Chapter 47: Infiltration

Cangshu raised his eyes to look at Qin Jiaze, the Prince of Laiyang, who sat before him.

Around thirty years of age, the prince possessed handsome and upright facial features, accompanied by an extraordinary bearing. Deep within the stone corridors of the subterranean palace, draped in a fox-fur cloak and surrounded by guards, he radiated the lavish elegance that only boundless wealth and supreme power could forge.

Cangshu had always known that if one were to peel back the surface of so-called wealth and power, one would find nothing beneath but bare, whitening bones.

Illuminated by the dim, flickering firelight, the young Prince of Laiyang gazed at him with profound eyes and asked, "How is it that the Grand Diviner has appeared within my underground palace?"

Cangshu replied with serene detachment, "A fortuitous encounter by chance."

After a brief moment of silence, Qin Jiaze clapped his hands and burst into hearty laughter. "Hahaha! If anyone else were to utter such words, I would not believe them. But coming from the Grand Diviner himself, I have no choice but to believe."

"It has been a long time since we last met, and this place strikes bitterly cold. The Grand Diviner has always detested the chill; I must beg of you to accompany me to my warm pavilion for a proper conversation."

Qin Jiaze's voice echoed softly through the stone corridor. Hidden away in the shadows behind a stone pillar, A-yan listened as the sound of footsteps gradually faded into the distance, and finally let out a pale and trembling sigh of relief.

The entourage of the Prince of Laiyang had originally intended to proceed straight along this path, but because they unexpectedly crossed paths with Cangshu, they had temporarily altered their route, thus missing him and A-xi. Cangshu seemed to have anticipated all of this long ago.

Clasping A-xi tightly in his arms, A-yan murmured under his breath, "The Grand Diviner... milord?"

The Prince of Laiyang, the Grand Diviner, the Nightmare Masters, the Spirit Bandits, and Yunchuan... Who on earth were all these people, and what exactly were they doing?

Whom could he possibly trust anymore?

The Estate of the Prince of Laiyang commanded the greater part of Qizhou's tax revenue; within its warm pavilion, the floors were paved with golden bricks and white jade, presenting an air of extreme luxury. Seemingly well aware of Cangshu's aversion to the cold, Qin Jiaze had ordered the charcoal braziers to burn brightly, rendering the entire room as warm as spring.

This powerful noble of Qizhou, who wore a benevolent mask while secretly possessing a massive underground palace, a treasury of spirit artifacts, and Cang crystals—and who even attempted to refine Cang crystals using human vessels—was currently observing Cangshu with a faint, enigmatic smile.

After a servant poured a cup of clear tea for Cangshu, he withdrew.

Qin Jiaze sighed with emotion. "I truly never expected that one day I would be able to sit opposite the Grand Diviner and converse. Back then in the imperial palace, even the Crown Prince could hardly manage a word with you, let alone a minor reader-in-waiting like myself."

Cangshu smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "The Grand Diviner is dead; this humble person has fallen upon hard times and is now merely a fortune-teller wandering the pugilist world. Your Highness, please simply address me as Cangshu."

"Cangshu? You have changed your name once again, sir."

Qin Jiaze picked up a nearby incense burner, gently pouring in incense ash until it was seven or eight tenths full. Amidst the rising fragrance, he spoke with casual nonchalance: "You say the Grand Diviner is dead, but I wonder if that extraordinary ability of his—the art of casting divinations to pry into the heavenly Dao and alter the destiny of the realm—still survives?"

Those words harbored a hidden blade.

Yet Cangshu merely sighed softly, as though he had perceived nothing amiss. He raised a hand to indicate the white cloth wrapping his entire body: "This humble person truly has nothing left to offer in sacrifice; to touch the heavenly secrets once more would mean certain death. If I had not already lost my value, how could the late emperor ever have permitted me to leave?"

"Indeed. Back then, the late emperor went so far as to guard against even the Crown Prince, forbidding him from seeking the heavenly secrets from you."

Lifting his eyes toward Cangshu, Qin Jiaze uttered a heavily laden sentence: "As it chanced, however, the knowledge fell to me. The way of kings shall wane, a new deity shall arise, and he who attains divine power shall govern all under heaven."

What the Prince of Laiyang spoke of was precisely the prophecy of the century-long heavenly mandate and national fortune that the late emperor had commanded Cangshu to divine back in the imperial palace.

*The way of kings shall wane, a new deity shall arise, and he who attains divine power shall govern all under heaven.* Not long after this prophecy emerged, spirit artifacts made their appearance in the world.

Cangshu exchanged a silent gaze with Qin Jiaze for a moment, his fingers flickering within his sleeves in a swift calculation. With a faint smile, he said, "To eavesdrop on the late emperor's divination, to covet the fortune of another, and to attain a position that is not rightfully yours—these are portents of great inauspiciousness."

***

"Inauspicious?" Qin Jiaze scoffed. "I did not live this life merely to serve as a prop for good fortune."

Since childhood, the heir of the Laiyang Prince's Estate had cared little for the Four Books, the Five Classics, or the laws of ritual and propriety; his sole devotion lay in the magical arts of the immortal sects. Unfortunately, born into the imperial nobility, he was barred by the strict rules of the immortal sects—which never meddled in secular politics—from ever being accepted as a disciple. In his youth, he had even journeyed to Mount Kunwu to seek instruction from the Ancestor of All Phenomena, only to be refused, thereby cutting short his path to cultivation.

Yet though the path was severed, his ambition remained stubbornly alive.

Qin Jiaze asked, "Have you seen my collection?"

"To gather so many spirit artifacts is no easy feat."

"Money can make ghosts push grindstones; what this world lacks least are petty ghosts."

Taking up the ash press, Qin Jiaze carefully flattened the incense ash within the burner, placed a cloud-patterned incense mold over it, and filled it with fragrant powder. He worked with unhurried composure, his voice equally steady.

"The times are changing, sir. You were the first to catch a glimpse of it, and you see it most clearly. Since ancient times, the imperial court and the immortal sects have each walked their own path; the immortal sects touch no worldly power, and the royal family interferes with no Dao of immortality. Yet now that spirit artifacts exist in the world, once arcane arts are decoupled from cultivation, they cease to be something the immortal sects can control. Inevitably, they must descend into the mortal dust and become contested by mortals such as us. With arcane arts entering the secular world, the political landscape is about to undergo a massive upheaval."

"In the past, bridges were bridges and roads were roads; henceforth, those bridges and roads shall likely merge into one."

The corners of his lips curled upward as he continued slowly, "Since the way of kings is destined to wane, the new deity might be Ye Minwei, or it might be Wei Yuan—why could it not be myself?"

Cangshu maintained his composure and asked, "Does the Prince of Laiyang wish to govern all under heaven?"

"That would require the Ancestor of All Phenomena. *He who attains divine power shall govern all under heaven*—does not the greatest divine power in this world reside precisely within the Ancestor of All Phenomena?" Qin Jiaze lifted his eyelids, his tone thick with implication.

The ignited incense seal began to curl upward in wisps of white smoke, drifting across the space between him and Cangshu.

As Cangshu’s fingers danced in subtle rotations, a deep smile lingered on his lips, leaving his true stance ambiguous.

***

The following day arrived, marking the occasion of the grand banquet held at the Estate ofដែលមាន the Prince of Laiyang. The gates of the residence were bustling with a ceaseless flow of visitors. The banquets hosted by the Laiyang Prince's Estate had always been the most lavish; dignitaries from Yujun City all came to attend, actors and musicians from the Fengyi Hall filed in one after another, and even the Canglang Sect, which rarely attended such gatherings, had sent two disciples to visit.

Guests took their seats in the main hall, exchanging pleasantries in a lively and bustling atmosphere.

Blue Xingzhu and Mo Xiaoyuan sat among the crowd. Neither of them recognized any of the neighboring guests, yet they were obliged to maintain the dignified facade of immortal sect disciples. The two naturally lively disciples found this constraint agonizingly difficult to bear, and Mo Xiaoyuan whispered to Blue Xingzhu, "When on earth can we slip away?"

"Let's wait until after the toast. I'll use the Mirror Water technique to scout the path first," Blue Xingzhu murmured, pulling a slender bamboo tube from his sleeve.

This was the Mirror Water art of the Canglang Sect: taking exceptionally pure water fetched from the spring at the summit of the mountain and mixing it with a single drop of one's own blood, one could command this water. The water would then function as an extension of one's own body, serving as eyes, ears, throat, nose, or limbs, and was frequently utilized for reconnaissance.

Blue Xingzhu poured the water near his feet, and the liquid swiftly seeped into the gaps of the wooden floorboards, plunging straight into the earth below and spreading outward. Like a living creature, it would occasionally well up onto the surface to form a tiny pool, reflecting everything within it directly into Blue Xingzhu's eyes.

Suddenly, Blue Xingzhu's face turned pale. Mo Xiaoyuan nudged him and asked, "What is it?"

Before he could reply, Mo Xiaoyuan felt a tall figure loom before her. Lifting her gaze, she immediately understood what Blue Xingzhu had seen.

Their Senior Apprentice Brother, Hui Nanyi, clad in blue Daoist robes with a jade pendant chiming at his waist, was standing right before their table with his hand resting upon the hilt of his sword. He stared at the two of them in silence, resembling a stray cloud drifting ominously over their seats.

He looked far less like a guest attending a banquet and much more like an executioner coming to make an arrest.

A nearby estate servant acting as a guide chimed in, "Oh my, three disciples from the Canglang Sect have actually graced us! Why didn't the two of you give advance notice? These seating arrangements are suddenly a bit cramped; I shall go and report this to the Prince..."

Turning to the servant, Hui Nanyi spoke with amiable politeness, "There is no need to trouble yourself. I shall simply squeeze in with them."

Turning back around, Hui Nanyi's smile vanished completely. With a sweep of his robes, he sat down directly beside Blue Xingzhu.

Recovering from his shock, Blue Xingzhu hastily explained, "Senior Apprentice Brother, Junior Sister wanted to hear the Fengyi Hall's pipa-playing technique of *Slaying Strings*, which is why we came to attend the banquet at the estate. We're just having a meal and haven't done anything wrong... You surely aren't going to drag us back, are you?"

Ignoring him entirely, Hui Nanyi said coldly, "Did you report to Master before leaving the mountain to attend this banquet?"

Guiltily, Blue Xingzhu muttered, "Not yet."

"Leaving the mountain without permission to attend a banquet, and privately investigating the residence of an imperial official—according to the sect rules, this warrants the stripping of one's spiritual power followed by thirty blows with a heavy staff, and kneeling before the Solitary Heart Peak for fifteen days. If you should stir up any other trouble here, the consequences are utterly beyond your ability to bear. Do you realize this?"

Once a cultivator's spiritual power was stripped, they became no different from ordinary mortals; the first half of that punishment alone was enough to strip a layer of skin from a man. Crestfallen, Blue Xingzhu mumbled, "I didn't even say we were going to investigate the estate... I... I know... but..."

"Knowing is enough. If Master asks about this later, tell him that I was the one who insisted on bringing you along."

Blue Xingzhu widened his eyes and exchanged a startled glance with Mo Xiaoyuan. To his utter disbelief, their Senior Apprentice Brother pulled a bamboo tube from his chest, lowered it toward the ground, and emptied its contents. Those droplets of water rapidly seeped back into the cracks of the floorboards.

Hui Nanyi, who had just recited the sect's penal code from memory, was now personally executing the Mirror Water technique to investigate an official's estate.

Watching Hui Nanyi's actions, Blue Xingzhu was suddenly enlightened. "Senior Apprentice Brother... You didn't come to drag us back—you came to help us?"

"The letter indicated that the location of the underground palace is extremely deep, well beyond the reach of your cultivation levels to probe. If I had not come, how did you plan to investigate? You likely would have found nothing while bringing trouble upon yourselves."

Pausing for a moment, Hui Nanyi turned his head to look at his two junior apprentices: "Every single day, all you know how to do is court disaster! Since you cannot bear the consequences, someone has to shoulder them, don't they?"

After a brief silence, Blue Xingzhu grabbed Hui Nanyi's arm in a wave of profound emotion and cried, "Senior Apprentice Brother!"

Hindsight being 20/20, Mo Xiaoyuan chimed in, "I told you there was no need to hide this from Senior Apprentice Brother. Ever since we were children, every time we caused trouble, Senior Apprentice Brother was always the one to clean up our messes and take the blame. There was no way Senior Apprentice Brother would wash his hands of us this time."

Blue Xingzhu glanced back at her and retorted, "I certainly didn't see anyone else speaking up just now; you were too scared to utter a sound."

Hui Nanyi pulled his sleeve out of Blue Xingzhu's grip and rubbed his temples.

Reconnaissance via the Mirror Water technique required time, so after the banquet commenced and the Prince of Laiyang finished his toast, the three disciples from the Canglang Sect temporarily remained in their seats. Soon, drums and wind instruments struck up, and the actors of Fengyi Hall entered the hall to perform a dance-drama that was truly breathtaking to behold.

Mo Xiaoyuan, well-versed in the musical arts, kept her eyes fixed on the musicians. Blue Xingzhu leaned over and asked, "Junior Sister, are you really trying to learn Lady Qiyu's pipa techniques?"

Mo Xiaoyuan shook her head. "I'm watching the one shaking the hand drum."

"What about her?"

Mo Xiaoyuan answered honestly, "She feels a bit superfluous."

"..."

The musical ensemble of the Fengyi Hall was the finest in all of Qizhou; how could they possibly arrange a redundant musician? As Mo Xiaoyuan wondered about this, the guest of honor for the Prince of Laiyang's banquet specifically designated that very hand-drum player to pour wine for him. The guest of honor had his left eye wrapped in white cloth, and white cloth was likewise bound around the arm extending from his sleeve, making him look rather like a severely injured patient—a thoroughly peculiar sight.

The musician seemed to walk over with some hesitation, her pace even faltering slightly when she caught sight of the guest of honor, before she finally seated herself beside him.