Chapter 406: Sweet Dream

Inside the rear-residence bedchamber, Count Zheng sat in an armchair.

A cigarette rested between the fingers of his left hand.

His right hand continuously stroked the black cat’s fur.

Xue San had already gone down.

He needed to find the spy who had leaked the information.

The Commandery Princess’s “false military report” from inside her carriage had been intended to secure one thing: the right to stay inside Count Pingye Residence tonight.

There were two layers to that.

First, the Commandery Princess had already learned in advance that Zheng Fan planned to settle her in a specially vacated residence in the southern part of the city. So before he could even say it aloud, she seized the initiative and demanded to stay in his own residence instead.

Second whatever the Commandery Princess wanted was inside Count Pingye Residence.

What did she want?

Count Zheng was not narcissistic enough to think the Commandery Princess wanted *him* and had insisted on moving into his home as groundwork for throwing herself into his arms.

He was Zheng Fan, Count Pingye of the northern city not the famously handsome Xu Gong of the Northern City.

Besides, this was a woman who three years ago could sacrifice more than a thousand laborers without blinking.

She was hardly some sheltered little girl who would feel her heart flutter once and then abandon everything for love.

According to the Blind Man’s analysis the Commandery Princess wanted to find the Savage King.

And indeed the Savage King really was living in the underground prison beneath Count Pingye Residence.

Qian’s Silver-Armored Guard, Great Yan’s Secret Intelligence Department, and Chu’s Phoenix Nest were the three strongest intelligence organizations among the great states.

And beneath those three great intelligence institutions, any sufficiently powerful noble or faction would almost inevitably begin weaving an intelligence network of its own.

For a newly risen power like Snow Sea Pass—one that was still constantly absorbing refugees and outsiders—completely preventing enemy agents from mixing sand into the grain was nearly impossible.

Just like last time.

If the elderly Grand Patriarch of the Yu Clan had not been willing to sacrifice his own life to expose that supposed mother-and-daughter pair, then those two women would probably already have settled into life at Snow Sea Pass.

They might even have reached the stage of manufacturing a “chance encounter” with Count Pingye himself.

So although Snow Sea Pass’s “Brocade-Clad Guard” was remotely overseen by the Blind Man and personally directed by Xue San, Zheng Fan was not truly angry over what had happened this time.

Nor did he think they had handled their duties poorly.

But the Commandery Princess falsely reporting military intelligence from inside her carriage that was almost identical to Masao Iwasato’s “blank rounds” stunt.

She cared only about achieving her own objective and enjoying the result while directly selling out the spy who had risked his life infiltrating the enemy.

One leaf falling reveals the coming autumn.

From this one incident—

Count Zheng’s picture of exactly what kind of woman the Commandery Princess was became clearer still.

“Haaah.”

Zheng Fan’s thoughts were tangled.

His fingers unconsciously pressed harder while petting the cat.

The black cat had no choice but to continue working.

It did not dare reveal the slightest displeasure.

At this very moment, Liang Cheng personally commanded three thousand armored soldiers waiting around the perimeter of Count Pingye Residence.

Several civilian houses outside the residence had even been emptied.

Inside them now waited elite troops in armor, sabers at their waists, ready for orders.

Count Zheng had never intended to create this kind of formation.

Truly.

He had not.

The problem was that the Commandery Princess’s aggressiveness had completely overturned his earlier preparations.

Both sides had already lost the rhythm of events.

Now there was genuinely only one option left.

Take things one step at a time.

Siniang brought over a cup containing water.

She took the cigarette butt from Zheng Fan, extinguished it in the cup, then walked behind him and began massaging his temples.

“Master, Sha Tuo Queshi may cause trouble tonight.”

Zheng Fan drew in a breath.

Then slowly nodded.

If the Young Marquis could be moved away in advance, then moving Sha Tuo Queshi was not actually much harder.

Even if they could not take him very far, carrying the coffin out of Count Pingye Residence beforehand would have been easy enough.

But Zheng Fan had not done so.

Leaving things alone was, in truth, deeply irresponsible.

But Zheng Fan’s heart had softened.

And he had hesitated.

Putting everything else aside—

Old Sha was the first person Zheng Fan had met after awakening in this world who had treated him with unconditional kindness.

Before dying, Sha Tuo Queshi had given him a push forward.

He had given Zheng Fan the chance to earn his first true pot of gold.

Even after death after becoming a zombie—

Sha Tuo Queshi had saved him more than once.

Put yourself in another man’s place.

The man’s true enemy had now come to the door.

And you hurriedly moved him away.

Why?

Was it not simply because you were afraid the Commandery Princess might suffer an accident and drag you into the consequences?

In the end you were still doing it for yourself.

And the person you would be betraying was still Sha Tuo Queshi.

Arranging for the Commandery Princess to stay in the southern residence had already been Count Zheng’s final concession.

She refused.

She insisted on forcing her way into his residence.

Then this was fate.

Fate!

Siniang clearly understood what her Master was thinking.

She also knew that compared with his relationship with the Demon Kings, Master regarded the bond between himself and Sha Tuo Queshi as the purest relationship he possessed.

And that was indeed the truth.

Every so often, Master would bring wine and a few small dishes to the coffin.

He would sit beside it.

Talk.

Chat.

That trust between them had endured even though one lived and the other was dead.

The problem was if Sha Tuo Queshi truly erupted tonight, and Seventh Uncle and the Commandery Princess’s guards failed to protect her would Count Pingye Residence intervene?

Or not?

What a damned tangled account.

Suddenly—

Zheng Fan seemed to remember something.

He removed his hand from the black cat and instead touched his own chest.

The Demon Child was gone!

Under normal circumstances, whenever nothing was happening and Zheng Fan remained safely inside Snow Sea Pass, the Demon Child was allowed to take leave and go help watch the children.

But today very obviously was not exactly peaceful and sunny.

“Where did the Demon Child go?”

Zheng Fan looked toward the Blind Man, who had been sitting diagonally opposite him drinking tea.

The Blind Man had kept his eyes closed the whole time.

The Commandery Princess’s people were extremely cautious.

After moving into the western residence, they had even searched for hidden rooms, secret chambers, and similar mechanisms.

But they could never know—

Count Pingye Residence had its own “radar.”

Of course, the Blind Man was proceeding very carefully.

First of all, Seventh Uncle was standing openly on their side.

He needed to probe delicately so he would not alert the old swordsman.

Second, although Li Liangshen had not come, the Commandery Princess’s retainers undoubtedly included other strange and capable experts.

The Marquis of Zhenbei Residence had guarded Beifeng Commandery for a century.

Its depth was not something ordinary people could imagine.

Experts at Li Liangshen’s level could only be encountered through fate.

But obtaining somewhat more ordinary experts for the Commandery Princess, that would hardly be difficult.

The Blind Man also knew that Qi Refiners might not be especially formidable in direct combat, but they were extremely sensitive to divine sense.

If one was hidden among the Commandery Princess’s people, that person might detect his mental power.

Still when he heard Zheng Fan’s question, the Blind Man ended his initial probing and opened his eyes.

“The Demon Child...”

He began searching for the Demon Child.

But after scanning the regions he could reach, he found no trace.

At last he could only say:

“Master, this subordinate cannot find him either.”

By rights, the Young Marquis was currently protected by a group of armored soldiers and was completely secure.

The Demon Child should not have been there.

“Then where did he go?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Master, there are only two areas in the entire residence that this subordinate cannot currently search.

“One is the courtyard where the Commandery Princess is staying.

“This subordinate is still probing carefully and does not yet dare flood that place with mental power.

“The other is the underground chamber containing Sha Tuo Queshi’s coffin.

“The baleful qi surrounding Sha Tuo Queshi seriously interferes with this subordinate’s mental perception.”

The implication was obvious.

The Demon Child was most likely in one of those two places.

One beside the Commandery Princess.

The other beside Sha Tuo Queshi.

Zheng Fan did not think the Demon Child had run off to the Commandery Princess.

She had not shown any intention of becoming his mother.

At least his father had not received any clear signal of that sort.

So the Demon Child was probably with Sha Tuo Queshi.

Why would a resentful infant choose this exact moment to run over to a zombie?

Zheng Fan helplessly raised one hand and rubbed between his brows.

Nobody understood the Demon Child better than he did.

The little bastard definitely had not gone there to mediate.

He could only have gone there to stir shit.

...

The Demon Child whom his own father had just praised as a shit-stirrer was currently standing beside the coffin.

The stone containing his true body floated nearby.

His spectral form had fully emerged.

Sha Tuo Queshi sat inside the coffin.

He did not look toward the Demon Child.

In fact, his eyes remained closed.

“Jiejie...

“Jiejie...”

The Demon Child’s laughter was low and suppressed.

Yet it carried a strange power capable of tempting the heart.

At a moment like this his behavior was essentially pouring oil directly onto the fire.

The Commandery Princess had arrived.

Worse she had entered the residence itself.

And so, somewhere within the unseen workings of the world, a thread that could temporarily be called *fate* had been connected.

The living often did everything they could to fulfill the wishes of the dead so the deceased could finally rest beneath the earth.

Sha Tuo Queshi’s wish was actually very simple.

The final thing he had done while alive was go to the Marquis of Zhenbei Residence and demand an explanation from the Commandery Princess.

The Barbarian Royal Court had retreated.

He had not.

This was obsession.

An obsession rooted far too deeply to remove.

So deeply that even after his death it had never truly faded.

“Jiejie...

“Jiejie...”

The Demon Child lightly waved his tiny arms again and again.

Compared with Count Zheng—who did not want to betray his conscience, yet also refused to abandon the foundation he had built, and therefore inevitably carried a certain hypocritical sentimentality the Demon Child was much purer.

After all—

Zheng Fan had once placed the Demon Child inside Sha Tuo Queshi’s coffin and let the two of them keep one another company.

A resentful infant who had carried hatred through nine lifetimes could hate a person lifetime after lifetime.

But if he truly wanted to treat someone well he could also take that kindness to an absolute extreme.

He was, fundamentally, a creature of extremes.

There was no golden mean inside his world.

The Demon Child could feel Sha Tuo Queshi’s hatred.

*If you hate her—*

*then go kill her.*

*Why endure it?*

*Why hold it in?*

*What are you still worried about?*

*What is left for you to fear?*

*Do you still possess anything you cannot afford to lose?*

*Go.*

*Go.*

*Do what you want to do.*

...

Inside the bedchamber the Blind Man stood.

“Master, should this subordinate go bring the Demon Child back?”

Zheng Fan did not answer.

He merely propped his chin on both hands and stared ahead, somewhat lost in thought.

The Blind Man began walking toward the door.

“Forget it, Blind Man.”

Zheng Fan finally spoke.

The Blind Man stopped.

Zheng Fan sighed.

He extended his tongue.

Licked his lips.

Then leaned backward again until his body settled fully into the reclining chair.

He pulled the black cat back onto his lap.

And resumed rubbing its fur.

“Heaven wants to rain, a mother wants to remarry.

“I don’t want to manage this anymore.

“Tell me—isn’t this fate?”

“Master, believing in fate is, psychologically speaking, a form of compromise and avoidance.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“Yes.

“That’s exactly what I want right now.

“I want to avoid it.

“I didn’t invite her here.

“She came herself.

“I wanted her to stay in the residence prepared in the south.

“She was the one who insisted on moving into mine!

“I don’t care whether she rushed here because she wanted to find Gou Moli.

“The road was her own choice.

“She’s the one insisting on courting death.

“So why the hell should I exhaust my heart and lungs cleaning up after her?”

That was resentment speaking.

Little Sixth resented the Commandery Princess.

Now—

Count Zheng resented her too.

You’ve relied on your status for so long that acting however you please has become a habit, hasn’t it?

If your father were not standing behind you then even if Li Liangshen was at your side even if that bullshit Seventh Uncle was beside you—

I would throw two thousand cavalry into the grinder if that was what it took.

I’d still capture you alive drag you over and make you kneel down and call me Daddy!

Fuck it.

This lord is done serving you!

The Blind Man nodded.

Then sat back down again.

He lifted his teacup and drank a mouthful of tea that had already gone cold.

“Master, if something truly happens—the consequences will be enormous.”

If the Commandery Princess suffered an accident at Snow Sea Pass the chain reaction afterward was enough to make one’s head ache simply imagining it.

But Zheng Fan’s next sentence left even the Blind Man with nothing to say.

“If Old Sha truly makes a move—are we—are *we*—supposed to stand beside the Commandery Princess and beat Old Sha down?”

A’Ming lifted his wine pouch.

He drank a mouthful of blood and wiped his lips.

Siniang shrugged.

Her gaze darkened slightly.

The Blind Man smiled.

And said nothing.

Because he discovered that Master’s decision was actually correct.

Whether Master or the Demon Kings all of them had received Sha Tuo Queshi’s help before.

Outside the Yin City relay station, if Sha Tuo Queshi had not ultimately covered their retreat, the people who died would not merely have included Zheng Fan.

The Blind Man and Xue San would have died too.

And that was already ignoring the possibility that, if something happened to Master, all the Demon Kings might collectively drop dead with him.

Repaying grace with betrayal was too damned tasteless.

Zheng Fan turned toward Siniang.

“Siniang.

“I’m hungry.

“Make some late-night food.”

“Yes, Master.”

The ingredients had actually already been prepared.

They had been readied from the moment the Commandery Princess entered the residence.

But the Commandery Princess had not eaten.

So nothing had been touched.

Not long afterward—

Siniang brought over two bowls of noodles and two small side dishes.

A’Ming did not eat.

He continued drinking blood.

The Blind Man showed no courtesy.

He walked over, picked up one bowl, and started eating.

Zheng Fan took the other bowl and breathed in the fragrance.

Siniang’s noodles had excellent bite.

They had always matched Zheng Fan’s preferred texture perfectly.

Siniang then brought over a bamboo steamer filled with buns.

The Blind Man picked one up and took a bite.

Rich with fat but not greasy.

“Master, with Siniang’s skill at making buns, it would be a damned waste if we never opened a Dragon Gate Inn someday.”

No matter when everyone still had a retreat.

If they could no longer keep playing around in court politics wasn’t there still the free and carefree jianghu?

Zheng Fan picked up a bun and bit into it.

Then said:

“She—still doesn’t have the qualifications to force us into selling buns for a living!”

...

“Ugh...

“Mm...

“Ugh...”

Inside the prison the Savage King’s face was drenched in sweat.

His eyes were tightly shut.

He was having a nightmare.

Inside the dream he had returned to the Wang River.

To the moment his main savage army had been broken.

Countless savage warriors wailed.

Stared in confusion.

Screamed.

Once an army collapsed, it fell like a mountain.

There had been no way whatsoever to recover the situation.

It was despair.

A deep, suffocating despair that kicked you flat onto the ground, ground its heel into your face and left you unable even to spit out a final threat.

The Savage King desperately wanted to tear himself free from the nightmare.

But he could not.

He could only watch those once-familiar faces.

Those subordinates who had followed him while they struggled together for the grand cause of the savage people.

One after another, they stood before him.

Smiled at him.

Then, their faces.

Their bodies.

Began tearing apart piece by piece.

Blood-drenched horror unfolded directly before him.

The Savage King had suffered nightmares more than once or twice.

Ever since moving into the underground prison beneath Count Pingye Residence he experienced them almost every night.

But tonight the nightmare was exceptionally intense.

So intense that even after he realized it was a dream he still could not escape.

Because tonight beyond the wall beside him there was not only a coffin.

There was also a Demon Child radiating an enormous tide of resentment.

The Demon Child was calling.

Calling Sha Tuo Queshi to awaken.

Hatred was among the most primitive and pure emotions in existence.

It lacked love’s capacity for tolerance.

But precisely because it was so singular it often carved itself deeper into the bones.

At last, Sha Tuo Queshi’s eyes slowly opened.

But this awakening was different from all the previous ones.

There was no green light.

No blood-red radiance.

Instead his eyes were clear.

Yes.

Clear.

And in that instant the baleful qi that had always radiated from his body was suddenly drawn inward.

Forced into complete restraint.

Along with it the vast resentment the Demon Child had worked so hard to stir up was forcibly suppressed as well.

“...”

The Demon Child.

As a professional shit-stirrer the Demon Child felt as though he had succeeded.

But the problem was the spectacular explosion he had expected never appeared.

Sha Tuo Queshi turned his face toward the Demon Child.

The Demon Child’s expression stiffened slightly.

Because he could not detect even a trace of hatred inside Sha Tuo Queshi’s gaze.

Then, Sha Tuo Queshi stretched out one hand.

And grasped the stone containing the Demon Child’s true body.

Sha Tuo Queshi opened his mouth.

This time his throat no longer produced the chaotic, beastlike noises of before.

Clear syllables emerged.

“Help... me...”

...

The location of Count Pingye Residence had been chosen by Liang Cheng.

According to the principles of feng shui, the site matched the overall formation of Snow Sea Pass within and echoed the Tianduan Mountains without.

At this moment, the Commandery Princess had already lain down.

Her eyes were closed.

*Knock. Knock. Knock.*

Someone knocked on the door.

The Commandery Princess opened her eyes.

She sat up from the bed.

Ordinarily, once she retired for the night, her people would not disturb her.

And Seventh Uncle would never knock in this manner.

The Commandery Princess climbed out of bed.

She smoothly drew the saber hanging at the bedside and draped a cloak over her shoulders.

Then she walked to the door.

She did not call for anyone.

Because if something capable of threatening her was already waiting beyond that door then shouting or not shouting no longer made much difference.

Using the tip of her saber she pushed the door open.

Outside there was no small courtyard of the western residence.

No deep-night silence.

What she saw was an endless desert.

And upon that desert a tribe was being slaughtered.

The Commandery Princess closed her eyes.

Opened them again.

The killing continued.

The killers wore black armor.

They were soldiers of the Zhenbei Army.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of the Commandery Princess’s mouth.

Mocking herself she murmured:

“I would actually have this kind of...”

She drew in a deep breath.

Closed her eyes once more.

Then finished the final two words:

“...sweet dream.”

[End of Chapter 406]