The capital city.
Xuanjizi was struck by the backlash, and a sweet, metallic taste of blood trickled down his lips. "Impossible! The Loyal Souls Lock Baleful Intent... it's complete! Even if the Celestial Master himself were here, he couldn't possibly break it! How could it be broken?"
Xuanjizi refused to give up. He endured the excruciating pain in his Divine Soul and chanted incantations again. The magic array was forcibly erased. Such powerful and domineering Spiritual Power was something he could not resist.
Xuanjizi broke out in a cold sweat.
The Third Prince appears to be courteous and respectful to scholars, but in reality, he is cunning, mean, and ungrateful. Once this matter is exposed, he, the one who devised the plan, will become the perfect scapegoat.
At that point, it might not be as simple as just a cup of poisoned wine.
Escape!... This thought suddenly entered his mind. Without thinking, he hastily packed a few clothes, took the silver notes, and disappeared from the Third Prince's residence.
The next day, before dawn, a deafening sound of footsteps suddenly echoed outside the courtyard.
Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci got up groggily and looked out the window. The courtyard was filled with soldiers, all wearing gleaming armor and with grim faces.
"Enter..."
A loud military order broke the silence, and two teams of soldiers entered side by side, carrying two, four, eight... a total of twenty-eight brand-new coffins on their shoulders, which were steadily and solemnly carried into the courtyard.
"Put..."
They shouted in unison again.
"Boom!"
Twenty-eight coffins landed simultaneously, stirring up a thin layer of dust, the dull thud resonating in everyone's hearts.
The soldiers carrying the coffin quickly retreated to both sides, stood at attention, and made way for a passage in the middle.
The air was so still it was suffocating. An old general, clad in black armor, slowly walked into the courtyard.
His temples were gray, his face was rugged, and his tiger-like eyes were filled with sorrow as they swept over the coffin. Behind him followed Shen Yan, who was also dressed in armor.
He pointed to where the Jin Shanyao, and the old general and all the soldiers turned around at the same time, startling the two little ones so much that they sat down on the kang with a thud.
A deep, powerful voice suddenly rang out from outside, "I am Pei Zheng, Commander of the North-Pacifying Army. I have come with my troops to thank Miss Jin for helping twenty-eight soldiers return home."
After he finished speaking, all the soldiers behind him shouted in unison, "Thank you, Miss Jin..."
The door opened from the inside, Jin Shanyao slowly walked out. "Old General... I'm just a businessman. Shen Yan paid me to do divination; it's not really helping out."
The soldiers' eyes welled up with tears. Shen Yan said that he only spent one coin on the divination, which he had borrowed from the two children. Such a righteous man refused to accept their gratitude.
Pei Zheng took the sandalwood box from the deputy general and presented it to Jin Shanyao with both hands, solemnly saying, "Miss Jin, I beg you to perform a ritual for the fallen soldiers, so that their souls may return to the Underworld and be reborn."
"Alright. But I have one rule... I don't like noise when I see people off. You'll all be like decorative objects then. If any of these 'decorative objects' suddenly come to life..."
Jin Shanyao weighed the wooden box in her hand, glanced around, and said in a sinister tone, "I'll see him off, and we'll travel together."
Pei Zheng's heart trembled slightly; he hadn't expected the young lady to have such a temper. He clasped his hands in a respectful bow, "It's entirely up to you, young lady."
His soldiers followed closely behind, their armor gleaming coldly with every movement. His booming voice rang out again, "It's all up to you, young lady."
With Jin Shanyao, he said, "Old General... tonight at midnight, I will send twenty-eight martyrs to the Underworld."
"Thank you, Miss Jin..."
The peasant woman had already tidied up the empty house, and the kang (a heated brick bed) was warm and cozy. As she carried in hot water, she overheard the old general instructing his men to buy more paper money and candles.
She dared not linger, put down the teapot and left. Once inside, she grabbed her husband, her voice trembling.
"What are we going to do? Twenty-eight coffins, and we'll be summoning ghosts tonight... You know how scared I am..." Before she could finish the word "ghost," there was a sudden knock on the door, which startled her so much that she screamed and hid in the man's arms.
Shen Yan's voice came from outside the door, "Is Big Brother home?"
"Yes, yes, yes," the man steadied his wife, straightened his clothes, and bravely opened the door, his expression stiff. "What are your orders, young general?"
Shen Yan handed over a purse, "I apologize for the inconvenience, brother."
The man stared at the bulging purse, swallowed hard, took it, glanced around, and whispered, "Are there really ghosts tonight?"
Shen Yan's expression was pained. "They are ghosts to our elder brother, but they are brothers to us. I hope you won't be afraid."
The man hurriedly waved his hands, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."
After Shen Yan left, the peasant woman snatched the purse and dumped it onto the kang (a heated brick bed). The loose silver coins tumbled onto the kang with a clatter, startling the couple so much that they covered their mouths.
With so much money... it's more than enough to buy her house, let alone find a place to stay.
The man laughed and said, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
The peasant woman glared at him, counting her loose change as she laughed, "What's there to be afraid of... Even if soldiers die, they will still defend their country."
The man pursed his lips, "You've said both the good and the bad."
In another room, Jin Shanyao, Meng Anzhi, Meng Anci sat around the kang table, staring at a pile of loose silver and copper coins in silence for a long time.
Jin Shanyao's gaze was complicated. "This silver has been tainted by too many people."
"Auntie, look at these silver ingots, they're all pitted and uneven, and the copper coins are of varying ages; they look like they were hastily put together."
Jin Shanyao out and pushed all the silver coins into the wooden box, the clattering sound echoing in the room.
"If I'm not mistaken, this was all contributed by the soldiers, one coin here, one tael there, just to send their brothers on their way."
Upon hearing this, the two children looked at the box of silver coins again and suddenly felt that the affection between people seemed to be more valuable than money.
As night fell, the soldiers piled the paper money, ingots, and figures of carriages and horses they had bought next to the coffin.
Seeing that it was almost time, Pei Zheng said to Shen Yan, "Go and ask Miss Jin what she needs to prepare."
"General, Miss Jin managed to summon the soul with just one talisman?"
Pei Zheng was taken aback, "That amazing??"
"You'll find out soon enough," Shen Yan said. Just then, Jin Shanyao came out with two children. Pei Zheng frowned when he saw the children. "Won't that scare them?"
"It's alright. I heard those two kids always see ghosts, they're used to it."
Pei Zheng walked towards Jin Shanyao's side, "Thank you for your help, Miss Jin."
Jin Shanyao her head and looked around. Seeing the soldiers around her looking sad and serious, she decided not to waste any more time and tossed several ginkgo leaves into the air.
The ginkgo leaves automatically arranged themselves into complex runes, hovering in mid-air and shimmering with golden light. Just as everyone was staring at the runes, a grain transport team floated in from outside the courtyard.
They approached from afar, then suddenly stopped as they neared the courtyard. "Old General, what are you doing here?" The words abruptly stopped as they looked into the courtyard in disbelief.
Twenty-eight coffins, dozens of comrades... Traveling at night, a sinkhole collapsing, in a flash all memories flooded his mind—they were dead...
Yes, they were buried alive, how could they be here?
Shi Dun couldn't help but burst into tears, " Su'e... Su'e is still waiting for me to come home, I promised my son I'd take him to catch crickets... How could I die?"
Pei Zheng took a deep breath, his throat tightened, and his voice choked as he read, " Shi Dun, Zhao Man..." His eyes were already wet as he read out each name.
"I, Pei Zheng, swear by the Pei Household Army... that I will avenge you and make you pay for your blood debts..."
"Blood for blood, blood for blood..." the soldiers shouted in unison, startling the birds in the trees into scattering in all directions.
Pei Zheng, "I have already asked a master to perform a ritual for you. Rest assured, you can be reincarnated. I will treat your families as my own, and I will take care of your parents until their death and raise your children to adulthood."
The twenty-eight soldiers could not accept the fact that they were dead for a long time.
They stared at their own souls for a long time before kneeling on the ground, "Thank you, General Pei..."
At this moment, the ginkgo leaves in the air transformed into countless golden rays of light, and in the very center of those rays, a gate to the underworld opened.