Chapter 289

Su Xuan went to give a lecture to Ying Zheng as he always did.

Was it that the six great elders of the Nongjia did not follow their promise and launched an assassination attempt on Su Xuan, or... had the six great elders of the Nongjia attempted to assassinate Su Xuan, but failed?

Lord Lord Changping's expression suddenly turned uncertain!

"Are you unharmed, Mr. Su?"

In the Zhangtai Palace, after Ying Zheng learned the news that Su Xuan had been ambushed, his expression immediately became anxious, and he looked at Su Xuan with worry in his eyes.

Admittedly, Su Xuan's strength was not ordinary.

But even the strongest person could capsize in a gutter, and Su Xuan had said himself that he had encountered an ambush.

Su Xuan shook his head, "I am fine!"

Ying Zheng asked again, "What kind of people were they, to be so bold as to ambush you within the borders of my Qin?"

Ying Zheng was very angry.

It was not just because someone had ambushed Su Xuan, but because this happened within the borders of Qin, near the capital Xianyang; such a heinous incident occurring near the capital was unacceptable.

This meant that there was a major problem with public security in Qin, and some officials needed to be held accountable.

At the same time, if the culprits who ambushed Su Xuan were not captured, Ying Zheng would not mind conducting a nationwide search to catch these madmen.

It might seem like a huge fuss, but if it was for Su Xuan, it was worth it.

Since meeting Su Xuan, Su Xuan had helped Ying Zheng a great deal and had even shown Ying Zheng a completely different world.

"It was the six great elders of the Nongjia!"

Su Xuan had come to the Zhangtai Palace not to ask Ying Zheng to seek justice for him, but to tell Ying Zheng that certain people were becoming restless; however, he still told Ying Zheng who had ambushed him.

"The six great elders of the Nongjia?" Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows, "As far as I know, the Nongjia has six halls. Are these six great elders the elders of the six halls?"

"Yes and no!"

Su Xuan gave an ambiguous answer.

"Oh?" Ying Zheng looked at Su Xuan curiously, waiting for his explanation.

It could only be said that his understanding of the Hundred Schools of Thought was indeed limited; after all, Ying Zheng was not a person of the Jianghu. Furthermore, the six great elders of the Nongjia had lived in seclusion for many years and had always been mysterious; very few people in the Jianghu even knew of their existence.

"The six great elders of the Nongjia are not elders under the six halls, but rather reside above them. The appointment of the Nongjia leader, the Xia Kui, has always required their decision. Before becoming elders, these six people each served as a hall master for a period of time. They once joined forces to accomplish one thing, and Your Majesty should not be unfamiliar with this matter."

"What matter?"

"Hunting down... Bai Qi!"

"It was actually their doing?!" As the King of Qin, Ying Zheng was well aware of the secret behind Bai Qi's death. On the surface, Bai Qi was ordered to commit suicide by Qin King Zhaowang, but in reality, it stemmed from an ambush by the Nongjia.

Ying Zheng did not expect that those who hunted down Bai Qi back then had not died, but had instead become elders of the Nongjia. One must know that many years had passed since Bai Qi's death.

Thinking of this, Ying Zheng could not help but ask Su Xuan again, "Is Mr. Su really alright?"

If it were ordinary people ambushing Su Xuan, it would be one thing, but these six were the culprits who had joined forces to hunt down Bai Qi. Regarding that Lord Lord Wuan of Qin, Bai Qi, in the intelligence reports of Qin, besides being a famous general of his generation, he was also a powerhouse who had reached the pinnacle of martial cultivation. If he were not a powerhouse, he could not have risen from a mere foot soldier to become Lord Lord Wuan through merit on the battlefield.

Even so, Bai Qi, at the height of his power, still died.

This showed the strength of the six people who hunted down Bai Qi.

Now, many years had passed since Bai Qi's death, and by all logic, these six people should have become elderly and frail. However, Ying Zheng had previously learned the path of cultivation from Su Xuan and had received confirmation from him that cultivation could prolong life. As one's strength reached a certain level, even if one's appearance seemed old, one's vitality could actually be more vigorous than that of a young person.

The six great elders of the Nongjia were very likely such people.

Su Xuan was very strong; this was something Ying Zheng had known for a long time. But no matter how strong he was, there were six people on the other side, and no one could be sure if Su Xuan had been injured.

"Your Majesty need not worry. I am truly fine. On the contrary, those six Nongjia elders have now become my prisoners!"

"As expected of Mr. Su!" Hearing this, Ying Zheng praised Su Xuan from the bottom of his heart.

He did not expect that when Su Xuan faced the ambush of these six powerhouses, not only was he unharmed, but he had also turned the tables and captured them alive.

After discussing some details of the ambush, the clever Ying Zheng immediately guessed the reason why Su Xuan mentioned this matter to him. Su Xuan had never come to tell Ying Zheng he was assassinated to gain sympathy; the truly important thing was the hidden meaning behind this ambush.

"Did the Nongjia develop because they received funding from that person? Was the ambush by the six great elders of the Nongjia that person's doing?"

"In the Battle of Daliang, Mr. Su became famous throughout the world. Now, of the six states of Shandong, only two remain, including that person's home state of Chu... Does he feel that Mr. Su's existence poses a great threat to Chu, so he decided to eliminate Mr. Su before Qin attacks Chu?!"

Ying Zheng guessed the purpose of this ambush.

Su Xuan did not speak, letting Ying Zheng guess.

Only after Ying Zheng finished guessing did he bring up another matter.

"Before the six great elders of the Nongjia ambushed me, Lord Lord Changping invited me to drink by the Wei River. There was poison in the wine, and this poison was the exact same one that Yan Dan used on the Six-Fingered Black Knight back then!"

Ying Zheng's eyes narrowed, a flash of coldness appearing in them.

"Chu is different from the other states of Shandong; its national strength is formidable. To destroy Chu, one must plan slowly..."

If it were in the past, Ying Zheng obviously would not have said such things, but there were treacherous officials in the court. Lord Lord Changping had been in Qin for many years and had operated for a long time; no one knew how much of Qin's intelligence he had sold to Chu. Even though Su Xuan had just accidentally caught a big fish and captured the Chu Grand General Xiang Yan, for the sake of stability, Ying Zheng felt that the destruction of Chu could not be rushed.

In any case, only two states remained, so being a little slower did not matter.

"But before that, I do not mind cleaning up the treacherous officials in the court first!"

Through this ambush on Su Xuan, Ying Zheng made up his mind: Lord Lord Changping could no longer be kept; it was time to take action against him.

This time, he ordered people to ambush Su Xuan and poisoned him. Su Xuan could rely on his powerful strength to ignore the deadly poison and kill those who ambushed him, but if Lord Lord Changping wanted to take action against others, they would not have Su Xuan's strength.