Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

“Of course I know about Burial Village.” Xu Yinhe, who had been standing quietly to the side with a faint smile the whole time, finally spoke in a soft voice. “But Changtian, where did you hear about that place?”

Xu Changge, who had just been laying out information on Qin Weijiu, frowned and stayed silent.

Xu Yuan, meanwhile, felt not the slightest bit guilty and answered casually, “That little vixen told me.”

The moment the words left his mouth, the huge round crystal in front of him fell briefly silent.

Inside the study of the Chancellor’s residence in the imperial capital, Xu Yinhe and Xu Changge exchanged a quiet glance. If the one with the Bewitching Soul Devil Body had said it, that was no different from saying Qin Weijiu had said it.

And in this world, not many people knew about Burial Village. That meant the danger level of the other party probably needed a more careful reassessment.

Still, Xu Yinhe did not dwell on it for long. His voice remained calm and steady, with not a hint of anything unusual in it. “And how exactly did she tell you?”

Xu Yuan coughed lightly, but his tone was perfectly upright and righteous. “I know she has a lover.”

“The boy called Qin Mo?” Xu Yinhe directly named the protagonist of the story.

That caught Xu Yuan off guard for a moment, but he quickly realized what was going on. Most likely Ying’er and the others had already reported everything he had been doing these past few days.

After a brief silence, Xu Yuan did not answer the all-powerful Chancellor directly. Instead, he shot back with a blunt question.

“Father, are you spying on me?”

“Heh.” Hearing the dissatisfaction in his third son’s voice, the crystal sphere let out a light chuckle, amusement laced in the sound. “My subordinates volunteered the information to me. You can’t pin that on me.”

After a beat of silence, Xu Yuan understood perfectly well, though he still said with some indignation, “If you hadn’t given the order, why would they report to you?”

That one sentence from his old man had essentially drawn a line around Ying’er, Si Ziyu, and Zhou Chen, those three Grandmasters, and handed them over to him.

If the Third Young Master had the ability to win them over, then they would become Xu Yuan’s own core followers and household retainers. And once they truly became his people, naturally they would no longer keep reporting to the Chancellor. But if he failed to win them over, then everything would stay exactly as it was.

Damn it. Even with family, they’re still playing these word games and unspoken riddles, Xu Yuan thought to himself.

At that moment, Xu Changge spoke. “I was the one who gave that order. Changtian, you sound like you have a problem with it?”

Xu Yuan instantly shut up. His old man would not hit him. Xu Changge absolutely would. And to make matters worse, Xu Changge would soon be in the vicinity of Stillwater. His father had already promised him cultivation resources, so there was no point earning himself another beating from Xu Changge on top of that.

After a few seconds of silence, Xu Yuan clicked his tongue in irritation. “Fine, fine, I’ll talk. Before this, a guy named Fan Wencheng mentioned Su Jinxuan to me. Said she was beautiful as an Immortal, but over in the Nine Dragon River area she seemed to have a lover in the same line of work named Qin Mo. After I returned to Stillwater, I had people look into the two of them. In the end, Su Jinxuan came knocking on my door herself.”

Xu Yuan smoothly dumped the blame onto a dead man. A carefully selected dead man, at that. According to the timeline of the story, around that period the protagonist really had been traveling the Nine Dragon River together with Su Jinxuan.

And Fan Wencheng happened to be a local snake with considerable influence in the Nine Dragon River region, one of the Third Young Master’s lackeys. But more than two months ago, Xu Changge had killed him in a fit of fury.

Sometimes the dead were more useful than the living. After all, nobody wore the blame better than a corpse.

Hearing this, Xu Changge lifted a hand and rubbed his brow. So that was it. Another case of jealousy over a woman.

But the next instant, a meaningful look flashed through his eyes. For Fan Wencheng to have mentioned the existence of that Bewitching Soul Devil Body several months ago, if the Imperial Perceptor’s disciple had not abducted his third brother, they likely would have made a move much earlier. A pity he had killed the man too soon. Otherwise, they might have managed to pry something useful out of him.

Xu Yinhe gave a slight nod and lightly tapped the tea tray with a finger. “So, this Qin Mo is connected to Burial Village?”

“Yes. Earlier, Su Jinxuan tried to control me. After she was captured, I used a few methods to make her tell me some things about Qin Mo.” Xu Yuan answered calmly and matter-of-factly. “She said Qin Weijiu suspected Qin Mo might be connected to a place called Burial Village, so she specifically told her to keep an eye on him.”

As soon as Xu Yuan finished speaking, the crystal sphere floating in the underground chamber fell quiet once more.

Inside the study of the Chancellor’s residence, Xu Yinhe’s finger, which had been tapping the tea tray, paused slightly. He temporarily cut off the communication with Stillwater and looked instead at his eldest son across from him. “Changge, what do you think of this matter?”

Xu Changge smiled, looking somewhat helpless. “This bad habit of Third Brother’s, getting jealous and picking fights over romance, has finally been useful for once.”

It was a teasing remark, faintly tinged with relief.

At those words, a trace of amusement flickered through Xu Yinhe’s deep eyes as well, though it vanished almost immediately.

Seeing that, Xu Changge also put away his smile and turned serious. “Father, based on the intelligence Ying’er sent back, Qin Mo’s cultivation is still weak, so for now he is not much of a threat. But Qin Weijiu may be a bit more complicated.

“Across the entire world, there are only a handful of people who know about Burial Village. Let alone being able to identify Qin Mo’s origins just through observation. Qin Weijiu probably knows far more about Burial Village than we thought.

“It is only unclear whether he knows its exact location, and whether he knows Burial Village has already been destroyed. But judging from the fact that he was willing to use a Bewitching Soul Devil Body, something that appears maybe once in a century, as bait to control Changtian, whatever he is after must be no small thing.”

As he spoke, a cold killing intent flashed through Xu Changge’s eyes.

“It was a pity I failed to kill him with a single sword strike back at the Celeste Assembly. Trying to move against him now, Ying’er and the other three alone probably won’t be enough. We’ll need to send more people.”

Xu Yinhe did not answer immediately. His eyes lowered as he sat in silence for several breaths.

Xu Changge, too, quietly waited for his father’s reply.

At last, Xu Yinhe slowly lifted his gaze, and his soft voice rang out in the stillness of the study.

“They are indeed not enough. Changge, go to Stillwater yourself.”

The moment he heard that, Xu Changge frowned at once. Earlier, when he said he was going to Ninesource, that had naturally just been to scare his third brother. But now the situation in the Imperial Capital was full of undercurrents. How could he leave so easily?

And yet now his father was actually telling him to go to Stillwater?

After a brief silence, Xu Changge asked, “Father, but the situation here in the capital...”

Xu Yinhe gently shook his head. “It’s fine. You killed that Seven Life Python before, and things on the Ancient Abyss’s side have quieted down quite a bit. The real key right now is the war in the north. The First Martial Princess has already gone north, but the earlier state of the campaign was far too disastrous. It will still take some time before the war against the barbarians can be brought to an end. That span of time should be enough for you to make a round trip to and from the capital.”

Xu Yinhe looked at his eldest son. His deep eyes were like a bottomless pool, impossible to see through. His tone grew slightly heavier. “It would be best to settle Changtian’s situation first.”

Xu Changge fell silent at those words. Of course he understood what his father meant. Too many things had already reached the point where the arrow was on the string and had to be loosed. Any unstable factor that could be removed had to be removed in advance.

Qin Weijiu had hidden himself far too well. He knew Burial Village, he was willing to throw away a Bewitching Soul Devil Body, and he had tried to control Xu Yuan. If Xu Yuan had not obtained an Innate Dao Physique, he would probably already have fallen under that vixen’s control by now. And if, by sheer chance, Xu Yuan had not exposed Qin Weijiu, then having someone like that lurking in the shadows was enough to send a chill straight down one’s spine.