Chapter 122

Gu Shushi was arrested, and after entering the prison, he was directly tortured.

About an hour later, a new list was freshly released.

What followed was arresting people, interrogating, and arresting more people.

A large number of Shushen spies and personnel who colluded with the Shushen were arrested and brought to justice.

Among them were many people from the Secret Service Bureau.

But what surprised Chu Danqing was that Li Wanwu was not involved.

The transactions in the Ghost Market were from the previous Emperor Taichang; Li Wanwu was doing the dirty work, and to some extent, he had to involve the Shushen.

This time, taking the initiative to hook up with the lamas was also to extract the smuggling routes of the Qiutan Party.

Li Wanwu didn't find it, but Chu Danqing found it first.

This smuggling route was the Qiutan Party's business, and now that it had been wiped out by Chu Danqing, it was naturally stripped bare.

The rest was just confiscating property, exile, beheading, and so on.

After finishing these, another five days passed.

The dust settled, and Chu Danqing's trial mission was also completed.

【Mission completed, you have obtained: Paradise Points × 5000, Attribute Points +3】

The difficulty of the B-rank mission lay in how to obtain enough power to clear these people; as long as that was done, the rest was not difficult.

Chu Danqing had the merit of saving the Emperor and supporting the new Emperor, had the help of Xiong Zhigang and Wang Qi, and held the Imperial Guards in his hands.

With troops, power, and righteousness, if he could still fail, he might as well quit.

But there was still one thing he didn't understand, and that was what was going on with Li Wanwu?

But looking at the mission again, he realized.

The mission content was to kill the Shushen spies in the high-level and wipe out the Shushen spy dens.

Li Wanwu didn't fit, which was why it was judged as completed.

If the word "collusion" had been added, Li Wanwu would probably have been on the list.

Thus, the trial mission ended, and the remaining time was left for Chu Danqing to play with.

As for Li Wanwu, Chu Danqing wanted to find an opportunity to kill him and replace him with a slightly more human-like Commander to manage the Secret Service Bureau.

A good person was definitely out of the question; they couldn't do this job at all.

He was waiting for the court to stabilize, and then he would start cleaning up the Taichang bandits.

Now was not the time to take action.

Until three days later, Emperor Taichang summoned him to meet.

Li Wanwu stood beside Emperor Taichang, looking submissive.

"Lord Chu, you are here." Emperor Taichang showed a rare smile and handed a memorial to Li Wanwu: "Show this great victory to Lord Chu."

Li Wanwu didn't show any dissatisfaction or resentment, his expression remaining as usual as he did so.

Chu Danqing read it once; the gist was that Xiong Zhigang had defeated the 50,000-strong Shushen army.

The external threat was temporarily lifted, and the internal troubles in the court were also completely handled because of Chu Danqing's violent clearing.

Now that a large number of positions were vacant, Emperor Taichang promoted a large number of his own people, not only concentrating power more but also removing the obstacles to implementing new policies.

For a time, it could be called a double happiness.

The last time he was this happy was when his father, who lived a long time, died.

"It is still Your Majesty's leadership that is wise." Chu Danqing complimented; he knew Xiong Zhigang was capable, but he couldn't say it directly.

After speaking, Chu Danqing thought about mentioning the bandit suppression.

Since he was already here, he might as well take advantage of Emperor Taichang's happiness to ask for power.

But before he could speak, a eunuch hurried over and whispered something.

The joy on Emperor Taichang's face actually became even more intense.

"Gu Shushi's son, Gu Pin, has found the third elixir of immortality left by the late Emperor, called 'Undying'."

"He is willing to use this medicine to exchange for the safety of his family." Emperor Taichang said.

Li Wanwu responded immediately: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Longevity, Eternal Youth, Undying—you are the Emperor of all ages!"

"Your Majesty, the medicine offered by the son of an enemy-colluding traitor must be guarded against." Chu Danqing glanced at Li Wanwu.

The third red pill? Wasn't that the poison left by the previous Emperor Taichang in the Taiyi Academy?

Li Wanwu was trying to kill Emperor Taichang, right?

"Lord Chu's words are reasonable; let someone present it first so I can take a look." Emperor Taichang felt Chu Danqing's words made sense, but Li Wanwu's "Emperor of all ages" was more attractive.

Gu Pin was brought up, his eyes full of hatred when looking at Chu Danqing, and then he presented an exquisite brocade pouch.

Then he knelt down without saying a word.

Emperor Taichang didn't pay attention to the other party, eagerly took the pouch, and opened it to look.

Sure enough, it was another red pill, identical in appearance and smell to the previous ones.

Chu Danqing really didn't expect Li Wanwu to want to kill Emperor Taichang at this critical juncture; what was he plotting?

It couldn't be that he realized he was going to kill him, so he struck first?

Or did he want to further expand his advantage?

"Where did you get this elixir?" Emperor Taichang asked.

"Returning to Your Majesty, it was stolen by this humble official from the Taiyi Academy," Gu Pin said immediately: "My father told me there were three pills: Longevity, Eternal Youth, and Undying."

"Longevity and Eternal Youth were kept together and obtained by the Shushen, then intercepted by Lord Chu and presented to Your Majesty."

"Only the Undying pill was hidden in a secret place, and it was obtained by this humble official." Gu Pin explained the origin.

Chu Danqing could be certain that this was definitely instigated by Li Wanwu.

What Gu Pin said was all made up by Chu Danqing, and as a result, you continued to fake it on top of the lies he made up.

Emperor Taichang believed it, mainly because the sensory effects of the two pills Chu Danqing gave him earlier were very real.

Combined with the psychological effect, he had always felt that he was already immortal.

"If the late Emperor had Longevity, Eternal Youth, and Undying, how could he have died at the hands of an assassin?" Chu Danqing pointed out the blind spot.

There was another key question: if the three pills were so precious, why didn't the previous Emperor Taichang eat them himself instead of hiding them in the Taiyi Academy?

Who wouldn't want to be the Emperor of all ages?

As soon as the words came out, Emperor Taichang reacted immediately.

Longevity and Eternal Youth could still die; it could be explained that the previous Emperor Taichang had taken them, but if you were Undying, how could you still die?

One word awakened the dreamer, allowing Emperor Taichang's reason, which had been obscured by the four words "Emperor of all ages," to gradually recover, and he re-examined Gu Pin.

"This humble official does not know." Gu Pin couldn't explain this loophole, just lowered his head and said: "Whether you believe it or not is entirely up to Your Majesty."

After saying this, Gu Pin stopped speaking.

Emperor Taichang only felt conflicted.

Eat it, afraid of a trap.

Don't eat it, it's a loss.

The temptation of Undying made his heart itch.

"Lord Chu, you once delivered the Longevity and Eternal Youth pills to me; what is your opinion on this Undying pill?" Emperor Taichang looked at Chu Danqing.

In his mind, except for himself, only Chu Danqing had come into contact with the elixir of immortality.

"It's poisonous," Chu Danqing said bluntly.

"Oh? Could it be that Lord Chu knows something?" Li Wanwu took the opportunity to attack.

Chu Danqing shook his head: "No, I just simply don't believe that the son of a traitor who colluded with the enemy would be so kind."

"Not to mention that his family is almost dead; everyone present is his enemy."

Emperor Taichang swallowed, his gaze falling on Gu Pin.

"I dare not; rain, dew, thunder, and lightning are all imperial favors," Gu Pin said immediately: "My Gu family suffered this disaster, which was originally deserved."

Emperor Taichang rubbed his temples, greed and reason constantly intertwining in his mind.

Then he waved his hand: "Temporarily lock Gu Pin in the prison, Lord Chu, you also withdraw first; let me think carefully."

Chu Danqing didn't hesitate and turned to leave; good words cannot persuade a ghost who is about to die.

He had to use physical means to save Emperor Taichang.

Emperor Taichang's death would plunge the capital and even the Taichang Dynasty into greater chaos, and in the end, it would be the ordinary people who suffered.

If the world were peaceful and the people lived and worked in peace, Chu Danqing wouldn't care about Emperor Taichang's life or death.

Chu Danqing only felt that he was a paperhanger; his position was too high, and he considered too much.

He couldn't save the world; he could only try his best to let ordinary people live a little better; he was powerless to do more.

Then, by the way, go kill Li Wanwu tonight; let him live two more days and he'll just keep ruining things.

Seeing Chu Danqing leave, the corners of Li Wanwu's mouth curved slightly.

Things finally didn't deviate from his plan, but they didn't meet his expectations.

Xiong Zhigang's victory report disrupted his deployment; originally, Chu Danqing shouldn't have come.

Without Chu Danqing, Emperor Taichang would have already taken the red pills.

Fortunately, Li Wanwu had follow-up plans; he still had the pillow talk in the harem, so he didn't worry about Emperor Taichang not falling for it.

Li Wanwu naturally knew what the red pills were; having been in his hands for so long, he had long known they were highly toxic.

Otherwise, why would he bother to offer them to Emperor Taichang?

If they were really an elixir of immortality, he would have eaten them himself; why leave them for Emperor Taichang?

After Chu Danqing left, he directly summoned the Heart Demon and asked him to steal the red pill.

The plan was just that simple and crude.

No need to worry about Li Wanwu finding someone else to offer another one.

If they appeared one after another, Emperor Taichang would become suspicious.

About seven minutes later, there was a commotion in the palace.

The black shadow transformed by the Heart Demon leaped out, then placed a red pill in Chu Danqing's hand, once again drawing the enemy away.

"Lord Chu, did you see the assassin fleeing just now?" Li Wanwu chased out and asked immediately.

He was just about to return to the harem when someone suddenly jumped out and snatched the red pill from Emperor Taichang's hand and ran.

He chased out immediately and locked the target of suspicion on Chu Danqing.

"No," Chu Danqing answered calmly: "What does Commander Li want to say?"

"Commander Chu, you have been derelict in your duty." Li Wanwu chuckled, but didn't continue to entangle with Chu Danqing, turned around, and left with a flick of his sleeve.

Chu Danqing was confused; could it be that he intended to use dereliction of duty to target him?

"Without the red pill, what can you do?" Chu Danqing thought to himself, the attributes of the red pill appearing before his eyes.

【Life-Extending Blood Pill】

【Type: Consumable】

【Quality: Excellent】

【Effect 1: Lifespan +10 years】

【Effect 2: Causes 100 points of HP loss per second for ten minutes】

(Note: The higher the constitution attribute, the lower the efficacy)

It couldn't grant immortality, but it could indeed extend life.

The premise was that one had to be able to withstand it; otherwise, the person would die first.

It could only be said to be a chicken rib; the effect was limited, and it was difficult to increase lifespan when the constitution was too high.

It had to be combined with other recovery-type drugs or skills to assist.

(End of Chapter)