Chapter 35 – Betrayal

Heaven and earth were vast and still. From the collapsed ruins, a butterfly emerged and flew free.

Qiao Shan Ke fired a signal flare that blazed brilliantly even in the light of day.

“Does Your Highness regret saving us?” Qiao Shan Ke had Songshi Zi restrained and was escorting him toward the shore, yet the corner of his eye never left Zhan Changfeng for even a moment.

“I only did what was my responsibility. Why would I have any regrets?”

She was far too nonchalant about it, and it was genuinely irritating. Jiang Wei said with dissatisfaction, “Doesn’t Your Highness even want to ask why I betrayed you?”

“There is no need.”

Jiang Wei’s expression became complicated, and he asked again, “I betrayed your trust. Doesn’t that make you angry?”

Zhan Changfeng gave a small cough and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. “I never trust people. I only place people in positions suited to them. At least before all this, you handled my trivial affairs very well. In that regard, you already served your purpose.”

Jiang Wei’s feelings were a jumbled mess — there was not even a shred of the satisfaction one would expect from a dramatic identity reveal. “Your Highness is truly heartless.”

“Though you did genuinely surprise me. Your background looked completely clean in the records.”

Those so-called records naturally meant one’s life trajectory across eighteen generations of ancestors.

Qiao Shan Ke interjected, “One cannot deny that your imperial family has an iron grip on the secular world. But there is a power out there that you know absolutely nothing about!”

Zhan Changfeng saw through the contempt in his eyes and smiled. “You make an excellent point.”

Qiao Shan Ke felt as though he had thrown a punch into cotton. His expression turned strange. So this was the Yin Dynasty’s imperial family — capable of being as ruthless as a tyrant one moment and as magnanimous and accommodating as a sage the next, switching between the two with perfect ease.

Already a captive, yet the pressure she exerted on him was even greater than that of the elders in his own family.

No, that comparison wasn’t quite right either. It was more like… like facing a teacher as a child — a pure and simple sense of dread.

A person like this was truly terrifying.

The signal flare had drawn both Gongsun Jing’s group and the Gaotian Tribe. The two parties came sprinting from different directions, one after the other.

“It’s her — what happened? Where is the chief?”

“What exactly happened in there?”

Jiang Wei escorted Zhan Changfeng toward the approaching groups. Zhan Changfeng covered her mouth to cough, her gaze briefly meeting that of one of the Gaotian Tribe members before she looked away, sighing helplessly. “I originally thought the Gaotian Tribe would be the final winner. Who would have thought you two would snatch that from them.”

“Halt! Explain yourself!” The Gaotian Tribe had sharp ears. Upon hearing those words, their aura sharpened in an instant. One of them raised a hand, releasing a swarm of flying insects that spread out like a curtain between Zhan Changfeng and Gongsun Jing’s group, cutting off the path.

Gongsun Jing’s brow furrowed tight enough to crush a fly. Without a word, he turned and launched an attack on the Gaotian Tribe. “Eliminate these nuisances first!”

“Your Highness, I advise you to behave!” Jiang Wei halted and dragged Zhan Changfeng behind a boulder half the height of a person.

“What is it you want by capturing me? I cannot think of anything on me worth coveting.”

“How could Your Highness have nothing of value? Do you not possess the art of immortality?”

Immortality — Zhan Changfeng’s mind wandered for an inopportune moment. She gathered her thoughts. “So it is the Dragon Scale Divine Scripture you want. Ha — cultivators, and Cangyun Ravine again.”

Gongsun Jing held an object in his hand and launched it forward. A vast and mighty sword qi erupted from it, instantly cutting down a group of people.

Zhan Changfeng watched with keen interest. “You all cultivate the Dao — what path do you walk? The Heavenly Dao, the Human Dao, the Immortal Dao, the Divine Dao?”

Qiao Shan Ke and Jiang Wei pressed their lips tightly shut.

Zhan Changfeng narrowed it down. “The Martial Dao? The Sword Dao? The Dharmic Dao?”

“Quiet! Don’t forget your situation!” Qiao Shan Ke snapped.

Zhan Changfeng looked at him for a long moment, then shook her head. “So, not even worth mentioning. How dull.”

Qiao Shan Ke’s face cycled between green and white. He suddenly understood exactly how Wu Bing had felt — she could look down on you to the very roots of your hair without even trying. He simply did not want to speak with her.

“By the way, is Cangyun Ravine so impoverished that you don’t even have a cultivation scripture of your own? What were you all cultivating with before?”

“Shut up!”

Zhan Changfeng’s already low expectations of Cangyun Ravine plummeted further. They were so lacking in resources that they had to steal a scripture — how dire their situation must be.

But then again, whoever knew that the Founding Emperor had possessed the Dragon Scale Divine Scripture, and moreover was capable of cultivating it, was likely someone from eight hundred years ago.

Zhan Changfeng mulled it over and concluded it was probably another textbook case of failing to pull out the roots, only for the weed to grow back in the spring wind.

She watched the two factions tear into each other with blood and flesh flying everywhere — it was like watching two pieces of karma left behind by the Founding Emperor spitting at each other. It was truly unbearable to look at, so she shifted her gaze and happened to catch sight of a bird sweeping through the sky.

Zhan Changfeng slowly closed her eyes.

Jiang Wei felt a jolt of alarm shoot from the base of his spine to the top of his scalp. His body instinctively rolled to the side.

“Good reflexes.” She had somehow snapped the hemp rope binding her wrists at some point. Her blood-red eyes were cold as ice.

Damn it, here we go again!

Qiao Shan Ke drew his blade and slashed at her. The flash of the edge arrived in an instant, but Zhan Changfeng was faster. She dropped low, lifted a knee, drew her elbow back to build power, and with the force of a cannon shot, drove it into his chest.

Crack — under the elbow strike, the shattering of his sternum was clearly audible. Zhan Changfeng did not pause. She seized Qiao Shan Ke’s arm and, with a driving push charged with dense qi, hurled him into Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei was locked in by the qi and could not dodge. He took it head-on, and the two of them stumbled back several steps together.

Just then, a torrent of fire rained down, catching both Gongsun Jing and the Gaotian Tribe completely off guard.

In that opening, the weight at Jiang Wei’s waist vanished. A dark shadow flickered, and both Zhan Changfeng and the sword and the Emperor’s Flower that had been taken from her were gone.

“After them!”

“Don’t let them escape!”

Gongsun Jing was seething with fury. He looked at the Gaotian Tribe as though they were already dead. Damn it — if not for these fools blocking the way, how could things have gone wrong?

“Jiang Wei, didn’t you say only a few of you came? Who saved him?”

“How should I know! Did you really think she would trust me completely?”

“Stop making excuses. Both of you can go sit in the water dungeon and reflect!”

“Everyone pursue them now! I will have whatever is on her!”

The Gaotian Tribe began to retreat. “The chief’s whereabouts are unknown. The enemy is too powerful.”

“Whatever was in that tomb — whose hands is it in now? Send people to track them first, then we’ll settle accounts!”

Among the dappled shadows of the forest, Zero-Two said urgently, “Your Highness, please hold on. I will shake off those people shortly.”

Zhan Changfeng lay draped across his back, her breathing feeble. She rubbed her eyes. “Mm. I trust you.”

Zero-Two oversaw the imperial family’s underground operations. In order to solve the problem of transporting the contents after locating the Tianfu vault, she had ordered Zero-Two to remain on standby at Flag Mountain in advance.

The means of communication had been the scarecrow upon which the Shadow Veil Technique had been cast.

This time the scarecrow was only the size of a palm. She had kept it on her person at all times, allowing Master Huang to relay her position to Zero-Two whenever needed.

It had originally been arranged to save time and help Zero-Two locate the vault. Now, it had ended up saving her own life.

Zero-Two’s Lightness Technique was without equal in the world — arriving without a trace and departing without a shadow. In decades, no opponent had ever matched him. His power was also on the verge of breaking through to the innate realm. Though he was surprised by the strength of the pursuers, he was not afraid.

“Your Highness, just ahead is Linyuan Town. I must ask you to bear with a small inconvenience.”

Zero-Two’s sharp eyes swept over the farmers heading into town for market day. His silhouette flashed through the air, and in one seamless motion he placed Zhan Changfeng into an ox cart loaded with firewood, then posed as a traveler and strode brazenly toward the town entrance.

Zhan Changfeng made herself small and pulled the firewood over herself with one hand.

The current situation was turbulent, and soldiers at the town entrance were checking identification tablets for all who entered and exited. The man pulling the ox cart handed over his tablet and looked at the soldier with a flattering smile.

“Move along, move along! Don’t hold up the people behind!” The soldier jabbed his spear a few times into the heaping pile of firewood, then waved his hand and let them through.

Soon after, Zero-Two stepped forward, smoothly presented his tablet, and closely followed the ox cart.

When the ox cart turned onto a quieter side road, he swiftly helped Zhan Changfeng out.

Linyuan Town had an inn that belonged to the imperial family’s underground operations. Zhan Changfeng took shelter there for the time being.

(End of Chapter)