Chapter Ten: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada

"Boom..."

A huge explosion rang out from the foot of the mountain, and the dilapidated temple was blown apart, with its roof tiles flying everywhere. However, the Buddha statue inside the temple seemed to be protected by the Buddha, and it was completely unharmed, with only some of the outer layer of paint peeling off, revealing the true bronze body inside.

"I've heard that Henan Road is very lucrative..." Mu Lian dusted off his outer garment, which was stained with dust floating in the air, and said leisurely, "On the way back, let Liu Zhang sculpt a golden statue for Buddha..."

Golden statue? Meng Yuan's eyes lit up: "Good, good, good, then it must be a pure gold statue..." After saying that, she hurriedly bowed deeply towards the location of the Buddha statue, muttering: It's rare that the head of the academy is willing to remember the Buddha, it's really not easy, then we must make that old bastard Liu Zhang bleed a little more.

The chosen location for today's explosion had been carefully planned beforehand, so although the explosion was spectacular, it did not destroy the mountain, only creating a passage at the foot of the mountain connected to the ruined temple. After the smoke and dust cleared, Mu Lian personally led the officers of the Judicial Office to investigate.

The once deep, dark passage was now reduced to its bottom, with bright sunlight streaming above. The group moved smoothly, turning left and right, and soon arrived at a lush, tree-lined area. Hidden among the branches and leaves were what appeared to be houses, but separated by a deep, insurmountable ditch – the hideout of the men in black.

"Go!" Mu Lian waved his hand, and the soldiers of the Judicial Office began to move.

The fortification team had already deployed their grappling hooks and other equipment. With a powerful throw, the hooks crossed the chasm and firmly wrapped around the beams of the opposite building. Taking advantage of this favorable wind, the scout team's highly skilled pawns swiftly slid to the other side. After some reconnaissance, the scout team pawns waved their flags.

Nobody here? Mu Lian and Meng Yuan exchanged a glance, somewhat surprised.

"Wait here..." Mu Lian gestured to the soldiers, pulled on the iron chain, and slid across.

Inside the opposite building, the stench of blood was nauseating. The stone house was mostly collapsed, some men in black buried beneath the stones, others seemingly not seriously injured, but with black blood trickling from their mouths—presumably poisoned. Mu Lian surveyed the scene; not a single survivor. This military governor was truly ruthless and merciless; seeing the operation fail and the stronghold exposed, he immediately resorted to murder to silence everyone—a truly ruthless act.

"Reporting to the head of the academy, nothing was found..."

"Your Excellency, we found nothing either..."

"Ha." Mu Lian couldn't help but sneer. Everyone was killed, all the clues were wiped clean; it seems Liu Zhang is quite experienced.

With her slender fingers gripping the sword, Mu Lian raised and lowered them one by one, gesturing to Meng Yuan: "Check what kind of poison it is?"

"yes."

"Be careful, the corpse might be a trap..."

"yes……"

With the adult's reminder, Meng Yuan used the tip of her sword to pick up a bit of the dried blood from the black-clad man's lips. After sniffing it, she hesitated and said, "It seems to be just ordinary arsenic..."

Arsenic? Mu Lian was surprised again. It seemed that the military governor of Henan was indeed not easy to deal with, and his mind was so meticulous that he had even anticipated that she would start with poison.

Yu Guangzhong caught a glimpse of the fake imperial guard lying on the ground, and Mu Lian sighed inwardly. He had once been willing to murder others to serve his master, but now he had become a discarded pawn. Did he feel any resentment in his dying moments?

"Burn them..." As the weather grew hotter, the smell of numerous rotting corpses was unpleasant.

"yes."

After Mu Lian and the others returned safely, the last few soldiers lit torches.

The mountain wind was light, and the eerie blue torches under the bright sun looked somewhat unsettling, with a strange smell wafting through the air.

"Not good, retreat quickly..." Mu Lian suddenly realized.

"Bang..." Before the words were finished, accompanied by a huge sound, the pile of corpses suddenly exploded, chunks of flesh and blood flying everywhere, and the powerful impact knocked the people on the other side of the ditch to the ground.

After a long while, Mu Lian, Meng Yuan, and the others finally got up, their faces pale. The corpses lying haphazardly were indeed poisoned, and it was a strange poison that would turn into oil upon contact with fire. The rapid and violent oil-making process produced a large amount of gas, which would explode violently upon contact with an open flame. The explosion just now was fierce and sudden; none of the soldiers left to clean up the mess survived, and they were instantly blasted to pieces, their remains mingling with the corpses of the men in black, reduced to fragments.

Liu Zhang's scheme was incredibly meticulous! A blood-red blur filled her vision, and she could almost see splattered flesh and blood from the explosion on her face. Mu Lian's hands trembled slightly. This time, it was ultimately her own negligence that had cost her life.

"My lord..." Meng Yuan's hands were trembling. Although she had followed the head of the academy through life and death many times, this was the first time she had witnessed the death of a comrade so directly and tragically.

Without turning back, Mu Lian gripped her sword tightly, knelt on one knee, and kowtowed deeply to the ground. "I'm sorry!"

They returned to the inn on the second day. The group had set out in high spirits, but now returned somewhat disappointed.

Mu Lian remained silent the entire way. Although she was used to seeing death, she couldn't accept that her misjudgment had led to the deaths of her men. Moreover, since Liu Zhang already knew that she had come on the Empress's secret orders, he would definitely have taken precautions. Now, trying to launch a surprise attack would only be more difficult.

"Sir, there is a secret message from Kyoto..."

Putting down her pen, Mu Lian took the secret letter from Meng Yuan and scanned it closely, her fingertips lingering on the three characters "Prince Ruyang".

The Prince of Ruyang? Could it be that the Prince of Ruyang is related to Liu Zhang? If Mu Lian remembers correctly, there was no mention in the previous intelligence of the Prince of Ruyang having any relationship with the military governor of Henan.

"Have the spies sent to Henan Province reported anything back?"

"Never..."

No? It's been almost five days since we left the capital. By now, the scouts should have sent back some news.

Mu Lian paused slightly in her grip on the pen, then instructed Meng Yuan, "Go and inform the Director of the Imperial Stables and Deputy Commander Sun that we are departing immediately..."

"yes."

Without asking why, Meng Yuan knew that the situation was not optimistic. In the past few times, their actions seemed to have been preempted or countered by the other side, restricting them at every turn. If they could not gain the upper hand again, they feared they would suffer a complete defeat.

Inside the council chamber, upon hearing that they were to depart immediately, Deputy Commander Sun's explosive temper finally broke down: "Why doesn't this perfectly good woman stay at home and instead insists on causing trouble? Is she trying to annoy me?"

Sun Bin grew angrier the more he thought about it. She had acted without warning before, and now she was leaving just like that. Even if the Court of Judicial Affairs was on equal footing with him and didn't respect him, wasn't there still the Commissioner of the Imperial Stables? Such behavior was truly hateful.

"Don't rush, don't rush, Lord Sun..." Although Ye Yuqing was also unaware of the details, she figured that Headmaster Mu wasn't the type to act rashly, and there must be a reason for his actions. Having made up her mind, Ye Yuqing reassured him, "I observed the celestial phenomena last night, and there's a high probability of heavy rain tomorrow and the day after. If we're delayed by the rain, it will inevitably hinder our important business. It's better to hurry on our way today and avoid this storm..."

A series of words, half true and half false but reasonable and well-founded, finally calmed Sun Bin down. Besides, they had rested for a day after arriving here, so they were full of energy for their journey.

Half an hour later, the large contingent set off, fully equipped. The officials from the Judicial Office were exhausted from days of travel, so Mu Lian directed the soldiers to saw wood and make carts, allowing them to rest alternately on and off the carts. Upon learning of this, Ye Yiqing, in his capacity as the Director of the Imperial Stables, dispatched two squads of Imperial Guards to protect them. Although Deputy Commander Sun was displeased, he ultimately could not object.

Before long, the group arrived at the Yellow River.