Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.
Jiao Yu leaned against the windowsill and gazed outside. "Those two lookouts in the loft across the street don't even bother disguising themselves. They haven't budged for ages."
"They aren't the only ones assigned to this, so doing a good job or a bad job earns them the exact same pay."
His adversaries had tried every trick in the book to slip surveillance spells or trinkets into his room, but with the treasure mirror in hand, He Lingchuan detected and cleared them away every single time.
Then he headed downstairs, whistling as he strolled a few dozen paces to the "Fragrant Water Bathhouse." He soaked for a full two hours before returning upstairs feeling utterly refreshed, ready for bed.
Xieyu Pavilion on the eastern shore of Luan Lake? To hell with that. Did Mai Xuewen really think a single scrap of paper would have him dancing on a string? He thought far too highly of himself.
If he wanted to cooperate, he had to show some sincerity.
Night fell, eyes closed, and another night slipped by.
Lately, the Panlong dreamscape had also been calm and uneventful. He Lingchuan cultivated every day without interruption and headed to the Martial Review Hall for arena bouts whenever he had free time, practically slipping back into the tireless, obsessed cultivation routine he had started with.
After his battle against the Fan brothers, he had a wealth of insights that needed consolidating.
Tempering oneself on the razor's edge between life and death was always the most beneficial for cultivation and mental fortitude.
It was just terribly hard on one's lifespan.
***
That night, Cen Manor.
Cheng Yu was still lying in bed, fast asleep with his eyes tightly shut.
He had slept for over twenty hours now without showing the slightest sign of waking, though his complexion had improved slightly, no longer as pale as gold foil.
Clearly, the restorative power of sleep was not to be underestimated.
The guards watching over him had rotated through several shifts. One was currently sitting by the bed, yawning and occasionally glancing at the transparent conch shell on the table.
Uncle Wu had instructed that whenever the red lantern hanging before the little wooden cabin inside went out, they were to unplug the conch's stopper.
Yet the lantern remained lit. This man could truly sleep.
Watching the man sleep so soundly while he had to sit there and tough it out made the guard grumble inwardly. But then, a delicate tinkle of bells sounded from outside.
*Ding-a-ling...*
Wasn't that supposed to be the warning that something sinister had arrived?
A shiver ran through the guard, and he bolted to the doorway. The bells along the western side of the rope-bell array in the courtyard were ringing.
Next, would that thing step into the room?
Before he could retreat inside, however, the bells on the northern side of the array suddenly jangled.
Then the ones outside the courtyard rang.
After that, silence fell over the courtyard once more.
Had it left?
The guard glanced back toward the inner chamber. The bells inside had not made a sound.
What did this mean? The sinister thing hadn't entered the room, but had swerved mid-stride and headed north?
What was to the north?
Not daring to delay, he sent someone to report to Uncle Wu.
Once the instructions were given, he scratched his head as he watched his companion hurry off toward the north.
*North?*
Quite a few people lived in the northern quarters. Come to think of it, didn't Uncle Wu live there too?
The incident alarmed Cen Boqing as well. The following day, he had a substantial collection of evil-dispelling magic artifacts brought in to safeguard the residence.
Whether it was the effect of these artifacts or not, the sinister entity did not return.
***
The next day, rain continued to fall.
The sound of raindrops pattering against lotus leaves made for great sleeping weather. He Lingchuan slept in for an extra two hours before getting out of bed. Putting on a bamboo hat, he went out to enjoy the local specialty—famous flaxseed beef flatbreads paired with two bowls of rice noodle soup.
Afterward, he dragged the fierce tiger along to Mount Xiaoling, a local scenic attraction renowned for the marvel of "Ling Mountain Woven Rain."
Jiao Yu observed his conduct with a cool, detached gaze. He didn't look like an investigator on a case, much less someone whose head was being actively hunted; he looked like an official enjoying an all-expenses-paid vacation on public coin.
As the sky grew darker, the tiger couldn't resist reminding the lighthearted envoy, "You do remember that we have no evidence to directly convict Cen Boqing, right?"
He Lingchuan shrugged.
"The Cen household has been searching for Fu Songhua, and his discovery is only a matter of time. With the Fan brothers around, it won't be easy for you and me to stop them, right?"
He Lingchuan popped a malt-sugar candy into his mouth and nodded repeatedly. "Right."
Snatching Fu Songhua last time had relied purely on brute force, but now that the other side had the Fan brothers backing them, the advantage no longer lay with him. If He Lingchuan moved again, it would only hand Fan Sheng the perfect chance to unleash his full lethal repertoire—
That fellow's hammers packed an agonizing punch.
Magistrate Tian had just sent someone with word that forty to fifty of Fan Sheng's subordinates had arrived in Baishaqu.
They had clearly been assembled on short notice. It meant Fan Sheng wasn't on official duty; otherwise, during the inn ambush, it wouldn't have been just the two Fan brothers lying in wait for He Lingchuan.
Under Beijia law, military commanders were forbidden from moving troops while off duty and without an official assignment, permitted to bring at most eight personal guards.
"And yet you're still this leisurely?" The tiger glared at him.
It was a genuine, predatory tiger's stare. A normal person's legs would have turned to jelly under that gaze, but He Lingchuan had grown thoroughly accustomed to it.
"Do you already have a plan mapped out?"
"What map?" He Lingchuan blinked innocently. "What plan?"
"Hey..." Playing dumb was taking it a bit too far.
Just then, a flurry of hurried footsteps outside, followed by a knock on the door, cut short the tiger's questioning.
The two exchanged a glance. The footsteps were heavy, not those of a cultivator.
"Who is it?"
Someone called back, "Bringing your bathwater, sir."
It was the inn servant's voice. Having heard it over the past few days, He Lingchuan recognized it immediately, yet the man's tone felt odd. "When did I ask for bathwater?"
"Just a moment ago, sir. Did you forget?"
A flicker of alertness stirred within He Lingchuan. With a flick of his hand, a gust of wind swept forward and swung the door open.
Three servants stood outside, carrying a large wooden tub between them.
He Lingchuan stepped aside, and they carried the tub into the guest room, set it down, and poured bucket after bucket of hot water inside.
He simply watched from the side.
Ever since arriving in Baishaqu, he had always bathed at the public bathhouse to guard against assassination plots, never once ordering a wooden tub in his room.
So, what kind of act was this?
After receiving their tips, the others left, but the last servant shut the door behind him and turned to face He Lingchuan.
The man's gaze was dead-eyed, lacking its usual shrewdness and cheerful grin.
He walked in and spoke in a flat, emotionless voice:
"Special envoy of the Crown Prince?"
The tiger instantly rose to its feet.
He Lingchuan waved a hand to stay the tiger, studying the servant for a couple of breaths before asking:
"Are you Mai Xuewen?"
*This fellow is the Mai Xuewen who's been lurking in the shadows?* Jiao Yu started, then peered closely at the man's eyes and realized something was off. "You turned the inn servant into a puppet?"
"I am merely using him as a mouthpiece," the servant said coldly. "Don't bother looking for me; I'm far away."
He Lingchuan had used his eyeball spider to spy on Zhongsun Mou's interrogation and knew that Mr. Mai had previously planted an eye mite inside the gatekeeper's eye back in Shuanglu Town to surveil his opponents.
The world was vast and full of wonders, and methods of surveillance were endlessly diverse. Now he was likely employing a similar trick, combined with a mind-controlling technique.
"Hiding your head while showing your tail—how am I supposed to know you're the real Mai Xuewen?"
The servant answered without hesitation, "You took the pulp beads I hid in the painting, didn't you? Three of them, along with four account ledgers, a cipher sheet, and the red jade thumb ring I often wear."
These details were known only to Mai Xuewen and He Lingchuan. This fellow truly couldn't wait any longer and had taken the initiative to come find him.
Whoever lost their patience first lost the initiative.
He Lingchuan promptly shut the window and raised a ward. "You've thrown the entire northern part of the Chiyan Kingdom into complete disarray. What are you doing coming to me now?"
Anyone taking a bath would shut the window, so doing so drew no suspicion.
Mai Xuewen spoke: "The Crown Prince's special envoy certainly possesses immense courage, eating and sleeping soundly despite such perilous circumstances."
He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow. This man truly had a thorough grasp of his situation. "Oh? Perilous in what way?"
"Killing the Crown Prince's special envoy would resolve every single one of their current problems in one fell swoop," Mai Xuewen said, watching him. "You are trapped in grave danger here in Baishaqu. So many people want you dead. Of course, you knew that already, or how else would the curse master hired by the Cen Manor have failed in his plot against you?"
He Lingchuan felt a slight stir within. "That guy was high-tier?"
"He once made a name for himself by cursing a sovereign to death in a single stroke."
The tiger interjected, "Did that country have no origin power?" How could a sovereign of a realm fall victim to sinister curses unless the nation's power was so depleted it was practically nonexistent?
"I don't know the exact details." The servant controlled by Mai Xuewen tilted his head, carefully scrutinizing He Lingchuan. "It's truly astonishing that you managed to escape with your life from his clutches."
"Let's get down to business," He Lingchuan said, pouring himself a cup of water. "You didn't come here to turn yourself in, did you?"
Mai Xuewen chuckled. "If I intended to turn myself in, why would I have gone to all the trouble of laying out clues for you earlier?"
He Lingchuan voiced the question that had puzzled him for so long: "Who on earth do you work for?"
"For myself." Mai Xuewen let out a long breath. "I hold a blood debt of deep hatred against the mastermind behind the curtain. That is why I infiltrated their ranks to gather clues and evidence, waiting for a chance to hand them over to someone capable."
He Lingchuan pointed at himself. *Someone capable—meaning me?*
"The slaughter of demons and harvesting of beads in Zhitian Township—those were all ordered by you, weren't they?"
"They were," Mai Xuewen admitted readily. "If I didn't perform, how could I win the trust of the Cen family?"
He even added, "Among the six branch operations Wu Kai manages for Cen Boqing, I was always the one who delivered the most pulp beads and stirred up the least trouble."
*Good heavens, a full-blown undercover operative.* He Lingchuan rubbed his nose. "So you're saying you were practically an employee of the month?"
Mai Xuewen shrugged. "If you're going to do something, do it best."
"You've certainly accumulated plenty of innocent blood on your hands."
Mai Xuewen said indifferently, "Survival of the fittest has always been the inviolable law of Beijia. Spend enough time here, and you'll agree."
Those demons had been butchered simply because they were too weak, naturally becoming meat on the table for the strong.
"So Cen Boqing is actually harvesting demon beads across all of Beijia?"
"Indeed. But even after digging for years, I still don't know the exact identities or locations of the other five branches," Mai Xuewen said. "Wu Kai is exceedingly cautious; he never revealed much to me."
Jiao Yu cut in, "What is he collecting pulp beads for? Is he really refining the elixir of immortality?"
"In the past, a portion was sent to refine the elixir of immortality, while another portion was laundered as foreign goods so they could be legitimately imported," Mai Xuewen explained. "Lately, however, demand for the elixir has far outstripped supply, so they likely don't have any surplus beads left to launder abroad."
"Launder?" He Lingchuan said, surprised. "You can openly import something like that?"
"Of course you can, as long as Beijia has a demand for it." Mai Xuewen's voice carried a hint of mockery. "Otherwise, where do you think the raw pulp beads for the elixir of immortality that the Demon Emperor bestows come from? Slaughtering the realm's own demon citizens to harvest beads would spark public outrage if it got out."
"Import them from abroad, and the subjects won't complain a bit." After all, the victims were foreign demons; the demon populace of Beijia naturally couldn't care less.
Chapter 502