Volume 1, Chapter 147 – An Unexpected Turn

“This is no small matter, General. You had best come inside with this old man so we can discuss it in detail.” Lin Yusheng raised his hand as he spoke.

“Mister Lin, this general does not want to beat around the bush.”

Bai Weiyang’s tone sharpened a little.

Lin Yusheng’s palm tightened slightly. He furrowed his brows, sighed, then repeated his earlier question.

“How many people do you need?”

“At the very least, one great scholar to accompany our army, and beneath the great scholar, at least a hundred literati.”

A chorus of sharp intakes of breath rose all around. Everyone was startled by Bai Weiyang’s demand.

Great scholars were few even in all of Taixu Academy. They were figures on par with Myriad Phenomena Realm experts, and anyone deemed worthy of the title “literatus” had to at least reach the point where the righteous qi in their body could condense into astral force, equivalent at minimum to an Earth Fiend Realm martial artist.

The strength Bai Weiyang had just asked for was almost equivalent to the entire foundation of a fifth-grade force.

Lin Yusheng’s expression did not change in the slightest. After a long silence, he spoke softly.

“Please wait a moment, General Bai…”

With that, Lin Yusheng turned and walked back into the academy.

After nearly half a quarter of an hour, Lin Yusheng came striding back, followed by roughly over a hundred scholars.

“General Bai, let us go.”

With this contingent of scholars, Lin Yusheng passed through the archway before the academy gate and came to stand before Bai Weiyang’s horse.

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“Mister Lin is going personally?”

“This old man is not worthy of the general’s eyes?” Lin Yusheng asked as he brushed his sleeves.

“Your righteousness does you credit, sir. Please.” Bai Weiyang raised his hand calmly.

Lin Yusheng flicked his sleeve. A gale rose from flat ground, lifting the scholars and drifting them toward the warship.

Bai Weiyang turned his mount and started back the way he had come.

Shi Lan tightened the reins and turned with the group. Before her horse could take a step, a voice with little confidence called from behind her.

“Shi… Lan?”

Shi Lan turned her head and saw a simply dressed young man standing under the archway, looking at her in disbelief.

She studied him for a long moment, then asked hesitantly,

“And you are?”

“P… perhaps I have mistaken you for someone else. Forgive my rudeness.”

Seeing that Shi Lan’s expression did not look like an act, the young man felt disappointment, but could not help also feeling a bit relieved.

The more Shi Lan looked at him, the more familiar he seemed. After pondering for a while, a spark of realization flashed through her mind and she said,

“So it is you… Xu Yuanbai.”

At her words, Xu Yuanbai’s expression changed drastically. The head he had just lowered snapped up again and he cried out in shock, “It really is you! You… you were a woman all along…”

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Shi Lan had only met Xu Yuanbai once. Her impression of him was not very deep.

With how much had changed over the past year, the former body’s influence on her had long since faded. It was only natural that she had not immediately remembered who Xu Yuanbai was.

Once she did remember, she lost all interest in talking to him. She urged her horse forward and caught up with Bai Weiyang and the others, who had already gone quite a distance.

Xu Yuanbai stood there in a daze, his heart a jumble of feelings.

When he had left Tenglong City full of hatred, he had secretly sworn that he would join Taixu Academy, achieve great learning, and make the naturally crippled Shi Lan forever look up to him.

By then, even the entire Shi Residence would be nothing but ants before Taixu Academy.

Reality and expectation turned out to be worlds apart.

The Xu Clan had spent most of its savings to send him all the way to Taixu Academy, but Taixu Academy had driven him out on the grounds that he was “filled with resentment and had yet to grasp a scholar’s heart.”

Only after his desperate pleading did Taixu Academy grant him a menial’s position and allow him to sit in and listen when the literati lectured.

Xu Yuanbai had imagined his reunion with Shi Lan countless times. He had never imagined this.

Not only was Shi Lan a woman, she had almost forgotten who he even was.

Recalling all that had happened before in Tenglong City and the hazy affection in Shi Lan’s eyes when she had looked at him back then, Xu Yuanbai could not help but feel a surge of regret.

If he had known she was a woman from the start, how could there have been such foolishness.

If things had gone differently, he might already be Shi Tianlu’s ideal son-in-law. How would he have ended up here, suffering cold looks.

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Staring at the warship hidden among the distant clouds, Xu Yuanbai threw back his head and sighed.

“Heaven is blind.”

…

For Shi Lan, Xu Yuanbai’s appearance was just a minor episode, brushed aside in an instant.

Right now, her mind held only curiosity about Lin Yusheng’s methods. From beginning to end, she had never sensed any extraordinary power from him.

Even when he had just used wind-riding arts, she had sensed only a faint fluctuation of heaven and earth spiritual qi, and nothing at all like any special force similar to true qi.

It was the same for the scholars following behind Lin Yusheng.

Once they returned to the warship, Bai Weiyang settled the people from Taixu Academy in one area, then turned the warship around. The spiritual qi barrier unfolded and they sped at full power toward the due west.

Sensing the warship’s course, Shi Lan understood in her heart that they were likely heading straight for the battlefield.

Bai Weiyang had pressed the powers from all sides into service and gathered a hundred thousand martial artists, forming this enormous force. The beast tide they were about to face was certain to be no small matter, far surpassing the one that had struck Twin Moon City by countless times.

Perhaps what lay ahead now was the true main battlefield.

The sun rose in the east and set in the west. In the blink of an eye, a full day passed.

During that day, Shi Lan did not cultivate. Instead, per Bai Weiyang’s orders, she gathered her subordinates together and kept them ready at any time for his commands.

On the lowest level of the warship, row after row of flood-dragon horses were led out, numbering over ten thousand, enough to mount every last Demon-Suppressing Army soldier.

As for the other martial artists, giving them flood-dragon horses might actually have the opposite of the desired effect.

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Black banners with golden Demon-Suppressing Army characters were also taken out and distributed to each hundred-man squad.

Feeling the ever-growing tension, Shi Lan made time to seek out Wu Lingkong and slipped a talisman into her hand.

“What is this?” Wu Lingkong asked, puzzled, looking at the palm-sized talisman in her hand.

“Something to save your life. If you run into danger on the battlefield, activate it, and it will give you Earth Fiend Realm strength for a short time.” Shi Lan said quietly.

This Tianling Talisman had originally been a trump card Shi Lan kept to save her own life, but she had never had a chance to use it.

Now that she had entered the Earth Fiend Realm, its effect on her was not as great. At best, it could push her up to the late Earth Fiend Realm, and she still had Samsara besides.

Wu Lingkong was only at the seventh stage of the Innate Realm and inconspicuous on this warship. With the battlefield changing in an instant, this Tianling Talisman was a very reliable safety lock. It might well save her life.

“You should keep it for yourself. You are a thousand-man commander. Once you are on the battlefield and clashing with demon beasts, you will be on the front lines…” Wu Lingkong shook her head and refused.

“This talisman is not of much use to me. Keep it.”

Leaving those words behind, Shi Lan turned and walked away. She had no shortage of things to handle.

…

Boom.

As Shi Lan was counting heads for the third time, a peal of thunder suddenly rang out, and the warship beneath her feet shook violently.