Free Web NovelChapter 575: A Terror Attack
The waters here were too deep. He was starting to feel like he could barely stay afloat.
Outwardly, however, he still said, “Could it be the Cen Family, or the people behind the elixir of youth case? Maybe they’re trying to shift everyone’s attention elsewhere?”
Fushan Yue could not make sense of it either, but in the end, he just laughed it off. “Who cares? The important thing is that the two of us have made a grand splash in Lingxu City. With so many powers involved, the elixir of youth case is now the hottest topic around. It’s more talked about than the war in the east. Not only is everyone on the floating island discussing it, but the story’s already spreading through the Lower City as well. My royal father ought to be quite pleased.”
Once something spread from the Upper City to the Lower City, it meant it had already passed from the elite into common circulation. The nobles themselves might not often come and go from the floating island, but the servants who attended them numbered at least 170,000–180,000. With that many people constantly moving between the two, what gossip could possibly remain bottled up?
This was especially when it involved high officials and the powerful making fools of themselves. There was simply nothing that ordinary people loved more than to gossip about such things.
From the facts now known, the case involved at least the Minister of Finance, the Crown Prince of Lingxu’s close friend Yao Xingning, the Cen Family, the Zhongsun Family, two commanders of the Tongxin Guard, the Crown Prince of Chiyan, and others of comparable weight. On top of that, the Lord Emperor had personally designated Bai Ziqi, the Heavenly Palace’s Deputy Cloud Envoy, to investigate it, officially confirming the extraordinary importance of the affair.
It had everything from conspiracy, confrontation, reversal, to counterattack and yet more reversal, fulfilling every fantasy the common folk had ever entertained about the filth and intrigue of the world of rank and power.
The creatures rifling through the melon patch of gossip were ecstatic.
Even the citizens of Lingxu City, who were more accustomed than most to grand spectacles, found this one especially satisfying.
The greater the attention the case attracted, the more complete and convincing the final explanation Lingxu City would have to provide. Only then could it answer the concerns of at least seven million people. There was no possibility anymore of writing the whole matter off with a few perfunctory strokes.
Now the pressure rested squarely on the side of the Monster Emperor and Bai Ziqi.
The speed and force with which this whole scandal had blown up had taken even He Lingchuan by surprise, but for him, the advantages far outweighed the drawbacks.
His name was now widely recognized, and this meant that anyone who wanted to quietly dispose of him would suddenly find the task much harder.
Yes. Apart from Chiyan, the other and even more important protective talisman he had found for himself was called publicity.
For a nobody like him, only by standing under the spotlight could those lurking in the dark be kept from pouncing on him, at least for the time being.
The Soul-Stealing Mirror, which had observed everything, was terrified. “You’re dancing on the edge of a blade.”
This was Lingxu City, the greatest city in the world, swarming with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. He Lingchuan had only just arrived and was already stirring things up in every direction. If he was not careful, he would end up dead without even knowing where his body was buried.
Fushan Yue said again, “By the way, I followed up on the progress of the investigation at Star-Plucking Tower. Bai Ziqi sent word that they took the clues to the Spring Palace, and State Preceptor Qing Yang has more or less identified Mai Xuewen as Xi Yunhe, her former disciple whom she cast out.”
“Oh?” He Lingchuan perked up at once. “Mai Xuewen was once her disciple? Then that ties him directly to the Spring Palace theft from more than ten years ago?”
“Exactly.” His old companion’s instincts were as sharp as ever. “Fifteen years ago, Xi Yunhe stole a large number of treasures from the Spring Palace and fled. He was later struck down and fell off a cliff. His corpse was found half a month later in the river downstream, swollen and decaying. The Spring Palace sent people to identify the body and confirmed it was Xi Yunhe.”
“And the shell on the snail toad’s back really is one of the treasures the Spring Palace lost?”
“That’s right. State Preceptor Qing Yang has already confirmed that it’s the Mud Palace. And after seeing Mai Xuewen’s wanted portrait, she said his features and bearing strongly resemble Xi Yunhe.”
He Lingchuan frowned. “If Xi Yunhe was her disciple, why would he suddenly steal the palace treasures for no reason?”
“Xi Yunhe was gifted, intelligent, and hardworking. State Preceptor Qing Yang entrusted him with important tasks more than once and had even considered passing on her mantle to him someday.” Fushan Yue took a drink of water. “Then it came out that he was a spy from a foreign state. Xi Yunhe deliberately staged the theft of the palace treasures to divert the Spring Palace’s attention and make his escape easier. However, he failed. His identity was exposed, and a manhunt followed.”
He Lingchuan let out a small sound. “Sounds to me as though he succeeded just fine.” It seems like Mai Xuewen—or rather, Xi Yunhe—got away, and he kept the treasures too.
Fushan Yue laughed. “I think so too.”
“The painting hidden away in Shuanglu Town, did he paint that himself?”
“Yes. State Preceptor Qing Yang identified it as a portrait Xi Yunhe painted of her during some ceremony twenty years ago.”
“With conspicuous care, too.”
When a man painted a woman with unusual care, one of two things was usually true: either he was being paid to do it, or he carried her in his heart.
“State Preceptor Qing Yang says Xi Yunhe had certain feelings for her. Later, she cast him out and ordered him hunted down, so his resentment ran deep. That’s why he laid clues intended specifically to frame the Spring Palace.”
The Mud Palace and the portrait could indeed both be used to tie matters back to the Spring Palace.
“When the spy case broke fifteen years ago, who handled it?” He Lingchuan asked thoughtfully. “Surely it wasn’t treated the same way Zhongsun Mou handled the eastern imperial eagle case?”
“The Spring Palace investigated and judged it internally, then cleaned house. After that, Lingxu City didn’t pursue the matter any further.”
“Didn’t pursue it? They just left it entirely to the Spring Palace?” He Lingchuan found that astonishing. “And afterward, no one reviewed the matter or checked their conclusions? Does that really conform to procedure?”
“Procedure?” Fushan Yue coughed lightly. “Well, that’s just how it was. The Four Grand State Preceptors hold an exceptional position. Sometimes their autonomy runs very high.”
He Lingchuan let out a dry laugh. “Sounds to me like a wronged ghost has come back from the dead to reopen the case.”
Where there was an injustice, there ought to be redress. And if every effort to seek justice was blocked, then no one could blame the wronged party for taking matters into their own hands.
“So now it seems Xi Yunhe deliberately pointed the clues in the elixir of youth case toward the Spring Palace.” He asked Fushan Yue, “If that turns out to be true, what does the Lord Emperor do then?”
For once, Fushan Yue fell silent. After a while, he replied, “I don’t know.”
He Lingchuan stretched lazily. “In other words, the real show has only just begun.”
Neither he nor Xi Yunhe had done more than raise the curtain. The true storm had not even arrived yet.
Fushan Yue glanced at the sky. The moon was bright, the wind clean and cool.
“Want to eat? I know a restaurant that does sweet and sour fish very well.”
“So long as you’re paying.” He Lingchuan had no objection whatsoever and left at once with Fushan Yue.
The two of them ate and drank until they were gloriously drunk and only returned when their spirits were fully satisfied.
By then, the moon had passed its peak, four full hours later. Though Lingxu City was a city that never truly slept, there were few people on the streets at this time. Most of the lights in the houses had gone out, and even the dogs had stopped barking.
Most of the city was sunk in dreams.
When they reached the post station, He Lingchuan clapped Fushan Yue on the shoulder and staggered back toward his own room.
He was weaving as he walked, his steps light and without center. One of Fushan Yue’s guards moved to help him, but He Lingchuan waved him off repeatedly, insisting he was fine, and pushed his own door open to go in.
The guard turned back. He had only just descended the stairs and reached the doorway of his own room when a tremendous blast thundered through the building.
Before he even had time to look up, the force of the explosion flung him to the floor.
Wood splinters, dust, and all manner of strange fragments flew wildly through the air.
He looked up toward the source of the accident and stared in utter disbelief.
He Lingchuan’s room had exploded.
A beam of timber came crashing down and stabbed into the ground ahead of him. If he had been standing even two paces closer, it would have skewered his crotch clean through.
At once, Fushan Yue charged out of his own room. As he passed the guard, he roared, “What are you still standing there for?!”
Everyone finally snapped out of it. “Your Highness, it’s dangerous ahead!”
The explosion had only just happened. There might yet be a second blast, or even a third.
“Danger, my ass!” Fushan Yue’s hide was as tough as bronze and iron. He feared nothing. Seeing that half the staircase had already been blown away, he simply vaulted up with one hand braced against the wall. “He Xiao!”
Half of He Lingchuan’s room was gone.
“He Xiao!” Surely that bastard didn’t actually get blown apart, right? Fushan Yue did not believe it. He believed the man to be no different from a cockroach—nothing had managed to kill him before, no matter what was thrown at him. Could one random explosion really do the job? If it were that easy, he himself would have tried it ages ago. “Stop playing dead and answer me!”
He shouted several more times before a voice came from the storage room across the corridor, “Over here... Cough, cough!”
Fushan Yue leaped over at once. The corridor boards had been blasted all the way there as well, and from the rubble, a man slowly sat up, gray-faced with dust and grime all over him. It was He Lingchuan.
The moment he coughed, a whole mouthful of dust came out with it.
“Are you alright?”
He Lingchuan shoved away the wooden boards covering him and tossed aside half of a shattered teapot. “Well, I’m not dead.”
* * *
On a floating island.
Zhongsun Chi remained in his underwater garden for over two hours before finally swimming back up to the surface.
Whenever his heart grew unsettled and irritable, he was used to returning to the quiet deep water. No one disturbed him down there, and it helped him settle his thoughts.
The maid waiting nearby at once stepped forward with a soft towel to dry him off.
She had to be extremely careful, because large patches of scales had already fallen from the old merman’s chest, back, and flanks. It was much like a human losing his skin. If the exposed skin were rubbed even a little too hard, the pain would be immediate.
He had flown into rages over this more than once already.
Although the eldest young master had bought back from the Dun Garden auction the item the old family head wanted, the old man’s mood remained gloomy these past few days.
The vertical crease between Zhongsun Chi’s brows had deepened even further. “Where is the eldest boy? Why haven’t I seen him all day?”
“This servant doesn’t know.”
Zhongsun Chi sent people to ask, but each came back with the same answer. Only one attendant reported that the eldest young master had gone out in the morning and had not yet returned.
The old man was so furious that he slapped the table with a crack sharp enough to send every servant in the room dropping to their knees at once. “You were all told to keep watch on the boy. Have you all gone blind?! You didn’t see him go out?!”
He had already been so troubled these past few days that even sleep would not come easily. Now, with his anger rising to the top, he ordered the attendants from his great-grandson’s courtyard dragged to the blood pool and fed straight to the sharks.
With that bloody example before them, a pall of dread settled over the whole Zhongsun household.
At noon, Zhongsun Ce finally returned.
The moment he passed the second gate and looked up, he was shocked to see his great-grandfather sitting by the doorway with his wooden staff at hand. “Great-Grandfather!”
Zhongsun Chi’s face was frozen cold. “Where did you go?”
“I... felt upset, so I went for a walk in the Lower City.”
“You didn’t go looking for trouble with the Crown Prince of Chiyan?”
Zhongsun Ce’s heart gave a jump, and he hurriedly shook his head. “No, no.”
But what sort of man was Zhongsun Chi? A single flicker in his great-grandson’s eyes was enough for him to understand. He struck the floor hard with his staff. “So you really did go! What did you do?” freēwebnovel.com
Zhongsun Ce’s jaw tightened. “Fushan Yue has been swaggering everywhere lately, showing himself off at every turn. I couldn’t stand the sight of him. His father killed your son. He killed my younger brother. And yet he still strolls through Lingxu City openly, while people everywhere flatter and fawn on him!” His teeth ground audibly together. “There truly is no justice under heaven!”
After being humiliated at Dun Garden, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He wanted nothing more than to seize Fushan Yue and cut him to pieces.
“You might not know, but the whole city is already talking. They’re all laughing at A’Mou!”
