["Young master, I have perfected the Iron Cloth Technique. Ordinary blades cannot kill me."] [Dachun explained earnestly.] ["So that was it." You also noticed the bronze skin beneath Dachun's ragged clothes, its surface richly textured.] [The Iron Cloth Technique was a supreme external martial art. Once perfected, it made its practitioner difficult to wound with blades.] [Of course, that resistance to blades was relative. It did not truly make one's body indestructible as diamond. Surrounded by an army of thousands, its practitioner would still be worn down and killed.] ["How did you find this place?"] [You continued questioning him.] [This was a "secret base" you had prepared in private. No one in the Zhou residence knew about it, not even Dachun, your closest confidant.] ["Young master, I can remember your scent."] [Dachun pointed at his nose.] [It turned out that Dachun possessed an ability to locate targets by scent.] [He had found this place by following the scent you left behind.] [You looked Dachun over again and again.] [This fellow was gifted with extraordinary talents.] ["Young master, what exactly happened at the residence?"] [Dachun's simple mind was filled with a rare sense of worry.] [While covering your retreat, Dachun had sensed dozens of terrifying auras.] [The owners of those terrifying auras were fighting the truly powerful experts of the Zhou residence.] [That was why Dachun had been able to escape the Zhou residence after holding back those dozens of armored figures.] ["We will have to find out later..."] [You sighed.] [Although you did not know the details, you already had a suspicion.] [The Zhou family had enjoyed prominence for generations. In the capital, only the emperor could move against them.] [Under normal circumstances, however, the old emperor would never move against the Zhou family.] [In other words, someone had attacked the Zhou family under the guise of carrying out the old emperor's orders.] [That person's true objective was the throne.] [The Zhou family wielded considerable influence in the capital. Its patriarch, Zhou Shizhong, was commander of the capital's imperial guards and held military power in his hands.] [With the Eldest Prince far away on the northern frontier, any member of the imperial family interested in the throne would first have to eliminate Zhou Shizhong-the Zhou family.] ["The master will never let them get away with this!"] [Dachun could not help saying.] ["The master?"] [Your face remained expressionless.] [Since they dared to attack the Zhou residence so openly,] [it meant Zhou Shizhong was already finished. Even if he was not dead, he had completely lost the ability to resist.]
Outside the simulation, Zhou Qing's expression darkened.
When he heard that the Eldest Prince intended to travel to the northern frontier, Zhou Qing had already harbored concerns along these lines.
He had never expected those concerns to become reality.
"Who was it?"
Zhou Qing's brows knitted tightly.
Although his fears had come true, the good news was that all of this had happened within the simulation.
In reality, Zhou Qing still had ample time to avoid it.
What puzzled Zhou Qing was which member of the imperial family could have orchestrated something on such a grand scale.
Since the Eldest Prince dared to travel all the way to the northern frontier, he surely had enough confidence to ensure the capital would remain under his control.
And that was indeed the case.
The old emperor had placed great hopes in him and raised him as the heir apparent from childhood. Throughout the Qian Kingdom, the Eldest Prince was universally accepted as the future emperor.
To shake that position and seize the Eldest Prince's throne...
Outside forces would have to intervene.
"The Barbarian Tribe?"
Zhou Qing looked thoughtful.
"Let's continue the simulation."
Zhou Qing steadied himself and returned his gaze to the illusory text.
However much he speculated now, it would remain speculation. He could simply read the simulation's subsequent results.
[For the next half month, you and Dachun remained hidden in the "secret base."] [Since you had prepared identity documents long ago, you successfully weathered several searches during that time.] [A month later, you finally received news of what had happened.] [The Zhou family had intended to collude with the Lie Kingdom and rebel.] [Fortunately, the Fourth Prince discovered their plot in time, turned back the raging tide before everything collapsed, and immediately took Zhou Shizhong into custody.] [Now that the matter had been thoroughly investigated, the emperor issued a decree: all 106 members of the Zhou family were to be sent to the marketplace execution grounds at once and beheaded.] ["The Fourth Prince?"] [Your heart turned cold. The mastermind had finally surfaced.] [As for the Zhou family plotting rebellion? What a joke. Their standing as subjects had already reached its pinnacle. Why would they rebel?] [After considering it briefly, you immediately took Dachun out to Autumn Moon Ward and reserved a private room on the third floor.] [Autumn Moon Ward stood on Vermilion Bird Road and was a famous pleasure establishment in the capital. Vermilion Bird Road was also the route that had to be taken to reach the marketplace execution grounds.] [That night, you and Dachun stayed on the third floor of Autumn Moon Ward.] [It was not until the following day that you approached the window of your third-floor room and looked down Vermilion Bird Road.] [At that moment, the sides of Vermilion Bird Road were packed with the capital's residents. Prison carts rolled past one after another, escorting the Zhou family to the marketplace execution grounds.] [You saw your mother, your eldest brother Zhou Wen, your second brother Zhou Wu, and many other members of the Zhou family. All of them had vacant eyes and had clearly suffered inhuman torture.] ["Madam! Eldest young master! Second young master!"] [Dachun's eyes nearly split with rage. Having grown up in the Zhou family and benefited greatly from their care and training, he had long considered himself one of them. How could he bear to see the madam and young masters suffer such humiliation?] ["Young master, let me rescue the madam!"] [Dachun looked at you and spoke urgently.] [You, too, were filled with fury. Only your remaining reason kept you from making an immediate choice.]
At this point,
lines of illusory text continued to form.
[Please make one of the following choices:] [One: Immediately have Dachun rescue your mother and two elder brothers, then leave the capital along the route you planned long ago.] [Two: Watch coldly from the sidelines.] [Three: Unable to bear seeing your mother and brothers beheaded, leave immediately with Dachun.]
The Zhou Qing within the simulation was affected by his emotions. After all, two years had passed in the simulation before this happened.
After spending two years with his mother and elder brothers, he would naturally have developed some affection for them.
But outside the simulation, Zhou Qing remained utterly rational.
"Choose two."
After a brief consideration, Zhou Qing made his choice.
First of all, option one was definitely out of the question.
Since more than a hundred members of the Zhou family had been brought out so openly
to be executed,
how could the mastermind possibly have made no preparations?
Perhaps they were bait, meant to lure out members of the Zhou family who had gone into hiding.
As for option three? If this was a trap, everyone in the vicinity was very likely under surveillance.
If Zhou Qing left with Dachun now, they would inevitably attract attention.
Watching coldly from the sidelines was therefore the best choice.
[You stopped Dachun from intervening.] [Although Dachun was furious, he still obeyed you.] [Before long, the Zhou family's hundred-odd members were brought to the marketplace execution grounds.] [Just before the beheadings, dozens of figures suddenly sprang out of the crowd.] ["Madam, young masters, do not be afraid!"] [Their leader roared, and a scorching aura spread outward.] [But the next moment, a rain of arrows fell. More than half of those who had charged out died on the spot.] [The survivors were immediately surrounded and swiftly dispatched.] ["So it really was a trap?"] [Watching the one-sided slaughter at the marketplace execution grounds, you sighed inwardly.] ["And there was a fluctuation of 'qi.' Did an immortal cultivator intervene?"] [You sank into thought.] [After two years of practicing the Qi Introduction Art, you had yet to condense a complete strand of "qi" within your body, but you were still quite sensitive to it.] [Just now, you had vaguely sensed a fluctuation of "qi" flash past.] [You could not help feeling relieved. Fortunately, you had not let Dachun act, or your fate would have been no different from that of those who charged out.] [You stayed in Autumn Moon Ward for three days. Only after confirming there were no problems did you leave with Dachun.] ["Young master, where are we going now?"] [Dachun followed you out of the capital and asked quietly.] ["We will find somewhere." You took one last look at the capital, then left without looking back.] [You and Dachun found a small town far from the capital and settled there in seclusion.] [As for your purpose... naturally, it was to practice the Qi Introduction Art. Only by mastering it and becoming an immortal cultivator could you avenge your parents and brothers.] [In the third year, at eighteen, you received news that the old emperor was gravely ill. The Fourth Prince, now governing in his stead, issued a decree ordering the Eldest Prince to return from the distant northern frontier.]
"..." Reading this, Zhou Qing could not help falling silent.
Zhou Qing did not believe the Eldest Prince was completely unaware of what had happened in the capital.
But even if he knew, what could he do? Especially now, faced with a decree from the one governing the kingdom?
Whether he wanted to return or not, would he not have to come back?
[The Eldest Prince did not return. Instead, he raised troops on the northern frontier and marched south under the banner of purging the ruler's side of evil.] [In the fourth year, at nineteen, the Fourth Prince mobilized the elite forces of the entire kingdom to encircle and destroy the Eldest Prince.] [The Barbarian Tribe seized the opportunity to send troops, joining the Qian Kingdom's elite forces in a pincer attack. The Eldest Prince was caught between enemies on both sides.] [In the fifth year, at twenty, the Eldest Prince's army was defeated, and he took his own life.] [In the sixth year, at twenty-one, you continued diligently practicing the Qi Introduction Art. That same year, you learned that the old emperor had died and the Fourth Prince had inherited the Qian Kingdom's throne.] [In the seventh year, at twenty-two, you constantly drew upon the elusive "qi" between heaven and earth, gathering it within your dantian. A complete strand of "qi" was gradually taking shape.] [In the eighth year, at twenty-three, you continued diligently practicing the Qi Introduction Art.] [In the ninth year, at twenty-four, you felt the "qi" within your dantian growing ever closer to completion.] [In the tenth year, at twenty-five, you successfully condensed a complete strand of "qi" within your dantian and entered the Qi Condensation stage.]