Stranger Danger

“You say that, but I still don’t see why I owe you an explanation. I have no idea how they knew about my plot,” argued the North Duke.

“You have no idea? I’ll tell you then.” Chu Xunxian declared in a tone that would not accept any rebuttal. “The first possibility is that you are in cahoots with the murderer. That is how they knew about your plot.”

“The second possibility is that one of your men is in cahoots with the murderer. They are the one who leaked your secret to them.”

“In either case, the North Duke Office has a hand in Chu Wangsun’s death. Now tell me, do you still think you don’t owe me an explanation?”

“Hmph! In the end, it’s all just slander and guesses. In fact, you haven’t given me any concrete proof so far.” The North Duke harrumphed, but internally, he realized that Chu Xunxian’s guess wasn’t baseless. In fact, it might very well be the truth.

Considering his standpoint though, he absolutely could not admit to any guilt. Not even a little.

“My words are the proof,” Chu Xunxian declared domineeringly. “That is all I need to kill you.”

“I understand now, Chu Xunxian. You aren’t here to speak reason with me.”

The North Duke forced himself to calm down and considered his options. In the end, he had no choice but to cave in and ask, “What are your terms?”

Once again, Chu Xunxian declared menacingly, “You have no right to discuss terms with me.”

“Is that so?”

A blue vein visibly throbbed on the North Duke’s brow, but he knew when he was beaten. He forced himself to swallow the humiliation and asked, “What are your orders then, Chu Xunxian?”

“One, the North Duke Office must have a hand in Chu Wangsun’s death. If you wish to clear your name, then you must cooperate with Chu and capture the murderer.”

Chu Xunxian did not mince words with the North Duke. “Two, you are not to reveal today’s matter to anyone. You will make an official announcement stating that jealous heretics of the Dark Ways had lured our geniuses to Lu Tai Yuan to kill them.”

“Hmph! So this is what you are afraid of. You could’ve just told me without all this brow-beating.”

The North Duke scoffed with disdain when he realized the truth. This was the real reason Chu Xunxian had shown up in person and put on such a show. It was because they were afraid that they would reveal the truth of what happened today and bring shame to Chu.

After all, Chu Wangsun was a genius of Chu, and yet he was killed by a nobody who was about the same age as him. That was an indignity a great empire like Chu found difficult to swallow.

Not only that, the Chief Libationist’s actions and behavior made it crystal clear that it was Chu Wangsun who was in the wrong here. In fact, he was so wrong that he chose to compromise with his disciple’s murderer again and again despite his legendary temper.

On top of that, Chu Wangsun and Ye Qing’s dialogue seemed to hint that the recent death of another Chu genius, Fang Muyun, was not as simple as it appeared as well.

Not long ago, Fang Muyun was celebrated as a hero of Chu who died in defense of humanity. It was tragic that he died, but if the scholar hadn’t accidentally stumbled upon the Strangers’ gathering at White Fish Island, the four nations would never have discovered the Four Seas Dragon Palace’s conspiracy, and if the the four nations would never have discovered the Four Seas Dragon Palace’s conspiracy, then countless lives would have been lost, and the long peace humanity had enjoyed until this point would have been broken.

Besides, Fang Muyun chose death over indignity and did not surrender to the Four Seas Dragon Palace until the very end. If he did not deserve to be called a hero, then who did?

For the past few days, Chu spared no effort in lauding Fang Muyun’s deeds and conferred the title of “Heroic Marquis” to Fang Muyun. They also posthumously named him the “Courtly Gentleman”. Not only that, they were planning to raise a statue of him in the Four Seas Pavilion so that he might receive the populace’s worship just like the heroic spirits who fought against the aquatic races of the four seas over nine hundred years ago.

This was a rare and incredible honor for sure. It was also exceedingly profitable. Although Chu had lost Fang Muyun, his death also brought them untold fame, benefits, and profit. His death was lamentable as a matter of course, but there was no denying that Chu had benefited greatly because of it.

However, if it was revealed that Fang Muyun’s death was not quite what it seemed, if it turned out that he wasn’t even the one who discovered the Four Seas Dragon Palace’s conspiracy, then all the fame, benefits, and profit Chu had gained so far would be inverted instantly. They would become a laughingstock throughout the world.

This was something no country in the world could tolerate as a matter of course, especially one like Chu that stressed the importance of poetry, books and etiquette, and valued strength of character and reputation above all else.

This was why Chu Xunxian positively rushed to Lu Tai Yuan to meet the North Duke. This was why he tyrannically seized control of the conversation and threw out threats like they were free. It was all because he was afraid that the North Duke Office would leak what happened today to the entire world.

“You are a smart man, North Duke.”

Chu Xunxian said meaningfully, “You should know what a smart man would say and would not say.”

‘Hmph…”

The North Duke harrumphed, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Chu Xunxian pressed, “You don’t need to teach me what to do next, do you?”

“Of course not,” the North Duke clarified.

“Good. Remember what you said today.”

Chu Xunxian glanced at the North Duke one last time. Then, the apricot yellow flag took to the sky, and golden lotuses descended. He was gone in the blink of an eye.

“Hmph! How dare they!” The North Duke’s face immediately turned stormier than ever before. “How! Dare! They!”

A few breaths later, the North Duke Consort asked in a small voice, “What should we do now?”

“Do I need to teach you everything?”

The North Duke exploded, “Mobilize all the men and spare no effort in locating that Ye Qing! We must seize him before anyone else, do you understand?”

“As you command, my lord!” Everyone responded and bowed deeply.

Although Chu Xunxian had descended from the sky like he was about to mete out divine judgment upon them all, the conversation ultimately did not end in an acrimonious fallout. He even left them the item he desired the most: the Ten Directions Stupa.

From the start until the end, Chu Xunxian never brought up the Ten Directions Stupa. Despite saying nothing at all, he was clearly hinting that he had zero interest in the Ten Directions Stupa, and that Su Bancheng did not have the item either. He was also hinting that it was up to the North Duke whether he could seize the Strange Artifact.

The North Duke added, “Remember to forget what happened today. All of it. Anyone who so much as breathe a word about this will receive my wrath.”

“As you command.”

Lu Daoweng hesitated for a moment but asked carefully, “What do we do if the murderer himself speaks of this incident?”

“That is for Chu Xunxian to worry about, not us.” The North Duke grunted. “Now go.”

After his subordinates were gone, the North Duke glanced at the North Duke Consort and commanded, “Ruohua, I want you to spy on all of them. Report to me immediately if you find anything amiss. Anything at all.”

“Do you suspect that one of them is a traitor?” The North Duke Consort asked.

“That remains to be seen.”

The North Duke narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Chu Xunxian was right about one thing. How did Ye Qing find out about the Ten Directions Stupa?”

“Accident or not, one of us must have leaked the news. I don’t wish for the same thing to happen another time.”

“One more thing. If you spot something, make sure you do not beat the grass and scare the snake[1].”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The North Duke Consort’s eyes lit up. “Are you planning to follow the vine to get to the melon[2]?”

“That’s right.”

The North Duke’s eyes were ice cold. “Only then can we catch them all at once.”

“They thought they could rob me without consequences? They thought wrong!”

1. Meaning don’t make it obvious to your enemies that you’re doing something. ☜

2. Meaning to follow a lead to something bigger. ☜