Aftermath and Compensation

The minor twist in between wasn't worth mentioning; it was practically like fast-forwarding. "And here I wondered what kind of treasure this kid could have had to counter divine arts!" Fu Shanyue fished a small hourglass from his breast. "Heh, turns out he really did have one!" Seeing him strutting with his chin up and his tail practically pointing to the heavens, He Lingchuan cooperatively asked, "What's that?" Fu Shanyue jutted his chin toward Uncle Da. "You know best. You explain." "This is an imperial treasure bestowed by the Ruler: 'Inch of Time,'" Uncle Da said in a low voice. "Until all the sand in the hourglass runs out, it can completely freeze the user's state—in other words, tucking them into a crevice of time to ensure their injuries don't worsen. However, the user also enters a dormant state: unable to move, unable to open their eyes, without consciousness." By He Lingchuan's understanding, while the hourglass ran, the user was essentially placed on "pause." To them, time seemed to stand still. "We originally intended to use this treasure to sustain the Young Master's... the Second Young Master's life until he returned to the capital, and then ask the Ruler to find a way." "Then why did you kill people to harvest their blood?" Several Shimen Merchant Guild workers had been murdered. "We feared an accident, worried the Inch of Time might not last until we reached the capital, so we prepared fresh blood for Young Master Ji. In case he woke early..." He Lingchuan wondered, "Can the Ruler of Chiyan counter divine arts?" "Hard to say." Uncle Da pondered. "Even if the Ruler were helpless, he could still seek aid from the gods." He Lingchuan felt a slight shudder in his heart. Indeed, gods. Back when Wen Xing was dying, Zhong Shengguang had immediately recalled General Red from the front lines to implore the god Mitian, who possessed her body, to intervene and save him. From General Red's expression and tone back then, He Lingchuan felt Wen Xing could have been saved. Yet his father, Wen Daolun, had ultimately chosen to give up—likely because the price was too exorbitant. The Ruler of Chiyan naturally wouldn't share such concerns; asking a god to heal Fu Shanji would make complete sense. The odds of success might have been quite high. A pity Fu Shanji couldn't escape his elder brother a second time, leaving his life behind in this desolate wilderness and handing over the throne on a silver platter. Power struggles were usually like this: striking first without enough ruthlessness meant falling victim to Fu Shanyue's counterattack in the end. "Alright, the big business is done. Let's go back and drink." Fu Shanyue pocketed the Inch of Time and said to Uncle Da, "Come on, what are you standing there for?" Uncle Da had no choice but to get up and follow behind him toward the camp. By now, tension in the camp ran high, with swords drawn and bows bent. No matter how slow the Shimen caravan might be, they couldn't remain in the dark after their own people were murdered one after another. Indignation boiled through the caravan as they clamored for justice. Yet because Fu Shanyue had briefly returned earlier, killed two Chiyan men, and vanished just as swiftly, no one—including Second Master Shi—know what was actually happening. The standoff hung in a tense deadlock. When the two men and one tiger returned to camp, a commotion erupted at once. The two sides had just been fighting to the death as sworn enemies—how had they suddenly ended up colluding together? Switching faces so fast, how were their subordinates supposed to conduct themselves? In the eerily quiet atmosphere, He Lingchuan and Fu Shanyue returned to their respective camps. Uncle Da's very first words were: "The Second Young Master is dead. From now on, we follow the Eldest Young Master's lead." The Chiyan people bowed their heads together. The winds were shifting. Even if word reached the Chiyan Kingdom and provoked the Ruler's fury, the cold, hard fact was already cast in stone. No matter how furious the Ruler became, would he kill his only remaining bloodline? What would happen to the throne then? Who would inherit it? Now that they answered to Fu Shanyue, all the belongings, including that carriage, naturally belonged to him as well. He grabbed Fu Shanji's body and was about to toss it away, but his new subordinates looked up at him with complicated, conflicted eyes. After all, a quarter of an hour ago, the two sides were enemies. Uncle Da had led them to attack Fu Shanyue, and Fu Shanyue's hands were stained with their companions' blood. Though he was now the "Young Master" of all the Chiyan people here, it didn't mean they harbored no misgivings. So Fu Shanyue considered for a moment, handed Fu Shanji's remains along with the head to Uncle Da, and said gently, "Keep them safe, to present to Royal Father upon our return." Uncle Da took them in silence and stowed them into his storage fang. Fu Shanyue waved to gather everyone and scrutinized them one by one. His gaze was sharp as a hawk's and predatory as a wolf's, staring until the guards lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes, and even the owl perched on a branch shrank like a sickly chicken. Only then did he clear his throat lightly. "Some of you have blades stained with my blood!" At those words, several guards lost their composure. Was it starting? Settling scores after the harvest? Fortunately, Fu Shanyue immediately followed up: "Yet I have also killed many of you, and the mastermind was my younger brother, Fu Shanji, who has already faced justice. In the end, this is my family matter, nothing to do with you. This bad ledger is written off from now on—let no one bring it up again. How about it?" Since he said so, the guards chimed in with their agreement, their expressions visibly relaxing. The awkward atmosphere softened as well. Watching from across the camp, He Lingchuan could tell that Fu Shanyue's reputation must have been quite solid in the past; otherwise, how could the Chiyan guards take a casual "written off" completely at face value? "Alright, do whatever you need to do, and you're not allowed to harass the caravan across from us. Dismissed!" The guards dispersed, and Fu Shanyue walked over to the caravan. While the two sides had been confronting each other, the illusion of Thousand Stars City had also slowly faded away, just as abruptly as it had appeared. After He Lingchuan returned, he explained what had happened in a few brief sentences. Second Master Shi was thoroughly shocked to hear that the Chiyan people had murdered his men, but when he learned that Fu Shanyue had regained authority and could rein in Fu Shanji's subordinates, he finally breathed a long sigh of relief. This merchant trip was truly plagued with unrest. Seeing Fu Shanyue approach, Second Master Shi felt mixed emotions and couldn't help sighing, "Young Master Fu Shan, you've really handed me a massive headache!" Four or five people in the caravan had been killed, all by the Chiyan people. Yet in the blink of an eye, Fu Shanyue had become the Chiyan leader. How was this score supposed to be settled now? The caravan members' eyes were filled with fury as they stared at Fu Shanyue. Fu Shanyue knew this issue couldn't be dodged, so he said solemnly, "They are my subordinates now, so their wrongs are my wrongs. What do you want?" Several workers shouted, "A life for a life!" "Right! Our brothers can't die in vain!" "A life for a life is out of the question. And let me remind you, this party is about to enter Chiyan territory." Fu Shanyue hooked a thumb at his chest. "I offer you two options. First, both sides field people for duels: vengeance for vengeance, an eye for an eye. However the whelps behind me killed your men, you can kill them back—but by your own hands. Second, I am willing to pay generous compensation for the guild's fallen brothers, and everyone present will receive fifty taels of silver to soothe their nerves. Pick one of the two." The moment he spoke, many in the caravan turned their gaze directly toward He Lingchuan. If Young Master He fought on their behalf, he was sure to slaughter quite a few on the other side. They might even pull off both options: kill their people and take the money too. Yet Young Master He wasn't a caravan member; he was a client, a guest. How could they ask a guest to go risk his life? So everyone could only indulge in a bit of wishful thinking before making an adult's choice. Second Master Shi discussed it with the caravan for quite a while before returning to Fu Shanyue. "If we choose the second option, how much compensation will our murdered brothers receive?" Fu Shanyue named a figure. A figure that would easily move even the victims' families, had they been present. Second Master Shi fell silent, then asked, "Then, the compensation to soothe everyone else's nerves... ahem..." So that was the real point. Fu Shanyue understood. "Eighty taels per person." With a grave expression, Second Master Shi said, "Something like this cannot happen again." "Naturally!" Knowing the matter was put behind them, Fu Shanyue also breathed a sigh of relief. As crown prince, anything that could be solved with money wasn't really a problem. "Put this on tab for now; I will pay once I return to the Chiyan Kingdom. Besides, Second Master Shi is a sharp businessman, precisely the kind of partner the Chiyan Kingdom likes to work with." The corner of Second Master Shi's mouth twitched into a smile, but smiling at such a moment was inappropriate, so he cleared his throat instead. "Looking forward to working together, looking forward to working together." Then he sent men to collect the bodies of the murdered workers. In truth, he knew that Fu Shanyue's willingness to pay compensation was ultimately out of deference to He Lingchuan. He Lingchuan saw through it just as clearly. Fu Shanyue using money to show condolences and sincerity was only part of why things resolved this way. The dead were gone forever, and the living weren't necessarily willing to risk their lives for them. Everyone had families back home and their own small calculations to make. Most importantly, Fu Shanyue was very likely the future ruler—why would merchants make an enemy of a crown prince? He looked at Fu Shanyue. This fellow's reckless brashness was probably just camouflage; deep down, he understood human nature inside and out. "Hey, come take a look at Taozi," he called out to Fu Shanyue. Taozi was currently unconscious. In fact, earlier, by tapping into the eyeball spider's vision, He Lingchuan had watched the entire process of Fu Shanyue beheading his own brother. Fu Shanyue had sneaked back and struck at the four guarding attendants, who naturally fought back. With one arm incapacitated, even though Fu Shanyue instantly killed one, he was still outnumbered and at a disadvantage. At that moment, drenched in sweat, Taozi had scrambled up, pointed at the four guards, and screamed, "Bite them!" With adults locked in combat, no one took a child's screams seriously, assuming at most that she was delirious with fever. Who would have thought that over a dozen small snakes would quickly slither out from nearby rocky crevices and bite straight at the Chiyan men's heels? Two were actually bitten by accident, instinctively shaking their legs, while another flicked away a snake only to take a punch from Fu Shanyue squarely in the chest, vomiting blood as he flew backward. Dispatching the remaining two was much easier for Fu Shanyue after that, needing no elaboration. By the time he climbed into the carriage and decapitated his younger brother, the other Chiyan men had rushed back in haste, but the tide had already turned. Taozi had earned merit by disrupting the enemy, but she had collapsed face-first right after and remained unconscious ever since. Fu Shanyue pressed her pulse, circulating his energy through her body to examine her before saying, "She absorbed too much baleful aura and didn't know how to refuse it. Just now she released it all at once, so her bodily functions are somewhat disordered."