The night was inky, covering the entire Capital City.
Only the Grand Secretary Gu Bingqian’s Manor was brightly lit at this moment, as if it wanted to burn a hole through the boundless darkness.
Outside the manor, carriages streamed like water and officials gathered.
Inside the manor, however, was a different scene.
The moment Qin Tian, clad in black armor and holding a purple sandalwood box, stepped into the birthday banquet hall, he was met not with the festive atmosphere a birthday banquet should have, but with a turbid wave of mixed perfume, fine wine, and a decaying scent.
The sounds of music were languid, and the dancing girls’ sleeves fluttered.
However, beneath all this revelry, an irrepressible excitement and greed surged.
Qin Tian’s gaze, sharp as a knife, slowly swept across the room.
He saw it.
Several high-ranking military officials, usually arrogant in the army, were now like dogs wagging their tails, fawning over a few civil officials, their Faces plastered with obsequious smiles.
He recognized those civil officials; they were Gu Bingqian’s most trusted disciples.
“Lord Zhang is right! If the Grand Secretary can set things right, our 50,000 soldiers of the Capital Garrison are willing to be the vanguard!”
“More than just the Capital Garrison! My three thousand manor troops will also follow the Grand Secretary’s lead!”
Those Faces were filled with the fervor of opportunism, devoid of any soldierly integrity.
Qin Tian’s heart grew colder by the inch.
“Your Majesty, are these the military merits under your rule?”
“Are these the pillars of the state who eat the Emperor’s salary and serve the Emperor’s affairs?”
He remembered the blizzards of the northern border, and those brothers who gnawed on dry rations in the ice and snow, not even having warm winter clothes.
He remembered Zhang Hu, his subordinate who was framed and imprisoned by these vermin, and died of injustice.
An unspeakable nausea surged up from his stomach.
Just then, Gu Bingqian, seated at the head, finally turned his gaze towards him.
The old fox did not immediately rise, but instead held his wine cup, laughing loudly with his confidants beside him; the sound was neither too loud nor too soft, but it was like a poisoned needle, precisely piercing Qin Tian’s ears.
“Lord Wang, you see, wasn’t I right?”
“General Qin deeply understands righteousness and has already abandoned the dark for the light; this is Heaven’s help for me!”
Another person clapped his hands and laughed heartily: “That is natural! Once the great matter is settled, the position of Minister of War will undoubtedly belong to General Qin!”
“Your Majesty is young and tyrannical; our act of ‘cleansing the Emperor’s side’ is in accordance with Heaven and popular sentiment, and it is for the sake of our Da Yue Dynasty’s empire!”
“Cleansing the Emperor’s side”… “the great matter is settled”… They were discussing rebellion, right in front of him, as if it were a feast where spoils could be divided.
They treated him, Qin Tian, as a pawn to be manipulated at will!
“Your Majesty, oh Your Majesty…”
“You sent your humble general here; were you testing these jackals, or were you testing me, Qin Tian?”
“This box you gave, is it your congratulatory gift, or… your humiliation?”
Qin Tian gripped the hilt of his saber tightly, his knuckles cracking from the excessive force.
He was not angry.
He was disgusted.
It was a bone-chilling coldness.
He looked at these clowns who treated “rebellion” as a “stepping stone to advancement,” and then thought of his brothers who had died for the country in the northern border, their bones not yet cold; a chilling killing intent surged wildly in his chest.
He could no longer endure it.
He felt that even one more breath of this foul air would defile his lungs.
Qin Tian suddenly turned, intending to leave.
He had already made up his mind.
I’m not getting involved in this mess!
As for this purple sandalwood box… he didn’t even have the desire to open it and look.
In his opinion, this might be the last weakness and compromise of that sickly Emperor.
“Your Majesty, they don’t want the Face you gave.”
“Your humble general will tear it up for you!”
Just as he turned, a figure swayed and blocked his path.
It was the Deputy Commander of the Metropolitan Guard, Li Mang.
A good-for-nothing who had climbed to a high position through connections.
At this moment, his Face was flushed from drinking, reeking of alcohol, and he reached out his greasy hand to grab Qin Tian’s shoulder, his words full of drunken arrogance.
“General Qin! You… you’re leaving already?”
“You don’t drink a single drop of the Grand Secretary’s wine, that’s too disrespectful!”
Face?
A cruel, cold light flashed in Qin Tian’s eyes.
The moment Li Mang’s hand was about to touch his shoulder plate, Qin Tian’s figure seemed to blur for an instant.
Not a retreat, but a slight sidestep.
Immediately after, an iron-vise-like hand, swift as lightning, accurately and precisely clasped Li Mang’s outstretched wrist!
“Crack!”
A bone-chilling snap, so clear it instantly drowned out the sounds of music in the hall!
“Ah—!”
Li Mang’s shriek was about to escape his throat when Qin Tian’s other hand swiftly clamped his neck, all sounds turning into “hoarse” gasps, his Face instantly turning a liver-like purple.
The entire process was fluid and extremely fast.
This was not a brawl.
This was a textbook, ruthless catch maneuver!
Qin Tian held him with one hand, like a chicken waiting to be slaughtered, his hawk-like eyes coldly scanning the entire room.
Inside the main hall, a sudden silence fell.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden scene.
Qin Tian’s cold gaze swept across the room, his voice not loud, but it struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer:
“I, Qin Tian, drink the imperial wine of His Majesty.”
“I receive the military pay of the Royal Family.”
He paused, every word carrying the chill of the northern blizzards.
“Since when did it fall to an ‘Grand Secretary’ of another surname to give me Face?”
As his words fell, he loosened his wrist.
“Thud.”
Li Mang was thrown to the ground like a pile of mud, curling up and wailing in pain.
Qin Tian didn’t even glance at him again, striding out with the purple sandalwood box he thought was “humiliation,” under the silent gaze of the entire hall.
Stepping out of Gu Manor, the cold night wind hit him, but it couldn’t disperse the irritation and killing intent in his heart.
Just then, from the shadows of the street corner, a figure slowly emerged, leaning against the wall, as if he had been waiting there for a long time.
Dressed in black armor, with a sinister Face.
It was the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Zhou Chun.
A faint, unreadable smile played on Zhou Chun’s lips, his gaze falling on the purple sandalwood box in Qin Tian’s arms.
“General Qin, what great prestige.”
There was a hint of playfulness in his voice.
“But, why did you bring back the congratulatory gift His Majesty asked you to deliver?”
“This is… defying an imperial decree.”
Qin Tian paused, let out a cold snort, and did not turn back.
“When a general is outside, he does not always have to obey the Emperor’s command.”
“His Majesty wants Face, and I cannot let this Royal Family’s Face fall into a cesspit.”
His voice was resolute.
“If there’s a punishment, I, Qin Tian, will bear it all, without complaint!”
Zhou Chun’s smile deepened, and he slowly shook his head, his voice as light as a breeze, yet it stirred up raging waves in Qin Tian’s ears.
“General Qin, you are mistaken.”
He slowly straightened up, walking step by step to Qin Tian’s side.
“His Majesty said that a mad dog biting is its nature. But a wolf king’s rage is worth seeing.”
“It seems you did not disappoint His Majesty.”
Zhou Chun pointed to the box in Qin Tian’s arms, his tone carrying a hint of mutual appreciation, as one of the Emperor’s blades, and a touch of “you’re still too naive” teasing.
“As for defying an imperial decree…”
“His Majesty also said that if you had truly given this box to Gu Bingqian, that would have been defying an imperial decree.”
“Because this imperial decree was for you to bring what’s inside back to where you should go.”
“His Majesty had you hold this box; from the beginning, it was not for Gu Bingqian.”
“His Majesty said that the Gu Family’s banquet was defiled, and he feared you wouldn’t be used to it.”
“He wanted you to crash the party, and then…”
Zhou Chun’s gaze deepened, and he said, word by word:
“Come back for your reward.”
Boom—!!!
Qin Tian was struck by lightning, his entire body frozen in place, his mind a blank.
He trembled, lowering his head to look at the heavy purple sandalwood box in his arms.
At this moment, he finally understood.
All the clues furiously connected in his mind!
The Emperor knew Gu Manor was a Dragon’s Den!
The Emperor knew that he, Qin Tian, would not be able to tolerate the defilement there!
The Emperor even calculated that he would be unable to resist making a move!
The Emperor gave him not a task, but a stage! A stage for him to fully display his integrity and loyalty!
This box, how could it be a congratulatory gift!
This was clearly a “supplementary imperial decree”! A “tacit commendation”!
He thought he was upholding the Emperor’s dwindling dignity, unaware that the Emperor, in a way he had never imagined, had given him, the unyielding King of Soldiers, supreme dignity!
This was not trust.
This was insight! This was control!
It was the Emperor’s ultimate use and protection of his sharpest blade!
Qin Tian’s hands trembled as he slowly unlatched the purple sandalwood box.
“Click.”
Under the moonlight, half of a tiger tally cast in profound iron lay quietly on blood-red silk.
Engraved on the tiger tally were two seal characters—
Tian Ce.
At this moment, Cang Lang of the northern border, that unyielding King of Soldiers, could no longer hold himself up.
With a “thud.”
He knelt heavily on one knee in the deserted long street, facing the direction of the Imperial Palace!
He held up the half tiger tally, symbolizing supreme military authority and absolute trust, with both hands, and for the first time, hot tears welled up in his tiger-like eyes.
“Your humble General Qin Tian…”
“Is willing to be Your Majesty’s blade, to go through fire and water, and will not shrink from ten thousand deaths!”