Chapter 837: A Fated Meeting

"Alright then, you'll stay here for today. I'll head to the Imperial Palace to report to my superiors. If all goes well, you'll be granted an audience with His Majesty tomorrow."

Although this was the Seventh Prince's residence, Tian Ruichi was the Seventh Prince's trusted confidant.

Therefore, when Tian Ruichi and the others' carriage stopped at the gate of Qi Huang Fu, the servants had already come out one after another to greet them.

As for Tian Ruichi's instructions, they naturally followed them completely, without uttering a single word of complaint.

A group of people filed in, entering Qi Huang Fu.

Yet no one noticed that, as they entered Qi Huang Fu, a group of black-robed figures hurried past the residence.

One of them suddenly seemed to notice something, jerked his head up, and stopped in his tracks.

With this person's pause, the other black-robed figures all stopped moving and gathered protectively around him.

"Lord Ox Seat?"

"Lord Ox Seat, this is the Seventh Prince's residence. 【That moment】 hasn't arrived yet — we cannot afford a conflict."

Ox Seat glanced at those people, and they immediately lowered their heads in unison and fell silent.

Once Ox Seat withdrew his gaze, a cold smile gradually spread across his face: "I didn't expect you really came, Yese Liming… welcome to Jingcheng!"

"But how did you end up entangled with a fellow like the Seventh Prince… ah well, since you've already come to Jingcheng, there's plenty of time to settle our accounts slowly!"

After taking one long, deep look at Qi Huang Fu, Ox Seat turned and led the group away.

The other black-robed figures exchanged glances, then silently followed.

Ox Seat — the foremost of the Phoenix Organization's Twelve Seats.

Apart from the two leaders and the Three Heiyu, Ox Seat held the highest status.

And beyond his surface identity within the Phoenix Organization, Ox Seat also had his own hidden trump card.

"Qing Qianyang, the east wind you wanted is almost here — don't disappoint me."

As he walked, Ox Seat quietly clenched his fist.

And ahead of him was… Jingcheng's foremost pleasure house — 【Juan Niao Lou】!

At the entrance of Juan Niao Lou, a woman in black had already been waiting against the wall for some time.

Although the loose black robes obscured most of her face and figure, any high-ranking member of the Phoenix Organization present would have recognized her at first glance — she was the second of the Three Heiyu, the Second Heiyu, 【Lord Huang Er】.

The moment she saw Ox Seat bringing his people over, Huang Er, who had been utterly bored moments before, immediately showed an excited expression, her eyes sparkling brightly.

"So slow! Ox Seat, you're way too slow!"

Ox Seat, who had just been lost in thought, suddenly contracted his pupils and froze on the spot.

How could she be here!?

Clenching his fist, Ox Seat hurriedly lowered his head and said in a low voice.

"Greetings, Second Heiyu…"

Before Ox Seat could finish, Huang Er had already rushed over, looped her arm through his, and pulled off her black hood, revealing a girlishly adorable smile.

"Keep me company!"

"……"

"Say something! Keep me company!"

"……Yes."

The two of them filed into 【Juan Niao Lou】, and the others trailed in behind them.

The old madam who had just been about to come out and greet them was suddenly grabbed by the wrist by a lame old man beside her.

"Lame Old?" The old madam's eyes went wide, sweat poured down her face, and her whole body tensed as she asked in a low, probing voice.

Lame Old watched Ox Seat and the Second Heiyu with his dead-fish eyes, led his people up to the private booth on the upper floor, and only then said slowly: "Today's meeting is cancelled. Go investigate the woman beside Ox Seat."

"Yes!"

……

Qi Huang Fu.

"Xiao Ye, what's wrong?"

Lin Ling, who had been seeking instruction from Fang Yue, noticed Fang Yue spacing out and couldn't help but ask.

"……Nothing, just suddenly had a strange feeling."

Fang Yue furrowed his brow slightly and said nothing more.

That strange feeling from earlier — he'd had it before too; it seemed to be related to the Fate Disk.

But the parchment was still in a dormant state, so he couldn't enter the Fate Disk to check even if he wanted to.

That thing was always missing when he needed her. Fortunately, Fang Yue had already grown somewhat used to her bad habits.

Newly arrived, Fang Yue was a stranger in a strange land.

Since Tian Ruichi had told them to stay in the residence for now, staying it was — there was nothing improper about it.

Apart from their group, the other members of the Special Envoy's party, having completed their escort mission, had each returned to their own homes to report that they were safe.

Fang Yue had originally planned to find a chance to slip out and gather some intelligence, but Lin Ling had called him back, asking him to teach her Martial Arts.

This was something Fang Yue couldn't refuse, so he went along with it and began instructing Lin Ling.

"Ye Ge, Jing Yan and I are going out for a look around."

A look around?

Fang Yue looked at Jing Yan, wrapped head to toe so tightly that only two eyes peeked out in a mummy-level getup, and understood perfectly well where these two were headed.

Seeing that the two of them were about to leave right after exchanging greetings, Fang Yue hurriedly called out.

"Wait! You don't know the place — which medical hall are you going to for the Guicurse treatment? At least ask Steward Ke first. And we have enemies here in Jingcheng; you two swaggering out like this is really dangerous."

"Don't worry, Ye Ge, we know our limits. We're just small fry, nowhere near as conspicuous as you, and we've even disguised ourselves."

No, no, no… with Jing Yan's mummy-level getup, any disguise was utterly pointless.

Fang Yue wanted to say more, but Jing Yan cut in: "Ye Ge, we'll just go out for a bit. The guest steward said Jingcheng has seven great medical halls, all with extremely high medical skill, evenly matched. If we're lucky, we might even solve your problem… Besides, you can't go out now—tomorrow you're meeting the Emperor, and with our shipwreck in the capital causing such a stir, who knows how many eyes are watching you."

"And anything you can't do ourselves, we can handle for you. Don't worry—we'll bring back word."

Hearing this, Fang Yue finally understood their intent.

They didn't want me to go out and risk my life…

At some point, people who could be trusted, who could be entrusted with heavy responsibilities, had begun to gather around me.

And yet, I seem to have protected them too well—or perhaps, too poorly.

Fang Yue thought of the dead Lord Han, the dead Hua Wuye, the dead Chen Mu…

At this moment, their figures faintly overlapped with Jing Yan's morning face.

After a silence, Fang Yue spoke in a low voice: "Have the guest steward assign some strong men to follow you. As for the rest, do as you please—but I want you back before nightfall."

Jing Yan and Chen Mu exchanged a glance, then turned to Fang Yue and broke into wide smiles.

"Yes!"

"No problem!"

With Fang Yue's permission, the two had the guest steward pick several strong men to accompany them, then left Qi Huang Fu.

Fang Yue, meanwhile, summoned the guest steward.

"Guest steward, I heard they say Jingcheng has seven top-tier medical halls—are those seven halls the pinnacle of Jingcheng's medical skill? How deeply have they studied the curse?"

"The Seven Great Medical Halls have studied the curse in depth, but their medical skill is not the very pinnacle of Jingcheng."

"Not the pinnacle? Then who is the greatest physician in Jingcheng?"

"Master Qiankun."

"Master Qiankun?"

Fang Yue scoured his known knowledge of Jingcheng—but he had never heard of this person.

"Is his medical skill stronger than any single physician among the Seven Great Medical Halls?"

"No—Master Qiankun's medical skill is stronger than all seven physicians of the Seven Great Medical Halls combined—even vastly surpassing them!"

Hiss—

Fang Yue drew in a sharp breath.

Master Qiankun's medical skill was this powerful? Could one man suppress all seven physicians of the Seven Great Medical Halls?

After his shock, Fang Yue instantly grew excited.

If Master Qiankun truly was this powerful, then my Wu Yu tribe's curse might be…

No—Mei Yu once told me to seek the Master of the Thousand Ballads Palace to cure the Wu Yu tribe's curse.

She was an immortal Mei Yu—since she said so, the Wu Yu tribe's curse must be extraordinarily difficult, even beyond the reach of Jingcheng's greatest physician.

After hesitating, thinking long and hard, Fang Yue looked up and asked: "Guest steward, have you ever heard of… the Thousand Ballads Palace?"

"The Thousand Ballads Palace?!"

The guest steward's eyes widened in shock, as if he'd heard a word that could not possibly exist—he froze completely.

"Ye Ge… you know of the Thousand Ballads Palace?"

"Yeah."

Fang Yue was puzzled—was it so surprising to know the Thousand Ballads Palace existed?

"…Ye Ge, you're from Gu Yue Cun, a remote place, so you might not know. Long ago, the Emperor of Qing Guo forbade anyone in Qing Guo from uttering those three characters: Thousand Ballads Palace."

"Though much time has passed and few still remember the Thousand Ballads Palace, everyone in the Imperial Palace knows this. If you don't want trouble, never speak those three words again."

Qing Guo… forbade mentioning the Thousand Ballads Palace?

What was their relationship? What had happened in the past?

Fang Yue was utterly confused—but the guest steward no longer wished to say more.

Yet just before leaving, he left one final remark.

"Master Qiankun was once a disciple of the Thousand Ballads Palace. If Ye Ge still wishes to know more, ask Master Qiankun yourself."

The meaning was clear—the guest steward did not wish to be involved further.

Had Fang Yue not been a guest of the Seventh Prince, the guest steward would not have uttered a single word more.

After all, these words concerned his future and his life.

And this only proved how loyal the guest steward was to the Seventh Prince.

Merely because Fang Yue was the Seventh Prince's guest, he was willing to reveal so much—even at personal risk.

If people like the guest steward were numerous among the Seventh Prince's circle, then the Seventh Prince's strength and influence must be unfathomable.

"Indeed, the Seventh Prince is someone I must watch carefully."

Fang Yue kept a wary eye.

The guest steward's revelations gave him deeper insight into Jingcheng's affairs.

Though he hadn't gone out himself, he had still sought information in his own way.

Now all he needed to do was wait for the two to return with more news.

With this thought, evening arrived as the sun sank.

"Huff… huff…"

Lin Ling's arms trembled—he had reached his limit, yet gritted his teeth and kept training.

This was routine for Lin Ling.

But it wasn't enough! Not enough!

Lin Ling clenched his fists; the whites of his eyes darkened like ink, spattering violently and spreading rapidly.

"Lin Ling!"

A sharp shout snapped Lin Ling back to his senses, and the pitch-black color in his eyes quickly faded away.

When he came back to himself, he saw over a dozen burly men holding clubs, their faces dark as they surrounded him.

Standing in front of him was Fang Yue's back.

"Don't be impatient! Calm down. We still have time—plenty of time. Even if it takes a whole lifetime to grow stronger and resurrect Lord Han, it doesn't matter."

"Xiao Ye…"

"Are you calm now? It's fine. No one can touch you! And you lot—get lost!!"

Fang Yue let out a thunderous roar. His violent aura kicked up a blast of wind that made the weeds in the yard rustle loudly.

The terrifying presence of a Human Grade High-Level Warrior instantly made the burly men surrounding Fang Yue and the others freeze in unison.

After one last glance at Lin Ling, who had already returned to normal, they exchanged looks. Only then did those club-wielding burly men retreat one by one and disappear from Fang Yue and Lin Ling's sight.

"They are…"

"They should be hidden guard experts stationed at Qi Huang Fu. Each one is around Human Grade beginner level. Jingcheng really is different, huh."

Human Grade beginner?!

Lin Ling's expression shifted slightly, shock rising in his heart. Only now did he truly realize just how heavy the weight of those three words—Seventh Prince—truly was.

"This probably isn't the full guard strength of Qi Huang Fu. I can sense a powerful fellow lurking in Qi Huang Fu who hasn't shown himself to us. From the feel of it, at the very least… a Cloud Grade expert!"

Cloud Grade?!

Just for guarding the residence, they have a Cloud Grade expert stationed here?!

As expected of Qi Huang Fu…

At some unknown point, Lin Ling's fists had clenched once more.

He felt the pressure, felt the gap in strength!

And pressure brought motivation.

His body, which had just felt utterly exhausted, was once again brimming with drive.

"Xiao Ye, I'm going to keep practicing the spear!"

"Still practicing? Your body has already…"

"I'm fine! After Lord Han's eyes fused with me, every aspect of my ability improved tremendously—recovery included. I'm completely full of energy now!"

If Lin Ling weren't drenched in sweat and gasping between words, Fang Yue might actually have believed him.

Still, this was Lin Ling's own choice, so Fang Yue's answer was naturally…

"Up to you."

Sitting on the grass, Fang Yue looked up at the setting sun.

The solar eclipse grew more and more distinct, as if everything were accelerating.

The day of the Sky Devouring was almost here.

In reality, things could no longer be dragged out. Whether staying in Jianghai City or going to the neighboring Haiyu City, a decision had to be made.

"First wait for Jing Yan and Qing Chen and the others to come back, then based on the intel we get, discuss our future actions. Once that's settled and we've handled tomorrow's audience with the Emperor, I'll go out and tell the Alliance my decision."

Whether to stay or go, Fang Yue already had an idea, but tonight was not the right moment.

Jingcheng was rife with danger. Tonight he didn't even plan to sleep—he had to wait for the right moment and find a safe place.

But the setting sun quickly sank.

Fang Yue waited for his people, but they did not come.

What actually came was a strange young man with a smile on his face.

But his first words made Fang Yue's pupils dilate, freezing him on the spot.

"Hello, Ye Baiyi. First time meeting you. My name is Qing Qianyang."

(Replaced at dawn.)

State adjusted, let's see how many chapters I can update today.

(End of this chapter)