"Forget it!"
Without waiting for Qin Sang to respond, Princess Dongyang shook her head and said coldly, "Do you have any idea? Because of your reckless actions, there is a clamor of public opinion in the court. The Heir Apparent is furious in the commandery city and has issued three secret edicts in a single day, swearing to behead Zhou Mingguang and ordering Commander Mu to personally go to Xuanji Temple to carry a rod on his back and beg for forgiveness, as well as return the plundered property."
The commandery city refers to the capital of Yingshui Commandery.
After Prince Dongyang raised his army, he established a small imperial court in Chuncheng. The Prince himself took to the field, while the Heir Apparent sat in the center of power. After conquering Yingshui Commandery, the grain and supplies for both armies had to be routed through Yingshui, so the Heir Apparent went to the commandery city to oversee operations.
However, before the Heir Apparent arrived in Yingshui, the Princess had already cleared up the various factions, so he had essentially picked up a great bargain.
It had only been two days since Qin Sang led his troops to steal treasures from Xuanji Temple. Not only did the Heir Apparent, far away in Yingshui, stand up for the temple, but the Princess had also rushed over from Jiangzhou City overnight.
Qin Sang lowered his head and pleaded guilty, "Princess, please see clearly. The Prince's handwritten order was forged by this subordinate. Commander Mu and General Zhou were both deceived by me. If anyone is to be beheaded, it should be me."
"How much harder is your head than Zhou Mingguang's? If it weren't for the fact that you once saved my life, I would have you beheaded right now!"
Princess Dongyang snapped, her voice filled with indignation, "Old Yue has already gone to see Daoist Black Crane and voluntarily surrendered the authority of the Military Hall. Give me a list of your men. In the future, when you rise to become a general or a minister, which path do you intend to take?"
Qin Sang replied without hesitation, "Leading troops into battle allows for faster merit."
Princess Dongyang looked at Qin Sang deeply, "Very well. Pack your bags immediately and go to the Xuanwei Battalion in Huzhou. I will report to my father; with the merits you have already established, a position as a Major is more than enough."
Qin Sang’s face turned bitter, "Could this subordinate go to the Xiaoyong Battalion instead?"
The position of Major was not low; in the Xuanwei Battalion, it was second only to the left and right Commanders and the left and right Deputy Generals. But the current Commander of the Xuanwei Battalion was that brat Wang Liu, and he had just thoroughly offended him in Hening County. Now, he was being sent to work under him.
Wasn't this just delivering himself to the slaughter?
"No!"
Princess Dongyang’s phoenix eyes glared at him fiercely, leaving no room for negotiation.
"Zhou Mingguang, follow me up the mountain to beg the Abbot for forgiveness."
Qin Sang quickly followed, "The mess was made by this subordinate, so it should be me who goes to carry the rod and beg for forgiveness. How can I let the Princess, with her noble status, bow to those bald donkeys! General Zhou, Brother Bai, hurry and bring a squad of soldiers, and bring this silver..."
Before he could finish, Princess Dongyang scolded, "What silver? The Buddhist sect is austere. The monks at Xuanji Temple are virtuous and eminent; how could they covet pleasure or engage in the ugly business of hoarding wealth? Stop slandering them!"
Qin Sang chuckled.
Princess Dongyang, with a hint of anger, flicked her sleeves and left. Seeming to remember something, she hesitated, turned around, and asked, "What did you use to forge the Prince's seal?"
"A radish."
...
Qin Sang did not know how the Princess pacified the monks of Xuanji Temple. That same day, he took Water Monkey and the others, one man and one horse each, and rushed to Huzhou.
After Qin Sang took the position of Major, his Eighth Battalion was originally tasked with cleanup and battlefield clearing. Wang Liu petitioned the Commander, citing Qin Sang’s experience deep behind enemy lines and his command of the military altar, to have Qin Sang—a Major of a full battalion—serve as the head of the scouts.
Little did they know, this was exactly what Qin Sang wanted. From then on, Qin Sang led his troops outside and had very little contact with Wang Liu. With General Feng, the Left Deputy General, mediating in between, Wang Liu was only a Right Commander; even if he couldn't stand Qin Sang, he had to endure it.
The battle of Duling County completely broke the backbone of the Pingshan Commandery government forces. Huzhou and Beipingzhou collapsed all the way without putting up much resistance.
Within half a year, the Xuanwei Battalion and the Xiaoyong Battalion had completely taken Pingshan Commandery, moving even faster than Prince Dongyang.
After Prince Dongyang conquered Zhaoyang Commandery, he was in no hurry to seek the three commanderies of the Imperial Capital, instead turning west toward Xitai Commandery. But Qin Sang and his men had to gnaw on the hardest bone: the three commanderies of the Imperial Capital.
No one expected that just two years after Prince Dongyang raised his army, he would achieve such brilliant results. The puppet emperor could only cower in the three commanderies of the Imperial Capital, Jiuwei, and Guize. Anyone with eyes could see where the future trend lay.
...
It was early spring once again.
The biting cold of winter had not yet dissipated, and the spring rain failed to bring vitality to this land.
Qin Sang wrapped his straw raincoat tightly around himself, trudging through the mountain forest with uneven steps.
Unknowingly, he had been in this world for three and a half years. Counting by Qin Sanwa’s age, he was now nineteen.
The rain grew heavier. Qin Sang found a place to take shelter and looked at the hazy distant mountains through the curtain of rain, his thoughts drifting.
For the past year, he had focused entirely on cultivating and organizing his own cultivation, treating military affairs as a mere formality. He had sat in the Major’s position for a year without moving.
He had experimented bit by bit; the holes in the Yama Banner had all been repaired, and the Yama’s strength had returned to its former peak, yet it still obeyed Qin Sang’s every command.
This made Qin Sang realize that the Jade Buddha that had followed him over seemed to possess unimaginably powerful and unfathomable abilities.
But no matter how he probed with spiritual power or divine sense, the Jade Buddha remained unmoved.
The Ebony Sword, the sheepskin, the colorful pouch, and other items remained the same; Qin Sang could do nothing about them.
Speaking of divine sense, after some exploration, he could use it proficiently. By releasing his divine sense, if anything approached, he could clearly know it without needing to see or hear it, which Qin Sang found truly marvelous.
Qin Sang guessed that as his cultivation and realm improved, the range of his divine sense would grow larger and larger, and in the future, no movement around him would be hidden from him.
He would have to wait until he broke through to the fourth level of the *Nether Scripture* to verify this.
His cultivation was almost at the peak of the third level, but Qin Sang was terrified of encountering a bottleneck during the breakthrough like last time. That feeling of being unable to advance an inch and having no clue was enough to drive one mad, and it was likely to delay him for a long time.
He was anxious to break through not only to gain more powerful divine sense but also because of the Purple Soul Bell.
Now, Qin Sang could control the Purple Soul Bell as easily as his own arm. Its power was indeed terrifying; he had tried it several times, and the targets had no power to resist, unable to escape the fate of having their souls scattered.
However, every time he used the Purple Soul Bell, the spiritual power in his body was almost exhausted, and he had to recover it before he could use it again.
Qin Sang did not know if other cultivators had ways to recover spiritual power quickly; he could only circulate his cultivation technique to recover bit by bit, which was very slow. If the opponent was strong and the situation complex, they would not allow him to do so.
Additionally, the Purple Soul Bell could only focus on one enemy at a time. If he dealt with two people simultaneously, Qin Sang would suffer splitting headaches and be unable to persist.
This made him impatient to break through to a higher realm.
It looked like this rain would last for a long time. Just as Qin Sang was about to sit down and meditate, he suddenly saw the treetops at the foot of the mountain dancing. A figure was speeding through the forest—it was Water Monkey. He wondered if there was an emergency.