Chapter 1239: You Are Not Jian Shanyue

Jia Wuqun, who had been tending the flowers and plants, noticed something amiss. He turned to look at Yuan Cong, a trace of question in his eyes.

Yuan Cong said quietly, "Our address was never leaked. No one should be coming to us directly." His eyes and ears were already alert to everything around them, and he flicked a hand toward Wei Duo.

Wei Duo immediately flashed to the gate and peered outside through the crack.

Knock, knock.

The pounding had already begun. Wei Duo looked back, made a quick gesture toward the others, then shook his head. Two people were outside, but he recognized neither of them.

Yuan Cong gave a slight wave, signaling that they should ignore it. They would pretend no one was home and hope the visitors left on their own.

But the knocking continued without pause. When it finally stopped, the bolt on the gate suddenly clattered and sprang open by itself.

Someone had plainly used spiritual power to release it.

The gate was pushed open directly, and one man strode inside.

Wei Duo immediately flashed forward to block him. "Who are you?"

Outside, a carriage stood across the entrance. One man had entered, while another sat on the driver's bench like a coachman, looking coldly into the courtyard from the corner of his eye.

Wei Duo had barely finished his challenge when all confidence seemed to vanish from him.

The intruder advanced step by step.

Wei Duo retreated step by step.

Once Yuan Cong's angle of view cleared, he finally saw the man raise a hand and display a token.

A token identifying him as personnel of the Misty Pavilion.

People from the Misty Pavilion had actually found them?

Yuan Cong's pupils contracted sharply. His gaze swept the surroundings by instinct. Had something been exposed? Were they here for him?

The weed in Jia Wuqun's hand tightened between his fingers, and his expression grew grave.

He had an unusual impression of the Misty Pavilion.

A very deep one.

When those people did not feel like reasoning with you, they cared nothing for reason at all. His tongue had been torn out by the Misty Pavilion. The pain, the scene, the helplessness of it—he still felt lingering fear whenever he remembered.

The visitor flicked one hand behind him.

The gate closed on its own.

After forcing Wei Duo back, the man tugged at his belt and opened his outer robe, revealing beneath it the clothing of the Misty Pavilion that he had concealed from view.

He also held up the token toward Yuan Cong's side.

"Jia Wuqun?"

Jia Wuqun let the weed fall from his hand, nodded, and cupped his hands in salute. Unable to speak, that was all he could do.

Yuan Cong and Wei Duo silently saluted as well.

Neither doubted the man's identity.

There were few people beneath Heaven who dared impersonate the Misty Pavilion.

There had been some, of course.

But almost none had escaped a miserable death. The Misty Pavilion would pursue such people at any cost until they were captured.

The visitor put away the identity token and closed his robe again, hiding the Misty Pavilion clothing beneath it. Only then did he say indifferently, "I will trouble the three of you to come with us."

Yuan Cong asked, "May I ask what this is about, Envoy?"

"You will know when the time comes."

The man walked directly to Wei Duo.

Without the slightest hesitation, he reached out and tapped several points on Wei Duo's body, sealing off his ability to use spiritual power.

Wei Duo did not dare resist in the slightest.

The man then walked over to Yuan Cong and did the same thing, moving quickly to seal his spiritual power.

Yuan Cong's gaze flickered once.

He did not resist either.

Finally, the man rested a hand on Jia Wuqun's shoulder and sent spiritual power through him to examine his body. After confirming that Jia Wuqun truly was not a cultivator, he withdrew his hand.

With both cultivators restrained, the visitor seemed to relax somewhat. He tipped his head toward the gate.

"Let's go."

He turned first, opened the gate, and waited outside.

Jia Wuqun looked at Yuan Cong.

Yuan Cong gave a slight nod, then gently pushed him between the shoulder blades, signaling that they should obey.

The three left the courtyard.

The visitor herded all three into the carriage, then climbed inside as well.

The curtain dropped.

The coachman called to the horse, and the carriage rolled out of the alley, entered the street, and traveled away through the splendor of the Qi capital without pause, heading directly toward the city gate.

The city was under wartime security, so inspections were strict.

Yet the coachman produced some kind of travel token. The guards immediately abandoned the inspection and let the carriage through.

Once outside the city, the carriage moved faster and faster.

The coachman repeatedly cracked the whip.

The wheels jolted violently, and the compartment shook harder with every stretch of road. With their spiritual power sealed, the men inside had to hold on just to remain seated.

From time to time, Jia Wuqun studied the expression of the Misty Pavilion man riding with them.

His brows occasionally knit.

He was trying to determine why the Misty Pavilion had taken them.

Wei Duo was even more bewildered and faintly afraid.

Yuan Cong felt that he understood the situation better than the others.

He suspected they had come for him.

But if they truly had, sending only two men made little sense.

Unable to determine what arrangements the Misty Pavilion might have prepared, and with the Qi capital crowded with too many eyes, he had not dared move recklessly.

After thinking for a long while, Yuan Cong finally could not hold back.

"May I ask what the Envoy has summoned us for?"

The Misty Pavilion man gave him a cold look. "Shut up. Don't talk so much."

Yuan Cong, Jia Wuqun, and Wei Duo exchanged glances.

All three fell silent.

Each continued calculating privately, waiting to see what would happen in the end.

The carriage ran for about an hour before those inside suddenly felt it slow down and change direction.

Through the swaying window curtain, they could see that it had actually left the official road and was being forced over rough, uneven ground into the mountains.

It could not travel far along the mountain terrain.

The carriage only turned into a hidden hollow where the outside world could no longer see it directly, then stopped.

The curtain was pulled up.

The man riding inside jumped out and called, "Get down!"

The three could see that the coachman had already dismounted and was watching the surroundings with high vigilance.

They had no choice but to obey.

One after another, they climbed down and looked around.

Before any of them could react, someone seized Yuan Cong by one arm and shot into the air.

The other man grabbed Jia Wuqun and Wei Duo and followed close behind.

They moved rapidly through the mountains.

Before long, they had vanished deep into the range and finally landed inside a secluded valley.

The three captives were released again.

All three looked over the valley.

It was plainly a place few people ever visited.

No one else could be seen.

They truly had no idea why they had been brought here.

The coachman clasped his hands behind his back and fixed Jia Wuqun with a stare.

"Jia Wuqun, the Misty Pavilion has questions for you. Answer whatever is asked. Conceal nothing."

Jia Wuqun cupped his hands and nodded to show obedience.

The coachman asked, "In Jin, was it you who secretly incited the Seventh Princess to force Shao Pingbo into marriage?"

The question surprised all three of them.

They had been brought all the way to such a secluded place merely to ask about this?

Yuan Cong's gaze flickered.

So they had not come for him?

Jia Wuqun froze briefly. After a moment's hesitation, he nodded.

The coachman asked, "What was your purpose?"

Jia Wuqun pointed at his own mouth, then toward Yuan Cong.

The coachman clearly knew of his condition. He gave a quiet sound of assent.

Yuan Cong stepped in front of Jia Wuqun.

After feeling the characters traced on his back, he spoke for him. "As far as I know, the Misty Pavilion does not interfere in worldly affairs."

The coachman answered calmly, "This is not interference. It is merely the Misty Pavilion's usual practice of understanding the situation. Do not think too much."

So that was it.

Jia Wuqun nodded.

He did not dare conceal the truth, and he knew there was little point in trying.

The Misty Pavilion had already focused on him. Sooner or later, the final purpose of his plan would become visible. If he lied now and was exposed later, not only would he himself be unable to escape, the entire Chancellor's residence might be dragged into the matter.

He traced characters on Yuan Cong's back and honestly explained his objective.

After listening, the coachman asked, "If you cannot force Shao Pingbo to death, what are you planning to do next?"

Once again, Jia Wuqun honestly revealed the next stage of his plan.

After learning that, the coachman exchanged a glance with his companion, then asked, "You have neither grievance nor enmity with Shao Pingbo. Why are you harming him? Who instructed you?"

Through Yuan Cong, Jia Wuqun answered, "Shang Chaozong of Nanzhou!"

Wei Duo felt a flicker of confusion.

Wasn't it Zhao Xiongge?

Was Jia Wuqun lying to deceive the Misty Pavilion?

The coachman looked surprised. "Do not speak nonsense. Why would you work for Shang Chaozong?"

Jia Wuqun smiled bitterly and described in detail how Shang Chaozong had secretly lured him away.

Yuan Cong could not help turning his head to look at Jia Wuqun several times.

Only now did he learn how Niu Youdao had managed to bring this man into the game.

Once the entire course of events had been understood, the coachman's gaze turned to Yuan Cong.

"Who are you?"

Yuan Cong fell silent.

Who was he?

He could not say.

Rip!

The man suddenly struck.

With one motion, he tore the false face from Yuan Cong's head and revealed the true face beneath.

It was Zhong Guzi, the supposedly deceased Supreme Elder of Zijin Cave!

He no longer had the frail, dying appearance of old age.

His vitality, bearing, and spirit all appeared considerably younger than before.

In that single instant, a vicious light flashed through Zhong Guzi's eyes.

His gaze narrowed.

He coldly swept the surroundings, then rapidly studied every direction.

The coachman stared at the false face in his hand.

He had clearly been caught off guard.

Surprise entered his voice. "I've seen Jian Shanyue before. You are not Jian Shanyue. Who exactly are you?"

His companion looked equally unfamiliar with Zhong Guzi.

Neither man had ever seen him.

That was not strange.

Zhong Guzi had been a Supreme Elder of Zijin Cave. Even in ordinary times, he seldom appeared before outsiders, and later he had spent years secluded inside Tortoise-Slumber Pavilion.

Never mind these two Misty Pavilion operatives.

Even Wei Duo and Jia Wuqun had never seen him and did not recognize the face.

Yuan Cong said nothing.

He merely drew a deep breath.

His back slowly bowed.

The coachman's expression darkened. "So you refuse a toast only to drink a punishment. It seems we must show you some color before you'll confess!"

His hand shot out like a claw toward Yuan Cong's shoulder, intending to punish him.

But Yuan Cong, whose back had been slightly bowed, suddenly straightened his chest.

An oppressive, terrifying aura surged outward.

The coachman's face changed drastically.

His clawed fingers stopped less than an inch from Yuan Cong's shoulder.

They could not advance another fraction.

Before he understood what was happening, Yuan Cong flipped one palm and struck with lightning speed.

The palm landed squarely on his chest.

Boom!

The coachman flew backward violently.

Blood sprayed wildly from his mouth through the air.

He slammed into the cliff wall, crashed to the ground, and continued coughing blood. He was already too badly injured to move.

"You..." The other Misty Pavilion man was horrified.

He himself had personally sealed Yuan Cong's cultivation.

What was happening?

A realization struck almost immediately.

This man's cultivation was overwhelmingly powerful.

His companion had not even been able to resist a single blow.

How could he possibly be a match?

He turned and fled at once.

Yuan Cong spread five fingers toward the air.

The false face flew back into his hand.

His figure vanished from where he stood.

In the next instant, he had already caught up with the fleeing man.

The man had not even escaped the valley before a scream rang through the air.

Yuan Cong's clawed hand effortlessly broke through his protective qi.

Five fingers drove into the man's back.

Like an eagle seizing a chick, Yuan Cong gripped the spine itself through flesh and skin.

Without the slightest pause, his figure flashed back through the air and returned to the others.

Wei Duo sucked in a cold breath at the sight.

Crack!

Yuan Cong crushed the spine in his hand.

Then he casually threw the fleeing man to the ground.

His cold gaze immediately swept the surroundings again.

Jia Wuqun stood frozen in shock.

At least Wei Duo had still been able to see roughly what had happened.

Jia Wuqun had only seen figures blur several times.

Then, as though in a dream, both Misty Pavilion operatives were already lying on the ground with grave injuries.

[End of Chapter 1239]