in truth, there had been a reason she had asked in that way.

Even Fang Wenya could detect Bai Zhuqing’s occasional private amusements. How could a personal maid like Xiao Tao have failed to notice?

Naturally, Xiao Tao had been shocked when she first discovered it.

Then, after piecing things together, she realized that the person the Regent of the Imperial Court was imagining was actually High Emperor Ancestor Xia. At that point, her shock had turned into outright fright.

But as time passed, Xiao Tao gradually grew used to it and accepted it. Sometimes she would even think that a talent like her mistress, gifted enough to excel in government and the sword alike, capable of employing people well and leading Eastern Xia forward, was matched in all of history, regardless of gender, only by the High Emperor herself.

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And yet there was one deeply unfortunate fact: the High Emperor had long since passed beyond the mortal world. To sink one’s feelings into a dead person was, in the end, not healthy.

Xiao Tao cared about Bai Zhuqing. Somewhere in her subconscious, there was perhaps also the faintest trace of admiration for her mistress, so she had wanted to comfort or admonish her in her own way. She simply had not expected to touch that reverse scale again.

For Bai Zhuqing, the question of whether her elder sister was alive or dead was an absolute taboo.

Xiao Tao ought to count herself lucky that she had not broached the subject directly, but had only used a phrase like replacing the phoenix with the dragon to suggest that Bai Zhuqing might let go of the past and inherit the throne. Otherwise, her mistress would not have minded at all if she were made to vanish from the mortal world. Bai Zhuqing possessed exactly that kind of resolve.

“There will not be a next time. Do you understand?”

Before going out, Bai Zhuqing fixed Xiao Tao with a sidelong stare.

That frightened Xiao Tao badly. At last, she realized just how gravely she had overstepped, and did not dare make the slightest sound along the way.

Seeing her like that, Bai Zhuqing’s brows drew together slightly.

If even the maid at her side, who ought by rights to understand her disposition very well, was like this, then one could imagine just how many people outside were eagerly waiting for her to “change into new robes” and ascend to that highest position.

But Bai Zhuqing knew that such a thing was impossible for her.

That seat belonged to Elder Sister. Only she had the right to sit there.

The Bai family had indeed raised and cared for Elder Sister, but she was not of the Bai family’s blood. The fact that the Bai family had attained such standing in the new dynasty was already more than enough advantage. By what right could I, standing in for the Bai family, enter and rule the realm that Elder Sister won with her own hands?

Bai Zhuqing also knew that the way she thought was bizarre, the sort of thing that would have made her an ultimate oddity in any age of history.

But she insisted on thinking that way.

She also knew that the reason the officials beneath her were able to unite on certain matters and jointly submit remonstrances was that some of them simply wanted to force her to yield step by step on certain issues, until they pushed her onto that seat and pinned her there.

Yes, she knew that some of those people were not simply stupid or malicious. They had their own reasons. For example: “A state cannot go a single day without a sovereign. Since Year One, the various peoples have risen together and urgently require a new ruler. Yet after the High Emperor, only the Regent possesses rightful authority, and should naturally inherit the High Emperor’s will and comfort the High Emperor’s spirit in Heaven” and so on and so forth.

They never said it openly, but they had hinted at it in all sorts of ways, and she had heard plenty of it.

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But she insisted on holding to her own thoughts.

She knew that doing this would unsettle people’s hearts. Perhaps the past few years had been manageable, but now that Zhengyuan had reached its first decade, at this critical pass, many people were bound to start thinking more than before.

It was like the old days, when if no heir was established, the realm became unstable, and the ministers would submit memorials pressing the Eastern Palace.

Yet she would rather let the unrest rise and fall without end, rather use herself as bait, rather use the posthumous title of High Emperor Taizu as bait to suppress these people, than change into new robes.

She simply would not.

Everyone else had already given up hope. At present, the only ones who sincerely believed that Elder Sister was still alive and would surely return were herself, Senior Master, and Grandfather.

How could she be the first deserter?

Elder Sister would definitely return.

Even life, death, and reincarnation had failed to destroy Elder Sister’s soul. A mere Void Tribulation tide… she would surely return and meet me again!

Holding such thoughts, Bai Zhuqing, accompanied by attendants and guards, made her way into the main hall and walked up the arched bridge before the gathered court officials below.

She first glanced at the white-jade exalted seat at the very top, then took her own seat below and to the side of it, sweeping her gaze over those beneath her.

“We pay our respects to the Regent.”

A white-haired man at the front was the first to bow upward, prompting all the others to bow as well. “We pay our respects to the Regent—”

“Zhang Fengmao.” Bai Zhuqing did not stand on ceremony with him in the slightest, calling him directly by his courtesy name. “I hear that you proposed invoking the Sacred Cicada?”

Fengmao was the courtesy name of Zhang Yu. Hearing that, he immediately bowed again and said, “Indeed. I have petitioned that the Sacred Cicada be invoked once more.”

In speech and in etiquette, these court officials were not particularly servile. That was because they all essentially belonged to the qi-method people. So long as Bai Zhuqing did not sit in the seat above, the difference in status between them could not, in theory, become absolute, and there was no need in ritual terms for them to kneel.

“There has long been a ruling on the rite of the Sacred Cicada. It must not be lightly invoked except in times of bitter warfare.” Bai Zhuqing frowned. “No voidfiend resurgence has yet taken place. What do you mean by making such a request now?”

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By this point, her tone had already turned distinctly unfriendly. Anyone could hear how dissatisfied she was.

Anyone with sense ought, at a moment like this, to start weighing which side they truly stood on.

“That is not the case.” Zhang Yu raised his head and addressed Bai Zhuqing with a righteous expression. “It may seem that there is no present calamity, but in truth a great disaster is brewing in the northwest. If the situation is allowed to drag on, I fear it will produce immense slaughter…”

Bai Zhuqing asked again, “You mean that voidfiend force wandering to the northwest of Tianji Circuit, in what used to be the northwestern desert?”

Zhang Yu nodded. “Exactly!”

“That voidfiend force has been entrenched in the desert for three years already. Why is it that in all that time I did not see you worrying about it before?”

“Naturally because over those past three years it had not yet grown into a true threat.” Zhang Yu widened his eyes and spoke with ringing conviction. “The Regent may not know this, but over the last three years that demon tide has continually absorbed smaller surrounding voidfiend groups. By today, it has already grown to a scale of ten million. If such a force were to surge south in full, the three border towns occupied by the Federation alone would never be able to stop it. At that time, not only would Tianji Circuit once again be plunged into a sea of blood, but the Federation might also dispatch forces to encircle Tianji and force our Eastern Xia into isolation in the northwest.”

“Exactly!”

“The Regent must see clearly that Chancellor Zhang has not spoken a single false word!”

The moment Zhang Yu finished, several people below responded at once, stepping out to join in the remonstrance, their faces full of apparent sincerity.

Bai Zhuqing had no intention of accepting any of it. With obvious impatience, she said, “Then we can wait for reports from the front. It will not be too late to invoke it once those three towns have actually been overrun.”

She felt these people were simply indulging in wild fantasies. How could they think an excuse like this would force her to invoke the Sacred Cicada?

She acknowledged that over the years she had at times borrowed the strength of these people to keep one another in check, but the forces in her own hands were what they were. Almost all defensive arrangements in Xiajing were in the hands of her people. What gave them the confidence to think they could pressure her in her own palace?

“Regent!”

Once again, Zhang Yu stepped forward.

“Your servant has one more matter to report to the Regent!”

Bai Zhuqing had already been preparing to rise. Hearing this, she glanced at him and saw that his expression was firm and full of confidence. She frowned and sat back down. “What matter?”

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“It concerns Northern Yu.”

The moment those words were spoken, the entire atmosphere of the court changed.

“Northern Yu?”

“How did this suddenly involve Northern Yu…”

Quite a few officials who had not taken part until now immediately furrowed their brows. Each began muttering inwardly to himself while staring fixedly at the scene ahead, wanting to hear exactly what Zhang Yu had discovered.

Zhang Yu remained perfectly calm and ordered a servant to bring forth a great bolt of cloth.

With a rustle, the cloth was spread open, revealing a copied map. The place depicted on it was the northwestern desert, and the most eye-catching feature at its center was a line drawing of a structure. It seemed to have stood in wind and sand for many years, very much like some kind of ancient ruin.

“…What is this?”

Bai Zhuqing looked at it for quite some time, uncertain in her heart, before turning and frowning at Zhang Yu again.

“Traces of the archaic age.”

Zhang Yu stared directly into her eyes.

“This place was originally incomplete.”

“But for reasons well known to all, over these past years the missing portions have gradually been restored, and it has begun recovering its original function.”

“You should know what that means, Regent.”

He spoke each word aloud with deliberate force.

“This is a sacred site where the people of the archaic age offered sacrifices.”

“…This is a Demon God Hall!”