Chapter 1020: Master and the Demon Kings

“Courting death.”

The moment those two words left Zheng Fan’s mouth, Liang Cheng, the Blind Man, A’Ming, Xue San, Fan Li, Siniang... every one of them put away the laziness or irreverence they usually wore.

Their eyes became serious.

Even the red stone resting on the table swayed twice before abruptly going still.

A familiar yet unfamiliar atmosphere slowly began filling the cabin.

Familiar, because this was how things had once been.

Long ago, whenever they went out to do anything, the whole group had needed to go together.

They had been weak then.

Whether they were fighting for their first pot of gold or their first step upward, every one of them had needed to stake everything together for even the slightest chance of seizing it.

Unfamiliar, because it had truly been far, far too long since they had faced a situation like this.

They no longer needed to act personally.

Most of the time, a wave of the hand was enough for countless people to handle matters on their behalf.

On the rare occasions they did act, it was usually little more than searching for amusement out of boredom.

Nothing serious.

Nothing worth becoming solemn over.

Which was why the moment now carried the faint flavor of looking back across the years.

There was no discussion.

No analysis.

No weighing of gains and losses.

The decision had already been made.

More than ten years of wind and frost seemed to have covered this land in entirely different colors.

But once the mountain flood broke loose... what lay at the beginning was always what was truest at the end.

Zheng Fan slowly stood.

Everyone knew he was furious.

A hand had reached across his true bottom line.

Yet very little emotion showed on his face.

Back in Tiger Head City, when Master had first awakened, he had needed to spend time outside giving himself enough mental suggestions before facing the Demon Kings, just so he would not lose his bearing in front of them.

He had needed to deliberately hold things in and put on airs.

Now... there was no longer any need to disguise or polish himself.

To keep joy and anger from showing on his face, to become steadier the more serious the situation grew... for him, these things had become perfectly natural.

“Since they came looking for us of their own accord... then we... will send all of them on their way.”

The next instant, every Demon King dropped to one knee.

Together, they answered:

“This subordinate obeys!”

...

The people inside and outside Ying Capital all believed their Emperor was recuperating inside the palace, or perhaps simply wasting away the final days of his life as Emperor.

The soldiers of the Yan army, meanwhile, believed their Prince was still sitting leisurely aboard his ship, traveling by water toward Shangyang Commandery.

But the Emperor of Chu was no longer in Ying Capital.

And although Great Yan’s Prince was still aboard his ship at this moment... he would soon be leaving as well.

...

“Before, I thought you were very stupid. Over these past days, I changed my opinion of you. But now I think you’re very stupid again.”

Zheng Lin stood before his father, his gaze dark.

In appearance, he resembled his mother more.

But in expression, he was very much his father’s son.

Zheng Fan had already changed out of his python robe.

He wore no armor, only a set of plain black clothes.

Siniang stood behind him, rearranging his hair.

For Zheng Lin to dare speak to his father this way while his own mother was standing right there showed exactly how angry he was.

This time, however, Siniang did not immediately administer the family discipline.

“You’re still too young,” Zheng Fan said. “Taking you along wouldn’t be much use.”

Zheng Lin pointed at the mark between his brows.

“If you completely release my seal, I won’t be a burden!”

“If the worst happens, someone still has to inherit this enormous family estate. Someone has to keep sitting in this princely seat.”

“You can’t bear to give it up?” Zheng Lin asked.

Zheng Fan nodded.

“It’s still a household fortune I spent years building piece by piece. How could I truly not care about it?”

“So you get to throw everything away and go off to live gloriously and recklessly, while I’m the one left behind to inherit your estate?”

“To say I don’t care would be a lie. But to say I’m deliberately leaving you behind just so you can inherit everything isn’t right either.”

“What do you mean?”

“You read the letter from home. You know your sister’s condition. The other side deliberately left a road open because they’re afraid I’ll simply refuse to enter the trap. They know they no longer have any chance of defeating me through normal methods in a direct confrontation. So they can only use this filthy trick to force a Prince who commands armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands to make the kind of choice only some wandering jianghu hero should ever have to make. There are only two possible outcomes after we go. One: we come back. Two: we don’t. If we come back, everyone rejoices. The songs keep playing, the dances keep going. If we don’t come back... you. My son. You will avenge your father, your mother, all your godfathers, and your elder sister. You will avenge every one of us.”

Zheng Fan looked at his son.

He took a dagger from beside himself and tossed it in front of the boy.

“I’m not leaving you behind this time because I want you safe. Truthfully, that kind of drama is what your father hates most. After all... who can resist the whole family being together, neat and complete? The problem is... I refuse to accept one thing. Not that my bloodline might end. What I refuse to accept is the idea that, if I lose, my enemies might still be left alive to jump around afterward. Someone has to remain. There has to be one last card. One last chance... to finish them properly. Son. You’ll stay on the ship. Once the fleet moves deeper into Chu territory, the route will change. If your father and the rest of us fail to return... you inherit my princely position. How you do it, what methods you use, your Blind Man Godfather and the others have spent years teaching you all of that. We have an enormous foundation. It will be enough for you to work with.”

“But who am I supposed to avenge you against?” Zheng Lin asked. “Who would I even have left to seek revenge from?”

“Whoever you want.”

“Whoever I want? You’re not afraid I might...”

“If I’m already gone, then let the flood drown the world for all I care. Son, do whatever makes you happy. This dagger means that after you’ve had your fun, after you’ve avenged us, if you decide there’s nothing interesting left and feel like cutting your own throat... use this.”

Zheng Lin clenched his teeth.

He stopped speaking.

“Understand?”

Zheng Lin nodded.

Then he stepped back two paces.

With great seriousness, he knelt before Zheng Fan and his own mother.

He kowtowed three times.

“Don’t do that,” Zheng Fan said with a laugh. “Your father isn’t used to it.”

“The first kowtow was on Elder Sister’s behalf. The second was from me as your son. Whatever sort of man you are in other respects, when it comes to bearing the responsibility of a father, you’ve never failed us. Not before. Not now. So you deserved that one.”

It was rare to see his son this “serious.”

Zheng Fan instinctively straightened his posture.

Then he took the initiative and asked:

“What about the third?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Right. So I gave you one extra. Now you owe me one. When you bring Mother and my godfathers back, you can kowtow to me and return it.”

“You little beast.”

Zheng Fan kicked him.

Zheng Lin rolled twice across the floor.

He got up, patted the dust from his clothes, then gave Zheng Fan and Siniang one final look.

“Zheng Fan, if you were going to have me, couldn’t you have done it ten years earlier? If you had, I could go handle something like today by myself. You’d save yourself the trouble.”

Zheng Fan’s gaze shifted toward the red stone in front of him.

Ah.

It was no longer swaying.

Look at that.

Someone had a guilty conscience.

Zheng Lin left the cabin.

“Our son is pretty good,” Zheng Fan said as he reached back and took Siniang’s hand. “We didn’t raise him for nothing.”

Siniang smiled.

“If only it were him who got hit instead of Big Girl.”

Zheng Fan thought about it seriously for a moment, apparently comparing the two possibilities.

“True.”

...

The sky slowly darkened.

The ships continued forward.

The escorting troops along both banks continued marching as well.

Zheng Fan stepped out onto the deck and stretched, getting some fresh air in advance.

“Why didn’t you come looking for me this time?”

A familiar voice sounded behind him.

Then came the familiar white figure.

“I’ve been waiting in my own cabin for you all this time. Yet this time, of all times, you never came.”

After so many years, the Sword Saint had become accustomed to the man before him coming to his home to “invite” him whenever he was about to go somewhere.

At first, each job had required its own payment, and the invitation always had to circle around the subject.

Later, they gradually stopped bargaining and simply kept the debt running.

Later still, neither of them could even be bothered keeping accounts.

“Old Yu.”

“Don’t tell me you’re about to say you don’t need me to go with you this time.”

The Sword Saint seemed to have sensed what was coming.

And precisely because of that... the Sword Saint of Jin began to feel angry.

“Old Yu, their condition is that I’m not allowed to bring an army.”

“But you weren’t planning to bring an army anyway.”

“True. But who told you to be famous? Look at it this way. A Prince who might have swallowed pills until he barely stumbled into Third Grade, who usually stays buried beneath layers and layers of military protection... bringing a few Fourth Grade bodyguards with him to the place they designated... shouldn’t be excessive, right? They ought to be able to accept that. But you, Old Yu... you’re not in that category. We call those fellows behind the Gate rats, but those rats have always had sharp noses. No matter how well we hide you, once you reach that place they’ll notice.”

“So this time... Old Yu, you should rest.”

“There are plenty of them,” the Sword Saint said. “I doubt they’d mind one more of me.”

“Who can guarantee that?”

Zheng Fan shrugged.

“What if they see that even Yu Huaping came with me, lose their nerve, and kill the hostage on the spot?”

The Sword Saint chewed over the phrase “kill the hostage.”

He understood it quickly enough.

“But I don’t think that’s your real reason. You’re brushing me off.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“Yes. I am.”

“Knowing full well that tigers dwell upon the mountain, you still choose to walk toward the tiger mountain. Since you insist on going, why not carry a sharp blade?”

“Hehehe... Hehehehehe...”

Zheng Fan laughed.

He laughed for a long time.

The Sword Saint did not interrupt.

He waited until Zheng Fan had finished.

“They think they’re fierce tigers sitting upon the mountain. Unfortunately... what they’re waiting for... isn’t a sheep being delivered into a tiger’s mouth. It’s a jiao dragon that can swallow them whole in a single bite.”

“Where is this dragon?” the Sword Saint asked.

“A jiao can become one.”

Zheng Fan turned and faced him.

“Old Yu, believe me. I’ll bring my daughter, your disciple, back alive.”

“If you fail, then for the rest of my life this sword will kill rats and nothing else, no matter what beautiful robes they hide beneath.”

“Exactly.”

At that moment, Siniang, Liang Cheng, the Blind Man, Fan Li, Xue San, and A’Ming silently gathered around them.

Zheng Fan rolled his neck.

Then he adjusted the position of Wuya at his waist.

After that... he hesitated.

Hesitated again.

Very obviously hesitated.

By his old habits, whether as Master or as Prince, this was the moment when he ought to deliver some stirring, stylish line and push the atmosphere to its peak.

But this time...

Zheng Fan thought for a very long while.

Nothing he came up with satisfied him.

That was fine.

He slapped one palm against his scabbard.

A sharp, solemn sound rang out.

Zheng Fan looked toward the Great Marsh.

“Let’s go. Let’s go fuck those motherfuckers up!”

...

The Great Marsh.

Dongming Stockade.

The Great Marsh covered an enormous region.

In truth, the places ordinary people considered truly dangerous because of demon beasts occupied less than a tenth of it.

Dongming Stockade stood outside those depths.

The surrounding area produced Great Marsh Fragrant Tongue, a tea... and Great Yan’s Regent Prince happened to love that particular tea.

Now, however, the stockade had long since been emptied.

At the center of the stockade stood a raised platform.

The Emperor of Chu remained chained upon it.

Five black-robed figures sat cross-legged around him, maintaining the technique and ensuring that the little girl in the distant Prince Residence at Fengxin City continued to “enjoy” the karmic blessing.

The Emperor’s eyes remained open.

From time to time, screams rang out from beside him.

In truth, the Emperor and the Fire Phoenix spirit were enduring exactly the same agony.

The Emperor, however... was plainly better at enduring it.

The old man with the wine flask approached from below.

He leapt up onto the platform, crouched in front of the Emperor, and said:

“There is one thing I’ve always been curious about.”

The Emperor glanced at him.

“Speak.”

“Why exactly did Your Majesty agree to cooperate with this method and force the Regent Prince to attend our meeting?”

“We do not understand what you mean.”

“Did Your Majesty truly lose so completely that, like a drowning man, you’re desperate to grab anything within reach? Or...”

“Or what?”

“Or did you decide that both you and Great Chu are already beyond hope, so you might as well borrow our strength and truly bestow one enormous karmic blessing upon your niece?”

“What meaning is there in asking Us this now?”

“You’re right. You’re right. There truly isn’t much meaning left. I know that Your Majesty actually looks down on people like us somewhat. That’s fine. Sometimes we look down on ourselves too. But Your Majesty, you are still the Son of Heaven of Great Chu. Your word ought to count. How does the saying go? The sovereign does not speak in jest.”

“Are you teaching Us how to conduct Our affairs?”

“No. No.”

The Wine Elder immediately put on an embarrassed expression.

They did not particularly fear mortal Emperors.

The helpless part was that the Prince had protected both himself and his household far too thoroughly.

Defeat him head-on upon the battlefield?

Obviously impossible.

Attack the vulnerabilities around him?

There were none left.

Whether there might be any in the future was impossible to say.

But while the present storms had not yet fully settled, they still possessed this one opening.

If they waited until Great Yan truly secured All Under Heaven... then even if the Regent Prince eventually died, what meaning would that death have?

Only if Zheng Fan died now, while problems could still erupt inside Yan, would they gain even the slightest opportunity.

So they had no choice.

At that moment, a young man’s voice sounded from behind them.

“His Majesty is right. There truly isn’t much difference.”

A young man in a yellow robe had appeared on the platform at some unknown point.

When the Wine Elder saw him, he lowered his head slightly.

The gesture was one of genuine respect.

The yellow-robed young man sat down beside the Emperor.

They were inside a formation.

Even the Fire Phoenix spirit was being scorched without pause.

Yet the young man was entirely unaffected.

A faint golden glow radiated from his skin and protected him.

“If the Regent Prince does not want to come, then he has ten thousand reasons not to. He... was never obligated to come at all. More amusing still... there would be no need even to use this method against anyone else. The more one understands this Regent Prince, the more fascinating he becomes. It is a pity that in this life I will probably never have the opportunity to become his closest friend and confidant. It is only a daughter. Even if she were his legitimate eldest son, look at all the Princes, Marquises, generals, and ministers beneath Heaven. Which one would throw the entire fate of his house into a pit without the slightest reservation for the sake of one child? Only he might make that choice. He is a very pure man. What a pity... that such a pure man cannot serve my Great Xia.”

“Xia?”

Mockery appeared at the corner of the Emperor’s mouth.

“You may continue despising us,” the yellow-robed young man said. “Just as the Wine Elder said, even we look down on ourselves at times. But we have truly been forced into a dead end with no other method. A dream... awakened too early. Not only was the dream unfinished, even the dreamscape itself changed almost beyond recognition. Your Majesty, whether you genuinely intend to let your niece be stuffed to death by these blessings does not matter. You may stop whenever you feel the time is right. You may truly turn this into a heaven-sent opportunity for her. But the Regent Prince... will not gamble. He will not gamble on whether you will stop in time. All he knows is that, right now, his daughter’s life is being held in the hands of her uncle and a band of outsiders. So, Wine Elder, there is no need to worry. If he intends to come, he will come. If he does not, he will not. Either way, we are little more than men lying here with our eyes fixed on Heaven, begging it to toss us a mouthful of food. What other hope do we possess?”

“You are correct.”

The Wine Elder nodded.

The yellow-robed man clapped his hands somewhat helplessly.

“In fact, perhaps saving his daughter is not even the main reason that will drive him here. It may be anger. Anger that a nest of rats hiding in gutters, unable to show their faces beneath the sun... actually dared stretch their claws toward the family he treasures. How could he tolerate that? Right now... perhaps he is already racing here, not because he took the bait, but because he wants to settle accounts with us. And since all of us rats have conveniently gathered in one place, he may even think we have saved him trouble. We’re sitting here worrying whether he’ll bite the hook. He may be worrying that we’ll lose patience, scatter like birds and beasts, and deny him the chance to wipe us out together.”

The Wine Elder looked doubtful.

“Surely not?”

“Why not?” the yellow-robed man asked.

“If he brings an army, we’ll simply flee before he arrives. If he comes without an army, what sort of waves can he possibly stir up? Even if he brings several experts with him...”

The Wine Elder turned and looked around the stockade.

There were many people dressed in black robes.

Qi Refiners accounted for roughly half.

But there were many Martial Artists and swordsmen as well.

Third Grade was merely the threshold for entering this gathering.

There were also quite a few people who had already glimpsed the realm of Second Grade.

They carried many restrictions and hidden costs.

But if they truly threw everything away... they remained terrifying.

The yellow-robed man reached out and snatched the wine flask from the elder’s hand.

He pulled out the stopper, drank deeply, then wiped his mouth.

“I am certain that many people once had thoughts very similar to yours. And step by step, that man destroyed states and received a princely title. The people who thought the way you do... have long since become dry bones under his boots, paving the road beneath his feet.”

The Emperor of Chu spoke.

“If you are this pessimistic, why did you still come here?”

The yellow-robed man scratched hard at his own face.

“I already said it. The pleasant dream turned into a nightmare. Truthfully, I am the one who truly has no choice. Your Majesty, do you know something? The more secure this place seems, the more everyone tells me that if he dares come we can crush him to death... the more unsettled I become. This state of mind is probably not so different from yours and Chu’s before... or Zhao Mugou and Qian’s not long ago. The longer one drags it out, the smaller hope becomes. Better to seek a clean ending.”

At that moment, groups of Qi Refiners around the four sides of the stockade began forcibly supporting one corner of a great formation each.

Terrifying forces started converging.

High above... it looked as though a vast dome were being pried loose from the sky itself.

Slowly, it descended over the stockade and the surrounding land.

The Emperor looked at the scene before him.

“The Four Directions Grand Formation?”

“Your Majesty has sharp eyes.”

The yellow-robed man pointed upward.

“We gathered the national fortunes of Jin, Chu, Qian, and ancient Xia to form this Four Directions Grand Formation. Any outsider who enters will have his cultivation suppressed. Like a fish trapped in a dense net... even if he grew wings, he could not escape.”

The Emperor had managed to subdue the Fire Phoenix spirit.

Clearly, he had always possessed knowledge of such arts.

More than that, the Xiong Clan’s connection with shamans stretched far back.

Shamans had entered Chu court as officials long before Li Xundao ever descended Back Mountain to serve Qian.

The Wine Elder said, “Never mind whether the Regent Prince will come. If he truly enters this formation, he will not leave it again. After that, we only have to close the net.”

“Heh.”

The Emperor sneered.

“Great Chu’s national fortune is already decaying. Qian’s has collapsed into fragments. Jin’s went silent long ago. Ancient Xia’s fortune is scarcely more than mist. Across All Xia today... only Yan’s national fortune stands at its zenith! He is Regent Prince of the State of Yan. In legitimacy, his standing is second only to the Emperor’s. In practice, he is even qualified to stand level with the Emperor. He need only step into your formation. The national fortune of Yan will inevitably descend upon him. You built this formation from four crippled fortunes. I fear it would be smashed apart in an instant.”

The yellow-robed man nodded.

“Your Majesty is wise. When Master Cang severed the dragon vein years ago... perhaps all he truly proved was one thing. National fortune is merely a little maid who follows national power. When the power of a state rises day by day, its national fortune inevitably follows. You cannot sever it. You cannot tear it apart. Mm. This Four Directions Grand Formation is indeed somewhat weak. After all, even all four fortunes piled together would not be enough to fill the gaps between that Pixiu’s teeth. But the Regent Prince... has never proclaimed himself Emperor, has he? He has neither replaced the Ji house nor founded a state of his own. Therefore... the national fortune of Yan still rests in the hands of the Emperor of Yan. Your Majesty... tell me. What happens if that Emperor of Yan... refuses to lend it?”

...

Yanjing.

The imperial palace.

Ji Chengjue had only recently returned to Great Yan’s capital from the Qian lands.

He sat in a chair with a dragon robe draped around his shoulders.

Winter was approaching.

Great Yan lay in the north of All Xia and entered winter earlier than the southern lands.

There was no brazier inside the hall.

The cold had already begun biting into the skin.

The plump woman in white still knelt below.

This time, however, she had been fitted with shackles.

At that moment... heavy footsteps sounded from outside.

Wei Zhonghe and the now not-so-Little Eunuch in Red Robes stood before the Emperor.

Experts of the Secret Intelligence Department and red-robed palace eunuchs were gathered throughout the hall.

This was the secluded residence where the palace’s Old Master had once lived.

Ordinarily, outsiders never came here.

The heavy footsteps drew closer.

Closer.

At last... an enormous black Pixiu wreathed in flames slowly stepped through the towering doorway.

As Great Yan had campaigned in every direction and unification had drawn ever nearer, the power and national fortune of Great Yan had risen with it.

The old Pixiu spirit, whose body had once been broken and rotting, had now recovered its full form.

Its wounds were gone.

The aura surrounding it had become the overwhelming majesty of a divine beast gazing down upon the four directions.

It walked slowly toward the Emperor.

Then raised its head.

Its enormous, majestic eyes stared forward.

A voice echoed throughout the hall.

“So long as you do absolutely nothing... the Ji Clan... will secure All Under Heaven forever!”

At those “words,” the Emperor sitting in the chair with the dragon robe draped over his shoulders leaned back slightly.

A meaningful smile appeared on his face.

A long while passed.

Then he softly said:

“Heh...”

[End of Chapter 1020]