Chapter 1606: Intercepting in Person

The government office would likely investigate the case before making arrests, but they were not government runners. Any suspicious person posing a threat to He Xiao's personal safety fell within their scope of action. Besides, anyone wandering around the villa in the middle of the night without sleeping must have ill intentions. Taking them down in one fell swoop—no problem! "Brother Zhao is generous." He Lingchuan knew that the good reputation he had built was paying off; otherwise, Zhao Song would have had a hundred reasons to decline if he didn't want to get involved.

Zhao Song immediately beckoned, and thirty or forty men were in position at once.

"This number of people might not be enough." Cao Wendao's demon puppets were not to be trifled with.

Zhao Song was also very straightforward. Hearing it wasn't enough, he added over three hundred more in one breath.

Taking advantage of the time he spent calling for more men, He Lingchuan pulled Dong Rui aside and whispered instructions: "Use the Snail Toad to ambush while sneaking underground. If Cao Wendao tries to escape..."

A Demon Puppeteer had many tricks up their sleeve; there was no guarantee Cao Wendao didn't have a backup plan.

Dong Rui chimed in, "I'll cut off his retreat!"

He Lingchuan reached into his robe, pulled out the spider-horn "Mother Zhu's Eye Socket," and shoved it into his hand: "One more layer of insurance for you."

Dong Rui didn't understand music theory, but blowing this thing shouldn't be difficult.

"Good." Dong Rui, adhering to the spirit of asking if he didn't understand, asked, "What is insurance?"

"..."

Dong Rui's eyes rolled, and he made a request: "Can I borrow the Heavenly King Scale to play with?"

He Lingchuan took a dry tobacco pipe from his robe and handed it to him: "Be careful, don't blow yourself up."

This was a treasure the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities had borrowed from the Weng brothers. He Lingchuan and Dong Rui had both tested it several times. Others lit firecrackers for fun; they lit explosive pills for fun.

Just then, Zhao Song came over to report that the men had assembled. He Lingchuan gave the order directly: "Let's go."

These three hundred men surrounded He Lingchuan and marched out of the villa in a grand procession.

He Lingchuan didn't waste time. On the way, he told Zhao Song that these people specialized in using demon puppets to take contracts for murder, and the leader of the Allied Forces, Situ Yu, had died at their hands.

Zhao Song had only heard of wood puppets, Golden Armored Copper Guards, and the like, but he wasn't very clear on what "demon puppets" were. He Lingchuan said: "It means manipulating mutated monsters for one's own use. For example, the fierce tiger and porcupine that appeared at Little Peach Shanzhuang—they look like monsters but aren't quite monsters; those are demon puppets."

"You mentioned taking contracts earlier?" Zhao Song asked him, "Who is paying for the hit?"

"The captive didn't say. I'm afraid only their leader knows." He Lingchuan sighed, "But actually, I can guess with 70-80% certainty."

Who would see him as a thorn in their side? He didn't say it, but Zhao Song understood instantly, so he didn't dare to respond immediately.

Besides the Qingyang Regent, who else could it be? Apart from King Yao himself, only He Xiao dared to openly oppose the Qingyang Regent. The entire court was tacitly aware of this.

"In any case, we must pull out this hidden danger first!" Zhao Song said sternly, "To dare to commit murder in Tianshui City—they don't take us seriously at all!"

"The demon puppets in this person's hands are quite formidable; Brother Zhao must not be careless."

Zhao Song chuckled: "We possess Yuan power; these evil paths have limited effect on us."

He really wasn't bragging. The Yuan power of the Yao Nation was second to none on the Glittering Gold Plain, and it had a powerful restraining effect on cultivators and supernatural abilities.

As soon as the team exited the villa's south gate, they headed straight for Peach Creek.

He Lingchuan understood that the capture of Cao Wendao had to be swift, like a thunderclap, otherwise this guy was like a loach—he would slip away in the blink of an eye.

He had captured several of Cao Wendao's disciples one after another. Only Yang Chi had his brain-worm picked out and survived; the other two died instantly, dying very cleanly, right before revealing the true secret.

At that time, he suspected that Cao Wendao could monitor what they were saying.

Just now, when lightning struck from the sky, a green light flashed in the corner of Yang Chi's eye, and it happened twice in a row. This reminded He Lingchuan of a special little thing called an "Eye Mite."

Eye Mites can parasitize a biological eyeball, connecting with the host in terms of sight and sound. In other words, whatever the host hears or sees, they are forced to share with it.

In the case of the missing messenger in Lingxu City, Xi Yunhe, who went by the alias Mai Xuewen, had secretly planted Eye Mites on an old servant to eavesdrop on the conversation between He Lingchuan and Zhongsun Mou.

The old servant himself was oblivious, just like Yang Chi. Moreover, Eye Mites hide deep in the flesh and are not detected by supernatural spells. They only have one characteristic: they have a stress reaction when encountering strong light or sudden changes in light. That flash of green light in the host's eye corner came from that.

This detail was recorded in Zhongsun Mou's files. Back when Bai Ziqi and He Lingchuan went to Lingxu City together, he had also opened this part of the data for He Lingchuan to read.

Unexpectedly, this bit of knowledge suddenly came in handy today.

He Lingchuan used the characteristic of insect puppets being close to the ancestor worm to search for Cao Wendao in Tianshui City, but clearly, the opponent had anticipated it. Yang Chi and the other being planted with Eye Mites and sent to another inn was just bait for He Lingchuan.

Once He Lingchuan captured Yang Chi, he would certainly interrogate him strictly.

Cao Wendao could learn of this conversation through the Eye Mites and could reverse-engineer a lot of useful intelligence.

To say nothing else, he could confirm that Wei Yishan was indeed a puppet master! Being able to use insect puppets to trace the source in reverse was a method only peers could possess. Not to mention Dong Rui's various performances during the interrogation; an expert like Cao Wendao could tell at a glance that "Wei Yishan" truly had accomplishments in the field of puppet mastery.

Once this point was confirmed, how many associations could Cao Wendao make?

The Hinge-Tailed Tiger and Pill Bug Porcupine that appeared at Little Peach Shanzhuang, the Demon Puppeteer, the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities...

What was worse, He Lingchuan could basically be certain that Cao Wendao had a connection with Qingyang. If these assumptions or deductions were passed on to Qingyang, He Lingchuan would be in trouble.

So his top priority right now was to capture or kill Cao Wendao and quickly eliminate this hidden danger!

Since he had seen through the Eye Mite on Yang Chi, He Lingchuan also played along, pretending to let Dong Rui find Xiao An.

He didn't know that Cao Wendao had long been eyeing Wei Yishan, but Xiao An was an experimental subject that the Master of Red Hut had been searching for relentlessly. Cao Wendao wouldn't give her up, so naturally, he had to keep a close watch on Yongquan Shanzhuang and Wei Yishan's whereabouts.

Whether he was watching with the naked eye or sending out insect puppets, there were distance limits, so Cao Wendao must be staying nearby tonight.

At this time, the eastern suburbs of Tianshui City were covered in yellow mud, with large pits dug everywhere. Not to mention that Cao Wendao was used to living in luxury, even an ordinary person wouldn't want to go there.

The only place that still retained its original landscape, the creek, was likely Cao Wendao's first choice for spending the night.

For He Lingchuan, such a deduction was not difficult at all.

While Cao Wendao was still calculating how to ambush "Wei Yishan" at his own camp dozens of miles away, He Lingchuan had already decided to finish him off by Peach Creek tonight!

Peach Creek was located west of Yongquan Shanzhuang. The expansion of Tianshui New City hadn't touched these tributaries for the time being, so it was able to preserve its original natural landscape and hadn't turned into a patch of yellow mud.

However, before they had walked more than a hundred yards, more than twenty riders emerged from behind a small hill, bumping into them head-on.

A thunderbolt flashed across the sky, illuminating the wilderness, and both sides saw each other clearly.

The leader of this group behind the hill wore green robes and a high bun, her phoenix eyes dignified without anger—it was actually Qingyang!

The twenty or so people behind her all had sharp, capable eyes.

As soon as he saw her, He Lingchuan's heart skipped a beat.

At this critical juncture, Qingyang blocking his path meant...

"Island Master He, still on the road so late?" Her voice was unhurried, penetrating the gurgling rain and reaching everyone's ears.

"Qingyang Regent." He Lingchuan reined in his steed.

The Soul-Absorbing Mirror in his robe hummed and continued: "Still blocking the road so late?"

The two sides hadn't officially torn off their masks yet, so He Lingchuan still had to be polite: "Still not sleeping so late?"

"Refugees are restless, sneaking into the Ghost Lake." Qingyang said gently, "I brought people out to take a look. Island Master He's Yongquan Shanzhuang seems to have been disturbed too? How is it now?"

"Thanks to the Regent's blessing, those who should be caught are caught, those who should be driven away are driven away, and it has returned to peace." He Lingchuan said straightforwardly, "Regent, I have urgent business to attend to. I will visit Ghost Lake later!"

He had spoken very clearly: he had urgent business and wouldn't be keeping her company.

But Qingyang, an old hand in the bureaucracy for over a hundred years, seemed not to have heard, laughing to herself: "Young people are all impatient. In the eastern suburbs of Tianshui, apart from a few refugees running around, what else is worth Island Master He's personal mobilization?"

He Lingchuan opened his mouth to speak, but she continued in one breath: "Since we met by chance, I actually have something to ask Island Master He."

"Ch-ch-chance encounter?" The Soul-Absorbing Mirror said angrily, "This old woman came specifically to block us, right?"

Dong Rui also transmitted to He Lingchuan through the Eye Spider: "She is stalling for time!"

Qingyang blocking He Lingchuan's path and speaking slowly—wasn't that the standard stalling tactic?

In other words, she had been in touch with Cao Wendao.

This place was very close to Ghost Lake. She had rushed out to intercept He Lingchuan to let Cao Wendao seize the time to escape!

The three hundred people behind He Lingchuan all followed his lead. As long as He Lingchuan was blocked, Cao Wendao would be at ease.

The worst part was that Cao Wendao certainly wouldn't stay honestly at Peach Creek! Once he left there, it would be like a fish entering the sea, and He Lingchuan wouldn't be able to find him again.

But how was He Lingchuan going to get rid of Qingyang now?

If he forced his horse forward, Qingyang would definitely step forward to block him. Although there were three hundred Yao Palace guards behind him, would Zhao Song dare to confront Qingyang face-to-face? Zhao Song was silent right now, not seeming like the same person who was filled with righteous indignation in Yongquan Shanzhuang.

Therefore, these three hundred palace guards were useless against Qingyang.

Qingyang's interception in person this time was truly fast, accurate, steady, and ruthless in its timing.

He Lingchuan could also speak quickly, saying he was in a hurry to chase a murderer. But he could imagine Qingyang expressing surprise and then saying, "Let's go together."

Even if he could still catch up to Cao Wendao, with Qingyang present, could he successfully kill or capture Cao Wendao? Not very optimistic.

What to do? He Lingchuan's eyes flashed. Before he could speak, he heard Dong Rui's transmission in his ear:

"You just play with her; Cao Wendao is mine!"

Hey, don't be impulsive. He Lingchuan cursed inwardly, then heard Dong Rui say:

"You think I'll lose? Aha, would I lose to a rigid, pedantic, incompetent, and useless old geezer? —Don't worry, I'm confident!" ===== CHAPTER 1607 =====