A candle's flame flickered gently, casting a dim light that slightly illuminated the center of the room where a sandbox lay.
A figure stood with their back to the candlelight, face obscured, holding a small puppet, which they placed on the sandbox.
On the other side of the sandbox, a person knelt on one knee, head lowered.
"Sir, Lord Li Liangqiu's soul lamp has extinguished."
The figure behind the sandbox, undisturbed, stared at the sandbox and asked slowly,
"Where he fell, whose hands he fell to, none are known. We've already asked someone to use the soul lamp for summoning, but there's no sign of any message."
The kneeling spy wished he could bury his head in his chest.
An Eighth Tier Body Cultivator, to die so silently, and the Jinyi Wei couldn't trace the slightest clue, yet dared to report.
"I understand, keep the news suppressed, you may leave."
The spy, as if granted a great amnesty, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly retreated.
The current Commander of the Jinyi Wei stood there quietly, gazing at the sandbox in silence.
He knew, of course, what Li Liangqiu had gone to do.
It was supposed to be a very simple task, merely to ensure it went unnoticed, for caution's sake, which is why the recently idle Li Liangqiu was sent.
He never imagined Li Liangqiu would fall so soundlessly outside.
That was an Eighth Tier Body Cultivator, even if reduced to a torso, or had his heart shattered, he wouldn't die.
His physical body was strong enough to withstand three strikes from a Sword Cultivator of the same tier without injuring his vital points.
No cultivator of the same tier could make him die so quietly unless they meticulously prepared to ensnare him.
So was it a Ninth Tier Strong who acted?
He stood there, continuously evaluating the sandbox and began to exclude the Ninth Tier Strong individuals he knew.
But in the end, he excluded everyone.
This confused him even more. If it wasn't a Ninth Tier Strong who acted, how did Li Liangqiu die?
Li Liangqiu's task was suddenly decided, none could have known in advance. Even now, fewer than three in the Jinyi Wei knew about it.
No one could've prepared so quickly to trap and kill Li Liangqiu, was it the Feng family?
Impossible, even if the Feng family discovered Li Liangqiu was tailing them, they wouldn't act against him. He suspected everyone but wouldn't doubt the Feng family.
He might know the Feng family's rules and ways better than many of its own members.
He could even confirm that Li Liangqiu's death had nothing to do with the Feng family. The Feng family likely knew nothing about it.
His mind was filled with uncertainty, with no way to unravel it, so he chose to suppress it for now.
He didn't plan to make Li Liangqiu's death public, merely treating it as a mission.
An Eighth Tier Body Cultivator going out could take years or even over a decade.
He fixed his gaze on the sandbox, looking towards an area shaped like the Hengduan Mountains.
Hengduan Mountains, King Xiang, this was a recent issue.
The Feng family was just a sudden thought; he didn't wish to provoke the Feng and Yin Two Families.
Was there any connection to this matter?
Could today's Dazhen produce an unknown Ninth Tier Strong?
Or perhaps it was Dali?
Even someone within Daqian?
He couldn't make certain because, as Emperor Qian's minions, the Jinyi Wei had offended too many people.
Their reputation was much worse than Dali's Shadow Department and Dazhen's Faceless Man.
The Faceless Man had a low presence, which related to Dazhen's numerous fiefdoms and highly autonomous internal environment and infrequent appearances outside Dazhen.
Shadow Department was most famous for their exceptional escape abilities, known to everyone as something generally joked about.
Yet, invisibly, everyone would naturally overlook that they were Emperor Li's most ruthless minions.
In regards to the Jinyi Wei, only two words remained, evil dogs.
Their poor reputation extended even within Daqian, where countless individuals dreamt day and night of taking the Commander's head as a chamber pot.
True enemies filled the world.
With clues, potential suspects wouldn't be many.
But without clues, with things handled so cleanly, anyone could be a suspect, and the possibility that the culprit was a Daqian person became even greater.
This situation was entirely opposite to Yu Ziqing's.
Yu Ziqing currently had no visible enemies.
Anyone targeting him wouldn't need to investigate, they could immediately list a very small range of suspects.
Quietly leaving the Deserted Cave Heaven, he returned to Jinlan Mountain.
You Zhen still resided in his small courtyard.
After days of travel, traces of Devil Thought had appeared in him once more. The impact was minor, easily suppressed by him.
These Devil Thoughts arose under influence from other parts. His body was divided into six pieces, remaining connected; otherwise, the two portions wouldn't so readily heal and recover.
If he stayed out for a long time, there indeed was a slight risk of losing control.
But upon returning to Jinlan Mountain, these already-present Devil Thoughts became pretend-dead quails, and no new ones emerged.
The pervasive aura of hungry ghosts gathered here was a natural restraint.
Yu Ziqing had just been home for two days when King Xiang discreetly entrusted Lei Yu to deliver hundreds of carts of various materials to Yu Ziqing, ranging from low to high, from array setup materials to Spiritual Medicine, Artifact Refining materials, blank talismans, talisman pens, vermillion, everything one could wish for.
Lei Yu followed the rules, stopping two hundred miles north of the locust forest.