Stealing The Heavens
chapter-128

Everything happened so suddenly. After killing a couple dozens of apprentices and instructors from Shi Martial Club, those men who were clad in the official outfit simply turned to anyone that came into their line of sight and attacked randomly. No one was expecting that the men from Criminal and Justice Court and the Scouting Office would do something like this. As a result, in just a few seconds, over three hundred Patrolling Officers and secret agents were killed by them.

When the people in the surroundings could finally react to the situation, the beast warriors of Scouting Office roared with anger, having their beast souls emerge on their back and leaping toward these attackers. The group of expressionless men brought their blades and sliced through their own neck. Blood burst out like fountains, as they actually chopped off their own heads with one swift move. Countless Patrolling Officers and secret agents around the scene couldn't help but gasp at the same time. How brutal and cruel, not only these attackers were cruel to others, they were extremely brutal towards themselves as well.

Beyond all doubt, they were men of sacrifice. But, who could have cultivated this group of men of sacrifice? Even more frightening was that these men of sacrifice had mixed into the justice organizations of Great Yan Dynasty. Who would have such heaven-defying approach to plant so many men of sacrifice in Criminal and Justice Court and Scouting Office? The heads of Shi Martial Club's apprentices and instructors were all burned to ashes by the special substance smeared on their weapons, and their original look could no longer be recognized. Obviously, they were being killed to prevent the leaking of information. So, who could react with such an incredible efficiency by giving out the order of killing all the accomplices, even though Shi Martial Club had just been raided a moment ago?

An officer of Criminal and Justice Court, not knowing whether his brain was damaged or because of other reasons, suddenly let out a loud cry, "Protect Her Highness, Princess! Protect Her Highness, Princess Zhang Le!"

Obviously, this officer was too eager to express his loyalty, but right after he let out the loud cry, Princess Zhang Le immediately gave him a powerful slap and threw him nearly a hundred feet away. Blood was bursting out from his mouth as he fainted on the spot. Disgustedly, Princess Zhang Le gazed at that unlucky fellow, clenched her jaw tightly and said with a cold voice, "Do I need you, a bunch of useless fools, to protect me? Hmph, well, this is interesting. Criminal and Justice Court, Scouting Office, your men had actually colluded with these criminals. Inform Haoying Zhengqi and Qin Qingshui, tell them to admit their mistakes and ask for punishment in front of the Emperor."

Stomping her feet forcefully, Princess Zhang Le then looked at the head that had been burned to ashes, and the headless body of Wei Xiaoxiao's guard. She frowned and said, "Also, send someone to inform Central-Prime-Counselors Gao Jianli: the men from Criminal and Justice Court and Scouting Office can no longer be trusted. Ask him to send the men from 'Swallow' here. I want a thorough investigation of every single person in this place, finding out the bloodline of their upper and lower six generations, and all their interpersonal relationships. Listen to me carefully, I want everyone to have your eyes on the colleague beside you. Whoever dares to move around without a proper reason, kill him immediately! If you make any mistake, I'll punish all your three clans! [1]"

All the officials at the scene answered her with loud voices, yet at the same time, each of them had their face turned deadly pale. Gao Jianli was in charge of a supervising organization that was independent of all other justice departments of Great Yan Dynasty, an organization of secret spies - 'Swallow'. For many years, nobody knew what 'Swallow' did, but everyone knew of their fearsome reputation. When Princess Zhang Le sent someone to inform Gao Jianli, requesting him to take over the event here, it simply meant the situation had escalated to a severe level.

Within the time it took to finish a pot of tea, Qin Qingshui had brought a large parade of secret agents and rushed to the scene while riding crazily. His pale, long horse face was now filled with a look of panic that could not be concealed. Using the quickest speed possible, he rushed in front of Princess Zhang Le and cried out, "Your Highness Zhang Le, you can just let me investigate this case. Why should we trouble Central-Prime-Counselors?"

From the corner of her eyes, Princess Zhang Le gazed at Qin Qingshui, then she shook her head disdainfully. Qin Qingshui's face instantly turned deadly-pale, as if all his energy and strength had just emptied from his body, which made him nearly collapse onto the ground. With Gao Jianli and the Swallow now taking over the investigation of this case, could that mean his Central Wind Guard would have everything uncovered about them? As Qin Qingshui had taken charge of Central Wind Guard for so many years, they had done too many dirty businesses that shouldn't be exposed. But now, it seemed like he did not have any time to cover them up!

When those men of sacrifice launched their sudden assault, Wu Qi hastily rushed back to West Supervisor Court and went straight into the main hall.

The emissary of Gao Ling Kingdom was being pushed and pressed on the ground by a group of guards, who acted like a pack of wild wolves, and had his buttock beaten with an ironwood rod the diameter of a bowl. Beside them stood a lower ranked officer, who was recording the strokes in a book, one at a time. Meanwhile, a few middle ranked officers of West Supervisor Court were standing on the other side, reading aloud the crimes that the emissary of Gao Ling Kingdom had committed. Such crimes included being disrespectful towards the suzerain by roaring in the main hall, along with at least 17 to 18 other crimes that they read out. Each crime would bring him thirty strokes, and with a total of over five hundred strokes, perhaps this emissary would be killed halfway through the punishment.

Another group of guards, all set for a showdown, was standing outside of the main hall, encircling all the retinues to the emissary, preventing them from doing anything recklessly. With pale faces, these people from the Gao Ling Kingdom watched how their emissary was being tormented, panic-stricken yet not knowing what to do. Coldly, Wu Qi gave these people a glance and then strode into the main hall. The weak would stand as easy prey for the strong; it was the rule that reigned the jungle, as well as between kingdoms.

Inside the main hall, Lu Chengfeng was seen laughing and talking with the emissary of the Li Shan Kingdom and Princess Ying Chuan. Clearly, the three of them had come to a mutual agreement. Wu Qi walked straight to Lu Chengfeng and picked up the treaty of alliance that was signed by all three of them. He gave the content a brief read: The Lu Kingdom and the Li Shan Kingdom would join forces in attacking the Gao Ling Kingdom, taking over the control of that gold mine. At the same time, they would try their best in bringing down the national strength of Gao Ling Kingdom. If they could annihilate the principal army of Gao Ling Kingdom, that would be the best case scenario.

They would attack and occupy at least five and at most eight provinces of Gao Ling Kingdom, and together with part of the land that the Lu Kingdom surrendered, these lands would become the territory of Tie Clan. Once Marquis Yuanyang of Tie Clan established his kingdom, Lu Chengfeng would officially file it in the record of West Supervisor Court, and Tie Clan would maintain a friendly relationship with the Lu Kingdom and the Li Shan Kingdom. After that, with Tie Clan having their kingdom stablized, the three kingdoms would join forces again, conquering the remaining land of Gao Ling Kingdom and splitting among them.

These were the brief conditions that were stated in the treaty, while there were nearly one hundred other detailed conditions, specifically stating the obligations and responsibilities that all three parties had to assume while conquering the Gao Ling Kingdom, and how the profits were to be split in the end. Using the minor communicative array that was constructed in West Supervisor Court, the Lu Kingdom, the Li Shan Kingdom and the Tie Clan had been informed of the contents of the treaty. Presumably, they had started deploying and communicating with their respective armies.

Perhaps it was because the emissary of Gao Ling Kingdom had sensed something, he broke out into a fierce argument with Lu Chengfeng in the main hall. However, this had given Lu Chengfeng a perfect reason to punish him severely. With this round of heavy beating, the emissary would be lucky if he just suffered from a coma, and it wouldn't surprise anyone if he were killed by the punishment. By the time he finally had the opportunity to inform his own kingdom through a secret communication channel, the joint army of three had already approached the wall of Gao Ling Kingdom.

Princess Ying Chuan was in a good mood. With her face melted in a smile, she kept staring at Lu Chengfeng, wondering in her mind whether it was because of her powerful charisma that made Lu Chengfeng bring up the idea which fitted perfectly with her original intention, immediately after she arrived at this place. The three parties would join forces and dismember the Gao Ling Kingdom, the rival of Lu Kingdom. Not only they could wipe out this rival, but she could also seize a large piece of land from them, and a share of the profit from that precious gold mine. All this was so much better than what she had plotted for.

As a gesture of returning a favor with favor, after Princess Ying Chuan happily enjoyed in retrospect, she smiled and winked at Lu Chengfeng while saying, "Duke Yan Le, Ying Chuan has a very important information to tell you, and it is related to your birth father, Duke Buji."

The emissary of Li Shan Kingdom was an experienced man. When he saw Princess Ying Chuan behave in such a manner, he hastily bid farewell to them and left. As the Li Shan Kingdom and the Lu Kingdom were neighbors, naturally he knew the current relationship between the Lu Kingdom and the Tie Clan. Since Princess Ying Chuan mentioned that it was information related to Yan Buji, obviously she wished to use this opportunity to ease up the conflict between the Lu Kingdom and Tie Clan. If he still stayed back and listened to their conversation, then he would be rather insensible.

Lu Chengfeng personally sent the emissary out from West Supervisor Court, and only then did he return to the main hall smilingly. He looked at Princess Ying Chuan while saying, "I wonder what information does Princess wish to tell me? As you said it is related to my birth father, don't tell me that Liu Suifeng is also the son of my birth father and Princess yourself?"

With what he said, Lu Chengfeng had just brutally ridiculed Princess Ying Chuan. It made her blush, pouted prettily in embarrassment as she winked at Lu Chengfeng and said, "Why do you say like that? How could Duke Buji have his eyes on Ying Chuan's ordinary looks?" She then changed into a serious expression and said, "First, let Ying Chuan offer an apology to Duke Yan Le. My ungracious son Suifeng had offended Duke Yan Le, and I hope you don't blame him."

Indifferently, Lu Chengfeng waved his hand and said, "Well, I've long forgotten about those matters. Princess, you don't have to feel strange for why I came to an agreement with you today. The truth is, among all vassal kingdoms in the West, the Gao Ling Kingdom has a pretty strong national strength. Tie Clan alone could never swallow this piece of fat meat. As there is no personal grudge between the Princess and me, thus, I know what kind of decision can yield the best result for me."

Princess Ying Chuan was struck dumb, as she hastily said, "But, Ying Chuan wants to tell you that..."

Suddenly, Wu Qi interrupted Princess Ying Chuan. He had long told everything that Lao Ai told her to Lu Chengfeng, and both he and Lu Chengfeng did not wish to waste their breath with her in this matter. If they really let Princess Ying Chuan tell them that Shi Martial Club was the mastermind behind Yan Buji's assassination, they would have to owe her a favor for no reason. Why should they let this happened?

Casually, Wu Qi brought out the identity token of Yan Buji and tossed it on the table, then said with a stern voice, "Young master, I paid a visit today to that martial club which we had chosen, having the intention to seize their property and open a martial club in Ji City that young master could use. But in the end, we found this identity token in a secret chamber of that martial club. It is Shi Martial Club, and supposedly, they are the mastermind behind Duke Buji's assassination!"

'Greatly frightened', Lu Chengfeng rose to his feet and snapped, "What? This Shi Martial Club is just a martial club founded by an ordinary civilian. How could they be so daring?"

Princess Ying Chuan rose to her feet as well, with her face 'turned pale with surprise'. Then, she screamed, "What? Why are you attacking Shi Martial Club? You, how come..." Upon looking at the few large calligraphies engraved on the identity token - 'Buji the Duke of Yan Le', Princess Ying Chuan halted. No words could come out from her mouth.

Hadn’t Lao Ai, the Sect Leader of the Great Sun Sect, told her that even the Scouting Office did not detect the secret plot behind Shi Martial Club? And in the entire Ji City, only Lao Ai alone had vaguely discovered that this Shi Martial Club was more than a simple martial club? How could this opportunity of mending the relationship between the Lu Kingdom and Tie Clan be slipped away from her fingers so easily? Wu Qi had actually attacked the Shi Martial Club? And he even found the evidence of them assassinating Yan Buji?

Princess Ying Chuan could only hear a ringing in her brain. What Wu Qi and Lu Chengfeng had done was like a heavy blow on her head, smiting her into a complete darkness and making her lose trace of where she was.

Intentionally, Wu Qi did not look at Princess Ying Chuan, who had her face turned all pale, but just continued telling Lu Chengfeng about what happened today. Within his narration, he mentioned that he and Lu Chengfeng had had their eyes on this Shi Martial Club two weeks ago, but only borrowed the influence of Princess Zhang Le today in attacking them.

While both men kept echoing each other in bluffing, Princess Ying Chuan had her face cast with a gloomy expression, with mixed feelings filling her mind. How could such a perfect opportunity for building a good relationship with Lu Chengfeng be slipped away just like that? They had already captured the mastermind, yet she was still trying to inform them that Shi Tianmo was the person who had murdered Yan Buji? What was the use of telling them now?

Right at this moment, a team of soldiers, clad in black iron armor, expressionless and giving forth a shivering air, was seen barging into the main hall.

The captain had his eyes run down the main hall, then shouted with a deep voice, "Where is Wu Qi, the Marquis of Tianyun? Chief General Jing Ke is summoning him!"

[1] Three Clans - The clan of the person's father, mother, and wife.