Volume 3, Chapter 343 – Yes

Lu Zhuxin scratched her head.

It was probably Senior Brother Lu’s death that had rattled that old fox.

Ha. She had overestimated his nerve just a little.

Then again, fear was a reasonable response.

After all, that old fox had barely finished giving Bu Lianshuang a beating when Lingxiao Sword Sect’s Senior Brother Lu turned up dead in the streets of Beihe Commandery.

Senior Brother Lu had been a Sixth Realm sword cultivator, while Chi Jingwen, that old fox, was only Fifth Realm.

The entire Chi family didn’t have many Sixth Realm cultivators to speak of. It would be strange if Chi Jingwen weren’t panicking.

Lu Zhuxin laughed inwardly, her gaze sweeping over the guards posted around the courtyard perimeter.

Not that this handful of people could stop her for even a moment.

Of course, she wasn’t so bored as to go forcing her way through the Chi family’s grand estate right now.

She simply disliked the feeling of having her freedom curtailed.

There was no need to make an enemy of the Chi family before the matter between them and Lingxiao Sword Sect had fully played out.

Whatever came next depended on Chi Xiyan’s attitude.

That woman was proving to be more troublesome than the Chi family itself, at this point.

Lu Zhuxin rubbed her chin and called out to the guard outside. “Where is Sister Xiyan?”

“Second Miss is looking for First Miss?” the guard said. “First Miss went out early this morning. We don’t know where she went.”

Chi Xiyan had gone out early in the morning?

At a time like this, where would she go?

Lu Zhuxin turned it over in her mind.

From everything she knew of Chi Xiyan, that woman had always operated on her own terms and made her own decisions.

With the Chi family facing this kind of trouble, someone of her nature would never simply sit back and wait for disaster.

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The Chi family was hers. She would never give it up.

Whether it was the Chi Xiyan from the original story or the Chi Xiyan standing before her now, that much hadn’t changed.

She must have gone to find Wei Qingyu.

That was Lu Zhuxin’s guess.

The wolf clan was involved, after all. Wei Qingyu, as Inspector of the Demon Suppression Bureau, would inevitably be pulled into this.

The Wolf Princess had originally been her target. Not only had she failed to capture her, but she had also let a demon wolf kill a sword sect disciple right in front of her eyes.

With a mess this large on her hands, Wei Qingyu had no easy way out.

Once before, Lu Zhuxin had deliberately steered Wei Qingyu toward Sin Moon Tower, which had been giving her trouble at the time.

Wei Qingyu had then spent the better part of half a month making Sin Moon Tower’s life miserable. The Sin Moon Tower assassins operating in Beihe Commandery were very nearly wiped out entirely.

Chi Xiyan and Wei Qingyu were old acquaintances. That Chi Xiyan would go looking for her was no surprise to Lu Zhuxin at all.

The trouble was, knowing Wei Qingyu’s character, she wasn’t the type to bend the rules for personal connections.

Chi Xiyan going to find her was most likely going to end with a door slammed in her face.

While Lu Zhuxin was turning all of this over in her head, a familiar presence entered the edge of her awareness.

“Hm? That’s Wei Qingyu. Why is she coming to the Chi estate at this hour?”

“Didn’t Chi Xiyan go looking for her?”

Lu Zhuxin was genuinely surprised.

By her own reasoning, Wei Qingyu should have had no business making contact with the Chi family at a time like this.

The Demon Suppression Bureau answered to the Human Empress. They were a neutral body. They were not supposed to take sides.

Senior Brother Lu’s dying words had pointed every thread of suspicion directly at the Chi family.

If Wei Qingyu had shown up with a unit to surround the estate, Lu Zhuxin wouldn’t have batted an eye.

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“What exactly is Wei Qingyu trying to do?”

“Coming to the Chi estate openly like this is practically announcing that she’s standing on the Chi family’s side.”

“Isn’t she afraid of what Lingxiao Sword Sect will do when they find out?”

“Acting on her own to inflame tensions with Lingxiao Sword Sect, won’t the Human Empress hold her accountable for that?”

“Unless…” Lu Zhuxin’s brow lifted. A faint sense of something wrong stirred in the back of her mind.

“Either she has the means to prove the Chi family’s innocence.”

“Or…”

“This is the Human Empress’s own directive.”

Lu Zhuxin’s brows drew together.

In a world of cultivation and fantasy, long-distance communication was nothing unusual.

That Wei Qingyu, as Inspector of the Demon Suppression Bureau, could speak directly with the Human Empress was perfectly plausible.

“Could this really be the Human Empress’s doing?”

“Did the Human Empress instruct her to take the Chi family’s side?”

It was only speculation. Lu Zhuxin couldn’t be certain.

But based on the brief dealings she’d had with Wei Qingyu up to now, Lu Zhuxin didn’t think she was the sort of person who would bend the law for a personal acquaintance.

“If the Human Empress has truly gotten involved, then things are about to get complicated.”

Lu Zhuxin pressed her lips together.

She could sense Wei Qingyu moving through the Chi estate, but she couldn’t push her spiritual consciousness through the Chi family’s formation to observe her directly.

Not knowing what Wei Qingyu had come to the estate for left her with an uneasy feeling she couldn’t quite shake.

Lu Zhuxin returned to her courtyard and began pacing slowly along the edge of the pond.

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A little movement raised the heart rate, improved circulation, and helped with thinking.

Or perhaps the problem wasn’t the Human Empress at all. Perhaps it was Wei Qingyu herself who was the variable.

But thinking back over her prior dealings with Wei Qingyu, Lu Zhuxin couldn’t identify anything that had struck her as off.

Wei Qingyu had been given plenty of opportunities to approach Lu Zhuxin before.

If she truly had some hidden agenda, she wouldn’t have let those chances go to waste.

And the evidence ran directly against that theory anyway. Wei Qingyu’s attention had very clearly been focused on apprehending Bu Lianshuang.

Unless the woman was an extraordinarily gifted actor playing a long game, it didn’t add up.

Perhaps the problem wasn’t Wei Qingyu at all.

A suspicion Lu Zhuxin had been deliberately setting aside rose up in her mind again.

“System! Come out and answer me!”

[Host, 03 is here.]

[03 has always been here.]

Lu Zhuxin drew a slow breath. “Is Qu Qingtang dead or not?”

[…]

[Host, you have already asked this question.]

[Immortal Venerable Qingzhi Qu Qingtang is dead. You killed her yourself, did you not?]

The same answer as before.

Lu Zhuxin’s brow stayed furrowed.

That answer was never going to satisfy her.

“Fine. Let me ask you something different.”

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[Host, please ask. Anything within 03’s authorized scope, 03 can answer.]

“Answer me plainly. The Human Empress…”

Is she Qu Qingtang…

Lu Zhuxin stopped herself. The second half of the sentence never left her lips.

No. That was the wrong way to ask.

Asking it that directly, the system would only deny it. And even if it didn’t deny it outright, it would find some other way to deflect.

03 was not Ming Zhaoxi. It wasn’t so easily fooled.

[Hm? Host, what about the Human Empress?]

Sensing that Lu Zhuxin had gone quiet, 03’s voice came through again, carrying a note of curiosity.

[What did Host want to ask? Were you looking for information about the Human Empress?]

“Mm…”

Lu Zhuxin lowered her gaze slightly.

She chose her words with care.

“I just remembered something.”

“The Human Empress of this world, is she also someone I need to actively pursue, the same way Bu Lianshuang was?”

[Yes.]

The system answered without a moment’s hesitation.

[The Human Empress is one of the Heaven-Mandated Women that Host must win over.]

Lu Zhuxin raised a hand and pressed it gently against her own temple.