Reborn as Powerful Minister's Beloved
Chapter 213: One More Update

Chapter 213: Chapter 213: One More Update

"Lord Ju, please take a look and see whether this matter needs to be reported," Ling Ge added.

Ju Nanyi hesitated only for a moment. Although he was not acquainted with Ling Ge, and their first collaboration was only at Siyan Lake, Ju could tell that Ling Ge was someone who could keep his composure. Therefore, he nodded and gestured for Commander-in-Chief Ling to lead the way.

Ling Ge, not daring to delay, immediately went ahead. The night was like a curtain falling. Ling Ge hurried along, quickly leading Ju Nanyi through the darkness. After a quarter of an hour, they stopped in a secluded alley near the Eldest Princess Mansion.

"Our men were on patrol and encountered that... monster," Ling Ge didn’t know how else to describe it, and the first words that came to mind were ’monster.’

The people in the alley who saw Ling Ge coming immediately had two guards rushing over, their expressions a mix of bewilderment and indescribable unease.

Without saying much, Ling Ge followed the guards further inside. After walking another few dozen meters, he stopped.

"Lord Ju has arrived."

Ju Nanyi saw a body covered with a black cloth on the ground. A robust guard lifted the cloth, and in the darkness, Ju felt that what he saw was not a person, but a mummified corpse.

A corpse drained of all moisture, with skin clinging to bone, its open mouth terrifying and fierce, silently screaming. The clothes on the deceased hung loose, like a child wearing an adult’s attire, indicating that the guard’s stature must have been much larger in life.

Ju Nanyi crouched down and touched the mummy, its skin like withered tree bark.

Seeing this, Ling Ge gave Ju Nanyi even more respect. A civil official who could face such a horrifying corpse without changing expression, and even touch it by hand, was calmer than some of his guards who were used to blood.

"Lord Ju, Brother Yu Ming was still alive, taller and stronger than me—just half an hour ago," a guard couldn’t help but speak up.

Ju Nanyi withdrew his hand and stood up, glancing at the speaker and giving a slight nod.

"Lord Ling, may I have a word with you?" Ju Nanyi looked at Ling Ge, who instantly walked to a corner of the wall.

"What does Lord Ling think is behind this?" Ju Nanyi remembered that upon arriving, Ling Ge had said the murderer was not human. This term wasn’t used loosely but referred to a sort of inhuman monster, once a legend in Nanzheng State. These monsters were said to drain people’s essence and blood, turning them into mummified corpses.

And such creatures, as Qiandao Temple’s influence grew more extensive in Nanzheng State, had long since disappeared.

Ling Ge nodded upon hearing this.

"Although I’m not entirely certain, my men reported a strange wind. That monster seemed like a huge bat, lifting my man into the air, and by the time he was thrown back down, he had already become this," Ling Ge said with an expression difficult to decipher as sadness, for the victim was one of his most dependable subordinates.

"Then, I would like to ask Lord Ling another question. What mission did your men have in this desolate place at midnight?" Ju Nanyi glanced at Ling Ge. "If it’s inconvenient for you to say..."

"There’s nothing inconvenient. We were following the Crown Prince’s orders to dispatch personnel to the Eldest Princess Mansion and the incident happened during the shift change."

Ling Ge suddenly paused, looking at Ju Nanyi but remaining silent. However, his thoughts involuntarily drifted to a person.

The Eldest Princess, a very strange person in the Eldest Princess Mansion, whose origins Ling Ge knew nothing of. However, Ling Ge was aware that this person was extremely peculiar and entirely different from their ordinary guards.

He had only seen this guard, who always followed the Eldest Princess, act once, and the techniques used were so bizarre they were beyond the reach of ordinary people.

"Has Lord Ling thought of something?"

Ling Ge shook his head with a bitter smile, indicating he hadn’t.

"In that case, Lord Ling, although I am but a subordinate, let us make a trip to the Crown Prince’s Mansion together. Since this matter involves the Eldest Princess Mansion, it is no ordinary affair."

Ling Ge quickly nodded, gave a few instructions to his men, and immediately followed Ju Nanyi toward the Crown Prince’s Mansion.

...

Well into the night, the lights of the Jiumu Aristocratic Clan had not rested since they were lit. The physician summoned had never felt such immense pressure, but after a hectic period of activity, fortunately, the soldier’s body was resilient. Despite several severe knife wounds, he still managed to wake up.

Upon awakening, he first displayed a terrified expression, flailing his arms about, almost tearing open his freshly bandaged wounds.

"Uncle Li, tell him quickly we are inside the Jiumu Mansion," Xia Zhiqian immediately spoke up.

"Soldier, soldier, I am the steward of the Jiumu Mansion," Uncle Li hurriedly grabbed the man’s hand, not expecting the soldier to be so strong that he nearly threw Uncle Li out.

Hearing the words Jiumu, the soldier’s hands froze mid-air. He struggled to open his swollen eyes, which were mere slits, straining to see everything before him.

"Soldier, are you under Ding General’s command? The one before you is Ding General’s mother, and also Ding General’s younger sister," Uncle Li said at once.

At those words, the soldier immediately tried to struggle into a sitting position.

"Soldier, don’t move. If you can’t speak, then I will ask, and if it’s correct, nod your head; if not, shake your head, alright?"

The man lying on the lounge chair nodded slightly, the voice in his ear seemingly bestowing upon him Ding General’s calm and astuteness.

"My brother has run into trouble?" The man shook his head, and immediately, everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief, while Madam Xia could not stop her tears from falling again.

"Then you have an important message to send back to Zheng Capital?" Xia Zhiqian immediately asked again, not indulging herself in the previous joy for long.

The man quickly nodded eagerly, his hands starting to flail, but his arm moved uncontrollably, making it unclear what he was trying to point at.

"Are you saying that the item is on you?" Xia Zhiqian asked sharply, to which the man nodded immediately, finding the general’s sister to be exceedingly smart.

Xia Zhiqian looked at Uncle Li, who then gingerly searched the man’s body, turning him over until finally, in a crevice, he found a bamboo tube the thickness of a finger wrapped in sheepskin with both ends sealed in wax— a common method for securing an urgent secret message.

Uncle Li promptly handed the item to his young mistress’s hands. Xia Zhiqian was taken aback; although she had some ideas, she had never experienced these things and didn’t know what to do now.

"To whom should I deliver this letter to?"

The man opened his mouth to speak but found he couldn’t make a sound and only hoarsely uttered two words.

The Crown Prince? Xia Zhiqian furrowed her brows; she wasn’t certain she could meet with the Crown Prince. But if Uncle Li were to go, he might not even be able to enter the doors.

"The Crown Prince?" Xia Zhiqian asked again for confirmation.

The man nodded immediately.

"Miss," Uncle Li hesitated, feeling that even in urgent times, they could only go to the Crown Prince’s Mansion come the dawn of the next day.

Xia Zhiqian bit her lip and glanced at the bamboo tube in her hand.

"Uncle Li, accompany me on a trip," she said.

"Now, Zhiqian? How can you go as a lady? You mustn’t go," Madam Xia was the first to object.