Chapter 218: No Sunlight
“Your Highness, the Heavenly Demon Sect is still one of the three great sacred lands. Although they haven’t had a sect master for over forty years, they should not be underestimated.”
The middle-aged man said, “Forty years without a sect master, yet they haven’t been destroyed and still possess such formidable strength—this shows how strong their cohesion is. If it were the Great Thunderclap Monastery or the Dao Sect, would they dare go forty years without an Tathagata or a Dao Lord? Underestimating the Heavenly Demon Sect will likely lead to losses.”
The Yan-Kang Crown Prince waved his hand and said, “Rest assured, I will not underestimate the Heavenly Demon Sect. The fact that they could silently eliminate Grand Preceptor Sun Nantuo, wipe out all the monks in Nantuo’s Separate Palace, uproot Nantuo Monastery completely, and have the outside world receive no news at all shows the immense power of the Heavenly Demon Sect. How could I underestimate such a sect?”
The middle-aged man looked puzzled. The Yan-Kang Crown Prince continued, “This time, I don’t need to act myself to have the Heavenly Demon Sect destroyed. The Dao Sect and the Great Thunderclap Monastery—these two sacred lands have a longer history of enmity with the Heavenly Demon Sect than with the Yan-Kang Kingdom. Both of them want to destroy this demonic leader, but they lack the opportunity. If…”
He said leisurely, “If the emperor of the Yan-Kang Kingdom no longer opposes these sects, if the emperor no longer supports the Imperial Preceptor’s reforms, if the emperor dismisses the Imperial Preceptor, if the emperor can make the conflict between the sects and the state vanish—do you think the Dao Sect and the Great Thunderclap Monastery would be willing to join forces with this emperor? Would they be willing to support him?”
The middle-aged man’s body trembled slightly as he looked at the Yan-Kang Crown Prince.
The Yan-Kang Crown Prince’s gaze was deep. He said calmly, “Although my father has great talent and bold vision, his trust in the Imperial Preceptor is excessive. He trusts him so much that most of the court is now the Imperial Preceptor’s faction. This will destroy the roots of our Ling family. My father has allowed the Imperial Preceptor to grow too powerful. If the Imperial Preceptor were to rebel, my father would have no means to stop him. If we let the Yan-Kang Imperial Preceptor continue to grow, the heavens will change, and the dynasty will be overthrown!”
His gaze sharpened as he said solemnly, “The elders of my Ling family, the loyal and righteous members of my Ling family, have all seen this trend. This is why Eighth Uncle supports me. Eighth Uncle once admonished my father, but my father was stubborn and trusted the Imperial Preceptor blindly. Eighth Uncle had no choice but to hope that I could bring about change.”
He was filled with passion and indignation: “Eighth Uncle is a senior of the Ling family who fought alongside Emperor Gaozong to establish the kingdom. He is the Eighth Imperial Uncle of our Yan-Kang Kingdom. He did not hesitate to bear the name of traitor, contacting those martial sects and connecting with officials and generals across the land, all to pave the way for me and bring down the Imperial Preceptor. But it all fell short! After his death, he couldn’t even have a complete corpse—the traitorous Imperial Preceptor cut off his head, and rumors in the court and among the people say he was disloyal!”
The Yan-Kang Crown Prince shed tears. Suddenly, he slammed the table heavily, his eyes bloodshot: “I cannot watch the Ling family’s empire be destroyed in my father’s hands, even if I must be an unfilial son! Loyalty and filial piety cannot both be fulfilled. I am unfilial, but I am loyal to the Ling family! Some things must be done; they cannot be left undone!”
He paced back and forth excitedly: “How laughable that my younger brothers and sisters are still living a life of drunken revelry, completely unaware that our Ling family is about to face disaster! My father has been sidelined by the Imperial Preceptor. If the Ling family is driven from the throne, they too will be annihilated! I cannot let this happen. I cannot let the Imperial Preceptor, this demon, usurp our nest! I must become emperor and turn the tide!”
At the Hu Kou Imperial Shipyard, the Heavenly Craft Hall and the Artisan Hall spent ten days finally forging five tower ships. The people installed the fifteen furnaces that Qin Mu had built, mounting them on the ships and connecting them to the bronze beasts.
Qin Mu made slight modifications to the tower ship blueprints, changing some of the layouts. Each ship needed three furnaces installed, with three bronze beasts on board—two at the stern and one at the bottom. The bronze beasts’ heads could rotate in all directions.
The original wooden tower ships were transformed into ones made of dark iron and bronze, greatly increasing their weight. One furnace certainly wouldn’t be enough to make them fly, so two more were added. Another bronze beast was installed at the bottom that could spray fire downward, making takeoffs and landings less bumpy.
These five iron-hulled tower ships consisted of three large and two small ones. Though small, they were complete in every function. The two smaller tower ships were fully equipped with cabins and guest rooms.
Qin Mu had the ships painted with wood-grain patterns, making them look like five wooden tower ships so as not to shock the world.
Fan Yunxiao was incredibly excited, walking around the five tower ships. He quickly asked, “Sect Master, which ship is mine?”
Qin Mu pointed to the smaller one. Fan Yunxiao’s face immediately fell: “Can I have a large ship?”
“The large ships are for transporting troops and fighting; they’re not as fast as the small ones.”
Qin Mu said, “If you’re going to continue being a fire bandit, you should choose the small ship. If you choose the large one, it could still be used for passenger transport, but the large ship consumes a lot of medicinal stones. In peacetime, the fare might not even cover the cost of the medicinal stones.”
Fan Yunxiao hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then I’ll choose the small ship. What’s the other small ship for?”
Although it was called a small ship, it wasn’t actually small. It was over ten zhang long, about three zhang and seven or eight chi wide, and five zhang high, capable of carrying twenty to thirty people.
Qin Mu had the disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect change their clothes, take away the three large ships, and send the remaining small ship to the Imperial Academy. He said, “The New Year is almost here. This small ship is for my personal use. Incense Master Fan, you’ve already entered the Bandit Hall of the Holy Sect. The Bandit Hall is also a branch of the Holy Sect, so I won’t say much—it’s a livelihood for the sect’s disciples. However, you can rob money, but you cannot take lives, and you cannot take advantage of women.”
Fan Yunxiao laughed and said, “I come from the Dao Sect. Although the old Dao Lord kicked me out, we fire bandits have never taken lives or harassed women. Don’t worry. As they say, there are three hundred and sixty trades, and every trade has its master. I will definitely do an excellent job and not let down the Sect Master’s high hopes and cultivation!”
Qin Mu was dumbfounded. After a long while, he waved his hand. Fan Yunxiao excitedly boarded the remaining small ship, while the other dozen or so fire bandits pushed the iron ship out of the workshop along the wooden tracks.
Outside, the snow had stopped, and it was freezing cold. There were hardly any people left in the shipyard.
Fan Yunxiao shouted, “Light the furnaces, set sail! This ship will be our new Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship! We’re not going straight anymore—hoist the fire bandit flag! Out there is the sky and countless coins!”
The iron-hulled tower ship slowly rose, gradually picking up speed. Suddenly, it broke through the air and flew away. From the ship came the fire bandits’ shouts: “So cold, so cold! Boss Fan, don’t stand on the deck anymore—come inside and warm up!”
Qin Mu watched them leave before returning. He took Dragon Qilin, Fox Ling’er, and Capital Heaven Demon back to the capital.
It had been snowing heavily for several days. Although the snow had stopped now, the sky was still gloomy and overcast, with no sunlight. The cold wind howled, and everything was frozen.
“We haven’t seen the sun for ten days,” Fox Ling’er said, looking up at the sky.
She couldn’t stand staying in the workshop and often ran outside.
Qin Mu was slightly startled. Ten days without seeing the sun? This snow had come down quite heavily. Why hadn’t the sun come out after the snow stopped?
He didn’t think much of it. The New Year was approaching, and the capital was starting to take on a festive atmosphere, with lanterns and decorations everywhere. As Qin Mu walked into the city, he saw several tower ships flying into the sky. Besides soldiers, there were also some court officials on board. He wondered what they were doing up there.
“It doesn’t look like they’re going out to fight.”
Qin Mu looked up and saw the dozen or so tower ships flying higher and higher, heading straight into the high altitude without going anywhere else. He was puzzled.
He returned to the Imperial Academy, where many scholars were discussing the New Year. No one mentioned the court officials flying into the high clouds. Some scholars were talking about the tower ship parked in front of the Scholar’s Residence, saying, “I wonder which rich kid is so wealthy that they got a tower ship for transportation.”
The next day, the sky was still overcast. Gu Linuan gathered the scholars of the Imperial Academy and said, “The emperor has approved the New Year holiday. You can go home for the New Year.”
A cheer went up across the entire mountain.
Qin Mu looked up and saw several more tower ships ascending into the high sky.
Meanwhile, on the Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship, Fan Yunxiao stood at the bow, shivering. He twisted off the icicle hanging from his nose and looked down. “Second Brother, where are we now?”
A fire bandit looked down, identified the geography, and said, “We’re over the Li River.”
“It’s snowing at the Li River too?”
Fan Yunxiao was surprised. He pointed at the mountains below, covered in white snow, and said, “That’s not right. The Li River is at the southernmost tip of the southern border. Even in the middle of winter, you can still go shirtless there. How come this year the mountains are sealed by snow?”
Several fire bandits came out of the cabin and looked down, clicking their tongues in wonder.
Fan Yunxiao’s face suddenly changed. He quickly said, “We flew from the capital to here—that’s tens of thousands of li, right? Have any of you seen the sun?”
The dozen or so fire bandits looked at each other and shook their heads.
Fan Yunxiao took a deep breath. He looked up at the gloomy clouds in the sky and muttered, “A cloud covering tens of thousands of li… Is this an ordinary cloud? And this snow—even the southern border has had heavy snow. The coming year won’t be a peaceful one; it will be a year of famine with corpses everywhere… When people are hungry and can’t get enough to eat, they will rebel… I thought I could have a few years of peace and make some money. Second Brother, let the furnaces run at full power. We’ll continue flying south!”
After more than an hour, the Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship flew out of the southern border and into the sky above the South Sea. Suddenly, a dazzling light appeared ahead. When they reached the bright spot, they saw the sun shining freely, making the sea surface sparkle like transparent sapphire.
Fan Yunxiao looked back and gasped.
An incredibly massive dark cloud covered the entire territory of the Yan-Kang Kingdom!
At the Imperial Academy, Qin Mu packed his luggage and prepared to board the ship to return to the Great Ruins. Suddenly, a supervisor from the Imperial Academy walked over and called out loudly, “Zhong San Daifu, the emperor has ordered that all officials above the sixth rank in the capital must attend court for discussion! Otherwise, they will be punished!”
Qin Mu put down his bag and said to Fox Ling’er, “You all stay here first. I’ll go to the palace and see.”
It was his first time attending court. When he arrived at the court hall, he found it already packed with thousands of officials. Fortunately, the Golden Throne Hall was large enough to accommodate so many people.
Yan-Feng Emperor sat on the golden throne, his face full of worry. He asked from time to time, “Has the Imperial Preceptor arrived?”
When he heard that the Yan-Kang Imperial Preceptor had not arrived, the worry on Yan-Feng Emperor’s face deepened.
After a moment, Yan-Feng Emperor cleared his throat. His voice was like a great bell as he said solemnly, “We won’t wait for the Imperial Preceptor. My beloved ministers, you haven’t seen the sun for over ten days, have you? I haven’t seen it either for over ten days. Not only me, but the entire Yan-Kang Kingdom hasn’t seen the sun for over ten days. In the past few days, I have received memorials from officials all over the country, flying in like snowflakes—from the northern deserts to the southern heavens, from the eastern Sunrise Island to the western Dense Water Pass. Heavy snow, six or seven days of heavy snow!”
He stood up from the dragon throne, pointed upward, and his fingers trembled slightly. “A single cloud has covered the entire territory of my Yan-Kang Kingdom!”