On the verge of erupting - Part 1 (Newly revised)
Deep within a birch forest outside Wuling City, a cheap carriage sat forlornly. Its curtains, washed to a faded color, were now unevenly mixed with pale white, the original single blue now dull and worn. The windows were even more thoroughly washed, leaving only a thin, almost torn layer of gauze.
Xiang Yu sat on the carriage shaft, leaning against the carriage wall, his eyes closed in rest. At this time of year, the forest was very quiet, just like now, when the birds were not singing, even the sound of a pebble rolling could be clearly heard.
If a bird were to sing, it would be as loud as thunder.
A cold wind swept through the forest, and only the occasional gust of wind brushed against one's cheek reminded the people in the woods that the current quiet was not because time had stopped flowing. Time, as always, relentlessly passed by.
A large red sedan chair carried by eight men appeared silently in the woods, not far behind the carriage. Eight strong men dressed in red walked with firm footsteps, yet made no sound.
A man and a woman sat reclining on a sedan chair, drinking and chatting happily, their faces beaming with smiles. As the man's dark purple lips moved, the woman trembled with joy, yet made no sound.
They seemed to have truly stepped into a frozen moment in time.
A man holding an ancient-looking sword walked to the side and front of the sedan chair. The speed of the sedan chair changed rhythmically with his movements, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
The woman suddenly braced herself with her arms and said something to the man in front of her.
The man stopped and turned around to answer.
The woman slapped the sedan chair with her palm and silently leaped into the air.
The birch tree's straight trunk was inexplicably covered with scars. Withered branches fluttered down, breaking into several pieces in the air, each break clean and smooth.
Withered branches, fallen leaves, and soil, swept by the cold wind, rushed towards the resting creature from all directions, from the sky and the ground, like wild beasts pouncing on their prey.
The ancient bell tolled, and the tangled branches and leaves scattered again and again, not even a speck of dust could get near the cheap carriage.
The woman held a sword with a hollowed-out center and thrust it straight down from two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) directly above the jade.
With a flick of Xiang Yu's sleeve, the woman gracefully spun around and landed not far from Xiang Yu.
Directly above the jade, another powerful bell rang out.
"What a magnificent Thousand-Hand Guanyin!" The woman exclaimed with delight. "I've long heard from my junior brother that His Highness the Crown Prince possesses extraordinary martial arts skills, and seeing them today, I can confirm that he is indeed exceptional."
"To possess such extraordinary skills at such a young age, young lady, you truly are a woman who rivals any man." Xiang Yu jumped down from the carriage shaft, faced the woman, and said, "If I'm not mistaken, young lady, you must be the supervisor of the Four Symbols of the Blood Palace."
The supervising soldier let out a silvery laugh and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness."
The man who had just ridden in the sedan chair with the supervising soldier walked to her side, cupped his hands and said, "My name is Meng Zhang, and I greet Your Highness the Crown Prince. My junior sister is naturally unruly and has offended me just now. I hope Your Highness will forgive her."
Xiang Wu returned the greeting with clasped hands and asked with concern, "How are your junior brothers?"
"Thanks to the Crown Prince," Meng Zhang replied politely, "the Crown Prince rescued him from the clutches of the Hall of Longevity and he has been recuperating in the palace. He has now recovered to about 70-80%."
Xiang Yu nodded and said, "Thank you both for coming all this way."
“The Crown Prince is clearly a beggar,” the supervising soldier said, looking at Xiang Yu with interest, “yet he uses Shaolin kung fu. How interesting.”
"Junior sister, don't be rude," Meng Zhang said, stopping her.
“It’s alright,” Xiang Yu waved his hand dismissively, “The situation is still unclear, so please just call me Xiang Yu.”
He then added, "To be honest, I have been practicing Shaolin martial arts since I was a child. However, monks do not concern themselves with worldly affairs. If we want to restore our country, we still need to rely on a broader and more powerful group."
"The new emperor is currently incompetent and tyrannical, and the people are displaced. The Beggars' Sect is indeed a good choice," Meng Zhang nodded with a smile. He then asked:
"The Crown Prince just said that the situation is still unclear. I wonder what has happened that has caused him to risk summoning the two of us to the pass?"
"The election of the Beggars' Sect elders is imminent, and Ma Youyuan and I were originally evenly matched." Xiang Yu answered carefully, "He suddenly found a woman from somewhere and is getting married soon. Using his father Ma Hong's status as the Beggars' Sect leader, he invited all the important figures from various factions to gather together."
"This is an attempt to use this opportunity to undermine public morale."
“That’s right, I’m still young and my foundation is not yet stable.” Xiang Yu said helplessly, “If I fail this time, I’m afraid I will fail the Grand Palace Master’s trust and ruin the Blood Palace’s grand plan to take over the Central Plains.”
“You Yuan’s brat is nothing to fear, but it’s inconvenient for me to take action.” Xiang Yu’s face darkened as he said, “I invited you two here today because I wanted to use your hands to eliminate him completely.”
"What's so difficult about that?" the supervising soldier replied immediately. "Today I'll go into the city, take his head, and make him make way for His Highness."
“No,” Xiangyu stopped him, “This involves many things, including the Hall of Longevity. We need to plan and prepare in many ways. It would be best to wait until the wedding day to take action.”
The guard looked at him suspiciously and asked, "When is the wedding date?"
“Five days from now.” Xiang Yu held up three fingers. “Until then, please be patient. I have prepared some commoners’ clothing in the carriage. Please change into them and come into the city with me.”
Meng Zhang looked at his and the soldier's clothes, which were bright red and eye-catching, with only some gold embroidery on the collar and cuffs, which was indeed not conducive to hiding.
Looking further into the distance, Xiang Yu discovered that the palanquin from before had vanished without a trace. He couldn't help but sigh, "The Ghost Step of the Blood Palace is truly unparalleled. It arrived and left just as quickly as it appeared, and I didn't even notice."
“I don’t like hearing what Your Highness is saying,” the guard puffed out one cheek. “Since Your Highness says you didn’t notice anything, then my ambush of you failed. Isn’t that implying that you didn’t notice the sedan chair but did notice me, indirectly criticizing my poor lightness skill?”
The three of them smiled at each other, and the air in the forest instantly became cheerful.
*
About an hour after everyone left, as the sun began to set and the colors changed, two figures finally stood up from a pile of fallen leaves a little further away. Upon closer inspection, they saw a hole about half a person's height dug in the ground, covered with a fine mesh netting filled with soil and fallen leaves.
Wang Boyu patted the dirt off his clothes and said, "I never expected that he would secretly collude with the Blood Palace. No wonder you said we weren't on the same side."
Pei Jiangxi tossed him the sword tassel that had fallen to the ground and warned, "You must not drop anything when you leave, or you could lose your head."
Catching the sword tassel, Wang Boyu nodded: "What do we do now? Should we secretly inform the Beggars' Sect?"
What do you think?
"We cannot allow the Blood Palace to enter the Central Plains." Wang Boyu said fiercely, "Back then, Blood Xuanyuan stirred up a bloody storm in the martial world, and many uncles and elders of Yijian Mountain died at their hands. We must never let history repeat itself."
“I think the same way you do,” Pei Jiangxi reassured her. “However, the Beggars’ Sect must not know about this.”
"Did you get a good look at the man holding the sword in front of the sedan chair?" Pei Jiangxi asked.
Wang Boyu nodded, puzzled.
“That isolated domain is his sword intent, and he will hand it over to you then.” Pei Jiangxi said solemnly, “He is the successor of the Blood Palace in this generation, the Zhiming among the Four Symbols, and we must not let him run back.”
“Bei Gong Zhiming?” Wang Boyu was somewhat shocked: “That means that Meng Zhang of the East Palace, Jian Bing of the West Palace, and Zhiming of the North Palace, all three of the Four Symbols of the Blood Palace, have come.”
“That’s right,” Pei Jiangxi said, “This show of force isn’t aimed at Ma Youyuan.”
“But don’t worry, I have my own plans.” Pei Jiangxi patted Wang Boyu’s arm: “You’ve also glimpsed some of Zhiming’s sword intent, go back and study it carefully.”
“You want to wait for the people from the Hall of Longevity, to kill two birds with one stone,” Wang Boyu said to Pei Jiangxi’s back.
Pei Jiangxi turned around and smiled with satisfaction: "I knew I couldn't hide it from you. You've seen the way the Hall of Longevity operates. Of course, I hope they can compete with each other, so that it will be easier for both of us."
Is there anything else I can do?
"Fill up the hole, I'm going back now." Pei Jiangxi waved her hand and said without turning her head, "Don't worry, I will definitely help you get rid of them."
*
Inside a guest room at Xihelou Shangpin, Meng Zhang had just sat down and turned over the teacup that was upside down on the table. Before he could even pour tea, the guard pushed open the door and walked in.
"His Highness the Crown Prince has left?" The guard used his foot to pull out a stool from under the table and plopped down on it.
"We've been walking for a while." Meng Zhang sighed when he saw her like this, and said, "Can't you act like a girl at all?"
The soldier snatched the tea that Meng Zhang had just poured and said irritably, "We grew up together, what do I have to pretend for in front of you?"
Meng Zhang could only look at the guard with doting eyes, and only after she finished drinking the tea in her cup did he flick her on the head.
"What is it now?" The guard rubbed his forehead and scolded, "It's just a sip of your tea."
"When you said those words to Xiang Yu today, did you consider what would happen if he really asked you to kill Ma Youyuan?"
"Then kill them," the supervising soldier said indifferently.
Seeing Meng Zhang raise his hand again, the guard quickly raised his other hand to block him, and said coquettishly, "Of course I won't really kill him. Your junior sister isn't stupid, my good senior brother."
"Don't forget why Master called us here. If you mess this up, even your senior brother can't protect you."
"That's right, you can't even protect yourself."
"Still being cheeky."
"I was wrong, I was wrong." Seeing that Meng Zhang was getting angry, the supervising soldier quickly bowed and admitted his mistake.
Meng Zhang filled the soldier's cup, drank one himself, and continued, "Fortunately, Xiang Yu is no good either. He wants to use us to strike at the Hall of Longevity and dampen the prestige of the new faction in the Beggars' Sect."
"The sects of these Central Plains people are really complicated internally, unlike us, who are united in purpose." The guard peeled the peanuts and placed some in front of Meng Zhang. Although she never put on a weak and timid act in front of her fellow disciples, she knew exactly how to please them.
"Tell me about it, senior brother." The soldier's eyes curved like crescent moons.
Seeing her like this, Meng Zhang's face, which had been stiff with anger, softened.
"The Beggars' Sect is roughly divided into three factions. The first is the new faction, which supports the new emperor, which is actually closer to the Hall of Longevity; the second is the old faction, which believes that the new emperor's ascension to the throne is illegitimate and is also a group of people who are determined to distance themselves from the Hall of Longevity; and the third is the neutral faction, which consists of the largest number of ordinary disciples. These people don't care who is in power as long as their lives are not affected."
"The neutral parties are interesting; they're like a mirror."
This time it was Meng Zhang's turn to be curious.
The guard laughed and said, "It means if you smile at him, he'll smile back. If you're mean to him, he'll be mean to you."
Meng Zhang stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then said, "In short, we've come here to retrieve the sword heart that the previous Zhonggong Xuanyuan gathered before his death. Ma Youyuan's wedding night is our opportunity to act; we can't let anything happen to him before then."
"What about the Crown Prince's request?"
“That’s a wedding banquet where the pillars of the Hall of Longevity and the Beggars’ Sect gather. He wouldn’t be so foolish as to only send one group of us to kill Ma Youyuan,” Meng Zhang replied. “Once we get the sword heart, if they fight to the death, we can just do him a favor and give it to him.”
*
The Unforgettable Pavilion was unusually lively tonight. Pei Jiangxi unexpectedly confined everyone to their quarters, forbidding anyone from going out.
In the center of the front hall, the two elderly people sat comfortably facing each other, as always. A chessboard sat on the square table between them, and the game had reached a crucial moment. At the two corners of the chessboard were oval bamboo chess containers, and next to them were two large porcelain bowls filled with golden tea, which they had already drunk quite a bit of.
At the edge of the table, a man and a woman of refined bearing stood watching the game. The woman was half a head taller than the man, while the man was more robust than the woman, creating a subtle balance.
The girl who had greeted him that day was not there today. Xiang Wu glanced around the room, forced himself to take the last few steps, and gently laid Lin Zhenna on his back onto the ground.
The people in the hall glanced at Xiang Wu, and Wang Boyu was the first to call out, "Ayu, we have a guest."
Behind the screen emerged a gray-haired couple, without masks, their expressions sorrowful. They were likely people with ulterior motives, like Xiang Wu. After them, a masked man emerged from the inner room.
"It seems you've suffered quite a bit these past few days, young hero." The man looked at Xiang Wu, who was kneeling on the ground and looked slightly tired. "Since you've brought the young lady here, you must have already made your decision. Of the three things from last time, this one seems to be the most important."
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