Chapter 98: Tea and Subtlety

In the dead of night, along the official road, three horses galloped at full speed.

“Giddy-up! Giddy-up!”

Ning Hongwu, Feng Jun, and Qian Yousheng pressed close to their mounts’ flanks, cracking their whips fiercely as they rode under the stars, racing back urgently.

Not long ago, they had been enjoying drinks at a tavern in Xiyang County with local clans and merchants. Upon receiving a message from Ning Sanniang, the three broke into a sweat from shock; Ning Hongwu’s eyes even reddened as he hurriedly spurred his horse out of the city.

“Commander Yang, this is hopeless. We must flee first to save our lives!” Seeing Yang Feng’s rage, Li Le and Han Xian quickly restrained him.

“That’s exactly why I wanted to find President Ai, but I have no idea where to start,” Su Qingge said, rubbing his temples with a helpless sigh.

I had left Su Qingcheng to fuss and fret alone while I skated relentlessly on the ice, hoping this motion would ease my troubled mind even a little.

A crisp slap rang out. The scout vanished almost instantly like a shooting star, angling sharply at sixty-five degrees toward the sky, speeding toward Tianyun City.

Typically, Taoist priests did not engage in trickery. The Taoist temple system was highly hierarchical; matters concerning the lower realms were naturally handled by those from those realms.

“Save me... please save me...” Xia Jingyi knelt before the horse, pleading earnestly. Wu Gongda, noting her noble Mongolian attire yet fluent Mandarin, found it peculiar.

“Why do you trust that Taoist’s words so blindly? What if he’s lying?” Xiang Li asked, puzzled. She had seen too many fake priests who deceived and performed false miracles.

At this moment, Lu Ling withdrew his gaze from that spot, a faint smile playing on his lips. The smile lingered, though its meaning had shifted subtly.

“Hong Guo? Never heard of it,” Li Yunmu shook his head. Simultaneously, he searched the system for any information on Hong Guo but found nothing.

Rarity breeds value; those holding the Star Romance VIP card were either immensely powerful or unimaginably wealthy.

Meng Qi was speechless. What was this nonsense? They were about to depart, yet someone hurried over to find him. Was he just being dragged along to fill a quota?

“There’s a disaster ghost on the sixth floor’s Red Alley. If our killings and arson are exposed, we can pin the blame on it. That’s a reasonable use of a calamity,” Han Fei said, having changed out of his bloodstained clothes. Accompanied by two special residents, he headed to the sixth-floor elevator lobby.

Before Han Yi could rejoice over his achievements, an arrow suddenly struck his arm. He cried out in pain, dropping his sword and leaning against the wall. Just as he opened his mouth to call out, something was shoved into it.

“Ugh...” Hearing their conversation drifting down from the clouds, Xu Feng broke out in a cold sweat.

Before the mysterious powerful figure could finish speaking, Lu You sharply interrupted, launching a scathing tirade filled with biting insults.

After Lin Yi’s prison visit ended, she planned to go home and change into something formal. At four o’clock, Zhou Yu called, saying he would take her to a family banquet to formally introduce her to the Zhou clan.

Tao Meizhu’s remark nearly made the two Qin brothers spit out their drinks laughing. She was the assistant manager of Qin Real Estate, no ordinary position, attained only through rigorous competition—not something to be taken lightly, yet she spoke so casually.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded inside. A head peeked out from the doorway, glaring at Gao Qing. “Shameless!” With that, the door slammed shut tightly.

In the blink of an eye, March arrived. Zhongyang County welcomed an old friend—Dong Zhao, who had come with Zhu Jun and Guo Sheng to present the imperial edict to Liu Bian. The reason for Dong Zhao’s visit to Zhongyang County traced back to a private meeting he once had with Liu Bian before his departure.