Chapter 21: Chapter 21 Rare
Soon, a team tasked with capturing the Master of Seven-bay sped out from the city gates.
As the team exited, the entire Zhixu City faked a shudder, wavering like a fading illusion, and the vast city suddenly vanished into thin air.
Those outside rushing towards the city gates stopped in their tracks, dumbfounded. The city was gone, the land was empty, with only distant mountains and empty fields in sight. If it hadn't been for the sight of others heading in the same direction, they might have thought they were going the wrong way.
Many people didn't know what was happening, while some knew this phenomenon only occurred when Zhixu City completely sealed off its gates and locked down the city.
This was a very rare occurrence, many had never seen it before, most had only heard about it.
The guards on the city walls saw that the scenery outside hadn't changed, everything remained as usual...
Meanwhile, the visiting guest in the annex room, appearing composed, Ba Yingshan made another visit. Upon meeting Qi Yueru, he immediately urged in a low, hasty voice, "Hurry, you can't stay here any longer, leave now."
Qi Yueru, sensing something amiss from his reaction, certainly had to ask, "What's wrong?"
Without asking, things might have been better, but upon questioning, Ba Yingshan couldn't help his rage, grinding his teeth, "I believed your damn lies and went to capture those two local bullies, and now the Prison Inspection Envoy has become suspicious. The Envoy has taken over the prison, personally joining in the interrogation."
Qi Yueru incredulously said, "Capturing just two people was enough to alarm the Prison Inspection Envoy? This is your territory, how could you mess this up? How could you screw this up?"
"Who would've thought, that woman Lan Qiaoyan would also get involved..." Ba Yingshan immediately briefed her on the general situation that had occurred.
Qi Yueru was rendered speechless, not expecting such a mishap. To think that Lan Qiaoyan mistook their actions as being targeted at her, where would she even begin to argue this?
If one were to say Lan Qiaoyan was trying to save her future son-in-law, not to mention Ba Yingshan, Qi Yueru herself wouldn't believe Lan Qiaoyan would fancy such lowlifes, knowing in her heart, for she too was a woman.
So it seemed, this was all just a misunderstanding.
Now was not the time to ponder whether it was a misunderstanding. Things had come to this, and with Du Huoguan personally getting involved, even though Ba Yingshan said the leads had been cut off, she did not dare to stay any longer. If they really dug deep into those two local bullies, some things would be easy to connect.
Immediately following Ba Yingshan's advice, she quickly packed her things to prepare to leave.
Earlier, she had been procrastinating, expecting to take her son and brother's bodies out for burial, but here the rules were strict. Any exiles who died here were to return to the dust on their own soil. Exceptions were sometimes made, but now she didn't have the luxury to consider this, afraid that any delay would prevent her escape.
Leaving together was inconvenient, so Ba Yingshan exited the annex room first. But he had only taken a few steps outside when he suddenly stopped, looked up into the void above, his face changing color.
Qi Yueru, who was looking outside from within the room, saw that he hadn't left and was standing there without responding, immediately went out and assessed the surroundings. Just as she was about to ask, Ba Yingshan already spoke, "You probably won't be able to leave for the time being."
Qi Yueru, a bit nervous, asked, "What do you mean?"
Before she got her answer, one of City Lord Ba's trusted subordinates hurried over and reported in a low voice to the City Lord, "City Lord, the Prison Inspection Envoy has ordered a lockdown. All passages leading out of the city have been severed!"
Ba Yingshan responded with a grave 'Hmm' and had him step back before turning to look at Qi Yueru, whose face had turned unsightly, and gently taunted, "Are you satisfied now?"
Clearly mocking her for not listening to advice earlier and insisting on causing trouble.
At this point, it wasn't good for Ba Yingshan to vent further. He signaled her to go back inside and wait calmly before quickly stepping away.
After learning in detail about the current situation within the city, he went directly to see Du Huoguan.
Du Huoguan was still leisurely pacing around the pit, playing with the star chart.
Ba Yingshan saluted and then inquired, "Prison Inspection Envoy, why has the city been sealed?"
Du Huoguan glanced at him and clearly stated, "Shi Chun and another were falsely accused. We're catching the instigator, some Master from Seven-bay."
"Falsely accused? There really is such a matter!" Ba Yingshan's face showed shock and anger, and he immediately bowed to take orders, saying, "Your subordinate will personally lead the men to capture them!"
Du Huoguan twirled a gem between his fingers, staring at the star chart, and said, "There could be an inside traitor. Recuse yourself."
The words were simple and straightforward – that was the power of confidence, leaving Ba Yingshan without a reply. He could only awkwardly agree and coordinate obediently, then respectfully took his leave.
By evening, someone delivered the items specified by Du Huoguan: the confessions of Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, along with some detailed information related to them.
After looking through them, Du Huoguan thought for a while before heading to the rooftop.
The space on the rooftop had changed again; an ornate couch had been added, with Nie reclining and resting his head on a high pillow, seemingly asleep.
The open black umbrella lay discarded on the floor; the paintbrushes and pigments on the desk also appeared to have been cast aside carelessly.
Du Huoguan approached the side of the couch, speaking to the person who seemed to be asleep about the confessions of Shi Chun and the other person, and recounted their life experiences gathered so far.
With a definite target in mind, it wasn't difficult for him to obtain some not-so-secret information; after all, Shi Chun, who ran East Nine Plain, had a famous reputation. Many had inquired and learned about him long ago.
Du Huoguan gave a general overview of the first half of the life record, trying to keep it brief as he intended to focus on the latter part – the matter of Shi Chun offending Qi Yueru's son Shen Youkun, and the sudden receipt of a substantial amount of resources a month prior. Then he was about to conduct a correlation analysis of the events.
However, before he could get to that, he merely mentioned that several years ago, Shi Chun had already sent dozens of people from East Nine Plain, proving quite capable, when Nie, reclining on the ornate couch, suddenly opened his eyes.
And so, Du Huoguan could not continue, because Nie gestured for the papers in his hands.
Not listening any longer, he wanted to see for himself – this was a rare occurrence since this powerful figure rarely showed interest in anything. Du Huoguan was so startled that he did not react until Nie beckoned with his finger, prompting him to quickly present the papers with both hands.
With the stack of papers in hand, Nie shifted slightly to find a more comfortable position for reading, first looking over the page that Du Huoguan had turned to, with apparent seriousness and care.
This scene surprisingly unsettled the watching Du Huoguan.
After finishing with the current one, Nie went on to review the content of each page, one by one, including the already mentioned confessions of Shi Chun, eventually turning back to the front page that Du Huoguan had handed him.
With a half-awake demeanor, he scrutinized the page for a while, then slowly spoke, "So it means, over these years, he has had numerous opportunities to leave the Land of Exile, but gave them all to others."
For someone who rarely spoke, it was unusual for him to speak out because of such an insignificant figure.
Du Huoguan was quite astonished and did not understand why the other's focus was on this point, yet he still nodded and said, "Indeed. According to the information gathered, it's really no secret. After Shi Chun became Master of East Nine Plain, he openly told the people there that having been raised on the food from a hundred families of East Nine Plain, he wouldn't let them down. He said that as long as there was one person unable to leave, he wouldn't go either, promising that he definitely would be the last to leave."
Nie's gaze remained on the paper, "Meaning to say, he indeed did just that, and achieved it."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone