Xu Yuan expertly counted the banknotes, verifying their amount and authenticity, while Li Junqing sat quietly to the side, watching with eager longing.
Silence settled over the private room, broken only by the rustling of banknotes being counted.
After a while, Xu Yuan lifted his gaze.
Li Junqing immediately asked, "Has the Third Young Master finished counting?"
"Not off by a single copper. Don't worry, Third Prince, I will arrange it. After all, integrity is paramount in all business, isn't it?"
Stowing the counted banknotes into his Sumeru ring, Xu Yuan paused, then asked with a flicker of curiosity, "Though I am rather curious about one thing: how much silver does Your Highness usually carry on you when traveling?"
At this question, Li Junqing's gaze turned instantly wary. "What are you planning?"
"Don't be nervous, I was just asking." Seeing his reaction, Xu Yuan chuckled helplessly. "Your Highness knows me. I have always been generous to friends. If I said five million, five million it is. I won't raise the price again."
Li Junqing suppressed the urge to curse and gave a low laugh. "I have long heard of the Third Young Master's charitable reputation."
"You flatter me." Xu Yuan cupped his hands, then suddenly asked, "Still, with Your Highness being so generous, how do you plan to plug this five-million-tael hole later?"
Five million taels was an astronomical sum.
Given Great Yan's current productivity, ordinary folk working hard all year would earn only twenty or thirty taels of broken silver.
Even in the Chancellor's Manor, a world-class powerhouse of the Second Rank Origin Realm without a specialized post drew an annual salary of merely a million taels of standard silver, though undertaking an extremely perilous mission would bump that stipend by roughly forty percent each time.
Li Junqing smiled faintly upon hearing this. "Earlier, I borrowed six million from a daimyo on Yingzhou Island..."
"Six million?" Xu Yuan's eyes narrowed.
Li Junqing's expression shifted, and he sighed abruptly. "...Though I only received an initial installment of three million. As for the remaining one and a half million, I will probably have to find a few bookkeepers to take the blame."
Hearing this, Xu Yuan rolled his eyes internally.
This was most likely a lie, but accounting truly was a high-risk profession no matter the world.
After a moment of quiet, Xu Yuan dropped the subject and shifted the topic: "When does the Third Prince plan to depart Beifeng City?"
Seeing the conversation return to business, Li Junqing did his best to rein in his heartache over the money. "The sooner the better. Tonight, if possible."
"Tonight?"
Xu Yuan pondered briefly and asked with a serious tone, "Is Your Highness certain you want to leave the city tonight?"
Li Junqing looked slightly puzzled. "Is tonight not good?"
Xu Yuan explained, "It's not out of the question, but it might be rather dangerous."
Li Junqing frowned, confused. "Aren't the Barbarians outside the city..."
Before he could finish, as if confirming Xu Yuan's words, a burst of white light flared violently across the pitch-black sky outside the window.
Then—
*Boom!*
A series of earth-shattering explosions reverberated across the skies above the city!
Having already been given fair warning by Li Qingyan, Xu Yuan was not overly surprised by the commotion.
He rose, stepped over to the window, and looked south.
In the dark, blizzard-filled night, with his Fifth Rank cultivation, his field of vision was limited; he could only see hundreds of clusters of white light of varying sizes flaring midair.
It was the glow of the city-protecting array.
Projectiles hurled by the Barbarians' siege engines collided against the translucent barrier, setting off thunderous booms and rippling waves of energy.
The sound was terrifying, but after a full volley, all of Beifeng City remained as impregnable as an iron fortress beneath the translucent dome; not a single building within the city was struck or ruined.
By then, Li Junqing had recovered his senses, staring through the window toward the distant skyline. "What... is this?"
Xu Yuan slowly turned his gaze back, crimson flames lingering in his eyes while the dark skies thundered behind him. "What does Your Highness think?"
Li Junqing slumped back onto the couch and took a swig of wine to calm his nerves.
After a long silence, he exhaled and chuckled quietly. "The Barbarians actually launched an assault tonight... Though from your reaction just now, Third Young Master, it seems you already knew."
Xu Yuan paced back to the couch and sat down, pouring himself a cup of wine. "Yes. Your Imperial Sister anticipated that the Barbarians would most likely raid the city tonight."
"Then that's fine." Li Junqing nodded. "Since Imperial Sister saw it coming, nothing should go awry."
Xu Yuan shook his head, looked at Li Junqing, and asked, "Beifeng City certainly won't fall, but does Your Highness still insist on leaving tonight?"
Li Junqing hesitated for a moment, then nodded resolutely. "I must. Tonight is likely just a probing attack. I've read the Northern Border dossiers—when sieging a city, these Barbarians usually begin by hurling massive boulders mixed with Ice Spirit Spikes and Corrosive Acid Beasts to wear down the city-protecting array."
Xu Yuan gave an ambiguous smile. "The Barbarian lands are impoverished. They can't afford things like Source Crystal bombs."
Xu Yuan had seen this siege tactic in the dossiers Lou Ji had provided him as well.
An Ice Spirit Spike looked like an iron spiked ball about three meters in diameter, with a thumb-sized Source Crystal at its center and hundreds of icicles encasing its exterior.
Corrosive Acid Beasts, on the other hand, were hard-shelled demonic beasts native to the ice plains; once their crystalline outer shells were shattered, they would detonate, releasing a massive puddle of acid.
Compared to Great Yan's past internal rebellions, these two things were somewhat underwhelming.
During Great Yan's civil wars, sieges employed Source Crystal bombs.
Unchecked, siege engines focusing their volleys on a single point of a city-protecting array could punch clean through the barrier in just a few rounds.
The Barbarians' two siege weapons were cheap to produce; while they posed little threat to cultivators maintaining the formation, they inflicted immense damage on buildings and commoners.
During the previous Siege of Beifeng, the Barbarians had used this exact method to attack, attempting to exhaust the Source Crystals powering the array. Unfortunately for them, Beifeng City back then had been packed with top experts and elite forces.
There had not even been a need to activate the city-protecting array—high-ranking cultivators inside the city alone were enough to shatter the incoming projectiles in midair.
Now, however, Beifeng City was hollowed out. Facing this overwhelming barrage, it had to rely on the defense array to shield it, and every moment the defense array remained active, it consumed a staggering amount of Source Qi.
The cost of attack versus defense was on completely different scales.
Draining the contents of his cup in one gulp, Xu Yuan stood up, wasting no more time. "In that case, let us depart."
Li Junqing glanced once more toward the south of the city and silently rose.
Without another word, the two stepped out of the private room together and immediately noticed the corridor outside in slight disarray.
Many armed attendants hurried through the hallway, their expressions varied—some panicked, others grim.
Descending the stairs, knocking and hurried murmurs rang out endlessly. Along the way, a few disheveled courtesans and men rushed out of their rooms.
Evidently, the Barbarians' siege had rattled even the most expensive pleasure house in Beifeng City.
In the face of war, human nature was laid bare in all its forms.
Yet this chaos did not last long.
By the time Xu Yuan and Li Junqing reached the main hall downstairs, the madame and brothel attendants had already restored an air of lively revelry and peace.
For they knew the Barbarians would not breach the walls anytime soon.
Slender women swayed their willowy waists on stage, while musicians serenely strummed gentle tunes, unperturbed.
Looking upon this peaceful revelry, Xu Yuan exhaled softly and asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, what do you think of this scene?"
As Li Junqing walked down the stairs, his eyes lingered on the hall for a few breaths. He smiled candidly. "Third Young Master, I'm hardly in a position to judge them."
He paused, then glanced at Xu Yuan. "Though I'd wager once the Barbarians breach the southern walls in a few days, this orderly hall will devolve into utter madness."
"..."
Xu Yuan swept his eyes over the courtesans on stage and the lavishly dressed patrons below, shaking his head faintly.
*A full-blown orgy, eh?*
Leaving the main hall and reaching the stables, they found quite a few people gathered, murmuring among themselves.
These people were communicating via voice transmission, but judging from their presence, they were likely sect disciples privy to insider information, no longer in the mood to carouse.
Moreover, without a background or permit, anyone traveling at night under Beifeng City's martial curfew could be summarily executed by patrolling soldiers.
On this blizzard-swept night, apart from the howling wind and the distant explosions from the southern sky, everything was eerily quiet. Bright-pattern lamps flickered along the roadside.
Occasionally, a squad of fully armed soldiers patrolling the streets emerged from the snow.
However, upon spotting the insignia of the Beifeng Commandery Office on the carriage, they let it pass without pressing questions.
After being cleared by yet another patrol, Li Junqing looked at the dwellings lining both sides of the street through the carriage window, suddenly sighing softly. "Once the city falls, the common folk here will probably all be slaughtered by those barbarians."
Resting with his eyes closed, Xu Yuan opened them at those words and glanced at the Third Prince. "To those barbarians, the people of our Great Yan are nothing more than two-legged sheep."
"Two-legged sheep..."
Li Junqing stared out the window, the frigid wind stirring the hair at his temples. He murmured the phrase once and spoke no more.
Silence once again enveloped the carriage.
After an indeterminate time, Li Junqing sighed and asked suddenly, "Changtian... do you think Imperial Father and Duke Xu foresaw this?"
"..."
Silence.
After a while, Xu Yuan replied softly, "Perhaps they did, perhaps they didn't."
Li Junqing rolled his eyes. "That's as good as saying nothing."
Xu Yuan smiled faintly and reminded him, "This Second Rank Origin Realm expert will only escort you as far as Houting County. Be careful once you get there. The situation there isn't great either—the stockpiled provisions are estimated to last the sect elites only about a month."
Li Junqing fell quiet for a moment, then said, "Changtian, you're staying in Beifeng City because you have business to attend to, right?"
"I am merely a hostage left in your imperial clan's hands," Xu Yuan replied, watertight.
"Heh... keep it to yourself then."
The solemnity faded from Li Junqing's face. He stretched and sprawled out on the seat. "I'm just an ordinary mortal. The more I learn about this wretched mess in the Northern Border, the more irritated I get."
Xu Yuan nodded in deep agreement, gazing out toward the southern horizon. "Indeed. The more you know, the more bothersome it is."
Li Junqing turned and stared intently at Xu Yuan's profile for a few moments, then suddenly chuckled. "Third Young Master, this Prince will offer you a piece of advice: take a page from my second brother's book. Be colder, be more ruthless. Only then can you become Great Yan's next Duke Xu."
Xu Yuan turned his head back with interest. "If I become the next Duke Xu, will your imperial family still be able to stomach your meals?"
Li Junqing shrugged. "If you become the next Duke Xu, the ones who'll have headaches will be my eldest brother, my second brother, and the sects across the realm. It has nothing to do with me."
Xu Yuan's eyes flickered as he scrutinized him, trying to gauge the sincerity behind his words.
In the end, he chuckled softly. "You certainly are carefree."
"It's not being carefree; it's knowing my own limits."
Li Junqing spread his hands. "As for me, while I consider myself decent enough and can see through many things, I lag far behind my second brother and eldest brother.
"So whichever surname rules the realm doesn't matter to me. I have money in hand anyway. If I can't requisition troops on this trip back to the capital, I'll just head off to some remote corner and live as a wealthy squire. Taking a few pretty wives and living out a peaceful life wouldn't be half bad."
A hint of amusement touched Xu Yuan's eyes. "In storybooks, it's usually someone like you who ends up emperor in the end."
Li Junqing chuckled slyly and cupped his hands. "My thanks to the Third Young Master for thinking so highly of me."
As they spoke, the carriage slowly came to a halt.
Xu Yuan glanced out the window. "We're here."
Li Junqing also peered outside. "A pawnshop?"
The carriage had pulled up in the snow right before the doors of a large pawnshop. By the light of the bright-pattern lamps along the street, one could see the signboard bearing the words "Tianxia Pawnshop" written in sweeping, vigorous calligraphy.
Stepping down from the carriage, the biting cold struck. Xu Yuan pulled the padded coat Li Qingyan had prepared for him a little tighter, walked forward, and tapped lightly on the door.
*Knock, knock—knock, knock, knock—knock, knock—*
Short, rhythmic, and very soft.
Beside him, Li Junqing hesitated slightly. "Shouldn't I step aside?"
Xu Yuan chuckled. "It's a one-time secret signal. Use it next time, and you'll probably be treated as a spy."
Li Junqing looked somewhat disappointed upon hearing that.
Just then, a somewhat aged voice sounded from inside: "Young master, our shop is already closed. Come early tomorrow."
Xu Yuan recited the contact passphrase given by Lou Ji: "I have come to pawn a jade pendant."
"A jade pendant?" The aged voice bore a trace of impatience.
"A black dragon jade pendant."
*Creak—*
The door opened, and a middle-aged man whose appearance completely contradicted the aged voice appeared in their sight.
He wore a sleeping robe, looking as though he had already retired for the night.
Without a word, Xu Yuan retrieved a medallion from his Sumeru ring—engraved with a black dragon on the front and the character 'Three' on the reverse. But before he could toss it over for inspection, the middle-aged man bowed deeply to him:
"Third Young Master."
Looking at the middle-aged man, Xu Yuan pulled back the bronze medallion and cupped his hands slightly. "You must be Mister Jiu?"
Straightening up, the middle-aged man's gaze fell on Li Junqing, who stood slightly behind Xu Yuan. "Indeed it is this old man. Lady Lou Ji informed me in advance. You wish to leave the city?"
Xu Yuan waved a hand and pointed at Li Junqing. "Not me. Him."
"Him?"
Mister Jiu frowned slightly, hesitating. "Third Young Master, are you certain? If this old man escorts him out of the city, returning will be next to impossible."
"..."
Hearing this, Li Junqing's pupils contracted slightly.
He realized that in all of Beifeng City, the Black Scale Guards likely had only this single Second Rank Origin Realm expert.
At this realization, accompanied by the roaring impacts against the array above the city, the look Li Junqing cast at Xu Yuan turned peculiar.
Not out of gratitude—after all, he had just been fleeced of five million taels by this kid.
Rather, Xu Changtian had sold him his escape route; what did he plan to do for himself?
He certainly didn't believe this kid was the type to live and die with the city.
So...
What on earth was this fellow trying to do?
Chapter 234