Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1922: Setting Sail (Thirty-three)

"Hehe, has the master woken up?"

A woman's charming and low voice sounded.

Gu Xun turned his head and saw Mingzhu, wearing a dark gauze dress and half lying on the edge of the bed, looking at him with a smile.

He had already noticed someone was around, so he wasn't surprised. He put his arm around Mingzhu and said with a smile, "It's rare to see you here."

"Humph!" Mingzhu squinted her eyes and chuckled, responding without any anger, "Who made me unpopular?"

"The master doesn't want to see me now that he's back, so I have no choice but to come and see you."

Gu Xun rolled his eyes and said, "Just speak, don't be sarcastic."

Mingzhu rolled her eyes and asked, "How dare you say you are not biased?"

Gu Xun curled the corner of his mouth, but he didn't feel like refutating.

Keeping the balance is a skill, and it can be called an art if you are good at it. Unfortunately, Gu Xun is not a master in this field. He can neither turn it into an art, nor does he have a very low level of skills.

Not to mention Jingwei and her group, even for his two daughters, Ayan and Qianlong, he couldn't say that he treated them equally - sometimes he favored the younger daughter and thought Qianlong was so adorable, and sometimes he felt that he had to care more for the eldest daughter because she had poor health, was sensitive, and was not his biological daughter.

"Let's talk business." Gu Xun forced to change the subject, "Is it troublesome to close your shop?"

"Is it troublesome?" Mingzhu sat up straight, twisted her hips, crossed her legs, and replied unhappily, "Take away the questioning tone at the end, it will definitely be troublesome!"

"In the Guanzhong region alone, there are more than 20 shops of the Anxiang Pavilion!"

Gu Xun never cared about these things and was not surprised by this. "Isn't it just twenty families?"

"If we count your ten employees in one shop, there are less than 200 people in total. I can almost load up my entire truck."

Compared with the chain stores in modern society that have hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of stores, the Anxiang Pavilion is too small with only a few hundred stores in the entire empire, so Gu Xun naturally doesn't take it seriously.

Mingzhu got even angrier after hearing this, and rolled her eyes and asked, "Are you totally giving up on these shops?"

"What else?" Gu Xun pursed his lips and asked blankly, "Can I still keep it?"

“You…” Mingzhu saw that Gu Xun really didn’t care at all. She wanted to curse him but didn’t say anything in the end. She could only roll her eyes and complain, “You are such a son who sells his father’s land without any regret… I built the Anxiang Pavilion bit by bit.”

"Don't flatter yourself!" Gu Xun's eyelids drooped. He first explained the seniority issue, and then comforted Mingzhu, "As for your Anxiang Pavilion... You can come back in a few years. By then, I promise that the scale will be even larger."

"For now, it's better for us to do less than more."

Mingzhu smiled and smiled, leaning back lazily, and replied calmly, "Master Imperial Master is so ruthless. I have been with you for so many years, when have I ever caused you any trouble?"

"If you say no, then there is no." Gu Xun was very skilled in responding. He would just say yes, yes, yes to everyone he met.

There is no point in reasoning with your woman over such an insignificant matter. Just let her obey.

Besides, from a factual point of view, Mingzhu’s words... are not wrong.

Her identity is very special, and her relationship with Gu Xun is relatively sensitive, so she has always acted very low-key and steady. In addition, she is very scheming, so she has never caused any trouble.

In this respect, even Zi Nu cannot compare to her. Only Jing Wei, who has always lived in seclusion, can surpass her.

Hearing this, Mingzhu smiled and leaned into Gu Xun's arms.

Although Gu Xun's way of bowing his head and submitting was almost perfunctory, Mingzhu still benefited from it.

She didn't want a man to bow to her, but Gu Xun... was different. Just like if Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng, bowed to a woman, it would be difficult for the other party to control himself.

"Do you have anything to do tonight?" Mingzhu smiled brightly and put her arms around Gu Xun's neck.

"Uh..." Gu Xun hesitated for a moment and replied, "I'm fine."

The implication is that there is something going on, but considering that there is a beauty in my arms, it can be postponed.

Gu Xun was not greedy for carnal desires. As they were an old couple, they were not that addicted. But Mingzhu asked for it, and he certainly could not refuse... unless he was really powerless.

Mingzhu smiled again when she heard this, then pushed Gu Xun away, stood up, straightened her clothes, put on a cloak that covered her whole body, and walked towards the door:

"Since you have something to do, Master, go and do your business. I still have to deal with those unimportant shops."

Gu Xun grinned but didn't complain. He watched Mingzhu leave and stood up.

Mingzhu certainly didn't leave to deal with the shop's affairs - no matter how urgent the matter was, it wouldn't need to be done overnight.

She left only because this was Zi Lan Xuan's houseboat, Zi Nu's "territory".

If it were in Anxiang Pavilion, Mingzhu would definitely not leave.

Gu Xun didn't care about it. After tidying up his scattered clothes, he jumped out of the window.

The sky is good tonight, with a bright moon and sparse stars, and the vision is clear even without additional light.

Gu Xun took advantage of the moonlight and leisurely headed towards the east of Xianyang.

He wanted to go to Mount Li to meet the leader of the Yin-Yang School, Donghuang Taiyi.

They met each other very seldom, and the last time was a long time ago.

The mirage is about to disappear, and Gu Xun is about to completely withdraw from Xianyang, the center of the empire. He feels that it is time for him to meet Donghuang Taiyi again.

By midnight, most areas of Xianyang were dead silent, but the Lishan area was one of the few lively places - strictly speaking, it was not lively, it could only be said that there was quite a lot of noise.

The construction of Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum is almost completed, and people are working overtime to complete the last part.

This was a mega-project that mobilized hundreds of thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of prisoners, so it naturally caused a lot of noise.

Fortunately, the entire Mount Li is large enough, and the "liveliness" of the imperial mausoleum does not affect the desolation of the Yin-Yang family's headquarters, the Shendu Jiugong, on the other side.

Coming at night, what Gu Xun saw was a dead silence. The entire Nine Palaces of the Divine Capital was quietly dormant in the pitch-black night.

Although he had a bad relationship with the Yin-Yang family, Gu Xun did not choose to be a bad guest and go directly to their door. Otherwise, he would not have come at night.

He quietly sneaked into the Nine Palaces of the Divine Capital.

I don’t know if it’s because Yueshen Xinghun and other high-level officials have all gone to Sanghai, but at this moment, the Divine Capital Jiugong not only looks deserted from the outside, but the situation inside can also be described as deserted.

If there had been no spider web, Gu Xun would have suspected that Dong Taiyi had moved his headquarters.

Of course, it’s not to say that there is really no one inside, but it’s really... too scattered.

Gu Xun followed the route in his memory and headed straight to the Observatory.

He didn't know whether Donghuang Taiyi was there at this time, but he didn't know where Donghuang Taiyi would be if he was not in the Observatory.

I might as well go to a familiar place and take a look first. If it’s not there, I’ll consider looking somewhere else.

Gu Xun was very lucky, Donghuang Taiyi happened to be in the Observatory... or maybe it was not a coincidence?

Gu Xun didn't care about it, as long as the person was there.

Previously, he was worried that Donghuang Taiyi had run away... Based on the current situation in Xianyang, the probability of Donghuang Taiyi running away is indeed very high. Ying Zheng was not on his eastern tour, and most of the Yin-Yang family members had also left. It just so happened that Gu Xun returned to Xianyang alone...

Anyway, if Gu Xun was Donghuang Taiyi, it would be difficult for him not to run away.

Having arrived here, Gu Xun had no intention of hiding his tracks any longer. He simply pushed open the door and strode into the Observatory.

The Observatory is the same as always, as if you are in the starry sky with your feet on nothingness.

Donghuang Taiyi, shrouded in a wide black robe with gold edges, turned his back to Gu Xun and looked up at the "starry sky" above his head.

"It's already midnight, and Master Donghuang is still awake?"

Clearly he came to disturb people's sleep in the middle of the night, but Gu Xun asked this as if Donghuang Taiyi deserved to be harassed in the middle of the night.

Donghuang Taiyi slowly turned around after hearing this and looked... well, nothing could be seen. Anyway, he was probably very calm and not afraid of Gu Xun's arrival.

"Isn't the Imperial Master still awake? He still has the leisure to come to this deserted Mount Li." Not only was Donghuang Taiyi not afraid, his attitude was quite tough. He replied to Gu Xun very straightforwardly.

Gu Xun smiled and didn't care about it.

He was indeed very dissatisfied with the Yin-Yang School and Donghuang Taiyi, but this had not been going on for just one or two days, so he would not suddenly lose his mind and have to kill Donghuang Taiyi.

After all, the evil deeds of the Yin-Yang family were just one thing, without any extra waves, unlike Ying Zheng, who did things one after another, always leaving you with one wave after another.

"I came here because I'm a little curious." Gu Xun paced back and forth, observing the 'sky full of stars' in the Observatory with interest, and asked, "The Mirage is about to set off, the left and right guardians, and the five elders are all on the Mirage, why didn't the East Emperor Sect Leader go to 'reunite' with them?"

"Because I'm not needed." When it came to the point, Donghuang Taiyi seemed very 'well-behaved' and gave a straightforward answer, "The matter of finding immortals and medicines will be handled by Elder Yunzhongjun, and the assistance of Moon God Star Soul will be enough."

"Just because it's unnecessary?" Gu Xun asked with a sneer.

"Master, you don't believe it?" Donghuang Taiyi asked in reply.

Gu Xun reminded him calmly, "From now on, I will be traveling far away and will basically not care about the affairs of the world."

"If Master Donghuang can't give me a reassuring reason, I'm afraid I'll have to find a way to reassure myself."

Gu Xun’s words were very clear, he would disappear for a while.

Once he disappeared, there was no one to check and balance Donghuang Tai. Although Ying Zheng was capable, he was naturally passive in order to achieve immortality and might not be reliable.

If Donghuang Taiyi is unwilling to stay on the mirage and go out to sea together, and cannot give people a guarantee that he will not cause trouble next time, Gu Xun will do it himself to ensure this.

Translated, it means to kill Donghuang Taiyi - only dead people can be "peaceful" enough.

This is a naked threat.

Gu Xun happens to be the only person who can directly threaten Donghuang Taiyi.

Even if it were Ying Zheng, it wouldn't work, because after all, he had something to ask for, and asking for something meant negotiation and compromise.

Gu Xun is different. He may have some concerns, but his concerns have nothing to do with Donghuang Taiyi.

Without Ying Zheng's mediation, Gu Xun would kill him with a single slap. No matter how much trouble there would be afterwards, for Donghuang Taiyi, this "dead man", his life would be completely over.

Donghuang Taiyi fell into a long silence.

He was not hesitating, but thinking.

As soon as Gu Xun spoke, he knew he had no choice but to give a convincing explanation, otherwise... Anyway, he didn't want to die yet, and he didn't want to try whether Gu Xun had the courage to kill him.

The silence lasted for a long time, and Gu Xun did not urge him.

"I didn't go to the Mirage, not because it was unnecessary, but because I couldn't." Donghuang Taiyi finally spoke, and he started with some explosive news, "The Mirage is a ship that can never return. It can bring the emperor the immortality he needs, but it itself is destined to be short-lived."

"What do you mean?" Gu Xun frowned and asked.

Donghuang Taiyi's deep voice sounded immediately, "It means exactly what it says."

"The mirage is destined to sink into the depths of the East China Sea and into the fairy mountains overseas."

"If it sinks, how will you explain to the emperor? How will you achieve your own goal?" Gu Xun asked immediately.

Donghuang Taiyi replied calmly, "I only want a result. Whether Mirage comes back or not, I can get the result I want."

"The emperor's immortality also relies on this result, and has nothing to do with the mirage."

"I don't need to do anything... just let Mirage go to sea."

Gu Xun sneered and asked jokingly, "According to what you said, if I want to destroy your goal, I can only forcibly stop the mirage from going out to sea?"

"That's right." Donghuang Taiyi nodded calmly and replied, "As long as the Mirage successfully goes out to sea, everything will become a destined fact, and no one can stop it."

"This is destiny!"

Gu Xun believed that what Donghuang Taiyi said was definitely true - at least he himself thought it was true.

Because there was even a hint of fanaticism in his tone.

At the same time, he was not afraid that Gu Xun would know this and stop Mirage from going out to sea.

The emperor is now in Sanghai. If you want to stop the mirage, you have to confront the emperor head-on.

Donghuang Taiyi does not need to consider whether Gu Xun can do this - no matter whether Gu Xun can do it or not, Donghuang Taiyi cannot control the outcome. This is a game between Ying Zheng and Gu Xun.

Gu Xun lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then sneered again and turned away.

"You have convinced me. Goodbye!"

As Gu Xun left the Observatory, the hall returned to silence, as silent as the boundless starry sky.

However, in the silent 'starry sky', there was still a discordant noise - Donghuang Taiyi's breathing.

Not until Gu Xun really left did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He was really afraid that what he had just said would not be enough to convince Gu Xun, and he was really afraid that he would die at the hands of Gu Xun - during that period of time just now, Gu Xun's murderous intent had enveloped him the entire time, and he looked like he was ready to attack at any time, which really scared him.

As for what I said just now...it's not entirely true, nor is it entirely false.

Since Gu Xun is here, it would be unreasonable for him not to reveal some really explosive information, but there are some things he would never reveal to Gu Xun.

………………

Outside the Nine Palaces of the Divine Capital, Gu Xun turned his head to take a look at the "giant monster" hidden in the darkness, and left without lingering any longer.

He knew that Donghuang Taiyi definitely didn't tell him everything, but this was enough.

In Donghuang Taiyi's view, Gu Xun is the only one in the world who can check and balance him.

Others either lack strength or influence, or both.

The only exception was Ying Zheng, but he also had some concerns as he needed help from him.

But Gu Xun will tell him that there are actually others who can do it!