…After hearing Zhao Jin’s description of the events, Li Miaozhen almost lost control, wanting to grab her flying sword and behead the Garrison North King and Duke Que Yongxiu.
But she was no longer the novice Li Miaozhen who had just left the mountain for training. A year and a half of experience had made her calmer and more seasoned.
“I understand. If you want my help, that’s fine, but I need to wait for my companion to arrive. Until then, stay in the inn and act as if nothing has happened,” Li Miaozhen said, looking at Zhao Jin sitting on the edge of the bed. “Do you understand?”
Zhao Jin wasn’t lying, but what he said might not be the truth. This wasn’t contradictory.
She had already reached the Fourth Grade, but this matter involved higher-level conflicts. Li Miaozhen knew her capabilities were limited, and forceful intervention could lead to unforeseen consequences.
“Alright!” Zhao Jin nodded, indicating he had no objections.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Li Miaozhen mysteriously disappear from the room. Then, he opened his eyes again to find himself lying on the bed, having just woken up.
On the floor beside the bed were the ashes of the burnt talisman.
The techniques of the Heavenly Sect are truly astounding… Zhao Jin had the same feeling that all martial artists would have.
Meanwhile, Li Miaozhen returned to her room and took out a small jade mirror. Using her hand as a brush, she input the message: [Daoist Golden Lotus, I have something to discuss with you privately.]
After the Daoist Golden Lotus blocked the other members, Li Miaozhen sent a message: [I have urgent matters to communicate with Xu Qi An.]
Too frequent communication between Heaven and Earth Society members isn’t necessarily a good thing… Daoist Golden Lotus grumbled internally, acting as an honest tool and opening a private chat for Li Miaozhen and Xu Qi An.
[Two: Xu Qi An, where are you? Come quickly to Mountain Mouth Commandery. I have a lead on the Garrison North King’s massacre of civilians.]
…
On the other side, Xu Qi An, who was drinking tea and chatting idly with the Princess Consort in a small courtyard, felt a throb from the Earth Book fragment. He excused himself to relieve himself and briefly left.
[Three: What lead did you find?]
[Two: Xu Qi An, your method was very effective. Today, one of the jianghu martial artists under my command, named Zhao Jin, suddenly approached me privately and revealed the inside story of the Garrison North King’s massacre of civilians.]
Wait, when did you get subordinates again? Are you a born big sister? Xu Qi An responded: [Has he been lurking by your side for a long time?]
Li Miaozhen explained in her message: [For a few days. Calculating the time, he probably approached me shortly after I made a name for myself. However, he didn’t reveal his true intentions, only saying he admired the famous Flying Swallow Heroine and wanted to join me in acts of chivalry.
[You know, wherever I go, there’s always a group of heroes eager to join me. I didn’t think much of it and accepted him.]
No, I don’t know that. Compared to me, you’re the real protagonist. The Flying Swallow Heroine’s delicate body trembles, and her kingly aura overflows, causing all the heroes to submit and bow…
Xu Qi An: [This makes sense. He was afraid that the Flying Swallow Heroine might be an impostor, a spy for the Garrison North King trying to lure people in. So he decided to observe you up close. If I’m not mistaken, he must have shown great admiration for you and constantly sought information about your recent activities.]
Li Miaozhen opened her mouth, surprised that he had guessed it all correctly. Indeed, Zhao Jin’s admiration for her was undisguised, showing intense enthusiasm and actively seeking information about her within the team.
Li Miaozhen had originally thought Zhao Jin was interested in her romantically. After all, which man in the jianghu wouldn’t admire the Flying Swallow Heroine? She had grown accustomed to it.
Now that Xu Qi An had pointed it out, she suddenly realized.
I’ve learned something new… My perspective on issues is indeed quite different from his. As expected of Xu Qi An.
Li Miaozhen absorbed this knowledge and continued to write: [Zhao Jin said that the person behind him is Zheng Xinghuai, the Provincial Administration Commissioner of Chu Province. The civilians massacred by the Garrison North King were the entire Chu Province City.]
“Clang…”
The Earth Book fragment fell, making a crisp sound.
Xu Qi An’s brain felt as if it had been hit by a heavy hammer. His consciousness became hazy, his brain stopped thinking, and he was stunned on the spot.
Chu Province City?!
The Garrison North King massacred the entire Chu Province City… How dare he? Has he gone mad?
Chu Province City was the main city of the entire province, gathering all the talent and elites from various industries. By massacring the city, the fortune of Chu Province would be destroyed.
After a long while, Xu Qi An took a deep breath, bent down to pick up the Earth Book fragment, and wrote:
[This is impossible. If it were Chu Province City, it couldn’t be hidden from the barbarians. The Chu Province officials, common folk, and jianghu wanderers couldn’t possibly know about it. This doesn’t make sense.]
Li Miaozhen didn’t respond, seemingly also in thought.
At this moment, the Daoist Golden Lotus wrote: [If it’s Chu Province City, isn’t that unexpected? You think it’s impossible, the barbarians think it’s impossible, everyone thinks it’s impossible.
[Heh, this poor Daoist also thought the same at first, believing that Miaozhen had been deceived. But on second thought, the more impossible it seems, the more likely it might be. Didn’t you mention earlier that the barbarians had ritualists secretly assisting them? The Garrison North King had to take a risky move to pull off such a deception.]
Xu Qi An rubbed his face, forcibly suppressing the surging anger, and wrote back:
[But how did he keep it hidden from all factions? There’s something I haven’t told you. The remnants of the Myriad Beasts Nation are also involved. The barbarians, mysterious ritualists, and remnants of the Myriad Beasts Nation are all top-tier powers in the Nine Provinces. Imagine how difficult it would be to keep it hidden from them.]
Li Miaozhen seized the opportunity to offer her opinion: [Could it be the work of ritualists? You said before that ritualists can shield heavenly secrets, making people overlook certain events or people.]
Xu Qi An rejected Li Miaozhen’s guess without hesitation: [First if heavenly secrets were shielded, the case of the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li wouldn’t have appeared. Even the Garrison North King himself would forget about it.
[Secondly, shielding heavenly secrets makes people forget related memories or ignore related events. It doesn’t completely erase traces. Let me give you an example: if you, Li Miaozhen, smashed the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and a ritualist shielded the heavenly secrets for you.
[The Emperor and court officials would forget that you smashed the Hall of Supreme Harmony and be confused about the damage. But the fact that the Hall of Supreme Harmony was destroyed remains unchanged; the traces can’t be erased.]
Li Miaozhen understood. It wasn’t that ritualists shielded the event. If the Supervisor had intervened, the court wouldn’t know about the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li event to this day.
In reality, Chu Province had become ruins, a ghost city.
Now, everyone knows about the Blood Massacre of Three Thousand Li case, but no one can find its location. It’s exactly the opposite.
Amidst her thoughts, she saw Xu Qi An’s message: [How did Provincial Administration Commissioner Zheng Xinghuai escape?]
Li Miaozhen immediately replied: [According to Zhao Jin, it wasn’t the Garrison North King who massacred the city that day, but Commander-in-Chief Que Yongxiu. The Garrison North King was leading troops to intercept barbarian raiders and wasn’t in Chu Province.]
…This is a typical case of creating an alibi, and also a smokescreen. After all, the Garrison North King himself is the focus of attention from all sides. His departure from Chu Province also took away most of the attention.
That so-called Commander-in-Chief took the opportunity to massacre the city’s civilians.
Xu Qi An wrote: [When did this happen?]
Li Miaozhen: [About a month ago.]
A month ago… The undercover agent Cai’er in the Three Yellow County brothel had mentioned that about a month ago, Three Yellow County suddenly implemented strict entry and exit checks. Initially, I thought they were looking for me, but now it seems they were searching for this Provincial Administration Commissioner of Chu Province.
As thoughts raced through Xu Qi An’s mind, he raised another question: [That Zhao Jin, he didn’t experience this himself, did he?]
Li Miaozhen wrote: [Zhao Jin has a brother who was a guest in Zheng Xinghuai’s mansion. After the incident, Zheng Xinghuai fled under the protection of his guards and went into hiding. He secretly recruited righteous people, trying to expose the Garrison North King’s atrocities, but there was no news.]
Xu Qi An had a lot of details he wanted to ask, but it was difficult to communicate clearly through the Earth Book. He immediately wrote: [Alright, I’m coming over right away. I’ll arrive in half a day at the earliest, or by tomorrow at the latest.]
Ending the communication, Xu Qi An put away the Earth Book fragment and returned to the courtyard.
The Princess Consort, sitting at the table, was resting her chin on one hand while the other hand was doodling on the table. She was humming a little tune, her voice soft and alluring.
“Princess Consort, I know the location where the Garrison North King massacred the civilians,” Xu Qi An said as he sat down at the table, his expression grave.
“Wasn’t it West Mouth Commandery?” the Princess Consort asked.
Xu Qi An shook his head, staring at the ordinary face of the Great Feng’s most beautiful woman, his expression serious:
“We’ve been out for so long, always hiding and not daring to show ourselves. Now, it’s finally time to meet your husband. All grievances will be settled.”
The Princess Consort’s smile faded, and she looked at him with a strange expression: “Your words sound odd…”
Suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw the man across from her swinging his hand like a knife, chopping towards the back of her neck.
Because the Princess Consort hadn’t protected her nape, she was struck at a vital point. With a soft “ying” sound, she collapsed onto the table, unconscious.
After knocking out the Princess Consort, Xu Qi An wasn’t entirely at ease. He mixed a cup of stupefying wine and poured it into the Princess Consort’s small mouth.
“This should be enough to keep her asleep for two days.”
Only then did he feel reassured enough to take out the Earth Book fragment and put her inside? Then, he tore off a page of paper and ignited it with his qi.
“I have a pair of invisible wings that can fly a thousand li in a day,” Xu Qi An said leisurely.
Whoosh… The air currents were disturbed, caused by the invisible wings spreading.
Xu Qi An flapped his invisible wings, stirring up dust beneath his feet. He soared into the sky, straight into the clouds. After reaching a certain height, he suddenly turned and flew towards the northeast.
…
The sky was vast, and mountains and rivers lay beneath him. The winding rivers looked like silver belts, and the undulating mountain peaks showed different degrees of majesty and grandeur.
The Confucian magic was simply cheating. It only took him an hour and a half to fly from the distant southwest to the northern part of Chu Province.
“The scenery is exquisite. I could have brought her up to play in the sky. It would have been a wonderful experience. But I’m going to do serious business now and can’t carry the Princess Consort with me anymore.
“Huh, I seem to have been keeping her in my heart lately, but I’m not craving her body…”
Xu Qi An muttered to himself as he chose an uninhabited mountain peak to land on. Then he unfolded a map and took a look, finding that he was still more than eighty li away from North Mountain Commandery.
This time, he didn’t use Confucian magic and walked instead. Firstly, it would waste too much paper, and secondly, his shoulders couldn’t take it.
The backlash of Confucian magic was related to the magnitude of the skill’s power.
For this kind of flying magic, at most, it would cause shoulder and neck pain afterward, making one have to tilt their head.
Before dusk, he arrived at North Mountain Commandery, wearing Xu Er Lang’s handsome face, a sable hat, and tilting his neck.
After asking for directions to the inn, he soon found his way there and knocked on Li Miaozhen’s door.
“Creak…”
Li Miaozhen opened the door. Seeing her long-absent friend, she was initially very happy, but this friend was tilting his head, looking at her sideways with cold eyes.
“What’s wrong with you?” Li Miaozhen stepped back, frowning.
“I got a crick in my neck,” Xu Qi An said, tilting his head.
“???” Li Miaozhen didn’t ask further, leading him in and instructing Susu, who was covering her mouth to suppress her laughter, to pour tea.
“Time is tight, let’s keep it brief,” Xu Qi An deliberately knocked over the teacup, spilling the scalding tea onto Susu’s chest.
The paper wife’s 36D large chest deflated like a punctured balloon.
Susu stamped her foot angrily, “Master, look at him, look at him, he’s bullying me as soon as he arrives.”
Li Miaozhen gave Xu Qi An an exasperated look, took out some rice paste and paper, and said, “Just paste your chest yourself. Actually, this is quite good, it saves you from flirting with men everywhere.”
She had always been annoyed by that fake chest…
After dismissing Susu, she asked, “What’s your idea?”
Xu Qi An, having punished the female ghost, tapped his fingers on the table and said without hesitation, “Of course, to go and meet that Provincial Administration Commissioner.”
Li Miaozhen frowned and said, “Aren’t you afraid it’s a trap?”
Xu Qi An shook his head with a smile, “The probability is low.”
His confident tone made Li Miaozhen’s heart skip a beat, and she eagerly asked, “How so?”
She liked listening to Xu Qi An’s logical reasoning, always eager to learn something new.