Little did he know that, in a private room just beside them, a half dozen transcendents were also eating noodles. They didn’t notice the duo, however, as their full attention was on the creature looming in the distance, as they mentally and physically prepared themselves for the world of pain they’d be in once it arrived.
“Halt!” guards yelled, stopping Cha Ming at the entrance of the palace. It was well past midnight, a suspicious hour for one so powerful to be wandering about.
“At ease,” a voice said, causing the guards to immediately retreat. The crown prince, clothed his the usual yellow robes, appeared just inside the gates. “Come inside, Pai Xiao.”
Cha Ming nodded and noted the prince’s welcoming smile. It was strained, a thin mask he used to veil the fatigue on his face. He’d clearly come at an inconvenient time. Likely it had something to do with the Taotie Elder Zhong spoke of.
“I was growing worried that you wouldn’t meet the deadline,” Prince Shen said. “My other informants said you were days away. When I saw your message, that you were done a full day before the deadline, I was ecstatic.”
“We have a contract, so I did my utmost fulfill it,” Cha Ming said, smiling bitterly. “Besides, I discovered something that made me uneasy. It seems the Blackthorn Conglomerate hasn’t been honest with me.”
“So you finally found out,” Prince Shen said, nodding understandably. “Since they’re traitors from the North, it only makes sense for us to keep up our guard up against them. If they’ll betray their own so easily, what’s to stop them from doing the same to us?”
Cha Ming nodded. They walked through a large hallway made of a white stone he’d never seen before. It wasn’t marble, but the yellow swirls in the stone reminded him of it. Tall yellow pillars stood to both sides of the main hallway. They seemed to glow in the darkness, providing a dim illumination to the otherwise unlit hallway. It was nighttime, after all, and no one dared buzz about while the king might be sleeping.
“As I said, I don’t have much time,” Cha Ming said. “If I’m gone for too long, they’ll begin to suspect me. For safety reasons, I suggest storing the device in a high-level storage ring, in a protective formation, or as far away from anyone else as possible.”
“Will this do?” Prince Shen asked, revealing a golden ring on his pinky.
“No,” Cha Ming said. “The device is too large and heavy.”
The prince pursed his lips. “The courtyard, then. As far away from prying eyes as possible until I can arrange an alternative.”
Cha Ming nodded. They took a right where the main hallway split into three. The hallway continued for quite some time before turning north again. The central palace might be square, but the entire palace complex was a wide rectangle skirting Bastion Wall. They continued as far as they could before exiting the palace into a restricted garden just south of the northernmost wall.
“No one can enter the garden without my or my father’s permission,” Prince Shen said. “To be sure, I’ll be posting some of our elites at the door.”
“Good,” Cha Ming said. He walked up to a relatively empty area and summoned the Breaker. The entire machine was twenty-five feet wide by fifty feet long, a weapon of mass destruction at its finest. It gleamed in the moonlight, its value apparent for all to see. Cha Ming could see the prince’s hands twitching just looking at it, wanting to make it his.
Cha Ming walked away, letting the crown prince inspect it. The man walked around, admiring it from every angle. “At last, the mighty Breaker,” Prince Shen whispered. “With this, our kingdom’s contribution to the struggle is set in stone.” He hesitated, then put his hand on the treasure. The space around it lurched, and the storage ring on Prince Shen’s finger cracked. “A pity. I should have listened to your expertise.” Such a loss of wealth wasn’t irreplaceable, but it definitely stung. “I confess myself impressed. You have a treasure capable of storing such an engine of destruction on your person.”
“Alas, it’s not for sale,” Cha Ming said, smiling. “You and I both know that such treasures would be kept as heirlooms in kingdoms and mighty sects or companies.”
“I would never dare offer to buy it,” Prince Shen said. “It’s only that I must reevaluate you. You are a man of many mysteries, Pai Xiao.”
“More than you know,” Cha Ming said truthfully. He summoned another item, a blue jade slip. Within it was a modified blueprint for the Breaker. Superficially, the blueprint would seem like a genuine item. It would take a true expert to notice it was riddled with flaws. Correcting them would be an insurmountable task, to the point that it might be better to start from scratch. And though contractually he was required to give him the genuine item, the prince’s Royal Seal of Notwithstanding had nulled that requirement. He’d hung up the rope with which to hang himself.
“The hour grows late,” Cha Ming said. “I’d suggest testing it as soon as possible. We didn’t have time to test it on the ancient wall sections yet, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure it will succeed. If anything goes wrong, anything at all, message me. I’ll find a reason to excuse myself and perform any tweaking required.”
“Good,” Prince Shen said. He flicked a storage ring to Cha Ming, who inspected it to confirm its contents. “Guardian Lin?” A figure appeared beside the prince, a black-cloaked guardian with a gleaming golden saber on his back. “Please see him out safely.”
“As you instruct, my prince,” Guardian Lin said. The threat of his presence was obvious to Cha Ming, who walked back to the front of the palace. As they walked, he spread out his transcendent force to eavesdrop on the many cultivators there.
Can he really be trusted? Do we dare trust him? a mental
