Chapter 40: Upheaval
Chen Chao had written two letters. They were sent to two places respectively, but the result would definitely be different.
Chen Chao had virtually already predicted the outcome of the letter that had now already turned to ashes.
He did not know whether or not Warden Li knew everything, but Chen Chao was very clear that he could not entrust his fate to such a person. Hence, Chen Chao already helped him to make his choice before he heard anything back,
Even if he did not want to come forward, he could only step forward too.
Because this matter had already spread throughout Commandery Qingshan.
Killing cultivators without authorization and Chen Chao was also a warden, Warden Li could not dissociate himself from this matter no matter what.
It was just that this Warden Li did not want to truly get caught up in it. Therefore, when the incident broke out, his report had already been sent to Wei Prefecture's office.
There was an even bigger warden office there and a warden who held even greater authority.
"Bastard!"
At this moment, inside Wei Prefecture's warden office, Warden Zheng Chong smacked the report in his hands heavily on the table. His expression was ugly, "Li Hu that bastard wants to make a full retreat now and not get involved at all! Coward!"
As the warden of a prefecture, even if he had a martial artist background, Zheng Chong had long lost his hotheadedness after being an official for many years. It was just that thinking about the news that was sent here as well as the report that Warden Li sent over now, he could not restrain himself for a moment.
"Your Excellency, what should we do now?"
Returning to his senses, Zheng Chong turned towards the lithe and graceful woman standing next to him, and he gradually calmed down.
The woman glanced at him and shook her head, "Li Hu knows that he already can't retreat unscathed. How he's acting undoubtedly has two layers of meaning. The first layer is that he wants to warn us that the matter has already begun slipping out of our control and he wants us to prepare in advance. As for the second layer, he naturally harbors the idea of pushing the responsibility to us as much as possible."
"Can't blame him for this. He's merely a county warden, he doesn't want to be pushed out to be the scapegoat either."
The woman slowly walked by. Only after a long silence, did she let out a sigh and furrow her brows.
Zheng Chong asked, "Your Excellency, about that youth, should we directly..."
The woman narrowed her eyes and did not give an answer. She just said calmly, "Regarding this matter, Heavenly Imperial Institution has never thought of preserving his life right from the start. We saw that he isn't stupid, so we used him as an expendable chess piece. According to earlier plans, he'd die in the hands of those people. But who could have thought that not only did he kill those people, he even blew the matter up. I felt that they overestimated that youth back then But in the end, we still underestimated him. But he isn't in the wrong either, he merely wants to continue living."
Zheng Chong sighed and said, "If I'd known earlier, I shouldn't have gotten that youth involved."
"You're right. Such an interesting youth shouldn't die so young." The girl lamented, "It's just that who could have thought earlier that he could have been so brilliant?"
Killing Guo Xi four people consecutively. One had to know, Guo Xi was a Divine Trove Realm cultivator. This youth was also a Divine Trove martial artist at this age. This kind of genius, if he was not implicated in this matter, once his talent was discovered by someone, he would probably be sent to the northern frontier very soon. After a few years of tempering, if he was lucky to survive, he might have a bright future afterward.
The woman finished talking and turned to look at Zheng Chong. As Wei Prefecture's warden, the wardens at all levels within a prefecture were all his subordinates and under his rule. He did not investigate in detail what that youth was like, it was a dereliction of his duty in the first place.
Zheng Chong broke out in a sweat and hurriedly bent down. He did not dare to even say a word anymore.
The woman retracted her gaze and said calmly, "Even if the matter blew up, it's also merely a small hubbub. The cultivators from those sects have already headed to Tianqing County now. They will reach in at most three days. Even if he stirred until the entire Wei Prefecture knew about it, what can he do? Could it be that the Wei Prefecture Office can protect him?"
When she said these, the woman's eyes had some regret that she could not conceal. She did not insist on Chen Chao's death in the first place. It was just that to carry out that matter, she could only have someone be sacrificed.
Who asked him to be Tianqing County's warden?
"Yeah. The southern qi refiner lineage is headed by the Three Streams Manor. He killed a disciple from the Three Streams Manor. He'll ultimately have to pay the price." Zheng Chong concurred.
The woman gave a cold snort, "We're merely giving that Three Streams Manor some face for the time being! We'll definitely make this Three Streams Manor pay the price afterward!"
It was just that her voice had yet to fade when a wooden bird suddenly flew into the warden office's main hall and landed on the table.
Zheng Chong was startled and quickly retrieved the letter. After taking a look, his expression changed drastically, "Your Excellency, it's a note from the Divine Capital's Heavenly Imperial Institution."
The woman turned around and frowned. Taking the note, she opened it and took a look, and muttered rather incredulously, "Why has this matter blown up in the Divine Capital too?"
Zheng Chong was shocked and was just about to speak when another wooden bird flew into the main hall too and landed on the table.
Zheng Chong forcibly reined in his shock and went to take down the letter on that wooden bird. It was a note too. But this time, when Zheng Chong opened it and saw the signature, he was already completely stupefied.
"Which government office sent the note?"
Seeing Zheng Chong like this, the woman hurriedly asked.
"It's... Warden, His Excellency!"
There could be countless Warden Lis in this Great Liang Dynasty, but there could only be one Warden.
That man who ruled countless wardens in the entire Great Liang Dynasty not only held great authority, but he was also an existence akin to a god in the hearts of the martial artists under the heavens. It was likely that in the Great Liang Dynasty, other than a certain Great General in the northern frontier, no one else could rival that Lord Warden in terms of martial arts realm.
"What does it say?"
The woman spread out the Heavenly Imperial Institution's note. The meaning of it was very clear: the imperial court already knew what happened in Tianqing County and ordered the Wei Prefecture's Heavenly Imperial Institution to cooperate with the warden office to escort Chen Chao to the Divine Capital for trial.
Furthermore, at the same time this note was sent out, the Divine Capital already sent a powerhouse to Wei Prefecture.
Zheng Chong opened the note sent by that Divine Capital’s Warden Office at the same time and the meaning was also the same.
Furthermore, the warden office had also sent someone to Wei Prefecture.
The meaning of the two offices was very clear, that was that no matter what, they had to bring that youth to the Divine Capital. It seemed like they were not even afraid to offend those few foreign sects in order to bring that youth to the Divine Capital.
When had the Great Liang Dynasty ever acted like this?
This matter had completely blown up.
This was the woman and Zheng Chong's thoughts at this moment.
These two government offices were the Great Liang Dynasty offices that had the most dealings with foreign cultivators. And now, before things were clear, they actually jointly sent out posts. It could be imagined what this meant.
The woman drew a deep breath and leaned on the table. At this point, she who was still somewhat in disbelief muttered to herself, "Could it be that there's really some remarkable existence standing behind this youth?"
But how could that be?
If there was really this layer of relationship, how could he possibly be a measly little Tianqing County's warden?
……
……
The horse carriage returned to the bank of South Lake from the Xie Family's manor.
When it entered the academy, the students did not pay attention to the horse carriage. There were clamoring voices on both sides of the road. What sounded out were all voices of discussion.
"Have you heard? A warden killed four immortal cultivators in Wei Prefecture."
"Wei Prefecture? That's so far away, how did it spread to the Divine Capital?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems like there must be a reason for it. According to Great Liang's law, that warden must come to the Divine Capital to stand trial."
"Then what about the foreign land sects? They are used to being arrogant and overbearing, could it be that they will let the warden office bring him back?"
"You don't get it, if we didn't know about this matter, then if he was taken away, that would have been it. Haven't similar things happened to our Great Liang Dynasty before? But now that even we know about it, if he still gets taken away by those cultivators, where will the Great Liang Dynasty's face go? What about His Majesty's face?"
"It's just that even so, it probably won't be easy either, right? Isn’t the rights and wrongs still decided by those big shots? Even if that warden is innocent, could it be that the imperial court would be willing to offend those few cultivation sects for his sake?"
The horse carriage slowly drove across the road. The young girl in the cabin listened to these noisy voices very calmly. Now that even the academy was discussing this incident, it proved that it was known everywhere in the Divine Capital.
Because the Divine Capital knew about it, he would have a chance of survival.
It was just that everything was still unknown.
Whether or not he could arrive in the Divine Capital. After arriving in the Divine Capital, could he survive or not?
Her thoughts were complicated. Then, she lowered her head and took a look at that sweet potato beside her that had already turned cold and said softly, "At present, I can only do so much."