Always appearing whenever needed, always precisely on time.
Always deliberately wearing that infuriating smile, speaking softly and gently, genial and warm, hovering right on the edge between hypocrisy and sincerity, forever separated by a thin sheet of paper—intimate yet distant.
With age, her past vixen-like appearance had faded, making the routine all the more practiced.
Unpleasant.
"As always, right on time."
Ye Xian did not hide her derision. "Always making an entrance after things have gotten simple—very much your style."
Lyu Yingyue paid it no mind. Flicking her wrists, she shook the lingering blood, bone fragments, and minced flesh off her two broken blades, her smile unchanged. "Deciding whether to arrive early or stall depending on the situation—that is the most essential survival philosophy of a payroll-slacker."
"Are you truly Tianyuan?"
"The genuine article." Lyu Yingyue nodded.
Ye Xian sneered, scoffing.
A lie.
Lyu Yingyue smiled. "The base salary is paltry, and even civil servants take side jobs to support their families. As a director, shouldn't one know how to be a little flexible?"
"Flexibility is the way of the White Stag and Embers; it has nothing to do with the Security Bureau." Ye Xian gave her a deep, meaningful look. "Harboring divided loyalties—take care that Tianyuan won't tolerate it."
"Mm, though it's difficult, it tolerates me for now. How should I put it? Sometimes Tianyuan is quite magnanimous..."
Lyu Yingyue replied nonchalantly. Looking around at the scorched earth, she grew increasingly curious. "On the other hand, you—not seeing you for a few months, and you're already a Celestial-Human?"
"No, far from it," Ye Xian replied.
Lyu Yingyue gave a soft sigh and shook her head.
A lie.
Still, it did not matter. Holding the broken blades by the tips, she extended the hilts toward her. "Mind taking a look? Are these still worth repairing?"
"Hopeless. Throw them away."
Ye Xian did not even bother to look. "With how brutally you use them, no weapon, no matter how durable, would last. Don't waste your own money and an artisan's blood and sweat. Just stick to grabbing whatever you find.
"Just you alone? Where's Tong Shan?"
"Don't know. Hasn't returned yet." Lyu Yingyue shook her head. "Looking on the bright side, at least he's alive... What about your student?"
"Same, also alive."
Ye Xian's expression turned slightly complicated. "Though looking on the dark side, it's possible even more people are going to die."
"I really don't understand the relationship between you two, master and disciple."
"To be honest, I don't quite get it either."
"You're just like before, always saying baffling things."
"No, it's the truth. Straight from the heart."
...
And so, after that disjointed exchange of small talk, they walked along the path to the outpost, treading over jagged bones and corpses.
In the distance, the tumultuous night gradually settled into silence.
A dazzling pillar of light rose from the ground, followed by another. Then, as the Star Core Association's teleportation gates opened, auras—some majestic, some tempestuous, some restrained, some hovering between presence and absence yet omnipresent—spread out in all directions...
"The Tong family, the Lou family, the Yu family, the Jiang family..."
Lyu Yingyue walked with light steps, ticking off the arrivals' identities with complete indifference.
Having carved her way through, she had already neatly and securely claimed the top credit for quelling the crisis and restoring order; naturally, she was in no rush to show off.
"What about Lord Tao?"
Ye Xian glanced at her relaxed demeanor. "To put it in my student's words, at a time like this, one has to beware of being backdoored."
"Lord Tao?"
Lyu Yingyue chuckled. "The one you need to worry about least is Lord Tao."
***
Inside the quiet office, a crisp sound rang out.
A handful of Go stones was scooped up and scattered across the board, disrupting the perilous struggle between black and white.
Resigning the game.
"Lost again."
Lu Changsheng shrugged with regret.
The withered, drowsy elder raised his eyelids by a fraction. "Why so... impatient?"
Lu Changsheng sighed. "Rushed it."
Telekinesis vibrated the air, producing a raspy voice: "It shouldn't have been so soon. I thought you would prepare for a while longer. Why such haste?"
The sudden upheaval had indeed caught the Security Bureau off guard.
But what then?
Not only had they lost their original advantage of secrecy, they had also exposed the chaotic composition within their own ranks. Aside from breaking the quarantine over Quancheng and forcibly dragging it into the mortal realm, they had achieved nothing else.
Even so, the corruption was pinned down tightly by Lord Tao, unable to spread.
Nearly all the early advantages built up over the years in Quancheng right under the Security Bureau's nose had been squandered.
"Can't help it; our weak spot was prodded," Lu Changsheng propped his chin in his hand and smiled wryly. "I thought that was merely an idle move of yours, never expecting it could have such an effect. Truly unexpected. But since the curtain has been pulled back by a mischievous brat, the actors must scramble onto the stage, however unwilling they might be. Otherwise, the audience will start booing."
All these years of painstaking preparations, 'pooling everyone's wisdom and effort,' advancing inch by inch until finally achieving such scale—if they couldn't seize the initiative, what was the point?
Wouldn't it just be the same old story as before?
The villains laboriously plotting and expanding, the heroes arriving out of nowhere, and the villains scattering like rats...
How laughable would that be?
"Then what about my secretary?" Lord Tao asked.
"Hm?" Lu Changsheng looked puzzled.
"Where did my secretary go?" Lord Tao lifted his gaze to look at him, waiting for an answer.
"Ah, I see what you mean."
Lu Changsheng let out a self-deprecating laugh and spread his hands. "You think I killed him and took his place? Nothing of the sort. I am your secretary, Lord Tao. From the very beginning."
Lu Changsheng grinned. "From the moment you woke up, from the moment you started preparing all of this, the person you knew was me.
"Besides, where in this world is there any flawless way to impersonate someone? Where is there a foolproof plan? It's just that sometimes, when the workload on both sides gets overwhelming, I really do lament how tough Tianyuan is. But what can you do? Capable hands are so hard to find; sometimes, you just have to do things yourself—"
As he spoke, he suddenly rose, walked over to Lord Tao, drew out a silk handkerchief, and carefully wiped away the crust from the old man's eyes and the wetness around his lips.
Lord Tao cooperated by lifting his chin, exposing his neck before this archenemy, letting him do as he pleased without the slightest concern.
"Truly flattering,"
the slurred voice murmured with emotion. "I thought you were merely some spy or mole, never imagining that the Pontiff and Saint of the Evil Transmutation Cult would wait on me hand and foot like a nursemaid, taking care of me for nine years."
He said, "Such determination and perseverance are truly admirable."
"Likewise," Lu Changsheng sighed softly. "For nine years, Lord Tao ran about day after day, rallying support and pouring so much into Quancheng—into a city that had long ceased to exist and had been forgotten by others. Even a villain like me cannot help but hold you in heartfelt admiration.
"The ancients said that the lotus grows from mud yet remains unstained, but if the white lotus had awareness, it would likely detest the mud, wouldn't it?"
He folded the handkerchief neatly, placed it on the desk in front of Lord Tao, and, having performed his duties as secretary and assistant for the last time, returned to the other side of the desk. Sitting up straight and solemn, he asked, "Why can't you come over to my side?"
Lord Tao gave a raspy chuckle, scoffing. "The filth of a room can still be swept clean. But if an old turtle leaps into a mud pit to roll around, thinking itself having a grand time, that is what's truly beyond redemption."
"But in truth, you've known all along, haven't you?"
Lu Changsheng shook his head. "You should have known from the very beginning... and not just about the questionable identity of the secretary beside you.
"Midtown's perfunctoriness, the Parliament's contempt. The Federation's resolve to push westward was settled long ago; Quancheng was abandoned decades ago. Otherwise, why would they leave you alone to prop it up for so long?
"Exhausting every ounce of strength, overdrawing all your credit, gambling your future and your very self to take over this mess as Haizhou Warden—yet the people around you are all scurrying opportunists harboring their own petty schemes, just like me.
"The governor in Yacheng playing dead every day after being exiled; the running dog in Chuancheng who pledged fealty to Midtown only to rake in money for his masters; the incompetent fool in Chaocheng clinging greedily to power and refusing to step down; the brutal, undisciplined military; the Swarm who only want to use this opportunity to go on a killing spree...
"And these so-called directors of the Security Bureau—slackers going through the motions, schemers seizing power, hypocrites putting on airs. Even Lyu Yingyue, the one you trust most, is an opportunist who never looses the hawk until she sees the hare, a politician waiting for others to pave a bloody road so she can casually pluck the fruits... With ambition like hers, who knows? She might have set her sights on your position as Haizhou Warden long ago."
Lu Changsheng demanded, "Is this the Tianyuan you follow? How do you expect to achieve anything with people like this?"
Lord Tao did not speak.
He looked at him.
Without discouragement or displeasure, but rather looking at him as though he were a fool.
"...Isn't this what Tianyuan is?" he countered as if it were obvious.
Lu Changsheng's expression froze slightly.
"This is Tianyuan, Lu Changsheng."
Lord Tao shook his head in pity. "Do you still not understand? Even if they are scurrying opportunists, even if they are characters harboring their own petty schemes, when gathered together now, don't they still strike dread and unease into rats like you?"
Discord, infighting, ambition, hatred, schemes, Mercy, courage, greed...
None of these truly mattered; they were all trivial, inconsequential details.
Regardless of origin, regardless of purpose, regardless of age, gender, or race—people who ought to have been at each other's throats, like fire and water, can actually walk side by side, integrated under the same framework and order, abiding by its rules.
Once a sheet of loose sand is bound together, of one heart and mind, they can actually entrust their backs to individuals completely different from themselves, people they might even look down upon...
Is this not a miracle?
Is this not the most majestic, boundless power in this world?
"How grand is Tianyuan! How great is Tianyuan!!"
Lord Tao laughed, slurred and hoarse, spreading his withered, frail arms from the armchair, presenting this achievement: "The thing I have pursued and revered—hasn't it been right before your eyes all these nine years?
"I never concealed it, so why did you never perceive it, Lu Changsheng?
"When I see high mountains and distant waters, I know the boundless expanse of Tianyuan. What sort of landscape do you see through your eyes?"
Lu Changsheng fell silent.
For a long time.
From the protracted, dead silence, he sighed in admiration.
"Lord Tao's resolve is steadfast as bedrock; I fear someone vile and depraved like me can never sway it. You have my utmost respect."
"I don't care," Lord Tao said.
"I know."
Lu Changsheng lowered his eyes, looking at the messy Go board between them. He reached out and pressed his hand onto the Tianyuan point at the very center. "I want to play another game of Go with you."
"Speak."
"Just like before, just like just now, exactly as you wish—you and me, the Security Bureau and the Evil Transmutation Cult, Haizhou and the factions of Vile Folly, to contest the final victory."
He said, "Don't worry, I won't detonate Quancheng and plunge the situation into irredeemable ruin. No Celestial-Humans involved. Let the victory between you and me decide who Quancheng belongs to. How about it?"
He proposed, "If you win, Quancheng is yours, and I walk away. If you lose, feel free to cast the agreement aside, marshal your forces, and fight us to the death.
"How about it?"
Lord Tao did not answer.
His muddy eyes drooped, dim and drowsy, as though his mind had wandered. But after a long while, when those eyes lifted once more, they turned piercingly sharp.
Like a blade wiped clean of dust and rust, bone-chillingly cold.
"So that's how it is..."
He muttered in sudden realization, "That was your plan from the very start, wasn't it?
"You gathered so many followers of Vile Folly, prepared for so many years, simply wanting to overestimate yourself and fight a pitched battle in the mortal realm against the Security Bureau? Why?"
"Why?" Lu Changsheng suddenly echoed the question.
"Hm?"
"Why, in Lord Tao's eyes, must we hide our heads and show our tails?" Lu Changsheng asked curiously. "I don't understand why figures like me must live like shameful rats who cannot face the light, hiding in corners you cannot see to scavenge on carrion?
"To the point where even everyone in the Evil Transmutation Cult feels: this is right, this is normal?
"The rats have crawled in the gutters for far too long, terrified of daylight. But why do you all look down on us as a matter of course?
"Over the years, I've been thinking about this question—"
He grinned, baring his teeth. "If one day, a rat who doesn't know its place takes the lead, raises its arm with a cry, and snakes and rats crawl out from beneath the manhole covers, parading openly through the streets with their kind, dancing brazenly in broad daylight, will those terrified, screaming lords finally realize that other people coexist with them under this very same sky?
"Or will they keep plugging their ears, covering their eyes, deceiving themselves and pretending to see nothing?"
Lord Tao lowered his eyes, restraining the chill within them. "Provoking Tianyuan—are you prepared to be crushed to powder?"
"How does Lord Tao know I lack the ability to churn the mortal realm into complete upheaval?"
Lu Changsheng raised his head and pressed, "And how can you be so certain I would fear being crushed to powder?"
For a fleeting moment in the quiet room, it seemed as though boundless turbulent waves surfaced; malice lurking beneath the ocean rose like an iceberg, displaying its savagery.
Yet in the end, everything receded without a sound.
Concealed once more.
From beginning to end, Lu Changsheng made no move, his expression never wavering.
Only the old man in the armchair sighed softly: "Unlike those fools who threw themselves into Vile Folly chasing power and ambition, you truly are a great scourge to the mortal realm."
"Perhaps so. But given time, who can say whether the great scourge lies in Lord Tao, in the Federation, in the Empire, or in you disciples of Sovereign Virtue!"
Lu Changsheng laughed aloud and held out his hand.
Waiting.
Until Lord Tao's emaciated hand slowly rose.
They struck palms together.
A pact sealed.
Within five days, in this Quancheng, a fight to the finish!
The instant the sound of their clasp dissipated, Lu Changsheng vanished like an illusion.
The office returned to dead silence, leaving only the frail old man on the recliner, eyes drooping, drifting into sleep.
And on the board, amidst the pile of scattered pieces, a cluster of slaughtered black stones slid aside, revealing a white stone buried underneath.
Helplessly bathed in the chaotic flare of flames reflected through the window, it trembled continuously with the tremors of the earth.
Lying askew in a corner of the ruined board, unable to sway the approaching storm, yet with nowhere to flee.
Unable to truly live, unwilling to die.
And so, amid the upheaval, helpless and grudging, it gave a tiny stir...
Chapter 211