Transcending the Nine Heavens

When Diwu Qing Rou saw this IOU note, his face looked very interesting.

Bothering Heaven Reaching Tower and capturing people at Heaven Reaching Tower, Diwu Qing Rou was already prepared to pay a definite price to Jun Xi Zhu! Otherwise, he would not have enough face for her to grind through!

However, first of all, Diwu Qing Rou thought that being able to capture King of Hell Chu was worth paying not just one or two million taels; even ten million taels was worth it! But they were not able to capture him.

Second, this price of one million taels was too high for not being able to capture him! They wasted efforts and caused a ruckus, but they were unable to touch even one of his hair. Moreover, they were even insulted. And now they had to pay one million taels?

Third, what annoyed Diwu Qing Rou most was this: One million taels was just one million taels… But… why did they have to write an IOU? Would a King level leader of Golden Horse Riders not pay his debt? (TLN: This dude did steal from the wrong people in Middle Three Heavens and barely escaped with the help of Yin Wu Fa and his brother, Yin Wu Tian.)

Even worse was the fact that his great name was written in it!

“Good!” Diwu Qing Rou gritted his teeth and praised, “I never realized that King level leader Jing is not only talented in leading Golden Horse Riders Department and martial arts, but your literary skill is so incredible as well! Your writing is so majestic; you wrote an IOU with such air! What a talent!”

Jing Meng Hun’s head hung low. Right now, he was too shameful to look at anyone.

“Good! Very good!” Diwu Qing Rou took a deep breath. He felt his anger rising from within. How many years had it been since he last had this kind of uncontrollable feeling?

“I sent you to capture people, and you bring back an IOU?” Diwu Qing Rou’s chest was heaving nonstop. His voice just still calm, but his gaze became fierce.

“Prime… Prime Minister, please forgive me!” Jing Meng Hun bowed.

“Hmm!” Diwu Qing Rou snorted. He was finally done with his anger, or perhaps he finally managed to control his anger.

“Let me see what is in this letter.” Diwu Qign Rou took that letter. He close his eyes and took a deep breath to place his mind in a calm state as before.

This letter could be from his greatest enemy. No matter what was written in it, he had to deal with it carefully! If his state of mind was unsettled, he could not read this letter!

Then he opened his eyes and looked at this letter!

“Dear Prime Minister Diwu. Chu Yang thanks you.” Diwu Qing Rou gently read the whole thing. He even slapped his thigh once with a look of admiration.

“These words are written in a very dignified manner, but looking at each word, there seem to be a grand and dangerous air like a sword that pierces the heavens!”

Diwu Qing Rou said casually, “To judge people, you must look at their brush strokes. This character likes to take the offensive!”

Han Bu Chu stepped forward. He looked and frowned, “Prime Minister, while these brush strokes seem lofty and dangerous, they are also very calm! Plus… they are very cautious. This…”

“Exactly. This person moves forward to attack and back to defend! He calculates very carefully.” Diwu Qing Rou said, “But his brush strokes hint at surprise moves. This person likes to use sneak attacks!”

Diwu Qing Rou looked at these words for a while before saying, “His words flow smoothly without showing any signs of hastiness; it does not seem fake. Perhaps he had time to prepare. In other words, he left right after he ran into us! It is not unreasonable that King level leader Jing failed…”

After that, he opened the envelope and took out the letter.

Yet another beautiful set of brush strokes.

“Brother Diwu…

I have heard of your fame often, but hated the fact that we cannot meet. This time, little brother had travelled thousands of miles from the north to come to Great Zhao’s Continent Center to see you.

Last year, we dueled from thousands of miles away from each other. Some win and some lose; I have missed you greatly. Brother Diwu, you are thorough and plan without flaws. Your strategies from thousands of miles have become my inspiration!

Thousands of frosty miles and long, rough roads.

I finally met Brother Diwu the other day.

This life is not wasted! Brother Diwu controls Continent Center in your hand. You create your own fate; your foresight shines brightly like a torch. The fact that you figured out my identity is truly admirable!

Things are coming to a conclusion in Continent Center. I have to leave in a hurry with fear in my heart. One slow step, and I will become your prisoner.

A hasty goodbye; the paper is short, but our bond is long. Great Zhao is magnificent, and Continent Center is vast and opulent. All of this will remain in my heart! If fate allows, we will meet again and drink together until we are drunk!

Looking at the heroes of the world, I see only Brother Diwu and me! Another day, when we are fighting on the battlefield, I will remember Brother Diwu’s kindness for me today and repay it sincerely.

Little brother is still young, but people call me King of Hell; I could not help but feel embarrassed. I swear to not let down this name and take Brother Diwu’s head with my own blade!

Goodbye from thousands of miles away. Until we meet again, I will be the victor and you will be my prisoner. I will greet you then. I did not have a chance to say goodbye, and you do not have to see me off. Prosperous Continent Center has turned into ruins; I am sorry. We each work for our own leader!

Our goals differ; there is only life or death!

Sincerely, Little Brother Chu Yang.”

That was all of the details of the letter. Diwu Qing Rou read this letter with a bright smile on his face. His tone was clearer than it had ever been. It resonated through the little courtyard.

“King of Hell Chu is truly delusional!” Veins were popping up on Jing Meng Hun’s forehead. He punched his thigh as he ground his teeth!

Han Bu Chu frowned, Cheng Yun He was silent, and Gao Sheng seemed to be contemplating.

“What do you think of this letter?” Diwu Qing Rou was finally done reading; he smiled and looked toward everyone.

“Prime Minister, this letter might not have been written by King of Hell Chu.” Han Bu Chu said cautiously.

“I also feel the same. King of Hell Chu could not have written this letter.” Cheng Yun He frowned after contemplating for a while.

“Oh?” Diwu Qing Rou’s smile did not change.

“If he was leaving, he should just have left! King of Hell Chu came here and created chaos in Great Zhao; his goal was accomplished!” Han Bu Chu said in a low voice, “Moreover, given King of Hell Chu’s concise character, he could not have written such a superficial letter like this!”

“Exactly. Gloating after a success. Plus, it is filled with schadenfreude. His words are contradictory like two clashing armies…” Cheng Yun He said, “King of Hell Chu cannot be so shallow like that.”

“As for the brush strokes… it could be designed to arouse suspicion.” Han Bu Chu said, “Look, Prime Minister, the words in the letter and the words on the envelope might have been written by the same person, but there is a slight difference… The outside is flowing smoothly, but the inside is slightly hesitant… While it tried to show a smooth flow, it is still contradicting; it’s too tense…”

“King of Hell Chu is not impatient like that!” Cheng Yun He concluded.

“You are wrong in this!” Diwu Qing Rou said casually, “If you think that way, you have fallen for King of Hell Chu’s trap!”

“Trap?” Han Bu Chu’s eyes widened.

“This letter was indeed written by King of Hell Chu!” Diwu Qing Rou raised up the delicate piece of paper and said with a deterministic tone!

“Huh?” Han Bu Chu and Cheng Yun He were both surprised.

“I know what you are thinking.” Diwu Qing Rou said, “First of all, there is currently another big commotion in the royal court of Iron Cloud. Plus, the officials caught this time were the ones that managed to escape last time. The tactics used were not too different.”

“Second, the rumors that plagued Iron Cloud were silenced within a few days by King of Hell Chu’s monstrous methods! Because of all of this, thousands were killed without a care!”

“These two things carry the marks of King of Hell Chu. So you are all questioning whether King of Hell Chu came to Great Zhao at all!” Diwu Qing Rou said casually.

“Yes, that’s exactly it.” Han Bu Chu said with a frown.

“But such line of thoughts is wrong!” Diwu Qing Rou grunted, “How could the actions in Iron Cloud be so quick this time? And with such impeccable timing?”

“If King of Hell Chu was truly in Iron Cloud, he would probably not deal with things like this. Given the way he does things, he would set the baits for a big fish and make us think that our rumors were effective. From that point, he would hunt down our people… He is definitely capable of that! But he did not; why?”

“This is the best counter-move. And we already thought carefully about how we deal with this. But they did not use it. They actually abandoned it… This is clearly them being afraid that the real King of Hell Chu would run into mishaps in Great Zhao so they had to misdirect us!”

“This letter intentionally uses a provoking tone to mislead us into thinking that the person in Great Zhao was not King of Hell Chu; why?”

“Moreover, when we think about this, two lines of thoughts come to mind: One, King of Hell Chu has always been in Iron Cloud! Two… King Hell Chu came here, but he is already gone!”

Diwu Qing Rou laughed coldly, “When you have these two thoughts, you will be led by the nose by King of Hell Chu in everything that happens after! In the end, you will be pushed into a corner by him. And you will probably not know that you were being led by him!”

“If the leader is currently you and not me, I can declare that, even in Great Zhao, you will all fail miserably by the hands of King of Hell Chu!”

Diwu Qing Rou’s expression was grave.

Han Bu Chu and company sweated like rain.

“Even I who could see through his schemes, have to use all of my efforts to reduce loss before we can capture King of Hell Chu! I don’t even have the ability to completely avoid loss!”

“Put this letter in my bedroom.” Diwu Qing Rou said in a low voice, “I want to carefully analyze the brush strokes of this King of Hell Chu! You should know that this is the only writing of King of Hell Chu! For us, these words are priceless!”

“Yes!”

“Golden Horse Riders Department will continue with the evacuation plans; take all of the important things first.”

“Yes!”

“Pay attention to news of that sword.” Traces of worry appeared on Diwu Qing Rou’s forehead, “One saber already destroyed the royal palace; what will this sword be like?”