Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 450: Prelude to Chaos

Zhao Changhe had charged into battlefields so many times that they were starting to outnumber the number of times he’d fought in the jianghu.

Perhaps it was because his identity as a prince was becoming more intertwined with his fate, pulling him deeper into the affairs of the world rather than just the jianghu.

Or perhaps it was due to his Vicious Blood Saber Art and the Blood Asura Body, both of which were particularly suited for large-scale battles.

His furious saber, combined with the overwhelming bloodlust that seemed to cover the entire area, terrified common soldiers, throwing them into disarray. His image, wielding a broad saber and embodying fierce might, seemed as though he was born for the battlefield. Once he had broken through to the Profound Mysteries and unveiled the manifestation of the Blood God, it only became more apparent.

While a formidable warrior galloped through their ranks, Yue Hongling, who was making her way from the opposite side, was no less formidable herself. The two quickly converged like twin arrowheads. Zhao Changhe reined in his horse, and together, they stormed out of the battle formation, carving through their foes as if no one stood in their way.

They had gone a fair distance and left the enemy behind when Sisi finally caught up, looking for all the world like a maid coming to meet her lord.

“Let’s go,” Yue Hongling said, glancing back at the dust cloud behind them as she slumped weakly over her saddle. “It’s better if they don’t get a clear look at you. Don’t reveal yourself.”

Sisi: “...”

So, it’s really just the lord coming to take his lady home, and I’m the maid coming along for the ride, huh?

Zhao Changhe added, “Let’s take a side path. Don’t let this be somehow connected to your tribe.”

Thanks so much for your consideration... Sisi rolled her eyes, but she turned her horse down a side path. “Let’s go.”

Having a “local guide” made everything easier. After navigating several twists and turns, they quickly made their way into the mountains, leaving the pursuing soldiers far behind.

Before the enemy troops could even think about surrounding the mountain, the three riders had already burst out the other side of the forest and disappeared, leaving no trail for them to follow.

Zhao Changhe had not noticed, but Sisi had scattered some kind of powder along the way. Soon, countless poisonous insects and snakes swarmed over the horse tracks, covering them completely.

* * *

At the mountain stronghold of the Ancient Spirit Tribe.

Sisi wore a sour expression as she led the horses up the mountain, handling two of them by herself.

Yue Hongling had fallen unconscious at some point and was now being carried by Zhao Changhe on his horse, receiving treatment along the way.

Sisi could not quite figure out what kind of treatment Zhao Changhe was giving. All she saw was Zhao Changhe’s large hands wandering all over Yue Hongling’s body, finally settling over her heart and massaging it.

Is this supposed to be some kind of magical technique? Since when was healing done this way?

It just so happened that the Rejuvenation Art really worked this way—energy was to be applied through touch to wherever the injury was.

Of course, Yue Hongling’s heart was not injured. She had simply lost too much blood, causing her to feel faint. Zhao Changhe was merely regulating her blood flow by applying the technique near her heart.

In truth, she could have held on and remained conscious, but with the man she trusted most by her side, she no longer felt the need to put on a brave front. She allowed herself to lose consciousness. Just as she was about to slump over her horse, she felt herself being pulled into the familiar warmth of his embrace.

Yue Hongling smiled inwardly as she let her eyes close.

I’m still all sweaty and smelly. Let’s see if you’re bothered by that.

The least of Zhao Changhe’s concerns was her smell. In fact, his heart ached terribly. The Tome of Troubled Times mention of her feats made it all sound gallant and heroic, but witnessing it firsthand was an entirely different experience. She had truly been on the brink of death and had only managed a bloody escape.

Her body was covered in wounds, deep and shallow cuts that numbered in the dozens. The worst one, on her left shoulder, went so deep that the bone was visible.

She was practically a figure made of blood, and most of it was her own. The moment her sword struck, life and death hung in the balance—this was the true peril of the jianghu, where lives were carried on the edge of a blade.

Even with all this blood loss, she had kept fighting. If Zhao Changhe had not arrived, she might have continued riding, wounded as she was, fleeing into the wilderness. Amidst a massive manhunt, she would have become a legend of survival against all odds.

Her strength had improved quickly, incredibly quickly... but how could it not have?

Such rapid progress was happening at the expense of her body.

Her injuries were mostly hidden, and they would likely begin showing their effects in a few years. By the time she reached middle age, her body might betray her, with lingering pains and ailments. Her cultivation might ultimately stall at the second layer of the Profound Mysteries, leaving little room for further growth.

She would become the final ray of a setting sun, glorious but fading, destined to sink beneath the horizon and never to rise again.

Yue Hongling was not from a prestigious family; she came from a humble background. Unlike Zhao Changhe, who had the guidance of ancient entities such as the blind woman, she had fought her way to where she was through sheer grit, relying on a few lucky opportunities from her early adventures. She was truly remarkable...

And even more remarkable was her unwavering sense of purpose—her commitment to justice, a path she had walked from the beginning, doing what Zhao Changhe himself had longed to do but found himself too tangled in worldly affairs to pursue fully.

It was as if she were living out the dream he could not fully realize.

Though he hoped her heart would settle with him, Zhao Changhe never said it aloud. After all, would the Yue Hongling who washed her hands to make soup still be the Yue Hongling of his dreams?

He did not know.

Zhao Changhe simply continued silently channeling his Rejuvenation Art, carefully healing her wounds, focusing on her heart to stabilize her condition. He could feel the warmth and softness beneath his touch, but his mind was too focused on her well-being to take notice.

“S-saintess?” A few young girls who had been hiding nearby popped their heads out from the bushes, startled by the sight of their saintess, Sisi, leading horses like a mere servant. What surprised them even more was the man they had met recently, holding Yue Hongling so tenderly, seemingly enjoying the comfort of healing her wounds, while the saintess herself looked like she had just swallowed a bunch of rotten eggs.

“Oh, do I really look like some spare right now?[1]” Sisi snapped. “Stop touching her already! We’re almost at the mountain stronghold. There are men outside. Do you want them to see you like this?”

Zhao Changhe instantly pulled his hands away and wrapped Yue Hongling protectively in his arms, making it clear he did not even want anyone to glimpse the damaged state of her clothing.

Sisi, clearly annoyed, slapped the horses’ backs with a huff. “Giddy up!”

The three horses galloped into the mountain stronghold, leaving the confusion and tension of the battlefield far behind them.

* * *

In Xizhou Town, Shi Wuding sat with a dark expression, glaring at a group of tribal chieftains and disciples of his Sword Hut. “Can someone tell me why Yue Hongling is in Dali?”

Lei Ao and the others exchanged bewildered looks, none of them able to answer.

Just that evening, the pacification commissioner stationed in Xizhou had been assassinated. Eyewitnesses saw a flash of red, and the Sword Hut disciples had even clashed with the assassin, who managed to escape. While the Sword Hut focused its full effort on searching for Yue Hongling in the Xizhou area, a few hours later, the main pacification commissioner in Dali was also assassinated.

No matter how close Xizhou and Dali were, they were not close enough to the point where she could be in one and instantly in the other!

Shi Wuding knew that Yue Hongling must have arrived in Dali much earlier, and the attack must have taken place during the deepest part of the night, just before dawn. The Tome of Troubled Times mentioned that Yue Hongling’s “initial strike fails, and she becomes trapped but manages to break through.” During her escape, she likely seized a moment when Lan Tiankuo, thinking he had her trapped, let his guard down. She took that chance to launch a desperate counterattack, disregarding her own safety. This process would have taken some time.

So, am I just supposed to believe that Yue Hongling killed someone in Xizhou in the evening, then rushed across the entirety of Erhai overnight to Dali, avoiding a full-scale search by the disciples, arrived at a perfect ambush point, and then engaged in an all-out battle against an expert ranked eleventh on the Ranking of Man?

Is Yue Hongling some god or immortal?

Lei Ao finally spoke, “Instead of asking us, why don’t you ask your disciples? Was the person they fought really Yue Hongling?”

The Sword Hut disciples, feeling insulted, erupted in anger. “You can doubt our eyes, but don’t you dare question our understanding of sword arts! That was Yue Hongling’s sword art—we couldn’t have been mistaken!”

Lei Ao, also frustrated, retorted, “So, are you saying Yue Hongling knows how to create clones now?”

Everyone knew that they had to have been misled. Yue Hongling, with her limited understanding of Miaojiang’s gu arts, saw Shi Wuding as the greatest threat. If someone could distract him, she would take any risk.

And sure enough, not only had Shi Wuding been lured by a possible decoy of Yue Hongling, but he was also distracted by Wang Daozhong.

Now, a huge mess had unfolded. The main pacification commissioner had been killed, and the killer was also a person from the Great Xia Empire. A group of conspirators planning to use the oppression by the Pacification Commission as an excuse to unite the tribes of the southwest and rebel suddenly found themselves without a cause.

How could they rally the tribes, saying “The pacification commissioner is oppressing us, let’s rebel!” when that very commissioner was dead?

What were they to do now?

“What else can we do?” Shi Wuding’s voice was icy. “Regardless of the plan, we must continue the search. Find Yue Hongling, and under interrogation, she can be made to confess and place the blame wherever we need. If not her, then let’s find the imposter. Anything is better than sitting here guessing.”

The tribal chiefs all stood up. “As long as they’re still in the Cangshan or Erhai area, there’s no way they can escape!”

1. The word for spare sounds quite similar to saintess in Chinese. ☜