Chapter 23: The Deeply Hidden Wang Xianling Seeks Cooperation (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Three days passed in the blink of an eye; over these past few days, the Jing'an Guard had turned Tongzhou upside down, and many people suspected of being connected to the Xuan Sect rebels were thrown into the dungeons.

Sun Youliang and Song Youcai did take this opportunity to search for leaflets and other items used by the Xuanhuang Sect to bewitch the masses, which they then handed over to Pei Shaoqing, but these were all found in the homes of believers who had been duped by the Xuanhuang Sect; not a single true Xuan Sect rebel was captured, which resulted in Pei Shaoqing being unable to proceed with his plan to use the Xuanhuang Sect to frame Centurion Zheng.

That evening, inside the inner residence of the County Magistrate located at the very back of the County Government, Wang Xianling was working overtime in his study, processing official documents.

Suddenly, the candlelight on the desk flickered.

Wang Xianling looked up and saw a man in black with his face covered by a cloth appearing before him; he turned his head to look and saw that the window was already wide open.

"I wonder what business brings you here so late at night, Excellency?"

Wang Xianling set down his documents, unhurried.

"Someone wants your life," Gongsun Yi replied.

"Oh?" Wang Xianling raised an eyebrow and said calmly, "Who? Since I am destined to die tonight, could you allow me to be an informed ghost, my good man?"

Gongsun Yi relayed Pei Shaoqing's words: "Young Master Pei asked me to tell you that it is a pity Magistrate-daren will not be able to drink to his success in solving the Mo Fu murder case, but he will eradicate the Xuan Sect rebels in Tongzhou to avenge you."

"Pei Shaoqing?" Wang Xianling frowned, his expression shifting uncertainly, and he asked tentatively, "I have no past grudges or recent enmity with him; why would he kill me? Are you not impersonating someone to commit murder, hoping to frame Young Master Pei?"

"You will have to ask yourself that. Very well, it is time to go," Gongsun Yi did not wish to waste any more words.

Seeing that the other party did not seem to be bluffing, Wang Xianling realized immediately that his conspiracy with Centurion Zheng to plot against Pei Shaoqing must have been leaked, and as for the source of the leak, it was most likely the now-deceased Xu Zhiyong.

This Young Master Pei was quite cunning, not at all the useless and impulsive person described in the intelligence reports.

He had clearly known someone wanted to kill him, yet he could calmly pretend to be ignorant to paralyze and stabilize Centurion Zheng and himself, and even used this matter to frame Xu Zhiyong as Xu Yuanqing, thereby earning the merit of eradicating a bandit leader.

Gongsun Yi pressed forward step by step, but Wang Xianling sat in his place, motionless, as if prepared to accept death calmly.

Facing an ordinary person who supposedly lacked the strength to truss a chicken, Gongsun Yi naturally could not help but feel contempt; he strode to the desk with his sword in hand and thrust it forward.

The next moment, an unexpected change occurred: a blue light shimmered on Wang Xianling's hand as he slapped the incoming sword blade aside; at the same time, his body leaped over the desk like an arrow released from a bow, his other hand transforming into a palm blade that struck directly at Gongsun Yi's face with a dark blue glow.

Gongsun Yi was shocked; he used the tip of his sword to pivot off the ground, his body flying backward as lightly as a wild goose to avoid this strike, which was akin to a sneak attack.

After landing, he stared fixedly at Wang Xianling and said word by word, "The Xuan Jade Hand of the Xuanhuang Sect. I truly never imagined that Wang Xianling was actually a Xuan Sect rebel."

The Xuan Jade Hand is a high-level martial art of the Xuanhuang Sect.

Only the middle and upper echelons of the sect are qualified to practice it.

"I did not want to be exposed either, but I could hardly just stretch out my neck to be slaughtered," Wang Xianling said helplessly, standing with his hands behind his back. "Although my strength is inferior to yours, I can hold out until the people from the front office arrive. Young Master Pei sent you to assassinate me, but the mission has failed. Unless you intend to slaughter the entire government office, though I doubt Young Master Pei could cover for that."

Gongsun Yi snorted coldly, leaped out the window, stepped onto the roof, and disappeared after a few bounds.

"Sigh!"

Wang Xianling sighed with a face full of melancholy.

The Weiyuan Marquis is one of the pillars of the Great Zhou and has stained his hands with plenty of Xuan Sect blood; he had hoped to make him lose a son to avenge his fallen brothers and, incidentally, establish a connection with Wan Guifei in the palace, but he had not expected that the attempt to steal a chicken would result in losing the rice, and instead, his own identity had been exposed.

It was fine for the short term, as Pei Shaoqing could not produce material evidence proving he was a member of the Xuan Sect, but this person would certainly report tonight's events to the Weiyuan Marquis.

The Weiyuan Marquis did not need evidence to deal with him.

Therefore, he had to think about what to do next.

If he could not think of a way, he would have to abandon his post and flee.

……………………………

But Wang Xianling was truly overthinking; as an impostor, Pei Shaoqing would not proactively provoke the attention of the Marquis Mansion unless absolutely forced to.

Therefore, although he was shocked after learning of this from Gongsun Yi, he never once thought of reporting it to the Capital.

"I truly never expected the local official of Tongzhou to be a Xuan Sect rebel," Pei Shaoqing remarked with genuine emotion.

And this rebel was deeply supported by the local populace.

Gongsun Yi echoed, "The Xuan Sect's assassination of the previous County Magistrate was likely to make room for this person."

"Is that so? Isn't that too crude? There are plenty of ways to have the previous County Magistrate transferred or demoted; why be so brutal?" Pei Shaoqing held a skeptical attitude toward this.

"Young Master is not a person of the Jiang Hu, so naturally, you do not understand the mindset of Jiang Hu people," Gongsun Yi shook his head and explained patiently. "To Jiang Hu people, killing is the simplest and most efficient method. Moreover, the Xuan Sect is a Jiang Hu sect plotting rebellion; their methods are even more ruthless, and they have frequently engaged in assassinations and secret killings since their founding."

"Political assassination cannot achieve anything; one only needs to look at the fact that the Xuan Sect has been rebelling for over a thousand years without success to know that they are destined to be a bunch of rabble," Pei Shaoqing said dismissively, then began to ponder another question. "Then what is Wang Xianling's motive for coming to Tongzhou?"

"This subordinate does not know!" Gongsun Yi shook his head.

Pei Shaoqing fell into deep thought and remained silent; after a long while, he said slowly, "Sect Leader Gongsun, go to the County Government again and invite Wang Xianling to meet me at the Huangji Dangpu in the city on my behalf."

Although the Huangji Dangpu was still there, the bandit insiders inside had long since been secretly silenced by Ye Hanshuang under his orders.

Gongsun Yi did not understand what Pei Shaoqing wanted to do.

Wang Xianling did not understand either.

But after weighing it for a moment, he decided to attend the appointment.

However, before going, he sent someone to the Juyuan Inn to pass a message, ordering people to lie in ambush around the Huangji Dangpu.

This was to prevent Pei Shaoqing from trying to lure him out to kill him.

When Wang Xianling arrived, he saw the doors of the Huangji Dangpu tightly shut, so he used his light-body technique to vault over the wall and immediately saw Pei Shaoqing sitting by a stone table in the courtyard.

Ye Hanshuang and the still-masked Gongsun Yi stood far behind him on the left and right, respectively, each holding a sword.

"I wonder if I should call you Wang Xianling or Helmsman Wang?" Pei Shaoqing asked with a faint smile.

Gongsun Yi claimed that only the middle and upper echelons of the Xuan Sect were qualified to practice the Xuan Jade Hand; logically, it was impossible for the Xuan Sect to send too many experts to a small place like Tongzhou, so Wang Xianling was very likely the Helmsman of the Tongzhou branch of the Xuan Sect.

"It is the Young Master's territory; the Young Master may do as he pleases."

"Then Helmsman Wang it is," Pei Shaoqing flicked his folding fan open, shook his head, and said, "Helmsman Wang, you hide yourself truly deep; it is hard to believe!"

"Likewise," Wang Xianling smiled with refined elegance and said, "The Young Master also hides himself quite well. Those fellows who said Young Master Pei was incapable of literature or martial arts and only knew how to eat, drink, whore, and gamble were truly blind; they even misled my Holy Sect, otherwise, I would not have been exposed."

"I must defend them on that point; it is true that I like to eat, drink, whore, and gamble," Pei Shaoqing laughed, rose from the stone stool, closed his fan, and stared at Wang Xianling. "You must be very curious as to why I wanted to see you."

"Please enlighten me, Young Master," Wang Xianling cupped his hands.

Pei Shaoqing uttered two words: "Cooperation."

"Cooperation?" Wang Xianling was puzzled; he narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Young Master, are you not joking? One of us is a rebel, the other is a son of a noble house; our stances are naturally opposed. I truly do not see what we could cooperate on."

"Eh, Helmsman Wang, you are being narrow-minded," Pei Shaoqing shook his head again, gently waving his open fan. "This Great Zhou is the Great Zhou of the Yan Family emperors; it is not the domain of my Pei family, let alone the domain of me, Pei. What does your rebellion against the Yan family have to do with me? I only care about whether our cooperation can benefit both you and me."

Although he had fully experienced the superiority of feudal society over these past two days, he had no interest in working his life away for the Great Zhou Emperor; he only cared about his own interests.

As a transmigrator, he did not view himself as a member of the Zhou State at all; if patriotism was to his advantage, he would be patriotic, and if rebellion was to his advantage, he would rebel.

His bottom line was as flexible as his underwear.

Gongsun Yi was already drenched in sweat listening to this.

"Young Master is certainly an interesting person." Wang Xianling was taken aback, his thoughts turning, and he said with a smile: "If Young Master truly thinks this way, then it is indeed not impossible for us to cooperate; please speak your mind, Young Master."

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(End of chapter)