Immortal weapon refiner

Chapter 953 The Truth
The city of Yujing was on the verge of chaos, with spies popping up in the palace one after another. Every household was in a panic, fearing that the Shadow Clan was lurking near them.

On the second day after the princess was assassinated, the queen even went to Prince Ning's mansion in person to express her condolences.

With the royal family's heavy guard, Li Qing was able to relax for a while.

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the queen unexpectedly summoned him again.

Inside Prince Ning's mansion, Li Qing respectfully clasped his fists towards the beautiful and graceful woman and said, "I greet the Queen!"

Today, the master of the harem was not dressed in formal attire, but in casual clothes, but his demeanor was still extraordinary.

"Master Li, there is no need to be so polite. You rescued the princess in time this time, so you deserve a reward."

After saying that, the queen picked up a round emerald green bead from the hand of the palace maid beside her.

This bead exudes a strong vitality, and wood-attributed spiritual power overflows.

"This is made by the master craftsman of the Imperial Tribute Workshop in the palace. It is called the Wood Jade Bead. It is made from the heart of a thousand-year-old spiritual tree. Wearing it all year round can wash away hidden injuries and diseases in your body, and it can also increase your vitality and lifespan. It has many benefits."

Hearing the Queen's words, Li Qing said in fear and trepidation: "Protecting the Princess is my duty, how dare I ask for benefits!"

The queen chuckled and said, "You have made great contributions this time, this reward should be yours."

"Why, Master Li, do you think nothing of this treasure that I brought out?"

"I heard that Lord Li is also serving as a teacher at the Imperial Academy. It's not impossible for me to talk to Dean Chen and have your position promoted."

Li Qing naturally didn't need it anymore, and he finally accepted the bead made from the heart of the thousand-year-old tree.

As soon as he started to use it, Li Qing felt a stream of wood spiritual power penetrating into his lungs and nourishing his body, making him feel much more comfortable.

"Thank you, Queen, for the reward!"

Seeing this, the Queen nodded in satisfaction. She stood up and said, "Now the palace has sent countless spies to investigate this matter. Don't worry, the Shadow Clan will definitely find out. Once we know who is colluding with the Shadow Clan, the palace will punish them severely!"

"Thank you, mother!" The Princess bowed deeply, looking grateful.

"Well, it's time for me to go back. You don't need to see me off any more."

After saying this, the Queen and a group of palace maids boarded the phoenix chariot and flew back to the palace with the farewell of everyone in Prince Ning's mansion.

After watching the Queen and her group disappear, the princess regained her dignified and calm demeanor. She slowly said, "Lord Li, this time it's really thanks to you, otherwise who knows what terrible things would have happened last night."

"I'm just doing my best. Thank you for your praise, Princess." Li Qing said with a dry laugh.

The princess smiled faintly and said, "But no matter what, the palace has begun to investigate this matter. I believe there should be a result."

Hearing this, Li Qing was just about to say that the Shadow Clan was not that simple. They were born to hide and assassinate. As long as they were determined to hide their tracks, it would be difficult to detect them even if they were at a higher level.

Yujing City is so big that it would be difficult to find a Shadow Clan member in the late stage of Refinement Realm hiding there, even if more spies were sent.

However, Li Qing swallowed his words back. He didn't want the princess to be too nervous about this matter.

"Yes, with spies in the palace, we don't have to worry about this."

"But before the truth comes out, Princess, please do not leave the palace."

The princess nodded, listened to Li Qing's advice, and returned to the palace.

In the days that followed, Prince Ning's Mansion became unusually peaceful, and no more assassination attempts by the Shadow Clan occurred. Only occasionally would a spy come in and ask Li Qing about the details of what had happened that night, and Li Qing would naturally tell him everything he knew.

The battle situation on the front line of Baihua Valley finally stabilized. With the participation of Li Xiang, the situation was balanced again. Even as the Dayu court continued to send reinforcements, the balance of victory began to tip in our favor.

Prince Ning, who was recuperating on the front line, even went into battle with his injuries, desperately trying to gain the opportunity to achieve great things.

However, he was injured after all, and his military achievements could not compare to those of Prince An.

As for His Highness Li Yang who had just been crowned king, it was even more difficult for him to achieve any success. He could not even suppress the young master of the Hehuan Demon Sect and was repeatedly defeated.

The war started by the Kingdom of Dayu finally fell gradually into the control of the imperial court.

There seemed to be no suspense in the fight for the throne.

If nothing unexpected happens, the golden chair in the Shenglin Hall should be sat on by Prince An.

Late at night in Yujing City, because of the Shadow Clan’s affairs, the spies in the palace almost dug up the entire fairy city, but still could not find any trace of the assassin of the Shadow Clan.

Batch after batch of spies kept going back and forth between various mansions; even the mansions of high-ranking officials in the court were not spared and were all searched!

"Only a few palaces of the kings, the prime minister's palace, and the residence of the military minister have not been searched."

"Check, get to the bottom of it!"

The gates of each royal palace in Yujing City were visited by spies from the palace, even the Liyang Palace, which had just been established and crowned a king not long ago.

"excuse me!"

The spy, acting on orders, had no scruples and just barged in.

On the other side, in front of the gate of Prince An’s Mansion, several black-clad spies narrowed their eyes slightly. They looked at each other, and then sacrificed several Xuanguantai to block the four directions of Prince An’s Mansion.

Almost at the same time, several Xuanguan platforms burst into brilliant light.

"There are traces of Shadow Clan!"

"There is more than one Shadow Clan member hiding in Prince An's Mansion! Quick, inform them!"

"No, be careful!"

Boom!

The entire Prince An's Mansion burst into an astonishing aura, and several huge illusory figures were seen dancing wildly and baring their fangs in the night sky.

The Shadow Clan was invincible in the dark night. Several Mysterious Light Platforms exploded at the same time, and the few Shadow Clan members that were originally illuminated disappeared again.

Just when these spies thought that the Shadow Clan was about to escape, the bodies of these black-clad spies suddenly stiffened.

boom! boom! boom!
Several headless corpses fell down at the same time. The scene was extremely horrifying.

But before they died, these spies managed to pass on the message. Powerful auras erupted from all over Yujing City and approached Prince An's Mansion at an extremely fast speed.

At dawn the next day, there seemed to be some progress in the Shadow Clan assassination case.

An extremely deep cellar was discovered in Prince An’s mansion, inside which was a Shadow Eye used for sacrifices to the Shadow Clan.

This is something that only the Shadow Clan would arrange, which uses a unique formation to summon the Eye of Shadow.

The Eye of Shadow has three functions. The first is that it allows the Shadow Clan to travel between multiple places, which is equivalent to the Shadow Clan’s exclusive teleportation array.

The second function is to share information. A Shadow Eye can allow the Shadow Clan within a radius of 100,000 miles to communicate with each other and learn about each other's thoughts and ideas. The third function is to strengthen the combat power of the Shadow Clan. Around the Shadow Eye, the strength of the Shadow Clan will also be greatly improved.

Once the incident happened, the family members and servants of Prince An's Mansion were placed under house arrest.

However, this news was not widely circulated, but was suppressed by the royal family and only known to a few people.

And this minority of people naturally includes Li Qing.

When he received the news, he found it unbelievable that several members of the Shadow Clan were hiding in the cellar of Prince An's Mansion and were discovered!
Everything seems reasonable, but there is a sense of incongruity.

Frame the blame!

This is almost the first thought of all normal people, including Li Qing.

No matter how stupid Prince An is, he would never be so stupid as to set up the Shadow Clan's base directly in his own mansion. What's the difference between this and seeking death?
"How is this possible? Isn't Prince An a little too bold?!"

If we use the method of reversing cause and effect to infer, if Prince An falls, the one who will benefit the most will be Prince Ning.

"Could it be Prince Ning?"

"If that's the case, this frame-up is a bit too crude and simple. It's not following the rules at all."

"hiss"

"What if Prince An does the opposite? He wants to use this kind of thinking to turn the suspicion back to Prince Ning."

"The outcome of everything will only be revealed after the incident in Baihua Valley is over."

"If Prince Ning uses this method to frame someone, it will only make people laugh, right?"

"Then tell me, why did the Shadow Clan suddenly go to Prince Ning's mansion to assassinate the princess?"

"You'll have to ask the Shadow Clan about this. The actions of alien races are unpredictable."

"Besides, Prince An is very close to some foreign races, maybe."

"Shut up, this matter has not yet come to a conclusion, how can you jump to conclusions?!"

"."

An extremely heated debate broke out in the palace, and several ministers in the court argued endlessly about it, each holding their own opinion.

But no matter how much they argued, they could not come to a conclusion. The only way to deal with this matter was to wait until the incident in Baihua Valley was settled, and then let the princes confront each other face to face.

A layer of haze invisible to ordinary people suddenly enveloped the entire Yujing City. Anyone who knew about this matter could see that a huge wave was about to sweep over.

No matter how the royal family suppresses it, some news will always leak out.

There are rumors that King An seems to be colluding with the Shadow Clan!
Once the news spread, even ordinary people found it unbelievable. After the death of Prince Huai, Prince An had an absolute advantage in the fight for the throne. How could he make such a stupid move?
Li Qing, feeling that the vortex was becoming increasingly turbulent, immediately bid farewell to Prince Ning's Mansion and returned to the Imperial Academy to teach and practice.

During this time, he kept thinking about the truth of the matter, but he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

"I just received the secret letter from Prince Ning, and a few days after I arrived at Prince Ning's mansion, I encountered an assassination attempt by the Shadow Clan. This is the first suspicious point."

"Prince Ning asked me to investigate the Huai Palace and the An Palace. How did he know that these two princes might be related to the Shadow Clan? If he knew, why didn't he report it earlier? This is the second suspicious point."

"Third, the princess seemed to have anticipated that the Shadow Clan would be exposed."

With this in mind, Li Qing could almost conclude that the one who was connected with the Shadow Clan should be King Ning.

"If that's the case, then how is King Ning going to defeat this army?"

As long as we wait for Prince An to return triumphantly, the truth will probably come to light soon.

"Kill Prince An on the way, so that there is no evidence?"

Li Qing immediately rejected this idea. Not to mention whether it would be useful or not, even King Ning in his prime might not be able to defeat King An, let alone King Ning who was clearly seriously injured.

For a moment, Li Qing felt that the situation was getting deeper and deeper, and there was a possibility that even he would be dragged into it.

Thinking of this, he immediately went to Shushan Building of Taishu Academy and fulfilled the benefits that Dean Chen had promised him.

For example, the technique of condensing evil into armor and the ancient recipe for refining the Five Elements Medicine were all obtained in his hands.

After doing all this, he rushed to the barren mountain where Master Ying was and entered the thatched hut on the top of the mountain.

"Senior Ying, how is my formation diagram going?"

In the secret realm of the thatched hut, Master Ying was sitting upright on the ground, and in front of him, a huge formation diagram stood in the air.

I saw Master Ying constantly writing and drawing on the formation diagram, and strands of formation patterns were imprinted on it.

"Soon, it will take about five years."

"It is not easy to refine the formation into such a small formation diagram. It is not easy for me to complete it for you so quickly."

Hearing this, Li Qing's heart trembled slightly.

Five years? I'm afraid we can't wait any longer. The war in Baihua Valley should be over in about a year at most.

With the Great Yu Kingdom continuously investing manpower and troops, he predicted that no matter how tenacious the Hehuan Demon Sect was, they would not be able to hold out to the end.

After all, there is a gap in strength between the two sides. In addition, since it is not an all-out war, even if the Tripolar Alliance wants to help, it is impossible for them to really fight to the death.

When the war is over and the princes return to the court, this case of the Shadow Clan will probably be brought to light.

"Senior Ying, do you think the refining of this formation diagram can be made faster?" Li Qing asked somewhat embarrassedly.

Master Ying snorted coldly after hearing this, and said unhappily: "Humph, is it you who refined it or me? You can't wait for five years. Don't you know how high the grade of this formation is?"

"Looking at the entire spiritual world, there are not many formation masters who can be faster than me. If you are in a hurry, then go find someone else!"

As soon as these words came out, Li Qing hurriedly smiled and said, "I dare not, I was just asking casually."

Seeing Li Qing's expression, Master Ying sneered and said sarcastically:

"Haha, now you know it's hard to wade into the royal family's muddy waters, right?"

"Why do you think that this old man and Chen Laogui avoided the world and didn't care about government affairs? It's because we think these things are too troublesome. At the beginning..."

Having said that, Master Ying shook his head and put his mind back into refining the formation diagram.

Upon hearing this, Li Qing immediately clasped his fists and said, "Senior, please teach me!"

(End of this chapter)