Having been bested by He Lingchuan at the Lotus Palace, Fan Sheng had felt utterly miserable for the past few days.
Going back to challenge He Lingchuan under the pretext of turning the tables would be pointless.
Besides, that brat Zhongsun Mou had most likely been murdered, leaving Fan Sheng without sufficient justification to make things difficult for He Lingchuan anyway.
Yet what Bai Ziqi had just said caused a small spark of flame to flare up in his heart once more.
"I merely wish to understand the situation, but you have mistaken the priorities." Bai Ziqi looked at him with a smile, raising a finger. "First, what the celestial gods care about is whether this case has anything to do with the elixir of immortality. In other words, whether He Xiao and Prince Yue are pursuing the correct direction, and whether Zhongsun Mou conspired with Cen Boqing to deceive the Emperor."
"Yes!" Fan Sheng bowed his head, once again feeling the pressure. "I was too reckless before."
Had he known Zhongsun Mou was dabbling in something as perilous as the elixir of immortality, he never would have gotten involved.
The elixir of immortality was an absolute taboo to the celestial gods.
Now, he was swept into the vortex as well.
Fortunately, the special emissary sent from above was Emissary Bai; by cooperating fully, Fan Sheng might still escape with a lighter punishment.
"Second, the reason I came to investigate is that the Inspector's murder alarmed the Emperor. Mai Xuewen is undeniably the killer; several thousand pairs of eyes saw him beneath the Chaohu Pagoda that day. His open murder was a direct provocation to Lingxu City." Bai Ziqi set down his teacup. "Therefore, the other priority is capturing Mai Xuewen. As for Fu Shanyue, his goals align with ours—those two points as well."
Fan Sheng nodded at every word, but by the end, he was stunned. After pondering for several moments, he asked, "So we aren't investigating them?"
"Investigate what?" Bai Ziqi shook his head. "Your deductions and mine are merely suspicions; they could easily brush them aside. Without catching Mai Xuewen, we don't have a shred of evidence to bring charges."
Fan Sheng had spent enough time in bureaucratic circles to grasp the point after mulling it over: Emissary Bai intended to temporarily overlook the Chiyan Crown Prince's "minor" anomalies and focus on the two major priorities instead.
In other words, they would continue cooperating with Fu Shanyue in the investigation.
Seeing that Bai Ziqi's brow remained tightly furrowed, Fan Sheng cupped his fists. "Emissary Bai, how may this subordinate be of service?"
"It will be hard for Cen Boqing to make a comeback. The next step is investigating whether the Minister of Agriculture was involved. Ah, what fantastic timing I picked—all the hard parts lie ahead." Bai Ziqi pondered. "Actually, I originally came south on another matter of importance. Looking at it now, this courier case, which I was assigned afterward, seems to have taken place first. There are only a few days' difference, and both occurred within Chiyan. Could there be a connection?"
Fan Sheng was completely baffled. Had Emissary Bai come to handle two cases?
Just as Bai Ziqi was about to speak again, one of Fan Sheng's personal guards dashed in from outside to report:
"The special envoy of the Chiyan Crown Prince has successfully captured the fugitive and is parading him back into the city!"
"Caught him?" Bai Ziqi stood up. "Good. Commander Fan, accompany me."
He then instructed Fan Sheng, "If Cen Boqing is arrested, you must take Cheng Yu into custody immediately. This man is critically important! Not only is he a living witness, but his curse arts are peculiar enough to dissolve into the Azure Void; he might prove useful later."
"Understood."
……
Before long, another piece of intelligence quietly slipped into the Cen Estate:
The Crown Prince had actually brought back a mother and son from the north under heavy guard; the woman was in her twenties, and her son was only seven or eight.
Cen Boqing was taking tea when the news reached him, and he slammed his teacup onto the table with a loud crack.
Fu Shanyue had actually found them?
Between his family and his master, what would Wu Kai choose?
No wonder Yang Song had been captured.
Cen Boqing paced back and forth across the garden a dozen times before finally making up his mind to see Cheng Yu.
Once a decision was made, no time could be wasted.
Hesitation led to defeat.
Seeing Cheng Yu's soul still slumbering inside the bottle, Cen Boqing felt a surge of fury. If this scoundrel hadn't slept so excessively, would Cen Boqing have fallen into such dire straits?
He directed his guards to pull the stopper directly.
The lantern within the snow-scene bottle was extinguished at once, and a wisp of faint smoke seemed to drift out of the mouth of the vessel.
Just a few breaths later, the curse master opened his eyes.
He was somewhat dazed upon waking, but once his vision focused, he struck the bed, rose, and pointed an angry finger at Cen Boqing. "You pulled my stopper?"
Before he could finish, a dizzying spell struck him, and he leaned over the edge of the bed, vomiting violently.
Injuries to the soul were the hardest to nurse. Even for someone like him, spending twenty or thirty days resting would hardly have been excessive; how many days had it been now?
Most critically, this snow-scene bottle could only be used once.
He looked down and saw fine cracks quietly spreading across its surface; it appeared ready to shatter at the slightest touch.
It was truly ruined.
"Surrounded by wolves, I couldn't wait any longer." Cen Boqing had wanted to pull the stopper long ago, but Cheng Yu's warning before entering seclusion had sounded terrifying—claiming that an early unstopping would invite disaster. Considering the man was a powerful curse master, Cen Boqing had endured for days, only to miss the best opportunity.
Looking at him now, what consequences had there actually been?
He had truly been duped by this rogue!
Cen Boqing felt a surge of suffocating irritation in his chest. "During the days you slumbered, the winds and clouds in Baishaqu have shifted completely. The Crown Prince has already searched this estate."
Cheng Yu had previously divided his body and soul, resting each in a separate place, and had only woken after seven or eight days of sleep. His complexion appeared much better.
Yet his face warped like a bitter gourd. "You've ruined me! In the bottle's dreamscape, my soul was in a dispersed state. By yanking the stopper like that, one of my corporeal souls seized the chance to fly off. Who knows how long it will take to recover it?"
"What happens when you lose a corporeal soul?"
"My mind will grow dull, my movements slow, and I will be plagued by illness," Cheng Yu fumed. "We curse masters have weak constitutions to begin with. With this stunt of yours, I will probably lose years off my life."
Consorting with baleful entities day in and day out came at a price.
Cen Boqing said coldly, "If you don't take action, neither of us will have a life left, let alone a 'later'!"
Cheng Yu rolled his eyes. "Who do you want to deal with now?"
Taking a closer look at Master Cen, he noticed the bloodshot eyes, sunken sockets, and noticeably thinner frame. The man had clearly suffered through sheer torment over the past few days.
After a moment's hesitation, Cen Boqing said, "Wu Kai."
"Wu..." Cheng Yu thought his ears had deceived him. "Your old servant?"
"Yes."
It seemed a great deal really had happened while he was asleep. Cheng Yu coughed twice, his face slightly pale. "Fine. I disliked him anyway. Where is he?"
"In the hands of Crown Prince Fu Shanyue."
Cheng Yu was stunned again. "Captured?" He guessed Cen Boqing wanted him silenced. "How do you want him to die?"
"As long as the cause of death cannot be traced back to me."
Cheng Yu pondered for so long that Cen Boqing frowned. "Didn't you claim you could even scheme against monarchs?" Given their current circumstances, he no longer showed Cheng Yu the respect he once had.
Moreover, the scoundrel's failed attempt to assassinate He Xiao and the subsequent backlash had cast serious doubt on his abilities.
"My injuries have not healed, so my arts are not as sharp as before." Cheng Yu's head was throbbing, yet he clearly remembered that night's failed ambush.
To this day, he could not fathom how the Hundred Faces Nightmare could lose to a youth of sixteen or seventeen.
How could a great whale choke to death on a single krill?
What was so bizarre about this He Xiao?
He said to Cen Boqing, "Prepare a few things for me: Wu Kai's Eight Characters of birth, a personal belonging, some hair or nail clippings, rootless water, cinnabar, and a live quail..."
He rattled off more than a dozen items in a single breath, several of them strange and grotesque.
With things as they were, Cen Boqing sought only speed and ordered his subordinates to gather them at once.
Cheng Yu asked, "When do we act?"
"The sooner, the better, of course." Cen Boqing added a caveat: "For safety's sake, we need to leave ahead of time."
"What?" Cheng Yu did not understand.
"Do you remember how you entered the Cen Estate?" Cen Boqing asked coldly. "Commander Lu already searched this residence, yet failed to find you. Do you know why?"
……
"The intelligence was only just delivered to the Cen Estate?" He Lingchuan said with displeasure. "Why did it take so long?"
Wu Kai was crafty, and the progress of the case was two days behind schedule. This was far from ideal; delays bred complications.
"Hey, they need to cooperate, don't they?" Fu Shanyue said helplessly. "Cen Boqing is short-handed right now. If I'm going to feed him information, I have to make it look like they gathered it themselves. Do you think that's easy?"
"Have the Fan brothers made any unusual moves these past few days?"
"Fan Sheng has been keeping watch over his bear, barely stirring. He seems to have quieted down." Fu Shanyue snorted. "They didn't even show their faces the day I surrounded the Cen Estate. They've probably lost their nerve."
The Fan brothers owed favors to the Zhongsun family, not the Cen family. Even if Cen Boqing's head were severed, they wouldn't care to intervene.
At this, he clapped He Lingchuan on the shoulder. "I don't think there's any need for you to go to Lingxu City. Just stay in Chiyan; I'll give you a high official post."
Before He Lingchuan could reply, a guard rushed in from outside to report to Fu Shanyue:
"Someone outside requests an audience with the Crown Prince. He claims to be a special Duyun Emissary sent from Lingxu City, surnamed Bai. The other is Commander Fan."
Fu Shanyue was startled and exchanged a glance with He Lingchuan, both thinking the same thing: *They're here.*
Yet how could they have arrived so quickly?
According to Fu Shanyue's original calculations, the news of Zhongsun Mou's murder should have only recently reached the imperial capital. Lingxu City should have spent time wrangling, passing blame, and covertly competing over the choice of emissary, after which the emissary would set out or be reassigned from elsewhere.
Calculated that way, it should have taken over twenty days from start to finish.
How could someone be here already?
And precisely at this juncture, no less.
When things were abnormal, trouble was sure to follow.
Fu Shanyue's brows knit almost into knots. "How could it be a Duyun Emissary? This doesn't make sense."
It was the first time He Lingchuan had heard the title. "What is a Duyun Emissary?"
"Atop Mount Xu sits the Heavenly Palace, and within it is the Zhaixing Tower, dedicated to communing with the celestial gods, staffed by nearly two thousand attendants. Those who oversee the Zhaixing Tower are Duyun Emissaries, divided into chief and deputy ranks, both holding official court status. Since he is surnamed Bai, he is likely the Deputy Duyun Emissary, Bai Ziqi."
Seizing the moment, He Lingchuan asked the crucial question:
"In Lingxu City, whose side is he on?"
People were always divided into factions, and Lingxu City had surely weighed its options before dispatching an emissary. Knowing this man's background, status, and faction would give He Lingchuan a good sense of Lingxu City's stance toward the case.
Did they intend to investigate thoroughly to the very end, or simply settle the disturbance as quickly as possible?
Did they intend to be strictly impartial, or cater to the tangled web of relationships in the imperial capital?
Chapter 521