Chapter 397

Late at night, the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Study was still brightly lit.

Since the rebellion of Qingxu, the Emperor had been more diligent than in the past, often staying in the Imperial Study to review memorials or discuss affairs with ministers until late at night.

Tonight was no exception; the Emperor was still in the Imperial Study.

The Imperial Eunuch Feng Cheng held a telegram in his hand, walked quickly to the door of the Imperial Study, and said softly:

"Your Majesty, an emergency telegram came from Gan Province, which has already been reported to the center."

Normally, emergency telegrams reported to the center do not need to be presented to the Emperor; the Inner Cabinet of the center can handle them directly.

Only telegrams submitted to the Imperial Presence need to be presented to the Emperor.

But the person mentioned in this telegram was one the Emperor focused on, so Feng Cheng, as the Imperial Eunuch, came with the telegram.

"Bring it here."

The Emperor's somewhat tired voice came from inside the Imperial Study.

Feng Cheng hurriedly walked in and presented the telegram that had already been translated.

The Emperor took the telegram and looked at it for a few times, then suddenly slapped the page in his hand heavily on the desk.

Feng Cheng lowered his head hurriedly, clearly feeling the Emperor's anger.

This telegram was about the Marquis of Jing'an, Li Fei, entering the Tomb of Heavenly Water.

"Proclaim Lou Hongtao to enter the palace."

The Emperor said.

Lou Hongtao, Pavilion Master of the Supervisory Pavilion.

The Emperor rarely summoned such high-level imperial officials suddenly in the middle of the night.

"Yes."

Feng Cheng retreated quickly.

Although the assassination case at the Altar of Heaven had been transferred to Li Fei to be in charge, Lou Hongtao, as the Pavilion Master of the Supervisory Pavilion, still did not dare to slack off.

The Emperor stayed up late in the Imperial Study every night, and Lou Hongtao almost lived in the Imperial City every day, not returning to his own residence.

After receiving the Emperor's summons, he quickly followed Feng Cheng to the Imperial Study.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Exempt from the salute; do you know about the Marquis of Jing'an's affair?"

The Emperor got straight to the point.

Lou Hongtao had already guessed on the way that the Emperor summoned him suddenly because of this matter, and said calmly:

"Your subject just received the telegram before coming."

"What do you think of this matter?"

"Your subject thinks... this matter was deliberately done by the New Heaven Society, but it may not be to harm the Marquis of Jing'an."

"Oh?"

"If the New Heaven Society really wanted to kill the Marquis of Jing'an, on the day in the provincial capital of Gan Province, that Martial Arts Master made the first move; in a situation where there was no defense at all, if the other party had set the target as the Marquis of Jing'an, there would have been a great chance of success.

But the other party set the target as a disciple of the Red Dust Pavilion; afterward, we verified that that disciple had always been colluding with the New Heaven Society, and the New Heaven Society did this to kill to silence.

And according to the intelligence sent back by the Marquis of Jing'an, when that Martial Arts Master fought him that day, he intentionally concealed his second divine ability, and it was only revealed at the end. If the other party really wanted to kill the Marquis of Jing'an, in a situation where time was pressing, he should not have hidden his strength at the beginning, but should have gone all out."

Lou Hongtao talked eloquently and analyzed calmly.

"Hmm."

The Emperor nodded, "Then why did the New Heaven Society choose to take action only after the Marquis of Jing'an entered the Tomb of Heavenly Water?"

The New Heaven Society had clearly mastered the method of actively creating cracks, and could completely not wait for the others, entering first.

But they chose to take action after Li Fei went in; no matter how this behavior is interpreted, it only makes people feel deep malice!

Lou Hongtao: "This indeed looks very targeted, but your subject still thinks that if the New Heaven Society really wanted to deal with the Marquis of Jing'an, they clearly had better ways, and it did not have to be in the Tomb of Heavenly Water."

"Are you saying that the New Heaven Society has another plot in the Tomb of Heavenly Water, and the Marquis of Jing'an will not be in danger?"

The Emperor asked.

"This... your subject does not dare to be sure."

Lou Hongtao said hurriedly.

He had already seen that the Emperor was angry about this matter, so how could he dare to make a random guarantee.

What if Li Fei really died in the Tomb of Heavenly Water?

"Hmph!"

The Emperor snorted coldly, and the temperature in the Imperial Study seemed to drop a lot, and a huge pressure shrouded the study, making Lou Hongtao sweat on his forehead.

As an imperial official, Lou Hongtao knew more secrets than others.

Don't look at the Emperor's martial arts cultivation being very ordinary, but in this Imperial Palace, if the other party wanted him to die, he did not need anyone else to take action at all, and even if he had the cultivation of a Martial Arts Master, it would be useless!

"A Martial Arts Master publicly attacked an imperial Marquis; investigating until now, has the Supervisory Pavilion found out the identity of this person?"

The Emperor asked.

Lou Hongtao heard the blame and said hurriedly: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Supervisory Pavilion conducted a detailed investigation based on the intelligence sent back by the Marquis of Jing'an on that day, and initially locked onto eleven forces, and has now narrowed the scope to three Jianghu sects and one martial arts family."

From You Ming's sudden attack until now, the time was no more than half a month. The other party was not a fool, and would not leave very obvious characteristics and clues, and the forces involved in the Martial Arts Master were not small forces, all having intricate connections with the local government; mobilizing the local Supervisory Academy to investigate the case, the difficulty was naturally very great.

And the investigated Martial Arts Masters were all giants of one side; without identifying the other party as a suspect, the Supervisory Pavilion had to treat them with courtesy and could not treat them roughly.

In this non-information era, the Supervisory Pavilion being able to narrow the suspicious range to four forces so quickly could actually be considered a godspeed.

But the Emperor was not satisfied: "Within five days, I want a result!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!"

Lou Hongtao cupped his hands and bowed, and could only accept the order.

Just as he intended to retreat, the Imperial Eunuch Feng Cheng suddenly entered the Imperial Study:

"Your Majesty, an urgent report came from Feng Province."

Lou Hongtao stopped in place immediately.

The Emperor glanced at him and looked at Feng Cheng: "Speak."

"Principal Shi Caiming of Wu'an University rushed to the provincial capital of Feng Province alone and is confronting Principal Xu Jing of Hongyi University."

Feng Cheng said with his head lowered.

"Shi Caiming?"

The Emperor frowned slightly, "Why did he suddenly go to find Xu Jing?"

After speaking, he looked at Lou Hongtao again.

Lou Hongtao turned around immediately: "Principal Shi has not taken action for many years; suddenly making such a big move, perhaps it is because of the Tomb of Heavenly Water?"

The Emperor: "What does this matter have to do with Xu Jing?"

Lou Hongtao: "This... your subject cannot guess, please forgive your subject, Your Majesty."

The Emperor narrowed his eyes, and his gaze changed continuously.

He suddenly looked at Feng Cheng: "Feng Cheng, you tell me what you think."

This Imperial Eunuch had served two Emperors, was the Grand Superintendent Eunuch of the Palace, had extremely high authority, and was himself a Grandmaster!

In the entire Imperial Palace, there were only two eunuchs with Grandmaster cultivation, and Feng Cheng was one of them, and was recognized as the one with the most profound cultivation.

Since it involved a Dead Domain, Lou Hongtao was only a Martial Arts Master after all, so the Emperor turned to ask for Feng Cheng's opinion.

Feng Cheng lowered his head: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Dead Domain is related to the Martial Arts Domain; your servant does not know what method those thieves used to open the cracks, and what method they used to allow a Martial Arts Master to enter, it is possible that they made an article on the Martial Arts Domain.

The Martial Arts Domain of the Tomb of Heavenly Water was left by the 8th-grade Heavenly Water Azure Soul Beast, which was constructed with water-attribute divine ability as the core. Your servant heard that Principal Xu's Martial Arts Domain is also dominated by water-attribute divine ability..."

Feng Cheng did not finish his words.

As an Imperial Eunuch, he could not have an obvious inclination toward anyone or anything.

However, the meaning he wanted to express was already clear.

"Xu Jing?"

The Emperor shook his head.

He knew the grudges between Xu Jing, the Lu family, and Li Fei.

But just because of an old case, he had to go to the point of killing Li Fei; the Emperor did not quite believe it.

Whether it was the Lu family or Xu Jing, there were many ways to deal with Li Fei's future investigation; choosing to kill was the one with the greatest cost and the worst one.

The Emperor did not feel that the Lu family would be so stupid, and Xu Jing would be so impulsive.

So this matter was very difficult to establish in terms of motivation.

Moreover, it was currently impossible to determine what method the New Heaven Society used to enter the Tomb of Heavenly Water; one could not just think he was suspicious because Xu Jing's Martial Arts Domain was consistent with the Dead Domain of the Tomb of Heavenly Water in terms of attributes.

This was too childish.

"Your Majesty, do you want to send someone to stop Principal Shi?"

Feng Cheng asked.

The Emperor was expressionless and glanced at the telegram on the desk:

"Forget it, this old fellow has been stifled for so many years; suddenly wanting to lose his temper, let him go, he is a person who knows his limits."

"Yes."

Feng Cheng and Lou Hongtao withdrew together.

That night, the light in the Imperial Study stayed on until dawn.

Turning time back.

Li Fei leaped down the cracks, and all around were faint blue rays of light.

After falling for more than ten seconds, the light around him suddenly disappeared, and a vast water vapor rushed toward him.

Li Fei fell into the water; even separated by a layer of force and a divine garment, he still felt a chill.

He had anticipated this long ago and immediately activated his force to float up from under the water, finally standing on the water surface.

Looking around, it was pitch black, and only the water surface under his feet emitted faint blue light.

In the sky above his head, there was a crack, which was exactly the crack Li Fei entered.

This was the Tomb of Heavenly Water, looking like an endless sea, but the sea water did not flow at all, and there were no fish or shrimp in the sea.

It was like a dead sea.

In fact, Li Fei knew that the area of this Dead Domain was not that big, but the Dead Domain would affect people's perception of space, thereby creating an illusion of being boundless.

All the "treasures" of this Tomb of Heavenly Water were underwater, and the temperature underwater was extremely low, and the chill contained within could not be completely isolated even with force or divine garments, and would accumulate more and more.

Until the chill invaded the internal organs, invaded the implanted body, it would be completely hopeless!

So even without the time limit brought by the Domain-Breaking Talisman, people could not stay in the Tomb of Heavenly Water for too long, and each exploration could only be a shallow attempt, taking away limited treasures.

Li Fei did not rush to start exploring, but waited in place.

He wanted to wait for Xiang Dongliang and the others to come in, and then explore this Tomb of Heavenly Water together.

But he stood in place and waited for a long time without seeing anyone come down.

"What's the situation?"

Li Fei looked up at the crack in the sky, and was surprised to find that the crack was gradually shrinking until it disappeared completely.

"Something happened?"

Li Fei immediately reached into his bosom and took out the Domain-Breaking Talisman given to him by Xiang Dongliang to check.

Seeing that both Domain-Breaking Talismans were intact and could be activated at any time, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiang Dongliang and the others did not come in, and the cracks disappeared in advance.

All this indicated that something must have happened outside, perhaps related to the plot of the New Heaven Society.

At this time, directly activating the Domain-Breaking Talisman to leave might be the best choice, but Li Fei did not do so.

He put the two jade pendants of the Domain-Breaking Talisman back, and then dived into the water abruptly.

He would not leave just like this.

After all, he had already come.

(End of chapter)