Chapter 694

He Lingchuan blinked: "Eh? You're returning so soon?" Very good. "The longevity elixir case has been settled, the Preceptor of Qingyang can't run, those seven families can't run, the Father King is very satisfied!" The Chi Yan King rarely praised his eldest son so much, and Fu Shanyue was very unaccustomed to it for a while. "The task he entrusted to me has been completed, and the subsequent development is beyond my control. Besides, the Emperor had to deal with the Preceptor of Qingyang, so he must be furious; he hasn't given me a good look these past two days. I don't want to stay and touch his bad luck!"

"Although Beijia is good, it's not what I yearn for in my heart." He Lingchuan laughed. "I think we are going to part ways."

He had too many secrets and too much karmic debt; he even planned to destroy the Spirit-Gathering Array on Mount Xu recently, so he couldn't stay in Beijia afterwards.

Fu Shanyue was a bit reluctant: "Won't you consider it again? Returning in triumph this time, the Father King will surely reward me heavily, and there will be no shortage of benefits for you!"

"Benefits?" He Lingchuan looked at him sideways. "What benefits can you give me? Give me something real."

Fu Shanyue touched his nose, feeling embarrassed.

The Preceptor of Qingyang falling, the longevity elixir case being solved, the Zhongsun family falling—in the end, it was because He Xiao found the living witness Kong Jiaxiang, the temple keeper of Qingfu Temple, that Bai Ziqi found breakthrough evidence.

This guy's contribution was huge; for a moment, Fu Shanyue didn't know how to thank him.

"That's why I said, come back to Chi Yan with me." Fu Shanyue hummed. "Your contribution is too great; I think only the Father King can reward you."

He couldn't reward him with an official position either, only "suggest." Heaven knows if the old man would adopt his suggestion for promoting candidates.

Fu Shanyue had no confidence.

He Lingchuan shook his head: "Forget it, I'll take a loss. Convert it into money for me."

Fu Shanyue's face fell: "Money, money, money, all day long it's money. How short of money are you?"

"I don't have mines at home, nor do I have ways to make money." He Lingchuan sighed. "A big fire at the Pan Mansion is equivalent to burning away my hundreds of thousands of silver taels."

"Don't you have the Xiangxue Residence again?" The Pan Mansion was burned down, but this kid got the Grand Minister of Agriculture's Xiangxue Residence in the blink of an eye; that house was huge, and it wasn't something you could buy just by having a few stinking coins.

"I have it, but can I sell it now?" He Lingchuan squinted at him. "The outside world says this is the Grand Minister of Agriculture compensating you. I don't want this house; convert it into money for me."

"... Fine, all benefits converted into silver." Fu Shanyue said kindly. "Or wherever your destination is, my family might have industries there, I'll share some with you."

"I don't even know where the road leads myself." He Lingchuan didn't appreciate it, only reached out to him. "So, money is the most real."

Fu Shanyue rolled his eyes: "Fine, fine, wait for me to go back and scrape it together."

Such a large amount isn't something you can just take out. Can I write an IOU first?

Watching him take the lead, the smile on He Lingchuan's face suddenly disappeared.

Seeing the longevity elixir case settled, the shield of the Chi Yan Crown Prince was also leaving. From now on, the eyes of the court and the public would surely focus on the fallen officials, and the popularity of "He Xiao" would drop rapidly.

He had no power or influence in Lingxu City; he was just a nobody. For the past two months, without the protection of the longevity elixir case, which powerful figure would look at him twice? Public opinion popularity is a one-wave thing; once he is forgotten by the public, will the forces that have been waiting impatiently in the dark rush out to settle the score with him?

Shouldn't he hurry up and do a big job before leaving, waiting for them to turn against him?

But before doing the big thing, he still wanted to enter Panlongcheng once.

There were people he wanted to see, and words of farewell.

￥￥￥￥￥

Light snow drifted, landing on the tip of his nose, a chill.

This chill knocked He Lingchuan out of his trance; he found himself back in Panlongcheng.

He hadn't come in for many days, ever since he was busy deliberating on the Mount Xu plan. The Great Fanghu was rarely considerate for once, letting him prepare well without distraction.

Now that the action was imminent, he also wanted to come in again.

This was his home, with people he cared about.

If the Mount Xu operation ended in failure, this dream entry would be a farewell.

At this moment, he was standing in the Martial Arts Hall, just in time for the grand arena competition held every fourteen days. The battle on the stage was fierce, the soldiers and civilians below were cheering, and even the streets outside were packed.

That bit of flying snow couldn't extinguish the enthusiasm of the onlookers at all.

This city was still the same, with enthusiasm and severity coexisting, vitality and regulation existing together.

He also saw the skinny man struggling to weave through the crowd.

At the same time, the skinny man also saw He Lingchuan, struggling to squeeze over like a salmon swimming against the current: "Who are you betting on today?"

He Lingchuan scanned the arena twice: "One-Eye, one hundred taels."

The burly man's left eye was pierced in the Great Battle of Yuheng City, and he changed his nickname afterwards. Although called One-Eye, his strength hadn't decreased.

The skinny man hissed: "So much?"

In the past, Broken Blade often bet five coins or one tael, never exceeding two taels, always using "small gambling for fun" to cover up his stinginess. Why was he suddenly generous this time? He Lingchuan stuffed ten taels of gold into his hand: "If I win, give me one hundred and thirty taels. The extra money is for me to treat your niece and nephew to candy."

If he couldn't come back, this money would be useless.

"Boss He is generous!" The skinny man praised him fiercely, then worriedly said, "What happened to you?"

"Can't I be generous if nothing happened?"

The skinny man scratched his head: "You look just like 'Cutting Board' before he went into battle."

"'Cutting Board'?"

"A man in our team, he died five years ago; you didn't know where you were then." It was very noisy around, and the skinny man had to roar. "He was a bachelor; before the big battle, he entrusted all his savings of twenty taels to me, saying that if he died in battle, I should donate the money to Mother Mitian to build a temple!"

"And then?"

"Later, the twenty taels were used to build a temple for the Heavenly God; there is a brick carving in front of the temple that was built with Cutting Board's money."

He Lingchuan punched him in the back: "Bad luck!"

At this time, the officer by the arena also saw He Lingchuan and asked him: "Broken Blade, are you going up today?"

He Lingchuan was also a defender, but the final defense period hadn't passed yet, so he could freely choose whether to go up to the arena.

Let's not go up today, right? He wanted to rush home and see Sun Fuling one more time.

"No..." Isn't this kind of weather a good time to pour out one's heart?

He hoped his heart could be settled because of this.

It was too noisy around, and the officer didn't hear He Lingchuan's refusal, saying to himself: "General Red is also here."

"Eh?" General Red is here too?

He Lingchuan leaned out from the edge of the arena and looked, and sure enough, he saw General Red in black light armor, standing on the platform on the second floor of the central hall watching the battle.

Today she was wearing a Taotie mask, and others could distinguish her identity at a glance.

No wonder the arenas were full today, and everyone who went up was like they had been injected with chicken blood.

It turned out they all wanted to perform well in front of General Red.

Just then, a few Great Wind Army soldiers ran in from outside the street, escorting someone towards the back door of the Martial Arts Hall.

Although it was just a fleeting glance, He Lingchuan had already seen clearly that the person tied up was a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy, thin and weak, like a little chick under the strong soldiers.

Soon, a personal guard approached General Red on the second floor and whispered a few words.

General Red immediately turned and walked inside.

That little boy was arrested, and it could alarm General Red?

He Lingchuan was curious and also squeezed towards the central hall.

There were guards at the entrance to the second floor, and idlers were not allowed near.

Of course, He Lingchuan was not an idler.

When he rushed to the second floor, he happened to see the soldiers pressing the boy to his knees and reporting to General Red: "This kid was going crazy at the South City Gate and should have been arrested and put in prison, but he kept muttering about wanting to see you, shouting your honorable title, and shouting something about Shinan, Shinan."

The boy's eyes rolled back, his lips were blue, and he was shaking all over. At this moment, he was shouting "Don't kill me."

In the snowy weather, he was actually sweating profusely and looked very frightened.

Others couldn't see it, but He Lingchuan knew very well that Three-Corpse Insects were entrenched on the walls of Panlongcheng; they could identify entrants with ill intentions and drive them mad. The people of Panlongcheng gave this symptom a very down-to-earth name, called "City Gate Hysteria."

The boy's appearance was clearly a hysterical attack.

The Three-Corpse Insects could amplify the emotions in a person's heart and concentrate them into an outburst; clearly, the boy's emotion now was "fear."

"Shinan?" General Red leaned down, observed the boy for a moment, and then said, "Come out."

The boy whispered to himself; with so many people standing in front of him, he seemed unable to see any of them.

He had no reaction at all to General Red's words.

However, in He Lingchuan's view, a few Three-Corpse Insects should have crawled out of the boy's ears and nose, circled General Red, and floated south.

It was snowing outside, there was no sunlight, so they could cruise in the air openly.

After the last Three-Corpse Insect left, the boy woke up as if from a dream, looked at the crowd in horror and said: "Who are you, where am I!"

General Red asked him: "Where did you come from?"

The boy was frightened by General Red's power and subconsciously replied: "Lin, Linshuang City."

He Lingchuan had heard of Linshuang, a place further south than Baishawan, not in the territory of Panlongcheng.

"You are not a Xiluo person?"

The boy shook his head.

"Did Shinan tell you to come?"

"Shi... nan?" The boy was confused. "Who is Shinan?"

He didn't know who Shinan was, yet he rushed to Panlongcheng? This place was several hundred miles away from Linshuang City.

He Lingchuan saw his clothes were old and worn, his shoes were worn through, revealing his big toe, and he had two large dark circles under his eyes; he didn't know how long he hadn't slept.

"Who told you to come?"

The boy shrank back and didn't make a sound.

General Red smiled slightly and turned to say: "All withdraw."

The personal guards and other soldiers behind went down to the first floor along the stairs. He Lingchuan was also about to turn around, but General Red said: "Broken Blade, set up a wind-shielding formation."

"Yes." He Lingchuan paused, took out a few bamboo plaques and stuck them on the floor, and soon set up a wind-shielding formation around the prisoner and General Red; otherwise, there were no windows on the second floor of the central hall, and it was drafty on all sides.

(End of chapter)