Chapter 470: Secret Codes in the God-Respecting Record

Chapter 469: The Code in the Scripture of Reverence

He Lingchuan glanced outside the door. Seeing that no one was around, he drew his head back inside and set up a barrier.

Seeing his solemn demeanor, even Jiao Yu became tense.

He Lingchuan opened the Scripture of Reverence and began turning its pages one by one.

Previously, to give a gift to Sun Fuling, he had memorized the entire Scripture of Reverence, word for word. However, that copy was found for him by Second Steward Shi, and while the content was identical, the layout and font were quite different from this one.

He Lingchuan quickly flipped through the book, confirming there was no hidden mystery within it. Then, he took out Mr. Mai's notebook.

Yes, the notebook filled with coded messages.

"What?!" Jiao Yu's tiger eyes widened instantly. "This code corresponds to the Scripture of Reverence?"

He Lingchuan smiled, confident in his deduction. "Why not try?"

In fact, Zhongsun Mou had received this book first, and He Lingchuan had been observing and pondering for quite some time. When the lame beggar also delivered a Scripture of Reverence, He Lingchuan would have been a fool not to understand.

If the book were useless, why would the tall man deliver it to both sides?

Jiao Yu became interested, bringing his massive tiger head closer, completely blocking the light. "How do you decipher it?"

He Lingchuan had to push his large head away. "Don't block the light!"

He had to admit, the fur felt excellent; he instinctively patted it a couple more times.

General Ling also leaned in closer.

He Lingchuan simply took out some glowing grass.

"The difficulty in deciphering this kind of code lies in finding the right book. Once you have the right book, you're halfway there." He Lingchuan pointed to the first line of code. "Each group of three numbers should correspond to the page number, column, and row, respectively. So this is page thirty-five, sixth column, ninth row. Let me see—"

"This character is 'five'."

Using this method, he deciphered all the coded messages on the first sheet of paper:

"Seventh day of the first month, noon, Tea House south of Xingwang Village, Baishajue?"

The place name "Baishajue" certainly stands out now.

Jiao Yu carefully turned to the second sheet with his claw tip, careful not to tear it. "Next."

"Twenty-third day of the fourth month, morning, Hundred Lions Courtyard in Lingqu."

Jiao Yu explained to He Lingchuan, "Lingqu is a small town in northern Chiyan."

"Located in Qizhou?"

"Yes."

"How far is it from Baishajue?"

"Hmm, about fifty li?" Jiao Yu asked him, "Do you think these are rendezvous times and locations?"

"Of course," He Lingchuan chuckled. "But the handwriting in this notebook isn't Mr. Mai's. That means the rendezvous times and locations were designated for Mr. Mai by someone else."

Jiao Yu understood. "A superior?"

"Most likely," He Lingchuan mused. "Mr. Mai wasn't this cautious when collecting 'pulp beads' from Wan Song and others, nor did he need to change the transaction location every time. This indicates that this individual has a higher or special status, dislikes risk, and requires a more discreet approach."

He then deciphered another coded message.

"Twenty-ninth day of the seventh month, two quarters past Wei hour (1:30 PM), fourth floor of Chaohu Tower, Baishajue!"

Upon seeing this, Jiao Yu's eyes lit up. "Today is the nineteenth of July; they haven't met yet!"

"How long would it take to get to Qizhou from here?"

"At normal speed, about five or six days," Jiao Yu calculated. "If we travel day and night, with our pace, it would take a maximum of two and a half days!"

"In other words, according to Mr. Mai's normal schedule, if he stays in Shuanglu Town for ten full days before going to Qizhou, the timing would be just right," He Lingchuan smiled. "He's going to hand over the 'pulp beads'."

If Mr. Mai had a superior, he would regularly hand over all the 'pulp beads' he acquired from Wan Song.

General Ling stood up and shook his fur, clearly impatient. "We should set off immediately and make sure we arrive before Mr. Mai!"

Travel through the night?

Seeing He Lingchuan frown, General Ling said with an ingratiating smile, "My deadline for going east is almost up, and I'll be penalized if I'm late. I want to finish this as soon as possible; that young Zhongsun is keeping an eye on me."

He needed to reach the battlefield within ten days, and now he had to make a trip to Baishajue first. Time was tight and couldn't be wasted.

"Baishajue?" He Lingchuan smiled. "We're not going!"

General Ling's eyes widened. "What?"

Jiao Yu also said, "The twenty-ninth of July is the transaction date. What good would it do if we went early?"

"I have an old friend in Baishajue who might be able to help us investigate," General Ling tried to persuade. "Wouldn't it be great if we could prepare in advance and catch them red-handed?"

"You forgot Mr. Mai is on the run," Jiao Yu pointed out directly. "With his lair exposed, he might warn his superior, so this transaction could very likely be canceled."

"Uh..." General Ling was speechless, then became agitated. "So what do you suggest we do?"

The two demons stared at each other, then simultaneously looked at He Lingchuan, who had one hand resting on the Scripture of Reverence, his face deep in thought.

"Who do you think sent this book?"

The two demons shook their heads decisively. "Can't guess."

Jiao Yu added, "Besides us and Zhongsun Mou, is there anyone else keeping an eye on Mr. Mai?"

"Hard to say, but that person definitely wants us to arrive in Qizhou in time," He Lingchuan thought to himself. The person behind the scenes wasn't sure who had these coded pages, so they sent the book to both him and Zhongsun Mou, hedging their bets.

This was likely because the old gatekeeper, who had eye mites implanted in him, hadn't returned when He Lingchuan took the scroll from Mr. Mai's study.

In other words, the person who implanted the mites in the old gatekeeper and delivered the books to both teams was the same individual.

Who could this person be?

He couldn't simply conclude that this person bore him no ill will.

"He clearly knows what Mr. Mai is doing and how he contacts his superior," He Lingchuan said seriously. "He's even eager to push all the clues in front of us."

Jiao Yu speculated, "Could this person have a deep-seated grudge against the mastermind?"

He Lingchuan, however, said, "It might be another trap."

"A trap?"

"Have you forgotten?" He Lingchuan hadn't. "When we went to Jade Wheel Mountain to investigate the porcupine den, Mr. Mai took the opportunity to send Wan Song to intercept us because he knew our movements. If he were to repeat that trick this time... how many routes are there from Shuanglu Town to Baishajue?"

Jiao Yu thought for a moment. "Two? Three?"

"Two! Two!" General Ling impatiently tapped the floor a few times, disregarding whether guests downstairs were sleeping. "Just tell us what to do now!"

"I've said it already, we're not going to Baishajue."

"Then what are we doing?"

"Let Zhongsun Mou handle Baishajue. If he can solve the case, we'd be happy to benefit from his efforts." Fu Shanyue's demand was simply to find the truth; the process didn't matter, nor did who solved the mystery, as long as he got a definite answer. "We'll stay here and investigate Wan Song's whereabouts, which is the opposite of our previous division of labor."

Previously, Zhongsun Mou pursued the perpetrator while He Lingchuan investigated Mr. Mai; now it seemed their roles would be reversed.

General Ling exclaimed, "Oh, right, we need to track down Wan Song!"

Wan Song was the direct murderer of the Wind-Boring Beast tribesmen, so of course, he should pursue Wan Song first for blood vengeance!

The current confusing situation had almost led him astray.

"So where do we start?"

"I want to go back to Youtian Town," He Lingchuan said. "We left too quickly during the day, and there were some things I didn't get clarified."

After asking about Mr. Mai's address at Master Wan's place yesterday, they had rushed over.

"Oh, right, what about that ivory ball? Any clues there?" General Ling suddenly remembered the item. "I saw you holding it for a long time."

"It's just an ivory ball. What clues could it hold?" He Lingchuan smiled faintly. "I like ivory; is there a problem with me handling it a bit more?"

"Uh..." General Ling prepared to leave. He Lingchuan gestured for the goshawk in the tree to come down and instructed it, "Keep an eye on Zhongsun Mou; don't let that team out of your sight."

The goshawk nodded.

Before soaring high, it gave him a tail feather to use for later guidance.

Birds of prey truly were excellent at surveillance and tracking. He Lingchuan sighed again in admiration, then set off with the demons back toward Youtian Town.

"This time, let the Patrol Inspector of Lingxu City scout the path for us," He Lingchuan chuckled. "When we receive the Scripture of Reverence and instead of going to Baishajue, we leave Shuanglu Town for Youtian Town, the person behind the scenes will probably assume the scroll was taken by Zhongsun Mou, and their subsequent attention will focus on him."

Jiao Yu nodded. "In any case, we can't let the person behind the scenes lead us by the nose!"

"He's gone to such great lengths to guide us to Baishajue, likely setting a trap. If we go, we fall into it; if we don't, it's a missed opportunity," He Lingchuan said slowly. "So, let Inspector-General Zhongsun scout the way for us. It's best if nothing happens, but if he encounters a trap..."

Jiao Yu chuckled. "The Inspector-General is highly skilled and daring; we don't need to worry about him."

"Precisely."

The road between the two towns was relatively flat, so traveling at night required little effort.

He Lingchuan rode on the rock goat's back, with Wind-Boring Beast on his left and Jiao Yu on his right, causing passersby to turn their heads, wondering who this human was and why he appeared so magnificent.

He Lingchuan had long ignored the stares of others. He then said to the demons, "As for Zhongsun Mou, I suspect he possesses more information than he lets on."

Both demons were startled. "How so?"

"Do you remember when we were at Mr. Mai's courtyard, I mentioned we had found out the mastermind was killing demons to extract 'beads'?"

"I remember."

"At that time, Zhongsun Mou casually asked, 'Extracting beads, what kind of beads?'" He Lingchuan recounted. "He didn't pursue the matter further afterward."

General Ling tilted his head, not hearing anything amiss.

"He's here to investigate a case; he shouldn't overlook any clue. We revealed such a crucial motive for the crime, so why didn't he ask about it or bring it up?"

"Not mentioning it is because...?" Jiao Yu blinked. "Could it be that he knows what that thing is?"

"My explanation was vague; I didn't specify what kind of beads they were. And not all demons can form demon beads, yet Zhongsun Mou didn't ask," He Lingchuan said slowly. "This was subconscious; he didn't need to ask because he already knew what it was deep down."

"Of course, I can't rule out that he's merely careless, but I think that's unlikely. Anyone appointed as a Patrol Inspector by Lingxu City should at least possess some degree of meticulousness, shouldn't they?"