Chapter 55: Class Game (Twenty-One)

It was already evening, but at this hour, the Crown Prince, who was usually half-dead at night, appeared dressed in splendid brocade robes, radiant like a divine being. Two young attendants stood behind him as he made a grand entrance, heading straight to the seat prepared for him.

He had just entered, and the doors had not yet closed, when a commotion erupted from outside.

He was heard before he was seen.

“Since there’s a banquet, why wasn’t I informed in advance? I could have made preparations.”

A glimpse of green robe hem caught the eye, and the rumored “Second Prince” walked in.

Following behind was Fu Wuxuan in a black robe.

Yun Xueqing thought of how Li Yulin had clearly been bedridden with severe injuries, yet now he appeared as if nothing had happened.

Were all the members of their royal family like this—gravely ill one moment and fully recovered the next?

There must be something strange going on, but now was not the time to investigate.

The Crown Prince, seated at the head table, suddenly beckoned to Yun Xueqing, as if teasing a pet. “Come here, sit with me.”

After all, the Crown Prince and Yun Xueqing were married, so it was only natural for them to sit together. However, those in the know shot them subtle glances.

Yun Xueqing did not move.

Fu Wuxuan, sitting beside him, suddenly spoke up. “I am good friends with Young Master Yun. Tonight, I have much to discuss with him. Could the Crown Prince yield this seat?”

His words made the atmosphere even more delicate.

Fu Wuxuan was from the Second Prince’s camp, while Yun Xueqing’s marriage to the Crown Prince clearly placed him in the Crown Prince’s faction.

Two people with no apparent connection were privately linked—this complex web of relationships was hard for anyone to decipher.

Yun Xueqing had no intention of letting them speculate further. Ignoring the Crown Prince’s eyes filled with malicious intent, he walked straight to Fu Wuxuan’s side and sat down.

Yun Xueqing did not recognize Su Mingxi, the host of the Qionglin Banquet. He was not one of the challengers Yun Xueqing had seen before, so he assumed he was a native of this original world.

Su Mingxi raised his wine cup, a warm smile on his face. “With both Your Highnesses gracing the banquet, this humble gathering is truly honored.”

Fu Wuxuan smiled but gave no face. “This isn’t your home—how can you call it humble?”

Su Mingxi’s smile faded slightly, but he did not argue. “I hosted this banquet to celebrate two things.”

No one spoke, all waiting for him to continue.

Su Mingxi set down his cup. “Has anyone heard of the Ginseng Fruit?”

Fu Wuxuan replied, “Isn’t that something from storybooks?”

He was not alone; everyone began to grow curious.

In the tales, the Ginseng Fruit could extend life and add thousands of years to one’s lifespan. Could Su Mingxi have actually found it?

The pursuit of longevity and immortality was the instinct of all living beings, and no one present was an exception.

Even the First Emperor had spent years seeking an elixir for longevity without success. Could the legendary Ginseng Fruit, said to grant such benefits, have fallen into Su Mingxi’s hands?

Su Mingxi opened a blank folding fan with a suave smile. “I sought out immortals on sacred mountains and consulted millions of sorcerers. At last, I obtained the formula for the legendary Ginseng Fruit.”

Someone’s eyes widened in surprise. “A formula?”

Su Mingxi confirmed, “Naturally. The naturally grown Ginseng Fruit is rare and unattainable—you’d have to find the legendary Penglai Immortal Mountain… but Penglai Immortal Mountain only opens to those with immortal roots. We mortals cannot obtain it easily.”

He shifted tone. “We can’t get the natural one, but if we manufacture it artificially, it’s simple to obtain.”

With the formula, man-made versions could achieve the same effect.

His words dripped with weirdness everywhere, yet the eyes of everyone present showed no doubt or fear—only fanaticism, as if they found nothing wrong with what he said.

The clear-headed Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan both knew that if they alone remained indifferent amid the crowd’s fervor, it would draw attention.

So they could only pretend to be like the others, feigning curiosity about the legendary “Ginseng Fruit.”

Su Mingxi observed the crowd’s reactions and smirked in satisfaction. He closed his fan and clapped his hands. Immediately, four people in white robes and Veil Hats that hid their faces carried in a table.

It was a rectangular table, about two meters long but only a meter wide—just enough to fit an adult.

The table was not small, covered with a white cloth that concealed something beneath.

It did not look too heavy, hardly requiring four people to carry it, yet they handled it with extreme caution, as if afraid to damage whatever lay atop it.

They maintained perfect balance and gently set the table down.

Yun Xueqing eyed the white cloth and the dips and bulges beneath it, a bad premonition rising.

Sure enough, Su Mingxi smiled faintly and abruptly pulled off the cloth, revealing the corpse lying underneath.

Strictly speaking, it was not quite a corpse, for the person on the table did not emit the stench of true death but had their eyes closed.

It did not look dead—more like asleep.

Only the upper half remained, severed at the waist; from the navel down, it was gone.

The skin was transparently pale, gleaming under the candlelight like a thin membrane through which one could almost see the organs inside.

The mouth was stuffed full of fresh flowers, as were the palms and navel—every place where flowers could be inserted was filled.

The pallid, translucent corpse, adorned with colorful blooms, lay neatly on the table, exuding an eerie dissonance everywhere.

Yun Xueqing had seen plenty of evil arts; evil cultivators typically skinned and disemboweled the powerless for sacrifices, scenes of extreme gore.

But he had never seen someone turned into this.

Su Mingxi’s face lit up with weird fanaticism. “This is the legendary Ginseng Fruit!”

It was clearly a garishly adorned corpse, utterly unrelated to any fruit.

Yun Xueqing smelled nothing, but his eyes could track the flow of auras. He saw black qi emanating from the corpse, drifting outward in all directions.

The invited noble scions and nobles gazed at it with raw hunger.

Like demons long fallen to hell, shedding their human disguises to reveal their vicious cores.

They stared at the corpse on the table, unmasked greed in their eyes, waiting only for Su Mingxi’s command to swarm it like delicacies, tearing it to shreds.

The Crown Prince, who had been silent, glanced at Yun Xueqing—whose expression had shifted several times—and chuckled darkly. “Mingxi, it’s a fine item, but there must be order to things… If just anyone vies with me for it, wouldn’t that be chaos?”

Su Mingxi, unsure of his scheme, feigned humility with an arched hand and touched his sleeve as if troubled. “What does Your Highness mean?”

The Crown Prince sneered, eyeing Yun Xueqing with undisguised chill and malice. “As master of the East Palace, I wish to taste it first. Surely I have that right.”

No one dared challenge what the Crown Prince wanted.

The other nobles glanced at the scheming Crown Prince; no matter their reluctance, they retracted their fangs and waited for scraps.

Yun Xueqing’s face darkened slightly, sensing the man was targeting him.

Sure enough, he heard the Crown Prince say, “The Crown Princess and I are of one mind, our bond unbreakable… Such a longevity-granting treasure naturally falls to him to enjoy first.”

He laid bare his overt scheme without shame.

With his status invoked, no one could refuse.

The black qi from the corpse might be a boon to weirds, but for ordinary people like them, even touching it was unthinkable.

If the qi was untouchable, how much more so devouring the body.

Yun Xueqing had no idea where this corpse came from and no interest in finding out. Now, he could only desperately seek a way to evade this calamity.

A corpse venting black qi was absolutely inedible—likely fatal—but in this situation, how could he refuse?

Yun Xueqing thought for a moment and spoke. “I am a vegetarian and do not eat meat.”

Crown Prince: “Vegetarianism?”

What was that?

Yun Xueqing smoothly changed tack. “I am a Daoist priest. I don’t eat meat or drink alcohol.”

“You, a Daoist priest? Daoists don’t marry. No such rule.”

That night, Yun Xueqing had sealed him with a talisman, immobilizing him all evening.

From that night, he had known this man might truly be connected to Daoism.

He still harbored resentment for that night, and now Yun Xueqing dared mention being a Daoist. The Crown Prince seethed inwardly, smirking. “Since you’ve broken your vows by marrying, what’s eating meat or drinking to you?”

His tone deepened. “Besides, you’re not eating meat—you’re eating Ginseng Fruit. Fruit doesn’t count as breaking precepts.”

Yun Xueqing said nothing, merely lowering his head.

Seeing no reaction, the Crown Prince’s voice grew low. “Do you intend to defy me?”

His volume was not loud; even in that deep timbre, a hint of triumphant ease could be heard.

Yun Xueqing found it odd and looked up. The noble scions seated in the Crown Prince’s row stared fixedly at him, eyes bloodshot, skin wrinkling, fangs bared—as if they would pounce and devour him in the next instant.

Defying the Crown Prince’s command was a death rule in this world.

Yun Xueqing instantly understood. He dug his nails into his palm to stay calm. “Your Highness, I am not disobeying your order.”

The surrounding nobles did not cease their transformations.

Yun Xueqing quietly retrieved the Calamity Blade from his Storage Space, preparing for the worst, while asking Su Mingxi aloud, “May I ask, Young Master Su, what is the raw material for this Ginseng Fruit?”

Su Mingxi paused, clearly not expecting him to struggle on the brink of death after provoking the Crown Prince. He smirked maliciously. “You know perfectly well, of course… “

His tone was light, as if stating nothing horrific. “Human flesh.”