Chapter 117 — The Prince’s First Place
CHAPTER 117
The Prince’s First Place
“Third place seems to satisfy you,” Sima Yu said.
Shi Feng took the empty seat beside Ling Qingzhu. Three cups waited on the long table. Behind the Crown Prince, two guards stood beneath the royal banner, their early Foundation Establishment auras carefully restrained.
“It qualifies,” Shi Feng replied.
“That wasn't what His Highness meant,” Ge Fan said sharply.
Shi Feng glanced at the guard.
“Then His Highness can explain,” Shi Feng said.
Ge Fan's expression changed. Sima Yu raised a hand before the guard could speak again. The prince wore pale gold robes without a single loose fold. His late Foundation Establishment qi was steady, and his smile was just as controlled.
He looked every bit like Great Liang's finest young cultivator. Shi Feng knew what that appearance was worth.
“A young man should aim higher,” Sima Yu said. “Some might think you were afraid to challenge the next two places.”
“Then let them challenge you,” Shi Feng replied.
Ling Qingzhu lowered her cup. Her expression remained calm, but Shi Feng noticed the slight movement at the corner of her mouth.
Sima Yu noticed it too.
His fingers tightened around his own cup before relaxing again. Wen Shou cleared his throat from the end of the table. The mid Foundation Establishment official unrolled a route map and put two small weights on its corners.
“The three representatives may travel with the royal convoy,” Wen Shou said. “Separate travel is also permitted. All three must report in Qingyun City before the final bell on the stated day.”
“The convoy provides lodging and guards,” Sima Yu said. “There's no reason to refuse.”
“I have work to finish,” Shi Feng replied.
“My people can handle your little business,” Sima Yu said.
“No,” Shi Feng said.
The answer came without hesitation. Wen Shou kept his eyes on the map. Ge Fan looked furious, but nobody asked him a question.
Shi Feng thought, His people already tried to handle me. They won't be touching my furnace next.
He didn't need the prince's food, guards, or carriage. He needed to arrive on time. Those were different matters.
“Master Shi values independence,” Sima Yu said lightly. “I hope it remains useful outside the capital.”
“It's been useful inside it,” Shi Feng replied.
For a moment, neither man touched his cup.
Ling Qingzhu looked from one to the other. She knew the banquet had made Sima Yu resent the marriage as a public challenge to his household's control. The coldness in Shi Feng's eyes was different from ordinary annoyance, though.
He rarely looked at anybody like that.
Wen Shou moved one of the weights.
Before Wen Shou could distribute the report tokens, Sima Yu laid a second paper on the table.
“A matter from Yunze,” Sima Yu said. “The Wei household requests judgment before a man accused of killing its head represents Great Liang.”
Ge Fan opened the side door. Gao An entered wearing a borrowed formal robe, his hands held tightly together. Shi Feng recognised the steward from Bian Cui’s gate. So Gao An was the witness mentioned in the Wei demand. The distant watcher had finally acquired a room full of listeners.
Ling Qingzhu's cup stopped above the table.
Wen Shou took the accusation and read it. The household seal was genuine. It named Wei Renshan, repeated the old demand for surrender and offered Gao An as a witness.
“You saw the fight?” Wen Shou asked.
“Yes,” Gao An said. “From the upper path. I followed Elder Wei.”
“Why?” Wen Shou asked.
“He was looking for his son,” Gao An said. “He said Shi Feng knew what happened.”
Sima Yu sat back. The room had become quiet enough to hear the paper move. A household killer wasn't a suitable representative. The prince didn't need a perfect crime if the accusation kept Shi Feng at the city office until departure closed.
“What happened first?” Wen Shou asked.
“Elder Wei ordered him to kneel,” Gao An said. “He refused. Then Elder Wei struck.”
Wen Shou looked up.
“Struck whom?” Wen Shou asked.
“Shi Feng,” Gao An said. “He was entitled to question him. A Foundation Establishment elder doesn't need a boy's permission.”
Shi Feng said nothing. Gao An had seen enough to tell the truth and understood it badly enough to believe the truth served his employer.
“Was Shi Feng attacking when the first blow came?” Wen Shou asked.
“No,” Gao An said. “He was standing by the quarry wall.”
“Was there a city warrant?” Wen Shou asked.
“The household demand,” Gao An said, pointing at the paper.
“That isn't a warrant,” Wen Shou said.
Sima Yu's smile thinned.
“A man's death deserves more than a few questions,” Sima Yu said.
“It deserves the correct ones,” Wen Shou said. “This witness describes a private attack, answered by the man attacked. That doesn't establish the crime alleged here.”
Gao An stared at the official. He had expected someone important to recognise Wei Renshan's authority. Instead he was being asked why the elder had attacked a traveller without a lawful order.
“He killed him,” Gao An said.
“I heard you,” Wen Shou said. “Did he pursue a surrendering man?”
“No,” Gao An said after a pause.
“Then I won't remove a qualified representative on this accusation,” Wen Shou declared, his voice carrying clearly through the open hall doors to the Ministry of Rites clerks and merchant factors waiting in the outer gallery. “The city office will retain Gao An's signed testimony as a lawful defense on the road, and the Southern Gate inquiry filed by the Wei household is hereby discharged.”
The clerk brought a fresh page. Gao An looked desperately toward Sima Yu, found only cold stone in the prince's face, and signed with a shaking brush.
A low murmur rippled across the outer gallery:
“The Eastern Palace brought a Yunze witness all this way and proved Shi Feng was defending himself!”
“Wait—Elder Wei Renshan was a Foundation Establishment clan head! Shi Feng killed a Foundation Establishment elder before he even entered the capital?”
“And the Southern Gate inquiry is discharged too—Sima Yu handed him a clean docket in front of the whole office!”
Ge Fan slammed the side lattice shut, his neck dark red, while Sima Yu's knuckles turned white against his jade belt clasp.
Ling Qingzhu set down her cup and looked across at Sima Yu.
“Shi Feng asked my household to leave the Wei demand to the proper office rather than our family seal,” Ling Qingzhu said clearly. “It seems His Highness saved us the trouble of summoning the witness.”
Sima Yu couldn't object without defending an unlawful ambush Wen Shou had just dismissed. He rose stiffly and left the hall without waiting for his attendants to announce his carriage.
Shi Feng accepted his reporting token and the stamped discharge slip that freed Pei Rong's Southern Gate surety.
On the quiet flagstone path outside the ministry gate, Ling Qingzhu stopped beneath an old locust tree and turned to face him.
“You said Foundation Establishment was recent,” Ling Qingzhu said quietly. “What realm were you in when you fought Wei Renshan?”
Shi Feng met her eyes above the veil. “Bone Refinement,” Shi Feng said. “He came after me over his son’s ambush on the western hill path. If I hadn’t killed him at that quarry, I wouldn’t have reached the capital.”
She stared at him. She had known the dead elder’s realm since their contract talks. What she hadn’t known was that Shi Feng had defeated him while still an entire major realm below him. His calm in the courtyard took on a different meaning.
“You asked for a hearing, not our seal to settle the accusation,” Ling Qingzhu said slowly. “You wanted proper evidence, and you didn’t want anyone looking closely at how a Bone Refinement cultivator killed Wei Renshan.”
“Both,” Shi Feng said honestly. “Until I had a rank of my own, a provincial clan's accusation was still a rope Sima Yu could pull.”
She let out a quiet breath and walked beside him toward Qingliu Lane. At the corner, Shi Feng glanced once toward the gold-fringed Eastern Palace carriage rolling toward the palace ward. Guo Zhen, Cao Wenshu, Zheng Jian—Sima Yu would never stop reaching for knives in the dark so long as he breathed. At Qingyun City, on the tournament platform, royal guards wouldn't be allowed to step onto the stone.