Volume One: The Emperor’s Sword Chapter 66: A Useful Tool for Silencing

“Yu Sheng, congratulations, congratulations!”
Lan Yu Sheng had just finished his wine and was about to fetch another jug when he heard someone speaking behind him.
Turning around, he saw a young man dressed in white, his face adorned with a gentle, harmless smile.
“Ha! Brother Yun, you’ve finally arrived. Grandfather was still talking about you this morning. I’ve missed you so much!” Lan Yu Sheng patted Yun Que’s shoulder, laughing. “You look great—much sturdier than you were as a child!”
“I’m a carefree person, I eat well and sleep well,” Yun Que replied with a hearty laugh.
“When I’m done with today’s business, I’ll take you around the imperial city. There’s so much fun here, far livelier than Yanmen Town.”
A servant handed him a new jug of wine, and Lan Yu Sheng took it, ready to continue his rounds.
“Don’t rush to toast just yet,” Yun Que said, pointing at his face. “Your wound has reopened. You’d better bandage it quickly; today is your wedding day, and seeing blood is unlucky.”
Lan Yu Sheng’s facial wound, inflicted by the Duke of Yu’s two slaps, had indeed split open. If left untreated, it would soon start bleeding again.
“Alright, I’ll go apply some medicine and be right back,” Lan Yu Sheng said.
“I’ll help you. When you got hurt as a child, I was always the one to apply medicine. I’m good at this,” Yun Que insisted.
Lan Yu Sheng hesitated, but seeing he couldn’t refuse Yun Que, he smiled and agreed.
Medicines for wounds were never lacking in the Duke’s residence.
A servant soon brought the medicine, and Yun Que expertly disinfected and treated the wound, his hands deft and practiced.
“Brother Yun, you must get hurt often, you’re quite skilled at bandaging,” Lan Yu Sheng joked.
“Yu Sheng, you’ve grown distant. You used to call me Little Que, now it’s ‘Brother Yun,’” Yun Que remarked.
“Oh! I forgot. The wedding has me dizzy since dawn. Don’t you dare be a stranger, Little Que.” Lan Yu Sheng tapped his own head.
“How could I? I’d never be a stranger to you.”
While carefully applying the medicine, Yun Que continued, “Such a deep wound—Grandpa Lan said it was a wolf that did it. That’s dangerous.”
“It’s just a scratch. You know I love hunting; a day without drawing the bow and my hands itch,” Lan Yu Sheng replied, laughing.
“Is the wolf that scratched you dead?” Yun Que asked.
“One shot, killed it! My archery is no boast—hitting a willow leaf at a hundred paces is nothing,” Lan Yu Sheng declared.
“Excellent archery. But didn’t you promise never to hunt wolves again?” Yun Que pressed.
Lan Yu Sheng paused, saying, “Did I? Maybe it’s been too long; I forgot.”
“Not so long ago—just last year, when you visited me at Yanmen Town,” Yun Que went on, still meticulously applying medicine. “You said you encountered a mother wolf chasing a spotted deer on the road. You shot her in high spirits, but she gave birth to three cubs before dying.
Because they lost their mother, the three cubs died soon after birth. You were heartbroken and swore never to hunt wild wolves again. You made the vow in front of me, invoking your entire family.”

Lan Yu Sheng listened intently, but the smile on his face began to fade.
Yun Que seemed unaware and continued speaking.
“Since losing their mother, the three cubs died one after another. You couldn’t bear it and swore never to hunt wolves again. You made the oath before me, calling upon your family as witness.”
Yun Que looked up, confused. “Yu Sheng, it’s been less than a year. You shouldn’t have forgotten your oath, let alone gone back to hunting wolves.”
“This time was an accident. I didn’t want to kill the wolf, but it attacked me first. In my anger, I forgot the oath,” Lan Yu Sheng shook his head and sighed.
“In a fit of anger? You value your promises and your family above all. You wouldn’t break an oath just because a wolf scratched you,” Yun Que said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he studied Lan Yu Sheng. “Are you really Yu Sheng?”
“Haha! Who else could I be? Enough, Little Que—my wound’s fine now. Come, I’ll take you somewhere,” Lan Yu Sheng laughed, grabbing Yun Que and heading toward the back of the Duke’s residence, his gaze growing darker.
“Where are we going? You’re acting strange today, like you’re a different person,” Yun Que remarked.
“Of course somewhere fun. A place we used to visit as kids. We’re almost there.”
Lan Yu Sheng hurried his steps, leading Yun Que to a deserted courtyard on the residence’s edge, where only a single wooden cabin stood, tranquil and secluded.
“I don’t remember us playing here,” Yun Que said, glancing around, only to be pushed into the cabin by Lan Yu Sheng.
Bang!
The heavy door slammed shut, plunging the room into darkness.
“Little Que, let me teach you a new game,”
Lan Yu Sheng smiled, pressing Yun Que into a large chair. He then triggered a mechanism on the chair’s back.
With a series of clicks, iron clasps sprang out from the chair, locking Yun Que’s wrists and ankles so tightly he couldn’t move.
So this chair was designed to restrain people!
“Yu Sheng, what are you doing?” Yun Que demanded, alarmed.
“Nothing much. I intend to kill you to silence you,” Lan Yu Sheng’s lips curled into a cold smile.
“Why?”
“Because you know too much.”
“So you’re not the real Lan Yu Sheng. Who are you?”
“Who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ll soon be dead.”
Lan Yu Sheng fetched a heavy bag from the corner, bulging and writhing with unknown contents.
“A murder in the Duke’s residence—aren’t you afraid Grandpa Lan will find out?”
“I am, which is why I brought you here. Don’t worry, I have ways to leave no trace. After today, you, Marquis Han Shui, will vanish from the world, and no one will ever know the true cause of your death.”

As he spoke, Lan Yu Sheng opened the bag and dumped out hundreds of black, monstrous insects.
Each was the size of a fist, resembling oversized cockroaches with hard shells on their backs and a row of fine teeth at their mouths, horrifying and repulsive.
“Corpse-eaters. They don’t just devour corpses—they eat the living, too,”
Lan Yu Sheng sneered, “Not even bones will remain. They’ll consume you completely, erasing you from existence!”
A rustling sound filled the air as the swarm climbed onto the chair, quickly covering Yun Que’s entire body, even several crawling onto his face.
“The windows and doors are specially made—no sound can escape. My little insects have been starving for days. Today, they’ll feast, hahahaha!”
“First, they’ll eat you. Then the bride. Finally, that old fool Lan Yu. I’ll be the Duke of Yu—second only to the emperor!”
“Cry out! Let me hear that wonderful sound!”
Lan Yu Sheng laughed wildly, but as he did, he noticed something strange.
Yun Que, his body swarmed by corpse-eaters, made no sound, eerily silent.
“What’s going on!”
Lan Yu Sheng’s laughter died instantly as he stared at the chair.
The mechanism was still locked, Yun Que hadn’t escaped, and his body was covered in insects.
Yet beneath the crawling bugs, Lan Yu Sheng glimpsed a gentle smile on Yun Que’s lips.
“A fine tool for silencing the living,”
As Yun Que spoke softly, the insects stilled, their tiny legs trembling.
With a whisper of sword energy, the corpse-eaters scattered like a retreating tide.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The iron clasps on the chair snapped one after another.
“You love hearing screams, do you? I can satisfy your perverse craving—but it won’t be me screaming…”
Rubbing his wrists, Yun Que stood up slowly, smiling warmly.
“It’ll be you.”