He Lingchuan’s eyes flickered. “Has the National Preceptor shown herself?”
Bai Ziqi shook his head. “I tried courtesy before force and sought an audience alone, but they refused to let anyone in. Not a single gate, large or small, has opened.”
So he hadn't seen her. He Lingchuan pondered. “Is the back of the mountain guarded?”
“Yes, and we’ve caught several Azure Palace disciples, but they haven't been of much use.”
Fu Shanyue scoffed. “Even if they slip out the back of the mountain, could they truly slip out of Lingxu City?”
Lingxu City was vast, and with the Azure Palace situated in the center of the Lower City, the escape perimeter was enormous. If the city issued an all-points warrant, it would truly be an inescapable dragnet.
“A cornered dog will jump the wall. Besides, escaping might not be what National Preceptor Qingyang has in mind.” He Lingchuan looked at Bai Ziqi. “Do you believe she’s no longer inside, Emissary Bai?”
Fu Shanyue frowned, while Bai Ziqi gave He Lingchuan a deep look. “He Xiao is sharp.”
“Not fleeing, yet not inside either... Where else could National Preceptor Qingyang go...?” Before Fu Shanyue even finished speaking, he let out a drawn-out “Oh!” “She dares go to the palace to beg for help?”
“Why wouldn't she dare? With ironclad evidence in my hands, staying here is a dead end. Going to the palace to stake everything on a gamble might offer a slim chance of survival.” Bai Ziqi’s expression was solemn, his habitual smile long gone. “She shares deep ties with both Demon Emperors. Appealing to emotion now might just turn things around.”
He Lingchuan was also somewhat moved.
When Bai Ziqi arrived unannounced, National Preceptor Qingyang likely had no idea he had caught Kong Jiaxiang, the fish that slipped through the net at Qingfu Temple. Furthermore, Bai Ziqi must have concealed his troops at the foot of the mountain first, arriving with a beaming smile to play the affable diplomat to perfection.
Yet this National Preceptor's sense for danger was astonishingly sharp.
She refused to let Bai Ziqi step a single foot inside, shutting the gates and locking the palace guards out.
For the Heavenly Palace guards to find a place in Lingxu City barred against them was likely unprecedented in Beijia’s history.
Or perhaps she had an informant on Mount Xu who tipped her off about the sudden mass deployment of the palace guards. Even so, Bai Ziqi had moved with blinding speed, still catching her off guard.
That Bai Ziqi dared to come meant he had secured sufficient evidence!
“In that case, the Azure Palace bolting its gates and stubbornly holding out is merely a smokescreen?” He Lingchuan asked Bai Ziqi. “Have you made other arrangements, Emissary Bai?”
“Wherever she is now, reaching Lingxiao Peak requires passing through Jinghong Crossing,” Bai Ziqi said in a low voice. “I have dispatched another three hundred palace guards to Jinghong Crossing to screen travelers. I hope it isn’t too late!”
The royal palace sat atop Lingxiao Peak, and Lingxiao Peak rested on Tianxin Island. Aside from birds in flight, entering or leaving Tianxin Island could only be done via the teleportation arrays of Jinghong Crossing.
Bai Ziqi had laid siege to the Azure Palace for less than an hour, and meticulous as he was, reinforcing Jinghong Crossing in time might just beat National Preceptor Qingyang to the punch.
National Preceptor Qingyang was a prominent figure in Lingxu City and a frequent traveler through Jinghong Crossing; passing through that checkpoint unrecognized would not be easy.
He Lingchuan’s gaze flickered slightly.
Security checks at Jinghong Crossing were indeed stringent, but illicit crossings had never been entirely eradicated. At such a critical, life-or-death juncture, with National Preceptor Qingyang's formidable abilities and hoard of rare treasures, was it truly impossible for her to slip through?
Deep down, he had a nagging suspicion that screening at Jinghong Crossing would prove futile. National Preceptor Qingyang would not be captured so easily.
Of course, he couldn't say that to Bai Ziqi's face.
A furrow cut deep between the Deputy Duyun Emissary's brows as he pondered his next move.
“What if...” Fu Shanyue cleared his throat. “I mean, what if National Preceptor Qingyang slips past Jinghong Crossing and enters the palace to plead with the Emperor? What does Emissary Bai plan to do then?”
This was a crucial question. He and Bai Ziqi had worked so hard and offended so many people precisely to bring the culprit behind the scenes to justice.
With success finally in sight, he was loath to see any new complications arise.
“Even if she looks for him, it will be in vain. The Emperor is not on Lingxiao Peak,” Bai Ziqi said with a curl of his lip. “The celestial gods summoned him to Mount Xu.”
He Lingchuan immediately gave him a thumbs-up.
Pulling the rug out from under her like that—brilliant!
So after all the trouble National Preceptor Qingyang took to reach Tianxin Island, she would only find an empty nest?
Bai Ziqi and National Preceptor Qingyang hadn't even met face-to-face, yet they had already traded blows in the shadows for several rounds.
Truly worthy of beings of their stature.
He Lingchuan chimed in, “The fingers in this case have pointed at the Azure Palace for a long time. Has National Preceptor Qingyang still not destroyed all the witnesses and evidence at hand?”
Even commoners and Imperial Academy scholars were hotly discussing the connection between the Azure Palace and the Immortality Elixir Case.
“As far as I know, several members of the Azure Palace have vanished over the past month. Some were National Preceptor Qingyang’s prized disciples, while others were key figures within the palace. The Azure Palace claimed they were sent abroad on business, but in reality, all trace of them was erased.” Bai Ziqi’s contest of wits with National Preceptor Qingyang had not begun just today. “However, not all evidence can be destroyed.”
“You already have it?”
“Indeed! It was provided by Kong Jiaxiang.” Bai Ziqi offered He Lingchuan a slight smile. “National Preceptor Qingyang knows it full well; otherwise, the Azure Palace wouldn't have reacted like this today.”
He Lingchuan frowned. “But Kong Jiaxiang has no direct ties to the Azure Palace. Can the evidence he provided convict National Preceptor Qingyang?”
“National Preceptor Qingyang is cautious. Why would she entrust the accounts of the elixir of immortality to an outsider? A matter of such magnitude requires a trusted confidant to keep watch.” A hint of mockery surfaced in Bai Ziqi’s eyes. “Only upon interrogating Kong Jiaxiang did I learn that he was already working in the Azure Palace’s accounting office fifteen years ago. Because he dug through several rotten accounts and rooted out a few fat parasites, he earned her favor. She even granted him land and property, though she didn’t promote him. Later, he was sent abroad for three years, severing outward ties with the Azure Palace, before being transferred back to Qingfu Temple to manage the elixir of immortality and the funds. I tracked down the old gatekeeper who guarded the side gate of the Azure Palace ten years ago; the people, the events, and the timeline all match up.”
He paused. “And who do you suppose was his contact inside the Azure Palace?”
He Lingchuan naturally shook his head.
“Lu Qingzhou.”
Fu Shanyue let out a surprised sound. “The Lu Qingzhou who died a few days ago?”
Half a month ago, National Preceptor Qingyang’s prized disciple, Lu Qingzhou, left the palace to visit his wife and children, only to die suddenly at home.
So he had been Kong Jiaxiang's contact? His death was no injustice.
“Even someone fiercely loyal to her, she had killed?”
Yet He Lingchuan felt something was amiss.
If National Preceptor Qingyang went so far as to kill a devoted, beloved disciple like Lu Qingzhou, it meant she intended to resist to the bitter end.
Then why had she run now?
The behavior itself was contradictory.
He noticed the furrow between Bai Ziqi’s brows hadn't cleared at all, his face still somber, wondering if he too was pondering these peculiarities.
Kong Jiaxiang's inexplicable survival was itself suspicious, something Bai Ziqi couldn't fail to realize. But if even Bai Ziqi couldn't find fault with it, it had to be treated as legitimate so the investigation could proceed.
Bai Ziqi added, “Still, the Emperor will return to the palace eventually. Your Highness is right—I must send men to check on the palace.” With that, he turned and left in a hurry.
With urgent business at hand, he was not nearly as attentive to etiquette as usual.
He Lingchuan looked at Fu Shanyue, his smile vanishing instantly. “Why are you still standing around here, Your Highness?”
“Huh?” Fu Shanyue blinked, caught off guard. “Is there a problem?”
He Lingchuan glanced left and right.
The hint was clear enough. Fu Shanyue immediately pulled him into a tent used for storing roadblocks, where no one else was present. He then cast an isolation barrier.
“Speak.”
“Why did Emissary Bai launch such a massive, overt assault on the Azure Palace the moment he returned to Lingxu City?”
“Afraid someone would tip off National Preceptor Qingyang?”
“Emissary Bai already said the evidence he holds cannot be destroyed by National Preceptor Qingyang, which means victory is practically guaranteed.” Knowing Bai Ziqi's methods, if he dared say such a thing, he had ironclad certainty. “Since his evidence is unshakeable and immune to retraction, why rush over in such a frenzy? Why didn't he follow proper procedure—submitting the evidence to the Heavenly Palace, having the Heavenly Palace inform the Demon Emperor, and letting the Emperor issue the arrest warrant for her?”
“Uh...” Fu Shanyue thought for a moment. “Afraid she’d run?”
“Do you truly believe that given National Preceptor Qingyang’s current stature and status, she would simply flee?”
“No.” Fu Shanyue rubbed his nose, then reconsidered seriously. “Well, hard to say.”
An ordinary person would run in this situation, and even Fu Shanyue himself might take the best route and slip away.
But National Preceptor Qingyang...
Her venerable prestige, her immense power, the renown of half a lifetime, the achievements of an entire life—all of it had been granted by Lingxu City.
Forcing her to flee Lingxu City now would mean completely negating nearly two hundred years of her life.
Just as when Panlong City fell back then, Zhong Shengguang could clearly have escaped, yet he chose to cut his own throat, honoring his oath: “As long as the city stands, I stand; if the city falls, I fall.”
He Lingchuan had only met National Preceptor Qingyang once and had never truly known her deeply.
Yet that was the impression she gave him.
A lifetime of toil washed away down the river, with no chance of a comeback. For someone so proud and dignified, such defeat and helplessness would be more agonizing than death.
She was irrevocably bound to her past.
Fu Shanyue was no fool; he blinked and pieced it together. “Bai Ziqi fears the Emperor will go soft and spare her?”
Even Bai Ziqi believed it likely that National Preceptor Qingyang had rushed to Lingxiao Peak to see the Emperor.
And he had sent men to intercept her.
So the crux of everything lay with the Demon Emperor.
He Lingchuan nodded. “I’m an outsider and don’t understand the dynamic between Lingxu and the Heavenly Palace very well. But Bai Ziqi dared to storm the Azure Palace right under the noses of the capital’s nobility and commoners. Could that really be his own idea?”
Fu Shanyue shook his head without hesitation.
Everyone knew that a Duyun Emissary’s actions represented the will of the celestial gods.
This operation made the celestial gods’ stance unmistakably clear:
No leniency!
Yet this gave the Emperor virtually no face at all. For the celestial gods to dispatch an emissary to the Azure Palace to “invite” someone without even an advance notice!
“So the celestial gods and the Emperor may very well be at odds over this,” He Lingchuan reminded him. “And at a time like this, Your Highness is mingling with Emissary Bai and the palace guards, standing firmly in the celestial gods’ camp as they assault the Azure Palace! How do you think the Emperor will react when he finds out?”
He’d vent his wrath on him, wouldn't he? The Emperor couldn't touch the celestial gods, but could he not deal with Fu Shanyue?
Realizing this, Fu Shanyue said decisively, “Let’s go! Down the mountain at once.”
There was no need to crowd the front row when watching the spectacle—it was too easy to get hit by rotten eggs.
Chapter 660