Although Chu Li could not clearly see through Prince An’s mind, but through his smile, he could vaguely guess it.
He shook his head secretly, both of them were expecting for things to turn out as they wished, then it would really be up to who expected it better!
He took Siao Shi who had an unfriendly look at that time, and left their visions, then they suddenly disappeared and returned to the House of High Dukes, to his courtyard.
Siao Shi sat in the pagoda and scoffed as she put on a cold look, “Will Yang Xu and Xue Ling be fine?”
“They will leave on their own, someone will aid them eventually.” Chu Li replied.
Siao Shi retained her cold look and frowned.
Chu Li said, “Lady, just bear with this for a period of time, he won’t stay alive for long!”
“What measures are you taking?” Siao Shi suddenly became spirited.
Chu Li laughed and said, “A very common method.”
“Quickly tell me!” snapped Siao Shi.
Chu Li looked at her and saw that she was wearing the sarira prayer beads, so divine powers could not get close to her, thus there was no need to be afraid that Xu Ning would notice.
“Quick, tell me, tell me!” Siao Shi kept urging him.
Chu Li said, “I planted a herb in Prince An’s courtyard, which will cause one to be excited, it won’t be harmful towards him, but once he practices martial arts, he will become obsessed and possessed by the devil!”
The Senseless Grass that Chu Li asked Yuan Kuohai to plant had already germinated, it could produce its effectiveness.
Normally, its effect towards Prince would be next to nothing, but if Prince An put in great strength into his cultivation, it would be extremely possible for him to become obsessed!
Should that not work at all, then he would have to take extra measures to make him furious so that he would be in an uneven state of mind, then when he would put great effort into cultivation again, both of that would overlap each other, and highly increase the risk of him to become obsessed.
That was the most reliable method to kill Prince An, but it would still depend on Prince An’s luck, if he would be really lucky, he would not die so easily from those tricks, if he would be terribly unlucky, once or twice would be enough to bring him to an end.
Siao Shi said, “That’s good to hear…”
After the both of them casually talked for a while, Chu Li brought her to Mountain Shiwan again to clear her mind.
When the two of them entered the gigantic mountain of the Spirit Cranes, two beams of white light shone towards them, they were as fast as lightning and their mouths were as sharp as swords.
Without any choice, Chu Li could only leave together with Siao Shi, the cranes could not be provoked at that time and were not suitable to have any social communications, so it would be better for them to way for the Young Spirit Crane.
The two Spirit Cranes that came out were not very approachable, but the Young Spirit Crane was not like them, it was the most innocent one so it should be quite gullible, if they could make a Spirit Crane into their pet, it would the most wonderful thing!
——
A night passed, on the second day when everyone woke up to continue the journey, Meng Zhi did the usual practice and started a headcount, he called out abruptly, “It’s not right! The number is not right!”
Prince An frowned and looked towards Meng Zhi.
Zheng Lide walked towards Meng Zhi and asked, “Vice Commander Meng, what’s the matter?”
Meng Zhi’s face turned gloomy, “Commander, four people are missing!”
“Which four?” Zheng Lide scoffed, “Are they from the House of High Dukes?”
Meng Zhi shook his head, “It’s from our public house! … The four people are Protectors, Innate Masters!”
“Isn’t this impossible?” Zheng Lide frowned and said, “There were no movements at all last night! … Let them go search and look around, four in a group, they’re not allowed to disperse!”
“Yes!” Meng Zhi did a closed fist salute.
He immediately grouped the people and spread them out to different areas to search.
“They’re here!” Someone called out.
Instantly, Meng Zhi used his Light-Body Technique to rush over there, when he saw the situation at the scene, his face changed.
Four Protectors laid on the ground and did not move at all, their bodies motionless, it seemed like they had been dead for hours.
He crouched to look at the injuries, which made him look even more ghastly, only one strike of a sword caused their deaths, whoever did it had excellent swordsmanship, but that person was probably an Innate Master, not a Grandmaster!
For an Innate Master to be able to lay in ambush, and got so close to them to kill the four Protectors without even alerting the Grandmasters who were all present at that time, it was such a big laughing joke!
“What happened?” Zheng Lide went over to him too.
As soon as he saw the dead bodies of those four Protectors, his face immediately turned grey, he checked their wounds and arrived at the same conclusion that Meng Zhi did.
Meng Zhi said softly, “Commander, could it be the two of them from the House of High Dukes?”
He took a glance at Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou who were standing beside the sedan, then he said coldly, “Even if it’s not them, it must be related to them for sure!”
Zheng Lide shook his head, “I had my eyes on them all night long, they had no movements and did no tricks at all, …there are not many top notch swordsmen in the martial arts world, everyone, brace ourselves up, I’m afraid that this will only keep on coming!”
Meng Zhi sneered, “If he shows up again, I’ll make sure he won’t be able to leave at all!”
“Tonight we’ll be on guard instead!” Zheng Lide said, “Now is a crucial moment, bearing it for another two days will be nothing!”
“Yes.” Meng Zhi nodded.
Since they were the parade that escorted the bride, they could not just return with corpses, so they had to bury them first and leave the tombstoning and planting of trees for a later time, then they would hold a memorial service for them.
At that night, the two of them personally went on guard, one of them stayed inside, the other one stayed outside.
Zheng Lide sat beside Prince An, whereas Meng Zhi guarded the most outer area, he sat on a tree and overlooked the entire campsite, so any movement was just in a bird’s eye view.
Throughout the night, it was calm and peaceful.
However, in the morning on the next day, when they did a headcount again, they were short of two Protectors again.
They found the two of them in the woods about hundreds of meters away, they were also killed by just one strike of a sword.
Both Meng Zhi and Zheng Like could confirm that the both of them did not doze off at all, they were always on alert and were watching over the place wide awake, but there were no unusual movements at all, no martial arts master broke into their place, and there were no distractions too.
As for when those two men left, surprisingly, they did not notice at all.
That made them shuddered, could it be a ghost or a monster that did it?
Nonetheless, right after, they negated that absurd thought, there must be a reason to the incidents.
After some thoughts, they concluded that those two Protectors probably left for their lavatory needs, and were killed soundlessly.
No matter what how cautious they were, if they needed to empty their bladders, they could not just do it in public, they had to walk a certain distance away to do it anyway.
It must be that very distance that they took to go away that they were killed by the swordsman quietly, with just one strike of the sword.
The two of them went to see Prince An, their faces had ghastly expressions.
Everyone looked heavy as well, they were never more relaxed and joyous as before, six men were killed successively, the atmosphere of the entire parade that escorted the bride suddenly became dispirited.
“Your Highness, let us return to the Fairy Capital by tonight.” Zheng Lide said.
Prince An looked at them calmly, “You didn’t manage to find out who did it?”
“Whoever did it had extraordinarily great swordsmanship.” Meng Zhi said helplessly, “Furthermore, it’s an Innate Master, this is a thorny problem, it will be better for us to not intertwine with him here!”
“Extraordinary swordsmanship…” Prince An said faintly, “Is it Chu Li?”
“It shouldn’t be Chief Chu.” Zheng Lide frowned and said, “He need not kill those people, whoever did it is probably venting a personal spite, and is most likely a figure in martial arts.”
If Chu Li wanted to kill anyone, he would look for Grandmasters, those Protectors would never cross his mind at all, chances are he would not even waste his time and energy on killing them.
“We have so many Grandmasters, can’t even do anything to one Innate Master?” Prince An said.
Zheng Lide sighed, “Only one strike of a sword caused their death, there wasn’t even a need for a second hit, and it was done soundlessly, the person who did it is merely a killer, we must take revenge for sure, but the big marriage is going on now, so it will be best for us to put this matter aside for now!”
“… Let us stay one more night, let the two men from the House of High Dukes to be on guard as well, if anyone leaves the campsite, make them follow along!” Prince An pondered then gave those orders calmly.
“… Yes.” Zheng Lide did a closed fist salute.
That trick was to make a third party the instrument of a crime, it would mean making use of the people from the House of High Dukes to kill the assassin, and also making use of the assassin to kill the people from the House of High Dukes, thus it would be entirely up to who would be the better one, but regardless of whoever would be stronger, Prince An would benefit in the end, indeed, such an admirable measure!
When Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou heard the orders from Zheng Lide, they did not say much and immediately agreed to it.
If a top notch master really turned up, they would retreat, if it was not a top notch master, they would just secretly let the person go.
On the night, three Protectors needed to take a piss, so Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou tagged along, they looked at surroundings cautiously and never let anything past their eyes, at once, they knew that it had to do with a Grandmaster.