A Pawn's Passage

Account books were thrown into the fire one by one, hot air permeating the area.

It was already April[1]. Jiangling Prefecture in Huzhou was located in Jiangnan, so even at night, it was quite hot. With such humid weather and this intense fire burning, everyone had sweat on their foreheads.

However, no one dared to delay a second. There were still several large boxes of account books stacked all around them. But they had to browse through each book before throwing it into the fire, repeating this until they finished burning those boxes.

Burning them one by one like this was time-consuming. They had been doing this for most of the night, yet there were still so many account books left. Everyone was sweating, and their faces were black with soot.

These account books contained more than 10 years’ worth of transaction details from the Yanqing Merchant’s Association. They were far more detailed than the account books Liu Futong had. Moreover, this did not just involve Liu Futong or the Purple Immortal Mountain, so if these fell into the hands of the Daoist Order, many people would be implicated.

Not far away, two recliners and a small table were placed under the eaves in the backyard. Two old people were sitting there, who were none other than Yuan Chongzong and Marshal Thunder.

“Has the situation reached such a critical point? Didn’t you say that everything will be fine as long as we kill Zhang Yuelu?” Yuan Chongzong felt uneasy despite his many years of experience weathering countless storms.

Marshal Thunder had a leisurely attitude. “Yes, everything will be fine as long as Zhang Yuelu is dead. The problem is that we failed to kill her, and she ran away. Although hundreds of people are still searching the mountain, they may not be capable enough to find her. If she manages to run back to Jade Capital, this will be a disaster that will destroy your entire clan. So we can’t be careless. We should take precautions while we can.”

Yuan Chongzong frowned. “There’s a Heavenly Being among them, so how could that little girl flee with so many masters around?”

Marshal Thunder picked up the gaiwan from the table and gently skimmed off the foam from the tea. “Zhang Yuelu is not a little girl. As far as I know, she is only one step away from a Heavenly Being, and she has a semi-immortal object. Even with my brother out on the field, he may not be able to kill her. Moreover, there is an unexpected variable this time; Zhang Yuelu has a helper who is a good fighter at the Guizhen stage. This disrupted our initial arrangements.”

Yuan Chongzong became anxious. “But you said it’s a foolproof plan!”

Marshal Thunder said calmly, “It is indeed a foolproof plan for two Heavenly Beings to kill Zhang Yuelu. But you were afraid that Pei Xiaolou would come to trouble you, so you insisted on keeping me here. I had no choice but to agree to your request for protection. Is this my fault?”

Yuan Chongzong was rendered speechless.

Marshal Thunder opened the lid of the gaiwan fully, admiring the tea buds that slowly rose to the surface. He took a sip of the expensive tea and praised. “Mm...this top-quality tea tastes great.”

Not far from them, the flames danced, and the shadows flickered intermittently.

Yuan Chongzong narrowed his eyes and looked at Marshal Thunder, who was still drinking tea in such a leisurely manner.

......

Marshal Wind flew over the mountain to begin his search.

However, he was not searching for Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu. Instead, he was looking for the fighters who came with Yuan Shangdao on this siege.

Aside from some people who directly obeyed his orders, Marshal Wind did not intend to let the others live.

Soon, this mountain forest resembled a battlefield.

These people did not expect to die at the hands of their own master. They did not even realize how they died, just like Yuan Shangdao and Yuan Fengchan.

The Yuan family was only able to recruit so many skilled fighters thanks to the Wind and Thunder Marshals, who had been working for the Yuan family for many years. Nearly half of these fighters were once subordinates of the two marshals. A quarter of them even took direct orders from the two marshals. However, on the surface, they obeyed the Yuan family, acting like spies for the two marshals.

When Marshal Wind looked at the bodies of Yuan Shangdao and Yuan Fengchan, the people who were directly under Marshal Wind’s orders did not follow him. Instead, they had scattered about the mountain, beginning to hunt down their comrades.

Those who knew of Marshal Wind’s identity but were not his direct disciples were also not spared.

This siege of Zhang Yuelu was not to kill her. It was intended to silence the people who worked for the Yuan family.

The so-called siege was just a cover-up.

In a sense, Zhang Yuelu was the bait, not the big fish to be caught. So even if there was an additional variable like Qi Xuansu, it did not matter because it would not affect the overall situation.

It was precisely because of this that Marshal Wind deliberately forced Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu to escape to the northwest mountain. The mountain road was long, narrow, and steep, with a cliff and a broken stone bridge.

As long as they guarded both ends, this mountain road was truly an excellent path of no return.

Zhang Yuelu could not die because Young Master Li said that she was now more valuable than the granddaughter of the Heavenly Preceptor. As such, killing Zhang Yuelu would not help calm the situation. It would only backfire on them. So all they had to do was let her return to Jade Capital without success. There was no need to add any unnecessary fuss.

Cutting off all ties and erasing all traces was the only way to achieve this.

......

With one side silencing minions and another side burning account books, everything was gradually coming to an end.

At this moment, there was a knock on the closed door of the backyard.

“Who is it?” Yuan Chongzong sat up straight with a look of vigilance on his face.

An attendant replied, “Old Master Yuan, Censor Zhang and Garrison Chief Hu are here. They insist on meeting you.”

Yuan Chongzong’s expression changed dramatically before he turned to look at Marshal Thunder.

Marshal Thunder also sat upright from the recliner and signaled for Yuan Chongzong to stay calm.

Yuan Chongzong settled down and asked the attendant, “Why are they here so late at night?”

“They didn’t say anything, and I dare not ask.” The voice outside the door replied.

Yuan Chongzong instructed, “Then tell them that I’m not around!”

The voice outside the door answered, “I told them, but they refused to leave. They forced me to go around looking for you and Master Yuan.”

Yuan Chongzong became anxious. “Well, just keep them outside! I will kill whoever lets them in!”

“Yes, sir!” The attendant responded.

Yuan Chongzong could not hold it in any longer. He lost his usual composure, stood up abruptly, and complained. “How is this foolproof?! This is a gamble! Now they’ve come to my doorstep!”

Marshal Thunder said calmly, “The Governor is the leader of the region, and the Chief Admiral is the second-in-command, followed by the Censor and the Garrison Chief. Not just anyone can give orders to these two powerful figures.”

“It’s Commandery Prince Qin. Only he has such power and influence!” Yuan Chongzong reacted immediately.

Marshal Thunder added, “After Commandery Prince Qin’s retirement, he has been taking a back seat in political affairs. So who invited him? It must be Pei Xiaolou, backed by Sage Donghua and the Quanzhen Sect’s Chongyang Palace of Immortality.

“Commandery Prince Qin dared not risk offending the Quanzhen Sect by rejecting Pei Xiaolou, but he also did not want to come forward in person to offend our backer. That’s why the cunning old man asked the Censor and the Garrison Chief to come here. That way, he won’t offend either side.

“So you shouldn’t be anxious just yet. The situation has not reached the point of no return. It seems to me that as long as you’re not around, they won’t barge in.”

Yuan Chongzong was reassured after hearing this. His expression softened slightly, and he leaned back on his recliner again.

After a while, Yuan Chongzong spoke again. “No matter what, we can’t stay in Jiangling Prefecture for the time being.”

“Old Master Jin said that the boat is ready, and the navy has been bribed, so you can leave at any time. You can decide where you want to go, whether it’s the East Sea, Fenglin, Nanyang, Samudra Kingdom, or Borneo Island. You can even go to the Western Continent if you wish,” Marshal Thunder offered.

Yuan Chongzong suddenly fell silent.

Marshal Thunder did not rush him. He continued sipping on the tea.

Yuan Chongzong lamented. “I was still a first-class gentry in Jiangling Prefecture just this morning. But in just one day, I’ve lost everything that I’ve painstakingly built—”

Marshal Thunder interrupted him. “It’s always possible to make a comeback as long as you stay alive.”

Yuan Chongzong stared at Marshal Thunder and suppressed his anger. “You’ve had this planned all along, right?”

Marshal Thunder put down the gaiwan. “This is why it’s foolproof.”

Yuan Chongzong pointed at Marshal Thunder, trembling slightly. “I see, I finally understand—”

“You don’t understand.” Marshal Thunder interrupted him again. “But now is not the time to talk about this. Our guest is here.”

1. Note that this is the 4th month of the lunar calendar, which refers to around late April to late May in the Gregorian calendar. ☜