Chapter 534: - Prophecy

Fan Li’s way of thinking had always been very “simple,” but that simplicity was, in truth, a kind of genuine great wisdom.

After something happened, there was no need to stare at how enormous the process had been, how many threads it involved, or how wide the ripples spread. By the time everything finally converged, there might only be two or three choices left.

You could not say that spending ages weighing every benefit and drawback before still hesitating at the end was true prudence, while skipping all those tangled, complicated lines and simply flipping a coin at the final decision meant being heartless or brainless.

Because the former often failed to think up anything particularly constructive anyway. And aside from childhood lessons where a teacher’s ruler made right and wrong absolute as you recited your texts, the adult world contained very little that could truly be called absolutely right or absolutely wrong.

So after all that analysis and deliberation, most people eventually still had to grit their teeth and say: Fine. This one.

Mm.

Then why suffer through all the rest?

Fan Li did not know the woman before him. News of Xue San’s return had already spread, but the Demon Kings had only just received their new assignments, while Fan Li himself had gone looking for mourning clothes, so he had not heard the details.

All he knew was that the words this woman muttered in her sleep might drag him, the other six, and even Master away from the main road they were presently walking and into an entirely different kind of trouble.

It was like that woman Zheng Fan and the princess had encountered hanging from a tree in Chu while crossing the mountains back toward the Jin lands controlled by Yan.

Back then, Zheng Fan had chosen to ignore her because his principal contradiction at the time was getting himself and the princess safely out of Chu and back into Yan-controlled Jin.

Anything along the road that might trigger some side quest could simply be ignored. The main conflict stood before him. Secondary conflicts no longer mattered.

But the sleep-talk coming from this Hu Bamei was no mere secondary conflict.

She might actually trigger a fight over which storyline they were supposed to be following.

Demon Kings. Fiends. Seven. Stone stele. A prophecy?

Fan Li’s first reaction was:

What a pain in the ass.

He took three deep breaths.

Then raised his axe.

“Fuck! What are you doing?”

Xue San’s shout rang out as he sprang in front of Fan Li.

Fan Li’s axe came down.

It genuinely came down.

Fan Li either did nothing, or he did it for real. He had no habit of pretending.

Two daggers appeared in Xue San’s hands. After darting into position, he planted both feet and leapt upward.

Clang!

Axe and daggers collided.

The instant Fan Li saw Xue San appear, he decisively pulled back some of his strength.

But Xue San had blocked while jumping, which already left him unable to exert his full power. More importantly, Fan Li was now one level above him and specialized in brute strength. So even with Fan Li holding back, Xue San still suffered an overwhelming disadvantage in a direct clash.

Yet his daggers seemed glued to Fan Li’s axe and did not slide away.

Fan Li withdrew his downward force and rolled the axe sideways instead.

Bang!

Xue San was flung across the room and smashed into a pillar.

Fortunately, at the moment of impact, he curled his body and changed the collision into a two-footed push against the pillar, shedding most of the force. When he landed, he immediately stabilized himself and almost instinctively prepared for a second attack.

“Enough! Stop!”

Zheng Fan roared.

Fan Li immediately lowered the axe. He looked toward Master and scratched his head.

Xue San’s chest rose and fell sharply as he turned toward Hu Bamei, who had just been startled awake by the commotion and was rubbing her eyes.

“Ah... I ate until I was full and then fell asleep...”

...

“Master, while she was dreaming, she said Demon Kings, descend, fiends, seven of them, and something about chatting with a stone stele.”

Fan Li repeated Hu Bamei’s sleep-talk with exceptional seriousness and detail.

The Demon Kings who had been assigned tasks earlier had all returned by now.

Compared with the previous meeting, this one had fewer outsiders.

Jin Shuke and the Savage King were not present. Only the Demon Kings sat here.

The Blind Man had originally planned to leave with Jin Shuke tomorrow to “grab” laborers from the rear, so he had not departed yet.

“Is this... a prophecy?” A’Ming asked.

Liang Cheng remained silent.

Xue San was half the person involved in the whole affair, since he was the one who had brought Hu Bamei back. For now, he merely watched without speaking.

The Blind Man smiled. “This is starting to sound like the prophecy of the Jade Figurine Token.”

The Jade Figurine Token had once carried a prophecy: the radiance of the stars would shine across the snowfields, and the Savages would rise again and usher in a new age of glory.

Under the Savage King, the Savages had indeed begun showing signs of revival.

And then...

Mm.

Everyone knew what happened next.

Zheng Fan coughed twice and said, “The key question now is whether those words actually refer to us. One of me, seven of you, Demon Kings, fiends... that feels a little too coincidental.”

The Blind Man replied, “Master, it isn’t necessarily a coincidence. One matched with seven is an extremely common arrangement. One grandfather and seven Calabash Brothers. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Guo Jing and the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan. The Seven Fairies descending to the mortal world. Seven Wolves...”

He habitually pulled out an orange, held it beneath his nose, and breathed in its scent.

“So, Master, my suggestion is that we don’t need to panic over this, nor spend too much effort thinking about it. I admit this world has occultists and Qi Refiners. Master Zang once severed Great Yan’s dragon vein beneath Yanjing, yet the Great Yan Dynasty is still surging forward with overwhelming momentum. In the end, man conquers Heaven remains the true principle.”

“And most importantly...”

The Blind Man turned his face slowly around the room.

Aside from the Fourth Lady, all the other Demon Kings were present.

He put a segment of orange into his mouth.

“Most importantly, we arrived here muddleheaded, so we may as well have arrived muddleheaded. Since we’re here, we make ourselves at home. Master, you were euthanized back then. As for us, we existed only inside our own comics. This life is a rebirth for Master and for all of us. None of us particularly longs for that old world or that old time anymore. So what I mean is this: if none of us has ever intended to go back, and all we want is to enjoy the life before us, why should we care how we got here? We already believe man can conquer Heaven. The Jade Figurine Token, and what Emperor Yan said in front of Master Zang, have both proven that the Heavenly Dao Qi Refiners love talking about is ultimately only a flower in a mirror, the moon reflected on water. So why should we care about whatever ending some prophecy claims has already been announced? We do not care about the beginning. We do not care about the ending. Why waste our minds on either?”

The Blind Man’s argument made a great deal of sense.

Zheng Fan nodded slightly, then said, “But she...”

What were they supposed to do with Hu Bamei?

Looking at matters now, the axe Fan Li had wanted to bring down earlier seemed increasingly reasonable.

One chop.

Problem solved.

The Blind Man said, “Her disposition will still have to be decided by Master.”

As he spoke, he turned his face toward Xue San.

Although he was blind, Xue San could very clearly feel that the Blind Man was “staring” at him.

The Demon Kings shared an excellent relationship.

But Demon Kings were still Demon Kings.

If something threatened their collective interests, the others would not go soft.

That was why Fan Li had wanted to chop Hu Bamei earlier, why the Blind Man was “staring” at Xue San now, and why Liang Cheng and A’Ming’s apparent indifference was itself a kind of coldness.

Because Xue San had already told them that Hu Bamei had saved his life.

Their present days were reasonably good. They had a shared goal and had walked the same main storyline for years. Perhaps even Xue San himself did not want to abandon everything they had now, throw away the effort of the past several years, and turn toward some new field simply to investigate and explore it.

To an outsider, the entire matter might look like a ridiculous overreaction.

But Zheng Fan and the Demon Kings were all people who had long since stepped outside the boundaries of any fixed “trope.”

Learn from Chenxiang, train bitterly, master your skills, split a mountain open to save your mother. Exhausting, wasn’t it?

Learn from Sun Wukong, coax Tang Monk through eighty-one calamities just to fetch scriptures from the Western Heaven. Worth it?

Certainly, the purpose and determination of those two deserved respect.

But this kind of life, full of bitter grievances and constant inability to live freely and joyfully, was not something any of them wanted.

Zheng Fan tapped his fingers against the armrest.

The Demon Kings all waited for him to decide.

After a while, Zheng Fan looked at Xue San.

“You’re interested in her?”

Xue San opened his mouth.

He did not really know what liking someone or being interested in someone was supposed to feel like.

Still, he answered:

“I probably... care about her.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“Then we can’t kill her.”

Xue San released a long breath.

Fan Li looked disappointed.

The Blind Man’s shoulders loosened slightly.

A’Ming and Liang Cheng continued maintaining their cold expressions.

“If it were some unrelated person who suddenly popped up wanting to deliver a prophecy about us, I wouldn’t hesitate. One saber and I’d send him straight to Heaven. But San’er happens to care about this woman a little. That changes things. At the end of the day, this isn’t some question of grand righteousness or absolute principle. We’re all here to play. Every one of us has the right to play. Didn’t I go and snatch a princess back myself? And that time, all of you had to accompany me and take the risk together. On the official record, we can say I brought that princess home for the development of our common enterprise. But she isn’t ugly, and when night comes, I’m the one holding her in my arms. I’m the one enjoying the comfort. If I get to play, naturally you all get to play too. On this point, I have always insisted that we are equals. So here’s what we’ll do. When the Sword Saint returns to Snow Sea Pass, Hu Bamei goes with him. I’ll write a letter to the Fourth Lady and have her keep an eye on Bamei and spend some time with her first. We do not have the energy right now to untangle whatever is going on with her. There are three urgent matters in front of us. First, continue the campaign against Chu and make sure Zhennan Pass ultimately falls. Only then can Snow Sea Pass and our foundation be secured. Second, after I go to Tian Wujing, I’ll probe his attitude as much as I can. If Zhennan Pass falls, I want it under my control. We already regard eastern Jin as something inside our pocket. Third, expand our manpower, train the army, and increase our strength. That is what the Blind Man and Jin Shuke are about to handle. Those three things. Once all three are accomplished, we will effectively become a miniature Marquis of Zhenbei Residence standing in eastern Jin. Once our own strength rises, we can deal with anything else much more calmly. What do all of you think?”

The Blind Man, Liang Cheng, A’Ming, and Xue San all knelt.

“Master is wise.”

Fan Li, still dressed in mourning clothes, also started to kneel.

Zheng Fan stopped him first.

“All right. You don’t need to kneel.”

The disappointment on Fan Li’s face was impossible to hide.

Zheng Fan waved a hand.

“There’s been a little too much going on today. I’m getting irritated. If no one has anything else, let’s break up. For a while, we’ll all be going our separate ways anyway.”

Everyone laughed.

Then the Blind Man, A’Ming, Liang Cheng, and Fan Li saluted and left.

Only Xue San remained seated.

Everyone knew he still had something to say.

And everyone also knew something else.

Among the Demon Kings, only Xue San and the Demon Pill had yet to advance.

“Master, let me add some more tea for you.”

Xue San stood and poured tea.

Then he sat down again, looked at Zheng Fan, and said:

“Thank you, Master.”

“What are you thanking me for?” Zheng Fan found it rather amusing. “There isn’t even any real shadow of this thing yet. Killing someone just to nip it in the bud would be going much too far.”

“Master, I used to think that as a person, you were actually rather...”

“Rather what?”

“Sometimes very ruthless. Other times, rather too much of a bleeding-heart saint.”

“So that’s how it is.” Zheng Fan took a sip of tea. “I think so too. Though that phrasing isn’t entirely accurate. Better to say I separate work from life.”

“But this time, I feel that you’ve always had a scale in your heart.”

“That sounds too grand. It isn’t anything like that.”

“Truthfully, if the seven of us had been scattered individually across this world, we absolutely would not be as... well-behaved as we are now.”

“Well-behaved?”

“I don’t mean that Master tamed us. It’s more that because Master exists, even when we’re running free without restraint, there is still at least one visible line in front of us. If Master did not exist, we would probably still miss the days when we once lived together. Our views are similar. Our tastes are similar. Even beasts understand living in groups, much less people like us. As long as someone is human, as long as he’s alive, instinct tells him to search for some circle he belongs to. But the seven of us could never simply remain together forever. To say something from the heart, enjoying each other’s company is one thing, but each of us genuinely looks down on the others.”

Zheng Fan nodded and continued listening, doing his best to enter the proper state.

The women in the red tents, when they sensed a customer was about to finish, would deliberately moan a few times and squeeze a few times harder so he would hurry up, spill what needed spilling, and free the bed for the next customer.

That was experience.

By the same principle, Zheng Fan had been licked through enough rounds of flattery that he had acquired this kind of experience too.

And experience brought foresight.

Mm.

Comparing himself to one of the women in a red tent might not be especially appropriate, but as analogies went, it was extremely vivid.

Right now, Xue San was clearly emotional.

He was almost there.

“In the past, I wondered about something too. It would have been enough for the seven of us to truly come alive. Why did there have to be an extra Master? Besides, at the beginning, Master genuinely gave people the feeling of a cute little thing. Certainly, Master improved very quickly. Looking at you now and then remembering you from a few years ago, it almost feels like two different people. But... I really don’t enjoy those raising-and-development games. They give me no sense of achievement, and they consume too much time. Maybe the Blind Man likes them, because he enjoys influencing people. Maybe the Fourth Lady likes them because she probably has no interest in other men at all. Maybe A’Cheng likes them too, because Master has now become the one among us who understands warfare best. If Master were willing to study wine tasting, A’Ming would probably enjoy it as well. But I’m different. What I like, my particular tastes, Master wouldn’t enjoy. And I’m not willing to spend too much effort cultivating someone or doing some long-term thing. Before, I held my nose and did it anyway. After I went to Chu last time, I stayed in the State of Liang for a very long time. Just as I said when I came back, I missed you terribly. But in truth, it wasn’t you specifically that I missed. It was that whenever I got bored in Liang, I missed everyone more and more. Yet I wouldn’t specifically miss any one of them, because every one of those bastards has a body full of rotten habits and pretentious quirks. So what I probably missed was the atmosphere of everyone gathered together. Doing things together. Taking risks together. Farming together. Developing together. Building a pyramid together, or piling up a throne together. And at ordinary times, mocking each other to our faces and tossing memes back and forth. All of that exists because Master exists. You are the bond holding us together. Not merely because we depend on you to recover our strength.”

Zheng Fan looked at Xue San speaking with such deadly seriousness.

For some reason, he desperately wanted to laugh.

But he did not want to ruin the atmosphere.

So he held it in.

Holding it in was rather difficult.

His expression gradually became stiff.

Or, to put it more generously, solemn.

Xue San knelt formally before Zheng Fan.

He saluted with complete seriousness.

“Master.”

In the next instant, the aura around San’er abruptly darkened.

A shadow appeared behind his body.

It swayed once.

Then overlapped with him again.

Xue San bared his teeth in a grin.

At last, Zheng Fan no longer had to keep holding in his laughter.

He laughed too.

Hoo.

Finally done.

Truthfully, the fundamental reason Xue San had stayed in the State of Liang so long was to clean up the aftermath of Zheng Fan stealing the princess.

So as for whether this advancement came naturally from accumulated merit or from the emotional insight he had just poured out... that was rather difficult to say.

“Master, please rest. This subordinate will withdraw.”

“Mm. Congratulations.”

“Many thanks, Master.”

“Oh, right. The Prince of Jingnan wants to transfer a batch of craftsmen from me to help the friendly armies with their sieges. Since you’re back, you lead the team.”

“Yes, Master.”

Xue San walked out of the reception hall.

The moment he reached the courtyard, he began hopping continuously, then launched himself into the air and performed a spinning jump with his eyes closed.

When he landed, he discovered the Blind Man standing by the gate.

The moment he saw him, Xue San’s anger flared.

“Fuck, Blind Man! You actually dared encourage Master to kill my woman just now!”

The Blind Man smiled without concern.

“Master wasn’t going to kill her. Our Master isn’t that narrow-minded.”

“Then you...”

“If I hadn’t said those things, where would all that emotion of yours have come from afterward? Look. Sure enough, you advanced.”

“So I should thank you?”

“Of course, if you still possess a conscience.”

“Oh, I thank you so fucking much.”

“Heh. By the way, you really fell for her?”

“If the rest of you spend more time around her, you’ll change your opinion of her too.”

“That sentence smells rancid with romance.”

“Who was it that used to feed me this garbage? Just hearing you bring it up pisses me off!”

“Heh. One more thing. Do you think this prophecy could be real?”

“Didn’t we all discuss that already?”

“I mean privately. I think the prophecy might actually be real.”

“Either it’s true or it’s false. Only two choices.” Xue San did not care.

The Blind Man shook his head.

“No. There’s a third.”

“What?”

“What if the prophecy is real, but no one ever said the Demon Kings in the prophecy had to be us?”

[End of Chapter 534]