245 – Ruler of the State
Qin Shiyu speculates that the reason why the School of Mo tried to assassinate the incumbent Emperor was to push the Hua Dynasty into the chaos of war again, and then secretly help some prince of warlord to gain imperial power with the advantage of mechanism weapons, so as to reappear on the stage of history.
If Qin Shiyu could have thought of that, then there’s no way that Qin Yu could not have thought of that as well. However, he insisted that it was the Wulin sects that harbored evil designs and deliberately did not mention anything about the mechanism weapon.
Qin Yu has always been extremely wary of the Wulin sects.
He finally found an excuse. Qin Shiyu is virtually certain that he used this as an excuse to push his own agenda. He placed the blame of attempted regicide on the Wulin sects in order to suppress them.
As a matter of fact, five years ago, he really sent troops to try and besiege the Wulin sects. But at that time, Qi Guiyuan, who was already a quasi-Soaring Immortal, had not yet smashed the void. He used a sword strike to deal heavy damage to the Great Oblation, awe the word with his power, and ultimately force Qin Yu to stop. Otherwise, the Five Great Sects would never have survived.
“With regards to this, royal father –”
“Little Nine, it’s late already.”
Qin Yu cut off Qin Shiyu.
His tone, though plain, suggests an unquestionable dignity.
Qin Shiyu wanted to say more, but then saw the man hiding behind the curtain raise a tea cup.
Serve tea to see the visitor out? Qin Shiyu sneered inwardly. Yet on her face, a reluctant expression took root.
“It’s indeed late. This child asks to be excused.”
“Go.”
Qin Yu waved his hand indifferently.
After leaving the sentence “good night, royal father”, Qin Shiyu turned around and left.
Upon stepping out of the room, she erased the emotions on her face and glanced back at the Southern Book Pavilion.
She began to doubt whether her father is a wise ruler after all.
— Gong Tianyang’s death was the turning point for this doubt to take root inside her.
*
After Qin Shiyu left, silence pervaded the Southern Book Pavilion.
Sitting at the desk, Qin Yu is wearing a gold mast. The mask resembles that of the State Guard. If it wasn’t for the black dragon robe [1], he could be mistaken as a member of the State Guard.
The bright candlelight flickered incessantly, indicating the passage of time.
Qin Yu didn’t say a word. The maids and eunuchs serving him didn’t dare to speak, either.
Gradually, the atmosphere became heavy.
The eunuchs and maids even started to breath lightly subconsciously, for fear that they would otherwise disturb the men’s thinking.
“Gongliang, what did that old thing Great Oblation say?”
After who knows how long, Qin Yu finally broke the silence and, without lifting his head, threw a question to the middle-aged eunuch waiting upon him.
Not daring to be the slightest bit negligent, the eunuch called Gongliang replied respectfully at once, “To answer Your Majesty the Emperor, the Great Oblation said that its not far away.”
“Really? It’s not far away?”
Qin Yu murmured, and then fell silent again.
This time, however, the silence was surprisingly short.
After only a few seconds, he glanced to a corner of the room.
“Does ‘Nightwalk’ has people at the Merak Temple?”
There is no one in his line of sight.
But then, something incredible happened when his voice sounded.
A black fog came out of nowhere.
The ominous fog didn’t disperse, but gradually expanded into the size of an adult man, outlining the silhouette of a person.
Judging by the silhouette’s contours, it should be a man.
As if a human-shaped being made out of black fog, his true appearance cannot be made out — no, before that, you have to wonder whether he is a person to begin with, or a monster from some strange story.
However, the people present are already used to it. This is not the fist time they have seen this strange “Nightwalk” member.
“Yes, it has.”
The black fog person’s voice, which appears to come both from afar and from nearby, doesn’t have a definite sense of distance and doesn’t carrying any undulations, making people doubt whether he really is in that corner or not.
Qin Yu issued a muffled “mhm” and nodded.
He got up, went to the window, and, with his hands behind his back, looked up at the moon in the sky. After a while, he said without looking back, “Two things.”
“Please speak, Your Majesty.”
The black fog person respectfully asked Qin Yu for his instructions.
“First, find out who persuaded my Little Nine. Little Nine doesn’t like to get involved in such things. Someone must have persuaded her, for her to do such an out of character thing like help Xue Qilin.”
At this point, Qin Yu aimed his gaze at the black fog person.
“Has anyone visited Little Nine recently?”
“Yes.”
The black fog person answered without hesitation.
Qin Yu retracted his gaze and asked in a neither hurried nor slow tone, “Do you know who it is?”
“It was a girl. But her characteristics are not quite clear, so it’s not certain who she is. Her Highness the Ninth Princess seems to attach great importance to her, since the swordguard Yinping has personally picked up and dropped off the girl. As a result, our people haven’t kept pace with her. Presumably, however, she is the personal disciple of the Merak Temple’s Xue Qilin, Shui Yun’er.
“Oh, Shui Yun’er?”
Qin Yu issued in a puzzled tone. The black fog person understood that the other party wants to hear a detailed explanation.
“Xue Qilin’s apprentice seems to have a talent for magic. At Chang’an’s enrollment assembly, she was accepted as an initiate disciple. She once broke into the Sword Mound and stole the Merak Temple’s relic sword Phecda. Consequently, she was controlled by Phecda and caused havoc in the Merak Temple. Later, Xue Qilin stepped in. She got a light punishment, and then finally Xue Qilin accepted her as a disciple.”
“Investigate her in detail.”
After Qin Yu pondered for a while, he gave an order in an unquestionable tone.
“Yes.”
The black fog person clasped his hands and replied.
“Second, investigate Xue Qilin in detail. I currently know very little about her. I want to know where she is from, who her parents are, her height and weight, and even her likes and dislikes.”
Qin Yu narrowed his eyes, and a gleam streaked across his eyes.
“Send a copy of the findings to the State Guard. Go.”
The black fog person answered “I shall bear it in mind”, and then, not concerned with whether Qin Yu has other instructions to give or not, turned into a black mist and dissipated in the corner, as if he has never appeared to begin with.
After silently glancing at the black fog person’s original position, Qin Yu turned around.
“Gongliang, pass down my order, instruct the State Guard to pay more attention to Xue Qilin. If there is a chance –”
He gazed coldly at Gongliang, not hiding the killing intent in his eyes.
“Kill!”
A deafening voice erupted.
Gongliang was frightened by the man’s voice brimming with killing intent, feeling like a knife was suddenly placed against his neck. He couldn’t help but shrink back.
He swallowed with difficulty and found out that his back is drenched in cold sweat. Although the killing intent was not aimed at him, yet he felt like he’s a goner.
“This servant received the order.”
“Good, go.”
“Yes!”
Gongliang responded in a loud voice, bowed, retreated a few steps, and then turned around and left in a hurry.
With the sound of short, hurried footsteps as accompaniment, Qin Yu faced the window again and looked up at the night sky.
“Are you going to reveal the hem of your clothes, disclose the Heaven’s will to others again?”
He muttered at the sky, as if inquiring, yet also accusing.
“People often say that I am the Son of Heaven, yet you have never shown me your favor.”
Qin Yu lowered his head and murmured in a low voice “Right, you always favor martial practitioners, not the ruler of the state, I. But –”
He extended his hand towards the sky and slowly clenched it into a fist, as if crushing something.
“I can destroy, too!”
He retracted his arm, swung his sleeve disdainfully, and turned around.
The dragon pattern embroidered on the sleeve seemed to come to life in a split second, leaving a bright yellow dragon figure in mid air.
“– the Hua Dynasty cannot accommodate another Grandmaster.”
*
