Cultivation Simulator: Starting From The Empress' Palace

The fifty-sixth day of the Great Turmoil.

Southwest, within the Celestial South Pass, resounding cries filled the pass.

The walls and fields inside and outside the city were littered with corpses, arrows, and broken spears stood upright in the bodies, and riderless horses aimlessly wandered over the blood-soaked ground.

A team of soldiers in red armor approached, dragging the bodies to the sides and clearing a path about a zhang wide through the middle.

Not far on both sides of this path stood two mounds of stacked heads, ominously forming a ”Jingguan.”

Before long, the earth began to tremble, dust clouds rose in the distance, and soon a throng of black dots surged forward.

Upon closer inspection, it was a grand army clad in red armor, banners unfurled distinctly, bearing the Loulan character ”Ling.”

Leading them was a cavalry unit, with a middle-aged man in armor at the forefront, his heroic figure highlighted, his battle armor drenched in blood.

Upon reaching the base of the city, he abruptly reined in his horse, causing the army behind him to come to an immediate halt.

The man’s piercing tiger eyes fixed intently on the majestic fortress walls before him, feeling a surge of emotion, while regarding the piled corpses at the base and headless bodies nailed to the walls by crossbow arrows as trophies of war.

”Five hundred years, a full five centuries, and my Loulan army has finally set foot here.”

Gazing at the faded characters of Celestial South Pass above the city walls, Ling Zhi seemed to see countless Loulan forebears who sacrificed beneath it.

Back then, Loulan was comprised of various tribes, weak in strength. Starting with Qin Zheng establishing the Qian Empire, it was constantly oppressed. Qin Zheng even dispatched a mighty army to penetrate and ravage ”Loulan,” sweeping through dozens of tribes, and established the Celestial South Pass on Loulan land.

And within the Celestial South Pass, the territory was designated as the Qian Kingdom—Southwest.

Now, this Celestial South Pass was finally reclaimed by him, Ling Zhi.

The Celestial South Pass was a natural barrier in the Southwest. With its fall, there would be no obstacles left to defend the entire Southwest; everything would be exposed to his cavalry.

Once the Southwest was seized, he would achieve unparalleled merits for Loulan.

Ling Zhi was filled with grand ambitions.

Yet he seemed to have forgotten.

Five hundred years ago, it was because their ancestors had already invaded the Qian Kingdom’s border, plundering its populace, that the Qian Kingdom finally retaliated. One could say it was entirely self-inflicted.

Riding his warhorse, Ling Zhi alone entered the pass, with the army behind him following slowly.

After entering, Ling Zhi ascended the city walls, marveling once more.

”Grand General, news from the front?”

A soldier hurried up onto the city wall, stood by Ling Zhi, and handed him a metal ball containing a secret letter.

Ling Zhi held the iron ball firmly, True Qi slowly seeping into it. Moments later, a crack appeared, and Ling Zhi retrieved the secret letter from inside.

This was Loulan’s unique method of transmitting messages. Without the unlocking mechanism, if the iron ball was forcibly opened, the True Qi within would incinerate the secret letter.

Ling Zhi opened the message and immediately burst into laughter: ”Heaven is assisting me; a coup has taken place in the Great Song Imperial Court, and a new emperor has ascended...”

...

Hulao Pass.

The first pass of the Great Song Dynasty.

Also the portal of the Great Song Dynasty.

If Hulao Pass falls, Loulan, bordering the Great Song, could swiftly breach into the Great Song’s Capital—Bianliang.

Therefore, guarding Hulao Pass was one of the most elite forces of the Great Song Dynasty, the Celestial Dragon Army.

The dragon has always been a symbol of emperors; it cannot be used arbitrarily.

And the Celestial Dragon Army was personally established by the Grand Ancestor of the Great Song, and the name ”Celestial Dragon” was bestowed by the Grand Ancestor. From the beginning, the Celestial Dragon Army has been stationed at Hulao Pass, boasting 300,000 troops.

Zhao Qianyi stood on the walls of Hulao Pass day and night, preventing experts from the Desolate Kingdom from secretly infiltrating the city to open the gates, allowing the Desolate Kingdom’s cavalry to flood in like a tide.

A month ago, the Desolate Kingdom’s army launched a fierce assault on Hulao Pass, only to be repeatedly repelled by the Celestial Dragon Army under Zhao Qianyi’s command.

If Zhao Qianyi remembered correctly, the enemy’s main general, Fifth Man, was summoned back by the Queen of the Desolate Kingdom and beheaded after his last failed assault.

Soon after, the Queen herself led her forces into battle.

The Queen of the Desolate Kingdom had some tricks up her sleeve; a few nights ago, a group of Desolate Kingdom experts stealthily infiltrated Hulao Pass and successfully opened the city gate. If not for the timely reinforcements, Hulao Pass would have fallen then.

Since that day, Hulao Pass has been on high alert day and night, preparing for the decisive battle with the Desolate Kingdom’s army.

The wind on the city walls was strong, whipping Zhao Qianyi’s cloak, making it flap loudly. The strands of hair at her forehead brushed against her face, accentuating her sternness with a hint of graceful beauty, though her brows remained furrowed due to the ongoing incursion at the nation’s border.

”Grand Princess, a letter has arrived from King Yan.” Zhao Qianyi’s personal soldiers swiftly ascended the wall, standing beside her, taking a letter from his bosom and handing it to her, while glancing out at the endless yellow sands beyond the pass: ”Grand Princess, can we return now?”

Zhao Qianyi opened the letter and glanced through it. The letter was long, but she only focused on the phrase ”Restore Order,” sneering, ”What ’Restore Order’? It’s merely an attempt to become another Xiao Yunqi, no, perhaps to replace him entirely.”

”Grand Princess, but now is our chance to return to the capital,” said Wei Ying, Zhao Qianyi’s personal soldier, who was also her friend and fellow female general.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qianyi recalled the late emperor’s words when she left the Capital. Without an edict, she was never to return to the Capital.

At this thought, she couldn’t help but close her eyes, remembering that night’s celebration banquet, when Crown Prince Zhao Ji drugged her wine without her knowing, and she drank it.

When she returned to her palace to rest, Zhao Ji, under the pretense of visiting her, also came to her quarters, intending to do her harm.

Had she not already attained the Innate stage, sensitive to external disturbances, he might have succeeded.

Yet, it was she who was punished, being reassigned by the late emperor to this place, while Crown Prince Zhao Ji was merely reprimanded with a few words.

A decade of frontier service had long made her forget that she too was once a woman dressing before a mirror, attended by palace maids.

Yet, whenever she recalled it, it was a lifelong pain.

Were it not for that incident, she might have been married with children by now.

The laughable dignity of the Imperial Family.

Her eyes reopened, tears falling from the corners, as she said, ”If we leave with the army, do you know how many families would be destroyed?”

Once the Celestial Dragon Army withdraws, the Desolate Kingdom would undoubtedly attack Hulao Pass immediately.

The country was already in chaos; if an enemy nation invaded, the consequences would be unimaginable.

”But Grand Princess...”

”No need to mention it again. If Hulao Pass falls, what would it matter even if we succeed?”

Zhao Qianyi turned her gaze inward to Hulao Pass, ”Look at this, it’s all so beautiful.”