Imperial henchmen? My divine skills are all hacked versions.

The Gu Master stood there, mouth agape, clearly remembering what he had encountered in the secret passage, but he couldn't recall what "what" looked like or what it said; all that remained was a deep-seated fear.

The shop owner next to him had the same reaction; he moved his mouth a few times, but in the end, he just shook his head blankly.

Mo Feichang glanced at the Gu Master and then at the shop owner, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and frowned slightly.

This wasn't the first time he'd seen this method; what was being erased wasn't memory, but "perception."

There are no more than three people in the entire city of Kyoto who can do this, and there is at least no fourth one on the surface.

However, since the other party intercepted the Gu Master and left him with them, it means they meant well, so his identity isn't that important.

He didn't press further, but simply put down his teacup. "Since you can't explain it, let's talk about something else."

The Gu Master twitched the corner of his mouth, leaned back in the iron chair, and looked tough.

Mo Feichang wasn't in a hurry. He placed a blank confession on the table, ground some ink, picked up a pen, wrote a date on the confession, and then spoke without looking up.

"I guarantee in the name of the Director of the Investigation Department that as long as you answer honestly, the Investigation Department will reattach your limbs and release you... After all, you were just following orders, why would I make things difficult for you, right?"

He put down his pen. "But if you don't speak up, I'll let you experience the methods of the inner palace."

The Gu Master sneered, "Torture me however you please. I'd like to see how much more painful your Jing Kingdom's Inspectorate's punishments are compared to the Gu worms of the Southern Region."

Xu Xian, who was standing behind Mo Feichang, suddenly laughed when he heard this.

He leaned forward slightly. "My lord, I do have a plan. Since this Gu Master isn't afraid of pain, then we won't have to suffer..."

"Simply sew this person's mouth and the shopkeeper's anus together, give the shopkeeper only one meal a day, and as for this Gu master, he'll live off the shopkeeper's... resources!"

The interrogation room was silent for three breaths.

The Gu Master's cold smile froze on his face. He subconsciously glanced at the shop owner beside him and couldn't help but shiver.

The shop owner was ashen-faced and stammered out a few words.

"You, you! You're not human!"

After he finished cursing, he suddenly felt a little relieved. "Thank goodness, they didn't sew my mouth onto the young master's butt."

Mo was stunned for a moment, put down his teacup, glanced at Xu Xian with disdain, then stood up, straightened his robes, said to Xu Xian, "You decide what to do," and walked out without looking back.

The Gu Master watched Mo Feichang's figure recede into the distance, then glanced at Xu Xian's smiling face, and swallowed hard.

"I'll confess everything! I only ask that Lord Mo keep his promise! Heal our wounds and let us go!"

Mo turned around and sat back down.

"I'm very busy, so you'd better be telling the truth."

  

The Gu Master gritted his teeth and began to confess.

"I...I obey the Fourth Prince. Eunuch Gao often liaises with us regarding the children in the shelter and taxes."

Xu Xian frowned deeply upon hearing the first sentence.

The fourth prince is one of them, but according to his thinking, it should be someone else.

Xu Xian raised an eyebrow. "Isn't Eunuch Gao one of the Crown Prince's men?"

The Gu Master shook his head. "I don't know about that, but every time the Fourth Prince comes to the shelter, Eunuch Gao accompanies him. However, the Fourth Prince rarely comes in person, only two or three times a year, and he comes to inspect the progress of the newly refined Gu soldiers."

Xu Xian glanced at Mo Feichang.

Mo Feichang's expression also changed slightly. The fact that Eunuch Gao was under the command of the Fourth Prince meant that this line of events was more complicated than they had previously anticipated.

He pressed the Gu Master for details about how long he had been refining the silver Gu, how many children he had captured, and whether there were any more in other places.

"It took about two years in total. I handled about a hundred children, most of whom were sent from shelters. I caught fewer than thirty myself, and some of them were lost or abandoned."

"There are also strongholds in other prefectures. There is one in Quzhou and it seems there is one in Pingzhou, but he doesn't know the exact location. I am only in charge of the one in the capital. The other strongholds are connected by a single line. The upstream is the Fourth Prince, and the downstream is a few Gu Masters under my command."

After a few moments of silence, Xu Xian asked again.

"How much silver was used to refine the Gu?"

"About 200,000 taels, but most of it was spent on shelters and transportation. We also used some... The silver actually used to smelt the Gu worms was probably only about 30,000 taels."

Xu Xian sneered, "Three million taels of tax silver are gone, and you're saying you only received two hundred thousand taels?"

"Someone, sew him up!"

Mo glanced speechlessly at Xu Xian, who was giving orders, but did not object.

The Gu Master's expression changed drastically, and he struggled desperately to sit up in the iron chair.

"I'm telling the truth! I swear to God! I only received 200,000 taels! I didn't take a single tael more! I really don't know where the rest went!"

Mo Feichang reached out to stop Xu Xian, who was about to speak again, saying, "It's normal that three million taels of silver can't be used in one place."

Xu Xian nodded, "This subordinate understands, but we're just trying to see if this kid has anything else he hasn't confessed."

Mo's eyelids twitched, but he didn't say anything more.

The Gu Master let out a sigh of relief and slumped into the iron chair, his heart pounding.

Xu Xian urged him to continue, and after catching his breath, the Gu Master mentioned another matter—the Fourth Prince had also arranged something, which was to help Helan Heng escape from the Investigation Department last year!

At that time, the Gu master had concocted a sleeping potion to incapacitate the guards, and the Fourth Prince's men took the opportunity to get Helan out of prison.

Moreover, as far as he knew, the Fourth Prince seemed to have done Helan another favor, which was why Helan listened to him so readily.

As for the specifics of the favor, even the Gu Master didn't know, and Helan never mentioned it.

The Gu Master swallowed hard. "That's all I know, really!"

Xu then verified these confessions with the clues he had previously uncovered.

The mission case prevented the mission from entering the palace to form an alliance; the tax silver case involved tax evasion and misappropriation; the connection severed with Eunuch Gao was also reconnected; the child case involved using people to practice Gu poison... Every single one points to the same person.

He looked at the densely packed records on the confession and sneered, "It seems our fourth prince is planning a rebellion, taking money and training troops."

Mo frowned slightly, sharing the same thought.

Xu put down the confession and tapped it lightly twice on the table with his fingers.

"There are still a few doubts. First, where did the rest of the silver go? Of the three million taels, two hundred thousand taels were spent. Even if the rest were distributed to other prefectures, it wouldn't be that much."

"Secondly, where are the missing children from Quzhou and Pingzhou? Thirdly, and most importantly, why did the Fourth Prince initiate the mission? He is the prince of Jingguo; what harm would an alliance between Jing and Di do to him?"

"You've thought of everything."

Mo stood up and walked out, saying, "Make them write down their confessions, collect all the evidence, and I will go to the palace tomorrow."

He took two steps and then stopped without looking back. "The bodies of those children will be posted tomorrow. Anyone who has lost a child can come and claim them."

Xu Xian was silent for a moment, then stood up and responded.

"Yes."

...

The sorcerer and the shopkeeper finished writing and signing their confessions, and it was already dark.

Yang Xu took Mo Feichang's warrant and led a team of Black Cavalry Guards to search Gao Gonggong's outer residence overnight.

After Eunuch Gao died, the mansion had been sealed off by the Imperial Household Department once, and all the valuables were confiscated, but this time Yang Xu was not searching for gold and silver.

He found a hidden compartment behind the display shelf in the study. The compartment was very well hidden, tucked away in the gap between the display shelf and the wall. It would be impossible to find without moving the shelf.

Inside the hidden compartment was a locked iron box. Prying it open revealed a stack of letters, each signed with a single seal: Thai!

Yang Xu flipped through the letter, his expression growing increasingly grim with each reading. After finishing, he tucked the letter into his pocket.

"Tsk...this old eunuch didn't even die a clean death!"

...

The next morning, Mo Feichang rode in a sedan chair to the palace.

Emperor Jingyuan was painting in his study. A three-foot-long sheet of white paper was laid out on the table. He was painting a landscape. The distant mountains and nearby waters had already been outlined. He was now using a fine brush to dot the pine needles among the mountains.

His painting skills are extremely profound. Each pine needle is distinct, and the ink is of varying shades, clearly showing his years of immersion in the art.

Hearing Mo Feichang enter, he placed his pen on the pen holder and said, "Announce."

Mo Feichang entered the hall to pay his respects, gave a brief report on the dyeing workshop, and presented the Gu Master's confession and the letter that Yang Xu had found in Gao Gonggong's outer residence.

Emperor Jingyuan picked up the confession and read it from beginning to end, then picked up the stack of letters and looked through them one by one.

He frowned slightly when he turned to the last letter. The letter clearly stated the details of the financial disbursement to the shelter, and the signature was a private seal with the character "Tai," which was indeed Shen Tai's.

The emperor narrowed his eyes slightly and placed the confession and letter together on the table.

"Pass on the news to the fourth prince!"