The true culprit

The opponent's powerful tactics made the black-robed spy realize the disparity in strength between the two sides. As a seasoned intelligence officer, he would not lose his composure or rationality in the face of crisis.

On the contrary, years of training have made him increasingly calm in times of crisis.

"Lord Xu, you don't need to do this. I understand that you want to investigate the case of the massacre of three thousand miles, but you are afraid of offending His Highness Prince Huai. But I advise you not to act impulsively. There are a few things you need to think about."

"First, the fact that the princess was not abducted by the barbarians cannot be kept secret. Hehe, I cannot tell you the reasons. But believe me, if the princess had fallen into the hands of the barbarians, His Highness Prince Huai would eventually find out."

"But the result is that you rescued the princess. As long as the investigation shows that your departure from the mission coincided with the time of the princess's abduction, that's enough. His Highness Prince Huai doesn't need evidence to deal with whomever he wants; he only needs to consider you an enemy."

"The Prince of Zhenbei is even more domineering than I imagined," Xu Qi'an said expressionlessly, continuing to listen.

"Secondly, you saved the Princess, which is a great achievement. His Highness Prince Huai has commanded troops for many years and values the principle of 'clear rewards and punishments' most. If you can get on the Prince Huai's good side, Xu Yinluo, your future will be limitless. Wei Yuan can only promote your official rank, but Prince Huai is a prince; he can promote your noble title."

"Third, a case is just a case. Mishandling one won't affect your reputation for solving numerous extraordinary cases. Your future is the most important thing, isn't it? Why let a case that has nothing to do with you affect your own future?"

The princess silently took another step back. She didn't look at the black-robed spy; her attention was entirely on Xu Qi'an.

Although he was a lecher, his conduct was still quite upright, and he was definitely not the kind of scoundrel who would betray others for his own future. The princess had some confidence in this, but she was still somewhat uneasy and nervous.

After all, Xu Qi'an is now facing the pressure of offending a prince, as well as the prospect of being promoted and ennobled.

Bureaucracy exists in every world. Xu Qi'an nodded slowly.

"That makes sense, I'm almost convinced. You're right, the Princess Consort is the Prince of Zhenbei's legal wife, I have no reason to offend a prince because of this."

The black-robed spy smiled through his masked face. He was gambling; gambling that Xu Qi'an wouldn't dare offend the Prince of Huai; gambling that Xu Qi'an cared more about his future.

On one side is purgatory, on the other is paradise; even a fool would know which to choose.

Of course, whether these words can be fulfilled, and whether the Prince of Huai is willing to give the Xu family a bright future, is none of anyone's concern.

Once they survive this ordeal and return to the military camp, Xu Qi'an will be nothing more than fish on a chopping block. As for the Qi-Watching Technique, the black-robed scout wasn't worried; he had been speaking the truth just now.

The Prince of Huai was indeed fair in rewarding and punishing.

Seeing the black-robed spy visibly relieved, Xu Qi'an said in a heavy tone, "Answer me one question, and I'll let you go. What exactly happened with the massacre that lasted three thousand miles?"

The black-robed spy's heart sank, and he said sternly, "Xu Qi'an, if you insist on investigating further, only destruction awaits you. The Prince of Huai can crush you like an ant."

"Not only you, but your family and friends will all be implicated. If you don't want them to be buried with you, you'd better release me obediently."

Seeing Xu Qi'an remain silent, the black-robed spy sneered, "Killing me would only be killing me to silence me, what would be the point? Do you think you can summon my soul?"

"Be sensible and think it over carefully. What I just said still stands."

As an intelligence agent, he understood people's hearts and knew how to use rhetoric. He combined coercion and enticement, using his future prospects as bait and his relatives and friends as hostages.

"You're right." Xu Qi'an grinned.

The black-robed scout tensed, a sense of foreboding rising within him. He tentatively asked, "W-what?"

Xu Qi'an stared into his eyes and repeated, "You're right, I really can summon spirits."

After he finished speaking, he saw the black-robed spy's pupils suddenly shrink, and then he struggled violently, threatening with a fierce but weak voice. "Xu Qi'an, I am His Highness Prince Huai's secret agent. If you dare to kill me, you will be making an enemy of Prince Huai, and you will not have a good end."

"Are you stupid? No, even a fool is smarter than you. You refuse to take the easy path and insist on going your own way."

With a snap, the angry shout abruptly stopped.

"It's so noisy."

Xu Qi'an casually tossed the body to the ground. The spy stared wide-eyed at the sky, seemingly dying with his eyes wide open.

"Well done!" the princess thought to herself, secretly applauding.

She gradually calmed down, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at Xu Qi'an again, her admiration undisguised.

Unbeknownst to her, Xu Qi'an's image in her mind became more and more vivid and three-dimensional, and her trust in Xu Qi'an also grew. These changes happened quietly and were difficult for her to notice immediately.

The princess was about to say, "Let's make our escape!"

Then Xu Qi'an took out a book, tore off a page, and ignited it with his qi. In an instant, a cold wind arose out of nowhere, and a mournful cry seemed to be heard. The warm sun in the sky lost its warmth.

Then, the princess saw several unreal figures turn into wisps of green smoke and hover in mid-air about ten feet in front of Xu Qi'an.

"Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!" The princess's eyes widened little by little, her mouth opened slowly, she was terrified.

She had never seen a ghost in her life; she usually just imagined them and scared herself. Now that she had seen a real ghost, she was a little dazed, her mind went blank, and she even forgot to run away.

Xu Qi'an didn't notice that the princess was gripped by fear, and even if he had, there was no time to comfort the most beautiful woman in the Great Feng.

There were more important things waiting for him to do.

Besides the three barbarians who died at Xu Qi'an's hands, and the black-robed spy, he also summoned the souls of the soldiers who died violently.

The new souls were behaving foolishly, their eyes glazed over.

Xu Qi'an looked at the man in black robes, paused for a few seconds, and slowly asked, "What's the story behind the Bloodbath of Three Thousand Miles?"

The spy replied stiffly and in a hollow voice, "His Highness Prince Huai needs a large amount of life essence to increase his martial arts Qi and Blood as he attempts to break through to the Great Perfection of the Third Rank."

These words struck Xu Qi'an and the princess like a thunderbolt.

The massacre that ravaged three thousand miles was carried out by the Prince of Zhenbei. At this moment, Xu Qi'an's mind was buzzing, as if he had been struck on the head with a club.

I had actually anticipated this. If the massacre of three thousand miles was the work of the barbarians, how could Tang Shanjun and the others, as tribal leaders, not know about it? How could they not have participated?

It was only Chu Xianglong's lack of knowledge that made me overlook this detail, leading me to believe there was more to the case than met the eye. The real reason, however, was that I was unwilling to believe it.

They couldn't believe that a prince who had guarded the border for over a decade, a member of the royal family of the Great Feng, would slaughter the people who revered and loved him for his own selfish desires.

Xu Qi'an's lips trembled as he murmured, "Unforgivable."

He preferred that the barbarians were responsible for all of this, since they were on opposing sides and would fight to the death whenever they met. If they slaughtered the people of Great Feng today, he would lead his army to crush the barbarian tribes in the future.

Since they're mortal enemies, there's not much to say.

But he could not accept that the one who caused this tragedy was the Prince of Zhenbei, a prince of the Great Feng. He had wielded the butcher's knife against his own people, all for the sake of being promoted to the second rank.

Brute!

Yes, it was Prince Huai who did it. The princess covered her lips, tears welling up in her eyes.

After a long while, Xu Qi'an heard his own hoarse voice ask, "Where did the massacre take place?"

The man in the black robe replied blankly, "I don't know."

"I don't know." This answer surprised Xu Qi'an. Shouldn't it be Xikou County? Isn't that area under lockdown?

Furthermore, it's highly illogical that even a trusted spy of the Prince of Zhenbei was unaware of this matter.

"Who knows?" Xu Qi'an asked, voicing his doubts.

"The commander of Chuzhou, Que Yongxiu, and the 'Heaven' spies know," said the black-robed man's spirit.

Commander Que Yongxiu?

Xu Qi'an pondered for a moment, recalling the man's information: Que Yongxiu, Commander-in-Chief of Chuzhou, Duke of Protector of the State.

A hereditary title.

The first Duke Protector of the Nation was the Prince of Pinghai, who was later Emperor Wuzong's sworn brother.

Emperor Wuzong was a prince who, five hundred years ago, conspired with the Buddhist School sect to kill the first supervisor of the imperial court, using the pretext of "purging the court of corrupt officials" to plot his usurpation of the throne.

The lineage of the Duke of Huguo is a rare evergreen among the old noble families. They have many marriage alliances with the imperial family and have married two princesses and four county princesses in their Lineage history.

Que Yongxiu has the bloodline of the Great Feng imperial family.

"Que Yongxiu and the Prince of Zhenbei colluded to commit the massacre that ravaged three thousand miles. Gather evidence and report them. I don't believe Emperor Yuanjing would protect them. Even if he wanted to, Duke Wei would disagree, and the officials in the court would disagree."

The high-ranking officials in the imperial court, the civil and military officials in the capital—good and bad, muddleheaded and shrewd—formed a force that even the emperor could not resist.

Such a shocking tragedy, once exposed, would not be tolerated by the officials in the capital.

Xu Qi'an suppressed the urge to return to the capital with the soul, because that was not enough. The soul of a mere spy was insufficient to bring down the Prince of Zhenbei and the Duke of Huguo.

He turned to the three barbarians and asked, "What was your reason for intercepting the Prince of Zhenbei's spies?"

The barbarian from the Qingyan tribe on the left replied, "Find the place where the King of Zhenbei slaughtered countless lives and report it to the chief."

The barbarian from the Qingyan tribe in the middle then replied, "Our leader also wants to be promoted to the second rank."

The barbarian from the Qingyan tribe on the right finally answered, "During this period, we have been hunting each other with the spies of the King of Zhenbei, resulting in the loss of many of our people."

"Why seek the place where the King of Zhenbei slaughtered countless lives?" Xu Qi'an glanced at the remnant soul of the black-robed man who stood there woodenly.

He immediately grasped the key point and realized there was a major problem here.

Logically, finding the crime scene is his job as the investigating officer, and it's also one of the pieces of evidence he must find. If the victim can't be found, the case can't be investigated.

However, the King of Zhenbei's spies did not know the location of the crime, while the barbarians were searching for it, which indicates that the massacre of three thousand miles was not truly over yet.

"Steal their Essence Blood," the barbarian on the left replied.

Xu Qi'an then asked the barbarians in the middle and on the right, and received the same answer.

Based on the analysis of the ambush, the barbarians wanted to seize the Northern King's destiny, and they did so in two ways: first, by taking the Queen; second, by taking his Essence Blood.

Based on the information in the second point, we can infer that the massacre of three thousand miles is not over, or rather, the Prince of Zhenbei has not yet succeeded. Otherwise, the spies of the Qingyan tribe should have withdrawn long ago.

No wonder there were no experts from the Qingyan tribe when they surrounded and killed the princess. If nothing unexpected happened, they all infiltrated Chuzhou to find the location of the massacre that lasted for three thousand miles. Meanwhile, the spies of the Prince of Zhenbei were secretly outwitting and hunting down the barbarians.

No wonder there were no secret agents escorting or meeting them when they went to fetch the princess. They must have been too busy to take care of themselves, having to hide the massacre that had ravaged three thousand miles while also hunting down the barbarians who had infiltrated Chuzhou.

"Only your Qingyan tribe knows about this?" Xu Qi'an asked again.

"Yes," the barbarian replied.

How did the leader of the Jingqingyan tribe know about this? Xu Qi'an pondered for a moment and said:

Have any of you seen Warlock in the tribe?

"I've seen him before," the barbarian said, bewildered.

Well, in that case, the Qingyan tribe knows all the inside stories of the Blood Slaughter of Three Thousand Miles, and all of this was told to them by the mysterious Warlock group.

From this, we can draw two conclusions: First, the mysterious Warlock group is supporting the leader of the Qingyan tribe, helping him seize the Zhenbei King's fortune and advance to the second rank.

Second, a mysterious group of Warlock seized the fortune of the Great Feng Dynasty, supported a barbarian leader, infiltrated the court, and gradually eroded the power of the Great Feng. Their stance is obvious.

Xu Qi'an didn't ask any further questions, but said in a deep voice, "Squat down and cover your eyes."

The princess cooperated skillfully, immediately squatting down and covering her eyes.

Xu Qi'an took out the fragment of the Earth Book, put the corpses of the black-robed scout and the three barbarians into the jade mirror, and then opened his scrotum to collect their souls.

Let's go!

He knelt down in front of the princess, his back to her, and said, "Come up."

This time, the princess did not hesitate. She opened her arms and wrapped them around Xu Qi'an's neck. She found that she no longer resisted having some physical contact with this man.

That's strange.

The princess turned her head to look behind her. A gust of wind blew by, and those unreal souls, like dreamlike bubbles, shattered and dissipated in the wind.

A sudden, piercing sadness welled up within her, and she whispered, "He doesn't deserve the title of Prince of Zhenbei."

"Shut up, hold me tight."

"Mmm." She tightened her grip on Xu Qi'an.

With a muffled thud that shook the ground, Xu Qi'an darted away like an arrow and disappeared into the wilderness.

At noon, about 100 miles from Sanhuang County, heading west.

The princess sat by the stream, not exactly ladylike, gnawing on a chicken leg. As she ate, she glanced at the dazed Xu Qi'an, and her usually haughty tone was unusually gentle:

What are your plans next?

Xu Qi'an looked at her, smiled, and poked at the campfire. "Actually, the reason I brought you north was to use you to blackmail the Prince of Zhenbei, making him hesitant to act against me. My initial intention was bad."

She pursed her lips and said sadly, "I know."

She wasn't stupid. She could easily guess what this man was after, having gone north to investigate a case and taken her with him.

Xu Qi'an asked in surprise, "Huh, you're not angry? That's not like you at all."

The princess shook her head and said softly, "I've been beautiful since I was little. When I was nine, I went with my parents to the Jade Buddha Temple to burn incense. The abbot saw me and wrote a poem. Hmm, you should know that poem."

"From then on, I became famous, and my parents worked even harder to cultivate me, hoping that I would become a talented woman who was knowledgeable, reasonable, and proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting."

"When I was thirteen, my Lineage faced increasing pressure because of my beauty. Not only did I have to deal with high-ranking officials and nobles who came to propose marriage, but even some relatives who were not related to me by blood looked at me strangely."

"My parents and elders protected me very well, not because they loved me so much, but because they didn't want any precious goods to have any flaws. Finally, in that year, the emperor sent someone to my door, asking me to come to the palace."

"The parents and elders were overjoyed, their eyes filled with tears. Yes, the goods they had painstakingly cultivated had finally sold for the highest price."

"After I entered the palace, I only saw the emperor once, and then I was neglected. Later I learned that the emperor had begun to cultivate Daoism and was no longer interested in women. For me, this was a good thing. I had good food and lodging in the palace, fine clothes and delicacies, and I didn't have to humiliate myself to please those stinky men."

"After the Battle of Shanhai Pass, I was given to the Prince of Huai and became his principal wife. I lived in the Prince of Huai's residence for twenty years. I knew exactly what those two brothers were up to."

"But what could I do? I'm just a weak woman. Even if I had no guards or maids watching me, and I was allowed to run freely without any restraints, I would have lost half my life just by running from the Prince of Huai's residence to the outer city gate."

"From childhood, I've been like merchandise, constantly being given away. The day I lose my value, I'll be discarded like worn-out shoes."

By the campfire, she hugged her knees, her voice soft, her face expressionless.

"So even if you treat me like a bargaining chip, like merchandise, I won't blame you. Compared to those two brothers, I think you're a good person."

This is just too tragic! Xu Qi'an felt a surge of pity, unrelated to her beauty; this pity was the same as his feeling for Zhong Li.

Completely out of compassion.

He looked at the princess and asked skeptically, "Are you really not surprised?"

The princess was honest this time, nodding her head. "That's strange, I thought you were going to betray me, I was furious."

Xu Qi'an laughed, "That's just how women are, they say one thing and mean another."

She laughed herself, then asked, "How do you plan to deal with the matter of the Prince of Zhenbei? Since he was the one who did it, the nature of this matter is much, much more serious than falsely reporting military intelligence."

"If you insist on opposing him, the outcome probably won't be good."

A mountain breeze blew, the campfire flickered, and in the quiet atmosphere, after a long while, Xu Qi'an slowly said, "Find the location of the massacre that lasted three thousand miles, stop him, punish him, and if possible, I will kill him."

The princess stared at him intently.

Sanhuang County, Yayin Tower.

"Knock knock."

Cai'er, who was leaning against the soft couch reading a book, heard a knock on the door, followed by the madam's laughter. "Cai'er, Master Zhao has arrived. Treat him well."

Cai'er received the book and replied sweetly, "Okay, Mom."

The door to the room opened, and a middle-aged man dressed as a wealthy man entered, a lewd smile on his face.

He stepped across the threshold, turned around to close the door, and when he turned back, the smile on his face was gone, replaced by a serious and solemn expression.

The middle-aged man looked at Cai'er and nodded, saying, "Have you told him about the news from Xikou County?"

Cai'er bowed respectfully and said, "Yes, he had no doubts."

The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief, sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and said leisurely, "But with his quick wit, he'll definitely realize something's wrong afterward, but by then, the matter will be over."

Cai'er didn't say anything.

The middle-aged man continued, "I'm heading north in the next few days. You should leave Sanhuang County first. If I die on the way, never come back."

He paused, then said in a serious tone, "A servant in blue."

Cai'er lowered her head. "I would die a hundred times without regret."

PS: 5000 words needed, please vote with monthly tickets. I'll correct typos in half an hour.