Confrontation

Xuanqin's imperial court had initially formulated a high-level combat plan to take down North Chu in one fell swoop before the end of the year.

Then, unfortunately, Zhao Li encountered Li Zhan's tactics of defending Wuyi City to the death, and was unable to capture it after a long siege.

He eventually had to alter the combat plan to capture Wuyi City before the snow fell.

Then, still unfortunately, he encountered Li Shiyin, who did not hesitate to break through the city defenses, but had to retreat because of Li Shiyin's sword qi.

Now, the snow has fallen, and he is left with 200,000 Xuanqin troops staying inside North Chu's territory, in a stalemate with Wuyi City.

Zhao Li really did not want to be in a stalemate here, but he also really could not command those cultivators, so he was utterly helpless against those few stellar sword qis in front of Wuyi City.

In this war, he had to rely on those cultivators, so he was at the mercy of those cultivators. When they said they would not advance, they did not advance, and when they said they would not retreat, they did not retreat.

From the moment he received the message from Elder Ziyi to withdraw the troops, Zhao Li's anger had not subsided. He was extremely dissatisfied with the cultivators in Xuanqin's army, but he was utterly helpless.

The reason this situation occurred was:

Xuanqin wanted to conquer North Chu, but neither the cultivators from Boundless Sword Sect nor those from Cloud Heaven Sect cared!

"Starting From Fighting Against the Heavens"

You want to take North Chu, what does that have to do with me? The trivial matters of a mortal kingdom...

Elder Ziyi did not know the thoughts of Cloud Heaven Sect's upper echelons. He did not know why the sect would support a mortal kingdom, nor did he want to know. He came here to follow orders, to earn spirit stones.

He was just someone going along for the ride. He had no loyalty whatsoever to Xuanqin's imperial family. As an esteemed Yuanying cultivator, he would naturally not lay down his life for Xuanqin.

The moment he realized that Li Shiyin was not easy to deal with and could potentially threaten his life, he had already sounded the retreat.

As for the two from Boundless Sword Sect, they came to kill Qin Ran, not to help Xuanqin conquer North Chu. Now that Qin Ran had not shown himself, they naturally would not make a move.

But... they all felt that they could not retreat either. If Ziyi retreated, how would he earn spirit stones? If Boundless Sword Sect retreated, how would they kill Qin Ran?

Fortunately, not all of Xuanqin's cultivators were as ruthless and unprincipled as Ziyi. There were still loyalists who loved their country. Although these cultivators could not solve the sword qi problem in front of Wuyi City, they could help resolve the logistical issues for Xuanqin's troops.

Cultivators had interspatial bags and could fly, transporting food back and forth with ease. This was also why Zhao Li did not choose to forcibly withdraw the troops despite the extremely long supply lines from Xuanqin to North Chu.

On Xuanqin's side, Zhao Li was waiting for spring to come and for the masters in the army to make a move; while on North Chu's side, although the city was defended, it was still mired in lifelessness, still waiting to die.

Because the people of Wuyi City still could not see hope for victory.

This city had essentially already been broken through by Xuanqin, and was only barely hanging on thanks to Li Shiyin.

When Xuanqin attacked again next time, if Xuanqin sent out high-level cultivators to occupy Li Shiyin, North Chu would still be unable to withstand it.

Therefore, Li Zhan could only frantically deal with domestic and military affairs in the city, while also trying to steady the hearts and minds of the citizens and soldiers...

So, the white tiger squatting on the city walls, the people of Wuyi City all knew, was a guardian spirit beast that trod upon darkness and swallowed sun and moon, opened its appetite with Golden Core cultivators, and took Yuanying cultivators as food. It would protect North Chu and shelter Wuyi.

Thus, these past two days, everyday there were commoners from the city who went to the foot of the city walls to burn incense and pray to Chasing the Wind. Chasing the Wind's snow-white fur was smoked gray.

Li Shiyin was then touted by Li Zhan as a natural-born sword immortal. It was said that with one sword she could annihilate dozens of Golden Core cultivators, and singlehandedly battle three or four Yuanying cultivators.

Compared to Chasing the Wind who relied entirely on his good looks to gain the trust of Wuyi City's common people, Li Shiyin relied on those terrifying sword qis in front of Wuyi City that were even higher than the city walls.

To the people of Wuyi City, those were visible, tangible miracles and hopes.

There were also rumors spreading in the city, saying that the fireworks that bloomed in the sky from time to time on the night the city was defended were Li Sword Immortal battling the evil cultivators of the enemy side, and each firework represented a Golden Core cultivator killed by Li Sword Immortal.

Since everyone had witnessed those fireworks with their own eyes that night, not only the common people in the city, even the troops in the city knew that there was a peerless and invincible sword immortal guarding the city, so morale would not remain so low after all.

Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind did indeed reduce the lifelessness in the city by a lot.

Inside the City Lord's residence, in the study, Li Zhan was handling government affairs at the desk, while Li Shiyin pulled up a chair to sit by the bookshelf, randomly taking a book to flip through.

After Li Zhan finished dealing with the co-defense affairs in the city, he turned back to look at Li Shiyin by the bookshelf. Seeing that Li Shiyin was really reading a book.

He discovered that the child was truly a little different than when she had left this time.

This difference was not only referring to how she displayed her shocking and astonishing power before them for the first time, allowing them to thoroughly understand that she really was a very formidable cultivator. More importantly, she was no longer that impulsive little girl, and was much more restrained and composed.

His daughter had matured and become a young lady.

Li Zhan sighed inwardly, but also knew that whether or not North Chu could make it through this calamity still depended on her. "How is your eldest brother?" he asked aloud. These past few days he had been terribly busy and did not have time to check on Li Shiwen's condition.

Hearing the voice, Li Shiyin raised her head to look at Li Zhan. This year, Li Zhan was not even fifty years old. She remembered that when she had left home earlier this year, Li Zhan still had black hair with barely any wrinkles, looking vigorous and youthful. But now, wrinkles covered his face, and almost half his hair had turned white.

In just over a year, he had aged more than double.

Li Shiyin lamented inwardly. She finally saw her father grow old. Just like she had thought her grandfather would never die, she had also thought her father would never grow old. But her grandfather still passed away, and her father still aged.

"Eldest Brother's injuries have recovered, but he overexerted himself and needs more sleep," she replied.

In fact, Li Shiyin did not actually know her eldest brother's true condition. She was a sword cultivator, what would she know about healing injuries and illnesses?

"He's been sleeping for three days already..." said Li Zhan.

"Don't worry, I have immortal pills!" Li Shiyin reassured, "You don't need to worry."

Li Zhan looked at her and still decided to believe her.

He turned back and continued handling affairs with his back facing Li Shiyin's side, saying: "You don't need to keep me company, I'm fine."

"What if cultivators from Xuanqin's side come to assassinate you?" Li Shiyin asked.

How could this child think of such sinister things?

Puzzled, Li Zhan answered: "Actually, there's no need. Because whether they kill me or not has little impact... it would be more trouble than it's worth."

It was not that they could not kill him, just that there was no need.

"Go take a look at your elder brother, keep your sister-in-law company, or go out into the city to relax your mind too..." he said, "Xuanqin won't attack the city again so soon."

"Alright..." Li Shiyin nodded.

She accompanied Li Zhan for a while longer, finished reading the book on sword techniques in her hands, then got up to return the book to the shelf and walked out.

Sitting quietly reading books was, after all, not in her character.

Li Shiyin pushed open the study door and walked out. She stretched lazily, looked up...

It had snowed for three days. By now the snow was heavy. In the hazy gray sky, snow was falling like sprinkled salt, light and fluttering.

This sky really oppressed people, she thought.

She turned around and slowly walked along the corridor. She had just taken two steps when she saw someone at the corner bend of the corridor. She looked over, her eyes instantly widened, light bursting out, and she smiled and ran over shouting:

"Master!!"