Hidden Strife

Su Qingyang sized up the people before him: two men and a woman.

The leader was a burly middle-aged man with a long saber slung across his waist. His vigorous blood qi was entirely restrained, yet he still radiated an intense pressure.

The other two were a gaunt scholar in a green robe and a woman with heroic brows and bright eyes.

Liu Qingni was likewise observing the three of them. Her gaze lingered on the middle-aged man for a moment before sweeping over the woman and scholar. Then she suddenly spoke.

"Are you from the Heavenly Mandate Guard, or under some general?"

She directed the question at the middle-aged man.

After hearing this, he merely narrowed his eyes slightly and said nothing.

Liu Qingni nodded faintly. "Then it seems you belong to Duke Yuan."

"When traveling abroad, one should keep one's eyes open. The saber at your waist may look ordinary, but its scabbard has a style all its own."

"In the entire Imperial Capital, the only ones who should possess weapons made in that style are Duke Yuan's Hundred Weapons Pavilion."

The moment her words fell, the middle-aged man's expression changed sharply.

Then his aura began to rise rapidly, a heavy layer of blood qi faintly coiling around him.

He stared at Liu Qingni, a glint of cold light flashing through his eyes as he said in a low voice,

"Miss, your eyesight is exceptional. To discern my background from a mere scabbard, you must also be someone from the Imperial Capital."

"Are you also traveling to return to the Imperial Capital?"

"Correct!" Liu Qingni sat upright in the saddle, her tone calm. Meeting the fleeting killing intent he had revealed, her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as well.

The air in the forest instantly froze taut.

At that moment, Su Qingyang, who had been studying the man and woman beside him, suddenly clapped his hands and laughed softly.

"Since we are all colleagues, and you do not seem like bad people, then since we share the road, let us travel together!"

"We can look out for one another along the way."

The leading man was called Song Long. Hearing this, he showed no sign of relaxing. He turned to exchange a glance with the heroic-looking woman at his side, then slowly shook his head and declined.

"We appreciate the young master's kindness, but we have important business to attend to on this journey. It truly would not be convenient for us to travel together."

The scholar beside him remained guarded throughout, without saying a single word.

They seemed deeply wary of others. Especially after Liu Qingni had exposed Song Long's identity, they became even more cautious.

"Ah! Very well!"

Su Qingyang did not press the matter. He patted the horse beneath him and continued onward.

Song Long and the heroic woman's expressions shifted repeatedly as they sized up Su Qingyang. They could not see through him, and in the end, did not dare make a move.

Liu Qingni saw all of this, her expression turning slightly grave.

But she said nothing further and urged her horse after Su Qingyang ahead.

After the two had traveled some distance, Su Qingyang suddenly asked, "Who is this Duke Yuan?"

Liu Qingni looked back at the three people trailing far behind them before replying, "Duke Yuan is one of Great Jin's four pillars of the realm."

It was said that Duke Yuan and the current Emperor had met in their youth and become inseparable friends.

In private, they often addressed one another as brothers. He had been His Majesty's most trusted minister in his early years, specifically tasked with suppressing chaos in all directions and intimidating powerful enemies along the border.

Moreover, throughout the entire Great Jin court, Duke Yuan alone had dared to speak of trampling the martial world beneath cavalry hooves.

In his early years, he had personally led a great army to encircle and annihilate an old-established sect.

That sect had endured for a thousand years, its disciples spread across several prefectures, its foundations unfathomably deep.

Yet Duke Yuan had forcibly shattered its thousand-year legacy. Thousands of sect disciples lay dead before their mountain gates. With those towering military achievements, he secured his foothold in court, commanded heavy troops, and for a time wielded unparalleled power.

But when prosperity reached its peak, decline was sure to follow!

Later, Duke Yuan led his troops to the war in the East Sea and suffered a crushing defeat, his army collapsing across the entire front.

The Martial Dao Grandmaster who had survived the sect Duke Yuan once crushed had endured in silence for years, then seized the chance when he was defeated and stripped of influence to come seeking revenge.

That Grandmaster's cultivation had reached the pinnacle. Alone, he charged into the chaotic camp and slaughtered several thousand of Duke Yuan's personal guards on the spot.

He then stormed into Duke Yuan's temporary residence and, before Duke Yuan's very eyes, killed his entire family with a single palm strike.

That vengeance bloodied the shoreline. Blood flowed across the tidal flats and into the sea, a sight too horrifying to behold.

After the tragedy, Duke Yuan went alone to the Imperial Palace to meet the Emperor. None knew the details of their private discussion within the hall.

All that was known was that after that day, His Majesty issued a decree stripping Duke Yuan of all military authority. Duke of the Ultimate was elevated to take command of his forces, inheriting the responsibility of safeguarding the realm and likewise receiving the title of pillar of the realm.

Duke Yuan had no intention of contending with Duke of the Ultimate. He voluntarily submitted his resignation and relinquished his post as Grand General of the Armed Forces.

From then on, he shut himself away, living out his retirement in his Imperial Capital residence and never again involving himself in court or martial world disputes.

Su Qingyang fell into thought, then gave a soft laugh.

"Interesting. By Miss Liu's account, Duke Yuan should have long since laid down his armor and returned to the fields, with no desire for conflict.

"But those three just now revealed killing intent toward us. If they had not been unable to gauge our depths, they likely would have already acted, planning to silence us forever in these desolate mountains."

Su Qingyang said meaningfully, "It seems there is something wrong with them."

Liu Qingni furrowed her slender brows and carefully recalled the appearance of the three.

"That scholar's clothes were old and thin, and his face was gaunt. He likely was not the child of an official or wealthy family, but rather came from a poor background."

"Yet he was protected by two experts. That is clearly rather unusual...

"Furthermore, they are traveling this road toward the Imperial Capital, and that scholar's age and circumstances are quite similar to the young master's..."

Su Qingyang smiled. "Truth is often stranger than fiction! That scholar must be the Sixth Prince whom Duke Yuan's faction has found!"

The Sixth Prince's true identity had yet to be confirmed. The information held by every faction was incomplete and one-sided, and they were all searching based on their own intelligence.

They might very well end up finding different people.

Liu Qingni nodded slightly, then slowly shook her head. Looking earnestly at Su Qingyang, she said, "They are destined to return empty-handed. Only you, young master, are the true Sixth Prince!"

"Ha!" Su Qingyang chuckled, neither agreeing nor denying it.

Still, he truly was curious where Liu Qingni's immense confidence in him came from.

But just then, his expression abruptly hardened as he looked ahead. "It seems we truly are unlucky. The road we took appears to be blocked."

Liu Qingni was slightly startled. Then she lightly tapped the horse's back with the tip of her foot and leaped onto a large tree beside the road.

Looking into the distance, she indeed saw a crude wooden stockade built upon a far-off hillside. More than a dozen people stood guard around it, cutting directly across the forest path ahead.

"My apologies, young master. I overlooked this. The Black Cloud Sect is not foolish. What I can think of, they may not be unable to think of as well."

With a shift of her gaze, Liu Qingni understood why people were stationed there.

At present, the major powers of Cloud Prefecture stood with swords drawn and bows bent, their conflict ready to erupt at any moment. To guard against invasions by hostile forces, the Black Cloud Sect certainly would not overlook any route into their territory.

What others saw as a safe side path to avoid conflict was, in the eyes of the local tyrant Black Cloud Sect, the easiest route for infiltrators to slip through.

Its defenses were instead even tighter than those on the official road.

Thus, under the circumstances in Cloud Prefecture, the road that appeared safest actually concealed the greatest danger.

"It does not matter."

Su Qingyang smiled. Naturally, he had thought of what Liu Qingni had thought of.

"If we truly cannot get through, then we will simply fight our way through."