The early morning light poured in through the emperor’s window and illuminated the bed, where a gaunt figure lay. Emperor Hou Jun had grown even weaker as time passed. His muscles had atrophed to the point of nonexistence and his face had become so gaunt as to look skeletal.

Hou Jingshu sat on a chair and held her father’s hand. His fingers looked like mere bones with flesh on top. They were so thin. She remembered a time when her father’s hands were rugged and strong, but those days were gone.

She had spent a lot of her time here since returning from Zahn City, but her time had become a lot more limited ever since her nation was invaded. Hou Jingshu could only spare a few minutes each day to speak with her father. Because her father was comatose and had already dealt with so much, she tried not to talk about anything heavy and instead discussed things she loved. Yet there were fewer and fewer happy subjects to discuss right now.

“The Ming Province and Zhou Kingdom will be on our doorstep any moment now,” Hou Jingshu said softly. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to defeat them. In fact, I’m pretty sure victory is impossible, but we’re still going to fight. We have no other choice.” She paused, bit her lip, and tried to stop her stinging eyes from shedding tears. “I wish I didn’t have to lead our people. This was never meant to be my job. You should have been the one leading our people into battle.”

Hou Jingshu could never speak these honest feelings to others. She was the first princess of the Shang Kingdom, and with one brother out of commission and the other acting suspicious, she was the only one who could lead the kingdom. She needed to present a strong front to others. The people could not see her weak or they would lose heart.

The sound of someone knocking on the door knocked Hou Jingshu out of her reminiscing. She wiped her eyes of the suspicious moisture, then glanced at Cui Lei. The woman bowed once, walked to the door, and partially opened it.

“Oh. Master Húndàn Wang, here to see Her Highness, I take it?”

So, it’s Húndàn Wang. What could he want?

“Yes, and also to pay my respects. May I come in?”

Cui Lei glanced at Hou Jingshu, who sighed before nodding. The maid turned back toward the door, nodded, and stepped back as she opened it.

“Of course. Please, come in.”

“Thank you,” said Húndàn Wang as he stepped inside. He wore the martial arts garb of a Heavenly Sword Sect disciple, but he had added armor to his outfit. She felt a faint sense of chi coming from the chestplate and greaves. They must have been profound spirit armor, though she couldn’t guess at their strength.

“Hello, Húndàn Wang,” she said. “Did you need something?”

“I just came to speak with you,” he said, eying her for a moment before turning to the emperor. He grimaced. “His Majesty does not look good.”

“Of course not. He’s been poisoned,” Hou Jingshu muttered harshly.

He winced. “Apologies. That came out wrong.”

“It’s fine.”

“I noticed that Jian Wu has not been seen with you. I had wanted to ask about this for a while, but the situation has not allowed it. Did something happen?”

Hou Jingshu sighed. Was that really what he wanted to discuss? She hoped he wasn’t attempting to see if she was available for courtship. Húndàn Wang had seemed to mature after the national tournament, and it would be a shame if her thoughts on his maturation were proven unfounded.

“He is currently in the Zhou Kingdom. He went there with Zhou Lihua to guard her during an alchemy competition, but…”

“I see. The war happened and he hasn’t returned.” Húndàn Wang paused. “Do you think he’s still alive?”

She was grateful he hadn’t suggested that Wu Jian might be a traitor. She might have actually killed him if he had.

“Yes. I have no doubt that he and Zhou Lihua are still alive and trying to make their way back.”

“You’re quite confident in him.”

“It is only natural to have confidence in the man you love.”

“… I guess.”

What is with that hesitance I sense in your voice? Don’t tell me you really thought you had a chance if Jian Wu wasn’t in the picture anymore. Even if he wasn’t, you lack the qualities I look for in a husband.

She wondered what would happen if she said that out loud, but they were thoughts that could cause discord if given voice. Hou Jingshu couldn’t afford to have someone so strong dislike her.

“Tell me something,” she decided to change the subject. “You have been with Hou Gun ever since returning to the Shang Kingdom. Has he acted off in any way?”

Húndàn Wang tilted his head. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean. Off in what way?”

“Has he met with anyone you don’t know, or done anything that makes him seem suspicious?”

Cupping his chin in his hand, Húndàn Wang thought about it for a while before shaking his head. “I do not believe so? He hasn’t met with anyone strange or gone off on his own. Oh. But he does seem to have struck up a friendship with Bèipàn Zhě. I don’t think that’s very suspicious though…”

So he hadn’t done anything suspicious? Had she and Fengli Cai been wrong about him? Hou Jingshu didn’t want to believe that since it would mean all their assumptions were way off base and they would need to rethink everything they knew about him. Fengli Cai suspected Hou Gun of poisoning their father and being a traitor to the crown, though all she had were suspicions. Either way, if her suspicions were unfounded, it meant they needed to reevaluate everything they thought they knew, which would leave them back at square one.

Another knock on the door. Húndàn Wang and Hou Jingshu turned toward the door as Cui Lei answered it.

“I see. Yes. Very well. I’ll inform Her Highness at once.” After shutting the door, the maid turned toward them and kept her face impassive as she said, “I’ve just been notified that the Ming Province and Zhou Kingdom’s forces have arrived outside of the city. They have sent a representative who now seeks an audience with you.”

“I understand. Can I ask you to lead their representative to the meeting hall? I will be there shortly,” Hou Jingshu said.

“Of course,” Cui Lei bowed.

“I’ll come with you,” Húndàn Wang said to Hou Jingshu as she stood up.

“Suit yourself.”

With a shrug, Hou Jingshu walked toward the door. She only paused briefly to look back at her father before exiting the room.

***

The representative who walked into the reception hall was not someone of any importance. He was a normal man with average looks, average cultivation, and no redeemable features. His outfit, a black and white ensemble, told her that he was a member of the Zhou Kingdom rather than the Ming Province. He had probably been chosen for this task precisely because of his insignificance. Killing him should his words upset her would not grant a single advantage. His death would hold no purpose.

It wasn’t unusual for angry rulers to kill the messenger in the wake bad news, though it was in bad taste to do so. Still, that wasn’t her style. Her enemies’ worries were unfounded, but she understood why they would do this.

And while she wouldn’t kill this man as he was simply a messenger, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t put up an imposing front.

“Speak, what do the three pavilions and Emperor Cì Shā have to tell me?” asked Hou Jingshu, projecting her aura onto this man. She lacked a domain like Mei Xilan, which she would only acquire after reaching the Deva Realm, but she was well-versed in aura projection. It was simply the act of fusing chi with intent and letting others feel it. Most people used it to project killing intent, but it could do so much more than that.

The representative’s face paled as he trembled in place. “Um… w-well… the esteemed Emperor Cì Shā has come with a list of demands.”

Standing behind the representative was Yu Chenguang and his two wives. While the supreme commander of her forces remained calm, the two woman carried the weapons they were known for. It looked like they would cut this man down if given the slightest reason.

They were not the only people present. Almost two dozen cultivators stood guard on either side of the room. Each one was an Asura Realm cultivator. They wielded spears and swords, and were decked in the Shang Kingdom’s military uniform. Their eyes radiated hatred as they stared at the representative like they wanted to tear him limb from limb. Wu Yong stood beside them, eyes narrowed.

“Oh? Demands?” Hou Jingshu’s smile caused the man to look away. “What are these demands? Do tell me what that invader wants of me.”

The representative coughed into his hand and, stuttering, said, “H-he wants you t-to surrender and renounce your r-right to the Shang Kingdom’s th-throne. Um, he s-said that if you do, h-he will guarantee y-your life and th-the lives of your people. F-furthermore, h-he wants you to kn-kn-know that failure to surrender w-will result in him e-exterminating you w-with extreme prejudice.”

So Emperor Cì Shā was not even going to bother with pretext and just demand she surrender? That sounded like him. Emperor Cì Shā was a greedy bastard through and through. He always longed for more. He wanted more wealth, so he raised the taxes and put a great burden on his people, and now, he wanted to increase the power of his cultivators, so he joined forces with the Ming Province and invaded her nation.

It’s too bad I can’t use his desperate people to start a rebellion…

Perhaps if she had the time, manpower, and a means of infiltration the Zhou Kingdom, she would have been able to incite his people to rebel. That would have forced him to withdraw. There was no point invading her kingdom if his own was in danger of collapsing. It really was too bad such a plan was unfeasable right now.

“U-um…”

Realizing that she had been silently putting pressure on this man for too long, she eased off. The representative nearly collapsed. He was like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

“Tell Emperor Cì Shā this: neither I nor my people will surrender. Should he choose to stay his course, I will order my people to raise my farmlands to the ground, burn my forests to cinders, and ensure he can never gain a single shred of the bounty he so longs for. Furthermore, I will fight him with everything I have. I’ll not rest until I can display his head on a pike and parade him through the streets so my people can finally know their tormentor has been taken care of.”

The representative blinked several times and stared at her with his eyes wide and mouth agape. She furrowed her brow.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Go tell him what I just said!”

“Ah! Um… r-right away!”

The man stood up, and Hou Jingshu gestured to Yu Chenguang. “Escort this honored representative to the gates.”

“At once, Your Highness,” Yu Chenguang said with a bow.

Hou Jingshu waited until the representative and Yu Chenguang had left, then released all of the power she had been holding and leaned back on the throne. She wished she could do more. She wanted to collapse. However, there were still a large number of people present, and she could not show weakness to any of them.

“Li Hua, Liu Heifeng, how long do you think it will be before the Ming Province and Zhou Kingdom launch their attack?” she asked, straightening in her seat.

“It will not be long,” Li Hua said.

“ I suspect they will launch their attack at night,” Liu Heifeng added.

Hou Jingshu nodded. “And how do you suspect they will attack?”

Clearing her throat, Liu Heifeng said, “They’ll send their troops in from the front to keep us occupied. Their troops will be led by Human Limit Realm cultivators. Meanwhile, their Deva Realm cultivators will use that as a distraction to launch an assault on the palace.”

“You and I are in agreement,” Hou Jingshu muttered. “Their armies are but a small fraction of the power they wield. Their true power lies in the overwhelming strength of their Deva Realm cultivators. There’s no point in having them attack our main forces when they can just remove my head. Once I am gone, the Shang Kingdom’s army will collapse like a snake with its head cut off.”

“That isn’t true at all!” Li Hua suddenly shouted. She placed a hand on her chest and gazed imploringly at Hou Jingshu. “Do not be mistaken in thinking we will capitulate if you are killed. Your people love you. The army loves you. Should you be slain, I can promise that our forces will fight even more visciously than before. If they remove our arms, we shall kick in their teeth, and should they remove our legs, we will tear out their throats with our teeth. We will not surrender until every last one of us lays dead at their feet.”

The woman’s heartfelt words made her smile. She did not believe everyone in her army held such loyalty, but she knew many members who did. At the very least, everyone under Yu Chenguang’s direct command was that loyal. It gave her heart.

“I would rather you not die if I am slain… but thank you. Your words have made me happy.”

Hou Jingshu stood up from her seat. The men and women present, from Li Hua and Liu Heifeng to Wu Yong and Húndàn Wang as she raised her hand, summoning her spear. She twirled it around, then slammed the butt into the ground. A clear sound rang out.

“Let us show these people how foolish it was to invade our kingdom,” she declared.

Her words caused the people to cheer.

“Yeah! Let’s show them what happens when you attempt to invade us!”

“We won’t give our enemies a single chih!”

“Let’s fight to the bitter end!”

It was good that they were so enthusiastic. Hou Jingshu only hoped their morale remained high when the final battle began.