Chapter Thirty-Three: I Trust Lord Zhang...

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“You intend to strike at the Duke?”

Qin Fang was deeply puzzled. He could not understand the other man’s motive. Seeking refuge with the Third Prince meant having another option; it did not mean abandoning the Crown Prince entirely. If Duke Yuchi Peng somehow emerged victorious, would that not resolve all of His Highness the Crown Prince’s troubles?

The plague had been caused entirely by that evil entity. Once it was dead, there was a very good chance the plague would disappear as well. The Crown Prince would live, the Yuchi family would live, and every crisis would be lifted.

The Long family had long been recognized in the capital as an unwavering faction of the Crown Prince. It was a military clan personally designated by His Majesty to serve as the Crown Prince’s foundation in the inner city. If Yuchi Peng lost, Long Cheng could certainly consider a fallback plan. But if Yuchi Peng won, why would he still need to move against him?

Would the Crown Prince’s position not become even more secure with a grandmaster at his side? Even if the stain of sacrificing the entire city remained, now that the evil entity had been destroyed, could they not simply shift the blame onto it? They could claim that, in order to eliminate that terrifying creature, the sorcerers of the Crown Prince’s residence had resorted to forbidden arts, and that in the end Duke Yuchi had risked his life to achieve a narrow victory over the evil entity that threatened the fate of the realm.

There would certainly be people who doubted such a story, but given His Majesty’s favoritism toward the Crown Prince, he would surely shield him to the very end. With Yuchi Peng, now a grandmaster, offering his full support, His Highness’s position might even become more secure than before. In such circumstances, anyone who failed to return immediately to the Crown Prince’s side and instead attacked Yuchi Peng would have to be out of his mind.

“It seems… you really do not know,” Long Cheng said, looking at Qin Fang with evident surprise.

Qin Fang froze. What did he mean?

“I assumed that by seeking refuge with that person in the palace, you would have learned at least some of this crucial information. Apparently, you have not.”

Qin Fang’s heart gave a sudden jolt. “What are you referring to?”

“There can only be six grandmasters in this world.” Long Cheng spoke only that one sentence, then fell silent.

Qin Fang was shaken to the core.

Those words… He seemed to have heard them from his master.

The martial world was filled with countless sects, yet there had always been only five grandmasters beneath the heavens. Through the rise and fall of dynasties, that number had never seemed to change. His master had once told him that if he remained in the sect, he would never become a grandmaster. The sect had no place for one. So long as that place did not exist, no matter how formidable one was or how exceptional one’s talent, becoming a grandmaster would be impossible.

At the time, Qin Fang had wanted to ask why, but his master had merely touched upon the subject and refused to say more. Qin Fang had always assumed that his master wanted to reserve the chance of becoming a grandmaster for his only son, Chen Xiao.

Yet he had never imagined that the same words would one day come from the mouth of the sole heir of the Long family.

There could only be six grandmasters beneath heaven?

Why?

What kind of rule was this?

What would happen if the number exceeded six?

“If you help me this once, I will tell you,” Long Cheng said, looking at him with utmost seriousness. “And if you have the opportunity in the future, I will help you in return. How does that sound?”

Qin Fang’s breathing grew hurried. He had a feeling that this information was of immense importance.

“You only want me to hold that girl back?”

“Yes.” Long Cheng nodded. “Only hold that girl back. You will not need to take action against Yuchi Peng.”

“Very well…” Qin Fang drew a deep breath. “I hope General Long will honor his promise when the time comes.”

That girl was a pure swordswoman. Holding back someone like her would be extremely troublesome. Those who devoted themselves entirely to the sword were usually extreme, and extreme people could always produce astonishing bursts of power. Qin Fang had seen many sword masters defeat warriors of the same level with a single exchange—and he had also encountered those who were beaten to pieces in that very first exchange.

Unless absolutely necessary, he hated fighting people like that. But he could not refuse what Long Cheng had offered. He had a feeling that without this information, he might never reach the realm of the grandmaster in his lifetime.

The two men reached an agreement in a matter of moments, while the battle below continued for an almost absurd length of time. From dawn to noon, and from noon to midnight, the spectators had exhausted most of their strength merely trying to see the contest clearly. Yet the two men in the courtyard showed no sign of stopping.

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It was difficult to imagine that a warrior suffering from a grave illness could withstand a legendary grandmaster for an entire day and night.

The most bored of them all was Zhang Rui. He did not even have the qualifications to climb onto the wall. In truth, it would have been useless even if he had, since with his current eyesight he could not make out the movements of either fighter. But going a whole day and night without anyone preparing food was truly killing him. Even so, sensing the solemn atmosphere, he found it embarrassing to ask when they would be eating.

His stomach was painfully empty, and the cold was unbearable, but he did not dare wander off. Without Murong Yunji’s protection, Zhang Rui did not consider the outside world safe at all.

At last, several people from the Crown Prince’s residence came hurrying over from outside with a matter of great urgency.

“General, His Highness the Third Prince has brought troops to the city gate. He says that the time agreed upon with you has arrived!”

But in the next instant, the messenger discovered that no one in the Northern Courtyard showed the slightest interest in this news.

Earlier, Yuchi Hong had done everything in his power to prevent Li Yu from entering the city. Yet now, after hearing the report, he merely stood atop the wall without even turning his head to look back.

“My lord?” The aide turned toward Lu Sheng and the others, who had just arrived behind him.

“Go and delay him,” Lu Sheng said without turning around.

The messenger stood there in bewilderment. What was going on?

“Delay him as long as you can. If you cannot hold him back, let him enter. Use the plague as an excuse, and if he wants to see His Highness the Crown Prince, have him keep his distance,” Lu Sheng added.

“But…”

The aide did not know what to say. Somehow, this entire group seemed far too casual about the matter.

In reality, however, it was exactly as it appeared. Yuchi Hong, Lu Sheng, and the others all knew that the outcome of the battle before them was more important than anything else. If Yuchi Peng won, then as members of the Crown Prince’s faction, they would have survived this crisis, and the Yuchi family would rise to an entirely new level.

But if he lost, the Third Prince would have to come in and help clean up the mess. The monster capable of spreading the plague possessed the power of a grandmaster, and no one could stop it. If it escaped, the resulting turmoil throughout the realm would likely be even greater than that caused by the Crown Prince’s downfall.

“He’s drawn his sword…”

Murong Yunji suddenly spoke. Everyone immediately tensed. Their nerves had been taut for a long time, but now the battle had clearly reached its climax. After evading for an entire day and night, Yuchi Peng had finally taken the initiative.

And this attack meant—

“He is only a step away!” Long Cheng’s pupils contracted as he desperately suppressed the urge to intervene.

Within the Northern Courtyard, countless afterimages dissolved. The black figure that had kept even the most powerful observers from fixing their eyes upon him finally came to a stop. He silently glanced down at his chest.

The sword wound was not deep; it had merely cut through the skin. But still… his opponent had managed to wound him.

At this point, was he still inferior to him?

Third Master Luo’s entire body trembled. The blackness in his pupils continued to expand, while an icy, sinister aura gathered relentlessly, causing the already frigid temperature to plunge even further.

“Heaven above… how favored you have been…”

Third Master Luo spoke each word slowly, every syllable carrying boundless hatred.

Yuchi Peng looked at him with an indescribably complicated expression. He had never imagined that the comrade who had once fought beside him could hate him to such an extent.

“I paid such a price—the lives of hundreds of thousands of people—and I am still inferior to… the natural talent of a child from an aristocratic family?” By the end, Third Master Luo’s voice had become heartrendingly shrill. “Is heaven truly this unjust?”

“Heaven is unjust?” Yuchi Peng sneered between ragged breaths. “You lament injustice, but where are the tens of thousands of innocent dead supposed to go to plead for justice?”

“You speak as though your Yuchi family did not approve the decision to use the forbidden art.” Third Master Luo laughed even more coldly. “How are you any different from me? You did not take the initiative to do such a thing only because you were born with so many advantages. When you were about to lose everything, faced with the lives of those tens of thousands you speak of, did you hesitate even for a moment?”

Yuchi Peng fell silent.

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“We are all wolves, so why pretend to be sheep? You… and those people outside—how many of you are truly different?”

Beneath the wall, Zhang Rui listened to these words with a strange look in his eyes. There were moments when people really were no different from evil entities. If one day he possessed the power to determine the fate of millions, would he too become like the pack of jackals surrounding him?

“Senior…”

The person standing beside Murong Yunji was Chen Xiao, who had arrived last. Seeing that the two combatants had finally stopped, Chen Xiao quietly asked the question that concerned him most.

“Do you think Duke Yuchi can win?”

“The chances are very small,” Murong Yunji replied calmly.

“Why?” Chen Xiao asked, puzzled. “Hasn’t the Duke already managed to wound it?”

“If he were at the height of his strength, he might have had a seventy percent chance of victory.” Murong Yunji watched the Duke, whose momentum was surging like a rainbow, yet her words remained cold and deeply pessimistic. “But his strength has reached its limit. He has only one sword left in him. The strike just now was his final probe. If the next sword does not win, he will be exhausted and await death.”

“Oh?” Chen Xiao pursed his lips. “I see…”

“What are you still standing there for?” Lu Sheng glared at the aide, who was still rooted to the spot. “Go. Quickly.”

“Yes, yes!” The man hurriedly bowed and prepared to leave.

“Wait, wait—the gentleman over there, hold on…”

The aide turned around and looked at the only person who had been unable to climb onto the city wall.

“Lord Zhang? Do you have some instruction?”

This mysterious county magistrate was the person His Highness the Third Prince had specifically warned him to watch most carefully.

“Well… ahem… when you go outside, could you ask the servants to bring me a meal? Thank you.”

The aide stared at him in silence.

“He’s moved!”

The people atop the wall had no attention to spare for the county magistrate who had ruined the atmosphere. The final climax was about to begin!

This time, Yuchi Peng launched the attack. No one had expected the master of the Yuchi family—famed throughout the realm for his Coiling Dragon Spear—to possess swordsmanship of such caliber as well. A flash of cold light appeared, and even Long Cheng failed to see how the attack had been launched. Then a blade of radiance that split the darkness swept across the entire world in the eyes of all who watched.

At that moment, even Lu Sheng, who knew nothing of martial arts, could sense that Yuchi Peng had crossed that threshold.

At last, the world had gained another grandmaster.

Everyone was captivated by that single sword. Only Zhang Rui, beneath the wall, let out a quiet sigh as he recalled his final conversation with the Duke.

“Lord Zhang… if I fail, would you…”

“I will take care of it.”

“But if I fail…”

“Rest assured. Whether you succeed or fail, I will take care of it. Does that put your mind at ease, Duke?”

“Very well… I trust you, Lord Zhang.”