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Haitang skimmed into the yard beside the street and gently touched the strands of hair at her temple. She looked the Ascetic who indeed had not left.

The people who were able to live on the two sides of the street were naturally wealthy and noble. After the disturbances, the master of this home had long awoken and hid far away, not daring to light any lamps. The lights from the restaurant across the street followed the big hole in the wall and shone in, lighting up the yard. It also lit up the face that was particularly scary after the injury.

Haitang looked at him and asked with slight worry in her voice, “What is this for?”

The Ascetic gazed at her quietly and did not reply.

Haitang was not in a rush, even though the sounds of Suzhou officials moving together could be faintly heard in the distance.

There were not many Ascetics in the world. The Ascetics, with the Great Priest of the Temple of Qing, as their leader had always preached in various locations. These Ascetics quietly worshipped and praised through scriptures. Their actions were kind, and they were not widely known for their power of martial arts.

However, in these decades, the Qing Temple had produced a strange creature, Great Master San Shi. He was born with great power, and his external and internal skills had both been cultivated to the peak. His personality was ruthless, and he hated evil as an enemy. However, because of his identity as a priest, few people had seen him strike. There were also very few people who knew his true appearance and power. This was because in the past, the Great Priest of the Qing Temple used scripture to reign him in and watched him closely, otherwise Great Master San Shi would long have become the most famous figure under heaven.

Because the Qing Temple and Northern Qi’s Tianyi Dao were both places of worship for the Temple, they could be considered connected in lineage. Thus, Haitang had seen him once in previous years. She knew the Ascetic in front of her, this Second Priest of the Qing Temple, this legendary Great Master San Shi. If one were purely talking about identity, he was a highly respected figure. If one were talking about the cultivation of personality, he was not a bloodthirsty person. Haitang was most confused as to why the priests who never interfered with the mortal world would today enter into the struggle of the palace treasury or court.

“Junshang Conference...just what kind of organization is it exactly?” asked Haitang frowning slightly. It seemed like she was talking to herself.

The Second Priest looked at her coldly and said, “Don’t waste your time thinking about these questions. Correct, I am now a member of the Junshang Conference. Originally, the Junshang Conference was a loosely formed consortium. Perhaps this organization did not have any specific purpose. However, once everyone has found a goal, then we will all work toward that goal.”

Haitang asked in a quiet voice, “What is your goal?”

“To kill Xia Qifei,” he replied coldly.

Haitang smiled slightly and said, “It is only a dispute between some merchants. How could it draw you to attack?”

She calmly asked, “Xia Qifei was bidding today at the palace treasury, and you chose the kill him on the street. Are you not afraid the South Kingdom court will be angry?”

The Second Priest replied without any expression, “Killing Xia Qifei is so that the matter of the palace treasury can return to the path we want.”

Haitang was startled and confused. “These words are not enough to satisfy me... I know you and the Great Priest, you are not a person who is greedy for fame and wealth.”

The Second Priest became silent.

Haitang said in a quiet voice again, “The Ming family also does not have the authority to move you.”

The Second Priest slowly raised his head. “As I said earlier, this is a kind of loose cooperation. It is only that my goal and the Ming family’s goal happened to align.”

“You want to defeat Fan Xian?” Haitang furrowed her brows.

The Second Priest coldly shook his head.

Haitang sighed in her heart and guessed the truth of the matter. The other party’s identity was special. Since he could not be used by others and also wanted to interfere with the matter of the palace treasury bidding, then naturally it must be related to a problem in Jingdou. Since the Second priest’s target was not Fan Xian, then the source of this matter was secretly about to come into the open.

Haitang shook her head and said, “It is difficult to believe that a priest of the Qing Temple would actually secretly oppose the Qing Emperor...”

Countless blisters had already been burned into the Second priest’s face. In the black ash were streaks of blood, and he appeared incomparably horrifying. The eyes in his sockets showed white. He faintly said, “The sage girl is clever. The imperial envoy has received a royal edict to come govern the palace treasury. My thought was to never allow this so-called royal order to be carried out.”

Haitang was silent. It seemed that an unknown current was beginning to appear in the internal departments of the South Kingdom court. The direction of this current was toward the man sitting on the dragon chair. Fan Xian, as the most favored official of that man would, without exception, stand at the forefront and face extreme danger.

The reason the Second Priest was willing to tell these secrets to Haitang’s face was because of her identity as a person from Northern Qi, and the close relationship between the Qing Temple and Tianyi Dao.

The Second Priest knew that no matter how close Haitang was to Fan Xian, as a Northern Qi person knowing that there was someone in the internal department of the South Kingdom preparing to act against the Emperor, she would maintain a clever silence.

Haitang was silent for a while before suddenly speaking “Great Master, to ask a tiger for his skin is very unwise.”

In the Junshang Conference, they had to be much closer knit because of a terrifying reason. With a matter as important as this, there had to be a leader. In Haitang’s analysis, perhaps this leader was the Eldest Princess who hadn’t shown any power, yet always had Fan Xian carefully defending against her.

The Second Priest said coldly, “In the eyes of the flower, the bug is the tiger. In the eyes of the bamboo, the fire is the tiger. In the eyes of the river, the day is the tiger...in my eyes, the Emperor is the tiger.”

Haitang furrowed her brows and asked, “What exactly happened?”

What had happened for this Second Priest of the Qing Temple to resolutely throw himself into the mess and filth of the mortal world and make an always merciful and tender Ascetic become an Asura demon that decapitated people with a knife?

A thread of sadness and memory flashed through the terrifying eyes of the Second priest. A moment later he softly said, “Elder brother has gone on.”

Haitang was startled. The news of the Qing Temple’s Great Priest’s death had spread everywhere under heaven a few months ago. At that time, the edict the Qing court had sent out said that the Great Priest had long preached in the South and stayed long among the evil miasma. The accumulation of it had led to illness and thus, not long after he returned to the capital, he had passed away. Yet, listening to the Second priest, Haitang naturally understood that the truth was certainly not this simple. It was possible that the death of the Great Priest of the Qing Temple was strongly connected to the Qing Emperor.

She placed her hands together and gave a salute. She knew that she could not continue to ask questions.The other party had already given enough hints and would not say any more.

“Earlier, why did you not stop me revealing your identity?” Haitang asked quietly. “Killing people in the street today, are you not afraid of inadvertently alerting your enemy and having the Qing Emperor find some traces and clues?”

The Second Priest of the Qing Temple raised three fingers without expression, “The mountain has three rocks: one is bright, one is right, and one is sacrifice[JW1] .”

“I have been different from normal people from a young age and was thrown into the wilds by the village people. If it were not for elder brother, I would have long ago been eaten by wild dogs.” The Second Priest of the Qing Temple’s voice was like a flood. His beard floated, and he was mighty without being angry. “The world has taken my brother, so I cause chaos for the people. I will kill with clear skill. I will crush others with justice and use my body as sacrifice to kill one bad ruler to bring peace to tens of thousands of people under heaven.”

Haitang understood the first two meanings of these words, the last meaning was unclear. However, countless complicated feelings still welled up in her heart. Although there were signs of cracks in the internal department of the Qing court, looking at the strong control the Qing Emperor had over the governors of the seven Roads and military, it was clear that the core of the South Kingdom’s rule did not have problems at the root.

Tonight, the Great Master San Shi killed people in the street for nothing but to publicly say, to announce to the world, that the priest of the Qing Temple was no longer a friend on the same path as the court. Although the Second Priest was not enough to represent the Qing Temple and all the Ascetics under heaven, this kind of expression still had powerful symbolic meaning.

As for the last word “sacrifice,” Haitang finally understood what it meant. The Great Master San Shi knew very well that the person behind the Junshang Conference was not much better than the Qing Emperor. Today’s mission was partly to kill Xia Qifei as to ruin the Emperor’s large scale administration and partly to resolutely sacrifice himself.

Perhaps this Second Priest wasn’t even sure of what he should do. Having lost the Great Priest’s guidance and constraint, the Great Master San Shi had no way of killing the Emperor. Furthermore, priests of the Qing Temple did not want the people under heaven to suffer because of revenge.

For Great Master San Shi, the Jiangnan water bandits were all gangsters stained with blood. Killing them was fine, and he felt no trace of pity at all. But the strong desire of event in his heart, his judgement of the situation and worry for the people, caused im hto sink to a psychological conflict. Thus, he told all these things to Haitang. At the same, time it told her he was willing to be a sacrifice.

“I am returning to Jingdou to kill people. Please convey to Imperial Advisor Ku He my words today.”

Great Master San Shi became silent. His melancholy was at odds with his powerful figure. He turned around and left the already broken hole in the yard.

Haitang stood quietly where she was and did not move. She was thinking that the Second Priest of the Qing Temple had so easily sacrificed himself, but the Junshang Conference was sure to make more moves later. She didn’t know whether it would target Fan Xian in Jiangnan or directly target the Qing Emperor sitting in Jingdou.

It seemed like there were many people under heaven who did not wish for the Qing Emperor to live comfortably.

How should Northern Qi respond?

...

...

“San Shi? Sacrifice?” Fan Xian looked at Haitang and almost smiled, however dark fire leapt in his eyes. “I don’t understand the strange conversation of your kind of people. I only know...if he really wanted to sacrifice himself, then at this moment he should go directly to the front gates of the Royal Palace and battle the Great Prince’s imperial guards and Eunuch Hong from the Royal Palace rather than coming to Suzhou and ruining my business! Killing my people!”

His voice rose on the last two lines, and his tone was severe.

“As for the ‘sacrifice’ word,” Haitang gazed at him and said calmly, “the Junshang Conference definitely did not want the Second Priest to reveal his identity so early. If I had not been there today, there probably wouldn’t have been anyone who would have the opportunity to reveal it.”

The meaning in these words were clear: the enemy’s calculations had gone wrong. The Second Priest did not manage to kill successfully. He might as well follow through with the sacrifice and clearly resolve Haitang’s questions, using himself to attract the attention of the Qing Emperor and hide the existence of the Junshang Conference.

Fan Xian smiled coldly and said, “This Second Priest may have overestimated his own importance...the Emperor may not have anything, but his sense of self-confidence, from who knows where, is much stronger than most. If I were you, how could I let that bald man go so easily? With just a few unimportant and light words, he convinced you to ignore it and not ask further. It seems like this Second Priest has the ability to be a lobbyist.”

These words appeared common but had the intention to expose hidden motives. In his anger, Fan Xian directly expressed that there was something Haitang had not said about the conversation between her and the Second priest. After all, this was the internal politics of the Qing Kingdom. As a person of Northern Qi, who knew what Haitang would do for the benefit of her own country?

Haitang did not become angry. She explained in a quiet voice, “The Junshang Conference will definitely protect the Ming family. That old matriarch has fallen into your plan to antagonize her and has asked someone to come kill Xia Qifei...isn’t all of this within your expectations? Why are you still so angry?”

Fan Xian stopped. He had not expected Haitang to so mercilessly reveal all of his sinister intentions. He furrowed his brows and said, “Correct, I did want to force the Ming family to act, but I didn’t expect the Ming family was able to move such an ace...it seems that I still underestimated the so-called Junshang Conference.”

Heavy casualties were sustained in front of the Jiangnan Restaurant. About 80 to 90 percent of the good men of the Jiangnan water bandits that Xia Qifei had brought into Suzhou had been killed by that powerful knife. The Overwatch Council, in order to protect Xia Qifei’s life, had also paid a heavy price. One of the seven Sixth Bureau swordsman had died and another four were in deep comas. No one knew whether or not they would survive.

The loss the Overwatch Council suffered this time was the largest since Fan Xian had taken over. He couldn’t help but be angry and blame himself. All of this had clearly been within his calculations. Since he had underestimated the other party’s power, it had caused the situation.

What made Fan Xian the angriest was...in the plan, once he had forced the Ming family to strike, he would use the opportunity to attack powerfully. All of this had been ruined on the long street with Haitang’s cry.

As for the Second Priest...he would have some dealings with the royal family. If Fan Xian wanted to use this opportunity to connect it to the Ming family, it was completely impossible. Even if the Overwatch Council used its dirtiest methods to frame them, they would never be able to convince the court or officials in Jingdou.

No one would believe that a wealthy Jiangnan family could order the Second Priest of the Qing Temple to act as an assassin.

This reality made Fan Xian develop absurd feelings of defeat. When facing an opponent, even if other party had not done it, Fan Xian would frame them to admit it. Now, it was clear that the other party did it. But, if he went forward and publicly investigated it, no one would believe him.

He shook his head helplessly and waved his hand. “Duoduo, go sleep first. Earlier I was not in a good mood and said some things rashly. Don’t take it to heart.”

Haitang glanced at him in surprise and furrowed her brows and asked, “Tonight?”

Fan Xian took a deep breath and forced down the burning feeling in his heart. A soft smile rose to his face and he said gently, “It’s very late. If there’s anything, we will talk about it tomorrow.”

Fan Xian had been preparing for tonight for a long time. Now, to suddenly give up, no one knew what he was thinking.

Haitang left the study with some confusion.

Fan Xian sat quietly by himself in front of his table. He thought for a bit and then raised his brush to begin writing. He had to report tonight’s events to the Emperor in Jingdou. Although he did not believe, in his heart, that the Second Priest’s appearance was an extraordinary matter, as an official—even an official without good intentions—he had to, at the right moments, show some kind of fear and worry due to his concern.

Having finished writing the secret letter, he couldn’t resist picking up the letter beside it.

The handwriting on the letter was very wizened and ugly. It was a personal letter from old man Chen Pingping.

In the letter, Chen Pingping did not give any warnings about the situation of the court or the officialdom, he only told a story. It was a story about a crow drinking water. He was telling Fan Xian, who was absent from his side, that regardless of the matter, it must not be done in a rush. Sometimes the more rushed one is, the less water there will be to drink.

Throwing rocks in the bottle?

This was a game where in order to take something, something first had to be given.

Fan Xian looked at the letter and furrowed his brows again. Today in the palace treasury courtyard, Ming Qingda had left a deep impression on him. The ability of the Ming family master to be rattled but not shocked was truly worth learning.

In comparison, the old matriarch, whose emotions Fan Xian had successfully shaken and who had secretly notified the Junshang Conference to kill people in the street, did not seem worth worrying about.

However, the Ming family’s power was still held in that old matriarch’s hand, and this reality allowed Fan Xian to relax a great deal.

As the person who acted was the Second Priest, this implicated many people. It was not appropriate to take action tonight. Fan Xian thought for a bit and decided wait a few days. Xia Qifei was fortunate and did not die. Tomorrow’s palace treasury bidding would continue. Life would also continue, and the days would continue.

When everything was calm, and the rocks had been filled to the brim of the bottle, then he would began to drink.

...

...

“Going out,” he said as he accepted a large cloak from Sisi’s hands.

Sisi looked at him astonishment, thinking: It is already the hour of zi, where are you going to go? But she knew, for the young master to rush out at this time, it must be important. She did not ask further.

With his cloak over his shoulders, Fan Xian rushed toward the front door of Hua Garden[JW2] . As he walked, he said to the subordinate beside him, “Matters have escalated. Immediately send out a first-level order. Carefully search the southeast area for the whereabouts of the Second Priest.”

His subordinate furrowed his brows and said, “Sir, the Qing Temple has always been managed by the Royal Palace. Is it suitable for us to interfere?”

Fan Xian was slightly angry and reprimanded, “He’s already killed his way to us. Can I not kill him?”

The subordinate quickly closed his mouth and gave the order.

Fan Xian had other intentions in those words. Haitang said earlier that Second Priest seemed like he was preparing to head to Jingdou and imitate Jing Je in an assassination. Yet, Fan Xian had the Overwatch Council searching the southeast.

The Shadow was not in Suzhou, and the people in the Overwatch Council had no hope of holding down that Great Master San Shi. Fan Xian’s action was nothing more than a show. It was to prevent his subordinates running into the ace again and suffering another heavy loss, and it could also allow the Second Priest to enter the capital.

Clearly the Second Priest was preparing to play the dragon when entering the capital, yet Fan Xian still had made such arrangements.

Having reached the main door, Tiger Guard Gao Da lifted the carriage’s curtain for him. Fan Xian had one foot on the carriage when he stopped. It seemed like he was thinking of something. A moment later he turned and said, “Call back everyone who is stationed outside.”

The Overwatch Council official was startled, wondering if the plan for tonight was canceled? Given his understanding of the commissioner, if his subordinates had suffered losses, he would definitely immediately seek revenge. Did the commissioner suddenly have a change of personality?

Ignoring his subordinate’s astonishment, Fan Xian burrowed into the carriage.

The carriage wheels rolled over Suzhou’s stone roads and made a rattling sound. It was already deep into the night, and no one was walking on the streets. Only the government bailiffs, who knew something had happened, were peering around with faces full of sleepiness and drowsy eyes. However, they were the lucky ones, at least they were more relaxed than the brothers in front of Jiangnan Restaurant. Rumors said those brothers were moving dead bodies and picking up dismembered limbs, and a few of them had already thrown up from the nausea.

Fan Xian half leaned against the back of his chair. His hands gently rubbed at the center of his forehead, forcefully expelling the tiredness from his mind as well as the strong urge preparing to leap out at any moment to come out and kill for a while. He allowed the carriage to take himself along the quiet Suzhou night streets.

Beside the carriage were a few Tiger Guards. Xia Qifei had been targeted for assassination, so Fan Xian’s security for his outing had been strengthened.

After a short amount of time, the carriage approached the side door to the manor of the Jiangnan governor. Without time to hand in any name cards, Fan Xian directly used his face as a pass and burrowed his way toward the governor’s manor. Under the escort of the governor’s housekeeper and servants, whose faces were full of confusion, they came directly to the back garden where the governor’s manor entertained secret guests.

Having barely taken a sip from the tea that was brought up, the Jiangnan governor, Xue Qing, who the housekeeper said had slept long ago, came rushing out.

Fan Xian raised his head and looked at Xue Qing’s dress. After a moment of pause he began to laugh. This governor’s clothing was neat and tidy. He looked nothing like he had been roused from bed. It appeared that tonight, not very many officials would be able to sleep well.

Xue Qing saw him laugh and couldn’t resist smiling as well. He waved his hand to dismiss everyone and drank a bit of tea to wet his throat before asking straightforwardly, “What business does the imperial envoy have to have come in the night?”

Fan Xian’s reply was even more straightforward. He raised one finger and said, “Tonight, someone tried to kill my people, so I am preparing to kill people.”

The Jiangnan governor was startled and sank into silence. Of course he was aware of what had happened in tonight. He had also expected the always ruthless Fan Xian, who shielded his shortcomings, to strike against the Ming family. He hadn’t expected the Fan Xian would come to notify him before doing so. This kind of attitude allowed Xue Qing to feel a thread of comfort.

After a moment of silence, Xue Qing said evenly, “I can understand your current emotions.”

These words were the same as not saying anything, understand, of course, did not mean support. Fan Xian also understood this. After all, the Ming family was a prosperous family in Jiangnan. Their descendants numbered in the tens of thousands, and their supporters in the court were beyond counting. The hands and feet of the Ming family had long rooted themselves deeply into the lives of the Jiangnan people. If Fan Xian wanted to use the martial power of the Overwatch Council to carry out simple and cruel bullying, then that was sure to cause countless counterattacks. The situation in Jiangnan might be thrown into unrest because of this.

Jiangnan could not fall into chaos. Once it fell, Xue Qing, as the Jiangnan governor, would have to bear the brunt of the responsibility. There was no way he would be able to explain it to the court or to the Emperor. So, in front of Fan Xian, he could only say he understood and was not willing to say anything else.

As for Fan Xian, the Black Knights were still in Jiangbei. Not until the last step would he dare to brave the Emperor’s suspicions and clamor of the officials to move soldiers into Suzhou. Thus, the power he could use at the moment was actually not much. To be able to defeat something like the Ming family, he very much needed the help of the Jiangnan governor, Xue Qing, or at least his implicit consent. This was why he had come to the governor’s manor.

Knowing what Xue Qing was worried about, Fan Xian smiled slightly and said, “Please rest assured, although I am somewhat bold and unconstrained, when I handle matters, I will respect the rules.”

Xue Qing was slightly reassured. He was not one of the Eldest Princess’ people, so he was willing to keep himself out of the battle between the Overwatch Council and princes. But tonight, the Ming family actually dared to send someone to assassinate a bidding merchant outside the Jiangnan Restaurant...although everyone knew that the merchant was actually a water bandit...this reality still made this border guarding official angry.

Merchants had their duties and boundaries. Tonight, the Ming family had crossed a line. Furthermore, the Jiangnan Restaurant where the killing happened was the governor’s property.

“Before the 16 bids are completely settled, I will not act,” Fan Xian gazed at Xue Qing’s eyes and evenly said. “The day after tomorrow, I will have the Ming family pay the proper price.”

“It is enough to just each them a lesson.” Xue Qing sighed like an Ascetic who bemoaned the state of the universe and pitied the fate of mankind.

Fan Xian smiled slightly. He understood the governor still did not want to blow this matter up, while he, himself, never had excessive hopes to begin with. He hadn’t expected to be able to force the centuries old Ming family to suffer hardship in just a few days. He said, “Rest assured, I know the limits.”

“Evidence. What’s important is evidence.” Xue Qing looked at the young imperial envoy in front of him and couldn’t resist opening his mouth to remind him. This matter was not a simple battle between officials and merchants, it was a battle between the powers at court. If he couldn’t get evidence and wanted to carve some flesh from the Ming family, it would be extremely easy for some people in Jingdou to grab information that could be used against Fan Xian.

“In life, there is never a lack of evidence,” Fan Xian said quietly. “There is only a lack of eyes to discover the evidence. The eyes of the Overwatch Council are very bright.”

The two most powerful officials in Jiangnan talked for a long time in secret. Only when it was difficult for both of them to hide their tiredness did Fan Xian say his goodbyes.

The situation in Jiangnan had become murky, like the darkness before the dawn. Gazing out, it was impossible to see bottom of the abyss.

Fan Xian leaned against the back of the chair in the carriage and slept deeply. He did not notice the sky becoming gradually brighter outside the carriage. The morning did not have bells and drums, but the spring daybreak had arrived.

[JW1]”山有三石,一名明,一名正,一名弃” the “three rocks” is a play on his name, as San Shi literally means three rocks. The listing he does corresponds in what he says next. However, because the author uses multiple meanings of one character, the connection doesn’t hold well in English.

[JW2] The text says Ming Garden, but this is a possible error since Fan Xian is living at Hua Garden.