Chapter 798: Formless (1/2, seeking subscriptions)

The First Prince was completely baffled, a strange feeling rising faintly in his heart.

Could it be... that the other's cultivation is above mine?

That's impossible...

Looking left and right, the First Prince still couldn't arrive at an answer.

Whoo, whoo—

The wind howled in the distance, growing ragged, as if some existence had spotted a target and was rushing this way.

The First Prince's expression changed. He sighed inwardly and hurriedly withdrew his consciousness from the 【Life Plate】.

The Life Plate was treacherous; one could not linger.

Fate Worms that fed on fortune, Fate Winds that eroded the fate-body... all manner of strange things could easily destroy the fate-body he had painstakingly cultivated.

Within the Life Plate, one had to tread carefully at every step, operating with caution.

The First Prince had worked this path for so many years, developing with single-minded focus, to achieve what he had today.

Setting everything else aside, in a place like Qing Guo, when it came to the Life Plate, he could be called first-rate!

It was precisely this confidence that gave the First Prince the boldness to enter the Life Plate so directly to search for the problem.

But now the problem hadn't been found, and he'd even lost track of that little fish.

"Without the entanglement of the fate-line, it's become a bit troublesome..."

The First Prince was lost in thought, when at that moment, an excited shout suddenly rang out ahead.

"That's the move, General!"

The First Prince was stunned. He lowered his head to look, and his pupils couldn't help but contract.

He had actually been driven into a dead end—the endgame had been broken!

This guy?!

Looking at the vagrant before him, dancing about in excitement, the First Prince's face was full of shock.

What background did this fellow have? Why was his chess skill so superb??

Although this endgame had been casually arranged, anyone who wasn't extraordinary could never possibly break such a position!

Yet the vagrant before him had...

Hidden dragons and crouching tigers, hidden dragons and crouching tigers!

After the initial shock, the First Prince calmed down. The look he gave Tian Long became much gentler, his face kind and benevolent.

"This young friend has excellent chess skill! To break such an endgame—good, good, good, this old man likes it..."

"Cut the crap, give me the money!!"

Before the First Prince could finish, Tian Long reached out and shouted, showing not the slightest respect for the elderly.

Please—I'm Tian Long, fists beat the kindergarten boss, feet kick the nursing home dance troupe. Why would I care about some old man in a game?

Seeing the white-bearded old man somewhat stunned, Tian Long thought the other might refuse to pay. His gaze turned unfriendly, and he rolled up his sleeves, preparing to use some strong-arm tactics like a street thug. But then the white-bearded old man suddenly smiled faintly and produced a token inscribed with the character 'Juan', with a silver border.

"What the hell is this? Money, money... huh!? Wait, this, this is..."

The first two sentences were still full of cursing, but after carefully seeing the characters on the token, Tian Long's eyes immediately went wide, saliva nearly drooling down. He snatched the token, as if he'd found a treasure, laughed three times heartily, and patted the white-bearded old man's shoulder repeatedly.

"Good, good, good, forget the money, I want this thing. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful! You old thing sure know how to enjoy life, to have something like this!"

When the others crowded in to see what token it was, Tian Long had already hurriedly pocketed it, glared at the people around him, cursed them a couple of times, and left in a hurry. In no time, not a trace of him remained.

The First Prince shook his head slightly, stroked his fake beard, tidied himself up a bit, and also strolled away.

Shaking off the crowd, he arrived at a teahouse, went up to a private seat on the second floor by the window, and a lame waiter immediately shifted his body, shuffling over slowly, and asked in a low voice: "Master, why give him a token of 【Juan Niao Lou】? That disciple of the Blazing Flame Sect among the vagrant commoners who broke the chess game must have used some trick—it wasn't that his chess skill was formidable..."

The First Prince glanced at the waiter and chuckled lightly.

"You think I can't see he's foolish and ignorant? But precisely because of that, he's easier to use. He only recently joined Blazing Flame Sect, so his loyalty to it is limited—a small favor is enough to buy him over... You need not worry about this matter, I have my own measure. Keep an eye on the movements of the other organizations and sects in Jingcheng for me, especially the one behind Blazing Flame Sect—my fourth brother, the Fourth Prince. Watch him closely; he should be making moves soon.

Also, Que Lao, all manner of forces have gathered in Jingcheng now, undercurrents surging. We need to sink even deeper!"

"... Yes, I understand."

After the lame waiter withdrew, the First Prince took out a Jade Pendant emanating wisps of cold air, held it in his hand and toyed with it for a while. He seemed to be thinking, seemed to have figured something out, then laughed freely and stopped pondering, content to admire the flow of people below.

Suddenly, among the crowd, a carriage marked with the character 【Qian】 rushed past, cutting through the throng and heading straight into the distance.

"Hmm? Master Qiankun's personal carriage? Whose serious illness has struck, and who can afford to hire such a master to act..."

Following the direction the carriage had gone, the mansions of the powerful that the route might pass immediately surfaced in the First Prince's mind. After quickly filtering through them, an answer was on the tip of his tongue.

"Is it to the You Family..."

He tapped the tea table twice lightly, and another waiter upstairs immediately shuffled over.

"Master, what are your orders?"

"Prepare a fine gift. I am going to pay a visit to You Lao."

"Yes!"

That waiter paused, then hesitantly asked: "Master, will you still be coming to the endgame stall tomorrow?"

The First Prince raised an eyebrow and glanced at the waiter, saying: "I will. The fate-line is severed, so I'll just entangle it again. Although we've never met face to face, I'm quite interested in that fellow."

……

You Family.

"Master Qiankun! This way please. Sisi has been vomiting blood and unconscious for a day and a night, with no sign of waking. We must beg you to act and save her!"

The moment he stepped through the door, Master Qiankun, in a Daoist robe, was hurriedly led by the You Family people into the young lady's boudoir.

Sitting in a chair, Master Qiankun took her pulse through the air for a while. His expression grew grave, and he laid out a row of copper coins, calculating by counting on his fingers.

His pupils contracted, a great deal of cold sweat suddenly broke out on his forehead, and his breathing grew rapid as he fell from the chair to the floor in a sorry state.

"Master Qiankun?!"

"Master, has something terrible happened to Sisi?"

A major matter? It's far more than a major matter!

Master Qiankun looked around in alarm at the You Family members nearby, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I need to meet with You Lao."

The crowd exchanged uncertain glances at the words.

"This... is hardly appropriate. You know as well as we do that the Old Master doesn't receive people lightly."

"... Go ahead and report it. Just say those four words to You Lao, and he'll see me on his own."

The crowd was stunned, exchanged glances for a while, then fell silent and asked, "Which four words?"

"The Faceless One."

The Faceless One?

The crowd was somewhat bewildered; none of them understood what it meant, but they still sent someone to go report to You Lao.

Before long, that person returned with a strange expression on his face.

The crowd grew anxious all at once.

"What did he say? What did the Old Master say?"

That person hesitated for a moment, then said, "The Old Master has agreed to meet Master Qiankun. He'll meet him right here, and told all of us to leave."

"This..."

(End of Chapter)