Jing Yuan held the bill in his hands. When he saw the final number, he couldn't help sighing.
He had named the cat "Mimi."
No, to be exact, it was a lion.
The beast from the forest had never met others of its kind, so Jing Yuan raised it like a house cat.
Maybe it was instinct buried in its blood, or maybe it was something all cats shared, but it loved leaving its scent on people and objects.
A huge shadow blocked the light above.
Jing Yuan skillfully stepped aside, avoiding Mimi's attempt to lick and groom his hair.
The giant beast licked nothing but air.
Here, it didn't need to hunt or fight over territory.
Such a comfortable life had slowly worn away its original wildness.
It tilted its head, obediently pulled back its claws, and lay down on the ground.
After waiting for a long time, it watched the human beside it, still carrying that fluffy hair that badly needed grooming, take it to a wider place before leaving it there.
Jing Yuan walked into the pavilion in the courtyard.
His friends had already prepared wine and snacks.
Baiheng waved at him.
"Jing Yuan, you're late."
Yingxing urged him to drink.
"Come on, come on. Finish these three cups first."
After drinking the three cups, Jing Yuan couldn't help asking Zero, "Zero, your classmate keeps a lion too?"
Zero thought for a moment before answering, "Not just lions."
"There are tigers, leopards, and whales too."
Jing Yuan thought to himself that Zero's classmate really must be royalty.
Then he thought again.
Well, that made sense.
The Xianzhou never lacked rich people.
As usual, everyone chatted about interesting things that had happened recently.
Zero casually said, "I ran into a black cat today. That's a good sign."
Jing Yuan found that strange.
The people of the Xianzhou saw cats and dogs that came to their homes on their own as a good omen, believing they brought wealth.
Especially completely black cats that looked reddish-brown under sunlight.
Green eyes drove away evil, while yellow eyes attracted wealth.
Because of this, the people of the Xianzhou loved cats and dogs and had even introduced laws that outsiders considered extremely strict.
If a pet made too much noise, people would suspect animal abuse and report it to the Realm-Keeping Commission.
Not to mention a stray cat.
Jing Yuan asked, "What happened after that? Did you report it to the Realm-Keeping Commission?"
"No." Zero answered casually, "I'm very picky."
Jing Yuan picked up the wine pot and casually filled Zero's empty cup.
He couldn't help wondering. Was he really talking about a cat? It didn't sound like it.
Zero and his master kept a whole bunch of pets. How could he bear to leave a cat wandering outside?
Unless... it wasn't a cat at all?
Jing Yuan didn't think any further. He raised his cup and clinked glasses with everyone.
They left the General's Residence one after another around dawn.
Yingxing stayed behind until the end, looking like he wanted to say something.
Seeing this, Jing Yuan asked a few more questions before Yingxing finally spoke about the problem that had been bothering him recently.
Jingliu's sword strike had been too amazing.
People's attention had once again turned to the Sword Champion.
Along with that, her other half had also become the center of attention.
Yingxing suddenly stopped speaking.
Jing Yuan immediately understood what his friend had left unsaid.
People were calling Zero a kept man again.
Jing Yuan put an arm around Yingxing's shoulder and walked him out of the General's Residence.
"Yingxing, I understand. I'll handle it."
After his friend left, Jing Yuan returned to the residence.
Mimi was already asleep beneath the tree.
The moment it heard footsteps, it recognized Jing Yuan.
Without even opening its eyes, it lazily swayed its tail and rolled over, exposing its belly for Jing Yuan to pet.
After being petted for a while, Mimi rolled over again, turned its head, and went back to sleep.
Jing Yuan chuckled before heading into the study.
He sat at the desk and unconsciously tapped the tabletop with his fingertips.
It had taken Jing Yuan a long time to go from a Cloud Knight who followed orders to a General who gave them.
The simplest way of thinking was to work backward from the result to the goal.
Back when General Tengxiao was still in office, two people had criticized Zero for living off his wife.
Now people were questioning him again...
Why?
Jing Yuan took out his jade abacus and used his authority to look up the information on the people who started it all.
These were files that only the Luofu General and the Xianzhou Marshal could access.
The first thing Jing Yuan saw was the words "Disciples of Sanctus Medicus."
He frowned. Looking more closely, he found this was additional information left by General Tengxiao.
[Former Disciple of Sanctus Medicus, codename: Yaohuang.]
[Later persuaded by a kind person to switch sides. Currently an undercover agent within the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.]
Jing Yuan: "..."
This "kind person"...
Feeling conflicted, Jing Yuan pulled up the files of the people who had attended Zero's wedding.
They came from the Sky-Faring Commission, the Realm-Keeping Commission, and the Cloud Knights. They were also undercover agents inside the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, each with a different codename.
So the Luofu branch of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus was basically an empty shell?
Then what about Zero?
Could he be the "Leader"?
If so, what was his codename?
Jing Yuan wanted to open Zero's file, but stopped himself.
First, there was Matthias. Like his master, that man was extremely protective of Zero.
Second, there was Polka Kakamond, the Fourth Seat of the Genius Society.
It was said that a scholar once tried to uncover the history of the universe, and for some reason, the Fourth Seat suddenly appeared.
The moment Jing Yuan opened Zero's file, those two might come looking for him.
He couldn't help complaining inwardly.
'What's this?'
Did they deliberately build up the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus just to lure out traitors of the Xianzhou?
With Zero's face looking somewhat like the Father of the Xianzhou, who would dare become a traitor together with him?
After complaining a little, Jing Yuan stepped back mentally and continued analyzing things from an outsider's point of view.
Zero had left the Divination Commission and then joined the newly established Luofu research institute, whose existence was known only to the upper ranks of the Xianzhou.
On the surface, his master and Zero were worlds apart in both age and status.
One was the famous Sword Champion of the Luofu, recognized by the Reignbow Arbiter.
The other was an unknown man who had voluntarily left the Divination Commission and still had no proper job.
To the real members of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, Zero was the perfect target.
His background was ordinary. He had no strength. He looked easy to control.
Even better, he was the spouse of the Luofu Sword Champion and would very likely have access to the Xianzhou's highest secrets.
If they could turn Zero, the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus would gain the upper hand and catch the Luofu off guard.
And if they failed, it didn't matter.
They could just kill him.
The Luofu Sword Champion was one of the few Xianzhou natives over a thousand years old who had never fallen into mara.
This alone would cripple one of the Luofu's greatest fighting forces.
Thinking this far, all expression disappeared from Jing Yuan's face.
The Marshal's earlier, seemingly unrelated orders suddenly connected together.
After finishing the Cangcheng research project, Matthias had originally planned to study the Luofu's Ambrosial Arbor next.
Halfway through, he changed his mind and took all the researchers to the Yaoqing instead.
The answer was obvious.
Working backward from the result to the goal...
The Marshal and Zero were fishing.
The Ambrosial Arbor was the bait.
Jing Yuan slowly lowered the jade abacus.
A new question appeared.
If they planned to fish on the Luofu, how would they keep from being dragged into the water by the prey?
And how would the Luofu protect its people?
Jing Yuan's eyes wandered before suddenly stopping on the picture hanging in the study.
Every Xianzhou household displayed a portrait of Marshal Zero, the Father of the Xianzhou, and offered daily thanks for what he had done.
Jing Yuan froze for a moment.
He had almost forgotten Zero's face.
If Zero were only the spouse of someone in the upper ranks, or merely the "Leader" of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus...
He wouldn't be able to stand beside the enemy and control the whole situation.
But what if he were the descendant of the Father of the Xianzhou?
That identity alone would be enough to make the enemy back down.
Jing Yuan recalled how Zero's parents treated him.
They indulged his every wish, afraid of making him unhappy.
Looking at it another way... Wasn't the current Marshal deliberately trying to raise him into someone useless?
Any enemy who saw this would think Zero was deeply feared by the current Marshal.
The key point was that Zero didn't know his true identity.
Even the Luofu Sword Champion getting close to him looked suspicious.
Had the current Marshal ordered the Sword Champion to approach him, leading to the two of them getting together?
Before they officially became a couple, the current Marshal had come to the Luofu.
She met General Tengxiao and... the Luofu Sword Champion.
Then she returned to the Luofu again to attend the Sword Champion and Zero's wedding.
At that time, Zero had voluntarily left the Divination Commission, and his future looked completely uncertain.
Jing Yuan was speechless.
'No, how did all of this connect together?!'
He quickly pulled himself back and continued thinking.
The Alliance's inspection system was extremely strict.
Any intelligent lifeform should know better than to fall for this.
'Wait...'
Jing Yuan thought of Shuhu.
'The Cloud Knights had gone into battle to kill Shuhu.'
'What happened in the end?'
Shuhu had slipped into the Luofu and even reached Scalegorge Waterscape.
Right.
With Shuhu as an example, what would enemies hostile to the Xianzhou think?
Simply that the Xianzhou wasn't as capable as it claimed and its defenses were weak.
They claimed inspections were strict, yet Shuhu still got in and came within one step of the Ambrosial Arbor.
By pure coincidence, the current Marshal announced the existence of the former Marshal at this special point in time.
If those two things were connected...
Wouldn't that simply look like an attempt to cover up the mistakes made by the Luofu's Six Commissions?
Jing Yuan went through everything again from the beginning and tried to imagine how the enemy viewed the current Marshal.
She valued power above all else and could not tolerate anyone threatening her rule.
Yet, because of various concerns, she hadn't killed Zero.
When no one could threaten her rule anymore, and when the Xianzhou needed it, she made use of the former Marshal once again.
As for Zero, the descendant of the Father of the Xianzhou?
Nothing to worry about.
In the enemy's eyes, Zero was the perfect weak point.
With just a little manipulation, they could control him however they wanted.
Jing Yuan once again pulled up the files of the two people who had first spread the rumors about Zero.
He stared at the words "kind person" and recalled how earlier investigators had described Zero.
[What looks like a casual move made without much thought may become the key that turns the entire situation around a hundred or even a thousand years later.]
Jing Yuan slowly let out a breath.
In the enemy's eyes, both the current Marshal and Zero had perfectly complete chains of logic.
Their actions made sense.
Their motives had no flaws.
The current Marshal valued power above everything else, so she pushed aside the descendant of the Father of the Xianzhou.
The descendant married the Sword Champion, left the Divination Commission, became a kept man in the eyes of outsiders, learned the truth, refused to accept an ordinary life, betrayed the Xianzhou, joined forces with foreign enemies, and swore to take back everything that belonged to him.
Everything linked together.
This was... a nearly perfect plan.
It would have been even more perfect... if Zero weren't the Father of the Xianzhou himself.
Jing Yuan sat silently at the desk.
Only when the sky began to brighten did he stand up, quickly wash his face, and head for Zero's residence.
In the reception hall, Jing Yuan waited and waited.
The attendants didn't dare urge the people upstairs to wake up, so they first served him tea.
When the two upstairs still hadn't woken up, they brought him breakfast instead.
It wasn't until ten in the morning, when Jing Yuan took a sip of the morning tea and bit into a pastry, that he caught sight of the two of them out of the corner of his eye.
For some reason, his master stopped Zero.
"Wait."
She adjusted Zero's collar with both hands, then fixed his hair.
Jing Yuan patiently waited until his master finished tidying Zero's hair before the two finally came over.
The attendants served them tea, pastries, and drinks.
His master glanced at Jing Yuan, said nothing, and lowered her head to drink her tea.
Resting his chin on one hand, Zero asked, "Jing Yuan, what's the matter?"
There was no need to be too direct when talking to smart people.
"Grandmaster, you and the Marshal..." Jing Yuan stopped halfway through his sentence before saying meaningfully, "You could've at least told me in advance."
Zero blinked.
"Hm?"
Smiling, he said with a hint of emotion, "You finally look a bit like a Marshal now."
Jing Yuan smiled bitterly, "Please don't joke with me."
"Grandmaster, just give me a straight answer."
Leaning back in his chair, Zero leisurely picked up a pastry.
"Wait."
"Wait for him to reincarnate. Wait for him to leave the Xianzhou."
"Wait for him to return to the Luofu as a Nameless."
Jing Yuan's expression changed slightly.
With Zero around, his friend no longer needed to guard the Ambrosial Arbor.
Half-jokingly, Jing Yuan said, "Could the rumors really be true? Are you really all-knowing? Can you really predict the future?"
Zero took a sip of tea and said helplessly, "The cat told me."
"The black cat you mentioned yesterday?" Jing Yuan's eyes widened. "You didn't keep it?"
He was very curious about a cat that could predict the future, but Zero seemed completely uninterested and even stirred the tea with his spoon.
"Judging from the result, our goals are the same."
"But I don't like variables."
"I prefer the Elation."
Jing Yuan felt there were too many things to complain about.
"So... use him and throw him away?"
Zero didn't care.
"That's not the right way to put it. Did I use him? He was the one who told me."
Jing Yuan continued, "Isn't the Elation a variable too?"
Zero put down the spoon.
"Hua said I treat the entire Luofu like a stage."
"If it's a stage, there have to be supporting actors."
"I can't have the people of the Xianzhou risk their lives acting alongside me."
Jing Yuan: "..."
'So the Elation was the supporting actor who kept dying over and over instead of the Xianzhou people?!'
'That sounds even less reliable!'
Zero didn't care whether he achieved his goal.
In the end, he believed he owed the Aeons and wanted to make up for it.
He had once willingly offered his blood, but Lan refused.
After thinking it over, Zero decided to give it a try.
Whether it succeeded or failed didn't matter.
At this point, there were only two things worth his attention.
One was ascending to a higher dimension and going home.
The other was Akivili, who had died because of him and had yet to be revived.
As for helping Lan attract enemies...
The Aeon itself didn't care, so why should he rush to help?
Jing Yuan was about to say something else when Zero continued, "That's an Aeon."
"If it were really that easy..."
"I would've gone to scam them long ago."
"If it works, great."
"If it doesn't, that's fine too."
"Just treat it as training for the younger generation."
Jing Yuan thought to himself, 'You never expected it to succeed in the first place, did you?'
He said goodbye to the two of them and returned to the General's Residence.
The Chief Strategist said to him, "General, Imbibitor Lunae has been reborn..."
Jing Yuan was absent-minded for a moment before smiling.
"Dan Heng."
"When I have time, I'll visit him in person."
That was what he said.
Yet that very night, he met Dan Heng at Yingxing's residence.
The newly born Dan Heng was like any other child and couldn't speak.
He slept soundly in the attendant's arms.
Zero naturally reached out and rubbed Dan Heng's tail.
Yingxing was dumbfounded.
Jing Yuan copied him and gave the tail a rub as well.
Dan Heng was still too young to control his tail.
His little face scrunched up as his tail instinctively swished a few times.
Yingxing was furious. Keeping his voice low so he wouldn't wake Dan Heng, he said, "You two, stop touching it!"
The two of them nodded carelessly.
After that, the five of them took turns looking after Dan Heng.
When Dan Heng turned three, Yingxing became extremely worried that he would be rejected by the academy.
Zero comforted him, "Relax. During the interview, as long as you respect the child and trust the academy and the teachers, you'll pass."
Yingxing took several deep breaths and nodded.
Just as Zero had said, Yingxing passed the interview smoothly.
After starting school, Dan Heng grew older, and his homework also increased.
The five of them began taking turns doing it for him.
One day after school, Dan Heng kept a straight face as he handed over a history test that the teacher had already marked.
He said seriously, "Zero, this question is wrong."
"The Father of the Xianzhou didn't become emperor..."
"Because he knew the imperial system was outdated."
"If he had become emperor, it would have been a step backward in history."
Zero: "..."
He said stiffly, "Oh... so that's how it is."