Chapter 32: Fang Cangyou’s Legs
"Hm? It seems like my spiritual energy has improved quite a bit. Looks like I'm getting closer to condensing my third Immortal Vein. Cultivation really isn’t that hard,” Fang Chen muttered to himself. He had spent another night creating talismans. There were fifty Purple Lightning Talismans on the table in front of him. There were even several Divine Movement Talisman, Vajra Talisman, and Strength Talisman lying around.
He hadn’t slept a wink. Even though he might have been able to do the same when he was just at the Qi Core, he definitely wouldn't have been as energetic as he was now. His abundant spiritual power seemed to be an endless source of vitality.
When the number of talismans reaches a certain threshold, I can start to distribute them among the Hidden Guards. They might be able to use them to catch their opponents by surprise in times of danger, Fang Chen thought as he left his courtyard and headed to the martial arts training ground, which was where Fang Cangyou liked to spend his time. When he had nothing to do, he would sit in his wheelchair and watch the members of the Fang family and the disciples practice their martial arts.
Fang Chen reached his uncle’s side and stopped to watch them practice as well, a faint smile on his face.
The disciples of the Fang Family who were training consisted of both direct descendants and descendants from branch families. There were also many orphans of the military among them.
Fang Cangyou didn’t require them to change their family names even though they had joined the Fang family. He treated all of them equally, and provided them with the same resources as those of any true-blue member of the family.
"Chen'er, what brings you here today?" Fang Cangyou turned his head sideways to look at Fang Chen, curiosity hung on his face.
"Second Uncle, I wish to take a look at your injuries,” Fang Chen replied with a smile.
Fang Cangyou's smile fell, and his eyes flickered with a touch of desolation. He looked at his legs.
Eventually, the smile returned to his face. "What's there to see? My meridians have been severed, and I'll never be able to stand up again in this lifetime."
Three years ago, someone had organized a petition, hoping that the emperor would allow Fang Chen to pay for his life in return for the deaths of 600,000 soldiers who fell in the battle at Three World Mountain. Some people even showed up at General Fang’s Manor and started causing trouble. Even the East Tiger Battalion, where Fang Cangyou was located, had some troops whose loyalty wavered.
The Imperial Palace remained silent about the matter, allowing the situation to escalate to a point where Fang Cangyou could no longer bear the pressure. He barged into the Imperial Palace and started directly criticizing and rebuking the emperor.
In order to stop him, the commander of the Imperial Guards at the time, Yan Beihan, shot an arrow that passed through both of his legs.
And then, suddenly, the emperor made an appearance and calmed everyone down, and with a few words, he concluded the matter. But from then on, Fang Cangyou couldn’t move both of his legs.
Fang Chen went blind, and had his dantian crippled.
Fang Cangyou had both of his legs crippled.
With that, the old family master and Fang Canghai were the only ones left in the great Fang Family. But the old family master was getting on with age, and if he failed to break through to the Qi Core Stage, he wouldn’t have long to live.
Because of that, many people felt that the Fang family weren’t much of a threat to their interests and dropped the matter.
Everything went quiet after that, and no one came out to oppose them any longer.
"Now that my cultivation has recovered, maybe I can help you reconnect the meridians," Fang Chen said.
Fang Cangyou looked at him and sighed. "Push me to the backyard."
In the backyard.
When Fang Chen was just about to use his spiritual power to probe Fang Cangyou's injury, Fang Cangyou did something unexpected.
He stood up, jumped up and down a few times, and patted his legs. He then stared Fang Chen in the eye and exclaimed, "I told you, there's nothing to see!"
Fang Chen was dumbstruck.
Seeing his reaction, Fang Cangyou chuckled with glee. "Hehe. Didn't expect that, did you? That is one interesting expression you have, I must say. I have rarely seen you that surprised in the past twenty years.”
"Uncle, your legs are fine?" Fang Chen asked with a strange expression.
"Of course! It's not that easy to ruin this old timer’s legs." Fang Cangyou sneered before setting back down onto his wheelchair. He carefully covered his fur blanket over his legs.
"But why...?" Fang Chen muttered.
"If they knew my legs were fine, who knows what schemes they might’ve cooked up back then to deal with us? It’s better to let them have their wish and see how miserable our Fang family is. You lost your sight and cultivation, I lost my legs. If someone came to stir trouble, His Majesty can’t stand by idly and watch us get bullied, can he?" Fang Cangyou sneered.
"These past few years... Ai. Second Uncle, you’ve really suffered... But it’s alright now, you don’t have to pretend anymore." Fang Chen smiled bitterly.
His words were met with a chuckle. "Nonsense! Why should I stop pretending? I’ll be fine this way. No one will take me seriously, and if something really happens, I’ll be able to catch them by surprise!"
Fang Chen nodded in response. "In that case, I'll take my leave."
When he turned to leave, Fang Cangyou exclaimed, "Wait! Push me back to the training ground!"
Fang Chen waved his hand and left, no longer paying his second uncle any more attention. He disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Damn brat! Hey, where has Xu Ge gone off to? He’s been running around so much these past few days!” Fang Cangyou couldn't help but complain while wheeling himself away slowly.
*
Fang Chen returned to the Hidden Courtyard.
In one night, Zhao Sixing had already sorted out a large stack of case files. They were piled up in front of Fang Chen and reached the height of a person.
"Sir, every case involving a missing person is here. I’ve gone through them once and there are many suspicious aspects to them. They date back to around eight years ago," said Zhao Sixing in a hushed voice.
"Were there no issues with the cases more than eight years ago?" Fang Chen asked.
"In my opinion, there shouldn't be any major problems with them. They are mostly ordinary cases, and some of those missing individuals have already been found," Zhao Sixing replied.
Fang Chen nodded. In that case, he only needed to focus on the cases up to eight years ago. Counting them, he discovered that there were more than a thousand of them!
That would mean more than a hundred people went missing every year. Around one person disappeared every three days. Moreover, those were only the reported cases. There were times when people weren’t willing to file a report, and there were some who had no family members to file the report for them!
Taking those into account, the number of missing people was frightening!
Fang Chen turned a little more serious as he reviewed those cases with Zhao Sixing. Among them, he found many questionable parts.
The skies grew darker and darker as Fang Chen picked out three cases. Those were the most recent ones as they happened within the past two years, and they were all related to the minister of rites. He decided to investigate the matter personally.
After those cases, not a single person was reported to be missing from the Minister’s residence. There was no way things could be so coincidental.
If the Spirit Blood Sect was involved, he needed to find any clue related to it. He also wanted to know how many people were actually involved.
He wouldn’t let them off lightly once he discovered their tracks.
"My lord, are you investigating these cases because of the matter over at the Qingsong Empire?" Zhao Sixing asked suddenly.
A faint smile appeared on Fang Chen’s face as he replied, "The Qingsong Empire? You needn’t worry about them. The matters related to these cases are a lot more serious than a mere Qingsong Empire. Anyway, is your subordinate, Yuan Zhuang, trustworthy?”
"Yuan Zhuang? I've watched him grow. He’s a hot-blooded man, but I wouldn’t dare to comment on whether he can be trusted or not." Zhao Sixing shook his head slightly.
"You didn’t forget to be vigilant against everyone around you. That’s a good trait of a Hidden Guard,” Fang Chen said.
The number one rule for Hidden Guards was to not trust anyone other than him easily.
"Look for me tomorrow.” Fang Chen picked his files before taking his leave.
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