Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Army investigators were different from normal investigators. They managed to find a way to pick out the woman’s pain point. Women could be stubborn, but once they were caught, their emotions would get the better of them. She came clean and in a fit of anger she recounted everything that happened between them, even their escapades. 

The two investigators sitting across from her and listening to her talk maintained stoic faces and did not interrupt her. It was only when her throat hurt from talking that she finally stopped. 

According to what she said, she had received a huge sum of money and was tasked with seducing the soldier called Gao You. As they interacted, they started having affairs. 

After summarizing and organizing what they had found, the two investigators turned to leave. “Tsk tsk, this woman is really interesting. I like it.” After they walked out of the room, one of them said slowly. Although his expression was still cold, there was heat in his eyes. 

The other investigator frowned slightly and reminded him, “This woman is now an important point in our investigation. Don’t do anything to her.”

“Don’t worry. I am not so stupid as to self-destruct. Even if I like her, I will wait until everything is over.”

The other person thought about it and nodded without saying anything more. 

They had done many similar things. As long as they were careful, they would be fine. As the next step, they tried to catch the person who gave the woman money. However, the man named Wang Kai seemed to have realized something was amiss and had already escaped without a trace. 

The investigators closed the Wang Family’s house and checked it carefully. They found another lead from a servant girl and eventually managed to locate Wang Kai, who was hiding in another place in Iron Thorn City.

Wang Kai said that he was just trying to carry out the business passed down to him and serve the high-ranking officers from the army. So after coincidentally finding out that Gao You was a guard of the Marshal Tent, he bribed the woman. They would both benefit from it. 

The investigators tortured him until he could not bear the pain. Wang Kai was utterly destroyed as he gritted his teeth and asked them not to use torture. He asked them to tell him what they wanted him to say and he would just say it.

At this point, they could not torture him anymore or there would be trouble. 

The investigation reached another dead end. 

Another lead then came from the servant girl. Perhaps she thought that after betraying her master, she had no future. She was worried that he would take revenge on her and she gave an important clue – Wang Kai had a younger sister from a different mother. She had visited them a few years back. She dressed impressively and even had armored guards. 

She used the words ‘armored guards’, this was precise yet unremarkable. As the investigators took a glance at this somewhat beautiful girl, their eyes flashed as they knew that she must have gone to bed with Wang Kai. Instinct told them that there was something amiss. The investigators merely noted this down and did not push further. 

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Since they were on orders to investigate the assassination attempt against Marquis Chongwu Ning Qin, it was better not to dwell on side issues. 

After all, although the investigators were part of the Imperial Army and were not governed by the border army, since they were stationed at the border army, they had to be adaptable in order to not get in trouble. 

They reported back to the Marshal Tent and were instructed to continue investigating Wang Kai’s half-sister. After a painstaking investigation, they soon found that she was a concubine of the assistant general of Tiger Roar Troop. 

Ever since Ye Sangdu joined the West Border Army, Tiger Roar Troop had always been made up of his relatives. He had put in a lot of effort to manage them and all the people in the troop were the general’s trusted aides. Everyone knew that Assistant General Xu Zhou was a confidante of the Later Ye Family. 

The Marshal Tent fell silent. 

Ye Sangdu paled as he gritted his teeth and complained, “This has nothing to do with me. Marshal, please investigate properly!” He looked shocked and angry and did not seem to be pretending. But it was always difficult to determine who was pretending. 

Qin Yu lowered his head and continued sipping his tea. His eyes flickered. Amongst all the people present, Ye Sangdu was indeed the one who most likely wanted Qin Yu dead. But somehow, instinct told Qin Yu that Ye Sangdu was not pretending. 

Then who was the assassin?

Wu Tongtian was expressionless, “Great General, there is no need to get angry. The investigators have just found some leads. Maybe it is just a coincidence. If we let them continue investigating, the truth will come out and it will be your explanation.”

‘Putong’, Ye Sangdu felt his heart fall as he looked up at Wu Tongtian, who was looking calm. A hint of coldness could be seen on his face. 

Receiving the marshal’s order, the investigators went to Tiger Roar Troop. Assistant General Xu Zhou waved his own guards away as he maintained a composed expression, “I can go with you, but this situation has nothing to do with me.”

The investigators bowed, “General Xu, don’t worry. We will investigate carefully and not casually make any conclusions. But for now, please come with us.”

Xu Zhou nodded in an amicable manner, “Okay.” He turned to instruct his trusted aide to maintain the order amongst the troops and prevent any chaos. 

In the Marshal Tent, Ye Sangdu stood up and left. According to him, he was under suspicion and it was not appropriate for him to stay in the tent. He would return to his own tent to await the results.

Wu Tongtian did not stop him. 

Watching Ye Sangdu leave, there was a change in the eyes of everyone in the tent. 

Suppressing his emotions, Ye Sangdu maintained his composure as he left the Marshal Tent. He could sense the gazes on him. 

He grew angrier but pretended not to notice and he hurried back to his tent. 

He had to quickly investigate to see if Xu Zhou was involved. 

The feeling Wu Tongtian gave him today was extremely unsettling, if there really was something…the consequences would be severe!

In the great general’s tent, his confidante was waiting anxiously for his return. Upon seeing Ye Sangdu, he was delighted and rushed to greet him, “Great General, what do we do now? Xu Zhou has been exposed; there is going to be trouble!”

Ye Sangdu was pale as he stared at him. 

His confidante felt his heart shrink as he saw the great general’s expression. His voice trembled, “Great General, did you not know about it?”

Ye Sangdu felt like strangling him. He gritted his teeth and growled, “What is going on!”

The confidante paled and felt dizzy as he saw the great general glare at him. He knew that if he fainted now, he would never wake ever again. 

He slapped himself to prevent himself from fainting, “Great General, fourteen years ago it was Second Mister who personally came to find me. He arranged for Gao You to be a chess piece on the frontline. As this was very important, very few people knew about it. After I did it, I reported back to you and you responded with an okay. If not, I would not have dared to make decisions by myself for such a big event.”

Ye Sangdu’s mind flashed, and very soon, he found the memory that he had forgotten fourteen years ago. To great cultivators like himself, there was nothing that they truly forgot. He closed his eyes as his face turned sour, “Back then, I was confused and thought that you were referring to something else. Men, call Second Mister. I have to ask him why.”

He had been made a fool and underestimated by his own subordinate. This was a conspiracy against himself. It was mainly because Ye Sangdu trusted Second Mister. After he left the capital and came to the border army, Second Mister played a huge role in helping him do things without making mistakes. 

As  he thought of this, Ye Sangdu felt fear and apprehension. There was a chill in his heart that caused his entire body to feel cold!

A guard rushed off after receiving his order. Very soon, he returned and brought with him an ice cold corpse. 

“Great General, when I reached Second Mister he had already committed suicide. This is his suicide note that he left for you.”

Ye Sangdu looked at the calm and familiar face in front of him. He recalled how the both of them had just been talking a few days ago about how to deal with Marquis Chongwu Ning Qin. 

Back then, there had been nothing strange about Second Mister. Their conversation had been pleasant, with numerous ideas. He even mentioned waiting a while and not making any moves for the time being because of the pressure from the Imperial Clan.

At that time, Ye Sangdu would never have imagined that the Second Mister he respected so much would have set him up fourteen years ago. 

Picking up the suicide note, he tore it open. His face paled as he looked at it. He seemed to have written it in a panic. He admitted to making a big mistake and was too scared to face the consequences from the army and chose to commit suicide. He was apologetic to Ye Sangdu. 

Gripping the paper tightly in his fingers, it turned to dust. However, Ye Sangdu knew that when Second Mister chose to commit suicide out of fear, whether he left this note or not was not important.

But even so, Second Mister chose to write this before committing suicide…Ye Sangdu’s fingers trembled. He suddenly looked up, “Go and meet with Xu Zhou, tell him to settle this…” He froze. He thought of Second Mister’s brilliance. Yet, Second Mister was also just a chesspiece who could be discarded. Would the person playing the game of chess give him a chance?

“It is too late…too late…” He muttered to himself sadly. 

Ye Sangdu was right. Xu Zhou, who had been dragged to the investigation, didn’t last long before he was detained. 

He struggled to resist and shouted angrily, “How dare you! I am the assistant general of Tiger Roar Troop. How dare you use force against me? I will see this matter through to the end; don’t think of getting away with this!”

The investigators who had detained him looked at this general who was spouting harsh words in anger with pity. Their looks caused Xu Zhou to frown and he paled very quickly. He started trembling and sweating in fear. 

One of the investigators said softly, “General Xu, you should know that unless we had proper proof, we would not have dared to take action against you.” He shook his head and sighed softly, “The most evil thing in the world is a woman’s heart. In your next life, you had better judge clearly.”

Hearing this, it was as if Xu Zhou’s spine broke as he fell to the ground in a heap, losing all energy. 

Wang Kai’s sister was kneeling in the corner of a prison as she kowtowed and cried, “Mother, mother, I finally sought revenge for you…no one from the Wang Family will be able to escape. Rest in peace…”