Chapter 341

Wan Xinrong, Daoist Tao, and the others followed the white fox, walking along the midnight streets, entering the residence, and then the small courtyard, where they were immediately stunned.

They saw that the small courtyard was lit with lamps, reflecting a scene of chaos; the ground was covered with traces of stone-smashing and fire-burning, mixed with fragments of stone, tiles, and blood. Both the courtyard walls and the tiled roof had obvious signs of damage, clearly having just experienced a fierce battle.

At least twenty or thirty corpses lay on the ground, almost all wearing gray clothes, including both martial warriors and foreign masters.

The three walked in, constantly lifting their feet to step over the corpses, while looking down carefully.

Half a month ago at the Emperor's birthday banquet, they were not originally on the invitation list, but later, in order to fight the Great Foot Masters, the Crown Prince invited them over, and they had a seat in the hall regardless of the outcome; naturally, they recognized the faces lying in the courtyard—

The Great Foot Masters who had fought the strange people and masters of the Ju Xian Fu in the palace that day, winning more than they lost, were likely all here, if not eighty or ninety percent of them.

Added to those martial warriors...

So many people had come to deal with Master Lin!

And all of them had fallen here...

Looking again at the people standing in the courtyard, apart from Master Lin and Lord Luo, there was only his junior sister, who was holding a long sword and a horsetail whisk, stained with blood.

The three were both fearful and shocked.

"Master Lin, we arrived late and couldn't help!" Wan Xinrong walked to the front, bowing first, "After we return, Wan will ask Wu Lingshi to change me to a residence closer to the Master!"

"It's good that you came; thank you in advance."

"I wouldn't dare!"

Wan Xinrong was filled with awe and fear; the lantern artifact he was holding was still the one Lin Jue had given him.

Another sound of footsteps came from outside the courtyard.

In the dim light, two figures walked in.

One was Master Fan Tian, who had just finished dressing, holding a torch, and the other was Lord Pan, wearing a bamboo hat and a straw raincoat, still dripping with water.

"This is..."

After Master Fan Tian walked in, he was equally shocked.

"That day I saw that these Great Foot people seemed very interested in this Swallow Egg Incense of mine, and since I had caused them to lose face, I have been well-prepared these past few days," Lin Jue said. "I thought they would stay in the capital for a full month and only make a move when they were about to leave, but I didn't expect them to send people today."

"So that's how it is!! These Great Foot people, they really saw that the current imperial court is weak and became bold enough to defy the heavens!"

Master Fan Tian gritted his teeth, also very angry, but changing his tone, he said:

"The Great Foot delegation was indeed supposed to stay in the capital for a full month before leaving, and according to past customs, sometimes even longer than a month. However, I heard that the chief envoy in the Great Foot delegation was in poor health; after arriving in Great Jiang, he was already unaccustomed to the water and soil, and coupled with the fire and cold in the palace that day, he fell ill upon returning. Moreover, the symptoms became increasingly severe, and the medical officers in the delegation had no solution, and the imperial physicians couldn't cure him either, so they planned to return early. It must be for this reason that they made their move today."

"So that's how it is."

This kind of intelligence was still very important; he had been negligent.

Master Fan Tian added: "It's just that I don't know if he is truly seriously ill or pretending."

This time, the Great Foot delegation brought many strange people and masters, all with their own skills. In the palace battle, if Lin Jue hadn't acted, the strange people and masters in the Ju Xian Fu would likely have had a hard time fighting them. Therefore, if the Great Foot chief envoy intended to fake an illness, it would be normal for the imperial physicians in the palace and the strange people in the capital not to see through it.

"No matter, I should go find them anyway," Lin Jue said, turning to bow to the few people, "I will go to the guesthouse first, and I ask you all to report this to the officials for me."

"Do you want us to accompany the Master?"

"That won't be necessary."

"Then please rest assured, Master; leave this to us!" Wan Xinrong said.

"The Great Foot envoys live on Sifang Street, where all the state guesthouses for envoys from all directions are located; in the middle position, there is a Great Foot Guesthouse, and that is where they live," Master Fan Tian reminded him.

"Many thanks."

Lin Jue looked down at himself by the firelight and found no bloodstains, so he walked out.

Seeing this, the fox leaped nimbly and followed.

In the blink of an eye, the man and the fox were out of the courtyard.

Master Fan Tian, Lord Pan, and Wan Xinrong then withdrew their gazes and turned to look into the courtyard.

They saw that Master Lin's junior sister, who was born looking clear, delicate, and fair, had her clothes soaked in blood, with only the horsetail whisk and precious sword in her hands remaining spotless, snow-white, and bright. At this moment, she was bowing her head, picking up bone beads one by one from the corpses all over the ground; in her hands, she already held a small silver pot, a curved saber, and a brown umbrella.

Lord Luo was using his precious saber to finish off the survivors one by one.

The five who had arrived later looked at each other and finally looked at Master Fan Tian.

Master Fan Tian pondered for a moment before saying: "Then I will go report to the officials, and also think about how to explain this to the government and those above. You all should clean up these corpses on the ground; after cleaning up, Lord Pan can use his magical powers to draw water from the lake to wash away the blood and flesh on the ground, and we can talk about repairing the courtyard walls and roof after dawn tomorrow."

"Good!"

They all agreed.

The capital had already quieted down, and the streets in the middle of the night were even more silent, without even the sound of the night watchman.

However, it was not completely without sound.

The current capital had many demons, ghosts, and monsters, and hidden within were many people from the martial world, all sorts of people, a mix of fish and dragons.

There were thieves walking on the roofs, martial artists acting in secret, or people drinking and talking all night in seemingly ordinary houses, gambling for fun, or plotting something.

There were also demons and ghosts taking advantage of the night to absorb human yang energy, just like people in the daytime, coming out to recite poetry, socialize, or talk. Or, hearing the movements next to the Ju Xian Fu office and the blooming spiritual light and magical light, those with strong curiosity wanted to go check it out, while the timid ones whispered guesses.

In short, most were sounds that ordinary people couldn't hear.

Lin Jue could perceive some, but not all, while Fuyao could hear them clearly.

Thus, as it followed the Daoist, it often stopped, glanced at the houses by the road or in the distance, held its breath to listen for a moment, and then quickly followed again once the Daoist had walked a few more steps.

The footsteps of the man and the fox were not concealed.

This became the clearest sound of the night.

People from the martial world were mostly alert, and fox spirits and demons were even more sensitive, so wherever the man and the fox walked, the place quickly quieted down. Even the sounds that were hard for ordinary people to hear disappeared rapidly, with only people holding their breath and quietly walking to the doors and windows, looking out through the cracks, wanting to see who was still walking on the road in the middle of the night.

Only after the man and the fox had passed did whispers arise.

"Seems to be Master Lin..." "The one Lord Luo protects..."

"It's a Daoist!"

"Quick, hide..."

Various sounds were heard by the fox, causing it to stop and look back involuntarily.

When the peepers saw it looking over, they immediately held their breath again.

The Daoist moved forward calmly, and so did the fox.

The man and the fox were the night watchmen of this night.

Until Lin Jue stopped and looked up.

Although it was the middle of the night, the starlight overhead was brilliant; although it was the dead of winter, there were bright fireflies on the ground, like small lanterns or small candles, dancing and flying upward, using their own light to illuminate the signboard of the house for the man and the fox below, with three large characters appearing and disappearing.

"Great Foot Official..."

The fox read it out in a clear, delicate voice.

In one look/p>

"Cough, cough, cough..."

A violent coughing sound came from overhead, as if trying to cough out the internal organs, followed by the sound of people talking.

"Chief Envoy! Are you alright?"

"I'm alright..."

"Hold on! We'll go back tomorrow!"

"I'm afraid I can't hold on anymore..."

"You must hold on, hold on!"

"Why are you still awake so late, cough, cough..."

"We are guarding the Chief Envoy!"

"Where did the masters go? And the warriors?"

"They..."

"Where did they go?"

"They are sleeping!"

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Unfortunately, they were speaking the Great Foot language, which Lin Jue couldn't understand.

And his response was a flick of his sleeve.

"Bang!"

A gust of wind from his sleeve, with great force, easily knocked open the locked door.

The fox opened the way with a breath of cold air and jumped in first.

Its vision was also better; looking left and right, it jumped onto the table and the wall, and the oil lamps on the table and wall lit up.

The people upstairs heard the movement and couldn't help but panic, shouting something in the Great Foot language toward below. Getting no response, they each drew their curved sabers or daggers, their hearts already resigned to death.

They saw the wooden stairs creaking.

A young Daoist walked up slowly.

They had already deeply memorized this person's appearance.

"It's you..."

Several envoys saw this, their expressions quite dramatic.

It was obvious that this person had come here, while the masters and warriors who went to find him had not returned; everyone knew what had happened.

They were both incredulous and pale-faced.

The scribe and the medical officer looked vigilant and bewildered.

"Master Lin..."

The Chief Envoy raised his head, struggling to open his eyes, first looking at Lin Jue, then at the reactions of the people in the room, and then closed his eyes again, having already guessed what had happened.

So, when he spoke, he asked: "Is Master Lin here to kill me?"

"The Chief Envoy is overthinking it. Even when two armies are at war, they don't easily behead the envoys, so how could I take the Chief Envoy's life so casually?" Lin Jue said. "Besides, looking at the Chief Envoy's condition, your vitality is already fading; I'm afraid you won't even make it back to Great Foot. If I kill you, it would only have the opposite effect, wouldn't it?"

"Master... cough, cough..."

"However, the Chief Envoy must know that tonight you sent masters and warriors, wanting to steal my treasures; when the theft failed, you wanted to kill me. This is taking my life." Lin Jue turned his head to look at the few envoys in the room who had clearly different expressions and were holding curved sabers and daggers. "I wonder who instigated this?"

"..."

The Chief Envoy slowly turned his head and looked at them as well.

Those few were all very young; they looked at each other, and starting from the person on the far left, he stabbed his own chest with a saber, and the others, seeing this, actually didn't hesitate either, directly slitting their own throats.

Even Lin Jue was stunned for a moment watching this.

These Great Foot people are truly fierce.

Then he couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.

Great Jiang is truly in danger...

"Master Lin, if you want to kill me, please do so. It's just that these are the scribe, medical officer, painter, protocol officer, and translator; please let them go back so that my King knows what happened here. Otherwise, there will inevitably be a catastrophe between the two countries."

Hearing this, the others were all trembling with fear.

(End of chapter)