Chapter 525: A Face Full of Gloom

“What a Grand General Shao!” Zhong Yangxu gave a string of cold laughs, then turned to look at the hall being tightly guarded by Dachan Mountain disciples.

The commanders refusing to obey orders was not especially unexpected. Beizhou’s troops had all been raised by Shao Dengyun with his own hands and were his direct forces. In these chaotic times, when the king’s banner atop a city wall might change overnight, their fortunes, disgrace, glory, and ruin were all tied to the Shao clan. An outcome like this was hardly surprising.

They had understood the logic long ago, but there had been no way around it. Given Beizhou’s circumstances, resisting enemies abroad and keeping order at home required a force united as one.

They had always known this arrangement carried both advantages and disadvantages. Yet when the disadvantage truly appeared before their eyes, it was still difficult to accept.

Another disciple hurried over to report. “Master, a batch of Goldenwings in the message room suddenly dropped dead. They were probably poisoned!”

Zhong Yangxu understood immediately. Those were likely the Goldenwings Shao Pingbo used for certain special contacts outside. Fearing they might leave hidden dangers, someone had destroyed them the moment Shao Pingbo departed.

There was no possibility Shao Pingbo had personally done it. It could only mean the arrangement had been made in advance.

“Investigate. Find out who did it,” Zhong Yangxu ordered heavily.

Inside the hall, a row of weapon racks stood along each side. At the head of the room sat a long table, one end piled high with documents.

Day had already broken, but two rows of lamps still flickered inside.

Behind the table sat the gray-haired Shao Dengyun. He held a white silk cloth and calmly wiped down a saber.

Behind him hung a suit of armor polished until it shone.

The guards at the entrance stepped aside. Zhong Yangxu entered, stopped before the table, and stared at Shao Dengyun, who remained wholly absorbed in what he was doing.

“You made a move against that son of mine?” Shao Dengyun asked without looking up, continuing to wipe the blade. Then he added, “My son isn’t so easy to deal with. You failed, didn’t you?”

Zhong Yangxu’s pupils contracted slightly. In an instant, he realized where he had made his mistake.

This man had been controlled from the very beginning, cut off from every outside contact. He should have known nothing about Dachan Mountain moving against Shao Pingbo, yet he had guessed it.

What did that mean?

It meant the act of putting Shao Dengyun under control had itself given him enough information to judge what was happening.

If even Shao Dengyun could see it, how could Shao Pingbo possibly fail to?

Their move against Shao Dengyun must likewise have triggered some warning mechanism Shao Pingbo had prepared in advance.

Earlier, they had wondered how Shao Pingbo, while confined in the dungeon, had learned of events quickly enough to react. According to the disciples guarding him, the only abnormality before the incident had been one of the dungeon’s oil lamps suddenly going out.

Only now did Zhong Yangxu finally understand where the problem had been.

Regret surged through him.

They should have entered the dungeon without the slightest warning and struck suddenly.

Yet regret was regret. In his heart, Zhong Yangxu knew that before the fact, they probably would not have acted that way. Shao Pingbo had been in their hands, someone they could deal with at any time. Who would have imagined they needed to sneak into the dungeon and ambush him?

“You already knew there was a secret passage inside the dungeon?” Zhong Yangxu asked.

“A secret passage? I didn’t know.” Shao Dengyun sighed. “There’s something you people don’t know. The last time Liuer eloped with someone, it was actually my eldest son who personally went out and brought her back.”

“He was imprisoned in the dungeon at the time, with your people guarding him. So how did he get out? That was when I realized something was wrong with that dungeon.”

“I don’t know when he secretly had a tunnel dug inside the residence. But when he voluntarily confined himself in the dungeon this time, I knew he was guarding against the unexpected.”

Zhong Yangxu said, “Brother Shao, you truly raised yourself a fine son.”

Shao Dengyun ran a hand lightly along the saber’s edge. “Fine? I don’t think so.”

“That child takes too much after his mother. He’s as frighteningly clever as she was. Too much brilliance shortens life. Her early death was not unrelated to that. She exhausted her own heart and blood.”

“I would rather he were a little more foolish. Being too clever means wearing out the mind. Look at him—still young, yet already growing white hair. Why put himself through it?”

“For a commander, loyalty is the foundation. Back then, I did not want to rebel against Yan, but I could not withstand all his scheming. If he had been a little more foolish, if he had not insisted on competing over every gain and loss, I would have withdrawn at the height of things and gone into seclusion.”

“Like some of my old brothers, I could have waited until Shang Chaozong rose again and then gone to join him. The Shao family would likely be living an entirely different life now, and things would never have come to this.”

“Without all these tangled interests, our own family would not have ended up killing one another.”

“So what is so good about it? Cleverness has been undone by cleverness.”

Zhong Yangxu said, “Brother Shao, issue the order immediately. Have checkpoints established throughout Beizhou and order a full search. We may still be able to find him.”

“I give you my word: as long as we capture him, I’ll give Brother Shao face and leave him a road to live.”

The promise was false.

The sect had already issued its order. If they caught Shao Pingbo, there was no possibility of leaving him alive. Zhong Yangxu did not have the authority to decide otherwise.

But he had no choice except to lie to Shao Dengyun.

Dachan Mountain simply did not have enough manpower.

So what if they were cultivators? The world outside was vast in every direction. With the few people Zhong Yangxu had on hand, forget scattering them across Beizhou to search—even thoroughly searching this Prefectural Capital was beyond them. Finding Shao Pingbo would be like fishing for a needle in the sea.

Even mobilizing every disciple of Dachan Mountain would not be enough. They needed a search on a much larger scale.

But without deceiving Shao Dengyun, they could not organize one. Beizhou’s troops refused to obey Dachan Mountain.

Shao Dengyun shook his head. He plainly had no intention of agreeing.

Zhong Yangxu said heavily, “Brother Shao, if we miss this opportunity, then once we catch him later, he truly will have no road to live. I’m saying this for his own good!”

Shao Dengyun sighed. “Brother Zhong, no one knows a son better than his father. After all these years, I understand this son of mine well enough.”

“There is truly no need to mobilize armies and stir up the masses. Since he decided to escape, he must have prepared comprehensively. You will not catch him.”

“Instead of wasting your effort, let it go. Now that he has fled once, he can never return. Let the matter pass.”

“Why make such a great commotion and draw the covetous eyes of outside powers? That would do no good for Beizhou’s overall situation.”

“Brother Zhong, rest assured. There are still so many brothers below who have followed me for years. As long as you let the matter end here, I will not make trouble. Even if I cared nothing for myself, I still owe those old brothers an accounting.”

Zhong Yangxu said, “Brother Shao, we have known each other for many years. Don’t make things difficult for me. I don’t want to make things difficult for you either.”

“Brother Zhong, even if I issued the order, you still wouldn’t catch him. But even if you could, I would never give that order.” Shao Dengyun refused flatly, his attitude unwavering.

Then he planted the saber against the ground and rose. Staring directly at Zhong Yangxu, he enunciated every word.

“Even a vicious tiger does not eat its own cubs!”

“If I issued that order, I would wrong his dead mother.”

“For him to have reached this point, I, his father, cannot escape responsibility. I owe him. This time, consider it the smallest repayment of my duty as a father.”

“Brother Zhong, I have spent my entire life in war and fought through a hundred battles. How many brothers have fallen before my eyes?”

“Rivers of blood, mountains of corpses, life and death, separation from loved ones—I have seen more of all of them than Brother Zhong.”

“I have even endured a shattered family and blood kin killing one another. What is there left for me to fear?”

“This old body of flesh and blood stands alone here. Cut me down if you wish!”

He turned the saber crosswise and thrust it firmly toward Zhong Yangxu, every inch of him carrying the air of a man prepared to accept death or dismemberment.

Zhong Yangxu stared at him coldly.

Their gazes locked.

Shao Dengyun did not retreat in the slightest, his tiger-like eyes bright and fearless...

In the end, Zhong Yangxu walked out of the hall with anger bottled inside him. He had done nothing to Shao Dengyun.

Without an order from the sect, he did not dare.

The commanders’ refusal to obey mobilization orders had already been warning enough. If they rashly harmed Shao Dengyun, Beizhou would certainly descend into chaos.

Shao Dengyun held the military forces in his hands and wielded enormous influence over Beizhou. Even Shao Pingbo had never dared casually replace him. Unless they were willing to cleanse Beizhou from top to bottom, removing Shao Dengyun would be extremely difficult...

Two enormous flying birds came from the horizon and circled above Beizhou Prefectural Capital, the six people on their backs looking down at the city below.

Huang Lie and the others had finally arrived, considerably later than the message-bearing Goldenwing.

It was not because these giant birds were slower than Goldenwings. Over long-distance flight, they were actually faster.

The Goldenwing had arrived first partly because it had departed earlier. More importantly, a message-bearing Goldenwing could normally lock directly onto the exact destination and fly almost entirely in a straight line.

A giant mount carrying people was different. It obeyed its rider completely. For someone without experience navigating at high altitude, keeping it on a perfect straight course toward a distant destination was difficult. One only knew the general direction and had to keep making adjustments along the way.

Huang Lie and the others clearly lacked that experience.

They had also flown through the night, when landmarks on the ground were difficult to see. Drifting off course and traveling somewhat farther than necessary was only natural.

That was why there had been such a gap between their arrival and the Goldenwing’s.

The two mounts descended from the sky and landed inside the Beizhou Provincial Inspector’s Residence.

After jumping down, Guan Fangyi stretched her body slightly.

She had discovered that long-distance travel on a giant flying mount was not nearly as comfortable as she had imagined. There was little room to move, and being constrained in one position for so long was hardly pleasant.

“Sect Leader!” Zhong Yangxu led a group forward to greet them.

Huang Lie’s expression was poor. “Senior Brother Zhong, are you joking with me?”

While they were still on the road, roughly half an hour earlier, a Goldenwing message from this side had reached them. They already knew Shao Pingbo had escaped.

The result had left Huang Lie furious.

It was not only because Shao Pingbo had gotten away.

He had lost enormous face in front of Niu Youdao.

Earlier, Huang Lie had spoken with absolute certainty. Yet reality had unfortunately proved Niu Youdao right. Dachan Mountain had truly been played with like a toy in Shao Pingbo’s hands. They truly had not been his match.

What was Huang Lie, the Sect Leader, supposed to feel now?

The two Elders who had accompanied him looked no better.

The flying mount Niu Youdao had promised as a gift was gone. Something worth more than ten million gold coins had vanished just like that. The loss was enormous.

Zhong Yangxu naturally knew none of this. With great difficulty, he recounted everything that had happened.

At the end, he presented a sheet of paper: the warning Shao Pingbo had left in the secret chamber beneath the tunnel.

Reading it made Huang Lie bare his teeth in anger.

Once again, it proved exactly what Niu Youdao had said.

Shao Pingbo had never taken Dachan Mountain seriously at all. He had treated them as people easily handled.

Niu Youdao reached out with two fingers, pinched the paper from Huang Lie’s hand, and glanced over the words.

Then he gave a cold, mocking laugh.

“Dachan Mountain truly is formidable. You stayed beside the man for all these years while he dug tunnels right beneath your noses, and none of you knew. Simply unbelievable!”

The sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable.

His own expression looked no better.

His face was full of gloom.

He had calculated so carefully, spent so much effort, and finally forced Shao Pingbo into a dead end.

Who could have known everything would fail at the final step?

How could his mood possibly be good?

[End of Chapter 525]