While the materials were being prepared, the mirror asked him, “Are you still going to keep meddling in this case?”

“If Fushan Yue refuses to hand it over completely to Lingxu City, then that must mean it’s the ruler’s intention as well.” He Lingchuan shrugged. “The investigation has already gone this far. I have to get that book.”

“Why is the State of Chiyan so determined not to let go of this case?”

“Even if you asked Fushan Yue, he wouldn’t tell the truth.” Give their own state’s monsters an explanation? Heh, that’s just to make it sound good.

Just then, a guard knocked on the door and handed He Lingchuan a letter, saying it had been slipped under the door of his old guest room and then sent over by the inn servant from the previous lodging house.

Over the past few days, the servants from the old inn had forwarded He Lingchuan so many letters and gift lists it was hard to count. After all, he had just pulled off something so sensational in Baishajue.

His full name, He Xiao, was written on the envelope, and the seal was entirely intact.

He Lingchuan opened it and saw familiar handwriting:

Congratulations on surviving the Lotus Palace.

You have some ability, and I have an eye for talent, so I’ll give you one piece of advice:

Before the case is closed, extricate yourself in time. Don’t keep letting the Fushan father and son use you as a weapon.

There have long been cracks between Chiyan and Lingxu City. Over the past seven years, Lingxu City has also mobilized the State of Chiyan’s troops to fight on four separate occasions, and the casualties and burden borne by Chiyan have been considerable. That is why the State of Chiyan is determined to investigate the courier case so thoroughly. Once they uncover certain inside details...

Don’t assume the Crown Prince will be able to protect you.

When Lingxu City becomes dissatisfied, the first person to suffer for it may well be you.

Signed,

Name withheld.

One look at the handwriting, and He Lingchuan knew it was written by Mai Xuewen.

After swallowing Zhongsun Mou, that man had not even hurried to flee. Instead, he had gone strolling back to the inn to leave him a note. Calm as could be, bold to the point of insanity.

The mirror had seen it too. “That man surnamed Mai sure talks big. He’s annoying as hell. But what he says isn’t wrong either. We’re foreigners here. We don’t understand Beijia’s internal situation. Don’t go all out working for the State of Chiyan only to get sold out by Fushan Yue in the end.”

Lingxu City and the State of Chiyan were, after all, in a superior-subordinate relationship. However, the two sides ultimately struggled with one another; the dissatisfaction of the one above usually had to be soothed by making the one below pay a price.

And who would be made to pay that price?

He Lingchuan shook his head. “Do you think we can still pull out while the current is rushing?”

“Huh? Is it too late already?”

“It is.” He Lingchuan lit the letter on fire and burned it to ash. “Ever since I traced this matter back to Cen Boqing, there was never going to be any peaceful ending. The water is already muddy.”

“Zhongsun Mou is almost certainly dead, and Cen Boqing is now trapped inside his own residence. Lingxu City, the Minister of Finance, and the Zhongsun Family are all going to be watching this case, how it’s investigated, and who investigates it. Oh, and by now we may even have the Tongxin Guards added as another force in the mix.” He Lingchuan spoke slowly. “At this point, even if I wanted to let go, there’d be no getting clear of it.”

“Then what do we do?” Just listening to it all made the mirror feel things were going badly. What kind of colossal forces was its master up against? And the ruler of the State of Chiyan and the Crown Prince behind him might not even be reliable. Worse still, they themselves had no foundation at all in Beijia.

Th-this... Isn’t this no different from an egg smashing itself against a rock?

So why is he this calm?

“If the ruler of the State of Chiyan folds and throws the case back to Lingxu City, then we’re the ones in danger.” He Lingchuan smiled. He had already thought through all these questions before arranging Zhongsun Mou’s death. “If they stop handling the case, then they’ll most likely stop protecting me as well, and simply ignore however Lingxu City chooses to deal with me.”

“On the contrary, the fact that the State of Chiyan is being this resolute actually benefits me. I’ve been probing Fushan Yue repeatedly in my replies. If he’d shown even the slightest hesitation, I would have pulled out and left without a second thought.” He enunciated each word clearly. “In truth, the simplest way to protect yourself is to drag this case out under the sun, make it as public as possible, as transparent as possible!”

Among all these competing sides, only openness, fairness, and transparency would leave others without any excuse to vent their anger elsewhere.

The mirror could not help but mutter, “If we’d known it would come to this, it would’ve been better not to help Fushan Yue investigate in the first place.”

“If you don’t step into the water, how are you supposed to know how deep it is?” He Lingchuan hated people—or mirrors—who liked playing the hindsight prophet. “Besides, there’s a good chance I’m already in the warehouse.”

“What?” The mirror did not understand. “What warehouse?”

But He Lingchuan refused to explain further. He only said, “Come on. Let’s go make a copper guard.”

He had jumped into this murky water of his own accord. Once the move was made, there was no regretting it.

He took out the Golden-Armored Copper Guard Formula Li Qingge had given him.

Compared against the Golden-Armored Copper Guard Formula he had exchanged military merit for, Li Qingge’s version used more streamlined materials and also improved the finished product’s performance. After all, over a hundred years had passed between them; it only made sense that both the craftsmanship and the procedures would have advanced.

Most importantly, the new formula also thoughtfully included numerous annotations on points to watch out for during the forging process, making it especially suitable for a half-baked craftsman like him.

Of course, now that the formula could be handed over to a royal smithing master from Chiyan Palace to carry out. He himself only had to stand by and watch.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Cen Residence.

“What do you mean they’ve all run off?” Cen Boqing slammed the table in fury when he heard the guard’s report.

Crack.

The dining table was split in half, and dishes and wine spilled all over the floor.

Not that he had any appetite to begin with. But upon hearing that the house Wu Kai had rented now stood empty, his anger surged all over again.

So Wu Kai had already made all his preparations to flee. Not only had he run, but he even took his family with him too.

When Commander Lu brought troops to surround the Cen Residence that afternoon, Wu Kai should, by rights, have been the one coordinating the horses, carriages, and personnel. Instead, the moment he took orders from Cen Boqing and left, he vanished!

The residence was so large that everyone searched it from top to bottom and still could not find him.

How could a living man simply disappear? No matter how unwilling Cen Boqing was to accept it, he could only conclude that Wu Kai had abandoned his master and fled.

That truly was intolerable.

The escape of all three members of Wu Kai’s family was also a harsh blow to Cen Boqing.

Those people were the living witnesses in the monster-hunting, bead-harvesting case, the point where the enemy could break through, the greatest hidden danger right beside him!

Why had he never dealt with them earlier?

Foolish, utterly foolish!

Though Wu Kai was on the run, this was still Fushan Yue’s territory. Who could guarantee that he would successfully escape the State of Chiyan and never be captured?

And once Wu Kai fell into enemy hands, then...

Cen Boqing turned and strode out, crossing the garden and passing through covered corridors until he reached Cheng Yu’s quarters.

A guard was still posted there.

When he went inside and saw the situation, his brow furrowed.

Cheng Yu still lay there with both eyes closed, sleeping heavily, though his complexion looked much better than it had on the day he was injured.

“He still hasn’t woken in all this time?”

The guard pointed at the transparent shell on the table. “No. Mr. Cheng instructed that unless the lantern inside the shell goes out, the stopper must not be pulled.”

Snow was still drifting inside the shell, though much more lightly now; only an occasional flurry still fell. A human figure would flicker into view inside the little wooden cabin from time to time.

How many days had it been already? Cen Boqing said irritably, “Pull it!”

“Ah? Pull it now?”

The guard reached toward the shell, but Cen Boqing changed his mind again. “Wait, not yet!”

“My lord?”

“Wait until tomorrow night.” What Cen Boqing was thinking, however, was that Cheng Yu had a terrible temper. If he woke him rashly and interrupted his recovery midway, would the man still be willing to help him afterward?

Wu Kai had always handled things carefully and thoroughly, and this escape had clearly been planned in advance. Fushan Yue might not be able to catch him that quickly.

And judging by the snow in the bottle, which was nearly gone now, Cheng Yu ought to be waking soon anyway.

Tomorrow, I will try again tomorrow. Cen Boqing let out a sigh and walked away with his hands clasped behind his back.

* * *

At dusk, He Lingchuan came striding back into the inn in great excitement.

The inn had already been fully reserved by the Crown Prince. Other than guards and attendants, no one else was there. Fushan Yue was lounging in a reclining chair in the courtyard, enjoying the evening cool. Seeing he looked somewhat downcast, He Lingchuan asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve already sent out several teams. They searched the entire city twice, then went outside the walls to continue the chase, and still they haven’t caught Wu Kai’s daughter-in-law and grandson.” Fushan Yue had both hands pillowing the back of his neck. “That old bastard really is slippery. So, how did your golden-armored copper guard come along?”

“As expected of a royal smithing master, he was far better at upgrading it than I ever could’ve been myself.” Back when He Lingchuan first forged that golden-armored copper man, he had been with the Han River army, and conditions had been poor. He had had to make do with whatever was at hand. Even the furnace had been the medicine ape Ling Guang’s cauldron. Who would have thought that now he would not need to lift a finger, and a master smith from the State of Chiyan would come all the way to Baishajue to upgrade it for him?

There were times when money alone could not buy that kind of service. This just went to show that power and influence were truly wonderful things.

The upgrade process for the golden-armored copper guard itself was not difficult. But then again, a simple dish like braised tofu at home was often still nowhere near as good as what a master chef in a restaurant could produce.

Each trade had its specialists.

The upgraded golden-armored guard had not changed in height, but its whole body was now covered in violet-gold copper armor, with a second layer of scale-patterned soft mail underneath. With double the protection, there was double the security. He Lingchuan had tested it with all sorts of weapons. Ordinary blades and spears could not even leave a mark on the armor. Fire-type divine techniques could do no more than scorch it black. If the Armor-Breaking property of the Fleeting Life saber was not triggered, it took a full six strikes just to break through the outer copper armor.

Furthermore, the joints at the knees, elbows, ankles, and other such places had all been optimized to better follow the natural movement patterns of the human body, making the motions much more agile under He Lingchuan’s control.

While working, the master smith had not stopped complaining either, grumbling that he had no idea who had made the original copper man so badly. Thanks to that, the amount of work required to remodel it had increased by at least threefold.

He Lingchuan had stood there the whole time just rubbing his nose and keeping quiet.

A royal smithing master truly lived up to his reputation. Not only had he repaired the many old injuries on the copper man’s body that had been difficult to heal on their own, and recalibrated the whole thing, but he had even engraved a number of additional lightness arrays on it, making its movements faster, its attacks more accurate, and the feel of controlling it much smoother.

To put it somewhat inappropriately, if the offensive and defensive ability of the golden-armored copper man He Lingchuan had made himself was a three, then the upgraded golden-armored guard was a seven.

He had spent nearly half the afternoon playing with it before discovering, tragically, its greatest weakness: it consumed far too much energy.

Back when it was still just the golden-armored copper man, even less than half of a pale-green profound crystal could keep it working for four hours. If it got into fast-paced, intense combat, it could still hold out for almost an hour.

But after being upgraded into a copper guard, yes, it looked far more imposing, and its offense and defense had both increased by a huge margin, but every movement cost money. A dark-green profound crystal the size of an egg still could not support its activity for even a full two hours.

If it entered intense combat? Heh. At most, fifteen minutes.

At most.

And that depended on the pace of the fight. It might very well block only a few major attacks for its master and then run out of power, though perhaps more accurately, energy.

He Lingchuan clutched at his still-insufficiently-plump money pouch, his heart aching so badly he could scarcely breathe. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

And this was only the copper guard. Just now, he had carelessly gone and asked what it would cost to upgrade it further into a golden-armored divine general.

Leaving aside labor costs and speaking only of material costs, the price was roughly fifteen times that of upgrading it to a copper guard!