"I won't see them."
I might not be able to hold Grand Tutor Wen off, but you think I can't handle you two?
Still, thanks to their natural advantage in height, Fang Xiang and Fang Bi had both once been candidates for goalkeeper of the year. Once he could no longer stall in a few days, he could simply organize a football match to fool everyone and call it military training.
Three days after Fang Xiang and Fang Bi's failed remonstration, Zi Shou reluctantly ordered the army to march. They were still a good distance from Chu Territory anyway, so they could take their sweet time getting there.
A few days later, they reached a gorge.
The gorge was narrow and cramped, thick with tangled woods, its terrain treacherous. In the distance, thousands of lush pines and cypresses formed a magnificent sight.
Something stirred in Zi Shou's heart. He summoned a mounted scout and asked, "What is this place?"
The scout replied, "This place has no name."
Zi Shou decided to plant a flag of doom. "From now on, this place will be called Fallen Phoenix Slope."
"F-Fallen Phoenix Slope?"
The scout shuddered. The phoenix was Great Shang's totem. What Fallen Phoenix Slope implied went without saying.
"Your Majesty, that name is somewhat inauspicious. I fear..."
Zi Shou thought it over. True, that flag of doom was a little ambiguous. What if Kong Xuan ended up dying here someday?
He was still counting on him to hold out a little longer during the Investiture of the Gods war!
"Then let's change it. From now on, this place will be called Mawei Slope."
During the Mawei mutiny, soldiers had forced Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who was fleeing the An Lushan Rebellion, to kill Consort Yang. As it happened, he had brought