Chapter 551: Twilight Plain's New News

Ordinarily, if people touched or even vandalized the mark, the barrier wouldn't activate. It was remarkably tolerant unless the entire mark was endangered.

He Lingchuan then saw a second battle report.

This report, compiled after the fall of the Abyss Nation, enumerated the achievements of the campaign and mentioned only one sentence:

The Abyss King committed suicide, Thousand Star City fell, and no Black Dragon descended to participate in the battle.

This confirmed that the Black Dragon was indeed not a "national guardian beast." Otherwise, having been well-fed and sustained by the citizens' vital energy in peacetime, how could it not exert its power during such a critical moment of national collapse and ruin?

He Lingchuan flipped through the materials again and suddenly saw a page stating that the Black Dragon mark had also appeared in Mou Nation!

Mou Nation?

He Lingchuan's heart stirred. Mou Nation still existed and was quite large, located east of Beijia Nation, separated by a sea and two small countries.

This was the only connection he knew of between the Black Dragon pattern and the current world, wasn't it?

The information provided by Fu Shanyue was not meager, but after reading it, he found that it seemed the Chi Yan Nation also hadn't found any convincing answers.

If Chi Yan Nation was like this, wasn't Beijia Nation the same?

But this thing had no effect on combat, nor apparently on enemies. So, despite their confusion, Chi Yan Nation probably didn't pay too much attention to it, right?

But why did both the Abyss King and Zhong Shengguang value it so much?

They not only knew what it was but also what it was for.

After taking out all the materials, He Lingchuan discovered a circular tile-end at the bottom of the box.

The tile-end had an intricate pattern: a dragon's head!

Fu Shanyue was quite considerate; he actually got him a physical object! What a pleasant surprise.

At the same time, his chest felt a sudden warmth—the divine bone necklace reacted; it wanted it!

He Lingchuan picked up the tile-end and examined it several times, confirming there were no mechanisms or hidden compartments. It was simply exquisitely handmade, and its hardness far surpassed that of ordinary tile-ends.

He squeezed the divine bone: "What exactly is it for?" The divine bone continued to heat up.

"Could this be a key to unlock some ruins or a treasure vault?" Of course, the divine bone didn't respond to him.

He Lingchuan didn't indulge it either. He simply put the dragon-head tile-end and the documents back into the box and stored them all in his storage ring.

How could such an important clue be carelessly given away? In the evening, Fu Shanyue came to see him again, clicking his tongue in amazement: "Strange, even Cheng Yu has become a living corpse."

"Oh?" He Lingchuan was startled. "Who did it? How could even Envoy Bai not save his life?"

"Who knows? Envoy Bai is probably furious too." Fu Shanyue glanced at him sideways. "The killer certainly avenged you."

"It has nothing to do with me." He Lingchuan raised his hands to show his innocence. "He plotted against me, and I brought him to justice. That's a fair deal. I've always acted impartially and with great magnanimity!"

Anyone involved with the secrets of the Great Square Cauldron must die! This had nothing to do with personal grudges.

Fu Shanyue looked up at the sky and said with a smile, "Oh dear, who knows how many more people will die in this incident!"

The deeper they investigated, the bigger the commotion became.

For the next four or five days, Baisha Que was cloudless for thousands of miles.

Tourists thronged the embankment, and flowers drifted everywhere in the water city. Everyone was seizing the last splendor of late summer.

No matter how turbulent the undercurrents were in the city, ordinary people's lives continued as usual.

For several consecutive days, it was calm and peaceful, with no casualties, to the point that even Bai Ziqi was somewhat unaccustomed to it.

He had experienced countless strange and bizarre incidents, but having people die one after another on his very first night in charge, especially important witnesses, the Elixir of Immortality case would definitely rank high.

Now that the case finally had no more deaths, he had also interrogated Wu Kai, the accomplice newly sent by Madam Cen.

Today, the news he had been waiting for finally arrived.

Dust-laden.

Now Bai Ziqi sat in his inn room. In front of him knelt two subordinates, both looking wind-swept.

"Rise."

These two had traveled from the Twilight Plains, a thousand miles away.

When Bai Ziqi left Lingxu City to head south, he brought many people, but most of them were left in various places to investigate cases.

"Any new developments?" He had investigated in the Twilight Plains for a long time, but there were few witnesses to the second illusion scene at Thousand Star City ruins. They were all passing merchants and travelers who had scattered everywhere afterward, going to the ends of the earth. Bai Ziqi's team could only go to nearby post stations for secondhand, diluted information that yielded no useful clues.

There was no use being depressed; the Twilight Plains were vast and sparsely populated, full of uninhabited areas. If the anomaly of the Great Square Cauldron occurred there, no one would know at all. The two exchanged glances. "After you left, we stayed in the Twilight Plains for five or six more days," they reported. "Then we discovered that the grass around Thousand Star City ruins had grown taller, vines were rampant on the ground, and many bamboo shoots had appeared. Passing merchants and travelers reported that the mountain roads were not as easy to traverse as before."

Bai Ziqi's first reaction: "The malevolent energy has weakened."

For many years, vegetation did not grow well and the vital energy of the land was weak in the Twilight Plains, precisely because malevolent energy was rampant, harming the populace. Now, the continuous emergence of plants indirectly indicated that the malevolent earthly energy had weakened.

"Perhaps it's because the Imperial Nectar has recently erupted twice in a row, and the spiritual energy in the air is gradually becoming richer, dissolving the malevolent energy."

The eruptions of Imperial Nectar had a huge effect on improving the spiritual energy environment of the entire world. Most Imperial Nectar seeped into the ground. The malevolent energy in the Twilight Plains was even thicker over a hundred years ago, and it would always alleviate somewhat after each Imperial Nectar event.

"Or perhaps it's because the Great Square Cauldron's anomaly and the second illusion at Thousand Star City ruins that day consumed a large amount of malevolent energy." Bai Ziqi's gaze shifted. "After all, the Great Square Cauldron has deep roots with the Abyss Nation."

"Your subordinates also obtained a hidden piece of information from the checkpoint at the border between the Twilight Plains and Chi Yan Nation."

"Oh?" Bai Ziqi liked secrets. "Tell me."

"According to the junior official there, Crown Prince Fu Shanyue of Chi Yan Nation passed through that checkpoint over forty days ago!"

"Hmm? Fu Shanyue?" Bai Ziqi's gaze sharpened. "When we investigated in the Twilight Plains before, why didn't we find this out?"

"Passing through doesn't require name registration," the two said. "And the Inspector had given orders at the checkpoint not to allow officers to discuss this matter."

Not only Beijia, but border crossings in all nations do not record incoming and outgoing personnel. At checkpoints like the one in Twilight Plains, where tens of thousands of people pass through daily, if everyone's name was recorded, how many pages would that take? And after recording, there would still need to be a dedicated place to store them.

Many refined methods weren't beyond people's imagination, but the cost of implementation was too high. So the mainstream practice was just to stamp a pass and let people go.

"The Inspector? Then how did you find out?"

"That junior official loved wine but had a low tolerance. We treated him to two cups, and he told us everything," the two reported. "Three days after the Tiangang Star anomaly, a lowly servant reported to the junior official that the Chi Yan Crown Prince intended to bring a six-year-old lowly servant through the checkpoint. The junior official ignored it, but Inspector Zhongsun Mou instructed them to discreetly investigate the truth in the convoy and then make things difficult for the Chi Yan Crown Prince when he passed through the next day."

"Zhongsun Mou?" Bai Ziqi smiled. "This petty merman is narrow-minded and has always been at odds with Fu Shanyue. This time, he wanted to use his official position for personal revenge. So, did Zhongsun Mou eventually catch that little lowly servant?"

"No. That person wasn't in the Chi Yan Crown Prince's convoy, but several contraband items were found, and Lord Zhongsun fined them several thousand taels of silver."

Bai Ziqi twirled the pinky ring on his left hand, a habit of his when thinking. "Well, well, a setup."

The nation had been established for hundreds of years, yet these monsters still acted too brutally and without concealment.

Considering Fu Shanyue's temper, Zhongsun Mou's death was truly not unjustified in the end.

"As for the missing officers in the town," the subordinates continued, "the office is abuzz with rumors that the Chi Yan Crown Prince returned for revenge. But there's no solid evidence, and Zhongsun Mou had also left by then, so the matter was dropped."

"So, when the Tiangang Star anomaly occurred, the Chi Yan Crown Prince was also in the Twilight Plains," Bai Ziqi mused. "What about his special envoy, He Xiao? Was he mentioned?"

"No," the subordinate replied. "The Chi Yan Crown Prince's entourage was large." "What about that lowly servant?" "He died in a dark alley, and his body was later discarded somewhere unknown."

"Indeed, the Tiangang Star anomaly brings many strange occurrences," Bai Ziqi hummed. "Fu Shanji, Fu Shanyue's brother, also died under very suspicious circumstances."

They dared not interject.

"Chi Yan Nation publicly stated he died of illness." Bai Ziqi shook his head and chuckled lightly. "Can a drought demon die of illness? This excuse is too flimsy. Furthermore, Fu Shanji's death also occurred around the time of the Tiangang Star anomaly. So many things in Chi Yan Nation are intertwined; they really need to be thoroughly investigated."

This was also the Emperor's wish.

His subordinate reminded him, "My Lord, during the second Tiangang Star anomaly, the Chi Yan Crown Prince hadn't yet reached the six northern counties of Yanbei."

"Hadn't yet reached?" Bai Ziqi glanced at him, frowning slightly. "Are you sure?"

"Uh..."

"Less than an hour after Zhongsun Mou was killed, Fu Shanyue appeared in Baisha Que, catching Cen Boqing off guard. Can you know the exact time he arrived in Yanbei?"

Fu Shanyue must have departed from the Chi Yan capital long ago. Only he and He Xiao would know the exact time of his departure and arrival in Yanbei.

The subordinate bowed his head. "This subordinate was mistaken. Where should we start the investigation now, Envoy? Please give us your instructions."

"Investigate the cause of Fu Shanji's death, that's one," Bai Ziqi said slowly. "Then investigate the background of the Crown Prince's special envoy, He Xiao, that's two. Near the supply origin of Prunella vulgaris, seek out witnesses of the Snail Toad and inquire about its hiding place, that's three. Also, transfer most of our personnel here to investigate what strange occurrences, no matter how small, took place in the six northern counties of Chi Yan — that is, the area north of Zhitian Township and south of Xiangshan — on the night of the second Tiangang Star anomaly."

"My Lord, we might not have enough personnel." Each of these investigations was time-consuming and labor-intensive.

"Then investigate the six northern counties of Yanbei first. I will request more personnel." Bai Ziqi was very good at prioritizing.

That night, Bai Ziqi knelt facing east, praying to the gods. This was a daily compulsory task for the Envoy of the Clouds.

But tonight, he was only halfway through his prayer when the candlelight suddenly flickered, elongated to half a chi high, and then returned to normal.

The Candle Spirit appeared and silently spoke to Bai Ziqi. Bai Ziqi's expression became even more devout.

"My Lord is wise! Then your subordinate will depart for Lingxu tomorrow. Here in the six northern counties of Yanbei, I will leave people to continue the investigation."