No Sunlight

Chapter 218: No Sunshine

"Your Highness, the Heavenly Demon Sect is one of the three holy places after all. Although it has not had a leader for more than 40 years, it still cannot be underestimated."

The middle-aged man said, "They haven't had a leader for forty years, but they are still not destroyed and still have such strong strength. This shows how strong their cohesion is. If it were the Great Leiyin Temple or the Taoist sect, would they dare to be without a Tathagata or a Taoist master for forty years? If you underestimate the Heavenly Demon Sect, you will suffer."

Prince Yankang waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I won't underestimate the Heavenly Demon Sect. The Heavenly Demon Sect was able to eliminate Grand Tutor Sun Nanda silently, and even the monks in Nanda's palace were eliminated. The Nanda Temple was uprooted, and the outside world didn't receive any news. This shows how powerful the Heavenly Demon Sect is. How could I underestimate such a sect?"

The middle-aged man looked puzzled. Prince Yankang continued, "I don't need to do it myself this time to destroy the Heavenly Demon Sect. The Dao Sect and the Great Leiyin Temple, these two holy places have had a longer feud with the Heavenly Demon Sect than with the Yankang Kingdom. Both of them want to destroy the leader of the Demon Sect, but they just don't have the chance. If..."

He said leisurely: "If the emperor of Yankang Kingdom no longer opposes these sects, if the emperor of Yankang Kingdom no longer supports the reform of the national master, if the emperor of Yankang Kingdom dismisses the national master, if the emperor of Yankang Kingdom can make the struggle between the sects and the country disappear, do you think that the Taoist sect and the Great Leiyin Temple are willing to join forces with this emperor? Are the Taoist sect and the Great Leiyin Temple willing to support this emperor?"

The middle-aged man's body trembled slightly and he looked at Prince Yankang.

Prince Yankang looked deep in his eyes and said calmly, "Although my father is a man of great talent and strategy, he trusts the Imperial Master too much. He trusts the Imperial Master so much that most of the people in the court are influenced by the Imperial Master. This is going to destroy the roots of our Ling family. My father has allowed the Imperial Master to become powerful. If the Imperial Master wants to rebel, he will not be able to do anything. If we allow Imperial Master Yankang to continue to become powerful, the world will change and the dynasty will change!"

His eyes were sharp, and he said in a deep voice: "The older generation of my Ling family, the people of my Ling family, have all seen this trend, which is why my eighth uncle supports me. My eighth uncle once advised my father, but my father insisted on his own way and believed in the imperial teacher. My eighth uncle had no choice but to hope that I could change."

He was filled with great aspirations and indignation. "My eighth uncle was a senior of the Ling family who fought with Emperor Gaozong to establish the country. He was the eighth uncle of Yankang State. He was not afraid of being labeled a traitor. He contacted those martial arts sects and officials and generals from all over the country to pave the way for me and bring down the national teacher. It's a pity that he failed at the last moment! After his death, he couldn't even keep his body intact. Instead, the traitor national teacher cut off his head. There are rumors in the court and the public that he was disloyal!"

Prince Yankang burst into tears and slammed the table with red eyes. "I can't watch the Ling family's kingdom destroyed in the hands of my father, even if I have to be an unfilial person! It's difficult to be both loyal and filial. I am unfilial, but I am loyal to the Ling family! There are some things that must be done and cannot be ungrateful!"

He paced back and forth excitedly: "How ridiculous! My brothers and sisters are still in a drunken stupor, not knowing that my Ling family is about to face a disaster! Father has been sidelined by the Imperial Master, the Ling family has been driven off the throne, and they will be wiped out! I can't let this happen, I can't let the Imperial Master, this evil cuckoo, take over the magpie's nest! I want to become the emperor and turn the tide!"

At the Hukou Forging Factory, the Tiangong Hall and the Jiangtang finally forged five tower ships after ten days. Everyone installed the fifteen alchemy furnaces made by Qin Mu, put the furnaces on the ships, and connected them to the bronze beasts.

Qin Mu made some slight changes to the building ship drawings and changed some of the layout. Each ship needed to be equipped with three alchemy furnaces. There were three bronze beasts in the ship, two at the stern and one at the bottom. The heads of the bronze beasts could rotate around.

The original wooden ship was transformed into black iron and black copper, which greatly increased its weight. One alchemy furnace certainly could not make it fly, so two more were added, and a bronze beast that could spit fire downwards was added to the bottom of the ship, so that it would not be too bumpy during takeoff and landing.

These five iron-hulled ships include three large and two small ones. Although small in size, they have everything they need. The two smaller ships also have all the necessary cabins and guest rooms.

Qin Mu had the five ships painted with wood-grain paint, making them look like five wooden ships, which would not be too shocking.

Fan Yunxiao was inexplicably excited. He walked around the five ships and asked quickly, "Master, which ship is mine?"

Qin Mu pointed to the smaller one, and Fan Yunxiao's face suddenly turned bitter: "Can I have a big ship?"

"Big ships are used to transport troops for battle, and they are not as fast as small ships."

Qin Mu said: "If you want to continue to be a fire bandit, you should choose a small boat. If you choose a large ship, it is okay to carry passengers, but the large ship consumes more medicine stones, and the ship fare may not be enough to buy medicine stones in peacetime."

Fan Yunxiao hesitated for a moment: "Then I'll choose the small boat. What is the remaining small boat used for?"

Although it is a small boat, it is not small. It is more than ten meters long, thirty-seven or eighty meters wide, and five meters high. It can carry twenty to thirty people.

Qin Mu asked the disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect to change their clothes, drove away the three large ships, and sent the remaining small boat to the Imperial Academy. He said, "The New Year is coming soon. I will use this small boat as a means of transportation. Master Fanxiang, you have entered the bandit hall of the Holy Sect. The bandit hall is also a hall of the Holy Sect. I cannot say much, after all, it is a livelihood for the disciples of the sect. However, you can rob money, but you cannot rob lives or women."

Fan Yunxiao smiled and said, "I was born in the Taoist sect. Although it was the old Taoist master who drove me out, we fire bandits don't rob people of their lives or their women. Don't worry, there are always top talents in every profession. I will definitely do very well and live up to the great expectations and cultivation of the master!"

Qin Mu was dumbfounded. After a long while, he waved his hand. Fan Yunxiao excitedly boarded the remaining small boat, while the other dozen fire bandits pushed the boat hard, trying to push the iron ship off the wooden tracks and out of the factory.

The snow outside had stopped, the weather was freezing cold, and there were not many people in the factory.

Fan Yunxiao shouted, "Start the furnace and set sail! This ship is our new Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship! We are no longer good people. We are the Fire Bandits. Outside is the sky and countless money!"

The iron-hulled ship slowly rose up, gradually increasing its speed, and suddenly broke through the air. All that was heard was the fire bandits on the ship shouting, "It's so cold, so cold! Boss Fan, don't stand on the deck, come in and warm up!"

Qin Mu watched them leave before returning to the capital with Long Qilin, Hu Ling'er and Dutian Demon King.

It has been snowing heavily these past few days. Although the snow has stopped now, it is still cloudy and gloomy, with no sunlight. The cold wind is howling, and everything is frozen.

"I haven't seen the sun for ten days." Hu Ling'er looked up at the sky and said.

She couldn't stay in the factory and often ran out.

Qin Mu was slightly startled. He hadn't seen the sun for ten days? The snow had come quite heavily, so why hadn't the sun come out after the snow had stopped?

He didn't think much about it. As the New Year was approaching, the capital city was also filled with the atmosphere of the New Year, with lanterns and decorations everywhere. Qin Mu walked into the city, but saw a number of large ships flying into the sky. In addition to the soldiers, there were also some ministers on the ships. He didn't know what they were flying to the sky for.

"It doesn't look like they're going out to fight."

Qin Mu looked up and saw that the dozen or so ships were flying higher and higher. They were only flying high into the sky and were not going anywhere else. He was puzzled.

When he returned to the Imperial Academy, he saw many scholars discussing the New Year's Eve. No one mentioned the court ministers flying into the clouds. Some scholars were also discussing the ship that was docked in front of the Scholars' Residence, saying, "I wonder which rich kid is so rich that he actually got a ship to travel on."

The next day, the sky was still gloomy. Gu Li Nuan summoned the scholars of the Imperial Academy and said, "The emperor has approved the annual leave. You can go home for the New Year."

The whole mountain cheered.

Qin Mu looked up and saw several ships rising into the air and heading high into the sky.

At this time, on the Zhuiyun pirate ship, Fan Yunxiao stood on the bow, shivering. He twisted off the icicle hanging on his nose, looked down, and said, "Second brother, where are we now?"

One of the fire bandits looked down, figured out the geography, and said, "We have reached the Li River."

"Why is it snowing in the Lijiang River?"

Fan Yunxiao was surprised, pointing at the snow-covered mountains below, and said, "That's not right. Lijiang is located in the southernmost part of southern Xinjiang. Even in the middle of winter, you can still go shirtless. Why is the mountain closed due to heavy snow this year?"

Many fire bandits walked out of the cabin, looked down, and marveled in amazement.

Fan Yunxiao's face suddenly changed slightly, and he quickly asked: "We have flown from the capital to here, it has been tens of thousands of miles, right? Have you seen the sun?"

A dozen fire bandits looked at each other and shook their heads.

Fan Yunxiao took a deep breath, looked up at the bleak clouds in the sky, and murmured, "A huge cloud covering tens of thousands of miles, is this a normal cloud? And the snow, even in southern Xinjiang it snowed heavily, I'm afraid next year won't be a peaceful year, but a disaster year with starving people everywhere... When people are hungry and can't eat enough, they will rebel... I thought I could make some money after a few years of peace. Second brother, fire up the alchemy furnace, and let's continue to fly south!"

After more than an hour, the Zhuiyun pirate ship flew out of southern Xinjiang and flew into the sky above the South China Sea. Suddenly, they saw a dazzling light in front of them. When they flew to the light, they saw the scorching sun shining wildly, making the sea surface as transparent as a sapphire.

Fan Yunxiao looked back and gasped.

An extremely huge dark cloud covered the entire territory of Yankang Kingdom!

In the Imperial Academy, Qin Mu was packing his luggage and preparing to board the ship to return to Daxu. Suddenly, a man from the Imperial Academy came over and shouted, "Doctor Zhongsan, the emperor has ordered that all officials above the sixth rank in the capital must come to the court to discuss matters! Otherwise, they will be punished!"

Qin Mu put down his bag and said to Hu Ling'er, "You stay here first. I'll go to the palace to take a look."

It was his first time to attend court. When he arrived, he saw that the court was already packed with people, filled with hundreds of officials. Fortunately, the Golden Palace was large enough to accommodate so many people.

Emperor Yanfeng sat in the Golden Throne Hall with a worried look on his face, and asked from time to time: "Has the Imperial Master arrived?"

Upon hearing that Imperial Master Yankang had not arrived, Emperor Yanfeng's face became even more worried.

After a while, Emperor Yanfeng cleared his throat, his voice like a bell, and said in a deep voice: "No need to wait for the Imperial Master. My dear ministers, you haven't seen the sun for more than ten days, right? I haven't seen the sun for more than ten days, not only me, but also the entire Yankang Kingdom has not seen the sun for more than ten days. I have received memorials from officials from all over the country in the past few days, flying in like snowflakes, from Mobei to Tiannan, from Sunrise Island in the east to Mishui Pass in the west, heavy snow, heavy snow for six or seven days!"

He stood up from the dragon chair and pointed upwards, his fingers shaking a little: "A cloud covers the entire territory of my Yankang Kingdom!"