Chapter 407
Arrest warrant
Chapter 407 Arrest warrant
The Jianquan River was swift, and the water splashed against the banks, making a rushing sound. Chen Ji and Liao Zhong had disappeared without a trace.
From dawn till dusk. Until the clatter of hooves sounded, a white horse slowly came to the riverbank, the rider wearing a white dragon-patterned mask and an unchanging white robe.
Bai Long stopped his horse on the riverbank and looked up at the opposite bank: "The bloodstains end here. They've crossed the river."
Behind the white dragon, the black snake and the precious monkey stood on the left and right respectively.
Following closely behind were Jiao Tu and Yun Yang, leading hundreds of spies on horseback.
Further away, the sound of galloping hooves could be heard, and Jie Fanwei, wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, sealed off the mountain.
Loud.
Someone impersonating a member of the Imperial Guard attempted to assassinate the Crown Prince and the Prince of Fu right under the emperor's nose. This matter has been exposed and is even more serious than the assassination attempt on the Minister of Revenue more than ten years ago.
The prison was crammed with suspects, and their screams never stopped.
A spy rushed over, knelt on one knee beside Bai Long, and clasped his hands in greeting, saying, "My lord, we found traces of a battle and abandoned warhorses at Furongping. The Five Wrathful Soldiers should have abandoned their horses here to pursue and kill."
After the first spy left, another spy came to report: "Sir, signs of a fight have been found on the summit of Incense Burner Peak; the stone at the summit has been shattered..."
"My lord, the crown prince has not yet been found..."
One spy after another came and went, but Bai Long remained silent throughout.
If he didn't speak, no one else dared to speak.
Fragrant Hills is now shrouded in mystery. All that is known is that after Prince Fu and his men were assassinated, Chen Ji led the Five Witches army away. But no one knows what happened after Chen Ji left.
The mountains and fields were covered with traces of battle, as if someone had fought here for a day and a night, only to stop abruptly at the Jianquan River.
Who is killing whom?
Didn't Mr. Liao run away with the Crown Prince? How come there's a severed arm at the foot of Incense Burner Peak? Where did the Five Witches' army go? Why can't we find a single one of them?
The bloodstains dripped all the way to the Jianquan River. Who crossed the river from here?
Where are Chen Ji, the Crown Prince, and Mr. Liao?
There are too many suspicious points, which is dazzling.
Bai Long gazed calmly at the opposite bank of the river and asked, "What do you all think?"
Yun Yang hurriedly said, "My lord, according to Prince Fu, they entered the Red Leaf Villa on the night..."
Bai Long interrupted in a detached tone, "If you're going to repeat what everyone already knows, then shut up. Your brain isn't your forte. If you talk less, you might be able to regain your position in the zodiac."
Yun Yang held his breath so hard he almost suffered internal injuries.
He glanced furtively at Jiao Tu, but Jiao Tu seemed indifferent, her gaze already wandering elsewhere.
Bai Long smiled and said, "Ning Xin is smarter than you. She knows that this matter is very serious and not something you can understand or interfere with."
Jiao Tu covered her mouth and giggled, "Thank you for the compliment, sir."
Bai Long ignored her and asked softly, "What does Bao Hou think?"
From beneath Bao Hou's wooden monkey mask came a woman's voice: "My lord, in my opinion, after Chen Ji lured away the Five Witches' army, he fought them all the way to Xianglu Peak, where he was ultimately killed by them. After the Five Witches' army finished killing, they happened to encounter Mr. Liao and the Crown Prince who had fled here. Mr. Liao was no match for them and lost an arm, so he could only flee across the river with the Crown Prince in a panic."
But then a shrill voice came from beneath the monkey mask: "No, no, according to you, why are there no traces of corpses on the summit of Incense Burner Peak?"
The woman raised her voice: "Perhaps it was left down the mountain; keep looking and you'll find it."
The shrill voice retorted again: "That's not right either. If Mr. Liao was escaping with the Crown Prince, he would definitely be heading east to Yuquan Mountain. Why would he come to the north? What would he be doing in the north?"
A hoarse voice rang out again from beneath the monkey mask: "If you ask me..."
Bai Long interrupted in a detached tone: "Shut up, go make a scene somewhere else."
The Monkey King cupped his hands in greeting to the White Dragon and obediently replied, "Yes."
He turned his horse aside, and a heavy voice whispered from behind his mask, "Stop making a damn noise. If you upset him again, he'll beat us up again..."
The shrill voice immediately retorted, "He hasn't beaten us up in a year, what's there to be afraid of? He's much gentler now, perhaps he's had a change of heart after killing so many people and wants to accumulate some good karma!"
A hoarse voice said in a low voice, "This is a great achievement; don't let the Black Serpent steal it!"
The precious monkey said in a deep voice, "Shut up!"
After the Monkey King rode away, the White Dragon said casually, "Black Serpent, what do you say?"
Xuan She, draped in a black cloak, rode forward and said, "My lord, I suspect that Chen Ji is an accomplice of the Five Wraiths soldiers who intend to assassinate the Crown Prince."
Jiao Tu and Yun Yang exchanged a glance. The Prince of Fu was saying that Chen Ji lured away the pursuers and became a hero. How did it suddenly become that Chen Ji assassinated the Crown Prince?
"Oh? Tell me."
Just as Xuan She was about to speak, a secret agent rushed in to report: "Report!"
The spy knelt down on one knee beside Bai Long: "My lord, we have found the Crown Prince. He is hiding in a crevice in the rocks below Furongping and has caught a cold."
The group exchanged bewildered glances.
They found the prince? They thought Mr. Liao had taken the prince across the river, so how come the prince is still in Xiangshan territory?
Bai Long asked in a deep voice, "Is it only the Crown Prince?"
"Only the Crown Prince is here. Chen Ji and Liao Zhong are nowhere to be seen. We have brought the Crown Prince over!" Everyone turned around and saw four secret agents carrying the weak Crown Prince in a simple wooden palanquin to the riverbank.
Bai Long rode up to the Crown Prince: "Your Highness, what has happened here?"
The prince slowly raised his eyelids, his voice barely audible: "In order to save me, Mr. Liao forcibly took me to Furongping. But as soon as we arrived at Furongping, Chen Ji attracted those ghosts to chase after us. I didn't expect that those ghosts would obey his commands and surround me and Mr. Liao."
"Afterwards, Mr. Liao led me out of the encirclement and hid me in a secluded place, while he lured away Chen Ji and those ghosts... Lord White Dragon, have you found Mr. Liao's whereabouts? You must save Mr. Liao!"
The prince spoke with extreme weakness, his head held high as he stared intently at the white dragon's mask, his eyes sincere and eager.
As soon as these words came out, it was shocking.
Jiao Tu and Yun Yang exchanged a glance: Xuan She had actually guessed right—Chen Ji was planning to assassinate the Crown Prince?!
Bai Long glanced at Xuan She, then at the Crown Prince, and said with a light laugh, "Your Highness, Mr. Liao, Chen Ji, and the Five Wraiths army have all disappeared without a trace. But don't worry, Mr. Liao should still be alive."
The Crown Prince earnestly said, "Lord Bailong, Chen Ji is audacious and utterly wicked. I urge the Secret Service to issue a warrant for his arrest and bring this villain to justice!"
Bai Long said with a smile, "Your Highness, I think there might be some misunderstanding regarding your claim that Chen Ji attempted to assassinate you."
The crown prince's expression gradually calmed down until it became unreadable: "What misunderstanding is there?"
Bai Long said slowly and deliberately, "You mean that after Mr. Liao hid you, he led Chen Ji and the Five Witches' army away?"
The Crown Prince nodded: "That's true."
Bai Long casually remarked, "Then why didn't they come back to search for you after they discovered that Mr. Liao was alone? Their target wasn't Mr. Liao."
The prince immediately explained, "After they left, I left my hiding place and walked another five miles before finding the crevice in the rock where I was hiding. Perhaps they also looked back, but they couldn't find it."
Watertight.
The black serpent looked at the white dragon: "My lord, shall we seize Chen Ji?"
Bai Long calmly replied, "No need."
The Crown Prince suddenly asked in a deep voice, "What does Lord Bailong mean by this? Do you believe me or Chen Ji?"
Everyone silently looked at Bai Long, but his mask concealed everything. More than a hundred spies held their breath, quietly waiting for Bai Long to face the Crown Prince's questioning.
The next moment, Bai Long slowly said, "Your Highness, I believe in Chen Ji."
Upon hearing this, Xuan She, Bao Hou, Jiao Tu, and Yun Yang all felt a jolt in their hearts!
The prince frowned: "Does Lord White Dragon believe that those ghosts are under my control?"
Bai Long said softly, "Your Highness, I only said that the Crown Prince may have misunderstood something, I didn't say anything else."
The Crown Prince struggled to his feet, leaning on the palanquin's armrests. He looked up and stared directly at Bai Long's mask: "Or perhaps, Lord Bai Long is also an accomplice of Chen Ji, trying to protect him?"
“It is not that I intend to protect anyone, but the Crown Prince probably does not know the origin of the Five Wrathful Soldiers,” Bai Long said calmly. “In the eleventh year of Jianing, the previous Zodiac Dog of my Secret Service dug up an ancient site in the western suburbs of Changsha Prefecture and unearthed twelve volumes of ancient books.”
"The seventh volume of the scriptures records that the Five Wrathful Soldiers were the wronged souls of ancient battlefields. They died in battle for unknown reasons and remained in the human world for a long time. Later, some of the Five Wrathful Soldiers were granted amnesty by the Taoist court and became the Thunder Altar Soldiers, serving under the Taoist court and becoming the 'Heavenly Wrathful Soldiers'. A small number of them refused amnesty and were expelled by the Taoist court. Later, they were sealed by the Buddhist sect in a place called 'Five Turbid Evil World', where they are immortal and indestructible."
Xuan She turned around and glanced at Jiao Tu and Yun Yang, noticing that the two were also surprised.
Bai Long slowly said, "Ancient texts clearly mention that the Five Wraiths' soldiers are unruly and often turn against their masters, enjoying beheading them. Therefore, this technique has always been regarded as an evil art..."
The Crown Prince asked in confusion, "What does this have to do with my claim that Chen Ji was an accomplice in the assassination?"
"Your Highness, don't be hasty," Bai Long explained with a smile. "The Five Wrathful Soldiers were summoned by the blood sacrifice. They must help their master kill one person in order to return to the Five Turbid World at dawn the next day; otherwise, they will vanish into thin air. So, if they really came to assassinate Your Highness, they should have chased after the Crown Prince when Mr. Liao carried him away. Why would they stay on the battlefield waiting for Chen Ji to leave before they did? The person they wanted to kill was Chen Ji from beginning to end."
The prince never imagined that Bai Long knew so much about the Five Witches' army.
But the arrow has already left the bowstring, and spilled water cannot be gathered up again.
The Crown Prince remained silent for a long time before saying firmly, "Ancient records are not necessarily accurate. I remember clearly that in the twenty-fourth year of the Jianing era, the Secret Service unearthed an ancient site containing books that described a treasure. However, despite the Secret Service's large-scale search, they found nothing. Lord Bailong, the Secret Service has found many ancient books over the years, and seven or eight out of ten of them are wrong."
He looked up at Bai Long: "But I witnessed Chen Ji's assassination attempt on me with my own eyes, there is no mistake."
Seeing that he insisted that Chen Ji had commanded the Five Witches' army, Bai Long calmly said, "In that case, Your Highness, please rest assured that my Secret Service will investigate this matter thoroughly. Men, take the Crown Prince back to recuperate."
At this moment, the sound of horses' hooves approached from afar. Everyone turned to look and saw Lin Chaoqing leading dozens of Jiefan Guards to arrive.
Lin Chaoqing's gaze, hidden beneath his bamboo hat, slowly swept across the area before finally settling on the Crown Prince: "It is good that Your Highness is unharmed. This humble servant will escort Your Highness back to the capital."
The Crown Prince sat back in his palanquin and suddenly said, "Lord Lin, Chen Ji intends to assassinate someone. Please ask the Imperial Guard to issue a warrant for his arrest."
Lin Chaoqing narrowed her eyes slightly and replied softly, "Yes."
Bai Long remained calm and said, "The truth is still unclear. Issuing a warrant for arrest at this time would be too hasty."
Lin Chaoqing was silent for a moment: "There's no need for Lord Bailong to worry about the matter of resolving the troubles of the guards."
In the distance, the monkey suddenly turned around, its monkey mask comically staring straight at Lin Chaoqing.
Bai Long, holding the reins, smiled at Lin Chaoqing and said, "So Lord Wu Xiu has already made his choice."
He rode his horse to the riverbank and calmly looked at the opposite bank: "Your Highness believes that Chen Ji was the assassin, but I find Mr. Liao particularly suspicious. Issue an order to issue a warrant for Liao Zhong's arrest. We must find him alive or dead."
Jiao Tu and Yun Yang's expressions turned strange. Jie Fan Wei was searching for Chen Ji, but the Secret Intelligence Bureau wanted to search for Mr. Liao.
"Furthermore," Bai Long said meaningfully, "Bao Hou, send a message by carrier pigeon to Kaifeng Prefecture, summoning Meng Ji to the capital."
(End of this chapter)