Chapter 77: Before the Throne

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“This is unexpectedly hard.”

Liu Jin looks at himself in the mirror with a furrowed brow. It is still not right. First, he tried making his features rounder, but that didn’t work. Then he tried making them harder and squarish, yet that felt off as well. In the end, Liu Jin settled for making minor changes. His red eyes are now a light shade of brown. His eyebrows are more pronounced, and his skin—which is usually quite pale and had remained that way even after days of walking under the sun—now possesses a healthy tan.

Beyond that, his face, which has started to lose the roundness of youth, is left mostly untouched. Some would say he is beginning to look like his father, but Liu Jin most definitely hasn’t thought so.

Not at all.

It just so happens that disguise arts are far more difficult than Xiao Nan made them seem.

It should come as no surprise. Xiao Nan made everything look easy.

As soon as Liu Jin finishes that thought, he is assaulted by a sense of wrongness. It is as sudden as it is strong. It catches Liu Jin unprepared, and it takes him a while to realize why it is even there. It takes him time to understand what a foolish thought he just allowed to form in his head.

Makes.

Xiao Nan always makes everything look easy.

There is no need to think about him in past tense.

“This will do.” Liu Jin stands up, the motion tilting the chair off-balance, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He moves away from the mirror, suddenly not interested in looking at his face. “Now, as for you…”

Liu Jin looks at Lei Kong and points to the chair. Lei Kong obeys, resignation oozing from his every pore. It is a welcome change from the pale-faced fear he showed during the auction but still far from ideal.

“Are you scared?”

“My lord, I would have to be a very foolish man not to be scared. The reputation of the Eternal Raging Valley is known even in the Storm Dragon Empire. Even Murong Bang must tread carefully when dealing with them.”

Liu Jin, who is in the middle of committing Lei Kong’s features to memory so that he can better change them, finds his thought process violently interrupted.

“Must?” he repeats, slowly and dangerously. “Not would, but must?”

“That is so, my lord,” Lei Kong replies, his face perfectly blank.

Liu Jin forces himself to take a deep breath.

“Did it not occur to you to mention that before?”

“My lord implied he did not wish to know more about General Murong and the Storm Dragon Empire, so this Lei Kong kept his mouth shut.”

He is serious.

There is no guilt on Lei Kong’s face. No awareness of his blunder. There is nothing there but an idiotic compulsion to follow orders to the best of his ability.

“I see.” Liu Jin suddenly finds Lei Kong’s neck to be very interesting to look at. His fingers twitch ever so slightly. “There are… a great many questions I suddenly want to ask.”

Yet, would it be prudent to ask them now?

Liu Jin becomes keenly aware of the letter resting on his nightstand, an invitation from Branch Master Ruan. It was brought in by a servant earlier today. Tomorrow, Liu Jin is expected to show up at the Eternal Raging Valley.

Naturally, rejecting such a gracious invitation is not an option.

“Let me ask you one question for now,” Liu Jin says, quickly making up his mind. “Murong Bang’s dealings with the Eternal Raging Valley… do you think they will, in any way, affect what will happen tomorrow?”

Lei Kong thinks about it for a moment and shakes his head.

“I doubt it, my lord. The Eternal Raging Valley was a distant—”

“Enough.” Liu Jin holds up his hand to stop Lei Kong from saying more. “That is all I need to know.”

No need to flee the city overnight. A good thing, he supposes.

“The rest, I will ask you when this is done. Still, I suppose this explains why you are so scared of them.”

“My lord does not need to worry. No matter how afraid I am, this Lei Kong is resigned to this course of action.”

He says it solemnly. Grimly. He is the very picture of a man about to march to his death with pride.

Frankly, it annoys Liu Jin.

“I wonder. Are you trying to make me angry?” Liu Jin clicks his tongue. “We both know my emotions are muted, yet you seem to be making quite an effort.”

Lei Kong has the gall to look puzzled.

“My lord, I merely wish to be respectful.”

“Respect is appreciated. Sycophancy is not. I trust the line between the two is not that hard to grasp. If being useful is your aim then, by all means, speak your mind! I do not need the help of someone who will let me walk off a cliff while inwardly congratulating himself for how useful he is being! If you call yourself a tool, be useful!”

Maybe some people would appreciate someone who’d only follow orders blindly, but Liu Jin has no need for someone like that.

If it were Su An here, she’d already be calling him a moron and…

Liu Jin takes a deep breath.

No.

It is better if he doesn’t let his mind wander too much. Liu Jin has far too many urgent things to keep track of.

“If you fear making me angry so much that you’ll put both our lives at risk, I can only wonder just what it is that Murong Bang did to make you such a coward.”

That gets a reaction.

Anger.

It is small and faint, yet it’s there—a tiny spark shining in Lei Kong’s eyes for a single ephemeral moment. Is it dangerous? Most likely.

It is also a start.

“I apologize, my lord.” Lei Kong bows his head. “I will do my best to be honest with my thoughts from now on.”

“Good. Let’s try this again then,” Liu Jin says as he returns to working on Lei Kong’s face. “You think this will not end well. You think we might not survive this.”

“You are a person of keen insight, my lord.”

Liu Jin snorts. Some would call Lei Kong rude for saying something like that, yet Liu Jin doesn’t mind. In fact, Liu Jin far prefers that sort of response. He motions Lei Kong to keep going.

“I worry about Branch Manager Bianfu, my lord. If he speaks, the Eternal Raging Valley will know they’ve been scammed by us. Can we truly trust him to remain silent? Does my lord really have that much trust in him?”

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“A good question.” Liu Jin nods approvingly. Branch Manager Bianfu indeed knows quite a few things that could place them in danger. Even without mentioning that it was them who bid against Branch Master Ruan, there are quite a few ways in which he could make things troublesome for them.

For example, mentioning his connection to the Seven Leaves School.

However, Liu Jin has reason to believe he won’t do that.

“You are making the wrong assumption. It is not that I trust Branch Manager Bianfu. I merely trust him to look after his own interests. He is frustrated with the Eternal Raging Valley. If things continue as they are, then his auction house will start losing profit at a rapid pace due to Branch Master Ruan’s orders. By doing as I asked, he risked little and gained much. The fee he claimed for the thirty million Crimson Imperial Coins was quite something. It is safe to say his association with us has been more positive than negative.”

Liu Jin tries to sound confident as he speaks. He thinks he halfway manages it.

“Besides, if Branch Manager Bianfu betrays us, we can just reveal it was he who allowed us to bid against Branch Master Ruan. He will try to deny it, but it is not a situation he wishes to be put in.”

“I see my lord has given the matter much thought.”

“But you are still uncertain,” Liu Jin guesses.

Liu Jin takes a step back to admire the work he has done on Lei Kong’s face while also doing his best to keep his inner turmoil as exactly that—inner.

Lei Kong’s face is much chubbier now, hiding his square chin. His hair and eyes are a couple of shades lighter.

“Good enough. Walk slightly hunched to hide your physique, and that should do it.”

“Impressive, my lord.” Lei Kong looks at his face in the mirror. One of his fingers pokes his cheek. “As always, I remain surprised by your breadth of skills… yet I must voice some confusion. Why the disguises?”