Stop it, Taoist, Your Fight almost Ruins the DAO!

"Xu brother, where is your backup plan?"

"Time is running out."

Yi Chen was starting to feel irritated. He had the intuition that even if Xu Xiaoxun was not killed by the Seventh Prince, the population disappearances in Tianfeng Prefecture over the years were very likely connected to him.

But he was powerless to do anything about it.

With the evidence he currently held, it would be a stretch to convict the Huang family, let alone perfect the case.

Either way, he was definitely not going to return the two hundred thousand taels he had 'borrowed' from the Family Head Huang.

"That Seventh Prince deserves to die; it's just a pity I can't do anything to him now. Once I'm comparable to a True Monarch, the first thing I'll do is take him down. The atrocities his minions have committed are enough for me to kill him ten times over."

"Alas, bring those cunning criminals up here, one by one."

In a bad mood, Yi Chen vented all his anger on the scum of Tianfeng Prefecture.

The night was windless, but there was a moon.

"Zhang San."

"Li Si."

"Wang Wu."

"Yang Er Mazzi."

...

One by one, names were called by Yi Chen, followed by various fates: some were sent to the mines, some imprisoned, some beaten to death on the spot, and some executed by dogs.

Before he knew it, Yi Chen was working late into the night.

"Next, Yu Xiang."

Another skinny young man was brought in.

As their eyes met, the corners of Yi Chen's mouth involuntarily curled into a slight smile.

"Lady Shuang? Or should I address you differently?"

"Didn't think I'd surprise you, did you?" asked the skinny young man coldly, gently brushing his face with his hands to reveal a face as beautiful as a flower, with hair dark as ink cascading down.

"I simply took a gamble and guessed a little."

"Fellow Taoist, let's talk."

"It seems I have been played by you, Yi Chen, and all that information outside must have been embellished and spread by you as well."

"I had no choice. I, the Taoist, ran out of tricks, and merely played an idle move on the board."

Lady Shuang laughed self-deprecatingly, then began to recount her tale unbidden.

"My husband was killed by me, but it was he who forced my hand with his death."

"I am a disciple of the Demonic Sect, but fate led me to an entangled relationship with a man from the Bureau of Peace. To avoid suspicion, I hid my identity."

"Hmm, love starts unknowingly, but goes deep—understandable," nodded Yi Chen.

"Since he took office as the Governor, he has always been troubled by the problem of the population disappearances, but whenever the victims' families filed complaints, the cases were mysteriously suppressed and the issue grew worse."

"He wanted to investigate but encountered many obstacles."

"Some wanted him transferred away peacefully, while numerous trivial matters were piled on his plate, distracting his attention."

"So, he went to great lengths to obtain a rare pair of Twin Shadow Gu insects at a high price. He happened to meet a young man named Xin Wushuang who was searching for his sister. Xin Wushuang decided to use himself as bait to lure out the human traffickers."

"The Twin Shadow Gu insects were miraculous. The child body was as small as dust, adept at hiding, a special type of Gu insect, extremely rare. Over several months, everything seen by the host of the child body could be shared visually with the mother body and imprinted onto the Liuying Jade."

"I was not privy to the specifics of their plan, but I know they were successful. Xin Wushuang went through several hands and was abducted into an Underground Palace."

"That was... a real hell on earth. Xin Wushuang didn't last long and died soon after." Lady Shuang's voice trembled slightly as she spoke, as if the memory of that scene still shocked her to her core.

Lady Shuang handed Yi Chen a piece of Liuying Jade.

Yi Chen took it in hand, his mental energy slowly infiltrating it, and a first-person perspective film played before his eyes.

Sifting through the ineffective footage and the scenes of the young man named Xin Wushuang being blindfolded and shuffled around, when the vision cleared, he was inside an Underground Palace.

Huge wooden cages, stacked like a Rubik's cube.

People were kept like livestock, crammed in small spaces with women and children, occasional overseers moving around, as well as women's screams and babies' cries….

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Where is this place?" Yi Chen's eyes instantly reddened with a burgeoning intent to kill.

He had figured out the origin of those three Thousand Infant Ghost Spirits.

He had figured out where the shortfall in the Huang family's grain supply had gone.

Compared to Qi Wangzi, Zhu Buqun would shine with golden light all over, and even Kazhafi would have to respectfully call Qi Wangzi the real scum of humanity. Amin and Bokassa, by comparison, would be considered paragons of kindness.

"I don't know."

"My husband has been investigating this case for many years. He speculated that it must be near Jinyi City, or perhaps right underneath it, but there was no evidence." Lady Shuang bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes as she mentioned Xu Xiaoxun.

"So he set up this trap, using his own life as a guarantee, to gain an opportunity for Feng Linsu, his former superior, to take action?"

Yi Chen was horrified.

"Exactly, even with this recorded image, it would be an extremely difficult task to confront Lord Feng with a baseless accusation against a prince. Moreover, with many prying eyes around, if any whispers leaked, Qi Wangzi could immediately erase the Underground Palace by burying it, leaving us with no recourse."
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"Ever since he learned of this, my husband has been tormented with guilt, feeling he had let down the people of Tianfeng Prefecture with his grievous sins, so he desperately devised this plan. Sadly, what he did not anticipate was Lord Feng's absence, and that you, Lord Yi, would come instead."

Qi Wangzi is deeply cunning and deceitful, pinning the blame for my husband's death on my master's sect to distract attention. Being worried about my sect and fearing that this demon would destroy the Underground Palace eliminated the chance for rebuttal, so I took the risk to meet with you, Lord Yi."

"Lord Yi, there isn't much time left, we must act quickly, or else my husband's death will have been in vain." Lady Shuang now had tears streaming down her face.

After learning the truth from Lady Shuang, Yi Chen, despite his suspicions, was deeply shocked.

For the sake of an estimated location, to secure a bargaining chip that might provoke higher powers into action, to enhance his persuasiveness—he had staked his life on this astonishing scheme.

This was the true definition of a peerless national hero.

A national hero enters the game with his life, tipping the scales in his favor by half a move.

Aside from failing his wife, he had lived up to everyone else.

The death of the Prefectural Pacification Envoy in the secret chamber, suspected to be the work of the Shadow Phantom Demon Sect; all of it was to set ablaze a fire that reached Qi Wangzi.

Even if the plan failed, he would have bought Tianfeng Prefecture some peace, at least drawing the upper echelon's attention, ensuring Qi Wangzi wouldn't dare pull such stunts there again.

Yi Chen, looking at the Liuying Jade in his hand, contemplated even deeper.

With Xu Xiaoxun's cunning, he likely had more than one copy of the Liuying Jade, to be delivered into higher hands at the right moment.

A death remonstrance!

He truly was playing a game of life and death with Qi Wangzi.

If Feng Linsu did not do as expected, and chose to suppress the matter, Yi Chen suspected some mysterious figure would deliver the Liuying Jade to Feng Linsu's political rival.

With the reputation of a death remonstrance, they could blow the lid off the case without proof, dragging both into a mess they couldn't escape.

"My husband's blood letter and the Liuying Jade, I entrust them to you for judgment, Lord Yi!" Lady Shuang said coldly.

"It's not that Xu Xiaoxun failed the people of Tianfeng Prefecture, it's this world that doesn't deserve him. I will contact Lord Feng immediately."

As he spoke, Yi Chen took out a bronze communication device, recorded all the information he had acquired, and informed Feng Linsu.

At this moment, he too felt uneasy—if Feng Linsu chickened out, then Yi Chen could only wait until he became a True Monarch to personally bring the end to Qi Wangzi.

This would allow the scoundrel to live a little longer.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the bronze communication device flashed, and Feng Linsu replied.

"Yi Taoist, please stall for time. The world does not belong to the Yue family alone; it belongs to everyone. My wife and I will arrive soon on a flying vessel."

"If this is true, I will kill this man! The Peacekeeping Bureau cannot contain him, the military cannot contain him, and the noble families cannot tolerate him!"

"Madness! Madness!"

Following Feng Linsu's response, the communication device flashed and began to self-combust.

"Lady, what are your plans now?" Yi Chen sighed deeply at Lady Shuang, not knowing how she had endured up to this point, nor how to comfort her.

Sometimes, the living suffer more than the dead!

Because to live takes more courage than to die.

"I want to witness Qi Wangzi's downfall with my own eyes, and then I will take my unborn child and live in obscurity. That scoundrel left us, mother and child alone. The child shall bear my surname." Lady Shuang couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears.

"If you or your child ever find yourselves in trouble in the future, you may come to find me at Hidden Dragon Temple in Fengyun County. I will not shirk what I am capable of doing!"

After some thought, Yi Chen wrote a large character Xu as a token and handed it over to Lady Shuang.

This was all he could do.

At that moment, Yi Chen wanted more than ever to end the life of a 'person.'