Chapter 183: Perfect Curtain Call, Crisis Resolved

The hundred lashes made everyone watching wince. Every blow drew blood.

Yet after seeing Qin Xiao utter not a single sound, they could not help but admire him. The kid truly had guts.

But after the hundred lashes, Qin Xiao passed out.

Yan Xingchang stepped before Qin Xiao’s bloody, mangled form and inspected him closely.

“Well, that is a hundred lashes. This kid really is hard to kill—he actually survived.” After checking Qin Xiao, Yan Xingchang addressed the crowd.

“To endure all that, Qin Xiao is a real man. Even in that state, he refused to make a peep.”

“Indeed. If it were anyone else, they would be screaming in agony by the very first lash.”

“Is there a chance he simply passed out from the first strike and couldn’t scream at all?”

Hearing that Qin Xiao had pulled through, the spectators began to murmur amongst themselves.

“Uh, that does make sense when you put it that way.”

“Impossible. Did you not hear the news about him earlier? Back at Spirit Medicine Valley, even a Soul Formation self-destruction couldn’t kill him. How could a single whip-strike knock him out?”

“This was a flogging punishment. His cultivation would have been sealed beforehand, and it was administered by a Body Integration great expert. How could it be impossible?”

The discussion turned to why Qin Xiao had not made a sound.

In truth, Qin Xiao would have gladly put on a performance, but he simply lacked the skill to fake a convincing shriek of agony. Rather than risk exposing the ruse, silence was the safer bet, capped off by playing unconscious at the end.

“Very well. Since he has survived, he is naturally innocent. However, because his fine of one billion has yet to be paid, he will remain temporarily detained within the City Lord Manor until the sum is settled. Someone, take him away to tend to his wounds.”

Yan Xingchang was very satisfied with the performance. Everything had gone perfectly, and he had Qin Xiao taken away.

“The matter is settled. Everyone may disperse.”

Yan Xingchang waved for everyone to disperse. The performance was over.

Although Qin Xiao had been left covered in blood and gravely injured, he had indeed pulled through. The news quickly spread across Qingzhou.

Inside the City Lord Manor.

“Qin Xiao, you really are clever. You even knew to rally the common folk.”

Yan Xingchang came to Qin Xiao’s room and spoke with satisfaction.

“Ah? Weren’t those people arranged by you, My Lord?”

Qin Xiao was baffled. I didn’t arrange anything. Wasn’t it you?

“It wasn’t my doing. Could it have been the Ling Family’s young miss?”

Yan Xingchang was puzzled too. They could not afford any flaw in this performance. Get faster updates on novelping.com.

“Ah, then it must have been Eldest Miss Ling. She was the one who spoke up first, and the rest simply followed her lead.”

Qin Xiao recalled the scene and concluded that Ling Ruoxue must have been behind it.

“That must be it. You truly owe Eldest Miss Ling a heavy debt of gratitude. If she hadn’t interceded with the Governor-General, do you honestly think you’d still be breathing? That dossier you presented was given to the Governor-General by her.”

Now that the play had ended, Yan Xingchang spoke without reservation.

“What? She was the one who saved me?”

Qin Xiao was dazed. Wasn’t she a profiteer? She had actually gone to the Governor-General’s office to save him?

Originally, he had assumed the Governor-General was simply using him to pressure rival factions, or perhaps coveting his resources and abilities. It had never crossed his mind that Ling Ruoxue was the one who pulled him from the fire.

“Alright, kid. Hand over the ten billion.”

Yan Xingchang had not come to chat idly; he was here to collect the Spirit Stones.

“My Lord, wasn’t the fine supposed to be one billion?”

Ten billion. It was not much to him, but parting with it still stung.

“What do you mean, one billion? That goes to the Imperial Capital. The other nine billion is for the Governor-General to smooth things over. You have been cleared, but surely you don’t think that settles everything? I serve the Governor-General. How could that powerful figure let the matter rest? He will certainly take it up with the Governor-General, who will have to placate him and call on other connections.”

Yan Xingchang was at a loss for words. It was not as though the kid couldn’t afford it. Nine billion to buy his life, and he was still quibbling? Plenty of people would pay for that chance but never get it.

“So that is how it is. I was thinking too simply.”

Qin Xiao nodded in realization. Officialdom was an intricate web in any era.

“Here are ten million Middle Grade Spirit Stones. Could you tell me what I am supposed to do as a Hidden Agent? Surely I won’t just be doing dirty work?”

Qin Xiao produced a Storage Bag, handed it over, and posed his question.

“A Hidden Agent is a pawn kept in the shadows. We do not use one lightly; we wait for a critical moment. What you will do depends on how far you develop. Ordinarily, the Governor-General will neither call on you nor interfere with you. If necessary, he may even make things easier for you. When you are needed, you will know.”

Yan Xingchang could hardly claim to know the Governor-General’s inner thoughts.

“Oh, I see. I understand. Then how do we keep in touch?” Qin Xiao nodded, only half understanding.

“This is a Transmission Pearl. I am your direct superior, and our communications are strictly one-on-one. If anything arises, you may reach me through this, and I will use it to relay orders to you as well.”

Yan Xingchang took out a pearl and handed it to Qin Xiao.

“If there is nothing else, you should rest here for two days before going out. I will stay for two days as well, waiting for news from the Governor-General. The trial result is out and will naturally reach that powerful figure. I will leave once the Governor-General gives me orders.”

After Qin Xiao accepted the Transmission Pearl, Yan Xingchang said his final piece and left.

Qin Xiao turned the Transmission Pearl over in his hand, unable to make much of it.

“A major power, all right. They even have things like this.”

He had already received one from Tao Tianyuan, and now he had another from Yan Xingchang. They seemed to be devices for long-distance communication. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.

Qingzhou had similar technology, but only for short distances: the Great Elder Token he had received from Ye Qiuyue, for instance, or the Mother-Child Pearl he had seen Ling Wushuang use in the Abyss Secret Realm. They probably worked on much the same principle.

Qin Xiao thought he might need some too. Once he could go out, he would ask the Immortal Dao Merchant Association whether he could buy a few and give each of his disciples one.

“Qin Xiao, are you inside?”

Just as his thoughts wandered, a knock rapped against the door.

“Ling Ruoxue? What brings her here?”

Qin Xiao had recognized Ling Ruoxue’s voice.

“Come in.”

His great benefactor had arrived; naturally, he had to welcome her properly.

The door swung open to reveal Ling Ruoxue accompanied by Yun Man.

“Master! Are you alright?”

As soon as the door opened, Yun Man rushed over to check Qin Xiao’s condition.

Qin Xiao had already changed into fresh clothes, and the ruined ones had been destroyed.

“Master, why do you look completely unharmed? Didn’t you take a hundred lashes?”

Yun Man was baffled to find Qin Xiao completely unharmed. What was going on?

“Silly disciple, have you forgotten that your master even survived a Soul Formation self-destruction? A hundred lashes are mere child’s play.”

Qin Xiao reached out and gave her head a light pat.

“But I clearly saw you covered in blood and passing out!”

Yun Man was still puzzled. She had seen it herself.

“What the eyes see is not always the truth. There is much you still do not understand. If even you were convinced, it only proves that everyone else was fooled as well.”

Qin Xiao was thoroughly satisfied with how the entire performance had turned out.

“Man’er, you can believe it now. I told you he was fine.”

Ling Ruoxue was not worried at all. She was one of the people who knew what was going on, after all.

But Yun Man had insisted on forcing her way into the City Lord Manor to see Qin Xiao. Ling Ruoxue had no choice but to bring her along; with her present, Yun Man would not have to force her way in.

“Many thanks for your assistance, Eldest Miss Ling. Had you not intervened, I doubt I would have weathered this storm so easily.”

After speaking to Yun Man, Qin Xiao hurried to thank Ling Ruoxue. Without her help, he might have been in serious trouble this time.

“Save your thanks. Because of this troublesome affair, I was already reprimanded by my father. Moreover… my father wishes to see you.”

Ling Ruoxue felt helpless too. Thanks were beside the point; what mattered was that, after learning of this affair, her father had asked to meet Qin Xiao.