Chapter 616: Celestial Mountain Sword Sect gets involved (1/2)
Chapter 616: Celestial Mountain Sword Sect gets involved
How would Long Feiye deal with Ning Cheng and the Chu Clan?
He only told Han Yunxi this. “You’ll know in three days’ time.”
“Three days?” Han Yunxi couldn’t figure it out. “We’ll make a move then?”
Long Feiye drank his porridge as he shook his head, making Han Yunxi more puzzled. “You’re not going to take any actions?”
Long Feiye only nodded, but kept silent.
“Say something!” Han Yunxi really felt depressed. There were days when she could count on her fingers the number of words this guy had said.
Long Feiye opened his mouth and said, “This porridge tastes pretty good.”
Han Yunxi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She knew that he had steeled his heart to keep quiet. But this was a question she’d been sitting on for days. Long Feiye had to have a plan if he was staying in Yaoshui Prefecture, but he hadn’t made any overt moves. Though the fighting had stopped, many changes had swept through Cloud Realm Continent’s western regions in the past half month. The Western Zhou emperor was furious that the Chu Clan’s wicked intentions had turned them into ungrateful traitors. He condemned Empress Chu and Ning Cheng for colluding together to commit regicide and usurp the throne, then made friendly overtures to Long Tianmo. He would only accept Tianan Country as the true emperor of Tianning and continue their marriage alliance traditions there.
Long Tianmo had been hoping to befriend Western Zhou as soon as the unrest started so they could converge on Tianning in a pincer attack. He immediately supported Emperor Kang Cheng’s scathing attacks against the Chu Clan and warned that Tianan would send troops if the usurpers didn’t give up the throne. Despite sounding fierce, Emperor Kang Cheng wasn’t really expecting Long Tianmo to go through with his words under these circumstances. Meanwhile, he himself condemned the Chu again and again, demanding them to release Empress Xue. But when the Chu Clan gave their terms, he refused them, so the empress was stuck imprisoned in the military barracks.
Everyone assumed that the two heads of the Chu Clan had decided to do all this, but they had long fallen under Ning Cheng’s thrall. It was unclear who really led the Chu Clan at this point—Ning Cheng, or Chu Tianyi. Emperor Kang Cheng didn’t know these details, so he left his hopes in Long Feiye’s hands. He was waiting for the man to set loose his troops and combine forces with Western Zhou to attack Tianning on three sides. Unfortunately, Long Feiye didn’t budge. The soldiers from his south central regions didn’t make any moves either, but returned to Yaoshui Prefecture. Despite his impatience, the Western Zhou emperor didn’t dare to act on his own and could only accompany Long Feiye to wait.
Because the western regions were the intersection points of four different countries, the positions of the armies played a critical role. This was also the first time that the Duke of Qin had joined the battle despite never involving himself in politics or warfare in the past, so the situation attracted attention from the entire continent. The Chu Clan troops had sought refuge with Tianning, causing much gossip on two topics: would the Duke of Qin continue to attack Tianning, and did Empress Chu and Ning Cheng have some sort of affair going on?!
But without Long Feiye spilling the beans, Han Yunxi could only wait. Three days later, the news that broke stunned both her and all of Tianning Country!
That was the fact that Empress Xue had been attacked and killed by an assassin. The very same afternoon, Emperor Kang Cheng denounced the Chu Clan for a conspiracy while grieving and demanded they return the empress’s corpse. As before, the Chu Clan refused.
By that night, Celestial Mountain Sword Sect disciple Duanmu Yao had pubicly condemned the Chu Clan and personally led ten other disciples down the mountain to threaten them for the body. If they didn’t give her an explanation, the Celestial Mountain Sword Sect wouldn’t spare a single Chu Clan member. At this news, Han Yunxi immediately ran to ask Long Feiye, “How did Empress Xue die?”
Both Emperor Kang Cheng and Duanmu Yao wanted the empress’s body so that she could rest in peace, gain some time, and perform an autopsy to see how she’d truly die. Was it really from an assassin, or abuse at the Chu Clan’s hands?
Long Feiye could calculate the date of death so precisely that Han Yunxi was sure that he was involved in the plot.
“What do you think?” he ask while reclining lazily on his bed. A wicked smile rose on his lips.
As expected, it was him! Destroying the Chu Clan troops and fighting back against Ning Cheng’s forces was difficult, but slipping in an agent to kill a single hostage would be simple for him—or one of his high-level subordinates. He really was a sinister man. The small effort needed to kill a single Empress Xue was an easy way to deal with his other enemies by proxy. Anyone who offended Celestial Mountain Sword Sect would have a miserable time. Even if the Chu Clan and Ning Cheng gave up the body, Duanmu Yao would never end things just like that. She even began to wonder how the girl would react if she ever found out the truth.
But Han Yunxi still couldn’t grasp the extent of Duanmu Yao’s influence at the sword sect. How could she declare actions against the Chu Clan in their name? Did a private grudge ever merit a feud between two larger powers?
“Forcing the Chu Clan to hand over the body. Was this…your master’s idea?” she asked.
“I’m not sure, either. Even if it wasn’t, Duanmu Yao would still have ways to borrow Celestial Mountain’s strength to deal with the Chu,” Long Feiye said icily. Perhaps he hated the girl too much, but the way he spat out her name made even Han Yunxi feel uncomfortable.