Chapter 668: Entering the Capital!

A’Li came.

A’Li left again.

He left lightly, cleanly, without the slightest guilt. He left in a manner very much worthy of Fan Li.

A’Ming, however, did not waste time feeling wounded by it.

Even the "gaunt" old man lying on the floor did not bother mocking him again.

Because... they had no time.

And the reason they had no time was that the gu creature's intelligence really did seem rather low.

After Fan Li opened the hatch and then closed it again, he apparently managed to draw its aggro perfectly.

Or perhaps, in the creature's eyes, Fan Li's enormous body and vigorous blood and qi simply looked far more delicious.

So the saber wielder whose body had been taken over by the gu climbed the steps, smashed open the hatch, and chased Fan Li out of the cellar.

At last, the old man could not help sighing:

"Oh... dear messenger of God... his arrival truly was extraordinarily timely... almost as though he'd been crouching around the corner next door the whole time..."

"Heh."

A’Ming did not know whether to laugh or cry.

But there was no denying it.

Fan Li truly had saved the two of them.

A’Ming walked over to the cellar stairs and closed the hatch again.

The old man struggled upright and looked at A’Ming, who had seated himself on the steps.

"Not leaving?"

"Leaving doesn't necessarily mean safety."

"I told you... there's another tunnel... beneath the bed..."

"You were lying. If there really were one, you would've escaped through it yourself when you sensed me arriving."

"Sorry... I thought we were both going to die... so I wanted to make you happy one last time before death..."

"Very good."

"You're waiting for reinforcements... besides that big idiot upstairs...?"

"Yes."

The old man rubbed at his throat several times.

Apparently he found speaking like this too exhausting and inconvenient.

So he began crawling toward the large blood vat.

Once he reached it, he struggled upright, took a ladle, and drank.

"Want some?" the old man asked.

"I have better blood hidden away," A’Ming replied. "Ordinary human blood has a sour, rancid taste."

"You live very well."

The old man sounded genuinely envious.

"Unlike me, hiding from place to place. You have power here, don't you?"

The fact that A’Ming could calmly sit here waiting for rescue instead of urgently taking the old man and fleeing clearly meant he possessed something enormous to rely upon.

"Ever heard of the Marquis of Pingxi Residence?"

"I have. Of course I have. The new Marquis Residence of Great Yan. East of the Wang River, his word is law."

"Mm."

"Could it be..."

"Mm."

"Your master is the Marquis of Pingxi?"

"..." A’Ming.

The old man was speaking the truth.

And A’Ming was already accustomed to calling Zheng Fan "Master."

But he had only just cast a forbidden spell and was still basking in the feeling of "my youth is back."

Hearing someone suddenly define the relationship that way... really did make him uncomfortable.

Still... uncomfortable or not...

A’Ming nodded.

"Yes."

"My heavens, dear eastern kinsman. You possess such an enormous patron. Look into my eyes. Can you already read the overflowing envy within them?"

A’Ming declined to comment.

Not long afterward... hoofbeats sounded outside.

Then the cellar hatch was knocked again.

A’Ming did not open it.

From above came Fan Li's voice:

"The Heavenly King covers the Earth Tiger!"

A’Ming did not answer.

Then the Sword Maid's voice came from above:

"Are you down there?"

Only then did A’Ming open the hatch.

A group of soldiers stood outside.

A’Ming climbed up, then had Fan Li haul the old man out as well.

The saber wielder's corpse had been smashed to pieces at the doorway.

Fan Li had done it.

Perhaps the saber wielder had chased him so relentlessly that Fan Li finally could not get away.

So Fan Li turned around and smashed him once.

And just like that... the saber wielder was smashed apart.

Only then did Fan Li realize that this was no longer the same saber wielder from before.

The thing was weak.

Once outside, A’Ming looked at the Lieutenant Commander who had arrived with the reinforcements.

"What's your name?"

"To answer Mr. Ming, this subordinate's surname is Xiao. My name is Xiao Heng."

"Mm."

A’Ming did not bother asking which character the "Heng" was written with.

He had only asked casually.

He would forget just as casually.

The only point was to give this young Lieutenant Commander a little excitement and something to look forward to.

Then A’Ming ordered:

"Back to the Marquis Residence."

...

Everything at the Marquis Residence remained as usual.

The tribes of the snowfields were exceedingly well-behaved, busy fighting one another, trading, and selling slaves.

Chu had also opened the gates wide for trade.

As long as warhorses could be exchanged, Zheng Fan's imperial brother-in-law had no intention of imposing any salt-and-iron embargo against the Marquis Residence.

Of course, to a certain extent, what the Marquis of Pingxi Residence was doing amounted to aiding the enemy.

But both sides were developing.

Each took what it needed.

That day... inside the pavilion of Apricot Blossom Garden...

Liu Ruqing was playing the qin.

Opposite her sat a bull.

Surnamed Zheng.

Marquis Zheng could not say he understood absolutely nothing about whether the music was good or bad, or whether the technique was high or low.

But he understood only the broad strokes.

Mostly, he held an iced drink in his hand, sipping it little by little while admiring the mature beauty before him.

Siniang was usually busy.

The Princess was actually busy as well. Sometimes she helped Siniang. Sometimes she had to personally deal with delegations from Chu.

Whenever Marquis Zheng found himself with free time, he liked soaking around Liu Ruqing's courtyard.

Because this woman... was very yielding.

As yielding... as Zheng Fan himself was whenever he stood before Siniang.

Even though he had plucked her many, many times already, that bashfulness had never faded in the slightest.

Beneath those captivating eyes lay a seductive air of refusal that invited pursuit.

The old line about a sovereign neglecting morning court from then onward... really was not made up.

Fortunately, Marquis Zheng's mind remained very clear.

More importantly, he understood that storm clouds were gathering.

The day when he would leave the Marquis Residence and enter the capital was drawing closer and closer.

Most preparations on every front were already nearly complete.

Liu Ruqing finished playing one piece and rose to refill Marquis Zheng's tea.

Instead, he reached out, caught her, and pulled her into his arms.

Broad daylight.

A clear and upright world.

Liu Ruqing was impossibly embarrassed.

Yet she could not, and did not dare, struggle free of the Marquis's hands.

In the end, she simply leaned against him.

Her red lips blew lightly against Zheng Fan's earlobe.

Softly, she called:

"Uncle..."

Marquis Zheng felt his head go pleasantly light.

Liu Ruqing gently bit his earlobe.

Then murmured:

"Uncle... spare your little niece..."

Zheng Fan felt as though he had gotten drunk.

Even his bones had gone soft.

But at that moment...

Xiao Yibo's voice came from outside:

"My Lord Marquis, Mr. Ming requests an audience."

In an instant... his mind became perfectly clear.

Zheng Fan released Liu Ruqing.

She slipped down from his body.

He stood and spread his arms.

Liu Ruqing came forward and carefully straightened every detail of his clothes.

Once she was finished, she slowly stepped back.

Zheng Fan smiled and left the courtyard.

...

A’Ming and Fan Li were seated in the front hall.

At the far end sat a chest.

Its lid was open.

As Zheng Fan passed, he saw an old man dressed in black peering nervously around from inside it.

The instant he saw Zheng Fan... the old man spoke:

"Oh, I smell an aura of true nobility. Guidance rises from the deepest reaches of my blood. You must be the protector of eastern Jin, the master of my eastern kinsman, the great and supreme Marquis of Pingxi. My Lord Marquis, please accept my reverence and worship. From your loyal servant... Kashir."

Zheng Fan looked at A’Ming.

"That tone really has been gone for a long time."

A’Ming did not answer.

Fan Li nodded first.

"Right. I think so too."

Zheng Fan took the principal seat and pointed toward the chest.

"Weren't you supposed to be gathering new flowers in the Tianduan Mountains?"

"To answer Master, on the way back I happened to meet A’Li and the others..."

A’Ming recounted the entire affair without concealing anything.

After thinking it over, there simply was nothing that needed hiding.

When Zheng Fan finished listening, he immediately seized the key point.

"You mean you used him to cast a forbidden spell?"

"Yes, Master."

Zheng Fan nodded.

"Then this old bastard really is a treasure."

When it came to improving his own strength, never mind that Marquis Zheng had been listening to Liu Ruqing play the qin earlier.

He truly had not slacked off.

He practiced the saber every day.

During this period he had also gone out several times to gain combat experience.

Yet his Sixth-Grade cultivation showed no sign of loosening.

According to the Sword Saint, the leap from Sixth Grade to Fifth Grade was essentially the transition from expert to grandmaster.

Beyond martial techniques and cultivating blood and qi, one also had to nurture an entirely different bearing.

Marquis Zheng understood those words.

Not only did he understand them... give him the theme, or call it the central idea, and he could spin out another dozen fitting explanations and metaphors on the spot, each one guaranteed to sound even more profound and incomprehensible than what the Sword Saint had said.

But... he simply could not do it.

This damned cultivation realm...

As for A’Ming using this old man to cast a forbidden spell... even if it had only been the tiniest miniature version possible, it undeniably opened a path forward.

And as for whether A’Ming might use this old man to find a way to break free of Zheng Fan, whether this might become a crack through which the Demon Kings could stop being completely bound to him, or whether that might ultimately lead to rebellion...

Zheng Fan did not think about it at all.

There was no need.

Right now, everyone was doing what interested them.

Everyone was having fun.

And Zheng Fan, their Master, continued sitting in the position they recognized.

If anyone wanted to leave... then leave.

No one would truly stop them.

Under those circumstances... aside from the Demon Child... the other Demon Kings really had no subjective motivation to murder their Master.

Oh.

There was one more...

Zheng Fan's gaze fell on Fan Li.

Fan Li scratched his head with an honest smile.

"A’Ming, settle him in properly."

"Yes, Master. This subordinate understands."

"Oh, great and supreme Marquis of Pingxi, please allow this humble one to once again express my boundless gratitude to you. As..."

Zheng Fan frowned slightly.

Fan Li stood, walked over...

Bang!

And closed the chest.

"Does he always talk like that?" Zheng Fan asked.

A’Ming answered:

"Actually, when this subordinate was casting the forbidden spell, he went from contempt, to disbelief, to shock, and finally to endlessly sucking in cold breaths beside me. Mm. The feeling was rather good."

Zheng Fan pointed at A’Ming.

"Your standards have fallen."

A’Ming smiled and nodded.

"But it really was satisfying."

"Hahahahaha."

"Hahahahaha."

Zheng Fan and A’Ming laughed together.

When the laughter passed, Zheng Fan said:

"There have been quite a few runaway Savages and Chu people lately. Go notify the relevant people. Fresh blood shouldn't be difficult to find. Recuperate properly, and fatten him back up while you're at it. When we enter the capital this time, bring him too."

"Master, departure isn't far away. He may not recover in time."

"Then prepare a carriage just for him and keep him fed along the road. I refuse to believe we won't run into bandits, roaming brigands, or perhaps some righteous heroes of Jin."

"Yes, Master. This subordinate understands. But does Master think something major will happen when we enter the capital this time?"

At that moment...

Fan Li suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Zheng Fan and A’Ming both looked at him.

Fan Li laughed and laughed... then stopped laughing.

He pointed at the chest, repeatedly sucked in exaggerated cold breaths... then amused himself again and burst out laughing once more.

Zheng Fan shook his head.

"A’Li."

"Yes, Master. I'm here."

"If you could take even half the effort you spend pretending to be stupid and put it toward actual work, maybe you'd have built me a magic-crystal cannon by now."

"..." Fan Li.

Zheng Fan looked back at A’Ming.

"I have a feeling this trip to the capital won't be peaceful. But moving troops is inconvenient."

First... the Marquis Residence barely had enough soldiers for its present needs.

Temporarily pulling ten or twenty thousand cavalry away to handle something was one thing.

But if he took twenty thousand cavalry toward Yanjing, the position back home would become too thin.

Second... even if he had more than enough troops, what exactly was he supposed to do by bringing an army to Yanjing?

Stage a performance of:

Being made a Marquis was never my wish; I only wish to sit upon the Dragon Throne?

Marquis Zheng had always possessed one very good habit.

Like a squirrel piling up pinecones before winter.

When he lacked experts, he hoarded soldiers.

When he had soldiers, he hoarded experts.

Whatever made him safest.

This time, since he could not bring an army to Yanjing... the more experts, the better.

He was even considering giving Xu Chuang, the dual saber-and-sword practitioner from Wenming Mountain who was still locked in the dungeon, a chance to regain his freedom.

"The situation in Yanjing will definitely revolve around maintaining stability. No one can mobilize a great army to do anything. But for some reason, I still feel uneasy. I never felt this way the last time I entered Yanjing."

"This subordinate trusts Master's sixth sense."

"Mm. For this trip, the Blind Man, Liang Cheng, and Gou Moli will stay behind to guard the house. The rest of you come with me."

"This subordinate obeys!"

"I obey!"

"Mm."

Fan Li helped A’Ming carry the chest to the ice cellar.

Zheng Fan remained alone in the front hall for a while longer.

He reached up and gently massaged the space between his brows.

From Wente, the merchant he had first encountered in Tiger Head City, and the husky under his command... to the old vampire Kashir now... a picture of the West was gradually becoming three-dimensional before Marquis Zheng's eyes.

At this moment... another kind of longing slowly rose inside Zheng Fan.

Before, he had wanted to visit Jiangnan in the State of Qian.

Now... there was another place.

He wanted to see the West.

Not to look at western beauties.

Purely because he wanted to see the customs and people there for himself.

Perhaps only now that he truly occupied a high position did he increasingly understand certain words from the past.

For example:

I came.

I saw.

I conquered.

Conquest came last.

Because it really was only incidental.

"Master."

At that moment, the Blind Man walked in.

"Mm. Blind Man, you just missed A’Ming bringing home his true love."

"Heh. This subordinate heard a little about it. But I have something more important to report to Master."

"If it's finances or account books, you and Siniang can make the decision yourselves after glancing through them. I don't need to see it."

"No. Letters from Yanjing."

"Little Sixth?"

"Yes, but not only him."

"Oh? Who else?"

"Four letters in total. Little Sixth's came through his own merchant-caravan channels. The other three came through the relay-post system."

Anything sent through the imperial relay posts was obviously insecure.

The Secret Intelligence Department inspected certain correspondence.

The finest sealing wax in the world was useless.

There were certainly forgery experts inside the Secret Intelligence Department capable of restoring a seal perfectly after opening it.

And even if you discovered your letters had been inspected... what could you do?

Submit a memorial accusing the Secret Intelligence Department under Wei Zhonghe of violating your privacy?

In truth, even before the Marquis Residence was established, back when Snow Sea Pass had still housed a Count's residence, correspondence between the residence and the outside world had already been enormous.

After the Marquis Residence was formally established, it reached a new peak.

Internally, there was information from settlements throughout eastern Jin, from every garrison, and from matters of livelihood, commerce, military affairs, culture, and much more.

The paperwork piled into mountains every day.

Marquis Zheng knew how to handle such work.

Back when Old Tian had grabbed him and thrown him into the command tent, Zheng Fan had managed every matter in good order.

But while at home, he delegated all of it completely to the Blind Man, Siniang, and the others.

Beyond that, there was correspondence from the various tribes of the snowfields.

There were secret communications with the Chu court and its major factions.

There were letters from officials throughout Jin and from officials at the Great Yan court.

And so on.

Handling all of that required an exceptionally capable staff of advisers.

Fortunately...

Zheng Fan had one.

"Master, one letter is from Little Sixth. One is from Wei Zhonghe. One is from Zhao Jiulang. And one... is from Lu Bing, who was recently transferred to serve as Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial. Master, which one first?"

Wei Zhonghe's letter was not personally written by Wei Zhonghe. It was official correspondence from the Secret Intelligence Department to the Marquis Residence.

Likewise, Zhao Jiulang's letter came in the name of the Grand Secretariat.

Lu Bing's came in the name of the Court of State Ceremonial.

But for all three to arrive together... clearly signaled the gathering wind before a storm.

"Read Little Sixth's first."

"Master values friendship," the Blind Man flattered.

"I just think that bastard's is the least important."

"Heh. Master is correct. The letter is all family matters. He talks about the two children about to be born and about his present life. What surprised this subordinate is that there are no hidden metaphors this time. Perhaps... having no hidden metaphor is itself the best metaphor. It means it's time to put away all other thoughts, stop joking around, and prepare... to bare the blade for the final time."

"What about the other three?"

"The Grand Secretariat wants to ask the Marquis Residence's opinion on the court dispatching officials to strengthen administration in eastern Jin. The Secret Intelligence Department requests that we increase our tribute of perfume, especially Spirit-Refreshing Dew. The Court of State Ceremonial mildly reproaches us for meeting privately with Chu envoys. At the very least, it says we should give the Court some face and go through the formalities."

Zheng Fan nodded.

"They're reminding me that they're watching me."

"This subordinate thinks so as well."

Zheng Fan chuckled.

"Good. This Marquis hasn't forgotten them either."

...

Fourth Year of Yongping.

Fourth day of the seventh month.

End of Heat.

The western gate of Fengxin City opened wide.

The ceremonial guard led the way.

Commoners lined the road to see him off.

The Marquis of Pingxi... obeying the Son of Heaven's summons... set out for the capital!

[End of Chapter 668]