Tu Yuqing nodded and sighed. “You guessed correctly!”
Tu Yuya said, “After the third ancestress died, the great ancestress flew into a rage and raised an army. She led a force of Snow Forest warriors and waged a great war against the Central Plains. In a way, she helped hasten the downfall of that dynasty.”
Lu Zheng stared blankly. “The Great Yong Dynasty?”
Tu Yuqing nodded. “Exactly.”
Good heavens, Lu Zheng could not help clicking his tongue. The Great Yong Dynasty had fallen six or seven hundred years ago. It seemed the great ancestress of the Tushan fox clan was truly a formidable figure.
…
At that moment, Old Man Liu, now free of patients, and Du Yueyao, whose gossip fire burned brightly, also came to the back room. Since everyone already knew their identities, Tu Yuya and Tu Yuqing felt a little bewildered but proceeded to explain the full story.
More than eight hundred years ago, the great ancestress of that time was already the wife of the Tushan clan leader. Her cultivation surpassed even his and approached that of several ancient fox ancestors. Her most beloved was her third daughter, who had only just reached twenty years of age.
By chance, this third young lady met the crown prince of the Great Yong Dynasty while he was hunting on the frontier. They fell in love at first sight.
The Northern Domain and the Central Plains had been enemies for thousands of years. In a world with immortals, there was no tradition of marriage alliances. Naturally, the great ancestress refused to let her daughter marry into the Central Plains. In the end, worn down by her daughter’s tears, she laid down a condition: if the Great Yong crown prince wished to marry her daughter, he must come to Tushan and marry into the clan.
How could the Great Yong Dynasty possibly agree? Moreover, the court did not want the crown prince’s principal wife to be a fox woman from the Northern Domain. At most, they would offer her the position of a side consort, with no inheritance rights for her children and no entry into the imperial genealogy.
The demands from both sides left no room for compromise, and the matter reached an impasse.
In the end, blinded by love, the third young lady sacrificed herself for the crown prince’s grand vision of easing relations between the Central Plains and the Northern Domain after he ascended the throne. She ran away from home, returned secretly to the Central Plains with him, and became his side consort.
This enraged the great ancestress. In the face of questioning from various Northern Domain powers, she was forced to publicly disown her and expel her from the Tushan fox clan.
…
“And then? And then?” Du Yueyao could not resist urging.
“And then…”
Tu Yuya’s expression darkened. “Not long afterwards, the crown prince became embroiled in a succession struggle with the second and fifth princes. Because he had married the third ancestress, his reputation suffered.”
Tu Yuqing pursed her lips. “He had thought marrying her would be an asset, but it turned out to be a hindrance. In the end, he issued a letter of divorce and expelled the third ancestress from the Eastern Palace.”
“What!?”
Not only Du Yueyao, even Liu Qingyan could no longer bear to listen. “Did he not realise that this would make his chances of the throne even slimmer?”
“He had no path left by then. Perhaps he chose the lesser of two evils,” Tu Yuqing said bitterly.
“Did the third ancestress not return to Tushan?” Du Yueyao asked.
Tu Yuya shook her head. “She was too ashamed to return. It is said she was pregnant at the time. She left the capital alone and vanished without trace.”
“However…” Tu Yuqing continued, “Not long after leaving the capital, the third ancestress suffered severe injuries. The life-bound fox tail pouch she had left in Tushan grew dim. The great ancestress sent people to the Central Plains several times to search for her, but they found nothing. Ten years later, the pouch shattered, signifying that she had perished.”
Liu Qingyan could not help asking, “Why was she gravely injured?”
Tu Yuya gave a cold laugh. “Either the second prince did it, or the fifth prince, or both together.”
Lu Zheng nodded. “Once the great ancestress flew into rage, the crown prince probably would not have kept his life.”
Du Yueyao could not resist asking, “Were those two not afraid of sparking a great war between the Central Plains and the Northern Domain?”
Tu Yuya said mildly, “They were too confident…”
Tu Yuqing said, “When news reached her that the third ancestress had died, the great ancestress raised the Nine-Tailed Division of the Snow Forest. They raided across thousands of miles, breached ten cities in the Central Plains, executed a thousand civil and military officials, slew a hundred thousand soldiers, and created countless refugees.”
Liu Qingyan, “…”
Du Yueyao, “…”
Of the three kingdoms in the Northern Domain, Snow Forest was one. Its Nine-Tailed Division belonged to Tushan, worshipped the Tushan fox clan, and enjoyed the protection of the nine-tailed heavenly foxes.
Tu Yuqing said, “Great Yong had stood for several centuries by then. Its founding civil and military heroes had long passed away. The dynasty had passed its zenith and was in decline: outwardly strong but inwardly weak. Once the Nine-Tailed Division shattered that facade, the various Northern Domain tribes followed suit and waged a great war against the Central Plains. Though they were eventually repelled, it was a victory in defeat. The Central Plains suffered grievous losses to its vitality and endured only a little over a century more before falling into chaos and finally perishing.”
Du Yueyao asked, “What happened to the crown prince and the other two princes?”
“The crown prince was deposed and died in depression, denied imperial offerings. The fifth prince died in the struggle. The second prince ultimately ascended the throne,” Tu Yuqing said.
“And they still let him become emperor?” Liu Qingyan felt a personal outrage and grew angry.
“How many things in this world turn out as one wishes?” Tu Yuqing sighed. “He was, after all, a prince of the Central Plains dynasty. Not even the great ancestress could storm the central capital.”
“They let him off too lightly!” Du Yueyao said through gritted teeth.
Tu Yuqing nodded at Du Yueyao. “But because of this, the third ancestress’s bloodline was lost in the Central Plains, its whereabouts unknown.”
“Xue Li and I have some acquaintance. When the great ancestress celebrated a major birthday, he attended as a junior of the Black Water Ink Dragons and met her once. After returning from the New Year, he told me about the matter,” Tu Yuya said.
“The events of that year were no secret. He guessed that Miss Liu was a descendant of the third ancestress,” Tu Yuqing said. “But after Lu Gongzi discovered him, he dared not follow any longer, so it was inconvenient to report directly to the great ancestress. Instead, he told us sisters.”
Tu Yuya said, “So we discussed it and came to the Central Plains together to find you.”
“You found us remarkably quickly!” Lu Zheng remarked.
Tu Yuya raised an eyebrow and smiled. “We were lucky. We travelled upstream along the coastal rivers and by chance saw a painter who had moved from Lingbei Circuit to Sanjiang Circuit. He had painted a picture called ‘The Blue Physician Lady Saves the Dying’.”
“The painter was quite skilled, so we headed straight to Lingbei Circuit. We searched three prefectures and fourteen counties before we found Miss Liu,” Tu Yuqing said, looking at Liu Qingyan with a gentle smile. “We truly did not expect it, but Miss Liu does indeed look very much like the great ancestress.”
“So that is how it was.” Liu Qingyan smiled shyly. “I did not expect anyone still remembered me.”
Du Yueyao beamed with reflected pride. “Of course they remember. When I returned to Yizhou, my father told me that in Yuzhou and Yanzhou many common folk have set up longevity tablets for you. If you cultivated the incense deity path, you might not even rank below Sister Shen.”
…
After this long explanation, the whole matter was finally clear.
“So now that you have found me, what next?” Liu Qingyan asked at last, her eyes carrying a trace of wariness. “Do you want us to return with you to the Northern Domain?”
Tu Yuya and Tu Yuqing exchanged smiles and shook their heads. “We had not thought of that. But next year for New Year, we would like to invite Miss Liu to visit Tushan, so the great ancestress can be happy. After all, she has always regretted what happened back then.”
