After Han Xin offered the jerky to Qingnu, he walked toward the Bell Room of Changle Palace.
As he passed through the palace gates, his vision went black.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself amidst a complex of pavilions and towers. Standing up and looking out, he could see a vast sea of clouds in the distance.
Not far away, a young girl in a blue and red dress was turning over soil.
"Little girl, where is this..."
Han Xin had just spoken when he saw the girl stand up and kick a tree stump that was in her way, sending it flying more than a hundred feet.
She glanced back at Han Xin and said, "Jade Emperor Peak on Mt. Tai!"
Mt. Tai?
How did he end up at Mt. Tai?
Hongluan walked forward, staring at Han Xin for a long while with cold eyes. She said, "I didn't want her to save you! You were supposed to die, but unfortunately... that stupid snake said she had to repay you since she ate your jerky."
"A life for a piece of jerky. Han Xin, your luck is quite something!"
"The Immortal Maiden saved me?"
Han Xin’s expression froze, his eyes filled with astonishment.
Before he could ask anything else, a shout came from the side. "Hongluan! Help me carry these things!"
Hearing this, Hongluan glared at Han Xin once more and hurried away.
Qingnu appeared, dragging two wild deer, a tiger, and five oxen up the stairs. Even Hongluan, who had run over to help, froze in place.
Hongluan leaned back slightly and asked, "Why did you hunt so many? Can we even finish them?"
"Don't we have a guest at home?"
Qingnu glanced toward Han Xin and handed the prey over to Hongluan to handle.
She ran over to Han Xin, circled him once, and then nodded. "It's good that you're awake! I was worried I might have used too much strength and accidentally killed you!"
"Immortal Maiden, I..."
As soon as Han Xin started to speak, Qingnu raised her hand to stop him.
"Han Xin is dead. You may live on Mt. Tai in peace! However, this snake doesn't support idlers; you have to work here! You don't need to worry about food or clothes, but you must keep Jade Emperor Peak clean. If you're bored, you can write military treatises."
"The only rule is: you cannot go down the mountain and re-enter the mortal world."
Hearing Qingnu blurt out this long string of instructions, Han Xin remained silent for a moment before suddenly straightening his body and bowing to her with deep solemnity.
Qingnu patted Han Xin on the shoulder.
"Relax, relax. You still have decades left to live!"
After Han Xin vanished from the world, Empress Lu announced that he had been executed. Upon hearing the news, Liu Bang felt both joy and pity.
He gathered the nobles of the realm and performed the White Horse Covenant, sacrificing a white horse as an oath.
"None but a Liu shall be king; none but the meritorious shall be marquis!"
At that time, the only kings of different surnames left in the world were the King of Qin and the King of Changsha.
In Yongcheng, King Zi Ying of Qin felt uneasy. However, although the old rogue Liu Bang was naturally cold and thin-blooded, he still remembered how the Qin court had supported him without reservation in the past.
Besides, the King of Qin posed no threat now. The hearts of the people in Guanzhong were already in Liu Bang's hands; keeping a King of Qin around as a figurehead was harmless.
When Han Xin heard this news, he laughed heartily several times.
From then on, he thought no more of the world below the mountain and focused entirely on compiling his military treatises.
Time passed unmeasured in the mountains, with seasons blending into one another.
Han Xin grew increasingly old. The days of eating meat and chatting with Qingnu were long gone.
Inside a pavilion on Jade Emperor Peak, Han Xin leaned against a couch.
"Decades of my heart-blood are contained herein. Immortal Maiden... please keep them safe!"
He entrusted the military arts he had compiled to Qingnu, adding, "I have visited this mortal world once and left behind only a few volumes of military strategy. It is truly a matter of shame! If you meet a clever person in the future, Immortal Maiden, pass these strategies to them so my many years of effort were not in vain."
"A product of the God of War is naturally a treasure!"
Qingnu took the military books and gently patted the bedding. "Don't worry! I won't let your heart-blood go to waste."
After Han Xin died, Qingnu buried him at the foot of Mt. Tai. A breeze passed through, bringing several wild cherry blossoms from the mountain to drift lightly onto his grave.
The era of shifting winds and clouds had finally passed.
Hongluan spread her wings and flew toward the sky. Qingnu patted the tombstone and turned to return to Jade Emperor Peak.
On her way back, she saw a young girl!
The girl was bowing every step of the way, ascending the stairs.
Seeing this, the snake girl put on the bamboo hat hanging at her back, lowered the brim, and hid in the bushes. She looked up and waved to Hongluan in the sky.
Hongluan landed on the edge of the bamboo hat, only to see Qingnu making a shushing gesture.
The snake girl whispered to Hongluan.
"Be careful, don't expose this snake. There are no temples on Mt. Tai; for a girl to suddenly appear, she might be here to catch snakes!"
Hongluan hopped on the brim of the hat and asked, "Are you actually afraid of her?"
"Caution is the mother of safety!"
The snake girl didn't want to be tied up by something inexplicable again.
Qingnu bypassed the little girl and flew back to Jade Emperor Peak.
However, the next morning, when Qingnu pushed open the door, she caught sight of a small figure curled up by the palace gate—it was the same girl who had been bowing yesterday!
Her face was pale, her clothes were covered in dust, and the skin on her hands was rubbed raw and covered in scabs.
The noise of Qingnu opening the door was loud enough to startle her awake.
As soon as the girl opened her eyes, she saw the girl in green standing at the door and was stunned. The snake girl shut the door quickly, pulling it closed before the girl could rush over.
She hid behind the door and listened for a while. Hearing no movement, she opened it again to find that the girl had fainted once more.
Qingnu tilted her head back and asked, "Is she trying to scam this snake?"
Hongluan: "..."
Mt. Tai had just seen off Han Xin yesterday; they couldn't have another person die here!
The snake girl was kind-hearted. she had Hongluan drag the person inside and gave her simple treatment for her injuries.
When the girl woke up, she smelled the aroma of roasting meat.
Supporting herself against the wall, she stepped outside and saw a girl in green squatting in the courtyard roasting meat. The bonfire crackled, and large chunks of meat sizzled with oil, immediately triggering the girl's hunger. Her stomach let out a loud growl; the girl blushed and hurriedly covered her belly.
The sound reached Qingnu’s ears. She looked back at the girl standing in the doorway and said, "Don't misunderstand. This meat is for me to eat, not for you."
As she spoke, she called for Hongluan.
Hongluan darted out from the side, clutching a bamboo scroll. She unfurled it in front of the girl.
"Wound treatment medicine, lodging fees, Jade Emperor Peak cleaning fees... the total is..."
Before Hongluan could finish, the girl suddenly fell to her knees.
Qingnu stood up and jumped back. "There's no need to kneel just because you can't pay, right? I accept working off the debt."
The girl continued to kowtow incessantly.
"This humble girl, Chunyu Tiying, pays respects to Our Lady the Jade Maiden!"
Chunyu Tiying?
The snake girl frowned, stepped forward a few paces, and stopped the kowtowing Chunyu Tiying. She asked, "Don't be so quick to kowtow. Let me ask you, who told you there was a Jade Maiden here?"
"The mountain folk nearby said there was a Jade Maiden of Mt. Tai on the mountain, so I came. The legends were true!"
The little girl was extremely excited, but Qingnu wasn't very happy.
How long had it been?
When she heard Chunyu Tiying say her father had been framed and taken to Chang'an, and she was asking for help, Qingnu suddenly thought of something and lightly patted her shoulder.
"No problem, no problem. I happen to have something to pick up in Chang'an anyway. I'll go with you!"
Chunyu Tiying was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed deeply to Qingnu.
"Thank you, Our Lady the Jade Maiden!"
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