Chapter 19 19: I'm Not A Villain After All
....
Yu Fei remained standing silently. Her mind was blank. This was the first time she had experienced a situation where she wasn't in control.
She couldn't agree with Xu Shan's demand. However, she couldn't say no either since the outcome was the same.
If she said yes, she felt as if she was betraying her home. But if she said no and her soul was searched after her death, it was even worse for the Celestial Palace since even more secrets would've been revealed!
No matter what, the only idea she could come up with was to kill Xu Shan first. Unfortunately, that was even harder since she was made to believe that there was a Sky Celestial Guard hiding in the room. At least she had initiative now. But if she attacked, that initiative was going to be lost.
"You can take your time. I'm not in a hurry. I'll give you two days to think about it. I'm not a Villain after all." Xu Shan's calm voice echoed in the room. Still, for some reason, Yu Fei felt a chill run down her spine as she heard him, especially his last sentence.
Even though Xu Shan threatened the Saintess with Soul Search, if possible, he didn't want to resort to that. It was mainly because there were only a few people in the Dynasty who could search a person's soul! Moreover, all those people worked for his Father.
For now, even his father didn't know about the Saintess of Celestial Palace being his captive. If possible, he wanted to keep it a secret even from his father.
Also, even if he told his father and got the help of the Seniors who could use Soul Search, there was no guarantee that those people weren't going to leak the information later.
If they sold this information to the Celestial Palace, their rewards would've been astronomical. Moreover, the Celestial Palace was also able to protect them after they became a traitor to the Dynasty.
If possible, Xu Shan wanted to eliminate as many variables as possible. If the Saintess agreed on her own, it was perfect!
"For the next two days, you'll be my prisoner. You'll stay in this room with me. Also, if you tried to take a step out of this room without my permission or do anything sneaky, even I might not be able to save you."
Xu Shan's calm and composed behavior made the Saintess unable to doubt his words. Even though he expected it, he was a little surprised at how well it went.
In reality, there was no Sky Celestial hiding in the room. In fact, he was all alone here with the Saintess. Unfortunately, the Saintess didn't know it and misunderstood his confidence which was precisely what he wanted.
With that fear, the Saintess restrained herself without him having to do anything.
Even though Xu Shan relied on a bluff, it wasn't as if he hadn't prepared anything in advance. He already had a backup in case his plan didn't go as he wanted. Fortunately, things progressed smoothly.
After finishing his warning, Xu Shan didn't stay in the room anymore. He stepped out.
With a clicking sound, the door closed. Only the Saintess was left in the room.
Yu Fei sat on the bed, resting her face in her palms. She felt lost, not knowing what to do.
The more freedom she received from Xu Shan, the more she felt that she had to behave since it meant Xu Shan had a powerful warrior to keep an eye on her! Why else would he behave like that and even leave her free?
....
Xu Shan walked in the hallway, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand while stretching his neck. Even though he hadn't moved much, he still felt a little tired. He had to be wary of the girl all the time, not showing a single flaw!
In fact, if he weren't worried about this information leaking, he would've already asked his father to send a Sky Celestial to guard this place.
At the moment, only Zi Huang and a rare few of the Third Prince's trusted guards knew about the Saintess. The Third Prince had trained them in such a way that even if they died, they weren't going to betray him!
Even if the Emperor personally asked them to go against the Third Prince, they wouldn't have done it! That's also why the Third Prince felt so safe with them.
"The Celestial Palace is powerful. There are only two ways to engage it. One is to use an equally strong force to attack it. If they are attacked, they won't have time to worry about their Saintess."
"Unfortunately, the only force that I can influence is the Eternal Dynasty. Even if I can somehow convince the Third Prince's father to attack the Celestial Palace, it's not beneficial. It'll only make them more suspicious about my involvement."
"Once the war between the Celestial Palace and the Eternal Dynasty starts, the use of assassins will begin as well. The Celestial Palace will target all the Princes then, especially me, the most favored son of the Emperor who attacked them!"
Walking in the empty hallways, Xu Shan kept thinking to himself. The entire place was so silent that other than his own thoughts, he could only hear the sound of his footsteps.
"Using the Eternal Dynasty against the Celestial Palace will backfire. It'll be really stupid to do it. That leaves only two other ways. First... Destroying the Celestial Palace from the inside. But that'll take too much work. And the other... Making it so that another Dynasty attacks the Celestial Palace!"
The Third Prince stopped in the middle of the hallway, gazing at the wall on the left. On the wall, there was a map that depicted the Eternal Dynasty and some neighboring Dynasties.
His attention was especially attracted to the land in the north of the Eternal Dynasty.
"Land of Chaos?"
Land of Chaos... From what he could recall, it was the name given to the Maelstrom Dynasty by everyone.
The Maelstrom Dynasty was said to be one of the strongest Dynasties on the continent but also one of the most chaotic!
It was the land where there were no rules! Only the law of strength was supreme! The Dynasty wasn't ruled by the Royal Family. In fact, the Maelstrom Dynasty didn't have a Royal Family in the first place!
Only the strongest person in the Land of Chaos had the right to Rule the Maelstrom Dynasty!
Moreover, every three years, the strongest person in the Land of Chaos could challenge the Ruler of the Maelstrom Dynasty for the throne! As long as the person won, they could become the new Ruler!
Unfortunately, for the last ten years, no one had succeeded in the Challenges! For the last ten years, no one had been able to defeat Empress Xin, the true Overlord of the North!
Empress Xin was not only the strongest person in the entire Maelstrom Dynasty, but there were also rumors that she was the prettiest lady in the land! Even though Empress Xin was in her mid-thirties, but it was said that she looked like she was still in her early twenties!
After looking at her beautiful face and perfect figure, no one could've associated her with the ruthless overlord of the North!