Dream of the Red Chamber: Starting from Immortal Martial Arts

On the ninth day of the first lunar month, in Yangzhou, at 1:45 noon.

At this time, the Lin residence was under martial law, surrounded by soldiers and yamen runners, making it completely impassable.

Inside the mansion, Cui Shulin, the Western Palace Attendant, and his men guarded the main hall entrance, while Flying Eagle Guards patrolled the courtyard.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps approached. Cui Shulin looked up and saw a soldier guarding the back of the house running towards him with a letter in his hand.

"Honorable guest, I just found a letter on the bonsai tree along the path behind. When I opened it, it contained..."

Cui Shulin looked puzzled, took the letter, opened it, and his expression changed drastically. He saw that it was written in crooked handwriting: "The Grand Commander Wen Xiang has personally arrived and ambushed the enemy with iron crossbows outside the city."

Immediately, his eyes flashed with fierce energy. After looking around, he quickly entered the hall and took out a small double-sided flag from his pocket, placing it near his mouth.

Cui Shulin enveloped his mouth with his inner energy, whispered a few words to the small flag, and after seeing the colorful light on the flag flash twice, he put it into his pocket.

On the other side, in the inner room.

Lin Ruhai, his abdomen bandaged, looked at his wife with a sorrowful expression. Beside him stood a thin, frail young woman, pale and haggard, her eyes red and swollen from crying. Wang, the Imperial Physician of Xianjing, who had accompanied the soldiers south, looked somber and remained silent.

Lying on her bed, Jia Min, whose lungs and heart were ravaged by the poison, coughed intermittently. Already in poor health, she was now barely breathing. Holding her daughter's hand, she said lovingly, "My child, don't cry. It breaks my heart to see you cry. I know it's hard for me to make it through, but I'm still worried about you."

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face.

Lin Daiyu knelt before the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

Jia Min reached out and stroked Lin Daiyu's head, making plans for her daughter.

"My son, your mother's family will definitely send people this time. When that time comes, go to the capital with the Jia family and live under the care of the old lady to fulfill your filial duties."

"Mother!"

Lin Daiyu held Jia Min's arm, choking back tears as she cried out, "I don't want to leave. I'll stay with my mother and get better."

"My son, be good."

Jia Min then looked at Lin Ruhai, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, and said, "I will never forget the brilliance and spirit you displayed when you became the third-ranked scholar. But I don't know why, you haven't smiled in recent years."

"From now on, I must take good care of Yu'er..."

Suddenly, Lin Daiyu noticed that the hand above her head had stopped moving. She looked up and burst into tears.

"mother!"

"Min'er!"

Lin Ruhai was already in tears, unaware of his own presence, and uttered a blank call.

First his young son died, and now his wife has also been poisoned. He is filled with remorse and his heart is breaking.

The Lin family mansion was immediately filled with wailing. White sails were hoisted, and soon two people dressed in mourning clothes headed north to attend the funeral.

···

At Ningguo Mansion, Jia Tang, accompanied by Qingwen and followed by four servants, strolled around the mansion for a while before heading towards the West Mansion.

Before he even stepped out of the backyard, Jia Tang sensed a message coming from the Yuanbing Tiger Demon Extermination Banner within his body. His expression gradually turned icy, and his killing intent overflowed uncontrollably.

Jia Tang's mind raced, calculating: Had something gone wrong right after breaking through to the second level?

Those bastards are asking for it!

Damn it, I'm not pretending anymore. If I really provoke a coalition of forces, I'll just expose the Jia family and flee to the grasslands.

"Jia He, blow the tiger horn."

The Jia family ancestral precept: "When a tiger roars four times, the son will die; the whole clan prepares for war and reveals its strength. When a tiger howls eight times, the master will be in danger; all the clan's strength will be revealed and death will be inevitable. When a tiger cries twelve times, the entire clan will perish; mountains will collapse, the earth will crack, and the sea will overflow."

Upon hearing this, Jia He's pupils contracted sharply, and with a chilling expression, he pulled out a golden horn from his robes—wide at the front and narrow at the back, with a long, narrow barrel resembling a tiger's mouth—placed it in his mouth, and, with a burst of powerful energy, blew it four times.

A golden tiger head suddenly appeared in mid-air, swelling in the wind, lifelike, and exuding a chilling and menacing aura.

The tiger's head and eyes resembled a burning golden furnace, casting a golden glow over the celestial capital.

The next instant, its ferocious maw suddenly opened, and a deafening tiger roar resounded through the sky.

"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!"

Three gods and four ghosts, the mountain god brings bad news!

The masters and servants in the East and West mansions looked terrified and gathered towards Grandmother Jia's courtyard. The Tiger Guards, personal guards, and elite soldiers looked horrified and quickly assembled in the backyard of Ningguo Mansion.

Wang Heyuan arrived in an instant, while Li Jia and the Zhao brothers were a step behind, their faces grim as they awaited orders.

Within a hundred breaths, apart from the strong soldiers in the manor outside the city, the eight first-rank minor commanders, eighty Golden Fire Tiger Guards, one hundred personal guards, and two hundred martial soldiers in the manor had all assembled.

Jia Tang's face was cold and his aura was violent. He shouted, "Forty personal guards and one hundred and forty military soldiers shall remain, under the command of the Grand Master, with the other guards assisting them. No direct descendant of the household is allowed to leave."

After repeated replenishment of Tiger Guards and personal guards, the Wu Zu are now mostly warriors with bronze bones, and are of no use in going south.

"Furthermore, Wang Dazhuang, you will take my waist token and lead a squad of Fire Tiger Guard soldiers to the western camp to beat the drums and announce your arrival. Order Xu Yunshan, Liu Ruoniu, and others to borrow warships from the Ministry of War and lead their troops south to Yangzhou. Also, notify Niu Chengxian, Liu He, and others to go to the Jiangnan camp to transfer a battalion of elite infantry and a squadron of warships to blockade the waters surrounding Yangzhou."

Wang Dazhuang is one of the eight newly promoted first-level Inner Strength commanders under the Four Generals. He is quick-witted and acts with discretion.

"The rest of you will follow me south to fight the enemy."

"only!"

Wang Heyuan pointed to the formation. Jia Tang pondered for a moment, then shook his head and remained silent. He opened his mouth and spat out the Yuan Soldier Golden Rainbow Boat and the Tiger Fiend Demon-Slaying Banner, which in the blink of an eye transformed into a giant golden boat ten zhang long and three zhang wide, and a ten-zhang long flag spear.

"Board the ship!"

The golden boat hovered in mid-air, about ten feet off the ground. Tiger Guards, personal guards, and soldiers, their feet surging with vital energy, flashed into the interior of the golden boat.

Finally, Jia Tang led his four generals to the bow of the boat, reversed the Tiger Demon Extermination Banner, and with a single movement, the triangular flag of the Mountain Lord on the flagpole circled once before being inserted into the groove at the front of the boat, activating the energy-gathering function.

Then, the continuous flow of golden energy surged into the bottom of the boat through the flagpole, and the golden boat began to float in the air. After aiming at the south, Jia Tang waved his hand and disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only a golden rainbow slowly dissipating in the sky.

Meanwhile, in the Rongguo Mansion, everyone gathered in Grandmother Jia's courtyard, all terrified by the deafening roar.

Jia She looked around, first ordering a few of the younger ones to leave, then dismissing all the maids and servants, before saying in a hoarse voice with a gloomy expression, "Mother, something may have happened to my sister."

"What?"

Jia She then recounted part of what had been said at the tea party that day. Upon hearing this, Grandmother Jia cried out, "My Min'er!" and her eyes rolled back as she fainted.

"Mother!"

"old lady!"

"Quickly, summon the imperial physician! Go and fetch him immediately!"

Inside the capital city, most of the civil and military officials were speculating about who had died in the direct line of the Jia family, which led to the sounding of the Golden Tiger Horn for the second time.

The first time the Golden Tiger Horn sounded was more than seventy years ago, when Jia Yan and his brother, the first ancestors of the Jia family, were assassinated. The horn sang eight times, prompting the Jia family and the founding line of the dynasty to send soldiers and warriors on a long journey, with warriors bleeding profusely as they rushed to the aid.

Now the tiger's horn has sounded again, a horn that remained unmoved even during the great calamity of more than a decade ago, which is likely to cause another great upheaval.

Many observant individuals noticed the golden light in mid-air and muttered to themselves with varying expressions, "The fourth Yuan soldier in the world with transport and flight capabilities, they have so many good things."