Lu Yunqi waved his hand, thinking that since Murong Jie was currently practicing the Nine Deaths One Life Divine Art, let him practice!
If the divine art wasn't mastered, his conquest mission would be marked with an imperfect label, and the mission would ultimately fail.
In one of his past lives, he had considered trying a different approach to the conquest—or simply killing Murong Jie outright, suppressing him so he could never grow strong. But that had proven futile as well. After being killed, the completion rate had fallen below thirty percent—the worst result across all his conquest attempts.
Moreover, Murong Jie was plotting rebellion—one far more meticulous and calculated than his father's.
His father was a reckless brute. With six hundred thousand elite troops under his command, everyone knew he was the most capable of rebellion, which meant everyone kept a close watch on him.
Murong Jie was different. He had been the least favored prince before, and now with the title of "Young Prince Consort Lu" that made him even less likely to inherit the throne, it only made his rebellion easier to carry out.
Soaking in the bath, Lu Yunqi slowly closed his eyes, pondering what would happen next in the Worldline Conquest.
Ah, it should be the Second Prince's birthday banquet. They would be invited to attend.
This counted as a Mini-Dungeon, but each life's conquest was different, involving different key figures.
For instance, in the previous life, the key figure was the Third Princess, Murong Hua. He would call her the only descendant of the Murong family—besides Murong Jie—who had any real backbone.
She was also the only sibling who treated Murong Jie reasonably well.
He wondered what kind of story would unfold this time.
Lu Yunqi chuckled softly: "Sigh, looks like there's another good show to watch."
After he finished bathing, Liubao delivered an invitation to him. He took it and glanced at it, letting out a quiet laugh of understanding: "The Second Prince's birthday banquet, the day after tomorrow?"
Liubao nodded and bowed: "Yes, Young Prince. The day after tomorrow. Oh, and there's also one for His Highness the Sixth Prince—it was delivered to our side as well."
Lu Yunqi hummed in acknowledgment: "Fine, I'll take it to him."
With that, he snatched the invitation from Liubao's hands and walked with light steps through the flower-wall moon gate between the two residences, entering Prince Cang's mansion as if it were empty ground.
But the moment he stepped into Prince Cang's mansion, he saw everyone—from the stewards down to the servants—gathered in the garden, basking in the sun and chatting idly.
Due to years of neglect, the mansion was overgrown with weeds reaching the sky, the water in the garden had turned foul, and even the rewards the Emperor had sent today were still sitting out in the courtyard.
Lu Yunqi furrowed his brow but said nothing for the moment, simply walking around them and entering the main hall.
There wasn't a single attendant in the main hall—only Murong Jie, sitting alone with a bowl of plain white rice and a plate of stir-fried vegetables.
Lu Yunqi finally couldn't hold it in anymore and cursed: "Damn it, this is what you're eating for dinner?"
To his surprise, Murong Jie actually answered: "I've always eaten this. Is there a problem?"
Lu Yunqi laughed in exasperation: "You're a prince with an annual salary of five million, and you're eating cabbage and rough rice every damn day? Is that any way for a person to live?"
Murong Jie looked up at Lu Yunqi, pausing for a moment before speaking: "Lu Yunqi, haven't you had enough fun toying with me these past few days? Everyone in that courtyard knows that you, Young Prince Lu, never take much interest in anyone—short as three to five days, long as three to five months. Naturally, you wouldn't invest much in me either. Everyone is watching your cues. You know this perfectly well, so why bother asking?"
Lu Yunqi thought to himself: Well, this is rare—you actually spoke that much to me!
But he was even angrier now, and said: "Right! You know I'll only be interested in you for three to five months, so why not take advantage of my interest and squeeze some benefits out of me? And those servants of yours outside—you're the mighty Prince Cang! One squeeze of your hand and you could crush them to bone dust. Why do you insist on putting on this pitiful act, waiting for someone to take pity on you? Or does His Highness Prince Cang have his own grand life plan, feeling all high and mighty, playing the long game of endurance here?"
After Lu Yunqi's tirade, the man across from him still wore that deadpan expression. He thought to himself: Why am I even bothering? I'm just working myself into an early grave for nothing.
With that, he kicked over a stool, thinking: I must be sick, why do I even care about him!
Perhaps because he had a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent, the moment he stepped out of the main hall he bellowed at the servants: "Are you all fucking dead? Don't know how to serve your master? All of you think you can just play lord here? If you can't learn how to serve your master, I'll call the slave trader right now and sell every last one of you off!"
The servants dropped to their knees in a cascade across the courtyard, and the steward finally did something useful, bowing and scraping: "Please don't be angry, Young Prince. I'll have them clean the garden and organize the storerooms right away."
After venting his anger, Lu Yunqi returned to his own courtyard and loudly ordered Liubao: "You—go to Prince Cang's mansion and keep an eye on things for me. Any damn servant who dares to slack off again, beat them one by one! Beat them until they're broken!"
Although Liubao had no idea why his young lord was angry, he was certain there must be a reason for it, so he turned and headed to Prince Cang's residence.
When he returned, Lu Yunqi still seemed as if he'd swallowed a bellyful of grievances, and it took him a while to recover.
Once he did recover, he was startled to realize something was wrong with him—very wrong. This was a mortal enemy who had killed him nine times. A little rough treatment should be nothing to get worked up over, so why was he actually angry?
Looking utterly exasperated, he climbed into bed and went to sleep without even eating dinner.
In the middle of the night, he woke up starving, his stomach practically stuck to his spine. Yunhua couldn't be roused, and Liubao wouldn't come when called, so he threw on his brocade robe himself and headed for the small kitchen to scrounge up something to eat.
But the moment he stepped outside, he caught a glimpse of a figure flashing past.
Lu Yunqi furrowed his brow, thinking, Has a thief gotten into the house?
He quietly trailed the figure, watching as the person slipped into Prince Cang's residence. He crept over on light feet and saw the figure stop behind a rockery.
Lu Yunqi didn't dare get closer, only vaguely making out that there was another person behind the rockery. That person's voice drifted over: "How are the preparations coming along?"
Wait… isn't that Murong Jie's voice?
Another voice replied, "Everything is fully prepared. This time, at the very least, we'll throw them into chaos for a while."
Murong Jie said, "Mm. And what about the Yuezhi side?"
The person answered, "Rest assured, everything is going according to plan."
Murong Jie said, "Then you don't need to come by for the next few days. I'll find you if anything comes up."
The person gave an "mm" and said, "Here, take this. Be careful in everything."
With that, the person prepared to leave, but Murong Jie called out to stop him again: "Wait, Xiao Hei…"
The person halted in his steps: "Hm? Master, what is it?"
Murong Jie's expression was inscrutable in the moonlight. After a moment, he said, "If someone you hate to the bone suddenly starts being very kind to you, what do you think their motive is?"
Xiao Hei let out a cold laugh: "Sudden kindness out of nowhere—nothing but treachery or theft! Kill them, and eliminate the threat once and for all!"
Lu Yunqi: …
Fuck your mother, I came out for a midnight snack and ended up eating my own drama.
He turned to leave, thinking that if he kept listening, he wouldn't even make it to a year from now—he'd be dead on the spot.
He silently resolved: before the Second Prince's birthday Mini-Dungeon, if I so much as lay eyes on that mortal enemy again, I'm a dog!
Never, ever expect to turn swords into plowshares with a mortal enemy—otherwise, you'll just die faster and uglier.
The night passed without further incident. The next morning, Lu Yunqi decided he was never pulling another hunger strike. First thing in the day, he had the small kitchen fry up six dishes for him and wolfed them down like a whirlwind.
Lu An, who had come early to visit his younger brother, looked utterly baffled and asked, "Brother, we're not so poor that you can't afford to eat, are we?"
Lu Yunqi belched and waved a hand: "You wouldn't understand. Human emotions are like a tornado—sometimes when it hits, you can't swallow a bite. But when it passes, your stomach turns into a bottomless pit."
Lu An was a complete brute through and through: "Tornado? Bottomless pit? I don't get it."
Lu Yunqi said, "If you don't get it, then don't bother. Why aren't you at the training grounds? What are you doing coming to see me? Tired of being your adoptive father's good son, and want to follow your little brother here and become a wastrel?"
Lu An grinned sheepishly: "How could that be? I recently got my hands on a treasure, and I came to give it to you."
With that, he pulled something that looked like paper from his chest, as if presenting a prized offering, and pressed it into Lu Yunqi's hands: "Wear this when you're walking at night or in danger. It's impenetrable to blades and arrows—it can save your life!"
Then Lu An turned and left without another word.
Lu Yunqi unfolded the paper-like thing and found it was actually a vest. It was indeed a treasure—one that would later pass through many hands before landing in Murong Jie's possession. It had a beautiful name: the Heart-Leaning Armor.
Looking at the Heart-Leaning Armor and thinking of Lu An's brutal death, Lu Yunqi's nose stung with emotion, and he nearly burst into tears.
He thought about how Lu An fought on the battlefield every day, facing deadly dangers—surviving by the skin of his teeth, no exaggeration—and yet the first thing he did with this life-saving treasure was rush over to give it to him.
Lu Yunqi pinched himself and cursed, "Damn eyes, don't leak! I told you before—don't get attached to NPCs, or you'll suffer for it when they die."
After eating, he crawled back into the cabinet and returned to the Wanping Wasteland.
From a distance, he could see the technician burning weeds, having already torched a large swath. To be fair, this method was indeed fast—much faster than using a lawnmower.
The radish seedlings and butter lettuce planted on the first day had all sprouted, and they were growing quite promisingly.
The lumberjack had already stacked a big pile of wood not far away. Lu Yunqi opened the System to check on the progress of his little cabin, only to discover that he'd completed several System quests.
"Ding, congratulations, Host. Your NPC completed the achievement of chopping ten trees while you were away. Earned System Points X10."
"Ding, congratulations, Host. Your NPC completed the planting of five mu of chives while you were away. Earned System Points X10."
"Ding, congratulations, Host. Your NPC completed the irrigation task while you were away. Earned System Points X10."
"Ding, congratulations, Host…"
Endless achievement quests kept coming in one after another, and the emotions that had been pent up in Lu Yunqi finally began to ease. He looked happily at the ninety System Points and asked toward the distance, "Sister Na, did you really complete that many quests while I was away?"
Li Na, who was playing with fire, waved at him. "The difficulty level is too low. I've got nothing to do right now—crank up the intensity, Master!"