Li Yuanhu sat on the ground with his arms crossed and eyes closed in silence, quietly waiting.
He held one of the seven superior military ranks passed down in the Earl of North Border household, renowned in the desert for his giant hammers and brute strength.
To make an inappropriate analogy, if the Earl of North Border was the self-made emperor of Beifeng Prefecture, then he, Li Yuanhu, was one of his vassals.
However, the day before, when faced with a Shatuo Queshi determined to die, he had retreated a step. Although he quickly realized his mistake and rushed to rescue the prince, his act of retreating in battle was a breach of military discipline.
The Lord was not present, but the Old Madam was. When the Old Madam decided to punish him, he could only bow his head and accept.
Not to mention, the Old Madam was the Earl’s noble wife, her status as a First Rank imperial mandate bestowed by the Emperor himself. But even the fact that he had once worn clothes personally woven by her was enough to justify this punishment!
The Earl’s household strictly enforced its rules. From the time of the first Earl of North Border, who demolished the Qian State’s army of five hundred thousand with thirty thousand cavalry, to the present day, the household had always adhered to the iron law of never retreating.
He accepted this punishment! However, that didn’t mean Li Yuanhu wasn’t seething inwardly. He was waiting right now, waiting for that corpse up there to "revive" again. Then he would thrash that barbarian scoundrel—the cause of his punishment—once more! Why not shatter it? Because...
"Your Highness, are they setting up a formation?"
"Oh, you understand formations?" Follow current novᴇls on novel✶fire.net
"I’ve never seen a pig run, but I’ve seen pigs mate."
The Sixth Prince was speechless.
Ahead of Zheng Fan and the Sixth Prince, on the north side of the archway, a group of men and women dressed in blue robes had arrived. Some held compasses, others formation flags, all busy working under the direction of a white-haired old man.
"These are adepts," the Sixth Prince explained.
"The barbarians have their savage masters, with endless tricks up their sleeves. But we have our adepts and Qi cultivators. So, whether in terms of warfare or these esoteric arts, we can always best them."
At this, the Sixth Prince seemed to grow interested. He pointed at the white-haired old man and said, "That old man, I know him. His moniker is Drunk Immortal Weng. He once visited the capital and was received by my Imperial Father. His skills in these arts are extremely profound; it’s quite hard to find anyone in Yan State who surpasses him. My Imperial Father once had him read the bones for us seven princes."
Saying this, the Sixth Prince deliberately built suspense. He pointed to his own face and continued, "The true word he gave my eldest brother was, ’A fierce tiger guards the border.’ To my second brother, it was, ’A sleeping dragon in the wild.’ Can you guess what true word he gave me?"
"Prosperity and leisure, perhaps?"
The Sixth Prince furrowed his brows, curious, and asked, "It was ’Prosperity and well-being.’ But you were very close. How did you guess?"
"I don’t understand such arts, but I have a friend who ran a fortune-telling stall in Hutou City for six months. In his early years, he was quite the renowned charlatan, even starting his own sect with a fair number of followers. He once told me that whether it’s bone-reading or fortune-telling, predicting good and bad fortune or determining marriage compatibility, the secret can be summed up in ten words."
"I request Mr. Zheng to enlighten me."
"It is nothing more than this: ’To men, speak the words of men; to ghosts, speak the words of ghosts.’"
The Sixth Prince slowly mulled over these ten words, finding them more intriguing the more he thought.
Zheng Fan continued, "Actually, I haven’t known Your Highness for long, but I have learned of His Majesty’s intentions from you. The Eldest Prince commands the army of Tiancheng Prefecture; this shows His Majesty intends to groom him as a second Earl of North Border, to guard Yan’s frontiers in the future. The Second Prince, meanwhile, is the candidate for Crown Prince, which I imagine is hardly a secret in the court or among the populace. Therefore, rather than this Drunk Immortal Weng making predictions, it seems he was merely reiterating His Majesty’s wishes. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise, the assessment for Your Highness should have been, at the very least, ’harboring treacherous ambitions.’"
"You’re asking for a beating!"
"Ah, you two young friends, what a lively conversation."
Just then, an aged voice came from behind them.
Zheng Fan immediately turned to find that Drunk Immortal Weng, who had been some distance away earlier, had somehow appeared behind him.
"This old one pays his respects to the Sixth Prince!"
Drunk Immortal Weng, holding a horsetail whisk, performed an adept’s salute to the Sixth Prince.
The Sixth Prince returned the courtesy with a cupped fist salute and took half a step to the side, not daring to accept the full extent of the bow.
Drunk Immortal Weng then regarded Zheng Fan with a playful gaze and chuckled. "This old one is quite interested in the friend you mentioned. To be able to utter those ten words means he has truly grasped the essence of our way."
"My presumptuous words, I offer my apologies to Elder Weng."
Zheng Fan actually thought Blind Bei would also be quite interested in meeting this Elder Weng. Though, from Blind Bei’s perspective, it would be even better if he could knock the Elder out. He’d probably be unable to resist scanning him with his spiritual power while simultaneously dissecting him for research.
"Not at all, not at all. Your friend’s words are pearls of wisdom, truly pearls of wisdom! Hehe."
The Elder displayed an open-minded self-deprecation.
"Elder Weng, may I ask what this is?" The Sixth Prince pointed towards the arrangements being made north of the archway.
"This is the Subduing Tiger Array that my disciples and I have been setting up, waiting to capture a fierce tiger."
As he mentioned the "fierce tiger," the Elder glanced out of the corner of his eye at the corpse hanging on the archway.
The Sixth Prince, being quick-witted, immediately understood and asked in disbelief, "Elder Weng, do you mean to say this corpse... can still come back to life?"