By the time he returned to that civilian residence, the scene had already been cleaned so thoroughly there was nothing left. Yang Yi reported to him with a grave expression and a mournful face, “Elder Brother, we’ve searched everything carefully and found nothing!”

Before, there had at least been some clues, but now after this commotion, all the leads had been severed. Who exactly was the mastermind behind this? To have such devious cunning and shake off the Imperial Guards’ tracking in such a short time?

This person seemed very familiar with his methods of operation. Chen Xiang was pondering deeply when he heard Yang Yi continue, “Chief Steward Xing has repeatedly instructed that we absolutely cannot fail. Now that the person is lost, how do we explain this to him?”

Chen Xiang’s hand rested on his embroidered spring saber without moving. Only after a long while did he give a cold laugh.

How to explain? He wasn’t Xingfu’s dog—what could Xingfu do to him? If he quit now, Xingfu could only stare and wag his tail. But this matter did indeed concern him personally. He couldn’t just abandon it.

“We’ll talk when we get back.” He nimbly mounted his horse, turned its head, and galloped urgently toward Desheng Gate. The men brought by Yang Xian and Liu Yong had already gathered at the previously occupied civilian residence. Seeing him arrive, they all swarmed forward.

“Did you discover any traces?” He tossed away his riding crop while somewhat irritably dropping into a chair, raising his chin toward the two men respectively.

“Elder Brother, the group I followed went in the direction of Tongzhou.” Liu Yong stepped forward and cupped his hands, carefully recalling the scene at the time. He seemed somewhat uncertain as he added, “Based on my experience exchanging blows with him, his martial arts skills seemed very familiar.”

Chen Xiang became more alert and leisurely said, “Oh? Think carefully about when exactly you’ve crossed hands with him.”

“When escorting Prince Duan out of the city, I exchanged blows with him at Anzhen Gate because he refused to let Prince Duan leave.” Liu Yong couldn’t help but doubt his own judgment somewhat. “But he’s a garrison commander, so why…”

Yuan Hong was also a garrison commander at Zijing Pass! Chen Xiang suddenly stood up and said to Liu Yong, “Pursue! Since they have many people, they’ll inevitably leave traces. Once you find out where exactly they’re lodging, come back and report to me.”

At the same time, he instructed Yang Yi, “As soon as dawn breaks tomorrow, enter the city and see whether any Anzhen Gate garrison commanders have requested leave. If so, first arrest his wife and children for me!”

Chen Xiang paced back and forth in the room, then suddenly seemed to think of something. Looking at the remaining Imperial Guards, he furrowed his brow. “Come with me!”

Previously, in order to lure out the censor Shi Tongzhou, they had kept Shi Tongzhou’s sister and brother-in-law’s entire family under strict surveillance. In the end, they had indeed used them to lure Shi Tongzhou back from the Tartars.

Now that Shi Tongzhou had been rescued by an unknown force, they could only work through his sister and brother-in-law—arrest them all first. This Shi Tongzhou was very slippery. To save his own life, he definitely wouldn’t say much to that group, so that group would certainly also need his sister and brother-in-law to open his mouth.

“He is, after all, a constable of Shuntian Prefecture. If we alarm Shuntian Prefecture…” Yang Xian looked at Chen Xiang and hesitantly tried to persuade him. “Better to avoid trouble where possible. Why don’t we instead…”

Chen Xiang raised his hand to cut off what he wanted to continue saying. Turning back, he glanced at him coldly and said, “Didn’t you hear what I said? Move out. Kill them!”

Since that group had the capability to rescue Shi Tongzhou, they might not turn a blind eye to his sister and brother-in-law. By the time they reacted, it would be another troublesome matter. Better to kill them and be done with it.

Anyway, Shi Tongzhou was destined to die sooner or later.

Yang Xian dared not persuade further. He immediately bowed in acknowledgment, waved to summon a few men, and turned to dash into the darkness of night.

At this moment, however, Shi Tongzhou’s heart was jumping up and down so violently he nearly died of fright on the spot. The moment his gaze met the eyes of the people around him, front and back, left and right, he couldn’t help but wail loudly.

“Young Taoist masters, though I haven’t done much good in my life, I am genuinely a devotee of the Celestial Master! Every New Year and festival I go to the temple to hold ceremonies and make donations. I don’t know where I’ve offended you young Taoist masters…”

But no matter how much he shouted himself hoarse, these young-looking Taoist priests never gave him a proper glance and continued on their way, unmoved.

How truly strange! These days, Taoists didn’t stay in their temples cultivating immortality but ran around in the mortal world meddling in mundane affairs? His eyes rolled around as he rapidly pondered where these Taoist priests of unknown origin had come from, but he couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

However, the undeniable fact was that they had at least saved him. He knew how ruthless and vicious his godfather was. If he had entered the city, he was guaranteed not to see the sun of the next day.

But when had the capital’s intelligence network become so well-informed? How could three separate groups of people come to abduct him one after another when he was merely staying overnight?

Among them, there was one group he absolutely wouldn’t mistake—wasn’t it Wang Datong, Yuan Hong’s close associate? They definitely wanted to capture him and hand him over to the Court of Judicial Review to clear Yuan Hong of suspicion.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but blame himself somewhat. He had been too greedy. How had he been so muddled as to be bewitched by a few words from those Tartars and drawn them a defense map of Tongzhou?

Now not only had he offended Xingfu and caused Xingfu tremendous trouble, but he had also brought monstrous calamity upon himself. Unlucky! He cursed inwardly, yet also began to worry about his sister and brother-in-law. Speaking of which, if it weren’t for the fact that his sister and brother-in-law had been implicated, he wouldn’t have been foolish enough to run back from the Tartars to his death.

He didn’t know how they were doing now. Since his godfather and the others could find him, they could certainly target his sister and brother-in-law as well. His sister’s health wasn’t good, and she had just given birth to his little nephew at the beginning of the year.

He imagined the terrible scene of the Imperial Guards slaughtering them all and couldn’t help but shudder several times.

He couldn’t speak, couldn’t speak!

If he really said anything, his sister would be finished! That was the sister he had practically raised with his own hands!

“Censor Shi, it’s been a long time.” Just as he was lost in chaotic thoughts without pause, he heard a familiar voice drill into the carriage. Immediately after, the carriage stopped. The curtain lifted, and Ye Jingchuan’s magnified face suddenly appeared before him.

Ye Jingchuan! The Ye family had actually sent out two groups of people to intercept him!

Shi Tongzhou shifted imperceptibly into the corner and greeted Ye Jingchuan with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Young Master, it’s been a long time for you too. How have you been lately? Why did you suddenly think of me? It’s fine to meet, but to make such a big fuss—isn’t it rather inappropriate?”

“I think there’s nothing inappropriate about it at all.” Ye Jingchuan looked at him with arms crossed, his face bearing the unique fervor and generosity of youth, his bright eyes fixed on him unwaveringly. “After all, we spent so many years together at Zijing Pass before. Wanting to reminisce with you is only natural, isn’t it?”