The driver's words proved to be true. After three days of stopping and starting, the official road turned into a dense, layered forest. At noon, sunlight poured down, piercing through the interlocking canopy of branches and leaves, casting dappled spots of golden light on the ground.
But earlier in the morning or later in the evening, the light was weak and could not penetrate the layers of forest that intertwined above the road. The procession advanced through the dim environment as if traveling at night.
Considering that bandits were known to cause trouble nearby, the Guarding Martial Artists dared not let the children get out of the carriages to rest. With two drivers per carriage taking turns, they traveled for four or five consecutive days.
Only when the livestock were foaming at the mouth from exhaustion did they finally enter the outer precincts of the Royal Capital. The moment they emerged from the forest, their field of view opened up dramatically. Zhao Chun could only marvel that it was truly befitting of a nation's capital.
The City Wall stretched for a thousand li, like a screen that had risen from the flat ground, fitting against the level earth with extreme naturalness. The Main City Gate seemed to pierce the clouds, casting a shadow that completely enveloped their procession of nearly two thousand people. At this time, the city gates were wide open.
On both sides, soldiers of the Black Armor Army stood in formation, their expressions solemn, their gazes fixed forward. Pingyang and Hedong Prefectures were practically the cities farthest from the Royal Capital. It was only after entering the city that Zhao Chun and the others learned they were the last to arrive.
“Now that everyone has arrived, I shall return to report. The selection of gifted children by the True Spirit Daoist Temple this time can be considered a grand affair for our State of Chu. Everyone, please rest for two days. When the Grand Assembly is about to begin, someone will naturally come to deliver the order.”
The speaker was that purple-robed man. Zhao Chun did not know his name, only that Pang Zhen addressed him as “Master Zhuang.” Master Zhuang was affable and would even smile warmly when occasionally conversing with children like them.
Zhao Yue, not understanding the intricacies, truly believed that this was just the gentle nature of a Martial Dao Master. But never mind Zhao Chun and the Wang Family Sisters, even Zhao Mian could sense that his politeness was excessive, as if he were wary of something.
While Zhao Mian and Zhao Chun were puzzled, the Wang Family Sisters seemed to have grown more confident in a certain idea. Pang Zhen saw Master Zhuang out of the Courtyard Gate before waving his hand for the men to sort out the living arrangements. This just went to show the vastness of the Royal Capital.
With tens of thousands of children participating in this selection, Pang Zhen and the Wang Family Commander had been worried about where they would stay. Upon reaching the city, they discovered that everything had already been arranged, and they only needed to move in.
The Zhao and Wang Families were housed next to each other, separated only by a Courtyard Wall. They had just settled in when Wang Yijiao’s voice sounded at the door.
“Both of your older sisters don’t want to be chosen. What about you? Do you want to go?”
She was the same age as Zhao Chun and also loved to read. The two shared a common interest and got along better than with others. It was just that this little girl, on one hand, disdained Zhao Chun’s status as inadequate, and on the other hand, felt that Zhao Chun was well-read and knowledgeable.
Their interactions always had a touch of awkwardness. Zhao Chun finished packing her clothes away in the cabinet. When she turned around, she saw that Wang Yijiao had already slumped comfortably into an armchair.
She sighed; she was, after all, still a little girl.
“I do. I can’t practice the Martial Way, so entering a Daoist Temple is another path for me.”
“That might be a bit difficult. My mother said that many people are just going through the motions this time. To actually be chosen, one would have boundless great fortune to enjoy!”
She circled her hands above her head, forming a large ring to show just how great this fortune was. Zhao Chun’s ears perked up.
During the journey, the two sisters had been vague, but they had let slip a few things, letting the Zhao Family know that the current Commandery Governor of Hedong Prefecture had married into the family of a duke in the Royal Capital.
That was a Noble Family with deep roots at the feet of the Son of Heaven; they might truly know some secrets.
“What fortune is greater than entering the Three Realms of the Martial Way? My older brothers and younger brothers are all hoping to be rejected so they can go back and catch up on the training they’ve missed.”
Wang Yijiao let out a “tch” and casually picked up a string of grapes from the table to eat.
“It’s completely different. My mother also said—” Her voice suddenly dropped, and she leaned her whole body forward.
Zhao Chun understood her meaning and brought her ear close to her mouth. In the next moment, she felt a clap of thunder explode by her ear.
“Those who are chosen can cultivate the Dao and become Deities.”
When she was four, Zhao Chun heard someone say that a certain older brother had become accomplished in his martial practice and could toss a Thousand Jin Great Ding around for fun. She had laughed at how exaggerated and nonsensical the words of the ancients were.
Later, at the Martial Training Ground, she personally saw Instructor Zheng twist her hands and wring a Great Bronze Vase into a spiral, and only then did she understand what it meant to be ignorant and ill-informed. Now, at ten years old, someone was telling her that there was a way for people to attain the Dao and achieve immortality.
She found it absurd, but she couldn't help but believe it by a couple of tenths. What she herself found strange was that she did not yearn for immortality as much as she had imagined she would.
“How can this be true? Even for a Martial Dao Grandmaster, I’ve never heard of one ascending to become a Deity.”
“Believe it or not. My older brother was brought to the Royal Capital last year to follow the Temple Master. They even thought he was too old.”
“He’s actually only fifteen. When he left, he was already close to the Third Realm of the Martial Way. He might have surpassed Father in the future, but the family still let him go.”
Hearing this, Zhao Chun was already seven or eight-tenths convinced, but she didn't let it show on her face. She smiled and said, “Then there must be a better path for him.” Wang Yijiao half-lowered her eyes, not looking particularly happy.
“Good or bad, it’s his path. What does it have to do with me?”
“Is he not good to you?”
“It’s not that he’s not good, it’s just… it’s just that it feels like something is missing.”
She rested her chin on the table, the flesh of her cheeks trembling slightly as she spoke. The twilight from outside the window flooded into the small room, dyeing her with the melancholy of the setting sun. Zhao Chun was the worst at comforting people.
She strung a few words together in her mouth but couldn't get them out.
“Zhao Chun.”
“Hm?”
She watched as Wang Yijiao turned her cheek to press it against the glossy tabletop and asked, “Do you think my sister and I have a good relationship?” Zhao Chun sat down next to her and said in a low voice, “Compared to my family, yours is already very good.”
Sisters by birth, who had grown up together since childhood, they were countless times more intimate than the relationships in her family, where one might not even be able to match names to faces. In her past life, Zhao Chun had been an only child and didn't know how to get along with siblings.
Even after coming here, she was very distant from the other members of the Zhao Family. She missed her parents but found that their faces were also gradually fading and distorting, and this was after only ten years.
One day, the things from her past life would be stripped from her mind, reassembled into another “Zhao Chun” who was no longer her. Zhao Chun’s vision suddenly became clear. The barrier that had enveloped her since birth suddenly dissipated.
Nothing had changed, but she truly felt that her existence was more real. The two spoke no more as dusk grew silently within the room. After Wang Yijiao left, using the excuse that it was getting late, Zhao Chun was left sitting alone in a daze.
The evening wind rustled the leaves outside the room, and Zhao Chun shuddered violently, coming to her senses. She vaguely understood something. It turned out that she had been deliberately avoiding this world, treating the ten years she had been alive as nothing more than a Great Dream.
Be it practicing the Martial Way or seeking the Dao, the reason she had always wanted to live on peacefully was because she wanted to return to her original world. That was why she deliberately did not get close to people, not allowing anything to have the potential to become an attachment.
The very thing that prevented her from fully integrating into this world was herself. Only when the partition in her heart was broken could she truly live as Zhao Chun. Lying on her back on the bed, Zhao Chun felt an unprecedented sense of peace.
But beneath the tranquility, an unknown panic faintly churned. All her wishful thinking had nowhere left to hide. She had to face this bizarre world head-on.
If the path ahead deviated from its predetermined track, all she could do was step onto it. Perhaps this could also be considered a form of heroism, she thought. Most of the conscripted children were still young.
Even though the Royal Capital was heavily guarded, the stewards did not dare let them go out casually. Zhao Chun was cooped up in her room for two days. When she got too bored, she would go to the courtyard to practice two sets of fist forms to stretch her body.
Pang Zhen saw this and found it surprising, but her punches lacked force and her stance was unsteady; she was clearly not a practitioner of the Martial Way. Pang Zhen shook his head, assuming she was just doing it to strengthen her body. On the third day, just after the fifth watch, someone came to the door with an order.
It was called a Grand Assembly, but the True Spirit Daoist Temple had given it the elegant name of “Longevity Banquet.” They had set up a Dao Arena in the Royal Capital capable of accommodating nearly a hundred thousand people. Zhao Chun entered the arena with her group.
Twenty children sat at one large banquet table, and after everyone was seated, it did not feel crowded at all. Looking down from the high platform, a dense sea of heads swayed from side to side, and the din of voices was deafening. Zhao Chun’s ears were about to go numb from the noise.
Just as she was feeling unbearable discomfort, a resonant and majestic voice boomed from the high platform: “Silence!” The clamor was almost instantly cut off. The children turned their gazes toward the source, not knowing what had happened.
The people from the Royal Capital still had calm expressions, but the faces of the Martial Artists from outside had turned pale with shock. One had to understand, this was a magnificent scene with tens of thousands of people present. The high platform was nearly two li away from the farthest parts of the crowd.
To project one’s voice over such a distance by purely human means could almost be described as the work of a Deity. They’re here, Zhao Chun thought to herself. This world, which reveres the Martial Warrior, is about to be turned upside down.