Chapter 1627: Delving Deeply

He probably didn't pay much attention at the time, which is why he can't recall it now.

Liu Wu didn't understand his intent and didn't want to interrupt.

Finally, Bai Ziqi broke off his thoughts and spoke again, asking, "Was Qi Yunsheng poisoned?""We checked; he wasn't."

Bai Ziqi instructed them to keep the body sealed and turned to walk out of the cellar. "How was Mangzhou handled after the incident?"

"The city was locked down, and the Teleportation Prohibition Array was activated," Liu Wu replied, following him. "After three days of fruitless searching, the area was expanded to a fifty-li radius."

"Right. We can't rule out that they used teleportation to escape before the lockdown," Bai Ziqi said, asking him, "After expanding the search area, did you find any more suitable suspects?"

"No."

Liu Wu hesitated slightly at this point, which Bai Ziqi noticed. "Speak plainly."

"Because Mangzhou was so crowded at the time, some officials and wealthy merchants also chose to stay in Zhuo'an. It's only about ten li in a straight line from Mangzhou, but the mountain roads are rugged, making it closer to several dozen li," Liu Wu explained. "Subsequent investigations revealed that many people reported General Chongwu suddenly left in the evening and only returned at dawn the next day."

"Oh?" Bai Ziqi didn't seem particularly interested in General Chongwu. "What was the reason for his sudden departure?"

"It was said that the tribute items he was escorting were stolen, and six or seven other teams at the same inn were also robbed. General Chongwu took his men and pursued them, eventually catching two local petty thieves in a nearby deserted village and bringing them back."

"Hmm," Bai Ziqi mused. "You suspected him too?"

The questions from Lord Bai were difficult to answer. Liu Wu gave a light cough. "It was my duty."

"There's a problem with that testimony, isn't there?"

"Well..."

"Just tell me; I'll keep it confidential."

"General Chongwu was away from the inn for too long—he left in the evening and only returned at dawn. Furthermore, the two petty thieves he caught only admitted to stealing money from the inn but vehemently denied stealing tribute items and supplies."

"What exactly did the petty thieves say?"

"They fell asleep as soon as they returned to the deserted village. When they woke up, there was a pile of boxes beside them, and the furious General Chongwu stood before them. Oh, and later, it was discovered that one of them was wearing an iron ring on his finger, which was a storage ring with a considerable capacity."

Otherwise, how could two people and two horses have carried away more than a dozen boxes?

"Do you think these two petty thieves told the truth, and they were framed?"

Liu Wu replied, "I wanted to go to the prison to interrogate them, but I was told that the two prisoners had vanished. They suddenly disappeared from the county jail late at night, about two days before I arrived in Mangzhou. The jailer on duty that night was knocked unconscious and didn't know what happened."

Bai Ziqi's interest piqued. "Was it an escape or an abduction?"

"The county couldn't determine it either. They only issued a warrant, but these two individuals have not been apprehended since."

"So, their fate is unknown?"

"Yes... you could say that." Liu Wu licked his lips nervously as Bai Ziqi questioned him. "General Chongwu vehemently insists that someone is trying to frame him."

Bai Ziqi pondered while asking, "Where is General Chongwu now?"

"He left to take up his post on the northern front more than two months ago."

Bai Ziqi was curious. "Why was General Chongwu able to go to the northern front to take up his post without having cleared his name?"

Liu Wu explained, "After General Xue was killed, there was a vacancy on the northern front. The Monarch and the Regent decided to dispatch General Chongwu and General Yuwen to fill the positions."

Bai Ziqi let out a long "Oh." "I see, no wonder you suspected General Chongwu."

It seemed General Chongwu was a direct beneficiary of Xue Zongwu's death.

Liu Wu awkwardly touched his nose. "Well..."

He wasn't the only one who suspected General Chongwu. As far as he knew, the Monarch had been too angry to eat for several days.

Bai Ziqi continued, "Considering all this, it seems the Great Emperor Jiuyou had less freedom of action in Yaoguo than in the Shanjing Plains. Therefore, he reduced his retinue to enter the country, used a legitimate identity as cover in Yaoguo, and shadowed Xue Zongwu all the way to Mangzhou. So, his path in Yaoguo was basically the same as Xue Zongwu's. Have you investigated along these lines?"

"We've investigated. But frankly, there were too many groups entering from the northwestern border and taking the same route to Mangzhou; it's difficult to check them all individually."

"Among them, was there no team with extremely formidable martial prowess?" Although Bai Ziqi didn't hold much hope for this direction, as the Great Emperor Jiuyou was surely skilled at disguise, he still asked as a matter of routine.

"Teams escorting officials to the capital usually have some skill. Extremely formidable? Uh..." Liu Wu thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Who else came to mind? It's fine; you can say anything, no matter how outlandish. Sometimes, intuition is more reliable than anything else."

Liu Wu recited six or seven names, then said, "These are all highly skilled and famous individuals, and they were all in the vicinity of Mangzhou when the incident occurred."

One of the names sounded particularly familiar. Bai Ziqi immediately said, "Wait," interrupting Liu Wu's recitation of names.

"He Xiao?" He confirmed with Liu Wu again. "He Xiao was also near Mangzhou that night?!"

"Yes," Liu Wu nodded. "He was invited by my King to enter the country to observe the ceremony. That night, he stayed in Zhuo'an with the Special Envoy and the Imperial Guards, in the same inn as General Chongwu."

"Did you know he was martially formidable then?" Bai Ziqi had fought He Lingchuan before, and if he hadn't recalled his lantern spirit at the time, this "Chiyan Envoy" would have suffered a loss.

At that time, He Xiao's cultivation was good, but not enough to be called "formidable."

"I didn't know when I questioned him. But shortly after, he signed a life-or-death contract in the arena at my King's birthday celebration and killed He Yang, the leader of the Qing Guards under Regent Qingyang, on the spot."

Bai Ziqi stopped abruptly. "I only heard bits and pieces about this incident but didn't know the details. Was it truly in front of Regent Qingyang?"

"Yes, in front of my King, Regent Qingyang, and all the civil and military officials. I was also present at the time."

"That's somewhat incredible." As far as Bai Ziqi knew, Qingyang was extremely protective of her own. What effect could a life-or-death contract at the Yaowang's birthday celebration have on her? "With Regent Qingyang's abilities, how could she have failed to rescue him in time?"

The former Chief Imperial Preceptor of Beijia couldn't save her subordinate at the Yaowang's birthday celebration? That didn't sound like the Qingyang he knew.

"Well, actually..." Liu Wu gave a light cough. "The magical artifact that killed Commander He was something he himself took out. It didn't hit He Xiao; instead, it backfired on its owner. The accident happened too quickly; even if Regent Qingyang had intervened, it would have been too late."

He didn't know if there was a connection between Bai Ziqi and Qingyang, only that both came from Beijia, and he couldn't afford to offend either of them.

"Typical He Xiao, making Qingyang suffer another quiet loss." Qingyang had traveled far to the Shanjing Plains, and those she brought with her were no ordinary individuals. For He Xiao to defeat He Yang in a direct combat, regardless of the methods used, certainly indicated his powerful cultivation.

To have advanced so much in just a few years?

Liu Wu gave an awkward laugh.

"Back to Xue Zongwu's murder, was He Xiao in the inn all night?"

"Yes," Liu Wu nodded. "The Special Envoy sent by my King to meet him, and the Imperial Guards, all testified to that."

"How did they testify? Did they drink together all night?"

"No, they each returned to their rooms to rest for a few hours at night." Liu Wu looked troubled. "When General Chongwu rushed back in the morning, he even had breakfast with He Xiao."

Bai Ziqi precisely pinpointed the loophole. "So, during those few hours at night, no one at the inn saw He Xiao."

"You could say that." Liu Wu hesitated before saying, "Are you suspecting He Xiao?"

"No, I'm only inquiring, not making deductions." Bai Ziqi smiled. "He Xiao is thriving in Tianshui City now, quite comfortably."

"He's the King's top favorite, Yaoguo's most popular foreign merchant," Liu Wu recounted with familiarity. "Not long ago, he oversaw the construction of Youhu Villa, and currently, he serves as a senior official in the Tianshui Eastward Expansion project."

Bai Ziqi already knew all this.

As they prepared to leave Xiaotao Villa by carriage, Bai Ziqi told Liu Wu, "He Xiao and I are also old acquaintances. Tell me in detail what he has been doing in Tianshui City these past few months."

Bai Ziqi listened the entire way as the carriage traveled.

It was dark by the time they arrived at the inn where he was staying. Only then did Bai Ziqi dismiss Liu Wu, sitting by the window lost in thought.

In the small courtyard outside the guest room, a single night-blooming cereus was quietly blossoming, its fragrance filling the air.

There were no lanterns under the eaves, but the moonlight, like water, gently poured over the white flower, giving it a pearlescent glow.

Its splendor was too breathtaking to last for more than two hours.

Bai Ziqi held a cup of tea in his hand and drank it for more than fifteen minutes.

Bai Qi came up with boiling water to prepare his tea, but Bai Ziqi asked him, "What do you think?"

"My lord, what are you referring to?"

"Qingyang, Chongwu, He Xiao, and the Great Emperor Jiuyou."

Having been with him for a long time, Bai Qi understood Bai Ziqi's way of speaking and said, "They all seem a bit suspicious, but..."

He had also been in the carriage and could tell Bai Ziqi's interest in General Chongwu and He Xiao. Whenever Lord Overseer dug into someone like this, that person was usually in for big trouble.

Bai Qi also knew that Lord Overseer wasn't necessarily looking for his own answers but needed to explore ideas through conversation.

Bai Ziqi asked, "But what?"

"They can't be linked together to form strong evidence," Bai Qi whispered. "They're just a few suspicious points."

"If it were that easy to connect them, the Great Emperor Jiuyou would have been captured by Yaoguo long ago; there would be no need for us to come here," Bai Ziqi said, lightly tapping his temple. "I've told you before, what do you do when you can't sort things out?"

The attendant eagerly replied, "Trust your spiritual intuition."

"How long has He Xiao been in Yaoguo?"

"More than two months."

"How long has Qingyang been in Yaoguo?"

"Uh, more than a year."

Bai Ziqi then asked, "How long has the Great Emperor Jiuyou been gone?"

"...Almost three months."

"I said before that after killing Xue Zongwu, the Great Emperor Jiuyou himself stopped committing crimes. Could this be because he had something to do in Tianshui City and therefore couldn't be in two places at once?"

The attendant nodded. But he and Bai Qi also knew that countless powerful individuals had entered Tianshui City at that time, and He Xiao and Chongwu were just two of them.