Zhuge Buyi looked at the cup and frowned slightly.
Perhaps because he was distracted or for some other reason, he did not reach out to take it immediately.
After a moment, he hesitantly raised his eyes to look at Zhuge Heng and repeated:
“The Soul-Transferring Cup…?”
Zhuge Heng opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.
But before he could speak, he caught sight of Liu Dongfeng, who was still standing nearby, and stopped.
He pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded at Liu Dongfeng, as if giving him a reminder.
Liu Dongfeng was taken aback for a moment before realizing that his presence here at this particular moment was probably inappropriate. He tactfully withdrew, turning around and retreating into the secret passage connecting to the archive room.
As Liu Dongfeng’s footsteps gradually faded, only the grandfather and grandson remained outside Cui Xing Gate.
“This is an artifact passed down from our ancestor, Qiyueban, a thousand years ago. Here, take it and feel it.”
After Liu Dongfeng had gone some distance away, Zhuge Heng extended the Soul-Transferring Cup a little closer to Zhuge Buyi.
Zhuge Buyi merely looked at it, not quite daring to take it. He even subconsciously stepped back half a pace.
Seeing this, Zhuge Heng directly grabbed his hand and forcibly stuffed the Soul-Transferring Cup into it, leaving him no room to refuse.
The moment his fingertips touched the cup, Zhuge Buyi was surprised to discover that although it looked cold, it was actually warm to the touch.
Its texture was smooth and delicate. It looked like bone, yet felt like jade.
At the same time, as he sensed these qualities, the power contained within the Soul-Transferring Cup seemed to penetrate his skin and touch his soul.
The sensation was truly wondrous. It was as though, after a thousand years of the passage of time, the first ray of sunlight from some morning a thousand years ago had gently brushed the top of his head through the long expanse of time, even though he was underground in the darkness of night. He felt both awe and peace.
“Only the successive heads of the Zhuge family are allowed to know what I’m about to tell you. Buyi, you are the child I value most. Today, I’m telling you everything, and I believe you should understand what I mean.”
“I…”
The meaning had been made so clear. How could Zhuge Buyi possibly fail to understand?
His grandfather intended to give him the title of young family head and have him prepare to take on the responsibility and burden.
Zhuge Buyi could not help panicking and hurriedly shook his head.
“Family Head, no… Grandpa, I’ve never considered that possibility. I’ve never even thought about any of this. This is far too sudden…”
For Zhuge Buyi, all of this really was sudden.
Who could have imagined that the starting point of all these dream like events today was simply his brother pulling him out of bed to visit Fu Sang, who had been poisoned? But afterward, the plot underwent one reversal after another and gone completely off the rails. Somehow, it fast-forwarded straight to his grandfather asking him to inherit the position of family head.
“I know you’ve never had such thoughts, but as I said earlier, the younger generations of the Nether Path are getting worse with each generation. In your generation, you’re the only candidate left. Originally, I intended to wait a little longer, at least until you were older, had finished your studies, and settled your mind. But plans can’t keep up with changes. Everything has happened so suddenly and so quickly… Our Nether Path places the greatest importance on cause, effect, fate, and destiny. Buyi, this is your fate.”
Zhuge Heng sighed.
“To become a qualified family head, the responsibilities on your shoulders will be greater than you imagine. You can learn the other everyday matters gradually, but you must listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”
Hearing this, Zhuge Buyi furrowed his brows. His expression remained resistant, but when he raised his eyes again, Zhuge Heng was staring directly into them with a stern expression. His gaze was imposing, and his decision was unquestionable.
After a long while, Zhuge Buyi finally seemed to have come to terms with it, or perhaps accepted his fate.
He sighed and nodded slightly.
Only then was Zhuge Heng finally satisfied.
He smiled at Zhuge Buyi and raised his hand to pat his shoulder reassuringly.
“This is a long story… Our Zhuge family has dominated the Nether Path and maintained nearly a thousand years of glory. Aside from the efforts of our ancestors, we also owe it to one person. You’ve met this person too. He is the family’s Shaosi, and his name is Zhuge Qi.”
“Zhuge Qi’s existence is very special. Even I don’t know much about his origins.”
“When the previous family head passed the position to me, he told me that I must show the Shaosi absolute respect and never neglect or offend him. That is because he supports the entire Zhuge family’s lifeline and fortune. He is the soul of the Zhuge family. Our family would never have developed to where it is today without this Shaosi.”
“These words have been passed down from one family head to the next for generations. Now, I’m telling you everything exactly as it was told to me, without leaving out a single word.”
“What I’m about to tell you may go beyond what you consider normal or what you can understand, but…every generation of Shaosi of the family is actually the same person. At least, the three generations of Shaosis I’ve seen all had the same face, and their names were also identical. They were all called Zhuge Qi.”
“Strictly speaking, Zhuge Qi cannot be considered a normal human being. His way of surviving is somewhat different from ours.”
“He cannot live past the age of twenty-two.”
“He doesn’t grow up or grow old. He remains forever in that same state. So, to be precise, his physical body cannot last more than twenty-two years.”
“One of the most important duties of becoming the Zhuge family head is helping the Shaosi replace his physical body.”
“This isn’t difficult to do. On the contrary, it’s very simple. All we need is this Soul-Transferring Cup.”
“When the Shaosi reaches his twenty-first birthday, his body will gradually become weak and decay. Therefore, on the day of his twenty-first birthday, we must use the Soul-Transferring Cup to collect a cup of his blood. Then, we select a girl from the main family’s direct bloodline who is around his age, preferably no older than twenty-two, and have her drink it.”
“…”
Hearing this, Zhuge Buyi tightened his grip on the Soul-Transferring Cup, squeezing it so hard that his knuckles turned white.
But Zhuge Heng did not notice this small detail and continued speaking to himself.
“After a year, the Shaosi’s body will completely die, and he will fall into a deep slumber. What you must do then is use the Soul-Transferring Cup to collect another cup of blood from that girl and have the Shaosi drink it. Then, quietly wait three years for him to awaken. After that, he will once again be able to protect the Zhuge family for another twenty-two years.”
By this point, Zhuge Buyi’s face had already grown somewhat pale.
“Th-then… what will happen to the girl?”
“I’m not too sure.” Zhuge Heng deliberately brushed aside Zhuge Buyi’s question.
“She only drinks a cup of blood and has a cup of blood drawn. What could happen to her?”
“…What could happen to her?” Zhuge Buyi repeated these words in disbelief.
“They’ll die, won’t they…?”
He stared intently at Zhuge Heng’s face, trying to find even the slightest trace of genuine emotion there, but to no avail.
He pressed his lips together and declared firmly to himself:
“They’ll die…”
Hearing Zhuge Buyi’s words, Zhuge Heng remained expressionless. His tone was just as calm when he spoke, as though they were not talking about a living human life, but merely an insignificant little insect that had crawled beneath a flowerpot on a summer day.
“Perhaps they will die. In my experience, those girls die in all kinds of accidents three hundred and sixty-five days after drinking the Shaosi’s blood. Perhaps it has something to do with their fortune running out. But you needn’t worry or feel sorry for them, because their contribution will bring about the rebirth of the Shaosi and even the entire Zhuge family.”
“…”
Zhuge Buyi lowered his head and looked at the Soul-Transferring Cup in his hands.
He frowned and said with difficulty:
“Grandpq, do you think… using other people’s lives to exchange for benefits is the right thing to do?”
“Whether it’s right or wrong, the Zhuge family has always done things this way. We can only follow suit. After all, the path taken by our predecessors has already been proven absolutely correct. We can’t allow a family that has prospered for a thousand years to be destroyed by our own hands, can we?”
Hearing what sounded like criticism and even a lecture from Zhuge Buyi, Zhuge Heng felt somewhat displeased, and his tone grew harsher.
“When I first received the Soul-Transferring Cup from your great-great-grandfather, I asked the same question. His answer was, ‘You’ll soon learn that there are many things in this world more important than human life.’ Now, I’ve found my own answer, so let me give you mine as well. It’s worth it. Very much worth it.”
No matter how grand and righteous Zhuge Heng made it sound, Zhuge Buyi still couldn’t accept it.
“But that’s a human life! You said it yourself. Those are the lives of girls from the family’s direct bloodline! One of them could be your daughter or your niece. No matter how you look at it, they’re your own relatives. Are you really going to send them off to die without knowing why, just to provide nourishment for some vague, intangible thing and a monster who is a stranger to us and no one knows how many years old?!”
“Monster? You must not disrespect the Shaosi! I told you, the Shaosi is the soul of the family! Compared with the prosperity of the family, let alone one human life…even a hundred lives would be worth sacrificing!”
“Everything comes with a gain and a loss, and every loss brings a gain. This is the best outcome our ancestors arrived at after weighing the pros and cons! You have such a good family background now, with all your food and clothing provided for and a life in which you can spend money lavishly without worrying about anything. You owe all of that to the family and to the Shaosi’s protection over the past thousand years! Those girls did not die in vain for the family and the Shaosi. Their deaths should be an honor to them!”
Zhuge Heng tried to suppress Zhuge Buyi’s anger by shouting even louder.
After yelling out that long speech, his face and neck turned red. Trembling, he gripped his dragon-headed cane and coughed several times before finally recovering.
“…”
Listening to Zhuge Heng, Zhuge Buyi slowly blinked.
Then he smiled faintly, seemingly mocking himself.
“Grandpa, it turns out they were right about you. You really are that kind of person…”
Compared with his intense anger earlier, the emotions in these words were noticeably calmer.
As the final syllable faded, Zhuge Buyi seemed to have made a decision. Gritting his teeth, he gripped the Soul-Transferring Cup tightly, raised his hand sharply, and, before Zhuge Heng could stop him, used all his strength to throw it hard against the ground!
The artifact made from human bones was not particularly sturdy. With a sharp “crack,” the Soul-Transferring Cup hit the ground and instantly shattered into pieces scattered everywhere.
Zhuge Heng’s eyes widened.
He understood that a conflict between reality and one’s values could be difficult to accept. Zhuge Buyi had simply received too much education in truth, goodness, and beauty since childhood, and his nature was too pure. He needed a little more time to think things through.
One day, he would understand the painstaking efforts of his predecessors.
Why was Zhuge Heng so certain of this…? Because he had gone through the same thing himself.
When he first heard about it, he was extremely unwilling. But gradually, he came to terms with it. So what if people died?
What could be more important than the family’s glory?
After all, glory was something he could bask in, and benefits were something he could enjoy. As for other people’s lives… to put it bluntly, it wasn’t him who died. What did it have to do with him?
It was normal for children to admire righteousness and aspire to be good people. Even if Zhuge Buyi couldn’t understand it for a while, he could simply throw a tantrum and get over it.
But Zhuge Heng never expected Zhuge Buyi’s reaction to be so intense and so decisive that he would actually smash the extremely important Soul-Transferring Cup.
The shattered pieces of the artifact on the ground were like the shattered future of the family.
Zhuge Heng stood there in a daze, barely supporting himself with his dragon-headed cane.
His mouth hung open, but remained silent and unresponsive for a long time.
When he finally came to his senses, he leaned on his cane and approached Zhuge Buyi. He swung his arm back and slapped him hard across the face, with enough force to nearly knock Zhuge Buyi off his feet.
“You unfilial wretch!!!”
Zhuge Buyi turned his face aside and lowered his head, standing silently where he was without making any more futile arguments.
One slap wasn’t enough. Seeing him act as though he didn’t care about being scalded by boiling water, Zhuge Heng panted heavily and wanted to hit him again.
But just then…
“Clap! Clap! Clap!”
Clear applause suddenly rang out in the vast, empty space.
Zhuge Heng froze and stopped moving, turning toward the source of the sound.
He saw Fu Sang emerge from behind a huge boulder in the corner.
He clapped casually as he walked along the protruding part of the boulder, then sat down at its edge. Looking down at them from above, he raised an eyebrow slightly.
“What a wonderful show.”
“It’s you…” Seeing him appear, Zhuge Heng seemed to suddenly understand something.
He gritted his teeth, his voice almost squeezed out from between them.
It was as though all the anger and questions in his heart had finally reached their outlet. The overwhelming emotions made Zhuge Heng’s beard and voice tremble together.
“…It’s you!!!”
“What? What do you mean, it’s me?” Fu Sang found this inexplicable and spread his hands.
“It wasn’t me.”
Seeing Fu Sang appear, Zhuge Buyi was clearly stunned as well. The surprise on his face was impossible to hide or fake.
He took a long look at Fu Sang, then seemed to think of something and turned back toward the secret passage he had come through. Liu Dongfeng was also hurrying toward them.
He almost immediately understood what had happened, but did not react much. He merely sighed silently and lowered his head, staring blankly at the pieces of human bone scattered on the ground.
“You little beast… At a time like this, there’s no need to keep pretending, is there?”
Zhuge Heng had not noticed Zhuge Buyi’s expression.
At this moment, all he could think about was Fu Sang.
He smiled somewhat viciously.
“So… so you were all in this together! You went to all this trouble and put on such a good show just to trick these secrets out of me? Why? To get justice for Zhuge Lin’s daughter, who died so miserably? How ridiculous!
“…Fine… Fine! I underestimated you. I never thought you and your master-disciple partner would be so capable. Not only did you break through my family’s ancestral formation and cause such a commotion, but you also took advantage of the chaos to turn the heir of my Zhuge family against me and tricked him into destroying the lifeline of my Zhuge family! This is truly…”
“What are you talking about?” Fu Sang interrupted Zhuge Heng’s rambling.
He scoffed, genuinely wanting to applaud Zhuge Heng’s stupidity.
“I remember telling you that if your family ever really turned against itself, I would definitely stand on your side for the sake of Zhuge Lin’s head. In fact, I personally lean more toward you. After all, the person I have a grudge against isn’t your entire Zhuge family. Joining forces with you first to kill Zhuge Lin is obviously my best option. Why would I pass up such a favorable opportunity and instead help Zhuge Lin coordinate from within and outside, deceiving your precious grandson into defying you?”
Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Don’t wrong me. I’m really here just here to watch the show. Why don’t you take another guess?”
“…Impossible.” Zhuge Heng glared at him. It was unclear whether he genuinely hadn’t guessed that possibility or simply refused to accept reality.
He stumbled backward, leaning heavily on his dragon-headed cane, and kept repeating:
“Impossible!”
“What’s impossible?”
To be fair, the old man was truly arrogant and stupid. He had taken a hand of good cards and played them into a complete mess, and he had been led astray with ridiculous ease.
From the moment Zhuge Lin framed him and gotten him taken into the Spirit Supervision Bureau, Fu Sang has been wondering what the “last favor” Zhuge Lin wanted him to help with actually was.
Was it to help him take the blame? That didn’t seem likely.
Later, when Zhuge Heng appeared and proposed a deal, taking him back to the main branch, Fu Sang finally figured it out. Zhuge Lin wanted him to serve as a decoy, exposed in the open to attract the enemy’s attention and cover for the person truly hidden in the shadows.
And Zhuge Heng had completely lived up to Zhuge Lin’s painstaking efforts.
Ever since their first meeting at the Spirit Supervision Bureau, Zhuge Heng seemed to be showing tremendous sincerity. But in reality, he never intended to trust Fu Sang from the very beginning. He had already decided that Fu Sang is bait Zhuge Lin had thrown out, deliberately putting himself in danger to coordinate with Zhuge Lin from the inside.
One mistake after another, all of them completely wrong.
Fu Sang sat on the edge of the boulder, gently tapping its edge with his heel now and then. He seemed to be in a rather good mood.
“You’ve been so busy guarding against me that you’ve focused all your attention on me. But you shouldn’t only be watching me. Why not pay more attention to the people around you?”
Fu Sang could naturally see that Zhuge Heng did not genuinely want to cooperate with him.
Although Zhuge Heng was selfish and cold-hearted, capable of doing anything for his own interests, could someone who valued family and power so much really accept Zhuge Buyi becoming family head while carrying Fu Sang’s blood oath? Could he really allow the Zhuge family to fall under the shadow of an outsider’s control?
It made no sense.
Over the past few days, Zhuge Heng had constantly been testing where Fu Sang stood.
Fu Sang guessed that if Zhuge Heng confirmed he was on Zhuge Lin’s side, he would immediately move to eliminate him and prevent future trouble. But if he wasn’t, Zhuge Heng could still pretend to be accommodating before discarding him once he was no longer useful.
Fu Sang initially didn’t want to follow Zhuge Lin’s plan, but he had a feeling that if he did, there might be a good show to watch in the future. So why not give them a kind push and help them along? After all, he had nothing to lose by watching dogs fight among themselves.
He kept delaying things and challenging Zhuge Heng’s limits, clouding his judgment. After several days, he had enjoyed himself, and he had more or less gathered the information he wanted.
All that remained was to watch the show. It was just that he didn’t like watching the plot from the audience’s perspective. He preferred an all-knowing, godlike perspective.
He told Liu Dongfeng that he wanted to put himself in the game and muddy these waters, making the whole affair more exciting and full of twists. But not long ago, he discovered that he didn’t need to do anything at all. The sediment in these waters was already much greater than he had imagined.
The mess in the Zhuge family was truly spectacular.
“…?” Perhaps because of Fu Sang’s words about the people around him, Zhuge Heng warily took half a step back.
He subconsciously glanced at Zhuge Buyi, who was standing nearby.
“…What do you mean? Buyi has nothing to do with this. If it weren’t for you…?!”
“I didn’t mean him,” Fu Sang corrected himself after a pause.
“At least, not in that sentence.”
The old man had been arrogant his entire life and stupid his entire life.
Even now, he still suspected that everything was merely a scheme Fu Sang and Zhuge Lin set up to sow discord. Even when Fu Sang mentioned the people around him, his gaze only moved among the people present.
That was, until another set of footsteps rang out from in front of Cui Xing Gate.
The footsteps were somewhat dragging. The soles of the shoes scraped against the rough ground, each step producing a long, drawn-out sound that seemed particularly out of place in the vast, quiet space.
Zhuge Heng froze for a moment, then turned toward the sound.
Someone emerged from the shadows.
She wore a loose, long cotton-and-linen dress with a long cardigan over it. Her long hair was casually clipped up at the back of her head with a claw clip. She had no makeup on, and her features were plain and clean. She looked fairly young overall, but the fine lines at the corners of her eyes and brows betrayed her age.
There was a lifelessness about her that seemed to emerge only after someone had been worn down to the extreme. It was as if all her feelings and thoughts had been emptied out, leaving behind nothing but a useless shell.
“Father… you said that sacrificing everything for the family’s glory was worth it.”
Zhuge Mingyun stopped and slowly raised her head. Beneath the shadow of the loose hair on her forehead, her eyes looked dull and unfocused.
“Then… how about I sacrifice you for my daughter?”
