Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang (Please Keep Reading)

Han Sui knew this perfectly well.

He could fool the Night Patrol Directorate for a time, but not forever.

And the orders he had issued in haste would be hard-pressed to conceal his own "lie" without a single seam showing.

But he had a backup plan as well.

It was the word "trust."

"Since when did Imperial Stud Director Han become so high-minded?"

Commander Liu set down the box of pastries, dismissed the beautiful concubine for the moment, and gave a cold snort.

In truth, whether Xu Xing and Zhao Yunniang were captured meant little to him. In his eyes, Zhao Yunniang and Xu Xing were no different from blades of grass.

A mere eighth-rank Assistant Keeper of the Imperial Stables—he could crush him to death with a stomp of his foot.

It was only that... Xu Xing's escape from the Imperial Prison had made him feel as though someone had slapped him across the face.

After all, the Night Patrol Directorate also bore responsibility for overseeing the Imperial Prison.

Butler Sun did not dare answer Commander Liu's question. He and Commander Liu were not people who stood on the same level.

Even if he was representing Han Sui at this moment.

The more one said, the more mistakes one made.

When all was said and done, only the word "profit" was truly unbreakable.

"My lord, this is the second gift from my master."

Butler Sun drew a palm-sized sample of glazed glass and a contract from his robes. "My master has also confirmed that the secret formula for glazed glass mentioned by Xu Xing is correct. In a few days, the glazed glass will be sold throughout the Divine Capital, and even across the realm. This is the thirty percent stake my master is offering Lord Commander..."

"Thirty percent?"

Commander Liu frowned, his tiger eyes fixed on Butler Sun. "Why only thirty percent? Where did the other seventy go?"

"The remaining seventy percent..."

"The Minister of Justice, the Vice Minister of Rites, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Prince Cheng's Manor..."

"My master himself only holds a ten percent stake."

A bitter smile appeared on Butler Sun's face.

"Imperial Stud Director Han is a man of his word."

"Thirty percent will do."

Commander Liu rolled the tiger-head walnuts in his hand, and a faint smile quickly appeared on his previously stern face.

Thirty percent was precisely suited to his status and position.

The remaining officials, imperial clansmen, and noble relatives would together divide only sixty percent, leaving each of them with less than ten percent. Without lifting a finger or contributing the slightest effort, he would receive thirty percent. This showed just how much Han Sui was "courting" and "respecting" him.

As for why shares had to be distributed to these people, it was because all of them were connected to the Imperial Stud Directorate corruption case.

Xu Xing's imprisonment had not come without their behind-the-scenes orchestration.

And the glazed glass brought about by Xu Xing naturally could not escape their grasping hands.

"Tell your master."

"This Commander respects him as a gentleman."

Commander Liu raised his brows and smiled.

What he meant was that Han Sui's deception of him and the matter of releasing Zhao Yunniang could be let go from here on out.

After all, Han Sui was an honest, decent man.

For the sake of keeping his word, he had even dared deceive him at the risk of offending him...

He liked working with honest, decent men.

Several days later.

Xu Xing, Chang Ji, Earth King, and the others boarded a boat bound for Jiangnan.

Just as they had guessed in Xuanyang Ward, the Imperial Prison had indeed used a fire to cover up the escape of the two criminal officials. As for Magistrate Tian, the original plan had been to let him remain imprisoned in the Imperial Prison for a while, then intercept the prison convoy and rescue him when he was escorted to the Ministry of Justice for trial.

Unexpectedly, Magistrate Tian was highly skilled and bold of heart. Taking advantage of the chaos, he seized a prison guard's black uniform and escaped.

"By a hair..."

"Just the tiniest bit more..."

Inside a Heaven-class private cabin aboard a flower boat on the canal, Magistrate Tian—or rather, Lu Little Monkey—lay nestled amid rouge and jade, reclining in a beauty's arms. As he ate grapes fed to him by the beauty, he bragged extravagantly, "That night, the wind was high and the moon was dark. I, Lu Little Monkey, nearly got thrown into a sea of flames by those corrupt officials. But just as the moment arrived, I used a piece of iron wire to pick the lock on the Imperial Prison gate. Then, with a throat-locking technique, I seized a prison guard and killed him outright. That guard stood nine feet tall, a man built like an iron tower..."

"Under my throat-locking technique, his neck was crushed in an instant. Then I used the disguise art I secretly learned... pfft, pfft, pfft—Ghost Hand's disguise art—to dress myself up, and easily blended in all the way to the Imperial Prison's entrance."

"However... just as I reached the prison entrance, two guards noticed something off about me. With a flick of both sleeves, azure dragons emerged from my sleeves..."

Earth King at the neighboring table listened with his brows tightly furrowed.

He slammed a broad palm onto the Eight Immortals table. "Damn you, bragging and gesturing is one thing, but why are you waving that monkey paw around in front of me? With that little strength of yours, I could slap you dead with one hand."

Lu Little Monkey gave a frightened jolt. He hurriedly sat up straight and offered Earth King an apologetic, ingratiating smile.

"Earth King..."

"My fault, my fault."

He punished himself with three cups of wine, draining each in a single gulp.

Xu Xing and Chang Ji exchanged a glance beside him. Neither spoke, merely drinking in silence.

Both of them had their own plans and considerations.

To go from serving as an official to joining the greenwood—the gulf between the two was impossible to measure.

The road ahead... was shrouded in uncertainty.

After the two had drunk half a flagon of wine, Earth King and the others finally remembered that they still had "honored guests." They began finding excuses to strike up a conversation with Xu Xing and Chang Ji.

"My elder brother has always greatly admired men of letters."

"Once Mr. Xu joins Four Brightness Mountain, he will certainly be satisfied..."

Earth King went on and on, praising Mourning Heaven King to the skies.

Taking the opportunity, Xu Xing also began probing indirectly for information on Four Brightness Mountain's other two kings.

He had already seen Earth King for himself. He appeared rough and uncouth, yet there was a certain shrewdness beneath that roughness. It was only that his experience and knowledge were lacking, and he had always been short on independent judgment.

Fortunately, Ghost Hand assisted him. Thus, ever since coming to Divine Capital, he had not made any mistakes.

The three kings of Four Brightness Mountain were all martial arts experts, wandering heroes of the jianghu.

Even before they raised their banner in rebellion, they had already enjoyed considerable renown in the martial world of Jiangnan.

Earth King, ranked third, was an external cultivation martial artist who had reached the organ-training realm. Each of his arms possessed eight hundred jin of strength, and he wielded a pair of long-handled crouching-melon hammers.

One blow of his hammer could split the earth and shatter the mountains.

Of course, that was what Earth King's followers claimed. Xu Xing did not know his true strength.

External cultivation martial artists and internal cultivation martial artists did not follow the same path. Body-tempering external cultivation hammered and forged the skin and membranes, refined the sinews and bones, trained the organs, and washed the marrow. In terms of early-stage strength, one external cultivation martial artist could fight ten internal cultivation martial artists.

Comparing realms alone held no meaning.

"My elder brother's name is Yao Dang. He was once the young sect master of Great Snow Mountain..."

"Unfortunately, the court was corrupt and lawless. Fifteen years ago, it conscripted laborers under the pretext of resisting the northern barbarians, dispatching all of Great Snow Mountain's elders and disciples to the frontier..."

"Driving out the barbarians was a righteous cause, and there was nothing wrong with that. But the court deliberately meant for Great Snow Mountain to die. It provided neither provisions nor pay, and deliberately concealed intelligence. After several years of fighting, only six people from Great Snow Mountain survived, including my elder brother. Thus, he was forced to become a deserter and evade corvée labor. Later... the court squeezed West Jiangnan Circuit far too harshly, so we simply rebelled..."

Earth King drank a cup of wine, then told a stretch of the story.

From time to time, his eyes would brim with tears, snot and tears streaming down his face.

"Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang..."

"He knows how to win people's hearts. He is no easy man to deal with."

Seeing this, Xu Xing instantly became wary of Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang.

Two updates today. I'm not feeling very well.

And I'm out of time...

Three updates again tomorrow.