“The moment I got your commission, I sent people to investigate. By the time they reached the village, though, they learned the brothers had already turned up dead in the long grass by the riverbank. It was a civet monster gathering fodder that found them. As for the fatal wounds, the older Chen took his in the throat, while the younger Chen in the back, through the heart. The older Chen also had some other injuries on him, probably scratches from struggling or from grappling with the killer. Oh, and the wound to his right arm went all the way to the bone.”

“Time of death?”

“The coroner the authorities sent out believes they died at about dusk the day before yesterday, which is the second day after the post station explosion.”

He Lingchuan gave a quiet grunt. “So they were silenced.” Exactly as expected.

Old Ge asked for instructions. “So, do you still want this pursued?”

“If you keep digging, at most you’ll only get as far as the middleman, right?”

“Probably.” Old Ge did not deny it. “People of rank up top don’t like getting their own hands dirty either. Usually, they hire an intermediary. Those fellows are very experienced.”

He knew the whole business well, because he himself was exactly that sort of intermediary.

“No need to continue. I already know enough.”

Among all of He Lingchuan’s enemies, the Minister of Finance ought to be smart enough not to stir up trouble with the special envoy of Chiyan over a son-in-law who had already been convicted. That would be an utterly losing proposition. Madame Cen and Yao Xingning might be headstrong, but they also understood perfectly well that picking this moment to strike at the Crown Prince of Chiyan would do absolutely nothing to improve her husband’s odds of surviving. And poisoning someone to death did not feel like the sort of thing the commander of the Tongxin Guard would stoop to.

That left only the Cen Family or the Zhongsun Family.

And considering that Zhongsun Ce had only just been publicly and relentlessly humiliated by Fushan Yue at Dun Garden a few days ago, He Lingchuan judged him the likeliest culprit.

After the explosion at the post station, Zhongsun Ce must have regretted things until his guts turned green. And now that the Chen brothers had been eliminated, the Zhongsun Family was unlikely to dare move again anytime soon.

No one liked setting fire to himself while trying to burn someone else.

But He Lingchuan had no intention of retaliating in kind just yet.

So long as the elixir of youth case exposed the real mastermind behind the scenes, the Zhongsun Family most likely would not escape anyway. So if the chance presented itself later, he would do best to give Bai Ziqi a helpful push.

Once he had thought that through, his mind became easy again. As the donkey cart rolled along, he chatted with Old Ge in bits and pieces the whole way.

Old Ge’s attitude toward him was incomparably better than it had been last time it was leading a tour group. It answered every question patiently and without the slightest sign of annoyance, and whenever it smiled, its eyes disappeared while its teeth filled its whole face.

He Lingchuan had once thought only humans knew how to be stiff and arrogant at first, then warm and obliging later. However, this gibbon clearly understood the same art perfectly well.

He Lingchuan knew that, apart from being a special envoy of Chiyan, the biggest reason was that he had made a name for himself in Lingxu City.

There were many benefits to being friends with someone famous.

From their conversation, he learned that Old Ge originally came from the State of Shanyu and had left home twenty years ago for Lingxu City, where it had gradually built himself up. Its main business was wholesale fish distribution. In He Lingchuan’s terms, it was basically the local “fish tyrant” of this whole market district. As for side businesses, it did anything.

If the Chen brothers had not died, then for the right price, Old Ge would have been perfectly happy to teach them a lesson as well.

Using a phrase He Lingchuan had learned in another world, Old Ge was very neatly categorized among “the monsters and freaks[1].”

As they talked, the donkey cart passed through a busy and prosperous street. The crowds there were much denser than in the South Li District, but He Lingchuan spotted a large stretch of blackened rubble by the roadside.

A building covering several hundred square meters had burned down to little more than broken tiles and ruined walls. Only a few scorched, blackened pillars were still barely standing.

There were not many people there. Those who came and went were mostly clearing up the wreckage, though they worked with obvious laziness.

He Lingchuan had already guessed, but still asked, “Where is this?”

“Qingfu Temple.” Roadwork ahead had clogged the way, so the donkey cart slowed. “A fire broke out here some time ago. In little more than two hours, the whole temple, along with the people inside, was burned clean away.”

“This is Lingxu City. Didn’t anyone use water or extinguishing spells?”

“They say several parts of the temple caught fire at once, and that night there was also a north wind. Once the flames caught the wind, they surged up all at once.” Old Ge said, “The residents around here told me the flames were red with blue mixed in, so they clearly weren’t ordinary fire. The government office sent in water carts and called in quite a few spellcasters to try and extinguish the fire, but none of it did any good.”

“So many buildings, all burned to nothing in the space of two hours?”

“Yup, every bit of it, burned to nothing.” Old Ge shook its head. “By the time powerful people heard and arrived, Qingfu Temple was already gone.”

“How many died?” He Lingchuan let out a soft chuckle. The nobles of Lingxu City really do seem fond of killing people to seal mouths, huh?

“Not sure of the exact number, but seventy or eighty at the very least?” Old Ge scratched its head. “The incense offerings there used to be very strong. Travelers also liked to stop by and worship.”

“Which god was enshrined there?”

“True Monarch Tongming.”

“...” He Lingchuan could hardly even describe what he felt on hearing that heavenly god name. He Chunhua had nearly had his whole family exterminated because the He Family was accused of making offerings to True Monarch Tongming.

And now here at Lingxu City, the god’s temple stood openly on one of the city’s busiest streets, receiving the worship of the masses.

“I hear this temple was dragged into the elixir of youth case too.” He Lingchuan asked, “You heard anything about that?”

“Elixir of youth?” Old Ge did not even blink. “Never heard of it. What does something like that have to do with ordinary people?”

He Lingchuan smiled. “Nothing at all.”

Old Ge bared its teeth. “I only ever bring tourists here to burn incense. I don’t know anything else.”

He was a clever ape. He knew exactly which affairs he could stick a hand into, and which ones he ought to stay as far away from as possible.

The donkey cart soon stopped in a small square.

Here, He Lingchuan had to transfer to another vehicle and ride with other passengers in an elk carriage[2] bound for Mount Xu.

Mount Xu was one of the central purposes of his journey to Lingxu City. No matter how much trouble was still hanging over his head, he had to go and take a proper look for himself.

The two elk pulling the cart had already eaten their fill of fodder and were standing tall and spirited. Once the dozen or so passengers had climbed aboard, they broke into an easy trot, chewing their cud as they went.

For them, moving at this speed was little more than a stroll. It did not interfere with the business of eating.

Judging by the passengers’ clothing, they came from all corners of the world.

The two burly mandrills He Lingchuan had seen on his previous group tour climbed aboard last. One of the passengers looked at them nervously and asked, “And you two are?”

With those slabs of muscle and those murderous faces, they looked exactly like the opposite of safe.

“Escort guards for the journey.” Old Ge showed a genial smile. “Hired at great expense to ensure everyone’s safety.”

That only made the passenger more uneasy. “Is Mount Xu unsafe, or is the road unsafe?”

“Both are perfectly safe,” answered Old Ge with magnificent magnanimity. “But just because things have always been safe doesn’t mean there’s no need for security. If someone slips while climbing, these two may come in handy!”

There were two young men of about twenty on the elk carriage, conversing spiritedly without the least attention to anyone else. One had a broad face and large ears, the other handsome features. Since they had come together and wore similar clothing, they were clearly from the same background.

Looking more closely, He Lingchuan found them somewhat familiar.

There were not many empty seats left, so he ended up seated with them.

The handsome one took one look at He Lingchuan’s bearing and the way he moved and immediately cupped his hands with a grin. “Why, I think we may have seen one another at the Dun Garden auction?”

He Lingchuan returned the gesture. “I thought you looked familiar. So it really was the two of you.”

These were the very guests who had bought the unknown curiosity that the divine bone amulet had taken a liking to.

“That horn-like item you bought, have you had it appraised yet?” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The two men shook their heads. “No. It was stolen.”

“Stolen?” He Lingchuan was startled. “Did you report it?”

“The day after we left Dun Garden, we were just about to find someone in Lingxu City to appraise it, but then it vanished without a trace. I clearly remember placing it in my storage ring before going to sleep. When I woke the next morning, it was gone.” The handsome man said, “I already reported it to the local government office, but after so many days, there’s still been no reply.”

He Lingchuan let out a surprised sound. “Then someone was probably watching you all along.” If the thing wasn’t priced very high, why hadn’t whoever wanted it simply bid for it on the spot? Why resort to stealing it afterward? What exactly were they after?

A thought stirred in He Lingchuan’s mind. Back at the display case during the auction, the Soul-Stealing Mirror had warned him that several people were watching. Yet once he left the case, none of them followed.

So they had really been watching those unknown curiosities? Did they want to see who ended up buying them?

“Forget it, forget it. It wasn’t expensive anyway. Better to lose a bit of money and count it as a disaster averted.” Since anyone invited to Dun Garden was at the very least not some ordinary commoner, the handsome man’s tone turned even more friendly. “Come, let’s introduce ourselves properly. I’m Jiang Tao, and this is Gao Jilin. We’re from the State of Zhi. And you are mister...?”

“He.” He Lingchuan blinked. “Given name Yun. I’m from the State of Fu.”

He casually made up an alias on the spot because this Jiang Tao looked far too talkative. If he gave his real name, he would probably have no peace for the whole ride.

The State of Fu was a tiny place. Jiang Tao gave a few ohs and ahs, still smiling, but his eagerness immediately faded by a notch.

“If I remember right, the State of Fu produces a fragrant wood that resists decay. My family always keeps some on hand.”

He Lingchuan gave a noncommittal hum. “Cloud-incense wood.”

“Yes, yes. And what position do you hold, Brother He?”

He Lingchuan answered vaguely, “Nothing settled yet. I’ll see about that once this trip is over and I go back.”

Jiang Tao gave a couple more ohs, and his enthusiasm diminished by another notch. So he’s just a wandering scholar from nowhere. His family probably has some means, perhaps some connections, and now sent him to Lingxu City for a bit of study and gilding. Once back in a tiny place like the State of Fu, a little gift-giving would probably be enough to land him a respectable public post.

He Lingchuan asked in return and learned that the two men were state-sponsored students from the State of Zhi, sent to Lingxu City for observation and study. Back home, both were sons of high officials, so they were officially sponsored international students.

Lingxu City housed large numbers of foreign students. They studied in the academies while observing the city’s customs, laws, and human affairs. The most outstanding among them could even enter court as officials.

The State of Zhi was a small state to the northeast of Beijia with a population of under five million, which was not even as many as Lingxu City itself, but it lay along the Earth Sea and possessed two deep-water natural harbors that never froze in winter. Living off the water like that, it managed fairly well through trade and shipping.

Jiang Tao was a tremendous talker. Once he started describing his experiences in Lingxu City, the words poured out in an endless stream. Even if nobody else said a word, he was fully capable of performing a monologue the whole way.

His admiration and reverence for Lingxu City knew no bounds, and he could summon up endless examples to prove how magnificent it was.

One of the mandrills in the back row kept digging at its ears, clearly close to its limit.

Old Ge rolled its eyes more than once as well. This man simply would not stop talking. The whole journey was filled with Jiang Tao’s voice. Old Ge had originally intended to provide some commentary on the sights along the way, but now it could not even be bothered to open his mouth anymore.

1. The idiom/phrase here is 牛鬼蛇神, which really just refers to bad/evil characters. ☜

2. . I guess they just have different deer-esque animals for the buses. ☜