With Cen Boqing’s guilt now established, the matter was nailed down beyond dispute.

“Qingfu Temple?” Bai Ziqi was visibly taken aback when he heard it, but immediately turned to Fushan Yue and said, “Now that there is a confession, Your Highness may issue the arrest order for Cen Boqing.”

Fushan Yue nodded and began deploying troops.

Bai Ziqi added, “Deputy Commander Fan, you go help as well.”

Fan Sheng rose at once and leaped out of the cellar in two strides.

Fushan Yue’s gaze flickered slightly, but he did not object.

* * *

After they had all left, Bai Ziqi turned his eyes to He Lingchuan and said, “You handle the rest of the questioning.”

He Lingchuan nodded and had writing materials brought in, then resumed questioning Wu Kai in detail.

Wu Kai asked for a cup of water, gulped it all down in one breath, wiped his mouth, and only then began answering He Lingchuan’s questions.

It turned out that Cen Boqing’s father, Cen Qiao, had long ago begun this business of hunting monsters and extracting beads. Once Wu Kai became his confidant, he, in turn, became the manager responsible for that trade. After Cen Qiao’s death, Cen Boqing inherited both his father’s position and business, and he continued to place Wu Kai in overall charge.

“Why did Cen Qiao start doing it in the first place?”

“The profits were enormous.” Wu Kai leaned against the wall, his whole body still weak. “You don’t know how quickly a family like the Cen Family burns through money in Lingxu City... that place is practically a bottomless pit. No amount of money is enough. In the early years, some of the Cen Family’s shops and properties suffered heavy losses. If they hadn’t used this income to plug the holes, they would have declined long ago. They never would’ve kept enough standing for him to later marry the Minister of Finance’s daughter and bask in that kind of glory.”

“But marrying the Minister of Finance’s daughter was the same as marrying a money sack, wasn’t it?” He Lingchuan’s question drew even a side glance from Bai Ziqi. “So why did Cen Boqing keep taking the risk?”

“He said several times that he wanted to get out, but the buyers at Qingfu Temple refused.”

“Buyers?” He Lingchuan gave a cold laugh. “You mean his superiors.”

Wu Kai lowered his voice. “Once you’re involved in something like this, it’s not something you can simply decide to walk away from.”

He Lingchuan gave a quiet hum of agreement and continued writing everything down.

He wrote slowly, and for a long stretch the cellar fell silent.

Since He Lingchuan had gone quiet for so long, Bai Ziqi had no choice but to speak up, “When you dealt with Qingfu Temple, who did you hand over the jiang beads to, and from whom did you collect payment?”

“A temple steward surnamed Hu.” Wu Kai said, “Twice a year, I would go behind the temple and exchange beads for money, one hand to one hand. Unless the purchase price for the jiang beads changed, we didn’t speak about anything else.”

“You didn’t know the other buyers?”

Wu Kai shook his head.

“Use words. Did you know them or not?”

“I didn’t.”

Bai Ziqi paused, then asked, “Did the Minister of Finance know about what you were doing?”

The answer to that question implicated far too much.

“We handled things discreetly. The Minister of Finance and his wife never asked about it. So perhaps...” Wu Kai gave a slight shrug.

But Bai Ziqi did not let him slide past it. “So did the Minister of Finance know, or did he not?”

Wu Kai had no choice but to say, “I think... he probably didn’t.”

He Lingchuan kept his head down, copying it all out, and said nothing.

Those deeper-level questions were better left to the special envoy from Lingxu City. He had no intention of joining that excitement.

“You also prepared false testimony for Fu Songhua?”

“Yes,” Wu Kai admitted it directly. “Three years ago, Cen Boqing accidentally discovered that Fu Songhua—the fugitive wanted for murdering the Inspector of Bing Province—was actually living in the northwest corner of Baishajue, not even far from the Cen Residence.”

“When you walk by the river often enough, your shoes are bound to get wet eventually.” Wu Kai gave a bitter smile. “Cen Boqing was afraid that one day the truth would come out, so he ordered me to prepare false evidence in advance. If things ever blew up, Fu Songhua would be the one used to take the blame.”

“The source of the eastern imperial eagle route information you intended to pin on him, who picked that source?”

“Cen Boqing.”

“Why?”

Wu Kai swallowed. “I was only carrying out orders. I don’t know the reason.”

“Now, about Zhongsun Mou.” Bai Ziqi continued. “Why did he cooperate with you in making false testimony?”

“Zhongsun Mou’s grandfather was nearing the end of his lifespan. No tonic could help anymore. Cen Boqing then directed Zhongsun Mou to go seek medicine at Qingfu Temple, using the code phrase ‘extend life, increase longevity, preserve peace.’ Once the old man of the Zhongsun Family took it, he could live another ten to thirty years.”

“This time, when Cen Boqing discovered that the touring commissioner investigating both the courier case and the monster-hunting bead-harvesting case was Zhongsun Mou, he used this matter to threaten him.” Wu Kai asked for another cup of water. “In Lingxu City, privately obtaining and consuming an elixir of youth is a grave crime.”

“So both the Cen Family and the Zhongsun Family are implicated.” Bai Ziqi then gave He Lingchuan a nod. “I’m done asking. The rest is yours.”

So He Lingchuan began questioning Wu Kai about the whereabouts of the other monster-hunting subordinates.

By this point, Wu Kai no longer hid anything. He confessed to the hiding places, methods, results, and contact signals of the remaining five squads.

Before the ink on the paper had even dried, He Lingchuan handed the full confession dossier straight to Bai Ziqi.

“Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai, these other five groups of monster-hunting criminals are all outside the borders of the State of Chiyan.”

In simple terms, arresting them was no longer Chiyan’s job. It fell within Bai Ziqi’s duties as special envoy.

Bai Ziqi took the dossier and tucked it away, then rose to his feet. “I’m going to the Cen Residence. You come along.”

He Lingchuan naturally had no objection.

The inn was very close to the Cen Residence, only a few hundred paces away.

As He Lingchuan walked alongside Bai Ziqi, with several guards following behind, he could feel the man studying him on and off. In the end, he asked directly, “Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai, is there something strange about my face?”

This boy’s quite straightforward. Most people wouldn’t dare ask me something like this. Bai Ziqi smiled gently. “Nothing strange. It’s only that, considering how young you are, the way you interact with the Crown Prince seems less like ruler and servant and more like friends of equal standing.”

“I’m not from Chiyan, and I’m certainly not the Crown Prince’s servant.” There was no reason to avoid that point. Since Bai Ziqi had brought Fan Sheng along, the Tongxin Guard’s deputy commander had surely already told him the basics about He Lingchuan.

This man noticed everything and held great authority. He Lingchuan kept feeling that the way Bai Ziqi looked at him was a little odd. So he raised his guard fully, not daring to be careless in the slightest.

Bai Ziqi said, “When I was younger, I also visited the State of Fu. Between ruler and subject, things there are merely so-so, but the merchants are formidable. Whatever you want, they can usually get it for you.”

That made He Lingchuan think of the Stone Gate Merchant Guild, and the Gan Family that had once done exclusive business with Zhu Erniang. He could not help smiling faintly. “In poor mountains and harsh waters, the people are never meek. We all believe that wealth and honor are to be sought amid danger.”

“‘In poor mountains and harsh waters, the people are never meek.’ Well said.” Bai Ziqi smiled too. “Why did the Crown Prince appoint you to handle the courier case?”

“I’m from another state. I have fewer entanglements and fewer scruples,” He Lingchuan answered with ease. “Otherwise, the moment we ran into Zhongsun Mou, Chiyan’s own officials would’ve been unable to investigate any further.”

“Not being meek has its advantages,” Bai Ziqi said leisurely. “And how did the Crown Prince know this case would entangle such a wide range of people?”

He Lingchuan shrugged. “That’s something you’d have to ask him. I’ve only just arrived and don’t know Chiyan very well.”

“To bring in a foreigner unfamiliar with local conditions to investigate a case, the Crown Prince certainly does things in surprising ways.” Bai Ziqi cast him a glance. “How did you and the Crown Prince come to know each other?”

He Xiao’s origins were murky. Fan Sheng did not know them, and Fushan Yue had not mentioned them in his memorial either.

“A little while ago, imperial nectar descended. We were both out in the wild and fought fiercely over a single lump of the stuff.” He Lingchuan described it in the briefest terms. “Since neither of us wanted to end up both sides injured, we stopped fighting and came to know one another that way.”

“That does indeed sound like the sort of thing Crown Prince Fushan Yue would do.” What Bai Ziqi was really paying attention to, of course, was the unspoken meaning within “came to know one another.”

What kind of temperament did Fushan Yue have? What kind of methods? He had even killed his own younger brother.

Even Bai Ziqi considered him cold-blooded and cruel.

If Fushan Yue had been unable to kill the young man now walking beside him, only then would friendship have become possible.

But being able to fight Fushan Yue to a standstill was obviously something to be proud of, so why is this young man brushing it over so lightly?

“There’s another thing I want to ask.” Bai Ziqi thought it over, then decided to come straight at it. “Fan Sheng said that Cen Boqing brought in the curse master Cheng Yu to deal with you, but Cheng Yu returned in failure and suffered backlash so severe that he coughed blood. I’ve heard of Cheng Yu myself. He really does have some ability. How exactly did you defeat him?”

He Lingchuan said calmly, “I have a few life-preserving methods of my own, that’s all. But I had no ability to strike back at Cheng Yu. He was injured because his own spell rebounded on him.”

“What kind of spell did he use?”

He Lingchuan spread his hands. “He’s a curse master, so I assume it was some kind of malicious curse. Unfortunately, I’m not skilled in that field.”

Without waiting for Bai Ziqi to continue, he turned the questioning around.

“You just said, ‘that does indeed sound like the sort of thing Crown Prince Fushan Yue would do.’ It sounds as though you know His Highness very well.”

He Lingchuan had secrets of his own. He could not allow himself to be pressed endlessly.

“We’ve crossed paths several times,” Bai Ziqi said with a smile. “As a prince of the State of Chiyan, Crown Prince Fushan Yue spent more than ten years studying in Lingxu City. As for me, I was selected into Star-Plucking Tower in my youth. We’re about the same age, so we had some acquaintance.”

About the same age... He Lingchuan rubbed the side of his nose.

Right, though that fellow Fushan Yue looks young, he’s actually already over forty and roughly of the same age as Bai Ziqi.

Monsters really do possess certain natural advantages.

“His Highness may be a little... direct in temperament.” He Lingchuan chose the word carefully, though both men knew he really meant violent. “But for a ruler, that’s not much of a flaw. On the contrary, he’s sharp, adaptable, and capable of understanding reason. So why doesn’t the King of Chiyan like him?”

The King of Chiyan had long favored Fushan Ji and had never truly intended to make his eldest son crown prince.

That was probably not a question He Lingchuan could get answered from anyone else, except Bai Ziqi. Even the tiger Jiao Yu, who had traveled with him for a good while now, dodged the subject whenever it arose.

Avoiding taboo matters concerning one’s superiors was basic official conduct.

For once, Bai Ziqi fell silent. He seemed to be thinking.

After quite a while, he finally said, “There’s no harm in telling you. Quite a lot of people in Lingxu City know.”

Of course, by “quite a lot of people,” he likely meant only the highest circles.

He said slowly, “When Crown Prince Fushan Yue was very young, he ate his own birth mother!”

He Lingchuan was visibly shocked.

But he did not interrupt, because there had to be more to it.

Sure enough, Bai Ziqi turned his head to observe his expression as he continued. “The brothers were born of the same mother. Their mother was a common-born woman. Later, the King of Chiyan sent guards to bring the mother and sons back to the palace, but something went wrong on the journey. A terrible accident...”

He did not elaborate any further, only said, “Crown Prince Fushan Yue devoured his mother under compulsion and necessity. But the King of Chiyan loved that consort dearly, and from then on, he carried the grievance in his heart. He could never bear the sight of his son.”

He Lingchuan murmured, “He probably likes him even less now.”

Not long ago, Fushan Yue had killed his own younger brother too. When the old king looked at his eldest son now, did the hatred of wife-slaughter and son-slaughter come surging back all at once?