Chapter 1: Heir of the Northern Marquis
Great Jin Dynasty. Bingzhou.
Before dawn had broken, several grand carriages stood parked beside the Lin'an Governor-General's Office — their canopies opulent, their lacquered bodies gleaming. Farther off, a crowd of wandering cultivators and common folk had gathered, rooted to the spot in stunned silence.
"Good heavens! The Zhao clan of Qinghe, the Wang clan of Qiushan — these are the top noble houses of Bingzhou!"
"Why are they all gathered here? Could they be seeking an audience with Lord Liu?"
"Impossible! Lord Liu may be renowned across the northern provinces, but even he couldn't draw this many clan heads to wait at his door!"
"Hmph! Then that rumor must be true after all..."
"Brother, tell me — what rumor?"
"Word has it that the Heir of the Northern Marquis from the Imperial Capital has entered Bingzhou and is heading to Lin'an Commandery!"
The moment those words fell, the murmuring crowd went utterly still, a wave of shock crashing through every heart, their souls nearly flying from their bodies.
The Northern Marquis... his heir?
The Young Lord from the capital?!
That was a figure of supreme nobility by any measure under heaven — someone who could converse freely beside the Empress herself, someone who could kick the heads of provincial governors around like balls.
Though not of imperial blood, in the eyes of most people, his standing was no different from the true scions of the imperial house within the Forbidden City.
The young man in the sable-fur coat wore an expression of haughty pride. Seeing the crowd fall into dead silence, his eyes gleamed with three extra parts of smugness.
"Our Bingzhou Governor-General, Lord Liu, was once one of the great generals under the Northern Pacification Marquis. The Young Lord's visit is most likely to pay respects to his father's old subordinate on his behalf."
Ah, of course!
The crowd understood at once, yet their hearts continued to pound without rest.
Rumors about the Young Lord flooded their memories.
The Heir of the Northern Marquis — Pei Su, courtesy name Jiumu. Rumor held that he was born with an Immortal's Mark upon his brow, said to be the reincarnation of a true immortal, possessed of celestial bearing.
His talent was equally unrivaled across the nine provinces. At the mere age of nineteen, he had already cultivated to the Profound Origin realm. Great Jin's National Preceptor, the Qingai Tongxuan Lord, had once declared: "With Jiumu's gifts, within sixty years he shall certainly reach the Dharma Manifestation Heaven-Man realm."
* * *
On the road through Lin'an.
Hooves thundered like rolling thunder as seven grim-faced black-armored riders mounted on blood-red horses led the way, drawing behind them a vermilion carriage.
Its frame was crafted from Liangzhou red sandalwood, carved with cloud-and-dragon patterns, while the white silk horse fittings at the front were inlaid with exotic jade from the Western Desert.
Inside the carriage, a young man rested.
His face was as fine as polished jade, his bearing exquisitely noble. Most captivating of all were his phoenix eyes — their outer corners tilted ever so slightly upward — which, paired with his fair and handsome features, made it clear to anyone at first glance that this beautiful young man was born to extraordinary privilege.
Beside him stood a young woman dressed in a delicate blue-and-white layered skirt, her appearance equally stunning.
Her skin was white as fine porcelain, her features small and exquisite. Her hair was pinned up in a high bun, adorned with a white jade and emerald hairpin.
She gazed at the nobly resting young man, concealing the admiration in her eyes, and said softly:
"Young Lord, we are nearly at the Lin'an Governor-General's Office."
Her posture, tone, and expression were unmistakably those of a handmaid — yet her bearing and beauty surpassed that of many a noble lady.
Pei Su slowly opened his eyes and lifted the vermilion curtain to gaze outside, his expression carrying an inexplicable depth.
He had dreamed of his past life again. Counting the years, it had been nineteen since he transmigrated...
In his past life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary person from the Huaguo nation on the Blue Star. One accident had sent him transmigrating as an infant into the body of a child in a world of fantastical dynasties.
The Great Jin Dynasty he now inhabited was a realm where nine streams of dragon-qi converged — its national fortune flourishing, ten thousand kingdoms paying tribute, its power at its absolute peak.
Yet beneath that prosperity lay a web of entrenched noble clans, with military and political power passed down through generations. The roots of the great houses ran so deep they threatened the very foundations of the dynasty.
With Cultivators in existence, those of humble birth found it even harder to climb upward, while clan scions inherited high positions by birthright — it seemed that not even a fantastical dynasty in another world could escape such a state of affairs.
But Pei Su didn't mind in the slightest, for in this life, his birth placed him within the most powerful noble house in all the land —
The ancient Pei Clan!
First among the Seven Great Clans of the Capital, lofty and supreme, looking down upon the shifting tides of the world and the rise and fall of dynasties.
Deep-rooted and vast in influence, with followers and allies everywhere, in recent years they had even been given the jianghu nickname "Half-Court Pei" — a sardonic jab at how their disciples and former subordinates filled the entire court.
Not only that, but his father was the most renowned Nation-Guarding General of the current dynasty, enfeoffed twenty years ago as the Northern Pacification Marquis, stationed at Tianque Pass in Shuozhou.
His grandfather was the current Chancellor, the Pillar-of-the-Nation Duke, of the first rank, bearing golden seals and purple ribbons, serving as Left Adjutant of the Secretariat, the pinnacle of ministerial power, his authority shaking the court and the realm.
As the eldest son of the main line of the Pei Clan — the foremost noble house of Great Jin — his status was matched by few in the entire world!
To say nothing of his cultivation talent and comprehension, which had been praised by countless people as the greatest prodigy under heaven...
"Young Lord, approximately four hours remain before we arrive at the Lin'an Governor-General's Office."
Pei Su was not of the imperial family, yet his servants addressed him as "Young Lord" — though it bent propriety somewhat, no one dared raise an objection, and people could only privately marvel at the immense prestige of the Pei Clan.
Pei Su withdrew his gaze and gave a slight nod.
Three days ago, the carriage had entered Bingzhou through the mountain pass, and he had simultaneously sent a Mystic Talisman message to Bingzhou's Governor-General Liu Gongyun. By now, the man should have made all necessary preparations.
The young woman's expression suddenly turned grave, and she said quietly:
"Liu Gongyun was once a battle commander under the Young Lord's father. With the Liu clan's assistance this time, we should certainly be able to flush out that Deputy Commander..."
At those words, Pei Su cast a sidelong glance into the distance and murmured under his breath:
"The blade-thieving wretch — Xiao Zhongyong..."
The world believed the Heir of the Northern Marquis had come to Bingzhou to pay respects to his father's old subordinate. But only he knew in his heart that his diversion from Qingzhou to Bingzhou had been at his grandfather's behest.
His true purpose was to find the fugitive who had been in hiding for twenty years — a man named Xiao Lin.
Xiao Lin, courtesy name Zhongyong, was from the Xiao clan of Ganzhou, and had formerly served in the Imperial Forest Army, the palace's elite guard.
Twenty years ago, the Chen King of the North had attempted to invade southward and rebel — a shock that shook the entire court. Pei Jun was enfeoffed as the Northern Pacification Marquis and clashed with the Chen King's forces at Tianque Pass. That battle was a river of blood and a field of corpses stretching for miles, with mountain spirits wailing in grief.
The court had dispatched the Feathered-Forest Guard's Left Central Unit to escort the divine blade Dragon-Sparrow to Tianque Pass, to be placed in the hands of the Northern Pacification Marquis and used to behead the rebel Chen Mang.
But no one could have anticipated that Xiao Lin, Deputy Commander of the Imperial Forest Army, would collude with evil spirits before the gates of Tianque Pass, slaughter his comrades, seize the blade, and flee — remaining at large for over twenty years.
With Dragon-Sparrow stolen, the court was furious. It was Chancellor Pei Zhao who personally investigated the matter, exterminating the nine familial lines of the Xiao clan of Ganzhou and posting a reward across the realm.
Many in the jianghu coveted the divine blade and searched for it in secret, but twenty years passed without a single lead.
"Our Pei Manor's Qi Guoshi observed the night sky's celestial signs and finally calculated Xiao Lin's whereabouts — the Deputy Commander the court has sought for twenty years..."
Pei Su let out a cold snort.
"Has been hiding in the unremarkable province of Bingzhou."
A cold wind rose sharply. The carriage raced onward, trailing a deepening chill of autumn across the roads of Bingzhou...
* * *
The realm was divided into seventy-two provinces.
Bingzhou lay in the north of Great Jin — bordering Tianque Pass to the north, flanked by the Taihang Mountain Range to the west, connected to the Heluo region to the south, and extending to the Fenhe River basin to the east.
Ever since Liu Gongyun was appointed Governor-General and Provincial Governor of Bingzhou eighteen years ago, the province had flourished. He opened the north-south trade routes, bringing commercial prosperity, while steadily transforming Bingzhou into a vital stronghold for the court's reinforcement of the northern frontier.
It was said that three years ago at the Imperial Capital's court assembly, the reigning Empress herself had offered a few words of commendation — sending the people of Bingzhou into days of celebration as joyous as a festival.
As the common people's lives improved, the first one they gave thanks to was naturally Governor-General Lord Liu.
In recent years, the incense burner beside the Governor-General's Office in Lin'an Commandery, Bingzhou's capital, had never once gone cold. Every day, crowds of common folk gathered beneath the century-old camphor tree before the office gates, laying out offerings in abundance.
Even though most of the time, the gray-green gates remained tightly shut, with only two bronze lions standing sentinel on either side.
Their patina was dark green and ancient, their bearing fierce and imposing — a symbol of the boundless authority of a provincial governor.
* * *
As the gates of Lin'an Commandery drew near, a corner of the city came into view in the far distance.
Pei Su smiled faintly:
"Liu Gongyun was a battlefield commander in his day. I didn't expect that after entering officialdom as a provincial governor, he would govern so capably."
The young woman nodded in agreement:
"A hundred li of stunning flight, a thousand li of piercing clouds — the archery commander of the Northern Pacification Marquis's manor in those days, before whom the Chen King's forces trembled in fear. A pity that after losing his arm, his fighting spirit left him. Withdrawing from the battlefield to become the head of a region is a fine outcome all the same."
Pei Su said nothing in reply. Instead, he quietly surveyed the distant scenery, his thoughts turning to the purpose of this journey.
Twenty years ago, when Xiao Lin stole the blade and defected, the whole world was shaken. Yet Pei Su had a vague sense that the theft of the divine blade was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
It seemed that Xiao Lin, in the course of escorting Dragon-Sparrow northward, had discovered a tremendous secret that the Pei Clan had gone to great lengths to conceal...
His entry into Bingzhou was not to apprehend a fugitive on the court's behalf — it was to silence a man on behalf of his family.