Out in the hallway, Zhao Qingyue had her ear pressed against the crack in the door, her posture quite unseemly.
Like a… petty thief.
The guards outside turned a blind eye to Zhao Qingyue’s antics.
The Prince had given prior instructions—if the Commandery Princess wanted to eavesdrop, she was free to do so.
Zhao Qingyue couldn’t hear very clearly, but fragments of sentences still drifted out.
“Flying Immortal Platform,” “Survey Envoy,” “Governing Immortals with Immortals”…
She hadn’t heard Bai Shuangshuang mention a single one of these terms.
Then she heard her father say, “Someone, go fetch Hengyang Xiansheng.”
Zhao Qingyue straightened up and blinked.
Hengyang Xiansheng?
That strategist her father trusted most, the one even she rarely got to see?
Before she could process this information, a gentle voice suddenly came from behind her.
“Commandery Princess, please step aside.”
Zhao Qingyue froze completely.
She slowly turned around and saw Hengyang Xiansheng standing behind her, dressed in a blue robe and cloth shoes, his face gaunt, with a faint, enigmatic smile on his lips.
“Master… when did you arrive?”
“Just now.”
Hengyang Xiansheng’s tone was calm.
“I happened to catch Your Highness studying the… texture of this door.”
Zhao Qingyue let out a dry cough, stepped aside, and pretended nothing had happened, watching Hengyang Xiansheng push the door open and enter.
The moment the door closed, she heard her father chuckle from inside.
It was short, but she caught it.
She was finished.
It wasn’t that she was afraid her father would find out.
She was afraid Bai Shuangshuang would find out.
Just moments ago, she’d been telling Bai Shuangshuang to fend for herself, and now she was sneaking around to eavesdrop.
Wasn’t that making a fool of herself?
Zhao Qingyue touched her cheek.
It was a little warm.
She didn’t want to show this kind of concern so plainly.
Inside the room, Bai Shuangshuang had indeed heard the commotion outside.
Zhao Qingyue was eavesdropping?
Afraid she’d be troubled by her father?
Her heart stirred slightly.
Back when Zhao Qingyue had said, “I never mistreat my own people,” while sneaking over the wall to steal medicine that night, she hadn’t taken it too seriously.
But after everything that had happened, it seemed this brat was sincere.
If she weren’t the Senior Brother of the Qingyun Sword Sect, if she didn’t have so many burdens on her shoulders, if she were just an ordinary girl…
Then being Zhao Qingyue’s maid might actually be pretty nice?
Bai Shuangshuang pictured the scene in her mind:
Eating osmanthus cake every day, getting her head patted, bickering, occasionally being infuriated half to death, but overall, quite happy.
Stop that!
She quickly cast the thought aside.
What was she thinking?
She was the Senior Brother of the Qingyun Sword Sect.
She had to find her Senior Sister, take revenge, and return to the Cultivation World.
How could she be swayed by a few mouthfuls of osmanthus cake from a brat?
Besides, the cake wasn’t even that delicious.
…Alright, it was pretty tasty, but that wasn’t the point.
Hengyang Xiansheng pushed the door open and entered.
His gaze swept the room, and he already had a general understanding.
Bai Shuangshuang was curled up in a chair, her feet not quite touching the floor, trying her best to look dignified.
Hengyang Xiansheng gave her a second glance.
The Prince summoning him here meant this young girl had already passed the first round of selection.
This surprised him quite a bit.
Hengyang Xiansheng sat down beside her, and Zhao Qingchuan also returned to his seat.
The two exchanged a knowing glance.
Then, the second round began.
Hengyang Xiansheng spoke, his tone unhurried.
“You said to establish the Flying Immortal Platform, using shares of spiritual fields to recruit cultivators. I ask you this: with the Prince’s Mansion’s decree to eliminate worries, plus the promise of sharing the spiritual field’s yield, can you really make those immortal sects obediently follow orders?”
Bai Shuangshuang nodded.
“There’s more.”
Hengyang Xiansheng added.
“If a sect takes the spiritual fields but refuses to obey commands, how do you handle it?”
This time, Bai Shuangshuang didn’t hesitate.
“The spiritual fields the Prince gives to cultivators are their salary during their term of service, not their fief. If they dare to disobey? Dismiss them and bring in the next sect.”
She paused, her tone resolute.
“Trust me, Your Highness. These things are really attractive to immortal sects. Especially the small sects in the Southern Region—they’ll be lining up to get into the Flying Immortal Platform. You won’t be short of people to use.”
Zhao Qingchuan and Hengyang Xiansheng both fell silent for a moment.
The plan they had previously discussed already had a framework and clear ideas.
The only breakthrough they couldn’t find was how to drive the immortal cultivators.
Now, this gap had been filled by a young girl curled up in a chair with a single sentence.
Hengyang Xiansheng nodded slightly, made no comment, and continued asking.
“What if the great clans refuse to cooperate to the death, collude with the local government, and resist to the very end?”
This time, Bai Shuangshuang thought for a bit longer.
She tilted her head, her finger unconsciously drawing circles on her knee, as if deploying troops on a battlefield.
“Then kill them to the very end!”
She lifted her head, her tone light as if she were talking about something trivial.
“Have the cultivators find solid evidence. The Prince’s Mansion holds a public execution. Confiscate all their assets and spiritual fields. Kill anyone who dares to resist without mercy.”
“It might cause considerable resistance and unrest, but His Highness is in a difficult position right now. Sometimes, you have to use harsh measures.”
Zhao Qingchuan’s finger paused on the table.
“Besides,”
Bai Shuangshuang continued, her speaking pace faster than before, as if she was growing more confident.
“Your Highness doesn’t need to see these great clans and the local government as a single entity. Their alliance is just based on mutual interest. It’s fragile. Even within a clan, it’s not a united front. The different branches are constantly squabbling.”
Bai Shuangshuang had firsthand experience with this.
The Bai Family’s relationship with the county government was purely one of mutual benefit, and the family was constantly at war with itself.
“At the right time, drive a wedge between them. Use ‘light sentencing’ as bait to make the great clans break with the local government and sell them out. Considering the relationship between the Imperial Court and the Prince’s Mansion… the court must have plenty of spies planted in the Southern Region, right? This would be a perfect chance to root them out, wouldn’t it?”
She spoke these words in a light, airy tone, as if commenting on the weather.
Zhao Qingchuan and Hengyang Xiansheng exchanged another glance.
Difficult situation?
Court spies?
They had never revealed this information to Bai Shuangshuang.
She had deduced it herself.
In truth, they had already approved of this young girl after she answered the first question.
They already had answers for the remaining questions in their own minds.
They were simply testing Bai Shuangshuang.
Hengyang Xiansheng was silent for a moment, then asked one final question.
“To execute this plan… where do we begin?”
Bai Shuangshuang blinked.
Her mindset had shifted slightly.
She suddenly realized this was an opportunity.
She had gained a foothold in the Prince’s Mansion, but merely being established wasn’t enough.
If she could earn the trust of the Prince of Jingnan and use the Prince’s Mansion as a springboard, then tracking down her Senior Sister and finding a major sect to return to the Cultivation World would be much easier.
She needed to seize this chance.
Bai Shuangshuang took a deep breath.
“Lingxi County.”
Her voice was a bit steadier than before, but her toes were still lightly tapping under the chair, betraying her inner turmoil.
“That’s my hometown. I’m familiar with the local clans and government. More importantly—”
She looked up at Zhao Qingchuan, her gaze clear and earnest.
“I have old grievances with the Bai Family. It’s only natural for me to volunteer to investigate. If Your Highness sends me, no one will suspect it’s part of the Prince’s Mansion’s grand scheme. They’ll just think a little maid hit the big time, returned home in glory, and is now settling personal scores.”
She paused, then added.
“That’s the perfect cover. It lets us test whether this plan works, without alerting the other great clans.”
Hengyang Xiansheng’s eyes lit up when he heard this.
This coincided perfectly with his own thoughts.
Bai Shuangshuang really was the ideal starting piece.
No one could replace her.
Zhao Qingchuan was silent for three breaths, then slammed his palm on the table and stood up.
“Excellent!”
His face bore the brightest expression it had in days.
His eyes shone with the light of one who had found what he was searching for after a long, hard hunt.
“Bai Shuangshuang—”
Bai Shuangshuang instinctively straightened her back.
“I hereby appoint you as the Prince’s Mansion’s Special Envoy for Spiritual Fields! You will depart for Lingxi County at your earliest convenience!”
Zhao Qingchuan unfastened a jade pendant from his waist, placed it on the table, and slid it over to her.
“Wield this jade pendant, and it shall be as if I am there in person!”
Bai Shuangshuang stared at the jade pendant, stunned.
It was made of white jade, warm to the touch and finely textured, with a flood dragon carved on the front.
She reached out her hand.
The moment her fingertips touched the jade pendant, her fingers curled slightly.
She grasped it.
The pendant was heavier than she had anticipated, but she held it steady.
“Thank you, Your Highness—”
Zhao Qingchuan watched her hold the pendant.
There was a light in her eyes, but she was trying hard to suppress it so she wouldn’t look too proud.
Zhao Qingchuan couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
This girl was just a young lass after all.
How did his daughter ever come up with the idea of bringing this girl back?
He suddenly felt that Bai Shuangshuang was quite similar to his youngest daughter…
Bai Shuangshuang tucked the jade pendant away, curled back up in her chair, and her feet began to lightly swing again.
Once… twice…
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.