Chapter 534: Individual Schemes

He had been defeated by He He Lingchuan at the Lotus Palace, and he had been feeling very stifled these past few days. If he were to challenge He He Lingchuan again under the pretext of a comeback, it would be even more meaningless.

Moreover, that brat Lord Zhongsun Mou had likely already met his end, so he lacked a sufficient reason to make things difficult for He He Lingchuan.

Bai Bai Ziqi's words just now had sparked a little flame in his heart once more.

"I only wish to understand the situation, but you have mistaken the point." Bai Bai Ziqi smiled at him and held up a finger. "Firstly, what the Heavenly God cares about is whether this case has any connection to the Elixir of Immortality. That is to say, whether the direction of He Xiao and Crown Prince Yue's investigation is correct, and whether Lord Zhongsun Mou conspired with Cen Boqing to deceive the Emperor."

"Yes!" Fan Sheng lowered his head, feeling the pressure once again. "It was my recklessness earlier."

Had he known that Lord Zhongsun Mou was touching something as troublesome as the Elixir of Immortality, he would never have intervened.

The Elixir of Immortality was one of the Heavenly God's reverse scales.

Now, he himself had been dragged into the whirlpool.

Fortunately, the special envoy sent from above was Chief Envoy Bai; if he cooperated well, he might suffer fewer penalties.

"Secondly, the reason I have come to investigate is that the murder of the Inspection Envoy has alarmed the Emperor. And Mai Xuewen is the unquestionable culprit; thousands of eyes saw it under the Chaohu Tower that day. His public act of murder is a direct provocation to Lingxu City." Bai Bai Ziqi set down his teacup. "Therefore, the other key point is to capture Mai Xuewen. As for Fushan Yue, his goals are consistent with ours, and they are also these two points."

Fan Sheng nodded with every sentence he said, but in the end, he was stunned, taking a few breaths before saying: "So, we are not investigating them?"

"Investigate what?" Bai Bai Ziqi shook his head. "Your speculations and mine are merely suspicions; they can easily brush them off. If we cannot capture Mai Xuewen, we have not a shred of evidence to make an accusation."

Fan Sheng had been in officialdom for some time, and after pondering it, he understood: Chief Envoy Bai intended to temporarily ignore these "minor" anomalies regarding the Crown Prince of Chiyan and instead focus on the two main points.

In other words, they would continue to cooperate with Fushan Yue to investigate the case.

Seeing that Bai Bai Ziqi was still frowning, he cupped his hands and said: "Chief Envoy Bai, how may I be of service?"

"It is very difficult for Cen Boqing to turn things around now. The next step is to investigate whether the Grand Minister of Agriculture is involved. Sigh, I really arrived at a good time; the difficult parts are all ahead." Bai Bai Ziqi mused. "Actually, I had other official duties when I headed south. Now it seems this messenger case I received later actually happened first. There is only a difference of a few days in time, and both are within the borders of Chiyan. Could there be some connection?"

Fan Sheng was confused; was Chief Envoy Bai originally here to handle two cases?

Just as Bai Bai Ziqi was about to speak again, Fan Sheng's personal guard suddenly rushed in from outside to report: The Crown Prince of Chiyan's special envoy has successfully captured the fugitive and is entering the city in a grand procession! Captured? Bai Bai Ziqi stood up. "Good, Commander Fan, come with me."

He instructed Fan Sheng again: "If Cen Boqing is arrested, you must take down Cheng Yu immediately. This person is very important! He is a witness himself, and his curse arts are quite unique; he can merge into the dark void, and he may have other uses later."

"Yes."

Not long after, another piece of intelligence quietly flowed into the Cen residence: The Crown Prince had actually brought back a mother and son from the north and was keeping them under strict guard; the mother was in her twenties, and the son was only seven or eight years old.

Cen Boqing was drinking tea at the time, and upon hearing this news, he slammed his teacup onto the table with a bang.

Fushan Yue had actually found them? Between his kin and his master, what would Wu Kai choose? No wonder Yang Song was captured.

Cen Boqing paced back and forth in the garden a dozen times before finally making up his mind to go find Cheng Yu.

Once a decision was made, he had to seize the time.

Hesitation leads to defeat.

Seeing that Cheng Yu's soul was still sleeping in the bottle, Cen Boqing was furious. If this fellow hadn't been such a heavy sleeper, would he have fallen into this predicament?

He ordered the guards to pull the stopper out of the bottle directly.

The lantern light of the Snow Scene Bottle immediately extinguished, as if a wisp of thin smoke flew out of the bottle's mouth.

Just a few breaths later, the curse master opened his eyes.

He was still somewhat dazed upon waking, but after his vision focused, he slapped the bed and stood up, pointing angrily at Cen Boqing: "You pulled my stopper?"

Before he could finish speaking, the world spun, and he leaned over the side of the bed and vomited violently.

Damage to the soul is the hardest to recover from; even for him, spending twenty or thirty days recuperating would not be excessive. How many days had passed this time?

The most critical thing was that this Snow Scene Bottle could only be used once.

He looked at the bottle and found that the bottle body was quietly covered in cracks; it looked like it would shatter at a touch.

It was indeed ruined.

"Surrounded by wolves, I can't wait any longer." Cen Boqing had long wanted to pull his stopper, but what Cheng Yu said before his seclusion was too terrifying—that pulling the stopper early would definitely bring bad luck. Considering that this fellow was a powerful curse master, Cen Boqing had endured for these few days, and the best opportunity had been missed.

Now that he looked at it, what consequences were there? He had truly been deceived by this fellow!

Cen Boqing felt a tightness in his chest: "In the few days you were in deep sleep, the situation in Baishawan changed drastically, and the residence has already been searched by the Crown Prince."

Previously, Cheng Yu's body and soul were separated, resting in different places; he had slept for seven or eight days before waking up, and his complexion looked much better.

But his face almost wrinkled into a bitter melon: "I have been ruined by you! In the dreamland within the bottle, I was in a state of soul dispersion. With you pulling the stopper like this, one of my souls took the opportunity to fly away; I don't know how much time it will take to find it back."

"What happens if a soul is lost?"

"I will become dull-witted, slow in action, and sickly." Cheng Yu said irritably. "As curse masters, our bodies are already poor. With you doing this, I'm afraid my lifespan will be shortened."

Living with evil spirits all day comes with a price.

Cen Boqing said coldly: "If you don't act now, I'm afraid you and I will be dead soon; where will there be an 'after'?"

Cheng Yu rolled his eyes: "Who do you want to deal with now?"

Looking closely at this Master Cen now, his eyes were bloodshot, his eye sockets were sunken, and he had lost weight; it was clear he had been having a miserable time these past few days.

Cen Boqing hesitated for a moment before saying: "Wu Kai."

"Wu..." Cheng Yu thought he had misheard. "Your old servant?"

"Yes."

It seemed that many things had indeed happened while he was in deep sleep. Cheng Yu coughed twice, his face a bit pale: "Fine, I've long found him an eyesore. Where is he?"

"In the hands of the Crown Prince, Fushan Yue."

Cheng Yu was startled again: "He was taken?" He also guessed that Cen Boqing wanted to silence him. "How do you want him to die?"

"As long as the cause of death has nothing to do with me."

Cheng Yu took too long to think, and Cen Boqing frowned: "Aren't you someone who claims to be able to plot against a monarch?" In this situation, he no longer respected Cheng Yu as he had before.

Especially since this fellow had failed to plot against He Xiao and suffered a backlash, making Cen Boqing deeply doubt his abilities.

"I am not yet recovered from my injuries, and my arts are not as sharp as before." Cheng Yu felt dizzy and bloated, but he still remembered the failure of that night's surprise attack.

He still couldn't understand how the Hundred-Faced Nightmare could lose to a seventeen-year-old youth?

How could a giant whale be choked to death by a krill? What exactly was strange about this He Xiao? He said to Cen Boqing: "Prepare a few things for me: Wu Kai's birth date and time, his personal belongings, hair or fingernails, rootless water, cinnabar, a live quail..."

He asked for over a dozen items in one breath, several of which were strange and bizarre.

Things had reached this point, and Cen Boqing only sought a quick result, so he ordered people to carry it out accordingly.

Cheng Yu asked again: "When shall we act?"

"Of course, the sooner the better." Cen Boqing added a 'but'. "For the sake of safety, we must take the first step."

"Huh?" Cheng Yu didn't understand.

"Do you remember how you entered the Cen residence?" Cen Boqing said coldly. "Commander Lu has already searched this mansion but didn't find you; do you know why?"

"The intelligence was just sent into the Cen residence?" He He Lingchuan was dissatisfied. "How could it be so slow?"

Wu Kai was cunning, and the progress of the case was two days behind the original plan; this was very bad, as delays lead to changes.

"Hey, the other party has to cooperate, okay?" Fushan Yue said helplessly. "Now that Cen Boqing is short-handed, I have to pass him news, and I have to make it look like they found it out themselves; do you think that's easy?"

"Have the Fan brothers had any unusual movements these past few days?"

"Fan Sheng is guarding his bear and hasn't moved much; he seems to have behaved." Fushan Yue snorted. "The day I besieged the Cen residence, they didn't show their faces either; they probably chickened out."

The Fan brothers owed a favor to the Lord Zhongsun family, not the Cen family. Even if Cen Boqing lost his head, they wouldn't bother to care.

Speaking of this, he patted He He Lingchuan on the shoulder: "I don't think you need to go to Lingxu City anymore; just stay in Chiyan, and I'll give you a high official position."

Before He He Lingchuan could reply, a guard rushed in from outside and reported to Fushan Yue: "Someone outside is asking to see the Crown Prince, claiming to be the Doyun Special Envoy sent by Lingxu City, surnamed Bai. The other is Commander Fan."

Fushan Yue was shocked and exchanged glances with He He Lingchuan, both saying "It's here" in their hearts.

But how could they arrive so early? According to Fushan Yue's original deduction, the news of Lord Zhongsun Mou's murder had only just reached the Imperial Capital; regarding the choice of special envoy, shouldn't there have been some shirking, buck-passing, and secret maneuvering in Lingxu City? Then the envoy would set off, or be dispatched from elsewhere.

Calculating this way, there should have been more than twenty days in total.

How could they have arrived now?

And it happened to be at this very moment.

When things are abnormal, trouble must follow.

Fushan Yue's brows were almost knotted: "How could it be a Doyun Envoy? This isn't right."

It was the first time He He Lingchuan had heard this title: "What is a Doyun Envoy?"

"There is a Tiangong on Xushan, and inside the Tiangong is the Star-Plucking Tower, which communicates exclusively with the Heavenly God; there are nearly two thousand attendants in the tower. The one in charge of the Star-Plucking Tower is the Doyun Envoy, divided into primary and secondary, both with official ranks. Since you say the surname is Bai, that is likely the Deputy Doyun Envoy, Bai Bai Ziqi."

He He Lingchuan seized the time and asked the most critical question:

"In Lingxu City, which faction does he belong to?"

People are divided into left, middle, and right; Lingxu City must have weighed things before sending a special envoy. Just by looking at this person's background, status, and faction, He He Lingchuan could roughly know Lingxu City's attitude toward this case.

Was it to investigate strictly to the end, or just to quickly settle the disturbance? Was it to be impartial, or to be wary of the complex relationships in the Imperial Capital?

Thanks to the sponsorships of Bufang Bufang and Qiandai Qiandai Qixiu, and thanks to the support of Wang Zi Meng,

Jiufang can add a big chicken leg at noon.

(End of chapter)