Some responsibilities he could bear, some he found inconvenient to bear.
Because of this, Chu Tian Jian had no choice but to swallow his anger and make a concession.
Xu Jue Ning turned back to look at the person pointing a gun at him, but he could not see the face clearly as the other wore a face guard.
Yu Qing and the others who had already reached the main gate witnessed the latter half of this incident.
Yu Qing felt quite shocked and suspicious. He had not expected the Wolf Guards to be so overbearing as to openly sweep the face of the Si Nan Mansion’s Rear Division head. And Chu Tian Jian had actually endured it silently?
Wei Lin’s gaze also fell on Yu Qing and the others. He said indifferently, “Unrelated people, withdraw!”
Zhong Su, Du Fei and the steward Li who had followed out looked at each other. Although they feared the other’s dominance, Zhong Su still had to steel himself and ask with clasped hands, “Sir, may I ask what exactly you are looking for Ah Shi Heng for?”
Wei Lin replied, “Military affairs, not something you should ask about. I will say it one last time. Unrelated people, withdraw!”
Zhong Su and the others frowned.
Yu Qing did not want to implicate the Zhong family. He decided to take responsibility alone and turned to signal, “Uncle Zhong, it is fine. You all go inside first.”
A wise man does not fight against impossible odds. Steward Li also pulled the sleeves of Zhong Su and Du Fei. The group had no choice but to retreat inside. All the gate servants also withdrew.
The scene became quiet again. Under the gaze of a group of Wolf Guards, Yu Qing walked down the steps and clasped his hands. “This official is Ah Shi Heng. May I ask what business you military lords have with this official?”
Wei Lin looked him up and down. His gaze paused briefly on the sword at Yu Qing’s waist before he asked, “Do you know a demon cultivator named Bai Lan?”
What the hell? Yu Qing’s mind turned and he recalled something. He did not know a demon cultivator named Bai Lan, but he had heard of her. Back in the ancient tomb wasteland, the old rat spirit had mentioned such a person. She seemed to be the wife of the leopard demon he had killed.
He did not know if the other was asking about this person. If so, why ask about her? Could these people have connections with that demon cultivator?
He glanced around at the fierce stares of the Wolf Guards, his nerves tense, and shook his head. “I seem not to have heard of her.”
Wei Lin asked, “You are sure you have not heard of her?”
Yu Qing shook his head. “No impression.”
Wei Lin waved his hand. Immediately a Wolf Guard jumped down from his mount and dragged over the corpse of a black leopard, then casually threw it at Yu Qing’s feet.
Wei Lin lifted his chin towards the leopard corpse. “Do you recognise this?”
Another black leopard? Yu Qing’s heart sank. He remembered that the one he killed was a black leopard, but he had beheaded it. This one was still intact. What was going on?
He truly did not recognise the black leopard in front of him and shook his head. “I do not recognise it.”
Wei Lin said, “Since you do not recognise it, why did she try to assassinate you outside the Xi Yue Fang?”
Yu Qing looked stunned. “Assassinate me? No, she did not assassinate me!”
Wei Lin saw that he did not seem to be faking it and reminded him, “Not long after you came out of the Xi Yue Fang, she swooped down to attack you from the air and was shot dead by our master archer. You got off the carriage at the time and personally saw her hit by the arrow. How can you say you do not recognise her?”
“Ah?” Yu Qing was quite shocked. “She was that woman in black? She tried to assassinate me? I really do not know her. Why would she assassinate me?” At the last sentence, a thought flashed in his mind. He thought of the black leopard he had killed and could guess there was a connection between the two.
But the problem was, how did this black leopard know that he had killed the other black leopard? Had Xu Fei leaked it?
Wei Lin continued, “She is called Hei Ling’er. She has been living in seclusion in the Xi Yue Fang for more than ten years. She has a younger brother called Hei Yun Xiao. Bai Lan is his wife. Last night she acted against you first, and Bai Lan provided support afterwards. Are you sure you do not know them?”
The implication was clear. Why would they harm him for no reason?
Yu Qing had guessed the general reason but still shook his head in denial. “I do not know them.”
Wei Lin stared at him silently for a while, then said slowly, “After we surrounded the Xi Yue Fang, we did not find Bai Lan. She probably escaped before the encirclement. You should be more careful.” With that, he turned his mount and left.
The black leopard corpse on the ground was immediately dragged away. The group of Wolf Guards also retreated like a receding tide.
As soon as Wei Lin’s mount left the alley entrance, he was stopped by a rider rushing over. One person approached and handed over two scrolls of documents. “Commander, we have found some information about that Bai Lan. A candidate from Lie Zhou heading to the capital was attacked in the ancient tomb wasteland. According to the confession from the captured demon cultivator, that attack was planned by the couple Hei Yun Xiao and Bai Lan. The only place where Ah Shi Heng might have a connection with these demon cultivators that we can find so far is the incident at the ancient tomb wasteland. These two documents are the statements from the escort team from Lie Zhou.”
Wei Lin immediately opened one scroll under the moonlight to check. It was the so-called confession from the demon cultivator, which identified the couple Hei and Bai as the planners of the attack.
He then opened the other scroll. This one was the statements from Yu Qing, Xu Fei and Chong’er, describing their experiences after the attack in the ancient tomb wasteland.
After reading them, Wei Lin slowly turned his head to look back at the Zhong Mansion and returned the documents in his hand. “The last place Bai Lan had contact with him was also the place where he went missing for a period of time. Is this really a coincidence? Ah Shi Heng may not have told the truth. Immediately check the whereabouts of this Xu Fei and Chong’er.”
As the internal security commander of the Wolf Guards, he was responsible for internal security and naturally had some discerning eye.
“Yes!” His subordinate accepted the order.
After that, the group of Wolf Guards completely disappeared from around the Zhong Mansion.
Yu Qing stood quietly at the door watching them leave, his heart full of doubts. If that leopard demon was attacking him, why did military people shoot and kill her? The military would not be protecting him, would they? And why were these people pursuing the murderer so relentlessly?
Servants came out from the door. Guards appeared on the wall.
Zhong Su and the others also came out. Zhong Su walked to Yu Qing’s side and asked, “What is going on?”
Yu Qing shook his head in puzzlement. “I am not clear. It is a bit strange.”
To him, some things did not need to be told to them.
The Zhong Mansion returned to calm. As soon as Yu Qing returned to the east courtyard, he immediately went to the sand table in the main hall, plunged one hand into the sand, pulled out the box, and quickly opened it to check.
Seeing that the sword manual inside the box was still intact, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He was leaving tomorrow, so he definitely had to take this treasure with him…
Chong’er’s whereabouts might be hard to find now, but Xu Fei’s whereabouts could be found easily.
A new group of Wolf Guards appeared and once again surrounded the Cao Mansion.
This scared the entire Cao Mansion. The master of the Cao Mansion, Cao Xing Gong, had no choice but to come forward. After nodding and bowing with a smiling face to the Wolf Guards outside for a round, he clasped his hands towards the central Wei Lin and said, “Military lord, may I ask what you are looking for my nephew for? Has he committed some crime? I am somewhat acquainted with Minister Huang of the Ministry of War as well…”
Wei Lin interrupted him directly, “Enough nonsense! I will say it one last time. Let Xu Fei come out to see me!”
Cao Xing Gong frowned with a gloomy face, but he still turned back to signal the steward. “Let him come out.”
“Yes.” The steward bowed and quickly ran into the courtyard.
Before long, Xu Fei was brought out.
Seeing the formation outside, Xu Fei became terrified and greeted tremblingly, “This official is Xu Fei. May I ask what business the general has with this official?”
“Unrelated people, withdraw.” Wei Lin gave another order to clear the area.
Soon, the only person left exposed in the entire Cao Mansion was Xu Fei.
Wei Lin tilted his head to signal. A Wolf Guard jumped down from his mount, handed over a document for Xu Fei to read.
Seeing that Xu Fei was straining his eyes in the moonlight, he flashed over, took down a lantern from the Cao Mansion entrance, and personally held it up to light for Xu Fei.
Xu Fei was not stupid. With one glance he knew what it was. It was exactly the statement he, Yu Qing and Chong’er had given after returning from going missing in the ancient tomb wasteland.
He just did not understand why they suddenly wanted him to look at this, and with such a big commotion. It made his heart pound with fear.
After he finished reading, Wei Lin asked, “Xu Fei, is there anything missing in this statement of yours, or are you hiding something?”
Xu Fei’s eyes flickered. He shook his head and said, “No.”
His mental resilience was far worse than Yu Qing’s.
The key was that he did not dare to admit it now. He did not know how big the matter was, nor whether revealing the deception of the court would affect his future prospects. His uncle was currently trying to find a way to secure an official position for him as a fellow jinshi.
Wei Lin stared at him expressionlessly for a while, then said one indifferent sentence, “Take him away!”
Immediately a rope came flying over his head and tied Xu Fei on the spot. With one pull, Xu Fei’s whole body flew up.
“What are you doing? What do you want to do? I am a court official, I am a court official…”
Xu Fei shouted in alarm continuously, but it was useless. He was already carried like a sack of grain, pressed onto the back of a giant wolf, and taken away as the giant wolf galloped off with legs spread wide.
The group of Wolf Guards once again retreated like a receding tide in an instant.
Not long after, Cao Xing Gong ran out of the house quickly. After confirming that his nephew had been taken away by the Wolf Guards, his face looked extremely ugly. He suddenly shouted loudly, “Prepare the horse! Quickly prepare the horse!”
A fast horse was urgently brought over.
Cao Xing Gong did not even bother to bring guards. He mounted the horse, turned its direction, and galloped away.
All the way he ignored the capital’s rules against galloping wildly and quickly crossed streets and alleys.
After a frantic ride, he arrived at the rear courtyard of a grand mansion. Instead of going through the main gate, he knocked repeatedly on the back door.
The back door opened a crack. The gate servant saw it was him and, without saying an extra word, immediately let him in. Clearly they knew each other well.
He passed through side courtyards, entered a quiet garden, and hurried along with small quick steps. Finally he stopped breathlessly outside a waterside pavilion with gauze curtains among the pavilions and towers, and called out, “Sir.”
An elderly man lay on a reclining chair inside. The floating gauze curtains blocked the view, so his true appearance could not be seen clearly.
The old man was soaking his feet. Two maids knelt on the ground, each holding one of his feet and massaging it.
“Why are you panting so heavily coming here so late at night?” the old man inside asked.
“Sir, my nephew has been captured by the Wolf Guards…” Cao Xing Gong rattled off the whole sequence of events. Finally he lifted the hem of his robe and thumped to his knees outside the gauze curtains. “This lowly one has run out of options. I beg sir to save him!”
The old man inside said slowly, “You do not even know what happened. How do you expect me to save him? Can this old man directly rush into the Wolf Guards’ camp to demand a person, or knock on the palace gates late at night to disturb His Majesty to save someone?”