chsdbacks Chapter 104 My subordinate is lucky; he didn't die.
Chapter 104 My subordinate is lucky; he didn't die.
Two days later, the Third Prince Li Zhengyuan's carriage entered the capital.
Before he even returned to his residence, someone rushed over to deliver the news, telling Li Zhengyuan everything about what had happened in the Juwu Pavilion's alchemy room.
"What?! This is outrageous! Who dares to raid the alchemy room of the Gathering Martial Pavilion?"
"Your Highness, it was Lin Yan, the same Lin Yan who entered the city just a few months ago." The messenger knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head. "Two days ago, under the pretext of thoroughly investigating the harm caused by substandard pills, he took the Crown Prince's documents, led more than twenty constables from the Jingzhao Prefecture, and Chen Yi, the Crown Prince's secret guard, and directly broke in, arrested people, and even... even stole the roster."
"A roster?" Li Zhengyuan's face was so dark it seemed to drip water. "Even if Chen Yi went, Liu Feng could hold him off for a while. Didn't Liu Kui bring the roster with him?"
Upon hearing the name Liu Kui, the messenger shuddered and stammered, "Your...Your Highness, Liu Kui...was killed by Lin Yan."
Bang!
Li Zhengyuan threw the folding fan in his hand to the ground and stood up from the soft couch.
"Lin Yan!" Li Zhengyuan gritted his teeth and uttered those two words. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He kicked over the copper basin next to him, and the basin rolled on the ground with a loud clatter.
"I once admired him and sent Gao Wenjing to save his life, and now he's raiding my alchemy workshop and killing my subordinates. Is this how he repays the debt of saving my life?"
The messenger dared not speak.
There was a moment of silence in the study.
Li Zhengyuan took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and sat back down on the soft couch.
"Go check how the people on the list are doing now."
"Yes, I will take care of it right away."
Back at his residence, Li Zhengyuan sat in his study without even changing his clothes, waiting for news.
The men sent out returned in less than an hour.
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince is acting very quickly. Some of the people on the list have already been approached by the Eastern Palace's secret guards."
"Report the results."
"Currently, eight people have pledged allegiance to the Crown Prince, while twelve who refused to do so... have all been killed."
"What about the rest?"
"Seven people are still in the capital, and the remaining nine people heard the news in advance and may have already escaped the capital. Their whereabouts are unknown, and even Juwu Pavilion cannot contact them."
"Where is he? "Li Zhengyuan sneered. "Is the Crown Prince trying to wipe out all the rogue cultivators I've trained in one fell swoop?"
He picked up a pen, wrote a note, and handed it to the man.
"Zhou Ming, if you can find those who are missing, find a way to bring them to a safe place. As for those who are still in the capital, if they have decided to submit to me, send them to the Martial Selection Division. If they still do not want to, immediately notify them to move and lay low for a while."
Just then, a voice announced from outside the door.
"Your Highness, Liu Kui requests an audience."
Li Zhengyuan was stunned, and Zhou Ming was also stunned. They looked at each other, both thinking they had misheard.
"Who?" Li Zhengyuan asked.
The eunuch outside the door repeated, "Your Highness, Liu Kui requests an audience."
Li Zhengyuan suddenly stood up, took three steps in two, walked to the door and yanked it open.
A person stood at the door of the study, dressed in coarse gray-white clothes, with a pale face and some dark red stains on his chest.
It was Liu Kui, the white-robed man from the alchemy room of Juwu Pavilion.
"You..." Li Zhengyuan looked him up and down, his expression shifting from suspicion to disbelief. "You're not dead? Zhou Ming told me Lin Yan didn't...
Liu Kui clasped his hands in a salute, his voice very weak, "Your Highness, I am lucky to be alive."
Li Zhengyuan pulled him into the study and pressed him down into a chair.
"What exactly happened?" Li Zhengyuan stared at him. "Didn't they say you were stabbed through the chest by Lin Yan and died on the spot? How did you come back to life?"
Liu Kui sighed and slowly said, "Your Highness, Lin Yan's knife did indeed pierce my chest, and under normal circumstances, I would certainly die, but... his knife missed by three points."
"Off-center?"
"That stab grazed past my heart, it didn't pierce my heart meridian," Liu Kui said, subconsciously touching the spot on his chest that was still throbbing. "Moreover, when he stabbed me, I could feel a stream of true energy flowing along the blade into my body, protecting my heart meridian."
Zhou Ming gasped: "He deliberately spared your life?"
Liu Kui nodded.
"I thought I was going to die, and my consciousness quickly became blurred. Due to excessive blood loss, I entered a state of apparent death."
"And then?"
"Later, my subordinate lay in the alley. Although he was bleeding, his heart was protected by his true energy, and he never died. It wasn't until Lin Yan and his team finished their work that the residents of the alley took him to the clinic for emergency treatment. The doctor prescribed some healing pills and said that he would be fine after resting."
At this point, Liu Kui looked up at Li Zhengyuan and said, "Your Highness, I have been at the peak of the True Qi Realm for two years, and my perception of True Qi is not wrong. Lin Yan's True Qi was deliberately used to protect me. If he really wanted to kill me, that knife would have pierced my heart directly, and I would not have had even the slightest chance of survival."
Li Zhengyuan fell silent.
He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest, his mind racing.
"Lin Yan..." he murmured the name, "Why did he spare your life?"
Liu Kui shook his head: "I don't know, but I dare to guess that Lin Yan may not genuinely want to work for the Crown Prince."
"Oh? What makes you say that?"
"If he truly wanted to serve the Crown Prince, he should have left no survivors and handled the matter cleanly and efficiently. However, he spared one of his subordinates' lives. I think Lin Yan might not want to completely destroy the matter. This raid was just a way for him to pledge his loyalty to the Crown Prince."
Zhou Ming chimed in from the side, "Your Highness, could it be that Lin Yan is trying to hedge his bets?"
Li Zhengyuan did not answer immediately.
He walked to the window, pushed it open, and saw that the sky outside was gradually darkening. There were no lights on in the courtyard yet, and only the shadows of bamboo could be seen swaying in the wind.
"Holding his bets on both sides..." Li Zhengyuan murmured, "I thought Lin Yan had let go of his grudge and truly become the Crown Prince's lackey, but this person is much more interesting than I imagined."
"Your Highness, what if Lin Yan spared Liu Kui's life at the Crown Prince's behest?"
"No, I know my brother's temper. If he knew that Lin Yan was holding back, the first person he would kill would be Lin Yan, not those rogue cultivators on the list."
"Alright, you may all leave. Keep a close eye on the Crown Prince's movements. As for Liu Kui, you will stay in the palace for now and not show your face in public."
"Yes."
Zhou Ming and Liu Kui left the study and gently closed the door.
Li Zhengyuan sat alone under the dim light and opened a thin booklet.
If Lin Yan were here, he would recognize that this booklet looks almost exactly the same as the list he gave to the Crown Prince.
The first line of the roster contained only two words.
Lin Yan.
After staring at those two words for a long time, Li Zhengyuan crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it into the charcoal brazier.
The flame licked the paper ball, and the writing gradually distorted in the firelight, finally turning into a pile of ashes.