“What do you mean?” Yu Di asked. The only thing that could move was his mouth.

  “You took everything from me,” Ying Fusu said. He stood up and took two steps toward Yu Di. His face was still masked by the yellow scarf, but right below there were scars from rope burns. “Now, I’m done being nice to my benefactor. I’ve repaid you ten times over. It’s time for you to pay for your crimes against me.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I took nothing from you nor did I do anything against you.”

  “Vimala! That’s who you took from me. Thrice I have risked my life for her. Thrice she has rejected me.” Ying Fusu’s eyes bore holes into Yu Di’s. “She has chosen you every time. Do you know how much that hurts my ego? I’m a prince of the Celestial Jade Empire with thousands of women throwing themselves at me. With one word I can call upon armies to wash across this world and lay waste to everything. Yet she rejects me. Even now, she chooses you over me.”

  “Is Vimala here?” Yu Di asked.

  The Qi doubled in strength, crushing Yu Di’s chest, making it hard to breathe.

  “She is safe now,” Ying Fusu said. “I have secreted her away from the abbot and his worthless men. More importantly, I am keeping her away from you, the one who cursed her. I should have killed you the moment I saw you as she asked. Then I wouldn’t—”

  “That’s where you’ve gone wrong junior Ying,” Yu Di said.

  “Junior? JUNIOR?” Ying Fusu made a fist with his right hand and the Qi squeezed hard.

  Yu Di felt like tofu being squeezed out. He could feel his head being crushed, his arms and legs flattened, and his body in absolute agony. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think.

  The pressure lessened. Enough for him to take a shallow breath, but not enough to stop the pain.

  “I’ve had enough of your disrespect,” Ying Fusu gasped. He took a pill and rubbed his throat.

  “I apologize for the disrespect, but do you know why Vimala chooses to go with me rather than you?” Yu Di asked. “It’s because I give her the freedom to choose. There is no romance between us. If I could leave this hellish city and get away from you two quarreling idiots, I’d do it right now even if it meant dooming this city.”

  “I will save this city for her,” Ying Fusu said. “We don’t need your pitiful help.”

  “With your army outside? What do you think will happen to the city after they break through? You ever lead an army? You ever watch what they do once they’ve broken through a difficult siege? I’ll tell you now, I have been in one and the soldiers are no longer human. They’re savage monsters. That’s not saving the city. That’s dooming it.”

  Ying Fusu frowned. His glare would have made Yu Di freeze if he wasn’t already trapped by the prince’s technique. It reminded him so much of the Emperor.

  “Have you asked Vimala what she wants?” Yu Di said. “Or did you do the macho thing and assume?”

  Yu Di had done a lot of that in life. While most of his actions only affected him, he did have regrets. The biggest one was how he made the decision with Wong Chun, thinking that of course she would want to be his dual cultivation partner. What woman wouldn’t want to do so with a Demigod?

  The other one Yu Di had to work on was how he raised his daughter. If, no when, he got back to Yu Lin, he would give her more choices to make. She might be four, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have her own personality. She already told him a big one that she didn’t want to lose him.

  Yu Di planned on keeping that promise to go back. Even if he had to go through a prince and his army.

  “She doesn’t know what’s good for her,” Ying Fusu said.

  Yu Di had to hit him where it hurt the most. “And I assume your mother trying to drown you in the pond was good for you?”

  That made the prince flinch.

  “I remember now. I saved you from the pond from a very angry woman. She kept raving about how her younger son was destined to be the next emperor and that you were in his way.”

  “My mother was sick. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

  “Your mother was trapped like a bird in a golden cage. She wanted out and made a cuckold of your father. If I wasn’t there to save your life, all three of you would be dead now. Are you telling me that the ravings of a mad woman willing to kill her own child is only doing what’s good for him?”

  Ying Fusu scowled. He leaned back in his chair, lost in thought or memory.

  Yu Di didn’t care. He didn’t have time for this. The pressure on his body lessened enough that he could push against it to ease the pain.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Ying Fusu turned back to him. “This is different. I’m trying to save the love of my life from the misery you keep bringing her. She doesn’t see how you are destroying her life and her well being.”

  “What are you talking about? Has your desire for her clouded your mind? She’s the one asking me to help her. I would be home eating roast pork right now if she hadn’t.”

  “Doesn’t matter. If you never showed up, she would be safe. We wouldn’t need to hide like rats in a cellar.” Ying Fusu coughed. He took a pill to stop his coughing. He kept coughing harder and harder uncontrollably.

  In that moment the technique holding Yu Di in place weakened again. This time, he pushed with all his might until the technique collapsed. He gave a small cursory glance at the prince before running back out of the trap door.

  Yu Di could feel at least four presences right outside, all at the mid-stage of the second realm. All easily stronger than him. He prepared a nice surprise for them. Something from the homeland.

  As soon as Yu Di stepped outside, he took out a string of firecrackers and lit them. He threw them into the air.

  These weren’t ordinary firecrackers as they were filled with Qi and a small technique that made them loud and dazzling. Anyone looking at them would daze them for a while.

  Yu Di summoned another flying sword and got on. He pushed as much Qi as he could into it to zoom forward.

  A strong technique latched onto Yu Di’s back, pulling him off his sword. As he fell, he saw his sword rush forward through the city. He hoped that no one got hurt, but he doubted it. At that speed, it could tear through these homes like tofu.

  Four pairs of hands held Yu Di by a limb and carried him back inside the inn. The four cultivators had their eyes closed yet walked with no hindrance. They were oddly in sync as well.

  True fear sunk deep into Yu Di’s heart. These weren’t normal bodyguards. These men were part of the Imperial Spymaster’s network. Their reputation for ruthless dismemberment of an enemy’s position as well as their forces from within were legendary. With them, the Emperor had won more wars without sending in an army and pacified internal enemies with a whisper.

  If Ying Fusu employed these elite troops, then how did he almost die?

  The firecrackers were still going off as they dragged Yu Di back down the trap door. They dropped him onto the ground before locking the trap door this time.

  Yu Di didn’t dare move. Even as a Demigod he had to give these people a modicum of respect and never dared mess with them. They might not have the powers of a Demigod, but their methods and ways could make him wish he never crossed their paths.

  “Where are you going?” Ying Fusu asked. “We’re not done with our conversation.”

  The four men stood around Yu Di. They had a technique attached to each of the limbs they carried. It didn’t take a Demigod to know that at the prince’s command, they could pull his limbs off as if he was a bug.

  Yu Di sat up. He cupped his hands and bowed his head. “I apologize to Prince Ying.”

  “I had a minute to think about it and you are right,” Ying Fusu said. “I didn’t think about Vim’s desires.”

  Yu Di perked up at hearing those words. Maybe there was hope that he could get out of this alive.

  “But that doesn’t matter,” Ying Fusu said. “I am the prince of the most powerful empire in the world. Why can’t I get what I want for once? I have done everything I can to appease everyone else. Just this once, I want what I am owed.”

  Nevermind. This brat didn’t understand the world any better than Yu Lin. At least his daughter had the excuse of being four, not forty.

  “Yes, you are a prince, but you are owed nothing,” Yu Di said.

  “What?” Ying Fusu’s eyes bulged, his mouth tight.

  “Being a prince means you are responsible for those around you, not the other way around. Those are called tyrants. Don’t be like that. You have better upbringing than that.”

  Ying Fusu coughed and coughed. It eventually turned into laughter. “My upbringing has exiled me from my own home on this suicide mission.” He touched the scars on his neck. “I think it’s time for me to push back a little and show my father who should succeed him.”

  The way the prince was talking must mean that the Emperor was not doing well. He had been alive for over a thousand years without issue and as a Demigod, should live longer than that. But that was a problem for another day, if Yu Di got another.

  “What do you plan to do?” Yu Di asked.

  Ying Fusu leaned back in his chair and stared up at the dark ceiling. “I’m going to execute you for your disrespect. Then I’m going to send in my father’s army to finally put an end to the conflict here. Afterwards, I’m bringing Vim back home. This place is beneath us.”

  “Might I have a last request? As someone who did save your life once.”

  “Speak.”

  “Please don’t take out any of your anger and frustration on my daughter. She doesn’t deserve any of this.”

  Ying Fusu paused for a second, looking Yu Di up and down. “Granted.”

  Yu Di got on his hands and knees and kowtowed to the prince. Hopefully the man will keep his word and leave Yu Lin alone. “Thank you for your kindness.”

  Curse unlocked: .1% lifted.

  “In addition, I’ll grant you a painless death.” Ying Fusu stood and dropped a pill onto the ground next to Yu Di. “It’s the body relaxing pill. I’ll make sure to bury your body in your home village with full honors.”

  Yu Di picked up the metallic gray pill. It felt heavy in his hands. For the first time, he was angry at that voice in his head. It only unlocked a small piece of his curse. If only whoever cursed him would cleanse him of the curse then he could turn this whole situation around. He could truly repent by repaying all those that he hurt.

  But that would mean a just and fair world. Yu Di didn’t live in one.

  Yu Di composed a quick mental message and pushed it off into the ether. It was more hope than actual expectation that it might reach his daughter via his steel chain. He was still connected via his jade tablet after all.

  With a deep breath, Yu Di swallowed the pill. He could have blasted everyone in that chamber to death, but he knew the Imperial Spymaster probably already had people stationed around the ‘Forgotten Spirit Sect’ to burn it to the ground should he do anything. This was another no-win situation.

  So much for helping Vimala.

  The metal pill dissolved the instant it entered his stomach. It permeated his meridians instantly and surged throughout his body. From there it would take a few minutes before it relaxed all his muscles, even the ones he didn’t directly control like his heart and brain.

  “What are you doing?” Vimala yelled.

  “Ending him,” Ying Fusu said.

  “No, I need him to save this city. Revive him at once!” Vimala reached down and pushed what little Goddess Qi she had into Yu Di.

  “It’s too late,” Yu Di said. His whole body sagged and he couldn’t sit up anymore. He leaned against Vimala’s chest as she cradled him. “This is not poison but it will kill me.”

  Yu Di hoped that Vimala understood his last words as his mouth relaxed too much and slurred the words. The world suddenly went dark and mute, but Yu Di’s consciousness didn’t slip away. He was stuck in a living tomb within his own body.