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Chapter 896: Culpability

“City View Alley!” Shangguan Fei exclaimed, looking at the Dragon King and thinking that it had been his order.

The Dragon Army’s base in southern Jade City was in its southeast, which was not far away from City View Alley. Hu Shining had awakened everyone to strengthen their security while the kung fu experts he couldn’t command were sitting on the roof, watching the fire for fun.

Old Man Mu saw the Dragon King and Shangguan Fei, who had just entered the courtyard, and cried out excitedly, “Look, it’s a fire that happens only once every hundred years.”

Xu Xiaoyi immediately sent back the information from the frontlines. “Two hundred people of the Heavenly Mountain Sect encircled and suppressed City View Alley. It’s said that they found the den of the Waning Moon Hall.”

The Unique King had taken practical action while Gu Shenwei had been persisting in looking for clues.

Shangguan Hong jumped down from the roof, his face pale and his eyes elusive and drifting, hardly noticed the existence of Shangguan Fei. “Everyone says that the Master Commander is dead. Is it true?”

Gu Shenwei couldn’t answer because he knew even less than the people in the stronghold. After taking a glance at the roof, he asked, “Where’s Wild Horse?”

“Gone,” Shangguan Hong nervously replied. “He ran away with that weird old man as soon as the City View Alley was set on fire.”

Old Man Mu also jumped onto the ground, asking, “Which weird old man?”

“No, no, I mean the disciple of the Essence Pavilion.” Although Shangguan Hong thought that his kung fu was now no weaker than Old Man Mu’s, he was still a little afraid of him.

The last one to come down was Han Wuxian, who was smiling and sighing. “I hope that the corpses won’t be burnt too badly. I want to identify those traitors’ faces afterwards.”

Xu Xiaoyi added, “Little Chu also went along with them, but my people didn’t see him anywhere in City View Alley.”

Tie Linglong was patrolling outside. Upon seeing the Dragon King come back, she followed him into the courtyard to act as his guard. She had seen Chu Nanping leave with her own eyes. “He left with those two weirdos, as he probably hasn’t forgotten about the Essence Pavilion.”

More and more news came. The siege launched by the Heavenly Mountain Sect seemed to have been very successful. Many people were killed and some of them were captured alive. Not long after dawn, the Heavenly Mountain Sect put up a notice in their sphere of influence, claiming that the Waning Moon Hall had been the sole culprit of the series of assassinations in the past several months and that they had now been wiped out, leaving only a few evildoers fleeing who could no longer threaten Jade City, and other similar pieces of propaganda.

The notice didn’t mention anything about Lotus or the death of the Central Plains envoy.

Chu Nanping finally showed up when it was almost noon. Wild Horse and the disciple of the Essence Pavilion didn’t come back with him.

“City View Alley is completely ruined.” Chu Nanping had witnessed the tragedy first-hand. “At least a thousand people, most of whom did not know kung fu, died in the fire.”

“What about Waning Moon Hall? What about Lotus? Was it true that she was killed?” Han Wuxian was only interested in the fate of the traitors.

There were many people in the Dragon King’s room. Chu Nanping burst into anger openly for the first time since he had been born. With his right hand gripping his long sword, there was unrestrained anger flickering through his beautiful eyes. “It was you. You informed the Unique King and led the Heavenly Mountain Sect to City View Alley.”

In the face of this rare anger, Han Wuxian smiled even more tenderly in return. “I didn’t expect you to have feelings for City View Alley. Did you grow up there?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Han Wuxian turned to the Dragon King. “I wonder if the Dragon King suspects me, too?”

“I believe that if Hall Leader Han joined the Unique King, you would not risk staying with me any longer.”

Han Wuxian laughed and said to Chu Nanping, “But I will still give you an explanation because you are pretty and I don’t want you to hate me.”

Chu Nanping seemed to not have heard the Dragon King’s words or Han Wuxian’s praise, and was still poised to draw his sword.

“If I informed the Unique King, then I should have united the Heavenly Mountain Sect to surround the Dragon King and the Essence Pavilion. Why wait until now? Jade City is the Golden Roc Castle’s lair. The Unique King has managed it for many years and is better informed than me. Why would he need my help?”

Han Wuxian had actually offered a reasonable explanation. Old Man Mu rushed to show his approval. “I can guarantee that my lady could not have done such a thing because she has never left my sight, even when taking a bath or sleeping.”

Holding her long hair, Han Wuxian muttered, “If I ever hear you talking such nonsense again, I’ll dig out your eyes so that you’ll never be able to peek at me again.”

Old Man Mu smilingly said, “Don’t you think that it is intimate for me to call you ‘my lady’? Otherwise, they wouldn’t believe that we are a couple.”

Looking at Old Man Mu who was half as tall as her, Han Wuxian said in a coaxing tone, “We are not a couple. You are merely a toy who escaped from Waning Moon Hall. I have had a lot both before and after you. Now, I’d rather have him than you.”

Chu Nanping blushed a bit but his face was still contorted with anger. Tie Linglong, who was behind the Dragon King, however, blushed red up to her ears, thinking that Han Wuxian was too outspoken.

Old Man Mu stared at Chu Nanping for a long while before saying, “He’s just a dull kid. How could he be better than me? He’s barely touched Tie Linglong’s hand and knows nothing about women. What’s the use of a good appearance? You know…”

A serious accusation was quickly turning into a storm of jealousy. Gu Shenwei had to stop it there. “Everyone, go back to your room and await further orders. From now on, no one is allowed to leave the house without express permission.”

Old Man Mu walked out bitterly, his eyes still fixed on Han Wuxian and Chu Nanping.

Chu Nanping had not drawn his sword after all.

Full of exasperation and shame, Tie Linglong stayed on as a guard, but Gu Shenwei simply ignored her. He had to hand over the real murderer to the Central Plains people tomorrow morning. All of the clues pointed towards Wei Song, but the only evidence he had was Lady Meng. He really had no more energy to deal with other matters.

But it was exactly this Lady Meng who clearly refused to stand out to testify against Wei Song. “I can’t let anyone know that I had anything to do with the death of the Central Plains envoy. I hope that the Dragon King can understand and look for a flaw in Wei Song from other places.”

The strategy of Golden Roc Castle was simple and clear which was to put all the blames of the assassination on the Waning Moon Hall. The most conservative approach Gu Shenwei could adopt was to remain silent and let Lotus become the scapegoat.

In the afternoon, Xu Xiaoyi received some more accurate information, saying that at least twenty disciples of Waning Moon Hall had been killed and that at least three of them were captured alive. But Master Commander Lotus, as well as Han Xuan, who had just been recaptured by Lotus, wasn’t on the list. “There’s one thing that I think the Dragon King should pay attention to,” Xu Xiaoyi said.

“Go ahead.”

Upon hearing that Lotus was neither dead nor captured, Han Wuxian appeared a little nervous, and she hid in her room and often laughed for no reason.

Xu Xiaoyi still considered Chu Nanping to be his best friend and used every opportunity to help him disparage Han Wuxian.

“Do your own thing.” Gu Shenwei expressed his discontent, saying, “I want accurate information, not your personal guesses. If you can’t be scrupulous and separate public from private interests, you should give up your position.”

After being scolded, Xu Xiaoyi embarrassedly apologized and dared not mention Han Wuxian again. “Uh, the Dragon King should know that Little Chu also brought a child back with him.”

“Hmm.” Gu Shenwei didn’t ask any more questions.

In the evening, two important figures hurried in from the east camp.

The first was Zhong Heng. As soon as he met the Dragon King, he started talking about the fight at City View Alley. “Actually, it’s a good thing. Waning Moon Hall has suffered a heavy loss, Lotus will have no choice but to cooperate with the Dragon King now.”

“I hope so.” Deep down, Gu Shenwei knew that that was impossible. Lotus was too proud. If Waning Moon Hall was in control, then the possibility of joining hands might actually be higher. But she would never bow to the Dragon King while she was in a corner.

There were always a few people in the world who Gu Shenwei couldn’t explain with his utility-based thinking.

“I found the leaker of the envoy of the Central Plains.” Zhong Heng quickly turned to the key topic. “It’s Zhang You, one of Ma Lian’s attendants. To be honest, I almost neglected him and didn’t put him on my watch list because no one told me that he was a eunuch.”

Zhang You was very inconspicuous among the envoy team, and he hadn’t even joined the welcome banquet. Zhong Heng had gotten permission from Wei Song to go to the camp of the envoy team in the name of offering condolences. There, he soon found a man who he had never met before. After a quick inquiry, he immediately confirmed that this man was the leaker he was looking for.

Unlike the powerful eunuchs in the imperial palace, Zhang You was just an ordinary eunuch and had no power of supervision over the envoy. He was just an attendant sent to Ma Lian by the Emperor and didn’t bear any great responsibility. To Ma Lian, this was supposed to be a great honor. However, those obsequious attendants around him had never mentioned it.

“When he was in the Central Plains, Ma Lian ordered his entourage to not tell anyone in the Western Regions that there was a eunuch in the procession. If he had not died, then those attendants would not have dared to speak.”

Zhong Heng had spent lots of money but thought that it was well worth it. “It wasn’t easy to uncover this Zhang You’s origins. Very few people know of him and he himself was also tight-mouthed and never talked much about things in the palace. But one of the attendants speculated that he might actually be an attendant of the Empress Dowager. I tried to sound him out, and sure enough, when I deliberately mentioned the Emperor and Empress Dowager of the Central Plains, Zhang You was obviously more respectful towards the Empress Dowager.”

From this, Zhong Heng had made a bold guess. “Wei Song and the General-in-chief, Pang Ning, are both on the Empress Dowager’s side, who advocates for war against the Norland and Western Regions. Assassinating the Central Plains envoy while framing the Western Regions is the best excuse to send troops. As an attendant, Zhang You was well aware of the whereabouts of Ma Lian, and it is entirely possible for him to collude with Wei Song to assassinate the envoy.”

“If so, even if Golden Roc Castle puts all the blame on Waning Moon Hall, it won’t change the decision of the Central Plains to send troops.” This was the first thought that came to Gu Shenwei’s mind.

Zhong Heng agreed. “No, it won’t change. To the far away Central Plains, there’s no big difference between Waning Moon Hall and Golden Roc Castle, or the Dragon King and the Unique King. All of you are people of the Western Regions and will be implicated no matter who made the mistake.”

Gu Shenwei told Zhong Heng about the information that he had received from Lady Meng and also took out the bribery document that Meng Mingshu had found. Zhong Heng quickly flipped through it and paused for a long while before saying, “This is indeed a good chance to bring Wei Song down. Only by putting all the blame on him will Jade City not be implicated. But there’s a big problem. Without Prince Xiao here, Wei Song is the highest officer of the Central Plains in the Western Regions. Even if Dragon King has evidence, who can you give it to?”

Then Zhong Heng answered the question himself. “There’s a deputy envoy under Ma Lian. I’ll go sound him out whether he has the status and courage to do so.”

Not long after Zhong Heng left, Dog Butcher came. He had been in contact with his elder sister and was looking for evidence that Wei Song intended to harm the Dragon King. After a few days, Tu Pianpian finally reluctantly admitted that Wei Song did have such an intention.

“I don’t know why, but Lord Wei doesn’t seem to like the Dragon King. Senior sister said that he was very anxious to get rid of the Dragon King as soon as possible.” Dog Butcher didn’t know about the tangled history between the Dragon King and Wei Song so he was very puzzled.

Everything was coming together. Gu Shenwei felt that he had no choice but to make a move tomorrow.