I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 8 The Third Prince

Is this dough serious?

Can that lotus-root-like little hand hold a sword?

"Oh," the little dough seemed to notice that his hands were too thin, and frowned before saying, "Draw a smaller one."

Zhang Rui: “.”

"You can't get out." Dough looked at the dazed Zhang Rui and said calmly, "I am also a Painted Skin Ghost, and I can't get close to your life-saving lamp. If you run away, they will deal with me. You spent so much ink, you don't want this result, right?"

Will it work?

Zhang Rui hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth and used up the last bit of ink in the bucket. The small black sword was extremely small and looked like a toy. It looked even more like a toy in the hands of a child. It was hard to imagine what great use it could have.

He suddenly felt that perhaps he had made a wrong choice.

The girl padded the dagger, nodded slightly, and walked straight towards the nearest Painted Skin. Zhang Rui recognized the Painted Skin. The extremely pale face and the scary-looking old man were the ones who almost dragged him into the dark alley before. It seemed that this old guy had been staring at him.

Chi!
Very suddenly, yet very naturally, the dagger went straight through the old man's throat. Zhang Rui didn't react, and the Painted Skin Ghosts around him didn't react either. Even the old man whose throat was pierced looked confused.

The movement of the dough is not actually that fast, it is just too smooth, so smooth that by the time people react, the sword has already sealed their throats!

Gee.
It took Zhang Rui a long time to react. The old man fell to the ground and black ink kept flowing out. Mixed in the ink was at least one or two ounces of blood.

This is called a high-end player
When he was playing League of Legends before, he had heard that an expert player with a two-piece sword princess could kill you with a god-equipped Noxus. He didn't believe it before, but now he believes it.
"Your Highness, the people in the county government office are unwilling to open the door."

Outside the Fuchun County government office, a group of officials had been standing there. The guards were wearing the brocade uniforms of the capital's inner guards, and the old man in the lead was also wearing the robes of a fifth-rank official. If anyone from Youzhou's officialdom was there, they would recognize him at a glance. He was Lord Xia Xuezhou, the prefect of Youzhou.

In the team, despite Lord Xia's status, he still had to stand on the right and be very respectful to a young man in fancy clothes, which shows that the person who came was of extremely noble status.

"How dare you!" The head of the guards had a gloomy face and said, "Can you reveal your identity and tell them that it is His Highness who is here in person?"

"I said it." The guard who opened the door was also indignant. "But the woman inside the door was hateful. She cursed us as evil spirits and said that we were pretending to be royal relatives and would be punished by heaven. She refused to open the door no matter what. What an ignorant woman."

"Okay." The gentleman in fancy clothes interrupted his subordinate's indignation, sighed and looked at Xia Xuezhou beside him: "Master Xia, we have knocked on the doors of dozens of families along the way, and no one is willing to open the door for us. I'm afraid your method will not work."

Xia Xuezhou also had a bitter smile on his face.

When the Painting Market came, those who dared to open the door and go out were all careless and ignorant, and were harmed by the evil ghosts in the Painting Market at the first moment. Most of those who were cautious and did not come out had heard the legend of the Painting Market, and knew that the Painted Skin Ghost could imitate the ability of relatives, so they would naturally not open the door even if they were beaten to death.

In the painting market, as long as the owner does not open the door, the inside and outside of the door are actually two different worlds, which cannot be broken by brute force, and they cannot get in at all.

He thought that the host at the county government was an official, and if he revealed his royal identity, there might be a chance of improvement. However, the woman at the door was firm in her attitude, and it was obvious that no matter whether they were real or fake, she had no intention of opening the door.

"This county magistrate's wife is really brave. She didn't pretend to be dead. Instead, she accused her of evil spirits and spoke righteously. Even if we wanted to question her after we got out, it would not be appropriate."

Xia Xuezhou nodded when he heard this. If he was clearly at home but deliberately ignored the prince's cry for help, it would be natural for the prince to blame him. But it would be different after he scolded him like he did just now. The prince would think it was a misjudgment at most, and it would be difficult for him to pursue it.

"The woman is interesting, but the county magistrate is a bit cowardly. He let the woman come forward while he hid behind. He really has no literary character at all." The prince said in a bland tone, and it was obvious that he had a very bad impression of the county magistrate.

"Your Highness is right." Xia Xuezhou responded quickly.

"Master Xia, you can see the current situation. It is impossible for someone to open the door for us. Is there any other way now?"

"This..." Xia Xuezhou looked hesitant.

"Master Xia, don't worry." The prince looked at him and smiled. "Many families were involved in the Jiangnan incident back then. Everyone knows it. I am not a pedantic person. You can do whatever you want. I will forget everything I saw in the painting market after I leave."

Xia Xuezhou's face showed a trace of embarrassment when he heard this: "Your Highness has misunderstood. This is related to the safety of the prince. How dare I hide my incompetence?"

Upon hearing this, the prince looked at the other party with a half-smile and said nothing, which made Xia Xuezhou feel even more guilty.

The emergence of the painting market 20 years ago enveloped the entire county, causing tens of thousands of families to disappear, making everyone in Jiangnan feel insecure. The emperor was furious and sent out his elite troops. Great sorcerers from all the major families also went to Jiangnan to investigate. But what was strange was that such a large painting market did not leave any traces at that time, which clearly meant someone was concealing it.

Although the emperor was furious, the matter ultimately ended in nothing because there was no evidence. But everyone knew what actually happened.

The legend of the Painting Market has been recorded by many families. Such a large Painting Market is a disaster for ordinary people, but it is a rare treasure for wealthy families. No matter how great the pressure from above, the wealthy families below will find a way to protect the Painting Market. The Painting Market was able to remain safe and sound twenty years ago not because it was powerful, but was the result of a family's resistance to imperial power.

Finally, the imperial power compromised, and the emperor drew a red line, prohibiting such incidents from happening again to cause panic. For the past 20 years, the painting market has not covered densely populated areas, and everything has been peaceful until today. The aristocratic families have secretly explored the painting market for their own gain.

The noble families who participated in the investigation of the painting market back then have made some progress to varying degrees. The Xia family is a thousand-year-old wealthy family in Jiangnan, so it is impossible that they did not get a piece of the pie.

"Your Highness has really misunderstood." Xia Xuezhou couldn't bear the other party's gaze and quickly saluted and said: "The Xia family may know some of the secrets of this painting market, but I am not qualified to do so."

The prince frowned slightly when he heard this, but there was some credibility to this statement. Xia Xuezhou was only a bastard of the Xia family, and he was not even a sorcerer. It was just that he had been studious since childhood and passed the imperial examinations. It was reasonable to say that he was not qualified to access the core secrets of the Xia family.

But if that's the case, it will be a bit troublesome.

"But I do have a way." "Why didn't you say it earlier?" The guard at the side said impatiently.

"Don't be rude!" The prince glared at the guard, who immediately knelt down and apologized. The prince then retracted his gaze and looked at Xia Xuezhou: "What is your approach, Lord Xia?"

"There is a survivor from that time in Fuchun County."

"Survivors?" The prince was startled when he heard this, and asked curiously, "This is rare."

The so-called survivors do not refer to those lucky ones who hid in the houses and did not come out and escaped the disaster. Instead, those who have wandered around the painting market and can find a way out can be called survivors, and they are very popular.

In order to obtain intelligence about the Painting Market, the major families went to great lengths to plunder these survivors. There were many fights between the families in order to compete for a survivor. My father was happy to see this happen, which led to chaos for a while.

Most of those survivors were captured by the aristocratic families and tortured to death. Those who were able to survive were basically controlled by the aristocratic families and became guides to the painting market. But now there are still some that have slipped through the net?
He didn't think that the survivor Xia Xuezhou mentioned would be the guide of the Xia family. The guide's identity was top secret in all the major families, and Xia Xuezhou was not qualified to know it with his status.

Facing the prince's puzzled look, Xia Xuezhou quickly explained, "Your Highness, this is an accident. The survivor is named Cui Yan, and he was my classmate and friend at Bailu Academy. He is very talented and highly regarded by the dean. He even won the first place in the provincial examination in Liuzhou."

"The champion of Liuzhou? He is indeed extremely talented." The prince nodded. The literary culture in the south of the Yangtze River was flourishing, and Liuzhou was the location of Bailu Academy, a place where talented people from all over the country gathered. The champion there was of extremely high quality, and they were basically the top scorers.

"Unfortunately, he was unlucky that year. After passing the imperial examination, he returned to his hometown to visit his relatives, and encountered the painting fair 20 years ago. His entire family died in that accident, but he was lucky enough to survive the painting fair and find a way out. However, that year, the major families hunted down these survivors severely, so he had no choice but to seek refuge with me."

"Oh?" The prince immediately became interested. This bastard was quite courageous. He actually dared to secretly take in the survivors of the Painting Market. And from the tone of the other party, it seemed that he had kept it secret for so many years. It was quite interesting.

"Your Highness!" The other party knelt down and bowed: "I dare not speak nonsense. Cui Yan is my best friend. I had to take the risk of concealing it in order to protect his life. After I passed the imperial examination, my family arranged for me to work in the north. He followed me to the north and changed his name."

The prince quickly helped him up and said, "I am really touched that Lord Xia is willing to tell me such a secret. Please stand up quickly. This kind of friendship is rare in the world. Lord Xia is indeed a man of character. I was right about you."

The prince looked sincere but he didn't agree in his heart. This bastard was very ambitious. Over the years, he probably made a lot of money from the art market with the help of this so-called friend and sought personal gain without telling his family members. He was a profit-seeking and heartless person. We had to be careful of him. There was no need to keep him after he left the art market.

"Your Highness, thank you for your praise. I am humbled by your kindness." Xia Xuezhou looked grateful, as if he had met a soulmate.

However, he felt a chill in his heart. The Third Prince Li Yu was notoriously vicious. He was pretending to be courteous now, but he was afraid that as soon as he left the painting market, he would immediately control Cui Yan and kill him. After reuniting with Cui Yan, he would have to find a way to escape from this guy.

He actually didn't want to expose Cui Yan, but he had no choice. If he hadn't taken out something just now, the other party might have killed him. Although the other party looked gentle now, he might have wanted to kill him a long time ago, because he was the one who led the other party to Fuchun County.
I was just a mouthfull, I deliberately revealed that Master Tian Ye from the Prince's Mansion was applying for the Yang Fire Punishment in Fuchun County, this aroused the interest of the Third Prince and he followed me to Fuchun, but I didn't expect to encounter the Painting Market.

"I wonder what Cui Yan's name is now?" Li Yu asked again.

"I changed my name to Qian Duoduo. I am now a legal advisor in Fuchun County. I have been the legal advisor to three county magistrates."

"What a name!" Everyone couldn't help laughing. Li Yu also laughed: "It seems that he is also an interesting person."

"Brother Cui is indeed an interesting person. Your Highness will surely like him when he meets him."

"I am looking forward to it." Li Yu responded with a smile.

Master Qian's house was not far from the county government office. The group followed Xia Xuezhou and soon arrived not far from Master Qian's house, but that place was obviously in a dark alley and was not within the range of the night market's fire.

"Your Highness, light the lamp first." Xia Xuezhou said hurriedly: "The dark places in this painting market are full of evil spirits, only by lighting the lamp can we avoid it."

"No need." Li Yu raised his hand slightly to interrupt the other party. He had just heard the other party talk about the rules of this painting market. Lighting the lamps requires essence and blood, which he thought was too wasteful.

He glanced back and saw a guard with a feminine appearance stepped forward and stood at the front of the team. Xia Xuezhou looked at him in surprise. The guard was not conspicuous just now, but the sense of oppression he created was suddenly exaggerated and frightening as he stood there, giving people the feeling that a mountain was standing in front of them!
"Eunuch Qin is a half-step master." Li Yu explained with a smile as he looked at the surprised Xia Xuezhou.

Half-step Grandmaster?

Xia Xuezhou's pupils shrank. There were only five grandmasters in the world, who were the pinnacle of martial artists. A half-step grandmaster would be a martial arts master of the top forces in the martial arts world. The third prince was indeed favored, and His Majesty actually paired him with such a young half-step grandmaster.

Damn, it's probably impossible to get away from them now.

"Let's go." Li Yu saw that the purpose of shocking was achieved and was about to move, but Eunuch Qin, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and said, "Wait a minute!"

Li Yu looked over in surprise. He seldom saw this person speak, and the other party's tone was obviously cautious.

This made him alert. Since he met Eunuch Qin, he had never seen him be so cautious. It seemed that something was happening ahead.

Eunuch Qin looked solemnly ahead, his muscles tensed, a black aura enveloped him. Everyone behind him felt a chill and immediately retreated to protect Li Yu.

The leader of the guards was surprised. Eunuch Qin's Six Void Technique was not easily used. How could the evil ghost in the dark alley be so powerful?
A group of people held their breath and nervously watched a figure slowly walk out of the dark alley.

When the figure walked into the light, everyone was stunned.

He was actually a man younger than Eunuch Qin, and looked to be in his early twenties.

Xia Xuezhou was even more surprised, and asked in disbelief, "Master Zhang?"

(End of this chapter)