Minglong

Chapter 236 Life is Like a Game of Chess (End of Volume)

The cold winter wind rustled and fluttered the large Qianlong banner atop the city wall.

Two fine horses galloped out of the city gate. Xie Jinhuan rode on their backs, a black-cloth-wrapped Minglong Spear hanging from its weapon hook. Before departing, he glanced back at the bustling city behind him.

Coal Ball has been following Xie Jinhuan around killing and robbing for the past few years. Last night, it returned and visited the homes of several "feeding girls," only to find them all gone. It had no attachment to this place anymore, and with a flick of its wing, it smacked Xie Jinhuan on the head:
"Gooji!"

Bu Yuehua sat sideways on the saddle, a thin veil covering her head, her eyes scanning her surroundings.
"Junior Sister Mu, are you really not coming along?"

Xie Jinhuan was certain that his dream wife wouldn't come along, since his legs were still a bit weak, and Bing Tuozi was completely exhausted and didn't want to move. In the end, he had to carry her to wash off the frost and grime that had covered her. It would definitely take her a day to recover.

"She has some official business and won't be here for a few days. Let's go catch up with the envoy's entourage first."

When Bu Yuehua saw that Xie Jinhuan had not returned all night, she guessed that the two were enjoying a period of separation.

But she obviously couldn't have guessed that the aloof and sassy Taoist nun was so badly beaten that she couldn't even get up to see him off. She was quite puzzled when she saw that Nangong Ye didn't come out to see her off, but she didn't ask any further questions.

Ye Hongshang hadn't disturbed Bing Tuozi being disciplined last night, but now she appeared, dressed in a fiery red dress, sitting behind the saddle, her arms wrapped around Xie Jinhuan's waist:

“In the north, heavy snow has blocked the mountains in winter. If you go there, you may not be able to return until spring. Why don’t you compose a poem or two to express your feelings?”

Xie Jinhuan could sense that this journey would likely last a long time, but with Lao Deng and Hongyan all there, and the chance to see the red-haired older sister who had saved him years ago, his heart was filled with:

"The brave warrior departs..."

However, the current emperor is very kind to him. Knowing that he needs a higher level of cultivation to guide him after reaching the first rank, he directly asked Lu Wuzhen to make a copy of the Martial Arts Divine Scripture and make it into a jade tablet for him to carry, so as not to delay his cultivation process.

The Martial Arts Divine Scripture is a 'super-grade teaching material'. If the imperial court keeps it, it can attract countless martial artists to borrow it. If it falls into the hands of other countries, they can naturally use it to attract martial artists to work for them.

Xie Jinhuan was afraid of losing it, so he had his ghost wife secretly make a copy. He politely declined the offer, but he would remember the favor and would definitely come back in the future.

As Xie Jinhuan pondered this, he glanced once more at Luo Jing, whom he had grown up with, and then gently spurred his horse.

"drive--"

Hoof clatter—

Two spirited horses galloped northward, their hooves breaking through the cold wind.

A person, a ghost, and a bird accompanied them, but in an instant they disappeared into the distance...

……

On the other side, the Prince's Mansion on Zheng'an Street.

Numerous servants were going in and out of the gate, carrying furniture inside. The original sign for the Prince Dan's residence had been changed to "Princess's Residence".

Huangfu Qi, who served as a staff member of the Prince's mansion, stood at the entrance dressed in a scholar's robe, looking at the tightly closed gate of the 'Danyang Marquis's Mansion' diagonally opposite, with a relieved expression.

After all, that jinx is finally gone!
Huangfu Qi, a ghost cultivator who had practiced for many years, had no physical abnormalities, but his soul was far beyond that of ordinary people. He had stayed in the Prince's Mansion for twenty years without ever making a mistake, until he encountered that evil star in August.

On the day the Soaring Blood Fiend appeared, he, as a teacher of the Prince's Mansion, was also sent out to search for the source. However, he went to the Riverside Villa halfway there to ask if Taishu Dan was messing around.

As it turned out, Taishu Dan obviously didn't have that ability, so he could only tell Taishu Dan to hide well and not to act rashly.

Unexpectedly, the next day at noon, three of Taishu Dan's henchmen were killed by a stranger named Xie Jinhuan, and a large amount of dragon beard grass and account books were found in their possession.

In an attempt to salvage the situation, Taishu Dan proposed a strategy of "shifting the blame eastward." Relying on his knowledge of various forces in Danyang, he forged account books overnight and sent them to Sanhelou. He also used illusion magic on Li Shizhong, who would first appear during the day, then take a large amount of demon-transforming pills and go mad, killing the accountant who knew the truth.

Taishu Dan then hired the assassin Fu Dongping to deliberately send Xie Jinhuan a clue about a medicine bottle.

As he expected, Xie Jinhuan found Sanhelou that very day, and the witnesses and physical evidence matched perfectly, diverting the attention of the authorities.

Huangfu Qi thought the danger was over, but unexpectedly, the next day, Xie Jinhuan went to examine the body again for no reason and discovered clues about the Mad Corpse Flower.

Huangfu Qi checked the body and found nothing unusual. He couldn't figure out how Xie Jinhuan had figured it out. Seeing that Zhu Wenyuan and the others were suspicious, he could only say that the body was hidden in the slaughterhouse to distract the county government. He then immediately notified Taishu Dan to destroy the body and cover up the evidence to avoid being exposed.

Even though he rushed to inform Taishu Dan, who immediately sent people to deal with the corpse-hiding cave, they were still blocked by Xie Jinhuan. One person died and the other was injured on the spot, exposing the traces of the 'super-grade demon', which led the Danwang Mansion to mistakenly identify Taishu Dan as the source of the blood evil.

Huangfu Qi didn't know where the 'bloodstains' of the super-grade demon came from, so he asked Taishu Dan. Taishu Dan didn't know either. Seeing that the whole city was searching, he could only follow Taishu Dan's suggestion and continue to 'shift the blame'. He got three skeletons that could probably match the description from the He family overnight and buried them at Li Gongpu's farm. Then he leaked the information to the constables.

The next day, Xie Jinhuan indeed found the Li family again, but did not find anything unusual about the remains. Given Li Gongpu's bad reputation, he could not easily escape punishment. This matter was thus covered up, and they were just waiting to close the net on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But Xie Jinhuan is simply a jinx!
That day, he tampered with the Eight Directions Bright Formation, luring Mu Yunling outside, while Xie Jinhuan ran to the Peony Pool. Without any outside help and outnumbered, he managed to board the pirate ship and wipe out the entire family of Taishu Dan, who was known for his cunning!
Huangfu Qi believed that there was nothing wrong with his plan, so he suspected that Taishu Dan and his apprentice had betrayed him. That night, he sneaked over to check and found He Shen, who was covered in wounds, by the river. He unexpectedly discovered the 'Three Poisons' planted twenty years ago.

The three poisons are "pigeon, pig, and snake," borrowing from Buddhist allusions. The purpose is to create some seemingly plausible clues so that the imperial court will later suspect the monk Wuxin, making it easier to solidify the charge of "Buddhist monks digging up the demon-suppressing tomb."

Huangfu Qi did not silence them, but sent them to the Jingzhao Prefecture and ordered the incense master Ye Shirong to torture and interrogate them. However, He Can was very stubborn and refused to admit that it was their fault no matter how much he was beaten. He insisted that Xie Jinhuan was evil.

Huangfu Qi was skeptical, but on the very day Xie Jinhuan went to the capital, half of the mummified corpse case was solved.

Then Zhang Chu was nearly killed while attempting an assassination, Ye Shirong was killed on the spot, He Guozhang was almost exposed while trying to silence witnesses, and Wei Yunya disappeared at Tiejigang. After that, the entire He family was executed, leaving only He Tianqi and his eldest son alive!
This series of losses caught the higher-ups off guard. Huangfu Qi, who was working as a spy in the Danwang Mansion, was trembling with fear, terrified that he too would be exposed for no reason.

A few days later, the order came down from above. The plan was grand; controlling the entire Southern Dynasty was only the first step.

The original plan was for He Tianqi to approach the neglected Emperor Qian, guide his sister to secretly pledge her life to him, and then secretly tamper with the fetus after she became pregnant—because Emperor Qian was just an unfavored prince, unlike the crown prince who was heavily guarded, so this loophole was easy to exploit.

She then bewitched the arrogant and spoiled second prince, secretly supporting him and inducing him to kill his brother. She then assisted Emperor Qian in ascending the throne and sacrificed more than thirty members of the He family to clear Emperor Qian's name and gain his absolute trust.

If things go smoothly, the next step will be a puppet crown prince ascending the throne, the He family relatives seizing power, suppressing Taoism and Buddhism, and summoning the Grand Minister of Works and others to the capital, thus completely taking control of the entire empire.

However, a plan that has been in the works for decades cannot be recklessly pursued without any backup.

As the second in line to the throne, Prince Dan was not eliminated along with the second prince during the Jian'an Incident. This must have been because he was secretly protected by higher authorities, with the aim of having a backup plan should something happen to Emperor Qian's faction.

Although the Crown Prince has not yet been harmed, Emperor Qian is too ruthless, even investigating his beloved wife and children. This aroused suspicion from above, so a backup plan was activated—abandoning the Crown Prince, using him to obtain the secret national manual, and having the Buddhist sect test its authenticity, thereby severely damaging the Buddhist sect, completely ending the He family affair, dispelling the suspicions of the righteous path, and allowing the Pill King to ascend the throne cleanly.

Therefore, the monk Fachen went to the capital and began arresting sorcerers in preparation for exhuming the ancestral tombs.

When Emperor Qian died, Wei Wuyi organized a gathering of heroes, took away the very wicked Xie Jinhuan, and used his disciple to demonstrate his own strength, laying the groundwork for summoning him to the capital after the Taoist and Buddhist sects encountered trouble.

After the Crown Prince saw the Imperial Secret Manual, He Tianqi knew that the monk Wuxin hadn't seen it, but as long as Fachen went there, the Buddhist sect would not escape investigation. Therefore, the plan still went ahead, and he used the Crown Prince's words to lure Mu Yunling away.

In this way, Danzhou became an empty city without a superior-level official in charge. Xie Jinhuan, that wicked brat, also ran away to another place. If he really unearthed the Corpse Ancestor that had been suppressed for a hundred years, he would have plenty of time to escape.

As it turned out, Xie Jinhuan was truly wicked. During the day, he caused trouble at the Sanjiang Estuary, and at night he went to the Demon-Suppressing Mausoleum to thwart Fa Chen's actions. The next day, he went to cause trouble at Wei Wuyi's place, leaving his superiors terrified.

Fortunately, after many setbacks, it was confirmed that all the intelligence was false. The Crown Prince had already been suspected by Lu Wuzhen, so this line of investigation was impossible to follow. The Pill King also successfully ascended the throne.

Meanwhile, both Taoism and Buddhism encountered problems and lost all prestige. The higher-ups made efforts to persuade Wei Wuyi to come to the capital.

At this moment, the initial plan from back then has been completed, which is the best strategy envisioned by He Guozhang:
The emperor should be a controllable person free from any suspicion, and Lu Wuzhen should be replaced by a member of the family as the supervisor, which would facilitate subsequent actions.

The only flaw at present is that Lu Wuzhen and Monk Wuxin are still around; and the Pill King hasn't had his soul swapped, so he's not easy to control.

However, the Dan King's mental skills are far inferior to Emperor Qian's, so guiding him is not difficult; as for the other two sect leaders, they still need to find a way to squeeze out of the capital.

Because Xie Jinhuan was too ruthless, the higher-ups were afraid that something else might go wrong, so they ordered Sikong to find a way to get rid of the kid as soon as possible.

To ensure everything went perfectly, the old man Sikong directly sent three super-grade soldiers to kill a first-grade soldier, but they all died, and Xie Jinhuan returned unharmed.

The higher-ups found this boy too difficult to kill and feared that taking action again would alert the various sects. Therefore, they could only push forward the matter of sending him to the Northern Zhou and get Xie Jinhuan out of there as soon as possible.

Huangfu Qi had been following the Pill King to the capital these past few days, constantly on edge for fear of being exposed. He didn't even dare to see Xie Jinhuan. Now that Xie Jinhuan, that evil star, was gone, he finally dared to stand up straight and breathe a sigh of relief.

Just as he was pondering this, a carriage stopped outside the Prince's mansion. The window opened, revealing the face of a middle-aged civil official, dressed in the official robes of a Yellow Gate Attendant, with a refined and approachable demeanor.

Seeing this, Huangfu Qi regained his composure and quickly stepped forward to bow respectfully.
"Sir, what brings you here?"

Huangmenlang Xu Tong glanced at the distant Danyang Marquis's residence, then turned his gaze to the Prince's residence:

"Wei Wuyi is hosting a banquet at the Zijing Pavilion and has invited me to come and sit down. Is Zhao De still at his residence?"

"Sigh, he's still confined to the study. The Emperor won't let him leave. Going to the Forbidden City would be..."

"It's alright if you come with me."

……

A moment later, Zhao De, dressed in a scholar's robe and carrying a fan, rushed out of the mansion, looking like Liu Shan (A Dou) meeting his prime minister, shouting as he went:
"Oh my goodness, Grandpa, this is simply... I really wish I could tie myself up hand and foot and put a jade ring in my mouth..."

"Huh?" Huangfuqi was stunned.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Mr. Huang!"

Zhao De clapped his hands with his folding fan and jumped hurriedly onto the carriage:
"Come on, come on, how many...how many friends did we invite today?"

Xu Tong closed the car window and said with a smile:

“You’ve known Wei Lu for a long time. Take his grandfather over for a drink. It’s just vegetarian wine. Don’t overthink it.”

"Even plain wine is better than being confined at home. In the capital now, only my great-uncle dares to take me to Chang Le Street for entertainment. You should put in a good word for me with the Emperor. I really let my guard down last time..."

"Your father is doing this for your own good. You can relax and enjoy yourself in the future, but as the Crown Prince of the Great Qian Dynasty, you still need to focus on your studies and think more about how to shoulder the responsibilities of the thirty-two states of the Great Qian Dynasty."

"Understood. The way to govern a country is to first enrich the people. If we rich kids don't squander money, how can the people become rich overnight? I'm not just playing around; I'm redistributing wealth in a more comfortable way..."

"It makes sense..."

……
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(End of this volume)

(End of this chapter)