"Your Highness, Heavenly Devil Cult is still one of the three biggest sects. Even though they haven't had a cult master for the past forty years, they are still not to be underestimated."
That middle-aged man continued, "Since they haven't been eradicated even after having no cult master for this many years and are still this powerful, this shows how united they are. If it was Great Thunderclap Monastery or Dao Sect, would they dare to have no Rulai or Dao Master for forty years? If you underestimate Heavenly Devil Cult, you will only be at a disadvantage."
Eternal Peace Crown Prince shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I won't underestimate Heavenly Devil Cult. For it to get rid of Grand Preceptor Sun Nantuo, the monks of Nantuo Side Palace, and Nantuo Monastery without any news reaching the outside world, they can't be seen as weak. How would I underestimate a cult like this?"
The middle-aged man gave a puzzled look, and Eternal Peace Crown Prince continued, "There's no need for me to make a move against Heavenly Devil Cult. Dao Sect, Great Thunderclap Monastery, these two sacred grounds have a far longer grudge with them than Eternal Peace Empire. The two sacred grounds want more than anything to get rid of this chief of the devil path, they just hadn't had the chance. What if…
"What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire no longer stood against these sects? What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire no longer supported Imperial Preceptor's reform. What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire dismissed Imperial Preceptor? What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire made the struggle between sects and countries vanish like smoke in thin air? Do you think Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery would be willing to ally themselves with this emperor? Would Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery be willing to support this emperor?"
The body of the middle-aged man trembled slightly as he looked at his superior.
With a deep gaze, Eternal Peace Crown Prince said indifferently, "Even though my father has great skills and strategy, he is too trusting of Imperial Preceptor. With such trust in him, more than half of the imperial court belongs to him. The roots of our Ling Family are going to be lost. Father has let Imperial Preceptor's power grow, so if Imperial Preceptor decides to rebel, there will be nothing to do. If Imperial Preceptor continues to grow like this, the world is going to change, and the dynasty will be changing hands!"
With a stern gaze, he said solemnly, "The older generation of our Ling Family, the people with lofty ideals have all seen the first signs of this. This was the reason why eighth uncle supported me. Eighth uncle had exhorted father before, but father remained obstinate and chose to believe in Imperial Preceptor. Eighth uncle was helpless and hoped that I would change things."
He got worked up and said with sorrowful anger, "Eighth Uncle was a senior of Ling Family who had conquered the world along with the ancestor. Eighth uncle of our Eternal Peace Empire didn't mind bearing the name of traitor to the country and contacted the sects of the martial world as well as the officials everywhere. All of this was to pave the way for me, to pull Imperial Preceptor off his horse. What a pity that it was all for naught! He couldn't even have a complete corpse after death, his head having been severed by Imperial Preceptor, that wretch. There are even rumors in all levels of society saying that he wasn't loyal!"
Eternal Peace Crown Prince shed tears and slammed the table violently, both of his eyes red. "I can't watch as our Ling Family's country gets destroyed under father's hand, even if I have to become unfilial! I can't be both loyal and filial, so I will be loyal to the Ling Family! Some things have to be done, I can't not do it!"
He walked to and fro in excitement. "How laughable, my brother and sisters are still leading a befuddled existence and don't know about the impending doom that's about to fall on our Ling Family! Father has already been overridden by Imperial Preceptor, and if the Ling Family is chased off the throne, they will all be annihilated! I can't let this happen, I can't let Imperial Preceptor, this devil, take over our nest! I will have to become the emperor and stop all this from happening!"
In the shipyard, Nature Craft Hall and Carpentry Hall used ten days to build five ships. Everyone installed the fifteen pill furnaces that Qin Mu had forged and connected them to the bronze beasts.
Qin Mu did minor adjustments to the blueprints of the flying ships and changed some layout. Every ship needed to have three pill furnaces installed. There were three bronze beasts on the ship, with two at the aft of the ship and one at the bottom. The heads of the bronze beasts could turn in all directions.
Changing the materials of the flying ship from wood to black iron and black copper had resulted in its weight increasing exponentially. One pill furnace was definitely not enough to make it fly, so Qin Mu added two more. Besides that, another bronze beast that could spew fire was added to the bottom of the ship which could make it less shaky when taking off and landing.
There were three big and two small ships among the five iron shell ships. Even though they were small, they were complete in every detail. All of the guest rooms in the hold of the smaller ships also had everything that was needed.
Qin Mu made his men paint wood grains on the five ships so that they would look like five wooden flying ships. This was so they wouldn't be universally shocking.
Fan Yunxiao was abnormally excited and kept walking to and fro around the five ships. "Cult master, which ship is mine?"
Qin Mu pointed at the smaller ship and Fan Yunxiao's expression instantly turned ugly. "Can't I get a bigger ship?"
"Big ships are used for transporting soldiers and fighting in war, their speed ain't as great as that of the smaller one," Qin Mu explained. "If you want to continue being a fire bandit, it's best for you to choose the small one. If you want the big one, you can use it to ferry passengers. However, big ship consumes more medicinal stones and you might not earn enough from ship fares to buy them in times of peace."
Fan Yunxiao hesitated for a moment. "In that case, I shall choose the small ship. What are you going to use the other small ship?"
Even though it was a small ship, it wasn't really that small. It was thirty yards long, ten yards wide, fifteen yards tall, and able to ferry around twenty-thirty people.
Qin Mu had made the disciples of Heavenly Devil Cult change their clothing before driving the three big ships out. He then sent the smaller ship to Imperial College while saying, "It's almost New Years, this smaller ship will be my mode of transport. Incense Master Fan, you have already entered the Bandit Hall of our sacred cult. Bandit Hall is part of our sacred cult, so I won't say anything more, it's a way of living for our cult's disciples after all. You can plunder people's riches but you can't take their lives nor rape them."
"I was from Dao Sect and even though I was chased out by old Dao Master, we fire bandits never take people's lives nor do we ever rape them. Don't worry, there are three hundred and sixty trades and each trade has its own master. I will definitely do my best and not let down cult master's great hopes for me!"
Qin Mu was flabbergasted. He only waved his hand after quite some time while looking at Fan Yunxiao boarding the small ship with excitement. More than a dozen fire bandits were pushing the ship out of the factory using the wooden rails with all of their strength.
The snow outside had already stopped, but with the cold weather, there were few people in the shipyard.
Fan Yunxiao shouted, "Light up the furnace, we're taking off! This ship will be our new Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship! We're no longer turning good, fly the flag of our fire bandits! What's outside is the sky and countless riches!"
The iron shell ship slowly rose, its speed gradually increasing. When the ship suddenly broke through the air, Qing Mu could hear the fire bandits crying out, "So cold, so cold! Boss Fan, don't stand on the deck, come in to get warm!"
Qin Mu saw them off before returning. He then brought the dragon qilin, Hu Ling'er, and Dutian Devil King back to the capital.
Lots of snow had fallen a couple days ago, so even though it had stopped, the sky was still filled with gloomy dark clouds. No sunlight could be seen as cold wind raged on, freezing everything it found.
"It's been ten days since we saw the sun," Hu Ling'er said as she looked up at the sky.
She couldn't sit still in the factory and frequently ran outside.
Qin Mu was slightly stunned. There has been no sun for the past ten days? It seemed like the snow was quite heavy, but why didn't the sun come out even after the snow had stopped?
He didn't think too much about it. Now that it was getting closer and closer to New Years, there was also some flavor of it in the capital as everything was decorated with lanterns and colored banners. Qin Mu walked into the city only to see flying ships going up into the sky. Besides the soldiers on the ships, there were also some ministers of the imperial court. He wondered why they were going up.
"It doesn't seem like they're going to war."
Qin Mu raised his head but only saw the dozen flying ships going higher and higher. They headed up above instead of any horizontal direction, and he was left bewildered.
He returned to Imperial College and saw many scholars discussing New Years. No one was talking about why the ministers had flown into the clouds. There were also some scholars discussing about the flying ship that had docked in front of Scholar's Residence.
"I wonder which rich son actually got a flying ship as a mode of transport."
The next day, the sky was still gloomy. Gu Linuan gathered all the scholars of Imperial College and announced, "The emperor has called a holiday for the New Years, so you can now all return home."
The entire mountain erupted in cheers.
Qin Mu raised his head and saw a couple more flying ships rising into the sky, towards a higher altitude.
Meanwhile Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship, Fan Yunxiao stood at the bow while trembling and picking the icicle hanging from his nose as he looked down. "Second brother, where are we now?"
A fire bandit looked down and distinguished the terrain before saying, "We have already reached Li River."
"Why is snowing over Li River as well?"
Fan Yunxiao was astonished. Pointing at the mountains blanketed in white, he said, "That's not right, Li River is situated at the southernmost border of the southern borders, Even when it's heavy winter, it would usually be bare. Why has the snow covered even this place this year?"
Most of the fire bandits came up from the hold of the ship and looked down, clicking their tongues in wonder.
Suddenly Fan Yunxiao's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly asked, "We're over thousands of miles away from the capital city, right? Yet have any of you seen the sun?"
The dozen of bandits looked at one another and all shook their heads.
Fan Yunxiao took a cold breath and looked at the gloomy cloud in the sky while muttering, "A cloud that covers a radius of a few thousand miles. Could this f*cker be an ordinary cloud? And this snow, even the southern border is under it… This coming year might not be a year of peace but instead might be a year of disaster with starving people everywhere… If people starve and have nothing to eat, they will start to rebel… I thought I could earn quite a sum of money during the couple years of peace. Second brother, increase the firepower of the pill furnaces to their maximum, let us continue heading south!"
Over two hours later, Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship had flown out of the southern border and into the sky above the southern sea. Suddenly, a bright light in front of them dazzled their eyes, and when they flew over there, they were met with the light of a blazing sun shining freely, illuminating the surface of the sea like it was a sapphire.
Fan Yunxiao turned his head back to have a look and sucked in a deep breath.
An incomparably ginormous gloomy cloud shrouded the entire territory of Eternal Peace Empire!
In Imperial College, Qin Mu packed up his luggage and prepared to return to Great Ruins when a directorate walked over while shouting in a loud voice, "Palace Grandee, the emperor has ordered that all officials with sixth ranking and above have to head to the imperial court for discussion! Anyone who does otherwise will be punished!"
Qin Mu placed his luggage down and said to Hu Ling'er, "You guys shall remain here for now, I'll go to the palace and take a look."
It was his first time attending the imperial court, and when he came to the imperial court hall, there was already a vast crowd there. Thousands of officials had squeezed in. Luckily, the emperor's audience hall was huge enough to accommodate these many people.
Emperor Yanfeng sat on the throne in the audience hall and had a worried look on his face. He would ask time and time again, "Is Imperial Preceptor here?"
When he heard that Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had yet to come, the worried look on Emperor Yanfeng's face grew even heavier.
After some time, Emperor Yanfeng cleared his throat and said in a resounding voice, "No need to wait for Imperial Preceptor anymore. My dear ministers, it's been over ten days since you have last seen the sun, is that right? I too have not seen the sun for over ten days and not only me, the entire Eternal Peace Empire had not seen the sun for over ten days. I received memorials from officials all over the world that snow is falling everywhere. From the northern desert to the southern sky, from Sunrise Island in the east to Secret Waters Pass in the west, lots of snow fell, six to seven days worth of it!"
The emperor stood up from the dragon throne and pointed upwards with his trembling finger, "A cloud has covered the entire territory of our Eternal Peace Empire!"
"Your Highness, Heavenly Devil Cult is still one of the three biggest sects. Even though they haven't had a cult master for the past forty years, they are still not to be underestimated."
That middle-aged man continued, "Since they haven't been eradicated even after having no cult master for this many years and are still this powerful, this shows how united they are. If it was Great Thunderclap Monastery or Dao Sect, would they dare to have no Rulai or Dao Master for forty years? If you underestimate Heavenly Devil Cult, you will only be at a disadvantage."
Eternal Peace Crown Prince shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I won't underestimate Heavenly Devil Cult. For it to get rid of Grand Preceptor Sun Nantuo, the monks of Nantuo Side Palace, and Nantuo Monastery without any news reaching the outside world, they can't be seen as weak. How would I underestimate a cult like this?"
The middle-aged man gave a puzzled look, and Eternal Peace Crown Prince continued, "There's no need for me to make a move against Heavenly Devil Cult. Dao Sect, Great Thunderclap Monastery, these two sacred grounds have a far longer grudge with them than Eternal Peace Empire. The two sacred grounds want more than anything to get rid of this chief of the devil path, they just hadn't had the chance. What if…
"What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire no longer stood against these sects? What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire no longer supported Imperial Preceptor's reform. What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire dismissed Imperial Preceptor? What if the emperor of Eternal Peace Empire made the struggle between sects and countries vanish like smoke in thin air? Do you think Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery would be willing to ally themselves with this emperor? Would Dao Sect and Great Thunderclap Monastery be willing to support this emperor?"
The body of the middle-aged man trembled slightly as he looked at his superior.
With a deep gaze, Eternal Peace Crown Prince said indifferently, "Even though my father has great skills and strategy, he is too trusting of Imperial Preceptor. With such trust in him, more than half of the imperial court belongs to him. The roots of our Ling Family are going to be lost. Father has let Imperial Preceptor's power grow, so if Imperial Preceptor decides to rebel, there will be nothing to do. If Imperial Preceptor continues to grow like this, the world is going to change, and the dynasty will be changing hands!"
With a stern gaze, he said solemnly, "The older generation of our Ling Family, the people with lofty ideals have all seen the first signs of this. This was the reason why eighth uncle supported me. Eighth uncle had exhorted father before, but father remained obstinate and chose to believe in Imperial Preceptor. Eighth uncle was helpless and hoped that I would change things."
He got worked up and said with sorrowful anger, "Eighth Uncle was a senior of Ling Family who had conquered the world along with the ancestor. Eighth uncle of our Eternal Peace Empire didn't mind bearing the name of traitor to the country and contacted the sects of the martial world as well as the officials everywhere. All of this was to pave the way for me, to pull Imperial Preceptor off his horse. What a pity that it was all for naught! He couldn't even have a complete corpse after death, his head having been severed by Imperial Preceptor, that wretch. There are even rumors in all levels of society saying that he wasn't loyal!"
Eternal Peace Crown Prince shed tears and slammed the table violently, both of his eyes red. "I can't watch as our Ling Family's country gets destroyed under father's hand, even if I have to become unfilial! I can't be both loyal and filial, so I will be loyal to the Ling Family! Some things have to be done, I can't not do it!"
He walked to and fro in excitement. "How laughable, my brother and sisters are still leading a befuddled existence and don't know about the impending doom that's about to fall on our Ling Family! Father has already been overridden by Imperial Preceptor, and if the Ling Family is chased off the throne, they will all be annihilated! I can't let this happen, I can't let Imperial Preceptor, this devil, take over our nest! I will have to become the emperor and stop all this from happening!"
In the shipyard, Nature Craft Hall and Carpentry Hall used ten days to build five ships. Everyone installed the fifteen pill furnaces that Qin Mu had forged and connected them to the bronze beasts.
Qin Mu did minor adjustments to the blueprints of the flying ships and changed some layout. Every ship needed to have three pill furnaces installed. There were three bronze beasts on the ship, with two at the aft of the ship and one at the bottom. The heads of the bronze beasts could turn in all directions.
Changing the materials of the flying ship from wood to black iron and black copper had resulted in its weight increasing exponentially. One pill furnace was definitely not enough to make it fly, so Qin Mu added two more. Besides that, another bronze beast that could spew fire was added to the bottom of the ship which could make it less shaky when taking off and landing.
There were three big and two small ships among the five iron shell ships. Even though they were small, they were complete in every detail. All of the guest rooms in the hold of the smaller ships also had everything that was needed.
Qin Mu made his men paint wood grains on the five ships so that they would look like five wooden flying ships. This was so they wouldn't be universally shocking.
Fan Yunxiao was abnormally excited and kept walking to and fro around the five ships. "Cult master, which ship is mine?"
Qin Mu pointed at the smaller ship and Fan Yunxiao's expression instantly turned ugly. "Can't I get a bigger ship?"
"Big ships are used for transporting soldiers and fighting in war, their speed ain't as great as that of the smaller one," Qin Mu explained. "If you want to continue being a fire bandit, it's best for you to choose the small one. If you want the big one, you can use it to ferry passengers. However, big ship consumes more medicinal stones and you might not earn enough from ship fares to buy them in times of peace."
Fan Yunxiao hesitated for a moment. "In that case, I shall choose the small ship. What are you going to use the other small ship?"
Even though it was a small ship, it wasn't really that small. It was thirty yards long, ten yards wide, fifteen yards tall, and able to ferry around twenty-thirty people.
Qin Mu had made the disciples of Heavenly Devil Cult change their clothing before driving the three big ships out. He then sent the smaller ship to Imperial College while saying, "It's almost New Years, this smaller ship will be my mode of transport. Incense Master Fan, you have already entered the Bandit Hall of our sacred cult. Bandit Hall is part of our sacred cult, so I won't say anything more, it's a way of living for our cult's disciples after all. You can plunder people's riches but you can't take their lives nor rape them."
"I was from Dao Sect and even though I was chased out by old Dao Master, we fire bandits never take people's lives nor do we ever rape them. Don't worry, there are three hundred and sixty trades and each trade has its own master. I will definitely do my best and not let down cult master's great hopes for me!"
Qin Mu was flabbergasted. He only waved his hand after quite some time while looking at Fan Yunxiao boarding the small ship with excitement. More than a dozen fire bandits were pushing the ship out of the factory using the wooden rails with all of their strength.
The snow outside had already stopped, but with the cold weather, there were few people in the shipyard.
Fan Yunxiao shouted, "Light up the furnace, we're taking off! This ship will be our new Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship! We're no longer turning good, fly the flag of our fire bandits! What's outside is the sky and countless riches!"
The iron shell ship slowly rose, its speed gradually increasing. When the ship suddenly broke through the air, Qing Mu could hear the fire bandits crying out, "So cold, so cold! Boss Fan, don't stand on the deck, come in to get warm!"
Qin Mu saw them off before returning. He then brought the dragon qilin, Hu Ling'er, and Dutian Devil King back to the capital.
Lots of snow had fallen a couple days ago, so even though it had stopped, the sky was still filled with gloomy dark clouds. No sunlight could be seen as cold wind raged on, freezing everything it found.
"It's been ten days since we saw the sun," Hu Ling'er said as she looked up at the sky.
She couldn't sit still in the factory and frequently ran outside.
Qin Mu was slightly stunned. There has been no sun for the past ten days? It seemed like the snow was quite heavy, but why didn't the sun come out even after the snow had stopped?
He didn't think too much about it. Now that it was getting closer and closer to New Years, there was also some flavor of it in the capital as everything was decorated with lanterns and colored banners. Qin Mu walked into the city only to see flying ships going up into the sky. Besides the soldiers on the ships, there were also some ministers of the imperial court. He wondered why they were going up.
"It doesn't seem like they're going to war."
Qin Mu raised his head but only saw the dozen flying ships going higher and higher. They headed up above instead of any horizontal direction, and he was left bewildered.
He returned to Imperial College and saw many scholars discussing New Years. No one was talking about why the ministers had flown into the clouds. There were also some scholars discussing about the flying ship that had docked in front of Scholar's Residence.
"I wonder which rich son actually got a flying ship as a mode of transport."
The next day, the sky was still gloomy. Gu Linuan gathered all the scholars of Imperial College and announced, "The emperor has called a holiday for the New Years, so you can now all return home."
The entire mountain erupted in cheers.
Qin Mu raised his head and saw a couple more flying ships rising into the sky, towards a higher altitude.
Meanwhile Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship, Fan Yunxiao stood at the bow while trembling and picking the icicle hanging from his nose as he looked down. "Second brother, where are we now?"
A fire bandit looked down and distinguished the terrain before saying, "We have already reached Li River."
"Why is snowing over Li River as well?"
Fan Yunxiao was astonished. Pointing at the mountains blanketed in white, he said, "That's not right, Li River is situated at the southernmost border of the southern borders, Even when it's heavy winter, it would usually be bare. Why has the snow covered even this place this year?"
Most of the fire bandits came up from the hold of the ship and looked down, clicking their tongues in wonder.
Suddenly Fan Yunxiao's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly asked, "We're over thousands of miles away from the capital city, right? Yet have any of you seen the sun?"
The dozen of bandits looked at one another and all shook their heads.
Fan Yunxiao took a cold breath and looked at the gloomy cloud in the sky while muttering, "A cloud that covers a radius of a few thousand miles. Could this f*cker be an ordinary cloud? And this snow, even the southern border is under it… This coming year might not be a year of peace but instead might be a year of disaster with starving people everywhere… If people starve and have nothing to eat, they will start to rebel… I thought I could earn quite a sum of money during the couple years of peace. Second brother, increase the firepower of the pill furnaces to their maximum, let us continue heading south!"
Over two hours later, Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship had flown out of the southern border and into the sky above the southern sea. Suddenly, a bright light in front of them dazzled their eyes, and when they flew over there, they were met with the light of a blazing sun shining freely, illuminating the surface of the sea like it was a sapphire.
Fan Yunxiao turned his head back to have a look and sucked in a deep breath.
An incomparably ginormous gloomy cloud shrouded the entire territory of Eternal Peace Empire!
In Imperial College, Qin Mu packed up his luggage and prepared to return to Great Ruins when a directorate walked over while shouting in a loud voice, "Palace Grandee, the emperor has ordered that all officials with sixth ranking and above have to head to the imperial court for discussion! Anyone who does otherwise will be punished!"
Qin Mu placed his luggage down and said to Hu Ling'er, "You guys shall remain here for now, I'll go to the palace and take a look."
It was his first time attending the imperial court, and when he came to the imperial court hall, there was already a vast crowd there. Thousands of officials had squeezed in. Luckily, the emperor's audience hall was huge enough to accommodate these many people.
Emperor Yanfeng sat on the throne in the audience hall and had a worried look on his face. He would ask time and time again, "Is Imperial Preceptor here?"
When he heard that Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had yet to come, the worried look on Emperor Yanfeng's face grew even heavier.
After some time, Emperor Yanfeng cleared his throat and said in a resounding voice, "No need to wait for Imperial Preceptor anymore. My dear ministers, it's been over ten days since you have last seen the sun, is that right? I too have not seen the sun for over ten days and not only me, the entire Eternal Peace Empire had not seen the sun for over ten days. I received memorials from officials all over the world that snow is falling everywhere. From the northern desert to the southern sky, from Sunrise Island in the east to Secret Waters Pass in the west, lots of snow fell, six to seven days worth of it!"
The emperor stood up from the dragon throne and pointed upwards with his trembling finger, "A cloud has covered the entire territory of our Eternal Peace Empire!"
