He simply did not know why the Great Qian Imperial Family would do such a thing, or what purpose all this concealment served.
He did not ask any further questions. As someone imprisoned here, he had no right to meddle in royal affairs. Learning what he wanted to know was enough.
Seeing that Gu Yuanqing did not ask, Prince Qing let the subject drop as well. This was hardly a glorious affair, and it had never been suitable for discussion in the first place.
Besides, both people involved were Grandmasters. Had things really happened as the information he had received suggested? Perhaps there was more to the story.
After some idle conversation, Gu Yuanqing rose to take his leave.
Prince Qing stood as well. "I will be staying on this mountain for some time. If you have a moment to spare, Young Master Gu, feel free to drop by and keep an old man company."
Gu Yuanqing smiled. "I am still serving a sentence. Without permission, I cannot even leave my courtyard. How could I come and trouble you, Your Highness?"
Prince Qing took this merely as an excuse and laughed. "I may be getting on in years, but I have not gone senile yet. How could a few ordinary soldiers keep a Grandmaster under guard? Surely you and His Majesty have some other arrangement, Young Master Gu?"
Gu Yuanqing did not answer. He cupped his hands. "Please do not trouble yourself to see me out, Your Highness. I shall take my leave."
He casually held the longsword behind his back, stepped backward a few paces, and turned to leave the room. Then something occurred to him, and he looked back. "Oh, there is one thing I nearly forgot."
"Please go ahead, Young Master Gu."
"There is a small courtyard on North Spring Mountain that I have grown accustomed to living in. Since I may continue living there in the future, I would rather not have other people setting foot inside. I mentioned this to General Chen yesterday, but he said he was not in charge here. Now that Your Highness has arrived, I imagine you must be the one with authority over North Spring Mountain. Might you grant this small request?"
"That is a trivial matter. I will have it arranged," Prince Qing said. "If you find living on the rear mountain uncomfortable, you may move back as well."
"That will not be necessary. Thank you, Your Highness. I spent a year living here at the front, so a spell on the rear mountain will be a change of pace. Besides, North Spring Mountain will probably become quite noisy in the days ahead. It will be quieter back there. I shall trouble you no further, Your Highness. Farewell." Gu Yuanqing bowed again, then turned and left the room.
Prince Qing accompanied him one step beyond the hall doorway. "Qin Hu, see Young Master Gu out for me."
The steward hurried over and extended a hand. "This way, Young Master Gu."
Once Gu Yuanqing disappeared from view, the smile gradually faded from Prince Qing's face. He stood there for a moment before returning to the hall and sitting down.
"Your Highness!" Having seen Gu Yuanqing off, the steward hurried back into the room.
Prince Qing waved a hand. "Do not worry. I will live."
"Does Gu Yuanqing... really have a Grandmaster backing him?" The steward glanced up at the roof, a trace of horror still lingering in his eyes. Was this what a Grandmaster could do? That attack defied all reason. A sword flying through the air from nowhere—it was like witnessing a myth come to life.
"Our emperor has certainly kept his cards well hidden. I was wondering why he suddenly sent an old man like me here. So he had another card tucked away here all along."
"Did His Majesty not ask you to come because your prestige would allow you to keep these martial sects in line, Your Highness?" the steward asked in confusion.
"That was what I thought, too. Now it seems our emperor had everything arranged already. This was merely a convenient opportunity to let an old man like me see it for himself."
The steward looked rather bewildered, unable to understand what his prince meant.
Prince Qing offered no further explanation. He simply said, "Make sure everyone below keeps their mouths shut about what happened today. No loose talk outside. Send someone to summon Chen Chuanshan of the Divine Eagle Guard."
"As you command!"
Gu Yuanqing followed the soldiers back to the rear mountain, entered his room, and let out a long breath.
He had seemed utterly confident from beginning to end, but his heart had still tightened the instant Prince Qing struck.
Setting aside Prince Qing's cultivation at the peak of the profound martial ninth layer, he was the emperor's own uncle, a War God whose fame had once filled the Great Qian Dynasty. A man like that could kill you without consequence, but if you so much as harmed a hair on his head, you would probably have no place left in Great Qian.
Gu Yuanqing considered himself reasonably strong and resourceful, but he was nowhere near capable of taking on an entire country alone.
Prince Qing seems to have misunderstood something. That is just as well—it will at least save me a great deal of trouble. Besides, here on North Spring Mountain, calling me a Grandmaster is not entirely wrong!
Gu Yuanqing closed his eyes and used Mountain Observation. He "saw" the old man busy at work, and with a flicker of thought, an invisible pressure descended upon him.
The old man abruptly froze. His expression turned utterly grim, and cold sweat began to bead on his forehead and back. He felt all the true qi in his body freeze in place, and some instinct told him that the slightest movement would mean death.
The middle-aged woman beside him, Feng Tao, noticed something was wrong. She patted his shoulder, making "ah-ba, ah-ba" sounds and gesturing with her hands.
Inside his room, Gu Yuanqing smiled faintly and withdrew his aura. The old man immediately began gulping down air. Could this Grandmaster be connected to that young master of the Gu Family? That would explain why his cultivation has improved so quickly. With personal instruction from a Grandmaster, it would make perfect sense. And now he must have noticed that I possess cultivation, and this is his warning!
He gestured to Feng Tao that he was fine, then went back to work as though nothing had happened.
Gu Yuanqing grew thoughtful. His gaze passed through the mountain obstructing his view and settled on Chen Chuanshan, who was hurrying uphill. With a flicker of Gu Yuanqing's thought, Chen Chuanshan, who had been flying across the treetops, seemed to come under crushing pressure. He plunged straight down, smashed through several branches, and tumbled to the ground.
Seeing this, Gu Yuanqing hastily withdrew the thought.
Chen Chuanshan immediately regained his ability to move. He slammed a palm against the ground, flipped upright, and landed on a rock on the mountainside. Suppressing his anger, he gripped his longbow with one hand and rested the other on the feathered ends of the arrows in his quiver. "Which expert is playing this sort of joke on me?" he demanded in a low voice.
Uh... Gu Yuanqing felt a little guilty. He had not expected such a violent reaction. After all, he had merely entertained a thought; he could not feel the effect that thought had on anyone else.
Chen Chuanshan stood there for a long time without receiving any reply. With a helpless snort, he continued up the mountain and arrived at Prince Qing's courtyard.
Seeing the dust on Chen Chuanshan and his somewhat bedraggled appearance, Prince Qing asked, "Where have you been, General Chen? You look quite travel-worn."
"A senior seems displeased with what I have been doing lately," Chen Chuanshan said. "While I was on my way here, he suddenly played a little joke on me."
Wang Qing paused, then suddenly realized whose handiwork this was. If he had been traveling across the treetops and abruptly experienced that same sealing of all his internal and external senses, he probably would have fared little better than Chen Chuanshan.
"He really is a young man. The way his mind works is... quite interesting." Wang Qing could not help laughing. He assumed Gu Yuanqing was unhappy about being sent to the rear mountain by Chen Chuanshan and had secretly played this little prank on him.
Before you continue