Chapter 356: Back on the Board

The rented little carriage had red cords tied around it, but no flowers had been pinned on; they were afraid of attracting too much attention. Instead, a piece of red embroidery hung from the curtain, stitched by the woman riding inside.

He Chu drove the carriage.

For the past few days, He Chu had felt as though everything around him had become inexplicable.

An inexplicable wind.

An inexplicable rain.

An inexplicable sky.

His little sister—the treasure he and his father had painstakingly protected all these years—had heard one outrageously rude and abrupt sentence from that bastard and then gone and delivered herself straight into the man’s bed!

And He Chu could not even explode over it.

He knew exactly how stubborn his sister was underneath. When she had pressed that hairpin to her throat, she truly would have driven it in.

Fine.

The raw rice had already been cooked.

What could they do now?

Their daughter, their sister, had been the one to throw herself at him.

It was like doing business. Once you had already invested your capital, did you keep the business going or not?

Stop now, and the capital was already gone. You recovered nothing.

Keep going, and you had to continue building the business.

At this point, father and son no longer hoped to make a profit.

They did not even hope to break even.

All the He family wanted now could be summed up in one sentence:

If we’re going to lose, then by damn, we’re going to know exactly how we lost!

Old He’s household was certainly not some prominent family in Nan’an County, but neither were they destitute.

Father and son ran a pork stall together and actually earned a respectable income.

He Chu was large, sturdy, and decent-looking, and his family was not poor. Matchmakers had been coming to propose marriages for him for years. For plenty of young women, the simple fact that marrying into the He household meant meat on the table every meal was attractive enough.

So the He family had never needed to “sell” its daughter in order to finance a wife for its son.

The day after everything happened, father and son closed the stall and stayed home. They sat at the little table drinking themselves gloomy.

They had guarded that fine cabbage so carefully.

The fence had been tight.

How the hell had the cabbage suddenly grown legs and run outside just because someone said one sentence to it?

For the first half of the night, they drank in frustration.

They simply could not understand it.

During the second half, the more they drank, the clearer their heads became. At last they started discussing how to salvage the situation.

Old He suggested:

“Have him marry into our family?”

He Chu immediately waved the idea away.

“Little Sister won’t agree.”

Old He deflated at once.

Forget the fact that Yan Little Sixth was a Chief Constable. If he truly became a live-in son-in-law, he would never again be able to patrol Nan’an County with his back straight.

A man who married into his wife’s household always stood half a head shorter when trouble came.

A hundred years ago, live-in sons-in-law had practically been treated the same as convicts. The moment a royal levy went out, such men were inevitably among those conscripted and sent to garrison the frontier.

With no better option, Old He pulled a small wooden chest from beneath the bed and set it on the table.

Inside was the He family’s entire foundation.

He Chu watched his father open the chest. Jewelry and deeds lay inside, along with neat rows of silver ingots.

Old He sighed.

“Ever since your mother passed away, the biggest business of your father’s life has really been earning your betrothal gifts and saving Sisi’s dowry.”

There had never been any fixed standard for betrothal gifts or dowries.

A richer betrothal gift gave a son more choices and a better chance of marrying a good woman.

A richer dowry meant a daughter could stand straighter after entering her husband’s household and would be less easily bullied.

That was a parent planning for his children.

It was not business.

“Haaa...”

He Chu let out a long breath.

Even as the eldest son, after working beside his father at the stall all these years, he had never realized Old He had quietly accumulated so much property.

Forget the silver and jewelry. There were several deeds to land outside the city, and He Chu had not even known the family owned fields.

Old He pointed at the chest. There was a hint of guilt toward his son in his face.

After hesitating, he asked:

“Half for her?”

There was an old truth: whether brothers and sisters remained close often depended on whether their parents could keep the bowl of water level.

But according to the customs of the age, a married daughter was water poured out of the family. In the end, the family property was expected to pass to the son.

He Chu shook his head.

Old He’s face darkened. He drew breath, ready to curse his son as a beast only for He Chu to pick up his wine bowl, turn it once in his hands, and say:

“That Chief Constable Yan isn’t from around here. We don’t know whether his family is rich or poor.

“If his family is well-off, then if Little Sister’s dowry is too small, she won’t be able to hold her head up or speak firmly before her parents-in-law. Great households care most about propriety, but in the end, that sort of propriety is built on money.

“If his family is ordinary—or even half-ruined—then a small dowry won’t help either. Little Sister will have to suffer poverty with him, serve his parents, serve her husband, and later serve her children.

“Back at home, even though Little Sister helps cut meat and works around the stall, we’ve never let her do any heavy labor.

“Give it all to her.”

Old He stared at him.

“You little beast. You don’t want any?”

He Chu slapped his own chest.

“There are plenty of girls willing to marry me, He Chu. If the money is gone, you and I can earn it again. Your son might not be much, but I’m not so useless that I can’t find a wife.”

Old He hesitated.

Then he thought about it and realized the boy was right.

His daughter was his little padded jacket, close to the heart. No matter how tired he became from working all day, when he saw her beneath the oil lamp mending his clothes, he would remember her mother and feel as though all the exhaustion had vanished.

He could not bear to let his daughter suffer.

Not even a little.

At last, Old He slammed the table.

“Done!”

...

Compared with the He family preparing as though they were about to face a great enemy, Chief Constable Yan behaved as if absolutely nothing had happened.

You slept with the girl.

What?

Were you planning to wipe your mouth clean afterward and take no responsibility at all?

Every morning and evening, He Chu waited outside Chief Constable Yan’s door.

Urge him?

Too embarrassing.

He could not get the words out.

So he simply stared.

And stared.

And kept staring.

Chief Constable Yan had thick skin. Every time, he laughed it off.

Just when He Chu was getting ready to bring his butcher knife over and have a proper conversation, Chief Constable Yan finally came to him with a shameless smile.

What for?

To borrow money from his future brother-in-law.

Why borrow money?

To rent a carriage.

Why rent a carriage?

To go home.

Old He and his son had waited and waited until smoke was practically rising from their brows. At last, their future son-in-law finally gave them a definite answer.

Even an ugly bride eventually had to meet her parents-in-law.

That was proper ritual.

And ritual could not be discarded.

The He family might be humble, but they still had standards.

The son-in-law had no money?

Lend him some!

A grand carriage, carved and decorated, pulled by three horses, with a coachman and a serving woman included—Old He gave the order. Even if he had to slaughter a whole pig for nothing, rent it!

He had spent his entire life behind an oily meat stall precisely so that, on a day like this, he could straighten his back and possess the confidence to stand tall.

Chief Constable Yan stopped them anyway. He said there was no need for such extravagance.

Old He was unhappy.

What did he mean, extravagance?

Maybe Yan Little Sixth’s face was worthless, but the He family still needed theirs!

Old He pointed straight at Chief Constable Yan’s nose, spraying him with spit.

“I want my in-laws to see that although the He family is no great wealthy household, if anyone bullies my daughter, she still has a natal family capable of taking her back and raising her properly!”

When Old He said it, his presence was almost as oppressive as Mount Tai itself.

Of course, if he had known exactly which family of in-laws he intended to go posture in front of, whether he could still have spoken with such magnificent confidence was another question entirely.

Chief Constable Yan was even more shameless.

He simply explained that in the past, all his salary had gone toward eating and drinking. Any “respect money” from shops on his patrol route had also been spent the moment it arrived. He truly had no savings.

From now on, he intended to live properly, and naturally his wife would control the household money.

Unfortunately, his family foundation was thin.

So Father-in-law should keep the money that would otherwise be wasted on renting a grand carriage.

Perhaps in the future, he might still need to come over and sponge off the He family.

Old He nearly choked to death.

Goddamn bastard.

He had never seen such a shameless son-in-law in his life!

In the end, the grand carriage became a small one. Three horses became one. The serving woman disappeared, and He Chu became the coachman.

An elder brother personally escorting his own little sister to her husband’s home was reasonable enough.

And truthfully, He Chu also wanted to inspect Chief Constable Yan’s family circumstances.

Someone from the bride’s family had to go over.

Someone had to make it clear:

Do not bully our girl.

Chief Constable Yan sat inside the carriage with his mouth open, occasionally eating dried fruit or peeled peanuts his new wife fed him.

From time to time, He Chu glanced back from the driver’s seat. Every time he saw it, something sour rose in his heart.

“Little Sister, if you keep doing that, you’ll spoil him rotten!”

He did not expect her to imitate their late mother and become some Lioness of Hedong. But at the very least, could she not learn the scholarly ideal of husband and wife respecting each other enough to raise the serving tray to eyebrow height?

The woman answered with complete confidence:

“He’s my man. If I want to spoil him, I’ll spoil him. What about it?

“Jealous? Then hurry up and find me a sister-in-law. Let her take care of you the same way!”

Chief Constable Yan was delighted.

He could not stop himself from leaning over and planting a kiss on his wife’s smooth cheek.

*Smack!*

*Crack!*

One sound came from the kiss.

The other came from He Chu furiously whipping the horse in front of him.

Truthfully, He Chu already had a woman in his heart.

There were many girls willing to marry him, but he had turned away every matchmaker.

The woman he liked was the Registrar’s daughter.

Every time He Chu delivered pork to the Registrar’s residence, she would deliberately wait where she could see him.

And he would find some excuse to linger a little longer so he could look at her too.

Normally, He Chu smelled strongly of pig blood and raw meat.

But at his waist, he always wore a scented sachet that young lady had embroidered with her own hands.

Some things, however, could only be buried in the heart.

Matching doors and matching households.

That goddamned curse of matching doors and households!

He Chu had once knelt before Old He and said he wanted to join the army.

He wanted to win merit on the battlefield.

He wanted to bring glory to their ancestors.

He wanted to come home afterward qualified to marry her.

But Old He had said:

“If His Majesty issues a levy, if Great Yan truly reaches that point, then your father won’t stop you. I’ll pawn the household if I have to, go into the city, have a blacksmith forge me a saber, and march with you!

“But it hasn’t reached that point yet.

“I’m old.

“This stall and this household still need you to hold them up.”

Sitting inside the carriage, Chief Constable Yan heard the story from his wife and laughed.

“What kind of problem is that?”

He Chu became inexplicably angry.

He wanted to snap back:

*What, should I imitate you and make the girl pay for everything herself?*

Unfortunately, the girl who had paid for everything herself happened to be his own little sister.

He could not say it.

Infuriating.

So he whipped the horse again.

Nan’an County was not far from Yanjing. There was no need to spend several days and nights on the road.

They left around noon, found an inn that evening, set out again the next morning, and reached the walls of Yanjing by midday.

Chief Constable Yan produced a document he had asked the county Registrar to prepare. He invented some official errand as the reason for his travel, passed through the inspection quickly, and entered the capital.

Yanjing really was enormous.

He Chu drove carefully, terrified of overstepping or colliding with anyone.

“Where does your family live?” he asked.

Chief Constable Yan did not answer immediately. He looked at the sky and asked instead:

“Have you heard of Quande Restaurant’s roast duck?”

He Chu nodded.

Of course he had.

“Come on. Let’s eat!”

Chief Constable Yan decided to entertain his future brother-in-law properly. He was the local, after all.

Besides, a few years ago, Quande Restaurant had belonged to him.

“Expensive, isn’t it?” He Chu asked.

Chief Constable Yan froze.

One Quande roast duck cost about as much as an ordinary household spent in a month.

He turned and looked at his wife.

The woman was considerate.

“Husband, I want noodle soup. I heard the noodle soup in the capital is different from what we have back home.”

A good woman knew how to protect her husband’s pride.

Chief Constable Yan, however, stupidly turned toward his brother-in-law.

“Brother-in-law.”

“What?”

“Lend me money.”

“...”

He Chu.

“I’ll pay you back. Really. When next month’s salary arrives, I’ll return it.

“No matter what, my wife finally came to Yanjing for the first time. I have to treat her to a duck!”

Was Quande Restaurant’s duck really that delicious?

Chief Constable Yan had personally created the entire marketing campaign around the dish.

How could he not know?

But this was about ritual.

Come to Yanjing.

Eat one Quande roast duck.

Only then was the experience complete.

Years later—even when you were old—you might no longer remember whether the duck was truly delicious or what it tasted like.

You would remember only that the first time you entered Yanjing, you ate that duck.

And who ate it with you.

He Chu looked at Chief Constable Yan.

Then at his little sister.

He nodded hard.

“I’ll treat!”

“Bullshit. I’m paying. That’s the rule. We don’t mess with the rule.”

On this matter, Chief Constable Yan was extraordinarily serious.

People raised in Yanjing were all like this.

I might have no money.

But I absolutely cannot lose face!

The carriage arrived outside Quande Restaurant. An attendant came over to settle the horse, and the three entered.

This was not Quande Restaurant’s main establishment in Yanjing, only a branch.

More importantly, the original manager had left long ago for Shengle.

So no one here recognized Chief Constable Yan as their former owner.

“First-class private room. Two prime ducks. Full condiments. One pot of Peach Blossom Brew!”

Chief Constable Yan ordered with magnificent generosity.

Expensive.

It was fucking expensive.

The “prime duck” was mostly a marketing gimmick.

And the Peach Blossom Brew was watered down.

Sins he himself had committed in the past now he had to personally fall into the pit.

For a moment, Chief Constable Yan genuinely regretted not having been a better person.

Once they entered the private room, He Chu became uncomfortable.

He could hardly lean against his brother-in-law the way his sister did.

His brother-in-law, however, looked completely at home, casually instructing the waiter to pour tea.

The tea had barely been poured.

He Chu had not even taken his cup yet.

His brother-in-law lowered his head, sniffed once then knocked the cup straight over.

“Who the hell are you trying to fool?”

The waiter immediately apologized, wiped the table, and went to prepare a new pot.

Chief Constable Yan turned toward He Chu.

“People here are all like this. They always think they’re a cut above everyone else. They judge the customer before deciding what dish to serve.

“Heh.

“Now they even judge the customer before deciding what tea to pour.

“Pathetic.”

He Chu was still busy calculating how many pigs he would need to slaughter for free to cover this meal.

The moment he heard his brother-in-law speak that way, he immediately said:

“This is the capital. We should still be careful.”

People said that if one of Yanjing’s ceremonial arches collapsed onto ten men, five of them would turn out to be high officials.

Chief Constable Yan shook his head.

He sighed.

“I’ve been careful for too many years already...”

Then he lowered his gaze toward the woman sitting beside him—the woman who had given herself to him willingly.

He smiled.

“Now, I don’t want to be careful anymore.”

...

The Emperor’s ceremonial carriage appeared at the Princes’ Residence.

The Princes’ Residence was where imperial princes lived. In earlier years, the previous Emperor had been fond of “seeking immortality and pursuing the Dao,” so many temples had been built inside the palace complex.

After the current Emperor of Yan took the throne, the court’s atmosphere changed completely. Monks, priests, alchemists, and similar figures had their property confiscated and were either exiled or thrown into convict ranks, while many of the former temples were converted into government offices.

That was also why Yan’s imperial palace was not as neat and regular as the palaces of other capitals. It had never been laid out as one clean square complex.

Officials had submitted memorials suggesting the palace be rebuilt.

The Emperor rejected every one.

Victory reports were arriving one after another.

The Marquis of Jingnan’s memorial had arrived too.

It included recommendations for postwar rewards, but exactly how those rewards would be implemented still needed Zhao Jiulang and the other ministers to discuss the details.

An unexpected storm had finally been suppressed.

The pressure on the Emperor of Yan had eased considerably.

Originally, regarding the Situ Clan, he had only intended to make them submit.

But the savage disaster had deteriorated badly, and then Chu intervened. Great Yan had been forced to mobilize troops, grain, and silver for a massive campaign.

Those expenditures had never been part of the Emperor’s original plan.

Compared with the devastated lands of the Three Jin, what he truly wanted was to attack Qian.

The State of Qian was too wealthy.

But it was militarily weak.

During the previous Three-State War, Yan had indeed seized the greater part of Jin. Yet it had not truly struck Qian deeply. It had only humiliated the state.

But a country that large and rich could not be left alive after being knocked down.

Give it time to recover.

Let it sharpen weapons and train soldiers.

Then dealing with it later would become far more difficult.

The war against the savages had severely obstructed the Emperor of Yan’s original plan. His campaign against Qian could only be postponed.

There was no choice.

And just the previous night, the Secret Intelligence Department’s network inside Qian had sent back another piece of information. Wei Zhonghe personally delivered it to the imperial desk.

The Emperor of Qian was preparing to enfeoff the Zu Clan and Zhong Clan as Dukes, while granting noble titles to a number of military commanders as well.

More importantly he intended to overturn the old case involving the Tattooed-Face Chancellor.

The matter had not yet been announced publicly. It remained only a draft policy.

But the implication was already obvious.

That neighboring emperor had used the last war to remove the influence of several Chancellors from his court.

Most notably, Chancellor Han had barely retired and returned home before the court prepared to overturn the Tattooed-Face Chancellor case that Han himself had personally engineered.

They were not leaving Chancellor Han even a shred of face.

This meant the influence of the scholar-official class over Qian was being weakened to an unprecedented degree, while the standing of military commanders continued to rise.

The report revealed one thing clearly: that neighboring emperor was no longer merely sharpening his weapons.

He was already grinding the butcher’s knife.

*He borrowed my blade to cut away his own obstacles.*

Because of that report, the Emperor of Yan had been in a poor mood all day.

He could already foresee that several years from now, once Yan finally recovered enough to campaign against Qian again, the difficulty would be far greater than it had been two years earlier.

Even the string of great victories across the Three Jin had been dimmed somewhat by the news.

Then, around noon that day, the Seventh Prince had been flying a kite at the Princes’ Residence when he accidentally fell into a pond and suffered a fright.

Already restless and irritated, the Emperor simply ordered his carriage brought around and came to see his youngest son.

The Emperor of Yan was an emperor.

But he was also a father.

The difference was that ordinary fathers might give everything for their children.

For him, the meaning of descendants was perhaps first the continuation of the state and dynasty, and second the occasional satisfaction of having a child or grandchild around to dote upon.

He still held a fair amount of affection for this youngest son.

Mostly because the others had already grown up.

They were no longer cute.

The eunuchs and palace maids of the Seventh Prince’s residence knelt on the floor in terror.

The Emperor did not implicate them broadly.

He sat beside his youngest son’s bed, checked that the boy had no other discomfort and showed no sign of developing a chill, then finally relaxed.

Beside the bed lay the whistling kite.

Once released into the sky, it produced a crisp whistle.

It was beautifully made and cleverly designed.

Even at a glance, it looked genuinely entertaining.

The Seventh Prince leaned against his father, a little nervous, as though he knew he had done something wrong.

“Who gave you this kite?” the Emperor asked.

It was not an ordinary toy. One look revealed the workmanship put into it, and something like it would be difficult to buy on the open market.

“Reporting to Imperial Father, Sixth Brother gave it to this son half a year ago. Sixth Brother knows this son likes these things, so he often makes toys and sends them to me.

“Imperial Father, has Sixth Brother’s illness recovered yet?

“This son... this son wants to visit Sixth Brother.

“I miss him.”

“Be good. Rest properly. Drink another bowl of ginger decoction later.

“When your Sixth Brother recovers, he will come out.”

“Yes, Imperial Father. This son will behave and drink the ginger decoction.”

The Seventh Prince’s face twisted miserably.

He clearly hated the taste.

The Emperor stayed with him a while longer before leaving the room.

Wei Zhonghe had waited outside rather than entering, unwilling to disturb this rare moment of affection between imperial father and son.

The Emperor rubbed between his brows.

Then, almost casually, he asked:

“What has Chengjue been doing lately?”

The Sixth Prince had been demoted to Nan’an County to serve as a constable by the Emperor personally.

Naturally, every movement he made remained within the Secret Intelligence Department’s sight.

The Emperor did not review reports on him every day.

He had too many things to handle.

Too many sons too.

He genuinely could not watch all of them constantly.

Sometimes, when he happened to remember, he simply asked Wei Zhonghe.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, Sixth Highness has just taken a woman.”

“A concubine? Heh. His days seem comfortable enough. No matter where he goes, he never manages to suffer.”

Wei Zhonghe hesitated.

“Not a concubine?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty... it does not appear so.”

“Explain clearly.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The woman’s surname is He. She is not from the pleasure quarters. She comes from a respectable household.”

“The He Clan?”

“They sell pork in Nan’an County.”

“He... married a butcher’s daughter?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. And that household appears to have been urging Sixth Highness to bring their daughter to meet her future in-laws and settle the marriage.”

“In-laws?”

“Yes.”

“Heh.”

The Emperor let out one dry laugh.

After a while, he gave another.

“Heh.”

“Your Majesty, it was the butcher’s daughter who offered herself to Sixth Highness. The He family originally did not approve, but the rice has already been cooked, so now they’re anxious.”

Wei Zhonghe could not quite bring himself to say *she threw herself at him*.

But the meaning was perfectly clear.

At this, a genuine trace of amusement finally appeared at the corner of the Emperor’s mouth.

This was one advantage of having sons.

They could go around stealing other people’s cabbages.

His own pig lost nothing.

Even if the girl’s family happened to slaughter pigs for a living.

No matter how mighty and ambitious an emperor might be, he was still human in the end.

A man could deliberately abandon many ordinary things.

He could not uproot every last one of them.

The Emperor asked:

“And the He family?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, we investigated them. The He household is clean. There is no problem.”

The Emperor nodded.

“They’re forcing him to go meet his in-laws. What has he done?”

“Your Majesty, Sixth Highness left Nan’an County yesterday and headed toward Yanjing. This slave reported it to you last night.”

Clearly, the Emperor had forgotten.

“He entered the capital?”

“Yes. He brought the woman with him, along with the He family’s eldest son.”

“Heh. What is he doing? Bringing his not-yet-formally-married wife to see Us?

“Coming specifically to tell Us how impressive Ji Chengjue is—even as a mere Chief Constable, some girl still begs to be with him?

“Or is he coming to flaunt the fact that he found Us a butcher for an in-law, so from now on We can bask in his glory and never worry about lacking meat?”

Wei Zhonghe’s mouth twitched.

He desperately suppressed the urge to laugh.

The Emperor sighed.

“Where is he?”

“The latest report said he entered the capital around noon.”

“Did he submit his tablet requesting audience?”

“No.”

An imperial prince who wished to enter the palace and request an audience normally had to submit notice in advance.

Father and son were father and son.

But inside the imperial house, father and son were sovereign and subject as well.

At present, only the Crown Prince possessed the right to request an audience whenever he wished.

“He did not?”

Wei Zhonghe stepped half a pace backward.

“Your Majesty, this slave dares report something we uncovered.”

“Speak.”

“Eunuch Zhang, Sixth Highness’s personal attendant, sent men two days ago to clean Sixth Highness’s private residence outside the palace. They furnished it, moved Eunuch Zhang’s outside companion into the house, and bought maidservants and household servants from a broker.

“This morning, Eunuch Zhang left the palace.”

The meaning could not have been clearer.

The Sixth Prince had brought his newly taken wife back to Yanjing but had never intended to bring her into the palace to meet his imperial father.

Instead, he planned to have an old eunuch and the eunuch’s female companion sit inside his private residence, pretend to be his parents and family, and fool the He household!

Anger appeared unmistakably in the Emperor’s eyes.

He was the Son of Heaven.

The Emperor of Great Yan.

And today, he had discovered that some eunuch was preparing to replace him in the role of father and perform the duties that should have belonged to him.

How could he not be angry?

How could he not care?

“Bastard!”

Wei Zhonghe immediately bowed.

“The He family’s daughter offered herself to him willingly, and he intends to toy with their household like this?

“Who the hell does he think he is?”

Naturally, the Emperor could not simply announce that he was jealous of a eunuch.

He turned away and faced the pond ahead.

It was winter.

The water looked bleak and lifeless.

After a long silence, the Emperor said:

“Bring that brat into the palace.”

...

He Chu ate an entire roast duck by himself.

As he ate, his heart bled.

One slaughtered pig could feed a household for a very long time.

This one duck was only enough for one meal and not even enough to fill him!

But the taste... really was damn good.

Chief Constable Yan, meanwhile, was perfectly content wrapping duck meat in pancakes, adding sauce, and feeding them to his wife.

The woman ate happily and looked completely satisfied.

Then noise rose from downstairs.

Chief Constable Yan leaned back and opened the window of the private room.

From there, he could see the main entrance.

Several palace guards had arrived on horseback with a eunuch wearing blue official robes.

“What’s happening downstairs?” He Chu asked.

On his first visit to the capital, the butcher’s son remained excessively cautious about everything.

Chief Constable Yan did not answer.

He simply turned back, picked up the half pot of watered-down Peach Blossom Brew left on the table, raised it to his lips, and drank two large mouthfuls.

Then he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

“In the past, outside Snow Sea Pass, the Sword Saint shattered his realm and entered Second Grade!”

*Bang!*

He slammed the wine pot down onto the table.

The Sixth Prince rose.

He straightened his clothes.

Then, in a low voice, he declared:

“Today, here in Yanjing, I, Ji Chengjue enter the board again!”

[End of Chapter 356]