“Eldest Brother, I don’t know whether you people can stand for it. I certainly can’t. Anyone who dares challenge our Ghost-Shadow Sect had better— eh? Where did he go?”

Ning Chen was full of indignation, swelling with righteous anger, and just getting into his stride, when he looked up and found Xie Siyu gone.

He looked at Gu Yichun. “Where did he go?”

Gu Yichun pointed at the woods not far off.

Ning Chen turned his head and saw nothing but Xie Siyu’s back.

“Rest easy, Younger Brother. After this the Dark Moon Tower can forget about keeping a footing in the jianghu.”

With that, Xie Siyu walked into the woods and vanished.

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth curled up slightly, and he turned and crawled back into the carriage.

“Move out!”

Ning Chen said it lazily, his head pillowed on Yudie’s leg.

Yudie gently pressed Ning Chen’s temples for him.

Ning Chen simply swung his legs up across Zisu’s.

Zisu glared at him, and pounded his legs lightly for him.

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes in comfort.

Zisu’s smile was radiant. “Shall I put a few needles in you?”

Ning Chen: “???”

Zisu said, “It gets the blood and the breath moving and eases fatigue.”

“Does it hurt?”

Zisu shook her head.

Ning Chen’s interest was caught. “Go ahead, then.”

Zisu opened her medicine chest and took out the silver needles.

“Ahh…”

All at once a ghastly scream came out of the carriage, and it startled Feng Qizheng so badly that the chicken bone dropped out of his mouth.

“Ning Chen, are you all right?”

“I’m fine!”

Inside the carriage, Ning Chen looked at Zisu with his teeth bared and his face screwed up. “Didn’t you say it wouldn’t hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt. I’m not the one being stuck.”

Ning Chen: “……”

“Fine, fine, fine. So that’s how we’re playing it. Just wait and see whether I stick you tonight.”

Five days later, Ning Chen was close to Xiuzhou.

On the road they had run into three attempts on his life… no. Four.

But from beginning to end Ning Chen never once raised a hand, because he never got the chance.

Every time he was in danger, those men in the devil-face masks appeared.

The fourth set of assassins were killed before they even made their move… most likely the work of the men in the devil-face masks too.

Ning Chen had asked, but those people never answered.

Once they had done their killing and the danger was past, they left at once.

Ning Chen was intensely curious. Just who are these people?

He guessed Silence had sent them, but he had no proof.

He would know when he got back to the capital and asked.

Ning Chen did not make much of the assassination attempts. They were what he had expected.

But far away in the capital, the Xuan Emperor was in no good temper.

Because the Wu Kingdom had broken off the peace talks.

In the court, the Xuan Emperor’s face was cold as he looked at the assembled officials and said in a cold voice:

“The Wu Kingdom has sent word. They have broken off the peace talks.”

An uproar went up among the ministers at once.

The talks had been agreed. How had they gone back on them so suddenly?

Could it be because of Ning Chen?

“Beloved ministers, tell this emperor what is to be done.”

The Xuan Emperor asked it with his face cold.

There was not a sound in the hall.

The Xuan Emperor’s expression grew uglier and uglier, and he said harshly:

“Speak. You are all talkative enough on an ordinary day. How is it you have all gone dumb now?”

“The southern frontier loses one engagement after another, the Xiliang Kingdom is stirring in the west… and now Wu has broken off the talks. Tell this emperor what is to be done.”

The hall was deathly still.

“Speak.”

The Xuan Emperor could not hold back the roar.

Li Zhixing stepped out of the ranks. “May it please Your Majesty. Your subject considers that in this matter Lord Fan’s crime is past forgiving.”

Fan Taihe’s face went black, and he could not stop himself saying, “What does this have to do with this minister?”

“If you had not bitten wildly about you like a mad dog and caused Ning Chen to be reduced to commoner, would any of this have happened?”

Fan Taihe was furious. “Ning Chen broke the law himself. This minister is the Censor-in-Chief. Was it wrong of him to impeach the man?”

Li Zhixing said harshly, “If we had made peace with Wu, we could have drawn the frontier army off to reinforce the southern frontier… And now look. A fine position thrown away through your stupidity. Your crime is past forgiving.”

Fan Taihe laughed coldly. “The southern frontier loses engagement after engagement because Ning Chen sold the map of the southern frontier’s defenses to Nanyue.”

Shen Min stepped out of the ranks and said angrily, “You are talking nonsense… You say Ning Chen is in league with Nanyue. Where is your proof?”

“Those secret letters are the proof.”

“What a joke. That counts as proof? Forging a hand is no hard thing… And another thing. His Majesty asked about the Wu peace talks. Do less talking all around the subject and never to it.”

Fan Taihe said contemptuously, “Lord Li and Lord Shen make themselves truly ridiculous… Wu is a barbarian kingdom, and fickle besides. Do they say the talks were broken off because Ning Chen was reduced?”

Li Zhixing said in a low voice, “And is it not?”

Fan Taihe smiled darkly. “Wu gives up the advantage of a whole kingdom for the sake of one man… Could it be that Ning Chen has some relation with Wu that will not bear the telling?”

Li Zhixing was furious. “You will spout less poison here, and less of your mouth full of lies… The reason Wu was willing to talk peace is that they feared Ning Chen, who is skilled in arms and in strategy, and feared the edge of the Great Xuan’s soldiers.”

“Now that Ning Chen has been reduced to commoner, who is left to hold Wu down?”

Fan Taihe’s face was full of contempt. “Our Great Xuan abounds in men of talent, and able men come forward in every generation… This minister does not believe that without Ning Chen the sky of the Great Xuan is going to fall.”

Li Hanru stepped out of the ranks. “Well said. The Great Xuan abounds in men of talent… Without Ning Chen, we still have Lord Fan.”

Li Hanru bowed low toward the Xuan Emperor and said, “Your Majesty. Your subject proposes that Lord Fan be sent as envoy to the Wu Kingdom… Your subject is confident that with that three-inch tongue of his that never wears out, Lord Fan will certainly bring the peace talks about again.”

“And it will let the people of the Great Xuan see that without Ning Chen, the Great Xuan still has men of talent like Lord Fan.”

Fan Taihe’s face went black, and inwardly he cursed Li Hanru for a sly old bastard.

He said hurriedly, “Your Majesty—”

The Xuan Emperor gave him no chance to speak at all, getting in first. “Beloved Minister Li’s proposal is worth considering.”

Shen Min said hurriedly, “Your Majesty, your subject also agrees that Lord Fan should go as envoy to Wu and bring the peace talks about.”

Li Zhixing said, “Your subject seconds it.”

Ji Mingchen stepped out of the ranks. “Your subject seconds it too.”

The Xuan Emperor inclined his head slightly. “Since our beloved ministers press so strongly for Beloved Minister Fan to go as envoy to Wu, let it be so.”

Fan Taihe was simply dumbfounded.

“Your Majesty—”

The Xuan Emperor waved a hand. “Beloved Minister Fan should not be so modest. Our beloved ministers believe in your ability, and this emperor believes in it too.”

“Fan Taihe, hear the command!”

Fan Taihe dropped to his knees with a thud.

The Xuan Emperor said, “Beloved Minister Fan is a pillar of our Great Xuan. This emperor grants you three days, after which you will go to the Wu Kingdom in this emperor’s stead and bring the peace talks about.”

“Beloved Minister Fan, the merit of a peace lies with the altars of the state and the benefit of it with the people… This emperor believes in you. Be very sure you do not disappoint this emperor.”

Fan Taihe’s face was ghastly white and cold sweat stood out on his forehead. He said tremblingly, “Your Majesty…”

“Beloved Minister Fan had better start preparing… Do not disappoint this emperor, or this emperor will hold you answerable for it.”

With that he waved a hand and said, “This emperor is somewhat weary. The court is dismissed.”

Having said it, the Xuan Emperor simply rose and left.

“We respectfully send off Your Majesty!”

When the ministers had made their bows, they rose and looked at Fan Taihe, and their expressions varied… some pitying, some sardonic, and more than either of those, pleased at another man’s misfortune.

Fan Taihe lay slumped on the ground like so much soft mud, his eyes dull, cold sweat standing out on his forehead.

He knew a secret the others did not: the business between Ning Chen and the Wu Kingdom’s woman emperor.

It was over exactly that business that Li Hongzhuo had not only had his entire household to the sword, but had carried a foul name to the grave.

If he went to Wu, was that not certain death?

And if he did not go, that was defying an edict, and death the same way.

Fan Taihe raised his head and looked at Li Zhixing and the others with hatred in his eyes… Only now did it come to him that he had been maneuvered.

But it was too late.

He had to find that man and settle on a course of action, and quickly.

He had been driven into a corner with no way out. Going to Wu was death, and not going to Wu was death.

Shen Min said with a smile, “Congratulations, Lord Fan. If you can bring the peace talks about, it will certainly be a great merit. Shen here offers Lord Fan his felicitations in advance.”

Ji Mingchen said in that snide voice of his, “I am confident that with Lord Fan’s three-inch tongue that never wears out, bringing the peace talks about will be as easy as picking something up… I truly envy Lord Fan. Another distinction coming his way.”

“Congratulations, Lord Fan! Our felicitations, Lord Fan!”

“Lord Fan, congratulations, congratulations!”

The blood rushed into Fan Taihe’s face, and a mouthful of old blood came up into his throat. He very nearly failed to keep it down.

This is killing the heart!

But he had no attention to spare for Shen Min and the rest gloating over him now. He scrambled up and went stumbling out… He had to find that man and settle on a course of action, and quickly.

Shen Min and the others watched Fan Taihe’s sorry figure go, and exchanged smiles.

Ning Chen had come to see them before he left the capital.

This plan was Ning Chen’s too.

Still, the move really was vicious enough. Fan Taihe was now unable to go forward or back.

In fact they had all mistaken it, supposing Ning Chen only meant to pay Fan Taihe back… little knowing that Ning Chen’s real purpose was to beat the grass and startle the snake.

When a man is in extreme fear or extreme rage, his wits are a fair match for a pig’s.

Fan Taihe now faced death either way, and in his panic he would certainly go to the man behind him to settle on a course of action.

And then Silence would have his chance to follow the vine to the melon, and find this deeply hidden hand behind it all.

(End of Chapter 386)