The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 374 I've already sharpened the knife and handed it to you.

Whether the two elders of the Bai family lived or died, Lang Jiuchuan didn't care at all. Before dawn, she simply stayed in the Duke's mansion to recuperate, since she had also exhausted a lot of spiritual energy and her complexion was not good either.

Lang Jiuchuan didn't even bother with the bone bell locked inside the Little Nine Tower; it couldn't escape.

As dawn broke, Lang Jiuchuan opened her eyes from her meditation. It was nearly noon. She walked out of her room, where the maidservants who served her came forward to attend to her attentively. Another person went to inform the young master.

After Lang Jiuchuan drank a bowl of ginseng chicken soup to replenish his qi, served by the maids of the Duke's mansion, he was greeted by Zuo Yan.

Zuo Yan had dark circles under his eyes. After hearing what the fleshy ball that looked like a tiger and a kitten said last night, he rushed to the Bai family overnight and brought people with him to help with the arrangements. After returning to the Duke's mansion, he first went to check on his wife's condition. Seeing that her pulse was stronger than before, he was relieved and had only just taken a short nap when a servant came to report that Lang Jiuchuan had gotten up.

He bowed to Lang Jiuchuan and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Master."

Lang Jiuchuan waved his hand, not asking about the Bai family, and said, "Now that your wife's matter is settled, we should talk about the compensation."

Zuo Yan was taken aback, clearly not expecting Lang Jiuchuan to be so direct in asking for payment.

Seeing his stunned expression, Lang Jiuchuan raised an eyebrow and said, "Young Master, you don't think I'm some kind of god descended to earth to save people, and then I'll just ascend to heaven on my own afterward, a free bodyguard who never tastes the flavors of human life, do you?"

Zuo Yan's wheat-colored face flushed, and he stood up, saying, "I wouldn't dare, but I didn't expect the master to be so unpretentious. I wonder if there's anything I can do to repay your kindness, perhaps to build bridges and repair roads?"

“I am willing to build bridges and roads, of course. If you can do more good deeds in your wife’s name, it will be considered as accumulating good karma for her.” Lang Jiuchuan said, “But I want more than just these things.”

"Master, please enlighten me."

Lang Jiuchuan said, "The Duke of Dingguo's family has a century of meritorious service. I wonder if they could help me recruit a nobleman in the imperial court?"

Zuo Yan's pupils contracted, and he looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze. He didn't respond for a moment, but instead pondered Lang Jiuchuan.

She was the daughter of a marquis, yet she possessed extraordinary abilities. To put it bluntly, it would be easy for her to deal with anyone she wanted, but she insisted on having the Duke of Dingguo's mansion handle it, making things so complicated.

Zuo Yan smiled faintly and teased, "With your skills, Master, you could easily deal with anyone with a single divination technique, right? Using this as payment seems a bit wasteful."

"Since I've already made the Crown Prince owe me karma to help me, why should I waste my spiritual energy on spells? Spiritual energy is much harder to accumulate than dealing with those people. If I'm not careful, I might suffer a karmic backlash, and it would be recorded in my merit and demerit book. That person doesn't deserve to waste my merit. Besides, the Censorate is there. I'm not stubborn enough to fight a losing battle. I'm a law-abiding citizen and I won't do anything that goes against authority."

Zuo Yan's lips twitched as he looked over, his gaze carrying a hidden meaning. How could such words be so hard to believe?

The Supervisory Bureau, which oversees Xuan Clan sorcerers, should be practically useless to her, right?

Lang Jiuchuan held the thin-walled teacup and said, "Besides, for an enemy, nothing is more painful than watching the family he has painstakingly built collapse, right? I also want him to watch his tall building crumble before his own eyes."

Zuo Yan sensed a chill from these words and asked, "I wonder who is so blind as to offend the master?"

"Marquis Zhenbei, Xie Zhenming".

Zuo Yan: "..." He was stunned. He carefully recalled the way the Marquis of Zhenbei rose to power. After a moment, he looked at her strangely and said, "I remember your father was the General of Anbei. The Marquis of Zhenbei was your father's subordinate."

"Yes, he killed my father!"

Zuo Yan stood up in surprise, his face turning cold and murderous: "Are you sure?"

Strangely, he didn't think that the other party was deliberately slandering his reputation just to eliminate a marquis, because he firmly believed that she had the ability to kill the Marquis of Zhenbei at any time.

Lang Jiuchuan looked at him and said, "I value cause and effect, as well as merit. I cherish the merit I have gained in my cultivation, so I would never fabricate any baseless charges to slander someone. I dare to say it was him, which means I am certain that he did it, and that he used some low-class and insidious tricks."

Zuo Yan shuddered: "Evil magic?"

Lang Jiuchuan nodded: "He cast a Heart-Eating Gu on my father, taking advantage of his severe injuries in the war to activate the Gu worms, causing his soul to perish on the battlefield."

Zuo Yan's eyes blazed with anger as he slammed his fist on the table: "How dare he!"

The Duke of Dingguo's family has made great achievements on horseback, and has been in the military for generations. He himself is also a soldier. When his father can no longer work, he will also take over to guard the north. People like them are not afraid to shed blood and die on the battlefield, but they absolutely cannot die from conspiracy and trickery, let alone die from such insidious and evil magic!
It seems that the establishment of the Supervisory Department was justified; otherwise, it would be impossible to guard against such insidious and evil arts.

Do you have any evidence?

Lang Jiuchuan looked annoyed: "There was one originally, but I didn't think it through and ruined it. I guess it's useless now that the person is still alive."

Zuo Yan: "?"

"I crippled the witch who concocted the Gu for the Marquis of Zhenbei after learning the truth from her." She rubbed her nose sullenly. "That witch was cunning. I was afraid she wasn't telling the truth, so I used the Soul Searching Technique. This technique is extremely damaging to the soul and can turn someone into a madman. Now the person has been handed over to the Xuan Clan's Enforcement Hall. I don't know if the person is dead or not. Even if they are, it will probably be difficult to prove."

Zuo Yan was speechless. Was he really that impulsive?
"However, the Marquis of Zhenbei took more than one Gu from her, as well as a pair of love Gu, and gave them to his daughter who was a concubine in the palace." Lang Jiuchuan said, "One of those love Gu was planted in the grandson of the Imperial Physician Ou. The Imperial Physician Ou knew about it, so they, well, died."

Zuo Yan looked dazed.

Look what he heard! Is this the inside story behind the deaths of the Ou family, grandfather and grandson?
"Before his death, Imperial Physician Ou pleaded guilty to the Emperor, which means the Emperor already knew about the love potion." Lang Jiuchuan looked at him and said, "Young Master, look, I've already sharpened the knife and handed it to you. You can't not help me take down this Zhenbei Marquis's mansion, can you?"

He was the heir of a duke's family, a man in the heart of power and wealth, and served by the emperor's side. How could he not guess the emperor's thoughts?
The concubine and the imperial physician colluded to plant a love potion, which made the emperor a cuckold!
But now, there's no news of Consort Xie being deposed from the palace, which proves that the Emperor is also waiting for the Marquis of Zhenbei to return. What he needs to do is push the Marquis of Zhenbei down that dead end one last time.

As for how to do it, that's his business.

Zuo Yan cupped his hands and said, "As fellow military officers, I will not stand by and watch the murderer live a life of ease and high office while General Anbei dies unjustly."

This is as promised!

(End of this chapter)