After such a night passed, at daybreak, a whirlwind of spiritual energy suddenly blew up around him.
Next, a large amount of spiritual energy poured in from his Baihui acupoint on the top of his head, wandering around his body meridians twice, before stopping in his Dantian, forming a small spiritual whirlpool.
Had he succeeded in guiding Qi into his body?
That's not all. His cultivation level kept increasing rapidly. Qi Condensation Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3, Layer 4, peak of Layer 4, and finally stopped at Qi Condensation Layer 5.
Jiang Yuqing stared with mouth wide open, immediately jealous with eyes turning red.
Could it be the Chaos Physique? This is just too awesome!
She originally thought her Wood Spirit Physique, having reached Qi Condensation Layer 3 by guiding Qi into her body, was already very impressive. She didn't expect this guy to not only guide Qi into his body overnight, but also directly leaped to Qi Condensation Layer 5. This speed was simply like riding a rocket!
Luckily, she had placed enough Spirit Crystals. Otherwise, it wouldn't be enough for him to use.
Simply a monster!
Alright, she admitted she was jealous.
Afterwards, she smelled a not so pleasant odor. Looking over, it turned out to be all the impurities discharged from his body. She almost puked from the stench.
She quickly cast several Cleaning Techniques to make her nose feel better.
Soon, Jing Yan also awoke from his meditation.
Feeling the tremendous changes in his body, he happily spun Jiang Yuqing around in circles for a good few times before putting her down, "Qingqing, I'm a cultivator too now, thank you!"
After speaking, he kissed her forehead again.
Jiang Yuqing took out a storage ring and put it on his thumb, "This is an interspatial storage magic treasure. Carry it with you.
I've placed some Spirit Crystals inside, along with a Spirit Sword and some jade talismans.
I believe you already know how to use these things. Also, you can store your personal belongings in the storage ring to carry with you.
However, there is one thing I must remind you about. There is also a Heaven's Will in this world.
We can cultivate immortality, but we cannot use cultivator techniques to deal with ordinary people, even if they are enemies. Otherwise, it will certainly lead to Heaven's Will backlash."
"So your Su Prefecture incident back then was because you used cultivator techniques, which led to the backlash."
Jing Yan was indeed Jing Yan. He immediately thought of that old incident from many years ago.
Jiang Yuqing nodded, "Yes. At that time, the brutality of the Tartars crossed my bottom line.
So regardless of anything else, I violated the rules of Heaven and Earth by using Heavenly Gang Slaughtering Immortal Formation in the desert to strangle over five thousand Tartars at once, thus suffering Heaven's Will backlash.
Back then, my cultivation was only at Qi Condensation Layer 8. Because of this, my cultivation dropped back down to nothing overnight.
However, I have never regretted it. If I could choose again, I would still do the same!"
He gently squeezed her cheek, his heart and eyes full of distress, "My wife is so silly."
Jiang Yuqing was annoyed by the embarrassment. She slapped his hand away, "What's with calling me your wife. The wedding hasn't happened yet! Stop calling randomly!"
Jing Yan immediately frowned, "What do you mean? Want to be some other person's wife? From the high heavens above to the yellow springs below, I won't let you leave me in this lifetime."
The two fooled around for a while. Seeing the daylight turning late, Jiang Yuqing spoke solemnly, "Let's not mess around anymore. Talking seriously, our troops will enter the plateau soon.
As the elevation rises higher and higher, the air will also become thinner and thinner.
Some soldiers with poorer physique may experience symptoms of altitude sickness, like breathing difficulty, headache, even nausea and vomiting.
The doctors brought medication to prevent altitude sickness when we set off.
In a bit, I will order them to distribute the pills to everyone and have them carry some on their body in preparation for any circumstances.
Also, I've prepared some small portable oxygen cylinders for emergency use. I'll distribute them later too, one for each squad to bring along."
As she spoke, with a wave of her jade-like hand, twenty thousand unlabeled 1000ml medical portable oxygen cylinders suddenly appeared inside Jing Yan's tent. His bed was even squeezed down by them.
Tilting her head, she asked him, "Aren't you going to ask where all these things came from?"
Jing Yan hugged her from behind, his lips gently caressing her ear, "I won't ask. You'll naturally explain when the time comes."
"Oh? So sensible now? I remember around this time last year you were digging to the root."
Recalling the embarrassing misunderstanding when his wife had just grown up, Jing Yan coughed awkwardly, silently begging to let go of talking about that black history.
Indeed, with a legitimate, fair and square shield, Jiang Yuqing's days became exceptionally carefree.
After breakfast, Jiang Yuqing "received notice" that the portable cylinders to prevent altitude sickness symptoms that the Crown Prince had purchased overseas at great expense had been secretly transported over last night.
Each squad could receive one.
After distributing the items, Jiang Yuqing passed down instructions on using the oxygen cylinders to the doctors, who then rapidly informed the methods to generals below.
The generals then passed it down to lower-ranking officers, each level teaching the next, until ensuring everyone understood how to use them.
Hearing that the items could save lives at critical moments, everyone studied very diligently without daring to be negligent.
By the way, Jiang Yuqing also had the doctors distribute the medication pills to prevent altitude sickness.
The surrendered Tubo people shook their heads again upon hearing that they even prepared medication and supplies to prevent altitude sickness so thoroughly. No way to win against them!
At night after Jing Yan finished military affairs, he sat cross-legged to cultivate again, consolidating his Qi Condensation Layer 5 cultivation level. Jiang Yuqing guarded him at the side.
After awakening from his meditation the next day, his Qi Condensation Layer 5 cultivation was firmly stabilized as expected.
After getting ready, the troops continued their advance. Passing by the small Tubo town, they saw all the residents kneeling on both sides of the road, not daring to even lift their heads.
The generals could only have them stand up as the troops passed through without any incidents.
Only then did the Tubo people let out a long sigh of relief, thinking to themselves that perhaps submitting to Da Xia would indeed be a good thing, like they said. Those aristocrats at the Royal Court only knew to fight for power every day without ever caring for their life and death. It might be better to not have such a king.
The plateau was sparsely populated with an increasing elevation as they went west. The air became thinner and thinner.
Luckily, the physiques of the Da Xia soldiers were still considered decent. Along with sufficient preparation before entering the plateau and medication plus oxygen cylinders for assistance, even those who occasionally suffered altitude sickness quickly recovered.
As time passed, everyone gradually adapted to the plateau's climate with increasingly steady breathing.
After travelling west for over ten days, the troops finally arrived at Tubo's second largest city.
Calling it a city was not entirely accurate, a settlement would be more precise.
The residents had already received the news that Da Xia possessed an extremely frightening weapon that could make huge sounds and flashes of light like heavenly thunder, capable of annihilating a city in an instant.
The tens of thousands of brave warriors guarding the borders mostly died upon first contact with such a terrifying weapon. The rest surrendered to Da Xia to avoid death. The city gates and walls were also blasted apart.
The defending commander was a highly pragmatic person. His twenty thousand men could absolutely not withstand Da Xia's might.
Not even enough to plug the gaps between their teeth. So he simply opened the gates wide to let the Da Xia troops enter the city and threw down their weapons to surrender, saving themselves from suffering.
And so, Da Xia's soldiers required almost no bloodshed to capture this city without losing a single soldier.
The generals liked such pragmatic people. Therefore, after confiscating their weapons, they did not make things difficult and directly dismissed the surrendered soldiers where they stood.
This added more workforce for Tubo while lessening Da Xia’s troubles.
Afterwards, everything in the city was naturally taken over by Da Xia's army.
They sent word back home to dispatch officials to take over governance and education of the common people.
Da Xia Crown Prince personally leading two hundred thousand troops, capturing two Tubo cities in a row, had now struck deep into Tubo territory.
The traitor king Mou Ru was scared out of his wits.
He had originally obtained the throne by killing his elder brother. With an unrighteous name, he had angered many nobles loyal to his brother.
In order to more quickly secure the throne and eliminate any threats, Mou Ru killed his elder brother's woman and children.
The only one spared was the Princess of Da Xia, as Mou Ru still wanted to maintain relations with Da Xia and did not dare harm her. He only put her under soft detention.
However, word of this matter still reached Da Xia. Mou Ru was surprised that the Emperor of Da Xia reacted so strongly, even sending troops to attack Tubo just to welcome back the Princess.
Mou Ru now regretted not listening to the nobles earlier and returning Mingyang Princess to Da Xia when they first sent the decree. If he had, none of this would have happened.
Back then, why did he lightly believe the slander of petty men, thinking Da Xia was merely a paper tiger? Not only did he not return the Princess, he even went so far as to demand grain from Da Xia in an extortion letter.
Now he was in too deep to back out, creating this huge trouble with Da Xia that felt like his legs were about to be smashed.
He quickly summoned his subordinates for an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures. After much deliberation, there were only two options. One was to organize the army to directly confront the Da Xia troops.
However, Da Xia's "Sky Thunder" bombs were extremely destructive and practically invincible as a weapon of mass killing.
Merely coming into contact with one would result in masses of casualties, even leaving no bones or ashes behind. This thing was simply terrifying.
His people may be battle-hardened but they were still flesh and blood. How could they stand against such a thing?
The second option was to return Mingyang Princess.
But the enemy had already invaded. Even returning the Princess now would be too late.
Rather than return her, they may as well steel themselves to take the Princess hostage and threaten Da Xia to withdraw their troops. At the very least this would make Da Xia hesitate to advance further.
Of course there were two possible consequences for doing this. One was that the Da Xia Emperor cared deeply for his daughter and would retreat to avoid her getting hurt.
The second was that this action would completely infuriate the people of Da Xia. And if they disregarded the Princess's life and death, it would be an apocalyptic disaster for all present.
In summary, the situation was bleak either way.
In the end, the gambler's nature of the court made them choose the second plan, deciding to go all in with taking the Princess hostage and demanding Da Xia's withdrawal.
At the same time, the solitary Mingyang Princess detained in a small tent wept silently in the dim candlelight.
At fifteen years old she was married off by her father to Tubo for alliance by marriage, going from the splendor of Da Xia's imperial palace with silks and jade surroundings to the desolation of the plateau.
With neither family nor grasp of the language, she had barely adjusted to the harsh life when after just a few months both her husband died and her son was killed.
Now she was detained alone in this tiny space, hoping even for a glimpse of the sunlight outside. It was as if tragedy stalked her life.
Sometimes she truly wanted to just end it all.
But she always felt unwilling to give up, still holding onto the belief that she wanted to return alive to Da Xia, to again see the rivers and mountains of her homeland, the vibrant red flowers and green willows.
Even in death, she wanted to pass on the soil of her motherland.
Just then, an expressionless Tubo maidservant came in to serve today's meal: butter tea, flour-water balls, and a piece of wind-dried yak jerky. Nothing else beyond that.
She noticed a fine break in the middle of the jerky. After checking that no one else was around, she pried it open and indeed found a small note concealed inside: Da Xia troops march 200,000 to punish Tubo and rescue the Princess; await good news quietly.
Upon reading this, Mingyang Princess could not help weeping. So her imperial father had not forgotten her. Her homeland had not forgotten her.
After weeping for a time, she chewed the note to mush then swallowed it with water. Next she mixed the butter tea into the flour balls and stirred forcefully.
After mixing thoroughly, she pinched off a ball and stuffed it in her mouth to vigorously chew and swallow.
She wanted to keep living and return alive to her homeland.
At this time a light shone in her dim eyes, bright as the noonday sun.
