Chapter 488: Who kept the Duke of Qin behind? (1/2)

Chapter 488: Who kept the Duke of Qin behind?

Faced with Long Tianmo’s questioning, Mu Qingwu’s gaze turned evasive. “This soldier is very contrite. Because the situation was urgent, I killed him in a moment of impulse. Fortunately, that young commander still had a few captains under his commander that we can interrogate for answers. This soldier has already locked them up in the prisons.”

Moment of impulse?

That wasn’t Mu Qingwu’s style at all. Long Tianmo gave him a scrutinizing look. “Forget about that for now, then. Hurry back to the palace with your troops, the quicker the better!”

Mu Qingwu hastened away while Long Tianmo went to inspect the bag of crossbow arrows he’d collected. These weapons were much shorter than typical crossbow arrows, with tips as sharp as swords.

“Even Imperial Qin Uncle’s guards couldn’t fight them off. Indeed, it’s not a simple opponent, heheh!” he laughed coldly.

“Your Highness, hurry away from this place. It’s not safe here, those archers are still at large!” one of his attendants urged.

Long Tianmo was in no rush. He took out a handful of the crossbow arrows and gave them to the attendant, then whispered in his ear, “Take these to Xuanlong Gate.”

Others might not catch the hidden meaning of his words, but his personal attendants were very clear. His Highness Crown Prince wanted to plant evidence of the mystery archers at Xuanlong Gate by killing the guards stationed there. The emperor was no fool, so it was unlikely he’d fall for the Young General’s ploy to guard the imperial palace and get nervous. However, if the guards at the gate were killed by these special arrows, His Majesty would jump off his bed even if he was ill!

“This subordinate understands, I’ll do it immediately!”

As the attendant left to fulfill his commands, Long Tianmo’s lips quirked into a sinister smile. He was going to raise a row with today’s events, the bigger the better. It’d be best if he could even tie it to the gunpowder case from the black markets.

Chu Qingge shouldn’t even wish for the title of noble consort, much less empress!

He was supposed to be at the Eastern Palace right now, preparing to watch a good show, but he couldn’t resist coming out himself with his own men to search. The imperial guards had searched so long without a trace of Han Yunxi. Who knew where she was now? How was she doing, and was she hurt? Something so big had happened, but Imperial Qin Uncle hadn’t shown his face at all. Could it be that he’s not in the capital? But he was clearly here a a few days ago! Wouldn’t he bring Han Yunxi along if he was going out? Long Tianmo couldn’t figure it out, so he simply continued searching.

Meanwhile, Long Feiye was in a side residence outside of the capital walls. In the dim guest hall with its windows and doors shut tight, he was shut off from everything except the warbling of birds outside. But in actuality, this bird song was a secret signal of the Hidden Pavilion guards, used to indicate that trouble had happened back at the Duke of Qin’s estate.

Within the quiet hall, Long Feiye stood with his hands behind his back, exuding a dense, frigid air. He made the already chilly room feel even colder. The trace rays of sunlight shining through the windows only illuminated his frozen face and dark, impenetrable pupils. Dead corpses laid scattered by his feet, each and every one of them stabbed to death by his sword.

Standing in front of him were two people. One was Duanmu Yao, dressed in white robes as ethereal as a fairy. The other was Celestial Mountain Sword Sect’s head of affairs, Long Feiye and Duanmu Yao’s marital uncle Cang Qiuzi.1

It was only natural for Long Feiye to greet his martial uncle in person when the latter came for a personal visit. However, Duanmu Yao had told him it was his master that had arrived. She even had one of their master’s authenticating tokens to prove it, thus causing Long Feiye to hurry over. Duanmu Yao had said that their master missed him and insisted on coming down the mountain to meet him.

Logically speaking, his master should have come to see him at the Duke of Qin’s estate, but since he’d slipped out in secret, he wanted to keep a low profile. Even Long Feiye’s estate wouldn’t do, so he could only arranged to meet him at a secret location here. This was what Duanmu Yao had said, and he had bought her story. But who knew that he’d be seeing his martial uncle instead of his master here? More over, it was Martial Uncle Cang Qiuzi of all people. The Celestial Mountain Sword Sect had always prized martial arts over all else and was an esteemed member of the wulin circles. Even the City of Daughters and Carefree City didn’t dare to run amok with them around.

Nobody expected that ten years ago, the Celestial Mountain Sword Sect had already fallen under the control of somebody else. As soon as Long Feiye saw Cang Qiuzi, he knew that he’d been tricked, but a swarm of swordsmen attacked him as soon as he tried to leave. He had no idea what had happened at the Duke of Qin’s estate, but he knew that Han Yunxi was still there!

Casting a cold stare at Cang Qiuzi, he said, “Feiye has business to take care of. I won’t be keeping you company today, may Martial Uncle Cang excuse me.”

“Martial brother, I was wrong. I was so happy that I mixed up martial uncle (shishu) with master (shifu). Don’t be angry anymore, it’s rare for martial uncle to come down the mountain. He wanted to drink some tea with you, so why are you so insistent on—”

Long Feiye withdrew his blade, the fierce sword qi striking harshly against Duanmu Yao’s face.

“Ah!” Duanmu Yao cried out. Her face burned with pain as if she’d just been soundly slapped. In disbelief, she cradled her cheek and burst into tears. “Martial brother, you hit me… You… You might as well kill me outright with that sword before master sees me and feels distressed!”

Long Feiye ignored her completely and said, still keeping his temper in check, “Martial Uncle Cang, for master’s sake, may I trouble you to give me passage.”

Cang Qiuzi was no impulsive sprout like Duanmu Yao, but a man in his forties with a beard like a mountain goat. His hair was tied up neatly atop his head and he was dressed in black robes with simple cloth shoes. He was modest and unassuming to the eye.

Cang Qiuzi stroked his beard with a sigh. “Feiye, you’ve grown up. Is it so difficult for martial uncle to invite you for some tea? I’ve come all this way assuming that you’d be happy to see me. Aiya, it looks like martial uncle was overthinking things.”

Although Long Feiye had killed off a bunch of Cang Qiuzi’s disciples, he was still polite enough to leave the man some face. It was obvious that the man was stalling for time, but Long Feiye had no idea what could’ve happened at the estate, enough to make Cang Qiuzi to personally lure him from his den. Was it something related to the Celestial Mountain Sword Sect? Or had Duanmu Yao asked Cang Qiuzi to help her personally?