An Autumn of Many Troubles

"Miss Liu, do you still remember that band of marauders from Spirit Peak Mountain?" Su Qingyang suddenly asked.

"Of course I remember." Liu Qingni nodded.

After returning to the Secret Bureau that day, she had specifically investigated the matter.

But the reports sent back said that the White Lotus Cult rebellion had already been quelled.

As for that band of marauders, they had likely encountered incompetent generals and suffered several defeats.

Fearing punishment under military law, they had simply discarded their armor and taken to the hills as bandits.

Su Qingyang nodded lightly and roughly recounted the inside story he had tortured out of Su Huai, the ominous Red Hair curse entwined around him, and the reason for Su Huai's death.

Then he said gravely:

"That is roughly how the whole matter fits together. Setting aside the massacred cities, I believe the White Lotus Cult alone has a serious problem. In my judgment, throughout Barbarian Prefecture..."

"I'm afraid disasters have already sprung up everywhere!"

Liu Qingni's pupils contracted.

"But, Young Master, if Barbarian Prefecture had truly reached the point where disasters were everywhere, why has no one asked the imperial court for aid?"

"Surely it cannot be that everyone in such a vast Barbarian Prefecture is dead!"

"Besides, some people from Six Doors have recently returned from Barbarian Prefecture, and I never heard them mention any disaster there!"

Liu Qingni found it hard to believe. A city massacre alone had not occurred within Great Jin for a century; the news struck her deeply.

"Yes." Su Qingyang looked at Liu Qingni and said slowly, "That is why I need to verify it."

"How will you verify it?" Liu Qingni hurriedly asked.

"Can Miss Liu find out which Six Doors constables escorted Su Huai all the way to the capital?" Su Qingyang asked.

"I can!"

Liu Qingni nodded without hesitation.

Escorting a prince to the capital was a classified assignment. The bureau had complete records on file, so it would be easy to investigate.

Su Qingyang waved his hand. "Then I'll trouble you to retrieve the case files and identify them."

"If Su Huai himself carried such a potent curse, those Six Doors men likely did not escape it either. When the time comes, I will understand with a single glance."

Liu Qingni immediately turned to leave, but Su Qingyang raised a hand and stopped her.

"Don't rush off yet. I have more to say."

"What else is it, Young Master?"

Liu Qingni looked back at Su Qingyang. His speculation had truly frightened her just now, leaving her unable to settle her mind.

Su Qingyang flipped his palm, and a silver star appeared in it. He casually tossed it to Liu Qingni and said:

"Just now, I ran into two people nearby fighting over this. I heard it was called the God-Shocking Token. See if you recognize it."

Liu Qingni caught the token and examined it carefully beneath the moonlight for a while.

Very quickly, she sharply sucked in a breath, her delicate brows knitting together. "It truly is the God-Shocking Token. How could something like this appear in the Imperial Capital?"

Su Qingyang glanced at her, his brows rising.

Liu Qingni could actually identify the token's origin. Her family background was indeed far from ordinary.

It was even several levels higher than the Fengtian Ning Clan he had encountered earlier.

"It did appear in the Imperial Capital. From your tone, this God-Shocking Token must be no simple thing either!" Su Qingyang said with a smile.

Liu Qingni turned the token over and over in her hands for quite some time, her tone grave.

"An autumn of many troubles... and now the God-Shocking Token has appeared again. I fear another storm of blood and slaughter will rise in Great Jin's martial world."

Then, without waiting for Su Qingyang to ask, she explained on her own initiative:

"Since you know of the God-Shocking Token, Young Master, you should know that it is a credential for entering a secret realm.

Many Martial Dao Grandmasters in the court were tempted by it in earlier years, but that secret realm seemed to possess some kind of restriction—

Those at the Three-Flower Perfected Innate Realm, and even ordinary One-Flower Innate Realm cultivators, could enter. Only those at the Grandmaster Realm were blocked by an invisible force and could not approach."

"Later, some Grandmasters deduced that the God-Shocking Token might be a trap.

Yet people had indeed successfully broken through to the Grandmaster Realm within the secret realm. Greed blinded men's hearts; even knowing it was an open scheme, Innate Realm cultivators still continued to risk their lives one after another."

A thoughtful look appeared on Su Qingyang's face as he reached out and took the token back from Liu Qingni's hand.

Liu Qingni was startled. "Young Master, don't tell me you still have designs on this secret realm!"

"Perhaps. I am quite curious—if it can block Martial Dao Grandmasters, can it block Blood Refining Grandmasters as well?"

Su Qingyang smiled softly.

Liu Qingni blinked her lovely eyes, as though dark clouds had veiled the moon in her heart.

Su Qingyang swept his gaze over Yan Shengheng's corpse in the courtyard and said:

"I wonder whether this fellow's corpse is of any use to Miss Liu. Do you need me to dispose of him for you?"

Hearing this, Liu Qingni gradually calmed herself. Looking at Su Qingyang, she nodded with a trace of concern.

The Secret Bureau had its own promotion system. Capturing important wanted criminals and earning merits was indeed one of its crucial paths.

Seeing that Yan Shengheng's corpse was useful, Su Qingyang said with slight frustration:

"There was also someone called the Blackheart Old Man. Unfortunately, I beat him into a bloody mist. Had I known he would be useful to Miss Liu, I would have held back a little."

"The Blackheart Old Man?"

Liu Qingni was startled. Then she thought of the God-Shocking Token and nodded in understanding.

The God-Shocking Token must have been seized by Su Qingyang from that man.

When she encountered Innate Experts like these in ordinary times, she would only have the right to flee three paces away. Yet now, she had never expected them to be crushed as easily as ants.

Her feelings were complicated. After all, she had not even advanced to the Innate Realm yet.

Those so-called Innate Realm powerhouses dominated their own territories, yet in a Grandmaster's hands, they were as fragile as infants.

"Oh, right, Miss Liu. Let me introduce someone to you," Su Qingyang said.

In the next instant, his figure vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he descended from the air with someone in hand, pushing the nervous Ning Qingqing before Liu Qingni.

"Ning Qingqing, of the Fengtian Ning Clan."

?

Liu Qingni looked at the head-lowered Ning Qingqing, then at Su Qingyang. She tilted her head, then went blank!

What did this mean?

When had Young Master gotten involved with someone from the Fengtian aristocratic family?

"You can discuss the details yourselves!" Su Qingyang waved his hand and turned to leave.

Then he seemed to remember something. Flipping his palm, he took out a jade token resembling blood jade and tossed it to Liu Qingni.

"If you encounter any threat, crush this jade token. It contains the power of one of my strikes."

With that, he vanished from where he stood.

Only Liu Qingni and Ning Qingqing remained, staring wide-eyed at one another.