Chapter 732: Heavenly Street

The light rain in the capital moistens everything like fine cream.

In early spring, the scenery of the capital is actually quite beautiful.

Compared to the outer regions, the streets of the capital are flat and wide, lined with flowers and willows. Although the willows have not yet sprouted and the flowers have not yet bloomed, one can already see tender yellow grass buds. In the city, there are several large stretches of lakes with sparkling blue waves. A cool breeze blows over the water; reciting poetry by the lake or gazing into the distance from a pavilion is quite elegant.

This should have been one of the best times of the year, yet the capital is shrouded in dark clouds.

Staring at the dark clouds that have not dispersed for many days, Tang Zhao has been moving cautiously within the city for several days now. He had originally been hiding at the residence of Senior Brother Xu under Zijin Mountain, but after hiding for two days, he did not see his senior brother return. The small town under Zijin Mountain was deathly silent; even if he hid there until the world collapsed, he would not receive any news.

If Tang Zhao only sought safety, then he could just hide obediently. But then why did he come here?

Why not go back to report the news himself, and then return to the capital according to the original plan?

He came to scout for information, so naturally, he had to do something. It is just that the capital is a completely unfamiliar place, and now it is under the high pressure of the State Preceptor. How could it be easy for him to scout for information? Therefore, he must think clearly about what to do and how to do it.

Fortunately, Tang Zhao reads many books, allowing him to calm his mind and sort things out from the beginning.

First, he has three goals.

The most urgent is to find the source of the news about the Lingzhi; this is his primary purpose for coming to the capital. This piece of news may seem insignificant in the current situation, but it is closely related to Tang Zhao, so he cannot give it up. Moreover, the water in the capital is murky now, and everyone is focusing their attention on the Gongcheng, making it easier for flaws to appear on the other side.

The second most urgent thing is to protect the interests of Yunzhou during this great upheaval. Tang Zhao has not yet figured out how to do this, but he has pondered a key point—find Commander Nan.

Yes, Commander Nan has already entered the capital one step ahead; he and Tang Zhao are on two different lines. Tang Zhao is outside the city, and he is inside. Tang Zhao does not know where he went, but thinking about it, he should have gone to contact those powerful officials and high-ranking residences.

Tang Zhao cannot say he is completely ignorant of the forces in the capital; after all, the Gaoyuan Marquis gave him a crash course before he came. In the original plan, he was also supposed to go out and socialize as a separate new noble; he couldn't just be a little follower after becoming a Marquis, right? So, not understanding the most basic common sense would make people laugh at him. But Tang Zhao's ambition does not lie there, so he only understood it superficially, just cramming at the last minute.

Compared to him, Commander Nan has much richer political experience, broader connections, and more precise judgment. If Tang Zhao cannot find the Gaoyuan Marquis, finding him is the same. He will just listen to Commander Nan's judgment; if Commander Nan thinks he should do something, then he will do it. If Commander Nan thinks the water is too deep and there is no room to intervene, Tang Zhao will just stand by and do nothing. In his view, the possibility of doing nothing is better; although this kind of great upheaval will trigger a reshuffling, as long as he is not in the deck of cards, he will not be shuffled. This logic should not be wrong.

Finally, it is to eat melon... record news.

Tang Zhao believes that the Gaoyuan Marquis has personnel in the capital; otherwise, what is the Jing'an Division for? But those personnel and secret agents are now restricted because their level is too low. Probably few people can scout useful information, and even if they do, they cannot pass it out. Tang Zhao feels that his abilities are different from ordinary people, and he can also be used as a secret agent for real-time communication.

So he left Zijin Mountain and entered the capital first.

Because the Disappearance gave him a sense of danger, Tang Zhao used the "plucking" Doubt hiding method he got from Ling Baoyu to easily hide in a certain group of nobles and mix into the capital.

This group of nobles was not Lao Shunwang; Lao Shunwang was stopped at the Jingjiao. It was a small noble called "Marquis Yan." Of course, such a small noble is not worth the people from the Dao Palace taking special action to deal with him using the power of the State Preceptor. He entered the city smoothly, and even entered his own Wangfu smoothly. But the moment he stepped into the gate, a strand of Sword Essence enveloped him.

Then, Tang Zhao witnessed the miracle of a living person changing drastically.

It can be said that this small noble himself did not have much ambition, and the change was not as earth-shattering as that of Lao Shunwang, but he was still visibly lazy.

Tang Zhao even had a moment of speculation as to whether he had been castrated, because that kind of personality change was as docile as a boar turning into a castrated pig.

But it seems that people do not lose their desires after being castrated; countless great eunuchs have proven this point.

He recalled carefully, and it seemed that at one moment, he saw a flash of Thunder Light.

That Thunder Light was not obvious and disappeared in the blink of an eye. No one else noticed it except him, but Tang Zhao did not think it was an illusion.

The Glasses subsequently proved this point. When facing that little Marquis, a line of text flashed on the Glasses: "Sword Technique, Wuxiacie."

It really is a Sword Technique.

Tang Zhao felt a chill in his heart: judging from the Thunder Light, it was undoubtedly the State Preceptor who took action. But judging from the effect, it was directly targeting the human heart. Combined with the Sword Technique name "Wuxiacie," it might be a form of targeted purification, using Thunder Light to eliminate emotions like "ambition and desire" as if they were flaws.

This kind of elimination might be irreversible. It is not like Sword Arts such as illusions, manipulating emotions, or twisting the human heart, where one can twist back after twisting. This one, once digested, is digested. It does not come back.

Although this might turn some ambitious people into good people in a realistic sense, it undoubtedly permanently deprives them of something.

They are crippled, mentally crippled.

If this is the case, the State Preceptor is truly hiding his depth. All along, people's impression of the State Preceptor has been thunder, thunder, thunder, striking, striking, striking—extreme violence, unreasonable, using cruel means to physically deal with enemies. But who would have thought that he could actually eliminate enemies from the Spirit as well?

This is what is called the "Vanishing Sword."

Tang Zhao only felt like he had needles on his back. He considers himself to have no major flaws in character, and his ambition is not great, but he does not want to become a living Buddha without knowing it, nor does he accept others performing a mental lobotomy on him.

But that is truly impossible to guard against. That little noble did not feel at all that he had been changed by external forces and was still beautifully enjoying life.

Tang Zhao's Celestial State is a counter to this, but the long-term Celestial State consumes too much and also limits his actions. He thought for half a day before coming up with a way to resist.

Although he thought of a response, Tang Zhao became increasingly cautious. He hurriedly left the small noble's residence to find Commander Nan. Since Commander Nan entered the capital secretly, he naturally would not stay in any inn, guild hall, or Yunzhou property in the capital. It is very likely that he went to stay temporarily at his "old connections." Now that the wind is tight, he naturally does not go out in the deep mansion, so Tang Zhao can only search for him mansion by mansion.

This Sword Technique of the Doubt blind spot has its own merits compared to the Disappearance hiding effect, but it has a major limitation: it cannot leave people.

Doubt blind spot—only with doubt is there a blind spot, and only with people is there doubt. The greater the doubt, the more blind spots, and the more things are hidden.

Therefore, if he wants to go out, he must follow others out, but he can change people at any time, just like hitchhiking, he can change cars at any time.

However, that is a bit slow. In the past, it was fine when people were coming and going on the street, but in the last few days, the streets have been cleared, and there are far fewer pedestrians. If he wants to go anywhere, it is much more circuitous.

Fortunately, this street clearing is not really empty of people. First, there are a small number of pedestrians, and second, there are a large number of public servants and soldiers patrolling the streets, walking back and forth, which are very convenient buses.

After Tang Zhao figured out their movement patterns, he followed them back and forth between the major residences. Although the capital is large, there are only a few areas where the great mansions are gathered. Searching one area today and another tomorrow, he will always be able to finish searching.

But the trouble is, Tang Zhao searched for two days and finished searching two areas of noble residences, but still did not find Commander Nan.

One must know that there are differences among the powerful and noble. Generally, they are just divided into civil officials, military generals, aristocratic families, and royal relatives, each with their own gathering places. In addition, nobles from other regions also have residences in the capital, but because they are not stationed there permanently, they are not particularly gathered together and are scattered everywhere.

But Tang Zhao would certainly not prioritize searching the noble residences. He thinks that the nobles are all from outside, and Commander Nan wants to build relationships in the capital, so he must look for local big families. Among them, civil officials, military generals, and royal clans are all possible. But the possibility of royal clans is smaller; the Gaoyuan Marquis is already associated with Lao Shunwang, so he cannot have various deep connections with other royal clans as well, right? Then the Gaoyuan Marquis could not be called a "Royalist Party"; calling him a "conspirator" would be more accurate.

And among civil officials and military generals, he analyzes from common sense that the connections with military generals might be greater. The Gaoyuan Marquis came from the army, and it is very common for him to leave behind old comrades, old subordinates, and old superiors in the capital. So the first thing he searched for was the residences of military generals.

But he did not find anyone in "Wuying Fang," where the military generals gathered. He only saw these famous generals being divided and ruled; some were summoned to the Shangshutai, some were kept in their residences and under house arrest, and some families were empty, the large mansions empty and desolate. He did not know if they were not there originally or if they suddenly disappeared?

To be honest, if he hadn't seen the State Preceptor use lightning to instantly turn hundreds of people into dust, Tang Zhao would not have had the option of "sudden disappearance" in his mind. But standing in an empty mansion, seeing the newly painted houses and complete furnishings, yet not a single person, a chill rose in Tang Zhao's heart.

He noted the locations of several residences and hurriedly withdrew, then went back to search the area where civil officials gathered. In this current semi-chaotic world, the status of civil officials has greatly declined. The few old officials who held administrative power were invited to the Shangshutai overnight, which is basically equivalent to house arrest. The remaining civil officials all stayed at home, and the guards were not as strict as those of the military generals. After all, the civil officials of the Great Jin are true civil officials, not the military-civil officials who walked the Spirit Official path like the former Wei; they were just used to govern the country, and now that the country is no longer a country, they are not needed.

After seeing both civil and military, Tang Zhao walked towards the royal relatives and royal family, where his old acquaintance, the Chun Wangfu, was—that is, Wang Fei's family. However, he did not intend to go to the Chun Wangfu, but planned to go to other places to search first. Because the line of the Chun Wangfu was led by him, it should not be the one Commander Nan went to contact.

He didn't know anyone else, so he just picked one to start searching, which was a Prince's residence.

As soon as he entered the main gate, he felt something was wrong. He sniffed, and his heart sank.