Yuantian Pidao

Chapter 155 The mastermind behind the scenes
Spring passed and summer arrived, and the weather in Qinghe County became increasingly hot. At this time, a month had passed since the death of Lu Ran, the governor of Changfeng County.

During this month, Changfeng County was in chaos. Strangely, neither the imperial court nor the Qingmu family intervened to suppress the chaos, but instead chose to let it run rampant. Under these circumstances, many cultivators fled from Changfeng County to Qingyuan County to escape the war, making the environment in Qingyuan County increasingly complicated.

Inside the prefectural governor's residence, Qi Xiuning put down the letter in his hand and looked towards Changfeng County, a hint of worry and anger appearing on his face.

"What do they want to do?"

Looking in the direction of the capital of the Southern Jing Kingdom, Qi Xiuning was filled with resentment.

Although he disliked the local immortal clans, he could not deny that they had maintained local stability to a certain extent. Now, the Yellow Wind Sect was rampaging in Changfeng County, uprooting many families. Changfeng County had completely lost its order, and burning, killing, and looting were commonplace.

Moreover, Changfeng County is, after all, part of the Southern Jing Kingdom, and its current state is truly detrimental to the dignity of the imperial court.

It was precisely because of this that, after learning of Lu Ran's death, he wrote a memorial overnight, hoping that the court could send people to quell the chaos in Changfeng County as soon as possible. However, after waiting for so long, the court's response was vague. It neither quelled nor denied the chaos, but in general, it meant that this matter was of utmost importance and should be dealt with slowly.

"Yes, His Majesty has been in seclusion and has not attended to state affairs for a long time."

"The eldest prince and the third prince each have their own backers, control the government, and fight each other. Now they can't care about the affairs of the four southern prefectures."

Having grasped the essence of the matter, Qi Xiuning withdrew his gaze and sat down listlessly in his chair.

As the rulers of the Southern Kingdom, the royal family possesses more than one Dao Foundation cultivator, the most powerful of whom is the current emperor. However, he has been at the Dao Foundation stage for many years and is nearing the end of his lifespan. In recent years, he has been seeking a breakthrough in hopes of extending his lifespan.

It was precisely because he showed no signs of leaving seclusion that, as time passed, many undercurrents arose within the Southern Kingdom. Not only did the central government form factions and fight among themselves, but the various immortal clans in the regions also silently eroded the foundation of the dynasty, and all the chaos began from there.

One of the main reasons he chose to serve as the governor of Qingyuan County was to avoid such factional strife, but he never expected that he would not be able to escape it in the end.

Just then, Yu Jinshui, the leader of the secret guards, walked in.

Sensing Yu Jinshui's approach, Qi Xiuning suppressed his weakness and resumed his original posture.

"My lord, this is news from within the Gao family. It seems that the head of the Gao family, Gao Siyuan, has fallen..."

With his eyes lowered, Yu Jinshui handed a piece of intelligence to Qi Xiuning. He was aware of the Gao family's previous retreat, but he didn't care too much. After all, the situation was chaotic, and with the Corpse Daoist as an enemy, the Gao family's reaction was understandable.

If it weren't for the spies within the Gao family noticing something amiss and spreading the news, he would still be completely unaware of this. It must be said that the chaos in Changfeng County has, to some extent, diverted outsiders' attention from the Gao family.

Upon hearing this, Qi Xiuning showed a hint of surprise and immediately took the intelligence report to read it carefully.

"They mysteriously disappeared without a trace, never to return. Even Gao Mingjun and Gao Mingyue, who went to search for them, have also vanished. This is truly bizarre."

After reading the intelligence and gaining a better understanding of the situation, Qi Xiuning frowned. If the intelligence's conjecture was true, Gao Siyuan, Gao Mingjun, and Gao Mingyue were all dead. Coupled with the two Qi Refining cultivators who had previously perished at the hands of the Corpse Daoist, the Gao family's strength had been reduced by more than half without them even realizing it.

This is not a good thing for him. After all, the Gao family is a knife that he has specially honed. Now that the knife has finally begun to show its edge, it has been broken before it could play any role. It is really infuriating.

"Judging from the current situation, Gao Siyuan is most likely dead, but who killed him? The Lu family? The Wen family? Or a demon?"

Gazing into the distance, seeing dark clouds overhead, Qi Xiuning fell into deep thought. It seemed that there was a dark hand lurking in the shadows in Qingyuan County, silently manipulating the situation. He hadn't noticed it before, but recently, strange things had been happening one after another, making him increasingly worried.

It should be noted that Gao Siyuan was a Qi Refining Master with considerable skill, so killing him would not be an easy task, and killing him silently would be even more difficult. There were very few forces in Qingyuan County that could do this on the surface.

The strangest thing is that these forces have not made any unusual moves recently. The Lu family is still silent, the head of the Wen family has not returned, the chaos inside Five Immortals Mountain has not yet subsided, and the major demon clans are probably powerless to interfere with the outside world. Moreover, these major demon clans do not seem to have any reason to deal with Gao Siyuan.

“Old Yu, you should go to Cuizhu Mountain yourself and find out the truth of this matter. I always feel that there are still things I don’t know about hidden in Qingyuan County. You can also see the Gao family’s attitude.”

"If they are truly intelligent, then we will give them another chance. If they are just being presumptuous, then perhaps I should sharpen my knife again."

After a moment's thought, Qi Xiuning issued the order.

He had put a lot of effort into supporting the Gao family. Although the Gao family's strength had been broken, it still had a foundation and the possibility of rebuilding. It would be a pity to give up on it now.

Upon hearing this, Yu Jinshui immediately bowed and agreed.

"I initially took a liking to Gao Siyuan because of his ruthlessness, thinking he was a capable man. However, I never imagined he would fall short of his potential and eventually meet his end halfway through his journey."

After Yu Jinshui left, Qi Xiuning couldn't help but shake his head as he recalled Gao Siyuan, who had taken the initiative to find him and wanted to serve him.

Back then, Gao Siyuan was still young and ambitious, with the idea of ​​replacing the Lu family. He was attracted by Gao Siyuan's ambition and ruthlessness, so he chose to support the Gao family, hoping to use the Gao family as a weapon to break the original situation in Qingyuan County.

As it turned out, Gao Siyuan did not disappoint his mentor. In a short period of time, he led the Gao family to make several progress and had a certain impact on the Wen and Lu families. Unfortunately, that was the end of it.

"Now that the Gao family has suffered a great loss of strength and the Lu family has retreated completely, perhaps I should go and see that person from the Wen family. I suppose he should be returning from his travels by now, since the current situation is not good and the Wen family needs him to keep things in order."

"The Wen family came from the capital and seems to have some connection with the Third Prince. Through them, I might be able to see more."

With one unexpected event after another, Qi Xiuning felt a sense of unease.

(End of this chapter)