Wang Xingyi said slowly, "We suspect they may have felt Zhaixing Tower was no longer safe and sought another place to hide the treasure, or perhaps Juju simply never returned it."
This was very strange. If the Heavenly Palace had reconciled with Juju, shouldn't they have demanded the treasure back?
Fang Canran's mind raced.
No matter how the Heavenly Palace tried to cover up the looting of Zhaixing Tower, it would never stay hidden from Lingshan forever.
After a moment of thought, he said, "Juju likely hid it beneath the subterranean fire as leverage against the Heavenly Palace. Otherwise, after the fire spirit caused such havoc, how could the Heavenly Palace let it off?"
Wang Xingyi looked at Fang Canran. "You were in contact with Juju and conspired with He Xiao. Do you know where the missing treasure is?"
Fang Canran looked chagrined. "I left Lingxu City that very night and never contacted Juju again. As for He Xiao, he claimed Juju sold him out the instant he set foot beyond Mount Xu, directing National Preceptor Qingyang and Celestial God Baizhan to hunt him down. From what I know of Juju, that certainly fits its style."
Wang Xingyi asked again, "Do you know what treasure was enshrined in Zhaixing Tower? Did Juju ever mention it?"
Fang Canran shook his head. Juju was a deeply scheming archdemon.
Yet Juju wasn't the only one who entered Zhaixing Tower that night.
There was also He Xiao.
"It was the lid of the Dafang Pot."
"The lid?" Fang Canran was taken aback. "The Dafang Pot has a lid?"
"The pot and lid were originally one piece, separated back in Middle Antiquity, after which the lid went missing. Later, the Heavenly Palace somehow found it and enshrined it in Zhaixing Tower," Wang Xingyi said slowly. "After Juju rebelled, that lid disappeared."
Fang Canran understood. "You suspect... Lingshan suspects that He Xiao stole the Dafang Pot lid?"
To dare instigate Juju and plunge the Heavenly Palace into chaos required either monstrous hatred or colossal profit. Viewed from that perspective, He Lingchuan stirring up chaos in the Heavenly Palace specifically to snatch a treasure seemed quite plausible.
"From the current clues, if this divine relic isn't in Juju's hands, it's in He Xiao's." Wang Xingyi picked up a shaomai with his chopsticks and swallowed it in one bite. "And the sudden change in climate tens of thousands of li away in the Panlong Desert might be linked to the Dafang Pot lid. The Heavenly Palace likely deduced this as well, which was why they dispatched He Jing."
He sighed softly. "Who could have foreseen that Emissary He would die in a foreign land, leaving the entire matter shrouded in mystery? When word reached them, the Heavenly Palace was thoroughly shaken, and they dispatched several more teams to investigate."
Fang Canran wondered, "So even the Heavenly Palace hasn't figured out what actually happened in the Panlong Desert?"
Wang Xingyi shook his head. "After that incident, the Heavenly Palace also sent people to Baling, for reasons unknown."
"Baling?" Yet another kingdom Fang Canran never would have guessed. "Is Baling connected to the Dafang Pot as well?"
"This matter grows increasingly convoluted." Wang Xingyi laid down his chopsticks. "Let me ask you: where did this He Xiao come from?"
"He claimed to be from the Fu Kingdom." He Xiao had used two seafaring merchants to contact him. Fang Canran had questioned those merchants, who had also boarded mid-voyage, and both stated that He Lingchuan had departed from the Fu Kingdom.
The Fu Kingdom bordered Beijia. Wang Xingyi pressed further, "No connection to the Yuan Kingdom? None to the Panlong Desert?"
"He never mentioned one." Though Fang Canran answered thus, his heart stirred.
He Xiao had recognized his ancestral signet ring, and had claimed to have seen an illusion from over a century ago in the Panlong Desert—an illusion featuring Shao Jian.
In other words, He Xiao had personally admitted he had been to the Panlong Ancient City.
Yet Fang Canran could not say this to Wang Xingyi. He had never revealed the past of the Shao family's ancestors to Lingshan.
This was Fang Canran's own secret.
If He Xiao was truly connected to Panlong City and the Dafang Pot, then recognizing Shao Jian's ring was hardly strange, and snatching the Heavenly Palace's divine relic made complete sense.
The events in Panlong over a century ago were the root of the ties between him and He Xiao.
Because Fang Canran answered so firmly, Wang Xingyi merely hummed in acknowledgment and sank into deep thought.
"Martial Uncle..."
"Your information is out of date. He isn't from the Fu Kingdom, but from the Yuan Kingdom," Wang Xingyi said slowly. "His real name is He Lingchuan. His father is He Chunhua, the governor of Qiansong Commandery in the Yuan Kingdom, who is now the Grand General of the Yuan Kingdom. His family previously lived in Blackwater City for over a decade. Do you know where Blackwater City is?"
Fang Canran blurted out, "The Panlong Desert?"
No wonder. No wonder He Xiao had been able to uncover the secret of his ancestor Shao Jian and the Panlong Ancient City.
"Correct. His home was right at the edge of the Panlong Desert, guarding the northwest border of the Yuan Kingdom." Wang Xingyi took a sip of tea. "Not long ago, he took your token and passphrase to Mount Rong, mortgaged several million taels of silver for the Yuan Kingdom to wage war, and then led a squad of Mount Rong elites out to sea, crossing the vast ocean to come here."
Fang Canran murmured, "So that was it."
"Tell me: his father is a great general of the Yuan Kingdom, possessing immense influence at court. Why would he forfeit being the favored son of a general and run off alone to the Yangshan Archipelago to establish his own foothold?"
Fang Canran considered it for a long while. "Discord between father and son? Or some unspeakable circumstance?"
Wang Xingyi did not reply.
After waiting for a moment, Fang Canran had to ask, "Martial Uncle, what do you plan to do about He Xiao...?"
Wang Xingyi shook his head. "I don't plan to do anything to him."
Which meant there would be no moves for now. Fang Canran felt slightly relieved. "And the Dafang Pot?"
"The Dafang Pot is still in the Panlong Desert; this has been confirmed." Wang Xingyi sighed. "Whoever stole the lid, nobody knows why."
Yet knowing the Dafang Pot remained in its original place brought peace of mind to both the Heavenly Palace and Lingshan.
That was what mattered most.
"You don't wish to confront He Xiao to confirm this?"
"If he didn't steal the lid, he certainly won't admit to it; if he truly did, he still won't admit to it. And then what?" Wang Xingyi smiled. "Is Lingshan supposed to seize him and subject him to torture?"
"Uh..." Fang Canran was rarely at such a loss. As far as he knew, Lingshan wasn't above doing such things.
"Lingshan vied for the Dafang Pot in the past, but the outcome was disappointing," Wang Xingyi sighed. "That supreme treasure obeys no one, and won't even pay heed to anyone. The leader of Panlong City, Zhong Shengguang, once said that it was the Dafang Pot that chose him, not that he controlled the Dafang Pot, and therefore he had no way of passing it on."
The logic was simple: if something was never truly yours, how could you yield it to someone else?
"And ultimately, what does Zhaixing Tower losing a divine relic have to do with us?" Wang Xingyi shook his head. "As long as it leaves the Heavenly Palace scrambling in distress, that is enough."
"Indeed." Although Fang Canran agreed aloud, he saw through it clearly:
He Xiao had displayed remarkable talent, and Lingshan genuinely wished to recruit him, which was why they showed such magnanimity.
What if he had been a nameless nobody?
"The Dafang Pot is such a willful relic?" he asked instead. "If He Xiao is truly connected to the Dafang Pot, why didn't he stay to guard that divine relic, but instead crossed the vast ocean to seek fortune here in the Yangshan Archipelago?"
The Dafang Pot was still in the Panlong Desert, yet He Xiao had come all the way to the Yangshan Archipelago, separated by tens of thousands of li. Even making a single trip back would be an immense hassle.
"Perhaps there is something he wants here; perhaps he belongs to some organization and came here merely to carry out a mission." Wang Xingyi smiled. "In any case, this is all conjecture, unverified. Fortunately, we still have time. You and He Xiao share common ambitions; you may as well interact with him more and cultivate good relations."
"Understood."
"Lingshan does not take in men with secrets." Wang Xingyi's words made Fang Canran's heart skip a beat. "He Xiao has far too many secrets; he is indeed unsuited to enter court as an official. But that does not mean he is of no use to us."
Yet National Preceptor Wang had just invited He Lingchuan to take up a post in the Mou Kingdom earlier? Fang Canran quickly realized that had only been a test.
Regardless of whether He Lingchuan was connected to the Dafang Pot, the youth's mettle, capability, courage, and talent for planning and strategy were what Lingshan valued most.
Such a talent would naturally draw Lingshan's attention.
Compared to the Heavenly Palace's missing divine relic—whose whereabouts and specific uses remained unknown—Lingshan's needs were far more pragmatic.
Divine relics were ethereal; talent was tangible.
"If he truly is the one chosen by the Dafang Pot—" Wang Xingyi said slowly, "if even the Dafang Pot chose him, what reason do we have not to?"
Fang Canran had just responded with an assent when he suddenly sniffed twice. "What a fragrance."
A faint, lingering aroma drifted through the air, tantalizing the senses and stirring the appetite.
What was this?
He walked briskly to the wall and pushed open the window.
A gust of fresh wind and pelting rain immediately blew in.
Yet within the rain mingled a faint teal hue, refreshing and invigorating to the soul.
"The Emperor's Flowing Dew has arrived!"
Wang Xingyi also walked to the window, reaching out a hand to catch a few drops of rain. "How rare. The Emperor's Flowing Dew descended simultaneously with a hurricane?"
Arrangements had been made in the Yangshan Archipelago so the storm could not penetrate the human settlement, but heavy rain could.
And the Emperor's Flowing Dew came along with the torrential rain.
Having experienced the Emperor's Flowing Dew several times himself, even he was seeing this for the first time.
Thinking back to how he had just instructed He Lingchuan to prepare for the Emperor's Flowing Dew after the hurricane, he felt a bit awkward. The timing was so tight that he hadn't managed to properly bestow the favor before it happened.
Fang Canran took a deep breath, suppressing the restless impulses stirred by the Emperor's Flowing Dew. "Tonight will be far from peaceful."
Fortune and misfortune lean upon each other.
The Emperor's Flowing Dew benefited all living beings, but it was also most potent in stirring primal instincts. It was common for a city or region to erupt into riots because of the Emperor's Flowing Dew.
At times like this, a leader's organizational and crowd-control abilities were tested to the utmost.
Both looked toward the lights across the island, where silhouettes seemed to bustle everywhere. The two possessed extraordinary self-restraint and would not lose their minds to the Emperor's Flowing Dew, but ninety percent of the people on this island were ordinary mortals.
Furthermore, due to the arrival of the hurricane, a massive number of foreign visitors had gathered on Suoding Island tonight.
These visiting seafarers and sailors were unlike the local inhabitants: their temperaments varied wildly, and their minds were easily swayed. Would they heed He Xiao's commands? Would they clash with the archipelago's guard?
He Xiao was the host, and they were guests. If hosts and guests brawled tonight, trading blades and fists, could Suoding Island still maintain a good reputation along this sea route in the future?
Yet if left unchecked, turmoil was inevitable.
Putting himself in He Lingchuan's shoes, Fang Canran felt the dilemma for him.
"That is why he had to deal with the Bailong and the Beijia before the Emperor's Flowing Dew arrived." Otherwise, natural disaster and human strife colliding together would drive anyone mad.
Chapter 1009