Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

「Three days later.」

On the second day after his family evacuated Qingfeng Prefecture, Wei Tu, who remained in the Prefecture City, heard the news that all thirteen members of the Li Family had been placed in standing cages at the marketplace in Qingshan County Town and left to die.

Lamenting the news, Wei Tu also chronicled the Li Family’s rise and fall over the past century. He wrote it all down in a letter and sent it to his children—Wei Yan and Wei Xiuwen.

He wanted them to take it as a cautionary tale.

Over a hundred years ago, the Li Family had started out as itinerant merchants, building their fortune step by step to achieve their former wealth and status. But solely due to the reckless actions of one unworthy descendant, Li Xingye, this great enterprise came to nothing. The efforts of generations were wiped out overnight, and their family line was nearly extinguished.

It was an excellent cautionary tale.

Wei Tu did not want a person like Li Xingye to appear among his descendants. Although he knew such a situation was difficult to avoid—the saying "wealth does not last beyond three generations" was no empty phrase—he would be satisfied as long as such a scoundrel did not appear among the second generation of the Wei Family.

The letter he sent to Xiaoyi Prefecture soon received a reply.

Sixteen-year-old Wei Yan replied, "I will heed your teachings, Father, and diligently safeguard our family’s legacy."

Wei Tu had anticipated the contents of Wei Yan’s reply. Under Xinghua’s tutelage, his eldest daughter had become a true highborn lady, her excellent upbringing evident in every word and deed.

After putting Wei Yan’s letter away, Wei Tu opened the one from his second son, Wei Xiuwen.

Compared to the "stiffness" of Wei Yan’s reply, the contents of Wei Xiuwen’s letter were far more interesting.

Wei Xiuwen wrote, "Li Xingye’s folly was not in becoming an advisor to a Rebel King, but in his failure to act with meticulous care. I will heed your teachings, Father, and act with great thoroughness, leaving no loose ends to cause trouble later."

Reading this, Wei Tu frowned. His face filled not with appreciation for Wei Xiuwen’s reply, but with worry.

Li Xingye was a Scholar, after all; he couldn’t have been ignorant of the dangers of carelessness. And yet, he had still brought about such a disaster.

He surmised that Li Xingye hadn’t done it on purpose. Rather, the man’s ambition had outstripped his ability; he wasn’t grounded in either his personal conduct or his work.

Wei Xiuwen’s reply, however, made Wei Tu worry that his son had the potential to become a second "Li Xingye" and bring disaster upon the family.

With this in mind, Wei Tu once again picked up his brush and penned a letter of admonishment several pages long to Wei Xiuwen, urging him not to be overambitious, but to remain grounded and take things one step at a time.

This time, however, even after six or seven days, Wei Tu still had not received a reply to his letter.

Seeing this, Wei Tu, with his long experience as a Military Officer, instantly understood. The communication channels to the Prefecture City had been cut by the Rebel Army. That was why he had yet to receive a reply from Wei Xiuwen.

...

Events unfolded just as Wei Tu had predicted.

The very next day, in his capacity as the "West Gate Guard Captain" of Qingfeng Prefecture City, he received an urgent military order concerning the defense of the city.

The Governor’s Mansion issued the order: he was to prepare rolling logs and stones, mobilize civilian laborers, defend the West Gate to the death, and not allow a single rebel to enter the city.

At the same time, the Governor’s Mansion also parachuted in a Fifth-Grade Military Officer to serve as the Commanding Officer for the defense of the West Gate.

He, in turn, would serve as the second-in-command, assisting in the city’s defense.

Wei Tu recognized this Fifth-Grade Military Officer. It was Deng Zhijun from the Governor’s Mansion.

「Early the next morning.」

Standing atop the ramparts of the West Gate, Wei Tu could see the Rebel Army from Guangyuang Prefecture about two miles away. They were a dense, teeming mass, flying banners of all colors.

He focused his gaze and saw that the vanguard’s banner was embroidered with the character for "Cyan." He instantly realized that the leader of the Rebel Army attacking the Prefecture City’s West Gate must be one of the thirty-two Rebel Kings—the Cyan Tiger King, Lin Quancheng.

After looking at the main banner, Wei Tu also spotted a yellow secondary banner embroidered with the character "Ming."

’The King of Mingzhou?’

Wei Tu narrowed his eyes.

He remembered that Li Xingye had pledged his allegiance to the King of Mingzhou, becoming an advisor under his command.

With the King of Mingzhou now attacking the Prefecture City’s West Gate alongside the Cyan Tiger King, Wei Tu’s intuition told him that Li Xingye might have played a role in this.

’Otherwise,’ he thought, ’why, out of the thirty-two Rebel Kings, would it be the King of Mingzhou who showed up at the West Gate?’

’They can command their soldiers with signal flags,’ Wei Tu thought. ’It seems... the Rebel Kings of Guangyuang Prefecture have truly become a force to be reckoned with...’

This thought occurred to Wei Tu as he stood upon the city wall, watching the two contingents of the Rebel Army slowly move into formation at the command of their flag-bearers.

A short while later, Wei Tu entered the command tent and, based on the formation deployed by the Rebel Army, began to discuss the specifics of the city’s defense with Deng Zhijun. They assigned defensive sectors to the Military Officers of various ranks...

Deng Zhijun did not pull rank, readily adopting Wei Tu’s arrangements and even praising him for his "military acumen."

「By afternoon.」

The Prefecture City’s West Gate faced the Rebel Army’s first probing attack on the walls.

Thanks to Wei Tu’s arrangements, the Rebel Army lost several hundred men without even touching the city walls before they fled in disarray.

"Rebels are just rebels, after all. Hardly worth mentioning. They’re a far cry from our elite Official Army."

Seeing the great victory, Deng Zhijun let out a loud laugh and declared to the assembled Military Officers in the tent.

Hearing this, the other Military Officers instantly cast off their fear of battle and began to look down on the Rebel Army from Guangyuang Prefecture with disdain.

The Zheng Country had enjoyed peace for several hundred years. Although there were occasional minor rebellions by local bandits, a rebel army brazenly laying siege to a Prefecture City was a rare sight, something that hadn’t happened in decades.

Wei Tu, sitting in the second-highest seat, smiled along with the other Military Officers, but in his heart, he couldn’t help but feel a flicker of unease.

Half a month ago, he and Fu Zhizhou had reached a conclusion: the key to victory in this war between the Government Office and the Rebel Kings lay not with their respective armies, but with the duel between the members of the Immortal Families and the Innate Martial Masters supporting them.

Therefore, whether or not Military Officers like them could hold the city in the subsequent fighting would have little impact on the true deciding factor for victory.

...

「The next day.」

The Rebel Army attacked again.

Unlike the previous probing attack, this time the Rebel Army came prepared with scaling ladders, siege towers, battering rams, and other siege equipment.

Their attack was methodical. After just a few charges, the Official Army was nearly overwhelmed, almost losing their position on the ramparts to the Rebel Army.

The one who repelled them, killing the members of the Rebel Army who had reached the top of the wall, was none other than Wei Tu. He was hidden behind the Personal Guard Camp, taking opportunistic shots with his bow.

Each of his arrows targeted the junior officers commanding the Rebel King’s elite vanguard. Nearly every time his bowstring twanged and an arrow flew, a man was killed.

Having lost their commanders and with no reinforcements to back them up, how could the already-undisciplined Rebel Army possibly survive the Official Army’s counterattack?

’I can’t be too conspicuous,’ he thought. ’I’ll just kill a few men, enough to ensure the West Gate doesn’t fall. That’s all that’s needed.’

After felling seven or eight men, Wei Tu stayed his hand. He feigned an injury to his right arm, wrapped it in white gauze to "stop the bleeding," and then retreated to hide within the barracks.

He vividly remembered the battle at Siyang Town, when he had revealed his skill as a Divine Archer. County Captain Xu had then ordered him to assassinate Xie Qing, a mission that had nearly cost him his life.

He could not afford to be careless about that.

’I’ll have to play it by ear. Qingfeng Prefecture isn’t Guangyuang Prefecture. This is the capital of Shannan Dao; the Court will never tolerate it falling to the Rebel Army!’

’An Innate Martial Master is bound to intervene and confront the power backing the Rebel Army.’