This was not the first time Chen Qing had heard that name...
The name seemed to be taboo. Even Wang Ye had been exceedingly cautious when mentioning it to him, and had repeatedly warned him not to bring it up lightly.
A demon had actually disguised himself as a human and nearly unified the world. What a brilliant idea. Why hadn't he, the designer, thought of it back then?
But hearing Mr. Origami mention it again now left Chen Qing even more astonished than the first time.
The King of Qin knew the secret of reincarnation too?
Why did he know?
Chen Qing was deeply puzzled. He had records of every demon capable of reincarnation, and that fellow called the King of Qin was definitely not among them. Not even a hidden one could have been.
Yet he knew all the same...
This brought another question to Chen Qing's mind. Why would a demon be so keen to unify humanity?
For demons, times of war and chaos were the best. What did he stand to gain from unifying humanity and having humans and demons coexist?
There were benefits, in fact, tremendous ones. But in the original world setting, demons did not know about them. Combined with their fondness for eating humans, this meant they would never think of coexisting peacefully with humanity. Chen Qing knew that very well.
Exactly what those benefits were was something Chen Qing and his former partner had intended to leave for players to explore and discover. But now there were no players. Could it be... an NPC had discovered them?
Was he an NPC?
A suspicion arose in Chen Qing's mind.
"From the look of you... you don't know the King of Qin's deeds." Watching Chen Qing's bewildered expression, Mr. Bai tilted his head, looking somewhat disappointed. "I thought... you and the King of Qin were the same kind of existence..."
"What kind of existence... do you think the King of Qin was, sir?" Chen Qing could not help asking.
"It's hard to say..." Mr. Bai shook his head while searching for something on the ground. "I always felt he was different from us. Not like a demon... nor like a human. Not much like... anything at all..."
Those inexplicable words sent a chill through Chen Qing's heart. He was about to ask more when he witnessed a bizarre sight.
The man gathered some lingering Golden Crow flames from the ground, used a sheet of oiled paper to catch the fire, and actually set his own clothes alight.
Mr. Origami feared fire because his clothes were all things he had drawn himself. And once the Golden Crow's fire caught his body, there was no saving him!
"Sir, what are you doing?" Chen Qing swallowed. Watching this wretched fellow burn himself alive, he could not make sense of what he was thinking.
"If I don't do this... should I wait for him to return and lock me up for another three hundred years?" Mr. Bai chuckled, his voice exceptionally aged. "I've lived long enough. It's time to die..."
Chen Qing: "..."
"Chen Qing, was it?"
"Yes..." Watching him approach, Chen Qing grew a little nervous. Surely this old fellow wasn't planning to take him along while burning himself alive?
"You know the secret of reincarnation. Then do you know... where we'll reincarnate?"
Chen Qing froze. He had always been good at putting on an act, but perhaps because he was too alarmed, he failed to keep it up and hesitated for a moment.
"You actually know?" Seeing Chen Qing hesitate, Mr. Bai grinned. "Now I'm certain. You and the King of Qin..."
Were the same kind of person!
"Chen Qing, over here!!"
Only when he walked out of the hall in a daze did Chen Qing see the belated palace guards. Leading them was a burly veteran whose face greatly resembled Yuchi Peng's. He was none other than the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards, the Yuchi Household's previous-generation Yuchi Peng...
Beside him, Yuchi Peng hurried over to Chen Qing and pulled him away from the dangerous hall.
"Are you all right?"
After only a few days together, Yuchi Peng clearly already regarded Chen Qing as a friend. The concern in his voice plainly came from the heart.
"For now..." Chen Qing smiled weakly.
"What about the gentleman in this hall?" The speaker was Fei Jun, who had come along with them. He looked at the half-burned Thousand Cranes Hall with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
"Dead!"
"Is that so?" Fei Jun nodded. "Just as I thought. For that demon fox to be so brazen, someone must have been cooperating with him. And in this palace, the one best able to cooperate was that monster in this hall!"
The corner of Chen Qing's mouth twitched. He realized Fei Jun was very well suited to being an official, because he was so pragmatic. While his fate was uncertain, he was a gentleman. Once confirmed dead, he became a monster...
"Where are His Majesty and the duke?" Yuchi Peng hurriedly asked.
Chen Qing shook his head without speaking. He certainly could not explain in detail in front of so many people. The crown prince being trapped on the Yin-Yang Road was a grave matter that could shake people's hearts. Letting that slip from his own lips would truly mean he had a death wish.
Of course, even if he said nothing today, his chances of surviving were actually very slim...
Chen Qing sat limply on the ground, lamenting his rotten luck.
Even knowing all this world's secrets, he could not work out whether he would survive the day. He was still... far too weak...
If only he had listened to Tencent headquarters back then and designed the pay-to-win system first.
Boom!
Just as Yuchi Peng was about to press him further, a blaze shot into the heavens, once again lighting up the sky over the entire imperial palace!
"It's His Majesty!"
The imperial guard commander hurriedly pulled his foolish son forward to kneel. After a moment's stunned hesitation, the other guards all knelt as well.
"We pay our respects to Your Majesty!!"
Chen Qing struggled to his feet and performed a scholar's salute alongside Fei Jun. This was something Chen Qing rather liked. After so many years of arduous study, although he had yet to start reaping the benefits, at least he did not have to kneel and kowtow to anyone, even the emperor.
The flames descended, revealing the tall, imposing monarch, his face expressionless. A severed head landed after him. Although burned beyond recognition, Chen Qing still recognized its owner.
Mountain Ghost!
The fellow who had ridden a Ghost Horse and forcibly rescued Thousand-Faced Fox from the Golden Crow's flames...
He could not help being shocked. Mountain Ghost was one of the four great ghost generals, no weaker than Ghost Child in the setting. Moreover, he had lurked in the world for many years rather than being kept suppressed like Ghost Child. Even if his strength had not reached the level needed to evolve into a ghost king, he was at least no weaker than Ghost Child was now.
Yet an existence like that had been unable even to escape from the man before him!
The founding monarch of Great Jin possessed power far beyond what he had expected. He had probably already exceeded some of his settings...
But what plunged him into even greater despair was that the crown prince did not seem to have returned with him.
This really was not good news. All he could hope for now was that this old fellow would keep a little faith and honor his promise. But he knew very well that the more forceful a monarch was, the more he treated his own words like farts!
Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang were living examples from history. They had never shown mercy when killing ministers who had served them well. With the empress dead, this old fellow was plainly in an utterly foul mood, and there was no telling when he might erupt. If he had failed to rescue the crown prince too...
Chen Qing felt his legs weaken.
Just as despair filled his heart, a deep, powerful neigh suddenly rang out, making him freeze.
"My lord duke?" Fei Jun also looked behind the monarch and saw Liu Yu approaching with an enormous black horse in tow.
Chen Qing's heart jolted at the sight. He had killed the ghost general but preserved the horse?
"Stand guard outside. Chen Qing, come in!"
After giving his orders, the emperor turned and walked into the hall.
Fei Jun froze, watching anxiously, but did not know what to say. With his intelligence, he could naturally guess that His Majesty wanted to discuss the crown prince with Chen Qing. Yet as one of the crown prince's close ministers, he could not even participate?
At that thought, Fei Jun looked at Chen Qing resentfully...
Chen Qing's thoughts were a tangled mess. He had no mind to decipher Fei Jun's resentful gaze and hurriedly trotted after the emperor.
Once they entered the hall, Liu Yu guarded the doorway. The emperor glanced at the Ghost Horse they had forcibly captured, then said, "We failed to find the crown prince. That demon fox and ghost general killed themselves in the end!"
"Your Majesty's divine might is invincible. Those two paltry demons and ghosts knew they were no match. At least they knew their place."
The emperor could not be bothered to listen to Chen Qing's shoddy flattery and asked directly, "Do you have a way to find the crown prince?"
"Why would Your Majesty think this student has a way?" Chen Qing's face was bitter.
He did not want to take on a single task connected to the imperial family now, and this was clearly another life-threatening assignment.
The emperor stared steadily at Chen Qing and said, stressing every word, "Bring the crown prince back, and I will not kill you!"
Chen Qing's face immediately twitched. Bracing himself, he said, "Your Majesty, you said earlier that finding Thousand-Faced Fox would settle the matter."
"I never said that..." The emperor did not even lift his eyelids. "I only said I would exterminate your nine familial relations if you failed to find Thousand-Faced Fox. Now that you have found him, I will keep my promise and not exterminate your nine familial relations!"
"Your Majesty also said you would appoint this student prefect of Liuzhou!"
"Yes..." The emperor nodded. "I never break my word. If you fail to find the crown prince, I will certainly appoint you prefect of Liuzhou before you die. As for the imperial patent and noble title you requested earlier, I will not shortchange you on either!"
Ha... Chen Qing laughed in anger. How fucking principled!
"Don't say I'm bullying you!" Without waiting for Chen Qing to object, the emperor continued, "With those inexplicable peculiarities of yours, do you think you could ordinarily escape a bout of severe torture?"
Chen Qing: "..."
"I promise you, as long as you rescue the crown prince, I will not investigate whatever secrets you are hiding. So long as you do not actively harm the state, I will never lay a hand on you. How about it?"
"Does Your Majesty truly mean that?" Chen Qing's eyes lit up!
"Heh..." The emperor immediately sneered. "So you really have been hiding a way?"
Chen Qing: "..."
"A monarch's word carries the weight of nine cauldrons!" The emperor looked earnestly at Chen Qing. "Bring back the crown prince, and I will not touch you!"
"This student needs help..."
"Name it!"
"This student needs this Ghost Horse!" Chen Qing pointed at the Ghost Horse.
"I guessed you would!" The emperor nodded. "Anything else?"
"This student also needs someone!"
"Who?"
"Lord Wang Ye, vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review!!"
The growth in bookmarks has been pretty good, but as for how many are keeping up with the latest chapters, this author has no idea. Hehe, I'm incredibly nervous. The next round of PK is in two days. Dear readers, please remember to keep reading!