Chapter 100: Guanyin Followed by Ten Thousand Ghosts Walking at Night

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Upon reaching Xiangfan, one could see the famed Fishing Platform tower, rising above the city walls.

The Fishing Platform, a lone pillar, had held up half the realm for ten years.

The tower's plaque bore the four characters: "Solitary Fishing in the Central Plains."

Xu Fengnian paid no heed to Wei Wei and Huang Tou Lang. He disembarked directly, mounted his steed, and galloped toward the "ghost city" in the twilight. He dismounted again as he approached the city gate. Jiang Ni, seemingly convinced that His Highness the Prince possessed a Taoist artifact, leaped from the carriage and scurried to Xu Fengnian's side. Xu Fengnian suppressed a smile, pointed his Embroidered Winter Blade towards the city wall, and narrowed his eyes. "See that?" he began. "The world's foremost defensive general was stationed there for a full decade, which is where the saying 'sitting securely on the Fishing Platform' originates. Few people could make Xu Xiao grit his teeth in hatred, but that Western Chu scholar, who truly grasped the profound principles of the Spring and Autumn era, ranks among the top three. Even after your Western Chu imperial capital fell following the Battle of Xilei, and even with the entire Jiangnan region lost, this city and the Fishing Platform remained unyielding. Unfortunately, no matter how impregnable Xiangfan became, it couldn't alter the greater course of events."

Jiang Ni bit her lip.

Xu Fengnian led his horse slowly, saying, "Inside the city, when grain ran out, they ate horses. When horses ran out, they snared birds and dug for rats. When birds and rats ran out, they ate people."

Jiang Ni remained silent.

Xu Fengnian spoke softly, "The armored soldiers knew their fate. The city defenders fought until the very last man; none survived. This was the reality of warfare during the Spring and Autumn period, tragedies unimaginable to those who merely engaged in rhetorical battles at the Shangyin Academy. Xiangfan, a formidable city, stood eighteen *zhang* and six *chi* tall, with a base nine *zhang* wide and walls extending eleven *li*. Its foundation was built entirely of granite and limestone blocks. The wall surfaces were constructed from massive bricks specially produced in three prefectures, each brick stamped on its side with the place of manufacture, the supervisor's name, and the brick maker's name. During construction, the gaps were filled with a mortar mixed with glutinous rice juice, sorghum juice, lime, and tung oil. Moreover, the city was built using a steamed earth technique. The master artisan overseeing Xiangfan's construction held a sharp awl: if it pierced the structure by even an inch, the responsible builder was executed and their body incorporated into the wall. Thus, the city was as strong and dense as iron, a method universally described by historians of the time as cruel and tyrannical."

Xu Fengnian stopped, not looking at Jiang Ni's expression, and said in a cold tone: "Back then, Xu Xiao attacked the city, and Wang Mingyang defended it, each preparing for war. This scholar, who came from Jixia Academy, implemented a scorched-earth policy: all grain and supplies from outside the city were moved inside, and even houses were completely dismantled, their timber, bricks, and tiles relocated within the city walls. To prevent Xu Xiao from digging tunnels, a hundred wells were dug along the city's perimeter beforehand, and large, leather-covered clay pots were placed inside, allowing those with keen hearing to listen for underground activity. Beyond the fifty thousand defending soldiers, an additional one hundred and fifty thousand Xiangfan civilians were categorized into various classes. Monks, artisans, and wandering swordsmen each had their duties, and essential siege supplies were divided into two main categories: official provisions and civilian provisions. Furthermore, skilled martial artists from the *jianghu* were chosen to patrol the city day and night, to prevent spies or inside agents from arson or opening the gates. Wang Mingyang, having exhausted every stratagem, displayed his military knowledge from the Shangyin Academy to its fullest over those ten years. Xu Xiao himself once said that if everyone at Shangyin Academy were like him, he wouldn't even mind becoming a Jixia scholar."

Xu Fengnian continued walking. "Attacking the city first required crossing the river and the moat. Then came establishing a foothold, followed by the most brutal stage: scaling the walls, also known as 'ant-climbing.' Look at that city wall, and you can imagine hundreds, even thousands, of people ascending scaling ladders, enduring arrows, massive rocks, rolling logs, and flaming oil. It was during this battle that the monks inside the city invented the vajra pestle, while the Taoist priests developed a golden liquid from their mobile furnaces that caused skin to rot upon contact. After scaling the walls came urban warfare. Xiangfan at that time had gathered a large number of *jianghu* ruffians and heroes, who swore to defend this crucial strategic stronghold for the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains. They were united in their hatred of the enemy. Even before the street fighting, they had repelled the Northern Liang army countless times in close combat on the city walls. If not for them, Xiangfan would not have needed ten years to fall; three years would have been sufficient. The world only knew that the Northern Liang army was unrivaled in cavalry warfare, but they didn't know that their infantry in siege warfare was also formidable, having swept through everything during the Spring and Autumn period's national wars. Only at Xiangfan did their elite forces suffer heavy losses, including three hundred skilled tunnelers who were almost entirely wiped out. As for who was right or wrong in this decade-long siege, Heaven knows. But it was during these ten years that Xu Xiao, who always sought revenge for the slightest grievance, truly forged an enmity with the *jianghu*."

The moat was exceptionally wide. The drawbridge over it had not been raised. Xiangfan's night curfew was stringent, yet for years the drawbridge had remained down, and even the main gate had never been closed overnight. This was seemingly at the instruction of the Heavenly Master of Longhu Mountain, who, after conducting a Grand Taoist Ritual with over thirty thousand participants to help spirits ascend from the Nine Underworlds and cleanse their sins, ordered that the "Ghost Gate" not be closed, allowing aggrieved souls to leave Xiangfan's underworld. Legend has it that before the Yellow-Purple Heavenly Master of Longhu Mountain departed the city, he personally drew talismans and inscribed seals around it. Finally, on the top floor of the Fishing Platform, he hung a Taoist Heavenly Talisman, inscribed with "Heavenly Constellations return to the constellations, Earthly Fiends should return to the earth." It was said that when all the wandering spirits of Xiangfan had dispersed, this talisman would burn away completely.

But years after the Heavenly Talisman was written, it had still not disappeared. This undoubtedly became an unshakeable gloom in the hearts of Xiangfan's hundreds of thousands of residents.

Xu Fengnian walked, leading his horse. Two young *Kui* trotted at his feet, while Jiang Ni, with a complicated expression, walked by his side. Xu Fengnian subconsciously glanced at the Fishing Platform atop the city wall. The moon was bright, the stars sparse, and this tower was truly a grand sight.

Xu Fengnian turned to the "little mud doll" and said gently, "Don't be afraid."

Jiang Ni, her palms sweating, lowered her head and murmured in affirmation.

His Highness the Prince could not see the person inside the tower by looking up, but the person inside the tower could see Xu Fengnian by looking down.

The person in the tower was slender, dressed in an ordinary Taoist robe, wearing hemp sandals, with a wooden hairpin in their Taoist topknot, and holding a whisk. The top floor of the Fishing Platform was forbidden territory, guarded by several highly respected old Taoist priests from Longhu Mountain; even King Jing'an was not allowed entry. When the Grand Heavenly Master left the city back then, he explicitly stated that only a True Man from the Heavenly Master's Residence could set foot there.

The mischievous little girl who'd caused trouble at the Heavenly Master's Residence and the North-South little monks would have recognized this Taoist priest. He was the one who led them into the inner courtyard of the Heavenly Master's Residence; it was he who used his white-tailed whisk to block an attack from that arrogant Yellow-Purple Taoist priest, and he personally introduced them to Mr. White Lotus.

This junior Heavenly Master from Longhu Mountain, who bore a different surname from the main lineage, was named Qi. He shared the same surname as the Great True Man Qi Xuanzhen and strikingly resembled an ancestral master of Longhu Mountain from an earlier generation.

Holding his whisk, he was praised by the National Grand Master, who governed all Taoism, as "Grand Duke sitting on Kunlun."

After he descended Longhu Mountain, various legends snowballed, as if the entire world was singing his praises. But he remained indifferent, for these were not what he cared about. To him, those grand theories — things most people couldn't even comprehend — were not true principles. The true principles were brothers caring for each other, children showing filial piety, and husbands and wives loving each other. Those profound academic pursuits, merely intellectual contests within piles of books and classics, were not true learning. The diligent farming of an old farmer, the haggling of a small vendor, the tireless pursuit of profit by a merchant — these were true learning. He considered his own Taoist foundation shallow, and thus he did not seek the Heavenly Way, but only wished to enter the world through martial arts to help its people. He descended the mountain for only two reasons: first, to enter Xiangfan to personally confirm if the Heavenly Talisman would burn, as his master had said before entering seclusion. Second, to visit Wudang to determine if the young patriarch could truly shoulder the Heavenly Way. As for how to judge, it was simple: if the whisk in his hand could act as a sword and kill him, then it was false. If it could not, then it was real.

He turned and looked at the Heavenly Talisman, which was connected to heaven and earth by a single crimson string, and frowned.

The Heavenly Talisman was trembling.

Xu Fengnian squinted, watching a strange woman emerge from the city gate.

Her head was shaved clean, ridding her of thirty-three thousand strands of earthly worries.

She wore a snow-white monk's robe. On her wrist, a white snake served as a rope, biting onto a white flask.

Barefoot, her jade-like feet remained spotless, not attracting a single speck of dust.

She gracefully walked onto the drawbridge.

Outside Xiangfan's city gate, the spiritual energy of ghosts was as heavy and pervasive as a blizzard, yet she alone resembled Guanyin Bodhisattva, delivering all sentient beings.

Inside the Fishing Platform, the Heavenly Talisman burned to ashes.

"All spirits leaving the city."

The Taoist priest from the Heavenly Master's Residence sighed, "Longhu Mountain has lost. Landuo Mountain has won."