Volume 5, Chapter 15 – Sacred Cicada

The Demon God Hall!

If the atmosphere in the hall had still been restrained before, then the moment those words were spoken, the assembled officials erupted into an uproar. Bai Zhuqing’s brows drew tightly together as well.

To ordinary people, Demon God Hall was an obscure term, one they would almost never have a chance to understand in any depth.

But for scholars, especially those engaged in archaeology, surveying, ancient culture research, and the like, the whole string of controversies surrounding that term was basically impossible to avoid.

The term originated with the private scholar Liu Haoran. It was something he discovered by chance while examining an ancient temple in the south of the Yangtze. The temple had originally borne many outlines of structures that were broken and damaged, yet when he returned after some time to observe it again, those damaged portions were actually little by little being restored. From this, he put forth the theory that shook the scholarly world: *On the Fusion of Things*.

*On the Fusion of Things* described an objective phenomenon: namely, that “though the tides of the Void Tribulation have already receded, the path of the main world’s restoration is still unfinished.” It pointed out that “as the main world fuses with fragments of the Illusory Realms,” not only are the borders of Heaven and Earth expanded, but the things once scraped away by the Void Tribulation are also restored.

What did that mean?

Take the ancient temple Liu Haoran examined as an example. Based on investigation, the time of its construction could be dated to roughly 6,300 years ago. That was far earlier than the founding of Yao Yu, and thus it was inferred that the temple had experienced more than one round of Void Tribulation, and was very likely a “survivor” of multiple tides of Void Tribulation. In other words, it had not been completely destroyed, but had still remained.

That temple was in an extreme state of ruin. Many parts of the main structure were broken or missing, and even the supporting pillars had been reduced to only a few. Scholars in related fields had once believed this was simply natural damage caused by the wearing of time, but after the secret of the tribulation struggle came to light, that judgment was overturned, and the cause of the temple’s damage was instead attributed to tidal destruction caused by the Void Tribulation.

In other words, when the Void Tribulation had once come to scrape away the skin of the main world, it had also scraped this broken temple into ruin. Those stones and statues that had vanished from it without a trace had basically all been swept away by the tides of the Void Tribulation.

And that raised the question. If the missing parts had indeed been swept away by the Void Tribulation back then, and the main world was now absorbing the many fragments that had once been swept away, might those fragments include the missing portions of the temple?

Liu Haoran believed they certainly would. He held that when the main world fused with fragments, it would also restore the missing portions of ancient ruins like these. Fearing that such a phenomenon might awaken certain great demons of antiquity, he proposed in *On the Fusion of Things* the concept of the Demon God Hall, arguing that there were likely no small number of such temples scattered across the lands of the various provinces. Some of them, he believed, might involve the worship of evil gods by sapient beings of the ancient age—that is, the “demon gods” once revered by many demon paths.

The moment *On the Fusion of Things* appeared, it shocked the academic world and stirred widespread panic. Bai Zhuqing had found the matter exceptionally troublesome as well.

Liu Haoran’s sobriquet was Master Cijing. Even before the founding of the new dynasty, he had already been a great Confucian scholar of the age, one of those with famous disciples all under Heaven. His influence had already been enormous.

And before the fall of the old dynasty, he had foreseen the end of Yao Yu. Though he had not openly and clearly supported the Bai family, he had secretly dispatched promising younger talents such as Xu Ling and Zhang Xianzhi to Zhennan.

So his branch had indeed rendered service in the founding of the new dynasty. After the Bai family rose to power, they had deliberately fostered him as the new leading authority in ritual studies, which only magnified his prestige still further.

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This Liu Haoran knew nothing of martial arts and practiced no qi methods. He was already advanced in years, the sort of man with one foot and a half already in the grave. When a person like that produced *On the Fusion of Things*, saying in effect, *I merely wish to serve the nation well, and I added the theory of the Demon God Hall only because I fear the Imperial Court may repeat the mistakes of the former dynasty and hope the Regent of the Imperial Court will take the matter seriously and think carefully*… what could Bai Zhuqing possibly do to him?

She could neither beat nor scold him, still less kill him. Thus, although *On the Fusion of Things* caused enormous unrest among the upper ranks at the time, the Imperial Court did nothing to Liu Haoran. Instead, it wore the matter down slowly by dispatching numerous survey teams deep into the wildernesses across the land, determining the exact locations of more than three hundred ancient ruins and confirming that they were all, for the time being, “quiet,” with no signs whatsoever of activation. Only then did the unrest gradually subside.

But it remained a thorn all the same.

The various provinces and circuits were already on edge because of the tides of voidfiends. At the worst of times, the situation had once reached the point where the mere mention of demons changed people’s expressions. If talk of great demons and demon gods were to rise again, it would inevitably unsettle hearts across the land.

Take the present moment, for example. Had Zhang Yu, Zhang Fengmao, actually produced any concrete evidence?

He had not. It was just one shabby map with a few casual strokes on it.

And yet it was still effective. Because the location of that ruin really was sensitive. It lay in the Hexi Corridor, the weakest stretch of Eastern Xia’s territory. If the ruin were to cause a change in the demon tide and induce it to surge south on a massive and frenzied scale, then in little more than a month Eastern Xia’s northwest could be split straight open, cutting apart and encircling Mao Province, Ze Province, and Qi Province alike.

It involved a population of more than fifty million, and beyond that it dimly carried the threat of a “demon god.” No one could afford to treat it lightly.

“Secretary Zhang.” This time, Bai Zhuqing addressed Zhang Yu by his formal office. “…Where did you get this information?”

“From death-sworn spies I maintained in Northern Yu at great expense.” Zhang Yu cupped his hands. “The intelligence confirms that this ruin belonged to the ancient human Jiuli Clan. It was a sacred site the Jiuli Clan built to worship the great demon Jiuli.”

Bai Zhuqing arched a brow. “You dare guarantee that?”

Zhang Yu nodded. “I dare stake my head on it!”

Troublesome.

Listening to the buzzing discussion below, Bai Zhuqing sighed inwardly.

As for Zhang Yu, she had never truly regarded him as any major threat.

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He seemed upright on the surface, but in truth he was highly skilled at quietly forming cliques and factions behind the scenes… She had actually sent people to investigate those little movements quite thoroughly.

The reason she had never dealt with him harshly was, on the one hand, because he was at least counted as a worthy scholar put forward by the Hebei region, a representative figure of the three provinces there… and on the other hand, because Zhang Yu truly was astute and capable. Whatever she set him to do, he completed very well.

And he was not afraid of offending people. Ever since he had taken the position of Privy Secretary in the Privy Council, he had managed to offend almost all the officials at court. Naturally, she was reluctant to dispose of a person like that.

Better to leave him in that position, make full use of him, and use him as a target of observation as well, further tightening her control over the three provinces of Hebei through monitoring and controlling him.

If Zhang Yu had used some other excuse today to demand the invocation of the Sacred Cicada, she would have rejected him with a flat and merciless refusal. But Zhang Yu had used the upheaval in Tianji as leverage… and had even produced “evidence for which he was willing to stake his own head.”

Bai Zhuqing could choose not to care about Tianji Circuit. She could choose not to care about the three Hebei provinces behind Zhang Yu. But she could not choose not to care about what would happen if his words proved true. She could not choose not to care about Qi Province, Ze Province, and Mao Province potentially being cut apart by the voidfiend army.

And Mao Province in particular…!

The lands of Zhennan were the very foundation upon which the Bai family had established itself. To speak plainly of personal feeling, she would sooner give up Xiajing than ever give up that place!

So once the matter was laid bare, it was no longer simply that Zhang Yu wanted to force her to invoke the Sacred Cicada. She herself felt that it ought to be invoked!

When the safety of Zhennan was involved, Bai Zhuqing did not dare harbor any luck-driven hopes. Zhang Yu had clearly seen straight through to her weak point and meant to use it as an open strategy to force out the Sacred Cicada!

The Sacred Cicada had to be invoked.

Bai Zhuqing considered.

But she could not agree on the spot.

If she agreed on the spot, then it would become a case of Zhang Yu’s interference and influence succeeding… That precedent could not be set here and now!

“Regent.”

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Even as she was still thinking of what excuse she might use to delay things, Zhang Yu below once more bowed deeply to her.

“This concerns the safety and livelihood of tens of millions of people in the three Hexi provinces… I beg you to summon forth the Sacred Cicada, organize the Sacred Army, and hurry to Tianji with reinforcements!”

“Regent!”

Two more men stepped forward from the side, one a robust scholar of around forty, the other a white-templed man of about fifty. The two of them shook out their sleeves together and, imitating Zhang Yu, bowed deeply as they said in unison, “This concerns *On the Fusion of Things* and the possibly changing ‘demon god ruin.’ We beg you to summon forth the Sacred Cicada, organize the Sacred Army, and hurry to Tianji with reinforcements!”

“Regent!”

Another six stepped out from the rear.

“Regent!”

Behind those six, over a dozen more raised their voices.

This was truly… beyond all bounds!

Bai Zhuqing’s face darkened at once.

At this point, how could she still fail to recognize what this was? It was a carefully orchestrated act of dismantling her authority, organized deliberately with Zhang Yu at its head!

If she gave way today, then it would mean that these qi-method people had, for the first time, interfered in the rite of the Sacred Cicada. They would have interfered with Bai Zhuqing herself, and with the very foundation upon which the entire Bai family was able to wield power over Eastern Xia!

Damn it… they had come too quickly!

If only they had given me even half a day more… But now, how was she supposed to redirect the issue?

On the surface, Bai Zhuqing strove to remain calm, but within, she was thinking constantly, searching for some excuse by which today’s court session might at least be postponed for the moment.

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Elder Sister…

If Elder Sister were here, what would she do?

Without realizing it, Bai Zhuqing tilted her face slightly and let the corner of her eye sweep toward the white-jade exalted seat above.

Perhaps because her longing had become too intense, in that moment of dazed half-illusion she truly seemed to see a lovely figure with snowy hair seated upon the exalted throne.

She could not help but become a little entranced.

But in the end, it was only a phantom…

Bai Zhuqing slowly turned her head back.

Yet I cannot rely on her too much—

“Someone wishes to invoke the Sacred Cicada?”

“…”

“…”

What—

Whirling around, Bai Zhuqing stared wide-eyed toward the jade throne, and saw that female cultivator in dark robes staring down with golden eyes.

Within those eyes lay a cold resolve.

Just as proud and chilling as in her memories.