Realms In The Firmament

There were surely somebody gloating, [The king is again inveigling these fools to sacrifice for him…]

However, they also knew that even if the king didn’t do so, these men would still be willing to die for him. Anyway, the presence of the king tonight certainly made difference though.

After this special night, the strong and fierce army that was like an iron plate had their loyalty reach unprecedented heights.

These men were not only the most loyal underlings of Prince Hua-Yang, but also the loyal soldiers of the Kingdom of Chen. As long as the king and Prince Hua-Yang were on the same side, they wouldn’t have a problem with it.

That was very important.

At almost the end of the night, Prince Hua-Yang’s family came out to toast. Their appearance had brought the night into a new fever.

At this moment, something happened.

The king looked at Su Ye-Yue who was just out for the toast and asked, “Is this the girl, Ye Yue? Look how she grows… Ding-Guo, is she engaged to anyone yet?”

Prince Hua-Yang smiled, “You highness, how could you forget it. My girl and Ye Nan-Tian’s boy had been engaged long ago.”

The king answered with a ‘hmm’ and then went on the revel with the generals again.

In fact, this conversation made Ye Xiao felt that there was something wrong. However, Su Ding-Guo’s answer had closed the topic anyway.

This War God looked unceremonious and forthright and he seemed to be drunk, but in fact, he was smart.

After a while, the King and Prince Hua-Yang went to the study room to have a private conversation.

Ye Xiao noticed that the old eunuch was left in the hall. He didn’t join the generals. He sat at the corner and drank alone. It seemed he was quite good at drinking.

It was busy and crowded all around. It nearly made everybody’s blood boil. Yet he just sat there calmly looking around with an indifferent face.

How could a man like this say something like ‘I have become impotent’?

It was simply unreasonable.

Yet it happened. There must be a reason why he had to say those words.

Ye Xiao got rid of Su Ye-Yue and went to the eunuch silently.

“You are drinking alone. That is too sad and lonely. Let me drink with you.” Ye Xiao raised the bottle in his hand.

The eunuch looked up slowly and stared at Ye Xiao’s face with his dim eyes. He smiled weirdly and said, “The son of the great General Ye. The first of the ‘three lords in town’… Good. It must be destiny that ties people together. Let me drink with you then.”

His voice didn’t sound girly like normal eunuchs. It was just a bit soft and cold. It seemed there was still a slight sense of ‘man’ inside it.

Ye Xiao looked at him up and down as he was drunk at the moment.

The first impression of the eunuch was an old man. His body was stooped and his hair was turning white. He was in advanced age.

While Ye Xiao looked closely, he found that this old man didn’t really look that old.

The skin on his face was smooth and exquisite. His eyes were dim though, yet there was sharpness hidden deep within.

Ye Xiao tried to check the eunuch’s cultivation capability with his spiritual mind, yet he got nothing in return.

His spiritual mind brought him the information about a dead man. There were no signs of life.

That was weird. The eunuch was right in front of Ye Xiao vividly.

The only explanation was that the eunuch’s cultivation capability was too strong. It was way over what Ye Xiao’s spiritual mind could read.

Then the problem showed up now.

The eunuch was a servant who had been staying with the king all the time and was treated as a lackey. He didn’t look strong at all, yet he was actually a hidden world-class superior cultivator?

“May I have your name please?” Ye Xiao kept drinking and chatted with him.

“Oh, it is my pleasure to be asked. My family name is Wang.” Eunuch Wang smiled blandly. He was still humble.

“Wang GongGong [1]. Please have a drink.” Ye Xiao gave him a new bottle.

“You are standing on scruples, Lord Ye.” Eunuch Wang waved his hand and refused it, “I truly cannot drink anymore. I am not good at drinking really.”

Ye Xiao acted like he was badly drunk and grabbed his hand, “Come on. It is just one more cup.”

Eunuch Wang kept refusing him with determination.

Ye Xiao didn’t force him. He let go of his hand and laughed, “It is a good chance to get drunk today. Why do you keep resisting it. Fine. I will find someone else.”

Then he just left.

The eunuch looked at the back of Ye Xiao and his eyes lit up. That was a sharp and scrutinizing look. He thought with confusion, [The Vanishing Martial Art… should make me escape everybody’s notice at anytime in any place. I should be absent in this world… How come this Lord Ye could easily find me among the crowd? And he actually wanted to have a drink with me. Is it just because he have sharp eyes?”

When Ye Xiao turned around, his eyes lit up too.

He was aware of something now.

When he grabbed the eunuch’s hand, although for a short while, he had clearly felt the strong power hidden inside that arm. It looked flaccid… but it would burst with extremely strong power when it needed to.

The toughness of his skin was also astonishing.

Ye Xiao could roughly reckon the true power of this Eunuch Wang.

This eunuch was at least much stronger than the man in the Crown Prince’s Palace, Guan Zheng-Wen. There was simply a huge gap between them.

This eunuch should be the king’s ‘life insurance’. He must be the king’s most trustworthy guard. He was at least a cultivator at the superior levels of the Grade of Tianyuan.

And he should be one of the best at the Grade of Tianyuan.

He had almost broken through the level limit of this world.

Except for the sick Gu Jin-Long, who was from the upper realm, the superior cultivators that Ye Xiao had seen in this world including Guan Zheng-Wen, Ning Bi-Luo, were all under this eunuch’s league. Even the mysterious Xiu Of The Heavens seemed to be weaker than him.

People were still drinking and laughing in the hall. The eunuch was still looking around calmly with cold eyes. The king and Prince Hua-Yang were having a private conversation in the study. Su Ye-Yue dragged Ye Xiao out of the hall.

They came to the the backyard, the garden.

“I mean… You are not drunk, are you?” She was looking at Ye Xiao thoughtfully.

“Absolutely not.” Ye Xiao waved his hand, “Look how good I am with drinks…”

“Oh no. My mother told me, ninety percent of the people who keep telling people they are not drunk and how good they are at drinking are, in fact, drunk.” She said twitching his mouth.

“Heh, heh… What she said is correct, but it is taking a part for the whole though. Besides, don’t forget the ten percent. Why can’t I be one of the ten percent?” Ye Xiao explained.

“That’s worse. The rest of the ten percent all passed out already.” She said.

Ye Xiao kept arguing embarrassedly, “That’s not true. I am not drunk. I just had a little bit of that liquor, and you took me out of it. How could I possibly get drunk? My drinking capacity is outstanding though…”

“Fine. Alright. I believe that you are not drunk. Stop bragging then…” She was apparently unhappy. They walked among the flowers for a while silently before she spoke in a low voice, “I don’t know why… But I don’t have a good feeling about my father’s departure. He has been through many battles before. But I have never felt how I feel now…”

Ye Xiao comforted her, “Don’t worry. He will be fine.”

Su Ye-Yue frowned, “I am serious. I never had this feeling before when my dad was going to battle. It was like he was just going out of home for a while and hanging around… And then he would just come back. But this time, I have a totally different feeling. Completely different.”

She stopped and then continued, “And my mom. She was wakened by a scary dream the other night. She has been troubled for quite a while now…”

Ye Xiao had a bad feeling when he heard this.

[That is not normal.

Is there going to be any accident in the battle this time?

They are women in Prince Hua-Yang’s family. He has been to battles for so many times in his life, yet his daughter and wife had never felt scared before. How come they feel it this time?

What does this mean? What is this sign about?

Is it just some imaginary fears? Are they just too worried this time?

No, absolutely not.]

Ye Xiao believed one thing. A person always had a strange foreboding for their closest kin. It was hard to explain, but it was true.

Most importantly, that foreboding was always right.

Now, Su Ye-Yue was confiding her woried to him. That made him feel more depressed.

“I don’t dare to tell anybody about this… Not even my mom.” Su Ye-Yue looked at him, “Xiao Xiao, what do you think… Is anything bad going to happen?”

…

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[1] In Chinese, people call eunuchs ‘GongGong’.

2nd guaranteed chapter of the week.

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Arch

From XianXiaWorld