Chapter 1127: Boundless Merit

This was a battle without visible flames of war, a duel fought in darkness. Nearly everyone involved was someone who could never see the light.

The victors could not publicize their names. They could not say what they had done or how many enemies they had killed.

The dead could not have monuments raised and biographies written for them like soldiers who fell on a battlefield. They could not even reveal why they had died.

The reason was the same in every case: otherwise, it would be far too easy for someone to follow the trail back through the network.

The living remained nameless. The dead vanished in silence.

Sitting beneath bright lamplight, Tao Lue, Chief Steward of the Inner Palace of Jin, closed his eyes without a word as he looked over the long list of casualties from the bloody struggle between the two states' intelligence services. Tears glimmered at the corners of his eyes.

He was crying, though no sob escaped him. The losses were simply too terrible. Generations of Blackwater Terrace operatives had poured their life's work into this network, and every one of the dead would have called him "Old Ancestor." He knew he had wronged them.

"Old Ancestor, we can't keep fighting like this. Qi is their home ground. Our brothers are suffering far too many losses. There is no point in continuing. We should immediately withdraw the people on the relevant lines. At least then we can preserve some embers over there!" The man who had come to report was weeping uncontrollably. The losses had been too brutal.

"Ah!" Tao Lue tipped his head back and gave a long sigh. Opening his eyes, he raised his sleeve to wipe away his tears and shook his head. "Whether there is a point is not for you or me to decide. You'll understand very soon whether their deaths had meaning."

"What meaning?" The reporting man spread both hands, demanding an answer.

Tao Lue only shook his head. He did not tell him, nor could he. This was a matter of the highest secrecy. Apart from a handful of core figures, not a single word could be allowed to leak.

But just as Tao Lue had said, it did not take long before the man learned the answer. He learned what his brothers' sacrifices had been for...

Not long after Qi began hunting Shao Pingbo, Wei launched the same kind of search.

Shao Pingbo had not left Qi. Even knowing that Qi was hunting him, he had still taken the risk of remaining. He had no choice. There was an even greater plan still to come, and he simply could not trust anyone else to direct it in his place.

He was hiding in a relay station not too far from the Qi capital. He needed to stay as close as possible to Qi's center of power so he could learn of changes in the situation at the first possible moment.

Blackwater Terrace had prepared the location for him.

The official in charge of the relay station was a Qi official, but in reality he was a reserve sleeper agent planted by Blackwater Terrace inside Qi. The relay station was one of Blackwater Terrace's fallback arrangements, prepared specifically to provide support if a major incident occurred.

For example, if the Jin court ever needed it, this place could conceal and assist the evacuation of important envoys.

Because of its function and the need for secrecy, it had no contact at all with the other agents hidden inside Qi and reported directly to Blackwater Terrace's central command in Jin.

The relay station had never once been activated before. This time, it had been activated for Shao Pingbo.

Shao Pingbo was hidden inside a tunnel beneath the relay station, enduring the darkness and damp like a rat burrowed underground.

Under the lamplight, he read the intelligence report that had just been delivered and muttered, "It really was him! He truly won't rest until I'm dead!"

The intelligence concerned Wei's search for Shao Pingbo.

"Who?" Shao Sansheng asked, confused.

Shao Pingbo slowly exhaled, his expression grave. "Niu Youdao! My guess was right. I knew the Sacred Realm couldn't contain him. Sure enough, he's already established a channel for communicating between the inside and outside of the Sacred Realm."

"Niu Youdao?" Shao Sansheng looked utterly bewildered. He had no idea what Shao Pingbo was talking about.

He did know Niu Youdao, however. He knew the man had become a thorn buried deep in the Eldest Young Master's heart. Back then Niu Youdao had angered Shao Pingbo into coughing blood again and again. After years of recuperation, that old damage had finally eased. How had Niu Youdao become involved again?

A trace of unease rose in him. The Eldest Young Master had lain low for so many years. Was he really going to cross hands with Niu Youdao again the moment he emerged?

Truthfully, it was not only Shao Pingbo. Even Shao Sansheng, who had remained at his side throughout everything, had developed a certain fear of Niu Youdao. Merely hearing the name now made him apprehensive. He had personally accompanied Shao Pingbo through defeat after miserable defeat at Niu Youdao's hands: forced into killing his elder brother and mother, ruined in reputation, and later hunted by Niu Youdao until he nearly lost his life.

At the most dangerous point, Shao Sansheng knew exactly how far Niu Youdao had driven Shao Pingbo.

He had always admired Shao Pingbo's ability. Yet even an Eldest Young Master this capable had repeatedly been beaten down by Niu Youdao.

Like Shao Pingbo, he knew just how frightening Niu Youdao was.

The thought of crossing hands with such an opponent again left Shao Sansheng deeply uncertain. Merely hearing the name had already made him timid. He ventured, "Wasn't he trapped inside the Sacred Realm?"

Shao Pingbo was in a heavy mood and had no patience to explain. He looked down at the intelligence report again.

To anyone else, it was merely news that Wei had begun searching for Shao Pingbo. To him, however, the information hidden behind that fact carried much deeper meaning.

As he had said to the mysterious man from Misty Pavilion before, after examining all the possible reasons his whereabouts might have leaked, he had begun to suspect Niu Youdao. But there had been too many other variables, too many other possibilities, so he had not dared conclude that Niu Youdao was truly behind it.

The arrival of this report proved one thing: whoever wanted to move against him could not determine whether he was in the Wei capital or the Qi capital. That meant the leak had not come from Jin, and it also ruled out the possibility that another faction had accurately discovered his whereabouts.

Viewed from the other direction, it confirmed the suspicion he had voiced to the mysterious man.

After thinking for a while, Shao Pingbo raised his head. "Send word through the contact that man arranged for us. Tell him I've confirmed it was Niu Youdao. Have his side send me detailed information about Niu Youdao's situation inside the Sacred Realm as quickly as possible!"

So they really were going to fight Niu Youdao again? Shao Sansheng's heart thudded anxiously. He ventured another reminder. "Eldest Young Master, did you just mean that Niu Youdao is secretly communicating with the outside behind the Sacred Realm's back? If that's true, why not expose it directly to the people inside the Sacred Realm and make sure he suffers the consequences?"

Shao Pingbo flung two cold words at him. "Childish!"

"Yes!" Shao Sansheng said awkwardly. "I'll send the message at once." He turned to leave.

"Wait." Shao Pingbo stopped him. "How is Hao Zhen?"

Shao Sansheng replied, "After he left the Ghost Doctor's disciple's residence, there have been no further abnormal developments at Prince Ying's residence. Judging by the situation, he should be out of danger."

Shao Pingbo gave a slight nod. "It seems the Ghost Doctor's disciple truly lives up to his reputation."

He did indeed feel relieved. If he had made Shao Liuer a widow, he truly would not have known how to face that younger sister. Sooner or later the truth about who had carried out the poisoning, and his own involvement in it, would come to light. As long as Hao Zhen was all right, Shao Liuer could hate him afterward if she wished. He no longer cared.

As long as Shao Liuer could live well, then let her hate him. Maintaining a certain distance between brother and sister was also a form of protection for her at present.

Shao Sansheng reminded him, "The letter from Blackwater Terrace seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the Eldest Young Master's actions."

After learning that such a major plan had somehow failed to account for the Ghost Doctor's disciple, and that no one had eliminated him in advance, allowing him to save the poisoned imperial clan members and greatly reduce the effect of the successful poisoning operation, Blackwater Terrace had been extremely displeased.

Blackwater Terrace had hoped to see a swath of Qi's imperial clan die in court and greater internal chaos erupt throughout Qi.

Once it learned that Shao Liuer had been the first to kneel and beg the Ghost Doctor's disciple to save someone, Blackwater Terrace became even more suspicious of Shao Pingbo's behavior. It suspected that he had mixed private feelings into an operation of enormous importance.

And he truly had mixed private feelings into it. He had used Blackwater Terrace's strength in the Qi capital to arrange for Hao Zhen to escape the calamity. An accident had merely ruined that arrangement. There was no hiding something like that from Jin.

Shao Pingbo remained silent for a while before slowly saying, "Didn't I already give them an explanation?"

Shao Sansheng said, "I'm afraid they may not believe that explanation. Because of the Eldest Young Master's plan, Blackwater Terrace has lost far too many hidden operatives here in Qi."

Shao Pingbo said, "If the operation succeeds, whether they believe me is not important. Send word to Blackwater Terrace. Qin must be delayed a little longer. Put more pressure on Tian Zhengyang and Ma Chang'an. It's about time to release rumors that Luo Zhao intends to replace the two of them and seize their positions!"

"Yes!" Shao Sansheng accepted the order and left.

...

When the last member of the imperial clan was finally carried out of the courtyard, the residence at last became quiet. Wuxin, exhausted almost beyond endurance, collapsed onto a reclining chair to rest.

He had worked continuously, saving one poisoned imperial clansman after another, and had not closed his eyes for three days and three nights.

The others originally could not have survived that long. Wuxin had first used medicine to suppress the poison temporarily in each of them, and with the cultivators working alongside him, he had then gained enough time to treat them one by one.

Originally, he had intended to save only Hao Zhen. He did not care in the slightest whether the others lived or died.

But a single sentence from Yan Baoru had made Wuxin exhaust every last bit of strength to save the entire group.

After he finished detoxifying Hao Zhen, Yan Baoru looked at the noblewomen kneeling outside in supplication and said, "This time Hao Zhen escaped disaster. If the others don't, these women are probably going to hate Shao Liuer to death. Shao Liuer will become the target of everyone!"

Yan Baoru's words were not unreasonable. Women understood women's minds better than men did.

It was because of that single sentence that Wuxin showed mercy and saved the lives of all those poisoned imperial clansmen.

But it had left him utterly spent. He lay exhausted in the chair.

"Sir has accumulated boundless merit this time. The entire imperial clan of Qi will probably have to thank you. You can finally rest in peace now." Smiling, Guo Man spread a blanket over him.

"Boundless merit?" Wuxin sighed wearily. "I ignored my master's warning. I'm afraid this is only the beginning of my troubles."

Guo Man was surprised. "Trouble? Why do you say that, sir?"

Wuxin shook his head slightly. He did not want to explain, nor could he.

When he first wanted to leave the mountain, his master, the Ghost Doctor, had opposed it. He had said that the human heart was treacherous, and the greater a physician's skill, the greater the danger to himself.

Even his master himself had been forced into his infamous eccentricities and his habit of appearing and disappearing like a divine dragon, leaving only a glimpse of head or tail. Wuxin understood his master's difficulties.

As his master had put it: when faced with demands from the outside world, the best way to protect oneself was to avoid entanglement with any faction, remain harmless to every faction, and keep one's distance from them all.

The Ghost Doctor's influence might be great, but to certain people it meant nothing at all.

Yet today Wuxin had ignored his master's warning and saved so many members of Qi's imperial clan in one stroke.

[End of Chapter 1127]