After finishing lunch, the Princess Consort knelt by the stream, tilting her delicate head as she carefully combed her hair. Her figure was blurred in the water, but this haziness lent a certain ethereal beauty to her appearance – a beauty unique to the Princess Consort.
Her bright eyes glanced across the stream at Xu Qi An, who sat cross-legged meditating in the shade of a tree. A strange feeling welled up inside her as if they were old friends who had known each other for years. Yet she clearly remembered disliking him at first – he hadn’t returned her sachet or wallet when he found them, and he even hit her foot…
After unburdening her heart earlier, the Princess Consort felt much lighter. As for what would happen to her in the future, she hadn’t thought about it. After all, she had resigned herself to her fate many years ago. What else could she do? She was a timid woman who would scream at the sight of insects and hide under the covers when the bed curtains swayed. How could she possibly match wits and courage against the Emperor and a Prince?
Even now, she still didn’t know what fate awaited her, but for some reason, she felt safer than she had in Prince Huai’s mansion.
“Alas, I truly am a beautiful woman who brings disaster,” the Princess Consort sighed. Beautiful women are always proud, especially the most beautiful woman in Great Feng.
Under the shade of the tree, Xu Qi An meditated while communicating with Monk Shenshu in his mind. Having absorbed the essence blood of four Fourth-Rank experts, Monk Shenshu’s connection was much more stable now, responding after just a few calls.
“Master, you must already know about Prince Beidi’s schemes,” Xu Qi An said, getting straight to the point without wasting words.
“…I don’t constantly pay attention to outside affairs. I never actively observe the outside world,” Monk Shenshu replied after a few seconds of silence.
Huh? That response lacks any semblance of an expert’s demeanor… Xu Qi An informed Shenshu about the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li and probed, “Master, are you interested in the essence blood Prince Beidi is using to break through to the peak of Third Rank? Also, I have a question – Prince Beidi needs the Princess Consort’s soul, yet he carried out the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li. Does this mean he needs both essence blood and the Princess Consort’s spiritual essence combined to advance?”
Xu Qi An would bet that Monk Shenshu was interested and wouldn’t let such a potent essence blood supplement slip by. This was the basis for his confidence in punishing or even killing Prince Beidi.
He was met with silence…
“Master? Master?”
Xu Qi An called out several times in his mind before receiving a response from Monk Shenshu: “I was pondering some matters just now.”
I thought you lost signal again… Xu Qi An seized the opportunity to ask, “What matters?”
Shenshu didn’t answer directly, instead expounding: “Do you know why the path of martial arts is difficult to walk? Unlike other systems, the martial arts system is selfish. It seizes all power that can strengthen oneself and uses it for personal gain, focusing on building the physical body and primordial spirit. It’s not surprising that Prince Beidi of Great Feng slaughters living beings to extract their life essence. However…”
This aligns with Monk Shenshu’s behavior of devouring essence blood to replenish himself… Xu Qi An pressed, “However what?”
Shenshu was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying, “At least several hundred thousand lives.”
Xu Qi An remained motionless like a statue, then his breathing became heavy, the muscles in his cheeks twitched slightly, and veins bulged on his temples one by one.
He let out a deep breath, calming his emotions, and asked in a low voice, “Why not directly wage war instead of slaughtering civilians?”
Monk Shenshu replied gently, “It’s not that simple. Those of the Third Rank are no longer ordinary humans. To perfect oneself by absorbing the life essence of mortals, one must transform the mortals’ blood essence. Therefore, he needs time to refine and purify the blood essence until it reaches the desired state before absorption.”
In other words, it’s about quantity leading to quality change, so he needs the blood essence of hundreds of thousands of lives… Xu Qi An frowned in thought and said, “So war can’t meet the conditions. Because the enemy wouldn’t give him time to refine the blood essence, and of course, this kind of thing must be done in secret.”
This explains why Prince Beidi didn’t use war to refine blood essence. During wartime, spies from both sides would be active, and large-scale transportation and refinement of corpses would be difficult to conceal from the enemy.
So Prince Beidi secretly killed civilians and refined their blood essence, but for some reason, this was discovered by the mysterious group of mages who sold the information to the barbarians. Is this why espionage activities have become so frequent now?
Monk Shenshu continued, “I can try to intervene, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to kill Prince Beidi.”
Xu Qi An frowned, “Even you don’t have a chance of victory?”
Shenshu chuckled, “If he’s confident in advancing to Second Rank, it means he’s not an ordinary Third Rank cultivator and is only a hair’s breadth away from the pinnacle. In my current state, at most I could contend with him, but winning would be difficult, let alone killing him. Third Rank martial artists are very hard to kill.”
“But you defeated a peak Second Rank ancient corpse in the tomb,” Xu Qi An pointed out.
“That was just a remnant, and besides, Daoists are strongest in magic, which it couldn’t use at all.”
So you and the ancient corpse were both tigers fallen on the plain, one without eyes and one without a tail, just seeing who was more crippled… Xu Qi An nearly covered his face.
Ending the conversation, Xu Qi An contemplated his next move. Learning that Master Shenshu was so inadequate, he had to change his strategy from “killing Prince Beidi” to “disrupting Prince Beidi’s advancement.”
First: Find the crime scene, which was likely where Prince Beidi refined the blood essence. Locate it, stop him, and sabotage his plans.
Second: He must conceal his identity and prevent Prince Beidi from discovering that the man from last night was the Great Feng constable Xu.
Third: How should he arrange for the Princess Consort?
The clue to the first point was Xikou County. He needed to go there and see what was happening, but quickly, as he didn’t know when Prince Beidi would complete his task. There was no time to waste.
So he’d have to continue carrying the Princess Consort on the journey. The Princess Consort… he hadn’t expected her to be so accommodating. His second uncle hadn’t lied to him.
For the second point, how to hide his identity? He definitely couldn’t reveal his golden body. Although this was a Buddhist martial art and many warrior monks might possess it, it still wasn’t safe enough. Constable Xu also knew the Vajra Invincibility technique, and Constable Xu happened to have infiltrated the Northern Border, outside the surveillance area.
Even the slightest suspicion would cause Prince Beidi to investigate. One should never underestimate others’ intelligence or harbor false hope.
“Fortunately, Monk Shenshu has another skill: the Indestructible Body. I’ve never demonstrated this in front of others, so no one would suspect me. Well, the Supervisor knows; the demons who stored Shenshu in me know; the mysterious mage group knows. But they all have plans for me, and before I’m ripe for the picking, they won’t be in a hurry to ‘deflower’ me. No, that’s not right. The mysterious mage group probably wants to ‘deflower’ me, but before that, they’d have to find a way to get rid of Monk Shenshu. Hmm, I’m still safe.”
“Rather, it’s my face that I can’t use anymore. This pot isn’t something a man of Er Lang’s age can bear. But a human skin mask definitely won’t work; it would fall off with a single hit. My ‘Deceiving Heaven and Earth’ disguise technique isn’t fully mastered yet. I can only imitate the people I’m most familiar with, like Er Lang, Second Uncle, Aunt, Ling Yue, Wei Yuan, and Xu Ling Yin.”
“Why not disguise myself as the little bean? Let Prince Beidi witness the power of the Vajra Barbie, haha…”
Xu Qi An tried to joke to himself, alleviating the sullen fire in his heart.
After laughing, his expression gradually calmed, and he murmured, “Actually, there is one person I’m most familiar with.”
The third point: What about the Princess Consort?
He definitely couldn’t return her to Prince Beidi. He could only take her back to the capital and secretly keep her. He couldn’t keep her at home; he’d have to buy her a separate small courtyard.
Originally, in Xu Qi An’s plan, the Princess Consort would have to be handed over after the northern journey. Now that he knew about Prince Beidi’s atrocities and Princess Consort’s past, Xu Qi An planned to hide her away secretly.
“But this way, those maids will be troublesome… Sigh, let’s not think about this now. I’ll ask Li Miao Zhen later if there’s a way to erase memories. The Daoists are experts in this area.”
…
Chu Prefecture City.
The Deputy Chief of the Court of Judicature rode in a carriage, returning from the Provincial Administration Commissioner’s Office to the courier station.
The three of them passed through the main hall, entered the inner courtyard, and went straight to Yang Yan’s door. Before they could knock, Yang Yan’s voice came from inside:
“Come in.”
Pushing open the door, they saw Yang Yan and Captain Chen sitting at the table, staring silently at the map of Chu Prefecture’s eight thousand li territory.
The Deputy Chief of the Court of Judicature poured himself a cup of cold tea, gulped it down, and let out a comfortable sigh before complaining, “It’s really hot today. After traveling all day, my mouth is parched. The carriage driver who drove under the scorching sun all the way didn’t even break a sweat. Indeed, different environments breed different people.”
Censor Liu teased, “Perhaps it’s just that the Deputy Chief is too weak.”
The Deputy Chief, known for his fondness for women, blushed and retorted, “Being passionate shows one’s true nature, unlike Censor Liu with his lofty integrity.”
He was implying that censors and other such “pure stream” officials were hypocrites, indulging in women while pretending to be upright gentlemen.
Yang Yan quietly waited for the two civil officials to finish bickering before asking, “How is the official correspondence in various parts of Chu Prefecture?”
The Deputy Chief’s expression turned serious. He shook his head and said gravely, “There are no problems. Judging from the regular official correspondence, apart from the areas resisting barbarian invasions, nothing seems amiss anywhere else. If we want to confirm further, we’d have to conduct on-site inspections, but I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Chu Prefecture spanned eight thousand li; when could they possibly cover it all? Moreover, as an experienced official, the Deputy Chief could tell at a glance whether official documents were genuine or not.
Captain Chen nodded, “Besides, there are spies all around the courier station. We’d be followed if we went out.”
Yang Yan looked back at the map and circled an area north of Chu Prefecture with his finger, saying, “Judging by the scale of the barbarian incursions on the border, the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li wouldn’t be in this area.”
As long as the cities weren’t breached, the court wouldn’t pay much attention to villagers being slaughtered.
And merely plundering village residents wouldn’t live up to the description of “Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li.”
Yang Yan thought for a moment, then circled Xikou County and Yunsheng Prefecture. These two places were in the west and east respectively.
“Is the official correspondence from these two places normal?” he asked.
The Deputy Chief nodded, “No problems.”
Yang Yan was silent for a moment, then said, “Captain Chen, take some men to explore Chu Prefecture City for the next few days and gather information from the common people. Censor Liu, you and I will visit the Military Command, I want to see Duke Yinguo Que Yong Xiu.”
Censor Liu slowly nodded.
…
In a mountain range somewhere in Chu Prefecture.
On a steep cliff face carved by blade and axe, a gnarled centuries-old pine tree grew at an angle, its layered branches spreading out like an umbrella.
Beneath the old pine, on a rock, sat a woman in a white dress. Her beautiful hair and skirt danced in the wind, outlining the indescribable curves of her figure.
Her aura was ever-changing, sometimes pure and beautiful like a mountain spirit, sometimes lazy and charming like a world-toppling beauty.
The woman in white held a six-tailed white fox in her arms, which let out a thin, obedient whimper.
At this moment, a light laugh came: “Princess, it’s been twenty-one years since we parted at Shanhai Pass. You’re still as stunning as ever, no less than the Sovereign.”
The woman in white giggled coquettishly, “You’ve never seen my mother, how would you know if I’m not better than her?”
Behind her, a figure in white suddenly appeared. His face was shrouded in layers of mist, making it impossible to discern his true appearance.
“The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox lineage, condensing the essence of heaven and earth, gathering the world’s wisdom. Each celestial fox has a unique appearance in this world,” the man in white paused, then added, “In terms of beauty and spiritual essence, in this world, apart from that Princess Consort, no one else can compare. It’s a pity that the Princess’s spiritual essence belongs solely to herself, while hers can be plucked by others.”
The woman in white smiled, her voice alluring, “She is truly one of a kind in this world.”
She lowered her head slightly, stroking the six-tailed white fox’s head, and said softly, “What business do you have with me?”
The man in white sighed, “Princess, you not only blew up Sangbo and released Shenshu, but you also intercepted my fruit, nearly scattering my twenty years of careful planning in one fell swoop. I hope you can show mercy this time.”
The woman in white smiled charmingly, “Chess players make their moves, each relying on their abilities. If you want me to show mercy, that’s fine. That boy has a saying I quite like: equivalent exchange. Tell me, what is the Supervisor planning?”
The white-robed man with blurred features shook his head, “If I reveal even half a word, the Supervisor will appear in Chu Prefecture. Within the borders of Great Feng, no one is his match.”
“You’ve taken half of Great Feng’s national fortune, the Supervisor is no longer the Supervisor of the past. I’m not afraid,” the woman in white laughed. She tilted her head slightly, looking at the man in white, “That boy is merely a vessel to you. In the past, I wouldn’t have cared about his life or death. But now, I’m quite fond of him.”
“Fond?” The white-robed man frowned, seemingly surprised by her words.
The woman in white didn’t answer. She gazed at the beautiful landscape in the distance and said leisurely, “Anyway, as far as you’re concerned, as long as Prince Beidi is prevented from advancing to Second Rank, it doesn’t matter who gets the essence blood.”
“No!” The man in white said firmly, “I want the barbarians to produce a Second Rank expert.”