Chapter 1586: To run or not to run?

Bai Ziqi knew that Chief Envoy Liang would never dare to falsely convey the superior's will in the temple. What he conveyed was the opinion of the Wonderful Clarity Heaven God itself. "Searching for Thousand Illusions True Person" was enough to alarm all the gods of Spirit Void; Wonderful Clarity Heaven would not go against the Spirit Void Holy Venerable on this major matter.

But it also wanted Bai Ziqi to wait for half a month, which showed that it also attached great importance to its own "plan"! It seemed that something major was about to happen in the Yao Nation.

So Bai Ziqi nodded and said gently: "I will respectfully follow the Goddess's imperial decree."

The order of the two major events was thus decided.

Bai Ziqi received the Goddess's promise and felt relieved. He had originally come to track the clues of the Nine Nether Great Emperor, but hadn't expected to draw the grand prize of Thousand Illusions True Person. Facing an ancient true immortal like Thousand Illusions True Person, who was among the best in the world, the manpower Bai Ziqi brought to the Flash Gold Plain seemed a bit weak.

With the Wonderful Clarity Heaven God willing to take action itself, Bai Ziqi took a reassurance pill.

After finishing the main points, Chief Envoy Liang immediately invited Bai Ziqi to stay in the Purple Gold Hall of the temple.

This VIP building concentrated the ultimate luxury of the Yao Nation. Not to mention anything else, just the use of Purple Jin Shi was unparalleled in the Yao Nation.

The Yao Nation produces many kinds of gold-disk stones, among which the rarest is the purple-gold stone. Under the sunlight, it is a solemn deep purple, but it will cast a slightly shining golden polarized light; once night falls, the purple-gold stone that has absorbed enough sunlight will instead bloom with dots of starlight.

The dome inside the main hall of the Yao Nation was spliced from three giant Purple Gold Stones, without cover. This dome was exposed to enough sunlight during the day, and at night it would turn into a dazzling galaxy!

The Purple Gold Hall was only open to the most distinguished guests and might not be opened once in a whole year. Although it didn't have the spectacular galaxy dome of the main hall, every Purple Jin Shi embedded in the stone wall was the work of a master craftsman, presenting a unique, exquisite beauty in coordination with the surrounding environment, layout, and atmosphere.

Except for the Yao King's Palace and the main temple of the Wonderful Clarity Heaven God, no place in the Yao Nation dared to use Purple Jin Shi to decorate buildings.

The royal family couldn't either.

Heaven Water City had so many devout temple officials who served the Goddess diligently every day, but they might not have a chance to enter the Purple Gold Hall to take a look in their entire lives.

When the Heaven Palace's Dou Yun Envoy arrived in Heaven Water City, Chief Envoy Liang had to invite him to stay in the Purple Gold Hall.

This was the standard, this was the etiquette.

The movement before moving in was very large; the maids were busy moving in and out like diligent worker ants, even wiping every brick on the floor of the Purple Gold Hall until it was shining.

This time the distinguished guest was a visitor from the Spirit Void Heaven Palace, second only to the Dou Yun Chief Envoy.

When Bai Ziqi walked into the Purple Gold Hall, there was a faint fragrance in the air; temple officials and attendants knelt in a line of a hundred zhang on both sides of the gilded road, each one terrified.

The etiquette and formation were all done.

Although Bai Ziqi didn't like fanfare, there was no need to reject Chief Envoy Liang's face, so he accepted it happily.

Among the several Dou Yun Envoys of the Heaven Palace, he was the best at business and the worst at socializing, but he also understood that entering the Yao Nation meant representing Spirit Void City and the Holy Venerable, and necessary official etiquette could not be avoided.

The news of the Heaven Palace's distinguished guest's arrival soon reached the palace.

That evening, the King of Yao had a pleasant meeting with Bai Ziqi and expressed his welcome.

Facing the King of Yao, Bai Ziqi only said he was specifically here to track the clues of the Nine Nether Great Emperor and hoped the Yao Nation could give convenience.

A mere Nine Nether Great Emperor could alarm the Heaven Palace and send a Dou Yun Envoy? The King of Yao was surprised, but also indicated that the entire court would cooperate fully.

Who didn't know that the Heaven Palace had a transcendent status in Spirit Void City?

Beijia was still the suzerain of the Yao Nation.

By analogy, Bai Ziqi also enjoyed a high status in the Yao Nation.

Unlike Qingyang, Bai Ziqi was an incumbent Dou Yun Envoy and a case investigator appointed by the Spirit Void Holy Venerable. So even though he didn't go through official procedures to notify the Yao Court in advance before entering the country, the King of Yao didn't dare to show any dissatisfaction, but instead had to arrange a grand welcoming banquet for him.

Qingyang also attended this banquet.

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Heaven Water Eastern Expansion Project held a meeting in the evening, and six ministers sent people to ask for leave temporarily, all for the reason that the Yao Court was holding a temporary banquet and they had to go.

Who was the King of Yao hosting? When He Lingchuan received the first leave note, it only wrote "Spirit Void Distinguished Guest."

These four words alone made his heart thump.

Just like the Yao people looked down on people from other places in the Flash Gold Plain, the Beijia people also looked down on the Yao people. The powerful big figures in Spirit Void City wouldn't run to the Flash Gold Plain for no reason. The only "Spirit Void Distinguished Guest" He Lingchuan knew who had appeared in the Flash Gold Plain recently was...

When the fifth leave note was handed to He Lingchuan, the identity of the distinguished guest was finally written clearly: Heaven Palace Dou Yun Envoy! Bai Ziqi had come! He Lingchuan's face changed, and he couldn't help but crumple the note.

He had tried every means to push this person away from the Yao Nation, but only half a month had passed, so why had Bai Ziqi suddenly come again? Had he already cracked the mystery left by Thousand Illusions True Person? Or had he investigated the truth of the Nine Nether Great Emperor halfway?

The Soul-Absorbing Mirror in his arms shouted: "Not good, not good at all! Did Bai Ziqi follow you to the Yao Nation? Did he determine that you are the Nine Nether Great Emperor?"

He Lingchuan couldn't rule out this possibility.

If Bai Ziqi had tracked him all the way to the Yao Nation, then Heaven Water City was now a dragon's pool and tiger's den for He Lingchuan!

As long as Bai Ziqi identified him as the Nine Nether Great Emperor, even the King of Yao couldn't protect He Lingchuan! He Lingchuan subconsciously looked out the window; the sky was overcast.

After Bai Ziqi arrived in Heaven Water City, had he already reached a consensus with the temple, with the King of Yao, and even with Qingyang? Were they planning to close the net on He Lingchuan? This sense of crisis and oppression was sudden, but particularly intense!

Even the mirror felt that disaster was imminent, so anxious that it particularly wanted to scratch its head: "What to do, what to do? You say, what should we do!"

It would have been fine if it didn't know, but as soon as it heard that Bai Ziqi had appeared in Heaven Water City, the mirror felt a sense of anxiety and fear that it would be dealt with at any time.

"Can we find someone to inquire about his intentions?" It also knew it had asked a stupid question, but it just couldn't control its mouth now.

"No." If he wanted to capture He Lingchuan, how could Bai Ziqi let the news leak? Could such a thing be inquired about? "Then..."

"Quiet!" He Lingchuan took a deep breath. "Let me think."

Bai Ziqi's sudden arrival had disrupted all his original plans.

But no matter how good the plan was, safety came first.

The mirror muttered: "It's a pity, we can't figure out how many clues Bai Ziqi has mastered."

"If Bai Ziqi wants to convict me, he doesn't need such sufficient reasons." The Heaven Palace Dou Yun Envoy wasn't a judge; he didn't have to have conclusive evidence to approve an arrest. As long as Bai Ziqi had a little suspicion about He Lingchuan, he could capture him for interrogation!

In the blink of an eye, He Lingchuan made a decision:

"Retreat! Retreat tonight."

He couldn't stay until the end; the execution of the plan might be greatly compromised.

However, as long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood.

The project meeting was therefore canceled, the reason being that too many key personnel were absent. This situation was common, and no one thought much of it.

He Lingchuan did two things:

The first was to inquire about the banquet and Bai Ziqi's movements, so he could make the next decision. With his current connections, this step wasn't difficult, and news would come in one after another by midnight at the latest.

The second thing, he had to rush back to Spring Gushing Shanzhuang immediately.

He Lingchuan didn't have many people in Heaven Water City, only about twenty guards on the surface. As for the personnel of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce under Yan Bo, they had been transferred out of Spring Gushing Shanzhuang one after another under the pretext of preparing for the opening of the chamber's branch, and now only five or six people remained, including Yan Bo.

The reason Zhao Song and the others didn't suspect anything was because these people would still appear in the villa from time to time.

The work of the close guards was mainly to monitor and protect He Lingchuan; as for where these chamber of commerce clerks and helpers went, what did business matters have to do with them, and why should they care? One must know that the Heaven Water City branch of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce was indeed pushing forward the progress on the surface; the storefront had long been bought, and now they were decorating while recruiting employees; training while coordinating vehicles and materials.

Every step seemed steady, and no one could see that the boss here was about to run away. He Lingchuan knew very well that if he wanted to cross the sea in secret, he had to work hard to repair the plank road in the open!

To open for business, one had to prepare goods.

To prepare goods, personnel, carriages, and materials had to flow, moving in and out? Once these people started moving, running back and forth between Spring Gushing Shanzhuang, Heaven Water City, and various merchants, no one knew where they finally went.

This was also the result of He Lingchuan intentionally controlling the number of people—the fewer people there were when things happened, the easier it was to run.

The biggest problem right now was how to deceive the nearly a thousand close guards sent by the King of Yao and leave quietly?

Zhao Song and the others were protecting him, but also monitoring him.

With them there, even Qingyang couldn't easily make a move on He Lingchuan; similarly, when He Lingchuan wanted to slip away, these several hundred pairs of eyes were equally hard to fool.

Of course, He Lingchuan had long envisioned an emergency retreat situation and made corresponding preparations.

The simplest method was none other than the Snail Toad.

But the rainy season had ended, and the Yao Nation was dry in winter, and there had been thunder without rain for the past seven days. The ground wasn't damp enough, and the Snail Toad's effective stealth distance was only about five li.

Fortunately, Spring Gushing Shanzhuang was located in the suburbs, with vast wilderness, not in Heaven Water City, making it not easy to be trapped and beaten. This was also He Lingchuan's pre-planned layout.

Returning to Spring Gushing Shanzhuang, He Lingchuan immediately summoned Dong Rui, Wanqi Feng, Wang Fubao, and Wanqi Liang for a closed-door meeting. Once he explained the situation, everyone broke out in a cold sweat.

Wanqi Liang immediately volunteered to go to the outside of the east gate of Heaven Water City to monitor.

If a large group of people suddenly left the city at night, it meant Spring Gushing Shanzhuang was in danger.

He Lingchuan shook his head: "Why would Heaven Water City need to send a large group of people? Isn't there a ready-made Yao guard team in Spring Gushing Shanzhuang?"

As long as they received news from the palace, Zhao Song's guard team could turn into a troop to arrest people at any time. When the time came, they could come from inside and outside, trapping He Lingchuan and the others like turtles in a jar.

The atmosphere here was a bit heavy, and Dong Rui coughed: "Then?" ===== CHAPTER 1587 =====