Chapter 351: Hesitation

Shangguan Hong had never understood how things actually happened, but he insisted that he had no fault in it.

Zhang Ji made him do whatever he could to please Lady Meng, but he never did say that Shangguan Hong must throw himself at her, and he definitely did not harbor such thoughts as well. To him, Lady Meng was akin to the Lord himself, and his impression of them was only fear and pressure.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Shangguan Hong realized that he had some unique advantages indeed.

First of all, there was not a lot of men in the Inner Residence as most of them were either handymen or killers. Because of this, Shangguan Hong was above them all due to the fact that he carried the surname of Shangguan and shared the same blood as Supreme King.

Moreover, he had always stayed near Lady Meng’s residence and would pay his respects two times a day like how servants do. Then, he would wait patiently and try to seize any opportunity to please and flatter Lady Meng shamelessly.

Perhaps he outdid himself on his ability to please people, Shangguan Hong sometimes thought. However, the reason Lady Meng chose him seemed to be related to the Supreme King as well.

Lady Meng was extremely furious about the affair between the Supreme King and Luo Ningcha. She had even shed tears over it several times. It was during then when Shangguan Hong noticed that Lady Meng’s attitude towards him had changed. She would glance more often at him, and there was some kind of obvious scrutiny coming from her gaze.

“How is it that he has so many women yet his appetite can’t be satisfied?” Lady Meng once complained in front of Shangguan Hong. “Why must he go to that woman of all people? That’s his daughter-in-law! Isn’t he ashamed at all? Must everybody be like pigs in this castle in order to live well?”

Shangguan Hong was terrified and did not dare to answer as he knelt on the ground. He did not tell Zhang Ji what Lady Meng had said, for fear that he would be embroiled in a brutal family feud.

In the following year, Shangguan Hong managed to gain more trust from Lady Meng and began to run errands for her. During this time, he also had more frequent contact with her as well.

Suddenly on one night, it all unfolded.

Shangguan Hong had no choice. He was too terrified at that time, and his whole body was limp. However, to his great surprise, only the nether region was erected.

Naturally, after the first time came the second, and the third time soon followed…

Shangguan Hong became a toy and a confidant of Lady Meng. He knew the Supreme King had a change in temperament and started to not give in to temptations of women and lust from Lady Meng’s mouth. He was also taking back his authority from Lady Meng bit by bit.

Shangguan Hong kept this secret hidden for a long time and did not mention a thing to anybody, as Lady Meng also demanded silence on this issue. She told him directly without hinting, and said, “If any of this leaks, be prepared to jump down straight from the Reincarnation Cliff with your mother.”

But he could not help himself. Like an inflated balloon, the secret was taking over his mind and it would explode sooner or later if he did not release it.

Therefore, Shangguan Hong revealed everything to the only person he trusted.

Zhang Ji’s reaction at that time did not seem like a counselor who harbored ulterior motives. He merely sneered, neither praising nor objecting and never spoke of the matter again. But he did request Shangguan Hong to carefully bring up the topic of Third Young Master in front of Lady Meng.

Zhang Ji managed to instill an idea to Lady Meng through Shangguan Hong’s mouth: Supreme King hoped to balance the several influences within the Stone Castle and did not like it when someone controls most of the authority, therefore Lady Meng should take the initiative and create a “rival” that she could control.

The Second Young Master was still alive back then, but he was known for being her lackey, so the best candidate for this “rival” should be the Third Young Master.

He was kept imprisoned in the dungeons for years and therefore had no foundation in the castle, plus he had always been at odds with his father, all these were some of his “advantages” so to speak.

It was a mission that was carried out step by step and Zhang Ji was never in a rush. Shangguan Hong spent half a year to finally convince Lady Meng and she took almost as long to let the Supreme King recall that he still had a son who was imprisoned. A defiant but promising son.

Then the matter was dropped, Zhang Ji no longer urged about it, the affair between Shangguan Hong and Lady Meng slowly lost interest as well, while Third Young Master continued to be imprisoned, suffering the fate of being forgotten once again.

Shangguan Hong did not realize then that Third Young Master was an important figure when he went to Shu-lik last year and was forced to divulge the secret to Dragon King.

When Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong were captured in Golden Roc Fort, Shangguan Hong was immediately suspected once Dragon King claimed that he was aware of Lady Meng’s secret. But Lady Meng did not act on it right away and only waited until Shangguan Fei came to the Stone Kingdom to seek a marriage. It was only then that she sent Shangguan Hong to follow her son along.

Zhang Ji told him, “Lady Meng is going to kill you, and she will most likely make use of Dragon King’s saber to do so. Heed my words and you might be able to return to Jade City alive.”

Zhang Ji then passed Shangguan Hong a kit and asked him to hand it to Dragon King only after the Stone Kingdom had chosen their prince consort. He also told Shangguan Hong that he should never peek into the kit and that Dragon King cannot know about this until everything was settled. “Whether or not you can survive depends on your determination to hold on until the end.”

Shangguan Hong managed to persist until the end, but he would never have imagined that his “teacher” of so many years would actually sell him out to Dragon King as a “gift”.

This was the most disappointing and saddest thing to him. Dragon King’s saber was of no importance compared to this betrayal. “I trusted him so much…”

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That moment, the four of them faced each other awkwardly in the room.

Shangguan Ru’s lips were drawn into a thin line. Her world had not stopped crushing down on her. One by one, her subordinates, friends, brother, and parents revealing their true colors only served to make her even stronger.

Shangguan Fei tried to strike a blow but was blocked by Dragon King. Throwing his saber away, he held his head and muttered to himself, “How is this possible?”

He finally understood that his father was resolute in his intention to kill. Both his sister and him were pampered because of their mother and naturally would fall from grace along with their mother. He was filled with resentment and hated all of them – Shangguan Hong, his mother, his father, his sister, and Dragon King.

Gu Shenwei was the only one who maintained a calm expression out of the four of them, yet he was uncertain as well. This small group of people harbored hatred for one another, but was it possible for them to be bound by a common hatred for the enemy?

However, he believed that it was better to divulge the secret voluntarily rather than exposing it unintentionally in the future.

“Think about your future way out,” Gu Shenwei decided to give the three of them some time to think things through. “You cannot hide here forever, Supreme King will know the truth sooner or later. Then he will send someone to kill you when that time comes.”

Shangguan Hong followed Gu Shenwei as he left the room, the last thing that he wanted was to remain in the same room with the twins.

After settling Shangguan Hong, Gu Shenwei sent someone to summon Zhong Heng.

Maid Lotus appeared before Zhong Heng arrived, she was always nearby him and heard everything about the scandal of the Shangguan family, she said, “You need to think carefully, all of them carried the Shangguan surname.”

Maid Lotus seldom gave suggestions unless Gu Shenwei asked. But this time, she felt very uneasy about Dragon King’s decision.

Gu Shenwei did not think that Maid Lotus was meddling in his business because even he himself had not made up his mind completely on this issue, “Both the Supreme King and Zhang Ji made a mistake. They are accustomed to how Golden Roc Fort handles matters, and don’t think much about killing their own children. But that is not the case for others, normal people will not kill their children. I want to keep the three of them to show the ugliest side of the Supreme King to the world.”

These words were more for himself instead. Perhaps the military counselor could understand my intentions, Gu Shenwei thought to himself. Fang Wenshi had always told Dragon King to be someone who was completely opposite of Supreme King.

As expected, Maid Lotus was impassive, it seems like she did not really understand his intentions. She was also a killer cultivated by Golden Roc Fort, and New Moon Hall’s principles would only serve to reinforce it further. She felt that Golden Roc Fort’s style of handling things was already widely known by people, it was also why they could stand firmly in the Western Region for so many years, therefore it was not necessary to prove it to the world.

However, she did not voice out her views on the matter. Since Dragon King had already decided, she would not oppose it. Although she believed that Shangguan Ru was the real reason that he showed mercy.

Maid Lotus hid again when Zhong Heng arrived.

Now that Zhong Heng was the Prime Minister of the Stone Kingdom, he was entitled to share the royal seal together with the King. But his position was very unstable, it was still shaky and could be snatched away at any time.

Hence, he could only rely on Dragon King.

To Gu Shenwei’s relief, Zhong Heng was very supportive of his decision, “Everybody knows that the Golden Roc Fort is unscrupulous and stops at nothing, but few people have experienced it personally. This can be an opportunity to let everyone know that the Supreme King will kill his own children just for some personal gain.”

However, this could only be carried out in Jade City. Only there could the humiliation cause the greatest harm toward the Supreme King.

Moreover, both of them agreed that the thousands of troops from the Great Snowmountain must be relocated to the Stone Kingdom.

The western border of Jade City was narrow, and with Shu-lik at the back made it unreliable, the Great Snowmountain couldn’t hold on for long. Entering the Stone Kingdom for them, however, would give them the strength needed to unify the Xiaoyao Lake and secure a strong base.

“We need to act fast.” Zhong Heng brought over a map and laid it on the table as he and Dragon King studied it. “I am afraid the Golden Roc Fort had already declared war with the Great Snowmountain. You would need to bring them out of there before they are all wiped out, Dragon King.”

This was precisely what Gu Shenwei was most anxious about. Every minute spent in the Stone Kingdom was a waste of his time, but he had to work out a detailed and meticulous plan. He had already walked right into the enemy’s trap and could not allow himself to be led further by their intentions, that would only make him sink deeper into their trap.

“There are two routes to go back to Jade City and the Great Snowmountain camp.” Gu Shenwei had thought about it for a long time but was not able to reach a final decision. “We can head towards the north and take the original route back to Shuangquan Village, before turning west all the way. That will take about half a month’s journey to reach Jade City. We can also ride faster to cut the timing shorter. Or we can just head towards the west straightaway and pass through the Kang, the Sha, and the Hui Kingdoms, before going towards the north and cross the desert. Here, we can reach the Great Snowmountain camp first.”

“The first route is very dangerous. Golden Roc Fort must have already set traps to intercept you, Dragon King. But the second route will be a hard traverse, and the journey time might be twice as long.”

This was exactly what Gu Shenwei was hesitating about, “Perhaps I can sneak around the traps if I don’t bring along any attendants.”

Zhong Heng propped his chin and thought for a moment, “I think you should still bring along the three Shangguan siblings. Their roles can probably do more than just letting the Supreme King make a fool of himself.”

Gu Shenwei pointed to the second route, “Then this is the only choice. Perhaps bringing more horses can save some time.”

“Be careful.” Zhong Heng agreed with Dragon King, but he felt the need to remind him, “All the people of the Shangguan family are wolf cubs and will bite back their savior at any time.”