"Pa-dak."
Before the eyes of the gathered crowd, Wang Yangbo's head dropped to the floor.
From the open stump of his neck, arterial blood surged upward, spraying onto the carved latticework that adorned the first-floor ceiling of Xuni Pavillion, like a massive crimson fountain.
Countless droplets splattered outward, speckling both Xuni Pavillion's servants and Wang Yangbo's subordinates alike.
Everyone froze.
The subordinate closest to him, his face and hair soaked in blood, let out a terrified scream and stumbled backward:
"Lord Wang... who... who are you?! How dare you kill the Chief Constable! H-he was a disciple of the Department of Shennong!"
But the blind man standing before them didn't care in the slightest, because, in truth, he was both deaf and blind, and couldn't hear him at all.
The surrounding constables began retreating in panic. A few who managed to remain composed immediately pulled out jade slips and crushed them.
These were emergency transmission tools issued by the Department of Shennong, by simply breaking them, a short message could be instantly relayed, notifying nearby members of urgent developments.
And now that even the Chief Constable was dead, this clearly qualified as such a matter.
But very quickly, the constables froze once more, realizing, it was useless.
Because the blind man had taken two steps forward, and now pulled a golden command token from within his robes.
Upon its surface, there was but a single character: "Wen"
The royal surname of the Yang Kingdom.
This token alone proclaimed his allegiance to the royal family.
And throughout the entirety of the Yang Kingdom, only two people possessed this token.
One was General Li You, who had been granted the royal surname and renamed Wen Ziyou after great military achievement two years prior.
The other, was the blood brother of the current emperor, Prince of Southern Peace, Jingnan Wang, Wen Chai.
General Wen Ziyou was still stationed in the southern front, while the Prince of Southern Peace's estate was located right here in Zangfeng Prefecture.
So the man before them could only be his subordinate.
Clatter!
At the sight of that token, knees dropped like wheat before a scythe.
Even the disciples of the Department of Shennong, who normally weren't required to kneel, fell to one knee, offering half a bow in deference to the royal house.
After all, their status was a unique blend, they were both sect disciples and government officials, not wholly outside the secular order.
As for who this blind man was, or why he had just killed Wang Yangbo, no one cared anymore.
Ten thousand Wang Yangbos could be sacrificed, he was just another Department of Shennong disciple.
The Department and the Yang Kingdom's royal court were inextricably intertwined, one could even argue that the former depended on the latter even more.
Unlike a sect such as the three Calamities Sect, which at least had partnerships with Zhou, the Department of Shennong could never shake off the influence of its origins and had always remained subordinate to royal power.
Of course, a major reason for this was that the Yang Kingdom's female saint, Lady Wangshu, was still at the height of her powers, and she cared deeply for the royal family, even personally passing on cultivation techniques.
Nearly all royal clansmen of the Yang Kingdom were cultivators, and due to their immense resources, their cultivation levels were never low.
The blind man was none other than Han Shan, one of Prince Wen Chai's deathguards.
Though deaf and blind, Han Shan had already reached the Master Realm, and no longer relied on sight or hearing to sense the world. Through his spiritual consciousness, he could still perceive his surroundings with precision.
Such perception, however, came at a high cost to stamina, and this was just one of the prices he paid to serve as a deathguard.
Having confirmed that no one else stood in his way, Han Shan finally opened his mouth and spoke:
"I ask the madam to bring out Miss Liu Qingcheng. His Highness has summoned her."
His voice was distorted and strange in tone, a side effect of his lack of sensory feedback. Yet he was able to control his throat muscles well enough that his words were still perfectly intelligible.
He paid no mind to the fact that Yu Xiangsi had just been revealed by the Mirrorstone to be a demonic creature. As a deathguard, his only duty was to fulfill his master's command, and so he delivered his message with mechanical precision.
Yu Xiangsi's expression was extremely unpleasant.
The Chief Constable of Zangfeng Prefecture had just been slain in her brothel, and her true identity had been exposed.
Under normal circumstances, there was only one thing she should be doing:
Run!
But now, she couldn't.
She could feel it clearly, that the man standing before her was a Master Realm expert. If she made any sudden moves, she'd end up like Wang Yangbo, a headless corpse.
After a few seconds, Yu Xiangsi forced out a smile:
"Miss Qingcheng is upstairs, resting. I'll fetch her immediately. But... may I ask, what business does the Prince have with her that he sends for her so grandly?"
Han Shan replied woodenly:
"His Highness previously gifted Miss Liu Qingcheng a certain item. Now... he wishes to have it returned."
A gift from a prince, shouldn't it be like water thrown from a basin, never to be taken back? Since when was there precedent to reclaim a royal gift?
As soon as Han Shan said this, the people hiding in various corners, still fearful, couldn't help but pause in disbelief, each silently scoffing in their hearts.
Yu Xiangsi was stunned for a moment too, before asking:
"Might I inquire which item, so I can have her bring it down directly?"
Han Shan replied:
"The Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp."
Yu Xiangsi forced another smile:
"Yes, I do recall something of the sort. I'll go ask her to come down now. My lord, why don't you rest here for a while?"
Han Shan nodded. He actually walked over to a nearby chair and sat down calmly.
But the sword in his hand never returned to its sheath, and a faint crimson glimmer still clung to its edge, filling the room with dread.
The entire first-floor main hall of Xuni Pavillion fell deathly still.
Yu Xiangsi took a deep breath and turned to head upstairs. The moment she did, her face changed, growing heavy with unease. Her steps deliberately slowed, giving her time to think.
To think about what would come next, the next move. Her next move.
...
Upstairs, in her room, Liu Qingcheng had witnessed the bloody spectacle through the window.
Her pupils contracted as she hugged the white cat in her arms more tightly, heart filled with dread.
That was Wang Yangbo!
In Zangfeng Prefecture, aside from the Prefect himself, no one held greater power than Wang Yangbo. His prestige and authority were unmatched.
That doddering old Prince of Southern Peace, who had long since withdrawn from politics and relinquished all military command, had been dismissed by the world as irrelevant.
Everyone said: "The Prince has aged. He's nothing but a lecherous, feeble old man."
But today, that deathguard had used a single sword and a single token...
To declare to all:
That was a lie.
The Prince of Southern Peace was a sleeping lion.
And now... that lion had opened his eyes, bared his jaws full of fangs, and with one savage snap, torn Wang Yangbo's head clean off.
Wang Yangbo, in the end, hadn't even done anything.
All he'd done was stand in someone's way.
All his status, power, and prestige spilled from that severed head as it rolled onto the ground, turning to blood in the dust.
No matter how proud Liu Qingcheng acted, she was, in the end, just an ordinary woman. She was flesh and blood, of course she would feel fear.
Her haughty demeanor had always just been a kind of protective coloration.
And Xuni Pavillion, recognizing the appeal that this demeanor created, had not only permitted it but encouraged it behind the scenes, because it made her all the more sought-after.
She knew that behaving this way would not put her in any real danger, which was why she dared to treat nobles and powerful men with such indifference.
But now, Xuni Pavillion had completely lost its value as a protective umbrella.
Even Wang Yangbo's pressure had been enough to nearly bring the place down.
And now?
Someone who could casually kill Wang Yangbo had come.
Liu Qingcheng began to tremble.
She suddenly realized, she might not escape this time.
What Prince Wen Chai wanted was the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp.
But she couldn't give it back.
Because earlier that very afternoon, she had already gifted it to Chen Kuang.
How could things be this coincidental?
She had chosen to give away the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp because it was the only formidable Spiritual Treasure she possessed.
Most of the cultivators who tried to curry favor with her gave her curious baubles, interesting things, but ultimately harmless and trifling.
Only this Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp was genuinely precious.
Even as a mortal, Liu Qingcheng understood how valuable it was.
That was why she had selected it, to present it as a sincere apology gift.
And yet now, the moment she gave it away, the Prince's people arrived at her doorstep, openly demanding its return.
That was extremely abnormal.
Prince Wen Chai had spent years indulging in luxury and extravagance, bestowing lavish gifts upon countless famed courtesans and scholars, but never once had he demanded anything returned.
To suddenly do so now was not only undignified, it felt like a petty, furious overreaction, a total loss of face.
Even if it were due to his wounded pride from Liu Qingcheng ignoring him, it still wouldn't justify this behavior.
This... wasn't like the Prince at all.
At that moment, Liu Qingcheng suddenly realized:
"No... that's exactly what it is, he's doing this on purpose!"
She inhaled deeply, unable to suppress the icy dread that washed through her.
She wasn't stupid. She immediately figured out the reasoning behind it all.
If Prince Wen Chai was doing this deliberately, then the goal behind retrieving the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp couldn't be as simple as it appeared.
She had already given the lamp to Chen Kuang.
If she were to return it, she'd first have to get him to show himself.
And if she couldn't... then she could already guess what that cold, killing-machine of a deathguard downstairs would do next.
The fact that she'd given the lamp to him showed there was some connection between them.
So if she were put in danger... it might force him to appear.
The true objective wasn't the lamp.
It wasn't even her.
It was the White Dragon True Lord, Chen Ruogu!
Liu Qingcheng sucked in a breath.
Yes. Only that mysterious, unfathomable figure could be important enough for the Prince to abandon all pretense and engage in such disgraceful behavior.
Now that she understood their true goal, her only option to survive, was to force that man to appear, or at least, trick him into doing so.
A courtesan was just a rootless weed in the wind.
But now she had obtained a cultivation technique.
After today, Xuni Pavillion likely wouldn't exist anymore.
There was no need to wait for her contract to be bought. If she could find an opportunity to escape tonight...
Then the sky and sea would be boundless.
The first floor was deathly silent.
Yu Xiangsi's footsteps echoed clearly from below.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Drawing ever closer.
Each step landed like a hammer on Liu Qingcheng's heart.
The young woman lowered her gaze, gently stroked the white cat in her arms, then propped open the nearby window. With great care, she coaxed the cat out onto the sill and let it go.
In the Yang Kingdom, cats weren't a popular pet, few merchants even trained or sold them.
This white cat had been found years ago in a back alley.
Even after being raised for years, it remained wild and willful, only behaving when in her arms. Every day it wandered about, catching birds and mice and leaving them by her bedside, often scaring her half to death.
But in the end, it was a grateful, loyal cat.
Liu Qingcheng patted its bottom and whispered wistfully:
"Go now... and don't come back. This place is not home."
The white cat glanced back once, then leapt down to the street and bolted off into the distance.
Liu Qingcheng closed the window.
She shut her eyes and murmured:
"White Dragon Senior?"
"White Dragon Senior, are you there?"
Of course, Chen Kuang was there.
He was currently in the room next door, fully concealing his presence, silently waiting.
The moment the Master Realm deathguard appeared, he had known something was wrong.
There could be no other reason.
This was absolutely aimed at him!
And when they said they'd come for the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp, he understood immediately:
There's something wrong with the lamp!
His location, and his identity, had likely already been exposed.
"Prince Wen Chai..."
Chen Kuang frowned, repeating the name in his heart:
"Why him? I made no mistakes, left no traces, yet I was still caught in a trap."
"This person is connected to the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp, and can use it to trace me. That means... he probably knows that Su Yu has become my shadow."
"Of the four people who could possibly know that..."
His face darkened.
"There's only one true suspect, the former Grand Diviner of the Liang Kingdom, Jiang Wuya!"
At that thought, rage surged through him, along with a helpless, bone-deep unwillingness.
He had thought that by faking his death, he had escaped the grasp of those high-ranking manipulators.
But he hadn't expected... he had only leapt from one chessboard onto another.
Every move he made was still under someone else's control.
From beginning to end, he had never been free!
Chen Kuang exhaled deeply.
He had once thought he could live quietly for a while, rebuild his strength, then go to the Pure Land of Wugou to avoid disaster, stay out of sight of those great figures.
But he had been wrong.
From the moment he awoke in that prison cell, this world was a stormy sea with no refuge. The sky was dark, the sun was gone and there was nowhere left to run.
In the room next door, Liu Qingcheng's voice came again, calm but resolute:
"White Dragon Senior... if you can hear me, please don't respond. Just... leave this place."
"I can buy you a little time. With your strength, you shouldn't be caught."
"If you're already gone, then good... Honestly, from the very first time I met you, I knew you weren't a good person."
"Now that you've seen what happened to Xuni Pavillion, you should understand what's going on."
"So... leave. The farther, the better."
Liu Qingcheng gave a faint smile, then stood up, exhaled deeply, walked to the door, and reached out to open it.
Chen Kuang sighed.
"So that's how it is... We're all people without choices.."
"She is. And so am I..."
But in this world, there is still one other path beyond compromise.