I have waited for more than ten years; a mere ten days is nothing!” Jun Wuyi nodded.
“The three hundred guards have not returned from their training?” Jun Mo Xie asked rather casually as he swirled his cup of wine. After three hundred house guards have reached an acceptable level of physical conditioning, Jun Mo Xie moved forward with the next phase of their death training regimen: The three hundred men proceeded to the Heavenly Tribulation Forest to hunt low-level Xuan Beasts for their Xuan Cores and pelt. Also, they must obtain ten more rank 5 Xuan Beasts; the higher the level, the better, and naturally the more, the better for low-level Xuan Beasts.
Do not return until you have completed the mission!
Jun Mo Xie gave a stern warning before their departure. “This training exercise to the Heavenly Tribulation Forest will be left completely in your control and this includes your lives! I expect that less than half of you will return alive! This is where the path of the strong begins! Failure is not an option; that is the road to the Yellow Springs!”
Jun Mo Xie also used this as an opportunity to weed out any spies within these troops. After the troops entered the Heavenly Tribulation Forest, Grandpa Jun’s main forces were dispatched to guard their path of retreat. Anyone that turned back was killed without exception! Any birds that flew out from the forest were similarly shot dead! They followed up by entering the forest and killing anyone they suspect were sending out a message.
This operation was carried out by Grandpa Jun’s secret force of Jade Xuan experts so the outcome was uneventful.
“Twenty-seven men have already been exposed so far; all of them have been summarily executed! No information on this operation had leaked out as of the latest report.” Jun Wuyi appeared exhausted. “It did not occur to me that the Jun Family had sheltered this many enemy spies. Could it be that my Jun Family is easily bullied?!”
Jun Mo Xie smiled and said. “We can assume that most of the spies have been eliminated given that no messages have been sent out for such a long period of time. I’m not too worried about the remaining men. Anyone that is able to return had earned the right to live.”
Jun Wuyi slightly nodded before standing up. He had taken one last look at the wine cup in Jun Mo Xie’s hands before he returned to his courtyard.
Jun Mo Xie sat quietly for a while before he too stood up and left toward his courtyard; the second batch of fine wine ought to be ready at any moment. This batch will be the real deal.
****
A disturbance suddenly broke out in the capital and then subsided. A fast horse galloped post-haste to the main gate of the Jun Residence. The rider, who wore a yellow eunuch outfit, was precisely a messenger from the imperial palace. Shortly thereafter, Grandpa Jun hurriedly left the residence and rushed toward the imperial palace.
At the same time, the physicians of the imperial palace seemed extremely impatient as they hurried to the Li Residence.
The Dugu Family’s pair of father and son similarly dropped everything at hand and rode their fastest horse toward the imperial palace.
Members of every major family and cabinet ministers of comparable status continuously rallied in the direction of the imperial palace.