Chapter 233: Leaving for Nanjiang

The man looked sideways at his palm, and saw that a kind of distinctive redness had indeed appeared, as if blood about to coagulate…

His gaze turned cold and, flipping his wrist over, he deftly broke away from Murong Xue’s grip, and mercilessly slapped his palm at her: his identity had been exposed, so there’s no need to hide anymore…

Sneaking on her? He was biting off more than he could chew!

Murong Xue curled her lips, a touch of murderous smile formed at the corner of her mouth. She turned sideways to avoid the attack of the man and kicked upward, landing a ruthless kick on the man’s chest, sending him flying three or four meters away and smashing heavily on the ground, making him feel dizzy and his ears ringing, as well as aching all over…

Grinding his teeth, the man was about to stand up, but a faint whooshing sound rang and, before he knew it, ten guards appeared before him, their long swords in hand drawn towards his neck mercilessly, and the sharp blades had reached his skin. There was no way he could escape this time…

“Who are you? Why did you put phosphorus in the provision?” Lin Qingfeng looked at the man and asked sharply.

The man didn’t answer, and a trail of dark blood slowly dripped down from the corner of his mouth. He slowly fell on the ground, his eyes wide open, and he was dead…

Liu Qingfeng was shocked: “what’s going on?”

A guard squatted down and, looking at the body carefully for a moment, said in a deep voice: “Your Excellency, he poisoned himself!”

“Poisoned himself?” Liu Qingfeng knitted his eyebrows. He had heard that some men of sacrifice and shadow guards would hide tiny poison bags in their teeth, and if their mission failed, they would take the poison and kill themselves. Unexpectedly, today, he had witnessed the hearsay with his own eyes…

Looking at the man’s body, he sighed heavily: “he died with the clue…”

“Not necessarily!” Murong Xue came up and, looking at the body emotionlessly, said: “the phosphorus is from Mount Yin of Nanjiang, which is directly under the jurisdiction of its royal family. This man could have access to so much phosphorus, which is enough to imply that he’s related to Nanjiang…”

Liu Qingfeng’s gaze turned sharp: “he’s a spy from Nanjiang!”

“That stand a good chance!” Murong Xue nodded gently, her cool eyes glistening with seriousness never seen before.

A spy from Nanjiang had sneaked into the granary of Qingyan, put phosphorus in and burned the provision of the soldiers. It was still a trifle that the provision was gone. What if he had put poison instead?

Cold sweat immediately ran from Liu Qingfeng’s back. He glanced sharply at the head of the granary, the registrar, and various associates, who were now trembling out of fright. Falling to their knees in panic, they said hurriedly: “Your Excellency, it’s not our fault…We didn’t know he was a spy…”

“Yes, Your Excellency…He came a few months ago…We weren’t familiar with him…”

“If we’d known that he was a spy, we would not have allowed him any closer to the granary…”

The incessant explanations rang in his ears, which gave Liu Qingfeng a headache, and he impatiently interrupted them: “well, I will look into this carefully. Go now, all of you. You will stay home until we find out the truth, and none of you are allowed to approach the granary again.”

“Yes, sir…” They answered in chorus repeatedly and, with a long sigh of relief, they backed out in gratitude: they would definitely cooperate by staying home and waiting for the investigation…

Liu Qingfeng strode back to the hall with a gloomy face. He smacked his gavel on the desk and said coldly: “it has been identified that the fire had nothing to do with Officer Yuan. Officer Yuan can now return to his mansion as he wishes …”

“Great!” The grievance was finally cleared!

Officer Yuan’s face lit up, and he looked at Murong Xue gratefully: “Miss Murong, thank you so much!”

Murong Xue gently smiled: “don’t mention it. Will Officer Yuan still escort the provision to Nanjiang?”

“I’d like to, but due to my carelessness, there’s been such a mess. It depends on the Emperor if I’m still needed for the mission.” Officer Yuan smiled sheepishly.

Murong Xue nodded in understanding. Provisions for an army of 300,000 were very important. With the lesson of the phosphorus incident, the Emperor would probably send another reliable person to escort the provision…

Yuan Fangfei came forward, her dark eyes twinkling with gratitude: “Murong Xue, you have helped us so much, and we don’t know how to thank you enough…”

“Don’t mention it. It’s my pleasure.” Murong Xue smiled gently and, seeing the corner of a white robe, suddenly remembered that someone was still waiting for her outside. She rolled her eyes unnaturally and hurried out. Her answer came clearly from the air: “Sorry, I’ve got something else to attend to. We’ll talk later…”

Rushing out of the crowd, Murong Xue saw Ouyang Shaochen sitting and drinking tea in a teahouse not far away, so she hurried towards him: “Your Highness, have I kept you waiting for long?”

She was busy identifying the spy and had forgotten that Ouyang Shaochen was still waiting for her outside.

Looking at her apologetic eyes, the barest hint of a smile appeared on Ouyang Shaochen’s face: “it’s not a problem!” he said gently while pouring a cup of tea for her.

The faint fragrance of the steaming tea lingered around the tip of her nose. Murong Xue suddenly felt thirsty. She took up the tea and downed it at one gulp…

“Nobody, from the dignitaries to the ordinary of the entire capital city, has managed to figure out the reason for the spontaneous combustion of the provision. But you did it, and you have done a deed of merit while sening a warning to the Emperor. He will order all the departments in the capital to strengthen the security, and the provision will be sent to Nanjiang in time. You don’t have to worry about Murong Ye…”

Ouyang Shaochen said emotionlessly. He picked up the teacup slowly and took a sip, his dark eyes shining as if black obsidians: Nanjiang had actually planted a spy into one of the governing departments of Qingyan, which was quite impressive. And the officials of Qingyan had indeed been leading a tranquil life for too long. Their vigilance was getting increasingly poor…

Murong Xue’s gaze turned sharp and, sitting opposite Ouyang Shaochen, she looked at him expressionlessly and said: “Your Highness, I want to go to Nanjiang!”

Ouyang Shaochen suddenly paused with his tea and, looking at her in confusion, he asked: “Why? You’re worried about Murong Ye?”

Murong Xue shook her head: “although people in Nanjiang are very smart and cunning, I am not particularly worried about Murong Ye’s safety when he’s with a troop of 300,000. My purpose is investigating the Shadow Guards.”

“Shadow Guards were trained by my father on the battlefield, which is also the place where they spend most of their time. You would most likely find no trace of them in the capital city. People from the imperial court have been searching for a decade with no sign of them. If I go to Nanjiang, maybe I can find something…”

The ghosts in wooden snakes led by Cang Qiong and the spy just now had all shown cleverness, cunning and uniqueness of the people of Nanjiang. Therefore, she was going there to see how powerful their soldiers were.

Ouyang Shaochen pondered for a moment and, looking at her unblinkingly, said: “do you have to go there?”