81: Chapter 81 She, the Fox Fairy

Donglin County, by the seashore.

An orderly square formation of troops, mounted on warhorses, their neighing sounding like thunder, under the command of their leader, occupied the small East Sea fishing village before them in mere moments.

All the fishermen were tied up with ropes, lined up, and became captives of the Great Yan Empire army.

The commander rode to the sea cliff, where a beautiful, expressionless woman in white stood. The commander dismounted, knelt, and said, "Reporting to General Hong Ying! None of the fishermen here know the whereabouts of Su Fan! They all claim to be new immigrants and are unaware of the situation here fourteen years ago."

"Is that so?"

The woman in white stood facing the wind, a cinnabar mark on her forehead, her dark hair dancing in the breeze, her pretty face breathtaking. She subconsciously sniffed, then coldly ordered, "Then kill them all..."

"Yes, General!"

...

Steel blades glinted with a cold light. As the fishermen watched the soldiers of the Great Yan Empire raise their butcher knives, they trembled in fear.

An old fisherman looked at the commander and shouted, "We don't know anything! Why must you kill us?"

The woman in white waved her hand. In the blink of an eye, she was upon him, looking down at the old fisherman with disdain: "Oh? You don't know anything? Is this the reason you can live your lives in peace?"

"Does not knowing anything mean you are without fault?"

"Does not knowing anything mean you can stand by and watch, as if it has nothing to do with you?"

"Does not knowing anything mean that when the nation falls, or even when the world falls, it has nothing to do with you?"

"Have you never heard the saying, 'The rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of every man'? Do you not know what it means when it is said, 'The rage of a common man can splatter blood five steps away'?"

At this point, the woman in white let out a cold laugh. "Right, you don't know anything, you haven't heard anything. You only know you need to eat. As long as you have food, you don't care if you live like pigs, dogs, cattle, or horses. Only when there is no food do you realize you need to find a way out..."

"You don't know anything..."

"Heh... ignorance is your original sin!"

Having said this, she left the group of fishermen with nothing but the sight of her long, flowing hair and back. Her voice was as cold as midwinter ice as she uttered a single word: "Kill!"

...

The woman seemed not to hear the screams behind her, merely gazing silently at the large rocks on the distant coast and that stretch of beach.

Those past moments flashed through her mind, one by one. Each scene was so clear, as if it had happened just yesterday.

Digging for barnacles, drying salt...

Her brother's towering figure...

Her former self, snotty-nosed...

"Brother, this is a rock, you can't eat it!"

"This is a barnacle, it's delicious!"

"Brother, let me be your wife!"

"Yingzi, you are my own sister..."

"Brother, this big chicken leg is for you, you eat it too!"

"You eat it. I don't like chicken; I like eating steamed buns..."

The young girl she was back then had naively believed that her brother really didn't like chicken and only liked steamed buns. Recalling it now, she realized her brother didn't prefer steamed buns; he just wanted to save the best for her...

Thinking of this, tears uncontrollably fell.

The former Su Ying had "died"...

She was now called General Hong Ying.

She was General Hong Ying, the Martial Saint who had fought her way out of the sea of blood and corpses at Fengqi Pavilion.

But...

Brother, where are you?

...

The sea wind howled, and the turbulent waves, topped with white foam, battered the sides of the warships.

A thousand warships, like steel beasts, cleaved through the waves as they headed south along the coast.

"As expected of the ships built by Young Master Su Fan. With waves this big, we can't feel a single bit of swaying on board..."

"That's right. Even if the Great Yan Empire is strong, so what? We lost our commandery, but we can just head south and conquer a new one. Young Master Su Fan is truly the world's greatest strategist; everything is within his calculations!"

"I've brought my whole family, so I have no worries. Hehe, we're heading south to build a new nation!"

"Can we have bean sprouts today? Cook!"

On a massive flagship with a dragon head, the elite guards chatted and laughed, seemingly extremely satisfied with the arrangement to head south.

Yun Zhu, dressed in plain clothes, stood gracefully on the deck. The sea breeze wantonly ruffled her hair but could not disperse the deep sorrow filling her heart.

She gazed into the distance where the water met the sky, her eyes filled with longing.

Seven days had passed.

She didn't know if her husband was dead or alive...

Everyone said he was infallible and a dragon among men, even calling him the world's greatest strategist. However, he was, after all, just a Mortal without a True Qi Spiritual Root. When she played with him, she dared not use any real strength, fearing her True Qi would hurt him.

Would the many powerful experts of the Great Yan Empire really let him go so easily?

That evening, she accompanied him through the streets and alleys, watched the sunset with him, and looked at the mountains, streams, fireworks, small bridges, ancient trees, and evening crows...

Gently touching her lower abdomen, Yun Zhu recalled that night.

That night, she had not taken the contraceptive decoction. She truly hoped to conceive a child for him...

...

On the imperial road leading out of Zidu, soldiers of the Great Yan Empire were everywhere.

The red Phoenix flags of the Great Yan Empire snapped in the wind. The flags were made of dark iron red brocade, and the red Phoenix embroidered on them was lifelike. Every feather was distinct, and the Phoenix's eyes seemed to be able to see through everything. As it spread its wings to fly, it seemed as if it wanted to break through the flag itself.

A woman with her face smeared with charcoal, wrapped in linen, walked hurriedly.

This woman was Jiang Ji, the former Queen Dowager, now a fugitive.

A few days ago, because of that incident, she had left Xunying Pavilion. Her heart was filled with extreme grief, and she had almost ended her own life. After calming down, she seemed to understand that all of this was her own doing.

She had wanted to control Su Fan too much.

She wanted all of his love, and even wanted to control his marriage, which had caused his dissatisfaction and led him to want to end this illicit affair with her.

But thinking about it carefully, how was it illicit?

Sigh, why couldn't she have respected him back then?

When they were intimate and inseparable, why didn't she discuss it properly with him instead of forcing Yun Zhu upon him?

Unexpectedly, Yun Zhu got along well with him, and she herself had become the third wheel...

Thinking of these things, she walked along the imperial road for a long, long time, not knowing where to go. She wanted to find Su Fan; she knew Su Fan was still in the palace, but unfortunately, she could no longer enter the palace.

The palace was guarded everywhere by Great Yan Empire soldiers.

As she walked, she suddenly saw a shining tower in the distance.

"This tower, I seem to recall my late husband mentioning it. It seems to be called something like the Reincarnation Tower? It only shines when it meets someone destined for it. Could that destined person be me?"

Jiang Ji slowly walked into this tower, which appeared ordinary on the outside. As soon as she entered...

She saw that a scene suddenly appeared in a mirror suspended in the air inside...

A spirit fox had absorbed the True Qi of heaven and earth for ten thousand years. In one moment of Epiphany, it finally attained the Dao, transformed into human form, and became a Fox Immortal.

In the scene, the appearance of that Fox Immortal was strikingly her own...

"Could it be...?"

Jiang Ji frowned slightly, wanting to continue watching, but at this moment, rays of golden light poured over her entire body. She closed her eyes, feeling this Immortal power that was even more vast than True Qi...

A quarter of an hour later.

Jiang Ji opened her beautiful eyes. Her pupils had strikingly become spirit eyes dotted with gold. Her entire aura had changed. Her beautiful, charming face was captivating, with a subtle smile that could be playful or displeased. Her whole body was immaculate, cleansed of all dust, beautiful to the point of glowing...

She reached out her palm and gently pushed it. Outside the Reincarnation Tower, a small mountain peak shook violently, as if there were an earthquake...

"Is this... my Immortal power?"

Jiang Ji was full of disbelief, muttering, "So I am the Reincarnation of a Fox Immortal. Having gone through this tribulation and fortunately encountering the Reincarnation Tower to recover my past life, now that I have regained my Immortal power, it's great, it's great! Su Fan, now you shouldn't be able to look down on me anymore, right?"

"Oh, that's not right..."

Jiang Ji pursed her lips with a faint smile and corrected herself, "I should call him Su Fan..."