Zhao Siqing slowly said, "This matter was quietly dropped, but not long after, Yuan Zhuang discovered that the person who had reported the case had also gone missing, leaving only his seriously ill elderly mother at home who nearly starved to death. Yuan Zhuang reported this to me, and I felt something was amiss—the informant might have been silenced—so I had people continue to investigate."
At this point, he glanced at Fang Chen. "Over the years, quite a few people have gone missing from the Minister of Rites's residence. His younger sister was just one of them. Therefore, I reported the matter to the Vice Minister; after all, only he has the authority to summon the Minister of Rites back for questioning."
"And then?" Fang Chen asked.
Zhao Siqing stroked his beard. "The Vice Minister swept the matter under the rug, claiming that everyone who disappeared from the Minister of Rites's estate did so because the Minister of Rites was too kind-hearted, which caused them to harbor disloyal thoughts and run off with a bit of stolen property."
"That explanation is barely plausible. Even our Fang estate has had servants like that," Fang Chen said with a faint smile. "Where does Zhao Siqing think the strangeness lies?"
"First of all, the initial informant was a notoriously devoted filial son. It is impossible that he would abandon his critically ill mother at home and vanish without a trace for other reasons," Zhao Siqing said. "Secondly, while Yuan Zhuang was investigating, one of his subordinate constables had an arm hacked off. It seemed someone was warning us, hoping we would stop digging."
He paused. "For the safety of my men, I shelved the matter. But over the past few years, I have occasionally kept an eye on the situation at the Minister of Rites's residence."
"Have there been any further disappearances of servants?" Fang Chen asked.
"No such incidents have occurred since," Zhao Siqing shook his head, a sharp gleam flashing in his eyes. "Heir, do you also feel something is wrong with this?"
"When you return, have your subordinates check the case files on missing persons in the Capital from the last six years... no, the last twenty years. Some cases didn't involve officials, so they weren't reported to Dahua Temple; they'll be with the Mayor's Office. You know what to do," Fang Chen instructed.
Zhao Siqing's expression grew solemn. He nodded and turned to leave.
In his view, since the Heir had taken note of this matter, it meant it was no small affair. Behind these missing persons cases, some hidden secret might be lurking, perhaps even connected to Qingsong!
"Heir, are you finished talking with Zhao Siqing? Then I suppose it's my turn?" Fairy Yu appeared quietly after Zhao Siqing departed.
She had followed Fang Chen and the others the entire way. Not only was her lightness skill exceptional, but she had also mastered the art of disguise, making it easy for her to avoid recognition.
"I have nothing for you to do," Fang Chen said helplessly.
"Heir, what is the background of that maid by your side today?" Fairy Yu asked with curiosity.
"Goddess Xiao," Fang Chen replied.
Fairy Yu was slightly taken aback, a look of utter astonishment flashing in her eyes. "Goddess Xiao? How could she..."
"She volunteered to stay as a hostage. That way, Military Commander Xiao will spare the Third Prince's life, ensuring he isn't enraged enough to use the prince as a punching bag just because I killed a few Qingsong martial artists in the Capital." Fang Chen smiled.
"Then she certainly doesn't know that with the Third Prince's schemes, Qingsong would find it harder than ascending to heaven if they actually wanted to kill him," Fairy Yu scoffed.
"Indeed. This fellow's brain is far too useful. He probably hasn't been idle over these past five years in Qingsong. If he wanted to, he could have returned to the Daxia Capital long ago," Fang Chen smiled. "Once he catches wind of the news here in the Capital, I expect you and I will be seeing him shortly."
The Crown Prince feared he would go and welcome the Third Prince back. Little did the prince know, his understanding of his third brother was far too superficial.
Once upon a time, the Third Prince had willingly gone to Qingsong as a hostage; now, he had the capability to return to Daxia of his own accord. On this point, Fang Chen had absolute confidence in him.
Both of them were kindred spirits. For the sake of Daxia's countless commoners, neither would throw their lives away so easily.
"Heir, even knowing this, you still keep Goddess Xiao by your side. Could it be you've been captivated by her looks? From what I hear, Goddess Xiao's lifestyle is hardly proper." Fairy Yu said softly.
"Some people wish for her death, but five years ago, I did owe Military Commander Xiao a life at Three Realms Mountain," Fang Chen sighed softly. "No matter what, I will keep Goddess Xiao alive. Once she returns to Qingsong, we will be even."
"Then... can I stay by your side as a maid too? Look, someone even called me a courtesan today. I feel genuinely wronged." Fairy Yu lowered her head and said.
"Talk to me after you break through to the Imperial Qi realm." Fang Chen waved his hand and turned to walk away.
"Imperial Qi?" Fairy Yu's eyes lit up. Then, she shook her fist at Fang Chen's retreating back. "Heir, you'd better keep your word!"
***
Chapter 32: Fang Cangyou's Legs
"Hmm, my spiritual power seems to have increased quite a bit again. At this rate, condensing the third immortal meridian isn't far off. Cultivating immortality... is indeed not that difficult..."
Fang Chen spent another entire night crafting talisman papers. He now had a total of fifty Violet Lightning Talismans, along with several Speed Talismans, Vajra Talismans, and Might Talismans.
During this period, he hadn't slept a wink. In the past, when he was still a Pill Qi Warrior, he might have been able to manage that, but he certainly wouldn't have felt as energized as he did now.
His abundant spiritual power felt like an inexhaustible well of energy!
"Once the quantity of talismans reaches a certain level, I can distribute them to the covert guards beneath me. They'll come in handy for catching people off guard when danger arises."
Leaving his courtyard, Fang Chen went to the martial practice arena where Fang Cangyou usually loved to spend his time. Whenever Fang Cangyou had nothing to do, he would sit in his wheelchair and watch the Fang family youths and guards vigorously drill in the arena.
Fang Chen paused to watch for a moment, a faint smile touching his lips.
Some of these Fang youths belonged to the main branch, some to collateral branches, but the majority were orphans of soldiers who had died in battle.
Fang Canghhai hadn't forced them to change their surname, but he treated them equally; whatever the Fang family youths had, they had as well.
"Chen'er, what brings you here with time to spare?" Fang Cangyou suddenly turned his head to look at Fang Chen, a curious expression on his face.
"Second Uncle, I'd like to take a look at your leg injury." Fang Chen smiled.
A flash of desolate melancholy crossed Fang Cangyou's eyes. He looked down at his legs, then smiled faintly, "What's there to look at? The meridians are already snapped; I'll never stand up again in this lifetime."
Three years ago, someone wrote a scathing imperial essay demanding that the Emperor make Fang Chen pay with his life for the six hundred thousand soldiers who had died in battle at Three Realms Mountain.
Because of this essay, commoners even went to the Fang Estate to cause trouble, and even the Eastern Tiger Battalion, commanded by Fang Canghai, experienced wavering morale.
The imperial palace remained silent throughout, letting the situation develop. Fang Cangyou finally could not bear it any longer; he broke directly into the imperial palace's main hall and rebuked the Emperor.
Seeing this, the then-Commander of the Imperial Guards, Yan Beihan, immediately shot an arrow through Fang Cangyou's legs. In the end, the Emperor smoothed things over, and the matter concluded with Fang Cangyou crippled in both legs.
Fang Chen was blinded and his Qi Sea destroyed; Fang Cangyou had his legs broken. In the vast Fang Estate, only the Old Master and Fang Canghai remained, and the Old Master was getting on in years—if he failed to break through his realm, his days were numbered.
Perhaps because of this, outsiders felt the Fang family no longer posed a threat. Afterward, things grew quiet, and no one else jumped out to target the Fang family.
"My cultivation has recovered now. Perhaps there is a way to reconnect your meridians." Fang Chen said.
Fang Cangyou looked at him, then sighed, "Push me to the back courtyard."
Back Courtyard.
Fang Chen had just intended to use his spiritual power to probe Fang Cangyou's leg injury when Fang Cangyou stood up from his wheelchair on his own, hopped up and down a few times in front of Fang Chen, and patted his own legs.
"I told you, there was no need to look!"
Fang Chen froze.
Seeing his expression, Fang Cangyou was instantly amused. "Hehe, didn't expect that, did you? Second Uncle hasn't seen this kind of astonished look on your face more than a couple of times in over twenty years!"
"Second Uncle, your legs... they've been fine all along?" Fang Chen's expression turned odd.
"Naturally. Is it really that easy to cripple Fang Cangyou's legs?" Fang Cangyou sneered, then sat back down in the wheelchair, picked up a fur blanket, and carefully draped it over his legs.
"Then why..." Fang Chen muttered thoughtfully.
"If they knew my legs were fine, who knows what kind of malicious schemes they'd cook up again? It's better to play along with their wishes and let them see how wretched our Fang family is. You're blind with a ruined Qi Sea, and I have broken legs. If any more scumbags jump out to talk nonsense, the Emperor can't just ignore it, can he?" Fang Cangyou sneered.
"Then these past few years must have been hard on Second Uncle. Now Second Uncle doesn't need to keep up the pretense." Fang Chen smiled wryly.
"No, I'm acting my part just fine, why stop? It's great like this—nobody takes me seriously. If anything truly happens, I'll catch them completely off guard!" Fang Cangyou chuckled.
No matter what, he was still a Qi-Bursting Martial Artist, and a Qi Burst Peak expert at that. It was only because of his broken legs that people had overlooked him these past few years.
"In that case, I'll take my leave." Fang Chen nodded. Since his second uncle wanted to keep playing the part, he would let him.
"Wait, push me back to the martial arena." Seeing Fang Chen about to leave, Fang Cangyou hurriedly called out.
Fang Chen waved a hand, ignoring him, and vanished from Fang Cangyou's field of vision in a flash.
"This brat! Where on earth has Xu Ge been these last two days, running around like a headless chicken!" Fang Cangyou muttered with annoyance, pushing his wheelchair away at a leisurely pace.
***
Fang Chen returned to the Covert Courtyard.
Over the course of the night, Zhao Siqing had already organized a massive stack of case files—piling up as tall as a man—and placed them before Fang Chen.
"Heir, all the missing persons case files from the past twenty years are right here. I've already reviewed them once. There are quite a few suspicious points among them, stretching back as far as eight years ago," Zhao Siqing said in a low voice.
"Are there no problems with the case files from before eight years ago?" Fang Chen asked.
"In this old man's view, not much. They were mostly ordinary cases, and some of those people returned home long ago," Zhao Siqing replied.
Fang Chen nodded. In that case, he only needed to look at the files from today going back eight years. He counted them; there were upwards of a thousand such cases!
This meant that over a hundred people went missing every year, with someone vanishing every three days. And these weren't even all of them—some people were unwilling to report to the authorities, and some families had no one left to file a report.
Counting those, the number of missing people was staggering!
With a grave expression, Fang Chen began sorting through these cases alongside Zhao Siqing. Among them, he indeed spotted many unreasonable and illogical details.
Time slipped away bit by bit.
The sky grew dark.
Fang Chen selected three cases from the files, all recent, though he also intended to personally investigate the case from two years ago involving the Minister of Rites.
After that case, no one else had gone missing from the Minister of Rites's estate; this was certainly no coincidence.
If the Blood Spirit Cult was connected to these cases, he only needed to find a clue within them to know who was involved and how many there were.
Not a single one of these culprits would Fang Chen let off lightly.
"Heir, are these cases you're investigating related to Qingsong?" Zhao Siqing suddenly asked.
Fang Chen glanced at him and smiled faintly, "Qingsong? Qingsong no longer needs to be kept in mind. The matters involved in these cases are far more severe than Qingsong. That senior inspector under you is named Yuan Zhuang, right? Is he reliable?"
"Yuan Zhuang? I watched that kid grow up. He has a warm heart, but whether he's reliable or not, this subordinate wouldn't dare say for sure," Zhao Siqing shook his head slightly.
"You haven't forgotten the vigilance expected of a covert guard." Fang Chen smiled and nodded. The golden rule of the covert guards was never to trust anyone lightly—except the Heir.
"Have him come see me tomorrow." Fang Chen picked up a few case files, gave his instructions, and stood up to leave.
***
Chapter 33: Investigate!
"Cousin, is it really the Military God Fang who wants to see us? You're just a lowly inspector at Dahua Temple. Though you're much better off than me, a newly minted constable, just what kind of figure is Military God Fang? Why would he want to see you? Don't go boasting just to save face in front of me. If we get thrown out of the Fang estate later, we'll lose all our face!"
A bronze-skinned, slender female constable dressed in dark-colored constable attire muttered quietly to Yuan Zhuang while eyeing the Fang Estate.
"What would I be boasting about? Did you forget that I was the one who personally escorted Military God Fang into Dahua Temple just a short while ago?" Yuan Zhuang shrunk his neck back, feeling a bit lacking in confidence, but he refused to lose face in front of his younger cousin.
After a brief pause, Yuan Zhuang added, "You got one thing wrong, though. Military God Fang only wants to see *me*. If you hadn't happened to be on duty with me today, you wouldn't even have this chance to come here and see the world. Don't go running your mouth later. Get on good terms with the people here; it'll make things easier for you when you handle matters around this area in the future."
Yuan You remained somewhat skeptical. Right at that moment, a servant from the Fang estate walked out, cupped his fists at Yuan Zhuang, and said, "Lord Yuan, the Heir invites you in."
Yuan You stared blankly at Yuan Zhuang, a trace of disbelief flashing in her eyes. It really was Military God Fang who summoned her cousin? Since when had her older cousin managed to mix in such high circles?
"Little brother, then this subordinate of mine..." Yuan Zhuang looked toward Yuan You.
"This officer can wait in the reception hall. The Heir is only seeing you alone." The Fang estate servant was very polite.
Yuan Zhuang hurriedly nodded. Seeing someone lead Yuan You away, he gave a few more parting instructions before following the servant toward Fang Chen's residence.
Along the way, Yuan Zhuang felt a bit nervous, secretly guessing at Fang Chen's purpose in summoning him.
Before long, Yuan Zhuang met Fang Chen. At that moment, Fang Chen was quietly practicing a set of health-preserving boxing techniques. At a glance, no one would ever guess that this vibrant young man had once been the Military God of Daxia!
"Lord Yuan is here. Have a seat." Fang Chen finished his routine and gestured toward a stone stool nearby.
*Can he actually see...?*
Yuan Zhuang was inwardly shocked. Could it be that Fang Chen could identify him purely by the sound of his footsteps? Such a method was simply too terrifying.
He cautiously sat down across from Fang Chen, then immediately stood back up, cupping his fists with a wry smile, "Military God Fang, why did your subordinate... ah, why did you summon this official today?"
"I'm a commoner now; it's probably inappropriate for you to refer to yourself as an official in front of me." Fang Chen smiled, not dwelling too much on the topic, and cut straight to the point: "Someone handed me a few case files. I feel these cases are out of the ordinary. You're an inspector at Dahua Temple and have studied this sort of thing—take a look?"
He tossed the case files over to Yuan Zhuang.
Yuan Zhuang hurriedly caught them. The first page he saw was the case involving the missing maid from the Minister of Rites's estate two years ago, and a look of shock instantly crossed his face.
"Military God Fang, this is..."
"Read carefully. Once you've finished them all, answer me," Fang Chen said indifferently.
"Yes, yes, yes." Yuan Zhuang nodded repeatedly, then began reading earnestly. After about half an hour, with a solemn expression, he said, "Military God Fang, these cases all have major suspicious points, however..."
He paused and smiled bitterly, "These cases have already been closed..."
"Let's talk about the Minister of Rites's case first. The younger sister goes missing, the older brother reports it, and then the older brother also disappears, leaving only a critically ill mother at home," Fang Chen smiled. "Do you think that makes sense?"
"It doesn't make sense." Yuan Zhuang honestly shook his head. "But the Vice Minister personally tried this case and already handed down a conclusion: the Minister of Rites's maid eloped with someone and stole a fair bit of property."
"Do you agree with that conclusion in your heart?" Fang Chen asked.
"I don't... but what can be done?" Yuan Zhuang gave a bitter smile.
"Investigate," Fang Chen said calmly. "Since you don't agree, investigate properly. Sooner or later, the truth will come to light. Don't you think?"
"Military God Fang, could it be that you know something?" Yuan Zhuang's expression shifted.
"I don't know much more than you do; otherwise, why would I have called you here? Since we've nothing else to do, let's go take a look at the brother and sister's home." Fang Chen smiled.
Yuan Zhuang instinctively nodded, then looked stunned. Military God Fang was personally going to investigate a case with him? This...
He felt like he was dreaming.
"Military God Fang, um... I have a subordinate waiting for me in your estate as well. Allow me to dismiss her, and then we can head out together?" Yuan Zhuang said quickly.
"Bring her along. What we are doing is upright and proper; there's no need for secrecy." Fang Chen smiled faintly.
*This girl really has good luck. On her very first day on the job, she gets to tag along with Military God Fang on an operation...* Yuan Zhuang inwardly complained.
Yuan You had been waiting in the reception hall, bored out of her mind, when she suddenly heard shouting from outside. Unable to resist, she stood up to look and happened to see Fang Zhixue practicing her swordplay in the courtyard.
Sparring against Fang Zhixue were a dozen youths whose cultivation levels were all quite impressive, yet not a single one of them lasted a single move against her!
"You guys are too weak! I tell you to put effort into your daily practice, but you treat it like wind past your ears. At your age, you're still stuck in the Qi Condensation realm!" Fang Zhixue chided them with dissatisfaction.
"Elder Sister Zhixue, how can we compare to you? You've been practicing the Xuan Tian Art since you were little, and we've only been cultivating for a few years..." The youths muttered discontentedly.
"Fang Zhixue!? Military God Fang's younger sister—she's also a martial arts prodigy who entered the inner threshold at a young age and broke through to the Qi Burst Realm!" A look of shock appeared on Yuan You's face. She could tell Fang Zhixue's age was clearly a few years younger than her own, yet she herself was merely a mid-stage Qi Condensation martial artist...
"Hm? Who are you?" Sensing a gaze, Fang Zhixue turned to look at Yuan You. Seeing a female constable standing at the entrance of the reception hall, curiosity instantly flashed in her eyes.
"F-Fang Girl, this subordinate is Yuan You, a constable of Dahua Temple. My superior is Senior Inspector Yuan Zhuang," Yuan You hurriedly cupped her fists.
"Dahua Temple!? What are you doing in our Fang estate? You aren't here to arrest my older brother again, are you? You guys are going too far!" Fang Zhixue instantly flared up in anger.
Realizing she had misunderstood, Yuan You hadn't even had time to explain when a clear, calm voice rang out:
"Zhixue, I invited them here."
Fang Chen and Yuan Zhuang walked over slowly.
Seeing them, Fang Zhixue felt even more curious: "Older brother, why did you invite them here?"
*Older brother!?*
Could this person be...