Lou Yan’s expression was one of pleasant surprise. “Really?”
“Please, Imperial Preceptor, tell me. If I can capture her, this time it will be a favor owed to you by me—no, by the Shengyang Kingdom.”
“A favor won’t be necessary. If you catch her, please just let me know, Sixth Highness. I would like to go and have a look.”
Zongzheng Yingchu’s thin lips parted slightly. His voice was neither cold nor warm, yet Lou Yan could hear an unusual emotion within it.
Lou Yan nodded in agreement. “I can do that.”
Could it be that Zongzheng Yingchu hadn’t just seen that person by Zongzheng Huangyue’s side, but also had some kind of... history with her?
Zongzheng Yingchu said no more. He wrote down the location where Zongzheng Huangyue had arrived after he had sent her away and handed it to Lou Yan. As he watched Lou Yan depart quickly in his excitement, the indifferent, snow-like gaze in Zongzheng Yingchu’s eyes betrayed a glimmer of murderous intent.
Although he had a handle in Makabaka’s hands and couldn’t kill her directly—nor could he let her know he intended to—it had nothing to do with him if Lou Yan or even the Shengyang Kingdom chose to act.
If she died, he would certainly use a favor to trade for her body.
He would lash her corpse himself!
...
“Achoo!”
Wen Li, who had just crawled out of the dog hole, suddenly sneezed. The surrounding mountains were silent. It had actually turned dark, and the night air was filled with the sounds of cicadas and birds.
The black fleeceball immediately shook the dirt off his body and transformed into his human form, hugging her leg.
“Master, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. Maybe someone’s storage bag is missing me.” Wen Li waved her hand and walked to the left, with Hua Cishu and Zongzheng Huangyue following.
From a distance, Wen Li saw the array flags that had been destroyed and left on the ground. The talismans and arrays she had ordered Zongzheng Huangyue to set had all been broken, and the lingering scent of various medicinal powders still permeated the air.
To prevent being accidentally affected by the medicinal powders, she stuffed five or six detoxifying pills for different powders into her mouth and gave some to the other two as well.
She walked forward, erasing all traces of the arrays and talismans on the ground. Peering into the hole Wangquan Sheng had crawled out of, she saw that not a single bit of the powders had gone to waste. Good. Her shadow stone was gone.
It seemed he had discovered it.
What a pity; she had lost a piece of leverage against a Chosen of the Heavenly Dao.
Wen Li sighed. After checking the cave to ensure no unique traces of her remained, she helped the other two change their disguises again and applied Spirit-Erasing Talismans to change their auras.
She took the mixed ashes of various people collected from the inner chambers and scattered them along six different routes.
Finally, she chose the seventh route and quickly departed.
Unexpectedly, two shichen after the three had disappeared, people arrived at the entrance of Wangquan Wuho’s tomb.
They were actually Clan Elders from the Wangquan imperial family who watched over the disciples' soul jades.
There were two Nascent Soul experts—one at the mid stage and one at the early stage—along with five Late-Stage Golden Core cultivators. All of them looked incredibly grim, their presence radiating a murderous aura.
“The Imperial Preceptor calculated that the location where Wangquan Qihuan and Wangquan Gusui perished is here,” said the leading Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Elder in a low voice.
The brown-robed Early-Stage Nascent Soul Elder behind him was shocked. “Isn’t this Senior Wuho’s tomb?”
Both Wangquan Qihuan and Wangquan Gusui were descendants of his lineage. How could they have perished inside this tomb? Moreover, Wangquan Qihuan was at the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul realm. Who would dare to kill an Imperial Prince in the Beiqiong Kingdom? Could it be people from the Houchi Kingdom or the Shengyang Kingdom?
Such an act was practically a slap to the Beiqiong Kingdom’s face!
They deserved to be torn into a thousand pieces.
The leading Elder remained silent. He took out a round tray and placed the shattered soul jades of the two victims upon it, preparing to confirm their specific locations nearby.
The soul jades floated up, and the pointer on the tray began to rotate slowly. It first pointed toward the main entrance of Wangquan Wuho’s tomb, but then it suddenly shifted.
It was actually pointing toward the direction where Wen Li and her group had left.
The group flew toward the direction of the pointer, stopping in front of a mountain blocked by a large rock. Just as they were about to land and investigate, the pointer suddenly began to spin frantically.
It pointed southeast for a moment, then northwest, then north, then south.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Finally, the pointer simply spun like a fan blade on high speed, nearly giving the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Elder a chill from the draft.
“This... the soul jades should stay at the last location of their aura. Is the Soul-Guiding Compass malfunctioning by being this volatile?” the brown-robed Elder asked, frowning.
The Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Elder looked suspicious, but he dismissed the thought a second later. “No, this Soul-Guiding Compass is a High Grade Rank 1 magical artifact. It has been kept in the soul jade hall for years and can sense the position of anyone with a soul jade. It cannot easily malfunction.”
Refusing to believe it, he flew to each location the pointer had indicated to investigate. He vaguely sensed something was wrong. Taking out a luminous pearl to light the surroundings, he actually found some faint grayish-white powder on the ground, leaves, and bushes in various locations.
The other four did the same and discovered four different paths where the gray powder had been scattered.
The Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Elder even found a sixth direction where the grayish-white dust had been strewn!
This grayish-white dust didn't look like sand, nor did it look like medicinal powder. It looked more like...
“This gray powder has a scorched smell.”
The brown-robed Elder rubbed the powder between his fingers and sniffed it slightly. Fearing it might be poisonous, he didn't taste it. He narrowed his eyes and muttered, “If the Soul-Guiding Compass isn't malfunctioning, and it’s spinning frantically to point at six directions...”
Doesn't that mean...
There are traces of Wangquan Qihuan and Wangquan Gusui in all six directions!
Then this powder...
The five of them looked up at the same time, realizing something.
“Hiss!!” This isn't “no one”—there are people all over the place!
The brown-robed Elder, who had just grabbed a handful of the powder, trembled and immediately stepped back. He felt his palms break into a cold sweat and the hair on his arms stand on end.
“This... This person’s methods are truly vicious!”
He had always cultivated in the Beiqiong Kingdom, supplied by countless royal resources. He had reached the Early-Stage Nascent Soul realm through talent and character. Although he had killed people, it was always for a reason; he would never easily take a life unless there was a life-and-death grudge. While he wouldn't call himself kind and virtuous, he was upright and modest. He had never seen such a wicked, inhuman, and sinister method.
Not only did they kill the victims, they even incinerated them and scattered their ashes in the wilderness. Whether it was to vent their hatred or a cautious move to confuse those tracking their aura, this person was incredibly malevolent.
They were the absolute worst of the evil and demonic paths!
“Investigate! We must track down this vicious evil cultivator and subject them to death by a thousand cuts!”
The leading Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Elder’s gaze was dark. His knuckles whitened as he gripped the Soul-Guiding Compass, his aura trembling with sky-shattering murderous intent.
Killing an Imperial Prince of the Beiqiong Kingdom was already a capital offense. How many years and resources did it take to nurture a Nascent Soul cultivator? This was a direct insult to the Wangquan imperial family.
That person even dared to humiliate and trample upon their remains in such a way. They deserved to die!
“Yes!”
By the time the group entered the inner chambers of Wangquan Wuho’s tomb and saw that the Moon Soul Arrow was gone, Wangquan Wuho’s body had disappeared, and the entire hall had been looted—even the luminous pearls on the walls had been pried out...
“Our Beiqiong Kingdom will surely exterminate this person’s sect and clan! We are irreconcilable!”
In an instant, the news spread throughout the Beiqiong Kingdom’s royal family.
Imperial Prince Wangquan Qihuan and his son Wangquan Gusui were dead. Anyone who could track down the murderer would have them executed in public.
The reward was one million High-Grade Spirit Stones, two High Grade Rank 5 magical artifacts, and one Supreme Grade pill.
They would even be granted a fiefdom city!
Overnight, the entire Beiqiong Kingdom was sent into a frenzy by this news. Members of the royal family secretly mobilized their scouts, and many non-royals who tried to pry for information were warned or suppressed.
At the same time, Lou Yan’s team from the Shengyang Kingdom, which was tracking Wen Li, was also hurrying from the Houchi Kingdom to the Beiqiong Kingdom. At Zongzheng Yingchu’s “friendly suggestion,” Lou Yan had even sent orders for the Saint Emperor to dispatch two Nascent Soul cultivators to rendezvous with them.
Although the address Zongzheng Yingchu gave him was a smoke screen created by Zongzheng Huangyue, now that trouble had arisen in the Beiqiong Kingdom, it was inevitable that people would suspect a connection.
The crisis brought about by the investigations of two kingdoms was gradually approaching.
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