CH 6

When Wu Xi entered the gate of the capital city in the carriage, he couldn’t help but secretly lift up the curtain.

After being on the road from South Xinjiang to the Central Plains for a few entire months, he was finally able to see that the Central Plains he heard about in legends was truly so large and so populous.

The city walls linked together, there was an endless traffic of carriages, and the street looked so long that it would take over a lifetime to finish walking.

The dense forests of South Xinjiang that were filled with dark fog year round and the strongholds held up by massive mountains seemed shabby and insignificant in front of this long and unbroken stretch of rivers and mountains that continued on for thousands of miles. So why was it a place that attracted the troops of the Central Plains people, who had to attack his own clan’s people?

Wu Xi had asked the Grand Sorcerer, the most authoritative and wise man in the tribe whose words represented the will of the god Jia Xi. Wu Xi would also be a Grand Sorcerer in the future, but he was still a child and there were many things he didn’t understand.

The Grand Sorcerer told him: “This is a test of the god Jia Xi, the god Jia Xi is omnipresent, looking at everything that everyone has done, and if the cause is buried today, the result will be harvested in the future. Only, the life of a mortal is too short, like a small bug that appears on the ground and then dies quickly, unknowing, not understanding the god’s will. When you grow up and have seen many people, and when you know a lot of things, you will slowly start to understand.”

When the Grand Sorcerer said this, the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes seemed to change, his serene eyes gazing at the hazy mountains in the distance, black and lacquered, like a pool of stagnant water that would not move.

Wu Xi looked at his eyes and suddenly felt particularly sad. The Grand Sorcerer patted his head and said to him: “You are already ten years old and you’re starting to make up your own mind and thoughts. There are many things that you might not remember even if I teach you, so it’s time for you to go out and look for yourself.”

Wu Xi stretched out and firmly grabbed the long robes of the Grand Sorcerer, but kept his mouth shut. The Grand Sorcerer sighed: "The Central Plains is like a snare, with lively and rich things that you can’t even imagine, the most beautiful people and the most exquisite things. You may start thinking that compared to the Central Plains, South Xinjiang is a broken place isolated by the mountains, and you will not want to leave that place and forget who you are.”

“I won’t.” Wuxi looked up him and solemnly raised a small hand. “I swear to God, I will definitely come back, I will never forget my people in my life. I will bring my people to fight back, I will remember who bullied us and I will not give those people a peaceful death!”

The Grand Sorcerer started to laugh, not looking like a heavenly messenger or a master who always meant what he said, only like an ordinary old man, with a little kindness and exhaustion, watching a child who grew up day by day with an indescribable kind of hope and expectation, and because the expectation was a little too much, some anxiety gradually appeared: “Remember the words you said today, remember your hometown. No matter how far you go, remember your people who are still waiting for you.”

The Central Plains were dazzling and made Wu Xi curious. When walking through a place, it was almost like he wanted to give birth to a new pair of eyes to look more carefully at everything, but his curiosity was mixed with fear. Every day before going to bed, he repeated the Grand Sorcerer’s parting words silently in his heart. But of all of the places in the world, not one was as prosperous as the capital, prosperous to the point that he felt like it wasn’t real.

Through the opened curtain, an unusual smell floated over, and Wu Xi carefully identified it as the smell of the thronging crowds of people and horse carriages, very thick with a very, very light fragrance in the middle, carrying something that seemed bewitching.

He raised his head, seeing crowds of people filling both sides of the road. There were some carrying bird cages, some lifting baskets, and all of the people looked at his group like they were watching some exotic animals with great interest.

The carriage slowly steadied and continued down the flat, cobbled limestone road. In the midst of the city, there was also a winding river, and several particularly large and gaudy boats were moored quietly on it as the water flowed past. The drooping branch of the willow on the bank of the river seemed to reach towards Wu Xi, but when he reached out to catch it, he did not succeed.

At this time, the carriage stopped and footsteps approached. Wu Xi lowered the curtain, sitting up properly, and when the carriage door opened from the front, he saw his clan member and travel companion A Xinlai mirroring his posture with a straightened waist and back, standing to the side, looking like he was trying hard to make himself look taller. Behind him was a grinning old man wearing a strange tall hat, wide sleeves hanging down all the way to his knees with his hands hidden inside, the voice coming out of his mouth sharp and thin: “Oh, this is the sorcerer youth master, is it not? This place welcomes you.”

Lu Baichuan, who accompanied him, quickly explained to them in the rough language of southern Xinjiang: “This is Eunuch Xi who serves next to the emperor, who is a first-class important person. The emperor specially sent the eunuch to the Xuande gate to welcome you, and arranged for your stay in the palace, which is an incredible promotion for you.”

Lu Baichuan was a Han Chinese person from the border of southern Xinjiang. During the war, he was one of the guides recruited by Feng Yuanji. His Mandarin and Xinjiang dialect were both very proficient, and he cleverly climbed the ranks of the army, becoming an important person. The South Xinjiang delegation’s knowledge of Mandarin was limited to simple conversations, so he was specially assigned to translate for the sorcerer youth.

Wu Xi’s face was covered with black cloth, only revealing a pair of extremely dark eyes, sweeping past Lu Baichuan. The smile on Lu Baichuan’s face stiffened for a moment, as he kept feeling that the child’s eyes were not at all childlike, so dark, so wild, looking like they were carved out of the same mold as the godlike and ancient Grand Sorcerer, the cold gaze making people shiver.

Wu Xi stood up slowly and Lu Baichuan reached out to help him with a flattering hand, but was slapped away by A Xinlai.

Lu Baichuan became furious, but when he turned and saw the fierce southerner currently glaring at him with anger and the colorful tattoos on his exposed upper body, the young man looked a little awkward. In an instant, Lu Baichuan’s anger cooled in his stomach and he moved aside, embarrassed, watching A Xinlai bend down, let Wu Xi hold his arm with a very humble action, and carefully helped him get off.

Wu Xi raised his eyes and looked at the shrill-sounding, shrewd-looking eunuch, hesitating for a moment, but then thought of the Grand Sorcerer’s parting reminder to restrain himself at the Central Plains in order to protect the whole clan and finally inclined his head slightly.

Eunuch Xi immediately turned to the side, showing that he did not dare accept this humble greeting: “This old slave does not deserve this greeting, I absolutely don’t dare!”

The Imperial City was in the center of the capital, palaces connecting to even more palaces, a golden glory that was easy to lose yourself in, rising into the clouds. Wuxi looked up and thought, it was really high…

He started to feel a little bit scared, but could not show it, because A Xinlai and the others were behind him and the enemy soldiers were watching. He couldn’t let his clan lose face.

Wu Xi quietly took a deep breath, straightened his clothes, and followed Eunuch Xi inside. 

When the warriors of South Xinjiang arrived at the main hall, the whispering civil and military officials suddenly became quiet, watching this group of rough and imposing Southern people march in. Many years of living in the wild made their shoulders particularly wide, and their shoulders were covered in totem-like tattoos, their honey-colored skin exposed, and their hair loose. 

Jing Qi, by the grace of the Emperor He Lianpei, was sitting next to this venerable figure and tried to sneak a yawn when he thought no one was paying attention. Halfway through the yawn, he heard the announcement and restrained himself, quickly blinking to hide his watery eyes.

He vaguely remembers that in his last reincarnation he only heard that the Southern people surrendered, the emperor satisfied his vanity, and there were no further malicious thoughts. There was no such thing as a hostage brought to the capital. Indeed, with the chances of another lifetime, there were still some things that would change.

He couldn’t help but be a little curious, observing from afar, wanting to see the appearance of the savage Southern people who destroyed 400,000 elite troops of Daqing.

But once he looked over, he saw a child escorted by those warriors. His small body was wrapped in a black robe, and even his face could not be seen, only revealing a pair of eyes, as if he were a ghost. He stood up very straight, and he seemed to face all the people’s judgement without fear.

However, Jing Qi didn’t know why, he just felt that this child was a little pitiful.

The military officers of Daqing kneeled, shouting long live long live His Majesty. The warriors of South Xinjiang looked at each other for a second and also uniformly kneeled. Only the black-robed sorcerer youth still stood there, seeming extremely lonely.

The Minister of Rites, Official Jian, stared down, loudly clearing his throat, and said in anger: “Audacious! Once you surrendered to Daqing, the sacred must be respected, you have met the prince, and seen the rites of the emperor, why do you not kneel?" 

A Xinlai said loudly: "Emperor of Daqing, we were defeated in battle and submitted ourselves to your rule, so kneeling is appropriate, but this sorcerer youth is the future Grand Sorcerer, the messenger of the great god Jia Xi, who does not to kneel down to anyone! ”

A Xinlai had a loud voice, and when speaking with force, the whole hall echoed with his sound.

Jing Qi squinted as he looked over. This person looked at tall and strong, but listening to the sound of this speech, he feared that this was still a child, with the feeling of a newborn calf that was not afraid of a tiger. 

Minister Jian’s face became cold, showing his anger: "Emperor Wu is the only true son of heaven, the ninety fifth deity, even if your insignificant barbarian gods personally descend from the sky, they cannot show disrespect here, not to mention a three-foot child with an official sounding name! ”

A Xinlai stared at him with eyes like shining copper. Minister Jian was not as much of a capable person as Lu Baichuan, and although the old man looked like delicate intellectual, although he was the most disciplined in the Ministry of Rites, he was truly just an old, crabby donkey. In all his life, he was best at two things: one was insulting people, and the other one was glaring at people after insulting them, and even He Lianpei tried to avoid him. Now with A Xinlai, one old and one young person stared at each other, neither willing to budge.

Jing Qi lowered his head slightly, suppressing the corners of his mouth that were curving upwards.

But Wu Xi suddenly reached his hand out and pressed it on A Xinlai’s shoulder, then took a step forward and kneeled politely: “Southern Xinjiang sorcerer youth Wu Xi pays respects to His Majesty the Emperor of Daqing.”

His voice still hadn’t changed, but the sound was clear and cold, with no softness. His hands were propped on the ground, revealing rather pale fingertips, and then he leaned down and bowed with his forehead touching the ground. Jing Qi noticed that at that moment, the Southern warriors behind him all curled their hands into tight fists, and the guy who had just clashed with Minister Jian looked like he had been slapped with frost, the rims of his eyes turning red.

He Lianpei clicked his tongue and waved his hand: "Everyone rise.” Turning his head, he sharply stared at Minister Jian. “Official Jian Ai, you just said that my Daqing is a heavenly empire, so we must be tolerant towards the people. He is a child, coming from thousands of miles away, how old can he be? What are you doing by bothering him? Call the attendants, have them take good care of this sorcerer youth.”

Waiting until after the boy had already touched his head to the ground, then reprimanding the old minister, making this person look wholly bad to set off his own image of compassion. Jing Qi felt that his family’s emperor was truly capable.

He also saw the treasured emperor lean forward slightly, looking at the little sorcerer youth of South Xinjiang with a child-like curiosity, immediately asking: “South Xinjiang’s sorcerer youth, I ask you, since you are called the sorcerer youth, do you have any outstanding abilities?”

He reached out and gestured: "By cultivating your craft, can you become a heavenly immortal? Can you control the wind and the earth? Oh… Yes, do you have the ability to go through walls?”

The main hall became silent for a moment. The magnificent ninety fifth deity was receiving a statement of surrender, and his first sentence was neither an appeasement nor a threat, nor a statement that the other party lost well and should be obedient in the future, but his first question was whether the other party could go through walls?

It is likely that many people’s frame of mind was similar to that of Jing Qi, wanting to cover their faces with their long sleeves and pretend they weren’t present, or they were like old Minister Jian—although they didn’t speak, their whiskers were twitching, seeming like they wanted to attack at any moment.

The author has something to say: It’s raining today, thundering, I just pulled out the cable. == I bought yogurt for a minute and got delayed and almost got stuck outside because of the rainstorm.