Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

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An Miaotong easily found what she wanted on Chen Yuchong. (The map and key are both here. Yun Zheng has mentioned this gun many times.)

She was about to search him further when countless dense bulges suddenly appeared on Chen Yuchong’s headless corpse.

Before long, innumerable black gu insects tore through his skin and crawled out from the holes. In the blink of an eye, the corpse was covered with them.

Clearly, once Chen Yuchong had died, the gu insects within him had quickly fallen out of control. His profound inner energy had undoubtedly provided them with abundant nourishment for their breeding.

(Once these gu insects finish devouring Chen Yuchong’s corpse, they will probably scatter in all directions and infest others. Who knows what kind of catastrophe they might unleash then?)

An Miaotong was wondering whether there might be some strange technique capable of igniting Chen Yuchong’s remains in an instant and burning the insects infesting them all at once when Yun San and Yun Si came rushing over, each carrying a heavy burlap sack on his back.

Without the slightest hesitation, the two men untied the sacks and poured out golden powder. It fell like fine rain, evenly and densely covering Chen Yuchong’s corpse.

At once, the air filled with a faint sizzling sound. The moment the gu insects touched the golden powder, wisps of blue smoke rose from them as though they were being scorched by flames. Before long, every one of them had melted into murky liquid and vanished without a trace.

“Where did you get the realgar?” An Miaotong asked.

“It was buried near the altar,” Yun Si replied. “My family has been artisans for generations, so we know quite a bit about the old methods craftsmen used to ward off snakes and insects when working underground. I remember that they often used realgar to ensure their safety during construction, and after the work was finished, the realgar was usually buried in the surrounding soil.

“Because of that, Yun San and I both had our reservations. We worried that some unknown filth might be lurking near this remote and hidden altar. So we each carried a sack of realgar, just in case.”

An Miaotong had to admit that Yun Zheng’s oft-repeated saying—that one person’s plans were limited, while many people’s wisdom was boundless—did indeed make perfect sense.

The details one person could attend to were always limited. Given Yun Zheng’s powers of observation, he might well have guessed that Chen Yuchong contained something like gu insects. But such a thought would have flashed by in an instant, too fleeting to attract anyone’s attention, much less prompt them to consider what consequences might follow.

…

Yun Zheng stared at the map of Great Wasteland City in his hand, lost in thought.

The Wumeng Chieftain asked curiously, “Is there something wrong with the map?”

The Wusa Chieftain said, “Could that mastermind have given Chen Yuchong a fake map? It would make sense. How could something so crucial possibly have been handed over in full to a minor pawn like Chen Yuchong? He must have tampered with it somehow.”

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Yun Zheng said, “You could call it real, or you could call it fake. The map is usable, provided you have no intention of getting out.”

“The exit is fake?” the Wusa Chieftain asked.

“Fake beyond belief. I can’t work backward from this map to determine where the real exit is,” Yun Zheng said. “But I can guess where this exit leads. There’s something you haven’t considered: that mastermind could never have anticipated Chen Yuchong suddenly encountering a great opportunity and gaining such tremendous power.”

The Wumeng Chieftain nodded. “That’s true. Chen Yuchong seems to possess the bloodline of the Duan clan of Dali, and he even received his ancestor’s inheritance inside the underground palace. If a heavenly god hadn’t possessed him and opened his third eye, who could have foreseen any of this?”

“So that mastermind never expected Chen Yuchong to cause us much trouble at all. He was counting on the monsters in the underground palace instead?” The Wusa Chieftain pondered for a moment before suddenly understanding. “No, that’s not right. From the very beginning, that mastermind wanted us to capture Chen Yuchong quickly. He intended to hand us this map himself.”

“Exactly,” Yun Zheng said. “Once we establish that the mastermind gave Chen Yuchong no assistance beyond the key and the map, the conclusion becomes obvious. Chen Yuchong was merely responsible for delivering the map. The place indicated by this false map is the battlefield that man reserved for us. There, he will present us with an enormous surprise.”

Yun Zheng could not help feeling somewhat rueful. The self-important Chen Yuchong had probably never imagined that he had been nothing more than a pawn from beginning to end—and a thoroughly insignificant one at that. Even after he had unexpectedly gained an opportunity beyond the imagination of ordinary people, he had still been unable to alter the fate already laid out for him. In the end, he had become nothing more than a pitiful expendable piece.

The Yongshun Chieftain looked sourly at the way the two great chieftains and Yun Zheng were trading remarks back and forth.

What on earth had happened while I was unconscious? Why do I feel as though I’m being pushed out of some circle?

“I see,” the Wusa Chieftain said, feeling that he understood. Yet after a while, he honestly asked, “So where exactly does the exit on this map lead?”

Yun Zheng suddenly had no desire to speak.

Beside him, An Miaotong smiled behind her lips and answered on behalf of General Yun. “The answer is simple. The mastermind’s target is the legendary treasure of Yang Yinglong.”

The moment she said this, the three chieftains looked at one another in dismay.

The Wumeng Chieftain was the first to understand, and a trace of anguish immediately appeared on his face.

The legendary treasure of Yang Yinglong was actually connected to this underground palace. If so, Yang Yinglong must have intended to seize the fortune of the ancient kingdom sealed within the palace, thereby realizing his ambition of carving out territory and proclaiming himself king.

The truth behind the treasure of Yang Yinglong, which had circulated throughout the Ming Empire for decades, was in fact the many arrangements Yang Yinglong had made in his attempt to obtain the ancient kingdom’s fortune.

The answer was obvious. That mastermind wanted to inherit Yang Yinglong’s plans and, building upon them, continue weakening Great Wasteland City’s suppression of the ancient kingdom’s fortune.

In short, he wanted to rebel!

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How could a rebellion plotted by some great power of unknown origin be something that minor chieftains like them could afford to become involved in? Thus, the sorrow on the Wumeng Chieftain’s face soon spread to the other two.

…

The wind sighed through Bozhou, while the waters of the Xiang River flowed on and on.

This Xiang River was not the Xiang River in Hunan. It was a tributary on the left bank of Guizhou’s famous Wu River. Following the current upstream would lead directly to the city of Zunyi Prefecture.

It was the cool autumn season. The river flowed gently, and the evergreen trees lining both banks cast the water in a deep, somber green.

A beautiful woman came leisurely down the river aboard a pleasure boat, a pipa cradled in her arms.

The stern of the boat was trimmed with gold, and its purple sails had been spread wide. Silver oars glided in rhythm with flutes and a five-stringed zither. Beneath a splendid canopy woven with golden thread, the beauty reclined in attire reminiscent of the goddess of the Luo River in an ancient painting.

A handsome young boy, dressed like Xiao Shi—the son-in-law of Duke Mu of Qin, who was said to have summoned phoenixes with his flute in the ancient histories—stood beside her, serving her and waving a fan.

The maidservants were dressed like the daughters of the river god Feng Yi and the sea god Ruo. Some steered from the stern, while others handled the ropes. A delicate fragrance drifted through the air.

In the blink of an eye, the pleasure boat had been moored at the bank. A young man in white stood there with languid ease. His face was pale and his body frail, as though a gust of wind might carry him away.

The moment the beauty saw him, she assumed a respectful expression. “Your servant Feng Yanran pays her respects, Young Master.”

This beauty was none other than Feng Yanran, foremost among the four great musical courtesans of the Southwest. Hidden within her pipa was an Autumn Water flexible sword, which could extend and retract at will and kill without a trace.

Feng Yanran possessed a breathtakingly beautiful face and a graceful figure. Her skin was as pale as milk and as smooth as the finest silk. When her eyes moved, they seemed like invisible whirlpools in the void, effortlessly dragging the lives and souls of others into their depths.

Three enchanting beauties, no less alluring than Feng Yanran, emerged gracefully from the cabin behind her. They crossed the gangplank of rosewood, came ashore, and bowed in turn before the young master.

The white-robed young master gave a幽?