Chapter 85: South Firmament Mountains

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

On a scorching summer day, at the peak of a mountain…

Dressed in blue, Luo Ning stood on a io,ooo-foot-tall precipice. Behind her was a watchtower made of black stone that overlooked the winding river outside the mountain.

The wind gently teased Luo Ning’s long black hair. Her peach blossom eyes passed through thousands of mountains and looked at the unreachable Yun Province as various thoughts filled her heart.

The Heavenly South was a general term. Its exact location was roughly at the coastal line of Jiang Province, Chong Province, and Tu Province. The south of Chong Province was the core region of the Heavenly South’s Jianghu.

The South Firmament Mountains were originally called the South Guarding Pass. It was a southern fortress built by the previous dynasty. A river passed through the mountains, and on both sides were ten thousand feet tall precipices. It was a natural strategic location.

When Great Wei rose up and swept through the world, the Xue family, who guarded this pass, had defended it with 2,000 soldiers, isolated and helpless.

At the moment of the collapse of the country, the imperial family in Yun’an City had been escorted out by loyalists. They had broken through the blockade of countless rebels and fled to the South Firmament Mountains. Here, they were protected by the Xue family to the death, and their descendants were still alive.

Therefore, in theory, the former Great Yan Dynasty had not been completely destroyed. There was only one place, the South Firmament Mountains, and one minister, the Xue family, left.

Strictly speaking, the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master was the ‘Marquis of the South Mountains’ conferred by the previous dynasty. He was the Great Yan general who guarded the South Firmament Mountains, and the Great Wei Imperial Court was the true traitor.

At first, Great Wei still wanted to conquer this pass, but the Northern Liang Dynasty in the north posed a greater threat than the valiant Jianghu heroes in the south. The main army was in the north, and ordinary soldiers could forget about conquering this pass. When the founding monarch of Great Wei passed away and the new ruler ascended the throne, he couldn’t even be bothered to care about the small South Firmament Mountains.

The Xue family refused an amnesty offering and enlistment, but the situation in the world had already been decided. They didn’t dare to openly raise the banner of Great Yan to restore the country and attract a large army to suppress the borders. Instead, they established the Pacifying Heaven Cult. They relied on various skills to roam Jianghu, win over followers, and slowly accumulate strength.

With the passage of time, Great Yan had long become a thing of the past. Even the unruly people of Jianghu had acknowledged the world was surnamed ‘Wei’. Whether the South Firmament Mountains surrendered or not was no longer relevant to the general situation of the world.

If nothing unexpected happened, the South Firmament Mountains would sooner or later be buried in the dust of history.

But what no one expected was that the Xue family’s luck had yet to end. After decades of persistence, a ‘Xue Baijin’ suddenly appeared in the family. In just a few years, he directly went from a new talent in Jianghu to the top of the Eight Chiefs. He pointed his sword at the three immortals on the mountains, and his momentum was close to that of Fengguan City, which had swept through Jianghu back then.

Because of this, the Pacifying Heaven Cult also rose to prominence. It had more than ten thousand followers and became the overlord of the Heavenly South’s Jianghu. At the same time, it attracted the vigilance of the Imperial Court.

But the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master could see the situation clearly. There were many supporters of the ‘Emperor of Jianghu’, but if he really had delusions of restoring Great Yan, the entire Jianghu would probably draw a clear line with the Pacifying Heaven Cult on the spot. Therefore, he only walked in Jianghu and never talked about the old matters from sixty years ago.

Even Luo Ning, the wife of the cult master, could tell that it was a fantasy for the Pacifying Heaven Cult to restore the country. But being able to be a local emperor in a place where the mountains were high and far away from the emperor was better than being controlled by the Imperial Court and bowing down to Yun’an City.

Luo Ning stared at the cliffs for a long time before going to a waterfall at the top of the mountain.

The waterfall flowed down 3,000 feet, drawing a rainbow under the cliff. Through the water curtain, she could vaguely see a figure sitting cross-legged in the waterfall.

Luo Ning stood at the edge of the waterfall and said in a clear voice, “Yunli and

I are leaving. Take care of yourself.”

There was no one on the mountain peak, but the beautiful waterfall seemed to have an additional sharpness. The figure in the waterfall opened her eyes. “When will you come back?”

“I have a way to let Qiu Tianhe regain his freedom. I will come back after this matter is over.”

“What do you have in mind?”

Luo Ning’s method, although it didn’t sound pleasant, did seem to work. She used a honey trap to charm the shameless little thief, and the shameless thief used a honey trap to charm the princess, thereby using a curve to save Qiu Tianhe.

This method obviously couldn’t be said. Otherwise, as the biggest ‘victim’, the female husband below would definitely come out of seclusion, beat the perverted little thief half to death, and not let her silly wife go out again.

Luo Ning looked at the distant mountains and pondered for a moment. “I have recruited a follower in the capital, and he’s trying to enter the Black Office to be a spy. If this matter succeeds, not only can we save Qiu Tianhe, but we will even have a higher chance of restoring Great Yan in the future.”

“What conditions did you use to recruit him?”

“Teach him martial arts. What else can I use?”

There was a moment of silence under the cliff. Without asking further, she said, “There are crouching tigers and hidden dragons in the capital. Your martial arts skills are poor, so you have to be careful.”

?

Luo Ning’s eyes turned slightly cold. “Traveling in Jianghu doesn’t rely on martial arts skills but the ways of the world. You’re not the only supporter 1 have. If I’m really captured, I’ll just report the name of that smelly Daoist nun on Void Jade Mountain. At worst, I’ll change my religion and become a nun on Void Jade Mountain. What can the Imperial Court do to me?”

The smelly Daoist nun Luo Ning was talking about was naturally the empress’s master, Daoist Xuanji.

Back then, Luo Ning had traveled around Jianghu looking for experts. It was impossible for her not to go to Void Jade Mountain, the Daoist holy land. Although she hadn’t seen Lu Taiqing, she had lived with Daoist Xuanji for a period of time and had a good relationship with her.

Unfortunately, she later joined the Pacifying Heaven Cult and became irreconcilable with the Imperial Court, so she drew a line with Daoist Xuanji. One was still an official, and the other became a rebel.

“Once you go to Void Jade Mountain, our relationship will end. It’s better to be careful. In addition, if you can really plant someone around the Prince of Jing, ask him to find an opportunity to take you to the Eternal Joy Palace.”

“Why?”

“There’s a secret room hidden under the Peaceful Hall. After the emperor moved to the South Firmament Mountains, before he died, he told my grandfather that there was something in the secret room that could be exchanged for Northern Liang’s help.”

Luo Ning blinked. “Where is the Peaceful Hall?”

“It’s the resting palace of the empress of Great Wei.”

?

Luo Ning opened her mouth and wanted to complain, but in the end, she only said one sentence. “How can I enter the place where the empress sleeps?”

“Act within your capabilities. It’s fine if you don’t have a chance. Don’t tell outsiders about this. If the item falls into my hands and we can really exchange for reinforcements from Northern Liang, we can launch our uprising. But if it falls into the hands of other ambitious people, the world will inevitably be in chaos.”

Luo Ning stopped talking about this ridiculous topic and asked, “Do you really want to be the empress?”

“Why are you asking this?”

“I think… you should directly reveal your identity. In the past, there was no female emperor, so it was fine for you to pretend to be a man. Now that there’s a precedent of a woman becoming the emperor, what’s the point of pretending to be a man?”

“The empress has a powerful aristocratic family behind her. What do I have behind me? If a woman rebels and conquers the country, they will benefit a man sooner or later. Who will follow her wholeheartedly?”

Luo Ning didn’t really want to be the cult mistress anymore, so she had asked Xue Baijin to reveal her identity.

She and Xue Baijin had worked together for many years, and she had learned martial arts and the Roaring Dragon Chart from her. If Xue Baijin didn’t reveal her identity, she would really be in the wrong if she quit and asked for a ‘divorce’. After thinking about it, she didn’t say anything else.. After bidding farewell, she left the cliff…