Chapter 1821 - 582: The Whole Story, the Lord Has Gone Missing_3
Chapter 1821: Chapter 582: The Whole Story, the Lord Has Gone Missing_3
If the palace disappears, they won’t be able to find it, and the problem is that her husband Xia Hong is still inside. If the palace vanishes, can Xia Hong still come back?
Splosh!
Her worry threw her into confusion. In the end Li Xuanling still couldn’t withstand the panic in her heart; with a splash she jumped straight into the water, trying to find the entrance into the palace before the light points beneath the surface disappeared.
The problem was, she simply couldn’t find it.
Previously, after they found the Gold, Xia Hong’s first reaction was to have her take the two children out of the pool. After she went down into the pool, she only felt a moment of dizziness, and then she was already standing at the bottom of Chilong Lake. As for how exactly she had come out, she was completely in the dark. How could she possibly find the entrance now?
Hua...
Just then, the sound of a current suddenly came from above. Li Xuanling hurriedly looked up and saw that the newcomer was actually Li Longyu, the one who had earlier held the three of them—mother and children—hostage.
But at this moment, seeing the other woman, not only was there no fear on her face, it was instead filled with joy. She quickly spoke: "Miss, don’t you know how to enter that palace? Could you take me inside?"
Hearing this, Xia Yulong stretched out her hand on reflex, trying to pull Li Xuanling in together with her into Panlong Palace. But she quickly realized that at this point in time her mother’s strength was far too weak; taking her inside would be of no use at all, and she turned to refuse directly.
"Please rest assured, madam, Lord Xia will be fine. He’ll come back very soon! That place is too dangerous... you’d best not go in."
When she finished speaking, a beam of light suddenly rose from the spot between her brows. That light was actually identical to the radiance of the palace, and then, under Li Xuanling’s furious and anxious gaze, she disappeared directly into the water.
By now the palace had already shrunk into an extremely tiny golden light point. Once Li Longyu had completely vanished, the light point finally disappeared as well, leaving only Li Xuanling floating alone in the water, her face full of worry.
Staring at the empty lakebed, Li Xuanling bit her lip. In the end she was helpless, and floated up toward the surface.
"Madam, the Lord he..."
"No need to worry. The Lord should have gone to some other territory. Block off the area around Chilong Lake; no one is allowed to enter or leave at will."
Li Xuanling’s brows were tightly knitted. She first issued a brief order to Cheng He, then stood directly on the ice, intending to keep watch until Xia Hong emerged from within.
However, as the sky gradually brightened, she kept watch all the way until dawn, which was the ninth day of the first month. Nothing stirred at the bottom of the lake.
The tenth... eleventh... twelfth... thirteenth...
Li Xuanling kept her vigil all the way to the fifteenth day of the first month, the last day of the Cold Yuan Festival in the thirteenth year of Great Xia. The section of the lake surface that had been broken open had already refrozen with a layer of solid ice, and there was still not the slightest ripple from beneath.
Even with Li Xuanling’s fairly strong mental fortitude, her heart at this moment was starting to grow extremely unsettled, and the panic in her pupils grew increasingly intense.
"Sister-in-law, where’s my brother?"
On the first day of the second month, Xia Chuan, who had temporarily extricated himself from affairs in the Northern Five Towns, rushed over in great haste. Seeing only Li Xuanling alone on the lake, his expression instantly turned as black as ink.
Li Xuanling forced down the panic in her heart. Seeing that Xia Chuan had come by himself, she directly recounted everything that had happened on the night of the eighth day of the first month, in full detail.
Ever since last year’s northern campaign began, Xia Chuan had been in the north. In the three great battles with Cai Qiu, the main force had been Yuwen Dao’s Right Route Army, with his elder brother Xia Hong personally overseeing them. Then his elder brother had subsequently hammered out the ceasefire with Cai Qiu. So all his energy had been put into the aftermath in the Northern Five Towns and into Chen Cang’s force of a hundred thousand troops at East River City.
As for his elder brother’s disappearance at Chilong Lake, he had only learned of it on the last day of the Cold Yuan Festival, through someone sent by his sister-in-law Li Xuanling. On his way here he’d been simmering with anger, feeling that for such a major event Li Xuanling had actually waited a full seven days before informing him. But now, after hearing her recount the whole process, he pondered briefly, grasped the reasons, and naturally wasn’t so angry anymore.
Clearly, Li Xuanling had at first believed that his brother would return soon. Not sending word was probably out of concern that she’d throw him into a panic, and moreover, for something this serious, the fewer who knew the better. Once the news spread, given the current situation, it would be nothing short of a catastrophe for Great Xia.
That’s right, a catastrophe!
His elder brother was gone, and no one knew when he’d be back.
The problem was, unlike the time four years ago when Xia Hong went off to Moao River, this time his disappearance had taken the Holy Tripod and the Cold Beast Stake with him.
Right now Great Xia still hadn’t settled the matter of that hundred-thousand-strong army of Chen Cang. The ceasefire agreement negotiated with Cai Qiu was to be signed next month, that is, in March. If Lord Xia Hong wasn’t present at this juncture and Chen Cang and Cai Qiu found out, the consequences would be grave.
For Xia Chuan, there was not the slightest worry about Xia Hong’s personal safety. He had full confidence in his elder brother. But the quandary Great Xia was about to face allowed him no calm, and some terrifying outcomes were already looming in his mind.
"We don’t know when big brother will be back. If we can’t make Cai Qiu’s ceasefire signing next month, Cai Qiu will definitely grow suspicious. And the hundred thousand troops of Chen Cang in East River City—without big brother here, and without the Holy Tripod and the Beast Emperor Puppet, relying only on ourselves to hold them in check, I’m afraid..."
For a moment, Xia Chuan’s thoughts were in utter chaos; he even somewhat lost his composure.
"Seal off Chilong Lake and, to the outside, declare that the Lord is at a critical moment of breakthrough. I’ll be the one to step forward and sign Cai Qiu’s agreement as normal. As for Chen Cang’s hundred thousand troops, not only must we control them, our methods must be tougher. We have to drive them out of Southern Slope Territory as quickly as possible—delay will breed trouble;
Besides, we must rapidly establish contact with Wei Bo and Hezang. We won’t take part in the wars between Chen Cang and Cai Qiu, nor will we actively meddle in the contest of the Four Vassals, but we must assume the posture of a Feudal Town and engage with them in normal exchanges!"
Xia Chuan looked up at Li Xuanling, slightly taken aback, then forced himself to calm down quickly and carefully weighed these three suggestions of hers.
"Sister-in-law, wise counsel. There’s no other way."
At this critical juncture, Great Xia must not grow soft; on the contrary, it had to be even tougher.
"Earlier this month I sent Chu Tianhe a letter, sternly ordering him to withdraw Chen Cang’s hundred thousand troops from East River City. He’s neither agreed nor refused. Looks like he wants to drag things out. We can’t let him keep stalling. The rebel factions in the Northern Five Towns are almost dealt with. I’ll return at once, assemble the army, and deliver Chu Tianhe one last ultimatum. I don’t believe Chen Cang truly dares to fight!"
Xia Chuan’s face was dark. After speaking, he turned and left straight away.
Li Xuanling remained where she was, staring at the lakebed for a while. Having accepted the fact that her husband wouldn’t be coming out for the time being, her fists clenched faintly, then she too turned and flew northward.
"Cheng He, keep this place sealed. In the coming days I’ll send the Longyuan Army over. When they arrive, hand this place over to them and go about your own affairs."
Before leaving, he didn’t forget to give another instruction to Cheng He by the lakeshore.
"Subordinate obeys!"
Cheng He was a bit at sea. Last night, after Li Xuanling brought the two princes up from the lakebed, she’d immediately had him withdraw with his men to the lakeshore, so he didn’t actually know what exactly had happened.
"The Lord... did he come out and I just didn’t see, or did he not come out at all? And Xiahou Yong and Jiang Yifan? They’re gone too. The Minister has come in person—could it be that..."
Of course, he wasn’t stupid. He’d vaguely sensed that something major had happened, and a dreadful guess rose in his mind, his pupils contracting.
Ever cautious, he ultimately didn’t dare follow that thought any further. Instead he turned and called to the soldiers under his command, beginning to deploy personnel and seal off Chilong Lake.