902 Confession (1/2)
Many people participated in this meeting. The Dragon King, the Unique King, the Prince Regent of the Shule Kingdom, and Wei Song represented four armies. Each of them had brought two attendants. The team of the Central Plains envoy had also sent two people here – a deputy envoy and an attendant.
The deputy envoy's name was Sun Chengqi. He was an amiable official, but on this occasion, there was a look of anger tinged with grief upon his face. He was a representative of the deceased Ma Lian and he was here to demand an explanation.
Sun Chengqi and Zhong Heng had secretly reached a preliminary agreement, but he pretended to not know the Dragon King. He slightly nodded at the Dragon King just like he had done to the other Western Regioners.
Nobody had introduced the attendant of the deputy envoy. His face was strange to Gu Shenwei, so Gu Shenwei knew he was Zhang You, the eunuch Zhang You that had once been mentioned to him.
Zhang You looked feeble, and his face was pale, as if he could be blown away by a gust of wind. Sending him here to the Western Regions had been a cruel decision, but he had an obedient face. When he stood behind Sun Chengqi, he looked as humble as an invisible man. By comparison, Shangguan Hong seemed like a sabersman who had only learned some below average kung fu, but had still managed to enter Jade City, where one's kung fu was the most important quality.
The Four Noble Truths Temple didn't send any eminent monks to this room. There was only the head monk and a couple of receptionists.
Sun Chengqi made an impassioned speech. According to his description, the envoy Ma Lian had been a highly dedicated official who had devoted his heart and blood to the Imperial Court. But unfortunately, he had been assassinated, which was a misfortune of the Central Plains as well as the Western Regions.
The name of the prostitute that Ma Lian had once favored would never appear in the Central Plains' official records.
And then it was Wei Song's turn to speak. As the supreme official of the Western Regions assigned here by the Central Plains, he first blamed himself for failing to protect the envoy of the Central Plains, and then he swore vengeance upon the killer. ”The Central Plains will go to the ends of the earth to hunt this person down. We'll move all the mountains that block our way and destroy all the countries that dare stop us. By no means will we allow this person to get away unpunished.”
The young head monk also gave his condolences.
It took a very long time to go through those ceremonial procedures. After about two hours, the meeting moved to the core session – the Western Regioners had to hand over the culprit.
The Prince Regent of the Shule Kingdom was the first one to speak. He spent a lot of time defending the Shule Kingdom, claiming that there was no need for his country to assassinate the envoy of the Central Plains, and that they didn't have the strength to do it either. He didn't hand over anything.
The Dragon King seldom made eye contact with the Unique King. In fact, they were facing the same crisis. The could have cooperated with each other to handle it. Three days ago, when they were performing the autopsy, Shangguan Fa had given him an extremely ambiguous clue. However, Gu Shenwei didn't show any signs of approval, so the cooperation had ended before it could even take shape.
They politely offered to let each other be the first one to speak. Gu Shenwei was more insistent, so the Unique King became the second one to speak. He didn't try to defend Golden Roc Castle and instead went straight to the point. ”That deceased assassin was a disciple of Waning Moon Hall. Guests from the Central Plains may not know much about the Waning Moon Hall. Would you please provide some information for them, head monk Fa Feng?”
Fa Feng was the head monk of the Four Noble Truths Temple. He was under thirty years old, but was a peer of a lot of old eminent monks. The big smile on his face was a mixture of about seventy percent of mercy and thirty percent sophistication. ”Amitabha. Actually, I also know little about this Waning Moon Hall. But I have consulted some seniors of our temple and also found some records among some old paperwork, which has enabled me to have a superficial impression of this organization. It's only for reference, though. Uh, about a couple of decades ago, the Waning Moon Hall was a part of Golden Roc Castle. Then, later, it rebelled and became independent.”
Upon hearing the four words ”rebelled and became independent,” several people looked in the Dragon King's direction. Having realized that he had made some inappropriate remarks, Fa Feng loudly uttered ”Amitabha” several times and then started talking faster. ”The Waning Moon Hall only recruits female disciples. They are skilled at using knockout powder and evil kung fu, which is why all of the sects in the Western Regions despise them. Out of indignation and hatred, many sects once decided to besiege the Waning Moon Hall. Eventually, all sides reached an agreement right here in Four Noble Truths Temple: the other sects gave up on besieging the Waning Moon Hall, and the Waning Moon Hall retreated into the northeastern desert to never step out of it again. However, six years ago, the Waning Moon Hall openly breached the agreement. Not only did they reappear in Jianghu, but they also started killing people everywhere in the Western Regions. Alas. It's a pity that only a few people in the Western Regions still remember the Waning Moon Hall, and that people didn't unite to stop the Waning Moon Hall in time. This is why Ma Lian, Lord Ma, was tragically killed.”
”Wait.” The deputy envoy of the Central Plains, Sun Chengqi, interjected. ”I don't care about what kind of organization the Waning Moon Hall is, but we need proof to confirm that it is responsible for the assassination of the envoy. First of all, you said that the Waning Moon Hall only recruits female disciples, but that dead assassin was a man.”
”That was my mistake,” Fa Feng admitted frankly. ”I should have only introduced the Waning Moon Hall. I shouldn't have made any speculations. By convention, the Waning Moon Hall only recruits female disciples. With regards as to how they're related to that assassination, I think that we should let the Unique King tell us about it.”
The Unique King moved his eyes to Gu Shenwei. ”Originally, the Waning Moon Hall only recruited female disciples, but in the past two years, they've changed their rules. The Dragon King is very familiar with the Waning Moon Hall. Do you have any extra information to offer?”
This was an ambiguous provocation. The Unique King wanted to tie the Dragon King to the Waning Moon Hall. Though Gu Shenwei could just contradict him in a tit-for-tat way, he only said two words. ”I don't.”
The Unique King took three steps forward and said, ”The Waning Moon Hall takes playing one side off another as its sect goal, which is also why they would assassinate the envoy of the Central Plains. My words can not be taken as evidence. Fortunately, Golden Roc Castle has captured a couple of disciples of the Waning Moon Hall, and they can prove my point.”
Wei Song whispered to Sun Chengqi for a little while and then loudly said, ”Please have the prisoners brought here, Unique King.”
The Unique King briefly nodded at an attendant behind him who then immediately walked out of the room. Before long, he and six other guards escorted three prisoners into the room.
The Waning Moon Hall had always acted covertly, which was why many people present had become interested. The deputy envoy watched curiously, and even the head monk, Fa Feng, couldn't help but raise his eyes, intending to compare the three prisoners with the rumors that he had heard.
All of the three prisoners were female, and surprisingly, one of them was even someone that Gu Shenwei knew.
Unaware that this was not the right occasion, Han Fen smiled brightly and said, ”Dragon King, I was caught again. It seems that I've had a run of bad luck recently.”
Xu Xiaoyi had been trying his best to collect intelligence, but surprisingly, he had failed to get any information about Han Fen, which had been a terrible negligence on his part.
”Um. You're rather suitable to be a prisoner.”
”Ha-ha, I prefer to be the Dragon King's prisoner. The people in Golden Roc Castle kept giving me cold faces, and they wouldn't let me go anywhere.”
One of the prisoners of Golden Roc Castle was actually an acquaintance of the Dragon King's, which made the deputy envoy more confused. ”Does the Dragon King and Waning Moon Hall know each other very well?”