Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Together with the Secret Guards, Marquis Chongwu Ning Qin entered the Imperial Palace. He was covered in blood.

Everyone’s attention was on him!

……

In a deep and wide alley, there was a brothel that was normally crowded with people and prostitutes. But today, it was completely dark. It was as silent as an abandoned house. No one knew where the ladies that used to stand here to invite guests had gone.

Blood continued to drip from the robe of the middle-aged guest. His face was now extremely pale. A trail of blood was left on the wooden floor of this brothel.

He looked calm. The slight indignance and impatience in his eyes were completely gone and all that was left was peace.

The middle-aged guest did not seem to be surprised by the state of the brothel today. He continued to move quietly. It was obvious he had found the person he was looking for.

Crossing the long hallway, he lifted a hand to push open a door. As the door opened, the light from the room spilled out.

The woman sitting by a round table was the boss of this brothel. But as she looked up, there were no more signs of the flirtation that she had in the past. She looked calm as she stood up to greet him. Her posture and grace were similar to those of a noble lady.

“Huicui Pavilion thanks you, Mister Zhou.”

The middle-aged guest looked bland, “I don’t care that I am a chess piece in your hands. Though I failed to kill the person, according to our agreement, as long as I take action, it does not matter whether I succeed or not. You have to give the thing to me…as long as I am alive.”

There was guilt in the woman’s eyes as she spoke even more respectfully, “Mister, you are righteous. I stayed behind for the agreement. I will personally hand it over to you.”

A wooden box appeared in her hands. It was completely free of marks and even the opening was not clear.

The middle-aged man could sense the aura in the box as he nodded, “Thank you.”

The woman did not dare to accept his thanks and she backed off to the side, presenting the box to him.

The middle-aged guest reached out to take it and left. Bloody footprints were created in the opposite direction and stretched far into the darkness.

The beautiful-looking woman’s eyes widened as she looked slightly stunned. In the next moment, a line of blood suddenly appeared on her clean white neck. With a ‘bom’, her head rolled onto the floor.

She took the risk to stay in the brothel to wait for the middle-aged guest in order to represent Huicui Pavilion and complete the deal with Mister Zhou.

But like the middle-aged guest said, the agreement was built on the basis that he was still alive. This also meant that if he died, the thing in the wooden box could remain in Huicui Pavilion.

The woman never thought of taking it for herself and she would never dare to have such thoughts. However, if she could kill Mister Zhou and retain the wooden box, she would have made a huge accomplishment.

However, the woman never thought that the venom on the surface of the box would be useless against the middle-aged guest.

More importantly, he was severely injured and could die at any moment. Yet, he was able to kill her in the blink of an eye. But according to reports, it was said that the middle-aged guest had lost his divine way when fighting the Imperial Palace Secret Guards.

Did the middle-aged guest intentionally hide his abilities? Or did someone from the brothel want her to die? There were two possibilities, but the woman had no chance to find out the truth.

As the middle-aged guest stepped out of Huicui Pavilion, his eyes darkened even more. Like the last leaf on a tree in autumn, he struggled as he did not want to leave. He struggled in the autumn wind.

He took one step after the other.

He staggered as he reached out to hold onto a screen. The middle-aged guest’s breathing finally became disordered, and he chuckled bitterly while he panted.

“Little Zhou, is that you?”

A woman’s weak voice could be heard. She sounded anxious and uneasy.

The middle-aged guest took a deep breath and touched the area between his eyebrows. A gust of wind blew around him. He used some kind of divine way and all the severe and horrifying injuries on his body were healed. He looked like he did before, with not a single scar on him. Even the wide robe that was drenched in blood was now perfectly clean.

With a pink complexion and bright eyes, he stepped out and smiled, “It is me.”

He walked to the bed and laid down on it, taking the woman into his arms, “Don’t worry. I said that I would come back alive to see you. I would not let you down.”

The skinny and frail woman had a sickly-looking complexion and she nodded hard.

The middle-aged guest took out a wooden box and placed it on her chest, “I finally found the thing to save you. You just need to sleep, and once you wake up, all the pain will have disappeared.”

Lowering his head, he gave her a light kiss. He looked extremely guilty, “Unfortunately, I don’t think I can stay with you anymore. This time, the commotion was too big and I did not succeed. I have to leave the capital for the time being and prevent the West Desolate from finding me.”

The eyes of the sickly woman widened and her lips moved as if she wanted to say something. However, the wooden box that was placed on her had started to glow. The light wisps flowed into her mouth and nose. It started to work on her body as if fixing a piece of dead wood. An uncontrollable fatigue washed over her.

The middle-aged guest’s appearance started to become blurred but his smile was as warm as it always was, “Sleep. I will definitely come back to find you.”

As the woman fell asleep, the middle-aged guest lowered his head for a moment. He suddenly started coughing. He lifted his hand to cover his mouth and laid the woman down on the bed.

His footsteps were slightly hasty. After turning round the screen, he stepped into darkness. In the moment that his figure entered the darkness, there was a ‘pfft pfft’ sound as if water was bubbling out from the top of his head.

……

In the Main Court Meeting, the West Desolate King was extremely furious. He reprimanded all the guards in the capital severely for the assassination attempt on Marquis Chongwu.

Several high-ranking generals from the Imperial Army had to kneel to seek forgiveness. The lords that were not involved stood and watched, keeping themselves far from it.

The Imperial Army was extremely powerful and had strong control in many areas. The lords were more than happy to watch these high-ranking generals suffer.

But at the same time, many people subconsciously looked at Marquis Chongwu, who stood out even more because of the generals’ mistakes.

Although they did not know the details of the assassination attempt, they more or less knew what happened. Even bystanders could sense how scary the entire situation had been and could not help but sweat.

But Marquis Chongqu Ning Qin was perfectly fine. Other than the fact that he looked slightly pale, he appeared completely unharmed.

Horrifying!

In the end, His Majesty outrageously declared that Ye Yuantai, who had recently been appointed as the main general of the Defense Division, would be demoted.

He was from the Later Ye Family and was one of the important chess pieces that they had placed.

His aggressiveness was apparent!

The faces of the various court members changed. Although they knew that the Imperial Clan wanted to punish the Later Ye Family, violent and rash decisions that could cause severe damage to the West Desolate were the worst possible outcome.

Ye Bohu politely asked for forgiveness and expressed that it was his negligence in not being sufficiently strict that caused Ye Yuantai to lose his position. He was willing to be punished by His Majesty.

Sitting high above, His Majesty looked at Ye Bohu. Just when everyone worried that His Majesty would pursue the matter to bring down the Later Ye Family, His Majesty laughed. He asked how Ye Bohu could be held responsible for this small matter given that his family and family’s business was so big.

His Majesty ended the matter there and asked Ye Bohu to return to his position.

After that, there was peace in court.

As His Majesty stood up to leave, Ye Bohu suddenly walked up. Everyone’s expressions changed and they backed off to the sides.

Since the Old Family Head from the Old Ye Family was not around, he was the highest-ranking and most powerful person in court.

Even though His Majesty was not happy with them and the Later Ye Family was caught in the storm, barely any time had passed and no one dared to underestimate them.

Qin Yu looked up at Ye Bohu. He seemed calm, but Qin Yu could sense the murderous aura in his calm facade.

There was viciousness, like a mountain tiger eyeing its prey.

“Marquis Chongwu, it seems like we have a misunderstanding.”

Qin Yu put his hands together, “Marshal Ye, you are too serious. I have always admired the Later Ye Family and even if there are any small issues, it has all been uncovered.”

Ye Bohu suddenly smiled, “Uncovered? Interesting choice of word. I like it.”

He stepped forwards and patted Qin Yu’s shoulder, “We are both from the army. If there is a chance in the future, I would like to get to know you more.”

Qin Yu smiled, “Definitely.”

Ye Bohu turned and left. He walked away in an impressive manner.

……

It has been such a long time since something so violent had happened in the capital. A favored court minister went through an assassination attempt on his way to court.

The effects of it spread far and wide and they had to get to the root of the problem. Otherwise, the West Desolate’s reputation would be ruined.

The main general of the Defense Division, Ye Yuantai, had been demoted. With a somber face, the generals from the Defense Division placed the entire capital under lockdown.

Huicui Pavilion, which had retreated back into the shadows, was forcefully pulled out into the sun.

Chasing, killing and escaping…a series of things happened and the capital was a lot more chaotic than before.

On a day like this, a middle-aged man held a letter in his hand as he walked past the locked city gate.

He turned and waved to the general guarding the gate. The general paused for a while before breaking out into an earnest and brilliant smile.

The middle-aged man smiled. However, internally he knew that this general’s good intentions had gone to waste.

His identity and pouch now were both borrowed. There was no way for him to keep to his promise.

It was not good to lie, but what choice do I have? It is not like I can just stay in the West Desolate and wait to die right?

Tsk tsk!

The middle-aged man pursed his lips as a completely different smile appeared on his face. He continued on until he disappeared from sight.

At the city gate, the general wiped saliva from the corners of his mouth. His complexion was flushed as if he had drunk several jars of wine, and he was swaying.

His confidante looked at him and sneered, “General, all the elders in the Imperial Army are really angry. Lord Ye Yuantai was demoted. If someone finds out that you let him pass, it will be hard to explain.”

The general looked at him and chuckled coldly, “You bastards. Are you afraid of getting implicated by me? Hmph! Greedy hypocrites. Without me, how could you have gotten to where you are today?”

His soldiers all knew that the general was cowardly. Hence, he maintained his position as a general at the city gates for so many years and did not get promoted.

Today, he dared to act so brazenly and let the wealthy-looking middle-aged man pass. It meant that he must be confident. The key was most likely in the token that the middle-aged man took out and showed only to the general.

But more importantly, although they had guesses, they felt uneasy. After all, it felt like there was a noose around their neck already and at any moment they would hear a ‘kacak’ sound and they would fall.

Taking a glance at his subordinates who were smiling superficially at him, the general’s mouth twitched as he suppressed the glee in his heart. He exposed a small hint, “What do you all know? That is someone from Parasol County. He can move in and out of even the Imperial Palace freely, let alone our tiny city. Do you think I dare to obstruct him? It is not like I am tired of living!”

Someone from Parasol County who could enter the Imperial Palace freely…they thought of a taboo topic that had been recently brought up. Their expressions changed as they looked at the general earnestly.

Damn it, if you don’t get promoted, then how are we to get promoted and become rich?

The general smiled proudly, “Shut your mouths tight. Since you all know that the punishment may cost you your lives, don’t talk nonsense.”

They all acknowledged his words. The general called for them to come and have a drink. Someone proposed that after today’s rotation, they would invite the general for drinks while others mentioned their own sisters at home, nieces…aunts.

The guard smiled appreciatively.

Marquis Chongwu.

He had arrived.

The middle-aged man coughed and looked majestic and impressive. He was about to call to enter.

However, he was suddenly frozen to the spot. There was shock in his eyes.

He felt as if the temperature had suddenly dropped severely and he was sealed in.

Sss –

Sucking in a sharp breath of cold air, the middle-aged man turned to leave. But before he could take a step, he was frozen on the spot and cold sweat dotted his forehead.

He turned with a miserable expression. He seemed to lose all the impressiveness he had earlier, “Okay, I won’t go. If you want me to stay here, I will not move.”

Very soon, the door opened. The doormen stepped aside respectfully and Rourou walked out. She looked down at the middle-aged man and snorted, “You have guts. Are you not afraid to die?”

The middle-aged man was about to collapse on the ground. He was really going to start crying. He was so upset that tears filled his eyes, “I am sorry, please have mercy!”

Rourou turned and walked back inside, “Come in.”

She looked furious. If not for Qin Yu, I would not be bothered with you. I would have squashed you with a finger.

The middle-aged man stumbled as he wiped the tears from his face and chased after her.

However, the way he chased after her was not to run but to roll after her like a ball.

Of course, it looked like he had practiced this before.

The doormen looked at him in amazement. They could not help the admiration that filled their hearts, this was probably the most amazing thing they had seen in their pathetic lives.

The middle-aged man turned back and glared at the doormen. He seemed to be scolding them internally. If not for this amazing ability of his to turn into a dog, how could he have lived until today?