Chapter 64 A Knife to the Throat! The Wang Family's Century-Old Secret is Uncovered!

Moonlight shone into the side courtyard through the broken door frame.

Special Envoy Wang De knelt halfway amidst the pile of splintered wood.

The left side of his dark gray night-suit was soaked through with blood. The long, diagonal gash running from his left shoulder to his chest had exposed raw flesh, and with every breath he took, a fresh spurt of blood welled up.

The Space-Rending lightning intent remained within his body, burning back and forth along the walls of his Meridians.

It didn't feel like he had just been slashed by a blade.

It felt more like someone had stuffed a handful of living embers into his veins and was stirring them around inside.

Special Envoy Wang De tried to mobilize the remaining True Qi in his Dantian to condense a protective barrier.

Just as he gathered a cluster, it was scattered by the lightning intent rampaging through his Meridians.

He gathered it again. It scattered again.

His face turned from pale to green, then from green back to pale.

Lin Chen walked out from the door frame of the duty room.

His boots stepped onto the floor tiles of the side courtyard, grinding over a broken iron door latch and producing a dry, metallic scraping sound.

He was unhurried.

Special Envoy Wang De tilted his neck back.

He saw the long blade in Lin Chen's hand.

The blue-white arc of light on the blade had mostly faded, leaving only a few remaining lightning patterns drifting along the edge.

Like a few wisps of lightning that refused to dissipate, they lay quietly on the edge of the blade.

Lin Chen came to a stop in front of him.

He was in no rush to deliver the finishing blow.

The long blade slowly turned horizontally.

The flat of the blade pressed against the right side of Special Envoy Wang De's neck.

The moment the refined steel touched his skin, it was so ice-cold it made his scalp crawl.

"Special Envoy."

Lin Chen's voice was low, devoid of any superfluous emotion.

"You climbed over the wall into the County Office in the middle of the night, holding a poisoned dagger, and stabbed it toward my heart."

The blade pushed forward half an inch.

"Can you give me an explanation?"

Special Envoy Wang De gritted his back teeth, remaining silent.

He looked up, staring fixedly at Lin Chen.

Only one thought kept turning over and over in his mind—

This young man had been laying a trap from the very beginning.

From using the ironclad evidence against the Zhao family during the interrogation in the daytime, blocking him so he couldn't say a single word.

To sending the documents implicating the Wang family to the Censorate in the capital, forcing him to hold back for fear of damaging the vase.

And then to dismissing the night patrols and clearing out the courtyards around the duty room after nightfall.

Lying in the duty room himself as bait. Waiting for him to come and die.

From the moment he stepped through the gates of Qingxi County, he had already been standing on this young man's chessboard.

"I'll ask one more time."

Lin Chen's blade did not push forward any further.

But his thumb rubbed half a circle over the wrapped cloth on the hilt, the friction of the fabric producing a very faint rustling sound.

"Who sent you?"

"Who is behind you?"

Special Envoy Wang De stared at the blade.

The last wisp of lightning pattern on the blade was still drifting up and down; even through a layer of refined steel, he could feel the scorching heat of that lightning intent.

He looked up, staring straight into Lin Chen's eyes.

There was no hesitation, no probing in those eyes.

There was no difference from a butcher staring at the meat on a chopping block.

Special Envoy Wang De's heart gave a violent twitch.

He really dares to kill me.

When this thought smashed into his brain, a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out along his spine.

"You… you dare to kill me?"

His voice was dry, squeezing out word by word from the depths of his throat.

"The Prefecture will not let you off."

Lin Chen ignored this statement.

The blade pushed forward an inch.

The lightning pattern seeped from the blade into the skin of his neck, gently burning his capillaries.

It wasn't heavy. But the sensation was as if someone were embroidering on his neck with a red-hot needle tip.

Special Envoy Wang De's teeth clattered together, his upper and lower rows of front teeth making a continuous clicking sound.

He held out for three breaths. He couldn't hold on.

"It is… the Wang family."

Lin Chen withdrew the blade slightly.

Just enough for him to catch his breath, but not enough for him to pull any tricks.

"Why does the Wang family want to kill me?"

Special Envoy Wang De's neck relaxed a little, his Adam's apple bobbed twice, and he forced himself to swallow a mouthful of blood-flecked saliva.

"Because of the Spirit Mine… the Spirit Mine deep in the Qingxi Mountain Range."

His voice was raspy beyond recognition, every word sounding as if it were being scraped out from his throat.

"The Wang family discovered that mine twenty-three years ago."

"But they didn't want other forces in the Prefecture to know, so they found the Zhao family to act as their white glove."

"The Zhao family provided the manpower to mine, and the Wang family provided protection. Seventy percent of the produced Spirit Stones were transported back to the Wang family in the Prefecture via secret channels."

Lin Chen's expression didn't change at all.

He had already guessed seven or eight parts of this from the thin silk in the Zhao family's secret chamber.

Now it was just a confirmation from the person involved.

"Who gave the order to come to Qingxi this time?"

Special Envoy Wang De's right hand pressed against the wound on his left shoulder; his palm was slick with the seeping blood, unable to stop the flow even with pressure.

"The head of the Wang family… gave the order personally."

Lin Chen's thumb rubbed a circle over the hilt.

"What order did he give?"

Special Envoy Wang De lowered his head. His chin was almost touching his chest.

"On the surface, it was to come to Qingxi County to interrogate you in the name of the Governors Mansion and escort you back to the Prefecture to answer for your crimes."

"In secret…"

His voice was so low it was almost swallowed by the night wind.

"It was to ensure that the Zhao family's Spirit Mine wouldn't be known by outsiders."

Lin Chen's gaze lingered on his face for two breaths.

"How to ensure that?"

Special Envoy Wang De's lips trembled twice. His Adam's apple rolled up and down once, as if swallowing his last bit of dignity back into his stomach.

Then he let out a miserable laugh. The laughter was uglier than crying.

"Kill. Silence. Destroy the files."

His fingers clawed at the floor tiles, his nails scraping across the brick surface and leaving a few shallow white marks.

"Anyone in Qingxi County who knows about the Spirit Mine cannot be left alive."

He turned his head and glanced in the direction of the back hall of the County Office.

"You, Magistrate Pei Qingxue, Clerk Zhou, and everyone who has handled the Zhao family's account books."

"Kill them all."

When these two words popped out of his mouth, they were light and airy, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

After Special Envoy Wang De finished speaking, he paused. Before Lin Chen could speak, his tone suddenly changed. It shifted from a confession to a negotiation.

"Lin Chen, let me go."

He looked up, and on that face half-smeared with blood and mud, he squeezed out an expression he thought still carried some weight.

"After I go back, I will definitely intercede for you before the family head."

"The Wang family has been operating in the Prefecture for over a hundred years; our foundation is definitely not something a Ninth-Rank Constable like you can shake."

Lin Chen did not respond. He didn't even twitch an eyelid.

Special Envoy Wang De gritted his teeth, a fierce edge creeping into his voice.

"If you kill me—"

"The Wang family can just send a Ningdan Realm guest elder down, and they could raze you and the entire Qingxi County to the ground."

Lin Chen moved the long blade away from his neck.

Special Envoy Wang De's words cut off abruptly. He thought Lin Chen had been swayed.

The next second, Lin Chen turned around and shouted toward the outside of the side courtyard.

His voice wasn't loud, four words, crisp and decisive.

"Tie him up. Lock him in the innermost cell of the prison."

From behind the corner of the courtyard wall, four Patrol Officers came jogging in. They were clutching ropes and iron shackles.

Seeing Special Envoy Wang De kneeling in the pool of blood, their steps faltered in unison.

"What are you standing there for?"

Lin Chen's voice drifted over from the front, his tone no different from ordering them to sweep the streets.

"Tie him up."

The four men lunged forward.

A distorted roar squeezed out of Special Envoy Wang De's throat.

"Lin Chen! You will regret this! You—"

The sound of iron shackles locking onto his wrists shattered the rest of his words into the night wind.

The four Patrol Officers dragged him toward the prison.

Special Envoy Wang De's boots left two long drag marks on the stone road. He was still cursing. The further away he was, the more distant the cursing became. The further away, the harder it was to hear clearly.

Finally, only a few muffled, blood-flecked whimpers drifted back from outside the courtyard wall. Then, there was nothing left.

The side courtyard fell silent once again.

A faint blue light spread across the edge of Lin Chen's vision.

[Defeated and captured the thief who attempted to assassinate a court official, Prefecture Special Envoy Wang De (Tongmai Realm Middle Stage). Achievement Rating: Excellent!]

[Points +2000!]

[Additional Rating: Obtained core intelligence on the Prefecture Wang family through interrogation, laying the foundation for subsequent purge operations! Achievement Rating: Superior!]

[Points +800!]

[Current System accumulated total points: 16,600.]

The points figure jumped twice in his vision before stabilizing.

Sixteen thousand six hundred.

Lin Chen stood in the center of the side courtyard and looked up.

The moon fully emerged from behind the clouds.

The cold, clear moonlight spread over his shoulders and scabbard, stretching his shadow out very long.

Special Envoy Wang De's last words were still turning in his ears. Ningdan Realm.

True Qi condensing into a Dan. That was a level he couldn't reach yet.

But Old Patriarch Zhao Cangyuan had also once been a level he couldn't reach. Back then, he was only in the Blood Refining Realm.

Now, he was already in the Tongmai Realm.

Lin Chen withdrew his gaze from the moon and let it fall on the long blade in his hand.

The cracks on the blade were even clearer under the moonlight.

A few cracks extended from the spine of the blade to the edge, varying in depth, like a dried-up riverbed.

This refined steel blade, which had been with him from his time as a Patrol Officer to becoming Chief Constable, likely wouldn't last many more uses.

He needed a new blade. He also needed more points.

Lin Chen sheathed his blade. The hilt guard and the scabbard mouth clicked softly.

He turned and walked toward the front office.

When he reached the corner of the corridor, a burst of rapid footsteps came running from the opposite side. It was Magistrate Pei Qingxue.

She was draped in an outer robe, holding a lantern in her right hand. The candlelight inside the lantern flickered in the wind, light and shadow alternating across her face.

Her hair was unbound, draped over her shoulders; she had clearly just gotten out of bed.

The two of them bumped into each other right in the middle of the corridor.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue's gaze first fell on the half-inch tear on the right shoulder of his martial attire, cut by the dagger.

Then it swept downward, seeing the blood stained on the scabbard. It wasn't his blood.

"Where is he?"

"Locked in the prison."

Magistrate Pei Qingxue let out a breath. The lantern dropped two inches, and her wrist holding the lantern relaxed.

"What did you find out?"

Lin Chen came to a stop in front of her. The moonlight and the candlelight from the lantern overlapped on the bluestone floor between them—one cold, one warm, the boundary distinct.

"The Wang family."

Two words. Magistrate Pei Qingxue's breathing paused for half a beat.

"The Spirit Mine belongs to the Wang family, and the Zhao family is their white glove. Seventy percent of the produced Spirit Stones are transported back to the Prefecture."

Lin Chen's voice was flat, no different from reporting how many thieves were caught patrolling the streets today.

"The Wang family head, Wang Chongyue, gave the order personally. On the surface, it was to interrogate me; in secret, it was to silence me."

"On the hit list, you are ranked second."

Magistrate Pei Qingxue's hand holding the lantern tightened again. The candlelight flickered twice.

"In that copy sent to the Censorate in the capital, did you write about the Wang family?"

After asking, she shook her head herself.

"No, at the time, we only had evidence against the Zhao family; the part about the Wang family hadn't been verified yet."

She paused for a beat. She raised her gaze from above the lantern and met Lin Chen's eyes.

"But now we do."

Lin Chen didn't speak.

The two of them stood in the corridor, separated by the distance of a lantern.

Moonlight leaked down through the gaps in the roof tiles above, drawing streaks of white lines on the bluestone floor.

The night wind blew through the corridor, causing the lantern's light and shadow to flicker, growing long and short.

"News of Special Envoy Wang De's disappearance will reach the Prefecture by noon tomorrow at the latest."

There was no panic in Magistrate Pei Qingxue's voice. What she had was a cold, bone-deep clarity.

"The Wang family's reaction won't take more than three days."

Lin Chen's thumb rested on the copper mouth of the scabbard.

Three days. Three days again.

Last time, within three days, he had waited for Special Envoy Wang De and his thirty-six riders.

That time, a Tongmai Realm Middle Stage expert came.

This time, after three days—what would come? Ningdan Realm? Or more Tongmai Realm experts? Or perhaps, abandoning reason entirely, they would just send an army?

Lin Chen moved his thumb away from the copper mouth. He turned and continued walking toward the front office.

He took two steps, then paused. He didn't look back.

"Magistrate."

"Hmm?"

"That copy sent to the capital—"

His voice drifted over from the darkness of the corridor, neither high nor low.

"The content that needs to be added, let's add it tonight."

The footsteps continued forward, gradually fading into the distance.

In the corridor, only the light of the lantern swayed on the wall.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue stood where she was. She watched that dark cyan figure disappear around the corner, deep in the moonlight.

His pace was neither fast nor slow. The long blade at his waist swayed gently with his steps, the copper mouth occasionally knocking against the scabbard, emitting a very faint, crisp sound.

Like an ordinary constable who had just finished handling a trivial petty case and was heading back to the duty room.

Magistrate Pei Qingxue lowered her head and glanced at the lantern in her hand. The candlelight was steady.

She turned and walked toward the back hall. Her footsteps were twice as fast as when she had come.