The official looked back and forth between Lee Hyun's face and his waist, then cupped his hands in greeting.
"May I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Do you happen to have a Fengtian Bureau retainer badge?"
"I do not."
"Then please wait a moment."
He immediately turned and headed back to the carriage.
Lee Hyun watched the official's retreating back and frowned slightly.
'What is it?'
Just then.
Chime–
One of the four cultivator bells hanging from the corners of the carriage roof began to sway on its own despite the lack of wind.
Each time its clear chime rang out, the tip of the bell tilted a little farther toward Lee Hyun.
Chime. Chime.
'Is that a magic tool?'
When Lee Hyun used the Aura-Reading Art, he saw faint threads of spiritual power intertwined across the surface of the cultivator bell.
A moment later, the curtain opened.
The first person to step down from the carriage was an elderly cultivator in blue robes.
He looked to be around sixty, but the spiritual power emanating from him was on an entirely different level from Zhang Youshan, the Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator Lee Hyun had seen outside the Old West Gate.
'Late Qi Refining!?'
A gleam flashed through the elderly cultivator's eyes as he looked at Lee Hyun. His gaze lingered near Lee Hyun's dantian for a moment before sweeping over his entire body.
His expression did not change in the slightest.
'He couldn't see through the Spirit-Concealing Art? That's a relief.'
A young man stepped down from the carriage after him.
He did not appear to be over thirty.
His black hair was bound beneath a golden coronet, and clouds and waves had been embroidered in silver thread across his dark purple long robe. A jade belt and longsword hung at his waist, and he wore spotless black leather shoes.
The moment the man appeared, the surrounding officials and soldiers bowed even deeper.
The middle-aged official shouted loudly.
"His Highness the Crown Prince!"
'The Crown Prince?'
The Huiling Liu clan was the royal clan that had ruled Yunze Kingdom for hundreds of years. People also called them the Huiling royal house.
That meant the man before him was the current King's legitimate son and had already been designated as the next ruler.
Lee Hyun had not expected someone like that to personally step out of the carriage because of him.
The Crown Prince walked up to Lee Hyun.
Lee Hyun did not know what etiquette he was supposed to observe before the Crown Prince, so he cupped his hands as cultivators did when greeting one another.
"My name is Li Dongyi."
Even though Lee Hyun greeted him first, the Crown Prince gave no reply. Instead, he lifted the front hem of his robe.
Thud.
The Crown Prince dropped to his knees in the middle of the street.
"......?"
Lee Hyun's eyes widened.
The people nearby also drew sharp breaths in surprise.
The Crown Prince cupped his hands and bowed his head deeply.
"I, Liu Zhenghui, Crown Prince of Yunze Kingdom, implore the Immortal. Please become a Retainer of the Fengtian Bureau and protect Yunze Kingdom."
"......."
'What in the world is going on?'
'I heard Qi Refining rogue cultivators were highly valued here, but valued enough for a member of the royal family to kneel in the street before a rogue cultivator he's never even met?'
Lee Hyun instinctively glanced around. He wondered whether there was some trap or scheme he had failed to notice, but he saw nothing suspicious.
The Crown Prince continued speaking with his head still bowed.
"The Immortal need not take up a sword and go south. Merely drawing a single talisman would be enough. Simply adding your name to the Fengtian Bureau's rolls would give tremendous strength to the people of Yunze Kingdom."
"Um...."
"If what we can offer is insufficient, please tell me. Spirit stones, spirit herbs, a residence... As long as it lies within Yunze Kingdom's means, we will do everything we can to provide it."
The elderly cultivator in blue robes finally sighed.
"Your Highness."
"Retainer Zheng, do not stop me."
"I cannot simply stand by."
The elderly cultivator stepped beside the Crown Prince and took hold of his arm.
"Showing respect to an Immortal and putting a fellow Daoist you have just met in an awkward position in the middle of the street are two different matters."
"But...."
"If Your Highness keeps this up, even someone who was interested will run away."
The elderly cultivator helped the Crown Prince to his feet.
The Crown Prince rose without resistance, yet showed not the slightest hint of embarrassment.
"Retainer Zheng is always talking about appearances."
"This is not about appearances. It is about proper etiquette. Every time Your Highness sets out to recruit a Retainer, you begin by dropping to your knees. You have even earned a nickname among Yunjing's rogue cultivators by now."
"What nickname?"
"You are better off not hearing it."
The Crown Prince's expression stiffened slightly.
The elderly cultivator cupped his hands toward Lee Hyun.
"My apologies. I am Zheng Yuanbo, a Standing Retainer of the Fengtian Bureau."
"I am Li Dongyi."
"Judging by the look of things, fellow Daoist, this must be your first time in Yunjing. Please do not take His Highness's behavior too seriously. Ever since Baishui City fell, he has done this whenever he meets a cultivator who has yet to join the Fengtian Bureau."
"Retainer Zheng!"
"Am I wrong?"
Zheng Yuanbo ignored the Crown Prince's protest.
"Was it the cultivator bell on the carriage that recognized me as a cultivator?"
"Correct."
Zheng Yuanbo pointed toward the carriage roof.
"It is a low-grade magic tool that rings whenever a Qi Refining cultivator is nearby. However, the moment it resonates with a Fengtian Bureau retainer badge, it falls silent."
"I see."
Zheng Yuanbo glanced sideways at the Crown Prince.
"That does not mean a member of the royal family should personally kneel the instant it detects someone."
"If kneeling can gain us someone the kingdom needs, what does it matter?"
The Crown Prince replied without a trace of shame. Zheng Yuanbo sighed again.
Lee Hyun spoke.
"Actually, I was already on my way to the Fengtian Bureau."
"...Truly?"
"I wanted to learn how to advance from Qi Refining Stage 3 to Stage 4, and also look into alchemy. I was considering registering as a Retainer of the Fengtian Bureau as well."
The Crown Prince turned toward Zheng Yuanbo.
"You heard him?"
"I did."
"He says he would have come to the Fengtian Bureau even if I had not knelt."
"Which is precisely why I told Your Highness not to make a spectacle of yourself."
"......."
The Crown Prince cleared his throat, then dusted off the knees of his robe.
Zheng Yuanbo spoke.
"However, registering as a Retainer requires two Standing Retainers qualified to conduct the assessment to be present together. Unfortunately, everyone who can conduct one right now is away on assignment. Of the two who will return first, one has gone to inspect a formation in another city, while the other went east to deal with a demon beast... You will likely have to wait three or four days."
"I can wait that long."
"We will arrange a place for you to stay in the meantime."
The Crown Prince immediately added,
"We will send someone to inform you as soon as the two return."
"Thank you."
"We are on our way to the Grand Drill Ground of the Martial Training Academy. If the Immortal does not mind, would you care to accompany us?"
"What are you going there for?"
"There is a review today for the reinforcements departing for Lushui Pass. Before that, a sparring match is also scheduled to assess the general's martial arts."
"In that case, I will come with you."
The Crown Prince gestured toward the carriage.
"There is room inside."
Lee Hyun considered it for a moment. The Crown Prince himself did not bother him, but riding in a cramped carriage with Zheng Yuanbo, a late Qi Refining cultivator, was another matter.
Lee Hyun was inexperienced in combat. He possessed plenty of spiritual power, but he was not confident he could respond properly if he were ambushed at close range.
He also worried that remaining together inside such a confined carriage might allow Zheng Yuanbo to notice the spiritual power throughout his body that the Spirit-Concealing Art was concealing.
After all, his assessment of his proficiency in the Spirit-Concealing Art was merely something he had carved into a wooden board himself. He had no way of knowing whether it could truly fool a late Qi Refining cultivator observing him from extremely close range.
"I will walk."
"That will not do. If the Immortal walks while I ride in the carriage, people will say the Huiling royal house mistreats its guests."
At that moment, Zheng Yuanbo said calmly,
"Then Your Highness can walk as well."
"Whose side are you on, Retainer Zheng?"
"The Fengtian Bureau's."
"Now that I think about it, that works too. We are almost there anyway."
In the end, neither the Crown Prince nor Zheng Yuanbo returned to the carriage. They walked side by side with Lee Hyun along the main avenue of the inner city, while the carriage and mounted guards followed slowly behind them.
As they walked, the Crown Prince continuously explained the Fengtian Bureau.
According to him, the Fengtian Bureau currently had fewer than two hundred Qi Refining cultivators.
Of those, only around fifty Military Retainers were actually deployed in combat, nowhere near enough to defend the entire southern frontier.
Fifty Qi Refining cultivators might sound like a formidable force, but Qinghe Valley alone, in the southwestern region of the Great Yan Kingdom where Lee Hyun had once lived, had around a thousand Qi Refining cultivators.
If so many cultivators had existed in such a small territory, then having only around fifty Qi Refining cultivators immediately available for war across the vast Yunze Kingdom truly was an extremely small number.
The southern border where Yunze Kingdom met Qianyang Kingdom stretched more than twenty thousand li (about 8,000 km) from east to west.
In the end, Qianyang Kingdom was not the only nation forced to rely on masters of the martial path. Aside from key strongholds, Yunze Kingdom likewise had to entrust many areas to martial masters rather than Qi Refining Retainers.
"Are there not far too few Military Retainers? If so, you will have no choice but to ask the External Retainers to join the war as well."
"We can ask them, but we cannot force the External Retainers onto the battlefield."
The Crown Prince continued.
"If the royal house is the first to break the promises made when we invited them to become Retainers, what Immortal would trust Yunze Kingdom enough to join the Fengtian Bureau in the future?"
Lee Hyun looked mildly surprised.
"Even if the kingdom were truly in grave danger?"
"We might gain one or two more people in the short term."
The Crown Prince shook his head.
"But from that moment onward, Yunze Kingdom would cease to be a kingdom that honors Immortals and become one that commands them. When our circumstances grow even worse than they are now, no one will help us."
...
They continued along the avenue.
Before long, rhythmic shouts and the clash of weapons could be heard from beyond a high wall.
"That is the Martial Training Academy's Grand Drill Ground."
...
The Grand Drill Ground of the Martial Training Academy was larger than Lee Hyun had imagined.
The yellow-earth field enclosed by high walls was so vast that the wall on the opposite side could not even be seen.
A separate training ground for archery and mounted drills had also been built along one side.
Martial artists wielded weapons everywhere, while tens of thousands of soldiers armed with spears and shields moved in multiple square formations.
"Thrust!"
"Ha–!"
Thousands of spears shot forward in unison.
The combined sound of them tearing through the air resembled the roar of some enormous beast.
"Recover!"
Thud!
As the soldiers stamped their feet simultaneously, the ground trembled faintly.
Lee Hyun climbed a tall reviewing pavilion on one side of the Grand Drill Ground with the Crown Prince's party.
From there, they could overlook the entire Grand Drill Ground.
The most conspicuous sight of all was the enormous sparring platform in the center.
Its floor was paved with thick stone slabs fired with black sand mixed into them. Sword marks that looked carved by blades and deep depressions scarred the surface everywhere.
More than a thousand masters of the martial path stood around the sparring platform.
Those in the front row all possessed extraordinarily vigorous blood and vitality.
More than ten of them radiated presences powerful enough to pique even Lee Hyun's interest.
'Are those masters of the Transformation Realm?'
Yet those very experts now stood silently, staring only at the center of the sparring platform.
Two men faced each other there.
One was a huge elderly man whose hair had gone half white. He had rolled up the sleeves of his gray martial robes and held an unadorned longsword in one hand.
The Crown Prince pointed toward him.
"That is Great Hero Guo Tianxiong, Academy Head of the Martial Training Academy. He is a master of the Profound Realm who oversees the martial training and live-combat sparring of martial artists belonging to the military."
Opposite Guo Tianxiong stood a middle-aged martial artist in armor.
"That is General Jiang Wuzhen of the Southern Army. He too has reached the Profound Realm. Today, he is scheduled to depart at the head of thirty thousand reinforcements to bolster the defenders of Lushui Pass."
Lushui Pass was a fortress where the waterways and embankment roads of southern Yunze Kingdom converged. Any large Qianyang army entering southern Yunze Kingdom had to pass through it.
Today's sparring match was meant to assess Jiang Wuzhen's martial arts before his departure and conduct one final check of how he should respond to the enemy commanders he would encounter at Lushui Pass.
The two men stood over a hundred jang (over 300 m) apart.
"They are starting that far away from each other?"
"If they stood close together, the match might be decided before the drum announcing the start even sounded."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a massive drum boomed.
Boom–
The drumbeat still hung in the air when both men vanished simultaneously.
Boom!
A thunderclap erupted at the center of the sparring platform.
A violent gust spread in every direction, whipping even the banners atop the pavilion.
The first thing Lee Hyun saw was a brilliant white sword aura soaring through the air.
The crescent-shaped sword aura, several jang long, cut diagonally across the sparring platform. A line as thin as a strand of hair appeared across the black stone slabs, and only a moment later did the slabs split apart along it.
Boom!
The instant Guo Tianxiong's and Jiang Wuzhen's swords collided, the air itself seemed to cave inward, and a translucent circular ripple spread outward from the point of impact.
The black stone slabs covering the sparring platform exploded in every direction.
Slice!
Jiang Wuzhen's sword aura cleaved Guo Tianxiong's body in half. But what it cut was only an afterimage.
Guo Tianxiong had already appeared behind Jiang Wuzhen and swung his sword. Three streams of sword aura descended toward Jiang Wuzhen's neck, waist, and knees.
Jiang Wuzhen spun around and swung his own sword. The sword aura extending from his longsword collided head-on with all three incoming streams.
Flash!
A burst of white light erupted.
Before the sound of the first collision could even be heard, the second and third impacts followed in rapid succession.
To ordinary soldiers, all that could be seen were flashes of light.
Lee Hyun, however, could see both men's movements.
Whenever a sword was blocked, an elbow came flying in. If the upper body slipped away, a knee targeted the abdomen. The instant one man retreated half a step, the other had already begun his next attack.
Boom!
At some point, Jiang Wuzhen was sent sliding back dozens of jang. A long crack appeared across his armor.
Before his backward momentum had even stopped, Jiang Wuzhen stamped his foot.
Boom!
The stone slabs burst apart, and a black figure shot forward like an arrow.
Slice!
A sword aura grazed Guo Tianxiong's cheek and cut through a stone pillar behind him.
Before the severed pillar could even hit the ground, a low hum rose from Guo Tianxiong's longsword. Dust and powdered stone were blasted outward all at once as brilliant white sword aura surged upward like a whirlwind.
Rumble–
A flash of light swallowed the sparring platform.
When the light faded, both men had already stopped moving.
The tip of Guo Tianxiong's sword rested against Jiang Wuzhen's throat.
A finger joint's length of sword aura also extended from Jiang Wuzhen's longsword, stopping one cun (about 3 cm) from Guo Tianxiong's chest.
The two remained that way for a moment.
Guo Tianxiong was the first to withdraw his sword.
"Half a move too slow."
Jiang Wuzhen lowered his longsword as well.
A thin line of blood remained across his neck where the sword tip had cut him.
"Had this been a real battle, Academy Head, you would not have escaped unscathed either."
"If all of Qianyang Kingdom's experts were only at my level, that would be true."
Guo Tianxiong wiped the blood from his cheek with his sleeve.
"But the Army-Breaking Sword, Wu Tianyue, who is advancing on Lushui Pass, is faster than I am."
Jiang Wuzhen's expression grew grave.
"While General Jiang keeps Wu Tianyue occupied, the rest of you must work with the Military Retainers and cut off the experts under his command."
...
Lee Hyun looked down at the sparring platform.
'So that's what a master of the Profound Realm is capable of.'
It was difficult to compare them directly with cultivators, but there was no doubting their ability to kill an enemy.
More impressive than their power was the speed of their judgment.
Neither man waited for the other's technique to be completed. The moment a sword began to move, the other was already evading. The instant an attack was blocked, the next method followed.
Lee Hyun, on the other hand, had learned dozens of techniques, yet when he imagined Guo Tianxiong charging toward him right now, he could not immediately decide what he should use first.
Should he force him back with the Qi Sphere Barrier? Pierce his skull with the Yang Metal Art? Blast him head-on with the Fireball Art and create some distance? Escape underground with the Earth Escape Art? Meet his sword with the Azure Steel Sword Art?
By the time he finished considering each option in turn, Guo Tianxiong's sword might already be at his throat.
'Achieving Major Attainment in techniques and being good at fighting are two different things.'
The techniques Lee Hyun had learned thus far were like finely honed weapons, but no matter how many weapons he possessed, they were useless if he did not know which one to draw at the right moment.
At that moment, a great drumbeat sounded.
Boom–
The soldiers scattered throughout the grounds began to move.
A short while later, thirty thousand soldiers stood in formation at the center of the Grand Drill Ground.
The Crown Prince silently descended from the pavilion.
When he stepped onto the platform in the center of the Grand Drill Ground, the murmuring among the soldiers died down.
The Crown Prince did not immediately raise his voice.
First, he looked toward the shattered sparring platform. Then his gaze slowly traveled from the front of the formation all the way to the rear.
"At dawn three days ago, civilians fleeing Qianyang Kingdom's invasion entered through the southern gate. They had escaped from three villages outside Lushui Pass."
Messengers stationed throughout the ranks repeated the Crown Prince's words in loud voices. His speech was relayed from messenger to messenger until it reached the very back of the formation.
"There were twenty-seven carts. Most of those riding in them were old people and children. Only eleven able-bodied men could still walk on their own. They said the rest had either remained behind and died or fought at the chokepoints to buy their families time to escape."
"If Lushui Pass falls, next time we will not even be able to count the carts. The household registers of the three southern counties will empty. The grain meant for the autumn harvest will burn. The grain barges carrying military provisions will stop running. Before winter comes, a procession of refugees will reach the very gates of Yunjing."
"Seven years ago, when Baishui City fell, my elder brother was among those defending it. When the court debated withdrawal, I was the one who insisted that the city be defended to the end. I believed we could not abandon the people within the walls and withdraw only the soldiers."
"My brother died, while I, who pushed that decision through, am still alive. So today, I will not tell you to give your lives, nor will I tell you to consider death an honor. Death is simply death. It leaves a debt to those who survive and ends the line of a family."
Liu Zhenghui looked over the soldiers in the front ranks before shifting his gaze to the army banner farthest away.
"But if we surrender Lushui Pass, someone else will have to pay that debt in your place. Elderly parents will die on the road, and young children will have to beg for food in unfamiliar towns."
"What you are going to defend are the people who will call your names from inside when you return home and knock on the door."
Not even the scrape of armor could be heard across the Grand Drill Ground.
Only then did the Crown Prince draw the sword at his waist.
Shing–
The sword tip pointed south.
"There is no second city behind Lushui Pass for us to retreat to. Behind it are only the people. Your parents, your wives and children, your ancestors' graves, and the fields whose crops have yet to be harvested."
Liu Zhenghui paused.
"Do not die. If you want to return alive, do not surrender Lushui Pass."
"Go and hold it."
The messengers repeated the final command, and the words fell over the heads of thirty thousand soldiers.
Thud–
The weapons of thirty thousand soldiers struck the ground as one.
"We obey!"
A single roar shook the Grand Drill Ground.
No further chant followed.
Jiang Wuzhen turned, and the standard-bearers raised the army banners. The thirty thousand soldiers split into several columns and began moving toward the southern gate.
For a long while, the clash of metal and the footsteps of thirty thousand soldiers continued to echo across the Grand Drill Ground.
Lee Hyun silently watched the sight.
To him, dynasties of the mundane world were fleeting things with short lifespans.
But to those soldiers, Yunze Kingdom seemed to be their entire world, the villages and homes where they had been born, where their parents and children lived.
Lee Hyun felt he could understand, at least a little, why the Crown Prince had cast aside all concern for appearances and knelt before a cultivator he had never met.
...
After the troop review ended, the Crown Prince returned to the pavilion.
His voice had become slightly hoarse.
"My apologies for keeping you waiting."
"It is fine."
"Were you bored?"
"Quite the opposite. I learned a great deal."
Lee Hyun looked toward the sparring platform split apart by sword marks.
"Can cultivators also learn martial arts or combat at the Martial Training Academy?"
The Crown Prince's eyes brightened.
"Of course. Some of the Retainers regularly spar with experts from the Martial Training Academy to develop practical combat experience."
Zheng Yuanbo added,
"Being powerful with techniques does not mean one is good at fighting. Rogue cultivators who train alone in the mountains, in particular, are often poor at fighting other people."
Lee Hyun nodded with an unconcerned expression. It felt as though Zheng Yuanbo were describing him exactly.
"Then if I register as a Retainer, I could learn as well."
"An excellent idea. Once you become a Retainer, fellow Daoist, if you wish, I will personally ask Academy Head Guo."
"Would that be all right even though I know nothing about combat?"
"It is precisely fellow Daoists like you who need to learn."
Zheng Yuanbo pointed toward the shattered sparring platform.
"A Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator who knows nothing of combat can be killed even by a Transcendent Peak master. But a properly trained cultivator can fight a master of the Transformation Realm, and if talented enough, would not simply be killed without resistance even by a master of the Profound Realm."
"The difference is truly that great?"
"In real combat, cases even more extreme than my example are common. A realm only shows a portion of the power one possesses. The difference between someone who accurately understands both the enemy and himself and someone who does not is far greater than fellow Daoist imagines."
Zheng Yuanbo stroked his beard.
"Cultivators possess many more methods at their disposal, so once they learn how to fight properly in real combat, they can grow stronger far faster than martial artists. Most, however, consider learning from martial artists beneath them."
"If it helps me survive, I am willing to learn from anyone. I want to learn not only how to fight martial artists, but martial arts themselves if possible."
"Ha ha. Ordinarily, there would be no need to go so far as learning martial arts yourself, but that attitude is truly admirable."
The Crown Prince's expression brightened as he listened to Lee Hyun and Zheng Yuanbo speak. It seemed increasingly likely that Lee Hyun would join the Fengtian Bureau.
"First, let us arrange somewhere for you to stay for the next few days."