Imperial Weight Chapter 20
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 20
After writing the first letter home, the subsequent ones seemed less difficult.
Xingyi was not good at expressing emotions, but he began to write letter after letter, reporting his safety, describing life in the military camp, and drawing the rare snowy owl they discovered near the camp to show Little Phoenix. However, after that first letter, he had no opportunity to send the rest. First, there were new developments in the war and he was always too busy to properly seal and send them. Second, the weather became extremely harsh—several batches of messenger pigeons in the camp froze to death, making it unsuitable to send letters in the violent storms. So he pressed the remaining written letters to the bottom of his trunk, planning to show them to Little Phoenix after returning home.
He thought it improper to write home too frequently, feeling somewhat embarrassed about it, so he waited fifteen days between the first and second letters. During those fifteen days the weather was fair, and Xingyi would wander over to the messenger station daily whether he had business or not. When the veteran soldiers gathered to collect and sort the mail, calling out each soldier's name one by one, Xingyi would stand nearby, watching his subordinates receive their reply letters one after another with joy and walk away. When the last name was called and still no one delivered a reply letter for him, he would return to his tent.
Then came heavy snow sealing the mountain passes, and the war entered its final stage. The enemy would rather die than surrender, supply routes were blocked, and Xingyi's side was nearly out of ammunition and provisions. On a certain deep night, Xingyi issued the death order for a full army assault—a desperate gamble to break the cauldrons and sink the boats. In the pre-dawn blizzard, Xingyi's forces were nearly driven back to the edge of a cliff. Amid the deafening sounds of slaughter, Xingyi drew his bow and aimed at the head of the Northern Zhao King, his eyes sharp and compelling, impossible to look at directly.
In the chaos, a ringing arrow shot toward the enemy. At the same time, from another direction, a poison-tipped arrow flew toward him. The wind was sliced by blades and weapons with a shrill sound. Xingyi heard his adjutant's panicked roar in his ear, "My lord!" But he remained unmoved, releasing his arrow and loosing three in succession. The first arrow struck the Northern Zhao King's brow, the second shot away his right hand that was holding a fire cannon ball ready to throw, and the third pierced through his throat.
In that split second, Xingyi only had time to rein in his horse to an abrupt stop. If his luck was good, the arrow flying toward him wouldn't take his life; if his luck was bad, it was just death. When this thought emerged, he somehow thought of Little Phoenix.
If he really died, would that person be very sad?
Not even replying to a single letter—so petty.
However, in that instant, he suddenly felt the sky grow intensely bright. A certain part of the sky above his head suddenly lit up, extremely dazzling.
"Is it a star?" he wondered. The next moment, his horse let out a shrill, piercing cry, rearing its head and turning its body, then collapsed together with Xingyi—before that arrow could pierce Xingyi's throat, it was first blocked by the horse's head as it violently turned. The steed rolled and tumbled off the cliff. Xingyi mustered his strength and in that instant drew his sword and plunged it deep into the ground, clinging to the sword hilt, thus avoiding falling into the bottomless abyss along with the horse.
The enemy was dead, and he was still alive.
This battle was over.
—--
When the golden-winged bird came to report that Little Phoenix had been stolen, both Qisha and Tanlang had not yet gone far. They hadn't even descended the mountain when Xingyi caught up with them from behind.
Xingyi greeted them. "Morning."
Tanlang Lord was greatly shocked. "Why have you come down? Do you have further orders?"
Xingyi said, "My little bird was stolen, I'm going to look for him."
The golden-winged bird arrived shortly after, tearfully recounting the whole story to the two again. Tanlang found it amusing and caught the golden-winged bird to hold and comfort in his arms. "How could you two little birds fight against demon children? Immortals have their cultivation surge after achieving Mahayana, but the demon clan develops fastest during childhood when their strength is also greatest. You two little ones certainly couldn't beat them. Tsk, look, your feathers are even bald."
Golden-winged bird: "Wuu wuu wuu."
Qisha also laughed. "The demon children near Fuli Mountain generally aren't bad by nature, just a bit too wild. Your boss will certainly be fine."
The two star lords conferred and decided that since Xingyi had given them leave anyway and they had nothing else to do, they might as well follow Xingyi to find the bird.
When they reached the "bottom of the mountain" that the golden-winged bird had mentioned, the group first saw a scene of utter chaos in the snow. A great battle had clearly taken place here. Xingyi casually cast a tracking spell, summoning a crane to guide them. Before long they arrived at a cave where demons lived communally.
Tanlang was about to test the protective barrier when Xingyi stopped him with a word.
Xingyi frowned slightly. "Was this place burned by fire?"
He detected a trace of unusual aura—scorching and vivid, with the lingering taste of fury still remaining in the air. That was the unique aura of phoenix fire.
This little fat bird wasn't completely stupid—he knew to set fires when he couldn't win. It just remained to be seen what condition he'd burned those people into. They were probably just a group of young children whose mischievous mood had taken over, without any malicious intent. He would likely have to clean up the mess afterward.
Qisha picked up some grass ash burned to charcoal in the meadow beside the cave, looking toward Xingyi with a searching gaze. "Something seems wrong. Phoenixes won't use phoenix fire unless pushed to desperation, since it depletes their primordial spirit after all."
Xingyi waved his hand, having the two of them go forward to speak.
Tanlang was born with a fierce appearance, but since his looks were still decent, when he pretended to be a well-mannered “big bad wolf” he actually seemed quite convincing—he affected a falsetto and said in a soft, gentle voice, "Please open the door, we have business."
Before long, a small child scurried out from inside, looking at them warily. "Who are you looking for?"
Tanlang said amiably, "We're looking for a white little fat bird. Is he here?"
The child quickly said, "No, he's not!" Then with a "bang" slammed the cave door shut. Tanlang was quick with his eyes and hands—before the door closed completely, he kicked it with one foot, forcibly kicking the door frame off.
With a crash, as if the earth was shaking and mountains were swaying. Tanlang dusted off his hands, modestly stepped back, and invited Xingyi and Qisha to enter first while he brought up the rear carrying the golden-winged bird.
That child's face showed shock. He nervously retreated several steps and asked loudly, "Y-y-you... what are you doing, who are you people?"
The voice echoed hollowly in the enclosed cave. In the vast space, furnishings were piled here and there in disarray, as if a large group of people had been talking and laughing here just a moment ago. But now, only one child of modest cultivation remained.
Xingyi didn't want to waste words with him. He directly pointed with one hand, lifting the child into the air by nothing, suspending him in mid-air while simultaneously infusing divine power to search and seal his memories. The demon child's agonized scream halted in mid-air. Immediately after, a section of his recent memories took shape, becoming realistic scenes that, like time played backwards, completely recreated themselves in this pitch-black cave.
------"You say you're a phoenix? What kind of fat phoenix is there? And you have white feathers—stop dreaming. White feathers are inauspicious wherever they go. You actually claim that Fuli Yuanshi Tianzun would raise you? Just the fact that you directly spoke the emperor's name is enough to have you made into roasted phoenix, ha ha ha ha..."
------"Come, come, I happen to have a pot of flower seed oil. I heard that if bird wing feathers are stained with oil they can't fly. Let me see if it's true."
In the dim lamplight, a snow-white little ball was surrounded by over ten people. His two little claws were firmly bound by rough immortal-binding rope, and the entire little bird was pressed down hard on the edge of a table by one hand. Sticky oil poured down from his head. Little Phoenix made no sound, only continued struggling.
Someone else picked up scissors. "Since he can't fly anyway, let me cut off his wings and see—this inauspicious white-feathered thing, is he any different from other birds?"
Little Phoenix struggled even more violently. The moment those cold scissors just touched the tip of his wing, Little Phoenix suddenly let out a long "chirp" and spewed out a flame several feet long from his mouth!
The wind from that flame overturned another bucket of oil these people had placed at the table's edge. With a splash it spilled out. The flames quickly crawled along the oil traces, igniting everyone's clothes and also igniting Little Phoenix's own feathers.
The person holding Little Phoenix yelped in pain from the burns, and the others also howled like ghosts and wolves from being burned. Little Phoenix took the opportunity to jump down. His whole body was burning, but he seemed not to feel it, only quickly waddling away, still wearing the shackles on his claws, staggering toward the back.
------The light and shadow gradually faded.
"Put out the fire, put out the fire! Don't let it escape! You stay here to guard the door, the rest follow me. A mere bird dares to rebel!"
Xingyi withdrew his five fingers, and the sound and images abruptly ceased. The next instant, an intensely scorching malevolence suddenly burst from his eyes. The demon child felt his entire body as if being torn apart by nothing—with a splatter he spewed out a great mouthful of blood, eyes rolling back as he fell to the ground. The cold immortal lord before his eyes had vanished in a flash.
Xingyi pursued in the direction Little Phoenix had fled in the illusion, moving dozens of zhang with each step. Fortunately they had arrived quickly enough, and he soon discovered traces of that group.
The group cursed as they scattered to search. But Little Phoenix was really too small—hiding in some corner, he wasn't easy for people to spot. Xingyi's form moved like wind; none of them even noticed. Finally, one demon called out loudly, "Found him! There's a mountain spring here. That bird caught fire—he must be here!"
As he spoke, he reached his hand inside to feel around. In just an instant—intense pain struck. A wind blade sliced through, cleanly cutting off his arm. Before the demon could react to what happened, he shakily stood up just as a dark figure appeared before him, wearing dark court robes in deep red nearly black, embroidered with stars and constellations. Those hands accustomed to wielding ancient divine weapons lifted him up with one hand, and without the slightest hesitation, expressionlessly crushed this demon's throat.
At the same time, as he walked forward, he said in a low voice, "Little Phoenix, are you in there?"
Excited chirping immediately came from inside. "I'm here, I'm here! I'm fine, I'm taking a bath, but they seem very good at fighting. Husband, you must be careful."
Hearing that excited tone, Xingyi couldn't help but let the corners of his lips hook up.
He said: "Alright."
He raised both hands, taking the corpse of the demon he had just strangled alive and refining it out of thin air. Scorching divine power burned the flesh to ashes, and the remaining bones instantly transformed in his hands into a long sword. Under the extreme heat, a layer of grim white frost actually condensed on it. Just from its aura alone, it made people retreat three zhang.
Then he swung the sword—
Wherever the sword qi reached, all things turned to ash and scattered!
Dozens of demons, along with the surrounding mountains, waters, vegetation, all turned to flying ash, drifting away together with the falling snow. Not a single trace remained. All was silent.
Qisha and Tanlang who arrived afterward were both shocked in place. The golden-winged bird gaped in stunned amazement on Tanlang's shoulder, the entire bird rigid.
Tanlang said in a low voice, "So this is the ancient war god. I originally thought that since the emperor just bore the power of the Star Disc and used his own cultivation to create stars, he would be unable to sustain it."
But Qisha remained silent much longer. After a moment, he suddenly said, "Look at the emperor's eyes."
Xingyi's gaze was grim, revealing an unnatural, almost demonic brilliance—the sign of using power. These eyes were exactly the same as when he activated the Star Disc, almost to a chilling degree. His eyes were bottomlessly deep, yet around the irises showed a pale red color.
The golden-winged bird trembled. "Look at his eyes... his eyes, that red color, isn't that the color of entering a demonic state?"
Qisha said softly: "...A single thought's difference."
Tanlang suddenly lifted his head to look at him.
Qisha said calmly, "The emperor chose the divine path by only a single thought's difference. Tell me, will he in the future abandon the divine path because of a second thought's difference and fall into demonic frenzy?"
Tanlang fell silent.
None of them knew the answer. They didn't even know why Xingyi chose to become a god, because Xingyi himself no longer remembered.
"Let's go," Qisha said. "We're not needed here anymore."
****
In the vast falling snow, dust scattered with the wind, and the sky darkened along with it—night was approaching. Xingyi lowered his hand, reining in his gaze, quietly staring at the empty snowy ground before him.
In this instant, a scene floated up in Xingyi's mind—similar to the current scene, before his eyes was a vast expanse of white as clear as emptiness, blindingly white, emitting a faint glow.
The world was divided into two parts: above was white, below was deep red. A voice whispered seductively in his ear: "God or demon? White or red?"
He saw something and instinctively said: "White." That voice then disappeared, and along with it the deep red like a sea of blood also vanished. From then on, standing before him was the path to heaven, invincible in all directions.
But at that time... what was it that he saw?
Suddenly, a series of "chirp chirp chirp chirp" sounds rang out, breaking the silence and pulling him back from his thoughts.
Xingyi turned around and walked several steps, but was suddenly stopped by Little Phoenix. "Don't come over yet, husband."
Xingyi stopped to wait. He didn't know what Little Phoenix was doing behind that boulder. After a moment, Xingyi asked, "Ready?"
Little Phoenix was a bit shy, "Not yet, wait a bit."
Xingyi asked again, "What are you doing?"
Little Phoenix said, "I'm bathing. But I need to ask you something first—if I become a black phoenix from now on, will you still want me?"
"What black phoenix." Xingyi lost patience waiting and directly walked around the boulder. Just as he stepped past, he saw a pitch-black little creature scrambling in panic to the other side while chirping in protest. "You're peeking at me bathing!"
Xingyi grabbed him in one swoop.
Little Phoenix quickly squatted down, burying his little head in his wings. This little fat bird was burned pitch-black, his feathers nearly washed off by himself, his body still stained with oil that hadn't been washed off. He looked ugly and quite pitiful.
In short, just a big black lump, like a coal ball.
Xingyi sighed. "It's still a bit better than I expected."
Little Phoenix secretly lifted his little bean eyes to look at him, then continued burying his little head in his wings. "So will you still want me?"
"What do you think? You're so tiny, roasting you wouldn't even fill me up. Throwing you away seems inhumane. So I can only take you back and continue raising you." Xingyi suppressed the laughter in his eyes, reaching out to place his finger on Little Phoenix's head, gently beginning to cast a healing spell.
In moments, Little Phoenix was renewed from head to toe. Snow-white feathers grew out again, restoring him to the appearance of a snow-white little round ball.
He smugly rubbed against Xingyi's finger. "Husband, you're really amazing. But I should also say, I'm pretty amazing too. Even if you hadn't come, I could have burned them away. I've never lost a fight."
Xingyi tucked him in his sleeve and started walking back. "How many times have you fought before?"
Little Phoenix thought about it. "I don't know, I never counted."
"Why did they pick fights with you?"
Little Phoenix deflated a bit. "Because I'm fat, can't transform, have no father or mother to protect me, no money... and my feathers are white. But I actually think white feathers look nice too... don't you agree, husband?"
This little bad bird was at it again with his act of being coquettish and ingratiating. In less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he'd taken the opportunity to call him "husband" three times, clearly taking advantage.
Xingyi didn't quibble with him. He smoothed Little Phoenix's feathers. "I agree, and you're not fat. You're round and very cute—I'm being serious."
Little Phoenix looked at him, reserving judgment.
Xingyi chuckled softly. "If one day you can transform, will you still be willing to stay by my side?"
Little Phoenix answered without hesitation. "Of course I will!"
"Good." Xingyi took him out of his sleeve, holding him in his palm. As he spoke, water vapor rose, white mist dispersing in the heavy snow at dusk. "Little Phoenix, look up. That star above your head is yours. With it, you'll be able to transform, grow into a phoenix's adult form, and become the slender appearance you want. In a few hundred more years, you'll be just like any other phoenix. No one will mock you or bully you anymore."
Little Phoenix craned his neck to look, his little bean eyes twinkling. "R-really?" He found that star, and because the terrain of Northern Heaven was high and broad, that star seemed within arm's reach.
Xingyi touched him. "Really, I'm not lying to you. Look, it looks a lot like you."
****
When the two returned to Fuli Palace, it was already quite late. Little Phoenix had fought and spewed much fire, greatly depleting himself. Halfway back he nested in Xingyi's palm and fell asleep.
The palace maid attending to Little Phoenix came quietly to report that the nest made of parasol tree branches for Little Phoenix was ready. Xingyi went to look—the nest was crafted by descendants of Lu Ban, ingeniously made, comfortable and luxurious, even better than his own bedroom.
"Then let him sleep here," Xingyi said.
He gently placed the sleeping Little Phoenix in the nest, then covered him with a down quilt. He placed the entire nest right beside his bed.
Everything was originally quite peaceful, but Xingyi was accustomed to having a bird making its nest on his head when he slept. Suddenly without it, he wasn't quite used to it. In the middle of the night, he tossed and turned several times before finally deciding to get up and retrieve Little Phoenix.
Little Phoenix lay sprawled in the nest, his little claws and round bottom spread out, sleeping in an endearingly silly manner.
Xingyi picked him up and held him in his hand. Just a few steps' distance, but as Xingyi walked he suddenly noticed something wrong—the little round ball in his hand suddenly became many times heavier, sinking down.
He didn't have time to think much, only instinctively extended his other hand to catch him. When he looked down again, he was completely stunned.
Little Phoenix was gone.
A sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth slept peacefully in his arms, embracing his arm, his face flushed red, long lashes trembling slightly.
