A Match Made in Heaven

The wine had gone three rounds.

Qin Yi's gaze at Li Qinglin grew ever more complicated.

More complicated than before.

Before, he had been wary. A cold-blooded man capable of killing his own brother could naturally use him and then silence him afterward. Qin Yi had always felt a thorn in his heart toward such a politician and had been unable to grow too close to Li Qinglin.

But if Li Qinglin had spoken from the heart, Qin Yi actually found him admirable.

He found himself admiring a man who had killed his own brother... Qin Yi began to wonder whether something had gone wrong with his own values. And when he thought of how Li Qingjun would feel upon learning the truth, his feelings became even more tangled.

Li Qinglin slowly sipped his wine and said leisurely, "I know that ever since you met Ye Ling, Brother Qin, you have been somewhat wary of me. I also know what you are thinking. Perhaps you fear that I will silence you afterward. You may even fear that I am a madman devoid of conscience, someone who would harm Qingjun as well... But Brother Qin, you worry too much. If I wanted to silence someone, the first person I would kill would be Ye Ling, not you. Without Ye Ling, even if you spread the word everywhere, no one would believe you. Besides, even if someone did believe you, it would be meaningless. Dong Huazi's attacks against me in court have achieved nothing; what could you possibly do?"

Qin Yi said, "When those in high positions silence people, why would they need to think so much? Some people merely encounter a youth in the mountains while conducting secret business, and without another word, they slaughter him."

"Eh?" Li Qinglin looked somewhat surprised. "Could this be... the source of Brother Qin's resentment toward Dong Huazi? His people killed your friend?"

"Something like that."

"Pfft... Hahaha..." Li Qinglin sprayed out a mouthful of wine and burst into laughter. "That is what happens when one does not consider the consequences. He made an enemy for no reason at all, and he probably does not even know where he provoked him. Interesting, interesting."

After laughing for a while, he added, "This is a living example. There may not be no one behind you, Qin Yi. I would not go stirring up such a bloody mess for nothing."

Qin Yi laughed despite himself.

"The reason I have spoken so much with Brother Qin is that I believe partners should not distrust one another. That can only ruin matters. You and I share the same goal, and I hope we can cooperate with absolute sincerity. So..." Li Qinglin looked at him with blazing eyes. "Can Brother Qin now speak from the heart?"

Qin Yi raised his cup in salute. "Why say that? Were we not already friends long ago?"

Li Qinglin clinked cups with him and smiled. "Indeed. We have long been friends."

The two drained their cups. Li Qinglin let out a breath, and his whole body seemed to relax somewhat. "From my years of observation and understanding, Dong Huazi is quite similar to the Chechi Three Immortals in your story. He definitely has no orthodox inheritance, merely the practice of a wild fox Chan. Take those pills, for example—they were obviously improper. There are only two possibilities: either he deliberately sought to harm my royal father, or he did not understand them himself and refined them incorrectly. There are many more signs like this. I am inclined to believe that he truly does not understand very much."

Qin Yi nodded. "Today, when I faced Dong Huazi directly, I also felt that he understood cultivation less than I had imagined. He seemed more like a politician than a cultivator. Even the interpretation of hexagrams, which wandering Jianghu sorcerers ought to wield with consummate mastery, did not seem to be something he knew particularly well. Someone truly confident would most likely argue the hexagram with me openly and righteously, rather than resorting to a politician's rhetoric."

Li Qinglin smiled. "Ever since I met Brother Qin, I have always felt that what you have learned clearly has a system and inheritance behind it, surpassing Dong Huazi's. So long as we can make my royal father trust you, Dong Huazi will have nothing left to rely on."

This was why Li Qinglin valued Qin Yi so highly. Qin Yi sighed inwardly, and his favorable impression of Li Qinglin deepened by several degrees. To deal with Dong Huazi, Li Qinglin had originally possessed another method. He did not need to go about it in such a roundabout way.

He could have simply usurped the throne.

The army was all in Li Qinglin's hands. He was entirely capable of doing what Li Shimin had once done, forcing his royal father to abdicate and pursue the Dao. Once he sat upon the throne, would driving out a National Teacher not be a matter of a single word?

But he had not chosen that path. Instead, he had gone out of his way to invite Fangshi, intending to compete with Dong Huazi for his royal father's trust.

Qin Yi sighed. "When I see your royal father tomorrow morning, I will do my utmost."

Li Qinglin pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Mang Zhan's arrival in Southern Li this time is likely connected to Dong Huazi. I now even suspect that Dong Huazi was originally an agent sent by the Western Wasteland to stir up trouble. So, Brother Qin, regardless of what feelings you have for Qingjun, before my royal father, please hold fast to the relationship. Do not give up."

"My feelings?" Qin Yi awkwardly tried to hide it by drinking, but as he looked into Li Qinglin's eyes, he finally gritted his teeth and said directly, "You need not tell me that. Mang Zhan can get as far away from me as possible and die there."

Li Qinglin slapped his palm and laughed. "That is why our cooperation is a match made in heaven."

Back at his own Guest Courtyard, Qin Yi had no desire to sleep. He leaned against the windowsill and watched the moon.

Too much had happened today. His first clash with Dong Huazi, the change in his relationship with Li Qingjun, and the fact that he and Li Qinglin had finally laid everything bare—each matter swept through his mind. Whenever he closed his eyes, these people's faces echoed back and forth before him.

"Stickstick, what do you think?" he suddenly asked.

Liusu said leisurely, "Li Qinglin is very interesting. Such an interesting soul is one in ten thousand in both the immortal and mortal realms. Unfortunately, his path does not align with mine, so we cannot plot together."

"What about the others?"

"Li Qingjun is rather adorable."

"..."

"As for the other mediocre rabble..." Liusu snorted. "Mang Zhan is merely a martial artist, not even as capable as Li Qinglin. I can discern Dong Huazi's scant cultivation at a glance. He is merely at the Phoenix Beginning Stage Seventh Layer, an ant-like thing. To take these two trinkets as earth-shattering opponents is simply my humiliation. If you truly cultivate immortality with me, I have ten thousand ways to make such goods unable to reincarnate for all eternity."

Phoenix Beginning Stage Seventh Layer.

After cramming Daoist Arts knowledge over the past few days, Qin Yi had gained some understanding of these realms. Cultivating the heart and body was divided into five periods and seven stages. The first stage was when chronic ailments vanished together, the body became light and the heart untroubled, the four elements settled naturally, and the six emotions fell silent. This was called Phoenix Beginning.

Put plainly, it was the Qi Refining Stage... Qin Yi preferred calling it that, out of habit. Liusu had never insisted on any realm names either. In its eyes, what one called them had no meaning. Call them whatever you liked; even calling it the Fool Stage would make no difference.

Qi Refining Stage Seventh Layer might truly count as immortals to mortals, but to Liusu, they were genuine beginners—rookies who had only just touched the threshold of cultivation, not to mention wild practitioners with no proper path. If one set aside certain spells ordinary people found difficult to comprehend and spoke only of combat strength, they might not even be able to defeat an experienced Innate Martial Artist like Li Qinglin.

Dong Huazi probably could not even defeat Ye Ling... if Ye Ling were not restrained.

So if they really managed to drive Dong Huazi from power, he would not even be able to escape with his life.

"Do not underestimate Dong Huazi too much either," Qin Yi said cautiously. "Minghe is on his side. Who knows what their relationship is?"

"Minghe... that is indeed somewhat troublesome." Liusu said, "If Minghe truly stands on Dong Huazi's side, then you and Li Qinglin should both wash up and go to sleep. Forget about being a match made in heaven. You would be better off becoming a pair of fugitive lovebirds together."

Qin Yi automatically ignored its mockery and asked, "What exactly did her hexagram verse mean? Can you interpret it in detail?"

"No."

"Huh?"

Liusu sighed. "Do you really think I know everything? I have never studied the way of divination. What I taught you was merely common knowledge. The true way of divination is broad and profound; how could it be something that can simply be interpreted on command? Even Minghe herself, who calculated that hexagram, might not truly understand the hexagram she calculated."

"She cannot even understand her own?"

"Of course. Otherwise, why did I not study it back then?" Liusu's voice carried contempt. "The ignorant fancy that they have calculated the heavenly Dao to its end, yet the heavenly Dao is ever-changing. Who can know it all? In the end, it only confuses others and harms oneself, nothing but a joke. You would be better off forgetting that hexagram verse, lest you seek trouble for yourself."

You say it is broad and profound on one hand, then call it nothing but a joke on the other... I think you simply could not learn it... Qin Yi grumbled inwardly, yet he instead felt a little closer to Liusu.

So it had things it could not do too.