Stellar Transformations

B6C8: Qin Yu and Li’er

Fu Hao is secretly startled.

“The Azure Dragon Palace is really very formidable. It seems to have planted a lot of spies into the Nine Demons Hall. Lord Teng is really formidable. He even knows that 3 majesties messaged me.” He thinks like lightning, and in an instant, he says in a disbelieving manner while appearing extremely shocked: “Lord Teng, how, how did you know about this?”

Still with a grim expression, Lord Teng continues: “You don’t need to ask why I knew. Now all you have to do is answer my every question.”

“Yes, please feel free to ask me, Lord Teng.” Fu Hao says respectfully.

Lord Teng says coldly: “Who are the 3 majesties that have just left the Nine Demons Hall?”

“They are 2nd majesty, 6th majesty and 7th majesty.” Fu Hao says all he knows without any hesitation.

Lord Teng says again: “Which cave do these 3 majesties want to go to this time?”

“The Blood-red Cave!”

Fu Hao is answering so quickly but he is also scolding in his mind: “This horned dragon definitely knows who those 3 majesties are and where they are going to. He’s just asking me to check if I’m lying.”

“Then do you know why they are going to the Blood-red Cave?” This time Lord Teng stares into Fu Hao’s eyes.

The look in Fu Hao’s childlike lively eyes does not change one bit. He immediately says in a powerless manner: “Lord Teng, I don’t know about this. My Great Shell Cave is just a minor power. If 2nd majesty hadn’t messaged me several times, I wouldn’t have even known anything.”

Lord Teng nods his head.

8th majesty’s death is a big secret and the Nine Demons Hall has also been doing its best to conceal this. He himself had to rely on different sources of information to deduce that 8th majesty is dead so it is not unusual for Fu Hao to know nothing.

Even though Lord Teng does not mind Fu Hao’s answer, his face still darkens.

Seeing this, Fu Hao appears to be somewhat terrified.

“Then I ask you, what did those 3 majesties and you say to each other in the messages?” Lord Teng immediately asks.

Fu Hao says in panic at once: “There were many things because 2nd majesty and I messaged each other several times. What do you want me to tell you?”

Lord Teng’s face changes color. He shouts: “What did he message you to ask about? Tell me everything in detail. Don’t leave out anything.”

“Yes.” Fu Hao immediately says in a rush: “2nd majesty first asked me if there had been any changes in the Blood-red Cave. I then told them that Cha Hong had been killed and a guardian called Liu Xing had seized the new cave master position.”

Lord Teng nods with an expressionless face.

Fu Hao takes a look at his expression then hurriedly continues: “Afterwards, 2nd majesty ordered me to message that old black turtle Qing Xuan, telling him that he had been appointed as the new master of the Blood-red Cave.”

Lord Teng keeps listening while staring at Fu Hao.

“That old turtle Qing Xuan then went to seize that position but he was killed by new cave master Liu Xing in just one move. That Liu Xing fella is really terrifying. I think he should’ve reached the middle Dongxu stage. Oh well, I really can’t understand why an expert who could kill Qing Xuan in one hit like him was willing to be a guardian before. This is really strange.” Fu Hao begins to run off at the mouth.

“Don’t talk nonsense. I didn’t ask you other things. I only care about the messages between Di Qing and you.” Lord Teng shouts coldly.

“Yes, yes.” Fu Hao hurriedly obeys. “After the 3 majesties knew about this, they seemed to care a lot about this cave master Liu Xing. They even ordered me to secretly send my subordinates to the Blood-red Ridge to investigate everything related to him.”

Fu Hao suddenly stops saying.

“Huh?”

Lord Teng’s eyes flash with coldness.

“That’s all, sir.” Fu Hao says in panic.

Lord Teng’s piercing look eases off a little. He then says: “Oh, that’s it?”

“They also messaged me a couple more times but they only asked about things related to the Blood-red Cave. However I knew nothing so I told them I knew very little or didn’t even know. These messages are not worth mentioning.” Fu Hao immediately explains more clearly.

Lord Teng nods then ponders for a while.

“Fu Hao,” he suddenly smiles. “Remember, if you serve us, we certainly won’t treat you unfairly. I believe those 3 majesties from the Nine Demons Hall will definitely come to the Great Shell Cave for some rest soon. At that time, they’ll ask you many things. You’ll have to tell me everything that they ask and say through your transmitter.”

“Yes, Lord Teng.” Fu Hao says respectfully with a smile.

All of a sudden, Fu Hao’s eyes brighten and stare at something above the palm of Lord Teng’s hand. That is a floating crystal.

“A top-grade crystal?” Even his breathing has quickened.

When even the spatial ring of the Nine Demons Hall’s 8th majesty only contained 5 top-grade crystals, it can be imagined how rare and valuable this top-grade crystal is. Generally, it is very difficult for Xiuyaoists of the same caliber as the masters of the 8 caves under the Nine Demons Hall to obtain top-grade crystals.

“Yes, we’re pretty satisfied with your behavior in the past 2 years so this top-grade crystal is given to you as a reward.” Lord Teng makes a wave of his hand and that crystal immediately flies in front of Fu Hao.

After receiving this top-grade crystal, Fu Hao hurriedly says: “Don’t worry, Lord Teng. As long as I know something, I’ll definitely inform you about it. After some time, when those 3 majesties come here, I’m going to message you everything they say and do.”

Hearing Fu Hao’s last sentence, Lord Teng gives a rare faint smile.

“Very well, you’re a smart fella. If you work for us instead of the Nine Demons Hall, your future will surely be brighter than it’ll be otherwise. I believe you understand what I mean?”

Right after Lord Teng said this, his red robe flaps and he leaves extremely fast. He has come to and left the Great Shell Cave as he pleases without any hindrance. To him, Fu Hao’s guards and restrictive spells are basically just there for show.

……

A month later,

When Fu Hao is rolling in the bed with a beautiful woman, he suddenly stops.

“Sweetie, you can leave first.”

He unwillingly gives an order then gets dressed at once. When there is no one else in the room, a fat man appears and leans back in the jade chair that Fu Hao often uses. This man is even fatter and shorter than him.

The short fat man has a thin moustache consisting of 2 lines of hair that look like daggers.

“Lord Lou, it’s been just a half year yet you have come to eat my treasure again?” Unlike when he saw Lord Teng, Fu Hao behaves in a very relaxed manner when he sees this Lord Lou. But his facial expression has turned bitter.

The short fat man strokes his moustache then says laughingly: “Yeah, your Blood-red Flaming Honey is really delicious so this can’t be helped. Why don’t you give me another bowl?”

“Bowl?!”

Fu Hao suddenly shrieks as if he has been chopped at with a knife.

“You even said bowl? I only got 3 small bottles in total. Even if they are put together, they won’t fill a bowl!” He says indignantly but his face suddenly turns pale.

This Lord Lou bursts into evil laughter: “Ha-ha, oh my, you’ve still got 3 bottles yet last time you told me you got only one. Humph, humph, unless you give me 2 bottles, don’t even think that you’ll be okay. Say, what do you want? Giving them to me with respect or having all 3 bottles snatched by me?”

Fu Hao and Lord Lou like sweets very much. This Blood-red Flaming Honey not only makes the eaters feel a pleasant burning sensation inside as if they are drinking spirit, it is also uniquely sweet, therefore these 2 fat fellows are addicted to it.

“2 bottles, oh my, just kill me instead.”

Fu Hao would rather die than obey.

After bargaining for a while, he eventually unwillingly surrenders one and a half bottles of Blood-red Flaming Honey to Lord Lou. Seeing Lord Lou’s satisfied expression, he feels a great pain in his heart.

Lord Lou opens a bottle and has a gentle sniff of the honey’s scent, appearing to take great pleasure in doing so. But he says at the same time: “Alright, now is the main business. There should be no need for me to say much, right? Tell me everything you know.”

Fu Hao is secretly frustrated: “Damn it. What the hell has been going on in the past 2 years that both the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion have come to find me? Could it be I’ve become popular? But I’ve benefited considerably too.”

In fact, this Lord Lou and Lord Teng have come to Fu Hao only in the last 2 years. They both have asked Fu Hao to work for them. Because they are very powerful experts, the only thing Fu Hao has been able to do is obey their orders.

Lord Teng and Lord Lou are very secretive and do not let anyone else notice them every time either of them comes here.

After a talk, Lord Lou eventually knows what he wanted to know, but he is obviously somewhat stingier than Lord Teng because in the end he only rewards Fu Hao with a high-grade holy weapon, which naturally causes Fu Hao to secretly curse him.

Only when Fu Hao sees Lord Lou leave does he secretly let out a sigh of relief.

“Not bad, luckily I was quick enough to immediately say that I got 3 bottles of Blood-red Flaming Honey instead of nine.” In his heart, he is pleased with what he has done.

For the moment, Fu Hao is stuck between the 3 superpowers and is passing every day in horror, but he has gained quite a lot as well.

He does not know that the Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion and the Nine Demons Hall generally do not care about minor powers such as the 8 caves and do not plant spies into them either. For example, the Azure Dragon Palace has only infiltrated spies into the Nine Demons Hall and the Blue Water Mansion.

Even the Nine Demons Hall has never really cared about the 8 caves under it.

2 years ago, the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion discovered that 8th majesty of the Nine Demons Hall had left the hall. Even though the Nine Demons Hall announced that he was doing closed-door training, the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion had planted their spies into it long before that.

However, Di Tong’s whereabouts were very secret so the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion were unable to find out what he wanted to do.

But they did not pay too much attention to this either because while it was worth tracking a majesty of the Nine Demons Hall who had stealthily come out to do something, this was not very important. However, later they received a piece of news from inside the Nine Demons Hall — “the other 8 majesties were extremely furious outside the place where the soul jade slips are kept.”

Based on this and the fact that 3 majesties left the Nine Demons Hall at once, they concluded that 8th majesty was dead.

Only at that time did the Azure Dragon Palace and the Blue Water Mansion realize that 8th majesty’s secret departure from the Nine Demons Hall was not something simple. They immediately began to pay attention to it and even dispatched Lord Teng and Lord Lou, 2 super experts, to investigate.

Lord Teng and Lord Lou then happened to take the same action — finding Fu Hao.

The 3 superpowers have been competing with each other both openly and secretly, and likewise the 8 caves under the Nine Demons Hall. 100 years ago, the Great Shell Cave, which is the one nearest the Blood-red Cave, infiltrated quite a few spies into the Blood-red Cave so there is absolutely no one who knows more about the Blood-red Cave’s affairs than the Great Shell Cave’s master.

Therefore, Fu Hao immediately became the focus of attention from the 3 superpowers. Di Qing has usually contacted him through his transmitter.

Lord Teng and Lord Lou have normally communicated with him via his transmitter as well. It is just that this time they knew that 3 majesties would come to the Great Shell Cave soon and it would not take long to reach the Blood-red Cave from the Great Shell Cave, so they have personally found Fu Hao and rewarded him.

The Azure Dragon Palace ranks 1st among the 3 superpowers and its overlord has shown that he is really worthy of being called the no. 1 expert in the overseas Xiuzhen world by giving Fu Hao much more than the Blue Water Mansion did.

……

“Qin Yu, to be honest, it seems you don’t understand the game of Go. As for this game of chess, even though you taught it to me, you see, check.”

Li’er moves her horse.

Qin Yu is immediately dumbfounded. His king can still make a move, but he can see that Li’er’s other horse has already been placed in a good position and will checkmate him right afterwards. He simply has no way out.

“Li’er, you’ve won again.”

He has no choice but to give up.

Actually he understands the game of Go. According to Grandpa Lian, he even belongs to the intermediate level on the Qian Long continent. However, every time he played Li’er, he was forced to admit defeat after 100 moves.

Qin Yu was secretly frustrated: “Can I be blamed? She always beats me after 100 moves. The gap is too great. Perhaps she even waits until after the 100th move to finish me off to let me save face.”

When he played the game of Go with Li’er, he noticed that sometimes her pieces would only be useful 100 moves later. Qin Yu was secretly shocked by this. Li’er’s calculation power was really too strong already. How could she plan ahead so many moves?

Thus, Qin Yu was forced to admit defeat again and again.

However, as a son of the Qin clan, he did not like this, so he suggested playing the game of chess. Li’er knew absolutely nothing about this game but Qin Yu was even mean enough to explain its many rules vaguely to her. Only after she made a move would he tell her something about the rules.

Thanks to this … he won the first game.

Only after this game did Li’er have a rough understanding of the rules.

In the 2nd game, Qin Yu felt clearly that her chess ability had improved by leaps and bounds. Because he had many years of experience in chess and had read quite a few chess manuals in Misty Villa, he was able to win the 2nd game with effort.

However … he has always lost since the 3rd game.

His manly dignity is all gone. He has thought that he himself is smart and that even his father Qin De will have difficulty winning against him but Li’er has defeated him with utter ease. Every time they have played, only when the game was almost over could Qin Yu discover how precise her moves were.

“Qin Yu, don’t be discouraged. In fact your chess skill …”

Qin Yu immediately looks at Li’er.

“… is just a little weak.”

He cannot help feeling sad. Actually she wanted to say that his skill was very weak but in the end she showed some mercy. As soon as Li’er sees Qin Yu’s expression, she says as if she is a teacher: “Since your skill is weak, you’ll need to learn carefully. I’ll play a game with Uncle Lan in a while and you have to watch it with attention.”

It has been a half year. Qin Yu has often played chess with Li’er during this period and he has lost most of the time.

“All right.” He says smilingly. In fact, he does not care too much about winning and losing in chess. But he likes Li’er’s wise expression when she plays chess, which always gives him a peaceful easy feeling. Suddenly, he becomes serious: “Li’er, I’ve got something to tell you.”

“What is it?” Li’er says with a smile.

“I’m going to leave tomorrow. It’s time I went back to the Blood-red Cave.” Actually, he should have left this place long ago, but he has been delaying his departure. Now he knows that members of the Nine Demons Hall can come anytime within a month or two so he has no choice but to return.

Li’er is startled. She has been playing chess with Qin Yu every day for the last half year so for the moment, in her heart, she is somewhat reluctant to be parted from him.

But then she immediately says smilingly again: “After you’ve handled all your matters, you’ll have to visit me frequently. And when you’ve returned, don’t forget to polish up your chess skill, okay?”

Qin Yu nods his head.

“Definitely!”

He says very affirmatively.

End of b6c8.