And so little An'an began her life in Fenglin City. Aunt Song, however, did send word once more after that, saying she had married into Wangjiang City. As a city long renowned for the flourishing of its commerce, Wangjiang ranked second only to the seat of Qinghe City itself within the whole of Qinghe Commandery. And her new husband's family bore the surname Lin — a notable local clan. One supposed she had landed a fine place to settle.
No wonder she could not take her daughter with her.
As for the remaining holdings of the Jiang family in Fengxi Town, Jiang Wang made no more inquiries. Whatever the case, Aunt Song had been his father's wife for years, had tended him carefully through his illness, and it was only right and proper that he send her off with some dowry.
Yet between the two of them the words had more or less reached their end. There was no need for further contact.
At four or five, a child was of the age to receive her first lessons. Jiang Wang arranged a small private school for his sister — the best one in the city, apart from the clan schools of the Three Great Clans, one that did not accept just any family. With all the years he had dominated the Outer Court of the City Dao Academy, he had that much face to spare. Especially now that he had entered the Inner Court, with his Dao meridian visible without, he was all but a guaranteed pillar of the Zhuang Kingdom's future; no one was going to offend him lightly.
Each day, after the scripture lessons at the Academy, he would cultivate for a time and then pinch the hours to go fetch An'an from the private school. When he took on tasks, he chose those that would be done within a single day — out and back the same day, so as not to neglect his sister. For any task whose timing truly could not be arranged, he would have Ling He, Zhao Rucheng, and the others take turns looking after her for a while.
The days flowed on, full and satisfying. The Foundation-Establishing Formation Diagram within the Heaven-Access Palace grew ever more intricate, already beginning to take shape. But the further along it went, the harder the laying-out of the formation diagram became — especially the shifting of Dao essence before the Foundation-Establishing step. Let one single slip pass, and the Dao essence would scatter, wasting all the effort spent forcing the meridian. Because he had chosen the Celestial Star-Dou Formation, his Foundation-Establishing was in any case slower than the others', and so he did not permit himself a single failure in the shifting of those formation points.
As for raw combat strength — because his Foundation was not yet established, he could not cultivate Dao arts. Jiang Wang could only redouble his labors on the Purple Qi from the East Sword Art. This sword art possessed nine moves that served as a Training Form and five moves that served as a Killing Form. As the names suggested, the Training Form was the method of cultivation, the Killing Form the method of killing. With the Training Form he honed his flesh and spirit and comprehended the sword's way; with the Killing Form he struck in battle and broke down foemen, slaying demons and felling foes.
Happily, once the pure mastery of the nine moves settled in, their nourishment of the body's vital breath proved remarkable. Jiang Wang could even clearly feel his flesh giving far greater feedback to the true spirit of his Dao meridian, hastening the coalescence of Dao essence.
After some such time, he had actually gained one extra session of meridian-rushing cultivation. Every day he could coalesce three lumps of Dao essence — which at a stroke greatly shortened the time needed to complete the Foundation-Establishing.
Life was full and satisfying, and within such a life, Jiang Wang welcomed — for the first time since entering the Fenglin City Dao Academy — a large-scale task.
"Emergency summons! No one leaves!"
In the Scripture Hall, the morning lesson of the day had just come to an end when a black-robed commander burst through the door and barreled in.
"Who's that fellow?"
"What does he want?"
The disciples whispered among themselves, but soon someone pointed out the truth: "Keep your voice down — that's Wei Yan!"
The whole Scripture Hall fell silent on the instant.
Second on the Dao Merit Roll, a commander with real power in the City Guard — either title alone was enough to cow them all. And this martial officer, above all, was known for a harsh, cold style.
Wei Yan did not seem to care about their reaction. Or rather, he only needed to make plain his own attitude.
"Counting from the start of last week," he said, "Little Grove Town has sent no word out for five full days."
Jiang Wang met Ling He's eyes. Though Little Grove Town was a large town under Fenglin City's governance, and could not report every trifle, it would still send up its reports every few days at least. Five full days without word was nearly the same as Fenglin City losing control of it. A town of several thousand people suddenly cut off from within and without — that was no small matter.
Wei Yan went on: "I hold the City Lord's command seal. I am conscripting no fewer than thirty Inner Court disciples of the City Dao Academy, to set out at once for Little Grove Town and investigate."
"Isn't that the Office of Inquiry's job?" Some disciple grumbled in dissatisfaction.
For a task of this scale, conscripting thirty Inner Court disciples at once — the danger would by no means be low. So many were unwilling.
"The Heart-Devouring Man-Demon Xiong Wen has appeared in Sanshan City. As we speak, the bulk of the Office of Inquiry's strength throughout Qinghe Commandery has been dispatched to Sanshan City."
Wei Yan did not respond; his aide, Zhao Lang, standing by, offered the explanation.
The Zhuang Kingdom's official system followed that of the Yong Kingdom: ordinary cases were handled by the yamens, while anything involving the transcendent was taken up by the Office of Inquiry. The Office of Inquiry was responsible for transcendent incidents across the whole realm; in theory it answered to the local government, but because of its particular status as directly subordinate to the capital, local governments could seldom command it to and fro as they pleased.
This very dispatch of personnel to chase down Xiong Wen, for instance, was the will of the Office's superiors. Even Fenglin City's lord Wei Quji could not interfere and call them back.
"And the City Guard?" the earlier disciple asked again.
The City Guard was the true armed force in the City Lord's own hand, to suppress all heterodoxy and rebellion. An affair as large as a whole town in the domain vanishing was enough to bring the City Guard down upon it.
"The City Guard has other duties." Wei Yan cut him off with impatience. "For this task, Dao Merit rewards are increased by thirty percent. In principle it is voluntary — but if fewer than thirty Inner Court disciples sign up, then, holding the City Lord's decree, I will carry out a forced summons!"
"There is something I must remind all of you: before this task, the City Lord's mansion had already sent two Nine-Grade Roaming Meridian realm cultivators to look into Little Grove Town, and both were lost within it. I trust each of you will weigh the risk for yourselves, and act according to your measure."
The academy system was the most important path of transcendent promotion in the Zhuang Kingdom: the City Dao Academies of each place took in the seeds of cultivation locally, and after years of training, their disciples passed an examination to advance into the Commandery Dao Academies, then from the Commandery Academies into the National Dao Academy — a layer-by-layer selection.
At the last, all the talented minds of the Zhuang Kingdom would be gathered to the capital: those who advanced would contend with the heroes of all the lands; those who fell back would be dispatched to the provinces to govern a region as their own.
Though the Fenglin City Dao Academy admitted only ten Inner Court disciples per intake, because the difficulty of advancing into the Commandery Dao Academy was so great, many cultivators would idle in the City Academy for several years or even more than a decade. Accumulated over years at the entire Fenglin City Academy, setting aside those who roamed far off and had not returned, setting aside those in seclusion — there were about three hundred Inner Court disciples.
From Wei Yan's standpoint, he might well have hoped the number of volunteers fell short. By his own design, he would have directly invoked the conscription statutes to assemble the strongest thirty men of the whole Fenglin City Academy, and this expedition would have far better prospects. But the Academy and the City Lord's mansion were not, after all, in a relation of subordination; if it came to a fracas, he could not smooth it over.
"Boss, are you going?" Jiang Wang asked Ling He in a low voice. He was, in truth, a little worried, for the mission was bound to involve transcendent power, and neither Ling He nor Du Yehu had yet opened their meridians — danger was extreme.
"Of course I'm going." Ling He did not hesitate. On the path of cultivation he had already fallen a step behind; an opportunity like the Dao Merit reward raised by thirty percent, he could not pass up. As for danger? If one feared danger, one ought to have stayed in the village and farmed.
"I'm signing up!" Du Yehu was already yelling. "All four of us are signing up!"
Zhao Rucheng nudged him in dissatisfaction. "What are you doing, eh? I was hoping to go back for a nap."
Of the group, he was the one with the least fighting spirit — every day, muddle through life, waiting for death. Life was nothing but relaxation and more relaxation.
Wei Yan swept a cold glance over them. Seeing that none had yet established their Foundation, he did not set much store by them, and only idly told his aide: "Make a record of it."
That aide announced in a clear voice: "Registration closes within the space of one incense-stick. Twenty-six places remain."
"We cultivators, fed by the support of the nation, ought to offer up our strength for the realm. For this action, I sign up." Li Jianqiu's voice came with his arrival — he drifted in gracefully through the gate of the courtyard.
A disciple of his ability already commanded great freedom. He did not need to come to the Scripture Hall to check in each day, and he could even refuse a forced summons at this level. Save in times of national calamity, they all climbed only toward the heights of cultivation. His sudden appearance now raised a low stir.
"How dare I let Jianqiu have all the glory alone? Count me in — Wang Changxiang." Unlike the sword-walking Li Jianqiu, Wang Changxiang's bearing was far more placid. He still wore the coarse hemp robes Jiang Wang had seen him in at the Hall of Dao Merit, moving at a slow, leisurely pace.
"With Brother Wang and Brother Li joining us, this expedition grows more certain!" Even Wei Yan's cold, hard face grudgingly coaxed out a smile.
Faced with Wang Changxiang, seventh on the Dao Merit Roll, even he could not put on airs.
With the addition of Wang Changxiang and Li Jianqiu, the crowd's enthusiasm for signing up suddenly shot up, and soon the places were filled.
Thirty Inner Court disciples — apart from Jiang Wang and his three brothers, nearly every man had a Nine-Grade cultivation as his base, and each one was transcendent. Strong as they were, this force could almost sweep through the territory of Fenglin City at will.
Wei Yan took up the roster with a glance and gave a nod: "So you lot have some blood and nerve in you after all. The scriptures haven't read all the humanity out of you."
Perhaps for him this was a compliment, but the condescension in his tone was still rather grating.
The Ministry of War and the Academy were two separate systems of advancement — allied and rival by turns. It was common enough for the two to hold one another in low esteem.
Immediately a disciple vented: "If Brother Zhu were here, I wonder whether some people would still dare to point their fingers!?"
The man naturally meant Zhu Weiwo, first on the Fenglin City Dao Merit Roll.
Wei Yan did not take offense. He only tossed his long robe aside and strode toward the Academy's outer gate. "Move out!"