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After the man entered the study, he turned around and carefully closed the door. The moment he turned around, Zhong Yujing stared with wide eyes and almost dodged out of the bookcase, but her heart sank when she saw his face.
This man was extremely vigilant. Not only was his tight black clothing making him difficult to spot in the darkness, but he also had a black scarf wrapped around his head, obscuring his face. Only his eyes were visible, but even then, they were impossible to discern in the darkness. He carefully looked around and, finding no one else, slowly made his way to King Yao's chair behind the desk. His footsteps made no sound. The previous, subtle footsteps were likely caused by the snow, demonstrating his exceptional martial arts skills. Furthermore, his ability to slip through the heavy security of King Yao's mansion and enter silently was truly remarkable.
Zhong Yujing stared at him closely. When he walked up to King Yao, he leaned forward slightly and observed for a moment, just like Zhong Yujing did when he checked on King Yao's condition. After checking King Yao's breath with his index finger, he reached out his hand to his waist.
Zhong Yujing had already moved out from behind the bookcase, wanting to see everything clearly and not miss any details.
Just as the man was about to pull something out from his waist, his right arm was suddenly grabbed by a hand.
Zhong Yujing clearly felt that the man, like her, had not anticipated such a situation, and her entire body froze in place. Both the man and Zhong Yujing watched in astonishment as King Yao slowly rose from the pear blossom chair, his eyes already opened. Despite the darkness, Zhong Yujing could still sense King Yao's gaze fixed on the man.
"It's you!" Zhong Yujing said when she heard King Yao's voice.
The man quickly turned his head towards the table, probably to check whether King Yao had actually drunk the bowl of soup. Seeing his action, King Yao sneered, "Do you think you can deceive me with such tricks? I have traveled more than you have eaten!"
The man was alert. Zhong Yujing only heard him sneer and he didn't say a word the whole time. Then he turned around and struggled to break free from the arm that was grabbed by King Yao. With his right hand, Zhong Yujing took out a silver dagger from his waist at a speed that Zhong Yujing could not react in time, and stabbed it towards King Yao's left chest.
King Yao had also practiced martial arts for many years, so he would not be easily subdued. The two men were entangled in a fight, but they did not knock over tables or cabinets, nor did they break any utensils. This was the reason why King Yao's death that night did not alarm anyone.
Zhong Yujing watched with a thrilling shudder, yet couldn't help but sigh at the effortless ease with which masters fought each other. Even though the assassin's moves were deadly, King Yao was able to dodge them and deal with them calmly. After a stalemate lasting a cup of tea, the assassin suddenly attacked King Yao's heart with his left hand. Startled, King Yao shielded his chest with both hands and took a step back. However, the assassin's move was just a feint, a diversionary move. While King Yao was trying to protect his heart meridian with all his strength, the assassin, holding a dagger in his right hand, swiftly struck King Yao in the face...
King Yao was startled and quickly raised his hands to his chest. He pressed his palms together and firmly grasped the dagger. Zhong Yujing saw the tip of the dagger in the assassin's hand touch the tip of King Yao's nose and stop in mid-air. The silver light from the dagger hit King Yao's face, and Zhong Yujing saw King Yao's eyes suddenly open with fear. The assassin's hand holding the dagger also stopped, and did not continue to attack.
The two sides were deadlocked for a moment, and the assassin's hand slowly fell down, but he put his hands behind his back, stood straight, looked at King Yao, and no longer attacked.
King Yao calmed down and was about to speak when his heart suddenly stopped. He bent down, holding the corner of the table with one hand and his forehead with the other. He shook his head vigorously several times, groaning and shaking, almost fainting. The assassin opposite him did not move, standing like a mountain, just watching King Yao's every move coldly.
King Yao seemed to react, took his hand off his forehead and looked at it, then suddenly said, "The dagger is poisonous!"
The assassin chuckled softly from the other side, and only a man's voice could be heard.
King Yao struggled desperately, still unwilling to give up. He used all his strength to rush forward and pounce on the assassin. King Yao was tall, but the assassin was still half a head taller than King Yao. King Yao could only tear the assassin's front with force, muttering, "You! You... When did you know?"
The assassin seemed to know that King Yao was unable to resist and could not resist for long, and could not cause any substantial harm to him. He still stood with his hands behind his back, watching King Yao struggle coldly, without saying a word, nor pushing King Yao away, as steady as a mountain, motionless.
As if King Yao was determined to get the final answer, he pulled hard and tore the assassin's collar open, revealing half of his chest. Then King Yao lost consciousness and collapsed.
The assassin reached out and dragged King Yao's body, placing him on the chair. Zhong Yujing saw that King Yao's face was as peaceful as if he was asleep, as if the fight had never happened, just as she had seen when she first came in.
The assassin looked at King Yao, who seemed to be sleeping, for a moment. He then drew the dagger from his waist and stabbed it deep into King Yao's heart before pulling it out. King Yao's face remained calm, without any reaction. Zhong Yujing knew that his life was slipping away.
The assassin laid King Yao's upper body on the table, pretending he was sleeping. He lowered his head to look at his torn chest, and then he remembered to straighten King Yao's clothes. At this moment, Zhong Yujing saw a mark on the left side of his chest in the moonlight when the assassin slightly turned his head. It seemed to be a totem-like pattern, or some kind of mark or text, but it was something Zhong Yujing had never seen before and did not recognize.
The assassin tidied his clothes, left the study silently without a moment's delay, closed the door, and flew away.
Zhong Yujing pushed the door open and walked out, and saw that the snow on the ground was thicker and deeper than before. However, there were no footprints on the ground in front of King Yao's study. Even the two sets of footprints left by the housekeeper were covered by the snow.
She stood at the door of the study and looked up. Heavy snow was falling. There was no one outside King Yao's study. It was just like the entire Linjun City at that moment. Everything was quiet. In this silent snowy night, the truth about King Yao's death was quietly buried.
After a period of spinning and confusion, the world was in chaos. When Zhong Yujing opened her eyes again, her soul had returned to reality. She was in the ancestral hall of the Zhong Mansion, with candlelight flickering in the hall. She looked up at the sky outside the window and saw that the waning moon had emerged from behind the clouds, clearly appearing before her eyes.
Just as she looked up at the moon, a cold aura suddenly shot through the window and lodged itself in the frame before her. Startled, Zhong Yujing abruptly jumped up, flung the door open, and rushed out. It was already three in the morning, and everyone in the mansion had gone to bed. There was no one around. She watched cautiously for a moment, but hearing no further movement, she hurried back into the ancestral hall and pulled out the short arrow stuck in the window. Examining it, she discovered the tail was movable, revealing a hollow interior. She pulled out a scroll of paper and unfolded it. Inscribed on it was the phrase, "To find the assassin of King Yao, start your search here." Beneath it was a picture. Zhong Yujing was stunned into silence.
The next morning, Zhong Yujing ordered her servants to prepare a carriage and hurried to the palace. She summoned the servants in the mansion to inquire early in the morning, and no one saw any suspicious people entering the Zhong Mansion last night. The short arrow and the scroll were in her sleeve. She remembered Shangguan Yichen saying that this method and tool of communication were exactly the same as those used to lure him to Yinfeng Forest. It was clearly the same person! Wen Renrang, he finally couldn't bear it. As Shangguan Yichen predicted, he would not give up and finally surfaced again! The pattern drawn on the scroll was the mark on the assassin of King Yao that she had seen during her meditation.
Wenren Rang - thinking of this person, Zhong Yujing's thoughts suddenly stopped. Shangguan Yichen had never mentioned this person in front of the emperor. The first time she heard about this person was when she heard Shangguan Yichen tell her in Prince Ping's mansion when she, Shangguan Yichen and Sun Zili were investigating the case of King Yao. In the subsequent battle of Nansai, the game between Shangguan Yichen and Wenren Rang, including what she saw and experienced in the subsequent cliff cave, were all mentioned to the emperor in one sentence and not reported to him in detail. As for Wenren Rang, he was only referred to as the military advisor of Setu. If she rashly went to see the emperor at this time, how to explain the interests of this short arrow and the rolled paper in it and the previous and subsequent events, and how to explain the intricate connection between Wenren Rang and them, is a difficult problem that needs to be considered again and again.
After much deliberation, Zhong Yujing decisively lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and said to the driver, "Turn around and go to the Xianwang Mansion."
In the side hall of the Xianwang Mansion, Shangguan Yichen took the short arrow from Zhong Yujing's hand and examined it again and again. He said, "He made it. The material of the arrowhead and the handle is the same as the one he passed to me last time."
He turned the arrow shaft upside down, looked at the tail, and said, "The notch at the tail is very rough. It's not made by a professional arrowsmith. It's the same as the one I received."
He stroked the rolled paper twice. "It's silk paper, same thing."
Zhong Yujing sat aside and listened to him, nodding slightly.
Shangguan Yichen unfolded the scroll with both hands and read the contents from top to bottom. Zhong Yujing noticed that when he saw the pattern at the bottom, his pupils trembled violently and his eyes darkened. Zhong Yujing said, "This is the pattern that I just mentioned. Does Your Highness have any clues?"
Shangguan Yichen put away the scroll in his hand and placed the short arrow in his hand, fiddling with it gently. He asked, "Prime Minister Jing just said, what did you see when you entered into meditation at night?"
Zhong Yujing said solemnly, "I met the assassin in King Yao's study. The reason King Yao looked calm when he was found was because he was first knocked unconscious by the poison on the assassin's dagger before being stabbed in the heart..." Zhong Yujing explained, gesturing with both hands to show Shangguan Yichen the scene. "Then he quickly pulled out the dagger and finally positioned King Yao's body so that he was sleeping on the table. Seeing that King Yao was still, the assassin fled King Yao's study under the cover of darkness."
Shangguan Yichen lowered his eyes and listened, his thumb gently touching the arrow blade. "So what do you think of the scene?"
Zhong Yujing said, "I believe the assassin is acquainted with King Yao."
Shangguan Yichen raised his left eyebrow, but didn't look up. His voice had an upward arc. "Why do you say that?"
Zhong Yujing's eyes were dark, and she wanted to tell him everything she knew without leaving out a single detail. "When the assassin entered King Yao's study, he saw him lying on a chair, seemingly asleep. He was about to kill him, but he suddenly stood up. He clearly knew someone was going to harm him that night, and that someone had tampered with the soup brought to him by his servant. So, he didn't actually drink it, but pretended to be unconscious, waiting for the assassin to appear."
Shangguan Yichen nodded slightly as he listened to Zhong Yujing's account, as if approving. Zhong Yujing continued, "When King Yao stood up and faced the assassin, he seemed to recognize him immediately and said, 'It's you.' Therefore, I am certain that King Yao and the assassin are acquainted."
Shangguan Yichen seemed to agree with this statement. He placed the scroll and short arrow in one hand and raised his hand to place them on the table between him and Zhong Yujing on the right. He then asked, "Jing Xiang is truly observant and has a thorough analysis. Did you see the assassin's face clearly?"
Zhong Yujing's eyebrows furrowed, and he sighed, "This is my only regret. I only regret that it was dark at night, and the assassin was very cunning. He was dressed in black clothes, even his head and face were covered tightly, so I didn't see his face clearly. But..."
After Shangguan Yichen placed the paper roll and the short arrow on the table, he looked up at Zhong Yujing and asked, "But what?"
Zhong Yujing couldn't wait to answer, "There's a mark on the assassin's left chest..." Shangguan Yichen's eyes trembled slightly as he stared at her, but soon calmed down. Zhong Yujing said, "It looks like a totem or some kind of writing." She pointed to the paper roll on the table and said solemnly, "It's the pattern drawn on the paper roll."
Shangguan Yichen looked at the scroll on the table again and pondered for a moment. "It seems that Wenren Rang is indeed connected to King Yao's murder. Could it be that he knows who the assassin is?"
Zhong Yujing said, "I came to your residence precisely to discuss this matter with Your Majesty. Given the current situation, how should I best report this to Your Majesty?"
Shangguan Yichen smiled, looked at her frankly and said, "Report the truth." He smiled, and the haze in his expression disappeared. He said slowly, "Don't worry, I will consider the appropriate measures and report to His Majesty."
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