Chapter 672 – The Phantoms of the Northern Wasteland, Lady Yu in Pursuit of Lord Yu - Part 3

Tang Sect.

“Another winter...” A long, weary sigh escaped someone’s mouth.

That single word,

another,

held lifetimes of bitterness.

Tang Eleven sat high atop the black ice tower at the center of the Tang Sect.

Four chains of cold iron creaked and groaned in the misty mountain wind, their heavy clatter echoing through snow and silence.

Her massive puppet body was battered and full of dents, worn from time and struggle.

Most days, she stayed near the frozen base of the tower, trying to slow the collapse of her spiritual energy. But today, she sat on the edge of the cloud-piercing tower, gazing across the deep valleys and cliffs as snowflakes danced in the air.

There was despair in her eyes, deep, raw, and crushing.

“This land knows peace again... But still...no one has unlocked the secrets of the Human Emperor’s Martial Canon. I can’t grasp it. I truly can’t!” Tang Eleven was in agony.

Ever since she had helped bring stability to the fractured world, she had returned to this place, immersing herself in the study of the manual, day and night, while keeping a close ear on news from the martial world.

Across the realm, countless masters just like her had locked themselves away, trying to decipher the Human Emperor’s Martial Canon. Yet not a single one had succeeded. No one could touch its core mystery.

“Time is running out! Li Yuan gave us this window, this chance, and I will

not

waste it. I can’t. I won’t!” She was on the verge of madness.

Death didn’t scare her anymore. All she wanted was to understand the secret buried in the Human Emperor’s Martial Canon..

Just then, a sound drew her attention, soft footsteps echoing from one of the distant towers, across the chains.

They were light. Incredibly light. So light that anyone else might’ve missed them entirely.

Tang Eleven’s massive form shifted silently, melting back into the shadows of the tower. From the dark, she watched.

Across the chains, atop the hidden weapons tower, a young girl appeared.

She looked about 16 years old, undeniably beautiful. But oddly, beauty wasn’t the first thing you noticed. What caught the eye was her gaze.

Fierce, proud, untamed, her eyes burned like thorns on a rose. They were wild, dangerous, and unyielding.

The girl wore the robe of a Tang Sect elder, tailored for a young woman. She stepped to the edge, opened her arms for balance, and carefully made her way onto the chain.

She walked it like solid ground.

Crossing to the central tower with practiced ease, she crept inside, tiptoeing like a thief.

But she didn’t get far.

As soon as she entered, she looked up and froze.

There, seated in the shadows, was the towering figure of Tang Eleven.

The ten-meter-tall puppet looked down on the girl in yellow like a silent mountain.

Tang Eleven may still have held the title of Madam Bright Moon, but she no longer involved herself in the daily affairs of the outer sect.

Management had long since fallen to one of the elder grandmasters.

As a result, she was only loosely aware of the changes within the sect’s ranks.

"Elder Tang Zhuo of the Tang Sect, paying respects to Madam Bright Moon!" the girl called out, quickly kneeling in a formal salute.

Tang Eleven looked down at her coldly. “You came here without permission. That calls for punishment.”

But Tang Zhuo didn’t flinch, didn’t beg for mercy, didn’t even try to make excuses. She simply said, “I want to see the Grand Matron.”

Tang Eleven blinked, caught off guard. “Why?”

“I want to persuade her,” Tang Zhuo said, taking a deep breath and voicing her thoughts with clear, unwavering conviction. “Our Tang Sect shouldn’t remain holed up in a quiet corner of the world. We should leave Westgorge Province behind and rise, dominate the Central Plains. At the very least, rule the martial world. The jianghu should bow to us!

“Everyone else is obsessed with the Human Emperor’s Martial Canon. I’ve read it too. But instead of wasting my life chasing after some vague, illusory technique, I’d rather do something meaningful, something I won’t regret when I grow old!”

To say something like this in front of the famous Madam Bright Moon, a figure revered across the land, took a level of courage that most could never even dream of.

But this young girl, Tang Zhuo, clearly had that kind of ambition.

She went on, her voice suddenly fierce and burning with emotion: “And one more thing. I want to meet Lord Yu. I want to tell him that I

love

him!!!”

“...?” Tang Eleven fell silent.

Tang Zhuo lifted her chin defiantly, refusing to be embarrassed.

Tang Eleven stared blankly, struggling to process what she’d just heard. “I’m sorry, you...what?”

She had met all kinds of strange people in her life. But she had

never

encountered a girl quite like this one.

Tang Zhuo stood her ground. “Ever since I began training, I’ve told myself: I will become Lord Yu’s wife. I will become the kind of woman worthy of standing at his side. That’s why I’ve suffered more than anyone else. That’s why my favorite hidden weapons are feathers.

[1]

“I adore all birds, especially the poisonous ones. I raise them, watch them grow, then pluck out their feathers one by one and turn them into weapons. Because I’m going to be Lady Yu.”

She declared this like someone shouting their dream to the heavens, proud and unshaken.

Tang Eleven eyed her clothes. “You’re a Tang Sect elder?”

Tang Zhuo replied, “Yes. I was just promoted this year. I now oversee the Hidden Weapon Pavilion.”

Tang Eleven asked, “How old are you?”

“I’ll be 16 after the new year,” Tang Zhuo said.

Then she straightened her back proudly, stretching out her snowy-white neck like a swan raising its head. She pushed out her chest, boldly highlighting the curves beneath her elder’s silk-white robes.

“I’m beautiful,” she said. “I can do everything a woman should. I will become the perfect woman. Because Lord Yu is the most perfect man in the world and to deserve him, I have to be just as perfect.”

“...” Tang Eleve was speechless.

At last, she understood. Standing in front of her was a martial prodigy, no doubt about it. A prodigy...with a few screws very,

very

loose.

To persuade the Grand Matron of the Tang Sect and conquer the martial world. To meet Lord Yu and marry him...

For Tang Eleven, this was...wildly entertaining.

The thought of punishment slipped from her mind. This girl was just too amusing.

“Show me what you’ve got,” Tang Eleven said.

Tang Zhuo nodded and stepped back gracefully, movements light as falling snow.

“Begin,” Tang Eleven said.

And with that, the air filled with feathers.

A storm of feathers, brilliant, multicolored, and dazzling, like a peacock in full display, like celestial maidens scattering blossoms from the heavens.

Each feather shimmered with a strange sweet scent. They dazzled the eye, fluttering as if alive, dancing through the air with eerie grace.

But beneath their beauty was death.

Every feather was a hidden weapon, each one brimming with lethal intent.

They were stunning and terrifying.

Tang Eleven raised her hand to block.

She wasn’t using supernatural power, only the raw strength of her massive puppet body.

Her iron hand batted away feather after feather.

They fell to the ground like petals.

Just as she was about to speak, she noticed something that made her fall silent.

Somehow, without her noticing, a few feathers had embedded themselves in her chest.

They hadn’t pierced the soul iron outright...but they’d slipped precisely into the tiny gaps left by age and corrosion.

If she had been just a normal martial artist, those feathers would’ve struck true.

She’d be dead.

Both women stared at the feathers in silence.

Tang Eleven slowly plucked them out and said, “Remarkable.”

Tang Zhuo quickly dropped to her knees. “Please forgive me!”

Tang Eleven simply shook her head and turned her gaze toward the snow-covered horizon, lost in thought.

After a long silence, she finally spoke. “Go back for now. The Grand Matron will see you in a few days.”

Joy lit up Tang Zhuo’s face. But then she hesitated and asked, “Is Lord Yu...is he in the tower too? The rumors say he’s been cultivating here all this time...”

Tang Eleven didn’t answer. She simply said, “Go.”

Tang Zhuo didn’t press further. She bowed and left, as gracefully as she’d come.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Several days passed.

By then, Tang Eleven had uncovered everything there was to know about Tang Zhuo.

She was a girl who had been orphaned in the chaos of war and left to wander in Westgorge.

Her parents had both died during a military campaign.

She’d been taken in and raised by a low-ranking outer disciple of the Tang Sect. But the girl suffered from what appeared to be a form of hysteria, most likely trauma from witnessing her parents’ deaths.

Because of her condition, she was withdrawn and awkward, often shunned by her peers.

And then, without warning, she began to display terrifying martial talent. Her skills advanced by leaps and bounds. She even earned great merit for the Tang Sect, and this year, was promoted to the rank of elder.

A Tang Sect elder before the age of 16, she was a living legend.

Tang Eleven now understood that this girl had found something to live for. A purpose. A pillar to hold onto.

In her mind, Lord Yu was the most perfect man in the world. So she had to become the most perfect woman.

And due to her deep-seated psychological scars, she had likely believed since the very beginning that she was already

Lady Yu

.

Of course she had to be flawless. Of course she had to be breathtaking.

After all, if she was to be the wife of a perfect man, then naturally, she must become the perfect woman.

And a perfect woman should do everything to perfection. She should lead the Tang Sect to reign supreme over the martial world.

What made it all the more fascinating was that while every top expert in the land was wracking their brains trying to decipher the Human Emperor’s Martial Canon, Tang Zhuo couldn’t have cared less. In her eyes, the manual paled in comparison to her own martial arts.

“What do you call your martial art?” Tang Eleven asked.

“It’s a hidden weapon skill,” Tang Zhuo replied, calm and confident. “I love peacocks. So I call it Peacock Plume.”

When they met again, Tang Eleven asked her a few more questions. Then, without warning, she reached into her robes and pulled out a metallic hairpin, brilliant blue like a peacock’s feather.

It was once her own, an elegant ornament she’d worn pinned in her long hair. But after encasing herself in her puppet body, she’d hidden it away.

Yet this hairpin was more than decoration. It had been a trump card, a deadly masterpiece created by the legendary Puppet Clan before they vanished from the world. A mechanical marvel capable, once activated, of allowing even an ordinary person to kill a sixth rank.

Tang Eleven handed it to her. “Then let me give you one more Peacock Plume.”

“I’m honored.” Tang Zhuo accepted it without hesitation.

“You’ll stay in the tower,” Tang Eleven said. “When the time is right, I’ll take you to see the Grand Matron. Until then, I’ll teach you a few things.”

Tang Eleven had long given up on understanding the Human Emperor’s Martial Canon.

She no longer wanted to drag her young lady into death with her.

But after meeting Tang Zhuo, she saw a chance. A successor. Someone to inherit her mission. Someone who could carry the torch.

She herself would become fuel for that fire, burning out sooner, so her lady could live longer.

She would give the Tang Sect a new purpose, belief.

To dominate the martial world!

She no longer cared for worldly peace and quiet. Just as the old Heavenly Master once tried to decipher the manual through the fury of all under heaven, Tang Eleven now sought understanding through ambition, the Tang Sect’s desire to conquer.

But the martial world was not easily conquered. Too many variables. Too much instability.

There was, however, one surefire method. That was to awaken the Grand Matron of the Tang Sect.

If she returned, the Tang Sect could truly rise and rule.

Tang Eleven just needed time, time to plant the belief in Tang Zhuo’s heart, to make her unshakable.

Because only Tang Nian knew where Lord Yu truly was.

And if Lady Yu wished to find her beloved husband, she

had

to awaken the Grand Matron.

Without that, she could forget about ever meeting Young Master Yu.

So Tang Eleven resolved to do something that went against Li Yuan’s will.

She was also about to tell a monumental lie.

What would come of it...she would never see.

But it was the last card she had left to play.

1. The

Yu

in Li Yu means feather. ☜