Chapter 1796: Chapter 1781: Was It Really You?
"Your Majesty, this Weizhou Chii Family is actually a secret investigation target of our Secret Overseer. As early as over a hundred years ago, it was already confirmed that this Chii Family is the Hidden Clan of the Xio Clan under the West Patrol Xio Family."
Hearing Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long’s question, Chief Eunuch Yu Chao’en added a sentence, further confirming Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long’s statement.
Yu Chao’en’s words made Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu’s expression turn subtle, and made Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long’s gaze flicker.
"If that’s the case, then I can’t help but feel this army of a hundred thousand from the Demon Clan seems a bit like it’s targeting the Xio Family, targeting West Patrol Xio Qiangu.
Even more like it’s taking revenge on West Patrol Xio Qiangu.
Wud Qing, what do you say?" Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long said.
Beads of sweat began to appear on Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu’s forehead; this question was not easy to answer.
No matter how he answered, an army of a hundred thousand from the Demon Clan sneaking into the Heartland of Great Zhou to slaughter people without a sound was, in any case, a dereliction of duty on the Heavenly Patrol Department’s part.
Moreover, even if there really was someone exacting revenge, who has that kind of pull to let an army of a hundred thousand from the Demon Clan in?
Each of these questions was trickier than the last.
Seeing the sweat on Wu Yu’s forehead, Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long instead laughed. "Wud Qing, look how frightened you are. Am I really that terrifying?"
"I merely want to use this incident as a pretext to hear your thoughts. No matter what you say, I will not hold it against you."
"In that case, this minister thanks Your Majesty for your benevolence in advance."
"I must say, Your Majesty’s eye is indeed extraordinary. With just this bit of intelligence, you’ve grasped the key point of the incident." Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu calmly slipped in a bit of flattery. "This army of the Demon Clan that appeared this time is indeed highly targeted, to the point it even left survivors.
For the Demon Clan’s nature, this is simply impossible. And the locations attacked cover such a wide range, all of them related to the Xio Family, while not harming any other ordinary commoners.
From this angle, Your Majesty’s inference is indeed possible.
But the problem is, who is this avenger or mastermind behind the scenes? To be frank, up to now, this minister has not thought of a single suspect who has such capability." Wu Yu said.
Hearing this, the Ren Venerate Emperor nodded. "That is exactly what puzzles me. Even if the Human Demon Battlefield had turned into a sieve, it would still be impossible for an army of a hundred thousand from the Demon Clan to slip through.
Those Dao Realm top experts whose bodies have evolved Little Worlds do have such ability, but they have absolutely no need to do this.
So, I can’t figure it out either. However...."
At this point, the Ren Venerate Emperor’s gaze suddenly flashed. "Have you noticed that this matter is almost identical to what happened in Lingzhou half a month ago?
All of them are Demon Clan invasions that stir up a huge commotion and then vanish into thin air afterward.
The only difference is that the targets are different. The former targeted Ye Zhen, while the latter targets West Patrol Xio Qiangu.
Tell me, could this be.....some kind of revenge method cooked up by that fellow Ye Zhen?"
Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long’s words were meant to shock; Yu Chao’en and Wu Yu both shuddered at the same time.
"It’s indeed possible, but this minister does not believe Ye Zhen has such vast influence." Wu Yu said.
"I think so as well. It’s just—who on earth did this?" Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long slowly shook his head. "Forget it. As for who is behind this, you, Great Attendant, and Wud Qing, just investigate it in secret.
The urgent matter now is how to use the momentum of this incident to ruthlessly screw Xio Qiangu over once, and take the opportunity to weaken that overgrown West Patrol branch that’s hard to rein in, no?"
Hearing this, Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu nodded vigorously. "Your Majesty, regardless of whether the West Patrol side can fulfill the Military Order I issued,
no matter the result, this incident alone is not enough to bring down West Patrol Xio Qiangu. However, we can use this incident to hammer a few more nails into the West Patrol....."
Ye Zhen did not hear the conversation between Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long and Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu. If Ye Zhen had heard that Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long was already suspecting him, he would probably be utterly stunned.
Although Ren Venerate Emperor Ji Long is nothing special among the emperors of the Great Zhou Calendar’s dynasties, to sit on that throne for several hundred years, how could he be simple?
While the forces of the West Patrol were going all out to track down the invading army of a hundred thousand from the Demon Clan, and with less than half a day left before the deadline set by Grand Celestial Official Wu Yu’s Military Order, West Patrol Xio Qiangu suddenly appeared in North Sea County.
"What, Inspector Xio himself?"
Liuu Feng, serving as Deputy Envoy of the Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy, was greatly shocked when he heard this report. At a time like this, instead of sitting in command to search for the Demon Clan army’s whereabouts, what was West Patrol Xio Qiangu doing here in North Sea County?
"Invite him in at once!"
"No, you all come with me to greet him."
Even though West Patrol Xio Qiangu and Ye Zhen didn’t get along at all, to the point of wishing each other dead, Xio Qiangu was, after all, the immediate superior of their Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy. The proper formalities still had to be maintained.
Before Liuu Feng could lead his people out to greet him, Xio Qiangu strode into the Government Office of the Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy with a dark face. "No need. Have Ye Zhen come out to see me."
After he finished speaking, Xio Qiangu sprawled himself in the main seat of the office like a man with a Gold Blade, aggressive and overbearing.
Liuu Feng was stunned, his expression turning somewhat awkward. "To be honest with my lord, my lord Wind Patrol Envoy’s breakthrough was interrupted last time, so after that incident was over, he went into seclusion again, and it’s been nearly half a month now."
"In seclusion?"
Xio Qiangu let out a cold laugh. "Even during seclusion, a person is still alive. Since he’s alive, he can move! Send a Talisman Communication and order him to come see me at once, or I can charge him with dereliction of duty at any time."
These words made Liuu Feng’s expression stiffen for a moment. Then Liuu Feng said solemnly, "My lord, all duties of the Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy are currently under this subordinate’s temporary management, and all affairs are proceeding normally. As for the cooperative investigation my lord required, our Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy has also dispatched a full one-third of our manpower. How is that dereliction of duty?
If my lord insists on charging us with dereliction, then we can only appeal to the Heavenly Patrol Department Headquarters!"
Having run into a soft nail, Xio Qiangu was extremely displeased. After pondering for a few breaths, he rose and said, "Since Ye Zhen is in seclusion, then take me to see whether he really is in seclusion."
"This...." Liuu Feng hesitated a bit.
"What, even that won’t do? If that’s the case, then I really do have to suspect whether Ye Zhen is using seclusion as an excuse to do something shady and unspeakable....."
"Hahahahaha....."
A peal of loud laughter suddenly came from outside the door, making Xio Qiangu’s expression turn ugly. Obviously, he had already recognized who that laughter belonged to.
"Inspector Xio, if you want to see your subordinate, just send an order. Why trouble yourself to condescend to personally come to our North Sea County?"
"Ye Zhen?"
Seeing Ye Zhen walk in, West Patrol Xio Qiangu’s pupils shrank. "Your seclusion is over?"
"My seclusion ended long ago. I just went out to take care of some business and have only just returned." Ye Zhen said.
"What business?" Xio Qiangu pressed.
"Oh, nothing major!" Ye Zhen replied with a completely nonchalant air. "Some beast stirred up some trouble for me a few days ago and made me really unhappy. So I went out to stir up some trouble as well. I couldn’t kill that beast, but at least I could disgust it a bit."
"Hm? You?"
Xio Qiangu hadn’t paid much attention to the first half of the sentence, but when Ye Zhen said the latter half, Xio Qiangu immediately heard the subtext.
At this point, if Xio Qiangu still couldn’t understand what Ye Zhen meant, then he would truly be hopelessly stupid.
Ye Zhen was clearly pointing at the mulberry to curse the locust tree, calling him, Xio Qiangu, a beast. At the same time, judging from Ye Zhen’s words, could he interpret it this way—
The Demon Clan invasion from a few days ago made Ye Zhen unhappy, so this time, with the army of a hundred thousand from the Demon Clan specifically slaughtering his Xio Clan’s people, Ye Zhen was taking revenge on him, Xio Qiangu?
At that thought, Xio Qiangu’s eyes instantly bulged, staring straight into Ye Zhen’s eyes, almost shooting out flames.
"It was really you?"
Xio Qiangu roared each word out through gritted teeth, his Killing Qi surging like a raging tide
