Inside were dozens of objects shaped rather like peanuts, each no bigger than a mung bean. Some were pale white, some faintly yellow, and a few were even slightly translucent.

However, they were not peanuts at all. Fortunately, his eyesight was excellent. He peered closer and let out a small sound of surprise. “Bee pupae?”

That was exactly what they were—tiny bee pupae, their bellies, claws, and limbs all clearly visible, though already half dried and none of them alive.

“This device is refined from brood-guarding bees,” Li Qingge explained. “Have you heard of them?”

“Of course.” He Lingchuan smiled. “Back in Heishui City, I once saw a man who’d provoked a brood-guarding bee colony into revenge. They stung him until his whole body swelled up, and his throat seemed to close off so he could hardly breathe. He only survived because the physician treating him was exceptionally skilled.”

Ever since then, he had known brood-guarding bees to be one of the notorious killer bee species. A single female and male pair was enough to establish a hive. They cherished their young with unusual ferocity, always cradling the pupae beneath their abdomens at the slightest disturbance, which was how they got their name.

If an enemy stole the pupae, they would pursue the thief to the ends of the earth.

Li Qingge pointed to the two needles on the dial and said, “These two are made from the bees’ abdominal stingers. Even after death, the instinct remains. We used that characteristic to create this needle box.”

She took out one of the bee pupae and flicked it against a pillar in the corner.

The pupa shattered without a sound, leaving behind a tiny smear of pale yellow.

At once, both needles on the dial moved.

“The short needle belongs to the female bee. It points toward where the pupa was broken.”

“The long needle belongs to the male. It marks the distance on the scale.”

He Lingchuan glanced down and saw that the long needle was indeed pointing to the mark for less than three meters.

“We’ve already tested it. Its effective tracking range is within six hundred kilometers.”

He Lingchuan clapped his hands. “Hoh, how incredibly convenient! Once it goes on sale, it’ll sell like wildfire.”

Used to track or shadow an enemy, it really could not have been more convenient.

Tracking techniques came in all shapes and varieties already, but most of them were cumbersome to use and dependent on difficult conditions. Nothing compared to how simple this tracking bee was to operate.

Convenience, speed, efficiency, accuracy, those alone were enough for He Lingchuan to know this thing would never lack buyers.

Li Qingge placed the box squarely in his palm and said with a smile, “May your words come true. It’s set to go on sale next spring. And if you run out of bee pupae, you can replenish them at Songyang Mansion’s Lingxu City branch. So long as they’re kept in the box for a full day and night, the stingers will automatically treat them as their own offspring.”

He Lingchuan accepted it gladly.

Having accomplished the purpose of her visit, Li Qingge changed the subject and began speaking of the amusing anecdotes and oddities of Lingxu City.

She possessed a particular gift. No matter the subject, when she spoke of it, the listener felt as though he were basking in a spring breeze, and they would want to keep listening even after she stopped.

Not long after, Fushan Yue returned.

He did not mind the already half-finished meal in the least. He sat down and promptly drank two large flagons of wine with Li Qingge, until both her cheeks were touched with wine-flush. Then she made a quick and graceful farewell.

Only after she left did Fushan Yue ask He Lingchuan, “So while I was away, you were secretly entertaining a beauty?”

“If I wanted to entertain a beauty, I wouldn’t choose here of all places.” He Lingchuan shot him a disdainful look. “There are too many people around to ruin the mood.”

“Then what did she come for, really?”

“Nian Zanli has got hold of something that Songyang Mansion can’t ignore. The Marquis of Songyang can’t bear the pressure anymore and wants to ask His Highness the Crown Prince for help.”

“Me?” Fushan Yue pointed at his own nose. “Those two Yuan natives are gnawing at each other, and the Marquis of Songyang wants my help?”

He Lingchuan nodded.

“Don’t tell me she wants me to lend troops to Nian Zanli?” Fushan Yue said in surprise. “Chiyan is so far from Nian Zanli’s territory, what is it called again...”

“Xun Province.”

“Right. The State of Chiyan is much too far from Xun Province. Moving troops and supplies there would be a nightmare.” Let alone tens of thousands of men, even a few thousand would be an enormous burden to feed and transport all the way from Chiyan to Xun Province.

“The State of Xuluo would be closer.”

“The ruler of Xuluo gets along fairly well with my royal father.” Fushan Yue coughed lightly. “But I did kill two retainers of the Grand Tutor of Xuluo, so...”

Before he could finish, He Lingchuan snatched the wine jug right out of his hand. “If you want wine, go buy your own.” Since he can’t actually help, how dare he drink my wine?

“Hey!” Does he really have to be so stingy?

“No one said anything about actually lending troops. Just that the Marquis of Songyang wants to stop herself from being squeezed dry.”

Fushan Yue shrugged. “Then come up with a solution first, and tell me afterward.” Then he leaned in and asked, “Are you interested in the Marquis of Songyang?”

He Lingchuan said flatly, “Nothing of the sort, but I owe her favors.”

A favor was a debt, and debts had to be repaid.

“Is that so? Then what a pity.” Fushan Yue took advantage of a moment’s carelessness and stole the wine jug back again.

He Lingchuan went out into the courtyard and stretched lazily.

Li Qingge had said it nicely, that he was not “that kind of person,” but He Lingchuan understood perfectly well that the real reason she dared entrust this matter to him was that she also held leverage over him. That made things even.

Moreover, she knew his origins. She even knew he had come from Heishui City, right beside the Panlong Desert.

Li Qingge might not realize that this information could get him killed, but if she were to leak it to Nian Zanli or Hong Chenglue, it would certainly create serious trouble for him.

Most importantly, Li Qingge probably assumed he did not know what was hidden inside the bamboo tube.

* * *

The next day, Fushan Yue brought him an update: the poison identified on the tables and chairs in his room on the night of the explosion was a substance that could rapidly enter the body through the skin, causing shock, unconsciousness, and then suffocation.

It was not a biological toxin, but rather a medicinal powder extracted from a certain kind of stone. In very small doses, it could be used to treat paralysis, which was why Lingxu City had never prohibited its sale on the open market.

However, once mixed with white fish gall and a few other ingredients, it underwent a curious transformation and became a lethal killing agent.

On the day of the explosion, several newly arrived envoys had also been moving out, so the post station had been crowded with servants carrying luggage back and forth. The culprit had likely taken advantage of that opening. He Lingchuan was only a special envoy, after all, so the security around his room had not been especially strict.

When He Lingchuan heard that much, his face remained expressionless. “So in other words, they found nothing at all?”

“The government office is still working on it.” Fushan Yue coughed once. “If someone was deliberately trying to kill you, it’s only natural that they’d do everything possible to leave no trace, especially when they followed it up with a major explosion.”

An explosion, after all, was one of the finest possible ways to destroy evidence.

“I’ve pressured the government office several times already, and the imperial court won’t simply ignore this either. Wait for news.” An attack on the Crown Prince of Chiyan at the post station was too serious an incident, especially in the current circumstances. Lingxu City had to give the State of Chiyan an explanation.

He Lingchuan nodded and turned to head out.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to take a stroll at Mount Xu to admire the ruins of the immortal sect.”

He answered calmly, without the slightest trace of anger.

Because he truly was not angry.

Why would someone poison his room at the post station and then blow it up? If one wanted to kill a man, why bother twice?

The reason was very simple: he had planted the explosives himself, and he had detonated them himself.

The elixir of youth case had already drawn the attention of the Minister of Finance, the Cen Family, the Zhongsun Family, and Star-Plucking Tower to the insignificant little figure called He Xiao. They might not be able to do much to Fushan Yue, but they could certainly vent their anger on the thorn in their side named He Xiao.

And on top of that, the conflict between the Crown Prince of Chiyan and the Zhongsun Family had only deepened further at the Dun Garden auction, while He Lingchuan himself had also crossed paths with Hong Chenglue.

Hong Chenglue had not turned hostile on the spot, but who knew whether he, the Qingwu General, might change his mind later?

He Lingchuan had only just entered Lingxu City, and already his circumstances had worsened to the point that enemies seemed to ring him on every side.

So many opponents, lining up to come after him, each of them someone of real standing in Lingxu City. It was flattering, in a way, but also something that demanded a permanent solution.

So he had decided to strike first!

To strike himself before anyone else could.

This was hardly the first time he had used explosives, and on his return to Panlong City, he had experimented with them over and over again. So this blast had been controlled almost perfectly. Apart from himself, hardly anyone had suffered real injury.

Once word spread, “He Xiao” would become even more famous throughout Lingxu City, and the city’s powerful figures would find it far harder to act against him directly.

Coming to Lingxu City as a nobody, facing all the hidden tigers and dragons here, He Lingchuan had found two great magical treasures to protect himself.

One was called invisibility.

The other was called justice.

Once you place yourself right under everyone’s eyes, whether you were a noble or a commoner, it would make it impossible for anyone to find too obvious a flaw in your conduct. That was invisibility.

Once everyone knew he had come for the elixir of youth case, and that he had been injured in pursuing the true culprit, he would be cloaked in the outward appearance of justice and selflessness.

So long as the name He Xiao remained hot, not even the Monster Emperor would want to move against him directly.

Still, the poison on the tables and chairs that night had been someone else’s doing.

Someone really had wanted to kill him.

Through the eyeball spider, He Lingchuan had discovered two men slipping into his room to lay down poison. That was what convinced him to return to the post station and trigger the explosion himself.

The water was already muddy enough. He had simply stepped in and stirred it harder. That was what made it interesting.

As for the south city government office not having identified the ones who had planted the poison yet, He Lingchuan did not care whether that came from incompetence or deliberate laziness.

That was the best possible outcome.

So long as the killers were not identified, then the Minister of War, the Cen Family, the Zhongsun Family, and even the Fan brothers—pretty much anyone who had old grudges with him—remained potential suspects.

And once the bombing became the talk of the entire city all over again, with everyone pointing fingers behind their backs, those enemies of his would be too busy avoiding suspicion even to think of acting against him again in the near future.

Lingxu City, after all, was still supposed to be a place governed by law.

He Lingchuan crooked a finger at the big tree in the courtyard, and a figure dropped from the branches onto his shoulder.

The goshawk perched on the roof cast a glance in that direction, then turned its head away and ignored it.

On the very first day the squirrel had moved into the tree, it had already gone to report itself to its lord goshawk. So even when hungry, the goshawk would not treat it as a snack.

He Lingchuan took out a few hazelnuts for it. When it came to the monsters at his side, he was always generous.

The squirrel nibbled happily while saying, “Your ride is here.”

He Lingchuan stepped out through the residence gate and saw that a donkey cart was indeed waiting there.

It looks like the cliff ram won’t need to work today after all.

Old Ge himself was serving as the driver. He waved at him cheerfully. “Private transport, an exclusive benefit for distinguished guests!”

He Lingchuan climbed aboard, and the donkey cart clopped into motion, heading north.

Old Ge looped the whip around his hand and let it spin idly as he said, “Those Chen brothers you wanted me to find, both of them are dead.”

He clearly expected He Lingchuan to be displeased, yet the man’s expression remained as unconcerned as before, and he was still gazing out at the street scenery.

“How did they die?” He Lingchuan let out a quiet inward sigh. Just as expected.