Nightwatcher-Chapter 469: Leader

# 469. Leader

After the morning court session ended, the contents of that eight hundred li urgent report quickly spread.

Every capital official was talking about it, everyone whispering behind closed doors. The news spread both swiftly and surreptitiously.

Before that, in the palace with its layers of vermilion walls, in the Jingxiu Palace where Consort Chen resided:

The radiant and striking Lin’an, with her charming, affectionate eyes, had just finished paying respects to her mother and stayed behind to chat with her in Jingxiu Palace.

Consort Chen sipped her health-preserving tea and looked at her dazzling and flirtatious daughter. She sighed and said:

“Now that Wei Yuan is leading the army into battle, he’ll earn military merit so great it would make anyone envious. That Wei Yuan is your elder brother the Crown Prince’s greatest threat to the Eastern Palace, but he’s also the most solid pillar holding it up.”

Lin’an took a sip of tea, her lips now delicately flushed and moist, and made no response.

As a princess, she was clearly unqualified, but after so many years of being around the court, she had picked up a few things. She could easily understand what her mother meant.

Wei Yuan was undoubtedly a supporter of the Fourth Prince, because he came from Fengqi Palace, the same place.

But he was also the most solid “pillar” for the Crown Prince. The Emperor was suspicious by nature, and Wei Yuan’s immense merit and power would never allow the Fourth Prince to ascend the throne.

Consort Chen said with emotion, “If only Wei Yuan could die on the battlefield.”

Lin’an frowned slightly at those words, not because she disapproved of her mother cursing Wei Yuan. She had no affection for him.

What bothered her was her mother’s tone and expression as she spoke: a kind of hopefulness tinged with certainty. Yes, certainty.

As though she knew something. But before things were truly decided, there was a trace of anxiety, of hesitation.

The Second Princess, naive and carefree, lacked the ability to read subtle cues, but this woman was her birth mother, one of the people she knew best.

As they chatted idly, the light outside the doorway was suddenly blocked. The Crown Prince stepped over the threshold, entered in a rush, and called out, “Mother, Mother…”

Lin’an turned to look and saw her full brother walk in. His expression was complicated, a mix of excitement and regret, joy tinged with grief.

Consort Chen smiled and said, “Crown Prince, do sit.”

She summoned a maid to serve him tea.

The Crown Prince waved it off and dismissed the maid. He sat at the edge of the yellow silk-covered couch, hesitated for a long moment, then finally said:

“Mother, Wei Yuan… has fallen in the northeast.”

The two women froze simultaneously. After several seconds, their faces changed in completely different ways.

Lin’an’s face turned slightly pale, a mixture of shock, confusion, and worry.

Consort Chen, on the other hand, was elated. The joy was so great that her body trembled slightly, and her voice shook as she asked, “Truly?!”

The Crown Prince nodded and gave a firm answer. “An eight hundred li urgent message arrived last night. This morning, Father called a special court session to discuss it. News of Wei Yuan’s death will soon spread throughout the capital. Of the hundred thousand troops, only around sixteen thousand returned. This battle has cost our Great Feng dearly.” РάNƟ₿Ę𝒮

Consort Chen’s cheeks flushed with excitement, her face beaming. Even with her grown son and daughter, she still retained her charm and beauty, with no signs of age.

“So long as we reach the throne, what do a few necessary sacrifices matter?” she declared with conviction.

It sounded like she was instructing the Crown Prince, or perhaps comforting herself.

The Crown Prince nodded and then sighed. “It’s a pity about Wei Yuan. He had a strong sense of the bigger picture. I had hoped that once I ascended the throne, he would see reason and serve me.”

There were only three close relatives present, so the Crown Prince did not hold back.

“Your biggest flaw is your tendency to daydream, to hope for things that are simply impossible,” Consort Chen scolded gently. Her charming face then broke into a smile. “Stay for lunch here in Jingxiu Palace. Drink with Mother. Now that Wei Yuan is dead, the burden in my heart is finally lifted, I feel light all over.”

The Crown Prince laughed too. “Alright. Today, I’ll drink to my heart’s content with Mother.”

Lin’an watched them silently, watched the two people who shared her blood. Suddenly, a strong sadness welled up within her.

It was the sadness of loneliness. The things they said, the things they did, the things they rejoiced or grew angry over… she could no longer relate to them as she once had.

At some point, she had begun to drift further and further away from them.

…

Not long after court ended, a slip of paper passed through secret channels layer by layer, finally reaching the hand of the captain of the guard at Dexin Courtyard.

He opened it for a glance, and his expression changed drastically. He dashed off at full speed toward Huaiqing’s bedchamber.

Huaiqing had already risen and was having breakfast in the outer room. Seeing the breathless captain standing outside the door, she frowned and asked, “What is it?”

The captain said nothing, stepped across the threshold, and nervously handed her the note.

Huaiqing frowned, puzzled, and took the paper.

As her eyes scanned the contents, her elegant face gradually turned pale, even her lips lost their colour.

She remained still for a long time. Then suddenly, as if remembering something, she exclaimed, “Mother!”

She quickly stood, rushed out of her room, and entered the study. From within a history book, she pulled out a letter.

She slipped the letter into her sleeve, gathered her skirts, and ran out of the study once more.

It was a letter Wei Yuan had left her before departing on his campaign. At the time, he had left her one instruction:

“This letter, give it to your empress mother when the time is right.”

Back then, Huaiqing hadn’t understood what the right time meant. Now, she did.

She sprinted all the way to Fengqi Palace. The two maids following her were gasping for breath, hands on their waists, pale and drained, as if on the verge of collapse.

Inside Fengqi Palace, the Empress was sitting at her desk blending incense. She wore a golden brocade robe adorned with phoenixes and a small phoenix coronet. She was stunningly beautiful, graceful and dignified.

This breathtaking beauty, cloistered in the inner palace, seemed untouched by time itself.

In all the capital, only the Empress in her youth had come close to matching her looks. All other women were vastly inferior, so said Mu Nanzhi.

That was high praise indeed.

Because in the princess consort’s eyes, there were only two types of women in the world: Mu Nanzhi, and everyone else.

For someone so self-absorbed to admit another’s beauty, her appearance must have been extraordinary.

“What brings you here to greet me?” the Empress asked, smiling gently upon seeing her daughter.

Her smile was elegant and composed, with none of the excessive warmth others might show at their child’s arrival.

The Empress was still the same, graceful and dignified as ever.

To outsiders, she appeared approachable and kind-hearted, the very model of an empress.

Xu Qi’an, who once praised her gentle nature and lack of airs, had been one such person. As were many others like him.

But to Huaiqing, this was true coldness.

In her memory, her mother had always been poised yet distant, gentle yet reserved, so reserved that even as her daughter, Huaiqing found her difficult to approach.

“Duke Wei… fell in battle at the Church of the Warlock God's headquarters,” Huaiqing said, brief and to the point.

And then, she saw, for the first time, the woman who had always played the flawless Empress lose her composure.

“You lie!”

The Empress shrieked suddenly. Her phoenix eyes widened in fury. The way she looked at Huaiqing wasn’t like a mother looking at her daughter, but like an enemy.

Huaiqing stared at her, eyes bright like autumn waters, filled with sorrow.

What Xu Qi’an had suspected, she had suspected too. The Consort Fu case had already revealed many things.

She placed the letter on the table and said calmly, “Duke Wei gave me this letter before departing. He asked me to pass it to you.”

With that, she turned to leave.

Stepping over the threshold, she didn’t immediately walk away. She waited in the courtyard.

A moment later, from within came the Empress’s heart-rending cries.

Wails dripping with blood, wrenching and raw.

Huaiqing lifted her head. In the bleak autumn day, amid white clouds, she seemed to see again that gentle, refined man.

*Duke Wei… just what kind of story did you share with her?*

…

The Xu family once again arrived at Cloud Deer Academy, the whole household seeking refuge.

Xu Lingyin was being dragged along by her aunt, climbing the mountain reluctantly. Her two faint eyebrows furrowed as she demanded loudly, “Mum, are you sending me here to study again?”

Her aunt snapped, “No, I’ve given up on you.”

Xu Lingyin gave a joyful hop, her face beaming. “Mum’s the best!”

*Why did I give birth to such a useless daughter…* Her aunt was nearly brought to tears by frustration.

Once at the academy, they headed straight to the same small courtyard they’d stayed in the last two times.

After settling his family, Xu Qi’an and Li Miaozhen left the courtyard side by side, only to see Dean Zhao Shou standing not far away, looking at him with a grave expression.

“Before Wei Yuan set out on campaign, he entrusted two items to me, asking me to give them to you when the time was right.”

Zhao Shou took a letter from his robe and handed it to Xu Qi’an. “This is the letter he left for you.”

He said nothing of the second item.

Xu Qi’an didn’t ask either. He took the letter, tucked it into his robe, and gave a slight nod.

The two flew off on her sword.

…

At the border of Xiangzhou, Yuyang Pass.

The desolate howls of a Qiegou echoed in the sky, circling around distant air currents.

On the city wall, the soldiers drooped their heads. A centurion spat on the ground and cursed, “Those bastards from Yan, swaggering around again.”

The target was too far, well beyond the range of their bows and crossbows. The flying beast scout was experienced and never gave the Great Feng’s high-ranked martial artists a chance. At the slightest sign of danger, it would immediately retreat.

Even a Rank Four expert couldn't catch up to such a swift beast in the air.

The centurion turned to the demoralised troops and cursed:

“Damn it, look at you lot. You look like women who’ve just been had by wild men. Where’s your spirit? Duke Wei led our brothers to take Mount Jing City. Mount Jing! The very headquarters of the Church of the Warlock God!

“Not just for the Great Feng, even the Great Zhou never managed that. This is history-making. Do you even realise what this means, you bunch of ignorant fools?”

He raised his fist in excitement. “Immortalised in the annals of history!”

“But Duke Wei’s dead...”

A soldier nearby whispered.

The centurion’s expression collapsed instantly. He said nothing for a long time.

Was the war won?

To the soldiers who had gone to war, the answer was yes. They had pierced into the heart of Yan and captured the Church of the Warlock God’s headquarters. Such a victory was worth even eighty thousand lives, perhaps a hundred or two hundred thousand.

The Church of the Warlock God had lost over a million people in this war, counting soldiers and civilians.

A decisive victory.

But Wei Yuan’s death struck a devastating blow to the soldiers of Great Feng.

One that shattered their morale.

After retreating from the territories of the Church of the Warlock God, the sixteen thousand survivors stationed themselves at Yuyang Pass, awaiting the court’s instructions.

During this time, scouts from both the Great Feng and Yan watched each other closely, exchanging intelligence, tensions running high.

Suddenly, the Qiegou’s shrill scream shattered the silence. The distant scout, along with his flying beast, was torn to shreds.

Blood rained from the sky.

The soldiers squinted up at the sky and saw a black figure cutting down the scout and then turning to fly toward the city wall.

Then they heard a woman in a Daoist robe call out in a clear voice, “I am Li Miaozhen, disciple of the Heaven Sect.”

The centurion let out a long breath of relief.

“It’s the Holy Maiden of the Heaven Sect. Lady Flying Swallow.”

“Who’s Lady Flying Swallow?”

“You don’t know Lady Flying Swallow? She’s the Holy Maiden of the Heaven Sect.”

“She can fly on a sword. Must be powerful…”

“More than powerful. Lady Flying Swallow is unbeatable. Where she appears, evil dare not.”

“Really?”

“Everyone says so…”

The soldiers chattered excitedly. To them, cultivation ranks didn’t mean much, some of them didn’t even know the basics. In their eyes, a famed hero was worth more than a third rank martial artist.

In future generations, there would be a term for this, “national recognition”.

If Xu Qi’an had come alone, they would have believed that victory was certain. After all, Silver Gong Xu had once executed two Dukes at the market out of fury for the people. The court hadn’t dared to make a sound, and even the Emperor had been forced to issue a self-reproach edict.

Li Miaozhen descended on her flying sword, landing steadily atop the city wall with Xu Qi’an beside her.

*So this is the legendary Lady Flying Swallow? She’s such a stunning beauty…* The soldiers’ eyes fell on the pair of young men and women, filled with scrutiny.

Then, as if on cue, they all looked past her, to the man standing behind the Holy Maiden of the Heaven Sect.

His features were handsome and refined, not effeminate or delicate, but radiating a clear and noble grace.

His expression was indifferent, but sorrow was etched deep into his brow.

There was something familiar about him. As though they’d seen him somewhere before, but they couldn’t place it.

Then the centurion trembled. His rugged face flushed red as he stammered, “Sil… Silver Gong Xu…”

Xu Qi’an looked at the centurion and did not speak. He only gave a slight nod.

…

In the camp below the city, over ten thousand soldiers suddenly heard a great roar of cheers erupt from the city wall, boiling over like a pot.

Some rushed out of their tents, some reined in their horses, some paused their work, everyone turned to look toward the wall.

They heard countless cheers merge into a single name:

Silver Gong Xu!

To the now leaderless soldiers of Great Feng, the name Silver Gong Xu was a shot of adrenaline, a pillar to lean on, a guiding light that pulled them out of their daze.

Since ancient times, true leaders were always those whose prestige blazed like the sun.

…

Inside the command tent.

“Duke Wei took five Gold Gongs with him. Why are you the only one here to meet me? Where are the others?”

Xu Qi’an, at last reunited with Zhang Kaitai after many days, asked in a calm tone.

Zhang Kaitai, unshaven and weary, replied softly, “Dead. All died at the main altar of the Church of the Warlock God. Some went down with the warlocks, others were caught in that heaven-rending battle and died on the spot. Of the fourth ranks, only Chen Ying and I made it back.”

For the first time in a while, Xu Qi’an felt the urge to smoke. He steadied himself and asked quietly, “Duke Wei… where is he?”

Zhang Kaitai looked at him. The young man’s face was calm, emotions steady, as if composed.

But when Zhang Kaitai met those bright eyes, he instinctively looked away.

He turned to the side and said, “We couldn’t bring him back.”

Xu Qi’an’s body wavered.

After a long silence, he exhaled slowly and said, “Tell me everything. From the beginning.”

Zhang Kaitai nodded. “There’s a lot I only realised recently. Like, why did Duke Wei rush the campaign so hard? Because from the start, we were never going to get supplies.”

“No supplies?”

Xu Qi’an’s pupils contracted.

*Sending a hundred thousand men to war with no supplies?*

*Was this war, or a death sentence? Had Yuanjing lost his mind? Had the ministers?*

*Did they really want Duke Wei dead that badly?*

“After the retreat, Chen Ying was so furious he led his troops and slaughtered all the officials of the Ministry of Revenue in three provinces. Killed hundreds. Then he took a hundred men and rode for the capital.”

Zhang Kaitai shook his head. “He’s going to confront His Majesty. And the ministers.”

Zhang Kaitai then recounted the events. After setting out, Wei Yuan secretly split the forces, some took the land route, storming cities in an effort to conquer Yan in the shortest time possible.

But they were stalled by the well-fortified capital.

Though they failed to take the capital of Yan, Duke Wei had achieved his goal, tying down both Yan and Kang’s forces.

Zhang Kaitai spoke on, until he came to the part where Wei Yuan summoned the apparition of the Confucian Saint and fought the Warlock God to the death.

*It was him. It was him. It was Zhen De…* Xu Qi’an’s face twisted.

Having heard the whole account, he was now certain, the mysterious expert who had worked with the Church of the Warlock God to kill Wei Yuan was none other than the former Emperor, Zhen De.