Chapter 131: The Seed Has Germinated!

Boom!

Tang Fei felt as if his head had suddenly exploded.

Dizziness, buzzing in his ears, and vast stretches of blinding white light filled his vision.

"What is he saying?"

"What kind of raving nonsense is he spewing?"

"He said I am the son of the Great General Tang Li?"

"How could I possibly be Tang Li's son? Aside from sharing the surname Tang, I have nothing to do with him..."

"I am a refugee from the Wasteland, an orphan picked up by the old man in the Wasteland. Several kids like that could be found every single day..."

"I was born in the Wasteland, have lived there since I could remember, and grew up there... This is my very first time coming to the New Star..."

"What kind of new fishing scam is this? A hatred loan going live?"

"Maniacs, they're all maniacs..."

Tang Fei stood up and strode toward the door. Reaching the exit, he twisted the handle.

It wouldn't budge.

This was a secure chamber, locked from the inside, but it undoubtedly required a fingerprint, a password, or perhaps something even more advanced.

This was the Gongshu family's territory, and they were the founding masters of this craft. Trying to bypass their door was no easy task.

The old man said nothing and made no move to stop him, merely watching him with profound eyes.

Tang Fei let out a heavy sigh, turned around, and sat back down.

"Why did you come back?" The old man looked at Tang Fei and asked.

"The door is locked. I can't get out," Tang Fei muttered sullenly.

Tang Fei stared dead at the old man and said, "You're joking with me, right? You must be joking, aren't you?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" The old man asked impassively in return.

"My father is Tang Li?"

"Yes," the old man answered with absolute finality.

"I was born on the New Star?"

"You were born on the New Star."

"Did you bring me to the Wasteland?"

"I brought you to the Wasteland."

"I... Is that why you fled to the Wasteland as well?"

"Otherwise, how could members of the Gongshu family have appeared in the Wasteland?"

"This is absurd. I can't accept it."

"I know. I understand how you feel right now. Anyone in your position would react the exact same way..."

"Do you have a grudge against the royal family, so you made up this whole story to get me to help you take revenge?" Tang Fei looked at the old man and asked. "If you have something to say, just spit it out. Even though my relationship with Phoenix is pretty good, I'll definitely side with you."

"I do have a grudge against the royal family, and so do you." Knowing Tang Fei's temperament, the old man cut straight to the point.

If he chose to keep it hidden, he shouldn't let him know anything at all; the slightest trace would allow him to follow the clues and unearth the truth of the matter.

However, since he chose to tell him the truth, he had to speak plainly and leave no room for wishful thinking or avoidance. When people encounter unsolvable dilemmas, their first reaction is to lie flat and accept whatever comes.

Tang Fei was particularly adept at this.

"Talking to you like this leaves me no way to respond," Tang Fei said, irritably scratching his head.

"You wanted to know the truth, so I told you the truth. And now you're unwilling to accept it?"

"I didn't expect the truth to be like this..." Tang Fei looked at the old man and asked, unwilling to give up, "This is the third story you've told me, isn't it?"

"If I say yes, can you go back?"

"I want to go back."

"You can't go back. The reason I was unwilling to come to the New Star with you, and unwilling to see you after arriving here, was because I knew... once your identity is exposed, you will never be able to go back..."

"Then what should I do?" Tang Fei rubbed his face, looked at the old man, and asked, "I'm a refugee from the wasteland, with no money, no power, and at the upper tier of Qi Mastery... And now you're telling me my dad is Tang Li, and our entire family was murdered by the imperial royal family... What do you want me to do?"

"I've had contact with them. I know how formidable they are, and I know how powerful they are. I can't beat them, there's simply no chance at all, not the slightest bit of a chance. Just thinking about it makes me feel hopeless..."

"I know it's hard. You can also choose to give up." The old man looked at Tang Fei and said, "Just pretend you never knew about this..."

Bang!

Tang Fei slammed his fist onto the table in front of him, his eyes bloodshot as he roared angrily, "But I do know... I know everything now..."

"How can I pretend I don't know anything? How can I pretend it has nothing to do with me?"

"How can I go back now? I can't go back... Never going back..."

The old man waited quietly, watching Tang Fei vent the emotions locked inside his heart. He understood Tang Fei's feelings better than anyone else.

For decades, he had endured this agonizing torture.

His parents murdered, his entire clan slaughtered, the loyal core followers of the general killed until rivers of blood flowed, and even years later, people were still being dragged out to be put on trial and executed...

Yet, just as Tang Fei had roared, what were they supposed to do? What could they do? Their enemy was the royal family, the Nine Great Families, the accomplices who enabled tyrants...

It was the entire Phoenix Empire.

Forget about revenge; just thinking about it filled one with despair, making life seem utterly not worth living.

However, if they didn't seek revenge, the hatred festering in their hearts would ultimately consume them, turning them into monsters like him, neither human nor ghost.

After a long, long while.

Once Tang Fei's emotions had finally calmed down, the old man spoke up, "If you want revenge, you need to start making preparations from now on."

"What preparations?" Tang Fei raised his head and asked.

"First, hide yourself. Know how to protect yourself better than at any other time."

"Well, obviously," Tang Fei said.

If his identity were exposed, forget about revenge; not even all the gods in heaven and earth could save him. A dead end would be the only thing waiting for him.

"Second, strengthen your own power. Third, weaken the enemy's strength."

"How do I strengthen my own power?"

"Raise your cultivation realm and make yourself stronger. When you are strong enough, more people will gather around you. Next, recruit troops and horses, and find those who are still willing to be loyal to your father."

"So many years have passed. Is there anyone still willing to be loyal to him?"

"If it were you, I can say with certainty: no," the old man said, his tone as biting and sarcastic as ever. "If it were him, I think it's worth a try."

"Besides, the enemy of our enemy is our friend. The relationship between the royal family and the Nine Great Families is extremely complex; they both utilize and guard against each other. The royal family wants to reclaim power, and the Nine Great Families want to fight for power... Before your identity is exposed, you must find a way to play both sides..."

Tang Fei nodded and said, "I more or less understand what you mean..."

"Also, the most important thing... hold tightly onto Phoenix's coattails... This is by far the most crucial piece on the chessboard..."

Tang Fei suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He looked at the old man with a serious expression and asked, "Actually, you knew Phoenix's true identity a long time ago, didn't you? You knew the moment I brought her back?"

"That's right," the old man didn't deny it, saying, "When you first brought her back, I only had suspicions... Because her appearance and bearing were too extraordinary, rare even on the New Star. The long-voyage suit and communication device she wore were different from those of ordinary people, looking more like military-industrial products of the Phoenix Empire..."

"And the whip she used—such a weapon wasn't unheard of, but it was extremely rare... Furthermore, many years ago, the empire introduced a secret decree prohibiting high-tech lethal weapons from being made available to ordinary citizens..."

"She told you her name was Phoenix..." A mocking smile appeared at the corner of the old man's mouth as he said, "It's not an impossible name; there are many 'Phoenixes' on the New Star..."

"However, knowing nothing about who we were, she happened to say her name was Phoenix... That already revealed far too much information."

"During our time together, I tested her in a few ways, including the subtle habits revealed in her words and actions. At a glance, it was obvious she had undergone rigorous palace etiquette training... By the time the assassins from the Palace of Carefree tracked her down, I was already certain of her identity..."

"So, you've harbored hostility toward her all along... You wanted to kill her back then, but you held back?"

"I originally intended to take care of her first. Even if we couldn't get revenge, I wanted to exact a bit of interest from the Zhong family."

"And then... you calculated long ago that she would bring us to the New Star?"

"Not entirely certain," the old man shook his head and said, "Back then, I had you plant a seed in her heart... As for whether that seed would sprout, well, that depended on the will of heaven..."

"What I didn't expect was that you brat actually had a way with women... Her attitude toward you gradually changed, until that morning when I saw the two of you lying on the same lounge chair. That's when I knew the seed had sprouted..."

"And if it hadn't sprouted?" Tang Fei asked. In truth, he already knew the answer in his heart.

The old man was terrifying. He had calculated everything happening now long in advance, laying out his plots while they remained completely oblivious.

At the time, when he told him to plant a seed in Phoenix's heart, Tang Fei had thought it was just to help him find a wife—after all, wives were hard to come by in the Wasteland, and someone as stunning as Phoenix was simply one of a kind.

What he hadn't expected was that the old man intended to use this as leverage to control Phoenix, turning her into his pawn.

Sure enough, deep affections had blossomed between Phoenix and him. Following that, she had pulled strings and used every means possible to bring him to the New Star, remaining active right by the side of the Phoenix royal family...

If the old man had brought him up, or anyone else for that matter, it would have been impossible to gain such close access to members of the royal family as he had today.

Phoenix was the best choice, and at the time, the only choice.

Yet, what about Phoenix?

What had she done wrong? Was it merely because she had fallen for... a man from the Wasteland?

Did a sprouted seed necessarily bloom into a beautiful flower?

Phoenix was just like him; she couldn't go back either.

The old man glanced sideways at Tang Fei and said, "If not, they would never have tracked us down... And even if they did, the only thing they would find would be a dead person... No, they wouldn't even find a dead body."

If there had been no affection between Phoenix and Tang Fei, if Phoenix had been the cold-hearted type of royal... the moment the old man sensed even a hint of it, he would have killed her without hesitation.

Even a mosquito's leg had meat, let alone a princess of the empire...

He wanted the people of the royal family to experience that same soul-crushing torment of losing a loved one. He had wanted to do it so badly it drove him mad.

"So, you deliberately let that star-skiff go? Just so they could escape back and report the news?"

"A princess who returns to the New Star is a valuable princess. A princess left behind in the Wasteland is merely a woman with decent looks. Good for breeding offspring, useless for revenge."

A flash of inspiration struck Tang Fei's mind, and another possibility suddenly occurred to him. He stared wide-eyed at the old man and asked in shock, "Those villagers... and Mister... were they also incited by you? With your cultivation level, you clearly could have saved them... yet you only made your move after Phoenix and I?"

"They fed on us for so many years and received so much grace from us... Without us, they would have died long ago. Shouldn't they step up and make a contribution?"

Looking at Tang Fei, the old man spoke in a calm voice, "I merely had someone use a bit of bewitching arts to stir their blood and make them willingly step forward to die..."

"Someone?" Tang Fei instantly caught the flaw in his words and asked in a low voice, "Who was that person? Anning? Was it Anning?"

He knew Anning's feelings for him, but when so many people in the village had stepped forward, Anning hadn't...

From beginning to end, he had never caught sight of Anning.

At the time, he had felt it strange in his heart, and even held a tiny bit of "resentment"...

I saved you and your mother's lives over and over again, yet when we faced danger, you couldn't even come out to take a look?

He knew they couldn't help much, but when everyone else stood up, they didn't—that was human nature.

Now he understood it all. Anning had been acting under the old man's orders at that moment, carrying out a task far more important to them.

"Correct," the old man nodded and said, "Anning is my disciple. I taught her a few little tricks."

"Why? Was it necessary to go to such lengths?" Tang Fei forcefully suppressed the anger raging in his heart.

The old man didn't care about Tang Fei's attitude and answered righteously, "You don't understand... This is leverage..."

"What leverage?"

"Leverage added to Phoenix's conscience. We need people to bleed, we need people to die... You can't die, and I can't die, so we can only let these insignificant people die."

The old man said in a deep voice, "The more people who die, the more indebted she will feel toward us... So many people died because of her; didn't she ever think about making some compensation?"

"Little flowers cultivated in greenhouses like them don't understand the sinister nature of the human heart... They aren't purely kind, but in what they do, they still retain a bottom line and uphold basic morality..."

"Right, they also know how to repay a favor... Look, isn't everything proceeding according to our plan?"