Tao Xian naturally knew nothing about what had happened on Zhao Chong's end.
The Minister of Rites pondered for a long time. Finally, he sighed and used a Jade Tablet Mystic Artifact to contact someone.
A moment later, words appeared on the artifact. They were not the coded message they had agreed on, but plain text.
[What is it? Speak.]
Tao Xian frowned at the discourteous words, but still answered in code.
In the blink of an eye, more words appeared on the Jade Tablet.
[Who cares about all your twists and turns? Say what you have to say, or I'm going back to sleep!]
Tao Xian's face twitched twice. He obediently wrote in plain text.
[Iron Prince, things have taken a troubling turn.]
[How so?]
[An hour ago, Pan Long, the Wind-Observing Envoy of You Province, attacked a Shadow Guard Training Camp. He abducted more than a hundred Shadow Guards, along with their instructor, Zhao Xianda. Zhao Xianda is one of the people secretly controlling the complainants. If Pan Long frightens him into changing his story, these lawsuits will become false accusations...]
In a military camp a short distance from the four cities of the Capital Region, a handsome young man frowned inside the command tent and wrote on a Jade Tablet:
[Do you think Zhao Xianda will change his story?]
[It's hard to say. I don't actually know him very well.]
[In other words, he might?]
[Yes, and the possibility isn't small.]
[He's a Shadow Guard instructor, yet he fears death?]
Tao Xian did not know how to answer.
A Shadow Guard instructor ought to be brave and fearless in the face of death. But even if Zhao Xianda was unafraid of dying, he would only sacrifice himself to serve the emperor. They were conducting shady dealings in