Chapter One Hundred: The One-Eyed Stone Man, Prisoner of Fate

"What is actually going on? I only recall that in order to handle the imperial envoy’s investigation, I handed the 'Dragon-Obedience Pearl,' a treasure intrinsically linked to my own life, to Pu Shouying to set up the Nine Dragons Spitting Pearl formation.

The divine sense I had within the dragon pearl returned smoothly just now, and the Nine Provinces Talisman of Land Spirits even brought back a significant amount of flood dragon energy. But where is that massive dragon pearl of mine?

The Five Peaks Banner and the Mountain-Sea Association had been blocking the gentry faction from occupying Yuegang for months; I was prepared for conflict during this trip. But what happened afterward? Did the dragon pearl enter the earth’s ley lines? Did it encounter enemies? Where was it ultimately lost?

Pu Shouying, you useless wretch, you’ve ruined everything! If you’ve lost my dragon pearl, how am I, a Fourth-Rank 'Dragon Scion,' supposed to ride the wind and transform into a dragon? You truly deserve to die!"

The [Building Hidden Walkways and Secretly Crossing the Chencang] effect took hold. Aside from Wang Cheng and a core group of those directly involved, most people forgot the specific sequence of events.

In particular, Han Wugui, the Heir Apparent to the Prince of Guangze, despite vowing to take revenge for the obstruction of his path, had forgotten the names of everyone who had opposed him. He had even forgotten his own declaration: "I have marked you all, and I will never let any of you go."

As he stood before the White Scale Guard and blurted out his denunciation, the atmosphere became momentarily awkward.

"Hmm?"

Lu Yi, the Assistant Commander on the opposite side, had personally visited several vassal princes and members of the royal clan over the past few days. Compared to those debauched and predatory royals, Han Wugui was, at the very least, a functioning human being, and Lu Yi had held a decent impression of him.

However, Han Wugui’s strange behavior caused the [Martial Judge] official of the Heaven Class to narrow his eyes slightly. His [Xiezhi Dharma Eye], capable of peering into the subtle and obscure, fixed intently upon the man.

"Heir Apparent, please state the name of that imperial criminal."

Even though Han Wugui had killed countless people to seize flood dragon energy since attaining the rank of [Dragon Scion]—priding himself on remaining unflinching even if Mount Tai were to collapse before him—he felt flustered, sensing that the situation had slipped from his control.

In his urgency, a flash of insight struck his mind, and he blurted out:

"Pu Shouying! The person I wish to denounce is none other than the Semu merchant, Pu Shouying!"

Discovering that the river of history had transmitted the hidden secrets to him as a relevant party, Han Wugui’s subsequent words flowed smoothly.

"I remember now. On the surface, this man is one of the eight great shipmasters of Yuegang, ostensibly dealing only in smuggling, yet he has had close dealings with many officials in the Minzhou administration. His Pu family has been riddled with crimes for years, too numerous to record; they once murdered the Zhao Song royal family and slaughtered our people. Since then, they have entrenched themselves in Citong Port for three dynasties and hundreds of years, yet no one has noticed.

I suspect that when the imperial court received intelligence of a rebellion, he was surely the mastermind! Given the cautionary tale of the Prince of Ning, whose title was stripped and kingdom abolished, which of us royals is not mindful of the Emperor’s vast benevolence, acting with law-abiding respect? Who would dare commit such an act of treason?

I believe that those not of our race must have different hearts; such criminals should have their entire families exterminated. I not only wish to denounce the Pu family, but also impeach the local officials for their dereliction of duty and parasitism!"

He spoke with righteous indignation, finishing in one breath. He appeared as a loyal and patriotic Heir Apparent of the Great Zhao, willing to speak out for justice and root out a scourge, even while under the suspicion and hostility of the White Scale Guard. His micro-expressions shifted fluidly, revealing no flaws, forcing one to admire his mastery of the art of Machiavellianism.

Assistant Commander Lu Yi’s face remained impassive. He simply cupped his hands and said, "This official is already aware of the Pu family’s past; I shall investigate accordingly."

He rose to take his leave, but before stepping out, he added meaningfully:

"His Majesty has ordered me to deliver a secret oral decree specifically to the current Prince of Guangze and the Heir Apparent. You must take the first Prince of Guangze as a warning: keep to yourselves, focus on ensuring your lineage does not die out, and your wealth and prosperity will be assured."

"I obey the decree!"

Han Wugui bowed respectfully toward the north, though he sneered inwardly. Outsiders might be confused by these words, but as the next Prince of Guangze, how could he not understand?

"Hmph, the grand sovereign of the nation is also afraid of destiny. He wants to use us—the blood descendants of the Xiaokang Emperor—to break the deadlock, yet he fears we might turn and bite him. Little does he know, a fake is, in the end, a fake. You prisoners of the Zhu family’s destiny have no power to rebuild the world, so let us 'accidental people' do it!"

His Han ancestors had been leaders of the Ming Wang Sect (also known as the White Lotus Sect) for generations, tirelessly devoted to the cause of rebellion for over a thousand years. It was not until the end of the previous Yunmeng Empire that they accidentally unearthed the [One-Eyed Stone Man], a talismanic omen born of destiny. They proclaimed: "Say not that the stone man has but one eye; once it stirs the Turbid River, the world shall rebel."

Relying on his elite followers and a group of river workers, he began his quest for the throne. Seventeen years later, the founding emperor, Han Lin, held the One-Eyed Stone Man in his left hand and the Imperial Jade Seal in his right, ascending to the supreme position of sovereign.

What history books did not record was that the founding emperor, Han Lin, had escaped the fate of drowning in the Guabu River, subdued the general Liao Yongzhong who was escorting him, and used the [One-Eyed Stone Man] to ambush the Prince of Wu, Zhu Shiliu—who had all but secured the world yet had not truly ascended the throne. He seamlessly seized the Prince of Wu’s advantageous position and stole the dynastic destiny that was theoretically supposed to last for sixteen emperors.

The royal descendants only guessed that their [One-Eyed Stone Man] possessed the power of backstabbing or usurpation, but few had seen its true form; many suspected the treasure could only be used once.

Zhu Yaozhai, the current head of the Zhu family in the Nanyang Old Harbor Regional Commission—and the Uncle Zhu known to Wang Cheng—once told him: "The Great Zhao’s founding emperor, Han Lin, snatched the empire that was already ripe for the taking from my family, and he also stole most of our Zhu family’s destiny." That was the story he was referring to.

Therefore, every rise and fall in the Great Zhao dynasty over these years was merely stolen loot! The Han royal family had been replacing the Zhu family, playing the roles they were meant to play in history; the number of sons they had, their lifespans, how many years they reigned, and how they died were all replicated one-to-one.

But could one truly steal an empire’s destiny without paying any price? Could the supreme sovereign of the world be content to live his entire life as a mere reflection of those Zhu family members? To be a prisoner of destiny?

Some in the royal clan lived in dissipation, while others dreamed of breaking the old Zhu family’s destiny to create their own history. The one with the strongest will was none other than the Great Zhao founding emperor, Han Lin, who had stolen the destiny.

"The founding emperor was a ruthless man. To disrupt destiny, he voluntarily sacrificed his own lifespan to grant it to his crown prince, forcibly propping up his eldest son—our ancestor, the Xiaokang Emperor. But whether it was the backlash of fate or a flaw in the ritual, the Xiaokang Emperor fell ill immediately upon ascending the throne, leaving the governance to the Empress Lü and the Crown Prince.

Until the fourth year of Xiaokang, when the phenomenon of the 'Ghost Coffin of the Turbid River leaping over the Dragon Gate' occurred, the Xiaokang Emperor passed away, and the Crown Prince ascended. The resistance against destiny failed, and Great Zhao’s history seemed to return to its tracks. Unfortunately, this new emperor was still not our ancestor..."

As Han Wugui thought of this, his heart was filled with resentment he could share with no one. At that time, the ancestor of the Prince of Guangze lineage had been the eldest son with powerful in-laws, but following the elevation of the Crown Princess Lü, he became the second son and missed his chance at the throne. Later, he was titled Prince of Wu, then demoted by the Taizong Emperor to a mere Prince, and sent to Minzhou to be kept under house arrest.

"The Imperial Observatory had calculated that the Xiaokang Emperor and our Guangze line should have ended there, returning to the Zhu family’s destiny. I never expected that perhaps that attempt by the founding emperor to defy fate had bought a glimmer of hope, allowing a branch of our bloodline to survive. We are those 'accidental people.' And we are the Han family members most likely to break the cage of destiny!"

As the Heir Apparent to the Prince of Guangze, Han Wugui had been born with the mission of escaping the Zhu family’s destiny, a conviction carved deep into his marrow. This capacity to "defy the heavens and change fate" was no less than that of Pu Shouying, who prepared to establish a nation in Shenzhou, or Wang Cheng and his father, who sought to break the sea ban and pacify the tides.

The "Nine Dragons Spitting Pearl" formation and the chaos in the East Sea were merely the surface manifestations of the intersection and conflict of these three parties' obsessions. The truth beneath the water was far from as simple as outsiders believed. As for how the Prince of Guangze could establish a vast network of relationships and power while under strict surveillance, unable to leave his residence, that was not something to be told to outsiders.

Returning alone to his inner chamber, he sat at his desk and scribbled messily. Thinking of destiny, the throne, and his own abruptly halted path, his thoughts grew more chaotic as he felt he had forgotten another important matter.

"The end goal of our Guangze line is to change destiny and ascend the throne ourselves. At the very least, like the Southern Song, we must return the power usurped by the minor branch to the major branch left behind by the Xiaokang Emperor. Our generation names are Yun, Wen, Zun, Zu, Xun, Qin, Wu, Da, Jun, Sheng; theirs are Gao, Zhan, Qi, Jian, You, Hou, Zai, Yi, Chang, You. Just by the generation names, one knows who is the royal orthodoxy!

This time, my fundamental power in the bureaucracy was not damaged; throwing away a few minor officials to save the main pieces is fine. I still have that great shipmaster from the Five Peaks Banner as an external ally. To decide the outcome in Minzhou, we shall see whose methods prevail. Let us wait and see."

At that moment, the door was pushed open. A beautiful woman with deep features and an exotic charm entered with a tea tray. Seeing Han Wugui’s troubled expression, she offered a seductive smile, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and slowly knelt beneath the table in front of him.

A quarter of an hour later, Han Wugui entered a state of 'sage-like' clarity, void of all distractions. Looking down at the submissively kneeling beauty, he finally remembered who she was: Pu Shouying’s daughter, sent to the prince’s mansion as a concubine as part of the bond between their cooperation. He had even fathered a son with this charming concubine and, to save face for Pu Shouying, had allowed the child to join a Western heterodox religion.

Naturally, he also realized the fact that Pu Shouying likely harbored ill intentions toward him.

His own affairs were a matter for later; he could deal with those another time. What needed to be done now was to immediately cut all ties with the Pu family.

*Snap!*

Affectionately holding the beauty’s head, he suddenly twisted it with force, breaking her neck. The smile on her face froze instantly. Casting the limp corpse aside, he stomped his foot to summon the two clerk-soldiers from the Nine Provinces Talisman of Land Spirits.

"Dispose of the body quickly."

"Yes."

Then, he drew a precious sword from the wall and strode toward the place in the backyard where children’s voices could be heard.

"Do not blame me. The Pu family is a cesspool now. I have only just managed to handle the White Scale Guard; at a time like this, I absolutely cannot let their filth touch me. Besides, even if I achieve my grand undertaking in the future, I cannot leave behind a mixed lineage that would affect my royal bloodline. Sooner or later, I would have had to kick the Pu family away. From the beginning, none of them could be allowed to remain."