Chapter 49: Black Bird's Affair
Candles flickered in the Xuanhe Hall.
Medical Saint Song Hezi listened to the description of the disguise technique and nodded slightly, explaining that it was a surgical disguise, a complete transformation of appearance. Feng Yanyuan couldn't imagine such a disguise was possible, but then mentioned the secret medicine that had restored the mistress's youthful appearance. Song Hezi nodded and explained that Mo Yuntang once had a medicine that could regenerate flesh and restore youth.
"What a pity for Mo Yuntang! Woe to the Medicine God Mo Chen!" Song Hezi sighed.
Yun Yuan's heart trembled slightly when she heard this.
This was the second time she had heard her father's name in recent days. Her father was an expert in pharmacology, but his medical skills couldn't compare to those of the Medical Sage, Song Hezi. The title of Medicine God was earned after his death. Unexpectedly, in the eight years since Mo Yuntang disappeared, her father had not only gained fame in the martial arts world, but had even become a peerless medical sage.
Song Hezi lamented for a long time and continued, "If there really is someone in the world who can reproduce this recipe, it can explain why those people recovered so well. However... even if there is a panacea, it still takes time to recuperate. It will take several months to recover to its original state. Not to mention the body shape and bone structure, which requires careful selection to match..."
"So," Feng Yanyuan pondered, "this person should have followed the prince earlier..."
Thinking of this, the proud words of King Changshan, "My men only die in battle, never defect," suddenly rang in his ears, and his heart sank.
Shidu was a straightforward and honest person, treating others with sincerity and rarely showing suspicion, let alone towards his own guards. This betrayal was likely a heavy blow.
At this moment, in the Shouchun County Prison, Prince Changshan was holding the traitor by the scruff of his neck and striding through the gloomy prison passage.
"I'd like to borrow your prison." King Changshan said in a cold and hard voice.
The county governor followed behind him trembling with fear, with beads of sweat on his forehead, but he didn't dare wipe them off. He just kept saying, "Your Highness, please do as you please," his voice trembling.
When Feng Yanyuan and Yun Yuan arrived, King Changshan was waving his iron whip. He did not give the guard a chance to speak until his skin was torn and his breath was about to die. Then he asked who he was serving.
The man didn't even utter a single muffled groan as he was tortured, and only raised his head when he heard the shouts. As soon as he opened his mouth, before he could utter a single word, dark red blood foam choked out from the corner of his mouth.
"I don't know who they are, I only know that my parents and younger brothers are in their hands."
His words were already unclear, but he still spoke everything word by word.
Five years ago, the Prince of Changshan issued a call for guards. He emerged top of the list after undergoing rigorous selection and was overjoyed, only to return home to discover his parents had been held hostage. They demanded he keep the Prince informed of his whereabouts, but he was no match for them, so he complied. Since then, whether out of a desire to gain trust or guilt, or perhaps trust first and then guilt, he has remained the most hardworking and fearless guard, and the brother with whom the young prince often shared a drink and conversation.
Over the past five years, those black-clad puppets would appear occasionally to inquire about the news, but more often than not, he would need to take the initiative to send out the whereabouts of King Changshan.
As he spoke, King Changshan looked at the gray pigeon flapping its wings in the birdcage.
As they entered the city, the King of Changshan suddenly asked him how he usually reported news. The guard, who had remained silent and eyes closed, only then opened his eyes slightly, raised his head, whistled a few times, and the pigeon flew over. It must be said that this method of reporting was quite cautious. After all, no matter how good one's martial arts skills were, they couldn't catch a flying bird.
Over the years, his report had not had any impact on the prince, until now.
King Changshan coldly read out the names of the twelve brothers he had killed.
The face that had not been distorted even by the iron whip suddenly twitched, and a whimper escaped from between tightly clenched teeth. Tears mixed with blood rolled down, leaving muddy grooves between the whip marks.
Prince Changshan remained silent. When he finally calmed down, he heard his trembling voice say, "I carry a letter from my father. The paper is precious, and my father is illiterate, so someone must have written it for him. If Your Highness can find out where the letter came from, perhaps it will provide some clues."
King Changshan snorted and laughed, "You're on the verge of death, and you still want me to save your family?"
The guard smiled bitterly and said, "Those people have instructed us to take poison immediately if we are discovered, otherwise our families will be killed. Now that I have been captured alive by His Highness and interrogated, I am afraid my family is waiting for me on the road to the underworld."
King Changshan took out a carefully wrapped cloth bag from his waist, but when he opened it, he saw only a letter from home inside.
"I've been selling my whereabouts for five years, but there's only one letter?"
“I can occasionally see my parents in my hometown.”
King Changshan sneered, "It seems these people are trustworthy and worthy of your betrayal and loyalty."
The guard's throat choked with sobs. "The bandits threatened my elderly parents and young brother, but Your Highness treated me like a brother, as if I had been reborn. I suffer every day, feeling guilty for Your Highness's trust and worrying about the lives of my flesh and blood. Now my loyalty and righteousness are gone, and my filial piety is in vain..." His breath gradually weakened, blood foam choked in his throat, and his voice was hoarse. "If I meet Your Highness again in the next life, I will be an ox or a horse to atone for this sin..."
Yun Yuan stood three steps behind Feng Yanyuan.
She couldn't see their expressions, only the guard's face, bloodstained and tearful, a terrifying crimson. With every word he spoke, a stream of blood flowed from the corner of his lips, forming a small puddle on the ground.
She just felt her throat tighten and her vision misty.
In the end, he is just a poor man who has no choice.
Unfortunately, King Changshan was not shaken at all.
In the end, he stabbed the close guard who had been with him for five years with a sword, but before the man died, he said lightly: "Alive or dead, I will bring them back to you."
The guard's bloody fingers left a final scratch on the hem of Prince Changshan's clothes before he drooped dejectedly.
But Yun Yuan saw a relieved smile on the dying face, as if he had finally found relief after years of suffering.
It was true that this man had no chance of survival—now that the fake prince had been exposed, even if the Changshan King showed mercy, the person behind the scenes would never let him live. Yet, when the cold light flashed, she couldn't help but hold her breath.
The King of Changshan struck with astonishing speed. Without hesitation or anger, the sword pierced the guard's heart calmly, as if slicing through a piece of thin paper. Then, with a single hand, he lifted the still-twitching body and flung it before the guards, a reminder of the consequences of betrayal.
The bright red bloodstains meandered across the bluestone ground. King Changshan said nothing, but glanced at everyone with his usual smiling eyes.
Yun Yuan's heart trembled slightly. Cold and majestic, decisive and ruthless, how could this be the cheerful and cheerful little prince she knew?
The Prince of Changshan cleared his entourage, but a gloomy face remained. The letter paper was indeed valuable, but it was just a letter. Even if they could find out who wrote it, wouldn't it be like finding a needle in a haystack? The letter might have been written by someone else, but they didn't even know who wrote it, so how could they trace the handwriting?
The King of Changshan then thought of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, a group he had suspected from the beginning. They'd distributed invitations, organized the birthday banquet, and were trusted by the King of Zhao; no matter how you looked at it, they were definitely involved. He wanted to take his guards to Bagong Mountain to question Yuan Yi of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, but just as he stood up, Feng Yanyuan held him back.
"Senior Yue is seriously injured. Your Highness doesn't want to return to Lei Ting Manor to visit him?"
"I have no face to see my master until I find out the whole story." King Changshan said.
Seeing that he was about to leave again, Feng Yanyuan stopped him and said, "Your Highness wants to go to Bagong Mountain. Zishang dare not stop you, but I have three questions. Is Your Highness willing to listen to them?"
The King of Changshan frowned and said, "If you have something to say, just say it. If you have something to say, just fart quickly. You are so sour and polite to me!"
"First, Bagong Mountain is now a gathering place for martial artists. In what capacity will Your Highness lead his troops in?"
King Changshan was stunned.
"Secondly, the Five Pecks of Rice Sect is a prestigious and influential sect. Even though Your Highness is a prince, how can we hold him accountable without any concrete evidence?"
King Changshan was so angry that his eyes widened, but he turned his head away.
"Third, the largest number of disciples on Bagong Mountain are from the Five Pecks of Rice Sect. Not counting the mercenary assassins, there are at least hundreds of them. Your Highness only has a few dozen guards. Even if every one of them is incredibly powerful and sworn to death, the mountain streams and canyons are treacherous and full of traps. How many more brothers does Your Highness want to lose?"
King Changshan closed his eyes for a while, finally sighed, and sat down.
"What should we do then? Are we just going to sit there and wait for death?!"
The room was silent for a moment, and only the pigeon's "coo, coo, coo..." could be heard.
Yun Yuan looked at the gray pigeon and said, "We can use a flying pigeon to lead the way."
King Changshan disagreed and said, "It knows the way, but how can anyone catch up with it?"
Yun Yuan said, "There's no need to chase it. Xuanhe Hall has a rare and exotic fragrance called Qingfeihen. Apply the powdered fragrance to the feathers of a pigeon and let it fly away. We can also find some greyhounds and have Your Highness's guards lead them to follow the scent, and we'll naturally find out where it went."
The King of Changshan pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "But a carrier pigeon can carry a message over a thousand miles, so this incense will probably dissipate halfway. Even if the incense is long enough, a greyhound can still track it. At a distance of a thousand miles, over such a long period of time, who knows what will happen."
Yun Yuan said, "This carrier pigeon shouldn't need to travel thousands of miles to deliver a letter."
The King of Changshan asked in confusion, "Why are you so sure?"
Yun Yuan said, "Carrier pigeons carry messages over thousands of miles, crossing mountains and ridges, and there are too many unexpected situations. I just heard that person say that no matter where they are, as long as they use a designated whistle to call, the pigeons will come out to deliver the message. This means that these people have secret agents raising these pigeons in many places. If so, the pigeons only need to pass the message to the secret agents, and then they will screen and deal with it immediately. If they can't, they will send more carrier pigeons to deliver it. This is more reliable."
King Changshan said, "But since they already have a secret agent, and they want to train this pigeon, isn't that a waste of effort?"
"To avoid being seen." Feng Yanyuan said, "After all, the information you can get from catching a pigeon and a person is different."
Prince Changshan pondered for a moment, then added, "But if this pigeon flies here in response to the whistle... and there are hidden agents nearby, if they discover we've captured this pigeon as a guide and secretly shoot it, and it can't lead us to our destination, what will we do then?"
"Your Highness has been very thoughtful," Yun Yuan praised. "How about... catching a few more pigeons and releasing them along with the other common flying pigeons? This will confuse anyone who might be hiding somewhere nearby."
"That makes sense!" Then the King of Changshan paused and asked, "Will this fragrance affect the pigeons' navigation?"
Yun Yuan shook his head and said, "No. Birds know their way using the universe as their compass. Even if their sense of smell is impaired, it won't delay their return."
Her certain tone made King Changshan laugh. "How amazing! Could it be that you are truly a flying bird, just like your name suggests?"
Although he laughed at her, the young prince readily agreed and arranged the matter overnight. At dawn tomorrow morning, the gray pigeon would be released along with a flock of other pigeons, streaking across the sky above the quiet ancient city, indistinguishable from the others.
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