Jianding campaign

Over 10 years had passed.

The memory of Wen clan faded away, and the school of Shuangshan prospered. Many immigrants flocked to the village, and many cultivator families were eager to send their children to train under the famous war hero Lan.

The servant quarters were constructed and housed about 50 servants aged 10-30 at the moment. The relations between Shuangshan and other northern sects- in particular Songshu- flourished, and the city of Yafan, no doubt pressured by Yao Erzhan, "occasionally" gifted the sleepy village many books from their famous library.

Eventually, so many manuscripts were gathered, that Lan Caolu decided to build a separate house that would serve as a library and administrative wing of the sect. He took upon himself not only managing Shuangshan, but also Chenfei, and the village and the school overlooking it from upon the twin hills eventually became one, closely-knit community.

This was, in no little part, thanks to various events organized by the school, the most prominent of which was the annual sparring tournament. Modeled after similar demonstrations that the monks of his youth would prepare for the nearby communities, the tournaments not only breached the gaps between the cultivators and the mundane but also attracted tourists from beyond the village.

And so, eventually, both Chenfei and Shuangshan grew so much, he couldn't manage it personally anymore. An inner clique, hand-picked by Lan Caolu, was formed. Branded by red ribbons tied around their dominant arm, these especially prominent students would aid him in all kinds of administrative tasks, as well as provide cultivation instructions for the newcomers in case he wasn't available.

The most prominent of these was the once young boy he took under his care over a decade ago, now a charismatic young man. Chen Mengyao was in every way a splendid warrior, cultivator, and a human being, and thus Lan Caolu seriously considered making him a successor in case he'd ever pass way prematurely….

…ah, perhaps "prematurely" is a bit of an overstatement. After all, at this point, master Lan was already over 100 years old, yet he looked no older than 60, and his mind and body regained a lot of their past strength and sharpness. In fact, he was rumored to have reached the cultivation level of an immortal- a rumor he always went out of his way to dismiss, but what can one do to gossip and hearsay?

After all, no one truly reached immortality…in a long time, and people forgot how it is like to have real immortals walk among them. The mark of such a cultivator…was an ascension to the heavenly realm and exclusion from the endless cycle of death and rebirth. If he could go to heavens…would he have any reason to ever come back to the mortal realm?

...….

That day, in the year 92 of the Changan era, Lan Caolu was visiting his family in the former Wen estate, located in the woods nearby the city of Yafan. Even though it was called Bai estate now (as his son agreed to name their children after the wife's surname) its outwards appearance didn't change much.

Still, there was a beautiful garden and ponds surrounding the main housing complex. Still, there were servants running around and treating the guests with pastry and tea…

However, this time all the servants were yaren.

And…a child's laughter echoed among the flowers.

"Grandfather, this is for you~"

She handed him a bucket of freshly picked flowers. Oh my….

"You shouldn't do it…plucking the flowers the gardeners planted so meticulously. Your mother is going to be mad!"

A shadow of fear flashed through the little girl's face, but soon it was replaced by a smile.

"Nah, can't be. Mother doesn't care about this garden."

As expected of her mother. Bai Caoren never struck him as the type to pay attention to aesthetics.

"What have you been doing!? Your clothes are all muddy!" speak of the devil.

"Uuuu…sorry mom! I was just making this garland for the grandpa…"

"This isn't a garland! Ahh, never mind. Servant! Come, give her a change of clean robes!"

She also didn't strike him as a type to eventually become great, if a bit overprotective mother. And yet here she was, spoiling her daughter like that.

Supposedly, her pregnancy was especially difficult, but when she finally gave birth to Bai Lianfei, she was overcome with joy, and had been orbiting the little girl obsessively ever since…to the point his son complained to him he feels like a 5th wheel sometimes!

Who would have thought….

"Master Lan" she finally addressed him. Her skin tone was as pale as ever, and just as before beneath the robes were bandages- meant to cover old scars, as she apparently ceased self harm practices a long time ago. But her eyes, once fairly healthy-looking, were now darkened and deeply sunken, and her once long black hair was noticeably shorter and ever so slightly poorly maintained here and there.

In other words, the passage of time was letting itself known to Bai Caoren, in addition to motherly duties and her unending scholarly pursuits. Apparently, even though she stopped traveling the land after Bai Lianfei was born, she never ceased the unending pursuit of knowledge, constantly inviting visitors and scholars from other parts of the middle kingdom, and collecting rare manuscripts and peculiar items.

In that sense, she was almost like…a spiritual successor to the clan that once lived in that very house….

"Master Lan!"

Lost in thought, he forgot to answer the first time. How embarrassing!

"Since our daughter has already manifested a golden core, we've been thinking of enlisting her for cultivation training at a sect in a couple of years…."

"And there is no better place than a school owned by her grandfather!" interjected Lan Chaoxiang, somewhat to the displeasure of his wife.

He too changed a lot over time. No longer the muscular man of the past, he was rather lanky now, and just like Bai Caoren's, his eyes were sunken dark. The reason for that is that he traveled the land a lot as a wandering hero, correcting wrongs, exorcising undead, and hunting for devil cultivators.

Supposedly he discovered his passion for doing so that faithful day…but such a lifestyle burdened him a lot, and forced him to stay a long time away from his home and family. Lan Caolu was both proud of him…and worried for him.

"But didn't you say you'd like her to study at Songshu, nearby her familial home?"

"We decided that a change of scenery would help her become more independent!"

"Besides, master Lan, who could ensure a better upbringing for our daughter than yourself?"

He couldn't say no to such flattery, and so it didn't take much more persuasion to convince him to train Bai Lianfei in the future. And truth be told…he was quite happy to look after his granddaughter.

Just as the Bai-Lan family was enjoying a tea party in one of the pavilions, a messenger from Songshu arrived. He said there is an urgent meeting at the sect headquarters, and both Lan Chaoxiang and Lan Caolu were asked to attend in a way that left little room for disagreement.

...…..

This was the second time Lan Caolu met Yao Erzhan, the first one was briefly 10 years ago, back when the man wasn't the grandmaster of Songshu yet.

Unlike Bai Caoren and Lan Chaoxiang, he didn't appear to have aged a lot during all this time, still retaining the youthful and strong image of a man in his late twenties, which suggested a high level of cultivation proficiency.

By his side were some of the senior students of his sect, as well as other people wearing robes adorned in different patterns- some of which were quite unknown to Lan Caolu. However, they all had one thing in common- there was an aura surrounding them, an unmistakable aura of power. Even Lan Caolu, who didn't count himself among the cultivators proficient in sensing the flow of qi, could sense that….these people were all at master level!

They all bowed when he arrived, showing respect to a venerated war hero from the previous age. Truth be told, he didn't care much about such pleasantries- and fortunately, everyone seemed to be in quite a hurry, so the annoying rituals didn't drag for long this time.

"A terrible news from the south….a new power is rising, and threatens everything we hold dear that we created over the past century…"

It all begun when cultivators in Tianze, where the Oracle of Fates is located, discovered unusual energy patterns in the south. Tianze, the largest city in the central plains, had been built on the crossing point of geo ley lines- basically, a place where the energy of life flowing through the planet itself intersects. A large temple was built there in ancient times preceding even the Red Emperor, and the sages of that temple scan the entire known world for unusual and suspicious disturbances- usually related to a high amount of resentful energy gathering in one spot, or devil cultivation practices getting out of hand.

Since such incidents had been extremely rare over the last 100 years, many questioned the meaning in continued existence of the Oracle, and considering how weak and removed from worldly matters the sect in charge of it is, it wouldn't be overly hard to just disband them. However, this time these old men seemingly proved their worth in gold- their recent findings, for the sake of secrecy, were so far shared only with grandmasters of cultivation sects. Yet upon receiving the news, there wasn't a single one who didn't move immediately.

For apparently, far in the southeastern bamboo forests, a hole in the fabric of the mortal realm was opened. A rift, sucking out the life energy from the world's leylines…

"But that cannot be!" exclaimed one of the masters "such an occurrence is unknown to history!"

And yet, without a shadow of a doubt, it was happening. To quote one of the sages it's like a 'soul storm', slowly growing and threatening to encompass the entire world if left unchecked.

This is combined with troubling reports of significantly increased nomadic yaren activity along the southeastern border, and….

"The scouts of wuyun sect report unusual numbers of cultivators among their ranks." said Yao Erzhan, a gravely serious expression staining his otherwise perfect facial features.

While some of the gathered masters took this foreboding news with due seriousness, others were resistant to embracing the gravity of the situation. Two lines of argumentation were dominant among the naysayers….

"Wuyun sect's report are not to be trusted! They are power-hungry devils in their own right!"

…and…

"So what that some heretics enslaved yaren? Let them rule over the savages if they care!"

However, Yao Erzhan merely shook his head sadly, then smirked ever so slightly as if he anticipated it.

"Perhaps there was some misunderstanding…venerable masters, forgive the lack of clarity on my part! For you see, the cultivators reported by the Wuyun reconnaissance….were not human"

Once again a terrible commotion shook the assembly. This time even the ones who were not questioning the information provided so far raised their eyebrow in disbelief.

"Not human? Then what they were? Actual devils? Evil spirits?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if such beings were mixed there as well…alas, so far the information we got states with absolute certainty that there are seemingly sentient animals and yaren capable of manipulating qi, leading the cohorts of mundane beastmen and commanding the raids into the middle kingdom…many border villages were already razed, and the surviving eyewitnesses confirm these reports…."

Several thick parchment scrolls were distributed among the gathered masters, and on them, in no small detail was written everything known about the case so far- from the scout reports to survivor testimonies, not a single thing was left uncovered.

…..and so, after some deliberation, even the most die-hard skeptics were forced to admit there is some validity to them.

Meanwhile, Lan Caolu had no idea what he was doing there. He'd rather spend his time with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. He knew where this was going- some kind of military campaign was brewing, and he wanted to have none of that. The old man was way past his prime, and rejected the sword many, many decades ago….

"Thus, it was decided by all the southern sects, that an expeditionary force composed of cultivators and auxiliary units will be formed, aiming at the source of infestation…and they request help from the North, as well…"

Ha! Told you, thought the old man with satisfaction. Looked like his 100-year-old brain wasn't decayed yet!

According to captured yaren raiders, the source of the infestation was called "the Spire" and apparently it was some large temple. It stood abandoned for times immemorial, until a decade ago, a newly arrived cultivator clan settled there, and disturbing things started happening….

And the name of that clan was…..

....

"Father, are you sure about it? I know you aren't prone to violence. No one will hold it against you…"

However, Lan Caolu merely shook his head, saddened. When he learned that the Wen clan was behind these developments, he- along with countless other masters- volunteered himself along with several of his finest students for the upcoming military campaign.

He thought back to 100 years ago…because he didn't take responsibility, this era of sectarian aristocracy came to be. If he just sat at home, while Wen clan was, by all means, exterminated…he'd never get his answers about what happened on that day…and he'd never forgive himself.

Lan Chaoxiang also volunteered to join the campaign. Well, for him, it was quite an obvious choice- he had been traveling the land for years, hunting devil cultivators and all kinds of threats to civilization. Of course, he wouldn't ignore such a major uprising…however, he made a vow.

"After this is over, I'm going to give up on being a martial hero and settle down with my family."

His wife and daughter stayed behind in Yafan. Bai Caoren wanted to join her husband during this operation, but alas, being mundane, there wasn't much she could do anyway even if she did…

The village of Chenfei was left under the care of a talented young man, Chen Mengyao. Unlike Bai Caoren, he obediently agreed to look over the matters at home, realizing the gravity of situation in the instant. After all, he was Lan Caolu's chosen successor, and if anything went wrong….

And thus, as soon as the winter snow melted, a sizeable force composed of proficient cultivators marched out from the north to join southerner encampment already established on the southeastern edge of central plains. After the two forces merged, they marched further east, their goal- the mysterious Spire….

....

Although this campaign was probably the largest military effort undertaken in the middle kingdom past 90 years, its sheer scale and impact was….no more than a localized border conflict. The cultivator forces suffered some losses, but in the end succeeded at razing the accursed temple and scattering the yaren tribes into the four winds, their devil masters gone, their morale broken…

Contrary to the forbidding feeling Lan Caolu had, both he and his son returned alive from the war. Lan Chaoxiang was welcomed by his wife and daughter, who anxiously awaited his return, and as promised, settled with them permanently…

It's just that…permanent is a very relative term considering he died within several months of a mysterious illness. They said he caught something in the tropical forests, and some people of Yafan even treated the Bai family with suspicion afterward, afraid of epidemic…but some others said that his sickness was supernatural, that a witch of Wen clan cursed him…

In the end, no one knew the truth, and given how nothing happened in the following years, it was soon forgotten….

As for Lan Caolu….he wasn't nearly as grief-stricken by his son's passing as many thought he'd be….

After all, at this point, the old master Lan truly lived to his nickname. No longer appearing as a man in his 60, he looked his age, his eyes dark and deeply sunken, and an ever-growing long, white beard hiding his shriveled, aged face. He lost his previous talkativeness, and slowly but steadily retreated into social isolation. What caused that, nobody knew, as the man refused to talk about the events of Jianding- partly because all the cultivators who participated swore to keep these events a secret, and partly because it was too hard for him…

…..

And 10 more years later, a stuttering, aged man finished telling his story to a teenage wolfigrl sitting silently in front of him.

"What I didn't tell..to the cultivators…is that your family, your true family, has survived…they should still be there…in the Spire. I have failed you…go..and reunite with your kin."

He slowly raised his half-blind eyes and added "I-it..is your destiny..and my last act of resistance".