The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Chapter 177 Chaos Abounds
Tokyo, Kaifeng Prefecture.

In a quiet and elegant house with bamboo curtains hanging on all four sides, the Crown Prince Chai Heng, who was over forty but still looked as handsome as someone in his thirties, sat gracefully on a soft couch with his back to the flowing water. He sipped his tea with a relaxed and leisurely expression, listening to Yang Ying report on the gains from his trip to Huainan.

Yang Ying knelt on the mat and recounted in detail the beginning and end of his negotiations with Wang Wen. He concluded by saying, "This man is shrewd and calculating, but he usually presents himself as a street rogue. He is also decisive and has the courage to act on impulse. He is an extremely difficult person to deal with!"

Chai Heng played with a jade cicada for a moment, then smiled and nodded slowly, saying, "Jingyuan's insight is still so unique."

Yang Yingzhou bowed respectfully and said, "Your Highness is too kind!"

Chai Heng waved his hand casually and said in a low voice, "However, those who achieve great things should act with more magnanimity. There is no need to be so petty about small gains. Doing so would only reveal your cowardice and be unsightly!"

Yang Ying hesitated for a moment, then whispered his advice: "Your Highness, judging from this person's actions, he lacks fear of imperial power and the court. We should keep a close watch on him, otherwise he might become too powerful to control and a serious threat..."

Chai Heng smiled faintly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but simply clapped his hands lightly, summoning a eunuch to fetch several scrolls and handing them to Yang Ying.

Yang Ying took the files without understanding why and looked through them one by one.

These files contain detailed records of the causes and consequences of the Huainan Incident, as well as the detailed background information of the many people involved.

This includes Wang Wen's lineage from the Shuangbaitang Wang clan, as well as his lineage from the Grand Canal Gang and his connection with Gu Yue, the Transport Commissioner of Huainan...

As Yang Ying flipped through the files, he gradually began to understand the situation, but his face still showed confusion. He bowed and said, "Please forgive my ignorance, Your Highness."

Chai Heng picked up the teacup beside him, took a small sip, and said unhurriedly, "Judging from Wang Wen's actions, he seems reckless and unrestrained, but that's not the case. He has a set of rules for doing things, and so far, his actions have not exceeded these rules..."

Yang Ying pondered for a moment, then seemed to suddenly realize something: "I will not offend others unless they offend me; I will treat others as my own children if they treat me like my own parents; I will treat others as my own enemies if they treat me like an abandoned child... I will treat others the way they treat me."

Chai Heng nodded approvingly: "That's exactly right."

Yang Ying understood the meaning behind his words and said in a low voice with some worry, "Your Highness, people's hearts are not to be trusted... I have overstepped my bounds. How many of you officials did not have lofty ambitions to govern the country and bring prosperity to the people before you entered office? And how many of you still remember your lofty ambitions now?"

Chai Heng looked at him with surprise upon hearing this, then smiled and nodded: "Well said, Jingyuan truly deserves to be my son!"

"It is entirely due to Your Highness's favor!"

Yang Ying bowed and thanked him, but wondered why the Crown Prince would bring up the matter if he knew that people's hearts were not reliable.

After pondering for a moment, he suddenly realized... the future is the future, and the present is the present!

At least for now, Wang Erhu is still acting on the belief that he will treat others the way they treat him.

What His Highness the Crown Prince needs right now is Wang Erhu, a fierce general who can fight on his behalf and clear away the many obstacles on the road to the throne!

As for the future, if the Crown Prince can ascend the throne, he will naturally have a way to restrain Wang Erhu.

Conversely, if the crown prince fails to ascend the throne... who cares about the raging flood!

Upon realizing this, Yang Ying felt a sudden tremor in his heart, and his awe of the Crown Prince deepened even further.

Chai Heng seemed oblivious to his intense inner turmoil, leisurely sipping his tea and smiling faintly as he softly asked, "Did you encounter anyone from the Prince of Qin's residence on your way back to the capital?"

Yang Ying nodded with a smile and said, "I ran into him. It was Zhang Qin. When that old scoundrel saw me, his face was ashen, like he had just recovered from a serious illness. I said a few words to him, and he almost rolled up his sleeves and started a fight with me..."

Chai Heng raised the corners of his lips, narrowed his eyes into slits, and said softly, "These days, the people of the Prince of Qin's mansion have been running around, searching everywhere for the way to immortality for the Emperor, causing unrest in the court, and many officials have complaints about him."

Upon hearing this, Yang Ying couldn't help but say, "It is precisely at times like these that Your Highness must remain calm... Doing nothing is the best course of action, and doing more will only lead to more mistakes!"

Upon hearing this, Chai Heng couldn't help but sigh, "That's true. Although Father Emperor is old, his mind is still as clear as a mirror. The affairs of state seem to be in the hands of me, the Second Prince, and the Seventh Prince, but in reality, it's just a matter of scattering a few handfuls of millet and watching the chickens fight over it..."

Yang Ying lowered her eyelids, focusing her gaze on her nose and her mind, pretending not to see or hear anything.

Chai Heng quickly composed himself and said with a wry smile, "I have lost my composure; please forgive me, Jingyuan!"

Yang Ying quickly shook his head: "Not at all, as the saying goes, 'every family has its own troubles,' it's just that Your Highness is full of filial piety, but you don't get the Emperor's trust..."

Chai Heng waved his hand with a wry smile: "Let's not talk about this matter. Later, I will trouble Jingyuan to make a trip to the Privy Council on my behalf to finalize the matter of Wang Wen concurrently serving as the Yangzhou Militia Commander."

Yang Ying bowed: "It's my duty!"

……

On the other side, the fleet of the Demon-Slaying General's Mansion, sailing downstream, just entered Yangzhou territory.

As Wang Wenzheng sat in the cabin, flipping through the register of mountain spirits and monsters he had retrieved from the Water Palace of Hongze Lake, he suddenly heard Chen Feng's muttered prayers echoing in his mind.

He put down the roster in his hand with a puzzled look, summoned Ma Feng to guard the gate for him, and then his spirit left his body, crossing thousands of mountains and rivers to descend to the top of Huangshan.

Meanwhile, Chen Feng, who was inside the main hall of the mountain god temple, saw the statue on the shrine suddenly shine brightly, and a phantom figure emerged from the statue, instantly solidifying into a physical form: "What's the matter?"

Upon seeing Wang Wen, Chen Feng hurriedly clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "Welcome, Your Excellency!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a chorus of shouts came from outside the hall from the many Yellow Turban warriors: "Welcome Your Majesty's arrival!"

Wang Wen glanced at the Yellow Turban warriors standing guard outside the main hall, and immediately noticed that the atmosphere inside the temple was not right... Why was it so murderous?

"No gift."

He reached out to help him up, and the many Yellow Turban warriors outside the hall stood up in unison, staring at him with fanatical eyes... their killing intent intensified!

Wang Wen was completely bewildered, but he kept a straight face and calmly said in a low voice, "With me here, there's no need to panic. Please step back."

"Here!"

The Yellow Turban warriors outside the main hall responded in unison and vanished in streaks of golden light.

Wang Wen turned his head and looked at Chen Feng beside him with an annoyance: "What exactly happened?"

Chen Feng shrank closer to him, observing his expression as he cautiously whispered, "Brother, a group of monsters have appeared from the west and are trying to take our territory!"

His use of slang caught Wang Wen off guard, leaving him momentarily stunned. After a couple of seconds, he pointed incredulously at the ground and asked, "Are you coming to rob Huangshan?"

Chen Feng took two steps back imperceptibly, not daring to utter a sound, only nodding repeatedly.

"What the hell?"

Wang Wen couldn't hold back and blurted out, "Didn't you guys spread the word and tell those idiots that Huangshan has an owner?"

For some reason, hearing him curse suddenly made Chen Feng feel less timid: "Brother, is it possible that those monsters knew this place belonged to someone else, which is why they came to steal it?" "Damn it!"

This time, Wang Wen truly couldn't hold back any longer: "They dare to seize the mountain god's territory? Is there no law? Is there no justice?"

"Where are those reckless monsters?"

He rolled up his sleeves in a rage, his eyes seemingly spitting fire: "Tonight's feast is a banquet for all demons!"

"go!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Feng immediately drew his broadsword, turned around and left in a flurry: "Big brother, I'll lead the way for you!"

But just as he was about to step out of the palace gate, Wang Wen suddenly calmed down and called out to him, "Wait, don't rush, tell me carefully what exactly happened!"

He still hasn't figured out what's going on.

What do you mean by 'those monsters knew this place belonged to someone else, that's why they came to steal it'?
Chen Feng: "Just three nights ago, our underworld messengers encountered a monster harming people during their routine patrol in Yixian County, and then rushed back to report to me."

"With my fiery temper, how could I tolerate this? I immediately mustered five hundred ghost soldiers, rushed to Yi County, dragged out that group of monsters, and chased them for over a hundred miles!"

"I never imagined that the group of monsters was actually bait to lure me in. If it weren't for the fact that I had a ghost soldier captain under my command, an old soldier who had served in the Western Army with Cheng Xian and the others, who discovered the monsters' ambush in advance, I would have fallen for their trick that night!"

"How could I tolerate such a huge loss? The very next night, I mustered five thousand ghost soldiers, went to form a battle formation, and engaged them in battle. We fought all night long, the fighting was so fierce that the sky darkened and ghosts howled..."

At this point, he looked at Wang Wen with a nervous expression.

Wang Wen, his face grim, crossed his arms and glared at him menacingly: "Speak up, why did you stop talking?"

Chen Feng honestly replied, "That night we almost got trapped again. In the end, it was Ji Pan who led his troops to break through the encirclement, and we managed to break out successfully..."

"You'll lead the team yourself..."

Wang Wen slowly frowned: "Five thousand Yin soldiers, and they almost couldn't break through? Just how many monsters are on the enemy's side?"

Chen Feng: "To be honest, the number of those monsters wasn't particularly large, probably just over a thousand. It's just that the monster leader's methods were a bit disgusting. Whenever the fighting started, a strong wind would blow, making it difficult for our brothers to form ranks..."

Wang Wen: "What about last night?"

Chen Feng: "Last night, that group of monsters appeared on the border of our territory. I led 10,000 Yin soldiers to meet them in battle. We fought them all night long... This time, at least we didn't lose, but we didn't gain much advantage either."

Wang Wen opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak.

After a few moments of contemplation, he patted Chen Feng on the shoulder and said, "Not bad, San Dao. You've improved. You're almost capable of handling things on your own."

What he really wanted to ask this guy was why it took so long to call him back for such an important matter.

But then I thought again, if we invite this guy back to take charge without even giving him a try, then he's just hopeless...

The result we're seeing isn't great, but it's not bad either!
Chen Feng stared into his eyes, trying to tell whether he was telling the truth or being sarcastic.

After a good ten seconds, he finally realized that his older brother was indeed praising him, and immediately grinned so wide his mouth almost reached his ears: "It's all thanks to you, big brother, I learned everything from you..."

Wang Wen: 'There's absolutely no need for that!'

Where is Ji Liang?

"Judge Ji has gone to set up defenses..."

"Shouldn't this be your job?"

"Well... sigh, it's because we're afraid you'll get angry, so no one dares to invite you. If I win the rock-paper-scissors game, then he should be the one to invite you."

"Bastard!"

Enraged, Wang Wen kicked Chen Feng, sending him flying out of the main hall: "Summon Ji Liang back for a meeting!"

Chen Feng covered his buttocks and transformed into a golden light that shot into the sky.

Wang Wen looked around, casually pulled over a chair and sat down, pondering... This group of monsters probably really is after him!

Although Chen Feng's account was somewhat nonsensical, he made one point clear.

That is, this group of monsters has never actually set foot in Huangshan. Instead, they keep trying to lure Chen Feng and his group out of Huangshan to fight them.

What does this mean?
This shows that these monsters clearly knew that Chen Feng and his group's fighting strength had doubled within the Huangshan area!
The only miscalculation this group of monsters made was that they didn't know there would be so many ghost soldiers inside the Huangshan Temple...

These ghostly soldiers, whom he had gathered during the decisive battle at Huangshan, had never shown themselves to anyone after being taken into the Huangshan Divine Palace.

Only a very small number of spirit messengers usually operate in the surrounding areas.

In other words, the monsters' wicked scheme was either to wear down Huangshan's manpower or to lure him, the "main character," out for a battle...

This reminded him of the City God Temple in Xuzhou back then.

That was also a premeditated action targeting the City God of Xuzhou.

"...We have too few clues to determine whether this is merely a probing phase of the entire scheme, or simply a crude and blatant sting operation."

He frowned and pondered to himself.

If it's the former, he can rush out alone now, mowing down enemies with unparalleled speed, making the mastermind behind the scenes think twice before acting.

However, if it is the latter, then he would better not make any rash moves now, because his opponent may have some means that they believe can restrain him, Wang Wen, and is waiting to take the bait.

However, after thinking it over, Wang Wen felt that there seemed to be no difference between the two.

After all, what the opponent thinks is just what the opponent thinks.

No living being in the world has ever witnessed Wang Wen's current peak combat power.

Therefore, no matter what period of his combat strength he uses as a reference point when formulating his plan, it will inevitably be several versions behind his current combat strength!
He's guaranteed to win!
Even if the opponent formulates a battle plan, they would habitually use overwhelming strength to crush their opponents.

The problem isn't too big either, after all, Wang Wen still has nearly 10,000 points of merit and good karma in his hands.

In the present Great Zhou Dynasty, can you find a powerful figure who cannot be killed even with 10,000 merits or karmic virtues?
In conclusion, no matter what tricks his opponent is up to, the advantage lies with Wang Wen!
(End of this chapter)