Chapter 1430: Who Is Persuading Whom?

Shang Shuqing shook her head and pushed the drumstick back. “I’m not eating it. You eat.”

Her emotions were surging, full of excitement and contradiction. Still afraid she might have misunderstood, she confirmed again, “Yin’er, did Hongniang also tell you not to mention that you had seen Master Dao, or else you wouldn’t get chicken drumsticks?”

Yin’er nodded again and repeated indignantly, “Bad person!”

Angry though she was, Shang Shuqing’s tears still did not escape Yin’er’s notice. Yin’er once again held out the drumstick she had been eating. “Qingqing.”

Shang Shuqing smiled through tears and pushed it back, pointing toward the basket to show there were more.

Fine. Yin’er took it back and continued gnawing on her own.

Shang Shuqing turned away, wiped her tears with a handkerchief, and paced with clasped hands, her ten fingers twisting anxiously together. She went to the window, pushed it open, and looked out at the night that had only just deepened. Gradually she calmed, though complex thoughts remained in her bright eyes.

She had accepted the reality of Master Dao’s death, but she had never truly wanted to believe it.

What if Yin’er’s words were true?

The problem was that Shang Shuqing did not know how she should face it.

If he truly was still alive, then Master Dao had plainly been concealing some enormous truth all this time. She also knew that if he had done such a thing, the stakes had to be immense.

What sort of place was the Sacred Realm? To fake one’s death inside the Sacred Realm had to involve matters of enormous consequence. The slightest move could bring thunderous disaster and implicate countless people. It was not something she could bear.

She knew her own limitations. If something had deliberately been kept from her, then it meant she could not help, could not influence the outcome, and served no useful purpose in it. Naturally, she had no standing to say anything. Master Dao did not owe her an explanation either.

But if he might still be alive, her heart burned with hope. She was excited and nervous.

She still did not dare fully trust Yin’er’s words, yet Yin’er could not communicate normally. No matter how many times she asked, the answers would only circle around those same few phrases.

But Shang Shuqing could think. She could judge for herself.

After Master Dao’s death, Maolu Annex had been expelled by Zijin Cave. The upheaval she had expected seemed to rumble beneath the surface, yet somehow everything passed smoothly. Nanzhou remained stable from top to bottom.

At the moment when everyone had been most alarmed and matters most nerve-racking, her elder brother and the others had somehow settled Zijin Cave with astonishing speed, stabilized the cultivation factions inside Nanzhou, and steadied the surrounding powers.

Some things that had once puzzled her now seemed to have an explanation.

The best explanation was that the man who had always held Nanzhou’s situation steady was still there.

Which meant that if that man was alive, her elder brother probably knew!

Shang Shuqing had no idea how long she stood at the window lost in thought.

Then a pair of greasy hands appeared beside her, accompanied by Yin’er’s voice. “Qingqing.”

Shang Shuqing came back to herself. She walked over to the basket and discovered that Yin’er had already gnawed through the entire basket of chicken drumsticks.

She therefore led Yin’er into the outer room, had water brought again, and personally washed her hands.

While drying Yin’er’s hands, Shang Shuqing ultimately could not suppress her desire to learn the truth. She asked, “Yin’er, can you still recognize Master Dao?”

Yin’er nodded, then shook her head. “Can’t mention Dao-Dao.”

Now that the chicken drumsticks were gone, she had started honoring her promise again.

Shang Shuqing said nothing more. Instead, she took Yin’er by the hand and led her outside, heading directly toward Maolu Annex beside the Prince’s residence.

Along the way, however, she stopped repeatedly.

...

The Prince’s residence was barely bright enough to be called brilliantly lit. Servants had their duties, guards had theirs, and the masters of the household likewise found it difficult to rest.

Inside the Hall of Martial Valor, Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming watched developments in the wars day and night.

The fighting between Jin and Qi had become secondary. Their principal concern was the war against Qin.

Yan and Han were jointly attacking Qin this time. On Yan’s side, Nanzhou was not bearing the entire offensive alone. The Yan court would not permit Nanzhou to swallow all the gains by itself, nor did Nanzhou possess the strength to do so.

If Nanzhou dispersed all its forces to occupy every stretch of Qin territory taken in the war, that would not necessarily benefit Nanzhou.

Even so, Nanzhou had sent troops.

This was a war in which overwhelming strength was crushing the enemy. Neither Shang Chaozong nor Meng Shanming had personally taken the field. If even a battle like this required them to go in person, it would amount to admitting that Nanzhou had no successors capable of taking up the mantle.

Cultivating such successors was something Meng Shanming had spent years working to solve. He had continuously trained a new generation of generals for the Nanzhou faction.

This time, the Nanzhou troops dispatched to war had split into two forces, respectively commanded by two of Meng Shanming’s students, Luo Da’an and Lu Zheng.

Victory might be virtually assured, but no one here dared become careless. They continued monitoring the movements and battlefield situation of the Nanzhou forces with great attention.

Mobilizing a large army also required cooperation from within Nanzhou itself. On the civil-administration side, Lan Ruoting was the one laboring to keep everything running.

Luo Da’an’s younger brother, Luo Xiao’an, had also been worked nearly to exhaustion under Lan Ruoting. Lan Ruoting kept piling more and more responsibility onto his shoulders.

...

After leaving the Prince’s residence, Shang Shuqing entered Maolu Annex.

No one stopped her from coming or going.

Yet the closer she came to her destination, the more nervous she became. She had begun to wonder whether coming here was right or wrong. In fact, she had developed serious doubts about what she was doing.

But the intense desire to know the truth forced her to press on.

Her arrival immediately alerted Guan Fangyi, who came out intending to take the two of them to her own courtyard.

Shang Shuqing shook her head. For a moment she did not know how to speak. At last, with a slight tremor in her voice, she said, “Sister Hong, I would like to see Mr. Wang Xiao. May I?”

Guan Fangyi froze.

Almost instinctively, she looked at Yin’er, whose hand Shang Shuqing was holding. Yin’er stood there blankly, understanding nothing of what the two women were discussing as she looked around.

...

Inside the secret chamber, Niu Youdao and Lü Wushuang sat facing one another over tea, a rare scene indeed.

“The great tide beneath Heaven is such that waves behind drive waves before them. Endless succession is the natural order. The fall of the Nine Saints is only a matter of time. On the surface, their enemies are one another, but their true enemy is the entire world. The higher one stands, the more enemies one has. This is an eternal truth.”

“It may seem that no one dares step forward openly to resist you, but that is precisely what makes the situation most dangerous. You have countless enemies, and not one of them stands in the light. They are all hidden in darkness.”

“You seem to hold supreme authority and stand above everyone else, yet you cannot avoid standing openly in the light, while countless enemies remain hidden in darkness. Kill one batch and there will always be more. They come one after another without end. So from the very beginning, your fall was inevitable. Sooner or later, someone would rise and replace you.”

Niu Youdao went on at length, hoping Lü Wushuang would listen to at least some of the reasoning.

What she had said before—that they had exposed numerous flaws and the Six Sacred Venerables would soon wipe them all out—was too serious for him to ignore.

He hoped to persuade Lü Wushuang to cooperate and tell him what needed to be told.

The moment he returned, he had sent word to Sha Rulai, ordering him to watch for when the Six Sacred Venerables returned to the Sacred Realm. He had also ordered the relevant eyes and ears to watch every source of information closely, to see whether what Lü Wushuang predicted would really happen: whether the Six Sacred Venerables would abandon the Sacred Realm and personally take command in the mortal world to deal with them.

Yet no matter how much Niu Youdao said, Lü Wushuang merely listened with a faint smile, slowly sipping her tea. From beginning to end, she rarely spoke.

Eventually even Niu Youdao felt there was little point in continuing. At last he asked, “Whatever concerns you have, say them. We can discuss how to resolve them.”

Lü Wushuang set down her teacup and smiled. “You broke faith first. I helped you deal with the matter before, yet afterward you developed killing intent toward me. If I hadn’t found the words to pin down your weak spot, who knows what state I’d be in now? After that, does saying all this accomplish anything? Do you really think I’ll still trust you? If you’re truly sincere, then why not become one family? We could both feel at ease. Wouldn’t that be better?”

Niu Youdao said, “You know perfectly well that he has no affection for you, yet you still insist on marrying him. Marrying such a rough brute—don’t you find that humiliating?”

“For someone like me, what is a little humiliation? Granny Xue was besieged at Wuliang Garden. Was that not humiliating? Lan Daolin was besieged at Boundless Pavilion. Was that not humiliating? Fatty Yuan had one of his eyes gouged out. Was that not humiliating? I have endured countless humiliations. Long ago, I learned to eat them like meals.”

“When trouble comes, there is nothing to do but face it. If I couldn’t swallow an affront and simply acted recklessly whenever something happened, I would never have lived until today.”

“In truth, what I don’t understand is what all of you are thinking. I consider myself fairly attractive. As for identity and status, what woman beneath Heaven can compare with me? In what way am I unworthy of him? What exactly are you all being so precious about? I’ve fallen to this point and have nowhere left to go. I need a road forward. You need my help. Even if you look at it purely as a marriage alliance, it benefits both sides. I see no reason for you to refuse.”

Niu Youdao said, “The meaning people give their lives differs, and so do their temperaments. If he agrees to this, he would trample the line he sets for himself as a man. He would feel guilty for the rest of his life. You know at least something about what happened with Feng Guan’er. What was the result? When trouble came, he was willing to repay it with his life! Isn’t that precious quality exactly what made you decide he could become the guarantee for your survival, and why you fixed on marrying him in the first place? Would you dare marry someone like me?”

“And speaking of Feng Guan’er, you should know what kind of relationship he has with her. If he marries you, then as far as he is concerned, what happens to Feng Guan’er?”

Lü Wushuang replied with complete calm. “That woman is not worthy of him. Don’t misunderstand. I have no intention of looking down on Feng Guan’er. High and low, noble and base, mean nothing to me. I am simply judging the matter on its merits. For a man who has reached Yuan Gang’s level, marry her? For what? What can she do? Warm his bed? Be tender as water? Whisper intimate words to make a man happy? Don’t you find that ridiculous?”

“Take a step back. Anything she has, I have as well. Anything she can do, I can do. Even if I had to pretend, I could pretend better than she can. Reverse the comparison and she cannot do what I can. Compared with me, she is useless. At most she is a flower vase. Look at one long enough and even that becomes tiresome. Calling her a burden would not be excessive.”

“Niu Youdao, if you truly regard Yuan Gang as a brother, then you should consider the matter rationally. Yuan Gang is a man with a serious flaw. He does not fit this world at all. Marrying Feng Guan’er would harm him. I am different. If I became his wife, I would be someone capable of helping him. At the very least, I could help him live a little longer.”

She raised a hand and tapped her own head.

“Niu Youdao, you are an intelligent man. Ask your conscience honestly: doesn’t someone like Yuan Gang need a woman like me at his side, a capable wife who can help him? Put another way, someone like you can afford to consider feelings of love between men and women. A man with his temperament has no such luxury. What he needs is help. He needs someone who can keep him in check. I believe that without your help, he would never have lived until today.”

Yun Ji, listening from the side, could not help glancing at Niu Youdao’s reaction.

She was beginning to wonder who exactly was persuading whom.

Niu Youdao fell somewhat silent. Slowly, he lifted his tea and began to sip.

[End of Chapter 1430]