809 The World in Heaven (2/2)

The young emperor had not officially ascended the throne yet and the Queen was still handling matters of the court. It would still take some time to change its title. The war had yet to end completely, so the Tang Empire was still under immense pressure. Many had died, but they still had to celebrate the New Year, and they had to make it even more lively.

Ning Que spent the New Year in the Academy. His Senior Brothers and Sisters at the back of the mountain were all injured and recuperating, so Mo Shanshan and Tang Xiaotang were in charge of the reunion dinner. Dinner was only ready late into the night even with the little servant's help, but at least they had a hot meal.

Everyone drank heavily that night, toasting several times at the moon in the night sky. If the Headmaster was free to drink the toasts his disciples offered, he would have been really drunk.

It was calm and content as if nothing had happened, but in fact, everyone felt as if something important was missing from the back of the Academy's mountain. Perhaps it was their teacher, who enjoyed being a food connoisseur, or perhaps it was Sangsang, who had been in charge of making meals in the past years.

As the old year passed and they welcomed the new, the state of the world also changed drastically. Due to the cold weather, the Golden Palace's cavalry stopped their frantic attacks, entering into a truce with the Tang Army. The Golden Palace camped out in the plains of the Seven Stockaded Villages while the Tang Army guarded the Xiangwan Plain.

The King of the Yuelun Kingdom, as well as several of their marshals and important figures, had all died in Eldest Brother's hands. Most of their main force had been annihilated by the Tang's Western Army at the Pamir Mountains. The Western Army had taken the opportunity to cross the Pamir Mountains and attacked Chaoyang City in an attempt to annihilate the other countries. They had managed to take 17 other cities and only received the urgent missive from Chang'an when they arrived at the north of Chaoyang City.

General Shu Cheng considered for a period of time after receiving the letter written jointly by the imperial court and the Academy. Then, he ordered the army to retreat, disregarding the generals' surprise and objections.

When the Tang's Western Army withdrew from Chaoyang City, smoke billowed into the skies. The citizens of the Yuelun Kingdom could not believe their eyes. When they ascertained that the Tang Army was not going to attack the city again, the city celebrated. Several citizens cried fiercely and started splashing clear water in celebration.

On their way out of the city, the citizens of Yuelun even bade farewell to the Western Army in jubilation. Sometimes, the gentry, people and monks of Yuelun would give them grains, clean water and dyed red eggs. The generals who were opposed to withdraw finally determined that this gentle country was abnormal and that it was pointless to conquer them.

The truly shocking change happened at the Verdant Canyon. The hundreds of thousands of the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army withdrew their troops from the north for an unknown reason. They did not try to attack the Verdant Canyon again, nor did they have any intentions of attacking the north through another route. Instead, they withdrew into Qinghe County and waited silently.

The Tang Empire's Southern Army ran for thousands of miles to bring aid to the Verdant Canyon and had abandoned several pieces of equipment on the way. Most of the soldiers even threw away their armors into the mountains. They were exhausted and were surviving on sheer willpower. The retreat of the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army finally gave them a precious opportunity to breathe. However, this had come so suddenly that both the Southern Army generals and Chang'an did not understand what had happened.

The powerful Divine Hall Coalition Army did not do anything in this war against the Tang Empire. Or perhaps, to bemore exact, they did not play a role in it at all and had retreated without doing anything. Why was this so?

The Tangs did not understand, neither did the citizens of the South Jin Kingdom, especially the South Jin Emperor who was grieving the death of his son. As such, he was very angry.

Then, he died from his anger.

The news of his death spread throughout the world after the New Year.

According to the official statement of the Southern Jin imperial court, the great South Jin Emperor died due to overworking himself regarding matters of the nation. He had read reports and had not slept for three days and two nights before dying suddenly from illness.

The Tang Empire's Imperial Center Administration investigated and received other information from the south. And even though only some parts of the information could be confirmed, it was sufficient for people in Chang'an to infer what had happened.

The South Jin Emperor was furious the day before he died because of the withdrawal of the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army to the south. He had called the army generals into the palace and gave them a good dressing-down, scolding even the deceased marshal, Bai Haixin. Even then, the Emperor did not feel better, and ordered the Sword Garret to send someone into the palace to explain why they had failed at the Battle of Verdant Canyon.

The Sword Sage Liu Bai was still recuperating. And furthermore, someone of his station would not visit the Imperial Palace to give any explanations. The Sword Garret had sent a random disciple called Liu Yiqing.

Then... nothing happened after that.

The death of the South Jin Emperor was recorded with a simple statement in the history books. It was not very different from the various sinister incidents in the various Imperial Palaces throughout history. But to those with sharp eyes, the death of this Emperor was an important event. It meant that the power structure of the mortal world had changed fundamentally.

Cultivators did not have enough power to influence the royal family in the secular world. Many details in this war against the Tang Empire had proven this. No matter the cultivators of the Yan Kingdom, the Array Tactical Masters of the Tang Army, or the Priests of the Golden Palace, they were no different from ordinary people when they rode on horses beneath a sky raining arrows upon them.

The same war had also proven another possibility, which was that cultivators in the peak of the Knowing Destiny State were the true powerhouses. Once they showed their prowess, they could change the color of the rivers and mountains, just like the three people who had shown their hands at the battle of Verdant Canyon.

The solemn South Jin Kingdom Imperial Palace seemed weak and vulnerable, even before the sword of a blind man. This was related to the strength of the Sword Garret, but it also proved a fact.

The Headmaster had left the mortal world and ascended to Heaven. From that day on, the mortal world was no longer the same. This was the so-called Heaven and Earth.