Chapter 65

A Mistake in the Morning Leads to Missteps All Day

"Your Majesty?" Shi Mei gently called out to the Emperor, who suddenly inhaled sharply, clutching his forehead in apparent pain. After a moment, he leaned on Xu Xian and vomited profusely, expelling dark liquid. Shi Mei quickly handed him a cup of water.

After a while, the Emperor took a deep breath, "Shi Mei…"

"Your Majesty," Shi Mei said with delight. Was he truly better?

"Where am I?" The Emperor shook his head, trying to recall the events, "Qin Xianglian…"

"Not now, Your Majesty," Xu Xian interjected. "We must leave immediately! Generals Wang and Chen’s forces are almost at the city outskirts. We'll escort you and the Empress Dowager out and then launch an assault on the city."

The Emperor nodded and followed them out.

Xu Xian led the Emperor out of the palace first, while Shi Mei returned to the Empress Dowager. Just as she lay down beside her, a sound came from the window.

Startled, both Shi Mei and the Empress Dowager sat up. The Empress Dowager instructed a maid to open the window... The maid peeked out and then smiled at Shi Mei, beckoning her over. Seeing the maid’s relaxed demeanor, Shi Mei felt relieved and rushed to the window without bothering to put on shoes, spotting a familiar figure in white outside.

"Mei Zi!"

Shi Mei dashed to the window and leaped out.

Bai She quickly caught her, examining her closely with concern, "You’ve been through a lot!"

"Are you hurt?!" Shi Mei asked, wanting to check his injuries. "Fu Si seriously wounded you."

"No," Bai She smiled. "Fu Si and I were just putting on a show."

Surprised, Shi Mei asked, "Isn’t he a bad guy?"

Bai She raised an eyebrow, "While he is a villain, he can see which way the wind blows. He knew siding with me was safer than sticking with Qin Xianglian, who was bound to lose. So, he made a deal..."

"Oh!" Shi Mei immediately understood, "He wants to be seen as a hero, to gain fame, right?!"

Bai She nodded, "Exactly, you're so smart!"

"That’s letting him off too easy!" Shi Mei pondered, "Why is he so obsessed with fame?"

"Isn’t everyone in this world chasing after fame and fortune?" Bai She hugged her, feeling her thinness, "You’ve lost so much weight. Not good to the touch. You need to eat more!"

Shi Mei wrapped her arms around his neck, playfully whining, "I’m starving!"

As Bai She and Shi Mei shared a tender moment, suddenly, the sound of a whistling arrow tore through the night sky.

Shi Mei looked up to see the flare rocketing skyward, stark against the indigo night.

While she admired its beauty, Bai She whispered urgently, "The army is coming. I need to get you and the Empress Dowager out of here now!"

"Okay!" Shi Mei nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Qin Dai had already spread the hypnotic incense given by Shi Mei throughout the palace, affecting eunuchs, maids, and Qin Xianglian’s guards, all of whom had succumbed to its effects.

Bai She, leading Shi Mei, exited the palace gates, first ensuring the Empress Dowager was safely on a carriage, with Fu Si personally escorting her. Bai She, however, took Shi Mei to the Emperor’s study.

"Why are we going to the study?" Shi Mei asked, puzzled.

"Looking for something!" Bai She searched around, yet found no hidden mechanisms.

"Hmm…"

"What are you looking for?" she inquired.

Bai She whispered to Shi Mei, “Where do you think the Emperor would hide something important?”

"Hmm…" Shi Mei thought, “Wherever he hides it, nobody could find it, right?”

"What do you think... if the Emperor gets his hands on that Jade Buddha, where would he hide it?"

With that question, Bai She sparked a realization in Shi Mei.

"Oh!" Shi Mei's understanding dawned, “I got it.”

They wandered around, eventually arriving at the main hall.

The grand hall, with its majestic and imposing aura, especially the dragon-carved giant pillars, caught Shi Mei’s attention. She circled a pillar and looked up, “It’s so tall!”

Thinking it through, Bai She climbed one of the pillars and discovered gaps between some pillars and the roof. Of the nine pillars, five were solid, and four were hollow. Atop one of the hollow pillars, he found a box. Bai She quickly jumped down with it.

Shi Mei rushed over, "Did you find it?"

Bai She nodded, opened the box, and indeed... inside lay a jade Buddha!

"This isn’t false jade, it’s a real jade Buddha!" Shi Mei examined the jade Buddha closely, discovering a hidden compartment in its base which revealed a smaller jade Buddha. The back of the smaller statue was engraved with patterns. Shi Mei thought for a moment and then compared it with a painting she had traced from the steamer, finding that the two images combined to form a complete picture.

"We found it!" Shi Mei exclaimed joyfully.

Bai She smirked slightly and called out towards the door, "We've found it, you can come out now."

Shi Mei, startled, turned to see a figure at the door. It was the man in white who had been impersonating Bai She and causing trouble all along.

"You again?!" Shi Mei, in a decisive move, picked up the jade Buddha, ready to smash it.

"I’d advise against acting rashly," the man in white warned as he dragged in a bound figure - Auntie Huo.

"Auntie Huo?!" Shi Mei exclaimed in shock.

Auntie Huo sighed softly, remaining silent.

"Give me the jade Buddha, and we'll be even," the man in white proposed. "Otherwise, Qin Xianglian will soon learn the location of the Fragrance Residence’s refuge, and all those innocent people will be in danger."

"How can you be so heartless!" Shi Mei angrily demanded, "Give me the jade Buddha, and release her!"

The man extended his hand, "Throw it here!"

Shi Mei placed the jade Buddha and the painting into the box. Bai She gently kicked the box, sliding it towards the man, who grabbed it.

At that moment, the sound of battle cries from outside indicated the arrival of the army, and it was clear that the conflict had begun.

The man grabbed the box and fled, leaving Auntie Huo behind.

Shi Mei hurried to Auntie Huo’s side and untied her. Auntie Huo sat on the ground, remaining silent.

"Auntie Huo?" Shi Mei comforted her, "Are you okay?"

Auntie Huo looked up at Bai She, "Please, end this quickly. Ultimately, it's my fault."

Bai She nodded, "Don't worry, I'll handle it."

At that moment, disciples from the Fragrance Residence arrived nearby, "Young master, Qin Xianglian has been captured by the Emperor. The battle is over."

Then, Qin Dai also arrived, "Master, everything is settled!"

Bai She nodded, instructing Qin Dai to look after Shi Mei while he stepped away for a moment.

Shi Mei helped Auntie Huo up and planned to return to the Fragrance Residence for comfort. She understood why Auntie Huo looked so distraught... The worst had come to pass, just as Bai She had feared. He had previously shared his suspicions about the man in white with her. Now, it seemed evident that he was the true instigator.

In the outskirts.

The man in white, reaching Mount Dayu, eagerly opened the box to find... the jade Buddha was actually a chubby, smiling Fortune Boy. The small figure extracted from its base was a white Guanyin statue, inscribed with only four words on the back - "Amitabha Buddha". Even the accompanying parchment read, “You’ve been fooled!”

"This..."

"The real jade Buddha was never in the palace; it was destroyed long ago," Bai She appeared behind him, speaking softly. "All those jades Buddhas, the ones fought over in the martial arts world, were fakes. And even if they were real, they’re meaningless. The treasure never existed."

"What are you saying?" the man roared, "No, you're lying!"

"It’s time to wake up, Lao Kuan. Do you not realize how many lives you've destroyed?" Bai She sighed, shaking his head, "Auntie Huo's story about your royal ancestry was a lie."

The man tore off his mask and threw it to the ground, pointing at Bai She, "You deceived me!"

Revealing his face, it was indeed the man thought to be long dead – the Oracle, Lao Kuan.

It turned out that everything had been a ruse all along.

In his early years, Lao Kuan fell into hard times and became a thief. Later, he recognized his sister, Auntie Huo, who was already a prominent figure in the Fragrance Residence. However, he felt inferior being just a thief among these renowned martial artists.

After joining the Fragrance Residence, Lao Kuan realized he was surrounded by great figures of the martial world, making him feel like a despised thief on the beam. Despite Bai She and others treating him as a brother, he couldn't shake off his inferiority complex. To catch up with them, he trained relentlessly, but the whispers of him being a thief, and even implicating Auntie Huo, deeply hurt his pride. Auntie Huo, noticing his distress, fabricated a story to boost his confidence, falsely claiming he was a descendant of a fallen royal family.

Auntie Huo concocted a story about the fallen royalty and casually mentioned that their ancestral tomb was in Mount Dayu. Knowing the area was dotted with ancient tombs, she figured it would be an easy lie to sell.

This lie boosted Lao Kuan's confidence significantly. As an overthinker, he became obsessed with the idea of ancestral tombs and treasures. Greed clouded his judgment, leading him to fantasize about possible royal treasures.

By chance, he overheard a conversation in a tavern about the Dayu Mountain, jade Buddha, and the myth of its treasure. This sparked his interest.

Sneaking into the End family residence, he found a fake jade Buddha. He feigned death using a special technique during a pursuit, sparking a series of events in the martial world, all for one goal - to uncover his ancestor's treasure. But in the end, it was all for naught, leading only to a tragic loss of lives and a realization that the treasure hunt was fruitless.

……