Chu Feihuan said indifferently: “She said not to chase.”
Stopping in silence, Su Xuan asked puzzledly: “She said? When did she say that?”
Chu Feihuan merely made a gesture. Su Xuan suddenly understood, then smiled self-deprecatingly, saying softly: “…I can’t compare to the understanding you’ve built from being together so long…” He stood in place, watching the carriage roll away in clouds of dust, raised his eyebrows, a flash of anger passing through his eyes as he said: “But this person is so insolent… he cannot be allowed to remain.”
Presumably Wei Tianzi’s action just now had already enraged him.
Chu Feihuan was still as jade stone, saying indifferently: “Whether to let him remain or not depends on her pleasure.”
Turning to look at Chu Feihuan, Su Xuan said: “Brother Chu, after today, to still say Miss Ming is just a small palace maid – I absolutely won’t believe it. To be able to control the former Empress’s hidden forces, to make you respect and support her so – how could an ordinary person accomplish this? Who exactly is she?”
“Whether to speak or not is also her business,” Chu Feihuan said quietly. “Can’t you guess yourself?”
“Guess?” Su Xuan smiled bitterly. “Fine, I’ll guess. I guess she’s the former Empress herself – why aren’t you startled?”
Chu Feihuan remained silent. Su Xuan spread his hands and laughed: “You’re not startled, but I’m startled by my own absurdity. Honestly, we martial artists are good at observing bone structure. If it weren’t that Miss Ming is clearly a girl of only ten-odd years, absolutely incompatible with the former Empress, I would have long thought she was the former Empress herself.”
He gazed silently toward where the carriage had disappeared, pondering: “But I still can’t feel at ease… that person seemed to have harmed her just now…”
Chu Feihuan only said: “She can handle it. Going would be interference.”
Su Xuan frowned at him, then after a while shook his head and smiled: “Fine, then I’ll wait half an hour. If she doesn’t return in half an hour, I must definitely go find her.”
Chu Feihuan’s expression didn’t change, maintaining an air of “as you wish, she’ll return.”
Su Xuan murmured: “…She’s not skilled in martial arts and is a weak woman, yet wants to maneuver with such wolves and tigers, and doesn’t want our interference. What is she planning?”
“Who? Maneuvering with whom?” A clear, childish voice suddenly emerged, along with a fuzzy, pretty big head. “Eh, where’s my mother?”
――――――――――――――――――――
The several brown-clothed subordinates appeared to be skilled hands under the Jin Prince. Not only were they quite capable at ambush attacks, their carriage driving was also first-rate – the ride was smooth with almost no swaying sensation.
Qin Chang Ge and Wei Tianzi examined the carriage together. Though it appeared compact, the interior was designed ingeniously and spaciously. Under the seats, beside the bed, in the canopy – everywhere had movable drawers and compartments.
Some places clearly showed no mechanisms, yet unexpected things would pop out. Wei Tianzi explored everything one by one, constantly exclaiming in admiration, though naturally not forgetting to constantly watch Qin Chang Ge’s movements.
“Truly marvelous craftsmanship,” Wei Tianzi took out a bundle from a drawer that popped out from under the seat, smiling as he opened it. “Let me see what good things there are.”
He opened a box and made a sound of surprise: “These go stones are quite special.”
Qin Chang Ge glanced over and saw it was a set of go pieces. The style was ancient, the material special – the black pieces were dull and dark, the white pieces bright and lustrous, faintly showing five-colored radiance. At a glance one could tell they were extraordinary. The board had seal script characters inlaid with black gold threads, luxurious yet not vulgar. Though just a go set, its value was incalculable. She knew this must be the gift Su Xuan intended for that “benefactor.” She also saw in the bundle crystal mirrors, snuff bottles, a thousand-year agarwood walking stick and similar items – all rare treasures, but from their appearance, all items for elderly use.
Qin Chang Ge immediately began recalling the martial arts Su Xuan had displayed, connecting them with famous elderly masters in the martial world, trying to identify Su Xuan’s school, but gained nothing. She had never seen Su Xuan’s martial arts in any sect, and among martial world masters, none seemed capable of teaching a disciple like Su Xuan.
After examining everything one by one, constantly exclaiming in admiration yet carelessly putting everything back, Wei Tianzi quickly turned his attention back to Qin Chang Ge. He looked her up and down, his gaze crude while his smile remained refined. After a while he said: “I’ve seen countless beauties in my life. When I first saw you today, I didn’t think much of it. Now looking again, I find your bearing increasingly unique, unparalleled under heaven. Why don’t you simply not return – follow me, and this life’s wealth and honor will be worry-free.”
“Oh?” Qin Chang Ge lazily leaned against the carriage wall. “Wealth and honor worry-free, or pursuit and exile without rest for life?”
Showing his teeth in a smile, the smile sinister, Wei Tianzi said without changing color: “Do I look like someone who would forever be pursued and exiled?”
“Mm…” Qin Chang Ge glanced at him, saying indifferently: “If you were, I wouldn’t be here at all. Just now, I, or my companions, would have already killed you.”
Stunned for a moment, Wei Tianzi suddenly threw back his head and laughed loudly, the laughter like an owl’s cry, causing a brown-clothed man to stick his head in to look, only to be struck out with a backhand slap from Wei Tianzi.
“Boastful nonsense!” The laughter stopped abruptly, and Wei Tianzi returned to his gentle, amiable demeanor, gently lifting Qin Chang Ge’s chin with a gesture like handling a cherished delicate flower, yet his tone was so malicious it chilled one to the bone: “What thing are you? You could kill me? What you should be doing now is kneeling at my feet begging for mercy, begging me to spare your life, right?”
“Sorry… I don’t have the habit of kneeling. Of course, I also don’t have the hobby of making others kneel to me. But I must first remind you – who spares whom is still very much in question,” Qin Chang Ge smiled gracefully. “I know what gives you such confidence – your Yin Evil Skill just now actually used killing force, didn’t it? I must die within three hours… Oh, you’re truly shameless to the extreme. I really want to kill you. Keeping you is actually playing with fire, but I don’t mind trying. Wei Tianzi, if I didn’t still have use for you and didn’t want you to die right now, I should have spoken up in front of them just then, let them tear you to pieces and send you back to Wei Kingdom. How much easier that would be.”
His fingers trembled, curling into a hook shape in mid-air, then relaxing. Wei Tianzi raised his gaze, slowly examining Qin Chang Ge from top to bottom again, drawling: “Pity… pity…”
“Pity that a delicate flower will soon wither because she knows secrets she shouldn’t know?” Qin Chang Ge quickly picked up the thread, smiling with complete indifference. “Fine, kill me then. And then, you, Your Highness the Jin Prince, you can forever bear your noble title and drift across the Neichuan Continent, being a fugitive noble everyone calls for killing, facing endless revenge and pursuit on the lands your iron hooves once trampled. Compared to your first half of life’s wealth and peaceful glory, it should be a nice new experience.”
“And that throne you’ve coveted for so long, that person you’ve wanted to kill for so long who’s been pressing down on you,” Qin Chang Ge showed her teeth in a smile, “through tonight’s stupid self-abandonment, your last chance to possess or destroy them will also slip through your fingers.”
Wei Tianzi listened extremely seriously. After the words ended, he threw back his head and laughed loudly, the laughter wild as a howl, startling distant birds into sharp cries as they flapped their wings in chaotic flight. Qin Chang Ge just watched him unmoved and indifferently.
“I’ve seen many people skilled at boastful nonsense,” sneering repeatedly, Wei Tianzi looked sideways at Qin Chang Ge. “One by one they have silver tongues, each calling themselves worthy ministers, speaking as if I don’t treat them as honored guests, I’ll lose the throne or even my life. I find them so annoying, so annoying… Do you know what the final fate of these ‘worthy ministers’ was?”
As if not hearing the vicious sarcasm in his tone, adjusting herself to a comfortable position, Qin Chang Ge’s smile was beautiful and mysterious. Not answering his question, she lazily extended her hand, stretching her arm to gesture in the air – her right arm like undulating mountains forming a triangle shape flowing down, her left arm drawing a vertical line striking directly at the right arm’s arc.
A perfectly ordinary gesture, yet it made Wei Tianzi’s face change dramatically. He instantly straightened up, eyes bursting with fierce light: “You – how do you know this…” He seemed to feel he had spoken out of turn, forcibly stopping, but fixed his sinister, cruel gaze on Qin Chang Ge, examining her up and down.
“Your whole life, your future, your ambition and hope to claim Wei Kingdom’s crown – all frustrated by this inexplicable symbol,” light filtered through fine carriage curtain gaps, falling on Qin Chang Ge’s face, dividing that delicate smile like a witch’s, her voice lower and echoing as if in a deep mountain cave. “Wei Tianzi, you must remember four years ago, the night the old Wei King died, when winter thunder crashed strangely, cold wind rose from level ground, and all of Northern Wei waited for a kingdom’s most crucial transition, waiting for decaying death and powerful rebirth. At that time, you kneeling in the corridor and also waiting never imagined that regarding the imperial edict, there would only be a symbol you couldn’t understand at all. You never imagined that just this inexplicable symbol would cause you to lose the throne you thought was already securely yours.”
“Want to know why? Want to know?” Qin Chang Ge smiled hatefully. “Losing doesn’t matter – what man hasn’t lost? But if you don’t even know why you lost, tell me, what’s such a man still living for?”
Her slender fingers twisted together, faintly hearing the creaking sounds of joints under excessive force. Yet Wei Tianzi’s face showed no anger, only squinting as he examined Qin Chang Ge again, his gaze changing like a snake’s winding movement. After a while, dark fire flashed, and he suddenly smiled gently. Though aged, that smile was smooth as spring water’s ripples, threading out faint waves of light that made one want to drown in them. “Miss, just now I was testing you… You’re indeed extraordinary. So, do you have advice to offer?”
“No,” Qin Chang Ge shook her head, as if not seeing Wei Tianzi’s somewhat livid face, covering her chest weakly: “Your Yin Evil Skill is too vicious – it injured my internal organs. You must first remove it before I have strength to speak.”
She had just spoken such a long string of words with great vigor, yet now had no strength. Encountering such a person, no matter how changeable Wei Tianzi’s personality, he was at a loss. Staring at her for a while, he reached over and struck Qin Chang Ge’s Jianjing acupoint.
Warm flow penetrated, yet her whole body suddenly felt cold, followed by a gradual thawing sensation like breaking ice. The cold, sinister qi was instantly expelled. Qin Chang Ge’s face remained calm, but inwardly she was surprised – this arrogant, lustful prince actually had such pure martial power!
Smiling, she moved her somewhat aching muscles and bones. Ignoring Wei Tianzi’s faintly anxious gaze, Qin Chang Ge swayed as she stood, admiringly touching the carriage’s lacquered interior walls, sighing: “Good wood quality… probably ironwood from the snow forests of the far north beyond Chihe River… Using it for a carriage is such a waste… Being robbed makes it even more wasteful.”
“I’ll return it to him,” Wei Tianzi understood the implied meaning and was quite straightforward. His earlier sullen anger had now dissipated, and he observed Qin Chang Ge with interest: “What other demands do you have? Say them all together – I’m listening.”
Turning around, Qin Chang Ge stood with hands behind her back, looking at Wei Tianzi and smiling.
“Good, you’re quite qualified,” slowly sitting before this prince famous across several nations, Qin Chang Ge’s smile was satisfied. “There are two kinds of ruthlessness – showing off and fighting fiercely is ruthless, being sinister and enduring is also ruthless. I originally feared you were only the former type. Now it seems Your Highness the Jin Prince’s reputation is well-deserved – you know what you want and don’t begrudge giving up. So keeping you alive probably won’t be a loss.”
“That depends on whether what you can provide makes me feel my endurance wasn’t wasted,” Wei Tianzi placed his palms on his knees, leaning forward slightly, speaking softly and tenderly as to a lover. “Otherwise, when I become unhappy, before you consider whether to spare my life, I’ll first spare yours.”
“You are the son of a snake-person,” Qin Chang Ge, having gone around enough, dropped this bombshell, never speaking without shocking people to death. “All of Northern Wei’s high officials and nobles know it, all of Northern Wei’s common people know it through whispered rumors, but only you, the person involved, don’t know.”
Staring at Wei Tianzi’s finally shocked expression, she continued: “Legend says that when the old king went on campaign, a concubine surnamed Ji in the residence became bored and lonely, went to Mount Ji for recreation, was captured by a half-snake, half-human monster. The next day, attendants found her unconscious in a mountain cave, with a golden snake skin before her. After returning to the residence, she became pregnant. Ten months later, the Wei King’s eldest son was born – you, Wei Tianzi.”
“Nonsense!” Such information was truly hard to accept. Wei Tianzi’s gentleness immediately vanished, turning to rage: “I see you’re seeking death. You’re slandering my royal noble bloodline, slandering my late king’s eternal reputation!”
In his fury, he stood up abruptly, banging against the carriage roof with a loud sound. A brown-clothed man stuck his head in to look. This one wasn’t as lucky as the last – Wei Tianzi waved his sleeve, and a slightly fishy true qi suddenly swept out. The man screamed miserably, his face turning black as he fell from the carriage shaft – clearly dead.
Having killed his subordinate with one palm, Wei Tianzi whirled around to stare at Qin Chang Ge, his gaze truly like a venomous python flicking its tongue.
He sneered coldly: “What nonsense are you spouting? Absurd! If I really were a snake-person’s son, how could father king have allowed me to grow up? Even granted me princely rank? You dare deceive me!”
Speaking the last sentence, his voice suddenly became abnormal, with faint hissing sounds mixed in.
The palm shadow under his sleeve flickered, showing mottled colors as it struck directly toward Qin Chang Ge’s crown!
Without even blinking an eyelash, Qin Chang Ge hugged her knees while looking out the window, saying indifferently: “When you’re extremely angry, your normally perfect tongue tip will fork at the front, your voice changes, producing hissing sounds.”
Wei Tianzi’s fingers stopped before Qin Chang Ge’s face.
“You like humid weather, you hate realgar wine, you don’t eat vegetables.”
“So what?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know what creature has these habits.” Qin Chang Ge smiled sarcastically. “As for why you didn’t die and instead lived like a human being as a prince for so many years – when you were born, the Wei King was only a military governor. That day, a wandering Taoist came to the Wei residence. Just as your father was about to drown you in a chamber pot, he burst into the residence, claiming that mountain mist arose from Mount Ji’s peak, forming clouds and spreading rain, and a child with double pupils should be born to the Wei residence to help the Wei clan expand territory and become king and hegemon – searching the entire residence, the child with double pupils was the one in the military governor’s hands about to be drowned in the chamber pot!”
“You thus kept your life. After growing up, you were indeed skilled in warfare and brave, using troops with cunning, winning victory after victory. Together with Xiao Jue who later created the Xiliang Empire, you were called the two great war gods of north and south. Your father used you, so naturally wouldn’t mistreat you. But the throne – only you yourself thought you had hope, only you yourself thought you were born with double pupils and destined for imperial position. Little did you know those double pupils could at most preserve your life – as for other things, wishful thinking!”
“Now you should know without me saying what that gesture your cheap old father drew meant. That winding curve is a snake, the straight line is a person, or weapon, or anything that can restrain you, striking at your vital point – Wei Yuanxian never forgot to guard against you even unto death. How laughable that you still waited for him to pass the throne to you!”
Wei Tianzi’s palm seemed nailed before Qin Chang Ge’s face, momentarily not knowing whether to withdraw it.
Qin Chang Ge casually pushed away his palm, not bothering to look at his expression. Feeling that today’s excessive talking had drained her and she needed nourishment, she quickly poured herself a cup of Junshan Jade Dew from the small table’s hidden drawer and drank it.
These secrets of Wei Tianzi’s background were things she had already grasped in her previous previous life. When Xiliang was founded, though temporarily unable to annex all nations, she never abandoned her plan for world unification for a single day. She always believed that being prepared leads to success while being unprepared leads to failure. The first thing she did was collect information on the secrets and private affairs of top figures in all nations for future use.
Xiliang had its own hidden guard system, but Qin Chang Ge’s Huang Meng was superior. In investigating Wei Tianzi’s secret affairs, what Huang Meng provided to Qin Chang Ge was even more detailed and accurate than what the most excellent undercover agents could discover.
Originally she hadn’t believed Wei Tianzi’s background – snake-people, what was that? What trick was Wei Yuanxian playing? But since accidentally passing through Nanmin once, she learned that there are things in this world that you don’t know about, but that absolutely doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Outside the carriage, wind howled, but inside it was silent as death. After a long time, soft giggling broke the silence.
The laughter started light, then became increasingly urgent and loud, finally becoming wild laughter that seemed to burst from his chest, mixed with unique hissing sounds, like angry clouds, like violent storms, as if wanting to overturn the carriage roof with unceasing laughter.
Though the laughter was so wild, the air held a mountain-like oppression, pressing down heavily.
Qin Chang Ge pursed her lips, watching without pity as the world-famous His Highness the Jin Prince laughed more and more calmly, his gaze becoming more and more burning, his appearance more and more gorgeous and beautiful. This man had always thought himself a prince of royal blood, with noble Wei clan blood flowing in his veins, living unknowingly for years under the mocking, whispering gazes of the world, only learning in his moment of despair that he was actually a bastard spawn not even counting as human.
She waited for him to collapse or rise up.
There was no other path.
The world holds much suffering – who can be lucky enough to escape? When fate’s hammer strikes down without mercy, only those brave enough to raise the sword of will in defiant resistance, striking sparks of lightning and thunder, deserve to stand upright as humans.
Walking, fighting, competing, winning out – these never depend on bloodline, but on the passionate blood pulsing in one’s soul that dares to howl at the sun and split heaven with one strike.
In the laughter, Qin Chang Ge’s voice was clear and indifferent: “I’ll give you another quarter hour – if you don’t finish laughing, I won’t give you another chance – my eardrums are more important than anything.”
The laughter suddenly stopped, so quickly it was as if there had never been any grief-stricken laughter. Wei Tianzi had already restored calm, even restored his uniquely cold gentleness.
He said in a steady voice: “I want to return to my country. I won’t return the carriage to you.”
“I don’t like people who renege on debts,” Qin Chang Ge said indifferently, “and compared to what I can give you, what does a carriage matter?”
Frowning suspiciously, not asking what Qin Chang Ge planned to help him with, Wei Tianzi said: “What reason do you have to help me? What are your intentions?”
“After success, I’ll gift you the twelve provinces of Fengqi,” Qin Chang Ge answered straightforwardly.
Slightly shocked, Wei Tianzi immediately became alert: “You’re from Xiliang’s imperial family?”
“No,” Qin Chang Ge said. “You’re no mediocrity – you should know that in your Northern Wei, there’s a mysterious force that usually uses commerce as a front while secretly engaging in hidden affairs, but they absolutely don’t belong to Xiliang’s imperial family – you control the Flying Eagle Guard and believe you’ve received similar intelligence reports.”
“Yes,” Wei Tianzi’s gaze was thoughtful. “I vaguely know of that organization and spent effort investigating, but their concealment skills are formidable. Every time I was about to discover their true nature, I lost the trail. I always suspected someone high up in Northern Wei was colluding with them, leaking our movements – so that was the organization you belong to.”
“The world is divided into six nations, with three forming a tripod among the six. The dream of unifying the world is what all monarchs contemplate day and night,” Qin Chang Ge’s expression was proud and distant. “However, existing on this Neichuan Continent are not merely these six national powers, but also forces lurking in darkness, conserving strength and hiding their brilliance, not contending against national machinery with their insufficient power, all waiting for that moment when the world falls into chaos. Only in chaos can one profit. Now war is imminent, upheaval will rise, the world’s structure is about to be reshuffled. Whether one can get a share depends on each one’s scheming.”
“Our scheme is,” Qin Chang Ge smiled, “to help the heaven-destined son, Your Highness the Jin Prince, seize Northern Wei’s throne. But don’t worry – we have no interest in Northern Wei whatsoever. What we need is shared interests. You gift us twelve provinces, and with this foothold, we’ll have national territory for founding a country. Our target is Xiliang, and you know that the more chaotic Xiliang becomes, the more beneficial and harmless it is for your Northern Wei.”
“Heaven-destined son?” Wei Tianzi smiled sarcastically. “Just when I thought your wisdom was vast, you start talking nonsense again.”
“I won’t let you worship for nothing,” Qin Chang Ge smiled gently. “When I say you’re a heaven-destined son, that’s naturally nonsense. But what if it were He Buyu saying it?”
“He Buyu!”