Chapter 720: Before the Throne

Late at night, the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Study remained brightly lit.

Ever since the rebellion of Qingxu, the Emperor had become even more diligent than before, often staying in the Imperial Study until late at night to review memorials or discuss matters with his ministers.

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

Feng Cheng, the eunuch before the throne, arrived at the entrance of the Imperial Study holding a telegram and said softly:

"Your Majesty, an urgent telegram has arrived from Gansu Province and has already been reported to the Central Secretariat."

Normally, urgent telegrams reported to the Central Secretariat did not need to be presented to the Emperor, as the Grand Council could handle them directly.

Only telegrams submitted directly to the throne required the Emperor's attention.

However, the person mentioned in this telegram was someone the Emperor focused on, so Feng Cheng, as the eunuch before the throne, brought the telegram over.

"Bring it here."

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

Feng Cheng hurried inside and presented the already-translated telegram.

The Emperor took the telegram, glanced at it for a few moments, and suddenly slammed the page in his hand heavily onto the desk.

Feng Cheng quickly lowered his head, clearly sensing the Emperor's anger.

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

"Summon Lou Hongtao to the palace."

The Emperor said.

Lou Hongtao, Head of the Supervisory Cabinet.

It was rare for the Emperor to suddenly summon a high-ranking court official of this level in the middle of the night.

"Yes."

Feng Cheng quickly withdrew.

Although the Tiantan assassination case had been handed over to Li Fei, Lou Hongtao, as the Head of the Supervisory Cabinet, still dared not slacken.

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

Upon receiving the Emperor's summons, he soon followed Feng Cheng to the Imperial Study.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"No need for formalities. Are you aware of the matter concerning the Marquis of Jing'an?"

The Emperor got straight to the point.

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

"Your subject had just received the telegram before coming here."

"What is your take on this matter?"

"Your subject believes... this matter was a deliberate act by the New Heaven Society, but it may not necessarily be to harm the Marquis of Jing'an."

"Oh?"

"If the New Heaven Society truly wanted to kill the Marquis of Jing'an, that day in the provincial capital of Gansu, when that martial arts master made their first move, if they had targeted the Marquis of Jing'an while he was completely unprepared, there would have been a high chance of success.

But the opponent targeted a disciple of the Red Dust Pavilion instead. We later verified that the disciple had been colluding with the New Heaven Society all along; the New Heaven Society's move was to silence them.

Furthermore, according to the intelligence sent back by the Marquis of Jing'an, when that martial arts master first fought him that day, they intentionally concealed their second divine ability and were only forced to reveal it at the very end. If the opponent truly wanted to kill the Marquis of Jing'an, given the time constraints, they should not have hidden their strength at the start, but rather gone all out."

Lou Hongtao spoke eloquently and calmly stated his analysis.

"Hmm."

The Emperor nodded, "Then why did the New Heaven Society choose to enter only after the Marquis of Jing'an had entered the Tomb of Tianshui?"

The New Heaven Society clearly had already mastered the method to actively create rifts and could have entered a step ahead of everyone else without waiting.

Yet they chose to act only after Li Fei had gone in; no matter how one interprets this behavior, it only makes one feel deep malice!

Lou Hongtao: "This does indeed look very targeted, but your subject still believes that if the New Heaven Society really wanted to deal with the Marquis of Jing'an, there were clearly better ways; they did not have to choose the Tomb of Tianshui."

"Are you saying the New Heaven Society has other motives for entering the Tomb of Tianshui, and the Marquis of Jing'an will not be in danger?"

The Emperor asked.

"Your subject cannot be certain of that."

Lou Hongtao said hurriedly.

He had already seen that the Emperor was angry about this matter, so how could he dare to make reckless guarantees?

What if Li Fei really died in the Tomb of Tianshui?

"Hmph!"

The Emperor let out a cold snort, and the temperature in the Imperial Study seemed to drop significantly; a massive pressure enveloped the study, causing sweat to break out on Lou Hongtao's forehead.

As a high-ranking court official, Lou Hongtao knew more secrets than others.

Do not be fooled by the Emperor's ordinary martial arts cultivation; within this Imperial Palace, if the Emperor wanted him dead, he would not need anyone else to act. Even with his realm as a martial arts master, it would be useless!

"A martial arts master publicly attacking a court marquis—has the Supervisory Cabinet identified this person's identity yet?"

The Emperor asked.

Lou Hongtao heard the tone of blame and quickly said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Supervisory Cabinet immediately conducted a detailed investigation based on the intelligence sent back by the Marquis of Jing'an that day. We have initially locked onto eleven factions and have now narrowed the scope to three martial arts sects and one martial arts family."

From the moment Youming suddenly attacked until now, less than half a month had passed. The opponent was not a fool to leave behind very obvious characteristics and clues. Furthermore, any faction involved with a martial arts master is not a small one and has intricate ties with the local government; using the local Supervisory Court to investigate the case was inherently very difficult.

And the martial arts masters being investigated were all giants in their own right. Without confirming they were suspects, the Supervisory Cabinet had to treat them with courtesy and could not act crudely.

In this non-information age, the fact that the Supervisory Cabinet could narrow the suspicious range down to four factions so quickly was actually considered lightning speed.

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

"Your subject obeys the decree!"

Lou Hongtao bowed and could only accept the order.

Just as he intended to withdraw, Feng Cheng, the eunuch before the throne, suddenly entered the Imperial Study:

"Your Majesty, an urgent report has arrived from Feng Province."

Lou Hongtao immediately stopped in his tracks.

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

"Shi Caiming, President of Wu'an University, has rushed to the provincial capital of Feng Province alone to confront Xu Jing, President 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 back at Lou Hongtao.

Lou Hongtao immediately turned around: "President Shi has not made a move for many years; his sudden aggressive action might be because of the Tomb of Tianshui?"

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

Lou Hongtao: "Your subject cannot guess that; please forgive me, Your Majesty."

The Emperor narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting constantly.

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

This eunuch before the throne had already served two emperors; he was the Chief Eunuch of the Inner Court, possessed immense power, 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 recognized as the one with the most profound cultivation.

Since it concerned a dead zone and Lou Hongtao was, after all, only a martial arts master, the Emperor turned to ask for Feng Cheng's opinion.

Feng Cheng lowered his head: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the dead zone is related to the martial arts domain. This servant does not know what method those thieves used to open the rift, nor what method they used to allow a martial arts master to enter; it is possible they are playing tricks with the martial arts domain.

The martial arts domain of the Tomb of Tianshui was left behind by an eighth-rank Tianshui Azure Soul Beast, which was constructed with water-attribute divine abilities as its core. This servant has heard that President Xu's martial arts domain is also centered on water-attribute divine abilities..."

Feng Cheng did not finish his sentence.

As the eunuch before the throne, he could not have an obvious bias toward any person or matter.

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

"Xu Jing?"

The Emperor shook his head.

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

But the Emperor did not quite believe that someone would go as far as killing Li Fei just because of an old case.

Whether it was the Lu family or Xu Jing, there were many ways to deal with Li Fei's future investigations; choosing to kill was the most costly and worst option.

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

Therefore, the motive for this matter was hard to establish.

Moreover, it was currently impossible to determine what method the New Heaven Society used to enter the Tomb of Tianshui; one could not simply assume suspicion just because Xu Jing's martial arts domain matched the dead zone of the Tomb of Tianshui in terms of attributes.

That would be too childish.

"Your Majesty, should we send someone to stop President Shi?"

Feng Cheng asked.

The Emperor was expressionless, looking at the telegram on the table:

"Forget it. That old fellow has been stifled for so many years; if he suddenly wants to vent his temper, let him be. He is a man who knows his limits."

"Yes."

Feng Cheng and Lou Hongtao withdrew together.

That night, the lights in the Imperial Study remained on until dawn.

Rewinding time.

Li Fei leaped into the rift, surrounded by nothing but ghostly blue light.

After falling for more than ten seconds, the surrounding light suddenly vanished, and a vast surge of water vapor rushed toward his face.

Li Fei landed in the water; even with a layer of internal energy and a divine garment separating him, he still felt a chill.

He had anticipated this, immediately circulating his internal energy to rise from beneath the water until he was standing on the surface.

Looking around, everything was pitch black, with only the water beneath his feet emitting a faint blue glow.

High above in the sky was a rift, the very same one Li Fei had entered through.

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

It was like a dead sea.

In reality, Li Fei knew that the area of this dead zone was not that large; it was just that the dead zone affected one's perception of space, thereby creating an illusion of boundlessness.

All the "treasures" of this Tomb of Heavenly Water were underwater, and the temperature beneath the surface was extremely low; the cold contained within could not be completely blocked even by internal energy or a divine garment, and it would accumulate more and more.

Once the cold invaded the internal organs and the implanted body, there was no saving it!

Therefore, even without the time limit imposed by the Domain-Breaking Talisman, people could not stay in the Tomb of Heavenly Water for too long; each exploration could only be a brief attempt to take away a limited number of treasures.

Li Fei did not rush to begin exploring, but waited where he was.

He wanted to wait for Xiang Dongliang and the others to enter so they could explore this Tomb of Heavenly Water together.

But he stood there waiting for quite a while and saw no one come down.

"What's going on?"

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

"Something happened?"

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

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 had not entered, and the rift had disappeared prematurely.

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

Activating the Domain-Breaking Talisman to leave right now might have been the best choice, but Li Fei did not do so.

He put the two Domain-Breaking Talismans away and then plunged fiercely into the water.

He would not leave just like that.

After all, since he was already here.

(End of chapter)