Chapter 120

「Originally I didn't plan to reveal myself, after all I had previously promised to let you go, but in the end I was a step too slow; besides you three, your families are already dead. 」

「Originally I intended to spare the two sons of the Third and Fifth Princes, but they went up and attacked, killing the two children and their mother first; I failed to save them, but I avenged them. 」

「As for the others, I also took care of them in passing, and it's not really a loss, after all if they didn't die by my hand they would have died at the hands of Sun Zhongquan's people. 」

Shen Tianxing was telling the truth. After confirming that the Third Prince and these people were staying in the small town, his Avatar sensed the main body and then proceeded with the conversion; due to the relatively long distance, the conversion also took some time.

It just so happened that at that moment Chen Kai discovered the Fifth Prince and his group and sent people to exterminate them; when Shen Tianxing arrived, only the daughter and young son of the Fu Prince remained, as well as the two sons and two daughters of the Rong Prince.

Shen Tianxing killed Chen Kai's people, then killed the others as well, and afterwards came here.

「If you put it that way, it's indeed not a loss; after all, everyone dies, and it doesn't matter much whose hand it is. You also helped avenge my family, so shouldn't I be thanking you? 」

The Fifth Prince burst into angry laughter, and Shen Tianxing nodded.

「If you want to thank me, there's nothing to it; frankly, if I gave you time and some troops, you might still have a chance, but you have neither time nor troops, so you can only resign yourself to fate. 」

Shen Tianxing wasn't in a hurry to kill these three before him; instead, he enjoyed listening to their nonsense, especially seeing the Fu Prince's hateful yet helpless gaze, which he found quite amusing.

「I don't want to die; I can use wealth to buy my life. 」

The Rong Prince spoke: having survived the struggle for the throne before, he now wants to stay alive; the wealth he had accumulated earlier went into the treasury, and now he's using his accumulated wealth to buy his own life, which is reasonable.

「A prince's life is worth a lot of money; I don't know how much the prince can offer? A hundred thousand or eight hundred thousand is too little—I don't even lack that much; one or two million might be okay, but for me it's still not enough. 」

「Thirty Million Taels, of which Twenty Million Taels are silver and One Million Taels are gold; of course I don't trust you, so to exchange these riches for my life I need Yang Tieqiang as a guarantor. 」

Not to mention Shen Tianxing didn't expect it; even the Fifth Prince and Fu Prince didn't expect it—the Fifth Prince originally wasn't good at making money, and although he had skimmed some over the years, it added up to only several hundred thousand taels!

The Fu Prince is even more extravagant; although he also collected a lot of money from officials, he spent even more, leaving him with only several hundred thousand taels; he never expected the Rong Prince to have Thirty Million Taels—how did he manage to amass that much?

「Or you've been hiding it well—Thirty Million Taels would be enough to raise an army and seize the throne, a pity you lack the strategy; otherwise you wouldn't need to wait until today to buy your life with silver. 」

Faced with the Fu Prince's mockery, the Rong Prince didn't care at all, but waited for Shen Tianxing to give him an answer.

「Seventh Uncle, how about buying my life as well? I can still help you with many things, even if I become your adopted son to support you in your old age. 」

The Fifth Prince also didn't want to die, or rather he just wanted to give it a try, to see if it could work.

「You're too dangerous; keeping you around would probably mean I wouldn't live much longer either, and besides, my life isn't in my own hands right now—whether I agree or not still depends on the Governor's decision. 」

「Thirty Million Taels is enough, but aren't you afraid I'll break your hands and feet, torture you to find out where the silver is, and then kill you? 」

Shen Tianxing wore a satisfied smile, while the Rong Prince showed no fear; instead, he secretly let out a sigh of relief.

「Killing me would gain you far less than sparing me. Letting me live would gain you much more, and without these riches, my threat to you is almost zero. 」

「Moreover, there's no hatred between us; it's not a matter of you die or I live. The Governor, who wants to contend for the world, should be able to calculate this account clearly—these riches are enough for the Governor to support a million-strong army. 」

Shen Tianxing hadn't expected an unexpected gain; Thirty Million Taels is too great a temptation—killing the Rong Prince would yield at most ten thousand fortune, and One Million Taels of silver is nothing compared to Thirty Million Taels.

「Fine, from now on the Rong Prince will reside in Leizhou City; I'll assign someone to look after him exclusively, guaranteeing he can enjoy his twilight years without any further worries. Of course, handling the silver will certainly require Old Man Yang to act as guarantor for the Rong Prince. 」

The Rong Prince let out a heavy sigh of relief, knowing he could only live under the surveillance of those Shen Tianxing sent out, but that too was a life of fine clothes and good food—enough for him.

「Alright, you two probably don't have enough silver to buy your lives either, so in that case I'll send you on your way, and I hope you two. In the Underworld, don't hold too much grudge against me. 」

After saying that, Shen Tianxing flashed, his blade slit the throats of the Fifth Prince and the Fu Prince; blood spurted out uncontrollably, they clutched their throats but couldn't stop the bleeding, and finally they collapsed unwillingly.

「Congratulations, Host, you have gained Twenty Thousand Fortune and Two Million Taels of silver. 」

This one, Shen Tianxing already has Eleven Million Taels of silver and Sixty Thousand Fortune; not becoming Emperor, he's definitely a wealthy landlord, and he couldn't spend it all in this lifetime.

「Let's go, Prince; first I'll take you back to Leiming City—there's nothing you need to bring, right? 」

「Indeed, there's nothing to bring now; I'll just go with the Governor. 」

The Rong Prince nodded, Shen Tianxing grabbed him, then executed Light Wave Microstep, swiftly rushing out of the town, summoned Soaring Thunder, had the Rong Prince mount it, and headed toward Leiming City.

Upon returning to Leiming City just as dawn broke, Yang Tieqiang had finished breakfast and stepped out; the Governor's Residence, intending to take a stroll, saw Shen Tianxing and the Rong Prince arriving together, and he was also quite surprised.

「How did the Prince come? Could it be that you, kid, have become the Prince's son-in-law? But that doesn't seem right either—I haven't seen the Prince's daughter. 」

Upon meeting, Yang Tieqiang laughed and teased, though his gaze stayed on the Rong Prince; Shen Tianxing made a gesture of invitation, and then the three entered the Governor's Residence, after which Shen Tianxing told the truth, and Yang Tieqiang also looked at the Rong Prince with some disbelief.

「I've long heard that the Prince is skilled at business and adept at using money to get things done; I didn't expect the truth to be exactly so, and the Emperor's ascension to the throne has been only about twenty years. 」

"Back then, the Prince only by handing over all his wealth did he obtain the position of Prince Rong, where he could enjoy his twilight years. Now, twenty years later, he went from penniless to earning thirty million taels of silver. The Prince was born into the wrong imperial family!"

Yang Tieqiang's words left Prince Rong with a mixture of laughter and tears; he never expected that the one who understood him best would be Yang Tieqiang. But no matter what, fate is fate, and it cannot be avoided.

"I didn't expect Old General Yang to still remember. If so, then please, Old General Yang, act as my guarantor; my little life now depends on you to keep it safe."