The night had grown deep.
Inside the study of Xianyang Palace, the lamps still burned brightly, casting three shadows onto the walls.
Li Si paced back and forth through the hall with a pale face, nearly trampling the hem of his official robes to shreds.
Qinglong stood motionless in the corner’s shadows like an iron statue.
Only the tiny figure seated at the head position remained leisurely scooping lotus seed soup with a white jade spoon.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt almost frozen.
Finally, Li Si stopped pacing.
He could no longer endure the suffocating silence.
Thud!
The Chancellor of Great Qin dropped heavily to his knees.
Facing that tiny figure, his voice became hoarse from fear and confusion.
“Young Master!”
“This minister… is foolish!”
“I do not understand why you let Xiang Zhuang escape!”
“This man’s swordsmanship is extraordinary. He managed to flee even under Lord Qinglong’s hands—he is a grave threat!”
“To let a tiger return to the mountains will bring endless future troubles, Young Master!”
Li Si lowered his head deeply, his body trembling slightly with agitation.
Only then did Ying Ziye finish the last spoonful of lotus seed soup.
He smacked his lips in satisfaction and set the white jade bowl aside.
He did not look at the kneeling Li Si.
Instead, swinging his two short legs dangling in the air, he asked curiously in his childish voice:
“Chancellor.”
“A mouse with a broken leg, running away with its tail tucked between its legs…”
“You also think that counts as a tiger?”
Li Si abruptly raised his head, completely stunned.
A mouse?
That was the greatest swordsman of the Xiang clan in Chu!
A top-tier assassin capable of battling Commander Qinglong without defeat!
Yet in the Young Master’s mouth, he had become nothing more than a mouse?
Ying Ziye jumped down from his chair.
Walking up to Li Si, he stretched out a tiny hand and patted Li Si on the shoulder.
“Chancellor, stand up when you speak.”
Li Si dared not disobey. Trembling, he stood up while still keeping his back bent respectfully.
With his hands behind his back like a little adult, Ying Ziye began pacing around the study.
“Let me ask you.”
“If we killed Xiang Zhuang today, what would happen tomorrow?”
Li Si answered instinctively:
“Kill one to warn a hundred, and intimidate the petty villains!”
Ying Ziye shook his head, his face plainly saying, You’re so dumb.
“Wrong.”
“If we kill this Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Liang in Kuaiji Commandery will only send a second or third assassin even stronger than him.”
“As long as the people of Chu are not completely dead, the people who want to kill me will never stop.”
“Does that mean this Young Master has to stay in the palace every day waiting for them to come assassinate me?”
Cold sweat appeared on Li Si’s forehead.
He seemed to understand a little now.
At that moment, Qinglong in the corner finally spoke.
His voice was low and steady.
“Your Young Master’s intention is…”
“To let Xiang Zhuang return and deliver false information.”
“To make him tell Xiang Liang that Xianyang’s defenses are lax and the Young Master’s guards are weak.”
“Thus luring their main forces here, gathering them together, and annihilating them in one stroke?”
The reasoning was perfectly sound—a standard military tactic of baiting the enemy.
Li Si’s eyes lit up after hearing it, convinced this had to be the answer.
However—
Ying Ziye turned his head toward Qinglong and smiled even more brightly.
“Uncle Qinglong, you guessed wrong too.”
For the first time ever, a clear look of astonishment appeared on Qinglong’s eternally icy face.
Even Li Si fell back into confusion again.
The smile on Ying Ziye’s face slowly faded.
Within those clear, innocent-looking eyes flickered a deep light utterly unsuited to his age.
“I want him to go back.”
“And report to Xiang Liang exactly what happened tonight at the Xianyang city gate.”
Li Si was completely baffled.
“Th-Then… why?”
“If he learns that Xianyang’s defenses are so strict, wouldn’t he become even more afraid to come?”
Ying Ziye walked back to the main seat and climbed onto it again.
From above, the tiny child looked down upon the two greatest civil and military officials of Qin.
His voice was childish, yet his words struck like thunder.
“I want him to tell Xiang Liang that Xianyang’s Jinyiwei are a hundred times stronger than he imagined!”
“I want him to tell Xiang Liang that the so-called greatest swordsman he prides himself on isn’t even worthy of carrying this Young Master’s shoes!”
“And I also want him to tell Xiang Liang—!”
Ying Ziye’s voice suddenly rose, filled with a domineering arrogance that seemed to look down upon the entire world.
“This Young Master is ten thousand times harder to kill than he imagined!”
Li Si and Qinglong both felt a chill rise up from their spines.
They looked at the eight-year-old child seated at the head position.
What they saw no longer seemed like a child.
But rather a youthful god overlooking all living beings, holding power over life and death.
Seeing the shock on their faces, Ying Ziye nodded in satisfaction.
The expression on his face shifted once more into that of an innocent child, even carrying a trace of distress.
“Catching them one by one is too troublesome.”
“Running around all the time—does this Young Master still get to sleep or not?”
“So…”
A bright smile spread across his face.
“I want Xiang Liang to understand that with only the Xiang clan alone, they will never in this lifetime have either the courage or the ability to rebel against my Great Qin.”
“If he wants to kill me, avenge Chu, and throw the world back into chaos once more…”
“Then he must—”
Ying Ziye’s voice suddenly turned cold and sinister.
“Gather together every rat he knows hiding in the gutters and afraid to show themselves in the light—whether it’s the Tian clan of Qi or the Li clan of Zhao—bring them all out!”
“Bind them together!”
“And then this Young Master will eliminate all of them in one stroke!”
Boom!!!
It felt as though ten thousand thunderclaps exploded inside Li Si’s mind.
All the strength in his body seemed to vanish in an instant.
His legs gave way, and he uncontrollably fell to his knees once more.
Looking at Ying Ziye, the only emotion left on his bloodshot face was awe.
The kind of ultimate awe that came from the depths of one’s soul when facing the unknown and overwhelming power.
His lips trembled as he forced a few words from his throat.
“Young Master… You… you intend to…”
“Wipe them all out in one net?!”
Ying Ziye clapped his little hands cheerfully.
“That’s right!”
“Chancellor, you finally figured it out!”
At that moment—
Inside Ying Ziye’s mind rang the cold and familiar mechanical voice.
【Ding!】
【Detected that the host used an open strategy to intimidate the remnants of the Six States, turning passivity into initiative and completely reversing the public sentiment of Xianyang, causing national fortune to surge!】
【Triggered National Fortune Critical Strike!】
【National Fortune Points +1000!】
【Congratulations, host, for obtaining reward: High-Yield Crop Treasure Chest (contains one bag each of corn, sweet potato, and chili pepper seeds)!】
【Congratulations, host, for obtaining reward: Divine-Demonic General Summoning Card ×1!】
Ying Ziye’s eyes lit up instantly.
Good stuff!
More good stuff!
With a thought, a card radiating mysterious golden light appeared within his consciousness space.
On the card was only a single bold character:
“Summon.”
Ying Ziye forcibly suppressed the urge to use it immediately.
He looked toward Li Si, who was still kneeling on the ground, and waved his tiny hand.
“Chancellor, get up. The floor is cold.”
“This Young Master hasn’t even harvested the potatoes yet, and now there’s already new stuff again.”
A mysterious smile appeared on his face.
“Go make preparations.”
“In a few days, this Young Master is going to give the people of Xianyang another enormous surprise.”
Li Si shuddered violently.
Another surprise?
Again?!
The last “surprise” had been potatoes with yields of five thousand jin per mu—enough to nearly scare his heart out of his chest.
What kind of surprise would this one be?
He did not dare imagine it, nor dare ask.
He simply bowed heavily and knocked his head against the floor before Ying Ziye.
“This minister obeys your command!”
At the same time—
Thousands of miles away, in Kuaiji Commandery.
Within the Xiang clan estate.
Inside the brightly lit main hall, the atmosphere was filled with killing intent.
At the seat of honor sat a tall middle-aged man with a sinister expression, quietly wiping a bronze sword in his hands.
He was the current head of the Xiang clan—
Xiang Liang.
Bang!
The doors of the hall were violently slammed open.
A blood-covered figure staggered inside.
Thud!
The newcomer collapsed heavily to his knees. The wounds on his body split open again from the violent movement, and blood instantly stained the floor red.
“My lord!”
“This subordinate was incompetent—the assassination failed!”
Xiang Liang’s sword-wiping motion stopped.
Slowly, he raised his head.
Within those hawk-like eyes, there was not the slightest ripple of emotion.
Looking at the miserable, dog-like state of his most prized swordsman, his voice was low and hoarse.
“Speak.”
“What exactly… happened?”
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