“You, Gu, you said it. If you can really find the mastermind without the help of the Jingting Guard, I’ll… I’ll agree to do one thing for you that doesn’t violate morality or the laws of the Great Qian!”
Sikong Yue could not help but make this bet with Gu Wangchen.
From her perspective, her chances of winning were massive. Was it possible for Gu Wangchen to have colluded with that man in advance, having him leave a trail for them to follow?
Gu Wangchen nodded and responded, “On the contrary, if I don’t catch them, I will grant you one wish, provided it also doesn’t violate morality or the Great Qian laws.”
“Fine, it’s a deal then?”
“It’s a deal.”
After settling the small bet with Sikong Yue, Gu Wangchen walked over to Wei Yang. He pulled a bottle of Mystic Spirit Rejuvenation Pills from his Sumeru ring, poured one out, and tossed it to him. “Wei Yang, I see you are quite badly injured. Take this to recover first.”
“Thank you for the pill, Master.”
Upon swallowing the Mystic Spirit Rejuvenation Pill, a gentle and profound medicinal power instantly dissolved within his body. His wounds healed at a rate visible to the naked eye. Even his broken leg bone mended as if it had never been shattered.
“This is…” Wei Yang’s eyes widened. He slowly moved his wrists and limbs, his heart filled with an incomparable shock.
Gu Wangchen reached out to steady him as he prepared to drop to one knee in thanks. “There is no need for thanks,” he said casually. “After all, you just risked your life to save me.”
“But that was just a smoke bomb, not a real Tremor Thunder…”
“But you protected me believing that it was a Tremor Thunder, didn’t you?” Gu Wangchen smiled and patted his shoulder. “Alright, let’s head back and regroup with Nie Ling.”
“Eh? We’re not going to keep chasing?” Sikong Yue asked in confusion.
“No. We’ve been running all night, and we have a concrete lead. Besides, the enemy’s den might be even more dangerous. The three of us alone are not enough to face them.”
Sikong Yue thought for a moment and nodded. “Oh, so you mean we need to go back and bring reinforcements?”
“Exactly.”
—
Upon returning to the headquarters of the Demon Suppression Division of the Jingting Guard, Gu Wangchen noticed how sparse the staff was. He stopped a mounted scout and asked, “Where is your Commander Nie and the others? Why is the entire office so empty?”
Normally, the headquarters of the Demon Suppression Division should have several hundred people on standby, yet today, fewer than twenty remained. Everyone else was out on assignment.
This was not normal.
“Reporting to Master Gu, Commander Nie took the men into the city to search for black fire oil.”
“Tell me in detail,” Gu Wangchen pressed.
“It’s like this…”
The scout explained everything about how Nie Ling had re-interrogated the ‘survivors’ and discovered five locations where black fire oil was hidden, leading her to split the forces five ways to verify and seize the oil.
“So that’s how it is!”
After hearing the scout’s explanation, Sikong Yue came to a sudden realization. “These guys definitely planned this in advance. Yesterday’s attack on the Crown Princess was just an appetizer. They are absolutely preparing to attack other places!”
She turned to look at Gu Wangchen. “Where do you think they are most likely to attack?”
“Hmm…”
Gu Wangchen narrowed his eyes in thought, analyzing the true goals and demands of the attackers.
Based on the information obtained from the man with the braided hair at the Black Wolf Gambling Den, these people were definitely part of the same group that had attacked the porridge kitchen and injured Li Zhaoning.
As for the motive mentioned — that the ‘Overseeing Censor policy caused the rescue to be delayed, leading to the deaths of 20,000 Anxi elites at Xiangling’ — it was likely the superficial motive for their attack on Shengan.
Putting himself in their shoes, if he were an Anxi soldier who had participated in the suppression of the Shi Kingdom, seeing his former comrades trapped and dying because of court policies would naturally breed hatred for the government.
However, based on his understanding, the Overseeing Censor his father had sent to the Anxi Army was supposed to be a war hawk. It would have been impossible for him to hinder the army’s movement or delay military opportunities.
Moreover, in the war to suppress the Shi Kingdom 3 years ago, that Overseeing Censor had already died for his country.
The original plot had never touched upon the details of that war, and even his own father remained silent on the matter.
There had to be some hidden secret behind it.
‘Forget it, I won’t worry about the backstory for now. Let’s assume their motive for the attack is indeed revenge against the court. But why now? Why didn’t they come for 3 years, only to show up at this specific point in time? Is it a coincidence, or is there another conspiracy?’
Gu Wangchen stood up from the main seat and paced back and forth in front of Sikong Yue.
‘No, if I look at it from another angle… what if these soldiers are just being used, and the true goal of the mastermind happens to coincide with the goal of the Anxi soldiers?’
The Anxi soldiers wanted revenge against the court for their dead comrades, and the mastermind also wanted to strike the court — or rather, strike Li Zhaoning — to force the two political parties into a fight to the death.
Looking at it this way… it made perfect sense!
Combined with the fact that this attack never happened in the original plot, and the only variable —
The messenger Lu Quan had not delivered the evidence of the Lingcheng mineral smuggling to Li Zhaoning. Instead, it had fallen into Gu Wangchen’s hands.
Thinking of this, Gu Wangchen immediately thought of a faction that had little presence in the original story but was closely related to the mineral smuggling case.
The Xiao family of Lingcheng.
If they were the masterminds, they could injure Li Zhaoning to provoke a lethal internal struggle between the parties. At the same time, using their relationship with Empress Dowager Xiao Wan, they could force the Empress Dowager’s faction to protect them at all costs.
‘I see. Because they don’t know whose hands the messenger fell into, they fear the Crown Princess’s faction is plotting to uproot them as an example. That unknown fear drove them to desperation, leading them to take this reckless path.’
Gu Wangchen sighed softly.
These local noble families were truly willing to incite court massacres just for their own interests. They really deserved to be purged.
“Gu, why do you keep pacing around?” Sikong Yue asked, clearly annoyed by his movement.
“I am deducing. Deducing the identity of the mastermind.”
“What? You figured it out?” Sikong Yue clearly didn’t believe him.
“More or less,” he said, stopping and sitting back in the main seat. “Sikong Yue, get ready to do that favor for me.”
“Tch, keep bragging. What good is just talking? If you’ve really identified the mastermind, why aren’t you going to arrest them right now?”
Gu Wangchen took the tea handed to him by a servant, took a small sip, and spoke slowly. “There is no rush. First, we need to wait for Commander Nie to return to confirm some information. Second… as I said before, the opponent is quite strong. We need to wait for reinforcements.”
“Fine, fine, then we wait!”
During their conversation, Wei Yang, who had been guarding the door, could no longer hold back. He stepped toward Gu Wangchen, bowed respectfully, and spoke.
“Master, I have a request… I wish to apply for leave.”
Gu Wangchen glanced at him. “For what?”
“I have some urgent private matters at home that need addressing. It will take 2 hours… no, 1 hour. At most 1.5 hours to finish.”
Gu Wangchen looked him up and down, his eyes meeting Wei Yang’s small ones. For a moment, Wei Yang felt his skin crawl.
Just as Wei Yang thought Gu Wangchen was going to refuse, he received an unexpected response.
“Go and return quickly. However, we won’t wait specifically for you. If you aren’t back before Commander Nie returns… you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Only after Wei Yang left did Sikong Yue walk over and poke Gu Wangchen’s arm.
“Hey, that Wei Yang seems a bit suspicious!”
“If even you can see it, do you think I can’t?”
Sikong Yue raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you let him go?”
“If I didn’t let him go, how could we watch the show unfold?”
“?”
“Alright, I’m going to take a nap for a while…”
Gu Wangchen walked toward the resting room in the office and waved a hand at Sikong Yue. “Remember to notify me when Nie Ling returns. I need to recharge my energy.”