Outside was chaotic as a boiling pot, but inside the Cangsheng Tower, all was peaceful. From time to time, figures in monk robes would drift by, not even glancing at the commotion outside.
At the top of Cangsheng Tower, it could almost be described as singing and dancing in celebration. There were beautiful concubines playing silk and bamboo instruments, lovely ladies brewing fragrant tea, charming maidservants burning dragon’s saliva incense, and beauties sitting opposite each other, leisurely watching flowers.
Prince Da’an’s second prince, Murong Duan, who should have been far away in Liaodong’s Ru Province, was now sitting across from a low table, studying the beauty wearing a veil opposite him. Though his face bore a smile, his eyes held a trace of growing irritation.
Who knew where this person had suddenly appeared from, brazenly knocking on Cangsheng Tower’s door early in the morning, not only recognizing him with a single sentence but also exposing all his schemes here completely.
He was secretly plotting great affairs in this land of Haiyou, concealing it from both Liaodong and the court. If discovered, he would find no favor in either place.
Originally, he had thought that since this was no longer Liaodong territory, his father’s reach couldn’t extend this far, and the capital was thousands of li away from here. With his protective barriers, they couldn’t investigate this place either. What seemed like dangerous maneuvering in a narrow space was actually perfectly safe. Who would have thought someone could peek through his plans so easily and cleverly!
But regardless of how the other party had discovered it, since they had entered this place, they had already grasped his weak spot. Today, he would inevitably have a large chunk of flesh torn away by them.
Murong Duan thought that recent times had truly been unlucky for him. His trusted confidant had been transferred away from Yanshan Guard Post, and the new commanding officer of Yanshan Guard Post had been assassinated. His elder brother kept insisting that he had sent someone to kill out of jealous hatred, because when Meng Decheng was killed, he was clutching something that could only be found in the Second Prince’s manor. This matter was reported to their father, causing a huge uproar.
It took great effort for his father to believe him and not become suspicious, even allowing him to enter the inner cabinet to attend government affairs. At this critical moment, he couldn’t afford any complications that would ruin everything.
He studied the beauty opposite him. Her veil reached almost to her feet. Her fingers holding the cup were slender as jade, with distinct joints and pink fingertips. In her turning and lifting movements, her posture was graceful. Even without lifting the veil, one could tell she was certainly a stunning beauty.
The moment this woman had entered, he had prepared to silence her permanently. However, she had only turned back with a smile and said, “If I die here, two carrier pigeons will immediately take flight. Guess where they’ll fly to?”
What was there to guess? Murong Duan forcibly swallowed that breath of anger. The matter was too important—even if this was a bluff, he didn’t dare gamble.
Hearing the increasing clamor below, his irritation grew even worse. Initially, he had said that Cangsheng Tower’s annual opening should be canceled this time to avoid accidental discovery. Someone had argued that suddenly closing the tower would arouse suspicion, insisting on keeping it open. Then last night, that young man from the capital who had come to gain experience suddenly explored the tower. That same person said the young man was a restless sort, quite shrewd, and they shouldn’t let him discover anything suspicious. Better to close the tower under this pretext, then blame everything on that young man, incite the people’s anger, and use the crowd to eliminate him when there were many people around. He had agreed to this plan.
But given the current situation, with so many people around, they mustn’t create too much commotion and let the woman before him take advantage of it.
“Has the master of the house decided?” the beauty opposite asked with a smile.
Murong Duan hesitated no longer, deciding on a quick resolution. “Since the young lady has come, naturally she shouldn’t return empty-handed. Those who see should share—I’ll take eighty percent, you take twenty.”
Beyond his expectations, the other party didn’t haggle at all, merely extending her palm: “Let’s clap hands to seal the oath.”
Murong Duan’s heart leaped with joy. Although giving away twenty percent still represented an enormously huge sum, it was still better than he had imagined. The other party wasn’t being too greedy. In his delight, he was about to extend his palm when he raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of her smiling eyes through the veil. Suddenly his heart turned cold, and he withdrew his hand, saying, “My word is as good as gold. I’ll leave you a written agreement later—there’s no need to clap hands.”
The other party simply smiled and withdrew her hand, suddenly standing up and facing the window, pursing her lips to whistle.
The sound of flapping wings arose, and in an instant something swept past the bronze bells, heading for the high sky.
Murong Duan: “What are you doing!”
“Exercising a bird,” the beauty’s tone was innocent. “I only exercised one. Guess—is it flying north or south?”
Murong Duan was beside himself with anger: “We already agreed just now!”
“Yes. Twenty percent was for buying silence from one party.” The beauty smiled and wagged her finger. “How about this—Liaodong or the court, I’ll let you choose for yourself. Consider it a bonus.”
What kind of bonus was this!
Thinking of the enormous sum represented by forty percent and his years of hard work going down the drain, Murong Duan was so angry his vision darkened. He felt half his chest’s worth of blood rushing to his head in a throb. It took a long while before he broke free from his dizzy, blinding rage, gritting his teeth: “Sixty for me, forty for you! If you’re still not satisfied, then let’s mutually destroy each other—nobody gets anything good.”
“Words alone carry no weight.”
“Bring brush and ink!”
“If you leave written evidence and your people refuse to acknowledge it, that becomes a death warrant.” The beauty shook her head. “Let’s divide the loot on the spot.”
“Only if you can take it away!”
“Don’t trouble yourself with that concern.”
“Then how will you recall that pigeon that’s already flown away?” Murong Duan took out his private seal, stamping several marks in sequence on a slip of paper according to the proper order. The beauty received it and handed it to her silent guard beside her. The tall figure hurried down from the tower with it, and after a short while returned. From far away, one could hear his body jingling and clanging like a symphony, and when he entered, cold light dazzled the eyes.
Only then did the beauty nod, producing a small bow like magic. She pursed her lips in a whistle, and after a moment the sound of flapping wings rose again. The beauty drew her bow—twang!—and a pigeon fell straight down from the tower top.
Only then did Murong Duan breathe a sigh of relief.
After feeling relieved came heartache, and after heartache came relief again—the other party was now on the same boat as him. Even for her own benefit, she wouldn’t sell him out again.
His gaze suddenly focused. He noticed that even when drawing her bow to shoot the bird, the beauty stood far from the window, and her other guard, who had been silent and motionless before, only moved two steps when she walked toward the window, positioning himself protectively beside her.
Was there something outside the window? This was his first reaction.
The beauty standing by the window, her gaze unconsciously following the falling bird downward, suddenly flashed with recognition when her sight fell on a certain point in the crowd.
…
The crowd surged toward Tie Ci like a giant wave.
In that instant, Tie Ci felt as if an iron plate or a mountain was sweeping horizontally toward her, the enormous force pushing her constantly backward, her heels carried by the crowd barely able to touch the ground. That human tide was like an ocean tide—one wave barely ending before another came, the continuous impact making breathing nearly impossible. Though she had been gifted in martial arts since childhood with tremendous strength, at this moment she understood for the first time what her master had meant: human power has its limits, and even a world-conquering hero cannot defeat a thousand armies.
Bang! Her back struck the door panel.
The moment she hit the door panel, alarm suddenly arose in her heart.
Looking up, she saw cold light flash ahead.
Someone in the crowd was wielding a blade!
Tie Ci instinctively shifted her body, about to slide along the door panel to get away, but at that moment, a sharp scream accompanied by loud crying—a child beside her was being pushed and shoved by people and fell toward her.
If Tie Ci slid away now, that blade would pierce the child’s head!
Cold light flashed like a venomous snake, silently appearing from beneath someone’s elbow ahead!