Chapter 82

When the leader of the Lotus Sect heard that Lin Nanjie was taken away by Hua Heng and the people in charge of guarding him were tied up and sent back, he was furious.

"What are you doing? You can't even handle such a small matter."

The people below lowered their heads in fear and dared not speak.

The leader of the Lotus Sect said, "Prepare the car, I need to go out for a while."

The leader of the Lotus Sect rode in a carriage to an unknown place, put on a cloak, got off the carriage, and walked quickly into the dilapidated courtyard gate.

As soon as he pushed the door open, he smelled a strong smell of medicine, which made him squint his eyes. He looked towards the closed door of the house, and a solemn look flashed in his eyes.

There were weeds growing in the yard, and there was a rustling sound in the weeds. He was a little flustered and stepped on something slippery, almost tripping. He looked closely and found that it was a snake as thick as a thumb, with patterns all over its body. He was so scared that his face turned pale.

He walked to the door restlessly, raised his hand and knocked: "Master? It's me."

There was no sound inside, and the leader and others were feeling uneasy.

After an incense stick of time, a hoarse voice came from inside: "Come in..."

Every time the leader heard this sound, he felt scared, but he still pushed the door open and went in.

The smell of medicine in the room was much stronger than in the yard. There was a large medicine barrel in the middle of the room. A man was sitting in the barrel. He was shirtless and looked like a middle-aged man in his thirties or forties, but his hair was already gray. What was even more terrifying was that there was a scar across his face, running from the left forehead directly to the right lower jaw corner, and his entire face seemed to be torn in half.

The leader said respectfully, "My Lord, I failed to do my job well and let Lin Nanqie be taken away by Hua Heng. Please punish me."

The man in the medicine barrel closed his eyes, not even blinking, his lips moved slightly, his throat seemed to be burned, and he made a hoarse and terrifying sound: "You are indeed incompetent. This matter should have been a natural outcome, but you failed again and again. Since the orphan of the Lin family knew about the blood feud back then, why didn't he do anything?"

The leader lowered his head and said, "After he was taken away, Hua Heng has tightened control over military affairs, and our people have nowhere to move."

The man in the medicine barrel didn't say anything, but asked about other things: "How is your teaching?"

When the leader mentioned this, he felt a toothache, and his whole body was not smooth. "Master, you have to make a decision for me! Not only did Lin Nanjie get the position of Saint Leader by cheating, but he also brought down Feng Jiye. Now his reputation is almost greater than mine inside and outside the sect!"

Whenever he mentioned these things about Lin Nanjie, he felt his teeth itching with hatred.

Now that Feng Jiye is gone, his monthly income has been reduced by more than half. Unless he kills Lin Nanjie, he will not be able to relieve his anger!

"Idiot!"

The man in the medicine barrel suddenly opened his eyes and stared at the leader coldly.

"You've been enjoying your time as the leader so much these years. You've been messed around by a brat, and you still have the nerve to ask me for help?"

The leader was anxious: "Lin Nanjie is a big shot, he is definitely not just the former eunuch, there must be someone behind him, I have done my best, you can't just sit there and watch..."

Before the leader could say anything, the blood vessels in his throat were pierced by a silver needle. He felt as if a pair of invisible hands were tightly grasping his neck. He let out a "ho ho" sound from his throat and stared at the person in the medicine barrel with his eyes wide open: "Master... I don't want to die..."

The leader fell straight to the ground, and the man in the medicine barrel seemed not to see anything. He closed his eyes again, his posture motionless, and his expression was not affected at all.

A thin woman with a beautiful face came out from inside. She looked at the body lying on the ground and said, "My Lord, you shouldn't have killed him. Now is the time to use him."

The man in the medicine barrel slowly scrubbed his upper body: "Even if I don't kill him, someone else will. Hua Heng won't let it go. What's more, Lin Nanjie has a close relationship with those people from the capital. They are all powerful. You can go and check it out."

The woman was slightly startled, and immediately accepted the order: "Yes!"

***

When Hua Heng led his men to the Lotus Sect's old nest, it was already empty, with only a few marginal believers left, most of whom were poor local people who knew nothing. When they saw Lin Nanjie, they all knelt down and said, "Greetings to the Holy Lord!"

Seeing so many soldiers, they panicked: "Holy Lord, what are you doing? We didn't do anything!"

Hua Heng looked at Lin Nanjie in surprise.

Lin Nanjie smiled awkwardly: "I accidentally became the Holy Lord."

Hua Heng was amazed: "He can be the eunuch in the palace and the holy leader of a sect among the people. He is worthy of being my nephew!"

Lin Nanqi blushed slightly: "Uncle, you are too kind."

[My uncle’s filter is too wide.]

Lin Nanqi had no choice but to say to the people: "Hurry up and get up. This matter has nothing to do with you. Do you know where the leader is now?"

The people looked at each other and shook their heads. Finally, a higher-ranking monk said, "He left yesterday and has not returned since."

Lin Nanjie and Hua Heng looked at each other.

"Did he run away?"

Hua Heng frowned: "Maybe he saw that inciting others was hopeless and guessed that we would come to arrest him, so he ran away in advance."

"Report!——"

At this time, Hua Heng's subordinates came to report: "General, someone found a body in the wilderness outside the city. I went to check and it looks like the leader of the Lotus Sect."

Lin Nanqi and Hua Heng's expressions changed at the same time. Hua Heng made a prompt decision: "Lead the way!"

When Lin Nanjie and Hua Heng arrived, flies were already flying all over the sky. Lin Nanjie took one look at the corpse and couldn't help but tilt his head and vomit.

The body had many marks of being torn by wild animals, the clothes were torn, the flesh was torn, bloody, and even the thigh bone was exposed. In addition, it was summer, Qianzhou was hot, and the climate was even more humid. The smell of rotting meat disappeared yesterday, but now it could already be smelled.

The body of the Lotus Sect leader was thrown into the wilderness. There was no village within a ten-mile radius. If the hunters had not reported it to the authorities, they might not have found the body.

Lin Nanjie finally stopped vomiting and walked over with a pale face: "This death is too tragic. I'm afraid he killed people to silence them. It seems that there are indeed people behind this Lotus Sect."

Hua Heng's face was not looking good: "Take the person back for autopsy."

There were weeds and messy animal footprints all around, and no signs of dragging could be found. It would probably be difficult to find where the Lotus Sect Leader was killed.

Lin Nanjie raised his head and looked around. There were only barren mountains all around. "I guess that person is still in Qianzhou. This place is in the southwest of Qianzhou. It is deserted and has wild beasts. It is not a place that ordinary people dare to come to."

Hua Heng and Lin Nanjie thought the same thing.

Lin Nanqi covered his mouth and nose again and approached the leader's body.

I didn't expect that the person I just met has now turned into a corpse.

Lin Nanjie resisted the urge to vomit and took off the mask on his face. The leader had an ordinary appearance, not one that was easy to remember, but what attracted Lin Nanjie was the tattoo on his forehead.

The tattoo resembles both flames and flowers, and the pattern is very neatly done, almost covering the entire forehead. No wonder he wears a mask all day, it turns out to be to cover the tattoo.

Hua Heng also noticed it immediately, frowning slightly: "This seems to be a totem that the people of Zhao would use. Could he be a Zhao?"

Lin Nanjie still circled around the leader, examining him from head to toe, and finally his eyes stopped at the soles of his shoes. The soles were dirty, stained with a lot of grass debris, and Lin Nanjie picked up a piece of grass debris and said, "What is this? I've never seen it before?"

Hua Heng recognized it: "This grass is called Parasol Star, and it usually grows in places where snakes are present."

Hua Heng called his subordinates and said, "Take someone to investigate immediately."

"yes!"

Soon after, Hua Heng sent people to investigate the place in the Lotus Cave where weapons were forged, but the place was empty and only some tools were left, while the weapons were missing.

When we returned to Washington, it was already dusk.

As soon as they returned to the yard, they saw Li Chengqian admiring the flowers in the yard.

Hua Heng's mouth twitched slightly. He was not satisfied with being arranged in the big courtyard. He came here every day and could even hear the sound of the abacus.

As Lin Nanjie walked, he thought to himself: [The corpse just now was so scary. I still feel like vomiting. It would be nice if I could eat something cool and refreshing.]

Li Chengqian's ears twitched and he turned around: "The general is back."

Hua Heng bowed first and said, "It's hot and there are many mosquitoes. Why is the emperor here?"

Li Chengqian: "I saw that the hibiscus in General Hua's yard was in full bloom, so I came to see it."

Hua Heng looked at the wilted hibiscus in front of Li Chenghuan and really didn't know what was so good about it.

Lin Nanqi looked at his uncle, then at Li Chengqian, and couldn't help but say, "It's getting dark, Your Majesty should go inside."

Li Chenghuan smiled instantly: "Okay."

Hua Heng walked into the house with a stern face. His adopted nephew was too unguarded against the Dog Emperor, so he had to keep a close eye on him and not let the Dog Emperor take advantage of any opportunity.

It was dinner time, Hua Heng had someone serve the meal. Lin Nanqi looked at the table full of food, his face pale: "Your Majesty, Uncle, I feel a little uncomfortable, I want to go to rest first."

Lin Nanjie touched his stomach and kept thinking of the corpse that had been eaten by wild beasts beyond human form.

Li Chengxuan looked distressed: "Go and have a rest. I'll have someone send the food to your room later." After Lin Nanjie returned to the room, he called Huafu's housekeeper and whispered a few instructions to him. The housekeeper took the order and left.

Washington felt something was wrong.

Why does it feel like Li Chenghuan is the master of the mansion?

Hua Heng said stiffly, "I can just tell my servants to do these trivial matters."

Li Chengxian didn't care at all, instead he said: "Uncle is tired today, let's eat first."

Hua Heng put down the chopsticks he had just raised, and said in a more serious tone than ever before: "Your Majesty, please don't address me like that. I am not worthy of this title."

Li Chengxuan also put down his chopsticks. "A few days ago, I sent someone to deliver an imperial edict to the capital at full speed. The concubines in my harem had no intention of staying in the palace, and I did not touch them. I sent an imperial edict to confer them the title of county lords and set them free. With the titles in their hands, they will be safe for the rest of their lives."

"When I return to the capital, I will clear the Lin family's name and personally go to the palace with the Phoenix Seal to ask for your hand in marriage."

Hua Heng was so shocked by Li Chengqian's words that he was speechless. After a long while, he found his voice again, but he disagreed: "Your Majesty, if you do this, you will risk the wrath of the world. Are you going to let the Lin and Hua families bear the crime of misleading the emperor again?"

Although the position of prime minister does sound good, how can he, as an uncle, make decisions for his adopted nephew?

Li Chengqian added: "This is not without precedent. Uncle, don't worry. Lin Nan has done very well and deserves this position."

Hua Heng: "Has the emperor asked his wishes?"

Li Chengqian paused. Not yet.

However——

"If he does not want to be the empress for the time being, I will give the Phoenix Seal to my uncle for safekeeping."

Hua Heng's eyes suddenly became embarrassed. How could that be possible?

How could he keep such a hot potato as Fengyin!

What a disgrace!

Or you could give it to your adopted nephew.