Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

North Palace.

Fengyun Academy.

Fengyun Courtyard, where Lu Chen resides, is the largest courtyard in the Northern Prince's Mansion. These days, Lu Chen has had a piece of land in the courtyard transformed into a small paddy field.

Then they planted some spirit rice inside.

Seeing Lu Chen pacing back and forth beside the small paddy field, looking at it curiously, Mu Zixuan approached him and asked, "Your Highness, what are you planting in here?"

Lu Chen replied, "A type of rice."

Hearing Lu Chen say it was rice, Mu Zixuan was puzzled as to why Lu Chen would attach so much importance to this small paddy field, to the point that he would observe it several times a day.

"Is there something special about this rice?" Mu Zixuan asked.

Lu Chen turned to look at Mu Zixuan and replied with a smile, "Of course. If it were ordinary rice, I wouldn't have bothered to plant it myself and take care of it personally."

Hearing this, Mu Zixuan became even more curious about what was so special about this rice, but then she suddenly thought of the Dragon and Phoenix Tree.

Since Lu Chen said this rice is special and that he will personally take care of it, it means that it is very likely that, like the Dragon and Phoenix Tree, it is a rice seed given by an immortal.

Since it was given by an immortal, it's best not to ask too many questions to avoid the secret being leaked.

Thinking this through, Mu Zixuan stopped asking questions. Seeing that Mu Zixuan didn't pursue the matter further, Lu Chen smiled and said, "Isn't my beloved concubine curious about what's so special about this rice?"

Mu Zixuan smiled slightly and then said, "Since this rice is being personally cared for by Your Highness, it must be extremely precious. I'd better not ask any more questions to avoid revealing Your Highness's secret."

Hearing Mu Zixuan's words, Lu Chen smiled and said, "Whether it's precious or not will only be known after it's planted."

The system had already reminded him that spirit rice needed to be planted in a place with relatively abundant spiritual energy. Because of the dragon and phoenix trees in the Northern Prince's Mansion, the spiritual energy was relatively abundant compared to the outside. However, Lu Chen did not believe that this concentration of spiritual energy was sufficient for the growth of spirit plants.

However, it's still worth a try. After all, there aren't many places in this world with abundant spiritual energy. It's pointless to just leave those three catties of spirit rice seeds lying around. They're useless anyway, so it's better to give it a try. What if they can grow them?

Just then, a maid entered the courtyard and said, "Your Highness, Commander Liang requests an audience!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen went straight to the study without saying a word.

Upon entering the study, Liang Zong first bowed, then immediately handed the intelligence in his hand to Lu Chen, while reporting: "The situation in the capital has been very turbulent recently. All the princes have been assassinated, even the crown prince. Moreover, many martial artists have gone missing in various counties of the Great Xia. We don't know where they have gone."

As Lu Chen listened to Liang Zong's report, he looked at the intelligence report in his hand, his brows furrowing slightly.

He could understand if the power struggle in the capital intensified, since his father was pretending to be dying and the princes were already itching to seize the throne.

What Lu Chen truly couldn't understand was the disappearance of martial artists in various counties and prefectures of the Great Xia Dynasty.

According to the intelligence, the missing martial artists in each county were mostly of the fifth rank or higher.

Although fifth-rank martial artists are now commonplace in the Northern Kingdom, they are not many in the vast Great Xia Kingdom.

Moreover, among the missing people, there were not only fifth-rank martial artists, but even ninth-rank ones. Those who could become ninth-rank martial artists were basically backed by powerful forces, such as certain organizations, aristocratic families, or large landowners.

If someone were targeting those ninth-rank martial artists, the forces behind them would certainly not sit idly by. But it wasn't just someone targeting them; it was all forces.

According to the reports from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, there is only one pattern in the cases of missing martial artists: they are all martial artists of the fifth rank or above, regardless of their faction.

The disappearance of martial artists has now caused panic among the major forces within the Great Xia Dynasty. Originally, these forces were not afraid even when vassal kings rebelled, since they could side with the victor at any time.

But now a force has suddenly appeared that targets everyone indiscriminately, and they know nothing about the force that is hiding in the shadows.

They couldn't even negotiate with that force; they could only watch their own people disappear one by one. How could this not terrify them?

Lu Chen then asked, "We haven't been able to find out who did this?"

Liang Zong replied, "No, the Embroidered Uniform Guards didn't find a single clue. It's as if those warriors vanished into thin air."

Lu Chen fell into deep thought. Who could have done this? Even the Embroidered Uniform Guard couldn't find out.

Liang Zong continued, "In addition, several of our people have disappeared, and we haven't heard a word about them since."

There are many fifth-rank martial artists among the Embroidered Uniform Guards. The target of the enemy is martial artists of the fifth rank and above, so naturally those Embroidered Uniform Guards are among them.

Lu Chen's eyebrows furrowed again, forming a deep frown.

Even the Imperial Guards have disappeared.

Who did it?

Lu Chen said, "Continue the investigation. For the next period of time, the Imperial Guards of the fifth rank and above shall remain silent and take no action. Let the Imperial Guards of the lower ranks investigate the situation."

Liang Zong replied, "I understand!"

Lu Chen continued, "Now go and deliver this intelligence to the Grand Secretary."

Liang Zong took the intelligence from Lu Chen, bowed respectfully, and said, "This subordinate takes his leave!"

After Liang Zong left, Lu Chen sat down at his desk and fell into deep thought once again.

Who exactly is targeting martial artists of the fifth rank or above?

I wonder if similar things happened in other dynasties?

Thinking of this, Lu Chen immediately said to the maid, "Xiao Huan, go and call Madam Wang to the study. Tell her I have important business to discuss with her."

"Yes, Your Highness."

A short while later, Wang Qingci appeared in the study. After entering the study, she did not flirt with Lu Chen. At this moment, Lu Chen was looking at the map on the desk with a serious expression. Obviously, Lu Chen had something important to discuss with her.

Wang Qingci immediately asked, "Does Your Highness have any mission for me?"

Lu Chen said directly, "Have the people from Tingyu Tower investigate and see if there have been any large-scale disappearances of martial artists in other dynasties recently."

Hearing this, Wang Qingci was slightly stunned. She didn't understand why Lu Chen had asked Tingyulou to investigate this matter. Now that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had taken over most of the intelligence work, and even Tingyulou had Embroidered Uniform Guard members, Lu Chen hadn't given Tingyulou any investigation tasks for a long time.

Usually, Tingyulou collects information and then reports it to Lu Chen.

Seeing Lu Chen's serious expression, Wang Qingci knew that this matter must be very important, so she immediately said, "This servant understands, this servant will immediately have the people of Tingyu Tower take action."

Just as Wang Qingci was about to leave, a maid's voice came from the doorway, "Your Highness, the Grand Scholar requests an audience."

Lu Chen said directly, "Come in!"

The next moment, Zhuge Chongguang pushed open the door and entered. Wang Qingci realized that they might have something important to discuss, so she said to Lu Chen, "Your Highness, this servant will take her leave now."

Lu Chen said, "Don't rush, you can also hear what it's about."

Wang Qingci replied, "This servant understands."

After entering the study, Zhuge Chongguang bowed and said, "This old minister greets Your Highness."

Lu Chen nodded and said, "Has the Grand Scholar finished reading that intelligence report?"

Zhuge Chongguang replied, "I've finished reading it."

Hearing their conversation and seeing their expressions, Wang Qingci was curious. Could something big be about to happen? Otherwise, Lu Chen and Zhuge Zhongguang wouldn't look so serious.

Lu Chen asked, "Does the Grand Scholar have any conjectures?"

Zhuge Chongguang replied, "This old minister has no clue whatsoever. Logically speaking, no force should dare to offend so many forces at the same time."

"Moreover, those martial artists didn't even leave behind any corpses; we don't even know if they're dead or alive now."

Lu Chen's gaze fell on Wang Qingci at this moment. "We just received intelligence that a number of martial artists of the fifth rank or above have recently disappeared in Great Xia. These martial artists seem to have vanished into thin air. No one knows where they went. Even many of the Jinyiwei soldiers who were investigating have gone missing."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Wang Qingci instantly understood why Lu Chen had asked Tingyu Tower to investigate whether there were any missing martial artists in other dynasties.

On the surface, Tingyulou is a commercial organization with few strong members, unlike the Jinyiwei, which has many martial artists of the fifth rank or above. The fact that Lu Chen asked Tingyulou to investigate other dynasties is clearly because he was afraid that something might happen to the Jinyiwei again.

Wang Qingci said, "This servant understands Your Highness's meaning. This servant will try my best to involve people of the fifth rank or below in the investigation of this matter."

Lu Chen's gaze then fell on Zhuge Chongguang. "Grand Scholar, do you think this matter might be related to the Demonic Sect?"

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Chongguang thought for a moment and then said, "It's highly unlikely that those people did it. Although the members of the Demonic Sect seem fearless, they wouldn't dare to offend so many forces at the same time."

Lu Chen said, "There's something rather strange about this whole thing. A large number of martial artists have gone missing in all the counties and prefectures of the Great Xia, but none in the Northern Kingdom."

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, Zhuge Chongguang asked, "Does Your Highness mean that the forces secretly carrying out this matter dare not extend their reach into the Northern Kingdom?"

Lu Chen said, "No, I suspect that the influence of that force is limited to the Great Xia territory south of the Northern Kingdom. That's why they can do it without anyone noticing. If they were to arrest someone outside their sphere of influence, they would likely be discovered by others."

Zhuge Chongguang fell into deep thought again. After a while, he suddenly thought of someone and said, "Your Highness, this matter is probably related to the royal family."

Upon hearing Zhuge Chongguang's words, Lu Chen's serious face revealed a smile. "It seems that the Grand Scholar and I have the same idea. I also suspect that this matter was done by my father."

The sudden disappearance of someone without anyone noticing immediately made Lu Chen think of the Shadow Guards' methods, so he believed that it was very likely his father, the Emperor, who was behind it.

"But I don't quite understand why he captured so many martial artists. Even if he captured them all together, they would never serve him."

Zhuge Chongguang speculated, "Could it be for practicing some kind of evil martial art?"

Lu Chen was taken aback. This was hard to say. If those martial artists were really captured by the Xia Emperor, they might actually be there to practice some kind of evil technique.

Now that the Northern Kingdom is so powerful, especially with the support of firearms, the traditional army of the Great Xia has no power to resist. The Xia Emperor may feel that he cannot ascend to become a Celestial through normal means, so he resorts to some crooked methods.

Lu Chen said, "If it really was my father who arrested those martial artists, then it might really be to practice some kind of evil art. I just don't know what kind of evil art would require so many martial artists."

After speaking, Lu Chen and Zhuge Chongguang fell into deep thought again. Wang Qingci glanced at the two of them, feeling that she had nothing more to do there, and said again, "Your Highness, I already know the matter. There is nothing more for me to do here. Should I take my leave?"

Lu Chen said, "Okay, you can go ahead and get busy."

Just as Wang Qingci left the study, a maid's voice came from the doorway again, "Your Highness, Commander Liang requests an audience!"

Ok?

Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

Liang Zong only left not long ago, how come he's back so soon?

Lu Chen then said, "Come in."

Liang Zong immediately entered the study, "Greetings, Your Highness!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liang Zong handed the letter to Lu Chen. "Your Highness, this is intelligence that just came from Jiangnan. The Imperial Guard who delivered the letter said it was very important, but I haven't had time to read it yet."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen immediately took the letter from Liang Zong, tore it open, and began to read it carefully.

Upon seeing the contents of the letter, Lu Chen frowned again.

Seeing that Lu Chen's expression was somewhat unpleasant, Zhuge Chongguang asked, "Your Highness, what happened?"

Lu Chen handed the letter in his hand to Zhuge Chongguang and then said, "Recently, there has been a heavy cavalry force in the Jiangnan region, and it is my father's direct heavy cavalry force. They seem to be protecting something to the capital, and even the royal family's Grandmaster has been mobilized."

Since the Northern Kingdom defeated the Great Wu, the Xia Emperor has been inactive for a long time. This time, he suddenly sent heavy cavalry to Jiangnan and even sent the royal family's Grandmaster to Jiangnan. It feels like he is brewing a new conspiracy.

In addition, with so many martial artists recently disappearing within the Great Xia territory, it seems that something big is about to happen again.

After reading the letter, Zhuge Chongguang fell into deep thought once again. Even Zhuge Chongguang couldn't figure out what the Xia Emperor was doing at this moment.

After a while, Lu Chen said to Liang Zong, "Have the Embroidered Uniform Guard find a way to investigate why the heavy cavalry went to the Jiangnan region."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

……

Within a month of receiving intelligence about the large number of missing martial artists in the Great Xia Dynasty, many martial artists of the fifth rank and above still went missing within the Great Xia territory. Moreover, these people were nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead, as if they had vanished into thin air.

This matter is no longer just being investigated by the Imperial Guards of the Northern Kingdom; all the major powers within the Great Xia Kingdom are investigating it. The rebellion of the vassal kings had already caused widespread panic among the people, and now the martial artists of various powers have mysteriously disappeared, making the already chaotic situation even more chaotic.

Soon, the investigation results from Tingyulou were sent to Lu Chen. According to Tingyulou's investigation, there were not so many cases of missing martial artists in other dynasties. One or two cases were already considered a lot, unlike in the Great Xia, where seven or eight martial artists of the fifth rank or above went missing in just one county.

The most bizarre aspect of this disappearance case is that the martial artists vanished too completely. Crucially, aside from all being at least fifth-rank martial artists, they had no other common ground, and they didn't even know each other. (End of Chapter)