The aftershocks of Zhangtai Palace silently spread through Xianyang Palace. Cheng Xi's childish remark about "opening a small gate for the tiger" had, with Ying Zheng's single line—"How could one hold fast to a single gate?"—been transformed into a strategy essay King Zhuangxiang repeatedly pondered at his desk. At last, cracks appeared in Lu Buwei's gentle mask. When court adjourned, the look he cast at Cheng Xi was as icy as a poisoned dagger.
"Lord Chang'an has quite the means." On the way back to the palace, Zhao Gao followed half a step behind with his head lowered, his voice as slick as a snake slithering over bluestone. "Only... the tallest tree in the forest catches the wind."
Cheng Xi did not stop walking. The cold, hard shadows cast by the palace wall fell across his childish profile. Zhao Gao's "reminder" was both a warning and a test. He suddenly looked up and flashed a completely cloudless smile. "Director of the Central Chariot Bureau, do you mean those new Luban Locks? They certainly are more 'outstanding' than Nine-Linked Rings!" He deliberately emphasized the word "outstanding," then skipped toward the hall doors, playing the part of a child delighted by a novel toy without the slightest flaw.
The doors closed, cutting off Zhao Gao's thoughtful gaze. Cheng Xi leaned against the icy door panel, his palms soaked in cold sweat. Acting was a thousand times more exhausting than solving Nine-Linked Rings.
[Energy restored: 0.12%... Passive perception module operating intermittently... Observation source locked: Zhangtai Palace direction... Attribute fluctuation: Order → Chaos... Linked target: King Zhuangxiang... Bzz...]
The system's static shrieked sharply for an instant before falling silent again. Cheng Xi's heart sank. That "observation" truly was connected to King Zhuangxiang! The fluctuation from order toward chaos... was it a sign that King Zhuangxiang's health was worsening by the day? Or was some external force eroding him? Cheng Xi shook his head and forced himself to focus on the crisis before him—Ying Xi.
That old general of the royal clan had suffered a setback at Zhangtai Palace and would never let the matter rest. Sure enough, at dawn the next day, a squad of armored guards carried several heavy camphorwood chests and set them down before Cheng Xi's hall with a thunderous crash. When the lids were opened, they revealed not gold or jade, but mountains of ingenious contraptions: layered bronze spheres, wooden towers linked by mortise-and-tenon joints, beast-shaped locks covered in mechanisms... They gleamed coldly beneath the sun.
Ying Xi stood with one hand on his sword, his armor clanking and his voice like a resounding bell. "I heard that Lord Chang'an possesses unmatched wisdom and is especially skilled at unraveling ingenious devices! These are the treasures of my lifetime, the finest works of craftsmen from the Six States! Since Your Lordship claims that moving east requires 'opening small gates,' surely such minor tricks were not beyond you! I shall give you three days. Solve every item in these chests, so that us old fools may witness what this so-called 'wisdom bestowed by Heaven' truly is!"
The four words "wisdom bestowed by Heaven" rang out with biting mockery. This was an open scheme! If he failed, it would prove that a child had spoken rashly; if he succeeded, it would prove he was unnatural! The servants throughout the palace stood silent as cicadas in winter. Zhao Gao stood respectfully with his hands lowered, yet the corner of the mouth held the faint curve of someone watching a fine show.
Cheng Xi stepped up to the chests and picked up a bronze sphere the size of an egg, covered with honeycomb-like holes. It felt icy and heavy in his hand. The holes ran deep, and within lay what seemed to be even more intricate springs and mechanisms. With the methods of this era alone, one might spend an entire lifetime without finding the way in.
[Target analyzed: Mohist Non-Aggression Mechanism Ball (damaged)... Structural modeling in progress... Core power source: geomagnetic resonance... Energy pathways: 71.3% blocked... Optimal solution calculated: resonance frequency required, 17.8 Hz...]
A pale blue stream of light sketched a precise three-dimensional cross-section in his mind. The blocked energy pathways resembled rusted-shut blood vessels. Cheng Xi brushed his fingertips over the holes, sensing the faint magnetic tremors, so weak they were nearly imperceptible. He suddenly looked up and smiled brightly at Ying Xi, his face full of childish innocence. "Royal Uncle, this toy is so interesting! It is much louder than that jade ring from yesterday!"
Before Ying Xi could react, Cheng Xi had already snatched up an inconspicuous bronze rod from beside the chest—the handle that had fallen off some contraption—and brought it to his lips. Puffing out his cheeks, he blew hard!
"Wooo—hummm—!"
A low vibration, nearly infrasonic yet possessing strange penetrating force, suddenly sounded! The air trembled with it! Fine dust atop the black pottery tiles beneath Cheng Xi's feet visibly bounced!
From within the silent bronze sphere came a dense burst of crisp clicks, like beans popping in a pan! Then, before Ying Xi's abruptly contracting pupils and Zhao Gao's frozen smile, the hole-covered sphere seemed like a Mechanical Beast that had slept for a thousand years and been awakened. From its core, it unfolded layer by layer, extending and transforming!
Bronze plates flipped and assembled. Exquisite gears and levers flashed with cold light under the sun. In just three breaths, the round bronze sphere became a Bronze Black Bird poised to spread its wings and fly! Its beak parted slightly, and a tiny jade pearl in its throat emitted a lustrous glow in time with the continuing hum!
The entire courtyard fell deathly silent. Only that deep vibration and the gleam of the jade pearl in the Bronze Black Bird's throat seared themselves into everyone's line of sight.
Cheng Xi set down the bronze rod. The Bronze Black Bird immediately ceased humming, folding inward layer by layer until it became that inconspicuous bronze sphere again. He gently placed it back into the chest and clapped his little hands, as though he had merely blown a clay whistle. "Royal Uncle, see? Is it loud?"
Ying Xi's face went from red to green, then from green to white. Veins bulged on the back of the hand gripping his sword hilt. His throat made a dry rattling sound, yet he could not force out a single word. That bronze sphere was a secret Mohist heirloom. He had possessed it for thirty years, leaving it on a shelf as though it were a heavenly text! Yet this child... had broken it with a breath?!
"Director of the Central Chariot Bureau," Cheng Xi said, turning to Zhao Gao with an innocent expression, "I'm hungry. Is breakfast ready?"
Zhao Gao deeply lowered his head, concealing the storm raging in his eyes. "...Yes."
That night, the hour was late and the dew was heavy. Cheng Xi dismissed everyone and sat alone beneath the lamp, rolling between his fingers a black wooden chip the size of a fingernail that had fallen from a hidden compartment in the mortise-and-tenon joints of a wooden object. It was neither metal nor jade, warm and smooth to the touch. One side was polished like a mirror, while the other bore a broken, strange symbol twisted like a crawling snake, inlaid with impossibly fine silver threads.
During the day, when he had used the bronze rod to sound that particular resonant frequency and forcibly clear the Mechanism Ball's blocked energy pathways, this wooden chip had emitted a faint tremor of the same frequency from deep within one of the mortise-and-tenon joints!
[Unknown energy imprint detected... Structural analysis... Bzz... Insufficient energy... Preliminary assessment: fragment of ancient witch script... Attribute: Spatial Anchoring / weak... Linked direction: east of Mount Xiao... Bzz...]
Witch script? Spatial Anchoring? East of Mount Xiao... That was beyond Hangu Pass, in the lands of Han and Wei! How could such an object have ended up among Ying Xi's "collection"? Was it coincidence? Or had someone deliberately used Ying Xi's hand to deliver this "key" before him?
"Wooo—wooo—"
Outside the window, the early spring night wind suddenly turned shrill and mournful. It slammed violently against the carved window lattice, crying like someone weeping in grief.
The candle flame inside the hall was pressed down by the wind, abruptly dimming.
Cheng Xi jerked his head up!
Through the gaps in the tightly shut window lattice, a vivid crimson... Peach Blossom Petal had somehow been silently wedged there!
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