Chapter 89

Update Time: 2013-05-06

Xiao Yu knew that the situation was now critical. The guards of Ziyecheng would immediately surround this place tightly upon hearing the commotion. If they were caught, the consequences would be unimaginable! She knew she could only use her last resort!

This escape technique had a time limit, lasting only as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea! Within this time, even experts capable of flying at the speed of a physical body would not be able to catch up with her! She did not head towards the location where Wan Ming had landed, but directly aimed to escape from Ziyecheng! She could not bring trouble to her master!

Thus, when Ziyecheng's Thunder Venerable Pang Tianya heard the noise and quickly flew over, he saw a black-red figure moving at an extraordinary speed towards the direction outside the city lord's residence! Without hesitation, he flew after it, leaving a message for the commanders who followed on flying magical artifacts!

"An enemy has been spotted, fleeing towards the outside of the residence! The speed is too fast, order the city crossbows to be readied immediately! Try to shoot her down when she escapes over the city wall, I want to see who dares to cause trouble under my nose again and again!"

"Yes!" Those behind immediately took out the 'Thousand Mile Sound Transmission' magical artifacts to notify the guards at the four city gates to prepare to strike the enemy! Only these high-ranking officials had such real-time information transmission magical artifacts, and their range was not very far, probably unable to contact outside Ziyecheng! If Yun Mo saw this, he would immediately think of mobile phones from his previous life!

After the order was issued, they quickly rode their magical artifacts to chase in the direction where the Thunder Venerable had disappeared! Although they knew they couldn't catch up, they had to show this attitude!

After a few moments, countless guards riding demonic horses, holding burning torches, surrounded the site of the explosion! Soon, the guards dug out Captain Wen Junlai, who was severely injured, from under the thick layer of soil and branches. Then the military doctors quickly came to treat his wounds!

Wen Junlai showed great toughness, repeatedly saying he was fine! In fact, his mind was so muddled that he was about to faint, but he knew he couldn't pass out at this moment! He had to complete the planned mission as soon as possible, otherwise, the longer it took, the worse it would be!

He quickly described the process of his attack! However, it had changed: while searching the area, he accidentally discovered an enemy approaching, and just saw a black-clothed woman detonate the place. Because she discovered him, she attacked him with a blade of light! Fortunately, he was lucky and wasn't killed on the spot!

This explanation left everyone puzzled! "Why would an enemy female mage want to blow up this pine forest? Is she bored or what?" But Wen Junlai described it vividly, and they couldn't help but believe him! Thus, the guards surrounding the area were given an additional strange task: to dig up the place to see if there was anything special!

This caused a commotion, with the remaining trees being uprooted and the ground being dug up several layers! But they found nothing, not even a trace!

Everyone was extremely surprised and wanted to ask Wen Junlai again, but found that he had already disappeared! When they asked the doctor who was treating Wen Junlai, the doctor said, "Captain Wen said he was fine and was rushing to the city gate to help catch the thief!"

"What a loyal and dedicated Captain Wen!" Everyone cheered, now knowing of Wen Junlai's performance on Luojia Street, they couldn't help but feel admiration!

Unbeknownst to them, Yun Mo was now rushing to Cheng Fugui's house! His heart was filled with murderous intent!

"Damn it, it's all this old man's fault! Otherwise, would I have encountered so many troubles? I've been on the brink of life and death several times tonight. If I don't eliminate you, how can I be at ease?"

While lying in the soil, he listened intently to the commotion outside, knowing that the terrifying woman hadn't died and was fleeing towards the city outskirts! He couldn't help but feel a bit relieved! "The power of the landmine needs to be improved. It's effective against someone at Gongsun Furong's level, but not so much against someone at the Tianyun level. I need to research more! If I could just capture someone at the Tianyun level, that would be great!"

Yun Mo thought about these messy things as he casually greeted the guards he encountered on the road, gradually approaching the residence of the Grand Steward Cheng Fugui!

...

Cheng Fugui's residence was located near the center of the city lord's residence, a few dozen streets away from Luojia Street, and not too far from Gongsun Furong's house.

At its center were five luxurious purple-red four-story buildings! Surrounding these buildings were over twenty separate courtyards, each planned as a three-section courtyard, apparently for the use of Cheng Fugui's family and children.

Three large gardens, planted with exotic flowers and strange trees, were scattered between the courtyards, and more than ten ponds with ornamental fish were scattered throughout, with lotus ponds blooming with pink lotuses, making them extremely beautiful in the summer evening breeze. The surrounding artificial hills, flowing water, waterfalls, small bridges, pavilions, tall trees, and wild vines added a natural beauty!

These buildings, though not the largest in area, were exquisitely crafted and could rival the private residences of mid-to-high-level commanders! Moreover, in terms of price, this was the center of the city lord's residence, far more valuable than the buildings on Luojia Street! After all, the city lord's main residence was located in the center of the city lord's residence, and allocating such a residence to Cheng Fugui also facilitated his work!

Strictly speaking, every blade of grass and tree in the city lord's residence belonged to the city lord of Ziyecheng. But unlike other nobles, this lord placed little value on these external possessions!

So-called allocation of residences actually did not come with property deeds; they were only available for use by the commanders and captains during their tenure. Ownership still belonged to the city lord. This was the rule for high-ranking nobles to support their private armies.

But the city lord of Ziyecheng cared nothing for these! With a stroke of his pen, he turned the allocated residences into private residences, issuing property deeds, making the treatment of the high-ranking guards of Ziyecheng the best in the entire empire's noble private armies, for this very reason!

But there was always a return on investment. The guards of Ziyecheng were the most loyal and combat-effective private army, known to everyone in the empire. Some nobles wanted to follow this lord's example, granting their properties to their subordinates in exchange for loyalty, but all were rejected by their greedy elders. Thus, the city lord of Ziyecheng, in every aspect, was a unique figure among the top nobles of the empire!

Perhaps this was also one of the reasons why he could not integrate well into the noble circles of the empire! Independent and unconventional people are generally not well-liked by the masses.

In the night, the red gates of the Cheng residence were tightly closed, with two red lanterns hanging limply from the door, swaying in the wind as if they would fall and shatter at any moment!

Numerous guards in armor, armed with weapons and bows, patrolled the courtyards! A tense and uneasy atmosphere enveloped this luxurious residence! After the assassination at the city lord's residence, additional security personnel were dispatched to the homes of all the heads! There could be no more incidents, or how could Pang Tianya face his elder brother who was about to emerge from seclusion? Due to this concern, additional personnel were certainly dispatched to the home of the Grand Steward Cheng Fugui!

At this moment, Cheng Fugui stood on the fourth floor of a small building, his deep gaze looking through the open window at the black smoke in the distance, his lips tightly pressed together, his hands clenched in his sleeves, feeling the approach of danger!

Behind him stood only one person, a small old man with a goatee, Zhou Quan!

At this moment, Zhou Quan's face was also dark, his eyes darting around, clearly very worried.

After a long silence, Cheng Fugui, without turning around, said softly, "I just asked Gongsun Furong to help eliminate a heartache, and a day later, I received news of his death in a fire spell attack. This is too coincidental! Could... these two events be related?"

His eyes grew even deeper, as if trying to see through the night sky to the essence of the matter!

Cheng Fugui's voice was very low, almost a murmur, but Zhou Quan knew that the Grand Steward was asking him, otherwise, after Gongsun Furong's incident, he wouldn't have sent someone to call him here!

And this was also Zhou Quan's doubt.

"Logically, there shouldn't be a connection!" Zhou Quan pinched his goatee, pondering for a long time before answering.

Oh? Cheng Fugui turned around, staring at Zhou Quan's uncertain eyes, and asked in a hoarse voice, "What do you think? Is there anything we've overlooked?"

Zhou Quan understood Cheng Fugui's meaning, his brows furrowed, and his voice suddenly became serious, "Unless...!"

"Unless what?" Cheng Fugui's eyes suddenly widened, his gaze cold.

Zhou Quan wiped the cold sweat from his face and continued, "Unless he has a friend or a master! And this person is a top expert, possibly a fire-element soul mage, with at least greater overall strength than Gongsun Furong. Otherwise, how could he enter Gongsun's residence so easily and blow it up? I also heard that Gongsun's subordinate Hu Changqing suddenly went mad this morning, killing his own wife, and is now restrained by the doctors, for fear of his madness!"

Cheng Fugui's face twitched upon hearing this! As the Grand Steward, he knew how tightly guarded the residences of the guards and commanders were. The more he knew, the more afraid he became!