Chapter 1325: A Unexpected Incident

Qingyang's eyes flickered. The Bixia people had just mentioned the first two place names. "Two battles occurred at Shizhoukou and Liuping. There was also a troop of unknown cavalry, all wearing masks."

"The same applies to the latter three places," Revered Lord Tongming said. "According to reliable information, the leader of the black-armored cavalry wears a dragon-head mask. The dragon-head totems in these places also vanished after only a few days."

"Anomalies where they passed?" Qingyang was well-informed. Her first reaction was not to consider it a divine miracle. "These people are simply using supernatural powers to play tricks."

The Glimmering Gold Plain has seen all sorts of strange things. Wearing masks and hiding their identities only serves to conceal their unspeakable intentions.

Why did these people choose dragon-head masks, of all things?

Is it just because dragons are majestic and awe-inspiring?

As is well known, the Beijia Emperor is of the dragon lineage, and is likely a descendant of the former Dragon God. He must be very displeased upon hearing about this.

"The day after the battle at Mount Dai concluded, believers went to examine the dragon-head totems. There were no traces of any supernatural powers having been used on their surface," Revered Lord Tongming said. "It was as if the dragon heads were carved by hand, or had simply grown out of the walls."

"Like growing directly from the city walls." Qingyang recalled. "Ancient texts describing dragon-head totems also contained this very phrase."

"Black-armored knights, hmm..." she mused, "It will be several months before Bai Ziqi arrives here. I will send people to investigate first."

From Lingxu City to here, one must cross half of Beijia, the entire Mou State, Ya State, and the Glimmering Gold Plain, with numerous smaller states in between. The fastest route Bai Ziqi could choose would be to travel to Beijia's southeastern seaport, take a boat, and then follow the ocean currents to the Glimmering Gold Plain.

This is the quickest, but not the shortest, route, because winding mountain ranges obstruct the land route.

Crossing the ocean is not so convenient, she knew, because that was how she had arrived.

She hadn't initially given much thought to the black-armored army, but after Revered Lord Tongming's mention, it seemed there truly was a need for some investigation.

Why did this group of people unleash such a killing spree?

The people they killed, with the exception of Zhao Guangzhi who sought to seize Liu Shuheng's city, had almost no connection to one another.

Why did the black-armored cavalry specifically target them?

Revered Lord Tongming chuckled. "They'd rather dispatch Bai Ziqi from afar than order you to investigate on site."

Qingyang was in the Glimmering Gold Plain and capable, which logically made her the most suitable candidate for the investigation.

Although she was expelled from Beijia, she remained a confidante of the Demon Emperor. All the gods were well aware of this.

Qingyang said softly, "The gods want to appoint someone they can trust."

Loyal and capable.

She was loyal only to the Emperor, and the gods simply could not trust her.

Revered Lord Tongming asked her, "One last thing: has anything happened recently at the Three-Color Cave?"

Qingyang's expression was unruffled. "I haven't heard anything. What happened?"

"Quite a few people have died in that vicinity. However, if even you haven't heard, then perhaps it's nothing significant."

Qingyang frowned. "The Three-Color Cave isn't under my jurisdiction. What does anything happening there have to do with me?"

Revered Lord Tongming grew a little impatient. "Alright, that's enough talk. Don't you have anything to offer me?"

Only then did Qingyang retrieve a copper tube from her robe and place it on the offering table.

"Thank you, Revered Lord."

The copper tube had a transparent glass section in the middle, sealing dark red smoke within. This smoke would sometimes liquefy and sometimes vaporize.

"Eighty percent?" It wasn't even full.

Qingyang stated calmly, "I hear that in the Divine Realm now, Dragon Torture Pillars and Nightmare Qi are priceless yet unobtainable."

The value of Dragon Torture Pillars has already been inflated fivefold.

When anything is inflated to such a price, it's no longer about the price. It means it's available in name only, essentially unobtainable.

Revered Lord Tongming snorted.

As the dense smoke dispersed, the Dragon Torture Pillar vanished.

Qingyang reopened the doors and windows to let out the choking smoke, then summoned Heyang and gave a few instructions.

***

Chen Family Village, in the suburbs of Liu County, Glimmering Gold Plain.

Within a fifteen-li radius, Chen Family Village stood alone. Beyond the village, there was only farmland or wilderness, and one had to walk several more li to reach the main road.

In the cow shed west of Chen Family Village, a commotion had just subsided.

Five men, ranging in age from their twenties to their fifties, stood in the hay shed beside the cow stall.

They stood around a broken wooden table. Beneath the table lay a woman, her clothes disheveled, her eyes wide open, but her chest had stopped rising and falling.

Blood flowed onto the hay and then seeped into the wooden planks beneath.

"What now?" Someone, still pulling up his pants, panted, "I never intended to kill her! It was... it was her, she hit the corner of the table herself."

"This woman is crazy! If you're going to play around, why keep bringing up her daughter?" The middle-aged man pointed at the woman on the ground. "Do you know why she went crazy? I heard it's because her first two daughters were sold off."

"How was I supposed to know?" The man tying his pants protested, feeling wronged, "It's got nothing to do with me."

Another companion interjected, "What do we do now? We can't just leave her here! Someone always comes to the cow shed."

"It's just an outsider woman who died, it's not a big deal!"

"Hey, the village master has repeatedly warned us not to attract official attention! If they find out A Hui died in the village, they'll surely break our legs."

"Stop arguing, all of you!" The middle-aged man cut them off. "We'll take her out of the village, and that will be the end of it. As Ah Ang said, her origins are unknown. As long as she doesn't die in the village, no one can definitively link her to us!"

The other four men immediately agreed to this idea.

There was a cart near the cow shed. They quietly moved the woman onto it, piled the cart high with thick hay bales, then hitched a mule to it and started moving it out, with some pushing from behind. They didn't forget to lock the hay shed door.

Once outside the village gate, everything would be easy.

Unseen by anyone, a pair of bright eyes watched quietly from behind a low wall not far away.

The five men worked busily, and had almost pushed the cart to the village entrance, when they suddenly remembered:

"Ah, where's that little brat?"

"N-no, I didn't see her." They had been so flustered by the recent accident that they'd forgotten such an important person.

"Ah Ang, you go find her."

Chen Ang acknowledged the order, then asked, "What happens after I find her?"

His question was met with a moment of silence. For a moment, no one knew what to do.

Kill her, or keep her?

"She's quite pretty; it would be a shame to just kill her," the middle-aged man mumbled. "Why don't we do as you suggested!"

"Me?" The companion who had accidentally killed Ah Hui just moments ago pointed to himself. "What did I say?"

"You said to sell the little brat. Doesn't Ah Ang know a slave trader in the county?" The middle-aged man pushed the cart with force. "Sell her, and we'll have peace."

So Ah Ang watched as his four companions drove the cart out of the village. He turned back himself.

But after two hours, he had searched nearly the entire village, but couldn't find his target.