Chapter 49
Zhongli Que didn't chat much with Chu Jin about matters related to the Nangong family. After finishing today's massage instruction, she bid farewell to Chu Jin and left.
Only after returning to the carriage did Zhongli Que quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
Su Feng asked her, "What's wrong?"
Zhongli Que shook her head. She was just feeling emotional from remembering the flower-viewing banquet that year, and had to suppress it while at the clinic.
"Second Brother, what's your impression of Sister Chu? Am I overthinking things?" Zhongli Que looked at Su Feng with a troubled frown.
"I can't find any fault with her, but the invitation matter has me concerned." Su Feng pondered, "Let's observe for a few more days. As for the banquet, delay it if possible. Don't send invitations until the very last day."
Zhongli Que nodded.
The two departed together in the carriage. Chu Jin, standing by the window watching this scene, gently lowered the hand that had been holding the curtain.
Her expression unchanged, she took out her Wind-Listening Ruler and sent an indecipherable message. After successfully sending it, she crushed the Wind-Listening Ruler in her hands.
Yu Sui, still at the dining hall, was waiting to see if there would be any unusual activity at the clinic after Zhongli Que left. She didn't expect to actually encounter something today.
It wasn't from Chu Jin's Wind-Listening Ruler that she was monitoring, but the message was sent from the clinic, an encrypted Nine Schools Arts message that needed decoding. She couldn't tell which school it belonged to.
Yu Sui told Old Yan the location where the message was received.
Old Yan had done many things with Yu Sui over the years.
Using various intelligence Yu Sui provided, he dealt with the gray areas of the capital, involved in both black and white sides.
Yu Sui didn't care how Old Yan operated, only responsible for passing along the information he needed.
The one time she actively sought Old Yan's help was two years ago when she intercepted news of the Qingyang Crown Prince's plan to capture the leader of the Blue Poison organization. She connected with the Crown Prince's rival, the Sixth Prince, causing the Crown Prince's capture to fail and letting the leader escape, then had Old Yan help the Sixth Prince recapture the person.
That day happened to be a palace banquet. When the Qingyang Emperor learned that the Crown Prince had failed in the capture and let the Blue Poison leader he'd long despised escape, he was furious on the spot, extremely disappointed in the Crown Prince. When the Crown Prince returned to the capital, the Emperor refused to see him, making the Crown Prince kneel in heavy rain for an entire day.
Yu Sui held an umbrella and stood in the distance, gazing at the Crown Prince kneeling in the rain before leisurely departing.
Afterward, when the Sixth Prince returned with the head of the Blue Poison organization leader, the Qingyang Emperor's mood improved, and the Sixth Prince's reputation soared, gradually gaining the Emperor's favor.
Besides using Wind-Listening Rulers to obtain information and locations, Yu Sui also relied on her Five Elements Light Cores to help with tracking and surveillance. Although she couldn't intervene in the world of Nine Schools practitioners, participating occasionally in the capital's power struggles wasn't too difficult.
Moreover, the situation in the Qingyang capital was naturally conducive to fishing in troubled waters. The Qingyang Emperor had many heirs, with several capable princes eyeing the Crown Prince's position. Various families chose sides, court ministers changed rapidly each year, and surrounding vassal states frequently engaged in warfare.
Capable figures emerged every year, all aspiring to reach the capital's highest position, wanting to gain more or maintain stability.
When Yu Sui took action, Old Yan would help her assess the situation, telling her which people couldn't be provoked yet and which were untouchable.
Though usually taciturn, when he did speak, he was sharp and incisive.
Yu Sui learned much from Old Yan. She felt that in his past life in Yan State, Old Yan must have been a master of political intrigue, either someone's strategist or a powerful minister of Yan State.
But since Old Yan didn't say, she wouldn't know which one he was.
……
The sunlight in the Qingyang capital was blazing hot at this moment, having reached the end of late spring. The flowering trees along the roads were no longer patches of pink, white, and bright red, returning to their full green foliage.
The narrow alleys were empty and very quiet.
Because lush green trees from the stone-walled courtyards on both sides extended many branches, this small path was completely covered in shadow, appearing refreshingly cool despite the blazing sun.
Looking carefully, one could see a long, thin black shadow moving along the wall on the shadow-covered road surface.
The black shadow left the ground, climbing the stone wall to enter someone's home.
In the house, Kang Heng had just put away his Wind-Listening Ruler, preparing to act according to the orders he'd received.
He had just stepped out the door when he alertly looked up. The moment he sensed danger, a flash of blade light appeared before his eyes. Kang Heng's pupils contracted, his fear-filled eyes reflecting a black-gold staff blade, imposing and sinister, but most dangerous was the black-clothed youth gripping the blade with both hands.
The youth appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, with snow-white skin and delicate features. His handsome eyebrows were slightly raised, his smile bright and sunny, like a mischievous neighbor boy.
"Yo!"
The black-clothed youth even playfully greeted him, slashing through Kang Heng's Five Elements protection with one strike, sending him crashing back into the house with severe injuries. The collision of two streams of Five Elements Energy created air waves that shattered the door, sending wood fragments flying into the dirt and throughout the room.
Kang Heng clutched his chest as blood surged up his throat. He tried to hold it back but couldn't, spitting out a large mouthful.
Who?!
All of Kang Heng's nerves tensed. He had no time to think about how he'd been exposed or who the enemy was.
He reacted extremely quickly, regathering his Five Elements Energy before the black-clothed youth could strike again, not to fight but to escape with all his might.
Yin-Yang School Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Shadow Swallow.
Just as black shadows began forming on the ground, the black-clothed youth's staff blade had already reached Kang Heng's face. He was shocked.
Such incredible speed!
Not even giving time to execute Nine Schools Arts!
The sharp long blade directly severed Kang Heng's secretly formed hand seal on his right hand. As screams rang out, the youth didn't pause, backhanding another strike straight into Kang Heng's abdomen, embedding in flesh and twisting the blade horizontally, preventing him from using any Nine Schools Arts and pinning him in place, unable to move.
Throughout the entire process, the black-clothed youth showed no hesitation, his strikes decisive and ruthless, as if he'd done this many times before. His speed gave Kang Heng no chance to react.
Kang Heng's face visibly turned deathly pale, covered in sweat, looking at the black-clothed youth with half shock and half hatred.
The black-clothed youth bent down to take his Wind-Listening Ruler. The moment his fingertips touched it, he sensed something wrong and instantly retreated as Kang Heng's Five Elements Light Core exploded, destroying both himself completely and the Wind-Listening Ruler.
Blood splattered throughout the room. The black-clothed youth spun his blade in circles, blocking all the spraying blood, standing in the doorway backlit as he looked at the unrecognizable remains of Kang Heng with helpless clicking sounds.
Couldn't get the Wind-Listening Ruler, couldn't capture a live prisoner. What should he take back to report?
He hadn't even intended to kill, just following orders to take a Wind-Listening Ruler and ask some questions. Who knew this person would be so scared he'd self-destruct directly.
The black-clothed youth looked around, searching the room for a moment, confirming no information was missed, then closed the door and transformed into a black shadow, merging back into the darkness to wait and see if there were any accomplices.
Chu Jin sat at the consultation table on the first floor of the clinic. Soft light from the window fell on the desk where an open medical book had many red lines circled around it. Chu Jin casually flipped through the medical book.
Not until the sky darkened did a medical assistant approach, leaning close to whisper something in her ear.
Chu Jin closed the medical book and the assistant withdrew with a bow.
She pointed her chin toward the dim sky outside with one hand. The streets and alleys that had been bustling during the day were now deserted.
Who was disrupting her plans? Was it the manor's Second Young Master who had come today, or the Zhongli family who had become suspicious?
If the former, it would be easy to handle. If it was the Zhongli family... that general was no pushover.
But this seemed to confirm her suspicions, the Wind-Listening Rulers indeed had problems.
Chu Jin rose gracefully from her seat and said quietly to the medical assistant waiting nearby, "Use Agricultural School voice transmission to tell the others not to use Wind-Listening Rulers anymore recently. All message sending and receiving should use transmission beasts."
"Also have Xuan Kui's people find a way to get Zhongli Que's Wind-Listening Ruler."
……
The capital's nights were even livelier than the days. Many streets that didn't open during the day were instead brightly lit with people coming and going after nightfall.
A black shadow climbed along walls shrouded in darkness all the way to the deepest part of the bustling streets and alleys. Two Taoist sound-blocking talismans hung in front of the door, completely isolating the bustling sounds from the front of the alley.
Upon entering, one could see two lush jujube trees. The black shadow turned left, following a water corridor all the way to the deep courtyard houses.
Stone lamps were placed on both sides of an arched door cut from white walls, illuminating the pitch-black night. An elderly man sat in a rain pavilion inside, brewing tea. A blind young man sitting across from the elder said gently, "Ye Xi has returned."
A somewhat awkward name, but pronounced clearly and distinctly by the blind young man.
Zou Yexi emerged from the darkness. His originally grinning face instantly became pitiful when Old Yan looked over: "I crouched for a whole night and no one came. Probably those little Agricultural School bugs saw something was wrong from a distance and didn't come."
"That person was so scared he self-destructed rather than let me take his Wind-Listening Ruler." Zou Yexi spoke rapidly, "But he used Yin-Yang School Nine Schools Arts. I broke through his Shadow Swallow as soon as it started. I searched his room and found some records of information targeting the Zhongli family. They've been watching that Miss Zhongli recently."
"There are quite a few Agricultural School people in the capital." Old Yan's voice was low and hoarse, his withered face showing no emotional fluctuation.
Zou Yexi wiped his face with his sleeve and walked into the rain pavilion, sitting down carelessly to drink tea: "Why don't you have Brother Shan Rong calculate what he's up to, or should I just go to the clinic and capture that person for you to interrogate?"
Shan Rong smiled at this. His handsome face, with its gouged-out eyes, left only two pitch-black, sinister holes.
The youth cupped his face, looking at the elderly disabled man with a severed arm on the left, then at the young blind disabled man on the right, sighing: "I still don't know why we must protect that Miss Zhongli. Old man, I've been working under you for several years now. You should tell me who the boss above you is."
Old Yan said nothing.
Zou Yexi slammed the table: "Look at you, you still don't trust me! And here I came all the way from Yan State to join you! If you don't tell me today, I'm quitting!"
He stood up to leave as he spoke, glancing at Old Yan to see if he reacted. Seeing Old Yan unmoved, as if indifferent whether he stayed or left, Zou Yexi couldn't last long and walked back to the table pretending nothing had happened, sitting down beside Shan Rong.
"We've alerted them." Old Yan said quietly, "Continue watching the clinic."
Zou Yexi nodded obediently: "Oh."
Old Yan added: "Shan Rong, locate the Agricultural School disciples entering and leaving the clinic or the Zhongli family."
"Alright." Shan Rong nodded gently.
Old Yan held his Wind-Listening Ruler with one hand, sending a message back to Yu Sui, telling her about today's news.
Although they couldn't confirm whether that encrypted message was sent by Chu Jin, it was sent from the clinic and very likely was her.
Because the encrypted message, when decoded, meant: Zhongli Que's Wind-Listening Ruler.
Yu Sui was currently at the Ghost Way Saint Hall. She stood under an apricot tree, looking up at the ripe apricots in a daze when her Wind-Listening Ruler buzzed.
After reading Old Yan's reply, Yu Sui fell into deep thought.
Old Yan said: "If the other party is smart, they'll know the problem lies in today's messages and won't use Wind-Listening Rulers for communication anymore. They might also test you by continuing to send unimportant messages to draw out the snake."
Though obtaining information through Wind-Listening Rulers was convenient, it was also dangerous.
Wind-Listening Ruler message interception had only appeared in the Qingyang capital over the years. If someone noticed this and spent time carefully investigating, finding the mastermind behind it was just a matter of time.
Chu Jin had initially noticed Zhongli Que's Wind-Listening Ruler.
During massage instruction, she had seen Zhongli Que's Wind-Listening Ruler receive and send messages several times, but when she got her hands on it, she couldn't find any message information.
"I'll tell her to be careful." Yu Sui replied.
Old Yan added: "No need to worry."
Seeing these four words, Yu Sui couldn't help but raise her eyebrows slightly.
In a sense, although Yu Sui and Old Yan cooperated, they didn't interfere with each other.
Yu Sui didn't know what channels and methods Old Yan had, and Old Yan's subordinates didn't know about Yu Sui either.
She was only responsible for providing information, while Old Yan would take this information to do certain things and return much more money than that one piece of gold.
Though Old Yan spoke little, he kept his word.
At this moment, Old Yan said to Yu Sui: "Focus on your cultivation at Taiyi. I'll help you solve the capital's troubles."
The child who had longed for power had grown up and could finally enter the world of cultivation.
Although Old Yan couldn't see Yu Sui, he could imagine how excited and happy she was.
However, the world of Nine Schools Arts wasn't easier than the world of Ordinary Practitioners.
He remembered that spring night two years ago in the rain. Sixteen-year-old Yu Sui still had some childishness on her face, but her eyebrows and eyes were lively and charming. She wore a peach-red dress and a white cashmere coat, sitting at the rain pavilion table drinking cup after cup of the tea he brewed.
That night, Yu Sui had gone out to play with Second Brother Su Feng and a group of friends. While everyone was dining and enjoying themselves at the front restaurant, she was able to sneak over.
Yu Sui chatted idly with Old Yan, holding hot tea. Through the steaming white mist, she looked up with clear eyes reflecting Old Yan's emotionless, withered face, yet smiled: "You seem to have come alive."
The girl exclaimed crisply: "Not like before, so lifeless."
Spring night drizzle tapped against the rain pavilion, raindrops falling from the pavilion corners connecting into lines.
Old Yan didn't answer but poured himself a cup of hot tea.
The girl didn't feel awkward either. She rested her small face on one hand, curiously looking at him: "Will you return to Yan State?"
Old Yan said: "No."
"Has that place completely disappointed you?" the girl asked again.
Old Yan didn't answer.
The girl parted her lips, gently blowing on the hot tea: "I heard my father was one of the main forces stirring up Yan State. He killed many people in Yan State and made it no longer the Yan State of the Yan people. As a Yan person, you should hate him very much, wishing he would die."
"Then why don't you hate me?" The girl looked at him with bright watery eyes, asking with a soft smile, "I'm Nangong Ming's daughter, his chosen heir to the manor."
Old Yan also looked at her, his gaze calm and indifferent: "You're not like his daughter."
"Unfortunately, I am." The girl sighed regretfully, "If I weren't his daughter, I might not have lived to now."
"I'll treat you and Nangong Ming separately." Old Yan said, "Though you want to escape your father's control, you can't rush it."
The girl's gaze froze slightly.
Old Yan continued: "Your father is an even more powerful and terrifying person than you imagine."
"I know that too." The girl held her cup with both hands, drinking tea with an obedient posture, "That's why I didn't provoke him when he could crush me with one finger."
This time it was Old Yan's turn to ask her: "What do you want to save money for?"
"Money can do many things, without money you can't do anything." The girl smiled brightly, "When I'm free in the future, I can go to other countries to buy property, do some small business, and live leisurely days just counting incoming money."
It sounded like a beautiful fantasy.
But Old Yan said: "Your father won't be satisfied with just one Yan State. Before his ambitions are realized, nowhere will be safe. Except for Qingyang, anyone could be the next Yan State."
The girl gazed at the steaming tea, saying softly: "But I don't like Qingyang."
Old Yan just looked at her without speaking.
Nangong Ming probably couldn't imagine that his enemy would one day serve his daughter.