Chapter 1948: Final Hidden Card
When she saw the cold gaze in Zu An's eyes, Meng Chan was a bit alarmed. She didn’t dare to beat around the bush any longer and said, “I heard that you were looking for a Bai Ze horn.”
Zu An was shocked. He immediately asked, “Where did you hear that from?”
Meng Chan replied, “The regent doesn’t need to concern yourself with where I heard about this information. What’s important is that I can get you a Bai Ze horn.”
Zu An said with a snort, “Even so, right now, I feel that it's more important for me to know how you came to know that I was looking for a Bai Ze horn.”
At first, he had only mentioned it to the academy’s people. Later, he'd asked the Embroidered Envoy, Nan Xun, and some of the Eastern Palace’s officials to aid in the search. Regardless of which side he had requested the information from, the thought of a leak wasn't a trifling matter.
“The regent is now being watched by prying eyes everywhere. Regardless of what you do, there will be countless people watching you. You ordered several people to help you look for those items. There are no walls that do not leak wind,” Meng Chan said with a self-pitying laugh. “King Dai Manor and the Meng clan might have fallen, but we are still a clan that has existed for a thousand years. There are some old friends who still remember the kindness we have shown them. They might not do other things for us, but this kind of small task is still possible.”
Zu An sighed in relief. He had been worried that she'd deduced that he was Golden Token Eleven or the Chief Commander of the Embroidered Envoy, but it seemed he had been too worried for nothing. Either way, with his current identity as regent, he could even claim that he was the one who had asked the Embroidered Envoy to look for a Bai Ze horn.
“Can you really get your hands on a Bai Ze horn? After all, most people haven’t even heard of that kind of auspicious beast before," Zu An said skeptically. It wasn’t his fault for being suspicious, though. After all, not even Shen Xuzi or Ji Dengtu knew where to find such a thing, so how could the daughter of a noble clan get her hands on it?
Meng Chan gave him a look and asked, “Can I put on my clothes first? Being like this really is a bit embarrassing.”
Zu An was speechless.
So you understand the concept of embarrassment after all? Then what did you even strip for earlier?
However, with the way things were, he couldn't just continue the interrogation. He turned around and waved his hand.
Meng Chan put on her clothes again with a reddened face. She tied her waistband again while saying with a sigh, “There have been rumors flying all around that the regent was a lecherous pervert. And yet today, I have discovered that you are much more of a gentleman than I imagined.”
“There's no need for you to flatter me. I only need the Bai Ze horn right now. If you're lying to me, the Meng clan and King Dai will be even more miserable than they are right now,” Zu An said coldly.
“The regent really is unromantic,” Meng Chan said. She gave him a resentful look and continued, “Alright, I’ve put on my clothes again.”
With Zu An’s divine sense, he naturally also knew that she had already gotten dressed again. He asked, “Can you speak in more detail now?”
Meng Chan voiced her agreement. “The Meng clan has existed for a long time. This is not meant as a boast, but rather a statement of fact.”
Zu An nodded. He gestured for her to continue.
Meng Chan continued, “Many years ago, there was a genius in the Meng clan who loved to explore all kinds of secret dungeons. One time, he returned with the corpse of a strange creature. At the time, no one in the Meng clan knew what it was, but that genius said that it was called a Bai Ze, and that the clan should store it well. He told people that it could be of great use in the future.
“Unfortunately, soon after, that genius died while exploring a certain secret dungeon, and no one knew what the Bai Ze could be used for. However, the Meng clan still properly preserved its body.
“And yet, as time went on, its corpse still slowly decayed. In the end, only that horn remained.”
Zu An interrupted her, saying, “That doesn't sound right. The Bai Ze is extremely mysterious. Not even its corpse should have decayed in a mere thousand years.”
This world wasn’t like his previous one. There were powerful creatures that, even if they died, carried traces of energy that would be enough to kill any intruders. At the very least, it meant their flesh was imperishable. Perhaps after thousands or tens of thousands of years, they could decay into bones, but judging from what she was saying, only a thousand years had passed at most. How could there only be a horn left?
Meng Chan said with a sigh, “Regent, for better or for worse, I am a direct descendant of the Meng clan, and also Madam Dai. How could I not know that these kinds of auspicious beasts can remain intact for a long time, and make up such a poor lie as a result? This is what really happened. The Bai Ze’s head corroded far faster than we expected, and it was already starting to rapidly decay not long after that genius ancestor brought it back. At the time, we wondered if it was due to the secret dungeon’s influence.”
Zu An frowned. What she said made some sense. The story, which had sounded like a glaring lie, now seemed more likely to be the truth. When it came to the strange speed of that corrosion, perhaps it was because the Bai Ze left the secret dungeon. With the difference in environment, perhaps the laws of this world couldn’t tolerate it anymore.
He thought for a bit, then said, “Even so, according to what I know, the Meng clan’s treasury has already been seized by the court. Are you trying to use something that doesn’t belong to you any longer to make a deal with me?”
Meng Chan shook her head and replied, “A clan like the Meng clan that has existed for a thousand years knows not to keep all our eggs in the same basket. Many of our treasures are hidden in other places.”
Zu An said with a cold snort, “Then according to what you're saying, the Meng clan’s wealth should be astronomical. If there are so many treasures, how could you just happen to know about this Bai Ze horn?” He just felt that it was all just too big of a coincidence. Furthermore, this woman was full of tricks and schemes, so he was worried that she could be up to something.
“We do not have as many treasures as others believe,” Meng Chan said with a sigh. “Great clans like us do accumulate a lot of wealth, but our expenditure is also great. This is especially true due to the typical patterns great clans face, such as having more and more hedonistic children. These are old practices that do not tend to go away. Even though our Meng clan did quite well in recent years and managed to reach a balance in financial matters through our authority in the court, many other ancient clans have already hollowed their own wealth out.
“As for the Bai Ze horn, I also felt that it was a real coincidence. It might be a twist of fate,” Meng Chan said, laughing in self-mockery. “When I was young, I loved to go to the treasury to play. At the time, I ended up liking that sparkling and pretty horn at first sight. That was why I asked grandfather to give it to me. So, even if the entire Meng clan's treasuries were searched, there is no way anyone else would obtain the Bai Ze horn.” A bit of self-confidence returned to her eyes as she said that.
Zu An harrumphed. “There's no need for you to guard against me like this. If you really have it, I'm not the type who would bully you out of it.”
Meng Chan bit her lip and took the chance to say, “I am willing to offer this item to the regent. All I hope for is a path of survival for the Meng clan and King Dai.”
Zu An thought for a bit. After a moment, he said, “I can prevent the court from eradicating them, but there's no way I can allow them to recover their former power. At most, I can grant them some ancestral land for the old and sick to make a living.”
He had actually already discussed some of these things with the empress in private before. The Meng clan was just too big, and they had more or less intermarried with all the other great clans of the capital. If those people were all executed, it would easily incur the hostility of many people and draw endless criticisms. Besides, he wasn’t the type to enjoy slaughter for its own sake, and he had already dealt with all of the main culprits. Furthermore, the Meng clan’s core forces had already been completely destroyed. It was already impossible for the remaining members to restore the clan to its former glory.
Meng Chan had a happy expression as she said, “That is already enough! Thank you for your generosity, regent!”
She was actually quite shocked when she heard that. According to the usual ways of handling such things in this world, the punishment would absolutely have been clan eradication, to pull the entire clan up by the roots. At most, she'd thought that it would be quite good if she could preserve just a few of the Meng clan’s disciples. She had never expected things to turn out so well!
This man was even kinder than she had imagined. She couldn't help but feel a bit grateful. At the same time, she became a bit absent-minded. It was really hard for her to associate him with that murderous demon from that day.
Sigh, if only I'd met him earlier… We might not have had to become enemies.
A single mistake, and everything had been lost.
“Where is the Bai Ze horn?” Zu An asked, looking at her calmly.
Meng Chan said somewhat awkwardly, “I don’t have it with me.”
“Are you messing with me?” Zu An asked with a scowl.
“No, of course not!” Meng Chan replied, explaining, “It is just that I did not have much confidence on my way here. If I had carried it with me and gotten captured, I would lose even my last bargaining chip. That is why I hid it in a certain place. I can bring you there to retrieve it now.”
Zu An remained silent for a moment before saying, “Lead the way.”
Whether or not she wanted to carry out a transaction with him, or wanted to get revenge, he would find out once he took a look. However, judging from their interactions, he felt that Meng Chan was an intelligent woman who wouldn’t do something so stupid.
Meng Chan said, “In the northern district of the city…”
She was about to lead the way when she suddenly felt her body lighten. The next moment, she had already soared into the sky. That man was holding her shoulder with one hand; the two were next to each other, not too close to each other, but not that far either. They flew toward the northern district just like that.
Meng Chan was really surprised. She was sure that this capital had a formation that restricted flight. Could it be that his power was already at such a level that he could disregard it?
And yet, how could she know that Master Yan had already given Zu An a special token that allowed the formation to sense his aura? That way, it wouldn’t activate at all even if he flew around. After all, the formation was to guard against the other cultivators of this world. As for those at the true peak of authority, they all had similar things to exempt them from its restrictions. Otherwise, wouldn’t the great formation constantly have targeted Zhao Han whenever he took to the skies?
“That way…” Meng Chan said as she pointed out the way. She was at a bit of a loss. Even though she had flown before, and her clan’s seniors had brought her up into the air when she was little, she'd had to undergo the upbringing of a noble and virtuous lady as she grew up. That had become even more true once her goal was to become the crown princess. Such ‘barbaric’ things were naturally not permitted. There had been no chance of her letting another man touch her body, not even a clan senior. If she wanted to become the crown princess, she had to maintain absolute purity; thus, if she ever wanted to fly like this again, she had to wait until she became a master rank cultivator herself. Normally, with her talent, if things had gone as planned, it would have only taken her a few more decades to smoothly reach that level.
At the time, though, she had frequently felt regret, thinking that she would already be old by then. By the time she could fly, would she still have the mentality of a young lady? Besides that, she had fantasized that a young and handsome hero would bring her into the skies to see the world’s mountains and rivers. However, she had always strangled the thought as soon as it arose.
She'd never expected that the dream she had buried so deeply in the bottom of her heart would actually come true because of this ‘enemy’ of hers.
…
Meng Chan was overwhelmed by emotions the entire time.
However, they quickly arrived at a remote and shabby courtyard. Zu An looked around. The area was already within the slums. It was quite a good place to hide something.
His divine sense swept out; there were no cultivators, no ambush, and no formations. He nodded, thinking, Indeed, this woman isn't stupid.
Soon after, Meng Chan took out a key and entered a room. She lit some candles, then started searching a certain corner of the wall. Soon after, a hidden compartment opened up, and inside it was a case. She carefully opened it and brought it up to Zu An.
“This is the Bai Ze horn. You… You won’t go back on your word, right?” Meng Chan said with a hint of a regretful expression. She clearly realized that she had been too muddle-headed. She had actually only taken a verbal promise and handed the goods over. If he decided to kill her and steal the treasure, she really didn’t have anything else she could do. The Meng clan and King Dai would be completely finished then.
Zu An looked at her calmly without replying. He took the Bai Ze horn. It was warm to the touch, sparkling and translucent. Even though he had never seen the item before, he knew that it truly was a Bai Ze horn, as the Keyboard System instantly helped him identify it.
When she saw that he didn’t reply, Meng Chan became more and more nervous. Even so, when her eyes landed on the burning candle, she finally felt a bit of confidence. And yet, as soon as she thought about that, her cheeks couldn't help but become red.
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