Deduction

Without results, Jin Bai would never escape the Mou Emperor's punishment. He Lingchuan let out a sigh as well. "It seems that wasn't Elder Cao in person." Jin Bai and Dong Rui had both questioned the eyewitness disciples individually, pressing them repeatedly on the details and then cross-referencing everyone's answers. This was standard interrogation technique to get as close to the truth as possible. After verification, the likelihood that these disciples were lying was minuscule. "Which means the King of Bo lied, pinning the blame on Elder Cao at random," Jin Bai said coldly. "These petty states truly know no awe!" Then he turned to He Lingchuan. "I shall draft a letter immediately and dispatch it back to the imperial capital. Does Mister He have anything to add?" He Lingchuan gave it some thought and shook his head. "Nothing." Jin Bai walked off to compose the missive. This letter was of paramount importance; once the Mou Emperor received and read it, he would issue corresponding instructions. Would he severely punish the Bo Kingdom, or let the matter rest here? He Lingchuan gazed out at the somber silhouette of Baimao Mountain and asked Dong Rui, "What do you think the Mou Emperor will choose?" "If the Heart Lamp can still be used, that goes without saying—he'll definitely seize it back." It was rare for He Lingchuan to solicit his opinion of his own accord, so Dong Rui pondered for a long time. "If it's unusable, what point is there in punishing the Bo Kingdom? These small realms across the Shanjin Plain sprout in the morning and perish by dusk; they're all short-lived ghosts. Even if the Mou Emperor leaves it alone, the Bo Kingdom might not survive a few years before vanishing on its own. "In the Mou Emperor's position, the calculations most often revolve around profit and loss. He won't undertake an endeavor where the costs outweigh the gains." Dong Rui chuckled. "Of course, perhaps the Mou Emperor will still want to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, so these petty kingdoms learn to know awe!" "Very reasonable. That is indeed one of the factors the Mou Emperor must weigh." He Lingchuan nodded. "Whatever course of action he takes will also depend on the Mou Kingdom's current circumstances. "I recall Fang Canran mentioning that Lingshan intends to extend its reach into the Shanjin Plain once again. In that case, the Mou Kingdom might use this opportunity to teach the Bo Kingdom a lesson to establish dominance, giving the neighboring small states a stiff warning so they are easier to handle later." He Lingchuan mused, "The inhabitants of the Shanjin Plain likely understand the law of the jungle—the strong preying on the weak, where the victor reigns supreme—far more acutely than people elsewhere. To deal with them, one must speak a language they can see and understand." The considerations of an empire's sovereign inevitably held many dimensions. Pleased to earn rare praise from him, Dong Rui said cheerfully, "You said yourself that it's inconvenient for the Mou Kingdom to send an army here. If the Mou Emperor wants to discipline the King of Bo, what should he do? Borrow troops from the Xiaoyao Sect?" The Xiaoyao Sect had ample manpower and was plenty strong—at least relative to the Bo Kingdom—and the distance was short. Marching out from here, departing at dawn and arriving by dusk, their troops could be at the city walls before the Bo Kingdom could even react, couldn't they? He Lingchuan doused him with cold water. "The Mou Kingdom is the Mou Kingdom, and the Xiaoyao Sect is the Xiaoyao Sect; the two are not one. The Mou Emperor can borrow men from the Xiaoyao Sect, but he may not be able to order the Xiaoyao Sect to wage war against a neighboring country." After all, the Xiaoyao Sect was an independent Daoist order. Although its relations with the Bo Kingdom were hardly warm and it offered periodic tribute to the Mou Kingdom, it would not necessarily commit its entire strength to punish or overthrow a neighbor. From his conversation with Sect Leader Li today, He Lingchuan sensed that this sect was adept at self-preservation; otherwise, it could never have endured for over a century in the chaotic soil of the Shanjin Plain. Dispatching troops directly would likely contradict its long-standing survival strategy. Furthermore, once the Bright Lantern Cup affair concluded, how would it manage its relations with the Bo Kingdom? When that time came, Jin Bai and the Mou Kingdom's warriors could brush off their clothes and leave, but the Xiaoyao Sect and the Bo Kingdom were neighbors that could never pack up and move. Dong Rui asked him again, "Then if you were the Mou Emperor, how would you punish the Bo Kingdom?" "It isn't difficult." He Lingchuan answered without hesitation. "If you cannot deploy troops directly, make good use of the surrounding forces. If the Xiaoyao Sect refuses to lend men, there will always be other factions willing, won't there? How Yu Zecheng dealt with Zhu Erniang and me back then is how the Mou Emperor will deal with the Bo Kingdom now." Nine months ago, Beijia's Yu Zecheng had wanted He Lingchuan to hand over Zhu Erniang, yet he had few men under his own command. What did he do? Leveraged outside forces. Hadn't he sought out the Blade Harbor Maritime Trade Office, enlisted the Lu family of Bailie, and finally found Moqi Song and his nephew to launch a mutiny to seize the islands? Using borrowed strength to strike a blow had always been the preferred tactic of great empires. "A small state like this lacks deep roots and solid foundations. With a clever application of force, it may yield miraculous results in an instant." To use an imperfect analogy, just as Beijia had not regarded the Yangshan Archipelago as a real threat back then, the Mou Kingdom today would not consider the Bo Kingdom difficult to handle. Dong Rui clicked his tongue twice. They would have to wait for time to prove it. "Why do I feel that the King of Bo framing Elder Cao is rather fishy?" "Your feeling isn't wrong. It's a lie easily punctured. If the King of Bo truly wanted to deceive us, he would have been better off claiming an itinerant occultist sold him the Bright Lantern Cup, leaving no trail to follow," He Lingchuan said. "Framing Elder Cao will only serve to further enrage the Mou Kingdom." "Then the Mou Kingdom..." "The whereabouts of the Bright Lantern Cup have been confirmed, and the King of Bo has offended the Mou Kingdom. If the Mou Kingdom wants to act, those two reasons are more than enough. Even if the truth comes to light eventually, it won't change the Mou Emperor's decision." On the Shanjin Plain, not even life and death mattered, let alone the truth. "Actually, I suspect the person pulling strings in the dark possesses the ability to alter their appearance," He Lingchuan recalled. "If nothing else, they were able to impersonate Cao Yanhua to conduct a transaction with the King of Bo." Dong Rui wondered aloud, "Officials carry official tallies. Even if they lack the origin power to fight, shouldn't they at least be able to see through a trick like that?" "Perhaps it wasn't a supernatural technique?" He Lingchuan pondered. "Besides, the Bo Kingdom is frail and origin power here is thin; those civil officials might not have been able to pierce the person's disguise anyway." Whether one could see through a supernatural art depended not only on the technique's own rank, but also on the strength of origin power. The Bo Kingdom's origin power was so feeble that, in He Lingchuan's eyes, it was virtually non-existent. He pointed toward the massive mountain ahead. "Get some sleep. We head into the mountains tomorrow." *** Heading north toward Baimao Mountain, passing through Hezhen was unavoidable. The living souls of this town had been almost entirely slaughtered by the White Bear King. Not even the dozen-odd burly men of the local defense brigade had been spared; only two or three townsfolk who happened to be staying elsewhere overnight escaped this deadly calamity. As He Lingchuan and the others passed through the center of town, the corpses had already been gathered and laid to rest, but dark bloodstains could still be seen everywhere across the buildings. The doors and windows bore the heaviest damage, showing clearly that the demons and vicious beasts had forced their way inside. A town once peaceful and serene had now turned into a desolate ghostland. He Lingchuan's sense of smell was not as sharp as Fu Shanyue's, yet he could still feel that the summer breeze could not blow away the heavy stench of blood clinging to the town. Door Plank could not help sighing deeply. "When a kingdom's power is weak, the common people have no way to live in peace and work happily, and even monsters come out to wreak havoc." There were still many living souls moving about here—the Capital Guard and demon eliminators. Using this place as their base, they were scouring outward for the demons' whereabouts. The authorities had gathered hunters to form demon elimination teams, fifty men to a team, led by experienced veteran hunters in an attempt to intercept the White Bear King.