Chapter 66: Deep in the forest, a murderous aura suddenly rose.

Deep in the forest, murderous aura suddenly arose.

The originally peaceful forest was now filled with startled birds and scattered branches and leaves dancing wildly, with every leaf trembling in anxiety.

Dark shadows appeared from all directions like ghosts from the shadows of the trees. They did not touch the ground, and wherever their figures passed, they left behind only rapidly extending black lines that cut through the forest landscape.

All the lines, like venomous snakes, converged in the same direction—the fleeing figure—and strangled it.

The figure in front was even faster, so fast that only an afterimage remained. Wherever it passed, fallen leaves flew around, like a gust of wind passing by.

"Quick, use arrows, don't let him enter the ravine!"

From the darkness, a shout ripped through the air. The instant the command was given, bowstrings hummed in unison, a continuous tremor of death! Countless black dots suddenly soared into the air, converging into a flock of moving crows, piercing the air and heading straight ahead.

Amidst the rain of arrows, a unique shrill sound was particularly piercing. It tore through the air, even surpassing the sound, and accurately bit into the center of the wind shadow.

The view zoomed in, focusing on that single point of cold light—the arrowhead spun, its icy metallic sheen rapidly magnified, like the pupils of the god of death, already reflecting the texture of the prey's clothing on its back. In the next instant, it would pierce through flesh and blood, returning home with a drink of blood!

Half an hour ago, Yunjian Villa.

The hot spring pool is filled with steam, and the four-cornered agarwood burner is emitting wisps of green smoke. The bitter scent of agarwood blends with the water vapor, shrouding the people in the pool in a mist.

In a spring pool paved with white marble, a figure leaned against the wall. Two maids in plain clothes knelt by the pool, massaging his shoulders and neck.

After a moment, the person leaning against the edge of the pool slowly straightened up, raised his hand from the water, and lightly tapped the water with his fingertips. The maid understood, immediately lowered her head, stopped, and bowed to the side.

As soon as he stepped out of the spring, a maid stepped forward and draped a robe that had been prepared long ago around him. The robe was embroidered with cranes and auspicious clouds in silver thread, and as the sleeves fluttered, he seemed to be transcending the world.

As the mist gradually dissipated, his features gradually became clearer. His face, gaunt and thin, though moistened by the hot spring, lacked any rosiness, instead revealing a sickly pallor. His loose hair was streaked with silver, interwoven with the remaining black, creating a striking contrast.

Another maid knelt forward, carrying a red sandalwood tray. On the tray lay a small celadon dish and a glass of water, and on the dish sat a thumb-sized black meatball.

"Your Highness, it's time to take the elixir."

That’s right, he is the current crown prince - Wei Yuanxiu.

Wei Yuanxiu glanced at the pill, and the corners of his lips tightened into a cold and hard straight line.

The wide sleeves swished past, and the cranes embroidered with silver thread seemed to burst out of the clouds. With a few crisp "clangs", the wooden tray fell into the pond.

"Immortal Pill?" He scoffed, his voice hoarse as if scraping stone from long-term medication. "If I could truly attain immortality, why would I have to do this?"

The servants knelt hurriedly, begging for mercy: "Your Highness, please calm down!"

Wei Yuanxiu stared at the vortex left by the elixir sinking into the pool, his eyes filled with anger. "Where's Zheng Guangren? Hasn't he come back yet?!"

A servant crawled forward, his voice trembling, "Your Highness, Master Zheng... left the village early this morning with the fifth group of candidates..."

"You've tried so many, and still can't find any results? They're all useless!" Wei Yuanxiu's voice suddenly rose. He kicked the servant who had replied to him to the edge of the pond and pointed his finger towards the gate of the manor. "Let him try two more batches. Regardless of whether there are any results or not, bring them all back to me!"

"Yes, Your Highness."

At this moment, a very slight "rustling" sound came from the woods.

"who?"

Wei Yuanxiu's eyes suddenly grew stern, and he nodded slightly towards the darkness. In an instant, several dark shadows flew out of the originally quiet forest and quickly disappeared into the depths of the emerald forest.

Just as the tip of the arrow was about to touch the man's back, a long sword came through the air and hit the arrow shaft accurately. With a sharp "clang" sound, the arrow flew out at an angle and was deeply embedded in the tree trunk beside it.

The swordsman grabbed the man's arm and hurled a black projectile backward. The projectile exploded upon impact, sending up a thick, grayish-white cloud that instantly obscured the pursuers' vision.

When the shadows emerged from the smoke, the forest was already empty, with only a few slowly falling leaves and the still-trembling arrow feather remaining.

"Guo Yan, why are you here?"

Guo Yan dragged Fang Buyu under the shadow of the ancient tree, his eyes filled with shock and anger. "I should be the one asking you this! What kind of place is Yunjian Villa? How dare you break in?"

"I. Want. Him. To. Die." Fang Buyu stared at the outline of the villa in the distance, blood flashing in his eyes.

"You're seriously crazy!" Guo Yan raised his arm to block him. "That's the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace! Even if he leaves the capital, his secret guards are no less numerous than the autumn leaves in the forest! You're walking into Hades' palace!"

"Yes, I'm crazy!" Fang Buyu waved his hand, a hoarse laugh emanating from his throat, "What emperor, crown prince, I want them all to be buried with Tiao Tiao!"

Guo Yan grabbed Fang Buyu's shoulder and said, "Buyu! Wake up! We have preliminary evidence that the Crown Prince is testing drugs on the people. As long as we collect more relevant evidence and witnesses, we can expose his crimes to His Majesty!"

"Reveal?" A hint of cold sarcasm crossed Fang Buyu's lips, his eyes fixed on the outline of the distant villa. "Will exposing it be of any use? The Ningxiang case and the Broken Bridge case, even a fool could see that those things could not have been done by Wang Xin alone, but Your Majesty still chose to listen to the prince's words and protect Tuoba Xuan..."

He slowly turned his head, his eyes filled with bottomless despair. "Even if we found irrefutable evidence of the Crown Prince, it would be like a stone sunk in a deep pool, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple!"

Guo Yan's Adam's apple rolled with difficulty, and silence stretched between them. After a long moment, he finally spoke in a hoarse defense, "Your Majesty... perhaps I was temporarily deceived, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to thoroughly investigate the Broken Bridge Case..."

Fang Buyu lowered his eyelids, his thick lashes casting a shadow on his pale face. When he raised his eyes again, they were filled with a resolute and dead silence. "I no longer wish to speculate on your Majesty's intentions. But this Wei Yuanxiu—must die."

"Wei Yuanxiu deserves death, but how can you possibly accomplish anything by simply trying to stop a rock with an egg?" Guo Yan clutched his collar in agony. "Where's your former rationality and strategy? Where have they gone?"

"Oh...reason...strategy..." Fang Buyu laughed sadly, "Grandma Tiaotiao's passing caused her a lifetime of pain. She herself was eventually suffocated to death in the snow. The Crown Prince was the instigator of all this. How can I be rational, let alone talk about strategy..."

He stumbled half a step, leaning against the old tree behind him to steady himself: "Tiao Tiao is gone. This world has long since left me with nothing to linger on. I might as well use this life to drag Wei Yuanxiu down to hell with me—"

"What about Madam Zhao?" Guo Yan interrupted him, "And Lord Liu, who treated you like his own son! Are you going to let them be buried with you too?!"

Fang Buyu's body swayed. Only then did his mind, clouded by grief and hatred, finally clear its mind a little - if he dared to do such a treasonous act, how would his mother at home and his adoptive father, who had treated him with such great kindness, cope with it?

Seeing Fang Buyu finally moved, Guo Yan's tense nerves relaxed slightly. He took a half step forward, leaned forward and said, "Buyu, I have a way to avenge Zhou Tiao."

"What method?"

There was a sound of dead branches breaking in the distance. Guo Yan listened carefully and waited until the sound faded away before whispering, "Tomorrow, I'll tell you tomorrow."

*

The next morning, Guo Yan took Fang Buyu to an inconspicuous tea stall in the street market.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"We'll know in a moment." Guo Yan poured a bowl of coarse tea and pushed it over, his eyes casting towards the crowd of people not far away. "Let's wait and see."

Fang Buyu looked up and saw that the stall diagonally opposite was crowded with people. The waiting people lined up from the middle of the street to the alley entrance. Some were carrying baskets, some were supporting the elderly, and they all looked towards the center of the stall.

Soon, two carriages pulled up in front of the stall, one in front and one behind. The first was a black, flat-topped carriage. Though devoid of gold and jade ornamentation, its sandalwood and dark brocade curtains betrayed its value. The one following behind was a simpler affair, a half-worn, blue-clothed cart that creaked as it jolted along.

Guo Yan's eyes lit up and he said, "The real master is here."

The curtain of the black lacquered carriage was lifted, and a middle-aged man in an indigo brocade robe bowed and got out of the carriage, the green jade pendant hanging around his waist swaying slightly with his movements.

Almost at the same time, the curtain of the blue cloth carriage was also lifted, and seven or eight men in coarse cloth clothes came down silently. Most of them had pale and thin faces. They lowered their heads and followed the middle-aged man, not daring to look around.

The pancake vendor nearby glanced over and whispered to a regular customer, "See? That person getting out of that little blue cloth cart must be another tenant farmer or handyman from the farm outside the city."

"I've seen this scene several times. Every time, the gentleman sits in the front car and the servants sit in the back car."

"They said they were brought here to see the female healer, but these people..." The stall owner shook his head and said nothing more.

Fang Buyu's eyes swept over the servants' bleached collars and rough black knuckles. Guo Yan leaned in at that moment and said in a low voice, "The middle-aged man in front is the Crown Prince's second steward. The men following behind are all low-level servants at the Crown Prince's villa in Weizhou."

As soon as the man in charge appeared, the crowded crowd seemed to have a tacit understanding, and the originally congested flow of people automatically made way for a passage.

The man in brocade robe walked towards the medical record without looking around. Seven or eight servants who got off the carriage behind him followed him silently, standing by with their hands hanging down.

In the brief gap when the wall of people broke, Fang Buyu's sight passed through the crowd and fell on the medical records - a woman in plain cloth was sitting in the middle, with her eyes lowered and her fingertips lightly resting on the wrist of an old man.

Before I could take a closer look, the surging crowd had gathered again, submerging the pure white again.

"This is the female doctor who has become famous recently." Guo Yan introduced in her ear.

Fang Buyu's eyes were fixed on the bustling area: "Are you sure those are the prince's men?"

"Absolutely true." Guo Yan gently spun the tea bowl. "After hearing what Doctor Wen said a few days ago, I knew you would go to see the Crown Prince. Everyone knows that the Crown Prince comes to Yunjian Villa in Weizhou for recuperation every year at this time, so his whereabouts are not difficult to track. So, these past few days, I have been quietly squatting at the exit of Yunjian Villa and witnessed with my own eyes this procession of carriages and horses leaving at noon and returning at noon, all heading to this medical stall."

He saw Fang Buyu's knuckles tighten slightly, and whispered, "The prince is so obsessed with the art of immortality. I'm sure you've guessed my plan."

Fang Buyu looked at the white figure that appeared and disappeared in the crowd, his knuckles unconsciously rubbing the edge of the coarse pottery tea bowl: "You want to borrow that woman's hand?"

"That's right." Guo Yan lowered his voice very low, "With her help, we can get rid of the prince without anyone noticing."

Fang Buyu's eyes were filled with complexities. Unnoticed? If the Crown Prince died suddenly after receiving medical treatment, she would be the first to be arrested. Would she be able to survive the torture of being branded with irons and tortured by the Imperial Prison?

Seeing his serious expression, Guo Yan assumed he was worried about his plan being exposed. "I'll have my own way to silence her forever, and we won't be implicated. Even though it will cost an innocent life..." He paused, his voice growing colder. "But those who achieve great things shouldn't be too concerned with trivial matters."

Fang Buyu held Guo Yan's hand holding the pot and said, "Don't act rashly. I have other plans."