After leaving our combined marker on the Zhongnan mountains and speaking with the local Spiritual Beings, we no longer had to purposefully hide our powers. So we separated, and each went to check on our followers and their missions.
Cynthia traveled to Hanzhong to check on Altunay's progress in building a front business that would expand to Sichuan and our new capital, Chang'an, in the future. She would focus on smuggling and trading silk in the south and gold in the north, with the help of our southern cavalrymen and their northern counterparts. Unfortunately, our agents were mostly stuck in the northern region because of the ongoing war.
Meanwhile, Erik went to check on Wang Hao and his men. It seemed they were already waiting for Liu Bang at Wuguan Pass. So, he moved further to check on his followers at Wudang mountain and scouted one more place on his way back to Huashan.
As for me, I traveled back to the Sacred Mountain to check on the Tagh Boru and my daughter. Everything seemed okay in the north. Asena looked quite mature for a girl, perhaps she had grown up a bit. I spent most of my time with my family and teaching everyone the Iron Method, the Maidens Method, and new shadow techniques. I also tried to create replicas of my Divine Instruments to replace the ones I had given them to prepare for the upcoming battle. But it seemed I couldn't create anything outside of my Heaven yet, so I brought Asena with me. The area around the Sacred Mountain must be the safest place in my Divine Realm, so I'll aim to enter my realm in this area from now on, so we won't have to worry as much.
Michelle, who was waiting for me, seemed surprised. She knelt and hugged my daughter. Asena smiled gently and petted her head. She might remember her mother's body, but she can also see through things. In her eyes, Michelle's soul might be more similar to mine than to Aycecek's. I called Lin Long and the golden herd, introduced them to Asena, and then let her ride on her mother's horse, Qara Salqi. With Michelle riding Barsa alongside them and taking care of her, I began to replicate the Golden Sun and Silver Moon by drawing their images in my mind and imbuing them with specific aspects of my energy.
But while I was trying to build a replica of the Whispering Wind, Asena brought the real one out and began to practice her horse archery skills. She looked so much like her mother and watching her with Michelle made my heart ache even more than before. After I finished creating the black replica bow and its arrows, I asked Michelle to move us to the open grasslands nearby and summon some small game for us.
I let Asena go first, then rode on Lin Long's back and followed her. With his digitigrade feet, he literally stood on his four toes, with a fully functional thumb hanging slightly higher. This allowed him to switch between sprinting at full speed like a cheetah and sticking to the ground when traveling on rocky mountains or even climbing cliffs. This also helped him move better in shallow water, and he could swim like some huge lizards by tucking in his legs, undulating his whole body and using his powerful tail to propel himself.
On this flat plain, he might have been at a slight disadvantage due to his weight, but we were quickly gaining on Asena. His rhythm was somewhat different from a horse. It was almost as if he were continuously leaping from the ground, shifting between a cycle of two different flight patterns using his fore and hind legs for grounding. He also used his long tail to counterbalance high-speed maneuvers and sharp turns, just like a cheetah does.
Before I realized it, Asena had already shot and picked up two rabbits while I was trying out different bow draws. I mostly use a Thumb draw in horse archery for stability, but after learning how to reshape my bow, I started to learn new draws as well. I began using the Slavic and Reverse Mediterranean draws for rapid shots and tried to use the Mediterranean draw for a larger bow, like an English longbow, or even using a thumb glove for a Japanese Yumi bow.
Even though my divine bow has some unique power, every shot still depends on the range and type of my draw. It is merely a tool that reflects my strength and desires. The Whispering Wind's basic technique is the Silent Shot, which depends on wind-controlling power. If the user understands these wind-controlling aspects well enough, they can develop more advanced techniques, such as a Curve Shot or Whirlwind Shot, which can use the wind to protect the user from other projectiles.
Given Lin Long's speed, I can only effectively use the Thumb or Slavic draw to stabilize my shot. The replica bow can use all the techniques I thought of, just like the original one. The original form is a little shorter and lighter than other recurve composite bows, as it was personalized for Aycecek. While it suits Asena well, it's not the right build for me. So, I plan to slightly increase the size of the Whispering Wind's True Form to have a greater drawing range while still being usable on horseback and reshape it into a larger bow like a Manchurian bow when longer shots are needed.
After a few shots, I switched bows with Asena. I then tried to use a Whirlwind Shot to reflect her shot and hit her target.
"Papa cheated!" she said, sounding annoyed.
And when I shot at my prey, she used a combine Curve Whirlwind Shot to cut in, overtake my shot and send it off the target.
"Papa loses! Papa loses!" Asena announced.
She might know more mature words, but she likes to mimic the way Aycecek spoke in her childhood, which she saw from her mother's memory through her unique ability.
I hadn't thought about raising a child before, nor did I have any experience in doing so. My only role model is the image of the perfect Gautama Buddha, along with some bad examples from my parents' behavior. So, I mostly depend on Aycecek's family and my associates. The thing I teach Asena most is the love of wisdom itself. I simply invoked her desire to learn and know more and helped her develop a basic form of critical thinking in her own mind. This made her eager to learn and try everything. I might have to let her use the internet with advice from Michelle later.
After I sent my daughter back to Kara Yulduz, I immediately returned to my realm to check on many places. The areas I had previously visited in person seemed fine, but they were a little jumbled. Some cities were modern ones from my memory before I was sent here, while others were copies from this era. Still other places were filled with information about those locations, but some were still in digital map form, and a few were simply empty voids.
It seemed Michelle couldn't do anything without my order, so I told her to fill in as many details as she could using information from the internet. Even though the places I had explored were already filled with the knowledge that both Michelle and I had, they were still far from complete. This will take time, and I intend to use as much time as is needed. It's a dangerous place to enter, and I won't let anyone go in without me until I know it's completely safe.
Later, I swapped the replicas of the Golden Sun and Silver Moon with the originals that I had given to Atashan and Kara Yulduz. It seems something interesting happened while I was away. They told me they were already together and asked for my blessing. So, we had a small marriage ceremony and party not long after that.
At first, I was going to rest for a while, but I ended up spending all my remaining time exploring every corner and valley around the Sacred Mountain, expanding to the entire Altai Mountains area just in case. Before I realized it, it was almost our appointment time. This time, I will bring Asena and Midnight Blue with me so they can gain some experience.
I teleported us to my personal marker on Mount Huashan. The man and woman who led the Spiritual Beings of the Qinling mountains were already waiting for us. The husband, Xiao Feng and his wife, Yu Zhen were the origin of the Myth of the Jade Maiden associated with Huashan. They had reached immortality and left their human names, becoming Great Spirits and later Deities of this mountain without any other specific role, unlike us the Great Deities.
These two had really interesting powers. Xiao Feng uses his Jade Flute's sound for hypnosis or attack, while Yu Zhen uses a set of twelve Jade Disks as stone chimes, similar to her husband. But when they fight together, they use the Jade Disks to amplify and redirect the Jade Flute's sound, multiplying the effects of their musical powers and covering every angle in both attack and defense. So, I assigned them to protect Asena and provide support from the back line in the upcoming battle.
The Spiritual Beings of this land already expected a large battle at the end of the Qin era, but they didn't know where or when it would happen. Great conflicts like this will create many evil spirits, including Vengeful Spirits, which is really bad news for everyone. The Qin general, Zhang Han has already surrendered and is moving toward Xianyang along with Xiang Yu's forces. It seems like everything will end peacefully and not create any more evil spirits, but they don't know what we know. Erik has already surveyed the area and is sending scouts to the places around Xin'an, the path to the Qin capital.
Erik arrived with Human Immortals led by an old man with a long white beard, a simple robe and a bamboo hat who seemed to be the teacher of most of them. I later learned he was Laozi. We slowly traveled along the mountain path, followed by one after another Beasts and Spirits.
At last, I couldn't hold my curiosity any longer and tried to start a conversation with him.
"Greetings, Old Master. I, Wu Haotian, Deity from the North have come to ask why you would join this campaign to subdue the Demons."
He replied politely, "Greetings, Great Deity. To act is to oppose the Way, yet to not act is to abandon all things to chaos. I, Li Er have joined with these subdue to balance the scales of this land, for they have offered their Belief, and the Dao requires a response."
A tall middle-aged man in scholar's robes added, "It is our duty, Sir. I, whose surname is Kong, have long sought to serve the land and its people by restoring order to a troubled world."
It turned out they were a group of philosophers from the Hundred Schools of Thought during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, mostly the heads or founders of each school. They had gained enough believers to reach immortality, but some of them would lose followers over time. While other groups are local deities around this area, some are city and mountain deities, river and lake deities, and so on. Some might have learned martial arts and military strategy, but they didn't have Innate Powers that could be used directly in battle. It seems our main force might have to be the Beasts.
While we almost reached a flat plain close to Xin'an area, ravens arrived with news for Erik. The massacre of 200,000 soldiers had already happened. It seems horrible, but Xiang Yu had no choice but to do this, considering many factors—including the onset of winter, the lack of supplies, and the race to Xianyang—that would have made it impossible to return with all the surrendered Qin troops. But I don't think I am ruthless enough to logically do this myself.
At our rendezvous, a force under a black banner—reinforcements from Wudang Mountain—was waiting for us. They were essentially a militia of the Black Emperor shamanic cult, followers of Erik. Even with this combined force, we were still outnumbered. But it seemed our time was running out, some evil spirits had already begun to emerge from the soldiers' corpses.
I brought out the Golden Herd, activated their golden forms, and distributed them to the Immortals, assigning them as commanders. Meanwhile, Erik appointed Zun Wu as the General of this combine troops under the Black Banner, making them our main force for now. I ordered them to attack and stall the evil spirits to buy us some time before Cynthia arrived with more Beasts from the Western area.
The Black Banner would attack from the south, while Asena, Midnight Blue, and the Jade Couple would support them from the rear. Erik and I would separately round them up from the east and west to stop them from leaving the area. Before I could give a signal to attack, a Vengeful Spirit began to emerge from the negative energy in the form of a thirty feet giant Skeleton General. All the evil spirits that had been acting separately before suddenly started aiming directly for the Black Banner.
Even though it was a little late, I shot a flare arrow to light up the sky and start the attack. The sky had already grown dark while we waited. I changed my Whispering Wind into its Yumi form and began showering arrows from horseback to open the way for the Black Banner.
Sun Wu charged in with the Immortals and the Beasts, while the Black Banner separated into two wings before changing into a round formation to fight. With support and blessing from the Scholars, the Black Banner was really stronger. Even mortal ones could hold off the soldier corpses that possessed by evil spirits. Asena and the Jade Couple also helped attack from horseback to prevent the corpses from surrounding them while being defended by Midnight Blue.
Erik rode to the east before transforming his ravens into the Dark Region, a group of shadowy warriors from many cultures. Before turning into his True Form, he summoned all of his Divine Beasts including his two ravens, Hugr and Munr with his two wolves, Geri and Freki and changed his horse into its True Form, the eight-legged divine horse Sleipnir. He continued to attack and moved east to circle around the Corpse Army with his Dark Region.
I also switched into my True Form and rode westward with Lin Long. I let him run wild and supported him with my arrows. He charged in, attacking with his horns, then thrashing his tail and kicking. He even bit off the heads of some corpses. But before I realized it, the Vengeful Spirit had stomped and killed many of our mortal warriors.