How could Han Yunxi and Long Feiye know that Bai Yanqing was still alive after he stopped breathing?
If it was just the Di Clan revolting, it was no big deal to Long Feiye. Myriad Merchant Hall’s disasters with its auction halls and gambling houses had been long resolved by Han Yunxi, but the true power of its businesses laid in his hands. As long as Long Feiye told Kangan Private Bank to stop cooperating with Myriad Merchant Hall, then business at its auction halls would plummet. Meanwhile, the new casinos had just opened in the days they came to Hundred Poisons Sect. As long as they spread word of its inside story and actual proprietors, the casinos would be shot. The 700 million that Myriad Merchant Hall had paid for the deed would be wasted as well.
With Myriad Merchant Hall’s current wealth, supporting the various businesses through the winter while paying off expenses for the Di Clan--especially its Ning Clan troops--would only sustain them a year. Once war began, costs for maintaining the army would skyrocket throughout the winter. Perhaps they’d collapse before the year was even up. An army and its troops needed provisions and armor, or the battle was half lost! What was the Di Clan planning to fight Long Feiye with then? Han Yunxi knew all this, but she was still worried about Northern Li and Emperor Kangcheng.
“Don’t worry, Jun Yixie and Emperor Kangcheng will never reconcile. There’s no way Jun Yixie can head south with his troops within a year,” Long Feiye had very accurate reports of Northern Li’s current situation.
For the sake of protecting little Yi’er, Helian Zuixiang had already agreed to all of Consort Xiao’s demands. She had exposed Bai Yanqing and Jun Yixie’s sinister plots over the years to the Northern Li emperor, who had already cut off funds and provisions to Jun Yixie’s troops. Even more spectacular moves awaited him. Of course, Jun Yixie had another option to support his troops: secretly cooperate with the Di Clan. That might have been possible in the past, but the Di Clan was hardly rich enough to sustain itself now! In some ways, Long Feiye and Han Yunxi had to thank Gu Qishao. If he hadn’t sacrificed Golden Wing Hall’s own profits to throw all the Three-Way Black Market’s gambling houses into disorder, then disturbed the business at Myriad Merchant Hall’s auction halls, then they wouldn’t have gotten control over the Di Clan’s source of wealth today.
Hearing Long Feiye’s words woke Han Yunxi back to her senses. How could she forget? Back at the Di Clan barracks, Long Feiye had already brought Northern Li under control. He had plenty of manpower and wealth to contend against the Di Clan, who was fighting losing battles even then. They’d already lost multiple cities to attacks.
The only reason Long Feiye had stopped his assault was for her sake!
Now the Di Clan was rebelling, but their forces were lacking and public opinion was against them. Why were they going to such pains? Though they say they were loyal to West Qin, didn’t that mean they should be loyal to her as well?
“Long Feiye, are there any other ways? If the two armies start fighting, it’s the people who’ll suffer in the end,” Han Yunxi murmured.
Long Feiye laughed lightly. “Sillyhead, since you and I are joining hands, that means the Di Clan becomes both our subordinates. How could they accept that?”
His words served as a reminder to Han Yunxi. As it turned out, not believing the “truth” was only a pretext. What the Di Clan truly feared was their mutual alliance and being oppressed thereafter, or even getting swallowed up by the East Qin forces. Thus, although they knew they lacked the strength to resist, they were going to fight to the very end.
Han Yunxi laughed. “So they’re worried that I won’t be able to get the best of you, and that all of West Qin will fall into your hands in the end?”
“I wouldn’t touch a single one of your soldiers or provisions after our alliance,” Long Feiye stated. He was always yielding when it came to Han Yunxi.
“I believe you, but they won’t,” Han Yunxi felt a little helpless. Perhaps she should take a trip back to Three-Way Black Market and do her best to write some things from Myriad Merchant Hall to avoid a conflict. The elders over there knew the situation much better than Deputy General Xue or the Cloud Realm Trade Consortium elders.
If the two sides could work together smoothly, then they could move against Jun Yixie right now. Otherwise, who knows how the situation might shift?
“Long Feiye, give me a little more time,” Han Yunxi muttered. She was still short of controlling the entire Di Clan!
Meanwhile, the crowd was still waiting for them. Most of the people present were important figures. They were also intelligent enough to see the unrest within West Qin’s ranks. Some were even looking forward to to a confrontation; regretfully, the Di Clan representatives had all left. With these conflicts in place, the East and West Qin alliance wasn’t progressing smoothly. The next few days would definitely give them a good show. Many people with ulterior motives were anticipating the fallout.
“Young General, I’m afraid the Di Clan’s showing signs of disloyalty,” one of Mu Qingwu’s retainers remarked.
Mu Qingwu looked at him in silence. He, like Long Tianmo, were still considering another problem: why did father want them to get involved in the Hundred Poisons Sect battle? Father had borrowed Emperor Kangcheng’s might to make a big scene here, but what were his motives? Things had just about wrapped up, yet he was still in the dark. As he saw it, it wasn’t impossible to dissolve the enmity between East and West Qin. Although they hadn’t managed to uncover the Wind Clan’s true actions, the fact that Long Feiye and Han Yunxi were willing to sit down and cooperate meant that things could be resolved with a smile in the end, right?
The hatred that had existed for generations, propelled by factions on both sides, was mainly fueled by self-interest and a clash for power in the end. Back then, the Great Qin Empire was split into East and West Qin because of underlying contradictions and conflicting view between the two sides. Otherwise, how could they have jumped on each other so quickly? How could one incident be enough to start an all out war?
In the end, all enmity traced itself to one saying: a single mountain cannot house two tigers!
Suppose Han Yunxi and Long Feiye didn’t harbor deep enough feelings to reconcile and clear up the misunderstandings today? Would East and West Qin be willing to cooperate? Wouldn’t they keep fighting like before for the sake of territory and power until their deaths?
What grudge? What national enmity? What hatred between clans? They were all excuses! These weren’t matters between Han Yunxi and Long Feiye, but their respective factions. In Mu Qingwu’s eyes, the battle at Hundred Poisons Sect was enough to affect the entire chessboard. It wasn’t the exposure of the “truth” or removing the source of hatred between East and West Qin that did it, but Long Feiye and Han Yunxi making up and truly joining hands again. Thus, he rejoiced in the fact that Long Feiye had full control of his East Qin faction. Otherwise, they’d raise objections as well and Heaven knows what would happen next.
Currently, Long Feiye was eyeing Baili Qiyu coldly as he asked, “Baili Qiyu, the Di Clan has plenty of questions. What about your Bai Clan?”
Baili Qiyu almost wanted to cry. He thought it would be enough if he didn’t speak or express an opinion. Then he could go back and let his father talk things out with His Highness. But who knew His Highness would call him out in front of the crowd?
How was he supposed to reply?
If he supported Long Feiye, what could he say to his father afterwards? He was here today as the Bai Clan representative! If he opposed him due to his beliefs, he didn’t have the guts to follow through. Not to His Highness’s face, and not in front of everyone else here!
As everyone’s eyes zeroed in on Baili Qiyu, he ran out of time to think and simply cupped his hands in respect. Loudly he proclaimed, “Everything will be as Your Highness arranges!”
That was how a subordinate should act!
With this comparison before her, Han Yunxi realized more than ever that she was only a princess in name.
“Return to the army and deliberate plans on how to head north and deal with Jun Yixie!” Long Feiye’s words concluded the battle at Hundred Poisons Sect. Not only did his statement incite more discussion and guesses from the crowd, but also stirred up the seemingly placid surface of Cloud Realm Continent. Various factions began their own preparations in response. Once Long Feiye confronted Jun Yixie in the north, the true battle for Cloud Realm Continent would begin!
Once Long Feiye and Han Yunxi were out of earshot, he took her hand and pressed it against his lips with a smile. “Long Feiye’s wife?” he repeated out loud.
Han Yunxi had been broad and level in front of an audience, but now she grew shy. She pulled her hand back and prepared to speak when a few shadow guards brought Gu Beiyue to their side.
“Princess, is Bai Yanqing truly...dead?” Gu Beiyue had heard everything from the sidelines, but he couldn’t believe that Bai Yanqing would die just like that.
“The sword stabbed through his heart. We verified that he stopped breathing before I kicked his body into the abyss behind the mountain,” Long Feiye replied.
Only then did Gu Beiyue believe them, but he still creased his brows, feeling somewhat uneasy. Still, now that things had come to head, he simply shut his eyes wordlessly. There was another reason he’d rushed here so quickly.
“Princess, do you have any news of Lil Thing?” Gu Beiyue asked urgently.
Han Yunxi had that in the back of her head. She now shook her head. “If Lil Thing was trapped by Bai Yanqing, would his poison storage space be broken after his death?”
She really didn’t understand much about the poison storage space, nor could she really control it. Instead, she felt like it controlled her at times as it prompted her to cultivate again and again. There wasn’t much say she had in that.
Gu Beiyue didn’t know much, but he gave her a careful analysis. “Princess, if the poison storage space was broken, Lil Thing should be already on its way to find you.”
The only place capable of trapping Lil Thing was the poison storage space. Although he hadn’t gotten an admission from Bai Yanqing himself, Gu Beiyue was 80 to 90 percent certain that the man had kept it prisoner. They were all on the same mountain. If Lil Thing had regained its freedom, it should have found Han Yunxi instantly. In other words, Bai Yanqing’s poison storage space was still intact.
“You mean to say that Bai Yanqing’s poison storage space isn’t broken?” Han Yunxi grew stunned. He was already dead, but his space was still intact. Could it be that his soul still lived on in there after his body had perished, thus maintaining the space?
At this thought, goosebumps broke out on Han Yunxi’s skin. Just what kind of entity was the poison storage space? Was it related to her own transmigration? Long Feiye’s face was stern as he glanced her way, his gaze inscrutable. Gu Beiyue was shaken as well. After some hesitation, he suggested, “Your Highness, princess, how about we discuss this after finding the body?”
Long Feiye had no objections, so the trio brought along some shadow guards and went back to the abyss behind the mountain. Soon enough, they reached the cliff’s edge. By now, Bai Yanqing’s blood had already dried, leaving a stain on the ground.
For the detox system, many unrecorded poisons could still set off its automatic alarms in Han Yunxi’s head due to their varying states of toxicity. If not for all the poison plants growing in profusion around Hundred Poisons Sect, Han Yunxi might have discovered the strangeness of Bai Yanqing’s blood, but she’d long turned off the detox system alarms after the man’s death, unable to bear the incessant tooting.
Long Feiye took Han Yunxi while a shadow guard carried Gu Beiyue, and the group descended into the misty depths of the canyon…