Chapter Two: The Stellar Shift Talisman

Bumping and stumbling all the way back to his room, Li Yunjie finally slammed the door shut with a heavy thud, letting out a long breath as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

“Damn it! So what if everyone knows I was framed?” he cursed under his breath as he tore the hemp rope off with his teeth. “Three days?! No surveillance, no divine eyes—how am I supposed to investigate this?”

“As long as the green hills remain, there will always be wood for the fire,” he muttered, efficiently gathering his belongings as he spoke.

“Where are you off to, Young Master?” came a sudden male voice from behind. The shock sent a chill down Li Yunjie’s spine, causing him to stumble and collapse onto the bed.

“Oh, it’s you—Eleven.” He turned to see a familiar face, and only then did he relax. “Do you want to scare me to death?”

Eleven was Li Yunjie’s personal attendant, always by his side since childhood. It was said that Prince Li Jia of Northern Tomb had picked him up on the eleventh day of the first lunar month, hence the name Li Eleven.

Over the years, Li Yunjie had grown from a naïve child into a handsome young man. Yet, Eleven’s age seemed frozen in time; since Li Yunjie’s earliest memories, his attendant’s appearance and demeanor remained that of a boy of fifteen or sixteen. Though curious, Li Yunjie had long since grown accustomed to it.

“What are you doing with that kitchen knife?” Li Yunjie asked, eyeing the blade in Eleven’s hand with suspicion.

“I was ready to die with them,” Eleven replied nonchalantly. “If they’d dared harm you, Young Master, I’d have slaughtered the whole Su family.”

“You? The whole family?” Li Yunjie scoffed. “Su Qingmeng herself is a fourth-rank expert. What are you going to use to slaughter them? That chipped kitchen knife?”

“So what if she’s fourth-rank…” Eleven mumbled, “It’s not like I haven’t fought her before.”

“Keep dreaming.” Li Yunjie rolled his eyes. “Put that knife away. It’s unsettling.”

“Quit thinking about blood and blades all day. You’d better pack your things and run with me!” With that, Li Yunjie tied a knot on his bundle.

“Run? Where to?” Eleven dropped the knife, puzzled.

“Anywhere but here! I can’t stand another day in this wretched place!” Li Yunjie slung his bundle over his shoulder and tiptoed to the door. But the moment he opened it, a longsword was pressed to his throat.

Catching a glimpse of Li Yunjie’s unblemished neck, Su Qingmeng frowned. “I could have sworn I left a cut on his neck earlier,” she thought. “Did I remember wrong?”

There was no time to ponder; Li Yunjie’s aggrieved voice interrupted her musings.

“Why do all of you insist on brandishing weapons? Can’t you be a little more civilized?”

“Where does the Young Lord think he’s going?” Su Qingmeng’s icy tone was so cold Li Yunjie’s eardrums ached.

“To investigate the case, of course!” Li Yunjie responded quickly.

“To investigate—with a bundle on your back?” Su Qingmeng sneered.

Putting on a fawning smile, Li Yunjie replied, “Well, I didn’t want to get hungry on the way.” He pulled a cassia cake from his bundle and began to eat.

Su Qingmeng ignored him, her tone glacial. “Whatever tricks you play, if you don’t solve the case in three days, I will kill you.”

“And for these three days, the capital will be under heightened vigilance,” she added. “No one is permitted to enter or leave without authorization. If you try to escape, you’ll only find death.”

With those words, she turned gracefully on her heel and, with a single leap, vanished from Li Yunjie’s sight, leaving behind half a yellow talisman fluttering in the air.

“This is illegal confinement!” Li Yunjie shouted after her. “You’re breaking the law!”

He turned back to Eleven. “Didn’t you claim you were so capable? She had a sword to my neck—did you not see?”

Eleven shrugged. “Didn’t you just tell me to put the knife down?”

Li Yunjie looked at the wisdom in Eleven’s eyes and let out a long sigh. “To think I’m a prince, and yet I’ve ended up like this…”

He picked up the half talisman and trudged back into the room, sitting heavily on the bed.

Seeing Li Yunjie so dejected, Eleven felt a twinge of guilt and patted his shoulder.

“You needn’t lose hope, Young Master. True, your parents are gone, you lost command of the Northern Tomb army, got driven out by the people, and finally ended up as a son-in-law in the Su family. True, you spend your days in dissipation, squandering your wealth, never striving for anything, neither literate nor martial. But to me, you’ll always be my Young Master!”

Li Yunjie gazed at his attendant’s innocent smile, utterly defeated. “Thanks.”

After a long silence, he mused aloud, “Running isn’t an option anymore. The only way to survive is to figure out what really happened.”

He glanced at the talisman in his hand, then turned to Eleven. “Do you recognize this thing?”

“It looks familiar.” Eleven stroked his chin, pacing back and forth. After a moment, his eyes brightened. “It’s a Starshift Talisman from Taihu Academy! Place one on a person, the other at a designated location, and you can use a spell to transfer a person out of thin air from a hundred meters away.”

“Impressive,” Li Yunjie said, surprised. “But the scholars of Taihu Academy have always stayed out of court affairs. They wouldn’t go to the trouble of framing a powerless Northern Tomb prince like me.”

“Something’s off…”

Suddenly, a thought struck him. “You said the Starshift Talisman only works if it’s placed on a person?”

“That’s right,” Eleven nodded.

“In that case, the perpetrator must have come into contact with me,” Li Yunjie said, sitting up and thinking hard. He brought the talisman to his nose and sniffed. “There’s a lingering scent of cassia on this talisman—so familiar.”

“Do you have any leads, Young Master?”

With a sly smile, Li Yunjie strode out the door. Eleven trotted after him, and before long they arrived at a familiar locale.

“Is this really the time to be visiting a brothel to listen to music?” Eleven asked, exasperated, as he looked up at the sign for Drunken Moon Pavilion.

Li Yunjie gave him a dismissive pat on the head. “What are you thinking? I’m here to investigate!”

With that, he strode confidently into Drunken Moon Pavilion.

“Well, if it isn’t Young Master Li!” The proprietress, Madame Qin, was overjoyed to see him, sashaying forward in welcome.

“Bring out the best wine and food—we have a distinguished guest!” she announced. Then, turning to Li Yunjie, she added with a fawning smile, “Please wait in a private room, Young Master. I’ll select a few beauties for your company.”

“No need, Madam Qin,” Li Yunjie caught her by the arm, flashing a roguish grin. “Tonight, I want them all!”

The room fell silent, every eye fixed on Li Yunjie.

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” roared a burly man in black from the southeast corner, smashing the table with a single blow. His sturdy figure, made more imposing by the dainty girl beside him, was truly intimidating. Bloodshot eyes glared at Li Yunjie, a beast claiming its territory.

The onlookers set down their bowls and chopsticks, ready to stir up trouble.

“Everyone, please remain calm. I am not an unreasonable man,” Li Yunjie said, drawing a stack of silver notes from his sleeve. “Tonight, everyone’s expenses at Drunken Moon Pavilion are on me!”

He handed the thick bundle to Eleven to distribute. The crowd stared in astonishment.

“Outrageous! You think that—” The burly man cut himself off as he caught sight of the money in Eleven’s hand. All his bluster evaporated in an instant.

As the saying goes, men die for wealth as birds for food. Staring at the hundred-tael note in his hand, the man hesitated.

“My apologies for my rudeness. Since Young Master Li is in such a hurry, we’ll let him have his way!” he declared, shoving the girl in his arms aside. “Farewell!”

The others followed suit, each pocketing their own silver note.

Moments later, more than thirty girls of Drunken Moon Pavilion were gathered in the second-floor private room.

“Is everyone here?” Li Yunjie stretched, took a deep breath, and declared, “Then let us begin…”