Chapter 584 - 282: The ’Zheng’ Military Banner

Chapter 584: Chapter 282: The ’Zheng’ Military Banner

"In the end, you realize that once you’ve made an enemy, even if you kill their entire family, karma gets tangled up. Someone will always pop up to avenge the dead."

After a pause, Qing Shisan sighed, "You can never kill them all."

Qing Pi shook his head, wearing the expression of a seasoned veteran.

Zheng Xiu clenched his fist under his sleeve, a scolding laugh on his lips. "I was asking about the marriage alliance."

"Oh? So Milord was asking about the marriage alliance!" Qing Shisan cried out, feigning annoyance. He slapped his own mouth in a show of self-reproach. "I’ve been running my mouth. If it’s about the marriage, then Milord has nothing to worry about."

"Hmm?"

"Heh! Which one of those officials In the Court doesn’t have three wives and four concubines? To say nothing of you, Milord! A Prince needs to have the presence of a Prince. Your primary wife will be peerless, her handmaidens gentle and sensible. Then you can have a few side consorts who are well-read and cultured, and you can still take three to five concubines who are charming and witty."

Zheng Xiu was taken aback, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "You’ve certainly given this a lot of thought."

Qing Shisan shrugged. "Isn’t that what it’s about? In this life, all we chase is one thing: ’joy.’ We chase ’carefree happiness.’ Why live a life of bitter feuds when you can be unfettered and content? It’s completely unnecessary."

"Heh, then what about you and Ji Hong’ou..."

"COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH..." Qing Shisan choked on his own saliva, coughing uncontrollably with an awkward look in his eyes. "That’s all ancient history. Best not to bring it up, best not to bring it up!"

Everyone has their own story.

Qing Shisan had lived half his life, learning to let go of grudges and live with wild abandon.

For the next several nights, Yue Linglong would come through the snow and stand at the entrance of the Red King Mansion.

This went on for several days.

After their meeting that night, Zheng Xiu knew she was there but deliberately avoided her. ’There’s really no reason to see her anyway,’ he thought. ’This has nothing to do with old feuds; it’s just a political assignment. Whether it succeeds or fails, I don’t care. That’s all there is to it.’

Zheng Xiu spent half a day making a long-overdue trip to the Disaster Prevention Bureau. He found that cases from various regions were once again on the rise. However, many in the Dawn Department were former elites from Ye Weiyang. Even with new names, they were still the best. They processed cases with incredible efficiency, working like an assembly line. They would accept assignments based on their rank and get to work, rarely needing Zheng Xiu’s approval.

Jiang Gaoyi was still running back and forth, helping Zheng Xiu process the towering stacks of files. He would set aside any unusual cases and annotate them accordingly.

「Late in the thirty-third year of the Zun’an Era.」

In the blink of an eye, it was time to prepare for the Reunion Banquet.

Yue Linglong only ever appeared late at night. Adopting an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude, Zheng Xiu gradually put the Princess out of his thoughts.

He was currently wrestling with the guest list for the Reunion Banquet. Now that he was the Red King, deciding who to invite and who to snub was a delicate art. The guest list wasn’t about inviting guests; it was about navigating the complex web of human relationships.

The envoys from the Northern Kingdom had been in Daqian for nearly two months now without incident.

Just then, a capable subordinate—one who had been silent all autumn and had been away so long that Zheng Xiu had almost forgotten about him—suddenly sent back a message.

It was Gu Qiutang.

"Your Highness!"

The Eternal World Painting lit up, and a clear image from the other side appeared on Zheng Xiu’s mirror surface.

On the other side was a scene of heavy snowfall, a world frozen for a thousand miles. Gu Qiutang’s hair had frozen into icicles, and his long beard was matted into clumps, covered in frost. At first glance, Zheng Xiu didn’t even recognize him as the once imposing Swordman, Gu Qiutang.

"I did it! I did it! I did it!"

Gu Qiutang was completely motionless, but his tone was incredibly excited. The contrast between his voice and his expression created a severe sense of disconnect.

Zheng Xiu was stunned. "What did you do?"

"As expected of the Prince! After hearing your words that day, this subordinate had a sudden epiphany, a moment of true enlightenment! I have finally comprehended it! This subordinate has finally mastered the true ’Immovable Saber’!"

Previously, Gu Qiutang had been beaten into submission by Zheng Xiu, outwardly compliant but inwardly unconvinced.

Now, because of a casual remark from Zheng Xiu, he seemed to have grasped the true "Immovable Saber". This time, he was truly convinced of Zheng Xiu’s superiority, his words filled with undeniable respect and admiration.

Hearing this, Zheng Xiu was even more bewildered. ’What did I even say that day?’

’What could I have possibly said to unclog his brain like that?’

Zheng Xiu frowned and thought hard, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember what profound idea he had imparted to Gu Qiutang.

But judging from the excitement in the man’s voice, he wasn’t faking it. It seemed he had truly made a breakthrough in his Path Cultivation.

"Good! Excellent! To have you as a subordinate is my great fortune!" Zheng Xiu offered some encouragement. He was still dealing with his own headaches and was about to end the call when Gu Qiutang’s tone shifted. "Your Highness, there is one more thing. Do you recall the rumors from the wasteland about the ’Hundred Ghosts March’?"

Zheng Xiu’s brow furrowed. He did remember it. He took his finger off the mirror surface and nodded. "Speak."

"This subordinate chose a snowy mountain and sat there for a month."

"On a night with a full moon, amidst a heavy blizzard, I faintly saw a troop of soldiers in tattered clothes on the vast, snowy plains."

"I focused my gaze and saw that beneath the soldiers’ tattered clothes was a mess of mangled flesh and blood, with white bone visible. They were clearly not Human, most likely some form of evil spirit."

Gu Qiutang’s expression changed, and chunks of ice began to fall from his face.

"Perhaps this is the ’Hundred Ghosts March’ the common folk speak of."

"However, when a cloud covered the moon, the tattered soldiers vanished in the blink of an eye, as if they were just an illusion."

"It was only a fleeting glimpse, so this subordinate cannot be certain, but I thought I saw a military banner among the marching troops..."

Gu Qiutang met Zheng Xiu’s gaze through the Eternal World Painting.

"On the banner, I could faintly make out a single word: ’Zheng’."

CRASH.

The next second, the Red King Mirror in Zheng Xiu’s hand fell to the floor.

Zheng Xiu’s mouth hung open. For a long moment, he was utterly speechless.