The Crown Prince’s southern tour was thus decided. They would depart from Zhujiang River in ten days, traveling by water the entire way.
The imperial guards also entered a tense selection phase, including accompanying imperial physicians, various supplies, and so forth.
That evening.
Feng Ke shed the skin of Fu Biao and arrived at the Regent Prince’s Manor at the agreed-upon time. Upon learning Lian Shenwei planned to conduct the southern tour with the Crown Prince, his expression was strange.
“You’re planning to abandon Li Ningfeng?”
The treatment had only been two months. If Lian Shenwei left now, with insufficient blood supply afterward, Li Ningfeng would only end up crippled.
Lian Shenwei had obviously thought this through long ago and said calmly, “There are still ten days. I’ll give three times the blood volume daily. It can hold until we return.”
His breezy, casual manner—one who didn’t know would think he was discussing something insignificant.
“…”
Feng Ke was stunned for a long while. After realizing what he’d heard, an uncontrollable surge of nameless fury rose in his chest, and he even called out his previous name. “Lian Yubai, are you insane?!”
Lian Shenwei replied, “This is the only solution I can think of.”
He wanted Li Ningfeng to recover quickly without aftereffects. He wanted to take Jingjue back to Jinling to see Elder Sister. He wanted to draw out the Northern Yi people hiding in the dark…
He wanted too much. Spread too thin. To achieve all his objectives, he had to pay a price.
A portion of blood—he could afford it.
Veins throbbed at Feng Ke’s temples. He stepped forward, tore open Lian Shenwei’s sleeve, and unwound the gauze wrapped around his arm circle by circle. The fresh fragrance of ointment and faint bloody smell instantly filled his nose.
He said coldly, “Look for yourself. Is there anywhere left on this arm to make cuts?”
Wounds crisscrossed the arm like flaws in jade, scarlet and mottled, hideously ugly.
His wrist hurt from being gripped. Lian Shenwei glanced at his own arm and averted his gaze. “I recall the Feng family has medicine used on medicine people that can stimulate blood production.”
“Are you really treating yourself as a medicine person?! Is something wrong with your brain? If you don’t want to live, tell me—save me from struggling to rescue you every time and wasting medicinal materials!”
“Do you think the title of medicine person sounds good? That’s blood livestock—not human anymore! Do you know blood-stimulating medicine damages lifespan? Stop degrading yourself, can you?”
Feng Ke wished he could stick needles in him on the spot to wake up his brain.
“I want to live.”
Lian Shenwei said in a low voice, “I’ve never given up on my own life.”
With obsessions unclear and wishes unfulfilled, he wouldn’t die. Even with only a thread of opportunity, he would struggle to survive.
Feng Ke didn’t indulge him and said bluntly, “People who truly cherish their lives don’t turn themselves into commodities whose value can be measured or blood sources that can be arbitrarily exploited.”
He refused. “This time I won’t help you.”
Lian Shenwei nodded. “I understand. Then you may leave.”
“…”
Feng Ke was suspicious for a moment. “You’re just letting me go?”
Lian Shenwei hummed in acknowledgment. “Watch over Ningfeng more carefully.”
Feng Ke glanced at him, picked up his small wooden box, and left the room. Outside, the spring breeze was gentle. He stood for a moment, then suddenly turned around and pushed the door open again with a cold expression.
Lian Shenwei looked back in surprise.
He had just made a cut on his right arm. Below it was placed a sizable jar, blood dripping into it drop by drop.
The instrument of the crime lay right on the table.
“…”
Their eyes met.
Lian Shenwei looked at Feng Ke, who showed no reaction, and thought he might have been driven mad with anger. He felt somewhat guilty for a moment, but adhering to his principle of not wasting blood, he didn’t stop the bleeding.
“I…”
Feng Ke strode in. “Must it be this way?”
Lian Shenwei paused for a moment and nodded.
Feng Ke took a deep breath to keep his voice steady. “I can give you the blood-stimulating medicine. However, after Ying Jingjue ascends the throne, you must leave with me and swear that for the rest of your life, you’ll never set foot in the capital again.”
“You need to live longer to repay the time and medicinal materials I’ve spent on you.”
Lian Shenwei’s state was too dangerous. He looked perfectly normal yet could cut himself without blinking, and didn’t even care about blood-stimulating medicine that damaged lifespan.
He didn’t treat himself as someone deserving of proper care. Or rather, he just treated himself as an object that could be used.
Feng Ke was a physician. He couldn’t say Lian Shenwei had no will to survive, but that desire to live was entirely pinned on his obsession with revenge and Sister Youwei’s child.
If revenge ended and Sister Youwei’s child grew up safely—
Then Lian Shenwei…
The young man hadn’t noticed Feng Ke’s complex, worried thoughts. He just breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. “Alright, I promise you.”
–
For ten full days, Lian Shenwei didn’t attend morning court.
Only on the eve of departure did he finish giving sufficient blood.
Feng Ke stayed at the Marquis Manor to treat Li Ningfeng. Tian Nan guarded the Regent Prince’s Manor. At Lian Shenwei’s side was Ming Zhu of the Tianquan Realm, along with a squad of Black Armored Guards.
On the night before departure, Feng Ke pulled Ming Zhu out.
Feng Ke stuffed a bundle of medicine into her hands, his tone quite awkward. “Take all of these. I’ve prepared everything I could think of. Don’t tell him these are from me—I’m still angry!”
Ming Zhu nodded solemnly. “Yes.”
“Also,” Feng Ke solemnly pulled out an exquisite, delicate jade vial—semi-transparent, vaguely revealing the shape of pills inside. His tone grew heavier as he said word by word, “If your master’s life is in critical danger, give him this. It will keep him safe for a month, but he must return to the capital within that month.”
Ming Zhu didn’t understand why he was saying this, but being most cautious and careful, she accepted it and committed Feng Ke’s instructions to memory.
Feng Ke sighed.
The capital was treacherous with undercurrents—how could the jianghu be any more peaceful?
He’d looked at what Lian Shenwei prepared to bring on the southern tour and discovered a sword case among the items—
Inside was the Cangshan Sword, sealed away for nearly ten years.
Once Lian Yubai’s sword, its owner had traveled the jianghu under a false name that still topped the Jianghu Winds and Clouds Rankings today.
Not everyone was qualified to use the Cangshan Sword. This sword recognized only one person’s internal energy. Without internal energy, or if the person was wrong, one couldn’t even draw the sword.
He didn’t know what Lian Shenwei meant by bringing the Cangshan Sword, but Feng Ke didn’t want to hear news of it reemerging. Because once he did, it would mean Lian Shenwei had drawn the sword—and that this guy had encountered extremely difficult circumstances.
Feng Ke didn’t hope for it, but couldn’t help taking precautions early.
–
The next day.
In his drowsy state, Lian Shenwei was gently awakened by Tian Nan. The moment he woke, he felt an indescribable fatigue and nausea. His vision darkened, his heart palpitations unbearable.
The wounds on his arm occasionally seeped blood. To avoid obvious bloodstains on his sleeping robes, he’d already switched to black ones.
That slender wrist, pale as thin snow, hung over the bed’s edge, hidden behind half-drawn curtains. The contrast between black and white was too stark. Even though only a thin layer of cloth wrapped his wrist, it seemed unable to bear the weight.
Fortunately, Lian Shenwei had grown accustomed to it. After resting for about a quarter-hour, he barely managed to sit up.
Tian Nan said anxiously, “Master…”
Lian Shenwei waved his hand. “It’s nothing.”
After taking the restorative medicine Feng Ke had prepared for him, he felt somewhat better. After finishing his meal, he prepared to depart. When he reached the door, he discovered Ye Mingqin waiting outside.
Ye Mingqin cupped her hands. “Sworn Brother.”
He’d rather neglected this sworn sister during this period. Lian Shenwei nodded. “You’ve done well.”
Ye Mingqin was naturally suited for the official world. She was thriving in the Ministry of Justice. During this period when Ying Jingjue gradually consolidated real power, she’d also made quite a name for herself.
She’d been privately investigating the Shunchang Earl’s Manor case more deeply. Ye Mingqin hadn’t mentioned this matter to Lian Shenwei. The woman she’d placed under custody had been staying at her manor all this time.
For some reason, she always felt she might be useful in the future.
“Sworn Brother has lost a lot of weight. Are you unwell?”
Her words were quite tactful. Lian Shenwei hadn’t just lost a lot of weight—his entire person exhibited a kind of sickly pallor. It was already late April, when spring robes seemed heavy, yet the fabric of his clothes was actually thicker than in previous days.
“The southern tour is long. If Sworn Brother is unwell, please inform His Majesty.”
Lian Shenwei shook his head. He calculated the time—it was time to depart. Not delaying further, he walked beside Ye Mingqin and patted her shoulder, lowering his voice.
“At the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the imperial prison—have you seen many wrongful cases where you can’t intervene?”
Ye Mingqin was startled, her eyes dimming slightly. “Yes.”
Being a female official was already difficult. No matter how unyielding she was, she still faced ostracism and strange looks.
Promotion was difficult. Holding power was difficult. Doing what she wanted to do was even more difficult—many things were beyond her control. The open and covert struggles in officialdom—one misstep and she’d be schemed against.
She sometimes didn’t know where she should go from here. At present, her position as a fifth-rank official was already the highest any female official in the Great Sheng Dynasty had ever achieved.
And then what? According to what people around her said—follow the conventional path, marry, have children, manage the household?
She wasn’t willing.
“Mingqin, Wei Li is dead. The Right Chancellor position remains vacant.”
Her sworn brother’s tone was indifferent.
Ye Mingqin understood his meaning. Her pupils contracted as she suddenly looked up. “I am…” a woman.
Lian Shenwei asked, “Why not?”
He sneered inwardly. What he despised most were the capital’s rigid rules. In the jianghu, noble family daughters could also become heirs and vie for Martial Alliance Leader, free and unrestrained, following their hearts.
He’d been having Emperor Jingcheng keep that Right Chancellor position open, with others temporarily filling in—actually for his own selfish reasons.
Ye Mingqin’s abilities were in no way inferior to men’s. Since she had potential, why couldn’t he give her a push and let her become the first female chancellor in millennia?
Ye Mingqin had read many sage texts. Now twenty years old, her thinking was receiving such a direct impact for the first time.
When her sworn brother said those four words “why not,” that fleeting spirit and boldness in his eyes made her feel incomparably unfamiliar, as if she were having a trance-like illusion.
“It’s getting late. You should go back.”
After a few words of instruction, Lian Shenwei left with his people. The Regent Prince’s Manor immediately became empty.
Ye Mingqin stood alone in place, but her state of mind was completely different from when she’d arrived.
At the same time, that strange sense of dissonance in her heart surfaced again.
Could someone branded as a treacherous minister truly say such words?
–
Foquan Temple.
News of the Crown Prince’s southern tour naturally reached here as well.
“Lian Shenwei.”
Mo Da murmured the name lowly.
He could never see through this person.
He knew Lian Shenwei had killed quite a few useful old ministers at court. Calling him power-hungry wouldn’t be excessive. Such people generally coveted power and position. If they didn’t want to ascend the throne themselves, they’d inevitably support a puppet to take the throne.
But after observing for a long time, Mo Da couldn’t tell whom this Regent Prince planned to support.
He hadn’t even taken this opportunity to reclaim military authority at the frontier.
As the Crown Prince grew up, deepening rift between Lian Shenwei and the young Crown Prince was inevitable. Mo Da had thought he’d find an opportunity to kill the young Crown Prince, but… this southern tour had emerged instead.
Did he plan to kill the young Crown Prince during the southern tour?
Or did Lian Shenwei not want to kill him but had sufficient means to control him?
The situation with Li Ningfeng was completely sealed off. Without accurate information, he could only wait patiently for a while. However, this Crown Prince’s southern tour was an excellent opportunity.
“Mu Xiang.”
“Present.”
Mo Da lifted his eyelids and looked toward the compassionate Buddha with closed eyes. “Amitabha. Lian Shenwei is a variable, and the young Crown Prince shows signs of a wise ruler. The southern tour route has many bandits—we mustn’t let anything happen to them.”
Mu Xiang nodded. “Grand Tutor speaks correctly.”
–
At the same time.
Majestic, imposing ships raised their sails. A vast fleet traveled downstream southward.
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152