Chapter 0276: Compulsive Gambler Xie Chengze’s Desperate Solo Kill Against Sheng Shihai

The two continued drinking and conversing. Xie Chengze enthusiastically explained to Sheng Shihai how to develop the northeastern territories, his eyes sparkling with vitality. Only when that familiar bloated pain surged through his body did his smile fade slightly, his right hand clutching the jade cup beginning to tremble.

Sheng Shihai immediately noticed his discomfort.

Yet the young man seemed unaware, maintaining his smile as he envisioned the future. “The three regions of Liaozhou have no shortage of iron ore and coal mines. When the time comes, I shall craft repeating crossbows for you—not only more penetrative but capable of continuous firing. Even new recruits will find them exceptionally easy to master.”

“With my support, capturing this insignificant Jian’an will be as easy as turning over a hand!” His arms began to twitch uncontrollably. Withdrawal symptoms twisted his proud, triumphant smile into something uglier than tears. He snorted lightly, “I am Jian’an’s lucky star. Only those who possess me can become emperor!”

Seeing him in this state, Sheng Shihai parted his lips to speak but was stopped by Xie Chengze raising a hand. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Xie Chengze lifted the wine pot, trembling as he poured himself a cup, then shakily turned to pour one for Sheng Shihai.

“Stop pouring,” Sheng Shihai frowned slightly. “You should—”

“I… I can do it! Don’t look down on me!” the young man growled stubbornly, his face rigid as he struggled to control his painful, shaking arm to fill Sheng Shihai’s jade cup.

“See?” Tears uncontrollably streamed from the corners of Xie Chengze’s eyes, his smile growing more distorted. “None spilled. A mere addiction—I can control it.”

Clutching the small jade cup with both hands, he poured the wine down his throat. Then, as if he could endure no longer, his body went limp and collapsed to the floor.

Wine trickled from the corner of his mouth. He didn’t bother to wipe it, curling up like a drenched dog as he convulsed on the ground.

It still hurt so much…

So much!

That hollow, anxious feeling surged through him again, fueling an irresistible urge to vent his inner turmoil. He tried to push himself up using the crossbar beneath the wooden chair but failed repeatedly. His forehead struck the sharp edge of the chair, breaking the skin and drawing blood instantly.

His plain white robes, now dust-stained, made the young man appear even more wretched.

Noticing Sheng Shihai’s unwavering gaze, Xie Chengze hastily raised a hand to cover his face. “Don’t look!”

Sheng Shihai finally stood, intending to carry the young man to the bed. But as he reached out, a faint, unusual odor caught his attention.

The young man had lost control of his bladder.

As if realizing his own humiliation, Xie Chengze’s drink-flushed face turned deep purple. He scrambled backward in panic, pushing away Sheng Shihai’s outstretched hand, and stumbled crawling toward the door. His knees hit the floor with unpleasant thuds.

“Don’t… don’t come closer!” he sobbed, his tone pitifully pleading. “I need to relieve myself… I can manage alone!”

The man scowled deeply and strode toward him. “Enough! Stay put!”

“Sheng Shihai!” Xie Chengze cried out with all his remaining strength, turning back to look at him with bloodshot, pleading eyes. “Let me keep some dignity, please?”

Sheng Shihai halted mid-step.

He watched helplessly as the young man pushed open the door, stumbled out, then pulled the half-closed door shut before sliding down against it and curling up, emitting waves of suppressed groans of pain.

The young man refused to reveal such a wretched state before outsiders.

Sheng Shihai sat back on the wooden chair, inevitably recalling the day he first noticed the young man had changed.

That youth, with his arrogant declaration to confiscate family properties for donation silver, had eyes as bright and cunning as clear flowing streams, utterly unlike their former murky dullness.

With the phrase “a strategist stakes his very person in the game,” he toppled the fattest fish in the Ministry of Revenue. Possessing astonishing talent, he first opened the Land of Abundance, then established the Ice and Snow Capital. Dressed in brilliant red, he skied across the ice with unrestrained freedom, and when standing atop ice sculptures overlooking the people, he radiated soaring ambition.

The most dazzling and proud of youths.

But now, he lay on the ground like a crippled dog with broken legs, stripped of all his youthful exuberance, as if even a roadside beggar could easily kick him.

A rare pang of heartache rose in Sheng Shihai, tinged with deep regret—why had he given the young man that mixed incense, personally destroying his vitality and reducing him to such misery and desperation?

He should have remained radiant forever.

The man’s gaze grew increasingly somber. He lifted the cup of wine the young man had painstakingly poured earlier, listening to the unavoidable muffled cries of pain outside. His grip on the jade cup tightened relentlessly.

Until finally, unable to suppress his agitation, he threw his head back and drained the cup in one gulp, slammed it heavily onto the wooden table, and stood up, intending to carry the young man outside back into the room.

But then, an unexpected turn of events occurred.

Sheng Shihai’s expression abruptly shifted. He coughed up a mouthful of black blood and swiftly pressed acupoints on his body. Yet the drug was potent enough, seemingly a virulent poison specifically targeting martial artists. By the time he realized, it was too late!

In disbelief, he glanced back at the empty jade cup, shock and suspicion coursing through his veins.

As cautious and meticulous as he was, even amid his concern for the young man, he had deliberately drunk from the same spot on the cup the young man had used. How could he have been poisoned so suddenly?

Moreover, Xie Chengze’s acting was so poor—if he had intended to poison him, how could Sheng Shihai have failed to notice?

Where, exactly, had things gone wrong?!

The fury of being betrayed once again scorched Sheng Shihai’s reason and patience. With one palm strike, he blasted the wooden door open. The young man crouched by the doorway was sent flying several meters like a butterfly with broken wings, crashing to the ground and spitting out a mouthful of blood. “Cough—!”

Sheng Shihai strode out, glaring at the half-dead youth who still struggled to lift his head, hatred and a fierce grin in his eyes. He raised his right hand and viciously clamped it around the young man’s neck!

“Xie! Cheng! Ze!”

Sheng Shihai roared, his eyes blazing with boundless rage that seemed ready to incinerate the young man on the spot. “How, exactly, did you do it?!”

“Hahaha—!” Xie Chengze laughed through tears. Clutching the wrist that choked him, his eyes brimming with triumphant hatred, he stared fixedly at Sheng Shihai and enunciated word by word, “Qian. Kun. Yin. Yang. Hu.”

In the memories he inherited, the Second Prince wanted to kill someone.

So he sought out Old Gu, demanding he craft a Qian Kun Yin Yang Hu capable of holding both clear wine and poisoned wine simultaneously.

Old Gu, of course, could not produce it, and for that, he received ten heavy strokes.

The Qiankun Yinyang Pot that the Second Prince had been waiting for in vain was casually sketched by Xie Chengze and given to Old Gu while he was teaching Su Qinghe how to make farming tools.

In the plea for help he wrote to Shen Yuan after discovering Sheng Shihai’s whereabouts, he instructed Shen Yuan to first visit the Ministry of Works and ask Old Gu whether the Qiankun Yinyang Pot had been completed. If it was ready, he was to bring it along.

Xie Chengze intended to retrieve the poison hidden in his earring by Shen Yuan, pour it into the wine pot, and use it to poison Sheng Shihai.

He was gambling.

Gambling that Old Gu had already finished making the Qiankun Yinyang Pot.

Gambling that when Shen Yuan learned he was trapped in the government office, he would understand why Xie Chengze needed the wine pot and would find a way to secretly deliver it to him.

Gambling that when his withdrawal symptoms flared up, the physical abnormalities from detoxification would mask his clumsy acting as he attempted to poison the wine, thereby deceiving Sheng Shihai.

Gambling that the last cup of poisoned wine he poured before leaving would be drunk by Sheng Shihai.

All four conditions were indispensable. A single misstep would undo all his efforts.

And he won the gamble.

Xie Chengze had always considered himself a failed gambler. In his previous life, he would bet every birthday, weekend, and holiday break that his parents would return from abroad to see him.

He lost every time.

Even when he finally came of age and was about to get his passport to go abroad and find his parents, he ended up betting on his ability to save a young man from being hit by a car—only to be struck and killed himself halfway there.

It was as if he had exhausted all his bad luck in that previous life.

So this time, he was incredibly fortunate to have successfully poisoned even someone as cautious as Sheng Shihai.

Xie Chengze laughed heartily, the pain in his body seeming to fade away. His gaze, filled with the satisfaction of vengeance, fixed intently on Sheng Shihai as he rasped, “Sheng Shihai, I clearly ordered you to extinguish the poisonous incense.”

Yet you defied my command.

Since you dared to poison me, I will repay you in kind—let you taste the flavor of being poisoned as well!

Only, you sought to trample my dignity, while I aim to take your life!

Sheng Shihai laughed in anger. The internal energy within him was continuously draining, and the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth grew heavier, but he paid it no mind.

He was merely curious. “Xie Chengze, aren’t you afraid of death?”

You administered the poison, yet you dare to stay here instead of fleeing for your life?