Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 312: Entanglement
Ruiguo, Zhuojing.

Compared to the chaos of Yong Kingdom, this place is full of order, with houses standing side by side and pedestrians thronging the long streets.

More importantly, this place is not disturbed by the strange people. At least on the surface, the people live in peace and contentment, as if there are no strange people in Rui Kingdom.

The Kaiping Division must have played a significant role in maintaining this order.

The Kaiping Prefecture government office, with its high, gray walls, exuded a powerful sense of oppression. Deep within the courtyard, a giant stone-carved Bixie (a mythical beast) opened its mouth wide, as if about to devour someone.

Inside the Bixie Hall, an eyeball fell onto the bluestone floor, rolled a distance, and was picked up by a large hand.

Min Yuanxiu rubbed the dust off his eyeballs, looked at the bronze mirror, and stuffed it into the hole in his face. Then, he picked up half a mask and covered his horribly disfigured face.

"Governor, Pei Ji has arrived."

"Let her in."

Min Yuanxiu put away the bronze mirror, a thoughtful look flashing in his single eye, as if he was thinking about how to tell Pei Nianyan something.

After a while, a tall figure stepped into the hall.

Pei Nian had lost a lot of weight and looked pale, as if she had just recovered from a serious illness. However, her aura was still very sharp, like a sword that had not yet been drawn.

Without looking to the side, she walked up to Min Yuanxiu and gave him a very standard bow.

"Pei Nian, the detective, has returned from his mission and met with the garrison commander."

"You failed in your mission, and according to company rules, the promised promotion is off. But even without merit, you still deserve recognition for your hard work. Is there any reward you would like?"

Pei Nian said, "I do not seek any reward, but only that the garrison commander trust my loyalty and allow me to serve as before."

That being said, some things are clearly irreversible.

The reason Min Yuanxiu offered to reward her was simply because she still had some use to him.

"Here, take this sword."

As he spoke, Min Yuanxiu picked up a sword from the weapon rack behind him and tossed it over.

Pei Nian reached out and took the sword. It was quite heavy and the blade was rather long, nearly five feet. When he pulled it out, the blade gleamed with a cold light and its sharpness was intimidating.

“This sword is no ordinary weapon, but a rare treasure,” Min Yuanxiu said. “Do you know what its special characteristics are?”

"Please enlighten me, Commander."

"Even an invulnerable superhuman can be pierced by this sword with a single blow. Furthermore, even a boar, whose wounds can heal themselves, will not be healed if struck by this sword."

Pei Nian's grip on the sword tightened involuntarily, and his knuckles turned somewhat pale.

She understood the meaning behind Min Yuanxiu's words: if the pig's sword wound could not heal on its own, then this sword could wound Gu Jingnian.

But if I give her the sword, why would she hurt Gu Jingnian?
“Although you have no special abilities, you are not afraid of superhumans if you wield this sword,” Min Yuanxiu added. “By the way, this sword is called ‘Severing Emotions’.”

Upon hearing the sword's name, Pei Nian paused again, a bad premonition rising in her heart.

For a moment she wanted to let go and throw away the sword in her hand, but it seemed to have recognized her as its owner and was sticking to her, making it impossible for her to let go.

"Aren't you going to thank me?" Min Yuanxiu asked.

Pei Nian then realized what was happening and said, "Thank you, Commander-in-Chief, for bestowing the sword upon me."

Min Yuanxiu nodded and said, "I heard that your father has been reinstated and is even expected to succeed the Minister of War?"

Pei Nian replied, "I know nothing about my father's affairs."

“He went to Jusai City on official business, and the result was not good, but he was loyal and devoted throughout the process, always thinking of His Majesty. You should learn more from your father.”

This was clearly a warning, a reminder that Pei Nian had been distracted at times while carrying out her duties.

Pei Nian did not argue, but replied, "Yes."

Min Yuanxiu paused for a moment before speaking about his true purpose in meeting Pei Nian today. His tone was casual, just like when he was giving orders for ordinary tasks.

"Gu Jingnian is going back to Ruiguo."

Pei Nian remained in the same posture as when she was holding her sword and speaking, her head slightly lowered, her movements seemingly frozen, or perhaps unmoved.

"The Yong Kingdom sent envoys to sue for peace. According to our informants in the delegation, Gu Jingnian was mixed in with the delegation."

“This humble servant does not understand,” Pei Nian said. “Since he can fly and transmit shadows, why would he need to come to Rui Kingdom with the Yong Kingdom delegation?”

“That’s a good question,” Min Yuanxiu said. “After thinking it over, I guess his move was to alert the enemy.”

Pei Nian seemed puzzled and waited for what would happen next.

"You really can't guess?" A mocking smile seemed to appear on Min Yuanxiu's face behind his mask as he asked, "Then tell me, what is his purpose?"

"To save Gu Caiwei." "And what will we do when we find out he's here?"

Pei Nian was uncertain and hesitated before asking, "Should we move Gu Caiwei?"

Min Yuanxiu said, "Isn't this just stirring up trouble? If we move Gu Caiwei, he can take the opportunity to find out her whereabouts."

"But the delegation had barely left Yong Kingdom when we already received the news..."

"The delegation has only just left Yong Kingdom, how can we know that Gu Jingnian has not yet arrived in Zhuojing at this very moment?"

Pei Nian was taken aback, and looked up at Min Yuanxiu with surprise in her eyes.

Min Yuanxiu took in the changes in her expression at that moment, sighed softly, and continued speaking.

“You know he can use teleportation, so it won’t take long for him to get back to Zhuojing. I suspect he’s even already hiding in the Kaiping Division using his disguise skills, watching us move Gu Caiwei.”

After those words, the lobby remained silent for a long while.

It wasn't until Min Yuanxiu urged him to ask a question.

"What do you think?"

Pei Nian had no further insights, only saying, "What the garrison commander said makes sense."

Min Yuanxiu was dissatisfied and said, "You want me to trust you as before, but when you caught thieves in the past, were you ever so negligent?"

"This humble servant is still thinking that, given Gu Jingnian's character, he should be as the garrison commander said."

The same answer, but with a few more words, showed a very different attitude towards work.

Min Yuanxiu nodded and muttered to himself, "Then it seems that Gu Jingnian is very likely already in Zhuojing City... Pei Nian."

"The humble position is here."

"Your task is to find Gu Jingnian."

Pei Nian paused for a moment.

She thought that returning to Ruiguo would free her from Gu Jingnian's entanglement, or at least give her some peace and quiet for a while. But before she could even calm herself down, the first task she encountered was to get in touch with Gu Jingnian again, as if he were a persistent ghost.

After hesitating for a moment, Pei Nian still said, "May I be assigned to another task?"

"Does the Kaiping Division have such a rule?" Min Yuanxiu asked calmly.

Then, he sighed slightly and said, "Let's finish what we started. Let's settle the score between you and Gu Jingnian. Go now."

"Yes."

Pei Nian agreed and left Bi'an Hall with the Heartbreak Sword.

Min Yuanxiu leaned back in his chair and took out a transparent bead the size of an apple from the box. A wisp of blood was floating in the bead.

He stared at the beads in silence until a soft laugh came from behind the screen.

Li Shuangyun emerged from behind the screen.

She wasn't wearing the brocade robe of the Kaiping Division, but a white dress. Her figure was graceful, and she deliberately adopted the dignified posture of a high-ranking official while walking, yet she exuded a wild and untamed feeling.

Min Yuanxiu stood up somewhat helplessly, and with a hint of reluctance, bowed and said, "Vice Envoy Li."

"The orders have been given?"

“Yes,” Min Yuanxiu replied, then added, “But I don’t think it will be of any use. Pei Nian will not do her best to find out where Gu Jingnian is, and even though Gu Jingnian is in Zhuojing, he will not approach Pei Nian again.”

He spoke with great certainty when he said Gu Jingnian was in Zhuojing, and at the same time glanced at the luminous pearl on the table.

The wisp of blood energy inside the luminous pearl came from Gu Jingnian. Gu Jingnian had shed too much blood in Zhuojing and did not know that Kaiping Division had reserved some of it and injected it into this luminous pearl. As long as he got close, the pearl would release blood energy, and when he was within ten steps, the entire pearl would turn crimson.

"You're right."

Li Shuangyun's voice was still gentle and soft, as if she agreed with Min Yuanxiu, but then she changed the subject.

“But what you’re saying is rational. I’m using Pei Nian to find Gu Jingnian, but what I’m borrowing is her feelings.”

"Is that so?" Min Yuanxiu said dismissively.

“You don’t understand,” Li Shuangyun said. “Even if Pei Nian doesn’t want to find him, she can still sense him as soon as she gets close, even more so than your bead… That’s the feeling of a young woman.”

Min Yuanxiu was too lazy to argue with this deputy commander who only acted on intuition, and replied, "I hope so."

They looked back and saw that in that short time, the blood energy inside the luminous pearl seemed to have intensified.

(End of this chapter)