Chapter 228: Chapter 195: Who I Am Is Not Important

"Boss, I have a question, but I don’t know if I should ask."

"Go ahead."

"You’ve done so much for the Xiao Family. Why do you have to hide yourself?"

Chen Yi smiled. "Some things are hard to explain."

If not for his identity as a "Fledgling" of the Hidden Guard, he could certainly be more open about things.

Otherwise, if the Old Marquis, Xiao Jinghong, and the others found out what he’d done, it would inevitably arouse their suspicion.

Even if he had no intention of cooperating with the Hidden Guard, the Xiao Family would be wary of him.

It wasn’t a matter of trust.

It was simply human nature.

Chen Yi changed his clothes. He instructed Zhang Dabao to stay at the residence for the next couple of days and await his call. After that, he set off for the Xiao Family estate.

A confused look remained on Zhang Dabao’s face as he watched Chen Yi walk into the distance.

He thought it over from every angle, scratching his head as he walked toward the main hall and muttered to himself:

"My master was right."

"The Great Wei Dynasty is teeming with extraordinary individuals. The abilities of some of these immortal-like figures are far beyond what anyone could imagine."

"If you ever meet someone like that, you either steer clear and never cross them, or you latch on for dear life. That’s how you guarantee a lifetime of wealth and glory."

After muttering for a bit, Zhang Dabao let out a foolish chuckle.

"Looks like my luck is a damn sight better than my master’s."

A short while later, Chen Yi returned to Spring Lotus Garden. He shed his black, coarse-spun clothes, changed into a light robe, and lay down on the bed.

He was, of course, unaware of Zhang Dabao’s thoughts. He simply took out the document detailing the "plan"—the one Xiao Dongchen had signed and pressed his fingerprint on—and read it over twice.

As he read, Chen Yi let out a soft laugh.

’Now, we’ll see if my lady and I are on the same wavelength.’

As long as Xiao Jinghong was on her guard, he was certain Black Tooth and his men couldn’t possibly succeed.

His only worry was that Tiger Girl might not have delivered the letter.

If that was the case, he’d just have to accept it.

Fortunately, even if the summer grain of the Three Towns were to be burned, the Xiao Family had already gotten three hundred thousand taels of silver from Xiao Dongchen, enough to handle any subsequent trouble.

In fact, from the very beginning, Chen Yi had only wanted to get some silver coins from Black Tooth at the Bright Moon Building to lure Xiao Dongchen into a trap.

But before he could even put his plan into motion, people from the Jing State Liu Family arrived.

Worse, Liu Wen and his men had targeted Xiao Wan’er.

Left with no choice, Chen Yi had to put in more effort to devise his "one stone, three birds" strategy.

First, to frame Liu Wen and lead him into a trap.

Second, to frame Xiao Dongchen and make him take the bait.

And third, to leave the Xiao Family with a safety net, providing a remedy in case his plan fell through.

As Chen Yi mulled this over, he sat cross-legged on the bed and began to cultivate the Four Symbols Skill.

Then, strands of the Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Mechanism surged into his body from all directions, transforming into rushing True Essence.

Steadily increasing his Cultivation.

In the unseen workings of fate, a thought flickered through Chen Yi’s mind. ’It’s time for this to end.’

...

「Cang Lang Town.」

It was a military town south of Shu State Prefecture City, near Mengshui Pass. It had been established to provide the fastest possible support to Mengshui Pass in its defense against the Barbarian Race.

It commanded thirty-two garrisons with a total of 160,000 men—more than the forces of the Profound Armor and Iron Wall towns combined.

It was of the highest strategic importance.

Thus, as the General of Cang Lang Town and its Border Defense Commander, Pang Xuan had been keenly aware of his immense responsibility from the moment he took command.

He rose every day at three in the morning and did not go to bed until eleven at night.

He drilled both new recruits and veteran soldiers, oversaw the military farms, supervised the construction of defensive fortifications, inspected the armories and warehouses, and patrolled every corner of the military town.

He never dared to be negligent.

Recently, however, with the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching and the summer grain safely in storage, the pressure within Cang Lang Town had eased considerably. Pang Xuan couldn’t help but let his guard down a little.

He slept in for an extra hour compared to his usual routine.

It wasn’t until nearly five in the morning that he finally rose to prepare for his inspection of the camp.

Pang Xuan, fully dressed, tidied his beard and hair in the copper mirror while calling out, "Lu Lin, bring a basin of hot water."

Soon after, someone pushed the door open and entered. The person placed a porcelain basin on its stand, picked up a towel, dipped it in the water, wrung it out twice, and then handed it to him.

Pang Xuan took the towel and began to wipe his face, but his movements abruptly froze. "You’re not Lu Lin?"

Lu Lin was his Personal Guard, a notorious chatterbox who would never have been this silent.

When there was no response, Pang Xuan’s body tensed in cautious alert. He slowly lowered the towel, his eyes fixed on the reflection of the person behind him in the copper mirror.

He saw only a figure wearing a long robe, a long sword at their waist, and a bamboo hat.

"Who are you?"

"Who do you think?"

As the cool, detached voice sounded, Pang Xuan watched the visitor remove their bamboo hat, revealing a face covered by a half-armor mask. He spun around and said, astonished:

"General Jinghong?"

The visitor was indeed Xiao Jinghong, who had left the Wu Mountain Mutual Market two days ago.

Seeing that Pang Xuan had recognized her, Xiao Jinghong dropped the air of mystery. She walked directly to the desk, sat down, and placed her identity token on the tabletop.

Pang Xuan glanced at the token, confirming her identity. He immediately stepped forward, dropped to one knee, and saluted.

"This humble general, Pang Xuan, pays his respects to General Jinghong!"

"Sit. Let’s talk."

"Yes, General!"

Pang Xuan sat down carefully across from her, his mind swirling with questions.

’Xiao Jinghong had clearly sent word that she would inspect the Three Towns *after* the Mid-Autumn Festival. So why was she here in Cang Lang Town now?’

’And in disguise, no less, looking as though she didn’t want anyone to know of her presence?’

’All signs pointed to only one conclusion: something major was about to happen!’

Having served as the General of Cang Lang Town for many years, Pang Xuan was at least that perceptive.

Xiao Jinghong could naturally sense his unease. After putting away her token, she said in a level voice,

"I’ve come for one reason only."

As she spoke, she retrieved the note she had received from Pei Guanli, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward him.

"I’ve received intelligence that someone plans to burn the summer grain of the Three Towns."

"What? Burn the summer grain?"

Pang Xuan’s expression hardened instantly. Without asking any more questions, he snatched the slip of paper and began to read.

When he finished, he suppressed the rage boiling in his heart and forced himself to review the layout of Cang Lang Town’s Summer Grain Storage Room in his mind.

’He now understood why Xiao Jinghong had come in secret—she clearly wanted to root out the villains hiding within each of the border towns.’

After a moment of silence, Pang Xuan couldn’t identify any vulnerabilities in Cang Lang Town’s grain storage, and he relaxed slightly.

"General Jinghong, are you certain this intelligence is reliable?"

"After all, this ’Sword Madman’ is from the Jianghu. He probably doesn’t understand how heavily the Three Towns guard their grain."

"Never mind some heretic from the Evil Demonic Dao; even for someone on the inside, burning that grain would be no easy task."

Xiao Jinghong was well aware of this. She proceeded to explain why she trusted the words of the "Sword Madman," Liu Lang.

She concluded, "Although my secret inspections of the Three Towns’ deployments these past two days have revealed nothing unusual, it’s better to be safe than sorry."

"If the grain in any of the Three Towns is lost, neither you nor I can escape the blame."

After listening, Pang Xuan nodded. "Your point is well taken, General. This humble general will strengthen our defenses immediately."

But to his surprise, Xiao Jinghong shook her head. "Make it appear tight on the outside, but keep it lax on the inside."

Pang Xuan understood at once. His expression turned serious. "This humble general will obey!"

’He understood. Xiao Jinghong was planning to see just who was hiding within the army. She wanted to lure them out and catch them all in one fell swoop.’

After a moment of thought, he said, "There are only a few days until the Mid-Autumn Festival. Perhaps the General could wait here?"

Xiao Jinghong gave a slight nod. "That was my intention."

Cang Lang Town had the most soldiers and the most grain. As long as nothing went wrong here, there would be room to maneuver even if chaos erupted in the other two towns.

However, before coming here, she had given her orders to Li Changqing and Ma Kui as well: any failure would be met with military justice!

After some brief conversation, Xiao Jinghong had Pang Xuan find her a residence close to the Summer Grain Storage Room.

After a brief rest, she sat cross-legged on the bed. With one ear, she listened for any sounds from the vicinity of the storage room, while with her hands, she took out a few letters from her robes and began to read.

She had been rushing between the Three Towns for days without a moment’s rest, and hadn’t yet found time to read the letters from Xiao Wan’er and Chen Yi.

Fortunately, none of the Three Towns’ generals had shown any signs of treason, which put her mind at ease somewhat.

Xiao Wan’er’s letter was much like her previous ones, mostly detailing happenings at the family estate.

The only thing of note was that Old Master Sun Fu had departed for Jinling, and that before he left, Chen Yi had written a poem for him.

’However, I didn’t get the full poem. I only remember a couple of lines: "Don’t worry that you’ll have no soulmates on the road ahead; is there anyone under Heaven who does not know of you?" I imagine Elder Sun was quite pleased.’

Xiao Jinghong silently recited the lines a few times, a flicker in her eyes.

Even without knowing the full poem, that couplet alone was enough to reveal its quality—it was undoubtedly a masterpiece.

Next, Xiao Jinghong opened Chen Yi’s letter, reading it carefully line by line.

’My Lady, please do not be upset by my hasty scrawl. Time was short, but I wanted to express my thoughts:

Thoughts of Summer

The blazing sun steams the clouds, the cicadas’ drone is wild.

Leaves of the wellside tree curl up, hidden in the afternoon shade.

I long to fashion a cool mat of ice to send with this silk-written word,

But fear that where you are, my lady, there is no such coolness to be had.’

After reading the letter, Xiao Jinghong carefully folded it away. A faint smile touched her lips. ’Compared to his previous ’Thoughts of a Summer Night’ poems, this one is indeed a bit hasty.’

Nevertheless, her mood had brightened considerably.