Reign of the Phoenix

Chapter 59 – The Fourth Prince’s Sweet Dream
Gao Cheng was unable to get close to women for now, but his guards had been working very hard to find the treasure for him, so he planned to provide them women to win over them and also boost their morale. Therefore, Gao Chenghao ordered his men to chase the thugs away and took the two dancers inside.

Afraid that Chiyun Yuexuan would come find him for trouble, he secretly took his people and moved to another estate at night.

Finally without worry this night, Gao Chenghao drank with his subordinates while watching the Persian dancers in their enchanting dance moves. He was in a particularly good mood, as he had discovered something in a cave in the dragon-shaped mountain. He believed that he was getting closer to the Murongs’ treasure.

Gao Chenghao drank as he started indulging in his sweet fantasy: With his own ability, he acquired the world’s most amazing book – “Secrets of Emperor Qin.” His imperial father was overjoyed and ceded his throne to him. Relying on “Secrets of Emperor Qin,” he would make the most formidable weapon ever and with it, he’d deploy troops on an expedition, starting from Shangxia all the way to Huayan. Wherever he went, he’d be invincible and unstoppable. Ultimately, just like Qin Shi Huang, he’d once again reunite the dozen of countries around, and then, he’d be an even greater emperor than Qin Shi Huang. Murong Zhining would voluntarily threw herself at his chest. In order to please him, she’d put down her princess dignity and put on dancer’s clothes, offering him a Jinghong dance. Ethereal rainbow silk and gracefully rippling water sleeves, lustrous eyes that could suck one’s soul. Gao Chenghao was unable to hold back. He pulled her to him and they fell together, bodies entangling.

Gao Chenghao had overdrunk himself. Drunk as a lord, he embraced a dancer and brought her to fall down with him.

——

The sun was hanging at its highest point in the sky, spraying warm light onto the courtyard. Inside Lian Kun’s estate, Murong Zhining sat at the stone in the yard, repeatedly use the glass piece to scrutinize Biwu under the sunlight.

Sitting at the opposite, Chiyun Yuexuan was holding a brush as he focused on a sheet music. “How is it going? Has my wife discovered any mystery?”

Murong Zhining pouted. “I can’t see it clearly, how about you try it, General?”

Chiyun Yuexuan smiled. “You wanted me to draw the score and now you want me to examine Biwu, are you trying to tire your husband to death?”

Murong Zhining weakly looked at him. “Didn’t I forbid you from calling me stuff?! What if people hear? Aren’t you embarrassed at all?”

Chiyun Yuexuan pursed his lips slightly. “People will know sooner or later. Why do you mind them so much? The more you mind, the more I want to let them hear.”

Murong Zhining angrily snatched the brush from his hand. “Chiyun Yuexuan, don’t you go overboard! Do you remember what you promised this princess? You said you would never disturb me again. Not mentioning how you go back on your words, you think this princess will forgive you so easily? Not really!”

Chiyun Yuexuan compromised, “Okay okay, I only call you this in private anyway. In front of other people, haven’t I been as reserved as ever? But to the others, you address yourself ‘I’ this and ‘I’ that without any superiority. Only in front of me, you’d ‘this princess’ this and that. Aren’t you discriminating against me? Call me husband and I’ll listen to whatever you say from now on. Deal?”

Murong Zhining angrily glared. “No deal! And I don’t have a habit of calling myself ‘this princess’ with my friends, it’ll make everyone uncomfortable. I’ll try to change with how I call myself in front of you as well, so you should pay attention too.” Then, she took the sheet music Chiyun Yuexuan had drawn. “General is indeed a genius. I only let you glance at it once, but you didn’t redraw it any different from the original.”

Chiyun Yuexuan was immensely pleased with himself. “Of course! Who do you think your husba… this general is? I’m gifted with a photographic memory.”

A hint of imperceptible sadness flashed through Murong Zhining’s eyes. “Chiyun Yuexuan be honest with me, are you… sick or something? You weren’t like this before. And it’s impossible for a person’s nature to completely change like this.”

Yuexuan could sense the sorrow in her words. His expression grew solemn. “I’m indeed a cold-blooded person. Only that, Ning’er has touched the only soft spot in my heart. I can be ruthless to everyone in this world, except for you.”

Murong Zhining responded with frost, “I have no desire to be your ‘Little Tabby.’ Pack up your guilt, I don’t need it.”

Overrun by emotions, none of them spoke again. Quietly watching them from afar, Tuoba Zhi knitted his brows.

Tuoba Zhi carried a pot of tea and three tea cups to the stone table. “Princess and General Chiyun have worked hard. I personally brewed some tea for you. Take a rest.”

Murong Zhining received a cup of tea and started savoring it. “Your tea has spoiled my mouth rotten, Mister Tuoba. By the way, please take a look and this sheet music and see if you discover anything.”

Chiyun Yuexuan held a cup of tea himself, displeased as he sat there looking at them.

Tuoba Zhi slightly frowned. “I’ve seen this in your room before. It should be a harmonic tune for qin and se, and these symbols are Xianbei characters. But, the fingering of this score seems somewhat awkward. To follow it, we need to have seven fingers in a hand.”

Chiyun Yuexuan revealed a mocking smile. “I actually don’t know what’s limiting your imagination, Mister Tuoba. Who says two people can’t play a song together?”

Murong Zhining exclaimed, “Why didn’t I think of this? General Chiyun’s words are truly enlightening. If you’ve thought of this, you could have said it sooner and spared me from wrapping my head around it for so long!”

Chiyun Yuexuan pursed his lips. “It’s not like there’s any rewards, so why would I want to say it?”

Murong Zhining sulkily nudged him, but inwardly praised his intelligence.

Chiyun Yuexuan took out Biwu and began to examine it with the glass piece. While the glass could enlarge the words, they were still unclear. This made him ponder in doubt.

Tuoba Zhi reached out his hand, “Let me,” and received the two objects from Chiyun Yuexuan. He then held them towards the sunlight. A while later, Tuoba Zhi dejectedly placed them on the table. “I can’t see them clearly either. They look like words, but they certainly aren’t words, but some neat symbols like that of the divinatory trigrams.”

A flash of light suddenly graced Murong Zhining. She placed a blank paper sheet on the table, then held Biwu about one foot above the paper, and lastly placed the glass piece above Biwu.

When the noon sunlight shone through the glass and Biwu, it magically displayed out vague symbols on the paper. After Murong Zhining repeatedly adjusted the position of Biwu and the glass piece, twelve symbols finally appeared on the paper clearly.

Chiyun Yuexuan quickly grabbed the brush and carefully recorded them down. Then, he concluded, “These are 12 of the 64 hexagrams in ‘The Book of Changes.’ Zhun(屯), Lu(履), Da Chu(大畜), Dun(遁), Da Guo(大过), Ming Yi(明夷), Kui(睽), Guai(夬), Gou(姤), Yi(益). I forgot what these two are called.” He pointed at two of them.

Tuoba Zhi threw him an arrogant eye-roll and pointed at these two symbols respectively. “This one, with upper Xun(☴) and lower Kan(☵), is Huan(涣). This one, upper Zhen(☳) and lower Gen(☶) is Xiao Guo (小过).”

Then, the two men nodded in approval at one another.

Murong Zhining nodded. “So Biwu is hiding this. How do we interpret them?”

Chiyun Yuexuan reminded, “Last night, didn’t you use the Xianbei dictionary to decipher the symbols on the score? Those symbols exactly correspond to the zodiac signs, which happens to be 12 of them. I think they may correlate in some way.”

Murong Zhining nodded in praise. “Your vast knowledge amazes me, General Chiyun, Mister Tuoba. But there’s still a long way to go and it requires more deliberation.”

As the three wracked their brains, Lian Kun whizzed in. “There’s news from Xing Yao and Xing Qi!”

Lian Kun handed a piece of paper to Murong Zhining, on the paper were crooked characters: ‘Gao moved to a Horse Street alley west city, willow tree in front of the gate. He brought digging tools when going out this morning, seems to have discovery.’

Murong Zhining took a while to understand the handwriting. “They say Gao Chenghao has moved to another estate. He must have feared that we’d find him for trouble. Also, he brought tools with him this morning, it seems that he has discovered something.”

Tuoba Zhi nodded in understanding. “I didn’t think your plan actually worked out so well, Princess. The two Persian dancers truly hasn’t disappointed.”

Chiyun Yuexuan quipped, “It’s mainly your silver that worked, Mister Tuoba. Money can indeed make the Devil turn millstones. Without money, no one would work for you even if you have a plan.”

Murong Zhining pouted and tugged on the corner of his clothes.

Chiyun Yuexuan creased his brows in doubt. “What I still don’t get is that, how did Gao Chenghao determine the treasure to be at that mountain? There’s nothing in the clues that point to the exact location of the treasure.”

Murong Zhining pondered. “Perhaps he inferred this from history records on from Beiyan’s escape route. As for ‘Stranded Jiaolong,’ it can point to the dragon-head-shaped mountain, like a dragon in distress. In addition, the minor changes in the score I gave him may have led him to misjudge the location. By the way, Gao Chenghao once mentioned the notes on the sheet music to be confluence points on a map. My mother also said that there were three clues to the treasure. Could it be that he has one of them?”

Lian Kun said, “I’ll send someone to get a Xingzhou map right away so we can study it. Brother Tuoba, have your people keep monitoring Gao Chenghao.”

Tuoba Zhi smiled and nodded, “Congratulations, Brother Lian, you’ve finally learned to think with your head.”

Murong Zhining covered her mouth to sneak a chuckle.

——

Gao Chenghao tied a rope around himself as a safety measure before he personally climbed down the rope ladder to the cave. After walking several dozen steps into the cave, a huge stone door came into view, sealed shut.

As the guards tried to pry them open with an iron bar to no avail, Gao Chenghao was inwardly anxious. He regretted bringing Murong Zhining to this mountain last time. If she brought Chiyun Yuexuan here to fight over the treasure, he, Gao Chenghao, would stand no chance against them. Not to mention that Murong Zhining’s special identity authorized her to utilize the local Shangxia garrison.

A guard climbed down into the cave and delivered Gao Chenghao good news, “Reporting to Your Highness, Jiao Lan secretly reported to us that Chiyun Yuexuan has taken Princess Fengyi to leave Xingzhou towards the direction of Huayan.”

Gao Chenghao was both overjoyed and disappointed by the news. He didn’t want to give up on the treasure, but he also didn’t want to give up on Murong Zhining. After much deliberation, a grim smile appeared on his face. This was truly an opportunity bestowed by heaven. The treasure was right here within grasp, and as for Murong Zhining, he wouldn’t allow her to escape his palm either. After the obtained the treasure, he shall take her right from the hands of Chiyun Yuexuan.

Without worry, Gao Chenghao was committed to opening the stone door. Beyond this door was all of his hopes, dreams, and expectations. He would never allow anyone to get in the way of his grand plan. He had ordered explosive powder to be placed all around this place, ready to fight any intruders to a mutual doom if need be.