Reviewing the case

Upon learning of the massacre that had occurred across three thousand miles of the northern border, I, a humble Daoist, had a sudden inspiration. I transformed myself into the female knight-errant Fei Yan and secretly traveled to Chuzhou. After enduring countless hardships, I finally found Governor Zheng Xinghuai, who had narrowly escaped the massacre.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the Prince of Zhenbei's spies suddenly arrived with their troops, intending to kill me and Governor Zheng to silence us. It turned out that the enemy had been secretly following us, waiting for us to come to us.

However, they encountered fierce resistance from me. I fought against a hundred men, just like Xu Ningyan in Yunzhou, and did not retreat an inch. In the end, I repelled the secret agents of the Prince of Zhenbei and learned the details of the massacre from Governor Zheng.

This time, I'm on the tenth floor!

The above is Li Miaozhen's inner monologue. She really wanted to say these words, but she had learned from Xu Qi'an Xu Qi'an, "This general is naturally good at investigating cases."

Li Miaozhen, who was extremely passionate about solving cases through deduction, suppressed her urge to boast and answered truthfully, "It's all thanks to Xu Yinluo."

Xu Yinluo?!

The delegation members were taken aback, not understanding what this had to do with Xu Qi'an.

Li Miaozhen said, "It was Xu Qi'an who invited me to Chuzhou to investigate the case."

"So that's how it is," the Grand Judge stroked his beard, nodded, and smiled.

"Master Li is truly a master. Although Daoist School sect cultivates the Celestial Person and non-action, it is your business that you are indifferent to fame and fortune. We cannot ignore your contributions because of this. You don't need to attribute all the credit to Xu Yinluo."

Upon hearing this, Imperial Censor Liu echoed, "The delegation will certainly report the situation to the court and request commendation for you."

Xu Yinluo invited the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect to Chuzhou to investigate the case, but this does not mean that all the efforts the Holy Maiden made in Chuzhou were due to Xu Yinluo.

"Scholars speak so pleasantly!" Li Miaozhen felt a mixture of pleasure, satisfaction, and shame, and continued:

"Then I went to Chuzhou and traveled around looking for clues, but to no avail."

The delegation listened attentively, knowing full well how difficult this case was to investigate, and were very curious about how Li Miaozhen would find a breakthrough and uncover the truth behind the massacre.

"But in fact, everything has clues. I found the corpse that exposed the massacre of three thousand miles by the mountain road outside the capital. How could a commoner like him dare to come to the capital to file a complaint without any evidence? There is probably someone behind him. That person did not send a report or document, but chose to send a message through a Jianghu person. I guess he will use the same trick again."

"So I traveled through Chuzhou under the name of Flying Swallow Heroine, slaying barbarians, punishing unscrupulous merchants, and distributing porridge to the people. Ah, this humble Daoist has a slight reputation in the martial world; many know me, and even more understand me."

"Sure enough, a few days later, someone secretly contacted me, hoping I could lend a hand."

Brilliant!

The delegation members were completely convinced and praised loudly, "Master Li is so insightful; he was able to find clues to solve the case from such a perspective. We are truly impressed!"

Constable Chen said with shame, "I've worked in this yamen for so many years, and it's all been for nothing. I'm ashamed."

Imperial Censor Liu said admiringly, "I originally thought that whether this case could be solved would ultimately depend on Xu Yinluo, but I didn't expect Master Li to be a cut above the rest."

The civil officials were generous with their praise, partly out of genuine feeling and partly out of habitual formality in officialdom.

Hearing this, Li Miaozhen couldn't help but curl her lips into a slight smile, revealing a hint of smugness. Then she cleared her throat and said, "I'm not being modest. Actually, Xu Ningyan taught me all of this. We've been in secret contact all along."

The laughter and praise suddenly stopped, as if a pause button had been pressed. The faces of the delegation members froze, and they stared blankly at the Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Sect.

Why did Li Miaozhen save the most important thing for last?

Is this some kind of twisted sense of humor she has?

A little awkward

No wonder Xu Yinluo broke away from the mission midway and secretly went to the northern border. It turns out that he had already found helpers from the beginning. When His Majesty and the officials appointed him as the chief officer, he had already made a plan. Chen, the head constable of the Ministry of Justice, deeply felt how terrifying Xu Qi'an was.

It's no wonder that Minister Sun repeatedly suffered setbacks at his hands, driving him to madness with anger yet leaving him helpless.

"It was my oversight. From the tax silver case, the Sangbo case, the Yunzhou case, and later the Fufei case, each and every one of them shows that Xu Yinluo is an experienced and meticulous person who should not be underestimated. I even thought he had finally made a mistake this time." The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review shook his head with a wry smile.

It turns out that all of this was part of Xu Yinluo's plan; I was so naive.

As expected of Lord Xu, Centurion Chen Xiao's spirits lifted, and he showed a look of admiration.

The imperial guards laughed along with them, feeling a sense of pride.

Yang Yan nodded slightly, not at all surprised, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Then, Li Miaozhen told the delegation that Zheng Xinghuai had survived. Imperial Censor Liu was extremely excited, not only because there was a witness, but also because he had a long-standing friendship with Zheng Xinghuai and was genuinely happy to learn that he was still alive.

"Xu Ningyan should still be on his way to Chuzhou City. I can fly much faster than him on my sword," Li Miaozhen instructed, then asked:

Where did that mysterious expert go?

Yang Yan recalled for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "The direction he left in is the same direction the barbarians fled in."

The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review felt a jolt of fear, an unbelievable thought flashing through his mind, and his breathing quickened. "Could it be, could it be..."

Imperial Censor Liu reacted quickly, saying, "Could it be that he went to hunt down Jilizhigu? He fears the imbalance of power in the northern border, and that after this battle, the people of Chuzhou will suffer under the barbarian hooves, with no one left to restrain the barbarians?"

Yang Yan and Li Miaozhen exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Let's go take a look."

The latter added, "Come up."

Yang Yan lightly leaped onto the spine of the sword and stood with his hands behind his back.

Although a fourth-rank martial artist can fly, his speed, altitude, and endurance are no match for the Daoist School sword-controlling technique. If you had to describe it, it would be like the difference between a motorcycle and a high-speed train.

What if one were running wildly on the ground, and the other were flying in the sky?

Then a warrior would be even faster, provided that the terrain is a vast plain with no mountains or rivers in the way.

After flying north for half an hour, Li Miaozhen and Yang Yan spotted Jili Zhigu. This was not difficult to find, as the other party was standing on the official road.

After the Battle of Shanhai Pass, this strongest barbarian was nothing but a withered shell.

His head was forcibly ripped off, along with a small portion of his spine, and left by the roadside.

Li Miaozhen stopped, looking down from her vantage point, and murmured, "In this battle in the Northern Border, two third-rank martial artists have perished. This matter will surely spread throughout the Nine Provinces, causing a sensation."

Yang Yan was somewhat dazed. It turned out that the realm he had longed to reach was nothing more than this in the eyes of a higher-level expert.

A third-rank official is a leader-level figure, regardless of the system or faction they belong to.

Yang Yan leaped off the sword's spine, grabbed the vertebrae, and carrying the head of the Qingyan tribe leader, returned to Chuzhou City.

When he brought his head back to Chuzhou City and hung it on the city wall, 20,000 soldiers silently looked up at it and shed tears.

This powerful barbarian who had threatened Chuzhou for twenty years finally perished.

At the same time, countless people wondered: who exactly was that mysterious powerful figure?

Hundreds of miles away from Chuzhou City, beside a pool of water, Xu Qi'an, who had just taken a bath, lay weakly on a huge rock whose edges had been worn away by the pool's water.

After seizing the life essence of Zhenbei Wang and Jili Zhigu, Shenshu fell into a deep sleep, and this time it is probably impossible to awaken him.

Unless he can, like in the ancient tomb, steal another wave of luck for free.

Without the muscular monk to rely on, Xu Qi'an suddenly felt insecure. Examining himself, he discovered that after Shen Shu manifested his dark Dharma form, his physical strength had improved again.

Just like a canal that has been widened by a flood, even though the flood has passed, the traces it left behind cannot be erased.

Lu Shuren would say, "We are grateful to those who opened the tunnel, but we will always hold those who expanded it in the highest esteem." Xu Qi'an gained a deeper understanding of this statement.

"Through this battle, my understanding of the 'Transformation of Internal Energy' technique has deepened. Experiencing firsthand the combat of high-level martial artists and their application of power has been an invaluable experience for me."

He forced himself to stay alert, sat cross-legged and practiced breathing exercises. After processing the information in his mind for a while, out of professional habit, he began to review the "massacre of three thousand miles".

"The King of Zhenbei had two purposes in massacring the city: First, to refine the Blood Pill, break through to the Great Perfection stage, and then absorb the Queen's spiritual essence to officially enter the Second Rank. Second, to plot the hunt down Jili Zhigu and Zhu Jiu."

"The appearance of the Zhenguo Sword means that Emperor Yuanjing was fully aware of the massacre of the city by the Prince of Zhenbei, and may even have been involved. Otherwise, the Zhenguo Sword would not have appeared in Chuzhou."

When Xu Qi'an saw the Zhenguo Sword appear, he was extremely shocked and furious. However, with a formidable enemy at hand, he didn't have time to think too much.

"That dog emperor, Yuanjing." Xu Qi'an exhaled a breath of stale air, telling himself to control his anger.

"The dog emperor knows about this. Hmm, it has cleared up a mystery for me. The chivalrous man who died outside the capital was killed by Emperor Yuanjing's men. Only he could have laid a net around the capital and screened and identified the target."

"In that case, it all makes sense why I was chosen as the chief official and why a governor wasn't appointed. The mission was just going through the motions, so there was no need to appoint a governor with too much power to check the Prince of Zhenbei. And if all else fails, the Prince of Zhenbei can always kill people to silence them."

"Furthermore, the mission has another purpose: to escort the Queen to the Northern Border. Although the emperor is a heartless scoundrel, he's still a decent old man. However, I always feel that he trusts and indulges the Prince of Zhenbei too much."

Xu Qi'an pondered for a few seconds, then continued thinking along this line of thought:

"Emperor Yuanjing knew the truth about the massacre, but did Duke Wei know? Judging from the feedback I gave to his remnant soul, he probably didn't. Well, an old fox like Duke Wei, his reaction might not be his true reaction, but rather the reaction he wanted me to see."

"Assuming that Duke Wei knew about this, how would he plan it? Given his personality, he would absolutely not tolerate the Prince of Zhenbei massacring the city, even if it meant that a second-rank official would emerge in the Great Feng as a result."

"But even now, I haven't seen any trace of Duke Wei's move. Hmm, if we work backwards, assuming Duke Wei knew about this, given his personality, he would definitely have stopped it."

"But the Prince of Zhenbei is a third-rank martial artist, the number one expert in the Great Feng. How can we stop him? There are definitely no such experts among the Nightwatchers, otherwise I wouldn't have been the one to stop the Prince of Zhenbei just now."

"Then how can we stop the Prince of Zhenbei?"

A thought flashed through Xu Qi'an's mind, "Using one tiger to devour another."

In the Northern Territory, only Jili Zhigu and Zhu Jiu could thwart the Prince of Zhenbei's plans. If it were me, I would reveal the location of the Prince of Zhenbei's massacre to his enemies.

"But how did Duke Wei know that the massacre would take place in Chuzhou?" Xu Qi'an frowned, suddenly realizing an unreasonable detail.

Before leaving the capital, Wei Yuan told him that because all the spies had been transferred to the Northeast, intelligence in the North had been delayed, which meant he knew nothing about the massacre of three thousand miles.

"With Duke Wei's wisdom, even if he were to withdraw his spies, he couldn't possibly evacuate them all from the northern border. He would definitely leave a few in key, fixed cities. Otherwise, he wouldn't be Wei Qingyi."

Another piece of evidence was found to prove that Wei Yuan was hiding something.

Following this line of thought, Xu Qi'an's ideas gradually became clear. "Duke Wei specifically asked me to talk to him and asked how I planned to investigate the case. I told him that I would leave the mission on the way and go north alone."

"Then he gave me Cai'er's contact information, and as soon as I met Cai'er, I immediately learned important information about Xikou County from her. Everything went too smoothly."

"Furthermore, Xikou County and Chuzhou are exactly opposite each other. Does this mean that Duke Wei deliberately gave me false information to send me to the west, and that he did not want me to participate in this matter?"

"If that's the case, then he actually knows the situation in the North very well."

For a moment, Xu Qi'an felt a chill run down his spine, his emotions a complex mix of gratitude and an instinctive, apprehension towards the old silver coin.

"After I receive the princess and join the delegation, I will then make a trip to Sanhuang County."

The next day, in the morning.

Xu Qi'an, with a handsome appearance that would shock even the most discerning party members and put Louis Koo to shame, entered the inn and knocked on the princess's door.