Chapter 211: The Incident in Songye City
Four days later, Long and s.h.i.+ arrived at Songye city.
Songye city was an ancient city, which had existed for a long time. It had a longer history even than the current dynasty because it was established in the previous dynasty.
At that time, Songye city almost became the capital.
Moreover, when the founder of the current dynasty defeated the last emperor of the former dynasty and was about to ascend the throne, the last emperor of that dynasty fled here.
Therefore, according to legend, there were remaining forces of the previous dynasty in Songye city.
Of course, that was just a legend and the current royal family didn’t pay much attention to it.
Before entering the city gate, they had felt the primitive simplicity of this place.
Long said, “This place seems to be quite good.”
“Why do you say so?” s.h.i.+ said calmly.
“I just have the feeling. The city gate here is different from other city gates we have been to…”
“Yes.” s.h.i.+ nodded. “It’s indeed different. In terms of prosperity, this city is second only to the imperial city.”
“Oh?” Long raised his eyebrows with interest. “It’s very prosperous? Let’s have a good look.”
s.h.i.+ took a look at Long. “Let’s walk around the city later.”
“Are there many people on the list?” Long asked.
“Not so many. About thirty. What’s the matter?”
“I just wonder how much time we have to enjoy ourselves here,” Long said with a smile.
s.h.i.+ also smiled. “There will be time.”
When people were entering the city gate, routine inspections of carriages would be needed. Originally, Long and s.h.i.+ didn’t want to get off the carriage.
However, the inspections were carried out very strictly and every pa.s.sing carriage was searched carefully.
If the rules here were not so strict before, something must have happened in Songye city.
“Go and find out what happened here,” s.h.i.+ commanded the Shadow Guardians calmly.
The Shadow Guardians did his bidding and soon got the information.
It turned out that a philanderer appeared in Songye city.
What’s more, that man could do excellent martial arts and he liked both men and women!
That man had been making trouble in Songye city for more than a month.
Every time he took a fancy to a woman or a man, he would throw a dart and a piece of paper into that person’s home one day in advance.
Then, in the middle of the night, he would come and take that woman or man away, without exception.
The whole city had been informed and every family had taken precautions against that man’s attack.
However, that man was extremely powerful. Even if someone’s home was heavily guarded, the philanderer would still break in and take away the person he liked.
The next day, the young lady or young man who had been taken away would be sent back, but they would have lost their chast.i.ty.
Women cried a lot after that. In more than a month, three women had committed suicide.
Although men weren’t that vulnerable, it was also a very heavy blow to them.
Therefore, the whole Songye city got into a panic.
Until five days ago, the philanderer took a fancy to Song Cailian, the daughter of the magistrate of Songye city.
The magistrate not only gathered all the guards in the government, but also invited a famous old master in the martial arts world.
That old master was an expert in poison and he also knew how to disguise others.
The magistrate asked the old master to disguise a maid as his daughter and to sprinkle a lot of poison in her room.
The philanderer came as expected and it seemed that he knew that Song Cailian was a fake.
However, he still went into the trap.
The old master’s poison was nothing to him. Instead, the master was injured.
The maid who was disguised as Song also got a blow that stunned her.
Later, the philanderer asked where Song was. The maid was afraid of death, so she told him about the underground pa.s.sage.
The philanderer went to the pa.s.sage. He laughed and wanted to take Song away.
However, something happened and the philanderer screamed as he ran away from the pa.s.sage.
The philanderer said that he would come back again! He also told Song to wash herself and wait for him!
The magistrate was furious. As for how the philanderer got hurt, Song said that there was a kind of poison hidden in the secret pa.s.sage. When the philanderer approached her, she sprinkled the poison.
Then, that man ran away. Moreover, the daughter of the magistrate had learned martial arts since childhood. When the philanderer was poisoned, she took the opportunity to stab him with a sword. Otherwise, that man would not have screamed like that.
People all admire Song’s wit.
The only pity was that although the philanderer was seriously injured, he still escaped.
Later, the magistrate blocked the city and began to search for that man.
The guards carried out house-to-house searches, but they didn’t find anything about that philanderer. It seemed that that man had never existed at all.
However, people still remembered that the philanderer had said before he left that he would come back again.
Moreover, it was very likely that the philanderer had got out of the city that night. He would definitely pa.s.s through the gate if he wanted to come back.
That was why the city gate was so strictly guarded.
That was all about that philanderer…
At this moment, Long had already got off the carriage with s.h.i.+. Hearing the words of the Shadow Guardians, Long narrowed his eyes.
“Oh? There’s such an arrogant philanderer in this world. d.a.m.n it! Several women have died because of him, haven’t they?”
“Yes.”
s.h.i.+ said calmly, “Song Cailian? Go to make inquiries about the magistrate and Song Cailian when we get into the city.”
“Yes! Master s.h.i.+.”
“What?” Long was a little puzzled. “Qingzhou, I don’t think the magistrate is on the list.”
“No, he isn’t. But I don’t believe that Song Cailian can hurt that philanderer just with a little poison and her martial arts. How powerful could she be? Let’s investigate.”
Long touched his chin. “Well, the rich families in the city must be heavily guarded. Moreover, since the philanderer is so arrogant that he likes to inform other families in advance, he must be very good at martial arts. It’s possible that facing Song Cailian, a weak woman, the philanderer relaxed his vigilance. However, if there is a big gap in their power, it is impossible for her to attack him by surprise.”
“That’s right,” s.h.i.+ said calmly, “So let’s have a check. We can’t allow her to become another Wu Xiangyuan.”
“When it comes to Wu Xiangyuan… she is still imprisoned in the branch of Tianji Sect in the imperial city,” Long said gently, “Her father should be fine now. I guess he will go there.”
Something really happened to the headquarters of Tianji Sect in the south. Eastern Darkness wanted to control Tianji Sect, but the leader of Tianji Sect wasn’t that brainless woman.
Therefore, Eastern Darkness also learned a lesson.
It seemed that the person who was responsible for this was still the prince of Eastern Darkness.
People from Tianji Sect and Eastern Darkness fought against each other.
Because of Wu Xiangyuan, Eastern Darkness planted several powerful moles in the headquarters of Tianji Sect.
Wu thought that she was cooperating with Eastern Darkness.
However, what Eastern Darkness wanted wasn’t cooperation. They wanted to control Tianji Sect.
If the two parties cooperated, Eastern Darkness would rely on Tianji Sect to get more information and they would be partners.
However, Eastern Darkness wanted to control Tianji Sect and make everything there their own!
Eastern Darkness was that ambitious!
The imperial court did not interfere in this matter. There were traitors in Tianji Sect and they should pay for it.
Until a few days ago, Tianji Sect had finally eliminated all the spies from Eastern Darkness.
However, both Zou Qingyuan and the leader of Tianji Sect were injured.
Especially the leader of Tianji Sect, he was so badly hurt that he almost died!
He knew that his daughter was imprisoned and might die in the end. Therefore, as long as his heart was still beating and he cared about his only daughter, he would certainly go to the imperial city!
“Mhmm.” s.h.i.+ responded coldly. He didn’t care about that woman at all, but Tianji Sect… “Wu Xiangyuan… she must die.”
Although Long did not like that woman, either, he had to consider the possibility that Tianji Sect might attack in retaliation before it perished.
As Long fell silent, s.h.i.+ turned to look at him. “Don’t you want to kill her?”
Long shook his head. “The poisonous insect was brought by her. How can I not want to kill her? I’m just worried that Tianji Sect and we will become enemies because of that woman. It’s not worth it.”
s.h.i.+ said calmly, “If Wu Ronghan wants to destroy Tianji Sect just because of his daughter, we will grant his wish.”
Wu Ronghan was the leader of Tianji Sect.
Long turned his head. Looking at the domineering man whose eyes were full of coldness, Long felt pain in his heart.
Long clenched his fists and said firmly, “Qingzhou, although Wu Ronghan is the leader there, Tianji Sect doesn’t belong to Wu family alone. Since Wu Xiangyuan dares to harm you with the poisonous insect, she must die! She can do nothing to shake off her responsibility!”
Seeing that Long was so determined to support him, s.h.i.+ was touched and coldness in his eyes finally dissipated. s.h.i.+ nodded and said, “Let’s get inside first.”
It was their turn to be examined and the result was none of them was the philanderer.
After being examined carefully, they entered Songye city.
This place was still far away from the imperial city. According to the investigation, there weren’t so many spies from Eastern Darkness.
However, they still needed to see for themselves whether it was true or not!