Chapter 749: I Heard Your Daughter is Very Beautiful

Chapter 749: I Hear Your Daughter Is Quite Beautiful

Yuxu returned with a smile, bowed to Zhao Changhe and his family of three, and then went straight back to the Guantai Tower, leaving only a parting remark: "If you have time, feel free to visit me at the tower; I will prepare a warm welcome."

Zhao Changhe returned the respect with a bow: "We will certainly come."

Yuxu departed, and the city of Chang'an fell into silence.

No one except Jiuyou could see what had happened over ten li away. But everyone had witnessed Yuxu chasing out, Qin Jiu drawing his bow and shooting an arrow until it vanished, and then Yuxu returning with a smile. A thought arose in people's minds: Could that arrow have killed Papiyas?

The power of gods and demons, especially the infamous Papiyas... It seemed unlikely that such a figure would die from a single arrow. But if he truly had been killed, the world knew only one person who had ever accomplished such a feat.

His name was Zhao Changhe.

Everyone looked at "Qin Jiu," then at the beauty by his side. The name in their hearts was on the tip of their tongues, but they all secretly glanced at Li Boping, not daring to speak it aloud.

Li Boping's face was as dark as water.

Even a passerby could guess; how could he not?

But now, compared to half an incense stick ago, things were different. Back then, if he had guessed it was Zhao Changhe, he could have simply sent men to crush him, caring little for public opinion. But now? Now Zhao Changhe had just broken through to the Imperial Realm on the battlefield!

Could the Imperial Realm be overwhelmed by an army? Dream on!

Moreover, Bo'e had fled far away, Papiyas's fate was unknown, and Yuxu had clearly sided with Zhao Changhe. All the top-tier power Li Boping could rely on in Chang'an had vanished. Unless Jiuyou acted personally, no one could threaten Zhao Changhe anymore.

He could have slapped Li Boping to death, but he refrained because Jiuyou was backing him. Even if Zhao Changhe shed his disguise and stood here now, Li Boping could only pretend not to recognize him, swallowing his humiliation.

But then again, given the current situation, could this group directly challenge Jiuyou?

Li Boping's heart skipped a beat, and he turned to look in Jiuyou's direction.

Jiuyou remained expressionless, staring fixedly at Zhao Changhe. Zhao Changhe gripped the Star River Sword tightly, meeting her gaze, his palms already slick with sweat.

He couldn't fight.

Not to mention that the three of them were not at their peak—could they even defeat Jiuyou? And Jiuyou was not alone; how many corpse puppets did she command? Who could count?

He didn't know what Jiuyou was hesitating about, why she wouldn't force a full confrontation at this point. Since she wouldn't, they could all take a breather.

The atmosphere froze for a moment, but then Zhuque suddenly spoke: "I am here as an envoy. Is the King of Qin going to receive an envoy on the main street?"

Everyone was stunned for a moment. Right, you're here as an envoy. We almost forgot you were supposed to be sweeping out rebels in your own capital.

The more they thought about it, the stranger it felt. Driving out enemy chieftains, rooting out demons—these were deeds that would be praised as chivalrous acts wherever they were told. Yet it wasn't the ruler of Chang'an who had done them, but the King of Zhao of Great Han and the Empress Dowager, who had come here to help.

Truly, comparisons are odious.

Li Boping knew exactly what everyone was thinking, but he could only swallow his pride and put on an impeccable smile: "Indeed, so many unexpected events occurred that I nearly forgot. Please, Venerable One."

Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling silently flanked Zhuque as she walked. Li Boping's face turned blank: "Venerable One, what is the meaning of this?"

Zhuque looked perfectly natural: "Oh, they are my guards."

"Is this 'Brother Qin' not a Buddhist disciple? And this Lady Yue, is she not a lone wanderer of the martial world?"

"I just recruited them. Their monthly salary is one coin." Zhuque couldn't even be bothered to come up with a plausible excuse and strode forward.

Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling didn't bother to say more. In this situation, who would be foolish enough to let Zhuque face Jiuyou alone?

The crowd gathered around Zhuque Avenue dispersed contentedly. Today's drama was far more entertaining than anything in the past ten years.

Word had it that the Venerable Zhuque had come as an envoy to seek the hand of the Li family's young lady for the King of Zhao.

...

"Blind girl." Along the way, Li Boping remained silent, and Zhuque and Yue Hongling, being part of the procession, couldn't talk much with Zhao Changhe. The atmosphere was heavy with silence, so Zhao Changhe took the chance to call out to Blind Girl.

This time, Blind Girl, who hadn't responded since Jiuyou appeared, replied with a single word: "Scram."

Zhao Changhe was extremely embarrassed. Although his talk about looking at her eyes was half-truth, half-joke, the part about revealing his deepest hidden desires was no joke—even he hadn't expected that image. He had wanted to test if Blind Girl knew, and now he had his answer. She did.

Why did she have to be so powerful? Such soul battles were invisible to outsiders, yet she could see them. He hadn't seen her "enter dreams," so how did she do it?

How could he communicate now?

It was like telling a girl outright that he wanted to sleep with her, and expecting her to be nice about it? It was a wonder she hadn't punched him. And she wasn't just any girl; she was the spirit of a book. Others copied books; he wanted to... copy her?

But then again, the image of Blind Girl in a light gauze, her curves faintly visible, lying on her side with a teasing smile—she was truly stunning.

He had always known Blind Girl was beautiful. No matter how much he resented her, he instinctively described her as a "goddess of the dark night." He couldn't bring himself to call her ugly, which said something. But her usual aura didn't inspire desire. No matter how close they were, there always seemed to be an invisible Milky Way between them, distant and ethereal, like a dream that didn't exist.

But with that change of clothes, her entire demeanor shifted, instantly making his mouth dry. Even the previous distance and coldness became more alluring. From now on, whenever he saw the proper Blind Girl, he would inevitably recall that seductive vision from the illusion, unable to forget it.

Papiyas was part of the Buddhist system, wasn't he? Why were Buddhists always like this?

"Um..." Zhao Changhe racked his brain for a topic to break the ice, finally latching onto one: "I shot Papiyas in the shoulder with my arrow, and then he vanished. Is he dead or not? Should the Book of Chaos make an announcement?"

Blind Girl didn't respond.

Zhao Changhe pressed on: "Could it be that even you don't know if he's dead?"

Blind Girl snapped angrily: "Do you think I'm as useless as you?"

As long as she was willing to talk!

Zhao Changhe quickly said: "If you know, why won't you say?"

"Why should I tell you whether he's dead or not? Am I your radar?" Blind Girl fumed. "You killed someone yourself and don't even know if he's dead—how dare you ask!"

"But his case is different," Zhao Changhe said, taking her scolding in stride as if it were praise, and spoke seriously. "The Sea Emperor was high-level, but when Old Xia wounded him, he couldn't even recover his Imperial Realm. It's understandable that he could be killed by an arrow. Yin Kui was too ordinary, just a representative of some rules under Jiuyou; being shot dead isn't surprising. But Papiyas is both high-level and the type that manifests in countless illusions—he transforms at will or something. In theory, the demons of the human heart are eternal; he might very well be immortal."

Blind Girl was silent for a long time before finally speaking without anger: "Whether he's dead or not is something you need to find out. Nothing in this world is truly immortal."

Zhao Changhe said: "Even if he's not dead, he must be severely injured. I'm thinking that beings like them, who possess something akin to a 'divine nature,' become extremely dangerous when gravely wounded—like a rare treasure. Remember how I suspected that An Mie was absorbed by Snow Owl? That's probably why the gods and demons didn't dare to show themselves before, and especially didn't want to be targeted by you and listed on the Chaos Rankings. Once their status is constantly broadcast, they might tear each other apart."

Blind Girl was silent again, then gave a faint "Mm."

Zhao Changhe continued: "I'm also thinking that the mass emergence of gods and demons in recent months probably isn't just because Old Xia died. It's likely because their recovery has accelerated. When Hong Ling was in Kunlun, Papiyas was nowhere near his current level. They had been barely surviving for an entire era, and suddenly in a few months, they recovered this much. I think there's a reason."

Blind Girl said lightly: "Oh?"

Zhao Changhe said: "When Hong Ling was in Kunlun, we were overseas. What changed that coincided with their sudden resurgence? Only one thing: overseas, we obtained two pages of the Heavenly Book, and after returning to the Central Plains, Old Xia died, and we got another page from him—three pages in a row. Now I have six pages in my hands, or rather, you have them. You already had one page broadcasting in the sky; with these six, that's seven. The nine pages of the Heavenly Book are almost complete, and the Heavenly Dao is becoming more whole. That's the main reason for the gods' and demons' revival."

Blind Girl's tone turned slightly mocking: "So now that you've broken through to the Imperial Realm, you can sense the rules of the Heavenly Dao, can you?"

"Yes, I can see many things now, as if I'm deconstructing the essence of the world."

Blind Girl sneered: "Collecting the Heavenly Book causes the gods and demons to revive. So are you trying to say you don't want to collect the remaining two pages?"

"Actually, you could have told me directly," Zhao Changhe said. "After all, when the Heavenly Book is complete, the one who benefits the most is you yourself. Whether others revive or not, you can't control that."

Blind Girl said: "Ha, I never would have guessed you'd care about my life or death."

"I do."

The air grew still again. The face he had seen in the illusion seemed to be the most direct proof of this.

Blind Girl's face showed anger again, but before she could say anything, Zhao Changhe changed the subject: "Why is Jiuyou pretending to be a young lady in the Li family? What does it mean to her? Shouldn't she be like the Dao Lord, hiding behind the scenes and making Yuxu do everything?"

"The Dao Lord has Yuxu to use. Who does Jiuyou have? How can dried-up corpses like Huang Yang and Feng Yin stand on the stage? She needs an agent on the stage, and the Li family is naturally her first choice. And the Li family has no strong warriors left. Li Boping is only mid-tier on the Human Rankings, walking a tightrope among the barbarians, Buddhists, and Daoists, always at risk of being completely controlled. Naturally, she needs to give the Li family a direct, visible backing. Now, Huang Yang, Feng Yin, and even possibly Snow Owl, all belong to the Li family's forces in essence, because they are all loyal to her."

"Then she didn't need to come herself as a young lady. She could have stayed behind the scenes."

"Because by being the young lady, once the Li family unifies the world, she can smoothly succeed as emperor. Besides, within the Li family, she doesn't use the identity of a young lady; she claims to be an ancestor who crawled out of a grave. Of course, that can't be said publicly, so she has to appear as the young lady."

"She also needs the title of emperor? She represents chaos and annihilation, doesn't she? Shouldn't she just stir up chaos in the world?"

"Xia Longyuan's example taught her that nothing is more convenient for throwing the world into chaos than being an emperor."

"Grass."

Come to think of it, didn't you say it wasn't my radar? Yet when it comes to matters of the Netherworld, you go into such detail, as if you'd crawl into her belly to be a tapeworm, and even strip her of her undergarments.

"Of course, this is my speculation, not fact—after all, I'm not a tapeworm in her belly," the Blind Man said flatly. "There's also another possibility..."

"What?"

"She might have learned from ancient defeats—without a foundation in the human way, everything is illusory. Her actions in this revival carry that flavor..." The Blind Man sneered as he spoke. "She's also trying to touch the path of the Night Emperor, to see if there's anything to reference... But the two are inherently opposed; if she could unify them, she wouldn't be herself."

"Then what would she be?"

"The Heavenly Dao."

Zhao Changhe: "..."

The Blind Man's tone was light: "Precisely now that she's trapped by her own identity as this young lady, and someone's come to propose marriage—I'm dying to see her expression. Put some real effort into this, don't just talk idly; push with all your might. If she flies into a rage, I'll take the heat."

This was the first time the Blind Man had said "I'll take the heat," willing to openly intervene for this matter.

Zhao Changhe's expression was utterly bizarre. Isn't your reason for stepping in a bit... off? And you said everything must follow the rules—are you breaking the rules just to watch the drama?

Forget it. At least by rambling about serious matters, we managed to gloss over that springtime scene in the illusion. The Blind Man dropped that topic, so that counts as a gain.

From the side came Li Boping's voice: "Please, Venerable One, enter the hall."

The two snapped back to reality, only to realize they had already reached the great hall, and Li Boping had taken his seat.

And beside Li Boping stood the Netherworld, her gaze fixed on Zhao Changhe, a trace of confusion flickering in her eternally placid eyes.

The Blind Man was startled—he'd been so caught up in their banter that he'd forgotten to observe his surroundings, let alone the world. He'd nearly let the Netherworld detect his presence.

He dared to brazenly enter Yue Hongling's dreams while she was in the throes of passion, unafraid of her knowing, but facing the Netherworld, even separated by the void, he dared not let his attention waver for an instant, lest she see through him at any moment.

—The Netherworld's current strength could probably only manifest at the early stage of the Second Realm of Imperial Control, but her understanding of the Heavenly Dao's laws was solidly at the Third Realm level. Not a single oversight could be allowed.

Over there, Zhuque had already taken her seat in the hall. Zhao Changhe and Yue Hongling stood silently to her left and right, all three of them staring at the Netherworld beside Li Boping, every nerve taut.

Li Boping was speaking: "Our two houses are enemies. Since you, Venerable One, have come as an envoy, our civilized state naturally won't make things difficult for you. If you have matters to discuss, speak plainly."

Zhuque smiled faintly: "Just now, the King of Qin said that Bo'e was secretly hidden here—you all didn't know?"

Li Boping lied through his teeth without blinking: "Indeed, we did not."

"Then that time when Yeltu led light cavalry from Guanlong toward Taihang, bypassing the Three Jins, and launched a surprise attack on the capital—that had nothing to do with you either?"

"Of course. As everyone knows, the barbarians once detoured through Yumen to raid Guanlong. Back then, even Chang'an was breached, but we quickly drove them out." Li Boping continued his lies: "To this day, there are still scattered bands of barbarian horsemen plundering in various parts of Guanlong. We've sent troops to suppress them, but with little effect. So that army of Yeltu's must have skirted Chang'an and headed straight for Taihang—we were powerless to stop it."

Even though Li's army had followed behind and been ambushed by Huangfu Shaozong, he simply pretended it never happened. If Zhuque pressed further, he could claim it was a war between their two houses. What? The barbarians paved the way? Sorry, our scouts were inadequate—we didn't know about it.

No matter how false the story, as long as they still hoped to rule the Divine Land in the future, this matter of using barbarian troops had to be covered up. If they succeeded in unifying the realm, they would also launch a northern expedition. After all, whoever sits on the throne becomes the enemy of the Northern Barbarians.

Zhuque naturally couldn't be bothered to expose him. She said lazily: "Tomorrow is the beginning of spring... Though historically the barbarians have come south in autumn when the horses are fat, not in spring—last autumn, for instance. But you and I both know this year is different. Our Great Han has just endured turmoil. As you, King of Qin, just mentioned, Guanlong was also breached and plundered by barbarians. I imagine that beyond Chang'an's splendor, other areas are relatively desolate. Everyone is in a time of rebuilding. In contrast, Temür has just defeated Batu and reclaimed the lands south of the Gobi. They won't give us a chance; as soon as the snow stops, they will march south."

Li Boping thought to himself: I want them to come south—why are you telling me this?

But on the surface, he could only say: "Indeed. Is this the reason for your mission, Venerable One?"

"Of course. If the Great Han and the King of Qin could temporarily set aside arms and jointly strike the barbarians to the north, there might be a chance of victory. After all, Temür just suffered a defeat last year; he's not as strong as imagined. Our only loss is our own discord, pulling each other down." Zhuque spoke with force: "If you and I could cooperate, then why stop at repelling invasion? I'd say we might even march beyond the northern passes, sweep the barbarian nests clean!"

Li Boping smiled: "Guanlong is exhausted, barely enough for self-defense. If you, Venerable One, have the heart for a northern expedition, I admire that. I wish you success."

Zhuque said: "I can strike out—are you that weak?"

"We naturally cannot compare to the Great Han's vast lands and strong armies."

"Then if you can close your borders and defend yourselves without causing us trouble, that would be acceptable." Zhuque said leisurely: "But such an alliance is fragile, with nothing to bind it. We can't trust it. So how about a marriage alliance?"

Finally, it came to this. Li Boping stole a glance at the Netherworld beside him, but she was still staring at Zhao Changhe, like a porcelain doll, expressionless from start to finish.

Li Boping was taken aback. No way—could it be that she's actually taken a liking to him?

Without guidance from the ancestor, Li Boping had to blunder through on his own: "A marriage alliance is not impossible, but why can't I seek a Great Han princess for my son?"

"Our family has no princesses, hahaha."

Li Boping: "..."

"Besides, you're not worthy. Even our maidservants might be beyond your reach." Zhuque said lazily: "Enough idle talk—it's meaningless. I hear your family's young lady is quite beautiful. If you're willing to send her to warm our Prince Zhao's bed, we can set aside our arms for now. If not... today Bo'e appears in Chang'an, and Mara emerges from the Buddhist gate—the world's hearts will judge why the Li family refuses an alliance. Tomorrow, the Great Han's army will march out of Hangu Pass. When the heavenly soldiers arrive, all will be ground to dust. Don't say I didn't warn you."

This was no real proposal; it was a provocation from the start. Zhuque had no genuine intention of seeking a marriage for Zhao Changhe.

Even if Li Boping had a daughter of his own, he couldn't stomach such words. He was about to refuse in fury when the Netherworld beside him suddenly spoke, her voice faint: "If we truly want to discuss marriage, we can lay out the details. If the conditions are met, it's not impossible to consider."

Eh?

Li Boping was dumbfounded. Zhuque's eyes went wide, frozen in place.

What are you up to, you little vixen!

Even Yue Hongling, who had remained silent all along playing the guard, instinctively pressed her hand on her sword hilt.

Zhao Changhe's mouth fell open. He desperately wanted to yank the Blind Man down from the void again—what is she doing? Blindy, say something!

Regrettably, at this moment, even the Blind Man was dumbstruck.