12dz Chapter 98 Will you come with me?
Chapter 98 Will you come with me?
Upon returning to the Xuan Ce City branch, Li Qingyi presented the corpse of the Heavenly Crimson Bear.
1,500 contribution points were instantly credited to his account, and the assassin token in his hand emitted a warm fluctuation, making the golden patterns on its edges even clearer.
He was officially promoted to Yellow-level assassin.
However, when he saw Mu Chunfeng again, the branch leader, who usually always had a smile on his face, looked worried.
The moment Mu Chunfeng looked up and saw Li Qingyi, a look of relief flashed in her eyes. She quickly stepped forward and lowered her voice, saying:
"Master, you're finally back! Please come to the inner room for a detailed discussion."
Li Qingyi's heart stirred slightly, but she remained expressionless as she followed him into the familiar inner room, which was equipped with soundproof barriers.
After taking her seat, Li Qingyi asked directly, "Chief Mu, what is troubling you so much?"
"Sigh..." Mu Chunfeng sighed deeply, rubbed his hands together, seemingly unsure where to begin, and finally said with a wry smile:
"My lord, during your absence, I... have been unable to eat or sleep properly, and have been filled with anxiety."
Li Qingyi was slightly surprised and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Oh? What are you worried about?"
Mu Chunfeng paused, a hint of embarrassment flashing across her face.
He can't exactly say, "I'm worried that if you get beaten to death outside, I'll be dragged down with you," can he?
After all, that blood pact had bound their lives together.
Li Qingyi, with her keen perception, immediately noticed the unnaturalness in his expression. She couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing, but said calmly:
"Tell me, what 'interesting' things happened in town while I was away?"
Mu Chunfeng composed herself, organized her thoughts, and lowered her voice even further:
"Master, you must already know about Li Qingyi's... reversal of the Foundation Establishment stage and her killing of Lu Zhenxuan, right?"
Li Qingyi nodded slightly, signaling him to continue.
Bathed in the spring breeze, he continued:
"Your subordinate... recently heard some rumors from some less 'official' channels."
It is said that the leader of the Qingling City headquarters seems to... intend to take action against Li Qingyi.
Is there any channel more unregulated than Tingyuge?
Realizing what was happening, Li Qingyi's eyes suddenly sharpened: "Are you sure?"
Mu Chunfeng quickly shook his head: "Rumors are a mix of truth and falsehood, and I dare not make any definitive statements. However..."
He hesitated, a look of uncertainty on his face.
"But what?" Li Qingyi pressed, her tone calm.
Mu Chunfeng took a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind, and cautiously probed:
"Master...please forgive my intrusion. Is your relationship with that Li Qingyi...something more than ordinary?"
"Why do you ask that?" Li Qingyi asked instead of answering, her gaze sharp.
"This concerns my next response."
Li Qingyi looked at him but didn't say anything. For some reason, Mu Chunfeng felt a sense of pressure.
"Because...it's too coincidental." Mu Chunfeng carefully considered her words.
"You just asked me for detailed information about Lu Zhenxuan, and then he was ambushed and killed by Li Qingyi in Tianqing Gorge. It's hard not to make some connections."
Li Qingyi narrowed her eyes slightly, and an invisible pressure spread out:
"Who else knows about this besides you?"
Mu Chunfeng's heart skipped a beat; he knew he had guessed correctly, and he quickly bowed and said:
"Rest assured, my lord! I am well aware of the gravity of this matter and have not revealed a single word of it to any third party! I know what to say and what not to say."
Li Qingyi stared at him for a moment, then suddenly let out a cold laugh:
"Chief Mu, you've improved. Now you're even trying to subtly probe me?"
Mu Chunfeng, having her thoughts exposed, smiled ingratiatingly, but her tone carried a hint of sincerity:
"It's all thanks to your excellent guidance, Master. How could I possibly hide my thoughts from you?"
Li Qingyi's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
"Sycophant...when did I ever teach you that?"
He stopped beating around the bush and asked directly, "Speak, what exactly do you want by bringing up City Lord Qingling and Li Qingyi?"
Mu Chunfeng's eyes darted around, and he lowered his voice, slowly revealing his plan:
"My lord, I'm thinking... this might be an opportunity."
We can... try to lure City Lord Qingling out. If you, the Lord, truly have some connection with Li Qingyi, perhaps we can join forces, and then...
He made a throat-slitting gesture, a glint of ruthlessness and ambition flashing in his eyes: "Kill him!"
Li Qingyi leaned back slightly in her chair, scrutinizing Mu Chunfeng with an unreadable tone:
"Chief Mu, your ambition... is quite considerable."
Mu Chunfeng's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly explained:
"You've misunderstood, sir! I'm not acting out of personal desire! I'm simply doing this for your sake."
If you truly have a close relationship with Li Qingyi, then wouldn't the City Lord of Qingling's targeting of Li Qingyi be tantamount to a veiled threat to you? Can you just sit idly by and do nothing?
My subordinate even suspects that in the battle at Tianqing Gorge, you, my lord... probably played a significant role behind the scenes, didn't you?"
Li Qingyi: "..."
"It wasn't just about putting in effort, it was like he was actually playing the game himself..."
Li Qingyi listened to Mu Chunfeng's words and found them quite reasonable.
However, he couldn't completely trust Mu Chunfeng. But then he thought that with the blood pact in place, if he died, Mu Chunfeng wouldn't survive either, and he immediately believed her a little more.
Suddenly, he remembered Zhang Qi.
"Could the person behind this be the leader of Qingling City? No... If the leader of Qingling City wanted to deal with me, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he would have simply come to kill me as soon as he learned that I was in Xuan Ce City."
Why go to such lengths? Spreading rumors and sending people to probe?
"Could it be... that he has something to hide? Is he wary of the reputation of the Listening Rain Pavilion Master? Or perhaps he wants to eliminate me in a more covert and 'reasonable' way?"
Li Qingyi's fingers tapped lightly on the table, making a "tap tap tap" sound.
He suddenly asked, "When did the news that the City Lord of Qingling was going to deal with Li Qingyi start to spread?"
Mu Chunfeng was taken aback for a moment, then replied:
"About three days ago, around the time news of the great battle between Li Qingyi and Lu Zhenxuan began to circulate in the city."
"Three days ago..." Li Qingyi's heart stirred.
"The Pavilion Master of Tingyu Pavilion announced that I killed Lu Zhenxuan three days ago. The leader of Qingling City also announced his intention to deal with me three days ago..."
Putting all these things together, Li Qingyi would never believe there wasn't something fishy going on.
"This Master of Listening to the Rain Pavilion, could he really be trying to toughen me up?"
He couldn't help but laugh when the idea came to him.
"If I can't figure it out, I'll stop thinking about it. Once I reach the Golden Core stage, I don't care what kind of demon or monster you are..."
He collected his thoughts and looked at Mu Chunfeng: "Since you've brought up this idea, do you have any specific plans?"
Mu Chunfeng's face stiffened, revealing a hint of embarrassment:
"This... I'm ashamed to say that I only have a vague feeling that it's possible, but I haven't figured out the specifics of how to implement it yet."
Li Qingyi: "..."
For some reason, he felt that this Chief Mu was not so reliable.
"Alright then." Li Qingyi waved her hand. "Let's talk about something else. What other noteworthy events have occurred in the city recently?"
Mu Chunfeng breathed a sigh of relief, thought for a moment, and said:
"There's one more thing. The Zhao family... seems to have found their long-lost eldest daughter."
He paused, observed Li Qingyi's expression, and added:
"Moreover, this missing eldest daughter of the Zhao family is the same girl who has been following Li Qingyi around recently."
Li Qingyi raised an eyebrow.
"Ling'er? No wonder she disappeared this morning."
"Explain in detail."
"This matter began about half a month ago," Mu Chunfeng recalled.
"At that time, someone posted a mission to find clues about the whereabouts of the eldest daughter of the Zhao family, with a considerable reward."
However, at that time, the news that Li Qingyi was the personal disciple of the Pavilion Master was spreading like wildfire, and she was in such high demand that many assassins adopted a wait-and-see attitude, not wanting to risk getting into trouble.
"Later, the Zhao family kept increasing the reward, and the contribution value kept rising."
A handsome reward always attracts brave men, and a few days ago, someone finally couldn't resist taking on the task. And then... this happened.
After listening, Li Qingyi fell silent.
"The Zhao family, the Crown Prince, the leader of Qingling City, the Master of Tingyu Pavilion. Sigh...it's painful."
"What... do you plan to do, OP?" Mu Chunfeng asked cautiously.
Li Qingyi rubbed her slightly swollen temples and did not answer immediately.
Many things are intertwined and too complicated; he needs time to sort them out.
Mu Chunfeng wisely refrained from pressing the matter and bowed, saying, "If the Lord has no further instructions, I shall take my leave."
After Mu Chunfeng left, Li Qingyi shook her head and smiled bitterly.
"This guy throws the problem at me, but he's quick to run away."
"Now that things have come to this, we need to talk to Ling'er first."
With her mind made up, Li Qingyi left Tingyu Pavilion and returned to the bustling streets of Xuan Ce City, where she restored her original appearance.
He spread his divine sense and began to scan every corner of the city.
About half an hour later, he spotted that familiar figure by the window on the second floor of a well-known teahouse.
He strolled upstairs, walked to the table, and naturally sat down opposite Ling'er.
Ling'er was resting her chin on her hand, gazing absently at the bustling crowd outside the window, a faint melancholy shrouding her eyes. She didn't even notice Li Qingyi sitting down.
Li Qingyi took a light breath. In addition to the aroma of tea, there was also a faint, elegant fragrance that left a deep impression on him.
It was Zhao Mengxi's unique scent.
"Zhao Mengxi just left recently?" He knew the answer in his heart.
"What are you thinking about?" Li Qingyi suddenly asked, her voice not loud, but it made Ling'er, who was lost in thought, tremble slightly.
Ling'er snapped back to reality upon hearing the sound. Seeing Li Qingyi opposite her, a hint of surprise and panic flashed in her eyes, and she instinctively sat up straight.
"Brother Qing... what are you doing here?"
"I was worried when I saw you weren't in the house, so I came out to look for you," Li Qingyi said gently, feigning ignorance.
"You look troubled. What happened?"
Ling'er opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but swallowed the words back and finally just lowered her eyes.
"No...it's nothing." She forced a smile and changed the subject, "Is your injury...all healed?"
Li Qingyi didn't respond to her question, but instead asked directly:
"What did that crazy woman Zhao Mengxi just say to you?"
Ling'er looked up abruptly, her eyes filled with surprise: "How did you know?"
"I've dealt with that crazy woman a few times," Li Qingyi said calmly. "Her scent still lingers here."
"A crazy woman? A fragrance?" Ling'er asked, a look of suspicion on her face.
She recalled Zhao Mengxi, whom she had just met. Although she spoke forcefully, she was dignified and elegant. There was not a trace of her being "crazy".
In an instant, an idea popped into my head uncontrollably:
The relationship between Li Qingyi and Zhao Mengxi is probably far more complex than simply having "interacted a few times." Otherwise, how could he be so familiar with her scent?
Li Qingyi immediately realized that she had misspoke.
"Oh no, I really let my mouth get the better of me. Why did I have to mention the fragrance..."
"Brother Qingyi, do you and her have some kind of secret?"
Faced with Ling'er's blunt questioning, Li Qingyi tried to dodge the question with a laugh:
"There's no secret. We just met by chance and something unpleasant happened between us."
Ling'er clearly didn't believe her, but she didn't press the matter further. She simply sighed softly and whispered:
"Zhao Mengxi said I am the long-lost legitimate daughter of the Zhao family. The Zhao family... wants to take me back."
Seeing her dejected expression, Li Qingyi asked:
"If you don't want to go, why not just refuse? Or, I can send you back to the Zhengyang Immortal Sect?"
Ling'er slowly shook her head:
"What needs to be faced will eventually have to be faced. You can hide for a while, but you can't hide forever. Besides... there are some things I want to go back and figure out."
She suddenly asked, "Brother Qingyi, will you come with me?"
This question caused Li Qingyi to fall silent.
His original plan was to use Zhao Mengxi as a connection to go to the Zhao family.
They sabotaged the marriage alliance between the Crown Prince and the Zhao family, thus binding the Zhao family to Tingyu Pavilion's side.
Judging from the simulation before last, it seems that the Purple Mansion Ancestor of the Zhao family has some reservations about the identity of "the personal disciple of the Listening Rain Pavilion Master".
If this tiger skin can be cleverly utilized, it might buy Ling'er some room to maneuver.
Moreover, he has absolutely no intention of showing his true face.
As long as you can accumulate enough contribution points within fifteen days to exchange for "pseudo-human skin" and shield yourself from the detection of Foundation Establishment cultivators, the risk of being exposed will be greatly reduced.
Even if he were exposed, only the two Purple Mansion True Persons from the Zhao family could see through his disguise.
His silence seemed to stretch on endlessly in Ling'er's eyes.
The light in the girl's eyes gradually dimmed as he fell silent.