“Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li…”
Zha’er Muha’s expression remained blank, answering without emotion, “What Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li…”
Is my questioning method incorrect? Xu Qi’an frowned and asked gravely, “Was it your barbarian tribe that slaughtered people along Great Feng’s three thousand li border?”
Zha’er Muha stared vacantly ahead, muttering, “Don’t know.”
… Xu Qi’an’s breathing became heavy. He took a deep breath and asked Tianlang the same question, getting a consistent answer—the leader of the Jin Mu tribe didn’t know about this matter.
He didn’t give up, continuing to ask Tang Shanjun, “Was it your northern demon tribe that slaughtered people along Great Feng’s three thousand li border?”
Tang Shanjun looked bewildered and answered, “Don’t know.”
Don’t know?
Don’t know!
Xu Qi’an’s breathing became heavy again. His pupils dilated slightly as he sat dazed for a few seconds before asking in a deep voice, “Chu Xianglong, do you know about the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li?”
Chu Xianglong, with a wooden expression, answered reflexively, “Wei Yuan attempted to frame the Prince of Huai, using a corpse and soul to plant false evidence. Then he sent Silver Badge Xu Qi’an to the border, trying to fabricate charges to falsely accuse the Prince of Huai.”
It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it, don’t make things up… Xu Qi’an denied it thrice in his heart.
… Is this Chu Xianglong’s idea? He believes the so-called Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li is a scheme by Lord Wei and the court officials, targeting the Northern Frontier King.
So they turned the tables, using the delegation to escort the Princess Consort.
If that’s the case, Emperor Yuan Jing had the same idea, going with the flow. Looking at it this way, Emperor Yuan Jing and the Northern Frontier King are in cahoots.
After all, they are brothers from the same mother.
The northern barbarians and demon tribes don’t know about the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li, while the Northern Frontier King’s deputy Chu Xianglong believes it’s a frame-up by Lord Wei and the court officials. In other words, he doesn’t know about the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li either.
So, who is the real culprit?
Hiss… The case suddenly became perplexing. For some reason, Xu Qi’an felt relieved. He then asked:
“When you return to the north, how do you plan to deal with me?”
To this question, Chu Xianglong answered bluntly, “Monitor or place under house arrest, then after some time, drive you back to the capital.”
What a simple and crude method. Xu Qi’an asked again, “What kind of person do you think the Northern Frontier King is?”
Without hesitation, Chu Xianglong replied, “Domineering, strong-willed, very good to his brothers. A lord worthy of loyalty.”
After some thought, Xu Qi’an asked a treasonous question: “Do you think the Northern Frontier King would rebel?”
“No!” Chu Xianglong’s answer was concise.
“Why?” Xu Qi’an wanted to hear this deputy’s view.
“The Prince of Huai is a born leader. He enjoys battlefield conquests, not court politics. The Prince of Huai is a martial arts fanatic. Apart from the battlefield, he only cares about cultivation,” Chu Xianglong said.
Hmm, that’s true. Although the throne is tempting, not everyone wants to sit in that position. If the Prince of Huai is truly a martial arts fanatic, then the throne would be a constraint for him.
Xu Qi’an reluctantly accepted this explanation but didn’t fully believe it. He’d have to meet the Northern Frontier King himself to conclude.
He didn’t continue questioning, slightly lowering his head to start a new round of brainstorming:
“There are two things I still don’t understand. First, if the Princess Consort is so valuable, why did Emperor Yuan Jing give her to the Northern Frontier King instead of keeping her for himself? Second, although Emperor Yuan Jing and the Prince of Huai are brothers from the same mother, given the old emperor’s suspicious nature, he couldn’t possibly trust the Northern Frontier King completely.
“When it comes to imperial power, not even brothers or fathers and sons can be trusted. But the old emperor seems to be fully supporting the Northern Frontier King’s advancement to the Second. Perhaps, giving the Princess Consort to the Northern Frontier King back then was for this day.”
Regarding the first question, Xu Qi’an guessed that the Princess Consort’s spiritual essence was only effective for warriors, while Emperor Yuan Jing practiced the Taoist system.
In this world of distinct systems, different systems were worlds apart. Some things that were greatly beneficial to one system might be useless or even toxic to others.
Of course, this guess still needed confirmation.
As for the second question, Xu Qi’an had no clue.
Finishing with Chu Xianglong’s questions, he turned his gaze to the remaining two souls—one was the violently deceased fake Princess Consort, the other the white-robed Cultivator.
The white-robed Cultivator seemed even more dazed and sluggish than the others, constantly muttering something.
“What’s your name?” Xu Qi’an probed.
“Xu Shengzu…” The white-robed Cultivator answered his question while continuing to mutter.
So you’re Xu Shengzu. I thought that was the name of the mastermind behind the scenes… Disappointment welled up in Xu Qi’an’s heart.
This guy’s mind collapsed after using the Aura-Seeing Technique to observe Monk Shen Shu, indicating his low rank. From this, it was easy to deduce that he had an organization or a master behind him.
“What organization do you belong to?”
“…”
“Who are you working for?”
“…”
“What’s your name?”
“Xu Shengzu…”
This… This is completely impossible to communicate with. Apart from repeating his name, he can’t answer any other questions. Isn’t this just like a three-year-old child… Xu Qi’an’s mouth twitched.
“I remember there’s another sachet in the Earth Book fragment, it’s Li Miaochen’s…” Xu Qi’an took out the Earth Book fragment and tapped the back of the mirror. Sure enough, a sachet fell out.
This sachet contained the remnant soul that kept muttering “Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li.”
Back then, Wei Yuan had taken the sachet to report the Northern Frontier King in court. Afterward, the sachet was returned to Xu Qi’an, and he had kept it, forgetting to return it to the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect.
This type of sachet was a small magic tool crafted by Li Miaochen herself, with the effect of nurturing and confining souls. Unless it was an old ghost that had been ritually refined by someone, new ghosts like these who had just died couldn’t break through the sachet’s constraints.
“This Cultivator will be of great use in the future, even though he’s become mentally disabled. Hmm, I’ll keep him for now and hand him over to Li Miaochen to nurture later. As the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect, she surely has methods to restore this ghost’s sanity.
“Well, this is the benefit of having a wide network of connections. No, this is a benefit that only a successful player can enjoy… This sachet can contain ghost souls, hmm, let’s call it the Yin Sac.”
Xu Qi’an gathered the souls of the Cultivator and the others into the sachet, then put their corpses into the Earth Book fragment, simply cleaning up the scene.
Fortunately, there hadn’t been too intense a battle here. Monk Shen Shu had overwhelmingly crushed them, quickly and cleanly, so he only needed to dispose of the corpses.
Finally, Xu Qi’an was troubled by not knowing how to deal with these maids.
“Should I just kill them? Those who accomplish great deeds can’t be bothered with trifles. Although they don’t know what happened afterward, they know it was me who intercepted the northern experts.
“But they haven’t committed any crimes or harmed me, they’re all innocent lives…”
Xu Qi’an deliberated for a long time, finally choosing to spare these maids. On one hand, he couldn’t override his conscience to commit the atrocity of massacring innocents.
On the other hand, the motive for silencing them wasn’t strong enough.
Unless he planned to keep the Princess Consort hidden forever, never letting her see the light of day. Or if he betrayed his duty and seized the Princess Consort’s spiritual essence for himself.
Then silencing them would be necessary, otherwise, it would be irresponsible for his own and his family’s safety. However, Xu Qi’an’s character wouldn’t allow him to do such things.
Moreover, in his subsequent plans, the Princess Consort had another use, a very important use. So he wouldn’t keep her hidden forever.
This being the case, there was no motive for silencing them.
“Although I won’t kill you to silence you, your early escape would affect my subsequent plans, so… sleep well here, and go your separate ways when you wake up.”
…
The night wind was slightly cool. The “Old Auntie” had slept deeply, and when she woke, she felt refreshed all over, her fatigue gone.
She hadn’t slept well for several days, her body accumulating much fatigue. She really needed such a sound sleep.
She slowly opened her eyes. The first thing that appeared in her vision was a huge banyan tree, its leaves rustling in the night wind.
She was lying under the tree, on the grass, with a robe covering her body. The crackling sound of a bonfire was in her ears, the flames bringing a comfortable temperature.
Her gaze was blank for a moment, then her pupils suddenly regained focus. Then, this pampered woman sprang up like a carp…
Given her physical condition, this was an explosion of potential.
The first thing she did was check her body. Seeing her clothes were neatly in place, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then looked around in panic.
Then, she saw the young man sitting by the bonfire, the firelight illuminating his face, as smooth as jade.
“Awake?”
Roasting a rabbit in his hands, Xu Qi’an didn’t look up, saying indifferently, “The water bag is beside you. Drink if you’re thirsty. In another quarter of an hour, you can eat rabbit meat.”
Memories from before she fainted rushed back, flashing quickly. The “Old Auntie” widened her eyes, looking at Xu Qi’an in disbelief: “You saved me?”
“Yes!”
Just as Xu Qi’an was about to show off a bit, he saw the “Old Auntie” shake her head, staring at him warily:
“Impossible, Xu Qi’an doesn’t have that kind of strength. Who are you? Why are you disguised as him? What’s happened to him now?”
She protected her heavy chest with one hand while groping around with the other, trying to find a weapon to gain a sense of security. Finally, she grabbed the water bag, on high alert.
If “Xu Qi’an” dared to approach, she would bash his head open.
A reasonable suspicion, not too stupid… Xu Qi’an rolled his eyes at her, saying irritably:
“The first time we met was at the tavern by the arena in the South City. I picked up your silver, and you angrily demanded it back from me. Later, I even hit your foot with the money bag.
“The second time we met was also by the arena in the South City. I protected you regardless of danger, and you still hit me.”
With a dull thud, the water bag fell to the ground. The “Old Auntie” stared at him in a daze, whispering after a while: “It is you.”
Xu Qi’an nodded.
She gazed dazedly at the young man by the bonfire, complex emotions flashing across her unremarkable face.
“I used all my strength to save you. As for the others, I was powerless,” Xu Qi’an casually explained.
“Yes, yes.”
She showed a sorrowful expression, saying softly, “The… the Princess Consort is dead…”
Xu Qi’an glanced at her, giving an indifferent “mm” before saying, “Such a woman who brings disaster to the country and people, isn’t her death the end of it all? It’s good that she’s dead, worthy of applause.”
She suddenly widened her eyes, glaring at Xu Qi’an: “What nonsense are you talking about? How has the Princess Consort brought disaster to the country and people? She’s a pitiful woman.”
“How is she pitiful?” Xu Qi’an smiled.
“Hmph!” She raised her snow-white chin, turning her head away, saying angrily, “You’re just a crude warrior, how would you know the Princess Consort’s suffering? I won’t tell you.”
After escaping danger, that haughty temperament came back, cowardly yet arrogant… Xu Qi’an criticized in his heart, focusing on roasting the meat.
At first, the “Old Auntie” sat obediently under the banyan tree, keeping her distance from Xu Qi’an.
As the rabbit smelled more and more delicious, she kept swallowing, inching closer and closer until she was by the bonfire, hugging her knees, eagerly staring at the roasted rabbit.
Like a cat waiting to be fed.
When the golden-brown rabbit was ready, Xu Qi’an sprinkled some chicken essence on it and tore off two hind legs to give her.
The “Old Auntie’s” eyes brightened slightly as she eagerly accepted, taking a bite.
Hiss… She was scalded by the hot meat but, too hungry to spit it out, she opened her small mouth slightly, constantly going “hiss-ha, hiss-ha.”
The chicken essence masked the gamey smell of the rabbit meat and enhanced its flavor. Combined with Xu Qi’an’s crispy roasting, she, who usually disliked gamey smells, actually gnawed the two rabbit legs clean.
Then she crawled to the banyan tree, picked up the water bag, and took a big gulp.
She felt utterly satisfied with life.
After eating and drinking her fill, she inched back to the bonfire, saying with great emotion, “I never thought I’d fall so low that eating a few bites of rabbit meat would make me feel life is blissful.”
Your attitude of kicking away the bridge after crossing the river is just like me entering the sage time… Xu Qi’an felt she was full of flaws.
An interesting woman.
“Oh, your bodhi bead bracelet is quite interesting,” Xu Qi’an said casually, his gaze falling on her snow-white wrist.
Her face paled as she hurriedly tucked her sleeve to hide it, saying, “It’s not worth much.”
He didn’t notice, did he? He didn’t notice. Who would remember an ordinary bracelet after half a year?
“Let me have a look,” Xu Qi’an reached out to grab her wrist.
“You, you, you’re being presumptuous…”
The “Old Auntie” was greatly alarmed. Was her little hand something a man could touch casually?
She hid both hands behind her back, then scooted backward, not letting Xu Qi’an see the bracelet.
Xu Qi’an grabbed her ankle and pulled her back.
The “Old Auntie” kicked her legs wildly, screaming.
This scene looked like a depraved young man attempting to violate an older woman.
“Just let me look at the bracelet, I won’t steal it,” Xu Qi’an said, puzzled. “Why are you reacting so strongly?”
“No, no, no…” she shouted.
“Ah!”
Amidst her scream, the bracelet was still pulled off.