The camp was completely quiet, yet Qing Xia knew that hidden beneath this quietness lay incredibly strict defenses.
Compared to the defenses of the other three kingdoms, Nanchu’s defensive measures were indeed several levels higher. However, what was laughable was that all the arrangements here had once been personally trained and instructed by Qing Xia. Even the hidden members of the Black Guards were personally selected by Qing Xia. Now, hiding in the shadows and looking at this impenetrable defensive network, she only felt a wave of desolation slowly rising from the bottom of her heart. The bitter fruit of her own making filled her entire chest with bitterness.
Based on her experience and keen eye, Qing Xia could roughly estimate the positions of those guard posts. However, those mobile patrol guards operating at night were basically in groups of two or three. When Qing Xia had organized them, she had set them to follow no discernible pattern—heaven knew from which corner they might suddenly emerge. This place was not suitable for a long stay. Once there was any disturbance, those alert soldiers would immediately discover her.
She wouldn’t go to the regular main camp, so she could only target the military prison and where the military doctors frequented. If Xi Linchen was still alive, there were only these two places he could be. If he was fortunate enough not to have been captured, he would definitely be hiding with the military doctors. If he had been unlucky enough to be caught, then he could only be in the military prison.
The danger was already determined, and the destination was clear. Qing Xia thought no more, decisively half-crouched at the waist, looked around, then suddenly pushed off with her right leg and burst into a sprint.
The wind howled as Qing Xia moved with the agility of a cat and the swiftness of a leopard. There was no clever strategy for victory—she could only rely on speed and skill to avoid enemy eyes with maximum ability. For these super-strong ancient warriors she had personally trained, she showed due respect, conducting everything according to special forces nighttime operation protocols. In the blink of an eye, Qing Xia’s black clothing had already merged with the darkness.
The direction of the military prison obviously wasn’t as heavily defended as Chu Li’s main tent area. Qing Xia carefully infiltrated, relying on her knowledge of the Chu camp and extraordinary memory, quickly reaching the vicinity of the military prison. Without any fancy moves, she cleanly drew the two daggers from under her arms and thrust them hard into the wooden stakes of the military prison. Using alternating hand grips and relying on her strong arm strength and agile skills, she climbed bit by bit toward the top of the military prison, more than four meters high.
Long winds howled through the night, making sounds like wolf howls.
The skylight was pushed open, moonlight streamed in. Qing Xia looked around and saw the pitch-black prison was unusually quiet. Qing Xia raised her eyebrows slightly, gripped the skylight with her hands, suddenly swung her arms and leaped down, landing silently on the dust-covered ground.
However, before her rapid breathing could settle, a low voice suddenly spoke. Qing Xia immediately tensed like a startled leopard, all the pores on her body standing on end.
“You still came after all.”
A candle flame was slowly lit in the corner of the wall. The pale moonlight also streamed in from the opened skylight, casting dim radiance in the spacious military prison. In the empty prison, a white-bearded old man slowly raised his head, looking at Qing Xia with calm eyes. He slightly curved the corners of his mouth, nodded, and revealed a kind smile.
“Two months ago, I met with Prince An and learned that you are not my daughter.”
The old man smiled faintly, his smile carrying a bitterness that Qing Xia couldn’t understand. She nervously backed away, her eyes darting around, scanning every corner. Dozens of deadly plans rose in her mind, repeatedly considering any possible situation that might arise.
However, Zhuang Dianru seemed not to notice Qing Xia’s hostility at all. His voice was like autumn mulberry leaves, pleasantly hoarse and deep. “For these two months, I’ve been thinking, how wonderful it would be if you really were my child. Xia’er has a weak character, is indecisive, and cannot shoulder great responsibilities. Aside from a pretty face, how is she like a child of our Zhuang family? How could I have such a child?”
Qing Xia snorted coldly, saying in a deep voice: “So you repeatedly used her—first using her to bewitch Qi’an, using her to preserve your Zhuang family’s position in the Qi Kingdom, then sending her to Chu Li. When you saw she gained no power and wasn’t favored, you abandoned her in Nanchu’s harem to wait for death alone and helpless?”
Zhuang Dianru smiled slightly, saying in a deep voice: “Being able to contribute to the great cause of unification is her honor. If she could understand my intentions, she would certainly be grateful to me.”
“Bullshit!” Qing Xia shouted coldly, saying icily: “You’re not worthy of being her father at all! You used her, deceived her, constantly talking about the people under heaven and the common folk, but you can’t even protect your own family members. You repeatedly push them into fire pits, yet still talk about the people under heaven? You brought a few relatives useful to you and fled to Nanchu, yet caused the entire Zhuang clan in Eastern Qi to die horribly. For your personal desires, for your ideals, you abandoned your wife and children, betrayed all your relatives, yet dare to sit here and speak grandly of benevolence, righteousness, and the way of the world? You’re just a deranged madman!”
The cold, stern voice echoed in the bone-chilling military prison. Qing Xia’s eyes blazed with fire, her voice clear and sharp, carrying blade-like streaks of cold light. But Zhuang Dianru seemed completely unconcerned. He smiled faintly at Qing Xia, saying softly: “So similar. Sometimes you’re really very much like him—the same obstinacy, the same stubbornness, the same fiery temperament. But two people like this cannot be together.”
Qing Xia frowned and looked coldly at this old man. A sense of crisis gradually rose from the bottom of her heart. Zhuang Dianru smiled faintly, saying: “He should be a proudly transcendent, brilliant sovereign, should stand at the pinnacle overlooking all living beings like insignificant ants, should take up the sharp blade bestowed by the heavens and encompass the four seas. He shouldn’t have his forward steps hindered by you.”
“Don’t you find it strange?” The old man suddenly blinked his eyes, asking in a deep voice: “Don’t you wonder why Xia’er, an ordinary young girl with an ordinary flesh and blood body, could bear your martial arts, your skills, your powerful physical abilities, and even be unafraid of toxins, immune to all poisons?”
Qing Xia’s eyes suddenly widened, crying out in shock: “You know my origins?”
“We perceive everything!” Zhuang Dianru smiled mysteriously: “Our eyes see very far—we can see to the ends of heaven and earth, see the veins of time, see the trajectory of fate, see the falling of stars. They thought that by sending you, this wisp of a wandering soul, they could halt our forward steps, could prevent the advance of the age, could let warfare continue to ravage the earth? They were wrong. No one can stop us. The four seas will ultimately be unified, the world will be under one sky, looking up to one person’s rule. The steps toward unification cannot be stopped, no matter what person, what power, what fate.”
Qing Xia frowned tightly. She carefully looked at this aged old man, finally slowly asking in a deep voice: “Who are you? And who are they?”
“They are the fate of chaos for this continent.” Zhuang Dianru’s expression suddenly became agitated. A gleam flashed in his eyes as he said in a deep voice: “This continent seems to be under a curse—warfare, separation, conquest, the blood and tears of people and their bones buried beneath every inch of land. Every thirty to fifty years, great wars inevitably break out. Even during the unification under Great Qin, there were countless lords, countless vassal states, countless wars and turmoil, never unified for a single day. This is abnormal. We know that someone is interfering with everything, that a giant hand hovers over China’s sky, twisting and pushing the course of history, hindering national unification.”
Qing Xia was startled, suddenly remembering the sawtooth-structured terrain and commercial distribution that had puzzled her so much recently. Her eyebrows immediately raised slightly as she listened silently to Zhuang Dianru’s voice without interrupting.
“And we are the heaven-defiers. We want to change the fate of this continent, no longer let the common people be displaced, no longer let all living beings be swept into warfare. We want to build a society of great unity. Someday, there will be no more strife in the world, no more bloodshed, and the people will live in harmony and joy. This is our goal and ideal, and it will someday become reality.”
A society of great unity? More like communism.
She looked coldly at this nearly frenzied old man and said coldly: “You are the Mohists who call yourselves the Heavenly Way?”
“You are indeed very clever.” Zhuang Dianru looked at Qing Xia approvingly, saying very happily: “Xia’er never understood my thinking. All that harsh training I put her through from childhood, giving her all those skills, was wasted. When we left Eastern Qi, I had her stay in Eastern Qi as a spy to constantly relay news of Eastern Qi to me. She refused, and in the end even aroused the Great Emperor’s suspicion. For the great cause, I had no choice but to make her take deadly poison. I never expected heaven to let you replace her. At first, you nearly deceived me. I tested you in every way, thinking you had lost your memory and forgotten important things. I never expected you to be the person fate arranged to disrupt my chess game. How wonderful it would be if you were my child.”
“What?” Qing Xia stared wide-eyed, saying in a deep voice: “You killed her?”
Zhuang Dianru nodded: “Yes, she no longer had any need to exist and would have made the Great Emperor suspicious of me. I had to execute her. She wasn’t the first Mohist to sacrifice herself for the great cause. At the gates of the underworld, countless comrades with the same aspirations are waiting for her. She won’t be lonely.”
Like a thunderbolt striking Qing Xia’s heart, her eyes immediately burst with intense brilliance, like knives cutting into the old man’s flesh piece by piece. She cried out coldly: “You conscience-less madman!”
Zhuang Dianru was unconcerned, still speaking with fervent righteousness: “We have even more far-reaching and noble goals. History will someday prove that we are correct.”
“Correct my ass!” Qing Xia cursed furiously: “What four seas unified? What great unity under heaven? How large is this world—just the palm-sized patch your eyes can see? Beyond the four seas, under the six directions, how much land is there, how many people are there? How far can your muddy, shallow eyes see? Unify everything under one banner—dream on! Wherever there are people, there will be scheming, there will be interests, there will be wars and disputes caused by unequal distribution of spoils. People’s desire for material things and power will never end or be satisfied. The people at the bottom will never be forever content to be ants. As long as there is rule, there will be resistance, there will be the spread of warfare. Great unity under heaven is nothing but an illusory fantasy. You actually cruelly murdered your own daughter for a dream that can never be realized—you’re simply a pervert!”