It doesn't matter what the lord is.

The "here" Xiaobai mentioned does not refer to the Twelve Dragon Prisons, but to Western Qin!

Lid asked Serius to go out and keep watch, then he lowered his voice and said to Xiaobai:

"What's going on here? Why are you locked up here?"

Xiao Bai took two deep breaths, and seemed to have made up his mind. He summoned his last bit of strength and spoke:

"Xi Qin... is the biggest believer in the Abyss..."

"My mother... is inseparable from the abyss..."

"They formed an alliance with the Dragon Clan and planned the largest blood sacrifice ceremony..."

"The entire Western Qin..."

Before Xiaobai finished speaking, bright red blood continued to flow from the corners of his mouth. Lide then noticed that there was a wire piercing his throat. Xiaobai had to endure unimaginable pain every time he spoke. Lide could clearly see the light in Yingbai's eyes gradually dimming. He couldn't help but stepped forward and patted Xiaobai on the shoulder and said to him:

"Stop talking. I'll take you out and we'll talk slowly later."

Xiaobai raised his head, looked at Lid, and uttered a sentence with his last bit of strength:

"Their next target is... you..."

Xiaobai couldn't continue, and only used his eyes to hint to Lid to leave quickly. At this moment, a hurried conversation suddenly sounded in the distance:

"Lord Celius, what's going on? Why are our people lying on the ground, and why are you here?"

"I should be the one asking you this! I was ordered by the Lord to interrogate Diao Qiu, but was ambushed by her companions. Both of my subordinates were killed! Are you running a grocery store here? Anyone can come and go as they please?!"

"Please calm down, sir. The situation is very confusing right now. Please cooperate with us in the investigation..."

"I will cooperate with you. At worst, I will go to the Lord to reason with him! But now I have seen with my own eyes that group of thieves dressed the same as you are fleeing over there. Instead of arresting them, you are interrogating me here. What's the logic behind this?"

"…Distribute some personnel to investigate in the direction pointed out by Sir Celius! Sir Celius, please come with us. We will accompany you to the Lord and explain the matter clearly."

"go!"

Lid listened carefully and found out that Celius, who was in charge of lookout, had been taken away.

The guards did search in the direction pointed by Celius, which was completely different from the direction of Tianzi No. 1. Lide knew very well that Celius had definitely not received the order to interrogate Diaoqiu tonight, and he would be in great danger once he arrived at the lord's place. And the purpose of his forcing himself to say this was probably to buy time for Lide -

Although it is impossible to buy much time.

Lid gritted his teeth and said to Xiaobai:

"I'll help you untie these things first. It may be a little painful, just bear with it."

Reed grabbed the long spike on Xiaobai's body with both hands and tried to pull it out, but Xiaobai just shook his head and said nothing.

Lide didn't understand the meaning of Xiaobai's shaking head at first, but when he was about to exert force, Lide suddenly had a bad premonition and turned his head sharply. In that moment, Lide felt as if he was on a beach, and a devastating tsunami was coming towards him.

Reid instinctively raised his hand to block it, but the tsunami passed through the hall like a gust of wind.

When Reed came to his senses, he found that there was no sea in front of him, but cold sweat continued to flow down his face.

His gaze shifted to the corner outside the door of the No. 1 prison cell, where a person had been sitting since some point in time.

He was a handsome middle-aged man with long hair, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a beautiful beard. He seemed to have fallen asleep, sitting cross-legged in a corner, holding an unsheathed long sword in his arms. The sword intent just now was obviously from him, but now he did not show any obvious hostility. Lid could see his realm, which was as vast and boundless as the sea. I don't know how long he had practiced to reach this level.

Alayya drew her sword and stepped forward to protect Reed, being wary of the middle-aged man.

"Mr. Tingchao..."

Reed called out the name, and the middle-aged man yawned without any response, as if he was still in a deep sleep.

But Lid knew very well that if he had used a little more force, the spike would have been pulled out and the sword in the middle-aged man's hand would have cut the back of his neck. At this time, Lid finally understood why Xiaobai had just shaken his head, and also understood what Celius meant by "dangerous person".

Lid glanced at Xiaobai, whose lips trembled slightly as he repeated what he had just said:

"That's all I know... There's no point in me going out..."

"You...only you..."

"Leave here... go back to Yunyang...!"

His voice was almost pleading.

Reed looked at him deeply, then looked back at Mr. Tingchao.

Regardless of whether he could beat Tingchao or not, it was impossible to take Xiaobai away now. Xiaobai was tied up with too many shackles, and it would take time to save him. Moreover, the seriously injured Xiaobai was a burden now, and it was extremely difficult to take him away.

Seeing the guards starting to gather here, Lid let out a breath and said to Alaiya:

“…Retreat first.”

13. Calculation

Reed took Alayya and broke out of prison.

Tingchao did not take action. Although the remaining guards were brave, Lid was not a pushover. In addition, the guards of the Twelve Dragon Binding Prison were relatively scattered. Some of them fell asleep under the power of the little ghost, some were sent away by Selius, and some accompanied Selius to meet the lord of Xiqin. In the end, the number of people left was not particularly large. Lid wanted to leave, and they could not stop him.

But on the other hand, it would be difficult for Reed to sneak into the Twelve Dragon Prisons again and bring Xiaobai out.

Not only that, he had to take Alayya away from Yuanyang City overnight to avoid being caught in a trap. After this rescue, he was sure that the host of the Central Council, Selius, should be a trustworthy person and would not betray him; but too many people saw him and Alayya tonight, and the city would probably start a large-scale manhunt tomorrow morning, so it was meaningless to stay here.

The only reward was that Xiaobai had desperately conveyed some secrets about Xiqin to Lide, like a student who was still answering questions at the end of an exam. Although it was only a few short sentences, it contained a huge amount of information. Lide needed to find a quiet place to slowly digest it.

For safety reasons, Reed did not take Alayya back to Bieyun Town, but rested in the jungle in the wild for a night.

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse, and a cold wind blew. Alayya sat next to Reed, recalling the sword intent she had just seen from Mr. Tingchao.

Lid looked at the grass swaying in the wind and thought about what Xiaobai had said.

"Xi Qin is the biggest believer in the abyss." This should be the conclusion Xiaobai came to after thinking about it, and it is also the reason why he was imprisoned.

This is the greatest darkness of Western Qin, and also the original sin that the territory of Western Qin bears.

"My mother is inseparable from the abyss." Xiaobai and Xiaohei should have the same biological mother. Is that woman a member of the Abyss Church? Does Xiaobai's father know about this? Does Xiaohei's father know about this? Was Xiaobai framed and imprisoned by that woman, or is the Lord of Xiqin in cahoots with her?

For the last question, Lid tends to lean towards the latter.

On the way to Xi Qin, he had discussed this topic with Alayya. If a territory wants to become stronger quickly within a few years, it is not enough to just reform the system, and a method to quickly increase production capacity is needed. If the lord of Xi Qin had cooperated with the Abyss Church a long time ago, then the two sides may have reached some kind of agreement, which should be the reason why Xi Qin was able to quickly surpass Nan Chu at that time.

"They formed an alliance with the dragon clan and planned the largest blood sacrifice ceremony." From here on, Reed could feel that the information was becoming more and more important, but the part he could verify was becoming more and more limited.

The Abyss Church is allied with the Dragon Clan? What do they want, and what do the Dragon Clan want from them?

Blood sacrifice? Like what they did in Lingwu? But Clenus's soul is in Lid's hands now, and his body has left the Undersea Temple. What are they sacrificing? And what are they using?

The mysteries are mounting.

But Lid couldn't ignore this information, because the recent movements of the dragons were indeed very strange. Those guys didn't attack the human territory immediately, and Xihe, who was commissioned by Lid to investigate the news, was also missing. The two confusing mysteries seemed to be slowly converging, forming a big net that covered Lid.

And Xiaobai's last words also confirmed this:

"Their next target is you."

Lid exhaled and rubbed his brows. The only thing he could be thankful for at this moment was that he believed in his intuition and came to Xiqin to meet Xiaobai. Although Xiaobai kept asking him to leave, at least from the current situation, the situation had not deteriorated to an irreversible point. If he really stayed in Yunyang and worked hard to develop, he could only take over a few more territories during this period. When the Dragon Clan and the Abyss really joined forces to accomplish the matter, Yunyang would not be able to remain unscathed.

Reed remembered the woman named Shi Yuan. That was his first meeting with the top leaders of the Church of the Abyss.

At that time, she said that as long as Lid joined the Abyss Church, he could present Lord Yunyang's head within half a month.

There would be no need for civil unrest in Yunyang to break out, and she could help Lide take over Yunyang without bloodshed.

Now it seems that she can do much more than that. No one knows where the woman with a pair of peach blossom eyes is now, but Reed instinctively feels that this incident is most likely related to her.

After all, nothing good comes of having anything to do with her.

Seeing that Lid finally moved, Alayya held the sword and asked softly:

"Master, the guy sitting in the corner just now... is he Mr. Tingchao?"

Lid nodded. He didn't plan to think about it any further. He couldn't come to any conclusion for a while anyway. Since Alaiya asked, he also answered:

"Yes. How is it? This is our first meeting. What do you think?"

Alayya thought for a long time and replied:

"His sword is different from Qingyun or Garberd. Master Qingyun's sword intention is more introverted, accumulating but not releasing, but shocking when it moves. The sword intention itself is for the common people, so although it is shocking, it is not a weapon for killing. Master Garberd's sword intention is both questing and invincible, so his sword energy is frenzied, his sword heart is clear, and his sword skills gather the strengths of hundreds of schools."

Lid further asked:

"What about the one who listens to the tide?"

Alayya shook her head:

"…I can't tell, Master."

Alayya thought for a moment and explained further:

"His sword is like the sea, with its ebb and flow, all in a regular pattern, just going with the flow. But when he showed his killing intent to the young master, the sword energy was so turbulent that I felt as if I was on the sea in a storm... There was no land in sight, and I could be swallowed up by the tide at any time. At that moment, my body was very cold and I couldn't move."

Reed nodded, agreeing with this.

Mr. Tingchao probably didn't use his full strength in that sword strike, otherwise the tsunami-like sword energy wouldn't have passed through the hall and probably overturned the entire dungeon. Lid didn't know how he practiced this sword, but he could feel the artistic conception: the sea on weekdays is sparkling, with waves roaring, quiet and vast; but under the deep sea, there are undercurrents surging, and when the wind and rain come, they are even more furious.

Just like the rumored Mr. Tingchao, he disliked disputes, doted on his daughter, greeted everyone with a smile, and offered a pot of good wine to beggars. But when his daughter was kidnapped, he killed 3,700 bandits with one sword, causing blood to rain outside Danyang, another important city in Western Qin at the time. It is said that Mr. Tingchao held his daughter in one hand and held his sword in the other, looking gentle and elegant in his green robe, but in the eyes of others he looked like a visitor from hell.

Such a person is now guarding Yuanyang City, outside Xiaobai's confinement room.

He didn't seem to mind Reed's communication with Xiaobai, and he didn't bother to care about the abyss and the dragon clan.

But he obviously would not allow Lid to take Xiaobai out of the dungeon alive.

Maybe for him, this is his job.

14. I gradually understood everything

Yuanyang City, the Western Qin Lord’s Mansion.

When he saw the Lord of Western Qin, Selius looked away, no longer having the momentum he had when he confronted the guards before.

The guards of the Twelve Dragon Prisons reported all the intelligence that happened in the dungeon to the Lord of Western Qin. Before they finished reporting, another group of guards came to report on the matter of Reed and Alayya.

An eerie silence fell in the room.

The truth is about to come out. The presiding official of the Central Council colluded with outsiders and tried to rescue the Prince of Western Qin who was convicted and imprisoned. Such a clear situation does not require anyone else to say anything.

The Lord of Western Qin dismissed all the guards, leaving only him and Celius in the room.

"Lift your head, Celius."

The Lord of Xi Qin spoke quietly and said:

"Eighteen years have passed, and we are not young anymore. You don't have to bow your head like a child who has made a mistake, and I will not forgive you like a doting parent."

After hearing what the Lord of Western Qin said, Celius relaxed a lot and raised his head with dignity.

The Lord of Xi Qin looked at him and said calmly:

"I know that you have always supported Prince Ying Bai and invested a lot of effort in him. But I am still alive, and you shouldn't have done it so blatantly."

Celius stroked his half-white hair, smiled, and said:

"There is no time... Indeed, I am not as cautious as before. I have only met the young man named Bai Ma twice, and I shouldn't have placed all my hopes on him. But I have no other choice. I can't watch the prince being executed. This is for the future of Xi Qin."

The Lord of Xi Qin had the same expressionless look as Ying Bai, with no expression on his handsome face.

He walked to the table and sat down, picked up a document, and said to Celius while reading it:

"What did you see?"

Celius shook his head.

"I can't tell. But sitting in my position, I can always realize that things are not going normally. The people are becoming more and more cold-blooded and numb, only knowing how to work, the average life expectancy is constantly decreasing, and ordinary people occasionally disappear or die tragically... Xi Qin is indeed the number one territory in the world, but it is also the most abnormal territory."

The Lord of Xi Qin asked leisurely:

"So you're pinning your hopes on the prince to change all this? Selius, your long career as a presiding official has made you arrogant. You arbitrarily judge that these things will affect the development of Western Qin, and you arbitrarily pin your hopes on Ying Bai to change all this. The position of presiding official should take into account the interests of all parties, but now you choose to fight for what you believe in. Have you ever thought about how your farce will end if Western Qin perishes because of your wrong judgment?"

Celius replied:

"As you said. But too many strange things have happened here in the past 18 years. Every family has suffered misfortune to varying degrees, including us ministers. Qi Zheng's son was born mentally retarded, Qing Li's wife died of a strange disease in great pain, and Tong Qiu's brother's arms were all festering and full of maggots... Although fate is unpredictable, no territory has suffered more serious [loss] than Xi Qin. I am not a person with a long-term vision. I see the shortcomings of the present and find ways to make up for them. This is what I can do."

The Lord of Western Qin was silent for a while.

Then he said to Celius:

"Who do you think that young man on a white horse is?"

Celius shook his head.

"I don't know. He calls himself a businessman from Yunyang, but I don't think so."