Chapter 742: Interpretation

"Lingzi, my younger sister: The matter I spoke of previously is now eight or nine parts complete. With the timing and terrain both working in our favor, sweeping away the century-old haze is within reach; this is a cause for universal celebration. The auspicious sign mentioned before will be secured by noon on the twelfth, at a location thirty-five miles north of the camp. Take the auspicious sign to the northeast of the capital and hand it to our second brother. Do not delay the great undertaking of the Lantern Festival. Your eldest brother."

Tang Zhao opened the letter in front of Xing Ji and read it from beginning to end. The letter then ignited without wind and vanished, disappearing completely.

Clearly, this was a letter that could only be read once. After Tang Zhao read it, he triggered its self-destruct sequence, and it vanished without a trace. Unless there was a technique to reverse time, it could never be recovered.

It was evident that seeing this letter was a one-in-a-million possibility; it required maxed-out luck. Tang Zhao sighed once more: The Auspicious Lingzhi, truly worthy of its reputation.

"Lingzi, that refers to the Baoying Marquis, right?"

Xing Ji nodded and said, "There is no one else. This letter was written to her by... her mastermind."

Although the letter was signed "Eldest Brother," both Tang Zhao and Xing Ji felt this was not a letter from a real older brother. It was obvious the other party was the superior and the Baoying Marquis the subordinate; even if the language was polite, it was the tone of someone issuing orders. The so-called brother and sister relationship was likely a sworn sibling bond, a recognized foster sibling bond, or an internal designation of some organization.

It is not just people of the Jianghu who are willing to swear brotherhood; political figures are just as willing, as it is a cheap and effective means of solicitation. However, the procedure is not so crude; one must align the genealogies, climb the family tree, and connect the clans, and then they can call each other brother and sister. This is also a form of alliance.

Tang Zhao asked skeptically, "But the Baoying Marquis is no small figure; is the brother she recognizes really that powerful? Could someone have sent a fake letter using her brother's name?"

Xing Ji analyzed, "It could be an impersonation, or there could truly be a mastermind she can call brother. There is not necessarily only one way to manipulate subordinates; one just uses whatever method is convenient and effective. If recognizing siblings is good, then recognize siblings; if marriage is good, then marry; if recruiting retainers is good, then recruit retainers. In short, it serves the purpose. Calling each other brother and sister doesn't cost money anyway. Also..."

He squinted at Tang Zhao and said, "Can you stop carrying that 'a mere Sword Hero is nothing, what say do they have in such major matters' attitude? In your eyes, an ordinary Sword Hero is not worth mentioning, but in the Human World, aside from the State Preceptor, it is a group of Sword Heroes who call the shots. Soliciting a Sword Hero is very important, let alone a regional marquis. If one could climb the family tree to solicit a monarch, the powerful people lining up to call the monarch 'Grandmother' would stretch for miles. Besides, I, your Chief Xing, might not even be as good as the Baoying Marquis; you shouldn't be so blunt just because my skin is thick, right?"

Tang Zhao hurriedly said, "I didn't mean to look down on Sword Heroes; I am a Sword Hero myself. Besides, you are not an ordinary Sword Hero. In my heart, you are the... among Sword Heroes." He held up one finger, but felt 'first' was too fake, so he held up another finger, thought about it, and held up another...

Xing Ji grabbed his hand and said, "Don't start with that; I'm afraid you don't have that many fingers. Just analyze properly; there's no need to be so polite."

Tang Zhao brought the topic back and said, "This letter doesn't provide much information; we can only pick at the details. First, the letter clearly states the time and place of the Marquis's arrival—I fear even the Marquis herself might not have been so clear, which is chilling. Second, it mentions a 'great undertaking.' One is the 'century-old haze,' and the other is that the great undertaking will happen on the Lantern Festival."

"Century-old haze—did something happen a hundred years ago? To the extent that a haze covers everything?"

Xing Ji pondered for a moment and said, "If I can think of a major event, a hundred years ago... the founding of the Great Jin?"

Tang Zhao clapped his hands, and he and Xing Ji said in unison, "The Turtle Bandits?!"

Replacing Wei with Jin a hundred years ago—to the Turtle Bandits, wasn't that a haze?

This is very likely; the Turtle Bandits are troublemakers, and nothing they do is strange.

He pondered, "We can't confirm it yet, so let's put that question aside. Now, the Lantern Festival is inherently important. Initially, the imperial decree said to let the regional marquises enter the capital to watch the lanterns on the Lantern Festival. That means the Lantern Festival is when the marquises are most gathered, and the royal family is also most gathered. It is practically the time when the most important figures in the world are assembled; it is truly suitable for a great undertaking."

He thought of the time at Wangliang Mountain. That was when they held a Sword Fighting tournament to test Sunset Manor, and the Long Life Society took the opportunity to cause trouble, eliminating most of the slave owners. That could be considered a lucky strike, saving them a lot of trouble for subsequent operations.

It is evident that taking advantage of people gathering to launch a surprise attack and take away a large group of important figures, thereby completely changing the power structure, is a traditional and effective method. It is very classic and remains the preferred strategy for turning the tables even now.

The only problem is that this is a world where the high-ranking are mostly strong. Aside from the royal family, which has the protection of the State Preceptor—where the little Emperor and the Empress Dowager have weaker strength—the other marquises are all at the Sword Hero level. Even if they don't bring anyone with them, and even if the banquet forces them to disarm and not bring swords inside, it is very difficult to wipe them all out at once. If one really had that kind of strength, what couldn't they do? Restraining the Emperor's family first and then separating the others to bleed them one by one would be simpler than trying to kill a group of Sword Heroes gathered together.

Unless there is some special method, for example... poison? For example, some kind of rule? Or perhaps...

Tang Zhao thought of the method used to cause the Disappearance of the Gaoyuan Marquis.

Could that method make more Sword Heroes disappear?

If this method could unexpectedly trap these big figures—not necessarily kill them, but just trap them—what consequences would it bring?

I fear the Human World would fall into chaos. If someone seized this opportunity to cause trouble, they might just turn the world upside down. Of course, that is assuming they can get past the State Preceptor.

Mentioning turning the world upside down, Tang Zhao felt more and more that it was the Turtle Bandits.

It was an inexplicable certainty. In fact, until now, there was no evidence linking the Turtle Bandits to the events in the capital; even because of Che Lin's previous foreshadowing, the Demonic Sect seemed more suspicious than the Turtle Bandits, but Tang Zhao just felt it was the Turtle Bandits. He always felt that without personal grudges or interests, if the goal was simply to throw the capital and the world into chaos, it would be very reasonable if it were the Turtle Bandits.

Tang Zhao marked this point on his Glasses and combined it with the points he had thought of earlier, saying, "It's hard to speculate on their purpose out of thin air. I just have a feeling that having six days to find the Marquis might still be too generous; we might need to find the Marquis before the fifteenth—perhaps we only have two days."

Xing Ji pondered, "True. They likely kidnapped the Marquis to force her to find that auspicious sign, and the auspicious sign is to be used for their great undertaking on the Lantern Festival. Regardless of whether the Marquis can find the auspicious sign, once the Lantern Festival passes, I fear she will be useless to them. Would they leave the Marquis alive?" He gritted his teeth as he said this, looking somewhat ferocious. "Even now, who knows how they are forcing the Marquis? Every moment we are late in finding her, she suffers more... Damn them!" He swung his sword down fiercely; the blade split the air, emitting a sound like a tiger's roar.

Tang Zhao, however, had a thought: Could it be that what they are looking for is not the auspicious sign?

The auspicious sign is certainly important and would have symbolic significance during these turbulent times. However, is it too hasty to start looking for the auspicious sign only two days in advance? The wind of the auspicious sign has been blowing for so many days; the Gaoyuan Marquis could have found it long ago, and she didn't just leave Yunzhou. If it was only for her eyes, why not intercept her earlier?

Moreover, if that person truly had foresight, then he should know that looking for the auspicious sign now is truly futile. Zhu Ying, this auspicious sign, has already gone to the Qianxian, and there is vaguely protection from someone above the Sword Immortal level. How could the Human World just touch her? The Gaoyuan Marquis couldn't see Zhu Ying and instead suffered a backlash, her eyes bleeding; this was not her pretending, but truly being unable to cope.

If one really intends to painstakingly carry out a great undertaking, and the auspicious sign is an important link, pinning one's hopes on the Gaoyuan Marquis, who was kidnapped at the last minute, isn't that gambling with one's own life?

Tang Zhao felt more and more that the rumors of the auspicious sign might truly be a smokescreen. Perhaps the mastermind, who is suspected of being able to disturb time, learned some clues about Zhu Ying, and might even know she is in the Northeast, but does not particularly want to find her.

If this is the case, then perhaps his goal is...

The Gaoyuan Marquis!

At least one of the targets is the Gaoyuan Marquis.

If the person who kidnapped the Gaoyuan Marquis and the one who killed families and toyed with the Dao Palace in the capital are the same, then what he is plotting is not small. His true goal is certainly not the Gaoyuan Marquis herself, but using her as some kind of tool. After all, the Gaoyuan Marquis's sword is too special; there is likely no substitute in the Human World. Perhaps she has truly become a link in some conspiracy.

If this is true, there is one piece of good news: before the great undertaking on the Lantern Festival, the Marquis might be able to stay safe. But after the Lantern Festival, I fear the Marquis will be hard-pressed to escape disaster.

There are only two days left!

Tang Zhao felt the time was extremely pressing and took a deep breath.

The time point of the Lantern Festival is confirmed, but the remaining clues are not enough for them to analyze who the mastermind is, let alone analyze where the Gaoyuan Marquis is being imprisoned. Now they need to continue the investigation.

One is to go to the place where the Gaoyuan Marquis disappeared to investigate. In fact, having just interrogated the Siqing Marquis, many things are already clear. Tang Zhao is not sure if there will be any gains just by going to the scene to investigate again. When the time comes, he will need to use the means left behind by the Gaoyuan Marquis.

This must be done. There is another thing, which is to dig further into other clues in this short letter.

Tang Zhao carefully read the letter recorded on his Glasses, searching meticulously, wanting to find clues between the lines. After a while, he said, "The letter mentions three people. Eldest Brother, Second Brother, and the Baoying Marquis. Eldest Brother is the mastermind. The Baoying Marquis is the third sister, so who is the second brother?"

Xing Ji nodded and said, "That is indeed a clue. However, we only know this person is in the northeast of the city. 'Go to the northeast of the city and hand it to the second brother...' Looking at this wording, he should live in the east of the city and have a fixed residence in the northeast of the city where one can visit. The Baoying Marquis would definitely not come to the capital often. If she only comes occasionally, this place should be relatively conspicuous."

He tapped the back of his other hand and said, "Actually, there is another clue. The Baoying Marquis is nominally a marquis; her status is definitely not low. To associate with her and nominally be able to act as an older brother, it certainly isn't enough just to be older than her. One must also have a certain status, perhaps even higher than a regional marquis..."

The two looked at each other, and Tang Zhao said, "I have thought of one person."