Truth (Please Vote Monthly)

The Rebel Army's command tent.

The surroundings were simply furnished, with only a gigantic map hanging in the center, showing the geography of Ba Commandery.

Li Rulong wore a commander's robe and held a vermilion brush as he reviewed military documents.

Suddenly!

A burst of clamor came from outside the tent, making him frown.

But before he could speak, the tent flap was thrown open and several cultivators barged in.

"Big Brother..."

Guo Tianhong's face was flushed red, and there was even a trace of tears in her voice, making her seem especially aggrieved. "That Luo Family man came again. I was useless... I couldn't stop him!"

Military orders came first in the army. Forcing one's way into the command tent was a grave crime; in theory, they could be beheaded on the spot as a warning to all!

Yet the several cultivators who had barged in showed no fear whatsoever. They looked around with mocking smiles on their faces. "Greetings, Commander!"

"Spare me..."

Li Rulong set down his vermilion brush and sighed. "So it's Fellow Daoist Luo Dacheng, along with Fellow Daoist Luo and Fellow Daoist He..."

These people's cultivation wasn't much, but the crucial thing was their surnames!

The Heavenly Water Luo Family, the Kui'an Luo Clan, the He Family of Cloudcrag Sect... all were renowned Dao Foundation powers native to Ba Commandery!

Though constrained by the agreement between Purple Mansion cultivators, these Dao Foundation cultivators hadn't acted personally.

But Li Rulong was merely a Qi Ingestion cultivator. Whenever he encountered these families, he could only lead his army around them, taking countless needless detours.

Not only that! These families had even sent cultivators over under the lofty banner of "assisting the Rebel Army." But in truth?

"Commander... the clan has ordered that you attack Sanmu City tomorrow. It would be best if you slaughtered a hundred thousand people in the city..."

Luo Dacheng of the Luo Family spoke first. "The clan is currently refining a batch of pills and urgently needs blood qi."

"A hundred thousand? Isn't that too many? In the past, we relied on the two armies fighting each other, causing grievous casualties, and could still cover it up somewhat. With so many, it can't be concealed."

Li Rulong hadn't even spoken before Guo Tianhong grew anxious.

"If it can't be concealed, then so be it... What can the resentment of a mere rabble of commoners do to a single hair on us cultivators?"

Luo Dacheng was utterly dismissive.

"The people are like leeks—cut them down, and they grow again..."

Li Rulong murmured softly.

"Haha, exactly so."

Luo Dacheng burst into laughter, then looked at Guo Tianhong, his gaze openly filled with lecherous lust. "Commander... your little sister has truly grown into such a tender, lovely thing."

Clang!

A flash of sword light appeared within the tent!

Amid the ringing cries of countless blades, the Army-Settling Sword had somehow already been laid across Luo Dacheng's neck.

"The army will begin attacking the city tomorrow... Now, get out!"

Li Rulong's voice made them feel as though they had fallen into an ice pit.

"Haha... I was only joking."

Luo Dacheng gave a couple of dry laughs and fled the command tent in almost a headlong scramble. Once he had gone far enough, he spat viciously behind him. "Pah... a piece of trash licking the Pu Family's stinking boots, and he really thinks he's some hidden dragon?"

The Luo cultivator and the He Family cultivator beside him exchanged glances and both shook their heads.

Although they had come together to pressure him, they were somewhat ashamed to be associated with such a man.

"Li Rulong has actually reached Qi Ingestion Perfection?"

After a long while, the Luo cultivator spoke. "I've cultivated bitterly for thirty years and am only at the sixth layer now... It's truly enviable."

"Enviable? I'm not envious in the slightest. He cultivates the Lesser Geng Metal Sword Art, doesn't he?"

The He Family cultivator from Cloudcrag Sect shook his head. "I heard that in Yulin Commandery, there's a Dao Foundation family that passes down [Kangjin] through the generations. The art they cultivate seems to be the Geng Metal Sword Art? It seems a Qilin child has recently emerged, also at the Qi Ingestion Ninth Layer? Before long, another Dao Foundation Great Cultivator will probably arise..."

"How does Brother He know so much?"

The Luo cultivator was startled.

"After all, we've pledged ourselves to the Pu Family. In the future, we'll be colleagues with the aristocratic families of Yulin Commandery, so we must make arrangements in advance and avoid being caught unprepared."

The He cultivator said frankly.

"Yes... That Pu Family Patriarch has, after all, refined the Heavenly Earth Spirit Fire. Even among Purple Mansion cultivators, his combat strength is considered formidable... Just from the wins and losses on the mortal battlefield, one can tell that the Black Blight Sect is already at a disadvantage... Naturally, our families must stand with the winners."

The Luo cultivator said as though it were only right.

"Why does this atmosphere feel off?"

When Fang Qing was invited into the Rebel Army's command tent, he felt the atmosphere was somewhat strange.

He looked again at Li Rulong and discovered that this man's mana had reached some sort of peak. The qi of [Kangjin] was incomparably sharp, enough to sting one's eyes with a mere glance, yet his body had inexplicably grown stooped, as though he had aged and withered greatly.

Guo Tianhong's eyes were slightly red beside him, as if she had just cried.

"Could it be..."

His thoughts ran wild, but his expression turned solemn. "Fang Shui pays his respects to the Commander."

"It's you..."

Li Rulong seemed to have only just come back to himself. He gave an apologetic smile. "My apologies... I didn't know Fellow Daoist had come. What brings you here? If it's for trade, you may go to the quartermaster."

"Commander... you look rather haggard."

After Fang Qing chatted casually for a few moments, he heard Li Rulong sigh. "Sigh... After thinking it over carefully, the happiest time in my life was still when I first entered the martial world, during those days when the Seven Swords of Shu Mountain swore brotherhood."

"What is this? A big shot showing off?"

Only after asking a few more questions did he learn that Li Rulong's two mortal sworn brothers had also died on the battlefield, and he roughly understood.

"So he's mourning the passing of spring and grieving the coming of autumn? Forget it, I'll finish my act and get out of here!"

Fang Qing made up his mind and took out a letter. "Commander, do you still remember that Shabby Daoist?"

"That old Daoist we saw outside Floating Boat Market when we were seeking immortality all those years ago? I vaguely remember him..."

Li Rulong thought for a moment before recalling him.

"That Daoist has hands and eyes reaching the heavens. He's also gathered quite a few fellow cultivators and organized an exchange gathering... He admires the Commander's bearing and has sent this letter."

Fang Qing handed the letter to Guo Tianhong beside him, who then passed it on to Li Rulong.

He watched Li Rulong open the letter and scan it for a few moments.

"So that's how it is..."

Li Rulong's expression changed slightly, and he suddenly pressed a hand to his hair knot.

A flying sword that had originally been tucked into his hair knot immediately shot out, letting out a clear sword cry.

Fang Qing's pupils contracted. He nearly thought Li Rulong intended to attack.

"I now understand everything written in the letter. Thank you for this, Fellow Daoist."

Li Rulong rose and solemnly thanked him, then glanced at Guo Tianhong beside him. "Fellow Daoist Fang... if something happens to me in the future, and you encounter my sworn sister, I ask that you look after her."

"This tone... why does it sound so much like he's entrusting an orphan to me? Could the letter contain the truth?"

Fang Qing naturally didn't dare peek at a letter left behind by a cultivator suspected to be at the Purple Mansion realm, so he could only guess.

"Certainly, certainly. Since the matter is finished, I'll take my leave."

Fang Qing only wanted to shake off this trouble now. He didn't even conduct any business and directly bid farewell.

After he left, Guo Tianhong looked at Li Rulong's face, full of misery. "Big Brother... what happened?"

"I originally thought... that if I served as their dog, I could at least protect you. We could both stay alive, and perhaps someday attain the carefree freedom of immortality..."

Li Rulong's eyes were vacant. "But now..."

Whoosh, whoosh!

Fang Qing rode the Profound Ice Wheel and flew hundreds of miles in one breath.

After looking over the scenery below, he lowered his escape light and sat cross-legged atop a blue boulder.

Splash, splash!

Beside the boulder ran a stream like a jade belt, babbling gently onward.

He stopped there, seemingly sitting cross-legged in meditation to restore his expended mana, but in truth he secretly operated the Plum Blossom Divination, calculating the fortune and misfortune of activating his traversal at this moment.

Auspicious!

With the Dao-Born Pearl's enhancement, the plum blossoms within his Consciousness Sea gave him this divination.

"Phew..."

Fang Qing let out a long breath. Having completed his "role," that life-threatening gaze had finally left him.

Even so, he didn't dare activate the traversal immediately. Instead, he traveled through many places, seemingly purchasing spirit materials, while actually casting a daily divination to ask whether all was well.

Several months later.

Somewhere on Jade Island.

"Damn... I'm finally back!"

Having experienced what it felt like to be treated as a little fish by a Purple Mansion cultivator, Fang Qing returned to his loyal Jade Island.

Ever since that last experience, he had become jumpy at the mere sight of a bow's reflection in a cup.

Even after returning to Jade Island, where flames of war now soared into the sky, he actually felt that even if cultivators from both sides fought a great battle here, the one who had come to assassinate him last time had only been Zhong Lingxiu, a Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivator! What a precious thing that was!

By comparison, even if people died on Jade Island every day, it could still be called a place of "simple and honest folkways."

"I really am more suited to cultivating immortality in a place with such simple and honest folkways..."

Fang Qing nodded in satisfaction and habitually began calculating to ask whether all was well.

"If I return to the sect now, it's misfortune concealing fortune?"

"It seems the Azure Sea Sect won't be too badly hurt in the end by this great war?"

Before this, even in an environment like Jade Island where the Heavenly Secrets were clear, Fang Qing would certainly have lacked the strength to calculate the outcome of a war involving several Core Formation Patriarchs and dozens of Foundation Establishment Great Cultivators.

But now, with the Dao-Born Pearl's enhancement and a divination art nonexistent in this world, it was simply a strike from a higher dimension!

"Even Purple Mansion cultivators searching through karma everywhere probably couldn't compare, could they?"

Fang Qing's mind rose endlessly within the Plum Blossom Divination. Beyond fortune and misfortune, he saw more hexagrams.

He saw Hua Lian, saw the Sea Dragon King Festival he had once attended... and a massive Horned Serpent demon beast with a lump growing atop its head!

He also saw Zhong Lingxiu, Foundation Establishment cultivators one after another, and three somewhat blurry figures...

"So that's how it is..."

"Is it a Second-Order peak Horned Serpent raised by the sect, about to advance to Third-Order?"

Fang Qing suddenly understood. "This is the true cause of this war! Once the Horned Serpent advances to Third-Order, it will be equivalent to gaining another Core Formation combatant... How could the Zhong Family and the Heavenly Heart Chain Islands possibly tolerate that?"

Countless cultivators had died in this great war, yet they didn't even know why they were dying!

But now, Fang Qing knew.

"The Azure Sea Sect must have kept this information under airtight concealment. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators might not know it... yet it was leaked!"

"Because of Hua Lian! Even Flying Fish Island, where he is, is full of traitors!"

"Even... something is off about Zha Zhu. Her constitution is special. Beyond her superior Water Spirit Root, she has awakened some sort of spirit body... If the Second-Order Horned Serpent devours her when it breaks through, it can raise its chances of successfully crossing the tribulation a little..."