Chapter 140: Shock Spreads Through the Capital |
Hearing Li Tianyi's words, the Queen Consort was silent for a moment in thought, then furrowed her brow and asked, "You mentioned earlier that Li Zhu's death appears to be connected to the Tianjin Guards. What is that about? Even if you gave Fu Qiwen a thousand times the courage, would he dare kill a prince?"
Hearing this, Li Tianyi gave a gentle shake of his head, saying, "This is also only something this servant heard through reports. Apparently the Third Prince had gone to the Tianjin Guards before the incident to find that Eighth Prince, and not long after he left the Tianjin Guards headquarters he vanished, and then subsequently turned up as a corpse."
"The Eighth Prince again?"
The Queen Consort's eyes narrowed, as though something had come to mind. She suddenly looked at Li Tianyi before her and said, "This Palace had someone look into the Eighth Prince's background and found something rather interesting. The person who went to that remote town and brought him back was a female constable, and that female constable's identity turns out to be none other than the daughter of the Cangyuan Marquis. Quite a coincidence, would you not say?"
Li Tianyi, however, seemed entirely unsurprised by this. He nodded with an unruffled expression, saying, "This servant was also already aware of this, and it is in fact one of the reasons this servant just mentioned wanting to investigate the truth through the Third Prince's killing."
The Queen Consort fixed her gaze on him for quite a while before withdrawing it, then waved a hand and said, "Handle this matter as you see fit. This Palace has only one requirement, which is that before His Majesty emerges from seclusion, you had best bring all of this to some kind of resolution."
"After all, a consort has died within the palace, and now a prince has died in the capital on top of that. You should be well aware of how wrathful His Majesty will be when he learns of all this."
Li Tianyi let out a quiet sigh, and for a moment his own face showed an expression of considerable gravity. He clasped his hands toward the Queen Consort in a bow, saying, "This servant understands. Every effort will be made to find the killer."
"Very well. If there is nothing else, you are dismissed. Come and see this Palace again once the killer is found."
Li Tianyi bowed and took his leave. As he walked out of the Phoenix Ceremony Palace, he paused to look back. Inside and outside the palace, no fewer than a hundred martial experts were concealed both openly and in secret, and among them several elderly eunuchs possessed cultivation so profound it was beyond fathoming.
"Her Majesty the Queen Consort is truly frightened."
Li Tianyi shook his head. Ever since the matter with Imperial Consort Ji, the consorts throughout the palace had all been living in fear. When even the palace, which had always been considered the safest of places, was somewhere one could lose one's life at any moment, one could well imagine the terror in their hearts.
And now, with news of Li Zhu's death spreading further, there was no telling what a storm it would stir throughout Shangyang City.
With that thought, he clasped his hands behind his back and gazed out toward the palace gates, murmuring to himself, "The Eighth Prince is truly quite interesting. Clearly nothing more than an apprentice at a small-town martial hall, yet the more one looks at him, the less straightforward he seems. I wonder just how much these two affairs have to do with him."
...
In less than half a day, white mourning cloth had been hung throughout the Third Prince's residence, and news of Li Zhu's death had spread to every corner of the capital, sending the court and the public alike into a state of shock and disbelief.
In all the years since Great Li's founding, the events of these past few days were, for the entire capital, without precedent.
A consort had died within the palace. A prince had died within the capital.
The moment these two pieces of news spread, the common people of the capital found them nearly impossible to believe, and an inexplicable, dazed sensation arose in many hearts that the Great Li imperial family was in rapid decline and the dynasty itself might be on the verge of collapse.
At the same time, those with attentive eyes also noticed that from the moment news of Li Zhu's death went out, the guard presence at the residences of the remaining princes had multiplied manyfold, with rows of fully armored soldiers patrolling outside at all hours.
More striking still, the several streets surrounding each prince's residence had all been placed under complete lockdown, preventing anyone from drawing near.
Deep within the Great Li heavenly prison.
In the dim, gloomy depths of the jail lit only by flickering yellow oil lamps, Li Zhi and a middle-aged man stood facing each other on opposite sides of the iron door.
Li Zhi, having just listened to the man's account of everything that had occurred in the capital over recent days, wore a tightly furrowed brow and an expression that was deeply unusual.
It was evident that he had not anticipated that in the span of just a few short days, Shangyang City, which had seemed like a pool of stagnant water, could have undergone such momentous changes.
"When did someone so recklessly bold appear in the capital? To dare kill even a consort and a prince, going on this way, is there anyone left in the world they would not dare kill?"
In truth, Li Zhi felt almost nothing about the Third Prince Li Zhu's death. A defeated foe, dead and gone, nothing worth saying about it.
The one thing that genuinely surprised him was that someone had dared to kill the man so completely without restraint here, directly beneath the Emperor's feet.
This was what he found chilling the more he thought about it, because no ordinary person in their right mind would commit an act so utterly heedless of consequences.
After all, no matter how formidable the killer's martial Dao cultivation might be, what they would have to face was Emperor Yuanwu's wrath and the full might of the entire Great Li imperial court. Frankly speaking, even the leader of one of the four great sects in person would not dare do such a thing.
At this point, the middle-aged man Shen Qiming, standing outside the cell door in a deferential bow, thought for a moment, then said, "Your Highness, just before I came here, I heard that the Third Prince Li Zhu's maternal grandfather, the Right Minister, has joined forces with the Second Prince and sent men to surround the Tianjin Guards headquarters. The reason is not yet fully clear, but according to the rumors it is connected to the Third Prince's death."
Hearing this, Li Zhi's expression shifted slightly, but he said nothing. Before Shen Qiming had come to the prison, the Hidden Intelligence Bureau's shadow guards had already come to see him.
From them, he had learned of another matter entirely, which was that the Tianjin Guards had suddenly decided to move against Falling God Peak, one of the four great sects of the martial world.
And if he was not mistaken, Tianjin Guards Commander Fu Qiwen was probably already on the road to Falling God Peak by now.
Even so, in Li Zhi's estimation, Fu Qiwen's course of action was no different from walking into his own death.
The strength of Falling God Peak went far beyond what was visible on the surface.
Fu Qiwen's martial Dao cultivation was undoubtedly formidable enough to command the Tianjin Guards, yet there were no fewer than three experts on Falling God Peak capable of killing him with their own hands.
And without even needing those three supreme experts to act, the combined strength of the peak masters of Falling God Peak's nine main peaks could very nearly sweep the entire Tianjin Guards aside on their own.
In the past, when the Emperor had asked him to select one of the four great sects for extermination, he had not been without a plan, but Falling God Peak had never once been among his options.
"Whether Fu Qiwen genuinely does not know how formidable Falling God Peak is, or has made up his mind to die, to act so recklessly and even apparently bring along that Eighth Prince is..."
Li Zhi's gaze narrowed slightly. He had never had any intention of moving against Li Musheng from beginning to end, but the man had barely returned to the capital and could not simply conduct himself quietly as a prince should.
Instead, he had gone and gotten himself entangled in the Tianjin Guards' operation to exterminate Falling God Peak. One could only say that the man was truly too ignorant, had gone to find his own death, and could not blame anyone else for it.
With that thought, Li Zhi shook his head, then looked toward Shen Qiming outside the cell door and asked, "The matter I had you attend to last time, has any word come back?"