Great Zhou Martial Immortal

Chapter 8 The Kite Platform
The Kite Terrace, also known as the Kite Guard's Office, is located in the northwest corner of the Princess's residence, just outside the north gate.

From the outside, it appears to be a six-story building, topped with a giant bronze kite sculpture in a swooping, outstretched wings posture, overlooking the entire city. The exterior is surrounded by a ring of low pavilions, including interrogation cells and training areas.

Only 30% of the buildings are above ground, while 70% of their functions are underground.

It is the brain of the Kite Guardian, and also its eyes.

Lu Chenyuan, dressed in a crimson robe, left the mansion through the north gate without any obstruction. He passed through the low pavilion, entered the Iris Terrace, and stood in front of the main building. Looking up, he saw the three large characters "Qiwu Palace" written on the gilded plaque on the first floor.

People came and went in front of the hall, some carrying documents, some with files, all in a hurry, but in an orderly manner.

Only when Lu Chenyuan approached did the guards on duty and the experts on duty all turn their gazes toward him. Although they tried to be subtle and suppress their emotions, one could still discern the envy in some and the disdain in others.

Lu Chenyuan has always been disdainful of others, a flaw he picked up from his previous life.

He's just too busy!
As a time management master, in addition to maintaining relationships with existing clients, he also needs to learn various skills and enrich himself in preparation for the future. He doesn't have much energy to waste on irrelevant people.

"The newly appointed Hundred Feather Lu Chenyuan requests an audience with Thousand Feather Xie Tingyun."

Ignoring everyone else, Lu Chenyuan strode forward, revealed his waist token, and the guards at the front of the hall let him through. A gentle female voice came from inside the hall: "Congratulations on your promotion, Lord Lu. Please come in."

The organizational structure of the Kite Guard is rather unique.

Grand Commander Li Lingyue is stationed at the Princess's residence, in charge of the most important intelligence network of the Imperial Guard, responsible for analyzing intelligence and coordinating the overall situation; Deputy Commander Shangguan Wan'er serves under the Empress; one of the three Feathered Generals follows the Princess, while the other two spend years searching for rare and precious materials and exotic animals for the Empress, and have been away from the capital for a long time.

Therefore, those who preside over the daily affairs of the Kite Terrace are mostly at the Thousand Feather level.

Xie Tingyun was the leader of the fourteen Thousand Feathers, a peak expert of the fourth realm, and known in the martial arts world as the "Blood Rakshasa".

Lu Chenyuan hadn't seen her much, but he had heard of her reputation.

This woman came from the Xiangxi Corpse-Driving Clan and cultivated the Blood River Divine Mirror, a technique that could absorb people's life essence. Everyone who died at her hands had their life essence drained and turned into a skeleton, a truly gruesome sight!
Despite her polite manner and gentle voice, few in the entire Imperial Guard dared to be disrespectful in front of her.

Lu Chenyuan took a deep breath, stepped in, passed through the main hall, and saw Xie Tingyun assigning tasks in the main hall, and a group of Hundred Feather experts standing below her.

The lowest level among these people was the early stage of the third realm, and Lu Chenyuan could sense the powerful true energy emanating from each of them.

Xie Tingyun was about thirty-five years old. She was also dressed in a red feather robe, but the cloud patterns on her body were more intricate, and the three-clawed crimson kite was now embroidered with silver thread, making her even more luxurious.

Her face was beautiful, with exquisite features, but her complexion had an unusual pallor that gave her a ghostly and eerie feeling if you looked at her for too long.

"Ten days have passed, and the Dali Temple, Lijing Prison, and Jinwu Guard have failed to capture the remaining culprits. His Majesty is furious and has specially ordered Her Highness the Princess to lead the Imperial Guards to assist in the assassination attempt, sparing no effort to find the remaining accomplices and bring them to justice in the short term!"

Xie Tingyun continued the previous topic and instructed everyone: "You all understand the situation of these traitors. Now proceed according to plan. Lord Lu and Pei Bailing, stay behind. The rest of you, let's begin."

"Yes."

The crowd agreed and filed out quickly, leaving only Lu Chenyuan and another young man with a cold expression in the hall.

He had a gun holster across his waist, containing two broken guns.

Xie Tingyun: "Lord Lu..."

Lu Chenyuan clasped his hands in a fist salute: "Lord Xie, please just call me by my name."

Xie Tingyun glanced at him and smiled, "Alright." She took a file from the table and handed it to Lu Chenyuan, "I already know about your promotion. This is information about the remnants of the assassination attempt. Take a look."

Lu Chenyuan was not surprised that she knew so quickly. After reaching the third realm, one can separate one's divine sense and use Taoist techniques and magical artifacts.

It was probably Li Lingyue or Yuan Qingshuang who notified her through some means. Lu Chenyuan took the case file and quickly flipped through it. In less than fifteen breaths, he had read more than forty pages of information and gained an understanding of the shocking assassination case that occurred in early October.

—On the ninth day of the ninth month of the first year of Tian Shou, Wu Zetian ascended the throne and changed the Tang Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty. Upon hearing the news, the Western Turks, Northern Turks, Sogdians, Tibet, Nanzhao, Japan and other countries sent envoys to congratulate her. On the first day of the tenth month, they gathered at the Wanxiang Divine Palace. Wu Zetian held a grand banquet to entertain the envoys from various countries and ordered nine hundred dancers to play the "Divine Palace Grand Music" to add to the festivities.

—The dance was grand in scale and the atmosphere was lively at the time, but during the banquet, Ashina Bolu, the envoy of the Northern Turks, used the illusion performance as a pretext to plot an assassination with the help of six spies among the dancers.

—He actually used sound waves to activate the Yinshan Blood Gu hidden in the incense, causing the Blood Gu to transform into a blood-red poisonous miasma that permeated the Divine Palace, causing chaos. Then, Ashina Bolu used forbidden shamanic magic to summon the Heavenly Wolf Spirit Yin to attack and kill Wu Zetian, attracting the attention of Li Lingyue, Shangguan Wan'er, and others, allowing Ashina Yan, the Holy Maiden of the Witch God Cult among the dancers, to seize the opportunity to take the [Yuanrong Divine Crossbow] and fire a sure-kill arrow!
This attack was truly dangerous.

Since the goal is to solve a case and arrest people, the intelligence report is very detailed.

The Yuanrong Divine Crossbow, also known as the "Three Calamities Divine Arrow," contains arrows within arrows, each more powerful than the last.

First Arrow - Piercing Qi: The arrow shot out like a dragon's roar, aimed straight at Wu Zetian's throat, but she caught it with two fingers; Second Arrow - Piercing Soul: The shaft of the first arrow split open, and the second small arrow took advantage of the momentum to rush forward, but was blocked by Wu Zetian's protective qi; Third Arrow - Killing God: A third fine arrow burst out from the wreckage of the second arrow, pierced through the protective qi, and struck her chest, causing Wu Zetian to retreat more than ten feet, seriously wounding her!

If she hadn't been wearing a protective artifact of the same level as the [Yuanrong Divine Crossbow], she would have died from the arrows!

This is your only chance.

If Wu Zetian hadn't died, it would have been the assassins who would have died.

Ashina Bolu was cut into human stumps by Li Lingyue with four swords and imprisoned for severe interrogation.

Yu Suying, the female official in charge of medicine at the Imperial Pharmacy who helped with the bloodletting curse, had her entire family executed.

On that day, Xue Peng, the commander of the Imperial Guards responsible for the defense of the Divine Palace, was sentenced to death.

Wei Yao, the female official in charge of searching the dancers for contraband that day, was executed.

……

Most of those involved, whether guilty or innocent, have been brought to justice.

However, some people took advantage of the chaos to escape. At that time, the emperor was injured by an assassination attempt, and there were still envoys from various countries in the venue. There were too many people, and it took a lot of manpower just to guard the nine hundred dancers. In order to prevent others from adding fuel to the fire, it was hard to guarantee that the capture of the murderers would be delayed, which led to some of the remaining criminals escaping in the chaos.

Among them was Ashina Yan, a holy woman of the Witch God Cult.

She used her disguise skills to infiltrate the Imperial Guards and escape from the palace.

Her own cultivation level wasn't high enough to cause much trouble, but she still possessed the [Yuanrong Divine Crossbow].

This artifact was too dangerous and too precious, which was the main reason why Wu Zetian was so impatient and ordered all sides to work together to urgently capture it, even if it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Lu Chenyuan quickly memorized all the intelligence and put down the case file.

Xie Tingyun asked in surprise, "You've finished watching it already?"

Lu Chenyuan nodded, his discerning eyes possessing an uncanny ability to remember.

Xie Tingyun didn't say anything, but Pei Mingqian snorted, his disgust and contempt barely concealed. He coldly said, "Reading ten lines at a glance is considered reading? This is the Kite Terrace. Your current position is Bai Ling, not something you can do by just standing around! You have a duty to fulfill. I know you're illiterate, but don't you even understand this?!"

Lu Chenyuan looked at Xie Tingyun: "This subordinate has doubts."

Xie Tingyun looked curious: "Tell me."

Lu Chenyuan said, "Wei Yao and the sixty-seven female officials under his command who searched the dancers all mentioned that the [Yuanrong Divine Crossbow] was not found during the search. How did Ashina Yan conjure this divine weapon out of thin air? There were three searches in total, and the third search required them to be naked in front of sixty-eight pairs of eyes. Even if Wei Yao was a traitor, how could the other sixty-seven female officials have turned a blind eye? The case file does not mention anything about evil magic or Taoist arts. I am puzzled and ask for your guidance, sir..."

(End of this chapter)