The Demon Lords

After all, he now finally had the qualifications to be targeted.

"Lord Zheng, are you planning to go out? This servant will arrange a carriage for you."

Lord Zheng immediately shook his head and said, "No, no."

That crazy woman was in the capital; better not go out.

The capital wasn’t like Snow Sea Pass; half of the camp outside the capital belonged to the Northern Garrison Army.

That crazy woman was very smart, and she would of course know exactly who had made her lie unconscious for almost half a year.

"Heading out?"

At this moment, a familiar voice came from behind Lord Zheng.

Lord Zheng turned his head to look—who else could it be but the Sword Saint!

"Yeah, I’m going out."

As he spoke,

Lord Zheng pointed at the young Eunuch Zhang and said:

"Prepare the carriage."

"Yes, sir."

The young Eunuch Zhang went off to get things ready, while the Sword Saint walked over.

"You doing okay after yesterday?" Lord Zheng asked with concern.

"Wei Zhonghe found two people to drink tea with me."

"Did they say anything?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Say what? Try to rope me into defecting to Yan?"

"Wouldn’t that be the logical move?"

"At Snow Sea Pass, aren’t I already working for you Yan people?"

"Strictly speaking, that’s true, but it’s still a bit different. You know what I mean."

Lord Zheng didn’t believe that someone of the Sword Saint’s level wouldn’t make the court’s heart stir.

"They didn’t say it, because they know I wouldn’t agree."

"Good."

"Where are you heading later?"

"To the pavilion in the center of the lake."

"To see that prince you had abolished?"

"That’s a misunderstanding; the one who abolished him was Lord Jingnan."

"Not you?"

"I was just a tool, a tool."

"I’ve never entered court as an official, but I’m really curious—what’s it like, serving in the court, after personally abolishing a prince?"

Lord Zheng smiled

and said:

"He was also a tool."

The Sword Saint was slightly stunned, then suddenly understood.

Soon,

the carriage was ready.

The young Eunuch Zhang personally took the reins, while Lord Zheng and the Sword Saint sat inside and headed toward the lakeside pavilion.

"A lord of Yan, in the capital of Jin, and you’re actually worried someone might try to assassinate you."

The Sword Saint’s words clearly carried a hint of teasing.

"It’s that woman—the one I had you slaughter pigs to help scare last time."

"The Princess?"

"Yeah."

"She dares?"

"On the night of Chengjue’s wedding, she dared send Li Liangshen and that Seventh Uncle at his side to the prince’s residence to assassinate Chengjue."

This matter

was known to very, very few, because neither of the parties involved had spoken of it, nor did they dare speak of it.

But in Chengjue’s letter to Zheng Fan, he’d especially mentioned this, cursing that woman over and over as a lunatic—a lunatic, a lunatic!

Which was understandable,

since on the day of Chengjue’s grand wedding, he’d almost ended up with a death anniversary instead.

The Sword Saint said, "That night, the empress also passed away."

"How do you always manage to latch onto the key point?"

The Sword Saint said, "And why do I hear in your tone a hint of ’wow, he’s actually this smart’?"

"My apologies, I’ll hide it deeper next time."

"The Royal Family really is merciless."

"You seem to be forgetting you’re also of the Royal Family."

The Sword Saint’s surname was Yu, the surname of the Jin State.

"I don’t even feel like I count."

"You at least count as a member of the Royal Family. Also, this matter doesn’t quite rise to the level of debating whether the Royal Family is merciless or not."

"But deep down you actually have some thoughts about it, don’t you?"

"Hard to say."

"I’m curious—if one day your kid does something like this, what will you do?"

"As long as he doesn’t go borrowing loan-shark money, I’ll let him do as he pleases."

Loan-shark money, in other words, high-interest loans.

"So carefree."

"I’ve never had any ’may my son be a dragon, my daughter a phoenix’ aspirations. Living like that is too tiring."

"True, it is indeed too tiring—on the child."

"I meant it’s too tiring for me."

"Fair enough."

"What about you—when are you planning to have another?"

"No rush."

"Once you’re back, hurry up and have one with your wife. I’ll be his godfather."

"You seem to have quite a lot of godsons already."

"Hahaha."

Just then,

the Sword Saint suddenly said:

"There’s Sword Energy."

Lord Zheng immediately went from sitting upright to lying flat,

and said:

"Li Liangshen?"

Fuck, that crazy woman—was she really striking this fast and this wildly!

"It’s a Ninth Rank swordsman, in the restaurant next door."

"..." Lord Zheng.

Lord Zheng sat back up again and said, "You did that on purpose."

The Sword Saint said nothing.

"I don’t like this place. It doesn’t feel safe." Lord Zheng lamented.

"You like Snow Sea Pass?"

"Actually, I don’t like Snow Sea Pass either. The climate there is not very pleasant."

"You sure ask for a lot."

"It’s really not that much. If we can make the capital as safe as Snow Sea Pass, I’ll be satisfied."

"And you call that ’not much’?"

"People have to have dreams, don’t they?"

The carriage arrived at the pavilion at the center of the lake.

Zheng Fan showed the silver token he’d been given back then, and the guards let him through.

The Sword Saint stayed at the entrance and did not go in.

Zheng Fan, under the guidance of two deaf-mutes, walked deeper into the lake pavilion. When they opened the iron gate, Zheng Fan continued walking inside.

He saw a lake, and in the middle of the lake, he saw a pavilion.

Zheng Fan walked along the long corridor toward the pavilion.

Inside the pavilion, a head slowly poked out. The man had probably been lying down; hearing the commotion, he got up.

He wore white clothes stained with ink, his hair somewhat long. He didn’t look particularly decadent; instead, he had a bit of a mountain recluse’s airy elegance.

The two men

met each other’s eyes.

"Lord Zheng?"

"Greetings, Third Prince. It seems that even while living amidst such beauty, you have not forgotten the affairs of the world."

"Thanks to you, I can still read the court bulletins here. I’m well aware of the merits you’ve earned these past few years, truly a pillar of Yan."

Zheng Fan let out a sigh

and said:

"Didn’t expect I’d come here to see you, did you?"

The Third Prince gave a small smile

and said:

"Indeed, I did not."

Then,

the Third Prince picked up a black crossbow

and aimed it at Zheng Fan.

"..."

———

About an hour later,

Zheng Fan walked out from the lake pavilion, holding a scroll

and got into the carriage waiting outside.

The young Eunuch Zhang asked:

"My Lord, where to?"

"Back."

"Yes, my Lord."

Inside the carriage,

The Sword Saint looked at Zheng Fan as he got in and said, "Took quite a bit less time than I’d expected."

"There wasn’t much to talk about, really."

"I originally thought the two of you would have a lot to chat about."

"When I went in, he was waiting for me with a crossbow in his hands."

"That’s not exactly unexpected."

"The crossbow was made of paper. He used ink to color it."

"Interesting."

"He guessed I would come. And I had to come."

"Because this is your accountability," the Sword Saint said.

"You can even guess that?"

"That tone of yours, again."

Zheng Fan took out the scroll and unfurled it.

Inside was a painting,

of a pass, a battlefield scene.

"He painted this. It’s my battle at Snow Sea Pass."

"Mm."

"He’s much smarter now than he was back then. A pity. Tell me, why must people go through setbacks before they can grow up?"

"That sounds, on the surface, like a good thing."

"We’re supposed to learn to thank our failures, because they make us more mature."

"So that Third Prince should be grateful to you?"

"I’ve said before: what happened to him can’t be pinned on me. He just ended up as a punching bag the Emperor gave Lord Jingnan to vent his anger on."

"But these past few years, when he has nightmares at night, I’m sure your face shows up in them often."

"Heh."

"Does he want to come out?"

"Come out just to disgrace the Royal Family? As long as Lord Jingnan is still around, he’ll never leave that lake pavilion.

But I need an accounting, and he needs an accounting. We gave each other one, and that means the Yan Emperor has his accounting as well.

After that, his days in the lake pavilion can be a bit more bearable."

"Just for that?"

"We can’t be the full man who doesn’t know the hunger of the starving."

"True."

"I want to sleep a bit. Didn’t rest well last night. By the time we get back, the blind folks should be there too."

Just as Zheng Fan was about to lean back,

the Sword Saint suddenly said:

"There’s sword energy."

Zheng Fan instantly went from leaning back to lying flat on the floor of the carriage.

The Sword Saint was a bit surprised

and said:

"You really are afraid of dying."

Zheng Fan turned his head to look at the Sword Saint and said, "Of course."

The Sword Saint said, "It’s the old man beside that woman."

The carriage

came to a stop,

and Seventh Uncle stood in front of it

and said:

"The Princess invites Lord Pingye to the back garden for a talk."

Inside the carriage,

the Sword Saint said, "She’s inviting you to sit at her place for a bit."

Zheng Fan chuckled twice,

climbed up,

walked to the front,

lifted the curtain,

and shouted to Seventh Uncle standing ahead:

"Tell Li Qian to come to the Sixth Prince’s residence and see me herself!"