Chapter 599: - Dragon Throne

When you were young, your elders or the teacher at the village school would tell you that a man living in this world ought to reason with others.

When you grew older, you would discover that in this world, many things could not be reasoned through at all.

The old man now felt that the scene unfolding before him made absolutely no sense.

Sorcerers fluctuated greatly in strength depending on circumstances, and in ordinary terms, people rarely treated a Third Grade sorcerer as equivalent to other Third Grade experts.

Take Master Zang, for example.

He was the foremost Qi Refiner of Great Qian, master of Rear Mountain.

Yet when he traveled to Yanjing, he still needed Baili Sword beside him as protection.

In the right place, a sorcerer could play an enormous and irreplaceable role.

But that also meant that in certain other places and at certain other times, his usefulness could suddenly become extremely limited.

Earlier, the old man’s formation had failed to trap Sha Tuo Queshi because Sha Tuo Queshi did not possess the blood and qi of a living man.

Now, the old man’s array could not suppress him either.

This array worked by suppressing consciousness, then exploiting flaws in that consciousness to reverse control over the target.

Sha Tuo Queshi’s response was simple and decisive.

Most people who were deceived were those who believed themselves clever.

The more sophisticated the deception, the more it targeted people who considered themselves intelligent.

So Sha Tuo Queshi sealed away his own consciousness and turned himself into a zombie possessing only the most basic instincts.

If I turn myself into a complete idiot who cannot even understand human speech, then how exactly are you going to trick me?

“Cough... cough...”

The green-robed man coughed twice.

He lowered his head and looked again at the three holes in his chest.

With some difficulty, he asked:

“So it failed again?”

The old man looked helpless.

Lost.

Bitter.

Finally, he nodded.

“Yes. You guessed right.”

The green-robed man gritted his teeth.

With obvious unwillingness, he said:

“He really isn’t that strong.”

And that was true.

At this moment, Sha Tuo Queshi genuinely was not that strong.

At least, that was how the two men saw it.

After all, the man who appeared was not the Sword Saint of Jin.

If the Sword Saint had appeared earlier, neither of them would have wasted a single word.

They would have turned and fled.

For the green-robed man, if he had not suffered such an inexplicable loss during their first head-on clash, he could absolutely have used either saber or sword to circle Sha Tuo Queshi and slowly wear him down.

With the old man supporting him, their chances of victory would actually have been extremely high.

And now, after Sha Tuo Queshi sealed his consciousness and left only instinct behind, his raw strength had not declined.

But without technique, experience, and conscious thought assisting him, his actual combat effectiveness had become considerably weaker.

One could say that at his peak, the green-robed man could have defeated the present Sha Tuo Queshi alone.

The problem was he was badly wounded now.

The old man’s embarrassment lay elsewhere.

His methods worked well against living people.

They also worked against puppets possessing intelligence.

But against Sha Tuo Queshi in his current state, he had almost no effective means at all.

After losing to Tian Wujing, the Sword Saint had specifically spent time considering how one might use the principles of arranging troops and formations to handle a jianghu duel.

He had benefited greatly from that reflection.

And now, Sha Tuo Queshi appeared to have sealed his consciousness, yet invisibly his actions aligned with the principles of warfare.

Whether that was intentional or merely instinct was difficult to say.

But if one analyzed the matter afterward like a wise man after the event, then his overwhelming appearance at the beginning, the tremendous pressure of his aura, might only have been preparation.

Afterward came answering move with move.

And finally, he searched for the optimal solution given the condition of both sides, then forced the duel toward a decisive clash.

This was precisely the fundamental logic of two armies facing each other in war.

Was it coincidence?

Hard to say.

After all, before his death, Sha Tuo Queshi had been the Left Guli King of the Barbarian Royal Court, commanding tens of thousands of Royal Court cavalry with many subject tribes beneath him as well.

If he understood a little strategy, that was hardly strange.

If he did not, that would have been the truly unbelievable part.

Tian Tian still clung around Sha Tuo Queshi’s neck.

Sha Tuo Queshi charged.

He ran on all fours.

At this moment, he no longer possessed any concept of movement technique.

And without movement arts, running on all fours like a hunting leopard allowed his flexibility and bodily toughness to combine in the most efficient possible way.

It was actually the ideal method of charging.

The green-robed man stabbed his saber into the ground.

Then, following the direction of Sha Tuo Queshi’s charge, he ripped the blade upward.

A wave of saber force swept toward Sha Tuo Queshi.

Sha Tuo Queshi twisted his body sideways.

His left hand and left leg struck the ground.

Then he accelerated again.

Tian Tian was almost flung horizontally.

His eyes squeezed shut.

His entire body nearly flew free.

Fortunately, he still managed to hold on.

This was partly thanks to Sha Tuo Queshi’s clothing.

There were many loops sewn into it.

They had no practical purpose.

They existed only to match the style of Barbarian clothing.

Back when the Princess first came to the Count’s Residence, Sha Tuo Queshi had handed over the Jade Man Token he had preserved to Fourth Lady.

That had shown Fourth Lady considerable respect.

After all, Sha Tuo Queshi could, in a sense, be considered Count Zheng’s, and therefore the Master’s, adoptive father.

And the adoptive father had recognized her as the principal wife.

Fourth Lady returned courtesy for courtesy.

She personally wove a black robe for Sha Tuo Queshi.

Right now, Tian Tian had slipped his hands and feet through those loops, effectively locking himself against Sha Tuo Queshi’s body.

The loops dug painfully into his limbs.

But Tian Tian gritted his teeth and did not cry out.

He only knew his godfather was Zheng Fan.

He did not even understand what it meant to be the godson of Great Yan’s Count Pingye.

Much less what kind of terrifying existence his biological father was, a man feared by all Four Great States.

But some things truly were inherited in the bones.

Especially this stubborn toughness, this ability to endure pain far beyond other children his age.

The green-robed man pulled his saber free.

Seven waves of saber force bloomed before him.

But when Sha Tuo Queshi reached him, he suddenly launched into the air.

The green-robed man did not panic merely because the defenses before him had been bypassed.

Instead, he raised the saber and created another layer of saber force above his own head.

He thought Sha Tuo Queshi intended to strike from above.

Instead, Sha Tuo Queshi leaped much higher than expected.

He passed directly over the green-robed man and landed before the old man.

The old man did not panic.

He pinched the jade pendant around his wrist.

Blue light instantly wrapped around his entire body.

Then he retreated.

As he moved backward, his figure began fading.

This was an escape technique.

If they had been in the desert, where sand could serve as a foundation and desert light could provide concealment, the technique would have worked at its absolute best.

But even here, it was enough.

He only needed to remove himself temporarily from the enemy’s sight.

After that, whether he fled outright or continued the stalemate would depend on how much strength the man from Wenming Mountain still possessed after being wounded.

Yet when the green-robed man saw this, he cursed immediately:

“Idiot!”

The green-robed man came from Wenming Mountain, but he was not truly a jianghu man.

His combat habits were calculating and efficient.

They had plainly been forged through repeated brushes with death on battlefields.

That was why, at any dangerous moment, he could select the choice best suited to his current circumstances.

The old man was different.

The old man was a jianghu man.

A jianghu man from Beifeng Commandery.

Jianghu people inevitably carried a certain looseness.

A certain naïveté.

A tendency to take things for granted.

Most importantly, the old man was neither Martial Artist nor swordsman.

He was a sorcerer.

And in direct killing combat, sorcerers were awkward and often useless.

A Martial Artist who made one mistake could rely on his body to withstand the damage, then begin again.

A swordsman who made one mistake could immediately unleash a killing move and forcibly retrieve the situation.

But a sorcerer had thin skin and fragile flesh.

Once he made one mistake, what did he have left to save himself?

The jianghu always said that years ago Master Zang entered Yanjing to cut the dragon vein.

But did Master Zang himself truly enter the city?

Of course not.

He stayed inside a small house in the Yanjing suburbs with Baili Sword guarding the door.

Even someone at Master Zang’s level had to tread carefully upon carefully.

What, then, of one slightly larger rat that had merely crawled out of the sand dunes?

The green-robed man felt helpless.

He no longer had time to assist the fight on the other side.

Because he knew there was no need.

The old man had made another mistake.

These foolish jianghu people always loved trusting experience.

He was using an escape art to slip away.

Yet he did not understand that to the corpse puppet before him, the world was not filled with colors.

It consisted of only one thing.

Blood-food.

Blood-food.

Blood-food!

You want to use brilliant colors to deceive a color-blind man?

How could that possibly work?

The escape technique looked excellent.

In reality, it was only deceiving oneself and covering one’s ears while stealing a bell.

And that was precisely what happened.

Sha Tuo Queshi suddenly lunged toward the west.

Then on all fours, mouth open, he pounced into apparently empty air.

Crunch! Crunch!

“Aaaaahhhhh!”

The old man released a shrill scream.

His figure reappeared.

Now the green-robed man no longer needed to explain anything.

The old man understood perfectly well what mistake he had made.

If the green-robed man had been wounded and forced into disadvantage because his luck was poor and he did not understand the nature of an existence like Sha Tuo Queshi, then the old man himself had essentially done nothing today except make mistake after mistake.

In a life-and-death duel at this level, any error could kill.

The fact that he survived three mistakes in a row before dying was already tremendous luck.

The green-robed man lowered his saber.

He knew he had lost.

Sha Tuo Queshi was tearing into the old man’s corpse.

The old man had already died.

Blood splashed everywhere.

It spattered Tian Tian across the face.

Tian Tian’s eyes widened.

There was no fear on his face.

But no excitement or delight either.

Because Count Zheng liked cleanliness.

Fourth Lady liked cleanliness.

Demon Pill liked cleanliness too.

And so

Tian Tian liked cleanliness.

The chubby boy merely felt that his face was covered in sticky blood.

It felt very uncomfortable.

But seeing Sha Tuo Queshi eating with such enthusiasm, he felt too embarrassed to cry or make trouble.

He could only lean his neck backward a little, trying to keep more blood from splashing onto him.

His expression held faint resistance.

From time to time, he even lifted one small chubby hand in front of his face.

But Sha Tuo Queshi plainly did not know how to care for a child.

Before sealing his consciousness, he might still have possessed parenting wisdom like “without crossing a sandstorm, how can a wolf be made?”

Now, with only instinct remaining, he did not even know whether what he was doing counted as education.

Then he tore one finger from the old man’s body and offered it to Tian Tian.

Tian Tian stared wide-eyed at the finger.

A green ring still sat upon it.

“Mm...”

Tian Tian hesitated.

“ROAR!”

Sha Tuo Queshi turned his head and roared at Tian Tian.

Tian Tian pouted.

But he still accepted the finger.

“ROAR!”

Sha Tuo Queshi roared again.

Then lowered his head and continued eating.

The stronger the expert, the richer the blood-food inside his body.

On this point, Master A’Ming, Snow Sea Pass’s resident wine-taster, had the greatest authority to speak.

Sha Tuo Queshi’s current condition was simple.

He had been injured.

So he needed replenishment.

Tian Tian tried to pull the green ring off the finger.

He tugged upward.

He tugged downward.

But no matter what he did, the ring refused to come free.

Humans naturally liked shining things.

Tian Tian was no exception.

And he knew his godfather especially liked using shiny things to decorate the residence.

When Sha Tuo Queshi finished feeding, he raised his head.

He saw Tian Tian still struggling with the severed finger.

Sha Tuo Queshi reached out.

Snatched the finger back.

Put it into his mouth.

Then removed it again.

The finger was returned to Tian Tian.

The ring, however, remained inside Sha Tuo Queshi’s mouth.

He turned toward the ground and spat it out.

“Mm...”

Tian Tian once again received the slick, greasy finger.

His expression showed obvious reluctance.

“ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!”

Sha Tuo Queshi roared three times in a row.

He seemed to be urging Tian Tian to eat.

Tian Tian understood him.

At least, he understood the meaning.

Then the chubby child’s lips pushed outward.

Tears began glittering in his eyes.

The last time Tian Tian cried had been all the way back when the Sword Saint carried him, still wrapped in swaddling clothes, to Shengle City.

After settling down there, Tian Tian had never cried again.

Even if no one paid attention to him, he could happily play by himself.

But this time, being taken out by his adoptive grandfather had actually driven him to tears.

Truthfully, one really could not blame the child.

Even an adult forced to eat something like this would probably cry.

Tian Tian’s eyes brimmed with tears as he looked again at Sha Tuo Queshi.

“ROAR!”

Sha Tuo Queshi roared again, urging him on.

Tian Tian forced himself not to cry.

But he still choked a few times.

Heaven itself might have pitied him.

The godson of Great Yan’s Count Pingye, the legitimate son of Great Yan’s Prince of Jingnan, had somehow been reduced to eating raw flesh and drinking blood.

And at that moment, the green-robed man, who had been watching the scene the whole time, swept his saber casually.

A wave of saber force flew toward them.

Sha Tuo Queshi caught Tian Tian with one hand and dodged aside.

Immediately, his attention turned toward the green-robed man.

The green-robed man rolled his eyes.

Then lowered his head again.

The three wounds in his chest had already become black and rotten.

He looked helpless.

But just then, the sound of galloping hooves came from the distance.

A cavalry unit arrived at speed and surrounded the area.

Sha Tuo Queshi did not care about cavalry.

He crouched and prepared to charge the green-robed man.

Bzzzzzz...

The sound of an erhu drifted through the air.

The Blind Man sat on horseback, erhu in hand.

His mental force traveled through the instrument and reached Sha Tuo Queshi, probing him like stones cast into water and stirring ripples in the consciousness Sha Tuo Queshi had sealed away.

In an instant, Sha Tuo Queshi stopped moving.

His eyes slowly closed, then slowly opened again.

The dense crimson inside them had faded.

Then

Sha Tuo Queshi turned his head and looked at Tian Tian on his shoulder.

The child’s whole body was covered in blood.

And in his hand he was still holding that finger.

Sha Tuo Queshi reached out.

Snatched the severed finger away.

And threw it to the ground.

Tian Tian blinked and sniffed.

“We need one alive,” the Blind Man called.

Sha Tuo Queshi lowered his head and checked his wounds.

Then he supported Tian Tian with his left hand, turned, and began walking toward Snow Sea Pass.

“Looks like you’ll need to sleep for another while,” the Blind Man said.

Sha Tuo Queshi stopped.

He looked at the Blind Man.

Then asked:

“Can I... recover?”

Clearly, this half-human, half-ghost existence, drifting in and out of confusion from time to time, was torment for the former Left Guli King.

If he had simply become a mindless zombie relying purely on instinct, there would have been no trouble at all.

But he had recovered part of his awareness.

The Buddha said all living beings suffer.

To live while fully conscious was itself suffering.

“Don’t worry. I have a friend who is basically no different from a normal person. Just endure a little longer and go back for another sleep. It probably won’t be too long before we can help you recover to roughly what you once were. The only thing that cannot change is that your body will still be hard and cold.”

Sha Tuo Queshi gave a slight nod.

The Blind Man smiled.

“Maybe this is fate. Back then, Master kowtowed to you once. He came out ahead. But in truth, you didn’t lose either. Give us a few more years and you may discover you even made a little profit.”

“You... like... calculating.”

The Blind Man shook his head.

“I just dislike owing favors. What Master owes, I help repay. And since you’re family, we should repay you properly.”

Sha Tuo Queshi handed Tian Tian to the Blind Man.

The Blind Man took the child and used his own sleeve to wipe the blood from Tian Tian’s face.

Then

Sha Tuo Queshi sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and allowed the aura around him to fall silent.

He looked as though he had become an ordinary corpse again.

The Blind Man continued cleaning Tian Tian while turning his head toward the green-robed man standing there, gravely wounded.

“What’s your name?”

“Xu Chuang.”

“Where are you from?”

“Wenming Mountain in Great Liang.”

“Who sent you?”

“The Secret Intelligence Department.”

Xu Chuang laughed.

Hearing this answer, the Blind Man laughed too.

Xu Chuang gradually stopped laughing.

The Blind Man continued.

Xu Chuang asked:

“Is it really that funny?”

The Blind Man answered:

“Yes. Perhaps because there was no brutal interrogation, no torture worse than death, so getting the answer this easily feels rather amusing.”

Xu Chuang nodded.

“True.”

The Blind Man raised one hand.

At once, the surrounding riders nocked arrows and aimed at Xu Chuang.

Another group raised sabers, ready to charge if he tried to flee.

Xu Chuang remained standing there.

He looked fairly calm.

“Not running?” the Blind Man asked.

“You’re just letting me leave?” Xu Chuang sounded surprised.

“What, should I keep you for dinner? Tsk. The whole of Great Yan is short of grain right now.”

“You don’t want to know who truly sent me?”

“Can’t be bothered.”

The Blind Man paused.

Then continued:

“Deep winter does not care which little stream beneath it freezes first.”

“You certainly have nerve. Everyone says Count Pingye’s Residence is full of capable men. Looks like the reputation is deserved. May I ask who you are...?”

“Zheng Fan Li.”

“You’re Zheng Fan Li?”

“Looks like I’m rather famous in the jianghu.”

“Very.”

“You may leave. You’ve been poisoned by corpse venom. Whether you survive is uncertain. Even if you do survive by luck, most of your cultivation will be ruined. You’re not much of a threat anymore.”

“Fine. I owe you a favor.”

Xu Chuang picked up his saber and sword.

Then turned and left.

The Blind Man waved.

“Back to the city.”

The Blind Man had no interest in learning which person truly stood behind the saber-and-sword man.

Perhaps it was that one.

Perhaps another.

Perhaps yet another still.

It did not matter.

Open the headquarters.

Receive the frontier command.

Train troops.

Establish autonomy.

Build a military domain.

No matter which one of them it was, there would be many, many people they would need to knock down in the future.

That person would inevitably be among them.

So why hurry?

More importantly, the Blind Man, who excelled at conspiracies, could clearly smell the scent of a reverse conspiracy in the affair.

The person manipulating events from behind the curtain seemed to want the waters muddied precisely at this moment.

Then the Blind Man would refuse to give him what he wanted.

The Blind Man lowered his head and “looked” at Tian Tian sitting in his arms.

He reached out and pinched the child’s chubby cheek.

He still remembered the first time they met.

Tian Tian had been wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Now, he had grown this large.

Some people were destined to age, to drift away with the wind.

But their side was still growing.

Time was on their side.

The Blind Man reached into his robe and took out a piece of sachima.

He handed it to Tian Tian.

Tian Tian accepted it and took a bite.

“Thank... Uncle Bei.”

The Blind Man rubbed Tian Tian’s head.

“Do you remember what I told you is the most delicious pastry in the world?”

Tian Tian nodded.

He took another bite of sachima and swallowed.

Then answered:

“The Dragon Throne.”

[End of Chapter 599]