Blind Ghostwriter: Starts with the full level of Nine Yang Magic Skill

Chapter 256 Murder in the Imperial Palace: Who Dares to Disobey? (9.2k words)
As night fell, snowflakes began to fall.

A streak of light was rapidly traversing the night sky; it was Gu Mo, flying on his sword.

Overall, the effect was quite good. Except for a few wobbles at the beginning when he had no experience in flying swords, he quickly regained control of the flying sword thanks to his current superb martial arts awareness, and the speed was many times faster than expected.

He originally thought it would take half an hour to get to Jianbei City, but in fact, it didn't even take the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before he arrived above Jianbei City.

With his innate protective energy as a shield, he didn't need to worry about the airflow affecting him due to his high speed. He even flipped through the map while flying on his sword.

The signs of Jianbei City are easy to distinguish because there is a high mountain outside Jianbei City, hundreds of feet high, which Gu Mofei can clearly see even from the air.

He quickly put away the map and then steered his flying sword to swoop down and fly away.

However, when the outline of Jianbei City came into view, Gu Mo suddenly had a bad feeling—there was no light at all.

Even in these extraordinary times, even with the city's resources scarce, surely such a large city shouldn't be completely devoid of light? Recalling the ghost town of Sanchuan City, Gu Mo, who hadn't felt the cold while flying high in the sky, now felt a chill run down his spine.

The flying sword descended rapidly and soon approached the city.

Gu Mo hovered seven or eight zhang above the ground and immediately flew through the city on his sword. At the same time, he fully activated his divine sense and traveled through more than a dozen streets. There was not a single person, or to be precise, not a single living thing. The whole city was covered with snowflakes, but there was no trace of anyone.

"Another dead city!"

Gu Mo confirmed that Jianbei City had been massacred, just like Sanchuan County.

"The theory that the massacre was for military rations is completely refuted. In other words, such a large-scale massacre must have had another purpose... It is highly likely that it was for the purpose of cultivating demonic arts... or blood sacrifice..."

Gu Mo thought of Tang Tianqi, whom he had encountered at the Tang family in Zhushan County, Linjiang Prefecture. Tang Tianqi had cultivated the evil art, the Blood Cauldron True Scripture, and killed people everywhere. If Ye Nantian were to cultivate a demonic art like blood sacrifice, it would certainly be far beyond what the mere Blood Cauldron True Scripture could compare to, and the raw materials required for blood sacrifice would naturally be incomparable to those in the Blood Cauldron True Scripture.

suddenly,
A bold idea surged into Gu Mo's mind.

"The entire city of Jianbei has been massacred, could it be... that the entire Jianbei prefecture has been slaughtered?"

Immediately,

Gu Mo took out a map, aimed at the nearest county town, and then rode his flying sword into the air, heading towards that county town.

……

In Sanchuan County, Gu Chudong and others were busy rescuing people from the county residence where they had been ambushed.

The delegations from Qian and Chu were small, each consisting of only a dozen or so people, and all of them were highly skilled, capable of reacting quickly and effectively to any unexpected situation. Therefore, their casualties were not particularly high; eight members of the Qian delegation and seven members of the Chu delegation survived. However, the Jiang delegation suffered heavy losses. Despite active rescue efforts, only a dozen or so out of more than a hundred people survived, several of them seriously wounded.

In a courtyard,

Gu Chudong and Xiao Ziyin are working together to treat the wounded.

Gu Chudong's internal energy has a strong healing effect, while Xiao Ziyin actually possesses remarkable medical skills, so the two work together perfectly.

And on the other side,
Zhuo Qingfeng and Ye Jinglan walked quickly through the ruins.

Zhuo Qingfeng said, "According to the two survivors we just captured, their massacre here was not a direct large-scale slaughter. Instead, they first took control of the county government and used the pretext of arresting and executing members of the Wusheng Cult to arrest people everywhere every day. During this process, they constantly replaced the people in the county government and the county soldiers. On the one hand, they oppressed the people so much that they could not live, and on the other hand, they secretly sent people to impersonate members of the Wusheng Cult to constantly bewitch them, and then staged scenes of arresting people and catching them red-handed."

Finally, when the gentry and wealthy families realized something was wrong, they sent a large army into the city and carried out a massacre. With the county government and the Wusheng Sect's army working together from the inside, the mere Sanchuan County was no match for them.

However, there's one point that doesn't make sense: how did the army that massacred the city reach Sanchuan County without alerting other counties along the way? If they had been discovered and the Jianbei garrison had been notified, a major battle would have been inevitable. Regardless of whether they could have won, the situation would have escalated significantly; it's unlikely the news wouldn't have spread. The Jianbei garrison numbers six or seven thousand!

Ye Jinglan frowned and said, "This matter is indeed strange."

The two talked as they walked to the refugee camp.

When the two entered the refugee camp
Then I saw rows of separated corpses hanging there, just like a slaughterhouse.

Both men were well-traveled and knowledgeable, but even they couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines at the sight before them. It was a slaughterhouse, except that instead of livestock, they were slaughtering living people.

Zhuo Qingfeng and Ye Jinglan both suppressed their discomfort and walked around inside for a while, but the further they went in, the more nauseous they felt. They could see intestines, heart, lungs, head, ears, and so on, all neatly arranged separately...

The two of them finally couldn't hold on any longer and ran out, panting heavily.

Looking back at the refugee camp, it was as if we were seeing the entrance to hell.

“There should be no survivors,” Ye Jinglan said. “The entire city was massacred without a sound. It’s impossible for a mere few hundred refugees to make any mistakes and leave any survivors.”

Zhuo Qingfeng nodded and said, "When I used to read history books, I saw many battles where people used human flesh for food. But when I looked at those books, they were just a few words, and I never thought about the bloodshed inside!"

Ye Jinglan said in a deep voice, "I've never seen it before, so it's truly unimaginable!"

Zhuo Qingfeng squatted on the ground, panting heavily. Suddenly, he raised his head and said, "Hey, Brother Ye, have you noticed something strange? Although there are many corpses, there is very little blood!"

Ye Jinglan said, "It must have been cleaned!"

“No, no,” Zhuo Qingfeng said, “If it had been washed, the smell of blood wouldn’t have faded so quickly. Besides, it’s so cold now; if the ground had been washed, it should have frozen over very quickly. But we didn’t see any large areas of frozen ground. So, the place where the murder was committed and the place where the body was dismembered must be different. Why go through all that trouble?”

Ye Jinglan said, "Why don't we just go ask?"

Immediately,

The two used their lightness skills to quickly return to their current encampment, a courtyard that had not been affected by the previous battle.

At this time, the courtyard was rather messy.

One group was tasked with guarding the captured prisoners, while the other group was assisting Gu Chudong and Xiao Ziyin in rescuing and treating the wounded.

Zhuo Qingfeng and Ye Jinglan arrived at a small house where a person was bound with iron chains. It was Song Yi, who had previously impersonated the magistrate of Sanchuan County. However, Song Yi was the magistrate of Sanchuan County; this person was an imposter, a member of the Baiyue Cult.

Upon hearing Zhuo Qingfeng's question, "Song Yi" directly replied: "The reason why the killing area and the slaughtering area are separated is firstly for the convenience of cleaning. A special place is set up for bleeding, so the blood can flow away directly and won't run around everywhere. We have been killing for many days in a row, hundreds or thousands of people every day. If we kill randomly, the refugee camp will be full of blood, which will definitely alert the people behind us."

Secondly, it's for storage. Only meat that has been completely drained of blood can be successfully cured and stored for a long time. If the blood isn't completely drained, the meat won't keep well.

Zhuo Qingfeng said in a deep voice, "That's truly a pervert!"

Song Yi sneered, "Those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trifles. Go and look through the history books and see if there were few instances of using human flesh as military rations during times of war."

Zhuo Qingfeng had no interest in arguing and immediately walked out.

And he had just stepped out when
Then they saw a streak of light flying across the sky, like a falling meteor. As it got closer, they could see that it was Gu Mo, who was flying on a flying sword.

Seeing Gu Mo arrive on his sword, Zhuo Qingfeng couldn't help but feel envious again.

"Brother Gu, you're back so soon!" Zhuo Qingfeng greeted him.

Gu Mo landed steadily on the ground on his flying sword, took a step forward, and the Taixu Sword drew a white arc of light behind him, floating beside him.

"How is the situation in Jianbei City?" Zhuo Qingfeng asked.

Gu Mo's expression was grave. He said, "The city has been massacred."

"What?!" Zhuo Qingfeng exclaimed in shock, "Jianbei City has been massacred? How could this happen? Sanchuan County is a small county town with only 20,000 to 30,000 people, so it's understandable that the city was massacred. But Jianbei City is a prefecture city with more than 100,000 people!"

“It’s not just Jianbei City!” Gu Mo said, “I just visited several other counties, and without exception, they have all become ghost towns!”

Zhuo Qingfeng's pupils widened, and he was speechless for a moment. Then he hurriedly ran out, shouting, "Brother Ye, Princess..."

After a while

Ye Jinglan, Xiao Ziyin, Zhang Yuankang, Gu Mo, Zhuo Qingfeng, and others all gathered together.

When they learned from Gu Mo that the entire Jianbei County had been massacred, they were all incredulous.

"This is impossible!"

Zhang Yuankang said, "When we set off from the capital a few days ago, the inspection team returned to the capital to report on the situation in Jianbei County. No one mentioned the massacre in Jianbei County. We can't say that hundreds of thousands of people in Jianbei County were slaughtered in just over ten days!"

Zhuo Qingfeng's pupils contracted slightly as he said, "The entire Jianbei Prefecture has a population of over 400,000, scattered across various counties. It's simply impossible to massacre them all in just over ten days and keep the news so tightly under wraps. It must have been a gradual, step-by-step operation."

However, the patrol team had just returned to the capital a little over ten days ago, so it's impossible they hadn't noticed anything amiss. Therefore, the only explanation is that the patrol team had been bribed and reported false information. Furthermore, even if the Moon Worship Cult was powerful, they wouldn't have sent a large number of people to Jianbei County; the massacre must have been initiated by the Wusheng Cult on short notice.

However, no matter how rapidly the Wusheng Sect developed, it couldn't possibly have the capacity to completely suppress information and massacre the entire city. There must be official cover-up involved—either the military or the Censorate, which regularly patrols the region. Furthermore, such a large-scale massacre would first and foremost require dealing with the garrison of Jianbei County!

Gu Mo said, "I went to check the garrison camp in Jianbei County. It's empty, there's no one there. To be precise, apart from some remote rural areas, there are almost no living people left in Jianbei County, in the city and in places close to the city. Moreover, even if there are survivors, it would be difficult for them to survive in this freezing weather, let alone send a message."

Zhuo Qingfeng said in a deep voice, "This snow disaster is the best cover for the massacre!"

Zhang Yuankang collapsed to the ground, trembling all over, muttering, "More than 400,000... more than 400,000 lives... This... even if they all just stood there without resisting, it would take a long time to kill them all... It's only been half a year since the snow disaster started... Doesn't that mean... Jianbei County has been massacred for half a year, and the imperial court... hasn't heard a word... That's hundreds of thousands of lives..."

Xiao Ziyin, Zhuo Qingfeng, and Ye Jinglan all looked at Zhang Yuankang, and they were all filled with emotion.

They were high-ranking officials from the courts of the two great powers of Chu and Qian, and they were all highly perceptive of government affairs. From the moment they arrived in the capital of Jiang, they could clearly sense the corruption of the Jiang court. After all, the snow disaster in Jianbei County was a well-known fact throughout the country, yet the court only arranged for disaster relief grain once and then stopped, which was intercepted by the Wusheng Sect midway. After several months of discussions, they still hadn't settled on a specific disaster relief plan.

However, as decaying as they were, they never expected to have decayed to this extent.

Zhuo Qingfeng said in a deep voice, "Right now, I'm afraid we won't find anything if we stay here any longer. We can't find Ye Nantian, and we can't find any specific clues. We can only return to the capital first and start with the Jiang Kingdom's court. We also need to let the Jiang Kingdom's court know about the situation here."

Xiao Ziyin said, "We must return to the capital. However, my biggest question is why the Wusheng Sect killed so many people. If only Sanchuan County was massacred, then the Baiyue Sect's claim of using human flesh as military rations to plot a rebellion would be reasonable. But they didn't rebel, yet they killed everyone. What are they trying to do?"

Gu Mo said in a deep voice, "Based on my speculation, it's most likely that they're practicing some kind of demonic art through blood sacrifices or similar rituals. Especially for someone of Ye Nantian's level, the demonic art they cultivate must be extraordinary!"

Zhuo Qingfeng immediately said, "Brother Gu, now that you mention it, I've noticed something strange. The Wusheng Sect separates killing people from slaughtering corpses. I'm afraid that's the problem."

“Let’s go take a look!” Gu Mo said.

Immediately, the group arrived at the refugee camp under Zhuo Qingfeng's guidance and quickly found the large house that "Song Yi" had mentioned was responsible for bloodletting.

Inside, there were rows of neat, uniform high platforms, each with a large groove, still stained with blood.

The group followed the grooves and found that the water flowed into underground drainage channels.

"Pour water!"

Gu Mo said.

Immediately, everyone poured water into the groove as Gu Mo had instructed, while Gu Mo focused his mind and silently sensed the movement of the water.

"The tunnels below are starting to converge..."

Gu Mo could clearly sense that the water flowed into the depths of the earth and began to converge, eventually all flowing to the same location.

Gu Mo walked on the ground and finally came to a large house. He swung his fist and smashed it hard. The ground cracked and shook. After a while, with a loud "boom", the ground collapsed, revealing an underground palace three zhang below the ground.

They all flew down at the same time, each holding a torch.

The underground palace was very simple, only about three or four zhang in circumference, supported by several huge stone pillars. In the middle was a large, dried-up pool, with several small openings around it, which was the confluence of the drainage channels above.

Zhuo Qingfeng squatted beside the empty pool, gently scraping the pool wall with his dagger, then picked up the powder and examined it carefully, saying, "All that blood eventually flowed into this pool. The marks on the pool wall are clearly from long-term immersion in blood."

Zhuo Qingfeng sniffed it carefully again and said, "There's a medicinal smell in it, so it's basically confirmed that it's the blood sacrifice that Brother Gu mentioned!"

Gu Mo looked around again and said, "The furnishings and layout here are also carefully arranged; it's a special formation."

“Blood sacrifice! What kind of demonic art is Ye Nantian cultivating?” Zhuo Qingfeng said in a deep voice, “It seems that there are such blood sacrifice pools in all the cities of Jianbei County. Judging from the current situation, this matter should be very well hidden. Even the followers of the Moon Worship Cult, although they are doing things, do not know that the entire Jianbei County has been slaughtered.”

“They definitely won’t know,” Xiao Ziyin said. “The operation was carried out in secrecy, and even the higher-ups of the Moon Worship Cult might not know. It’s likely that only Ye Nantian’s most trusted confidants were helping to carry it out. I’m afraid the excuses for the massacres in various cities are all the same: stockpiling grain for war. I’m afraid the Moon Worship Cult members in each region all think that they are the only ones carrying out the massacres!”

Ye Jinglan said in a deep voice, "What kind of demonic art is Ye Nantian practicing?"

Xiao Ziyin suddenly spoke up: "I'm afraid it's not demonic art, but demonic Gu!"

Everyone looked at Xiao Ziyin. Xiao Ziyin was silent for a while, then looked at Gu Mo and said, "Hero Gu, when we set off from the capital of Jiang Kingdom, I told you about Jiang Ruoxu before he became a demon. The people in the Jiang Kingdom's palace all turned into evil spirits in human skin."

Gu Mo nodded slightly and said, "Is it related to this?"

Xiao Ziyin said, "Actually, I know what that evil spirit in human skin is."

"What is it?" Gu Chudong asked quickly.

Xiao Ziyin said, "There is a kind of Gu called the Undying Gu. The cycle of immortality turns adversity into prosperity; blood replaces yarrow stalks, and fate changes the hexagrams. Borrowing those three lines, it disrupts my heavenly secrets; heaven and earth are reversed, and the sun and moon collapse!"
This kind of Gu uses human blood as a catalyst, requiring a large amount of human blood. After it is cultivated, the Gu master will completely transform into a person composed of Gu worms. Underneath the skin of a normal person is flesh and blood, while under the skin of an immortal Gu master are Gu worms.

Theoretically speaking, as long as there is enough true energy, the Gu worms can be unlimited. The reason why it is called the Undying Gu is because to kill the Undying Gu Master, you must kill the Gu King. However, no one can be sure where the Gu King is, because the Gu King can control countless Gu worms to form many clones. He can always walk around outside using only clones. No matter how many times he dies, he can continue to create clones.

This is why it's said that those people in the Jiang Kingdom's palace back then were demons in human skin; they were all controlled by the Undying Gu, with only a thin outer layer of skin and Gu worms inside—they were all puppets of the Undying Gu Master!

Ye Jinglan asked in surprise, "What about power? Surely a puppet can possess the power of a Gu Master?"

Xiao Ziyin shook his head and said, "That's not that outrageous. It can only rely on the power that the Gu Master stores in those Gu insects. It's impossible to reach the full strength of the Gu Master, since there is only one Gu King. However, theoretically speaking, if the Gu Master's true energy is abundant enough, it can mass-produce puppets."

After saying this, Xiao Ziyin looked at Gu Mo and said, "Hero Gu, judging from the current situation in Jianbei County, it seems that Ye Nantian has indeed refined this Undying Gu, which is very troublesome. Back then, the person who infiltrated the capital of Jiang Kingdom and impersonated the emperor was not recorded, but Jiang Ruoxu slaughtered half of the imperial city of Jiang Kingdom in order to kill that person. However, even so, it is still unknown whether Jiang Ruoxu successfully killed the mastermind behind the Undying Gu. Now, this Ye Nantian has sacrificed the lives of more than 400,000 people in the entire Jianbei County. The level of his Undying Gu is probably already divine. It will be very difficult to kill him."

"It's alright." Gu Mo waved his hand and said, "Let's look for it first!"

Xiao Ziyin nodded and said, "Then, we must return to the capital of Jiang Kingdom now and start the investigation from the Censorate of the Imperial Court!"

Zhuo Qingfeng said, "I suggest we travel light. These things should be done sooner rather than later. If the whole team returns, and there are still injured players, who knows when it will be!"

Everyone agreed with Zhuo Qingfeng's suggestion.

Gu Mo, Gu Chudong, Ye Jinglan, Xiao Ziyin, and Zhuo Qingfeng were the five who returned to the capital of Jiang Kingdom ahead of time.

Among the five of them, even the weakest cultivator, Zhuo Qingfeng, was a first-rate or even top-tier expert in the martial arts world. When they traveled at full speed, the fact that Jianbei County was covered in ice and snow did not affect them much.

Just after dawn, the five of them set off on their return journey.

……

Inside the underground palace of the imperial city, Emperor Jiang once again found Ye Nantian.

"Gu Mo and the others have returned. I have received confirmation that they have appeared on the border of Shangchuan County and are heading towards the capital," Emperor Jiang said.

Standing in the blood pool, Ye Nantian asked in surprise, "How could it be so fast? Did they only reach Sanchuan County and then turn back directly? Didn't they go to other places to check the situation?"

"I don't know," Emperor Jiang said. "I'm afraid they've already gone to check. After all, as far as I know, Gu Mo's lightness skill is quite good."

Ye Nantian said, "No matter how good his lightness skill is, in such a short time, he can only run to one or two nearby counties at most."

Emperor Jiang said, "This is enough for them to deduce that the entire Jianbei County has been massacred."

“Deductions are just deductions,” Ye Nantian said. “They can only investigate from two places: the Censorate and the Ministry of War. Just let the Censorate and the Ministry of War make trouble for you. First, they won’t believe it and will send people to investigate. Then they will do all sorts of things, and before long, time will have passed. My matter will definitely be over. At that time, I will just hand over two people and arrange for a double to show up near the Ten Thousand Mountains. That will be the end of the matter.”

Emperor Jiang nodded and said, "That's the only way. For the time being, I don't want to offend either Gu Mo or Xiao Ziyin."

Ye Nantian chuckled, "Gu Mo is a little better; at most, he's just a江湖人 (jianghu person, a person of the martial arts world). Although he has a high status in Qian Kingdom, it's not comparable to Xiao Ziyin's status in Chu Kingdom. However, Xiao Ziyin is easy to deal with. We can just throw a few people out to confess, and she won't have anything to say. As for Gu Mo, I'm no longer in Jiang Kingdom, so what reason does he have to stay? As for the people of Jiang Kingdom, we can just issue an arrest warrant for me. It's all Ye Nantian's fault!"

……

This morning,
Gu Mo and his group finally arrived in the capital after a long and arduous journey. What had taken them nearly ten days to get there was completed in just three days. The group went directly to the palace to meet the emperor.

When Emperor Jiang learned of the massacre in Jianbei County, he immediately sent someone to summon all civil and military officials to court.

In the royal palace of the Jiang Kingdom, in the main hall of the imperial court.

All the civil and military officials rushed to attend the court assembly, and by the time almost everyone had arrived, it was already afternoon.

Everyone was puzzled, wondering why Emperor Jiang would suddenly convene a grand court assembly.

"Your Highness, please tell us the details!" Emperor Jiang said to Xiao Ziyin.

Immediately,

Xiao Ziyin stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Gentlemen, some time ago I accompanied your imperial envoy to Jianbei County, where I witnessed a horrific event: hundreds of thousands of people in Jianbei County were massacred..."

immediately,

Xiao Ziyin then recounted what had happened in Sanchuan County.

Finally, Xiao Ziyin asked, "As far as I know, your country's Censorate sent an inspection team to Jianbei County just over a month ago and returned only twenty days ago. How could they not have discovered that Jianbei County had been massacred?"

The hall erupted in uproar. Everyone was shocked by what Xiao Ziyin had said: hundreds of thousands of people in an entire prefecture had been massacred, yet the court had not sent any word. Officials and the army had mysteriously disappeared. It all sounded like a fantasy.

"Silence! Silence..."

Emperor Jiang shouted for a while before the noisy, bustling hall finally quieted down.

Emperor Jiang looked at a middle-aged man in a purple official robe in the main hall. This man was Mu Linyun, the head of the Censorate and the Left Censor-in-Chief.

Emperor Jiang's face darkened as he asked, "Minister Mu, as the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, you are in charge of national oversight affairs, impeaching officials, and inspecting various regions. How do you explain such a shocking incident that occurred in Jianbei County?"

Mu Linyun quickly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, please allow me to explain."

He then cupped his hands towards Xiao Ziyin and said, “Your Highness, you are of noble birth and noble status. Foreign officials admire you and should not and dare not question you. However, what you just said is indeed illogical.”

"If you only said that Sanchuan County was massacred, I would find it reasonable. But you say that the entire Jianbei Commandery was massacred. How is that possible? Jianbei Commandery has ten counties, more than 400,000 people, and more than 6,000 garrison troops, plus more than 3,000 soldiers from various counties. How could they have been massacred silently?"

Xiao Ziyin said in a deep voice, "That's the truth. Do you think I'm here to joke with you?"

Mu Linyun said coldly, "Princess, are you joking? I just said that if it were only Sanchuan County that was massacred, I might believe it to some extent. But what did you just say, Your Highness?"
"You say someone can fly on a sword, traversing all ten counties of Jianbei Prefecture in just one or two hours. Your Highness, has this been due to reading too many supernatural tales and gone mad? A celestial being descending to earth? Saving all living beings? Perhaps Your Highness has encountered the Wusheng Sect?"

"Insolence!" Emperor Jiang slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "Imperial Censor Lin, who gave you permission to speak to Her Highness the Princess like that?"

Mu Linyun quickly bowed and apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I am a straightforward and upright person. Over the years, I have been inspecting various places for His Majesty. I have always encountered some treacherous and wicked people around me who talk nonsense. I have always been indignant about such behavior."

"I don't mean Your Highness is speaking nonsense, but I tend to overreact when I hear suspicious words. I feel that Your Highness may have been deceived by some unscrupulous people. After all, our two countries are friendly nations, and there are always some despicable individuals with ulterior motives who try to sow discord!"

As soon as Na Mulinyun said this...
Gu Chudong was immediately displeased and scolded, "What do you mean, you old fool? Are you saying that my brother lied to Princess Chang?"

"Is not it?"

Mu Linyun, with an air of righteous indignation, pointed at Gu Chudong and rebuked, "How absurd! Flying on a sword and traveling all over Jianbei County in one or two hours? What is this nonsense if not a despicable tactic used by you people of the Qian Kingdom with ulterior motives? Aren't you just trying to provoke conflict between our Jiang Kingdom and the Chu Kingdom so that you can reap the benefits?"

Mu Linyun spoke with conviction and force, earning the respect of all the officials in the Jiang Kingdom. He then pointed at Gu Mo and angrily rebuked him: "Others may fear you, Gu Mo, but I do not. So what if you, Gu Mo, possess unparalleled martial arts? So what if you are the best in the world? I, Mu Linyun, have dedicated my life to the country and its people. Why should I hesitate to give my life? You despicable man, you dare to sow discord between Chu and Jiang and harm the people of my Jiang Kingdom. I, Mu Linyun, am not afraid of you. Even if you kill me today, I will expose your true colors as a vile villain!"

There was dead silence in the hall.

Gu Mo looked speechlessly at Mu Linyun, who was dressed as if he were bravely facing death.
He didn't say a word, he just came back with good intentions to report to the Jiang Kingdom's court, but Mu Linyun's attitude made it seem like he was some kind of heinous villain bullying the weak!
"No," Gu Mo said with a blank look, "Why are you so agitated? Why don't you just bring the people you sent out to patrol here to confront them, and then send people to Jianbei County to verify? Why are you making such a fuss?"

Mu Linyun said coldly, "You despicable villain, don't even think about sowing discord in my Jiang Kingdom and shaking the unity of the ministers. Do you think I don't know what you're up to? Don't you just want to use Her Highness the Princess to take the opportunity to distort the truth, frame her, and disrupt the order of my Jiang Kingdom's court? Don't even think about it!"

Gu Mo frowned and said, "So, you mean that since you don't acknowledge the massacre in Jianbei County, even if hundreds of thousands of people died, you won't allow anyone to investigate? As long as someone suggests investigating, even just to verify, you'll assume I'm sabotaging your Jiang Kingdom's court? Aren't you just plain crazy?"

Mu Linyun said angrily, "You despicable person, now that I've exposed you, you're feeling guilty and angry, aren't you? Hmph, with your little tricks, you think you're qualified to wreak havoc on the Jiang Kingdom's court? You're simply not taking the Jiang Kingdom's court seriously at all!"

Gu Mo chuckled and said, "You're right. To be honest, someone like you can become a high-ranking official in the court. This kind of court is really not worthy of my attention!"

Mu Linyun roared in fury: "You despicable person..."

"Snapped"

Gu Mo slapped Mu Linyun across the face, knocking him to the ground. Mu Linyun immediately spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with a few teeth.

Immediately, all the civil and military officials of the Jiang Kingdom were stunned.

However, before those people could react, Gu Mo kicked Mu Linyun in the stomach, sending him flying out of the main hall and crashing into the square outside the palace.

"Gu Mo, how dare you harm a minister of my Jiang Kingdom?"

"How dare you commit violence in court? Do you think my Jiang Kingdom has no one to rely on?"

"Even if it costs us our Jiang Kingdom our lives, we will fight you!"

"..."

Gu Mo snorted coldly, stomped his foot slightly, and directly pushed back the many clamoring ministers of Jiang Kingdom. He then said coldly, "Didn't that crazy guy just question my ability to fly on a sword? Now I'll show you!"

Immediately, Gu Mo reached out and summoned the Tai Xu Sword from Gu Chu Dong's book box. It flew close to the ground and landed at Gu Mo's feet, carrying Gu Mo as he flew out of the palace.

Immediately,

Jiang Guo's civil and military officials and Emperor Jiang hurriedly chased after him, only to see Gu Mo riding a flying sword, one hand gripping the back of Mu Linyun's neck, instantly flying into the void on his sword, and in the blink of an eye, turning into a stream of light and disappearing into the clouds.

For a moment, Emperor Jiang and all the civil and military officials of the Jiang Kingdom were dumbfounded.

If someone could fly thirty or fifty feet high, they could still forcefully explain it as unparalleled lightness skill. But this one flew directly into the clouds, so it was impossible to continue to consider it lightness skill. It was already the legendary sword immortal's flying on a sword.

Not only were the ministers of Jiang Kingdom shocked, but even Ye Jinglan and others, who had witnessed Gu Mo's sword control technique once before, were still amazed.

Amidst the heated discussions among the numerous civil and military officials...

A black dot suddenly appeared in the sky, growing larger and larger. As it became clearer, it turned out to be a person descending from the sky—Mu Linyun, whom Gu Mo had grabbed and lifted into the air.

"what!"

Mu Linyun plummeted rapidly, letting out a scream, followed by a loud thud as he crashed to the ground, turning into a bloody, mangled mess, shattering the floor tiles into pieces.

Then, a streak of light flew down, revealing Gu Mo. With his hands behind his back and his flying sword hovering in the air, he looked down at the civil and military officials of Jiang Kingdom and the Emperor Jiang, and said in a calm tone: "Is there anyone else who questions my sword flight? I'll let them experience it for free!"

For a moment, all the civil and military officials fell silent.

Gu Mo glanced at the assembled civil and military officials, and seeing that no one spoke, he continued, "I came to Jiang Kingdom with only one purpose: to find Ye Nantian and kill him. And now, things are very clear: someone in the Censorate or the Ministry of War is cooperating with Ye Nantian to massacre hundreds of thousands of people in Jianbei County. I am now going to investigate."

Emperor Jiang took a deep breath and asked, "How does Master Gu intend to investigate?"

Gu Mo said in a deep voice, "The delegations from Chu and Qian will investigate, but at the same time, I demand that the Jiang court assist in the investigation. If they cannot find the person within a day, then I will kill people. I will kill until you find the traitor yourself!"

Immediately, the civil and military officials were in an uproar.

Emperor Jiang's face was grim. He said, "What do you mean by that, Hero Gu? Are you threatening my Jiang Kingdom?"

"Yes, it is a threat."

Gu Mo pointed at Mu Linyun, who had turned into a pool of blood and mud, and said, "I didn't intend to use force, but this guy actually cursed at me in front of me. I'm very angry and have no mood to talk about rules with you anymore."

Having said that, Gu Mo slowly floated down.
The civil and military officials of the Jiang Kingdom were so shocked that they instinctively stepped back.

"If the person hasn't been found by this time tomorrow, I'll start killing people."

After saying that, Gu Mo turned and left.

Xiao Ziyin, Ye Jinglan, and the others also left with Gu Mo.

The civil and military officials of Jiang were left looking at each other, unsure of what to say.

Only Emperor Jiang, looking at the pool of blood and mud, felt both annoyed and furious.

(End of this chapter)