Chapter 576: Who has the better move? (2/2)
Gu Beiyue’s eyes flashed coldly at his words, but he was looking down so Chu Yunyi didn’t notice. He had been hesitant before, but now he was filled with determination. “Alright. This junior will definitely see through this to the end!”
Chu Yunyi was thrilled and invited Gu Beiyue to stay overnight at the Chu Clan right there. But Gu Beiyue refused and said he’d explore the Thousand Buddha Cave in a few days instead. Once he left, General Chu emerged from an inner room and asked, “Aren’t you afraid that he’ll tell them what you’re planning?”
“What’s there to be afraid of? Long Feiye knows how to meet plots with plots. Since he’s scheming against the Chu Clan, we should plot against him as well. This time, he forced the hand of our Nether Clan. He shouldn’t blame us if we turn ruthless and pay him back!”
For Chu Yunyi to be so decisive meant that he definitely had a backup plan in place. While setting a trap for Long Feiye, he was testing out Gu Beiyue at the same time. If Gu Beiyue didn’t ally himself with Long Feiye, he’d let Gu Beiyue off. But if he did, then the Shadow Clan could die out right in Thousand Buddha Cave!
General Chu didn’t understand. “Even if the Duke of Qin meets a plot with a plot, what can we do? Do you want to expose the Nether Clan?”
Chu Yunyi only smiled coldly and whispered something that caused General Chu’s expressions to blanch. In the end he said, “The risk is too great.”
“Yes! But the Nether Clan has no other options left!” Chu Yunyi said icily.
Long Feiye’s plans accounted for the Chu Clan, Gu Beiyue, and Emperor Kang Cheng while the Chu Clan was plotting against him and Gu Beiyue. Meanwhile, Emperor Kang Cheng himself was currently planning against the Chu Clan. While everyone was sleeping in White City tonight, a fierce and wild storm had long started brewing in the background. Who would suffer the greatest triumphs or the most tragic losses?
Only three months later would tell.
—
After the banquet, Emperor Kang Cheng personally sent off Long Feiye and Han Yunxi. His attitude from that morning had already outlined his stance. To put it in fancier terms, Western Zhou preferred peace and would never proactively offend any person. They had cleared refused an alliance with Long Feiye, but had the second imperial prince entertain the guests of honor while inviting Long Feiye and company to tour the sights around White City.
Everything had gone according to Long Feiye’s expectations. Naturally, he refused the offer and said that he’d be leaving the city tomorrow morning. But of course, they weren’t going anywhere while they were here for the Wood of Ten-Thousand Poisons.
Early next morning, General Chu came under orders to escort Long Feiye and Han Yunxi out of the capital city. Once beyond its gates, their carriage traversed the public roads for a while before shaking off their trackers around noon to head west towards Thousand Buddha Cave. The caves were part of an extensive mountain chain call the Thousand Buddha Range. West of the mountains was the Scraping Sands,1 Western Zhou’s largest desert, while east of the range lay its biggest oasis. White City was built upon that very patch of green. Meanwhile, Thousand Buddha Cave was at the foot of Thousand Buddha Range, a massive cave system whose thousands of Buddha statues gave the place its name.
Western Zhou’s imperial clan had built an imperial temperial within the vicinity of the caves that shared its name. Within its grounds grew a single thousand-year ginkgo tree. Although it wasn’t the only ginkgo tree in Western Zhou, the high monks considered this one an auspicious plant. Thus, the imperial family considered it a patron tree of the nation and guarded it stringently. Aside from monks and members of the imperial clan, the temple was closed to all visitors outside of important ceremonies.
Long Feiye’s group took two days to reach a small village located closest to the caves. The town itself was called Eastcome Garrison.2 They’d hardly stepped foot in the inn before someone else arrived—the long missing Gu Qishao!
“Where did you go? Was it fun to leave without so much as a by your leave?” Han Yunxi asked with a scoff. Long Feiye only took Gu Qishao’s words on the roof that night as ramblings from a dream and silently drank his tea without a glance at the man.
Gu Qishao’s smile was brighter than the noonday sun. Ignoring Long Feiye’s existence, he began to tease, “What, did you miss your Qi gege?”
Han Yunxi’s lips pursed, but Long Feiye was already throwing his teacup before she could speak. “Get lost!”
Having been on guard already, Gu Qishao quickly dodged out of the way. He next took out a bunch of poisons from his sleeve and stuffed them into Han Yunxi’s arms. “Here, feed them all to Lil Thing at once.”
Han Yunxi quickly analyzed the poisons and found them all to be hypertoxic. Most of them she couldn’t even make on her own because the required ingredients were too rare. But this fellow had brought her a whole bunch of them!
“Where did you go to find these things?” she asked doubtfully.
Gu Qishao simply dug out a few pills and added, “These are for you to eat, they’re one-time pills as well.”
Han Yunxi couldn’t figure out what they were even after scanning them with the detox system. “What are these?” she asked.
Now Long Feiye was looking over as well.
“They’re beneficial for your brain! Aren’t you always fainting all the time?” Gu Qishao asked earnestly.
Han Yunxi didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. But seeing Gu Qishao so travelworn, she couldn’t help but feel her heart turn warm. At this moment, Long Feiye suddenly grabbed the pills out of her hands…
1. Scraping Sands (嚓薾沙漠) – Ca’Er shamo Ca means a scraping sound, Er is “like that, so,” shamo is “desert.”
2. Eastcome Garrison (东来镇) – Donglai Zhen, in which “Donglai” means “east comes” and Zhen means “garrison post, town.”