When Xu Qing finished speaking, everyone stood there silently. They had not personally witnessed the assassination attempt, but based on Xu Qing’s detailed description, they understood the fundamentals of what happened. The suspicious aspects that Xu Qing had mentioned were indeed odd, no matter how you analyzed them.

“What organization has the resources to attempt an assassination like this in the imperial capital?” the Captain said. “They prevented all the other organizations from realizing what was going on, not to mention the imperial capital’s grand spell formation. I guess the real question is what organization could cause everyone else in the capital to be so slow and unresponsive?”

Xu Qing had no answer, but Plumdark and Li Yunshan both looked in the direction of the imperial palace.

It really seemed like the only person in the capital who could do all of that would be the emperor himself. The only other possibilities would be Grand Emperor Swordsage or some other terrifying organization that even the emperor feared.

Unfortunately, they lacked sufficient information to even guess what kind of organization the emperor would fear.

What was more, Grand Emperor Swordsage was asleep. Though he woke up when Xu Qing arrived, he couldn’t stay awake constantly. Besides, he had no logical reason to carry out an assassination attempt.

Then Plumdark asked, “What if… Ah Qing had actually detonated his Dawning Sun? What would have happened?”

“The capital would have descended into chaos,” Li Yunshan replied, frowning. “There would have been countless casualties. Every organization would have been shaken to the core. Not only would the capital and everyone in it have lost a lot of face, they would have become a laughingstock to countless species. And regardless of who was really responsible… we would have had a hard time avoiding responsibility. We would have lost any advantage and initiative. It’s hard to predict what would have happened in the end. It would all come down to the emperor’s attitude.”

“Very interesting,” the Captain said, smiling grimly. “The mastermind clearly has a way of keeping close tabs on little Ah Qing’s whereabouts, as well as the resources necessary to actually attempt the assassination. What’s more, this whole thing needed to benefit them even if little Ah Qing didn’t die.

“All the clues and conflicts point in one direction, except… why does it seem like this whole thing is a lot more complicated than it seems?

“Is it possible that this event is supposed to be a wedge? To drive conflict between multiple parties? Or perhaps the mastermind just wants to foster doubts in our minds, so that no matter what we do next, we feel like we’re just game pieces in a larger game?

“I think we should analyze this from a different angle. Forget who the mastermind is. Let’s think about things from our perspective. Given everything that’s happened, what do we do now?”

The Captain looked at Xu Qing, then Plumdark, and finally Li Yunshan.

“The first thing we do,” Li Yunshan said, “is assign more Sea-Sealing County swordsages in the city to protect Xu Qing, as well as to investigate. At the same time, we need to report the matter to the Holytide Region.”

The Captain shook his head. “That’s not a bad idea. However, the more people we involve, the more likely we’ll be accused of overstepping authority. That would just make everything more chaotic. On the other hand, we can’t just do nothing…. This assassination attempt on little Ah Qing was a message….”

Li Yunshan didn’t respond, and the Captain clearly didn’t have anything more to say.

The courtyard was very quiet. The wind blew, and the rain fell, and the dark clouds in the sky blocked out any sunlight.

Xu Qing hadn’t offered any input so far. But after hearing everyone analyze the situation, and based on what he had experienced, his thoughts eventually led him to what the clay fox had said about the imperial preceptor…. And he also thought about the conclusions of his own analysis from earlier.

Eventually, Plumdark looked away from the imperial palace. “The emperor was approved by the Grand Emperor, and generally acts how you expect the human emperor to act. It’s hard to make a determination right now. In the end, Xu Qing, you have to decide what to do. Your decision is the most important thing here.”

Xu Qing looked in the direction of the imperial palace, then nodded. “In that case, submit a petition to the emperor in the name of the Holytide Region. Whatever conclusions we’ve reached, the emperor and the other parties in the capital will surely have considered it as well.

“We have no way to speculate what the mastermind actually wants to do. So we can only wait to see how the emperor handles the aftermath.”

Plumdark agreed. Li Yunshan, after some thought, said nothing in contradiction.

The Captain blinked a few times, then lowered his voice and said, “Little Ah Qing, do you remember back when we first arrived in Sea-Sealing County? You made a good decision back then. However, I still think we should have cried a bit more. Made more of a scene. That would have been a lot better.” 1

Xu Qing thought about it, then made sure his face looked paler, so that he seemed like he’d been seriously hurt….

“That’s not quite good enough, little Ah Qing. Here, I’ll help.”

As the Captain eagerly approached Xu Qing, the stunned Li Yunshan looked away.

Meanwhile, Plumdark cast a cold glance at the Captain, who shrunk back a bit, then forced a smile onto his face. Inside, he was sighing regretfully.

***

By the next morning, news about the assassination attempt on Xu Qing had spread like wildfire through the city. Many people questioned whether the news was real, but regardless, the numerous organizations in the capital were all shaken.

Along with news of the event, rumors also spread about Xu Qing himself. He had gritted his teeth against the injuries, but after he returned to his residence, they flared up, and he passed out. Thankfully, he had a scrap of life force left, and the forces of Sea-Sealing County were standing guard over him and treating him.

As the news rocked the city, Meng Yunbai and Huang Kun were the first to come visit. They didn’t lay eyes on Xu Qing, but rather, were received by the Captain. That said, they were clearly nervous, and obviously wanted to make sure they weren’t suspected of being involved.

The junior emperor of the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect sent some medicinal pills to demonstrate goodwill. Everyone else who had been present at the banquet at the Red Dust Pavilion did the same. The Red Dust Pavilion even sent people to visit.

In addition, after Master Seventh and everyone else in the Holytide Region received the news from Li Yunshan, they deployed forces to look into the matter on their end. In the half of the Nightspirit Region they controlled, a host of priests mobilized, causing rumbling sounds to fill heaven and earth.

Even more astounding was that in the direction of Moonrite, the Heir Apparent’s Smoldering God aura erupted. Smoldering God fluctuations also rolled out from Princess Brightblossom and Fifth Sister in the Moonrebel Congregation. Ninth Sib’s sword energy exploded out. The combined energy from the Moonrite Region made it abundantly obvious how furious they were.

Back in the imperial capital, the petition submitted via jade slip by Xu Qing and the others from Sea-Sealing County made its way up the chain of command until it was presented to the emperor.

The jade slip contained a personal description of the event from the perspective of the victim, and it was delivered along with a piece of black paper.

The swordsages weren’t recalled to the mansion. They remained on the outside. As for Xu Qing and everyone else, they couldn’t do anything but report the matter in full to the emperor.

It didn’t matter who the mastermind was or what they wanted. Sea-Sealing County’s decision was to remain steadfast but also be flexible. The emperor was actually the biggest suspect, therefore… reporting the matter to the emperor meant that everyone in the imperial capital, both Xu Qing and the other organizations, were all waiting to see how he reacted. 𝚏rewe𝚘vel.𝚌𝚘m

About two hours after the jade slip was delivered to the emperor, a stern voice echoed through the imperial capital.

“The Greater Celestial Swordsage Division, Justice Division, and Special Operations Division have one month to conduct an investigation and get to the bottom of the situation!”

That was the imperial decree.

Light erupted from the Swordsage, Justice, and Special Operations Divisions, which rose into the sky and took the shape of terrifying illusory figures that bowed in the direction of the imperial palace.

“Your orders shall be followed!”

Next, a holy pill was sent from the imperial palace to Ningyan’s mansion. The pill was crystalline and strangely fragrant. Even the pill bottle that contained the pill was extraordinary, crafted as it was from pure bone.

“That’s a heaven-immortal pill!” Ningyan exclaimed upon seeing it. “Those pills are rare even in the imperial palace. Supposedly, their main ingredient is something that, after the catastrophe in Revered Ancient, can only be found in the holy lands…. The restorative properties of this pill are astonishing. They’ll even work well on heavenly kings. This pill is completely priceless!”

The Captain’s eyes went wide, and he instinctively licked his lips. Xu Qing took the pill and examined it closely, whereupon his heart started pounding.

Based on his skill in the dao of medicine, he could tell this pill was completely extraordinary. He wasn’t familiar with the concocting method, and what was more… just taking the pill out of the bottle resulted in all the surrounding mutagen being suppressed. The godsource in Xu Qing even stirred in response.

There are some very mysterious elements to this pill.

As the Captain stared longingly, Xu Qing put the pill away.

The Captain blinked a few times, and was already trying to come up with a plan to scam the pill from Xu Qing…. In the end, though, he had to sigh. Little Ah Qing has really gotten clever. He’s not easy to fool.

After that, the Swordsage, Justice, and Special Operations Divisions worked very hard in their investigation. They even went to the Ghostwyrm Nethersect.

The mood in the imperial capital got tense very quickly. Younger people everywhere were trembling in fear, even though they had nothing to do with the event.

Clues began to turn up. However, Xu Qing didn’t pay attention to any of that. During the half month that passed, he focused on recovering from his ‘injuries.’ The first time he made a public appearance, he did so with Plumdark. After the assassination attempt, Plumdark abandoned the search for her lamp, and spent her time making sure Xu Qing recovered well. But after they started going out together, they would scour the imperial capital, and Plumdark would stop frequently to try to sense the lamp.

“There are nine locations where I can sense traces of the lamp. Three are near the imperial palace. Two are underground. Four are on Planet Ancient Emperor. In order to determine its exact current location, I need to use something to narrow down the search. Xu Qing, I can craft that item myself, but I’ll need to concoct a special blood pill made from my own blood to unleash its full potential.”

She looked at him. He nodded.

“I can concoct it.”

And thus, the two of them bought all the required ingredients, then went back to Ningyan’s mansion, one of them to craft an item, the other to concoct a pill.

The blood pill was unique, and thus, it couldn’t be concocted in one session. The pill needed to remain in the pill furnace for a specific period of time, all while adding in cultivation base power and special medicinal plants.

Xu Qing paid very close attention to everything. Another half a month passed. When the blood pill was almost complete, another imperial decree came to Ningyan’s mansion. The imperial decree shook everyone, because… the emperor had called for an audience!

“I hereby summon Xu Qing of the Holytide Region for an audience!”

“I hereby summon my twelfth son Guyue Ningyan for an audience!”

1. How could we forget the epic chapter 394, which was entitled ‘Xu Qing Strikes Back.’ ☜