“Hey, did you hear that? The world’s number one expert has appeared and has found the residence of an ancient God. In that residence, there are hidden treasures used by that God!”

“That’s ridiculous. Have you read too many supernatural and fantasy novels? Ancient God?”

“This… you are ignorant. Ancient treasures are occasionally discovered, and a blood bath will arise every time it happens! Take the rumored sword master for example, who kills his enemies with flying swords. That’s indeed true!”

“It’s said that sword masters have been increasingly rare this decade, but to be specific, who has actually seen it with their own eyes?”

“You mean the ancient people fabricated it? That is ridiculous. There are all sorts of strange Spirit Wheel experts—how are they fake? I think you have gotten muddle-headed from all that reading.”

Two scholars were debating with each other in a restaurant in Great Xia.

At a table not far away, a fair man in his fifties with a long beard sat with three vigorous looking men around him who were in their thirties.

They were listening to the scholars’ argument.

The older man looked calm.

The vigorous men had various expressions on their faces.

“Master, how do these ordinary people know about this?” one of them wondered.

The fair man with a long beard was Ma Hongyu.

He put down his wine glass and whispered, “I suppose you are assuming that only I know about this, right? Someone deliberately released this news to confuse people.”

“Master, could it be fake?” One of the disciples was worried.

“Do you doubt my ability to recognize the handwriting of the number one expert in the world? The handwriting can be faked, but not the divinity within!” Ma Hongyu frowned slightly.

“I dare not!”

“However, this occurrence seems really unusual. Li Fu, whom I haven’t seen in a long time, actually wrote me a letter, but I presume I wasn’t the only one who received a letter. There must be quite a number of other experts attending as well. I’m not sure what he values so much in that secret residence or who it was that left behind all those treasures and made things difficult for him.

As for raising a ruckus, if he were to do so as the world’s number one expert, then I would have to give it to him!”

…

“Oh? The news actually spread?” Ren Baqian was a little surprised when he heard the report.

“Yes, it’s spreading in Great Xia. We overheard people talking about it in a restaurant. I later tried to trace the source of the information for seven days, but failed!” a young man said as he stood below.

“We have done poorly!” another middle-aged man added.

The young man’s name was Chen Feng, he was a baihu of the Rearguard Commandery, and was one of those who delivered the letters to Great Xia.

The middle-aged man was Ge Yu, he was the Northern Defense Commander of the Rearguard Commandery, and the leader of the 1,000 men who were undergoing training in preparation for the battle with Great Xia.

“Since the news spread, there will be many people who want to take advantage of the crisis. I’m afraid that it will have an impact on Your Highness’s plans!”

Ren Baqian raised his eyebrows. Impact? What kind of impact could there be? An extra group of people there to watch the fireworks?

He was curious about who actually spread the news. To be able to spread the news over such a large area, the other party should have mobilized quite a big group of people. This task would be impossible without a strong influence.

However, none of those whom he had sent the invites to were ordinary people, and anyone could have done this.

Even if it was Ma Hongyu, who only had a village, someone with his status would have his ways to spread the word.

As for the other party’s purpose for doing this, it would be to take advantage of the crisis and reap the most benefits when the time came.

However, the event was something that no one would expect!

Ren Baqian was merely inviting them to watch a display of fireworks!

As for the secret residence… Whether or not he would build a secret residence, he would probably be able to rope in quite a few people to join the cause.

Anyone who dared to take advantage of this crisis would definitely not be an ordinary person!

Ren Baqian pondered for a moment before picking up the letter in front of him. He opened it and found a white handkerchief with a string of white pearls hanging from the corners.

He unfolded the handkerchief and saw a line of bold cursive calligraphy.

“I heard that the empress of Dayao has seven drops of true dragon blood, which contain the might of a true dragon. This is extremely rare in the world today, and I wish to have it to fiddle with. I’ll be coming on the third of the sixth month, and I believe it’s unlikely that the empress of Dayao will have me leave in vain.

Handsome leaving you with a message!”

Ren Baqian had a strange look on his face after he read it the first time, and he continued to look through it carefully three more times.

“Where did this come from?” he asked as he held the handkerchief.

“Your Highness, before we returned, someone placed it on the table in our lodge in Yu Yang City. We were incompetent and weren’t even aware that someone sneaked into our room. If that person tried to take my life, I probably wouldn’t have been able to make it back here to see you!” Chen Feng lowered his head and admitted his mistake.

“Who’s this ‘Handsome?'” Ren Baqian forced a smile.

“He should be Xin Shuai, the Ghost Shadow. His skills aren’t exactly the best, but his martial arts skills is truly top-notch. He has committed quite a number of major crimes in Great Xia over the last decade, and it’s said that he even stole an important treasure from the palace! In order to apprehend him, the imperial court of Great Xia deployed Leng Ran, the Heavenly Captor. He has been trying to track Xin Shuai for several years, but has yet to bring him to justice.

At this time, Xin Shuai actually even plans to have designs on Her Majesty and Your Highness! We must definitely make him come here without returning! However, please be careful as this person has already committed multiple crimes after leaving messages and preempted the victims each time he did so. Even though that Leng Ran isn’t exactly strong at fighting, he’s still a Spirit Wheel expert who is adept at tracking and capture. Nonetheless, even a person like him had no way of catching Xin Shuai, and this shows how outstanding Xin Shuai is,” Ge Yu explained.

“However, we currently still don’t know whether or not it was an imposter who delivered this message.”

The third day of the sixth month was the date set in the letter before Ren Baqian.

It would take four days to travel from Lan City to the destination.

It wasn’t necessarily impossible for someone to act as an imposter to isolate the experts from Dayao. After all, the destination was in Dayao, and if the empire were to mobilize a large number of experts, it would indeed be a big threat.

However, if the sender was legitimate and were to steal something from the palace, it would be a great humiliation.

Ren Baqian had a pensive look on his face, but he was thinking about something else. The contents and presentation of this letter were truly too similar to a certain someone’s style! It was too much of a coincidence!

“Go check if there’s a person named Gu Long, Gu Longxin, or Gu Longju,” Ren Baqian ordered.

“Are there any likely areas where this person would reside, Your Highness?” Gu Yu immediately asked.

“Check if these names match the authors of novels in Great Xia’s markets or see if there’s a similar plot in any novel!” Ren Baqian replied.

“Yes!”

“Good job!” Ren Baqian’s praise surprised both of them. They originally thought that they would be punished, but ended up getting commended.

“It’s beyond my expectations that you were able to find out so much about Great Xia within such a short period of time. You will naturally be rewarded once you complete this task!”

It was impossible for the two to find out who committed the crime after receiving this letter. This only showed that the other party had already been in the intelligence library of the Rearguard Commandery from the beginning.

Others had been training for the past few months, but Ge Yu had also sent people to go pave the way and collect information about some experts. This had now begun to show results.

For instance, take this Ghost Shadow, who Ren Baqian had never heard of before.

“Thank you, Your Highness! It’s terrible that we have performed poorly and yet still receive your generous treatment!” Both men bowed their heads and expressed gratitude.

“It’s your credit if you have done it! I’m managing the Rearguard Commandery, Black Bamboo Academy, and commercial affairs at the same time. I’m so busy that I don’t even have any free time! I’ll have to hand over control of the Rearguard Commandery to competent people sooner or later!” Ren Baqian chuckled.

“We will do everything we can in the hope that we handle the tasks well!” Ge Yu replied immediately with a slight change in his face.

“You may take your leave. Do it well!” Ren Baqian nodded and sent them off.

He then turned to his side and said, “Bring those two over!”