“Sire, according to the intelligence report we just received, Xue Yi may well have already reached the capital of the Luohai Kingdom by now.”

In the imperial palace of the Great Wen, a secret bodyguard deduced the time of Xue Yi’s and his men’s arrival in the capital of the Luohai Kingdom from the intelligence he’d received.

“Are there any new messages from Brother Zhang?” asked Yuwen Tong. Being an emperor for all these years had made the air about him more dignified and also made him appear more poised and aristocratic.

“Not yet, Sire,” answered the secret bodyguard.

Yuwen Tong’s brow corrugated in a slight frown and with that his eyes raked the map hanging on the wall beside him and lingered on the capital of the Luohai Kingdom for a brief moment, a displeased look appearing on his face at the sight of the two words “Luohai Kingdom”.

Sensing Yuwen Tong’s displeasure, the secret bodyguard bowed his head, not daring utter a word.

Over the past few years, the emperor and the consort had never parted from each other. They had been with each other even during their journey to and their stay in the two south-western prefectures. All the bodyguards and servants could tell that the imperial couple had deep feelings for each other. This time around, the consort had gone to the Luohai Kingdom, and the emperor had been in low spirits for a solid month. The secret bodyguards protecting the consort had been sending letters back on a regular basis to report on the situation in there to the emperor, but that place was the capital of the Luohai Kingdom after all, and the enemies had eyes everywhere in that city, so the secret bodyguards there were unable to send letters as frequently as they could in other cities, which was why the emperor’s face had been even sulkier in the past few days.

But the consort had twenty-four personal bodyguards by his side and was under the covert protection of some of the emperor’s secret bodyguards. On top of that, the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce was at the consort’s service, and the consort himself had become a top-notch kung fu master in terms of proficiency in internal energy. It wouldn’t be easy for anybody to do him harm.

‘Apart from Sire’s concern for His Highness, him missing His Highness is probably also part of the reason why he’s been in such mood,’ thought the secret bodyguard.

Head down, the secret bodyguard didn’t dare risk saying or doing anything that might anger Yuwen Tong, but he kept his eyes averted. Apart from anything else, as a secret bodyguard, he’d seen a lot of public displays of affection conducted by the imperial couple during these years. It could be said that suffering from that kind of things had become a daily occurrence for him.

“Is the Earl Taichang (AKA the Earl of Prosperity) still in Youzhou?” Yuwen Tong suddenly asked another question.

The secret bodyguard answered, “Yes. He seems to have plans to stay in Youzhou for some time.”

It was after hearing these words that Yuwen Tong’s sullen face softened slightly. Ling Zhaowu loved his son more than anything. Given that Ling Zhang was now in the capital of the Luohai Kingdom, it was only too obvious why Ling Zhaowu was lingering in Youzhou – once the situation in the Luohai Kingdom changed, he would go there immediately and get Ling Zhang out of the Luohai Kingdom.

Yuwen Tong’s impression of his father-in-law had changed again and again. At first, when it’d come to his knowledge that both Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowu had been through rebirth, he’d been shocked and no longer dared take Ling Zhaowu lightly; after Ling Zhaowu, within merely five years, helped the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce develop into such a commercial juggernaut and recruited a large group of talents every one of whom was absolutely loyal to him, Yuwen Tong had begun to hold Ling Zhaowu in even higher regard. Considering the many experiences this man had had in his last life, he might have turned the world upside down in his last life had he not been devastated by his wife’s death. In this life, due to his concern for Ling Zhang who meant the world to him, he had been restraining himself on his own account and always looked out for Ling Zhang’s best interests, which was a good thing for Yuwen Tong who wanted the domestic situation to be stable. However, Yuwen Tong also had reason to suspect that his father-in-law had achieved such great things within merely five years not only to help Ling Zhang but also to send him a word of warning…

Yuwen Tong was not scared of Ling Zhaowu’s flexing his muscles. On the contrary, the more Ling Zhaowu cared about Ling Zhang, the happier Yuwen Tong was.

“I want intelligence reports from Youzhou delivered to me immediately after their arrivals. Members of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce could go wherever they want in the Luohai Kingdom, which means they have advantages over our men in terms of intelligence delivery in the Luohai Kingdom. The Earl Taichang is in Youzhou, so he could get information about the situation in the Luohai Kingdom faster than we could. Tell our men there that they may stop collecting intelligence, that all they need to do is keep a close eye on the Earl Taichang and pay attention to his words, behavior and mood.”

On hearing this, the secret bodyguard came to understand what Yuwen Tong meant. “Yes, Sire. I’ll send them a message right away.”

It took less time for a message to be delivered from Youzhou to this city than it did from the Luohai Kingdom. Of course, this didn’t mean that it was unnecessary for people in the Luohai Kingdom to send messages back. Those in Youzhou could send letters back more frequently so that their emperor would miss the consort less badly.

After making arrangements for the matter of the Luohai Kingdom to be handled, Yuwen Tong collected his thoughts and instructed a secret bodyguard to send a confidential letter to Jiang Ke and Jiang Xi both of whom were in the encampment of the North-western Army. In all likelihood, there would be a war between the Great Wen and the Wan Kingdom in the next half a year. A lot of preparatory work had been covertly going on for some time already.

“And, ask Qi San how’s it going with the man he planted in Shan Congyi’s palace.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After being given the orders, the secret bodyguard quickly left the imperial study.

Yuwen Tong walked up to the map and stared at the area representing the Wan Kingdom.

Back in Cangzhou, Shan Congyi somehow had survived that powerful explosion and even made good his escape. However, he had suffered permanent disfigurement and lost an arm in the blast which had rendered him as horrifying-looking as a ghost. Also, what with his grievous injuries, it had taken him three solid years to nurse himself back to health, and it wasn’t until two years before that he’d shown his face in the court of the Wan Kingdom. Planting a man in Shan Congyi’s palace had been only the first step. Unlike the Luohai monarch, the Wan monarch had wild ambitions, and his whole court’s hatred towards the Great Wen and their greed for its land and wealth was unchangeable, which made it unmistakably impracticable for Yuwen Tong to use the Wan Kingdom as he did the Luohai Kingdom. On top of that, unlike the Luohai monarch who was of advanced years and hemmed in by three forces and thus made his kingdom quite vulnerable, Shan Congli wielded enormous power in the Wan Kingdom. As a result, recourse to some unconventional strategies was unavoidable. The resentment against and desire to annex the Great Wen of the Shan brothers, Shan Congyi and Shan Congli, was the very thing the Great Wen could take advantage of…

The number of secret agents planted in the Wan Kingdom was not as big as that of agents infiltrated into the Luohai Kingdom. Also, the Wan branch of the Jiahe Chamber of Commerce run by Ling Zhang hadn’t struck up any direct relationships with any powerful officials as the Luohai branch had done with the Dugu family. They had been doing business in a low-key fashion, and there was not as much they could do in the Wan Kingdom as their Luohai counterpart could in the Luohai Kingdom. Yuwen Tong had to rely more on the secret agents, all of whom had been planted there by Yuwen Tong himself. There were not many of them, but all of them were specialists in their respective fields.

He would sneak into the Wan Kingdom himself if the occasion arose, but right now the time was not ripe…

At the thought that Ling Zhang was still in the Luohai Kingdom and would continue to stay there for some time, Yuwen Tong knitted his brows unawares. The insomnia was nothing. What was killing him was the worry that accidents might happen to Ling Zhang in the Luohai Kingdom.

Presently, nobody knew Ling Zhang had left the imperial palace, except for a couple of top-ranking courtiers. These years Ling Zhang had been having frequent closed-door cultivation sessions, and all courtiers had got used to it, which was the very reason why nobody else had come to know that Ling Zhang had actually left the imperial palace, though it’d been almost a month since he’d last made a public appearance. In fact Yuwen Tong didn’t want anybody else to find out about it, because the fewer who knew about it, the safer Ling Zhang was in the Luohai Kingdom.

If possible, he would have infiltrated into the Luohai Kingdom with Ling Zhang. Unfortunately for him, in order not to alarm anybody or rouse anybody’s suspicions, he had no choice but to stay in the capital city and continue to be the emperor. There was nothing else he could do. If some day the three countries were unified and the overall situation stabilized, he would have much more freedom…Yuwen Tong knew that he was being somewhat impatient, but no matter how intense his impatience was, he had restrained himself for five years after all. It was high time he made his move.

“Sire, His Highnesses, Her Highness and Childe Ling request an audience with you.”

Outside the imperial study, a eunuch suddenly reported to him a request for an audience with him.

Yuwen Tong’s countenance flickered and with that his grave face softened slightly. “Let them in.”

“Yes, Sire,” the eunuch answered and then respectfully relayed to the young imperial family members the emperor’s permission for them to enter the study.

The sound of footsteps was heard. In the lead was a slender-figured teenager, who was handsome, well-featured, poised and sure-footed, and who looked somewhat like Ling Zhang. He was holding a two-year-old little girl in his arms, flanked by two five-year old princes. The little girl, light-complexioned and delicate-skinned, looked quite pretty and adorable. If anybody paid close attention to her, they would find that she bore a striking similarity to Ling Zhang, that she was virtually the image of him. Her clothing was sumptuous and gorgeous, which made her look as cute as a white bunny. She had a smile at the corners of her mouth, and her sparkling eyes were looking from one person to another. Anybody would take a liking to her at the sight of her. This little girl was Yuwen Tong’s and Ling Zhang’s adopted daughter. Her name was Yuwen Yue, and her pet name was Crescent. People could tell from the resemblance between her looks and Ling Zhang’s that she was blood relations with him. Her birth parents were Ling Zhaowen and Fu Caiwei. After bearing her husband two sons, Fu Caiwei had given birth to a girl, who afterward had been adopted by the imperial couple. As she was blood relations with Ling Zhang and had eyes bearing a strong likeness to Ling Zhang’s, she was the apple of Yuwen Tong’s eye. Yuwen Tong always felt an overwhelming desire to hold her in his arms at the sight of her.

The two princes, naturally, were Yuwen Qian’s son and Yuwen Feng’s son respectively, both adopted by Yuwen Tong. The two of them were of the same age. A more amazing part was that the two boys closely resembled Yuwen Tong. Maybe because they were blood relations, or maybe because this was how things were meant to be, though the two of them were not Yuwen Tong’s natural sons, they looked like Yuwen Tong so much that even the courtiers who knew about the truth were astonished whenever they saw the two princes. Those who didn’t know any inside information about it would no doubt mistakenly believe that the two princes were Yuwen Tong’s natural sons. Even Yuwen Qian and Yuwen Feng, birth fathers of the two princes, had been shocked when they’d first noticed this. What they found more astounding was that as the two boys grew, the likeness between their looks and Yuwen Tong’s seemed to be growing as well. This was the very reason why the two of them, when seeing the two princes, had difficulty convincing themselves that the two boys were their natural sons. Privately they couldn’t think of any explanations other than the possibility that this was some kind of cosmic plan.

The elder of the two princes had been named Yuwen Qi, and the one who was several months his junior Yuwen Lin. The former looked relatively strong – or fairly chubby, to put it plainly; the latter was somewhat slim and his features struck people as more exquisite. Still, the similarity between their looks and Yuwen Tong’s was undeniable.

Unlike Crescent who was the youngest and Yuwen Tong’s favorite, Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin preferred to be in Ling Zhang’s company. Maybe because Yuwen Tong was quite serious, they were somewhat scared of him and tended to act punctiliously in front of him, but whenever they saw Ling Zhang, they always smiled and couldn’t help but get close to him like fledglings to their mother. This also struck people as quite astonishing.

Strangely enough, Ling Zhang was strict with the two princes as well, but for some unknown reason, the two princes still had a deeper affinity with him. When they’d been younger, they had on a daily basis insisted on sleeping with Ling Zhang, because they’d both enjoyed being in Ling Zhang’s embrace. Every time they’d done that, Yuwen Tong had had a sulky face, for the two of them had taken up too much of Ling Zhang’s time. When he’d tried to compete with the boys for Ling Zhang’s attention, Ling Zhang had dressed him down, saying that that sort of behavior was a disgrace.