Chapter 39

The Third Prince, seeing Xue Jin'an feeding that little eunuch, felt his rage flare to the top of his head, only to be stifled by the Fifth Prince’s faint, "You are so filthy."

The Fifth Prince then produced a porcelain bottle from his sleeve, tipped out a black pill, and pressed it beneath his tongue. He said nothing else, yet it felt as if he had spoken a thousand words. He had made his disdain for the situation abundantly clear.

"You, Fifth Brother, do you really think I wouldn't dare touch you?" The Third Prince rolled up his sleeves, ready to deliver a heavy blow.

The Fifth Prince immediately clutched his chest as if his heart condition were about to flare up. He gasped for air, looked up with a cowering, pale, and pitiful expression, and whispered weakly, "Third Brother, you wouldn't hit me, would you? It is fine. Although I am frail by nature and suffer from a heart ailment—the royal physicians have predicted I won't live past twenty—I am fine. I can take it. Even if your punch takes half my life, and even if I end up lying on my sickbed on the brink of death, I certainly would not tell Father that it was you who struck me."

"Of course," he continued, his fragility fading to reveal a malicious, playful smile as he leaned close to whisper in the Third Prince's ear, "I imagine that even if Father knew you were the assailant, he wouldn't blame you, would he? After all, everyone knows what you are like, don't they? A violent man beyond redemption."

"Xue Junjue!" The Third Prince was incensed, his face turning from blue to white. His clenched fists cracked loudly, a truly chilling sound, yet the blow never landed. The reason was simple: the Fifth Prince’s words were both a provocation and a warning, and he had invoked the Emperor. The Third Prince was successfully deterred.

Seeing that his opponent’s reaction was exactly as predicted, the Fifth Prince did not feel particularly happy; in fact, he felt bored. His Third Brother was always like a marionette—there was simply no fun in manipulating him. As for why the Fifth Prince would go to such lengths if he knew it was boring... it was for revenge, of course! He still remembered this man calling him a "spoilsport."

So, as the Third Prince stood there in a stalemate, unable to strike but unable to retreat, the Fifth Prince simply pretended not to notice, refusing to offer him a graceful exit.

Just as the Third Prince was about to explode with shame and anger, the Eighth Prince rushed over and grabbed his arm, eyes brimming with tears. "Fifth Brother surely didn't mean it, Third Brother, please don't be angry."

Hearing this familiar line, the Fifth Prince twitched his lips. *Others might change the broth but keep the ingredients, but he hasn't even changed the broth. He’s clearly just going through the motions.*

The Eighth Prince, ever observant, caught the Fifth Prince’s undisguised expression and felt wronged in his heart: he was still at an age where he hadn't even finished his basic education; it was already impressive that he knew how to provide a way out for others! Besides, if it weren't for the fact that a "substitute" for the mother-son duo of Consort Xian and the Third Prince was so hard to find, he wouldn't even have bothered with these perfunctory words.

The Third Prince, the only one being placated, didn't feel perfunctory at all. He immediately jumped at the opportunity provided, turned to go change his clothes, and threw a parting insult at the Fifth Prince: "You short-lived, sickly wretch."

The Fifth Prince didn't even bother to react to such a harmless jab. He turned to meet Xue Jin'an’s steady gaze and rolled his eyes with annoyance.

Having analyzed the information provided by the little eunuch, Xue Jin'an turned to see the standoff between the Third and Fifth Princes. He took in every change in the Fifth Prince’s expressions and tone, marking the skill as a new addition to his "Android Luxury Package."

As Xue Jin'an walked over, the Fifth Prince spoke with biting sarcasm, "Seventh Brother, so you really are a Bodhisattva after all."

"Pity, you can save him once, but you can't save him a second time." Although the Fifth Prince did not know who was behind the little eunuch, he could see that the boy was intentionally leading them to Consort De’s stables. As for the motive, it might be aimed at the Third Brother, or perhaps the Seventh Brother. The Third Brother was purely self-destructive; Consort Xian offended people with her words, and the Third Brother’s methods were too brutal. As for the Seventh Brother, the only people he had offended were himself and the Fourth Brother, and neither of them had made this move. Therefore, it could only be related to the case of Consort Zhen.

Of course, it could also be aimed at the Fourth Brother, as Consort Zhen, the "victim" of the case, was the obvious breakthrough point in the truth; perhaps someone wanted to silence her.

In any case, it couldn't be aimed at him, so it didn't matter who it was. He was content to watch the show from the sidelines.

"...Even if the Third Brother is a fool, he cannot allow a servant who dares to slander him to go free. That servant has only one path: death." The Fifth Prince spoke lazily, as if he weren't talking about a human life. He added, "Crossing the Third Brother is the worst strategy. His uncle is the benchmark established by Father to appease the fifty thousand military households on the frontier. As long as he is there, the military households have hope and will not revolt."

"Qian Dezhong and his 'Tiger-Might Battalion' are still useful, and he is a hot-headed man who protects his own. If you offend the Third Brother, you offend him, and your martial arts training will become difficult." The Fifth Prince sneered at him, "For a eunuch, it is not worth it."

The Fifth Prince assumed Xue Jin'an had intervened to save someone, and indeed, everyone present assumed the same. In reality, Xue Jin'an simply couldn't stand to see a good "battery" being destroyed by violence; otherwise, he wouldn't have let the Fourth and Fifth Princes hop around for so long.

A mere replacement of parts—couldn't they just go into sleep mode for a while? Yet, humans would lose control of their heart rate at the mere sight of blood, and their battery health would decline. Humans were truly fragile. It would be better to wait until he recovered more of his mana, allowing for more stable use of his abilities, before performing a wholesale replacement.

The Fifth Prince suddenly felt a chill on his back, as if he were being watched by a predator. However, the feeling vanished as quickly as a hallucination, and he looked around vigilantly and strangely.

He saw the Fourth Prince, who had been creeping over, get startled by a bug and recoil, jumping back to his original spot. He hid under a tree, peeking out like a thief.

The Fifth Prince withdrew his gaze in disgust and focused back on Xue Jin'an.

"He was going to die anyway." Xue Jin'an first briefly stated that he, the King of Hell, had no intention of marking the Book of Life and Death, then answered the final point, "Humans are all the same. There is no such thing as 'worth it' or 'not worth it'."

In his eyes, they were all just walking, humanoid spare-part repositories.

Xue Jin'an was stating a fact, but to the Fifth Prince, it sounded like a philosophy.

"...Is that really what you think?" In this ancient era where imperial power was supreme and humans were strictly divided into ranks, the idea of equality was not just heresy—it was unheard of and unbelievable.

It was the first time the Fifth Prince had heard such an idea. He was so shocked that his mind went blank for a moment. He pressed his knuckles against his lips, and after a long while, he asked tentatively, "You wouldn't happen to be planning to attain Buddhahood on the spot, would you?"

He scanned Xue Jin'an up and down, muttering to himself, "Can you produce relics? I want to see."

Xue Jin'an, who had heard everything, was silent: "...?"

Relics were associated with Buddhism, and the only people he knew who practiced such things...

Xue Jin'an asked earnestly, "Do you need me to cremate Consort Zhen?"

The Fourth Prince, having just walked over, heard this: "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!"

The Third Prince had gone to change his clothes, like someone bending down to pick up a pen during a math class. By the time he returned, he couldn't understand the situation at all.

He saw the Fourth Prince clinging to the Fifth Prince’s leg, howling, "If you don't promise me, I won't get up, woo woo woo! No, you really can't, whatever you want, take it out on me, woo woo..."

—The Fourth Prince had originally intended to cling to Xue Jin'an’s leg, but Xue Jin'an, having activated his "anti-tumble mode," dodged him several times. With a loud wail, the Fourth Prince grabbed the Fifth Prince, who had been gloating on the sidelines.

"You, let go of me!" The Fifth Prince failed to pull his leg free again. His jaw tightened and relaxed, tightened and relaxed; he really wanted to crush the Fourth Prince’s head. But seeing the snot and tears streaming down his face, he pulled back his hand, clenched it into a fist, and squeezed his eyes shut.

The Third Prince couldn't make sense of the situation, but given the grudge the Fifth Prince had just stoked, he simply laughed. He stood there with his arms crossed, watching the scene with calm interest. "Fifth Brother, isn't this retribution coming a bit too fast? How about you beg me? Perhaps I’ll be merciful and help you out."

The Fifth Prince smiled falsely and said, "I am fine, Third Brother. If Fourth Brother wants to cling, let him. It’s just a bit noisy. But we are brothers, all sons of Father, and we should help each other. Since Fourth Brother has a need, as his younger brother, I should satisfy it. He can howl for as long as he likes."

The Fifth Prince used his words to subtly plant the seed in the Third Prince’s mind that the Fourth Prince was noisy and would be crying for a long time. He trusted that the Third Prince would be the first to lose his patience.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the Third Prince to become annoyed. He strode over with a look of irritation.

Xue Jin'an caught the scent wafting from him—it was like the pheromones of insects in nature, mixed with the fresh fragrance of herbs and wood. It must have been the scent of a sachet or incense used on his clothes, completely different from what the Third Prince had smelled of before.

The Third Prince grabbed the Fourth Prince by the back of his collar and hauled him up. "Too noisy. If you cry again, I’ll beat you to death."

Faced with a fist the size of a sandbag, the Fourth Prince immediately fell silent, his entire demeanor suddenly becoming obedient.

They headed toward the stables in the Imperial Beast Garden where Consort De stayed. The little eunuch leading the way had cleaned the blood off himself while the Third Prince was changing clothes and had also put on a different set of robes. The clothes were a bit oversized and didn't fit well—likely borrowed from someone else.

Apart from his pale complexion, he looked fine now, and he didn't even wobble while walking.

The Fourth Prince was stunned. He poked the Fifth Prince and whispered, "He recovered so fast! Did Seventh Brother feed him an immortal pill?"

The Fifth Prince also lowered his voice, "I don't know what kind of pill he was fed, but I know your finger is about to be snapped off by me."

The Fourth Prince hurriedly retracted his finger, not daring to act up again. However, he was a man who couldn't stay still; after being quiet for a moment, he resumed his old habits. This time, however, he chose to pester the Eighth Prince.

The Eighth Prince had to keep an eye on the Third Prince while also splitting his attention to talk to the Fourth Prince. He felt like his head was about to burst, and his smile was becoming difficult to maintain.

Fortunately, the distance between the Imperial Beast Garden and the Imperial Stables was not far. After about twenty minutes, they saw a stone tablet engraved with the characters "Qilian Stables."

Qilian was the name Consort De had given the stables, reportedly to commemorate a rockery in her old family home.

—The Lin family estate was in Yangzhou. Lord Lin Ruofu had worked in the Ministry of Rites for many years, responsible for diplomatic missions to foreign nations. He had also served as the representative of Great Qi in signing a fifty-year peace treaty with the great empire that dominated the north, achieving cooperation with them before the Rong-Di tribes could, thereby maintaining stability on the frontier.