761 The Cat and I Are Not Going Ou (1/2)
It might be easy to talk about extending a helping hand, but actually doing so was much harder. Especially when these words were coming out of Bai Heng's mouth; they sounded like a joke.
Perhaps Bai Heng really did have a conscience or he might really have meant one or two of the things that he said, but Ye Qingxuan would never be so naïve as to think that he would be on the receiving end of such privilege. Therefore, the problem was figuring out just what exactly Bai Heng was thinking.
Ye Qingxuan looked at him from head to toe, as if he was meeting him for the first time. He asked curiously, ”Be honest, Bai Heng. Did something happen to your brain?”
Bai Heng did not seem upset. He continued to smile warmly. ”What are you talking about, young man? My body is as healthy as can be.”
”Then, why are doing this?”
”Because I love her!” Bai Heng replied respectfully, ”Bai Xi is now my daughter and is the only descendant of the Bai family. Naturally, I love her. Ye Qingxuan, if it's possible, I hope she will become the next Empress.”
Ye Qingxuan sighed. He was really tired.
”Stop lying, Bai Heng.” He shook his head impatiently. ”People like you and Gaius can't love others. You don't even love yourselves.”
”How cruel of you to say that, Ye Qingxuan. I am already so old. I can't believe you are not going to save even a little bit of face for me.”
Ye Qingxuan was indifferent. ”Were you expecting me to give you face?”
From a distance away, the screaming finally stopped. In its place was a more subtle howl of despair. As the drums continued to beat, the war had been halted for the time being. Bai Heng stood up and patted Ye Qingxuan's shoulder nonchalantly as if the former was the latter's elder. ”It's a pity that we did not manage to reach a common consensus.”
He continued, ”The war has already ended. If you don't mind, I'm afraid I will have to take my leave now. Oh yes, although you are not willing to cooperate, I didn't mean to restrain you either. It is entirely up to you whether you wish to stay or leave. But it's getting late. You may as well stay here and rest. I can ask someone to take you to your room. Later, when you have the time, you can come and join our celebration banquet. How about that?” With that, he tidied his clothes and left without waiting for Ye Qingxuan's reply. Ye Qingxuan kept quiet and continued to sit amongst the dust. He was still trying to figure out just what Bai Heng had up his sleeves.
Very soon, a massive figure appeared in front of him. He was so enormous that his shadow covered Ye Qingxuan completely. It was a man who was so huge and towering that it was almost not humanly possible. He was wearing a black robe and was exuding a bloody aura. He lowered his head to look at Ye Qingxuan with a blank expression on his face. ”Mr. Ye, My Lord has asked me to bring you to your resting place. Please follow me.”
”Very well.” Ye Qingxuan got up and walked beside him. When he carefully inspected this man from head to toe, he noticed that despite his expressionless face, there was a hint of enmity that was hidden very well. Others might dismiss this feeling as a hallucination as it was barely present, but as the lord of the Ye family, Ye Qingxuan had picked up a very unique Heart technique from Ye Lanzhou. This technique did not require the use of aether to decipher the emotions of others. Instead, it relied on body language and microexpressions to carry out ”profiling.”
Although such half-baked techniques were rarely used, they were unusually useful in strange circumstances. It was just like how he managed to read Ludovic's expression in the Sacred City in the past. Right now, he could sense a baffling enmity using his half-baked profiling technique. This could only mean one thing: that the murderous intent of this person was so clear that it could not simply be set aside. To be more accurate, this person was probably feeling conflicted because even if he might dislike Ye Qingxuan, there was no way the former could finish off the latter.
”How may I address you?” Ye Qingxuan asked calmly.
The towering man's expression remained unchanged and he replied simply, ”Jiu Ying.”
”Oh.” Ye Qingxuan nodded his head, then realized that he did not recognize this person.
Who is he? I've never heard of him before. Forget it, there are too many people in this world that I will never know. Surely, not everyone is going to like me?
Ye Qingxuan began to smile to himself and even started to whistle. There was cheering from a distance away as if victory had returned.
…
Compared to the party that the feudal allied army was having, the palace at night was completely shrouded in an air of devastating fog. Especially outside of the door of the palace, the blood-red stains could not be washed off no matter how hard they tried, and the sight would send chills down anyone's spine.
After the previous months, the war had spread almost all the way across Aurora. The Empress and feudal lords each had their small victories, but overall, the army that was loyal to the Empress still held the upper hand. The feudal allied army had greater numbers, but their soldiers were a mixture of high and low statuses.
Unfortunately, whatever advantage the Empress's army had was lost when Zijing Pass was taken. Not only had they lost the advantage that they had been striving so hard for, but they also lost the most crucial of the three internal passes. Next, if the feudal allied army could take down Tianmen Pass, they would be able to march all the way in and station their troops beneath the city.
About 45 minutes ago, when the news of the defeat came through, the entire capital instantly fell into sorrow and despair. Wei Wang, who was responsible for putting down the rebellion, was immediately dragged out of the palace to be beheaded as a warning to others. Suddenly, there were all sorts of rumors flying everywhere.
Some people said that Wei Wang had accepted Bai Heng's bribe of a great fortune and pretty ladies to secretly work with the feudal allied army, resulting in the defeat of Zijing Pass. Others also said that the allied army had made use of poison and underhanded means to get rid of the commanders that guarded the Pass, hence allowing them to take over the Pass. Some people even said that, in front of the two armies, Bai Heng had prayed to the sky and enumerated the ten greatest crimes committed by the Empress after the latter had been hoodwinked by backstabbers. The sky was enraged and sent down an angel to help break through the defenses of Zijing Pass. There were simply all sorts of nonsense everywhere!
However, what made the situation stranger was that whenever such incidents happened, there should be a lot of insecurity and talking and whispering happening behind the scenes of the palace, but right now, there was nothing. There was not even a single ripple, much less any waves. It was like a massive machine that did not stop functioning just because of some temporal losses and obstacles. Instead, it was ramping up its motor to operate at an even higher level and a storm seemed to be brewing in silence.
Very soon, there was news of the arrival of reinforcements and the donation of 20,000 stones of grain and other crops by wealthy merchants. On top of that, a number of musicians, that had been loyal to Her Majesty, all achieved a breakthrough to the scepter level one after another. In addition, 10,000 sets of armor mysteriously appeared in the armory out of nowhere. In total, not only did the Empress's army not weaken, but it even became much stronger.
In an instant, there was a chill in the hearts of the observers. Fear. Fear, not of Bai Heng, but of Her Majesty. What was this all about? A good omen sent from heaven? Typically, wouldn't heaven only send minimal and simple aid? Since when did it start sending reinforcements and grain, or musicians and equipment? Or had Her Majesty been preparing for this day all along?