Chapter 1626 - The Key Figure, The Minor Eunuch!
Chapter 1626: The Key Figure, The Minor Eunuch!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
With the drowning mishap of Jade Consort Xiao and the release of the Fifth Prince from prison, the harem incident gradually calmed back down, and the court did not cause much of a stir. But the effects of the incident persisted.
With Wang Chong’s return and his participation in several high-profile operations, the King of Foreign Lands had become the eye of the storm engulfing the empire.
Every day, innumerable scouts observed the King of Foreign Lands Residence from the shadows. There were scouts from other countries, from other parts of the Great Tang, from King Qi, the Confucian Sect, and people in the palace. Old Eagle and his men spent every day in a battle of wits and courage with them.
But in comparison to the spying and counterspying taking place on the other side of the walls, the King of Foreign Lands Residence was an oasis of calm.
Even though the other countries and the court dreaded the King of Foreign Lands and were watching his every move, Wang Chong was wholly unaffected.
Within the King of Foreign Lands Residence, golden energy from a higher dimension was rapidly revolving around Wang Chong. This blazing hot energy seemed capable of even melting down steel.
Ever since he had broken into the eleventh layer of the Origin Immortal Art and into the Subtle realm, Wang Chong had experienced a massive boost in strength. Every cell in his body was now bursting with the dense energy of the Subtle realm.
And if one looked carefully, one would realize that Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy had also gotten stronger.
Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy had gotten five times stronger after absorbing the Nightmare Beast’s power, and after crossing the threshold of the Subtle realm, his Psychic Energy was seven times stronger than that, and there was still room to improve.
“Who is it?!”
Suddenly, Wang Chong opened his eyes, which flashed with frighteningly cold light.
Swish!
Wang Chong suddenly brought his index and middle fingers together like a sword and sent a vicious bolt of Sword Qi slicing at the northwest corner of the hall.
This swift strike was suffused with an extremely lethal sword intent, leaving a somber aura in its wake. A pot by the window seemed to experience a winter chill, and the peony within it rapidly wilted, its once-lush leaves dropping off one by one.
Art of God and Demon Obliteration!
Wang Chong was once more using this supreme art, but on an entirely new level of power.
Even the fabric of space seemed to shatter like glass as the Sword Qi passed, leaving tiny cracks in the air.
Fwoosh!
Sword Qi pierced through the Stellar Energy, and a scream came from the corner. A figure with a panicked expression staggered out and began to flee.
“Assassins! After them!”
It was like someone had dropped a boulder into the calm lake of the King of Foreign Lands Residence, and countless Golden Guards began to chase after the assassin.
“No need! Let him go!”
Wang Chong called back the guards.
So many people were watching him now that he couldn’t be bothered to chase after them one by one. The King of Foreign Lands Residence quickly calmed back down.
A few moments later, the familiar voice of Xu Keyi resounded through the hall as he came in. “Your Highness, you summoned me?”
“How is the investigation proceeding?”
Wang Chong slowly began to end his cultivation as he looked toward Xu Keyi.
Xu Keyi lowered his head and said, “Your Highness, Eunuch Li and Sir Yang have already sent news from the palace. There are three hundred and fifty-seven eunuchs in the palace who are called ‘Little Li’. It will take some time to investigate them all, but at this time, none of them match with the minor eunuch Your Highness spoke of.”
“Oh?”
Wang Chong couldn’t help but frown at these words.
It had been some time since the end of the harem incident, but for Wang Chong, this was only the beginning.
Ever since the Fifth Prince had been released, Wang Chong had been pondering another problem, or more accurately, a person: the supreme ruler of the Great Tang Empire, His Majesty the Sage Emperor.
Throughout the harem incident, from the Fifth Prince’s imprisonment to the death of Jade Consort Xiao, the Sage Emperor had done nothing at all. This was far too abnormal.
From that moment, Wang Chong had developed an extremely vexing question that he couldn’t cast aside: what was the Sage Emperor’s current condition?
The Sage Emperor was the pillar holding up the empire, and his well-being was linked to the fate of the empire as a whole. Any information regarding the Sage Emperor was certain to send great waves through the surrounding countries.
But even Consort Taizhen or Fifth Prince Li Heng could not get close to the Sage Emperor’s residence.
The best of the imperial household’s guards had ringed the residence day and night, and no one could get within three thousand feet of it, much less see the Sage Emperor. And these Sage Emperor Guards only obeyed the Sage Emperor. Not even Consort Taizhen had any power over them.
Wang Chong had entered the palace several times, but he couldn’t even get a meeting with Eunuch Gao.
Thus, there was only one option left for Wang Chong!
In his memories, he recalled that when the Sage Emperor died, Eunuch Gao was so overcome with grief that he committed suicide. At the time of his death, the Central Plains was in chaos, but there was a minor eunuch who appeared to carry his coffin and to even perform the rites of a son, wearing mourning clothes and handling his funeral.
At the time, Wang Chong had been stunned, as everyone knew that Eunuch Gao had no children and had not adopted anyone. But he later heard that this eunuch was a minor eunuch that Eunuch Gao would occasionally run into. Eunuch Gao saw that he was clever and honest, so he had the eunuch remain at his side and taught him how to read and write.
Not many people in the palace knew about this, and if the minor eunuch hadn’t appeared after Eunuch Gao’s death to carry his coffin, probably no one would have known.
If Wang Chong could find this person, there was an extremely high chance that he could get in touch with Eunuch Gao and ask about the Sage Emperor’s condition.
Wang Chong had believed that the power of Li Jingzhong and Yang Zhao would be enough to find that minor eunuch, but it now appeared that it would be far more difficult than he had anticipated.
“Your Highness, we have too little information. It will be very difficult to find that man if this is all we have to work with,” Xu Keyi awkwardly said.
Wang Chong had provided far too little information, merely the nickname ‘Little Li’ and a rather inconspicuous sesame-seed-sized mole on his lower lip. Probably more than a hundred people in the palace could fit this description.
And even if they investigated all of them, there was no guarantee that they would find the person Wang Chong wanted.
“I see.”
Wang Chong’s brow deeply furrowed as he lapsed into deep thought.
“Reporting!”
Suddenly, a rush of footsteps came from outside, and a guard soon got down on one knee in front of Wang Chong.
“Your Highness, the palace has sent word. Last night, apparently a minor eunuch fled the palace. The City Guard is already searching the city. In addition… it seems that the order came straight from the Eastern Palace!”
Buzz!
Wang Chong and Xu Keyi both paled.
A minor eunuch running was not anything worth being astonished about, but if the Eastern Palace had given an order, then clearly matters were not as simple as they seemed. Besides that, Wang Chong had been in the middle of searching for a eunuch, and as it turned out…
Wang Chong and Xu Keyi realized something and shared a glance.
Whoosh!
A few moments later, carrier pigeons took off from the King of Foreign Lands Residence. Li Jingzhong proved to be remarkably efficacious, and the reply from the Imperial Palace soon arrived. The eunuch who had fled had the surname Li, and he was also called Little Li.
More importantly, those familiar with him said that he had a small black mole on the corner of his lip. This eunuch had a habit of scratching at the mole, which had caused those around him to notice it.
Xu Keyi and the others were energized by this news. In merely half a day, countless scouts and spies were dispatched throughout the capital.
“Your Highness, it’s up ahead!”
As night fell, in a simple and crude alley located in the southern part of the city, a spy of the King of Foreign Lands Residence guided the way. Wang Chong’s intelligence network was now extremely developed by this point, and not even the City Guard could compare to it.
It had only taken four hours to receive, verify, and investigate the news, and Wang Chong’s men had already managed to pick out the needle from the haystack, finding the minor eunuch’s location from amongst the hundreds of thousands of people living in the capital.
It was truly an astonishing feat.
“Reporting! Young Master, we’ve noticed the City Guard. They’re going house by house and are coming this way!”
Several steps away, Miyasame Ayaka appeared atop a moss-covered wall, wearing her black assassin clothes and two sabers at her waist.
“Reporting!” another voice soon called out. “Your Highness, we’ve discovered the First Prince’s men to the northwest. They seem to have obtained some information and are headed this way!”
Another man dressed in black assassin clothes was kneeling on the ground, his body exuding an air of experience and agility. This was a formidable assassin Wang Chong had recruited from the martial arts world called ‘Ghost Shadow’. Wang Chong had saved him during the northwest expedition, earning his loyalty.
The martial arts world had many ways of gathering information. In this aspect, Ghost Shadow was not one bit lacking compared to Miyasame Ayaka!
“It came very quickly!”
Wang Chong’s expression chilled, but he quickly regained his composure.
“Xu Keyi, Cheng Sanyuan, take some men and go with Miyasame Ayaka to handle this. I don’t care what methods you use, but I wish to not be disturbed by anyone.”
“Yes!” his subordinates replied in unison.