Chapter 683: White-haired Female Official Looks to the Gods (Seeking Monthly Tickets at the End of the Month)

On the northern snowfields, the cold wind blew up coarse snow foam and hit the solid city walls.

"Sorry for the long wait."

Hearing the familiar voice echoing in her ears, Ji Yue, a woman, finally could no longer hold on to her shaky body and fell powerlessly into Zhao Duan's strong arms.

Tears rolled down from her pure white pupils, and she choked and said:

"For a year, we all thought you wouldn't come back."

Has it been a year?

There was a hint of trance in Zhao Duan's eyes. In the "Ascension Picture", he was unaware of the passage of time, isolated from the world. A whole year had passed in his practice.

"Tell me about your experiences this year." Zhao Duan raised his hand and wiped away Ji Yue's tears.

Next, the two emotional subordinates spoke one after another, roughly telling the information they knew.

Including how Zhao Duan and others disappeared after the golden gate, how Lang Shiba went to the battlefield and retreated, how Ji Yue guarded outside the Tianshi Mansion again and again, and finally resolutely rushed to the north.

"How is the war situation? Your Majesty...what about her?"

Zhao Duan asked the question that concerned him most.

Lang Shiba's excited expression gradually faded.

Jiyue explained in a low voice:

"It's not optimistic. After you left, the entire Yu Kingdom's military forces were deployed to the Xiping battlefield. However, for some reason, a large number of powerful figures emerged from the Buddhist sects in the Western Regions. Even though their total military strength was at a disadvantage, the level of their cultivation masters surpassed that of the imperial court."

Lang Shiba also said bitterly:

"When there are enough masters, ordinary soldiers lose their meaning.

Even though His Majesty and many priests from the Tianshi Temple were present, they could only drag the enemy to the Xiping battlefield but were unable to repel them.

Even worse, as the Buddhist sect's occupation of Xiping Road grew longer and longer, the power of the Western Regions' ancestral temple seemed to have also invaded Xiping, making those monk soldiers even more powerful."

He lowered his head in shame:

"I am incompetent. My legs were broken by Master Dajing on the battlefield, and I can no longer serve you. As for the war situation over the past six months, we don't know much. We only heard that it has been getting worse and worse, and the defense line of Xiping is in jeopardy."

Zhao Duan listened silently, not very surprised.

He looked towards the west, his sight seeming to penetrate countless distances, and whispered softly:

“Ksitigarbha…”

After learning that Xuan Yin was the reincarnation of Ksitigarbha, he understood that the Battle of Xiping was no longer something that the mortal army could resist.

When he learned that the empress was still alive, the worry in his heart eased and a gentle smile appeared on his face:

"Don't worry, I'm back, everything is still in time."

"Sir..." Ji Yue looked at him in confusion and suddenly asked:

"Master Zhang and the others are not with you?"

Zhao Duan shook his head without explaining, but just pressed his palm gently on Lang Shiba's vicissitudes of life forehead.

A lotus flower that looked like a gathering of blue clouds enveloped Lang Shiba's body. This former Northern general, now a crippled and useless man, was shocked to feel a sharp pain in his legs that had long lost all feeling.

Under his trouser legs, the flesh and blood of his withered calves rapidly filled up, his damaged qi sea healed, and the broken meridians in his body were reconnected.

In just a few breaths, Lang Shiba was shocked to find that he had recovered to his peak state and returned to the realm of a martial artist in the world.

"Sir..." The two looked at Zhao Duan in shock, their minds blank.

This kind of method is beyond the reach of cultivators and is comparable to a miracle.

"I'll go first, and we'll meet again some other day."

Zhao Duan withdrew his hand, smiled slightly, took another step, and disappeared out of thin air on the top of the city wall.

If the recovery of their bodies was not real, they would even suspect that what they had just seen was an illusion.

Lang Shiba stood up and tried to move his body. Ji Yue seemed to have understood something. He suddenly looked towards the Mubei Forest at the end of the snowfield and thought excitedly:

My lord, did he... succeed...?

Inside Jubei City, a seriously wounded veteran who had retreated was shocked to hear the passionate sound of war drums coming from the top of the city wall.

Veterans gathered in the city, looked up, and one of them exclaimed:

"Eighteenth Commander! Why is Eighteenth Commander standing up?!"

In countless sights, on the cold city wall, next to a man in red, Lang Shiba, with tears on his face, laughed loudly and waved the drumstick wildly.

On this day, the passionate sound of war drums echoed throughout the city, sweeping away the decadence of the past six months and returning the city to its peak.

…

Over the capital.

Zhao Duan's figure appeared out of nowhere, overlooking the big city he was most familiar with.

He did not choose to rush to Xiping immediately, but wanted to understand the situation first.

A year has passed, and it should be spring in the capital, but contrary to its usual practice, it is still gloomy, as if it is still winter.

The once bustling streets became exceptionally deserted due to the shadow of war.

Zhao Duan frowned and took another step forward. He appeared deep in the palace, in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, outside an imperial study.

The garden of the imperial palace was also silent. The female officials seemed to have been dismissed and were all standing outside the palace. The courtyard seemed deserted.

Zhao Duan was silent for a moment, then raised his hand and pushed open the carved door of the study.

The furnishings in the imperial study remain the same.

However, the person sitting behind the table covered with yellow mat was not the familiar empress in white, but Mo Zhaorong, who was wearing a wingless black gauze and the first-class official robes of the Six Shang women officials.

At the beginning, when Prince Jing died, Mo Chou and the Shenjiying led troops to wipe out the remnants of Prince Jing's mansion. After that, the two sides never met again.

A year passed, and Mo Chou returned to the palace. However, compared to the proud and indifferent woman he was familiar with, the Mo Chou in front of him had become much thinner and more haggard.

The official robe seemed too big for her, and even her long, shiny and smooth black hair under the black gauze hat had some white hairs on it.

At this moment, Mochou sat behind the desk in a daze. In front of her were piles of memorials and military intelligence reports from the front line.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Mo Chou said in a hoarse voice without raising her head:

"go out."

After a pause, seeing no movement, she raised her head and almost shouted:

"I told you to get out, but you didn't listen..."

Come to an abrupt stop!

Mo Chou stared blankly at the familiar figure standing at the door of the study, as if she were in a dream. She suddenly widened her eyes and murmured:

“You…you…”

Zhao Duan said with a complicated look:

"Mo Zhaorong, long time no see. It's me, I'm back."

It wasn’t a dream… Mo Chou’s mind went blank, and then she suddenly stood up as if she was pricked by a needle, knocking over the inkstone beside her, and didn’t care that the ink splashed all over her body.

She almost trembled as she walked quickly forward and stared at Zhao Duan's face.

She reached out her hand again to grab the corner of his clothes, feeling the familiar gaze, tears suddenly fell from her eyes, and she said angrily:

"What are you doing back? What are you doing back? Do you know that His Majesty and we all thought you were dead? What's the point of you coming back now? You might as well be dead! You might as well be dead!"

Mo Chou's emotions are out of control!

At this moment, the immense grievance and sadness engulfed her spirit, which was already on the verge of collapse due to long-term fatigue.

She cursed, cried, and beat Zhao Duan's chest with her hands, as if venting the emotions that had been pent up in her heart for a whole year.

"Do you know how many times His Majesty returned to the palace to wait for you after you disappeared? Time and time again... How many people hoped that you, the great general who suppressed the rebellion, would turn the tide again, but were disappointed time and time again...

The whole world is saying that you are dead and have escaped... Li Lianying is dead, and Dong Taishi is also ill. I am the only one who can stabilize the rear for His Majesty, I am the only one..."

Mo Chou cried as she spoke, her voice hoarse at the beginning, and then gradually weakened.

Zhao Duan gently supported her, feeling the wetness of his clothes on his chest. He looked at the white hair on Mo Chou's temples, which shouldn't have appeared at her age, and said slowly:

"Have you cried enough? If you have, tell me what happened in the year I was away."

Mo Chou rubbed her red and swollen eyes, actually threw away his sleeve, staggered back, and fell into a chair, her expression regaining its composure.

"What do you want to know?"

She has indeed grown a lot. Even if she lost her composure like this, she can quickly suppress all the emotions in her heart.

The personal maid who followed the empress back then has finally become a true "female prime minister".

"Everything." Zhao Duan said.

Mo Chou calmed down and said coldly:

"Back then, after you killed Prince Jing and left, the rest of us went south to build Jiancheng Road and successfully defeated the remnants of Prince Jing's palace. Prince Jing's son, Xu Jinglong, was shot and killed on the battlefield.

The Shen family, who supported the rebels in Prince Jing's Mansion, tried to flee to Lingnan Road with their entire family, but were captured by the troops led by Wei Xianzong. I took the initiative to abolish the Shen family and learned from your method in Huaishui to split up the local families, leaving the Governor of the Grand Canal Ning Zechen to be in charge of Jiancheng.

Afterwards, Shi Meng led the Shenji Camp to Xiping. I brought the civil officials back to the capital, and only then did I learn about many of the events that followed..."

“Your Majesty returned in spirit and told me that you and Zhang Tianshi went to Mubei Forest to look for a way to break the impasse.

But since you left, there has been no news at all, and Your Majesty doesn't know how you are doing, whether you are alive or dead.

Later... Her Majesty said one day that she noticed that the soul that went with you had already dispersed, and Her Majesty... thought... thought that you might be dead."

Mo Chou took a deep breath, controlled her emotions, and continued:

"After that, His Majesty became furious and recruited soldiers from across the country to march into Xiping, even taking the troops from Jubei City with him. Hai Gongfeng no longer guarded the imperial palace and also went to Xiping. Before leaving, he killed Xu Jianwen.

In the vast Yu Kingdom, only Zhao Shixiong's troops were left in Yunfu to guard against the Liao people...other than that, the whole country went to war.

But... those monks in the Western Regions, for some reason, seem to have divine help. Her Majesty once came back and told me that she suspected it was Xuan Yin, using his clone technique, that was simultaneously descending upon many monks...

After Zhang Tianshi left, Your Majesty was left alone to defend Xiping, facing Xuanyin and the Dharma King. It was difficult for him to hold on alone, and the entire situation began to collapse..."

As she spoke, a sad smile appeared on her face. She picked up a military letter spread out on the table and threw it to Zhao Duan:

"This is the latest military intelligence. Not long ago, Your Majesty led a group of experts to the entrance to the Western Regions, Yumen Pass, in order to save the situation.

We originally planned a surprise attack, but it failed. Now, your majesty's isolated army has been trapped inside Yumen Pass, trapped in enemy territory, and the vast Xiping has also been defeated!"

Zhao Duan raised his hand, took the military book thrown to him, glanced at it, raised his head in silence, and said:

"So, you dismissed the maids and sat here alone, feeling dejected?"

Mo Chou seemed to be enraged. She stared at him coldly, tears streaming down her face.

"The military decree requires the imperial court to send reinforcements to rescue His Majesty, but I... where can I send reinforcements? Tell me, where can I find reinforcements? Tell me..."

Zhao Duan said seriously:

"And me."

He walked forward seriously, placed the military letter on the table, raised his hand, and helped Mochou straighten her black hat while she was staring blankly.

Zhao Duan said solemnly:

"I'm going to Xiping right now. You should have a good rest and wait for me to come back with the ministers in the capital."

After saying that, he turned around and was about to walk out of the study.

Suddenly, Mo Chou called him. She held the armrests of the chair with both hands, and asked cautiously and hoarsely with a hint of expectation:

"Can you...save His Majesty?"

Zhao Duan paused, half stepped over the threshold, without looking back, and suddenly asked:

"Since it's already spring, why is the capital so desolate this year?"

Mo Chou answered subconsciously:

"Your Majesty said that the world has undergone tremendous changes over the past year, the climate has become chaotic, and spring has been delayed..."

"I see."

Zhao Duan took a step forward and disappeared. The next moment, he appeared above the capital, thousands of miles in the sky.

Zhao Duan looked around the earth coldly, and suddenly raised his hand and grabbed towards the south!

"Edict!"

Thousands of miles away, the spring breeze blew, and an illusory female god emerged in the wind. It was actually the [Goddess of Spring] in this world!

"Go!" Zhao Duan raised his hand to capture the God of Spring, with an expressionless face, and threw the God of Spring towards the capital.

Change the world!

On this day, the warm spring breeze wrapped in fine spring rain gently blew across the entire capital. Countless branches in the city sprouted tender buds and quickly grew into green leaves.

Bunches of peach blossoms bloom on the branches, and the bright peach blossoms weigh down the branches.

Countless people in the capital walked out of their homes in astonishment, looking at the world full of vitality and countless blooming flowers and plants in shock.

Zhao family.

"Mom! The flowers are blooming! All the flowers in the city are blooming!"

Zhao Pan'er suddenly pushed open the bedroom door and shouted towards Eugene Hua who was wiping tears while looking at the embroidered portrait of Dalang inside.

Lihuatang.

Qian Kerou, Chen Juan and Hou Renmeng rushed out of the yamen and looked at the big pear tree in bloom in the yard, feeling dazed.

Imperial Palace.

Mo Chou leaned against the door frame of the study in a daze, looking at the colorful imperial garden. The fine rain gently wet the black eaves and her haggard face.

Outside the courtyard, a group of female officials rushed in hastily because they had just heard a roar coming from the study, and saw Mo Chou standing in a daze in the spring rain.

"Miss Mo! Don't get caught in the rain. What if you get sick?"

A female official rushed over, then froze, staring at Mo Chou's temples in disbelief:

"You...your hair..."

hair?

Mo Chou raised her hand in confusion and took off the wingless black gauze. At this time, another female official handed a round mirror to her.

Mo Chou saw clearly that her hair in the mirror was as black as charcoal, without a trace of white.

Her haggard face quickly turned rosy and full of flesh and blood. In the blink of an eye, the woman in the mirror had bright eyes and white teeth, and her spirit was as good as before.

"Zhao Duan..."

Mo Chou suddenly guessed something, and her eyes lit up with an unprecedented brilliance. She hurriedly looked up at the sky!

I could vaguely see a white rainbow heading west!

The desolate old imperial city;

The flowers in the palace are red for a day.

The white-haired palace maid is here;

Looking up to the gods.

(End of this chapter)