The Ning King’s manor.
Ning King Jun Mo Xiao stood alone on a pavilion in the manor’s garden, gazing blankly at the lake.
Suddenly, a guard flew over from a distance and stopped behind him.
“Reporting to His Highness, there is a secret dispatch from Ying Zhou. Does His Highness wish to see it?”
“Unseal it for me!”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
Immediately, the Ning King’s personal guard quickly opened the envelope and took out a piece of white paper.
“Your Highness, this…”
“This what… you read it!”
“Your Highness, there are no words on this letter paper.”
The personal guard wore a puzzled expression.
“What? No words? Let me see!”
Hearing this, the Ning King quickly turned around, snatched the letter paper from the guard’s hand, and examined it closely. He was baffled.
It was indeed a blank piece of paper!
“Your Highness, what exactly is going on?”
“I don’t know!”
After responding, he strode back to his study.
The Ning King took out a fire starter from his person and lit an oil lamp, then held the letter paper over the flame to heat it. No characters appeared on the paper.
He then had someone fetch a basin of clean water and submerged the letter paper in it. Still, no writing was visible.
This perplexed the Ning King.
Surely, someone wouldn't just send him a blank piece of paper.
Afterward, his gaze fixed on the envelope on the table. He suddenly noticed that the envelope on the table was different from ordinary envelopes; it was thicker.
Thus, the Ning King picked up the envelope from the table and casually tore it open. He soon discovered a secret: a small packet was attached inside the envelope. He detached it, felt the packet, and realized it seemed to contain a packet of powder.
Next, the Ning King, holding his breath, tore open the small medicine packet. Inadvertently, he spilled all the powder into the basin of water where the letter paper was soaking. Then, the characters on the letter paper in the basin gradually began to appear, emitting a golden shimmer. In less than a moment, all the words on the letter paper were presented before the Ning King’s eyes.
After reading the letter, the Ning King’s thin lips curved into an involuntary cold smile.
This Lin Zhen Fan actually wanted to cooperate with him. Soon, he would bring tens of thousands of elite soldiers back from Ying Zhou to attack the capital. He was currently in the midst of planning.
He wanted the Ning King to assist him in the capital, to coordinate from within and without, and to minimize losses… Finally, he would help the Ning King ascend that position.
“Heh heh…”
Lin Zhen Fan truly treated him, Jun Mo Xiao, like a fool.
Although the conditions he offered were very tempting, Jun Mo Xiao would not so easily believe his deceitful words. Moreover, Lin Zhen Fan was an ambitious person by nature.
However, cooperating with Lin Zhen Fan was possible, but he would have to guard against Lin Zhen Fan at all times.
After all, cooperating with Lin Zhen Fan would be akin to dancing with a wolf.
The Ning King pondered for a long time and finally took up his brush to write a reply to Lin Zhen Fan.
The main content of the letter stated that the Ning King was willing to cooperate with him, but all subsequent plans must be discussed with him in writing, and he should not act rashly. Otherwise, if their rebellion were exposed, the Ning King would not bear the consequences… At the same time, he also asked Lin Zhen Fan to wait until his and Qin Xi Xue’s wedding before making plans to attack the capital.
The Ning King finished writing the reply to Lin Zhen Fan with a flourish and summoned his trusted guards to personally deliver the letter to Ying Zhou.
After he had arranged these matters, he immediately destroyed the letter paper in the basin of water.
That evening, as night deepened, the myriad lights illuminated the entire capital.
The Ning King casually ate some dinner, then turned and walked behind the screen in his study, changing into a night-bloating outfit, covering his face with a black cloth, and taking his few guards to the vicinity of the Cold King’s manor.
He stood tall on the rooftop of a two-story building outside the Cold King’s manor, intently watching the movements within. However, after observing for a long time, he found no vulnerabilities on the outer perimeter of the Cold King’s manor that would allow someone to infiltrate it silently.
He had originally thought that since his second imperial brother had gone to the city’s outer military camp, the Cold King’s manor’s defenses would be significantly relaxed. He hadn’t expected that the Cold King’s manor’s defenses would become even more stringent.
It seemed his chances of retrieving the two semi-finished “Beauty Gu” were slim.
Subsequently, he gave up watching the Cold King’s manor and turned towards the newly opened Anji Hall, which belonged to Leng Ruo Li.
This Anji Hall was the second place he thought of to store the Beauty Gu. If Leng Ruo Li did not keep the Beauty Gu in Anji Hall, the two Beauty Gu would ultimately have to be hidden in Han Che Yuan, where the Cold King and his consort resided.
Given Leng Ruo Li’s exceptional medical skills, Jun Mo Xiao guessed that after obtaining the two semi-finished Beauty Gu, she would absolutely not kill them but would study them herself. This was a common trait of a physician.
Therefore, he had a high chance of retrieving the two Beauty Gu to give to Qin Xi Xue for her face.
The Ning King pondered for a while, then led his men to sneak into the backyard of Anji Hall. He had previously sent people to scout Anji Hall’s defenses, and the guards there were not heavily fortified. His men had even knocked out two guards.
But tonight, he did not know if Leng Ruo Li would dispatch additional guards to protect Anji Hall.
However, even if Leng Ruo Li had strengthened Anji Hall’s defenses, he still had to come here tonight.
This was because his wedding with Qin Xi Xue was fast approaching, and Qin Xi Xue had been urging him to speed up the cultivation of the Beauty Gu.
But the semi-finished Beauty Gu that he had people cultivate for Qin Xi Xue had already been taken by the Cold King and his consort, and their whereabouts remained unknown. How could he continue cultivating the Beauty Gu? Moreover, there were very few people in the world who could cultivate the Beauty Gu.
According to rumors, Yin Gong was the only one who might still be alive and capable of cultivating the Beauty Gu.
The world knew that Yin Gong had been living in seclusion in the deep mountains and old forests at the border of Tian Wu and Nan Zhao countries thirty years ago, and no one had seen him since. However, a while ago, the Ning King heard that Yin Gong had been invited down the mountain by Lin Zhen Fan to set up a killing formation for the Cold King’s manor, which was apparently called the Golden Gu Cage formation, or something like that?
Subsequently, after the Ning King led his men into the backyard, he circled the courtyard and found that the backyard of Anji Hall was unguarded. Thus, he intended to sneak into the interior of Anji Hall.
As a result, the moment he stepped into the main hall of Anji Hall, the hall was instantly illuminated by beams of dazzling light.
The Ning King and his guards did not know what these people were holding, how they could produce such dazzling light, and it took them a long time to adjust their eyes before they could open them.
Leng Ruo Li, the Chu siblings, the He brothers, and five guards from the Cold King’s manor, including Ye Ying, were all calmly holding flashlights, shining them on the Ning King and his group.
“Who are you people? Why are you trespassing into my Anji Hall medical clinic in the dead of night?”