“Rise.”
The cold, clear voice descended from the heavens into the midst of the assembled army, like a piece of shattered jade tossed into a deep pool, sending ripples across its surface.
Everyone rose at once.
Armor clanked, perfectly synchronized.
“This journey south will take you across high mountains and distant waters, and no one knows when you will return. If any of you regret your decision, now is still the time to turn back.”
Not a single soldier retreated. Not one lowered his head.
Ten thousand pairs of dark, gleaming eyes looked up at the Goddess suspended in midair. Not one showed the slightest hint of hesitation.
Shen Jue and Feng Chunya clasped their fists and called out loudly, “It is our honor to serve the Divine Lady!”
“Divine Lady,” a centurion at the very front of the formation raised his head as well. His voice was as steady as iron and stone. “I grew up without parents and have never had much schooling, but I still understand what it means to repay kindness.”
“The people of the north are able to live good lives today entirely because of your benevolence, Divine Lady. You gave us a chance to live. Now that those treacherous dogs in the Great Yong court have insulted you, if we believers cannot vent this anger on your behalf, then I am no man!”
Behind him, another young soldier picked up the cry.
“Divine Lady, if you had not led your followers to cure the plague in Ye City all those years ago, everyone in the city would have died. How could we still be alive today? Before I left home, my father spent the entire night sharpening my blade. He told me that a person could be poor, and could lack great ability, but must never lack ambition!”
“I don’t know what I have to do to prove that I have ambition, but I do know this: following you can never be wrong!”
Their words were tremendously infectious. The believers, whose faith in Yun Shu was already overwhelming, grew even more impassioned.
“Divine Lady, don’t let the fact that we’re a bunch of rough men fool you. We may not know how to speak well, but we know exactly what’s right in our hearts. In this world, whoever treats us well, we’ll treat well in return. Don’t say we’re only going south—even if you were heading into a mountain of blades or a sea of fire, we would follow you across it!”
Wave after wave of voices rose into the sky. Scalding fervor surged from the soldiers’ chests, and even the watching civilians gathered outside the city gates had tears in their eyes.
A moment later, the entire army shouted as one, their voices shaking the wilderness.
“We are willing to follow the Divine Lady south, slay the Imperial Preceptor, reclaim our rivers and mountains, and save the common people of the world!”
The violet glow above the wilderness grew ever denser. Behind the Goddess, the crack in the clouds slowly widened, casting the entire city of Xindu beneath a magnificent radiance.
“Good.”
She spoke only that one word.
Then she slowly raised her hand and casually drew it across the air, as though tearing open a rift in the void.
The air abruptly stilled.
Countless purple wisteria vines poured forth from the emptiness.
They tangled and intertwined densely, constructing a massive gate at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Tiny buds emerged along the vines, then blossomed completely in the blink of an eye. Their beauty was almost sinister.
Beyond the gate, hazy light and shadow shifted. Through it, one could vaguely make out ranges of mountains and winding rivers.
That was the South, a thousand miles away.
“Step through this gate, and you will reach the South Sea,” the Goddess said calmly. “Go.”
Without hesitation, Shen Jue tightened his grip on the reins. His warhorse let out a long neigh and was the first to step toward the gate of purple wisteria.
Where its hooves landed, violet light rippled outward.
Feng Chunya followed close behind.
Then the soldiers rose in unison.
Those at the front began to march.
The entire army surged into the gate like a flood, their figures gradually swallowed by the pale violet light.
Once the last soldier had completely vanished, the gate wrapped in purple wisteria began to slowly close.
The wisteria withered. Its petals fell, transforming into a sky full of violet lights like drifting fireflies before scattering on the wind.
The area outside the city gates instantly became empty. Only the Goddess remained where she stood, her robes fluttering in the breeze.
Within the city, the civilians had already fallen to their knees. Cries and prayers mingled together, creating a cacophony.
She cast one final glance at Xindu City.
Then her figure began to turn transparent. Starting from the hem of her robes, she slowly dissolved, like ink dispersing in clear water.
Violet motes peeled away from her body, scattering like countless stars and blending with the fallen wisteria petals.
As the final wisteria blossom dropped from its branch, she vanished together with the radiance filling the sky, dissolving like smoke.
[Xi Yue’s shock value +100]
[Shen Ying’s shock value +100]
[Zhang San’s shock value +100]
[…]
[Current shock value: 88,770,000]
Back in the system space, Yun Shu did not even have time to look at the shock-value panel. Her fingers flew as she selected the South Sea location marked by the Return Path Formation, then descended directly from the system space. She had to get there ahead of Shen Jue and the others, who would be arriving through the Return Path Formation, so she could set out the tools she would need for her next grand entrance.
If the teleportation range of the Return Path Formation—the formation component of the Mirror of Retrospection—were any larger, she would not have to go through so much trouble.
Unfortunately, the Return Path Formation could only teleport them as far as the South Sea. It could not reach her actual destination: Wuling Prefecture.
“Host,” said the Little Fox, “Shen Jue and the others should appear in about three seconds. You’d better hurry.”
“Three seconds is enough.”
Yun Shu swiftly changed into the Tides of All Things outfit and placed its mount, the Abyssal Tower Ship, on the shore.
Next, she changed into the Inkstone Pond Watching Cranes outfit. Using the Poetry Immortal’s Brush’s ability to make poems become reality, she added a few functions to the Abyssal Tower Ship, allowing it not only to dive beneath the water but also to travel freely across the surface.
This would save time while also letting her harvest more shock points.
Once she had finished preparing everything and confirmed that there were no problems, Yun Shu changed into the Nine Heavens’ Mystic Resonance outfit. On the journey to Wuling Prefecture, she could also purify the ocean along the way, accomplishing two things at once.
She lightly tapped her toe against the ground, rose gracefully into the air, and landed on the highest deck of the tower ship. There, she quietly waited for Shen Jue and the others to arrive.
Before long, a gate of purple wisteria appeared.
The first figure stepped through.
It was Shen Jue.
He raised his head.
The sea breeze rushed into his nose and mouth, carrying a salty, unfamiliar scent.
He froze for a moment. Then his gaze swept past the beach and landed on the distant shoreline.
The enormous tower ship.
It crashed into his field of vision without warning.
Shen Jue stood rooted to the spot.
Behind him, Feng Chunya stepped through the gate. Seeing that Shen Jue had not moved, she instinctively followed his line of sight. The question on her lips died before she could utter it, replaced by a soft gasp.
She had never seen a ship this large.
