Chapter 353: A Great Surprise!

Only now did Qin Mian learn that Wei Chu's feigned death was connected to Linghu Qiu. Until this point, the higher-ups had kept it from her.

Even she could not help privately blaming them for muddling matters. Wei Chu was so important. How could they involve him so lightly in something like this?

What she did not know was that the higher-ups had not wanted to do it either. They had exhausted every method without success. Niu Youdao simply hid in the Qi capital and refused to come out, leaving them no way to move against him there. Hongxiu and Hongfu had even sacrificed themselves by resorting to seduction, and still it had failed. In the end, they had no choice but to use the expedient of having Wei Chu fake his death.

The original plan was to lure Niu Youdao out of the capital and dispose of him, after which Wei Chu could reappear with the story that he had narrowly escaped disaster and managed to keep his life. At that point, any explanation would do. Outsiders did not know what had truly happened anyway.

No one had expected Linghu Qiu's identity to be exposed at precisely this moment, much less for the court to suddenly intervene. The turn of events had caught everyone unprepared.

On the surface, it looked very likely that Niu Youdao was behind it. If that were true, Linghu Qiu had already presented Wei Chu's head to Niu Youdao. Could Wei Chu still come back to life afterward? If he truly reappeared, would that not make it obvious that Linghu Qiu and Wei Chu had colluded from the start? Niu Youdao would find it difficult not to suspect Wei Chu's identity.

Now that things had reached this point, Linghu Qiu falling into the court's hands was not actually frightening. Linghu Qiu did not know Wei Chu's true background, nor did he know Wei Chu had faked his death. He posed no threat to Wei Chu. Niu Youdao was the real problem.

As long as Niu Youdao remained alive for even one more day, Wei Chu had no way to come back to life! How could Xiaoyue Pavilion possibly let Niu Youdao go? This time, they intended to kill him at any cost. Niu Youdao himself had no idea that such complicated and deeply hidden secrets lay behind the matter!

"Why?" Su Zhao asked.

Qin Mian shook her head. "Proprietress, you know the rules. If it's something we should know, the higher-ups will naturally tell us. If they don't tell us, we don't ask."

Su Zhao slowly drew the comb through her long hair and fell silent. Before, the higher-ups had been restraining her and refusing to let her move against Niu Youdao. Now they were the ones in a hurry to move against him. She had no idea what was hidden behind the reversal... Across the boundless sea, stars and moon shone brilliantly. Heaven and earth seemed transformed into some fantastical realm.

Three great ships sailed beneath the starry sky, maintaining a distance of roughly twenty or thirty zhang from one another. Inside one passenger cabin, a hanging lantern swayed with the ship. A birdcage hanging nearby rocked as well.

A black-clad man with a deathly pale face stood with his hands clasped behind his back before the cage, staring at the several Goldenwings inside. The birds plainly had not yet grown accustomed to the constant rolling of life at sea.

Nearby, a low table lay overturned. Wine and dishes were scattered across the floor. A man wearing only his inner robe, with his outer garment gone, lay there panting. From time to time he shook his head as though trying to clear it. At last he managed to lift his head and look toward the black-clad man.

"Lu Lijun... what are you trying to do?"

The black-clad man turned, walked over, raised one foot, and planted it on the man's back. With hardly any effort, he pressed him flat to the floor.

Clatter!

The cabin door slid open and two ghost cultivators entered.

One nodded. "Third Master, word has come from ahead. From the front of the fleet to the rear, all of the Prince of the Western Court's people have been brought under control. Everything went smoothly. We didn't lose a single man."

"It should have gone smoothly," Lu Lijun said blandly, looking down at the man on the floor.

For the sake of secrecy, the other side had not dared deploy too many people. They feared using unreliable men and feared news leaking out. In each formation of three ships, they had basically assigned only a single cultivator to keep watch. Xianyin Mountain had supplied most of the manpower in the operation. And since the other side had never been on guard against them, taking control of the fleet had been easy.

"Pass down the order. Every ship turns around. We retrace our route!"

Lu Lijun issued the command, kicked aside the man beneath his foot, and strode out of the passenger cabin. He left the cabin and stood on the foredeck beneath the moonlight, facing the wind. The three ships in their formation began adjusting their sails and turning across the vast sea. Once he confirmed that they were heading back, Lu Lijun tilted his head.

"Along the side facing the mainland, hang a row of lanterns!"

"Yes!"

The ghost cultivator beside him immediately went to carry out the order. Before long, a row of lanterns had been lit beneath the cabin eaves. The ghost cultivator returned.

"It's done. Third Master, what exactly are we doing, going back and forth like this? The people we've taken control of belong to the Prince of the Western Court. Won't this cause trouble?"

"The Chief ordered us to do this. She naturally has her reasons. We only need to obey."

"Third Master, look!"

The ghost cultivator suddenly pointed toward one side of the sea. Three points of light were visible on the dark water. Lu Lijun turned and walked to the rail, watching them for a while.

Then he said, "Put out that row of lanterns."

The lanterns beneath the cabin eaves were quickly extinguished. Immediately afterward, the three points of light on the sea went dark as well.

"Third Master, people are approaching!" the ghost cultivator warned urgently.

"No need to panic. They're our own people," Lu Lijun said calmly.

Before long, a group of figures came skimming over the sea. Most stopped some distance away above the water. Only a dozen or so descended from the sky. Black Peony, Gongsun Bu, and the others landed on the foredeck.

"Which one is Lu Lijun?" Black Peony asked.

"I am." The black-clad man responded, then asked, "You're Black Peony?"

Black Peony cupped her hands in greeting.

"How did it go?"

"Very smoothly. Everyone is under control. No news leaked."

"What about the cargo?"

Lu Lijun gestured for them to follow and led the group into the ship. They descended the stairs to the lowest deck. The light below was dim, and the air was thick with the smell of livestock pens.

Under the swaying lamps, fine horses stood separated from one another inside rows of wooden stalls. From time to time, a horse snorted.

A horse does not grow fat without night forage. The grooms who had traveled with the ships were shaking out fodder and distributing it to the animals, while others cleaned away manure. Wu Shaohuan, elder of Liuxian Sect, hurried into the aisle between the stalls. He looked left and right, reaching out every so often to stroke a horse.

Only after confirming with his own hands that everything before him was real and no illusion did he turn around and laugh loudly. Waving his single arm, he strode back in overflowing delight.

"Horses! They're all first-rate warhorses!"

The people from the three sects entered the stalls one after another to look for themselves. Every face showed astonishment and delight. Unexpected.

Far too unexpected!

They had truly been stifled beyond endurance over this period. At Niu Youdao's demand, they had traveled furtively and then hidden quietly in one place for a long time.

They had come under orders from their sects to handle the warhorse affair, yet had not dared show their faces. Every day had been nothing but eating, drinking, relieving themselves, and sleeping. Even their external communications had been tightly restricted.

Had Niu Youdao not possessed enough authority to keep the people from the three sects in line, Black Peony and the others would have lost control of them long ago. When they had suddenly been ordered to move this time, they still had not known what they were coming for. Only now, at this very moment, did they finally understand. Niu Youdao had already prepared ready-made warhorses for them! And not only the horses.

The ships, the transport crews, and all the accompanying supplies had plainly been prepared as well! The three sects had spent nearly a year struggling in the State of Qi without even seeing the shadow of success, yet now everything seemed to have been settled. How could they not be delighted? And they themselves appeared to have done almost nothing. They had not even endured any real danger! Black Peony and Gongsun Bu entered the stalls and inspected the horses as well.

When they met again, the two exchanged smiles. More than delight, however, both felt amazement. At the beginning, they had thought this affair would involve tremendous risk. A life-or-death battle had seemed almost unavoidable.

Who could have imagined that Master Dao would not only secure the warhorses, but even arrange the ships and the people transporting them? Not a single soldier had been lost.

According to the messages Shen Qiu had sent, Master Dao had remained trapped in the Qi capital this entire time. On the surface, he had made no obvious moves at all. Every day he had merely flirted with Hongniang, eaten, drunk, and amused himself. It was almost impossible to imagine how he had accomplished all of this in secret. This truly was planning within the command tent and deciding victory a thousand li away!

"The incapable run their legs off; the capable accomplish it with a casual hand."

Gongsun Bu stroked the head of a horse beside him and sighed softly. This time, he was genuinely convinced by Niu Youdao. More than anything else, he felt that Wuliang Mountain had chosen the right person to follow. He could already glimpse a distant prospect ahead. Perhaps Wuliang Mountain would truly rise to prosperity under his leadership!

Back with Lu Lijun, Black Peony asked, "How many horses in all?"

"Three hundred horse transports, one hundred horses on each ship. Two hundred supply ships."

That meant there were thirty thousand warhorses in total! Far more than the ten thousand Commandery Prince Yongping had asked for. The three sect elders exchanged smiles, unable to hide their delight. Wu Shaohuan laughed.

"Master Dao truly lives up to the name. This Wu is utterly convinced. I admire him so much I could prostrate myself before him!"

Even the way he addressed Niu Youdao had finally changed. The other two elders smiled and nodded as well. None of them had expected Niu Youdao to quietly hand them such a tremendous surprise. As elders of the three sects, they naturally understood what this meant.

So long as this batch of warhorses reached home safely, Tianyu Sect would have no reason to refuse them a share of the liquor profits. For the three sects, that meant a lasting stream of wealth in the years ahead!

A year earlier, the three sects had come to the State of Qi, struggled bitterly, lost many people, and accomplished nothing. Then Niu Youdao arrived. No more disciples of the three sects were lost. They rested on the sidelines, and somehow the affair was completed without them even realizing it. How could they not admire him? The horses had not yet reached home, so Black Peony did not dare celebrate too early.

She remembered Niu Youdao's instructions and asked Lu Lijun again, "Have you figured out how those people contact the outside?"

"Twice a day."

"Do you know their secret code for the messages?"

"No. Communications weren't our responsibility before. But with so many people in our hands now, if we think of a way, someone will eventually talk."

"Good." Black Peony turned toward Gongsun Bu. "Brother Gongsun, I'll have to trouble you to coordinate with Brother Lu on this."

"All right!" Gongsun Bu nodded.

Wu Shaohuan said to the other two elders, "We should send this good news to our sects as soon as possible, so they can stop worrying."

"Exactly!" the other two agreed with smiles.

"No!" Black Peony refused without hesitation.

She turned sharply toward them.

"Until the cargo reaches its destination, all Goldenwings used for outside communication are to be placed under unified control. No one is permitted to send any message privately!"

Wu Shaohuan frowned.

"Black Peony, do you not trust us? If our three sects learn of this, do you think we'd leak it outside? Wouldn't that be lifting a stone only to smash our own feet? How long has it been since we've even contacted our sects?"

Black Peony's voice sank.

"This is Master Dao's order. Master Dao said that unless he personally approves it, everyone's private contact with the outside is to be cut off. Anyone who defies the order will be treated as someone leaking secrets."

Her gaze swept over them.

"Kill them!"

[End of Chapter 353]