Chapter 1573: Clue

How many pairs of eyes, both seen and unseen, were watching him? The slightest unusual movement on his part would easily be misinterpreted if word got out.

What’s more, he truly harbored ill intentions!

"Just now, someone visited the manor through Fan Shuang and sold me mystic crystals worth seven hundred thousand taels of silver. This person is a bit suspicious."

"Seven hundred thousand taels? Such a large order?" Dong Rui mumbled through a mouthful of cake, "You meet guests all day long. What's so special about this person?"

Flowing Spring Manor received an overwhelming number of visiting cards every day. An ordinary person wishing to meet He Lingchuan would have to wait in line for at least ten years.

"He first bought the Fan family's residence, and then, through Fan Shuang's introduction, he came to the manor to find me."

"Smart people do things this way, right?" Dong Rui took a sip of wine. "What's wrong with that?"

"The problem is, he didn't seem very keen on selling those mystic crystals." He Lingchuan also took a piece of cake. "By market price, they should be around five hundred and fifty thousand, but he insisted on seven hundred thousand. There was no sincerity."

"Perhaps he just wanted to sell them at a high price."

"He was even a little surprised when I agreed to seven hundred thousand. High-quality mystic crystals like these, when sold in bulk, naturally command a higher total price, unlike fruits at a market where buying more often means a wholesale discount. Moreover, he wasn't very skilled at business negotiations; just now at dinner, I specifically asked him some common business questions, and it turned out he was surprisingly unfamiliar with his own trade guild and lacked understanding of the Tianshui City market. All in all, this person doesn't seem like an experienced merchant."

"Not experienced, but wealthy? At least with plenty of mystic crystals?"

"Precisely. If his purpose wasn't simply to sell mystic crystals, then why did he come to me?" He Lingchuan pondered, "He also requested to personally inspect the spring water."

"Could it be that he just wanted to build some connections with you?"

"His behavior did seem like he was trying to get close and establish connections, but the cost was quite high. The chips he put on the table were mystic crystals worth seven hundred thousand."

Although He Lingchuan paid for them, the other party didn't really lose anything.

Most importantly, as soon as Tian Yun appeared, He Lingchuan sensed danger.

Although Tian Yun tried to conceal it in various ways, He Lingchuan always felt that this person was constantly evaluating him.

"There's something off about him."

He trusted the intuition he had honed on the battlefield, so he dispatched Wanqil Liang to follow Tian Yun and find out which inn he was staying at and how many people were with him.

With changes on the horizon, He Lingchuan didn't want any surprises at this time.

"Alright, I'm going to take a bath." Dong Rui stood up and stretched. After so many days in seclusion, it felt like he could scrub off a layer of grime from his body. "Save me a braised pork hock for dinner, stewed until it's tender enough to fall off the bone."

He Lingchuan then went to instruct Wang Fubao to have Gu Lin investigate the background of the "Zhengxin Trade Guild."

Since it was called Flowing Spring Manor, it naturally had hot spring baths suitable for soaking. The water temperature remained at forty-three degrees Celsius year-round; the colder the weather, the more comfortable the soak.

Dong Rui soaked for a full half hour, until his bones felt soft and his muscles relaxed, before slowly getting up.

Ah, what a relief! Every one of his eighty-four thousand pores felt open and refreshed.

After soaking for so long, his stomach started to rumble.

By now, the braised pork hock should be waiting for him in the small kitchen. Dong Rui ambled out, just about to call in the two demon puppets guarding outside, but he saw branches shaking wildly in a tree, accompanied by a flurry of chirping and chattering—

The two creatures were squabbling, seemingly fighting over something.

The Ghost Ape and the Bat were both fast, so Dong Rui couldn't see clearly. He could only crane his neck and bellow, "Hey, what are you doing!"

The two creatures didn't stop, still tugging and pulling. Annoyed, Dong Rui commanded, "Both of you, get down here!"

Only then did the demon puppets obediently tumble down.

"Let me see!"

The Ghost Ape glared fiercely at the Bat, then opened its palm right under its master's nose.

In its palm lay two...

"Beetles?" They were round, one greenish-blue and one brown, one large and one small, but they were indeed beetles.

"What's so great about these things to fight over? There were plenty of them around the manor."

He knew that beetles were indeed on the regular menu for the Ghost Ape and the Bat. To them, they were just small snacks, not for nutrition, but for their satisfying crunch.

The Bat chirped twice, and the Ghost Ape, unwilling to show weakness, also roared.

It was another cacophony, grating on the ears.

Dong Rui gathered his qi in his lower dantian and bellowed, "Silence, both of you!"

When not in combat, these two creatures were actually quite a handful.

"You first!" he said, pointing at the Ghost Ape. "Tell me what happened!"

According to the monkey, the Bat had found something delicious and had been secretly eating it, refusing to share.

"Delicious? What's so delicious about two beetles? These two had been with him for a long time and had eaten all sorts of delicacies, even lapping up quite a bit of Emperor's Dew. Yet now they were fighting tooth and nail over two beetles?"

He knew how picky the Ghost Ape was. A thought struck Dong Rui, and he told the monkey to flip the beetles in its palm over, belly-up.

"This!" Dong Rui's pupils suddenly constricted, and his expression turned serious.

He asked the Bat demon puppet, "Where did you catch them?"

The Bat squeaked twice.

"At the entrance to the kiln cave?!" Dong Rui's heart tightened. The Bat had actually caught these things right outside his residence?

"Come on, let's go back and search!"

At that moment, he no longer cared about the large pork hock and immediately ran towards his residence.

On the way, he encountered a Yangshan guard and simply instructed, "Tell He Lingchuan to come find me in the cave! Now, immediately, right away!"

Half an hour later, He Lingchuan arrived.

At the entrance of the kiln cave, over a dozen Yangshan guards were crouching in the grass and climbing trees, seemingly searching for something.

He Lingchuan asked, surprised, "What's going on here?"

Dong Rui poked his head out from the kiln cave. "Come in, and close the door!"

He Lingchuan complied and casually set up a barrier.

Dong Rui handed He Lingchuan two beetles, his face grim. "Trouble has come knocking. Look at these two things."

He Lingchuan looked at them and saw no difference from ordinary beetles; they were also dead. However, when he flipped one over, he saw a red line on its belly that extended all the way to its mouth.

Why did this red line look familiar?

Before He Lingchuan could think further, Dong Rui handed him a small, transparent glass vial.

Inside the vial was a small blue beetle.

He Lingchuan saw that this blue beetle also had a long red line on its abdomen.

"Huh, isn't this... isn't this...?"

"This is the insect puppet that controlled the personal guards who attacked Situ Yu back at Kiln Slope!" Dong Rui said word by word, "We now know who its master is."

It was the murderer of Situ Yu, and also the "father" that Xiao An spoke of.

It was the other demon puppeteer who had never shown his face.

After Situ Yu was murdered, Situ He came to He Lingchuan and incidentally gave the vial containing the blue beetle to Dong Rui for study.

This thing was, without a doubt, a demon puppet.