After a solid while of sobbing and letting out his emotions, the king finally got back on his feet with renewed determination. "So, let's march straight into the palace and take this bastard down! I'll battle with him directly while you all search for my wife and free her."
"That's the spirit, King Cangyuan!" Qinyue said enthusiastically. "Let's get on with it right now!"
"Woah, woah, hold on, calm down there," I said, raising my hands to stop the momentum. "You don't simply barge in recklessly while dealing with someone this clever and dangerous. You gotta have an actual plan first."
"And do you have one?" the king asked, looking at me expectantly.
"Of course I do, King Cangyuan," I replied with absolutely undoubted confidence. "I'm smart as hell."
"I suppose you are quite intelligent," the king said with a slight smile. "Let's hear what this young gentleman has to say then."
I got up from my seat, paced around the room dramatically for a while, thinking things through carefully, and finally came to a firm conclusion.
You see, we'd been desperately wanting to get into the palace all damn day in order to properly investigate this whole twisted situation. Well, the perfect ticket to the palace had just presented himself right in front of us. King Cangyuan would personally take us into the palace while pretending he was still under the potion's influence. From what I could tell from observing the little fight back there in the square, it looked like the mystery guy had just taken away the king's ability to think independently for himself. You know, basically turned him into somewhat of a mindless obedient soldier with just a few specific goals in mind that were set by the potion's creator.
I mean, the king had been mostly himself personality-wise, with just a few minor behavioral changes here and there. It was definitely kind of risky to try pulling this off, but if we could manage to convincingly fool the mystery guy, the problem would be essentially solved.
The plan was beautifully simple in its execution. King Cangyuan would take us all into official custody and bring us to the palace, then present us directly in front of the mystery man as prisoners. Normally, we'd probably just be thrown into prison like what happened this morning with me and Jian. But we were a special case this time. We had literally tried to instigate a full-blown revolution, forced the king to come over and deal with it himself, and spectacularly blasted open the mystery guy's special cargo for everyone to see. He'd definitely want to personally talk to us and find out what we knew.
All of us quickly agreed on the plan, got ourselves ready mentally and physically, and went straight to the Laughing Goose Tavern to have a proper lunch!
In case you are, please don't scoff at our priorities. You try fighting off soldiers and battling a king on an empty stomach. It was way past lunchtime at this point, we were all exhausted as fuck, and honestly felt like we'd drop dead at any moment if we didn't eat something substantial soon.
We told the gathered crowd outside to evacuate the immediate premises of where the broken cargo was scattered and just let it stay there untouched. Wouldn't want any innocent people to fall into serious trouble for knowing what was actually in those boxes when the soldiers inevitably come looking for whoever knew the secret.
While eagerly eating the absolutely delicious meals which Han personally cooked for us, in less than thirty minutes mind you, which was seriously impressive, I carefully walked the gang through any potential Plan B's and C's we might desperately need if things went sideways, we finished up our satisfying meals, I sent Han off for some important work I had specifically given him, and then we started our long walk towards the imposing palace.
I must say, if not for the whole unfortunate lockdown situation destroying his business, Han's restaurant must've normally been booming with customers. I mean, the dude really knew how to cook incredible food!
While we were walking along the main road, Liangyu strategically got a little closer to the king and started talking with malicious fucking intentions. "You know, King Cangyuan, I didn't really get the proper opportunity to introduce myself back there. I'm Liangyu. And not to brag or anything, but I'm actually the best Earth Cultivator in all of Tianlan Academy. Have you heard of Tianlan? It's a truly prestigious institution for learning."
"Of course I have! It really is an excellent academy," the king replied. "I do not doubt your impressive expertise for a second, young Liangyu. You clearly have a very bright future ahead of you."
That two-faced scheming asshole. It had been what, maybe a week since we first began our journey together as a sect? And he'd already begun his shameless ass-kissing session to try and bag some credibility with a literal king. Maybe angle for a few personal recommendations, maybe get a few good words sent out about him to neighboring kingdoms and influential people. What, the Zenith Sect wasn't good enough for him anymore?
Within just a few moments, Jian overheard the conversation happening and immediately joined in, not wanting to be left out. "Ahem, I'm sorry King Cangyuan, I really don't mean to interrupt this conversation, but I just had to step in after noticing how a few blatant lies might've been said to you just now. You see, Liangyu here is only the second-best cultivator at best. I beat him on all grounds, no pun intended."
"And I'm very sorry I must interrupt too," Liangyu shot back instantly. "I'm only considered second best in official rankings because Jian here blatantly cheated before our matches."
"I won fair and square, asshole," Jian said firmly, then looked directly at the king. "With all due respect King Cangyuan, ask him if he can command wind."
"Don't even begin with me on that," Liangyu said with a deep frown.
"Alright, alright, calm down people," the King interjected diplomatically. "First place, second place, who really cares about rankings? What truly matters is that the two of you can use your impressive skills with proper teamwork and coordination. After we're completely done with this whole problem, the two of you can visit the Blade Palace at any time you want and train extensively with our elite Royal Guard."
"Thank you so much for the generous offer, King Cangyuan," both Liangyu and Jian said in perfect harmony.
After a few moments of walking in comfortable silence, Jian asked the king somewhat hesitantly, "If you don't mind me asking, King Cangyuan, may I ask something personal about your wife?"
"Of course you can!" the king replied warmly. "She's the absolute love of my life. I miss her terribly every moment."
"Yeah, about that whole situation," Jian continued carefully, "the townsfolk tell us you actually have six of them? Wives, I mean. You don't really seem like a... like a... you know..."
"A pervert? Haha!" the king laughed good-naturedly. "It's completely understandable why you'd wonder, young Jian. Li Xue is my one and only true love, there's absolutely no doubt about that whatsoever. But the other five marriages, well, they were all purely contractual. Essentially forced on me by political necessity to maintain stable business relationships among my highly respected and influential clients throughout the region. I had to do it."
"You mean you had to do them," Liangyu's perverted ass muttered under his breath. "Every night, probably."
Jian looked sideways at Liangyu and smirked slightly. "Shut up," he mouthed.
Me and Qinyue were walking a bit behind them, observing the whole interaction. She gave a faint but genuine smile and said to me, "I don't mean to jinx it or anything, but... can you even imagine the incredible fame we'd get as a sect for unveiling a huge conspiracy like this on the very first mission of our sect?"
"Yeah," I replied somewhat grimly. "Only if we don't die trying."
"Come on," she elbowed me in the ribs playfully. "Don't talk so negative about everything. You said it yourself earlier, right? You're smart as hell. We can absolutely do this."
I looked at the sun setting beautifully to my left, painting the sky in shades of orange and red. As beautiful as it looked aesthetically, I honestly couldn't really tell if it was a neat scenery meant to encourage us forward, or a bad omen indicating our metaphorical 'downfall' and the entering of darkness into our lives. That's right, I'm an overthinker like that. Don't judge me for it.
I just hoped my plan was good enough to keep us all alive.