Chapter 35: A Sheep Has Wandered Into the Fold...

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As soon as the Crown Prince’s voice fell silent, everything around them turned gray and white. The sky, the trees, the flowers and grasses, even the birds that occasionally flew past—all became gray and white. Only the Crown Prince and Mr. Tian remained unchanged, as though they had stepped outside this strange world.

Murong Yunji’s expression did not change, but she could clearly feel that the air was gone.

“Like Magistrate Zhang, Mr. Tian comes from a hidden ancient clan.” The Crown Prince sat on the threshold. The maid beside him had also turned gray and white, frozen stiff where she stood, but he paid her no attention as he spoke between breaths. “For all these years, no one has known what hidden art he possesses. The intelligence reports have always classified Mr. Tian as a first-rank occultist. In truth, his abilities are beyond first rank—on the level of a chief minister of the Six Ministries.”

“So Mr. Tian is Your Highness’s trump card?” Zhang Rui’s voice remained calm.

The Crown Prince frowned slightly. He had fallen into the spell, yet showed not the slightest panic. Tian Ye, meanwhile, did not dare to act rashly. This magistrate surnamed Zhang was indeed no ordinary man.

“Since you come from a hidden ancient clan, you should understand the rules governing this realm. The number of Yin Gods in the world was agreed upon long ago. In the thousand years of the Great Jin, their number has changed only twice, and the arrangement is extraordinarily stable. Any ancient clan that once missed its chance and now wishes to rise to that level will be targeted by them. No matter how excellent its inheritance or how outstanding its descendants, none can withstand the greater tide.”

“Pledging allegiance to me is your only opportunity. The clan from which Mr. Tian comes was once renowned throughout the previous dynasty. It became a hidden ancient clan only because it chose the wrong side during the struggle for the realm. Mr. Tian is the most gifted member of his family. When he first entered the capital, he was twenty-seven years old—the youngest third-rank occultist in the world. Now he is seventy-seven, yet he has still failed to win his clan a seat. With abilities like yours, Magistrate Zhang, the family behind you is surely no weaker than Mr. Tian’s. But without my assistance, no matter how great your abilities, you will never gain a place in the world!”

“Thank you for Your Highness’s guidance...” The offer of recruitment completely confirmed the suspicion in Zhang Rui’s heart.

This world truly was twisted. He had wondered before how all the occultists in the realm relied on the power of evil entities to wield supernatural arts, while the imperial court guarded fiercely against them. The fact that every traveling occultist had to be accompanied by a military officer assigned to watch him was proof enough: the court deeply distrusted these practitioners.

Yet from his later conversations with the impostor Chen Xiao—namely, Mr. Tian—he had also learned that the occultist clans of the realm had grown into an organized force, powerful enough even to resist imperial authority. Under such circumstances, how did the two sides cooperate? How were the court’s offices divided among them?

Now, after hearing the Crown Prince’s explanation, Zhang Rui finally understood the general outline.

Evil entities were rampant throughout the world, requiring vast numbers of occultists to keep them under control. Yet the occultist clans who commanded those entities possessed power enough to make even emperors wary. It now appeared that most of the ruling emperors in the realm had come from military families. Zhang Rui did not find that strange. In the stories he had read, it was rare indeed for a mage to become emperor.

The military powers of the realm supported the emperor, and the occultist clans supported the emperor as well, forming a balance between two great forces. Their precise relationship remained unknown for the moment, but the occultist clans clearly maintained an unspoken partnership. The Yin Gods mentioned by the Crown Prince were proof enough.

Zhang Rui did not know exactly what a Yin God was, but he could make a reasonable guess. The power of occultists came from evil entities, so a Yin God was most likely a far more powerful evil entity. Evil entities required human lives for sustenance. For an ancient clan to become one of the foremost houses, it naturally needed a powerful Yin God to worship. And a mighty Yin God would inevitably demand a great many human lives. Once the number grew too large, the people would surely turn against them. Therefore, their number could not be too great.

In other words, the seats were limited.

The great clans currently residing in the capital were likely those that had successfully chosen the Founding Ancestor’s side in the past. These great houses helped the imperial court stabilize the order of the world and prevent evil entities and hidden clans from causing chaos. But the court also had to nourish the Yin Gods behind them. Under such circumstances, replacing any one of those clans would be exceedingly difficult. The only opportunity would come during a change of imperial power, when perhaps a narrow opening might appear.

Master Tian had entered the capital at twenty-seven and spent fifty years without finding even the slightest opportunity. Now, it seemed, he intended to place a heavy wager on this Crown Prince.

“But Your Highness should know that the reason the ancient clans support the imperial family is precisely because your house is not an occultist clan...” Zhang Rui said quietly. “If you nourish a Yin God, not a single ancient clan will support you.”

“The structure of the realm has long needed to change!” The Crown Prince rose to his feet. “The Nine Ministers’ offices are entirely monopolized by the ancient clans. That is unreasonable in itself!”

“The Founding Ancestor rose to power through the Spirit-Painting Market, yet was ultimately forced to abandon it and slaughter the newly risen nobles of the Painting Spirits. Aside from the fact that Painting Spirits were too dangerous to control, pressure from the ancient clans must also have been an important reason, must it not? Even a powerhouse like the Founding Ancestor was ultimately unable to change the structure of the realm. Do you truly believe you can accomplish it with a single evil entity?” Zhang Rui’s voice turned cold. “Your Highness’s thinking is far too naive for this lowly official to agree with.”

“Everything depends on what one does...” the Crown Prince replied coldly.

Inside the painting, Zhang Rui sighed. Men who descended from the heavens to shatter the rules of the world did exist, but this Crown Prince was clearly not one of them. He could not understand why Master Tian had chosen to place his wager on such a man, but he himself could never accept.

A man living in this world needed some sort of bottom line. A bizarre creature that devoured human lives through plague had been placed in the hands of the future heir to the throne, who intended to use it in secret against the ancient clans. Who knew where he would find the lives needed to feed it?

Since being swept into this vortex, Zhang Rui had encountered nothing but jackals. In theory, surrounded by such a pack, he should have gone along with the current if he wished to live well.

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But he damn well refused.

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“I have heard many times that Your Highness once proposed to His Majesty that the people’s corvée burdens be reduced, and even suggested using public works in place of relief grain to improve the livelihood of the realm. Everyone says that Your Highness bears the qualities of a benevolent ruler. Surely the image you have cultivated over all these years was not merely a disguise. Why have you become so obsessive now?”

“I have had enough!” The Crown Prince slowly rose. “This feeling of possessing no power...”

“I see...” Zhang Rui nodded. He had nearly died, and it was only through an occultist’s power that he had been brought back from the brink. His life and death had both lain in the hands of a group of occultists. As a ruler, the Crown Prince could hardly be expected to endure that.

Wanting to grasp that power personally and place his own life in his own hands was understandable. But once he chose that path, there was nothing left to discuss.

“Girl... do it!”

“You’re really talkative...” At last, a vivid expression appeared on Murong Yunji’s face. A child’s smile was usually adorable, but both the Crown Prince and Master Tian instinctively retreated.

That smile resembled a beast gazing upon its prey—a bloodthirsty hunger.

“Kill her!” the Crown Prince cried in panic.

Master Tian was a transcendent first-rank occultist. The art inherited by his clan was no weaker than those of the Nine Ministers’ houses. Though he had no Yin God to worship, the power he had prepared in advance was enough to kill any martial artist below the Grandmaster realm. He had guaranteed as much, and that was why he had dared to step forward and attempt to recruit Zhang Rui.

But now he had the feeling that Master Tian might have miscalculated.

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“Yin-Yang Veil!”

Lu Sheng and the others who had rushed over stopped at the outer perimeter of the eastern courtyard. The entire courtyard had been engulfed in gray and white. Whether they were the group of occultists led by Lu Sheng or Long Cheng and Qin Fang, the two half-step Grandmasters, none dared to enter lightly.

“What kind of art is this?” Long Cheng asked, frowning.

“The renowned art of the Ouyang clan from the previous dynasty. How could it have appeared here?” Lu Sheng’s brows drew tightly together.

If an ancient clan did not rely on a dynasty, many of its arts would be cut off. Powerful arts required powerful Yin Gods, and without the support of the imperial court, any clan that dared to worship a Yin God would be exterminated. Naturally, there were also a few families with profound foundations that could barely maintain themselves by reducing their offerings and hiding from the world, lying dormant for a time...

But the Great Jin had flourished for a thousand years. In theory, the Yin Gods of those hidden clans from the previous dynasty should have long since declined in rank. The Ouyang clan had once been famous throughout the realm, but it should not have been able to withstand a thousand years of decay. No one had expected that a descendant of the Ouyang clan could still wield such an art.

“The Ouyang clan...” Qin Fang nodded faintly, his expression indifferent. “My foolish junior brother died at the hands of the Ouyang clan...”

“Can it be broken?” Long Cheng asked with a frown.

“Difficult...” Lu Sheng shook his head. “The Ouyang clan once flourished under the previous dynasty for more than twenty-seven hundred years, occupying the foremost position among the Nine Ministers for most of that time. The resources they obtained are beyond imagination. The Yin-Yang Veil has almost certainly become incomplete after being passed down to the present day, and without the protection of a Yin God, its might must be greatly diminished. Even so, I would not advise forcing our way in without at least three transcendent first-rank occultists.”

“Transcendent first-rank occultists...” Long Cheng’s expression turned ugly. That was the level of the Nine Ministers. Where was he supposed to find three of them now?

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the gray-and-white world, through which even the morning light could not pass, suddenly split in two. Startled, everyone retreated, except for Long Cheng and Qin Fang, who stood frozen in place.

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What pure sword intent!

Those outside could not see it, but the two of them could feel it clearly. The art of this legendary thousand-year clan had been severed by a single sword stroke.

It was the first time either of them had seen a martial artist’s sword break an occult art—and such an art at that.

The sensation was like the opening of an entirely new world. In confrontations between martial artists and occultists, victory usually had to be decided before the occultist could activate his art. If a martial artist could directly shatter an occult art, how could the occultist clans ever have grown so arrogant?

“Mr. Tian?”

As the gray-and-white world split in two, so did Tian Ye’s body—including the remaining half of Third Master Luo’s body behind him.

Only then did everyone see clearly that the occultist who had cast the art was none other than Master Tian, whom they had all believed dead.

On the other side, Zhang Rui, dressed in official robes, silently faced the Crown Prince, who sat on the threshold with a pale face.

Zhang Rui was not surprised by this result in the slightest. Many people mistakenly believed that Murong Yunji was a martial artist like themselves, but that was not the case. Though Murong was a Sword Immortal, she actually belonged to the tradition of qi cultivation. In the worldview of one of his discarded drafts, the methods practiced by qi cultivators existed precisely to suppress evil entities.

A Sword Immortal could break all techniques. Since evil entities were among the things she could subdue, she naturally restrained occultists who relied on evil entities to cast their arts. Murong Yunji had been the finest Sword Immortal of her era, while this Master Tian was merely a fallen occultist from a declining clan who had not even managed to enter the capital’s inner circles. Even with the Sword Immortal’s strength yet to recover, Zhang Rui had never believed Murong could lose.

“Your Highness... what is this?” Lu Sheng swallowed, then asked cautiously.

“Ahem...” The Crown Prince slowly raised his head and looked toward Master Tian, whose body had been cleaved in two and whose life had already left him. His voice was distant. “I never knew Master Tian harbored such immense ambitions!”

Lying on the ground, Tian Ye’s pupils gradually widened. The corner of his mouth lifted weakly into a bitter smile.

This world was truly terrifying...

From the corner of his eye, he looked toward Zhang Rui, who stood ramrod straight, and wondered:

Why was this young man unwilling to join forces with the Crown Prince?

Surely it could not be...

Suddenly, his smile froze. He had actually seen pity filling the young man’s eyes.

So that was it...

Tian Ye suddenly felt like laughing aloud. In this world of jackals, a sheep had somehow found its way in.