Chapter 718: What If There’s Someone Above Him?
Those with ambition—other than the princes, who else could it be?
After suffering such a sudden and devastating loss, the Beicang Emperor would undoubtedly plunge the royal family into another storm of blood and chaos.
Given his ruthless nature—his willingness to sacrifice his own son for a mere Saint Dragon Token—how could he possibly show mercy to anyone else?
Beicang was bound to fall into turmoil.
And once the nation descended into chaos, the neighboring countries would inevitably be eager to make their moves.
As one of the stronger nations, who wouldn’t want a piece of Beicang’s territory for themselves?
Everything Gong Ling had done was aimed at disrupting the entire balance of the world’s political chessboard!
When Liu Yusheng heard the news, she was silent for a long time.
None of them had expected that Heilian’s target would turn out to be the Eighth Prince.
The very prince who had just been revealed to be the one who truly held the emperor’s favor—the one who, it seemed, was destined for a glorious future. And yet, in the end, he had met his fate in the underworld.
“Gong Ling might have known the Emperor’s intentions earlier than anyone else,” Feng Qingbai said softly, holding the woman in his arms. “Before the Eighth Prince even rose to prominence, Gong Ling had already attempted to assassinate him once at the royal hunting grounds. It was after that incident that Duan Ting and I began paying attention to Prince Yuan.”
“What do you think? Who exactly is Heilian? How does he know so much?” Liu Yusheng asked.
Even the prince’s siblings, who grew up with him, hadn’t noticed anything unusual about him. How did he discover that the emperor intended to pass the throne to Prince Yuan?
“His reach is far beyond what we imagined,” Feng Qingbai replied. “He might have planted secret agents within the power centers of various nations long ago.”
“But… he’s barely in his twenties, isn’t he?”
“What if there’s someone above him?”
The two exchanged a glance and once again fell silent.
After a moment, Feng Qingbai gently ruffled her hair and said, “Don’t worry about it too much. We’ll handle whatever comes our way, and besides, we’re leaving Beicang soon. What happens here doesn’t really have much to do with us.”
“How could it not?” Liu Yusheng shot him a look. “Once chaos breaks out across the nations, it’ll be a time of warlords vying for supremacy.”
“Those matters will be handled by me. You can focus on brewing wine, making medicine, and spending more time with me,” Feng Qingbai said.
“Mmm—yes, Sir!”
After the Eighth Prince’s death, Beicang was plunged into mourning. A national funeral was arranged, and, as the Regent of Nanling, Feng Qingbai led the envoy to offer condolences. Soon after, he informed the Emperor of his intention to depart.
At this critical time, it was no longer feasible for Beicang to officially announce the alliance to the world, and waiting indefinitely wasn’t an option either.
The political landscape back in Nanling was still fraught with hidden dangers. Every extra day Feng Qingbai stayed away heightened his concerns.
He needed to return and stabilize the situation.
This time, the Emperor did not try to persuade him to stay. Consumed by grief over the loss of his son, he had aged visibly in just two days. The dignified, commanding aura he had exuded during their first meeting now seemed shrouded in desolation and weariness.
On the day of their departure, the emperor sent a trusted confidant to see them off. Accompanying him were Duan Ting, as well as Li Ruibai and Li Ruifan.
“We are parting ways this time, but who knows when we’ll meet again. Feng Qingbai, I’ll miss you.”
With Feng Qingbai leaving, he was about to lose his best bodyguard.
Last time, he had ordered his manor’s guards to turn that assassin into a pincushion with arrows, and who knew if that assassin held a grudge.
If the assassin came back for revenge, he might not be able to fend them off…
Feng Qingbai merely cast him a light glance. At some point, Duan Ting had quietly switched from addressing him as the King to simply ‘Feng Qingbai,’ and the change had slipped by unnoticed.
“There’s no need to see us off. Though we part today, there will always be a time when we meet again.”
“Of course there will be. If I miss you, I’ll come visit you in Nanling.”
Liu Yusheng hooked her arm around Feng Qingbai’s, said her farewells to Li Ruibai and her brother, and pulled him onto the ship without so much as a glance back at Duan Ting.
A grown man saying such suggestive things—how shameless!
As Duan Ting watched the two enter the cabin, he propped his chin on one hand, a faint smile lingering on his lips.
In a lifetime, being able to make even one or two friends who wouldn’t stab you in the back was a true blessing.
Sitting on the ship, watching the figures on the dock fade into the distance, Liu Yusheng exhaled a long breath of relief.
“Finally, we can go home.” In just over a month, they would set foot on Nanling soil again. The thought of it made her blood stir with excitement.
She was eager to return.
“Mm, by the time we reach Nanling, it will be November. If there are no major matters in court, I’ll return to Xinghua Village to spend the New Year,” Feng Qingbai said, gazing at her with a hint of guilt in his eyes.
In the blink of an eye, it had been nearly three years since they reunited. His little girl had grown from sixteen to nineteen.
Three years—though it sounded like a long time, the time he had spent with her probably didn’t even add up to a year and a half.
During the most beautiful years of her youth, he had spent much of it buried in state affairs, unable to stay by her side.
He had missed out on her best moments.
When she saw the expression on the man’s face, Liu Yusheng felt a little guilty and quickly averted her gaze.
He was there feeling regretful, yet she, secretly, was feeling relieved.
As long as he wasn’t in a rush, she thought it was perfectly fine to get married after turning twenty.
That would be more normal.
By modern standards, marrying at eighteen or nineteen would be considered early marriage.
Pulling the slightly guilty young woman into his arms, Feng Qingbai leaned against her as they both watched the sun setting over the distant horizon. A faint smile appeared on his face.
The journey to Nanling would take over a month, which meant that during this time, he could enjoy peaceful moments alone with his little girl.
To him, that was something that filled his heart with joy.
What neither of them knew was that while they were sailing down the canal, a great upheaval had erupted in Nanling.
Meanwhile, back in Xinghua Village, everything remained calm and peaceful.
In just over a month, relying on smuggled food brought by the traveling peddler, Liu Zhiqiu and Wei Lan had noticeably gained some weight, with their jaws visibly plumper.
Because of this, Grandma Liu casually found an excuse and gave the two of them a thorough scolding.
As if their days weren’t already tough enough, this added insult to injury.
After getting spanked so hard that his backside burned, Liu Zhiqiu couldn’t even sleep well at night.
Frustrated, he climbed onto the rooftop to bask in the moonlight.
Lounging with his legs crossed, he began practicing the internal energy technique that he had tricked out of Wei Lan with the bribe of a roasted chicken.
Even though the two shadow guards nearby kept insisting that someone his age wouldn’t be able to cultivate internal energy.
Liu Zhiqiu snorted. He was a martial arts prodigy, gifted beyond ordinary people. If they said it couldn’t be done, he was determined to prove them wrong.
He was still inexperienced, though. Often, when releasing his energy, his strikes would go off target—he once meant to direct a powerful palm strike at a tree on the mountain but ended up creating a large pit right at his feet instead.
Carefully channeling the scattered energy within him to one focal point, thickening it and rotating it in his palm, he found that what had once felt sluggish now flowed smoothly. He was quite satisfied with the progress.
Then, faintly, a whiff of something burning drifted through the air. Subtle at first, almost undetectable.
But it gradually grew stronger and more intense.
Liu Zhiqiu’s eyes snapped open, and he quickly stood up on the rooftop.
His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings and finally caught sight of flames emerging from the guest room in the inner courtyard!
“Little White Lotus!” he cursed under his breath before leaping off the rooftop toward the inner courtyard.
As he got closer, he could clearly hear panicked voices coming from inside.
Peek-Aboo 
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