Chapter 808: The final trump card (1/2)

“Master, this is true beyond a doubt. Your disciple wouldn’t dare to trick you! If you don’t believe me, you can look into it yourself, the East Qin military banners are even flying now!” Bai Yuqiao was surprised as well, but her master’s reaction frightened her. When had he even been so agitated?

Bai Yanqing released Bai Yuqiao’s collar and narrowed his eyes. “What a Long Feiye. He dared to trick this old man!” Everything he’d plotted out was to publicize Long Feiye’s identity today! He had long figured that out!

Bai Yuqiao was lost. She had no idea what her master was saying and wanted to ask questions, but Bai Yanqing said urgently, “Hurry and tell the news to your senior brother. Tell him to bring the battle horses back as quickly as possible, using whatever means necessary. Otherwise, Northern Li will be in danger!”

“Master, Ning Cheng still has the red coat cannons on hand. The Duke of Qin shouldn’t be able to overcome the Ning Clan troops before a year and a half,” Bai Yuqiao reasoned.

“What do you know? Get going already!” Bai Yanqing raged. He’d lost control over his emotions, scaring Bai Yuqiao so much that she speedily withdrew. As he paced back and forth in the room, he finally calmed down.

He had known that Long Feiye was the crown prince of East Qin ever since Jun Yixie brought back a sample of blood from Fishery Island. Once he confirmed that the Mermaid Clan still existed, he began to suspect the Baili Navy as a whole. Long ago, the Bai Clan[1]consisted of merpeople. Baili Mingxiang’s drop of blood led him to suspect Long Feiye’s origins, while Han Yunxi’s cinnabar gecko mark that she revealed on the island made him suspect the man’s use of the Lustbite Seal.

Long Tianmo’s paternal grandmother, Tianan Country’s empress dowager, also suspected that Long Feiye wasn’t of Tianning royal blood. She spent a huge amount of silver to bribe the City of Daughters into kidnapping Grand Concubine Yi. Its city lord, Lady Lengyue, told him the news, which confirmed his suspicions of Long Feiye. Before Chu Xifeng went to check on Murong Wanru, he had already used the girl’s life to threaten Grand Concubine Yi into telling the truth. She admitted to switching her baby for Long Feiye, thus verifying the man as East Qin’s heir. He used acupuncture skills to send Grand Concubine Yi into a coma and had Lady Lengyue cooperate with Duanmu Yao to act out a play to misdirect Long Feiye’s own suspicions.

At Celestial Mountain, he had He Yilian delay Long Feiye in battle to worsen his wounds so he could trap the man up in the mountains. Like this, Jun Yixie would have enough time to bring back his battle horses. His original plan was to watch Ning Cheng open war on the south central regions. Under pressure from Medical City, the south central regions would have fallen to Ning Cheng while injuring him heavily at the same time. Ning Cheng would have moved all his red coat cannons south for the war, thus leaving Tianning’s northern border undefended. Jun Yixie and his battle horses could then fight their way down to Tianning unimpeded. After that, conquering Western Zhou, Tianan, and the south central regions would be easy.

He never expected Han Yunxi and Gu Beiyue to come to Medical City and relieve the pressure against the south central regions, then take control of the city themselves. Even then, he still had his counter against Long Feiye in place to preserve his gameboard! His perfect plan would use Long Feiye’s status as the East Qin crown prince against him. In fact, it was already in the works. He was supposed to expose Long Feiye today, but the man had discovered the spies at Nine Xuan Hall and beat him to the punch. Not only did he leave Celestial Mountain in secret, he even used the mermaid soldiers to forge Sandy River and suddenly attack the Ning Clan troops. Not only that, they fought beneath East Qin’s war banners, thus announcing his identity to the world.

Long Feiye’s move had thoroughly thrashed his forces and caught him unawares. Jun Yixie had no more time! Northern Li was out of time, too!

Bai Yanqing paced back and forth, walking faster and faster as he thought. Should he show his final trump card at a time like this? He deliberated for so long that his Nine Xuan Hall spy came back to report. By then he’d calmed down enough to ask, “Did Baili Mingxiang accompany Long Feiye down the mountain?”

“They left the mountain together!” the spy replied.

“Since Long Feiye wasn’t wounded, what was Baili Mingxiang doing up there?” Bai Yanqing asked next.

“Lord Master, she entered Long Feiye’s room everyday, but none of our people could figure out what she was doing in there,” the spy replied.

“This girl used to be Han Yunxi’s servant, right?” Bai Yanqing was quite interested in Baili Mingxiang.

“Although she was, her loyalty lies with Long Feiye. Don’t forget, Lord Master, she’s a member of the Bai Clan. We’ve looked into her before and found out she knows martial arts. But she’s never shown those skills, perhaps to keep it secret on purpose,” the spy reminded.

“Why?” Bai Yanqing stroked his beard.

“This subordinate was puzzled too. Long Feiye has never had any servant girls by his side. Now that his internal injuries have recovered, there’s no reason to keep her by his side,” the spy said earnestly.

“If Long Feiye’s recovered, then it’s likely he’s cultivated to the second level of the Lustbite energy, which means he can use it as he pleases,” Bai Yanqing thought for a long time before muttering to himself, “But the third level of the Lustbite energy requires dual cultivation…”

“Lord Master means to say that this Baili Mingxiang…” the spy grew alarmed.

Abruptly, Bai Yanqing laughed out loud. “Excellent! Excellent! Long Feiye, this old man didn’t guess wrong! In the end, you’ll still fall by a woman’s hands!”

Bai Yanqing steeled his heart and prepared to show his final ace.

“Prepare the carriage. This old man wants to meet the Di Clan head, Ning Cheng, in person!”

He wanted to thank Long Feiye for stabbing at Ning Cheng’s bottom line. Otherwise, his beautiful plan would lack a partner to play along! Back then, it was the Di Clan who provided funds in the background to bribe the Wind and Black Clans into destroying the last imperial guards of the East Qin Dynasty. He believed that the three of them could form a happy alliance once again this time.

Bai Yanqing quickly headed towards Tianning, not knowing that Ning Cheng himself was at Medical City secretly meeting with Ning Jing. She too, had just gotten word of the war and was stunned ashen by the news. She always knew that Long Feiye was Tianning’s strongest opponent, but never knew he was the Di Clan’s enemy.