They had done what they could to buy themselves more time. Hou Jingshu didn’t think she’d have more than a week or two at most to prepare the defense of Imperial Shang City and evacuated the civilians. Would that be enough? She wasn’t sure. All she could do was continue planning and preparing for the inevitable final confrontation.

The fact was they were still at a huge disadvantage. They could not defeat the Ming Province’s forces as they were right now. Even supposing they could beat the cultivators under their command, the sect masters and ancestors of the three pavilions were far beyond their ability to deal with. Only Hua Xue stood a chance against them, and she currently couldn’t bring out her full power.

Hou Jingshu had already issued the evacuation order, informing her people of the incoming army and that they were to flee north. Imperial Shang City had a population of roughly one hundred million people. It was the largest city within the Shang Kingdom. None of the other cities could support that kind of influx. Their infrastructures and economy would collapse under the strain of supporting so many refugees--even temporarily.

Her plan was to have them split up and occupy several of the larger cities in the north. If she divided the population of the city into twenty or thirty groups and had them each go to a different city in a different province, there shouldn’t be a problem supporting them. That was her hope. She had spent the previous two nights studying the economies and infrastructures of the cities located north of here to determine which ones could support a population of ten to twenty million.

“Big Sister… you look tired. Are you okay?”

Yōuměi was not sitting at the table… because she was a giant cat. She sat on the floor near Hou Jingshu’s feet. A large plate full of magical beast meat sat piled high before her. She had already devoured half the meat.

“Hmmm. I’m okay.”

It was early morning. Hou Jingshu was eating breakfast with Yōuměi. The platter spread out before her consisted of foods that would help give her energy like the eggs of a magical beast, congee that had been cooked using medicinal herbs, and tea steeped in fifty year old ginseng. All of it was infused with chi and would help her recover from fatigue.

“You haven’t been able to play with Yōuměi very much,” Yōuměi pouted.

Hou Jingshu smiled. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Yōuměi shook her head. “It’s okay. Yōuměi knows you can’t play with her right now. This is like those times when Master was in danger and couldn’t play with Yōuměi either. Don’t worry. Yōuměi will do her best to help you, just like she did when Master was in trouble!”

“Thank you. I’ll be counting on you.” Hou Jingshu stroked Yōuměi’s ears, which twitched under her touch. She then backtracked their conversation and became curious. “Did Wu Jian get into a lot of trouble during your travels?”

“Un. Master was always in some sort of trouble,” Yōuměi nodded several times.

“What kind of trouble did he get into?”

Yōuměi leaned down and gobbled up another slab of meat. It looked like such a heavy meal that Hou Jingshu felt immediately put out. She understood Yōuměi could eat something like this because she was a carnivorous magical beast, but she would have gotten a stomach ache after a single bite this early in the morning.

“There was that time before he became a cultivator. Master had just lost his family and found himself in a new city. He was attacked by this really big guy with a pair of axes. Master almost died against him.”

“That sounds dangerous…”

Hou Jingshu knew it was already in the past, but she still felt a chill run down her spine. She didn’t like the idea of Wu Jian being in such danger. And this happened before he became a cultivator? It sounded like he was a magnet for trouble as usual.

“Yeah, but it was okay! Master met a good friend during this time. He helped Master get revenge.”

“A friend… are you talking about Huǒ Shuchang?”

“That’s the one!”

She remembered the charismatic young man with the peppy attitude. He had traveled with them through the White Tiger Sect Ruins and been a huge help. They had parted ways after exiting the ruins. She wondered what he was up to.

“I hope you’ll tell me more stories about Wu Jian’s past when we get the chance,” Hou Jingshu said.

“Yeah!”

Breakfast soon finished, and Hou Jingshu traveled to the Azure Dragon Hall. That was where all meetings took place now. It was normally where the emperor would meet with his subjects, but they had changed it to the meeting place where she discussed matters with the military and clan leaders. Yu Chenguang, his wives, and the clans charged with aiding in the evacuation were already present. They stood the moment she walked in, but she waved them back into their seats.

They were seated at a low table with cushions underneath them. Hou Jingshu traveled to the table’s head and folded her legs, sitting with her feet underneath her bum.

“Let’s get this meeting started. How is the evacuation proceeding.”

Evacuating a large population was no easy task, and they had very little to do it. Some people had suggested they don’t bother evacuating at all, but Hou Jingshu refused to let her people face this danger. Less than 10% of their population was made up of cultivators. The other 90% were regular humans. In war, it was always the normal people who suffered the most.

“The evacuation is proceeding,” Yu Chenguang began. “We have had some problems with a few people who do not want to leave, but the most they can do is grumble.”

“Did you make sure to adequately compensate them?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“Your Highness, if we compensated every person who complained about evacuating the city, we would quickly run out of money.”

“I understand.”

According to Yu Chenguang, the evacuation was proceeding a pace. They had already moved roughly two hundred thousand citizens and more were getting ready. It was difficult to move so many people. However, they were starting with those near the outer gates, who would be the first to fall victim should their army be unable to protect the city, and working their way inward.

Hou Jingshu cupped her chin. “That’s too slow. We won’t be able to evacuate everyone before the Ming Province’s forces arrive.”

Yu Chenguang shook his head. “I doubt we’ll be able to evacuate everyone before then. We’ll have to shelter those who are unable to evacuate in time. We can have some of them live in the academy. It’s large enough to hold a couple million people, though we’ll run out of supplies within a month.”

“We can also shelter some in the palace,” Hou Jingshu quickly decided. “I’ll gather some men and supplies to build tents. We’ll have some people live in the unused rooms and the rest live in the tents. We should stock up on as much food and medical supplies as we can. Have our people begin gathering supplies. You can take some of the royal family’s storage rings to hold them.”

Yu Chenguang bowed. “It shall be done.”

“What of Zhe Fēnglì and the forces I gave him?” asked Hou Jingshu.

“We just received word from Zhe Fēnglì,” said Yu Chenguang. “They are currently engaged with the Zhou Kingdom’s forces and have managed to halt their advance.”

“Good.” She breathed out a sigh. “Let us hope they can continue to keep them occupied while we deal with the Ming Province.”

***

Sing Xuiying was one of the Zhou Kingdom’s Three Heavenly Generals--a prestigious title granted only to someone who had proven their worth and risen through the Zhou Kingdom’s military ranks. Although he was the newest of the three, Sing Xuiying had proven his worth. He had brought back numerous powerful natural treasures during his many soujourns into the Cuòjué Forest and even reached the Deva Realm. That was enough to earn him a place among the Three Heavenly Generals.

I’m one of the most powerful members of the Zhou Kingdom’s army. I have slain all manner of magical beasts and proven my strength… so why? Why am I being forced to trekk through this gods forsaken forest?!

Unlike the Ming Province, which was making a straight line to Shang Imperial City, the Zhou Kingdom had decided to expand their influence by conquering the surrounding provinces. Sing Xuiying had been charged with tackling the north. The Yang and Chen Provinces were located that way. They did not have much in the way of food, but the climate and terrain was ideal for farming yin medicinal ingredients.

Many low-quality cultivation pills relied on yin and yang medicinal ingredients. Most countries were unable to farm them because their lands were unsuited to it, and thus they were forced to travel into dangerous locations like the Cuòjué Forest to gather them. The Shang Kingdom was the only country with a climate that was well-suited to farming both yin and yang ingredients.

Yin medicinal ingredients required cold weather and rugged terrain. According to the maps provided by the Mihong Clan, the area beyond this forest was a vast plain filled with farmlands that cultivated such ingredients. Emperor Cì Shā wanted these farmlands for himself.

Of course, Sing Xuiying understood this, but he still hated the idea of being forced to travel through this cold and dank forest. He hadn’t needed to do such trekking for many years now. It reminded him of the days when he struggled through the Cuòjué Forest, searching for any scraps he could bring back to the Zhou Kingdom.

Despite his complaints, this forest was actually quite pleasant. The trees were large and thick, yet the canopy of branches overhead did not block out the light, showing that it underwent regular thinnings. It was important for forests like this to undergo regular thinnings. Removing slower-growing or defective trees provided more space for the remaining trees to grow.

Sing Xuiying did not care.

He grumbled as he and his men continued traveling through this forest.

With him was his army of roughly fifty thousand cultivators. Most of them were in the Anima Realm, but his ten commanders were all peak Human Limit Realm cultivators. They alone would be enough to lay waste to the Shang Kingdom. He wondered why, then, did they bother moving so slowly? What was Emperor Cì Shā thinking?

The forest had a road that traveled through it. Unlike the Cuòjué Forest, which was home to many powerful magical beasts, this place was only home to several Hunger and Anima Realm magical beasts. A few had attacked his troops, but they were all easily dispatched. It had been several days since the last attack, and he had long since grown bored of this place.

He had become complacent.

And due to his complacency, he never realized the danger he was in.

“AAAAAAGGHHHH!!!!”

A scream went up near the front of the formation. Sing Xuiying was near the center, and thus could not see what was happening.

“RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH?!”

Another scream appeared behind them. He spun around and tried to see what was happening, but he was too far away.

“What is going on?! I demand someone tell me what’s happening?!” he screamed.

“W-we’re under attack! A group of cultivators rushed out from the trees and attacked us!”

“Then fight back!”

“W-we can’t! They disappeared as soon as we tried!”

“What?!”

Another scream went up. It came from the left flank this time. The left and right flanks were the weakest sections of their formation. Sing Xuiying spun around just in time to see several men and women race out of the trees, kill several of his men with swords and techniques, then disappeared into the trees once again. He tried to find them, but he could not.

He snarled. “Dammit! Fine. Burn this damn forest to the ground! Let’s see them hide once this place is naught but ash!”

Just as he ordered, several of his cultivators prepared to unleash fire techniques to burn the forest, but they were quickly killed. Sing Xuiying barely even saw what happened. It was like several flashes of silver light appeared within his troop’s formation, and the next thing he knew, those men had been cut down, blood gushing from numerous severed limbs.

“What the--?!”

Sing Xuiying was a Deva Realm cultivator at the second subrealm. He was powerful enough that few could stand against him, and yet, he had not been able to see what happened. That meant whoever was attacking them was stronger than him. A chill ran down his spine.

“Quan Shi! Find out who is attacking us!” He ordered.

Quan Shi was a thin man who didn’t look very powerful. He had greasy black hair, beedy black eyes, and ghostly pale skin. His rail thin body appeared so fragile and weak that a small breeze might snap him in half, but he was in fact a peak Human Limit Realm cultivator on the cusp of entering the Deva Realm. He might even be able to step into the Deva Realm with a few more months of cultivation.

The commander remained within the defensive line of his troops, eyes narrowed as he sought out their attackers. Sensors were quite rare. Only one in every several million cultivators had sensor capabilities, and this man was one of them… but he was not too good at sensing yet. He had been unable to train his technique. In order to detect the presence of others, he needed to concentrate. His concentration must have grown lax due to how easy they’d had it so far.

“I found him!” he suddenly shouted, eyes widening. “He’s--”

Before the man could even finish his sentence, a burst of sword intent created a fluctuation of silver light--and Quan Shi’s head was removed from his body.

“Dammit! Men! Retreat! Retreat!” Sing Xuiying commanded. His men were already experiencing chaos, which made it hard for them to regroup and commence an organized retreat, but the strength of Sing Xuiying’s presence forced them into compliance. Even so, several more of their forces were killed and even more injured before they were able to beat a hasty retreat.