Chapter 740: Clues

"Hmm... not the State Preceptor? Your Count saw through the flaw?"

That Captain said: "I suppose so. Our Count is extremely wise, completely different from other feudal lords. While others hadn't reacted, he was the first to react. He said: 'I hear the State Preceptor's methods are ruthless; he never hesitates to kill. Why would he show us mercy? Although killing so many feudal lords would throw the world into chaos, the State Preceptor has never considered such problems. If he were to strike, he would kill us all; how could he just destroy the tents and leave it at that? It certainly wasn't the State Preceptor who struck.' At this time, General Huang asked: 'Could it be the State Preceptor striking to beat the grass and startle the snake, intending to drive us to Jingcheng to deal with us all together?' The Count said: 'No need to let your imagination run wild, are we even worth it?' Then everyone stopped talking. In the end, the Count said: 'Whether it is or isn't, just send people back to take a look.' So they picked a few of us and told us to sneak back and take a look."

Tang Zhao said: "Since you were ordered last night, why did you only come today?"

That Squad Leader immediately said: "It was the Count's order. If we returned too early and happened to run into the State Preceptor, it would be bad. Not only would we die, but we might also implicate the Count, so he told us to wait half a day before coming to look. Our Count is waiting for our report thirty miles ahead. If we didn't return for a long time, he would send others..."

Of course, this was Alie. In fact, if they didn't return, that Count would surely dive into Jingcheng and never come back. In the eyes of the nobles, what were they but pawns crossing the river?

"Otherwise... would you like to come with me to see the Count? I am a small pawn and don't understand anything. He knows more than I do; if you have any doubts, you can ask him."

This was a blatant attempt to lure Tang Zhao into a trap. As for whether it would bring a powerful enemy upon his own master, he couldn't care less. Tang Zhao couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind and said: "Why not? If I have any confusion, I will naturally go and ask him." Having said that, he let this person stand up and follow him to look at those tents.

Sure enough, there was something strange.

From afar, Tang Zhao saw those tents collapsed and had assumed they were pulled down by external force, but upon closer inspection, he saw the tents had fallen very neatly, lying flat on the ground without any traces of pulling or hammering, as if these tents had never been set up at all. Looking at the flames, or rather the fire pits, there was only a pile of dry firewood sitting there with no traces of having been burned; the firewood had no scorch marks, and there wasn't even a speck of dust on the ground. The pots were overturned casually, and there were no water stains in them.

This campsite only looked like a campsite; these tents and supplies had no traces of use, much like props just pulled out of a warehouse to set the scene. Tang Zhao thought that if he hadn't met these people, he would have even thought this was a trap specifically set up by someone to lure him into a snare.

But this was a real main camp; there were people right in front of him who could prove that quite a few people had indeed eaten and stayed here last night. Although the possibility of fakery could not be excluded, based on Tang Zhao's observation, most of what that Captain said should be the truth; at least it was no lie that they had camped here yesterday.

Then, the reason for this eerie situation in the camp could be...

Tang Zhao did not immediately draw a conclusion; instead, he went to the camp next to it.

The camp over there looked the same as this one at first glance, also completely collapsed, but upon opening the tents to look closely, one would find it was vastly different.

The tents over there had not gone unused; rather, they were old. The stakes supporting the tents had rotted and could no longer support them, causing the tents to fall to the ground. The tent fabric was also very worn, with threads coming loose and rotting into several large holes.

There were also fire pits in that camp, but they hadn't just not been burned; they had already burned to ash, which had been mostly scattered by the wind. Not only did the pots have traces of being burned dry, but the pots themselves had even burned through.

This...

Tang Zhao went to a third camp; this one was brand new just like the first camp, and the adjacent fourth camp was also the same as the first. But when he reached the fifth camp, it had turned into the same state of disrepair as the second camp...

No, it was different.

Tang Zhao looked carefully; the degree of disrepair in these tents was even worse. Although it was also rot, there was a difference in the degree of decay. The fourth camp was clearly much more worn, meaning it had been subjected to more severe "erosion."

"The power is very uneven."

The freshness of the new tents showed no difference, but the degree of disrepair in the old tents was easy to distinguish and could serve as a reference point to judge time.

Was this difference due to irregular fluctuations of power, or was it progressive according to orientation or other laws?

Tang Zhao searched camp by camp, and after referencing the states of those camps, he finally reached a conclusion:

It is progressive.

The further forward he went, the greater the change in the camps.

This was good news!

If the power was progressive, it meant there was likely a single source; it was certainly stronger the closer one got to the source and gradually weakened as it extended outward. Tang Zhao only needed to search forward along the direction of increasing power to find the source.

That source was very likely the battlefield where the Lord had fought!

The clue was very clear.

Sure enough, luck was already favoring him.

He walked and searched all the way, and finally, after passing a certain node, the degree of disrepair stopped increasing and instead began to decrease; this meant he had passed the center point.

Found it!

Tang Zhao looked up and couldn't help but laugh:

Actually, there was no need to be so meticulous; it was still very conspicuous.

The leaves on the trees in this area had turned deep green.

In the early spring forest, other trees were only just budding; up close, no color could be seen, and from afar, it was a patch of tender yellow, but the leaves here were lush and green, even more flourishing than in midsummer.

Wasn't this obvious enough? The battlefield was already very close.

Tang Zhao thought for a moment and sent a message for Xing Ji to come over; clearly, this direction was the right one, and Xing Ji probably couldn't find any clues on his side. He would have him come over to rendezvous with him and push forward together.

At the same time, he released those few soldiers. He wasn't afraid of them leaking secrets; he had nothing unpresentable, nor would he do anything like killing the innocent.

However, this was only his light-shadow; his true body remained where it was, which was perfect for him to come over together with Xing Ji.

Before long, Xing Ji arrived; he passed through the jungle and first rendezvoused with Tang Zhao's true body left at the original spot.

"This is..."

Xing Ji hadn't come alone; he had brought someone with him. This person was covered in blood and looked like he had no breath left.

"Oh, I picked him up in the woods over there. He was just lying in a bush. I saw at a glance that this person was no simple character; he was actually a Sword Hero, and he was injured from a fight. Thinking he might provide key clues, I grabbed him."

Just that simple?

Ha, I'm over here exploring, interrogating, analyzing, and tracking, wishing I could conjure clues out of thin air, and you, old man, directly got a live captive who might have participated in the battle?

Who exactly has the lucky sachet?

"Uh, is he still alive? Can he be interrogated?"

"He's dying now. The injuries are severe, but he is a Sword Hero after all, and his vitality is very tenacious; he won't die so easily for a while. Interrogation is naturally impossible right now, but I can heal him."

Tang Zhao then remembered that Xing Ji actually possessed a very beautiful medical Sword Art and Sword Technique; he could even perform "group healing."

Xing Ji placed the person on the ground and added: "This person... I seem to have seen him somewhere. He's definitely not an acquaintance, but I have an impression."

Tang Zhao looked carefully but had no impression at all. He suddenly thought of the large expanse of camps he had seen earlier and said: "Could it be... some feudal lord?"

Xing Ji realized and said: "That's it, this is some small feudal lord from our north, the... the Marquis of Siqing, right? If it's not Siqing, it's Siming; I can't remember that many."

Tang Zhao's face darkened: "A feudal lord actually participating in an attack on the Lord? Isn't this a provocation to Yunzhou?"

Xing Ji said: "By himself, how could he be the Lord's opponent? There must be other helpers. However, there is no one in this vicinity; I have already searched. Others might be dead, might have fled, or might be with the Lord right now. This person should have escaped from the battlefield with injuries. In a while, we'll ask where the battlefield is, who came, and what their purpose was."

With a live captive, everything is easy to talk about; there's no need to guess bit by bit.

Tang Zhao said: "I have already found the battlefield. But we won't approach it for now; let's interrogate him first. I will have my light go and patrol that battlefield to collect intelligence there and then compare it with his testimony. If we can bluff him, we can also make him afraid to talk nonsense."

Tang Zhao didn't worry about the interrogation. Xing Ji was much more professional than him; Tang Zhao had only taken his own interrogation course by making it up along with the students, and his level could only be described as passing the exam. In practice, he was severely lacking; he could use it in combination with his strength to deal with ordinary small-time characters, but he was far from being able to deal with the Sword Hero level.

As for how good Xing Ji is at interrogation, heh, if someone who wields the sword of "Punishment" weren't good at interrogation, wouldn't that be quite embarrassing?

Tang Zhao's mind, however, had returned to the other side of the light.

His light avatar split once more, dividing into two paths. One path followed the anomalies in the forest to explore the scene, while the other continued toward Jingcheng to observe the various marquises who had retreated but had not yet entered the capital.

Just now, when Tang Zhao heard that the injured person was the Siqing Marquis, he immediately connected it to those collapsed tents; it was said that all the marquises from outside were camped there, and it was very likely that the Siqing Marquis had set out from that very spot. Thinking deeper, assuming the Marquis was besieged by multiple Sword Heroes, could a minor marquis like the Siqing Marquis have several Sword Heroes under his command? Therefore, it was most logical that the remaining people were also marquises.

Several marquises joining forces to deal with the Gaoyuan Marquis!

However, logically speaking, these marquises had all come to Jingcheng to pay homage and certainly were not harboring intentions of intercepting and killing the Gaoyuan Marquis on the road. It was said that they were lingering around Jingjiao because they feared the State Preceptor; the reason the State Preceptor went mad was that the Empress Dowager had accidentally killed the Emperor, and all of this happened spontaneously. Furthermore, the Gaoyuan Marquis had slowed his pace after hearing the news brought by Weise and arrived at Jingjiao later, which was even more of a coincidence.

Coincidence upon coincidence; for these people to connect and decide to launch a joint attack against the Gaoyuan Marquis, the time available to make such a decision was extremely short. Such a short amount of time to coordinate them must have required a powerful motive.

There must also be at least one mastermind capable of connecting them.

Motive, mastermind—these are all very important things, the key to unlocking the puzzle.

This key might be obtained from the mouth of the Siqing Marquis, but if he is not the mastermind, what he knows might be very one-sided. Therefore, Tang Zhao intended to look for clues among the departing marquises to reconstruct the scene as much as possible.