Chapter 227: Worldly Affairs Are Like Chess (End of This Volume)

Winter's rustling cold wind blew across the great Qian dragon flag atop the city wall.

Two fine horses rode out of the city gate; Xie Jinhuan sat astride, his weapon hook bearing the wrapped Minglong Spear in black cloth. Before departing, he cast one last glance back at the bustling metropolis behind him.

Meiqiu had followed Xie Jinhuan around killing and looting for the past few years. Last night upon returning, she visited several 'Feeding Ladies' homes, found them all absent, felt not a shred of attachment to the place, and flapped her wings to smack Xie Jinhuan on the head:

"Goo-ji!"

Bu Yuehua sat sideways on the saddle, a thin gauze veil over her head, her gaze searching the surroundings:

"Will Junior Sister Mu really not come along?"

Xie Jinhuan was certain his dream bride would not come; after all, his legs were still a bit weak, while Bing Tuozi lay paralyzed in the room, utterly unwilling to move. In the end, he had carried her to wash away the wind and frost covering her body; without a full day, she certainly would not recover.

"She has some official business and will come in a few days. Let's go catch up with the envoy's procession first."

Seeing Xie Jinhuan hadn't returned all night, Bu Yuehua actually guessed the two were enjoying 'a brief parting makes the heart grow fonder.'

But she clearly couldn't guess that the cold-as-ice seductive Daoist nun could be drilled so badly she couldn't even get up to see them off. Seeing that Nangong Ye didn't even come out to bid farewell, she felt rather strange inside, though she asked no more.

Ye Hongshang hadn't disturbed Seeing Bing Tuozi being punished by family law last night. Only now did she appear, wearing a dress like blazing flames, sitting behind on the saddle with both arms wrapped around Xie Jinhuan's waist:

"The north enters winter with heavy snow sealing the mountains. This trip, by the time we return, spring will likely have arrived. Won't you compose an impromptu poem to sigh a couple of lines?"

Xie Jinhuan could feel this trip would likely take a long time, but the old man's beauties were all over there; he could also see the red-haired big sister who had saved him back then. His heart felt only:

"The brave man goes forth..."

However, the current Emperor treated him very well. Knowing he had entered Rank 1 and needed a higher-level cultivation technique to guide him, he directly ordered Lu Wu Zhen to copy a copy of the Martial Dao Divine Canon, make it into a jade tablet for him to carry, so as not to delay his cultivation progress.

The Martial Dao Divine Canon belonged to 'Super-Grade Textbooks.' The imperial court hid it to attract countless martial artists to borrow it; if it flowed into other countries, others could naturally use it to attract martial artists to serve them.

Fearing loss, Xie Jinhuan had his ghost wife secretly copy a portion, politely declining the kindness, but this favor naturally had to be remembered, so he would definitely have to return in the future.

While pondering thus, Xie Jinhuan cast one more glance back at Luoyang, where he had grown up since childhood, then lightly squeezed the horse's flank:

"Giddy-up—"

Clip-clop, clip-clop—

The two fierce horses trampled through the cold wind, galloping swiftly toward the north.

One person, one ghost, and one bird accompanied them on the side, yet in an instant they vanished from the end of the sightline...

On the other side, Zheng'an Street Wang Fu.

Numerous servants entered and exited the gate, moving furniture inside. The original Dan Wang Fu sign had also been changed to 'Princess's Residence.'

Huangfu Qi, serving as the Wang Fu's advisor, stood at the entrance in a scholar's robe, gazing at the tightly closed 'Danyang Hou Fu' diagonally opposite, his eyes filled with relief.

After all, that evil star had finally left!

As a ghost cultivator who had practiced for many years, Huangfu Qi's physique showed no abnormalities, but his soul far surpassed ordinary people. He had stayed at the Wang Fu for twenty years without a single mishap, until August when he encountered that evil star.

On the day the sky-piercing blood qi appeared, as the Wang Fu's Mr., he was also sent out to search for the source, but halfway he went to the riverside villa, wanting to ask if Tai Shu Dan was messing around blindly.

It turned out Tai Shu Dan clearly lacked this ability; he could only instruct Tai Shu Dan to hide well and not act rashly.

Unexpectedly, the next day at noon, three underlings under Tai Shu Dan were slaughtered by a stranger named Xie Jinhuan, from whom a large amount of Dragon Beard Grass and account books were seized.

At that time, to mend the fold after the sheep was lost, Tai Shu Dan proposed 'diverting the disaster eastward.' Relying on his understanding of the various forces in Danyang, he forged account books overnight and placed them at Sanhe Lou, then cast an illusion spell on Li Shizhong, made him show his face during the day, and then consumed a large amount of Hua Yao Dan to go mad, killing the accountant master who knew the truth.

Tai Shu Dan then hired the assassin Fu Dongping, deliberately giving Xie Jinhuan a clue about a medicine bottle.

The facts were exactly as he predicted; Xie Jinhuan investigated Sanhe Lou that very day, with both witness testimony and physical evidence matching, drawing the government office's attention away.

Huangfu Qi thought the danger had passed, but unexpectedly the next day, Xie Jinhuan inexplicably went to examine the corpse and discovered clues regarding the Mad Corpse Flower.

Huangfu Qi confirmed the corpse showed no abnormalities and truly couldn't figure out how Xie Jinhuan saw through it. Seeing Zhu Wenyuan and others growing suspicious, he could only say the 'corpse hiding place was the slaughterhouse' to divert the county government office's attention, and immediately notified Tai Shu Dan to destroy the bodies and cover up the tracks to prevent total exposure.

But even though he rushed to send the warning, Tai Shu Dan immediately sent people to handle the corpse-hiding cave, yet they were still blocked by Xie Jinhuan. One died and one was injured on the spot, exposing traces of a 'Super-Grade Great Demon,' causing Dan Wang Fu to misjudge Tai Shu Dan as the source of the blood qi.

Huangfu Qi didn't know how the 'blood traces' of a Super-Grade Great Demon were formed. He went to ask Tai Shu Dan, who also didn't know. Seeing the whole city was searching and arresting, he could only follow Tai Shu Dan's proposal to continue 'diverting the disaster eastward,' secretly obtaining three skeletons that roughly matched from the He family overnight, burying them at Li Gongpu's farm, and then leaking the information to the Constables.

The next day, Xie Jinhuan indeed investigated the Li family again and didn't spot any abnormalities in the skeletons. Given Li Gongpu's rotten reputation, he couldn't easily escape blame; this matter was passed off by deception, waiting for the net to be drawn on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But Xie Jinhuan was simply an evil star!

That day, he tampered with the Eight Directions Bright Array, luring Mu Yunling outside, while Xie Jinhuan ran to the Peony Pool. With no external aid and fighting many with few, he forcibly charged onto the thief's boat and executed the entire Tai Shu Dan family, known worldwide for their slickness!

Huangfu Qi believed his layout had no flaws, so he suspected Tai Shu Dan and his disciple were betraying their masters. That night, he went early to check, found He Can covered in wounds by the riverside, and unexpectedly discovered the 'Three Poisons' planted twenty years ago.

The Three Poisons were 'Pigeon, Pig, Snake,' borrowing Buddhist allusions, with the aim of creating seemingly plausible clues so the imperial court would later suspect Monk Wuxin, facilitating the charge of 'Buddhism excavating the Demon Suppression Tomb.'

Seeing this, Huangfu Qi didn't silence He Can, instead sending him to the Jingzhao Prefecture, where the Hall Master Ye Shirong tortured him severely for interrogation. But He Can's mouth was extremely tough; no matter how he was beaten, he wouldn't admit it was their fault, insisting Xie Jinhuan was sinister.

Huangfu Qi was half-skeptical about this, but the day Xie Jinhuan went to Jingcheng, half of the Mummy Case was solved.

Afterwards, Zhang Chu was almost beaten to death during an assassination attempt, Ye Shirong was killed on the spot, He Guozhang almost exposed himself while trying to silence witnesses in time, Wei Yunya disappeared at Tieji Gang, and then the entire He family was executed, leaving only He Tianqi and his eldest son alive!

This series of losses caught the superiors off guard. Huangfu Qi, acting as a spy alone in Dan Wang Fu, was so terrified he trembled, fearing he too would be exposed inexplicably.

Then, not a few days later, the transfer order from above arrived. The planning above was grand; controlling the entire Southern Dynasty was just the first step.

The original process was for He Tianqi to approach the unpopular Qian Emperor, guide his sister to privately pledge her life to the Qian Emperor, and after she became pregnant, secretly tamper with the fetus—because the Qian Emperor was merely an unfavored Imperial Prince, not as heavily guarded as the Crown Prince, making this loophole easy to exploit.

Afterwards, they would seduce the arrogant Second Imperial Prince who enjoyed favor, secretly support him, induce him to kill his elder brother in fratricide, then assist the Qian Emperor in ascending the throne, and sacrifice the He family's thirty-plus members to secure the Qian Emperor's pure status and gain his absolute trust.

If things went smoothly, the future would see the puppet Crown Prince ascend the throne, the He clan's external relatives monopolizing power, suppressing the Daoist and Buddhist schools, summoning Master Sikong and others to Jingcheng, thus completely controlling the entire empire.

But a plan spanning decades could not be a single bet without a backup.

Dan Wang, as the second in line for the throne, was not eliminated along with the Second Imperial Prince during the Jian'an Incident; he was certainly protected secretly by those above, with the aim of having a backup candidate if the Qian Emperor line went wrong.

Although the Crown Prince hadn't encountered trouble yet, the Qian Emperor was too ruthless, even thoroughly investigating his beloved wife and children. This made those above suspicious, so they activated the backup plan—abandoning the Crown Prince, using him to obtain the Imperial Secret Canon, and letting the Buddhist school test its authenticity, thereby severely damaging the Buddhist school, completely ending the He family affair, dispelling the righteous path's vigilance, and allowing Dan Wang to ascend purely and cleanly.

For this, Monk Master Fa Chen entered Jingcheng and began arresting witches to prepare for excavating the Corpse Ancestor Tomb.

Wei Wu Yi, when the Qian Emperor passed away, organized the Hero Gathering, lured away the very sinister Xie Jinhuan, and used his disciple to display his own depth, laying the groundwork for summoning him to Jingcheng after the Daoist and Buddhist schools encountered trouble.

After the Crown Prince saw the Imperial Secret Canon, He Tianqi actually knew Monk Wuxin hadn't looked, but as long as Master Fa Chen went, the Buddhist school couldn't escape investigation. Thus, the plan remained unchanged, and they used the Crown Prince's mouth to lure away Mu Yunling.

This way, Danzhou became an empty city with no Super-Grade expert stationed, and the sinister little Xie Jinhuan had run off to another place. If they truly excavated the Corpse Ancestor who had suppressed things for a hundred years, they would have ample time to flee.

But Xie Jinhuan was truly sinister. By day, he smashed the place at Sanjiangkou; by night, he ran to the Demon Suppression Tomb to foil Master Fa Chen's actions; the next day, he smashed Wei Wu Yi's place again, leaving those above with goosebumps.

However, fortunately, after all the hardships, those above verified all intelligence was false. The Crown Prince was already suspected by Lu Wu Zhen; this line was never viable to begin with, and Dan Wang successfully ascended the throne.

And when both the Dao and the Buddha suffered setbacks simultaneously, their prestige was utterly lost; the powers above maneuvered on all sides and successfully summoned Wei Wu Yi to Jingcheng.

At this very moment, the powers above had also completed the preliminary plan of that year—the superior strategy envisioned by He Guozhang:

To have a controllable person beyond any suspicion become Emperor, replace Lu Wu Zhen, and install one of their own as Zhang Sect to facilitate subsequent actions.

The only flaw currently is that Lu Wu Zhen and Monk Wuxin still remain; the Pill King has not had his soul swapped, making him difficult to control.

However, the Pill King's mind is far inferior to the Qian Emperor's, so guiding him is not difficult; as for the other two Zhang Sects, we must find a way to squeeze them out of Jingcheng.

Because Xie Jinhuan is too ruthless, the powers above fear another mishap, so they ordered old Master Sikong to quickly find a way to eliminate this young man.

To ensure absolute safety, old Master Sikong directly arranged for three super-grade experts to kill a first-grade expert, yet they all died completely, while Xie Jinhuan returned perfectly fine.

The powers above discovered this youth was too difficult to kill and feared that acting again would alert the various sects, so they could only push forward the matter of the mission to Northern Zhou, urging Xie Jinhuan to get out of town quickly.

Huangfu Qi had been following the Pill King into Jingcheng these days; terrified of exposure, he lived in constant dread and didn't even dare to face Xie Jinhuan. Now that this ominous evil star Xie Jinhuan has left, he finally dares to straighten his back and take a breath.

Just as he was thinking this silently, a carriage stopped outside the Wang Fu. The window opened, revealing the face of a middle-aged civil official wearing the robes of a Huang Menlang, with a demeanor that was elegant and amiable.

Seeing this, Huangfu Qi pulled his thoughts back, hurried forward, and clasped his hands in a bow:

"Mr., why have you come?"

Huang Menlang Xu Tong glanced at the distant Danyang Hou Fu, then turned his gaze toward the Wang Fu:

"Wei Wu Yi is hosting a banquet at the Zijin Pavilion and invited me to sit. Is Zhao De still in the residence?"

"Alas, he is still under house arrest in the study. The Emperor forbade him from leaving; going to the Zijin Pavilion would be..."

"Come out with me; it will be fine."

Moments later, Zhao De, dressed in scholar robes and holding a fan, rushed out of the residence. His expression was like 'A Dou meeting his Prime Minister'; he shouted as he walked:

"Oh my, Great Uncle, you are simply... I truly wish to tie myself up with five ropes and hold a jade ring in my mouth..."

"Huh?" Huangfu Qi's expression froze.

"Tying grass and holding a ring! Mr. Huang, do not misunderstand."

Zhao De slapped his palm with his folding fan and, in a frantic rush, jumped onto the carriage:

"Let's go, let's go! Today I invited a few... a few friends, right?"

Xu Tong closed the carriage window and said with a smile:

"Your old acquaintance, Wei Lu, is taking his grandfather to drink. Drink plain wine; do not think too much."

"Plain wine is better than being confined at home. In Jingcheng now, only Great Uncle dares to take me to Changle Street for leisure. If you could speak a good word to my Imperial Father, I really just slipped up last time..."

"Your Imperial Father does this for your own good. In the future, leisure is fine, but as the heir apparent of Great Qian, you must still focus on your studies and ponder how to shoulder the burden of Great Qian's thirty-two provinces."

"Understood. All governance must begin with enriching the people. If we rich young rascals do not squander money wastefully, how can the common people become suddenly wealthy? This is not play; it is redistributing wealth in a more comfortable manner..."

"There is some logic to that..."

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(End of this volume)

(End of this chapter)