Chapter 293: Prophecy

“So what exactly does this mean?

“The Marquis of Jingnan stays put, while an imperial prince who has always commanded troops but never actually fought a war is appointed commander-in-chief and sent out on campaign?”

Zheng Fan leaned sideways in his chair and pointed at the official document lying before him.

“Master, judging from the Sixth Prince’s letter, this should be part of the Emperor of Yan’s plan to clean up the local military bosses.”

“So it isn’t suspicion between sovereign and subject?”

“Probably not.”

“Did Little Sixth mention how we should deal with this First Prince?”

“No.

“Instead, he said he has already gone to Nan’an County to work as a Chief Constable.

“He even made a point of saying that from now on, his jianghu name will be ‘Yan Little Sixth.’”

“What kind of idiotic name is that?”

“He also asked in the letter what Master thought of it.”

“When you reply, tell him I think it’s excellent.”

“Yes, Master.”

“The First Prince is bringing an army over.

“So we probably don’t need to make any moves ourselves, right?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Strictly speaking, we already count as part of the Jingnan Army faction.

“So it would not be appropriate for us to act too enthusiastically unless the Marquis of Jingnan gives the word.”

“But if Tian Wujing intended to give the word, he should have done it long ago.

“The First Prince should already be on the road with his army by now.”

“Yes.

“Normally speaking, both our troops stationed here in Shengle and Chen Yang’s command at Xinsu City should have received military orders from the Marquis well in advance, telling us to prepare to coordinate with the First Prince’s advance into Dacheng.

“Even Litian City should, in theory, have lent the First Prince a ten-thousand-man cavalry force as support.

“The Marquis of Jingnan is his elder, after all.

“This is the First Prince’s first time independently commanding a campaign.

“He should have offered some support.

“But none of that has happened.

“Sometimes, silence itself is an attitude.

“And under an attitude like that, no one in the Jingnan Army would dare show excessive enthusiasm toward the First Prince.

“Otherwise, they would be cutting themselves off from their original circle.

“Master owes the Marquis of Jingnan an enormous debt of favor.

“So even more than others, you cannot take the initiative to lick—”

“To lick what?”

“To naively offer help to the First Prince.”

Zheng Fan lightly tapped his fingers against the tabletop.

“Tian Wujing is throwing a tantrum?”

There were still far too many unanswered questions surrounding Dujuan’s death.

But Zheng Fan was ultimately an outsider.

He had neither the standing nor the ability to dig all the way to the bottom of it.

Still, this kind of “silence” from the Marquis of Jingnan really did not fit Tian Wujing’s usual style.

“There is another possibility.”

“Blind Man, don’t tell me we’re getting another round of ‘make a feint in the east and strike in the west.’”

The Blind Man shrugged.

“A tactic does not need to be new.

“It only needs to work.”

“The problem is, what are we supposed to do?

“If we miss this war, how do we keep developing?”

If they stayed trapped inside Shengle City, they could only sit there eating through their reserves.

Even the heroes of Liangshan who wanted to drink wine and eat meat every day still had to go down the mountain from time to time and ‘enforce justice on behalf of Heaven.’

But Shengle’s present problem was that they had already sheared the sheep around them far too aggressively.

The savages in the nearby mountains had been swept away several times on a large scale.

Even chives needed time to grow back after you cut them.

“Master, the best outcome would probably be for the First Prince to lose.

“If the entire situation collapses, then Shengle City becomes the pillar holding everything up.”

The Blind Man spoke very calmly.

“As long as the Jin situation falls into chaos, the Marquis of Jingnan will inevitably step forward again.

“And once that happens, our own deadlock will break.”

“Why not say the savages might roll over us in one wave instead?”

The Blind Man nodded.

“That is indeed possible.”

“None of the Emperor of Yan’s sons are easy to deal with.

“Situ Lei already gave everyone a lesson.

“I don’t believe this First Prince will make the same mistake of underestimating the enemy.”

“Master, there is no need to worry.

“When the cart reaches the mountain, there will always be a road around it.

“In any case, it will still take some time before the First Prince’s army reaches us.

“We will find a way.

“Liang Cheng told me a few days ago that the recent training has gone well.

“The troops are finally starting to look like something.

“And when I hold evening meetings with them, I can feel that their morale and spirit are very good.

“No matter how the winds and clouds outside change, we should first handle our own affairs properly and wait for an opportunity.

“And if an opportunity truly refuses to come—we can always create one ourselves.”

“That chicken soup of yours tastes pretty good.”

“Many thanks for Master’s praise.”

“All right. Go do your work.

“I need to practice my saber.”

“Master works hard.”

“Heh.”

After seeing the Blind Man out, Zheng Fan went into the courtyard to practice his saber.

Daily cultivation had already become part of his basic routine.

But perhaps because the breath of urgency inside him had suddenly relaxed after he advanced to Seventh Grade, the pressure he felt was no longer as intense.

As a result, his cultivation realm had not shown any obvious movement lately.

That was normal.

Zheng Fan knew perfectly well that his previous advances had already been astonishingly fast.

He had only just worked up a sweat when Xiao Yibo suddenly came rushing over with panic written all over his face.

“What is it?

“Why are you panicking?”

“Master!

“Master!

“There’s movement in that room in the rear residence.

“That room is making noises!

“Because of Master’s orders, this subordinate did not dare enter without permission to investigate.”

“Movement?”

Still holding his saber, Zheng Fan immediately headed toward the rearmost room in the residence.

That was where Sha Tuo Queshi stayed.

It was also forbidden ground within the residence.

Even the other Demon Kings normally avoided going near it.

Only Zheng Fan entered from time to time.

The moment he reached the little courtyard entrance, Zheng Fan clearly sensed that the temperature here was noticeably lower than elsewhere.

Liang Cheng had once explained that although Sha Tuo Queshi was now a “zombie,” his zombie bloodline itself was not especially high-grade.

His strength, however, was terrifying.

He was somewhat like a grassroots nobody who had risen to the top of the zombie world.

That was why he did not leak cold corpse qi endlessly like an ordinary zombie, as if someone had left a refrigerator door hanging open.

“Go find the Blind Man.

“Tell him what’s happening here.”

“Yes. This subordinate will go immediately.”

Xiao Yibo ran off at once.

Zheng Fan hesitated for a moment, then simply tossed his saber beside the courtyard gate and walked inside.

He trusted Sha Tuo Queshi deeply.

In fact, Sha Tuo Queshi was the person in this world Zheng Fan trusted most.

Alive and dead, the man had saved him before.

So Zheng Fan believed that no matter what change occurred in Sha Tuo Queshi, he would never deliberately harm him.

Of course, if Sha Tuo Queshi truly went berserk and tried to kill him, whether Zheng Fan carried a saber or not would make no difference.

He might as well enter empty-handed and at least score a few points for sincerity.

The coffin was trembling.

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

A muffled thud came from inside again and again.

The noises the servants had heard earlier must have come from here.

“Demon Child!”

Zheng Fan shouted.

The other Demon Kings all had their own work to handle.

So at the moment, the only one still inside the residence was the Demon Child, who had recently been busy babysitting.

A stone flew directly over.

Clearly, even before Zheng Fan called him, the Demon Child had already sensed the disturbance and come to see “Grandpa.”

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

The coffin shook harder and harder.

It looked as though whatever was inside could no longer wait to break free.

“Is he about to rise from the dead again?”

Zheng Fan muttered.

The Demon Child floated in front of Zheng Fan and shielded him.

“To hell with it.”

Zheng Fan hardened his heart.

Seeing that the coffin looked ready to burst apart, he stepped forward, circulated his qi and blood, and released a layer of black light over his body.

Then he gripped the coffin lid with both hands and shoved.

*Creeeeak...*

The lid slid away and crashed onto the floor.

Immediately afterward, a streak of green light shot out from inside.

“ROAR!”

A furious howl erupted from the stone.

The Demon Child’s form manifested instantly.

He hurled himself straight at the green light.

*Bang!*

The impact scattered the green glow.

The Demon Child was knocked back in front of Zheng Fan, baring his teeth at the light ahead.

Within the dispersed green radiance, the figure of a woman appeared.

A fox mask covered her face.

Her body was slender.

She seemed to be bathing, and yet at the same time, it looked more like she was undergoing some kind of ritual purification.

“ROAR!”

The Demon Child kept snarling at the woman, as if warning her.

The woman began chanting something.

She was speaking the language of the savages.

It was obscure and impossible to understand.

At first, Zheng Fan could not make out a single word.

His attention instead fell on the coffin.

Sha Tuo Queshi was still lying perfectly still inside.

He had not moved at all.

So the earlier commotion had come from the Jade Figurine Token, not Sha Tuo Queshi himself.

Then, all of a sudden, Zheng Fan realized he could understand the woman’s words.

This seemed to have already gone beyond spoken language.

It was more like information being transmitted directly through the mind.

“The radiant stars shall descend once more.

“The glory of the Holy Race shall continue anew.

“A new king has already been born.

“He shall uphold the guidance of the stars and lead the Holy Race toward a new age of splendor!”

So... this was a prophecy?

Zheng Fan remembered the Blind Man once analyzing the Jade Figurine Token.

It was a sacrificial sacred object of the savage people.

For something like that to possess the function of “foretelling” the future of its race was not strange at all.

Perhaps somewhere in the unseen workings of fate, it had truly sensed that the savages had entered the pass and were rising again.

So now it had started jumping out to proclaim the coming age.

If someone else witnessed a prophecy like this, they might become terrified.

They might even conclude that the savages’ future rule over the lands of the Three Jin was Heaven’s will.

But who was Zheng Fan?

Back when he drew comics, he had no idea how many times he had used some prophecy as an opening hook.

It was practically a worn-out cliché.

And this Jade Figurine Token did not seem especially bright.

This was not some savage sacrificial altar.

This was Zheng Fan’s own lair.

Jumping out here to perform a shamanic ritual and prophesy the rise of the savages was its brain malfunctioning?

“The radiance of the stars shall spread across the earth.

“The glory belonging to the Holy Race shall blaze once more.

“The new king has already been sent by the stars.

“Follow the new king, and the Holy Race shall rise again!”

“Okay, okay.

“I understand.

“Take a rest.”

Suddenly, the Jade Figurine Token seemed to notice Zheng Fan.

More precisely, it sensed the disdain radiating from him.

The woman abruptly turned toward Zheng Fan and began shrieking.

“Those who blaspheme the stars shall be buried beneath starlight!

“Those who obstruct the stars shall be trampled into dust!

“The Holy Race shall—”

At that exact moment, Sha Tuo Queshi—who had remained completely motionless suddenly raised one hand and closed it directly around the Jade Figurine Token.

Then, *Smack.*

His hand dragged the token straight back down into the coffin.

In an instant, the woman’s sacred-looking phantom vanished without a trace.

The Demon Child froze.

Zheng Fan froze too.

What the hell?

That ended exactly like someone switching off a television with the remote.

A long while later, Zheng Fan finally walked over.

He leaned against the edge of the coffin and looked down at Sha Tuo Queshi lying inside.

“So... you deliberately let me see that just now?”

It was not that Sha Tuo Queshi could not suppress the token.

He had deliberately made enough noise to call Zheng Fan over and show him a performance?

The feeling was exactly like a family member watching television in the living room and shouting for you to come out from the study or kitchen.

*Quick, quick, come look at this program.*

Zheng Fan did not know whether to laugh or cry.

He shook his head.

“You’ve learned to be mischievous too.”

[End of Chapter 293]