Immortalis

Hero's Tomb 19

Even after returning to White Rainbow Tower that evening, Cao Zhao's words still lingered in Shen Qingshi's ears.

If Yin Quer was her biological sister, then how much had the White-faced Guest, or rather Longevity Palace, taken from her life?

She wandered distractedly to the foot of Heavenly Mystery Tower and happened to meet Zhou Huai who was out searching for someone. Seeing her, he immediately asked: "Young Master Shen, have you seen Miss Yang?"

"Is Yang Wujian not in her room?"

"I originally thought Miss Yang had already gone to sleep, but no one answered no matter how much I knocked. Just now I went in and found her Seventy-two Golds still in the room, still warm even, but she herself is gone."

"What!"

Shen Qingshi instantly became as alert as if doused with cold water.

She knew very well that Yang Wujian's Seventy-two Golds weren't just for self-defense, but more importantly to conceal her identity. She would never normally remove them unless...

Shen Qingshi almost immediately realized that Yang Wujian had been taken away, and there was only one person capable of taking her away, seeing through her true identity, and removing her Seventy-two Golds.

Shen Xin, who also practiced Bone Shrinking.

Without another word, Shen Qingshi told Zhou Huai "You stay here" and immediately rushed toward the bamboo forest.

If the Golden Rings were still warm, she couldn't have been taken far!

Shen Qingshi took out the signal flare used by the Bi'an Department for communication and fired it into the sky, hoping Cao Zhao would see it.

Before she had run far, she saw two people standing in confrontation deep within the bamboo forest. Lying at their feet was none other than Yang Wujian, completely unconscious.

"Lord Shen, where are you taking this beauty in the middle of the night?"

Chiwen Envoy Fu Hong stood blocking Shen Xin's path in the darkness.

He had long suspected that Shen Xin was hiding something. Sure enough, today while Cao Zhao and Shen Qingshi were away, this man had secretly returned to White Rainbow Tower alone. Little did he know that while the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole follows behind.

Shen Xin hadn't expected this lecher to be the one to ruin his plans. He said coldly: "Take a closer look - your beauty isn't a woman at all! Have you become so desperate that you're no longer picky?"

As he spoke, he used his foot to turn Yang Wujian's face over. Earlier, in order to take her away, he had been forced to remove her extremely heavy Seventy-two Golds, only to unexpectedly discover Yang Wujian's true identity.

Shen Xin never imagined that the person with naturally soft bones he had heard about since childhood from his family was right before his eyes. And despite being a fellow practitioner of Bone Shrinking himself, he had been kept in the dark for so long.

The more Shen Xin thought about it, the angrier he became. He ground his shoe sole harshly against Yang Wujian's face and said coldly: "I need to take this person back for investigation. Can you step aside now, Lord Fu?"

"Now that you put it that way, Lord Shen, I really can't let you pass."

Though Fu Hong was obsessed with beautiful women, he wasn't stupid. Shen Xin had always been greedy for power and wealth, so his sudden insistence on taking Yang Wujian away was definitely suspicious.

"White Rainbow Tower is being investigated jointly by both departments of Southern Zhao Ming Division. Could it be that Lord Shen wants to take everything for himself now?"

Shen Xin's handsome face wore a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Noticing Shen Qingshi standing nearby from the corner of his eye, he said with a laugh: "Look, even Lord Cao disagrees. That signal earlier was probably sent by his little beauty here."

Turning to see Shen Qingshi, Shen Xin immediately sneered: "I thought you'd be spending the night at Cao Zhao's place."

"Lord Shen, you do have a sense of humor."At that moment, a third voice sounded nearby. Cao Zhao had arrived swiftly—or perhaps he had sensed something amiss from the very beginning.

It was highly unusual for both Shen Xin and Fu Hong to be missing so late at night.

Cao Zhao nimbly dismounted his horse. The moment he saw Yang Wujian collapsed at Shen Xin’s feet, he understood most of the situation. A silver needle flashed in his hand as he administered a double dose of sedative to Yang Wujian, rendering him completely unconscious.

“What are you doing, Lord Cao? This is my prey. Are you poisoning him?”

Shen Xin frowned and immediately crouched down to check Yang Wujian’s breathing. But Cao Zhao chuckled, “Don’t worry, Lord Shen. I won’t let anything happen to Yang Wujian. This is merely a precaution—because he still has great use ahead.”

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon Shen Qingshi in the distance. Under the dim moonlight, the worry on her face was unmistakable.

“What do you mean?”

Shen Xin and Fu Hong detected an underlying meaning in Cao Zhao’s words, and both frowned in unison. Cao Zhao merely smiled and produced a secret edict with a gilded scroll from his robes.

As early as ten years ago, Cao Zhao had already begun secretly assisting the current Son of Heaven in his search for immortality.

Back then, while accompanying the emperor—who sought the Path of Longevity through the Cage Play—Cao Zhao had not yet realized that he already held the best bargaining chip.

The only Flesh Conduit to ever escape Longevity Palace would, sooner or later, bring about its downfall and retrieve the Longevity Heart Sutra for him.

Unfurling the secret decree, Cao Zhao read aloud, word for word, the special privileges Emperor Yongzhao had granted him a decade earlier, right in front of Fu Hong and Shen Xin. Their faces instantly turned grim.

Cao Zhao smiled. “You cannot touch Yang Wujian, for I have long since informed His Majesty of his identity… Lord Fu, Lord Shen, this matter has always been the duty of the Bi’an Department. I hope you will refrain from interfering henceforth.”

By the time Yang Wujian awoke, it was already noon the next day.

He bolted upright from the bed and found his Seventy-two Golds right beside him. The last thing he remembered was being struck by some hidden weapon before darkness abruptly swallowed his vision.

Who was it? How had someone infiltrated his room without him noticing?

Just as cold sweat broke out on his back, he heard someone open the window. Lifting his gaze, he saw Shen Qingshi standing before the room’s only window, lost in thought as she stared outside.

“Last night, I…”

“It was the Chaofeng Envoy and the Chiwen Envoy. They suspected you were from Longevity Palace and intended to take you away. They were also the ones who helped me retrieve the corpse earlier. They were ordered to investigate White Rainbow Tower and began doubting your identity along the way.”

Before Yang Wujian could even finish his question, Shen Qingshi replied in a calm tone, “I was the one who protected you. Once you enter Zhaoming Prison, you would never emerge alive. I didn’t want you to die, so I used my official position to vouch for you. The Chaofeng Envoy has long been at odds with my superior, the Bi An Envoy. I gave him a leverage over me—only then did he agree to release you.”

This cascade of words left Yang Wujian’s mind reeling.

Realizing that Shen Qingshi was confessing her identity to him, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “After hiding it for so long, you can’t keep it concealed any longer? Last time, you rescued me from prison; this time, you risked your position to protect me. Aren’t you afraid that I really am from Longevity Palace?”

Hearing this, Shen Qingshi simply gazed at him quietly.

“Of course I know you are.”

“You…”

Yang Wujian opened his mouth but found himself utterly speechless.He had imagined countless scenarios where his identity would be exposed, but he never expected Shen Qingshi to tear down the veil between them at such a tranquil moment.

"I knew from the moment I rescued you from the prison. I am from the Bi'an Department, and Cao Zhao is my superior. He later informed me that the One-Eyed Daoist is from the Longevity Palace, and the one who went to rescue the One-Eyed Daoist must naturally be from the Longevity Palace as well... From that point on, I knew who you were."

Shen Qingshi spoke as calmly as if she were remarking on the rain outside. Yang Wujian couldn't help but sneer, "So, you truly defied all conventions to rescue me from your superior's grasp?"

"Yes, you are extremely important to me. I didn't want you to die, so I was willing to disobey orders. I told you, I wanted to repay you."

Yang Wujian had meant it as sarcasm, but Shen Qingshi responded with utter sincerity.

She looked at him calmly, "Yang Wujian, didn't you recognize me too? We've met before, haven't we?"

"You..."

Yang Wujian was once again at a loss for words.

"Are you saying you saved me simply because you wanted to, with no other motives?"

After a long pause, Yang Wujian frowned and asked, "Aren't you saying all this to gain my trust? Then what? What do you plan to do?"

"Find the White-faced Guest, that's all."

Shen Qingshi seemed hurt by his words, slightly furrowing her brow before gazing into the distance, "My goal is to find the one who harmed me, but I won't hurt those who have saved me, like you."

She couldn't reveal much of the truth, but every word she spoke now came from the heart.

She would not let Yang Wujian die.

Shen Qingshi added, "I want to investigate alongside you until we find the person we're both searching for."

"Do you think that's feasible?"

Perhaps the conclusion of this confession was too bizarre, as Yang Wujian couldn't help but laugh on the spot.

"A member of the Longevity Palace and a Zhaoming Guard—we're actually going to work together to investigate and find the White-faced Guest? And maybe even bring along a down-and-out Young Master Zhou?"

Yang Wujian laughed harder and harder, not because he found it amusing, but because it was unbelievable.

Such an absurd proposal, and yet he wanted to agree, simply because, deep down, he still wanted to trust Shen Qingshi.

Just as he was laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath, suddenly, shouts erupted from below the White Rainbow Tower.

"Zhou Jinglei, come out!"

The person hurled stones at the tower's unprotected outer wall, roaring, "Explain the matter of the Hero's Tomb, or we won't let this go today!"

Half a month later.

While four Brightening Envoys waited to meet the Son of Heaven, the long-hidden secret beneath the White Rainbow Tower had already stirred up a storm in the martial world.

Rumors spread that the countless heroes who had died in the Hero's Tomb over the years were actually killed by Zhou Jinglei, the master of the White Rainbow Tower, and that his goal was to obtain their unique martial arts manuals.

As soon as this news broke, the bamboo grove where the White Rainbow Tower stood was quickly surrounded. Facing the furious accusations from the crowd, Zhou Huai, Zhou Jinglei's only son, did not flee but instead recounted in detail the entanglements and dealings between Zhou Jinglei, Yang Ye, and the White-faced Guest over the years. In the end, he offered all the remaining savings of the White Rainbow Tower as compensation, only to have his forehead cut by Flying Daggers and stones thrown at him.Now that both Zhou Jinglei and Yang Ye were dead, those with no outlet for vengeance naturally directed their anger toward Zhou Huai. Zhou Huai accepted this calmly, stating that he would later find ways to compensate the families of the deceased heroes. Moreover, if any wished to seek revenge against him, he had no objections—only, he would not bear the blood debts of Zhou Jinglei, so anyone seeking vengeance would have to defeat the sword in his hand.

As could be expected, with the collapse of the White Rainbow Tower, the shops bound by contracts with it lost their backing and quickly shut down or fled. For a time, the reputation of the wealthiest in the martial world became like a rat scurrying across the street, universally scorned—a situation not without irony.

"Speaking of which, was it Lord Shen who leaked the news about Zhou Jinglei's affairs coming to light?"

With nothing else to do while waiting, Cao Zhao suddenly asked with a smile, "Were you worried that Zhou Huai might cover it up, so you used this clever move to cut off his retreat?"

The major events that had recently stirred up the martial world were treated as commonplace by the Four Envoys of Zhaoming. Cao Zhao even knew very well that Shen Xin's actions were not merely to block someone's escape route but also to vent personal anger on Zhou Huai.

Recalling how Cao Zhao had recently thwarted his plans with a secret decree, Shen Xin still seethed with rage. Hearing this, he sneered coldly, "Of course. As long as the White Rainbow Tower's name remains, Zhou Huai might stage a comeback someday. Better to seize this chance to ensure he can never rise again."

"Lord Shen is wise. It's just that someone got there first, so our Southern Zhaoming Division can only investigate these matters."

Fu Hong chimed in with a lukewarm tone from the side, but it only earned him a cold glance from Tu Yuanliang, the Ya Zi Envoy, who was the only one not involved in the affair: "Investigating a mere martial arts faction has taken the three of you so long? It seems you've all been excessively idle lately."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old eunuch who often accompanied the emperor emerged from the Qianqing Palace. He immediately noticed Cao Zhao's particularly cheerful mood and said with a smile, "Lord Cao, you seem in high spirits today—is there some good news?"

"Indeed, I have some favorable news to report to His Majesty."

Ignoring the cold glares from the other three, Cao Zhao maintained his unwavering smile and said, "Many old matters may soon be brought to light."