534: Chapter 534 There is a plan

In the span of a single night, over a dozen corpses appeared within the Moon Worship Cult's stronghold in Dayue City.

Lin Xiao sat in the inn room, waiting for Leng Bingyan to come up and report the results to him.

"Husband, besides the names you gave me, there are indeed a few others who were hiding very deeply."

Leng Bingyan said with lingering fear, "I didn't expect that Consort De had actually served as the Left Protector?"

"Actually, I should have realized it sooner. The Moon Worship Cult has existed for so long, and First Prince Li Chengqi wasn't even born when it started, so the Left Protector must have been someone else."

Lin Xiao said playfully, "I just didn't expect that items from the Xuanji Sect were truly hidden away in the palace by the Imperial Dynasty royalty."

"If I hadn't discovered it in time, that Consort De would have really managed to pull off something major."

Consort De's plan had already been made clear through the infighting of those spies earlier.

Using weapons from the Xuanji Sect, she planned to join forces with Prince of Wu and Prince of Donghai to fight the Zhenbei Army with all their might.

At the same time, she intended to use Liao Meier's assassination of Prince of Wu as an opportunity to smear Lin Xiao's reputation and damage his standing as the Prince of Zhenbei.

The reason she chose Liao Meier instead of anyone else was that Liao Meier came from the Ten Thousand Poison Cave and was also a former concubine of Prince Bai.

Furthermore, Liao Meier's strength was not to be underestimated; if she had sent just any random person to carry out the assassination, no one would have believed it.

Of course, it would be even better if she could cause a misunderstanding between Lin Xiao and Leng Bingyan, and cause a rift in his relationship with General Leng Duo.

"Thanks to your sharp eyes, Husband, and the interrogation method you devised, otherwise catching them would have been as difficult as ascending to the heavens."

Leng Bingyan looked at the man with admiration. When Lin Xiao gave her a blank sheet of paper and told her a few names, she actually hadn't been confident in the plan.

As it turned out, they started panicking as soon as they reached the third person, Zhang Yue.

Lin Xiao, however, felt a bit helpless. If he could have found them all at once, he wouldn't have had to go to such lengths.

But because this group of intelligence agents were all tough characters, the Eye of God could see that their backgrounds were complicated, but it couldn't determine if they were loyal to Consort De.

Killing them all was certainly an option, but it would be a pity; after all, cultivating intelligence personnel was not easy.

He had no choice but to use some tactics he learned from movies, trying to make them suspicious of each other and break them from within.

Fortunately, this world clearly lacked sophisticated espionage techniques, so the group soon started suspecting each other and hysterically exposed one another.

"The traitors within the Moon Worship Cult have been cleared out, but Prince of Wu's weapon workshop hasn't been dealt with yet."

Lin Xiao frowned and said, "Weapons from the Xuanji Sect must not fall into the hands of the Baiyue army."

"Rest assured, Husband. Those people have already confessed the location of the weapon workshop. Shall I take some people to destroy it?"

Lin Xiao shook his head. "I'll handle it myself. I don't trust anyone else to deal with matters involving the Xuanji Sect."

Three days later, several hidden workshops in the mountainous region north of Dayue City were directly destroyed.

The craftsmen who escaped claimed that they had encountered an earthquake and a landslide in the middle of the night; if they hadn't escaped quickly, they wouldn't have survived.

Strangely, the blueprints, finished products, and important components had all vanished.

Meanwhile, at one of the Moon Worship Cult's strongholds, Lin Xiao had Liao Meier bring Kong Sen over. He carefully studied the blueprints and finished weapons seized from Prince of Wu.

Although Kong Sen's hands-on skills were quite average, he was, after all, a legitimate successor of the Xuanji Sect, so he could naturally distinguish the authenticity and quality of the items.

After an appraisal, the answer Kong Sen gave made Lin Xiao breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the blueprints were real, the craftsmen Prince of Wu had hired were not skilled enough and had not yet truly mastered the manufacturing techniques of the Xuanji Sect.

They hadn't even figured out the materials, so it was impossible for them to replicate the items.

Now that the blueprints had been taken by Lin Xiao, Prince of Wu's grand plan to forge divine weapons naturally fell through.

After confirming there were no issues, Lin Xiao planned to take Leng Bingyan and leave Dayue City.

Before leaving, he had Liao Meier join the management of the Moon Worship Cult to assist An Ya.

In truth, Liao Meier was better suited to manage the Moon Worship Cult, but the woman was ambitious, and Lin Xiao didn't want to truly let her hold power.

Although An Ya was a bit naive, she wasn't stupid, and her key identity was extraordinary; with Liao Meier under her, she wouldn't dare to act out.

Lin Xiao had been away from the Northern Frontier for quite a while and should have returned by now.

But Gu Zhiyao was still at Medicine King Valley, so he had to go meet up with her to see how the Heavenly Soldiers were doing.

Fortunately, Yue Prefecture was not far from Medicine King Valley, so the two did not stay long and set off immediately...

Meanwhile, at a palace built deep in the mountains of Yue Prefecture, a middle-aged man with a deep expression was sitting by a lotus pond, fishing.

"Your Highness Prince of Wu, Princess Lanti has arrived," a nearby attendant reported happily.

Prince Wu, Liu Bing, turned his head, the frost on his face melting away to reveal a hint of gentleness.

"Lanyi, is it really you? Aren't you studying at the academy? Why have you returned?"

A beautiful young woman dressed in the robes of an inner disciple of the academy and wearing men's attire bowed to Prince Wu, Liu Bing.

"Father, I heard you were assassinated and that Xiaoxiang Sword has died. How could I stay at the academy with peace of mind?"

Prince Wu, Liu Bing, gave a few bitter laughs. "It reached your ears after all... It is Father who has disturbed the peace of your studies."

"Father, why do you say that? Although I, Princess Lanyi, am a woman, I am still your flesh and blood. No matter how important reading is, how can it compare to your safety?"

Princess Lanyi said with some resentment, "Father, encountering such a major event and hiding it from your daughter is what truly chills my heart."

Prince Wu, Liu Bing, set down his fishing rod, stood up, and stepped forward to pull his eldest legitimate daughter into an embrace.

"Lanyi, Father knows you are filial. Father is fine... the danger has already passed."

Princess Lanyi said with concern, "Father, at the academy, I heard that after Prince of Donghai died, the Emperor sent an imperial envoy, Minister Liu Zongfu, to investigate corruption in the Eastern Territory on a large scale."

"Now, the newly appointed Prince Zhaokang of the East Sea and a group of officials under investigation have openly raised an army in rebellion to avoid accountability from the imperial court."

"The Eastern Territory is now in chaos. The common people are anxiously hoping that the imperial court will send troops to suppress it, but the new monarch is bedridden and completely unable to cope."

"I fear it won't be long before the Prince of Zhenbei 'complies with public opinion,' and the Zhenbei Army takes the opportunity to march south and bring the four prefectures of the Eastern Territory into his possession."

"Father... tell me the truth, has the Prince of Zhenbei... already set his sights on you?"

"Was the person who killed Hu Xiao this time one of the Prince of Zhenbei's subordinates?"

Prince Wu, Liu Bing, released his daughter and looked at her with a complicated expression.

"I didn't expect... Lanyi, even while at the academy, you know the affairs of the world."

Princess Lanyi shook her head. "Father, you are wrong. It is precisely because I am at the academy that I know the situation of the world."

"Forgive my bluntness, but the Prince of Zhenbei is already unstoppable. Father, you cannot fight him head-on; you should make plans early."

Prince Wu, Liu Bing, sighed. "How could I not know? Ever since those Xuanji Sect blueprints were taken, I have had absolutely no chance of winning."

"But what can I do? Do you want me to bow my head and kneel, begging Lin Xiao for a way to survive?"

"Even if I did that, my Liu family has operated in Baiyue for hundreds of years. Would Lin Xiao trust me?"

Princess Lanyi's bright eyes flickered. "Father, the Prince of Zhenbei, Lin Xiao, is a man who commands the attention of the entire world."

"At the academy, I have heard teachers like Master Li Jingyi and Master Xu Huaian give some evaluations of him, and I have learned a great deal. I now have a strategy that might be worth a try."

Prince Wu, Liu Bing, looked pleased. "Oh? Lanyi, you have always been clever. Why don't you tell me about it!"

"Marriage alliance!"

Princess Lanyi said earnestly.