Transcending the Nine Heavens
chapter-88

Chapter 88 – Finding spies

Below, no one said anything; they just looked at each other. Big official Chu seemed as if he was carrying out a monologue by himself!

“I will now call a few names; the people with those names, please step forward.” Chu Yang apparently did not care about what was going on because they were just as he expected.

Chu Yang grabbed a stack of documents and called loudly, “Liu Zu Guang.”

Below, a middle-aged man with one eye reluctantly walked forward one step at a time.

“Liu Zu Guang, third grade Martial Master, from the area Thriving South. Three years ago, you fought with an enemy and lost one eye. This enemy was a ranger named Ping Wu Ying from the Clear Spring Prefecture of Great Zhao, correct?”

Liu Zu Guang slowly nodded, “Official Chu, everyone knows about this.” Implying: What you are saying is useless.

“Please take one step forward.” Chu Yang took two steps toward Liu Zu Guang and felt the pulse on his wrist. At the same time, he activated Deep Spirit Principle and Nine Tribulations Transcending the Nine Heavens Technique on his hand.

Liu Zu Guang immediately pulled back. His eyes were as cold as two sword blades.

“Your main strength is hidden weapons. You were a disciple of Thriving South’s Sun Clan, famous for their hidden weapon tactics. Sun Clan’s hidden weapon tactics have one special thing about them; it is weak on the left and strong on the right. The left side only contributes thirty percent while the right, seventy percent. This combination is used together with their signature mental technique Return to Throwing Hand to throw weapons over a long distance, right?”

“Yes. Official Chu is indeed clever.” Liu Zu Guang did not know whether he was being praised or mocked. Currently he was really nervous. This information about the Sun clan was top-secret, but this person said everything in one breath.

“However, these hidden weapon tactics of the Sun Clan, while clever, the weak left and strong right approach has one limitation. That is that all disciples of the Sun clan have one undeniable habit when facing the enemies. Their right eye are usually narrowed or closed altogether. In other words, they only use their left eye to aim at the enemies. Because of this, the left eyes of the Sun clan’s disciples are the most critical part of their bodies. Without their left eyes, their hidden weapons tactics would be useless. Weak left and strong right might make it tough for the enemies to guard themselves, but it has a very strict requirement on the individuals practicing this tactic. Liu Zu Guang, one of your eyes was blinded by the enemy. And this was none other than your left eye, but your hidden weapons skill is still accurately thirty percent left and seventy percent right. Why is this?

These words of Chu Yang made everyone sitting there change color. They all clearly understood the meaning of Chu Yang’s words.

Liu Zu Guang changed color; he said, “It is because of my left eye being blinded that I worked hard to train my right eye to replace my left. Official Chu, if a person stumbled once, can he not pick himself up again?”

Chu Yang did not pay attention to his explanation, and said coldly, “When I checked your meridians earlier, I discovered that the meridians of both your eyes are good and without any damage. You lost your left eye but your meridians are fine. Everyone knows that whether it is sword, saber, punch, or kick, they would all cause injuries to the meridians over a long period of time. If the injuries are serious, then your meridians would be damaged to the point where they get distorted completely.”

“And you, while losing your left eye, still have the surrounding meridians intact. According to the report, you said that Ping Wu Ying punched your eye, destroying it. Haha…, Liu Zu Guang, your enemy loved you so much that he blinded your eye and not damage one bit of the meridians. A person with cultivation level of Martial Master like Ping Wu Ying has such precise control of his power; that’s impressive. Our Official Cheng at the level of Revered Saber Artist could not have such precise control… Liu Zu Guang, why don’t you ask Official Cheng if he could do it?”

Chu Yang smiled coldly, “The palace has its own physicians, and we have our own Bu Tian Pavilion physician right here as well. He could check you out. Liu Zu Guang, do you have any more to say?”

At this point, Cheng Zi Ang and Chen Yu Tong’s faces became pale as they sat in their seats.

Chu Yang’s words were simply basic knowledge of martial injuries. Every one of his words were true, but how did they not know? Damaging someone’s eye without damaging his meridians, forget about a Martial Master, even Revered Saber Artist Cheng Zi Ang did not have the capability. To be able to do this, the cultivation level had to be at least Martial Monarch.

If Liu Zu Guang’s injury was like what Chu Yang said, then there was only one possibility: Liu Zu Guang was a spy and his injury was intentional. Besides this, there was no other explanation.

Liu Zu Guang took one step back, blood completely drained from his face. Next to Chu Yang, Bu Tian Pavilion’s physician stood up and was heading in his direction.

On Liu Zu Guang’s face there was a look of despair. He suddenly laughed and said, “Yes, kiddo, you are very powerful. I cannot believe I damaged my own body and came here as a spy only to be discovered by you. Not bad. I am Liu Xiao Cheng. Liu Zu Guang had died by my hand a long time ago. Haha, you might have uncovered my identity, but don’t expect to get anything else from me.”

“In order to spy, you actually destroyed your own eye. Haha… such a desperate act would naturally get a lot of sympathy from others. Moreover, they would not inspect your eye’s injury. Sacrificing an eye to spy is actually not too much of a price for you since you could use this to give people a misconception.”

Chu Yang smiled coldly and said, “But you did not expect that, right now, no such misconceptions exist.”

Liu Xiao Cheng sneered, “So what? I can only die once.”

Cheng Zi Ang’s face reddened. He stood up and angrily said, “Liu Xiao Cheng! Damn you! The two assassination attempts in Sun Citadel prefecture were foiled by you?

Liu Xiao Cheng laughed, “The meat was placed in front of my mouth, why not eat it?”

Cheng Zi Ang’s whole body shook. He sent two people to assassinate a general of Great Zhao twice; one of those assassins was Cheng Zi Ang’s disciple. He could not have imagined that his plans were in the hands of the enemies; they died in vain.

Cheng Zi Ang was seized by uncontrollable anger; his eyes were completely red. At the same time, he was also filled with remorse. With a spy hidden in his own ranks, and one that he especially valued as well. He brought the lives of his own man and his disciple and handed them over to the enemies with both hands.

“I’ll kill you.” Cheng Zi Ang roared as his body flew forward.

“Stop, capture him alive.” Chen Yu Tong quickly yelled.

With the enemy’s spy in front of them, it was more useful to capture him alive. Who knew how many of more than eighty people left were of his kind?

“Haha, Chen Yu Tong, no need for such wishful thinking. I am not really thinking about living anymore.” Liu Xiao Cheng laughed loudly, and then his body suddenly jolted. His eyeballs rolled and black blood leaked out of the edge of his mouth. It was poison. He had long ago hidden a highly toxic poison in his mouth.

Bam! Liu Xiao Cheng’s body fell on the group. It twitched a little and then there was no movement.

Cheng Zi Ang roared angrily. He kicked Liu Xiao Cheng’s body and yelled, “Check Liu Xiao Cheng’s background. I want to kill his entire family, all nine generations.” (TLN: great great grandfather to great great grandchild)

Cheng Zi Ang was ashamed and humiliated. Such a spy under his own watch for such a long time and he did not know. Moreover, he directly set up one mission after another and sent the lives of his martial brothers into the enemies’ traps. He even sent his most valued disciple.

If Chu Yang did not uncover this guy today, then who knew how many more times would Cheng Zi Ang keep falling into the enemies’ traps.

Everyone looked at Chu Yang in a different light. This newly appointed Adjunct Minister was really not simple. He only took this position for one day and he already caught a spy. This was tantamount to saving some of their lives. Who knew who would be the next one to die on a mission? It could have been any one of them. With a spy like this, anyone would have died.

“Wait.” Chu Yang shouted.

“What orders do you have, Minister Chu?” Cheng Zi Ang’s attitude toward Chu Yang had completely changed at this point. He committed a serious dereliction of duty and Chu Yang had helped him correct it. Even though he was a youth with low cultivation, he had keen observation and superior wisdom; the others could not help but respect him.