Chapter 980: A Large Net in the Darkness

Chapter 931: A Large Net in the Darkness

Nan Xun said, “I was his majesty’s highest level spy. I was able to meet with Zhao Jing before, and he chose me to become his concubine. I was thus able to successfully infiltrate King Qi Manor.

“Usually, as King Qi’s concubine, I would secretly send back any information I obtained. Of course, it was to the extent that it would not expose my real identity. Everything was fine at first, that is until after your group came out of the dungeon.” She looked at Zu An with a conflicted expression.

“It was related to us?” Zu An frowned. He had actually already connected a lot of the dots. No wonder Nan Xun had been able to transition from being King Qi’s concubine to becoming a courtesan so seamlessly! As a top-level spy, she was naturally skilled at using music and dance to seduce men.

“Indeed. Back then, the elements in the dungeon became chaotic, and something major seemingly happened. His majesty was fine in the beginning, but one day, he suddenly ordered me to find out if Zhao Jing was still in the manor, regardless of the price.” Nan Xun’s voice carried great resentment. “Zhao Jing was cultivating in seclusion, so he did not allow anyone to visit him. But for the sake of the mission, I could only take the risk. With Zhao Jing’s shrewdness, how could I hide the truth from him? In the end, even though I was able to get the information out, I was also killed by Zhao Jing.”

Zu An thought to himself that the reason why the emperor had been so panicked and even insisted on checking if King Qi was still in the manor was probably because he had sensed that his split soul had been eradicated. He probably suspected Zhao Jing to be the perpetrator in the dungeon.

It wasn’t too big of a deal if it had just been Zhao Jing who messed with the dungeon trip. But if the libationer had actually worked together with King Qi, then how could the emperor not feel alarmed? He would obviously want more information so he could plan ahead going forward.

They’re all a bunch of old foxes! Zu An sighed. The emperor hadn’t even given him the slightest hint that the concubine was actually his spy when he put him in charge of the investigation! It was to the extent that the case itself wasn’t even for the sake of bringing justice for Nan Xun, but rather just to distract King Qi and somehow deliver that fake manual.

He couldn’t help but give Nan Xun a look and said, “I sympathize with your situation, but… Did you really decide to defect to the fiend races just like that?”

“I apologize. Right now, the human race and the fiend races are enemies, after all.” It was Kong Nanwu who spoke up. She remained expressionless, however, and Zu An couldn’t see what she was thinking about.

Nan Xun said with a distressed smile, “I went through cruel training to become a spy ever since I was little; when have I ever made a decision for myself? I already acknowledged my fate, thinking that if I could obtain some vital intelligence and bring down King Qi, that would be the purpose of this life of mine. However, I never expected his majesty to use me for such a trifling purpose, to the extent that he did not even care about my life at all! As a spy, I am not scared of self-sacrifice, but I cannot accept such a meaningless sacrifice. All those years of hard work, all those years of bitterness, they now seem like a complete joke.”

Zu An thought to himself, This is what happens when you’re not on the same page… After all, for the emperor back then, knowing whether King Qi was inside the dungeon was extremely important information. But as a ruler, there was no way he would tell his subordinates why he had done that. He couldn’t really tell her the truth just then either, because it was related to the emperor’s split soul secret. He couldn’t show even a bit of negligence.

Nan Xun continued, “After I was rescued by Miss Kong, my first thought was that I wanted to save my parents and siblings. For spies like us, our families are always used as hostages. But I never expected that by the time we hurried over, they would already be dead.

“Hah, I risked my life for that dog emperor, and I even sacrificed myself; and yet, not only did he not take good care of my family, he instead killed them all to silence them! I want revenge. So what if I defected to the fiend races?!”

She had been killed by King Qi, so there was no way she would side with King Qi. The only ones who stood a chance against the emperor and King Qi at that moment were the fiend races. As if sensing her anger and resentment, chilly winds blew through the entire room. Even the candle flames began to flicker, as if they might go out at any time.

Kong Nan frowned. She felt that Nan Xun had said too much. After all, Zu An was a court official, so complaining and cursing the emperor wouldn’t lead to any good results.

Sure enough, Zu An’s brows furrowed. He said, “You’re cursing his majesty in front of my face. Are you treating me as empty air?!”

He had actually felt amazing when he heard her curse the emperor and almost blurted out his approval. But unfortunately, he didn’t know where these individuals stood yet. He couldn’t reveal what he really thought.

The girl named Huhu immediately exclaimed angrily, “You humans are all bad after all! All of you have hearts of stone…”

“Silence!” Kong Nanwu barked sharply. Then, she gave Zu An an apologetic look. “I apologize, young master Zu. Nan Xun spoke some disrespectful words because her family was killed, and she lost her own life as well. I hope the young master won’t take those words to heart.”

Nan Xun also felt some regret. If this man reported what she said to the emperor, forget about her disappearing from this world, not even Kong Nanwu and the others would be able to escape. This was the capital, after all.

Zu An sighed. “Lady Nan Xun has toiled for another, but received nothing in return. Out of consideration for her experience, it’s hard for me to speak any words of criticism. I’ll just pretend that I heard nothing out of favor for Snow. However, there won’t be a second time.”

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Nan Xun was stunned. When she looked at Zu An, her expression became somewhat strange. She bowed gracefully and said, “Thank you, young master, for your generosity.”

“I’m Baijie-ing right now.” Zu An answered with a word there was no way they would know the meaning of. Meanwhile, he began to think over what he should do now.[1]

Kong Nanwu had a smile on her face, saying, “Young master is different from other humans after all. You have an empathetic heart that transcends race.”

“Don’t try to give me such a lofty title,” Zu An said coldly. “I don’t wish to be accused as a traitor who colluded with the enemy. What were you all doing in the capital undercover? Are you paving the way for your fiend races’ southern army?!”

“Young master has misunderstood.” Kong Nanwu explained, “The reason we came to the south was firstly out of our curiosity toward the human race’s local customs. We don’t need to hide the second reason from young master either; we came to get information, but it was definitely not for the sake of the southern invasion, but rather for defensive preparations. You need to understand that the humans have sent many spies into our fiend races as well. This is merely a normal exchange.”

“You’ve put it quite nicely,” Zu An sneered, “but your fiend races have just slaughtered an entire city, not sparing a single person, regardless of whether they were soldiers or civilians. That doesn’t sound as pleasant as you’re making it out to be.”

Kong Nanwu’s expression changed. “The slaughter of an entire city definitely wasn’t done by our fiend races!”

“Who else could it be but your fiend races?” Zu An obviously wouldn’t believe her just like that.

“That I’m not sure about, but there are many suspicious details about the city’s slaughter.” Kong Nanwu quickly explained, “After all, the fiend races were seriously injured by the humans back then, and we didn’t even have enough time to recover. Why would we start something again so rashly, let alone something that crosses the line as far as slaughtering an entire city? Even though I’m not someone of extremely high status in the fiend races, I know a bit about what the higher-ups are thinking. They would never choose to do something so unwise.”

“But it still happened. It doesn’t matter what you say,” Zu An said indifferently. “Furthermore, according to what you just said, the city slaughter happened after you arrived at the capital. You weren’t by your clansmen’s side, so how could you know what they were thinking?”

Kong Nanwu’s expression changed. That was indeed what she was worried about. There were many members of the pro-war faction among the fiend races who carried a lot of animosity toward the human race. Furthermore, they were often people with all brawn but no brains. They really might do something of that sort impulsively.

She took a deep breath and said, “I know that it’s pointless no matter what I say right now, but I’ll definitely do my best to find out the truth as soon as possible, and give you a proper explanation.”

Zu An shook his head. “It’s already meaningless to say these things right now. The court’s army is already headed north. This war can’t be stopped.”

Kong Nanwu fell silent. She knew that what he said was the truth. Zu An didn’t want to continue debating the matter, however. Instead, he asked curiously, “Is Scarlet Invitation owned by your fiend races?”

If that really was the case, wasn’t the fiend races’ influence a bit frightening? They had actually been able to infiltrate so deeply into the court without being discovered!

Kong Nanwu shook her head. “It isn’t. We have our own channels, but as for what they are, I apologize for not being able to tell you. I hope young master can excuse this.”

Zu An frowned. Could it be that there were powers in the capital who were colluding with the fiend races? He had a feeling that there was a large net cast over the entire capital. It was hidden in the darkness, hidden so well that even he wasn’t sure if it even existed. After all, not even the Embroidered Envoy had any information on it.

And yet, he had always had such a feeling. When Yun Jianyue was still in the palace, she sensed that someone was following him. But even now, they had no idea who it was.

Kong Nanwu spoke up again. “I wonder how the young master plans on dealing with us?”

Zu An almost laughed out loud. This woman really was cunning. After all, her cultivation was profound too. Together with that green feather, it wouldn’t be easy for him to capture them even if he wanted to. But now, she made it seem as if her fate was in his hands. If it were another man, they might have already felt elated.

But the question of how he should deal with them was indeed a bit troublesome.

1. Baijie is a character who is known to be pure and spotless on the surface, but actually does all kinds of romantic stuff behind the scenes. ☜

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