Chapter 95: Heir to the Daoist Lineage (Special thanks to the Daoist Priest of Nine Mountains, Profound Purity, and the Serpent of Jueze)

Seeing the large hand before her, resting gently on her forehead, Wang Keyue felt the cool touch of his palm and an unfamiliar stirring in her heart, as though her pulse had quickened.

“You must be hungry. Can you sit up? I’ve prepared some thin rice porridge for you.” Xiao Hongyu brought over a bowl from the table. “Or should I feed you myself?” He gave her a roguish smile.

Startled, Wang Keyue sprang straight out of the blanket. “I’d better wash up first. I feel sticky all over, and it’s unpleasant.”

“Good. I’ve already prepared the water.” Xiao Hongyu pointed to the bathing tub at the side.

“Perfect! Then I’ll wash up and eat. I have something to ask you later.” With that, Wang Keyue hustled Xiao Hongyu out of the tent.

He did not leave. To keep others from wandering in by mistake, he stood guard outside. Fortunately, the girl moved quickly; in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, she was neatly finished.

Xiao Hongyu called over two soldiers to carry away the dirty bathwater, and the two of them returned to the table. Wang Keyue ate her porridge at ease.

“Take a look at this. One of these will keep a person full for a whole day, and it contains a variety of nutrients the body needs. It’s perfect for military use.” Wang Keyue set a strip of basic energy gel on the table.

Xiao Hongyu picked it up curiously and turned it over in his hands. He twisted off the cap and sniffed it lightly. A fresh, sweet fragrance rushed to his nose. When he breathed in more carefully, he realized it was the scent of apples. Speaking of which, it felt as though he had not eaten an apple in a lifetime, to the point that he had even forgotten what one looked like.

He put the apple-flavored jelly strip straight into his mouth and sucked at it. In no time at all, the palm-sized strip was gone. Xiao Hongyu smacked his lips, savoring the long-lost flavor. Even more astonishing, a warm current now spread through his stomach, filling him completely and leaving him thoroughly comfortable.

“Your jelly must be expensive, right? What do you need me to do, or what do you need from me? Just give the order.” Of course, Xiao Hongyu knew that such a thing could not exist in this era. The only explanation he could think of was that Wang Keyue, like him, possessed some kind of loot-gathering skill, as if she were playing a game.

“I said it already. I need a large amount of gratitude points. You figure it out.” Wang Keyue spoke while drinking her porridge.

“How many of these jelly strips do you have?” Xiao Hongyu asked, already thinking over the plan he would carry out in a moment.

“Two hundred thousand strips. I used up all my savings,” Wang Keyue said.

Xiao Hongyu nodded. “Don’t worry. Come with me to the training ground in a little while.”

After the two of them were ready, they went to the training ground, where all the soldiers had already assembled and split into several formations. The ranks stretched on endlessly, almost beyond sight. The training ground was roughly the size of four football fields. Standing on the platform and looking out, one could see that every soldier’s movements were perfectly synchronized, creating a mighty and imposing spectacle.

On the platform there was also a horn-like amplifier as tall as a man, beside which stood a tall, powerfully built officer whose job was to relay the speech.

After Xiao Hongyu and Wang Keyue mounted the platform and looked over the formations, Xiao Hongyu began his address. He spoke of how the court situation had grown increasingly tense, how civil strife within the Northern Peace Prefecture and the Great Qin Dynasty had become severe, how the common people were suffering terribly from war and famine, with countless dead and wounded, and how, to make matters worse, the vile Qiang and Hu tribes were invading from outside, burning, killing, looting, and committing every evil imaginable. The people of the entire realm were living in utter misery.

As the soldiers’ emotions rose and fell between sorrow and outrage, Xiao Hongyu timely turned to tell the story of his own journey, focusing especially on the legendary tale of his master.

In Xiao Hongyu’s telling, Wang Keyue was a Daoist expert from the Maoshan tradition, a true and accomplished hermit of the mountains and waters.

“My master, the Daoist of Nine Peaks and Pure Mystery, has been saving the common people in these troubled times. With his superb medical skill, he has rescued the people from suffering, and through the Daoist art of a universe hidden in his sleeve, he has brought peace to the land. I was fortunate enough to become his disciple. When my master heard that our army had run out of grain and fodder, he traveled thousands of miles to deliver his specially prepared military rations.”

Xiao Hongyu’s words left the ten-thousand-strong assembly of soldiers staring in stunned silence, unable for a long moment to react.

The general had become a Daoist? That old man could work miracles and carry the universe in his sleeve? What? Someone had delivered grain? How could that possibly be?

A low buzz rose at once from below.

Little Treasure’s voice sounded in Wang Keyue’s mind. “Xiaoyueyue, why is no one expressing gratitude?”

He was getting anxious. More than ten thousand gold coins, gone just like that. He was already worrying about the days ahead.

“Don’t panic.” Wang Keyue soothed him in her mind, then stepped forward and signaled for the people below to be quiet.

At last, the entire field fell silent, all of them looking up in confusion.

At that moment, Wang Keyue wore a moon-white robe with a dark silver gauze outer layer. Bathed in sunlight, she shimmered with a radiant glow. Her hair, as white as crane plumage, was bound high atop her head, and she carried herself with the transcendent air of a Daoist immortal, untouched by mortal dust. For a time, everyone stared in a daze.

“Everyone! I am the Daoist of Nine Peaks and Pure Mystery!” she declared.

With a sweep of her hand, a great number of crates appeared beneath the platform, piled into a small hill more than three meters high.

Those standing close enough nearly jumped out of their skin, while even those farther away could clearly see the vast heap of crates that had suddenly materialized.

“My heavens! An immortal! It’s an immortal!”

No one knew who shouted it first, or who started the tide. In any case, Wang Keyue could tell that Xiao Hongyu’s people must have been in on it, serving as planted supporters.

Once one planted supporter cried out and dropped to their knees with a resounding thud, bowing their head to the ground, the rest followed one after another. In an instant, all ten thousand soldiers in the field knelt and paid their respects.