Little Pink Starfish

General, Heaven’s Secrets Must Not Be Revealed

The old Taoist said to Yu Xiaoxiao, “From the pulse, it seems the Prince Consort has collapsed from exhaustion.”

Collapsed again from sheer fatigue?

Yu Xiaoxiao’s face remained blank.

Xiao Wei’s brows scrunched together in a tight knot.

Tian Xingzi lifted Gu Xinglang’s hand for a look. “Did he fight someone?”

“Those monst—uh, medicinal men?” Xiao Wei asked Yu Xiaoxiao.

“There must’ve been a fight,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied. “How else would Xiao Gu get their blood on his hands?”

Xiao Wei quickly added, “Is there a chance the blood has those worms in it?”

Yu Xiaoxiao shook her head. If the blood had worms, her Xiao Gu would’ve become a medicinal man by now.

Tian Xingzi turned to Yu Xiaoxiao. “What exactly are these ‘medicinal men’ you’re talking about?”

Jiang Zhuojun spoke up. “Their bodies are barely clothed, they look mindless, eat raw meat, their wounds rot to the bone, and they feel no pain. But they don’t seem to die.”

The old Taoist’s mouth opened slightly. “Are… are those even people anymore?”

“No,” Xiao Wei said. “His Majesty issued a decree to burn the entire Dali Temple just to destroy one medicinal man’s corpse.”

“Dali Temple?” the old Taoist asked. “Wasn’t the Prince Consort involved in that case?”

Xiao Wei nodded.

The old Taoist looked between Gu Xinglang and Yu Xiaoxiao. Wasn’t their “fate” with Yongsheng Temple a bit too deep?

Jiang Zhuojun asked Yu Xiaoxiao, “So those medicinal men… is that what Yongsheng Temple calls ‘eternal life’?”

Before she could answer, a thunderous boom sounded from outside the cave.

“What the hell?” the old Taoist got up and rushed to the cave entrance to look.

Yu Xiaoxiao also stepped over, just in time to see a bolt of lightning strike Bodhi Temple.

The old Taoist saw flames rising in the temple grounds and asked, “What’s on fire?”

Yu Xiaoxiao replied, “That thousand-year-old bodhi tree you mentioned.”

In the vast white snowy landscape, the bright orange flames stood out vividly.

The old Taoist stared at the distant speck of fire and sighed. A tree that lived for a thousand years, destroyed in an instant by lightning—clearly, it had been implicated by the sins of Bodhi Temple.

Several more bolts of lightning struck the temple halls and trees around the grounds.

Soon, fire and thick black smoke engulfed all of Bodhi Temple.

The old Taoist sighed. “Those who bring misfortune upon themselves shall not live.”

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “No lightning rods—wasn’t this temple just asking to be struck?”

The old Taoist blinked at her. “What’s a lightning rod?”

Yu Xiaoxiao, weighed with grief, gave up trying to explain science to these locals. They just didn’t get it.

“Impossible…”

A voice from behind made them all turn. Jingshi was wide-eyed, staring at the stormy sky outside the cave.

Xiao Wei dragged him to the cave entrance.

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “This fire wasn’t set by us.”

Tian Xingzi added, “Jingshi, you defied Heaven’s will. This is divine punishment.”

Jingshi stared at the firelight below the cliff, then suddenly collapsed.

Xiao Wei knelt to check his breath and turned to Yu Xiaoxiao, shocked. “Princess, he’s dead.”

Yu Xiaoxiao was stunned too. His bones were broken, but they hadn’t pierced any organs or caused fatal bleeding. There was no reason for him to die. She hurried to check his pulse—it had stopped. “He was this fragile?” she muttered in disbelief. This guy was an insult to her surgical knowledge!

The old Taoist crouched down, looked at Jingshi’s wide-open eyes and mouth, and said, “He died of fright.”

“What?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked.

“Probably shocked to death by the unusual celestial signs,” the old Taoist told her.

Yu Xiaoxiao glanced at the sky. “He died from seeing lightning and thunder? With nerves like that, how’d he even become Bodhi Temple’s abbot?”

The others… honestly, witnessing Heaven’s wrath was terrifying, even for normal people.

Xiao Wei said, “Princess, he deserved to die. But should we still try to find the men Mo Wen sent to manage the medicinal men?”

“The underground chambers are flooded,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “If they were still down there, they’re dead now.”

Xiao Wei asked, “What if they escaped?”

“The water pressure was immense,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied. “The stone chambers have probably collapsed by now.”

“W-water pressure?” Xiao Wei echoed.

Yu Xiaoxiao sighed. “I’ll explain that to you later.” Physics wasn’t hard, but who knew how Xiao Wei would take to it?

“So… we won’t get any answers now?” Xiao Wei asked.

“Then so be it,” Yu Xiaoxiao stood up. “Yongsheng Temple still exists. We’ll get the truth one way or another.”

Jiang Zhuojun muttered, “To think Yongsheng Temple would do such a thing…”

“Xiao Jiang,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Why did Jingshi want to send you to Yongsheng Temple?”

Jiang Zhuojun shook his head. “I don’t know.”

The old Taoist kept silent, still staring at the sky.

“So what now?” Xiao Wei asked.

“I’ll take you down,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, then walked to Gu Xinglang and scooped him up in a princess carry.

Jiang Zhuojun twitched at the sight and quickly turned his head, pretending not to see it.

“Wei,” Yu Xiaoxiao called, “Can you carry someone down from this height?”

Xiao Wei peered over the cliff and shook his head. He could climb down alone—but carrying someone was beyond him.

“Then come with me,” Yu Xiaoxiao said and leapt out of the cave with Gu Xinglang in her arms.

Xiao Wei quickly followed her down.

“Did… did the princess just…” Jiang Zhuojun pointed at the cliff.

“Our princess is basically the most badass person in the world,” Tian Xingzi said. “That Jingshi really did you dirty. General, want to give him a few more kicks?”

Jiang Zhuojun shook his head. The man was dead. Holding onto hate now would be foolish.

“When you go back, your clan may still turn their anger on you,” Tian Xingzi said. “With this, the Jiang family’s direct line is pretty much severed.”

Ergouzi muttered, “It’s fine. Nanny Wang’s still around.”

At the mention of Nanny Wang, the old Taoist shivered.

Jiang Zhuojun murmured, “Though I’m a concubine’s son, my eldest and second brothers treated me well. I never wished for…”

The old Taoist waved him off. “You did your best, General. This is fate. Luckily, the Jiang line isn’t fully broken. What’s done is done. Accept it. The fourth prince still lives—your family has hope.”

Jiang Zhuojun looked at him.

“Even a dead tree can sprout in spring,” the old Taoist said. “How can you be sure the fourth prince has no future?”

“What do you mean, Taoist?” Jiang Zhuojun asked.

The old Taoist smiled and said, with maddening smugness:
“General, Heaven’s secrets must not be revealed.”