Chapter 115: Chapter 114: The King’s Stratagem

Ling Xiao looked completely unfazed. "I was under the impression Your Majesty believed you weren’t ill."

The King stared at Ling Xiao with a piercing gaze for a long moment before shaking his head with a soft sigh. "You’re not like your father. He isn’t as cunning as you." He then continued, "If you agree, Cameron Town... is yours. Of course, how you make it truly a Ling domain will be up to your own methods. However, I believe my second son understands patience and restraint better than the eldest. What’s more, I will permit you to have a private army. As for the number... let’s make it three thousand. That is a force only someone of a Count’s rank is allowed to possess!"

"Aren’t you afraid I might tamper with things and gain control over you, Your Majesty?" Ling Xiao asked with a faint, casual smile. He now completely understood why the King had sought him out in such a rush and why he wasn’t particularly concerned about Old Marshal Qiu’s presence. ’It’s obvious I’ve been dragged into a shocking conspiracy. Someone who would dare to poison both His Majesty the King and the Grand Marshal of the Imperial Army... In the entire Empire, there can’t be more than two such people.’

’It’s either the Crown Prince or the Southern King!’

The King’s somewhat gaunt frame slowly leaned back in his chair. The hand-embroidered Blast Flame Lion King on his robes seemed to snarl and brandish its claws with his movement, looking incredibly lifelike.

"I trust you won’t do that."

His Majesty the King stated with conviction, "Because you are an intelligent man."

"Since Your Majesty has this in mind, then Old Marshal Qiu’s appearance at the banquet today seems to have been a mistake," Ling Xiao probed.

"A mistake?"

The King gave a cold smile, showing no intention of answering Ling Xiao. Old Marshal Qiu Chen’s appearance at the banquet was precisely to intimidate certain people. The King had every reason to believe that the day he finally succumbed would be the day the nation was plunged into fiery chaos and its people into untold suffering.

When Old Marshal Qiu Chen was poisoned all those years ago, His Majesty the King had been furious for a long time. He’d assumed it was the work of a hostile power, with the Zichuan Empire being the prime suspect. In the end, however, no evidence could be found. Beyond his anger, His Majesty the King could only chalk it up to bad luck. He couldn’t very well launch a war without any justification, could he?

But then, starting this spring, the King began to feel that something was wrong with his body. He often felt weary and listless. At first, he thought it was merely from overwork, but the condition only grew more severe.

When he finally had the Imperial Physicians examine him, they discovered a type of poison in His Majesty the King’s blood—one they had never seen before. But these experienced physicians could all confirm one thing: this poison was clearly not something that took effect in a day or two. It was the result of a long, slow accumulation, which was why it had only now become noticeable.

This time, the King was truly enraged. When he thought about Old Marshal Qiu Chen, his right-hand man who was loyal only to him, it was as if everything clicked into place. His Majesty the King had once consumed a Vantia Holy Fruit and possessed the strength of a Tier Two Demon Swordsmen. Though he was the monarch of a nation, he had never once ceased his daily training. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it would be perfectly normal for him to live past the age of ninety. And yet, this year, he was not even seventy.

Shocked and enraged, His Majesty the King investigated in secret for a long time but failed to uncover a single clue. But for something like this, it seemed, one didn’t need explicit evidence. Just as his heart was filled with despair, he suddenly received a secret report from the Imperial Academy: Old Marshal Qiu’s illness of many years had actually been cured.

This news left His Majesty the King overjoyed. He immediately suppressed the turmoil in his heart and secretly contacted Qiu Chen, learning that the one who had cured him was the third son of Imperial General Ling Tianxiao. Then, yesterday, he had suddenly announced a grand banquet. The stated purpose: to celebrate a great victory in the first major battle between humans and the Beast Race in centuries.

Then, during the banquet, he planned to announce a truly earth-shattering piece of news: the triumphant return of the Old Imperial Marshal, Qiu Chen!

At present, besides Qiu Chen’s family, Shangguan Yutong, and His Majesty the King, no one knew that Ling Xiao had been the one to cure him. Therefore, Qiu Chen’s sudden reappearance as a Fifth Rank Demon Sword Master would not only reassure the majority of the nobility that the Imperial Military God had returned, but it would also undoubtedly strike terror into the hearts of certain individuals.

As for bestowing upon Ling Xiao the title of Viscount with Cameron Town as his fief, this move further demonstrated the King’s shrewdness. The official reason was simple: Ling Xiao had found and killed Hai Tian, the culprit behind the massacre of a Marquis’s entire family.

This alone was enough to win the support of nearly all the nobles. After all, in the long period following that massacre, every noble had feared for their own safety, scared into silence. It was from that moment on that the nobility truly realized how terrifying High-tier Martial Artists could be, and they began spending fortunes to recruit them as family retainers and protectors.

However, if that were the only justification for granting Ling Xiao the title of Viscount, the Crown Prince would certainly object. The Ling Family already had a Third-grade Duke—though the title was not hereditary, it had allowed them to just barely squeeze into the ranks of the Empire’s first-class families. If they were to produce a Hereditary Viscount as well, the Ling Family’s power would inevitably grow even larger. Most importantly, nobles with fiefs were permitted to maintain their own private armies. The Crown Prince was already at odds with the Ling Family; how could he possibly allow them to become more powerful?

But the old King had designated Ling Xiao’s fief to be Cameron Town—a major source of tax revenue and one of the most prosperous cities in the south.

Anyone who wasn’t a fool could see that the old King was using the Ling Family to counterbalance the Southern King. That being the case, the Crown Prince, who had always been deeply wary of his younger brother, would never voice an objection, no matter how unwilling he might be in his heart.

He would love nothing more than to see the Ling Family and the Southern King fight to the death. And as for the possibility of the Ling Family and the Southern King colluding... the Crown Prince would be even more delighted to see that. It would give him the perfect pretext to attack his "valiant" younger brother.

In this whole affair, the person who appeared to lose the most was the Southern King, Li Wutong. Although he would receive rewards for his merits in fighting off the Beastmen, a juicy prize that had been firmly in his grasp was being carved up and given away right before his eyes.

And to top it all off, this person was a close friend of his own son.

It was said that in the face of true interests, the friendships of the younger generation were more fragile than paper. But thinking in the long term, Li Wutong would surely be unwilling to offend the Ling Family. Having an ally like Ling Tianxiao was clearly better than making him an enemy.

So, behind the old King’s seemingly absurd reward, there were countless hidden machinations.

By using a mere boy, he had managed to completely counterbalance his two sons. Although this meant he was using the Ling Family, the old King believed he had granted them sufficient benefits in return. Besides, everyone in the entire Lanyue Empire ought to be loyal to the great His Majesty the King, shouldn’t they?

To be honest, having never experienced this level of high-stakes political struggle, Ling Xiao couldn’t possibly have guessed all these hidden details. But there was one crucial point: Ling Xiao desired nothing from the material world. Fame and fortune, things that others held above all else and would even die for, were nothing but passing clouds to him. All Ling Xiao cared about, all he wanted to protect, was a small handful of people.

Therefore, in this matter, the old King’s fundamental premise for gauging Ling Xiao’s motives was wrong from the very beginning.

He could never have imagined that, as the scion of a noble family, the things on Ling Xiao’s mind were in a completely different realm from everyone else’s.

Thus, many of the things he hoped to see would, in the future, never come to pass.

"Viscount Lingxiao," the old King said, looking at Ling Xiao with a gentle expression. "In a moment, I will personally invest you with your title. For now, it’s a time for you young people. Go and get to know some of the young noble ladies. Perhaps they will be very... fond of you."