Chapter 890: Prince Pingxi Residence Strikes Back!

The Princess had already fallen asleep to the clacking of mahjong tiles.

The other women were sitting in the courtyard.

Madam Ke was brewing tea.

Liu Ruqing was doing embroidery.

Yuexin stood behind Siniang, gently kneading her shoulders and neck.

At that moment...

Siniang opened her eyes.

Because she was lying down, when she raised her gaze she happened to be looking directly at the sky.

“Quite lively.”

Yuexin was somewhat puzzled by the remark.

Everyone knew the Princess was expected to give birth within these two days, so even while keeping her company, they had all instinctively kept their voices down.

Besides... what liveliness was there anywhere right now?

One could only say that there were sights in the sky.

But not everyone possessed the eyes to appreciate them.

“So annoying.”

Siniang spoke again.

This time, not only Yuexin hesitated.

Even Liu Ruqing and Madam Ke awkwardly stopped what they were doing.

Of course... they were overthinking it.

But Siniang was, in the end, the mistress of the household.

Her position stood there plainly.

The others could hardly stop themselves from reading too much into her words.

At its core, the rear household of Prince Pingxi Residence belonged to Siniang.

As for the Prince... he had really only contributed one stick.

Siniang sat up.

As she walked outside, she said:

“Stay here quietly.”

The women obeyed without hesitation.

“Yes.”

After leaving Xiong Liqing’s small courtyard, Siniang leapt lightly onto the roof.

At the same time, Xue San appeared there as well.

A large cloth bundle hung around Third Master’s neck.

Inside were instruments that might be needed for a Caesarean section.

“Get down!”

Third Master spoke in a tone that allowed no argument.

Siniang ignored him.

“You’re carrying a child. Get down, quickly!”

Siniang glanced at Xue San.

Still she ignored him.

“Can’t you understand human speech?” Third Master finally snapped. “I’ll handle this!”

To the Demon Kings, the child inside Siniang’s belly was simply too important.

One could even say that, within the Demon Kings’ worldview and understanding, only the pregnant Siniang could receive what normal people would consider proper “pregnant woman treatment” from them.

Siniang did not say anything hurtful like, “My current grade is higher than yours.”

She looked at Xue San.

Then lowered her eyes toward her belly.

Her body turned.

She dropped back to the ground.

“The Blind Man isn’t here. Can you handle it?”

Siniang called upward.

Normally, in a situation like this, the Blind Man was the most suitable person to deal with it.

After all... this was his professional field.

Still standing on the roof, Xue San slapped his small chest.

Full of confidence, he said:

“Again and again and again, these brain-dead things keep insisting on crawling over here to play tricks like this. They’re creatures that can’t even show their faces in daylight, yet every damned one of them insists on carrying himself like an immortal. Siniang, just relax and protect your pregnancy. It doesn’t matter that the Blind Man isn’t here. Third Master will arrange it. If thieves keep coming to your door, who the hell doesn’t install a lock?”

Siniang was easygoing enough.

She supported her belly with her left hand and waved her right.

“Then I’m going back to sleep.”

“Rest well!”

Third Master hooked himself upside down from the eaves.

His body swung several times before he landed steadily on the ground.

He was not showing off.

The internal design of Prince Pingxi Residence contained several hidden mechanisms.

They were not especially sophisticated.

But they could transmit information very quickly.

The system had really been built for the Demon Kings.

Before long, Xiao Yibo came running over.

“Third Master!”

Xue San looked at him.

“There are clouds overhead. We down here need to open an umbrella.”

Xiao Yibo heard that and looked up at the sky.

Third Master asked:

“What do you see?”

Xiao Yibo answered:

“Nothing at all. But this subordinate understands.”

“Go.”

“Yes!”

After Xiao Yibo left, Xue San flashed to the artificial hill in the middle courtyard.

A passage there led underground.

Sha Tuo Queshi lay below.

But Third Master had not come to see Sha Tuo Queshi this time.

He walked to the artificial hill, reached into a recessed crack between two rocks, and pulled out an iron chain.

Third Master might have been small.

But he was strong.

Back when none of them had advanced in grade and Master had been conscripted as a laborer, little Third Master could carry a basket containing the weapons and bundles of three men all at once.

Even then, he could still move as lightly as a swallow.

Now Third Master began hauling on the chain.

Above... the chain moved.

Below... a whole series of reactions began.

Clink-clank.

Rustle-rustle.

Dense mechanical noises echoed continuously through the underground chamber.

Sha Tuo Queshi’s coffin remained lying there peacefully.

For Sha Tuo Queshi, his responsibility was to resist genuine physical invaders when enemies truly entered Prince Pingxi Residence.

When the so-called enemy was in the sky... that no longer fell under Sha Tuo Queshi’s jurisdiction.

But as Third Master continued pulling the chain above, mechanism after mechanism rapidly turned inside the stone chamber in Sha Tuo Queshi’s area.

At last... even the immensely sturdy iron cage began shaking.

And with the cage... the black-armored man chained inside began swaying as well.

Above ground, Third Master estimated how much chain he had pulled out.

Then he looked up at the sky.

He stopped pulling.

Instead, he took out a dagger, drove it into the ground to pin the chain in place, and sat his backside directly on the dagger’s hilt.

“No rush. Third Master will wait a little longer.”

Years ago, after Master witnessed Sha Tuo Queshi’s display before Marquis Zhenbei Residence, a conviction had formed inside him:

I do not necessarily need to become as powerful as Sha Tuo Queshi.

But I need enough “Zhenbei Army” around me to protect me.

Later... their circumstances improved.

An individual pinnacle like the Sword Saint was “bound” to Master’s side as well.

And Sha Tuo Queshi was sleeping below.

At last, they no longer needed to worry about some lunatic expert launching a midnight assassination while Master slept.

But... the human desire for security had no upper limit.

Especially after Master had been “invited up the mountain” by the man from Qian’s Back Mountain on the frozen Wang River.

Master had managed to come back down on his own.

But the whole affair had been dangerously, sickeningly thrilling.

These “clowns who jumped on beams” often refused to fight you head-on.

Yet somehow they always managed to disgust you.

Back then, Master Cang had entered Yanjing to sever Great Yan’s dragon vein.

The Emperor of Yan had faced it openly with the vast bearing of an Emperor for the ages.

But Zheng Fan was not Ji Runhao.

What he wanted was... secure, steady happiness.

So after the assault on the Wang River, Zheng Fan had ordered the Blind Man and the others to begin preparing Prince Pingxi Residence specifically against men beyond the world.

There was only one guiding principle:

If those bullshit immortals dared come... we had to be able to fight them.

And we had to knock them down.

The simplest, most effective method was to use the same kind of methods against the same kind of opponent.

Beat them inside their own “environment.”

The iron chain beneath Third Master now... was the final killing weapon.

Master—no, the entire Residence—had always loved making use of dangerous things.

There was no person they did not dare employ.

No object they did not dare borrow.

Zheng Fan had once nearly ordered the black-armored man melted down.

But Tian Tian had entered the chamber on his own, uncovered several secrets, and thus saved the black-armored man from destruction.

He had remained preserved until today.

The materials for dismantling him had already been prepared.

The craftsmen had already been summoned.

Following the principle that nothing should be wasted, the Blind Man had combined his own understanding of this world’s formation arts with his skill in mechanisms.

Then he blended in concepts from A’Ming’s vampire magic.

Siniang added arrangements resembling the threading of a needle through everything.

The wisdom and experience of several Demon Kings were fused together.

The underground chamber—especially the prison beneath it—had been genuinely rebuilt.

Now... if Xue San pulled the chain beneath him outward by another palm’s length... the vessels above the prison would tip.

Fresh blood would pour down.

At present, rows of containers filled with blood swayed temptingly above the iron cage.

The blood that had originally been sealed inside had already begun releasing the faintest trace of its smell.

With A’Ming living in Prince Pingxi Residence, there was naturally no shortage of blood supplies.

A’Ming could take his blood bag Kashir into the wine cellar and drink however he liked.

He could even afford to be picky.

The black-armored man, however... who should have remained in absolute stillness... slowly lifted his head.

His lips trembled faintly.

There was longing in the movement.

Unfortunately, Third Master above had no romance in him.

After calculating the distance, he deliberately left the fellow hanging.

After all... the black-armored man was an existence that could not be taken lightly.

Master had intercepted him before he fully awakened and recovered.

If the black-armored man truly returned completely, even the Sword Saint opening Second Grade might not be able to cut him down.

Because this thing had already departed from the category of “human.”

“Getting anxious?”

Third Master muttered to himself.

“No rush, no rush. Wait a little longer. Wait a little longer.”

...

“Steward Xiao!”

“Steward Xiao!”

Xiao Yibo arrived next door to Prince Pingxi Residence.

The residence itself did not actually occupy as much land as one might imagine.

Of course, to Zheng Fan, who had lived in a pigeon cage in his previous life, his present princely estate was already outrageously large.

Besides Siniang’s yamen office, none of the other administrative offices worked inside the residence.

So there was little point in pursuing enormous size merely for appearances.

But the “neighbors” of Prince Pingxi Residence had always been extremely important.

The eastern neighbor was the Sword Saint’s small courtyard.

On the western side stood three compounds.

They looked inhabited.

In truth... that appearance was false.

Xiao Yibo came here carrying a token and ordered the underground prison opened.

The dungeon was not very deep.

Digging some enormous underground prison immediately beside Prince Pingxi Residence would itself have posed a threat to the residence’s security.

When Xiao Yibo descended... he saw several dozen disheveled men and women.

Every one of them wore chains.

Every one of them was thin.

On several, the clothing was still clean enough that embroidered traces of stars could be seen.

At the center of the prisoners sat an old man.

He alone occupied a larger patch of ground.

His posture was relaxed.

When Xiao Yibo descended, the old man raised his head and looked at him.

Then... the old man froze.

Because Xiao Yibo’s eyes were covered.

And things had been stuffed into his ears.

Closing your eyes and ears could not defend against every method.

But it could certainly cause many techniques to fail outright or become much less effective.

The old man’s name was Tagan.

Among the Guides of Stars on the snowfields, his formal rank was low and his direct authority limited.

But his influence was enormous.

Ever since Zheng Fan was enfeoffed as a Count, he had begun exporting “culture” toward the snowfields.

In Zheng Fan and the Blind Man’s understanding, the Savage faith in the stars was a spiritual bond produced by their unique environment.

Under harsh natural conditions, every person could raise his head at night and see the brilliant stars.

From them... they drew hope.

That was no good.

Zheng Fan guarded Snowsea Pass.

It was basically impossible for the Savages of the snowfields to invade through the pass again during this lifetime the way they had under the Savage King.

So the kindhearted Count Zheng, Marquis Zheng, and later Prince Zheng wanted them to devote themselves as much as possible to believing in a beautiful next life instead.

Where something was pushed in... something else naturally had to be pushed out.

At first, both sides had exchanged blows fairly evenly.

But once Prince Pingxi Residence had been established and its power in eastern Jin stabilized, the Residence increased its coercion over the snowfields.

The individual religious charlatans preaching there suddenly discovered that more and more eastern Jin cavalry seemed to be standing behind them.

Their missionary efficiency improved dramatically.

The Qian had never understood this principle:

Culture became unstoppable only when accompanied by a large stick.

Under pressure from Prince Pingxi Residence, many Savage tribes were forced to hand over the Guides of Stars within their clans.

Some tribes went even further.

To gain rewards from the Residence, they helped hunt the Guides down.

The dozens of Guides of Stars inside this dungeon had all been captured in precisely that way, then sent to be imprisoned beside Prince Pingxi Residence in Fengxin City.

These men and women had been carefully selected.

After all, Guides of Stars did not descend to earth as falling meteors.

Just like Sha Tuo Queshi back then, every one of them possessed a mother tribe.

And those tribes still lay within range of cavalry strikes launched from Snowsea Pass.

If a person had concerns... if he had attachments... then he could be kneaded.

Xiao Yibo spoke.

“Can you see what is happening in the sky?”

The Guides of Stars all raised their heads.

Above them was the dungeon’s solid stone ceiling.

But many of them had indeed sensed the movement overhead.

“The great and benevolent Prince Pingxi has given you an opportunity. An opportunity to redeem yourselves and the tribes behind you. Act now. Block the eye that dares spy upon Prince Pingxi Residence. Slap it away. Or... gouge it blind. Make the Residence... make the Prince... believe you are useful.”

Tagan spoke:

“And our conditions? What do we receive—”

Xiao Yibo could not hear him.

But he could roughly estimate the rhythm.

He was speaking entirely according to the script prepared beforehand.

“Do not ask for conditions. Because if you prove useless... not only will all of you be burned alive. The tribes behind you will also lose any reason to continue existing. Never bargain with Prince Pingxi Residence. You do not possess that qualification.”

Xiao Yibo raised his head again.

Then raised both hands.

“Good. You may begin.”

The eyes of the other Guides of Stars turned toward Tagan.

Among them, he was the one who made decisions.

Tagan did not become angry.

More accurately, he had long understood how domineering and ruthless Prince Pingxi Residence was toward the snowfields.

Unlike the old wars between Savage tribes over pastureland, Prince Pingxi Residence had been determined from the very beginning to dig out the roots of the snowfield Savages.

But... what could he possibly do?

Tagan spoke:

“Everyone. Give the power of the stars to me. For the sake of our tribes, hold nothing back. Whoever dies... is freed first.”

...

Above Fengxin City, the Buddha image had originally suppressed the blue bird steadily.

But later... the bird began fighting back.

Each time the Buddha’s hand closed upon it, the blue bird pierced through the palm and escaped.

The two sides entered a battle of attrition.

One could say the Daoist had chosen the correct path from the beginning.

He was certain no true Buddha existed in the world.

The two monks inside Gourd Temple might be able to manifest something.

But ultimately... it would not be a true body.

Wear them down long enough... and they would collapse.

That was precisely what happened.

The Buddha image had originally intended to finish everything in one stroke and crush the blue bird with thunderous force.

But as time dragged on... the Buddha image inevitably began turning translucent.

At Gourd Temple outside the city, the old monk had stopped striking the bell.

Now he watched his little disciple.

Concern filled his eyes.

The young monk spoke:

“He needs to be taught cultivation.”

The bowl was too small.

Even if a river flowed beside it... the bowl still could not hold much.

The old monk’s face reddened.

“Your master... doesn’t know how to cultivate.”

Most of what he had done throughout his life was swindle food and drink.

Of course... that too had been his cultivation.

He had indeed cultivated Buddhist principles and Buddhist fate.

But he understood perfectly well that what this “disciple” before him meant by cultivation was not the sort of cultivation he himself practiced.

“Then find someone to teach him,” the young monk said.

“Good. Your master understands. Your master understands.”

The young monk sighed.

“I can’t hold on much longer.”

The old monk was startled.

“What do we do, then?”

The young monk shook his head.

“That seductive glance of ours may have been thrown away for nothing. Earlier, I didn’t know. Only after reaching the sky did I discover... they had already made preparations of their own. A pity. This time, we can only count it as hard work without achievement. But it is still a thread of fate. Use it well. That man truly is someone willing to acknowledge debts of human feeling.”

The old monk gave an embarrassed smile.

“This your master understands.”

The young monk lifted one hand.

Above them, the Buddha image extended its hand as well.

But this time... it did not grab for the blue bird.

Instead... one finger pointed toward a location inside the city.

That coffin shop.

Then... the Buddha image dispersed.

The young monk’s body tilted sideways.

He collapsed unconscious to the ground.

Inside Prince Pingxi Residence, Third Master rose while keeping his left foot pressed on the dagger.

His mind rapidly calculated the angle of the Buddha image’s final finger.

He had participated in the earliest rebuilding of Fengxin City.

The spies under him had long since mapped everything within the city thoroughly.

Taking ten thousand steps back... if a top assassin could not even understand the city where he lived, he would be too ashamed to remain in the profession.

“Someone!”

Third Master could not leave his position.

He could only shout.

A signal flare was released.

Six separate teams of Brocade-Clad personal guards immediately surged toward the street where the coffin shop stood.

As for Third Master... he continued standing on the dagger, fixing the iron chain in place.

With some regret, he murmured:

“Damn it. I really wanted to see what you look like when you make a move. Heh-heh.”

...

“Ultimately it was all illusion. We cultivators of the Dao should cultivate ourselves and seek verification in the Heavenly Dao. Not place hope in the so-called gods and ghosts summoned through hollow reputation!”

Relying on the depth of his own foundation, the Daoist had worn down an opponent who was, in effect, little different from someone “inviting a god to possess the body.”

He was tired too.

But even now... his bearing remained vigorous and heroic.

Above Fengxin City, with nothing left obstructing it, the blue bird circled three times.

Then it dived toward Prince Pingxi Residence.

Buzz!

At that moment... although it was broad daylight... a star appeared in the sky.

And smashed directly into the blue bird.

There was nothing elegant about the strike.

It used the method that men beyond the world hated and resisted most.

The instant they met... fight for your life.

Fight with your origin.

Fight with your foundation.

“SCREEEECH!”

The blue bird screamed in agony.

Inside the coffin shop, blood spilled from the corner of the Daoist’s mouth.

Horror appeared in his eyes.

Inside the dungeon beside Prince Pingxi Residence... every Guide of Stars vomited blood.

Their expressions turned listless.

Yet smiles appeared on every face.

Tagan shouted:

“Keep smashing it! Whoever dies is freed! Whoever dies earns favor for his tribe! We live worse than pigs and dogs now. We ask only for death!”

[End of Chapter 890]