"As expected of you, sir!"
Meanwhile, over on Ye Liuyun’s side.
After returning, Shi Sheng couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
"If it weren’t for you, sir, spotting something off about the Southern Governor at a glance, I bet we’d all still be kept in the dark right now."
Before following Ye Liuyun,
Shi Sheng had truly thought that the Southern Governor Qi Yuanliang was one of the rare good men within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and he had even admired the guy before.
But now, looking back,
Turns out, there’s not a single good apple in this Embroidered Uniform Guard— even that seemingly gentle Southern Governor is just putting on an act.
This useless Embroidered Uniform Guard is doomed, sooner or later.
"You noticed anything strange?"
Si Nan, who was standing nearby, chimed in casually.
If Shi Sheng could actually spot something off early on, then Si Nan would think that was strange as hell.
"Like you saw it first?"
"It was only after sir mentioned it that I realized something was off with the Southern Governor."
"Heh, I don’t buy it!"
"...",
Looking at Shi Sheng acting like a sore loser,
Si Nan just rolled his eyes and didn’t even bother to explain.
Believe it or not, are we kids here?
"Sir!"
Si Nan pulled himself back together, and spoke to Ye Liuyun with due gravity.
"If the Southern Governor finds out you’re involved, sir, this could be really troublesome."
No need to think it over—Qi Yuanliang hiding all these years, suddenly exposed? Pretending he isn’t pissed off is just impossible.
Although he had no idea how their boss had managed it,
In Si Nan’s opinion, the reason Shi Xing’an went berserk on Qi Yuanliang must be because their boss was pulling the strings somewhere.
"Maybe we should strike first, beat him to it?"
As he spoke, Si Nan drew a finger across his throat in a throat-slitting gesture at Ye Liuyun.
Hanging around Ye Liuyun so long, his guts had grown a lot.
Even knowing now that Qi Yuanliang was in the Innate Realm, he still wasn’t scared at all.
Instead, he was already weighing whether they should make a preemptive move.
"Back to the old ways?"
Shi Sheng, beside him, brightened at the words and looked eagerly at Ye Liuyun.
He looked as if he couldn’t wait.
"No need!"
Si Nan and Shi Sheng’s bloodthirsty reaction made Ye Liuyun laugh out loud.
"Since our Southern Governor loves performing so much, why not let him keep acting for a while longer? I’m really quite curious how Qi Yuanliang plans to continue the show."
With Ye Liuyun’s skills,
Getting rid of the traces of magecraft left on Shi Xing’an wasn’t really hard.
The reason he didn’t do it, even deliberately leaving them, was to bait Qi Yuanliang into taking the bait.
Chances are,
Qi Yuanliang would never guess that apart from being an Innate Martial Artist, he’s also a Seventh Grade Mage.
Killing Qi Yuanliang would actually be simple—
Just a matter of swinging a blade.
Even if their cultivation was equal, both at Innate Perfection, Ye Liuyun was still confident he could forcefully cut down Qi Yuanliang.
But there was no real need.
Qi Yuanliang might be gone, but the person behind him would still be there.
If they could put up a Qi Yuanliang, they could put up a second, a third.
So rather than that, letting Qi Yuanliang live a little longer actually helps them find out what’s really going on.
"Relax. If it’s time to act, I’ll make sure you both know."
Feels like Si Nan and Shi Sheng are getting more murderous by the day.
"Understood!"
The two exchanged a glance, nodded knowingly, and answered Ye Liuyun in unison.
...
The conversation,
didn’t last long after all. After all, Qi Yuanliang was still the Southern Governor.
And now everyone knows this Southern Governor, Qi Yuanliang, is deep, cunning, nothing like his harmless outer shell.
No one wants to get on this kind of Qi Yuanliang’s bad side.
So aside from some sneaky gossiping in private, no one dares to even mention it in public now.
Besides,
everyone has become aware of another problem.
Shi Xing’an is dead—doesn’t this mean the Lord Thousand Households position is vacant again?
Looking back at the whole history of the Embroidered Uniform Guard,
Shi Xing’an is probably the shortest-serving Lord Thousand Households they’ve ever had.
"Who will it be, in the end?"
Days have gone by, but Qi Yuanliang still can’t figure out who orchestrated the incident with Shi Xing’an.
At first, he suspected Ye Liuyun.
But Qi Yuanliang was convinced Ye Liuyun didn’t know any magecraft, so he immediately ruled him out.
Now it seems,
the culprit must be someone skilled in magecraft—and with good cultivation, able to affect a Postnatal Martial Artist like Shi Xing’an.
The thought of such an enemy hiding in the shadows, perhaps watching his every move,
gave Qi Yuanliang the chills for no reason at all.
Feels like everyone around him is a bad guy.
"Sir!"
At this moment,
Shadow’s silhouette suddenly appeared in front of Qi Yuanliang.
"Hmm?"
The abrupt movement
almost made Qi Yuanliang lash out on the spot—he was that jumpy now.
Luckily, seeing it was Shadow, he let out a slow, deep breath and relaxed again.
"Next time you come in, knock."
"???"
Shadow, unaware he had just danced with death, looked at Qi Yuanliang in utter confusion.
Knock?
When have I ever knocked?
Whatever. Shadow didn’t bother to dwell on it. Instead, he reported seriously:
"An imperial edict has arrived!"
"An edict?"
Yan Shuzhu has held the top spot for years, but since everyone knows he’s just a puppet, nobody ever cared much about it.