Chapter 426: Cleanup and Compensation

There had been a tiny little hiccup in the middle, though it was really hardly worth mentioning. As for everything else, well, it had all gone so fast that it was practically a time-lapse.

“So this is the treasure the brat had to counter a deific technique!” Fushan Yue pulled a small hourglass from his robe, eyes shining. “Ha, it turns out that he really did have one!”

With how smug he looked, like his tail was practically sticking straight up into the sky, He Lingchuan obligingly played along. “What’s that?”

Fushan Yue tipped his chin at Uncle Da. “You’d know best. You tell him.”

Uncle Da lowered its voice and said, “It’s a gift bestowed by the ruler himself. It’s called An Inch of Time. Until the sand inside runs out, it can completely freeze the user’s condition, stuffing them into a crack between moments. Their injuries won’t worsen, but the user also enters hibernation. They are unable to move or open their eyes, and they are unconscious.”

In He Lingchuan’s terms, while that hourglass was running, the user entered a full-on pause.

Time, to them, essentially stopped.

“We planned to use the treasure to keep the young lord... to keep the second prince alive, get him back to the capital, and then have His Majesty find a solution.”

“Then why were you still killing people for blood?” He Lingchuan asked. Several of the Stone Gate Merchant Guild’s caravan hands had already been murdered.

“We feared accidents. We weren’t sure An Inch of Time would last all the way to the capital, so we prepared fresh blood for Young Lord Ji. If he woke early...”

He Lingchuan asked curiously, “The Chiyan King has a way to deal with a deific technique?”

“I’m uncertain about that,” Uncle Da admitted. “But even if His Majesty is helpless, there’s still the gods.”

He Lingchuan’s heart tightened slightly.

Right, the gods.

When Wen Xing had been at death’s door, Zhong Shengguang had immediately recalled the Red General from the front lines and begged the god Mitian, who dwelled within her, to intervene.

From Zhong Shengguang’s expression and tone, it had sounded like Wen Xing could still be saved, yet Wen Xing’s father, Wen Daolun, ultimately chose to abandon the attempt. The price was probably unbearably high.

The King of Chiyan would not share Wen Daolun’s scruples, so asking a god to save Fushan Ji would have made perfect sense.

The odds might not even have been low.

Unfortunately for Fushan Ji, he did not get a second escape from his older brother. He had lost his life out here in the wilds, and with it, he had handed the throne over on a silver platter.

Power struggles were usually like that. He struck first, but not decisively enough. In the end, he was the one who got cut down.

“Alright, the serious matters area dealt with, let’s go back and drink.” Fushan Yue tucked An Inch of Time away. He then turned to Uncle Da and said, “Move. What are you just idling there for?”

Uncle Da could only rise and follow behind him as they returned to camp.

By now, the camp was a taut bowstring.

No matter how slow-witted the Stone Gate Merchant Caravan might be, there was no way they could remain oblivious after their own people had died one after another.

Fury rippled through the caravan, and they shouted for justice.

But because Fushan Yue had rushed back earlier, killed two Chiyan men, and then vanished again, no one, including Second Boss Shi, actually understood what was happening now.

So the standoff froze in place, tense and unstable.

When the two men and the tiger returned, the entire camp erupted.

These two sides had been fighting to the death, sworn enemies a moment ago, so why were they suddenly walking back together?

You could change faces that fast, sure. But what were your subordinates supposed to do with that?

In that unnaturally quiet air, He Lingchuan and Fushan Yue each returned to their own side.

The first thing Uncle Da said was, “The second prince is dead. From now on, we follow the eldest prince alone.”

Every Chiyan guard lowered their head in unison.

The sky had changed.

Even if the news made it back to the State of Chiyan and the ruler flew into a rage, the fact remained that the second prince was dead. No matter how furious he was, could he really kill his only remaining bloodline?

If he did, who would inherit the throne?

Now that they were following Fushan Yue, everything they possessed, including the carriage, naturally belonged to him.

Fushan Yue reached for Fushan Ji’s body as if he meant to toss it aside, but his subordinates all lifted their faces to look at him, their expressions complicated.

After all, just a quarter hour ago, they had been enemies. Uncle Da had led them to attack Fushan Yue, and Fushan Yue’s hands were stained with their companions’ blood.

Yes, he was now the “young lord” to every Chiyan man present, but that did not mean there was no resentment left in their hearts.

Fushan Yue paused, thought for a moment, then handed Fushan Ji’s corpse—head included—to Uncle Da, speaking with unexpected gentleness, “Keep it safe. Bring it back and present it to my father.”

Uncle Da accepted it in silence and stowed it away inside its storage fang.

Fushan Yue waved the men closer and looked them over one by one.

His gaze was sharp as an eagle’s and hungry as a wolf’s. He stared until the guards all bowed their heads, not daring to meet his eyes, and even the owl monster perched on a branch hunched in on itself like a sick chicken. Only then did he clear his throat and say, “Some of you have had your blades stained with my blood!”

The moment he said it, several guards visibly tensed.

Here it comes. Settling accounts after the harvest.

But Fushan Yue immediately continued, “That said, I killed plenty of people too, and the one who started it was my second brother, Fushan Ji. He’s paid for it. In the end, this was family business. It has nothing to do with you. So this rotten debt is wiped clean. No one mentions it again. Understood?”

Since he had put it that way, the guards all answered “Yes,” and their shoulders eased.

The awkward atmosphere loosened.

Watching from the other side, He Lingchuan could tell Fushan Yue must have had a solid reputation in the past. Otherwise, that casual “wiped clean” would not have been accepted so readily by Chiyan’s royal guards.

“Alright. Get back to what you were doing. And none of you are allowed to harass the caravan across the way. Dismissed.”

The guards dispersed, and Fushan Yue walked over toward the caravan.

As the two groups stood facing each other, the phantom of Qianxing City began to fade, slow and soundless, disappearing as abruptly as it had appeared.

After returning, He Lingchuan explained what had happened in just a few sentences. When Second Boss Shi heard that the Chiyan men had murdered his caravan hands, his heart lurched. However, when he heard that Fushan Yue had seized authority and could restrain Fushan Ji’s followers, he let out a long breath.

This trading run had been anything but peaceful.

When Fushan Yue approached, Second Boss Shi’s feelings were a mess of knots. He could not help but sigh and say, “Prince Fushan, you’ve really handed me one hell of a problem.”

Four or five people in his caravan were dead, killed by Chiyan men. But in the blink of an eye, Fushan Yue had become the Chiyan group’s leader. So how was this debt supposed to be settled now?

The caravan members stared at Fushan Yue with naked fury.

Fushan Yue knew it could not be dodged. He straightened, face serious.

“They’re my men now. Their fault is my fault. What do you want?”

Several hands shouted at once:

“A life for a life!”

“Yeah! Our brothers can’t die for nothing!”

“A life for a life is impossible. And let me remind you, we’re about to enter Chiyan territory.” Fushan Yue hooked his thumb toward himself and said, “I’ll give you two options. The first option, each side sends people to duel. If you want revenge, feel free to try and take it. If my people killed yours, you can kill them back, but you do it with your own hands. As for the second, I pay serious compensation for the dead, and everyone here gets fifty taels of silver as hush money, call it shock pay. Now, pick one.”

The moment he finished, a lot of the caravan’s eyes swung straight to He Lingchuan.

If Young Master He fought, he could definitely kill a good number of them. Maybe they could even get both options at once: kill people and take the money.

However, Young Master He did not belong to their caravan. He was a client, a guest.

You did not ask a guest to go and risk their life for you.

So they could only indulge the fantasy for a heartbeat, then make an adult choice.

Second Boss Shi spent a long time discussing it with the caravan before he went back to Fushan Yue. “If we choose the second option, how much compensation will the dead brothers’ families receive?”

Fushan Yue gave him a number. It was a number that would soften anyone’s heart, even if the families had been standing here in person.

Second Boss Shi fell silent, then he cleared his throat and said, “And for the... shock pay to everyone else, ahem...”

So that was the real focus.

Fushan Yue understood at once. “Eighty taels per person.”

Second Boss Shi maintained a serious face. “This can’t happen again.”

“Of course,” Fushan Yue said quickly, relief slipping into his tone now that it was settled. He was the heir apparent, so anything solvable with money was not really a problem. “Put it on my tab for now. Once I’m back in the State of Chiyan, I’ll pay. And Second Boss Shi, someone as shrewd as you is exactly the kind of partner Chiyan likes.”

Second Boss Shi’s mouth twitched upward, but smiling felt inappropriate, so he covered it with a light cough. “Ahem, I very much look forward to doing business with you.”

Then he went to have people collect the bodies of the men who had died.

In truth, he understood perfectly well that the reason Fushan Yue was willing to compensate so readily was ultimately because of He Lingchuan.

And He Lingchuan understood too. The way this ended was not only because Fushan Yue used money to show sincerity and sympathy.

The dead were already dead. The living were not necessarily willing to risk their own lives for them.

Everyone had families, and everyone had their own private arithmetic to do. And most importantly, Fushan Yue was very likely the future king. What merchant wanted to make an enemy of a crown prince?

He Lingchuan glanced at Fushan Yue.

This guy’s reckless bravado was probably camouflage. Underneath, his grasp of human nature’s impeccably sharp.

“Hey, come take a look at Peach,” He Lingchuan called Fushan Yue.

Peach was currently unconscious.

In fact, earlier, when he had checked the eyeball spider’s vision, He Lingchuan had seen the entire process of Fushan Yue beheading his own brother.

Fushan Yue had returned in stealth and attacked the four guards left behind. Naturally, they fought back. The eldest prince had one arm he could not use. He killed one man instantly, but he was outnumbered and at a disadvantage.

That was when Peach, who was sweating profusely, had crawled upright, pointed at the four guards, and screamed, “Bite them!”

At that moment, the adults were in the middle of a serious battle, so it was completely normal for them to simply ignore a feverish little girl’s screams. At most, they would think she was delirious.

But then, from cracks in the nearby stones, more than a dozen small snakes wriggled out and struck at the Chiyan men’s ankles.

Two of them were actually bitten, and they reflexively shook their legs, losing their footing. Another guard tried to flick a snake away, and in that opening, Fushan Yue drove a fist into his chest, sending him flying backward, coughing blood.

After that, cleaning up the remaining two was far easier, and there was no need to dwell on it.

By the time Fushan Yue slipped into the carriage and beheaded his second brother, the other Chiyan men were already rushing back, but the outcome had already been set.

Peach had done real work disrupting the enemy, but she had collapsed immediately afterward and had not woken since.

Fushan Yue pressed his fingers to her pulse, then circulated his qi through her body, probing carefully. “She absorbed too much baleful qi, and she doesn’t know how to refuse it. Just now, she released it all at once without control. Her body’s functions are in chaos.”