Chapter 1085 - 907: Uncannily Consistent Reasons

Dingbei Prefecture territory, the task of introducing the population, with the Gong family having great wealth and influence, several conditions overlap, Wu Jinliang instantly understood, his eyes gleaming, nodding repeatedly.

Shi Chun then took out the Mother-child Talisman and sent a message to Yu Xuanbing.

Shortly thereafter, Yu Xuanbing came over with a basin of Spirit Grass, pretending to be here to arrange potted plants, but was not in a hurry to arrange them. He first brought it to Shi Chun and asked, "What's the matter?"

Shi Chun directly said, "Please trouble the senior to help, get Lei Ying for me."

Yu Xuanbing slightly squinted his eyes, staring at Shi Chun closely, revealing multiple meanings in that moment of reaction.

Shi Chun's explanation was straightforward, "It's about a series of situations, I need to confirm with the senior's opinion, I want to verify whether Lei Ying hired the killers."

Beside him, Wu Jinliang grinned, noticing that sometimes the Master really uses people effectively, using them with such swagger.

Yu Xuanbing thought for a while, considering the other's doubt was also normal, then slowly said, "I'll try."

After speaking, he turned and left.

Shi Chun called out to his back, "Senior, the longer the night, the more dreams, better do it quickly."

Yu Xuanbing didn't stop his steps, responding back, "Just to tell my family then I'll go."

On his way home, he suddenly heard his daughter's strange shouting, he stopped to look, seeing his daughter jumping down from the man-made waterfall, splashing into the crescent-shaped pool below, amusing the nearby guards who laughed heartily.

The daughter in the water raised her arms and shouted, "More, do it again."

Thus, a guard cast a spell again, gathering water into a fish, carrying the little girl in a leaping motion, directly sending her up to the top of the waterfall.

Then the little girl again chaotically called out, jumping down with arms and legs spread wide, playing rather wildly, improperly like a girl.

This time it seemed she hurt her butt, crawling onto shore rubbing her butt, a guard threw a Spirit Fruit over, and she forgot her pain, lifting her hand to catch it, rinsed it in the water before bringing it to her mouth for a crunchy bite, smiling with her teeth showing, and during her teeth-changing period, a few were missing, shouting, "Delicious, more."

Yu Xuanbing, who stood silently behind a column for quite some time, didn't disturb his daughter, turned and went home...

Nanshan Royal City, within the Right Minister's Mansion blessed by the grand array, deep within the immortal aura of Jing Garden, in front of the Xuan Pavilion's desk, a slightly graying old man exuded both nobility and authority, handling a stack of official duties.

This was precisely Minister Nanshan, Gong Xuan.

A man resembling him in appearance suddenly lifted the curtain and walked in—it was his eldest son, Gong Yuanhao. He approached the desk, looking at his father calmly flipping pages, with a frown that was unsettling, somewhat lost in thought.

After a long while, Minister Gong Xuan finally raised his head to look at him, asking slowly, "What's wrong?"

Gong Yuanhao regained his focus, replied, "Not all those watching Shaoci are from the West Bull King Court; it's been found that one party should be sent by the East Victory Royal Court, and there are two other parties whose identities aren't as simple as they appear, hidden very deeply, with no discovered intersection between the two parties so far. If these two aren't colluding, I worry..." his tone was deeply concerning.

Suddenly a group of people secretly watching the Gong family, though acting covertly, this is the Gong family, near the Minister Nanshan's family, long-term activity isn't child's play—soon enough it was detected on this side.

The key is that too many people suddenly emerged. If there was only one family it might have been concealed, but the number of people caught attention, how could the Gong family's capabilities hide it?

This puzzled the Gong family greatly, what kind of people are so bold, dare arrange so many targeting the Gong family?

Clearly, they're not ordinary people, thus the Gong family didn't act rashly, also secretly probing the origins of those sentries.

The characteristics of the demon cultivators are quite evident, hence the West Bull King Court was the first to be identified on this side.

Now people from East Victory Royal Court have emerged, asking how Gong Yuanhao could not be worried.

Minister Gong Xuan, upon hearing the report, slowly set down the Jade Scroll, muttering slowly, "West Bull King Court people, East Victory Royal Court people, and two other parties..." carefully considering it, he understood his son's worries, asking, "Are you worried about them being connected to the other three forces?"

Gong Yuanhao nodded, "Normally no one would dare do this, if the other two families are Beiju or the Heavenly Court people it wouldn't be a concern, I worry about..."

Minister Gong Xuan was silent, slowly stood up, walked away from the long desk, folding his hands behind his back, pacing in the Xuan Pavilion, after a long while asked, "Did you verify if Shaoci did anything during the relevant time?"

Gong Yuanhao approached and replied, "I checked, nothing outlandish was found during that time, he was quite restrained, didn't even meddle in the Young Master Nan organizing events for Shi Chun in Dingnan Prefecture to make money, he voluntarily withdrew. But it was found that billions in suspicious funds were misappropriated, and the whereabouts of the money weren't identified, sigh, when I probed Shaoci's thoughts, he instead thought ahead, assuming I intend to seize the assets of his branch."

Minister Gong Xuan stopped, folding his hands behind his back, saying, "Misappropriated billions... Logically, such an amount wouldn't warrant those families to pay attention for so long, it's been around half a year, right?"

Gong Yuanhao: "Almost there."

Gong Xuan: "Investigating for half a year, only discovering the connection of two parties, hmm, only watching Shaoci's branch?"

Gong Yuanhao: "Currently, that's the case, hasn't touched other aspects of the Gong family, specifically speaking, they're only watching Shaoci and his confidant named 'Lei Ying'."

Gong Xuan: "Since they're not just people from the West Bull King Court, this matter is not simple, can't wait any longer, they're watching someone must have a reason, since Shaoci refuses to honestly confess, then bring that Lei Ying directly for questioning, you can't be harsh on your own cousin, can't get this Lei Ying to speak?"

Gong Yuanhao didn't immediately accept, reluctantly worriedly said, "That's Shaoci's confidant, if I directly take him away, later if nothing is gained from the interrogation, and Shaoci protests, then I would surely be accused of trying to seize the assets of his branch's family." Saying this, he himself couldn't help but hold his head.

Gong Xuan glanced sideways and said, "Make that Lei Ying confess everything she's done in detail!"

Gong Yuanhao could only bow and comply.

After retreating from there, he immediately arranged for people to summon others.

He initially thought that once his words reached Lei Ying, she would dutifully come forward. Unexpectedly, the messenger returned empty-handed with a surprising piece of news, "Master, Lei Ying has gone missing."

While pondering how to conduct the interrogation in a pavilion, Gong Yuanhao was slightly stunned, "What do you mean 'missing'?"

The person replied, "She's gone missing. Three days ago, Lei Ying informed the servants she would be in seclusion for a few days and not to be disturbed. It wasn't until we went to deliver the message that the third house noticed Lei Ying was missing, her room entirely empty, with no witnesses of her departure. No one knows where she's gone."

Just as he was about to find someone, they suddenly vanished; Gong Yuanhao keenly sensed that something was amiss and immediately set off to investigate personally.

When he arrived at the third house, he happened upon Gong Shaoci gathering the servants for questioning, also probing into Lei Ying's whereabouts.

Upon seeing his uncle arrive, although Gong Shaoci maintained politeness on the surface, his eyes betrayed an evident distance.

At this point, Gong Yuanhao disregarded any courtesies. After inquiring about the situation, he directly intervened to interrogate the last person who had contact with Lei Ying.

After thoroughly understanding the entire situation, he quickly ordered Lei Ying's courtyard to be sealed, forbidding anyone from disturbing the area without his permission.

Gong Shaoci was puzzled by Lei Ying's disappearance and how it prompted his uncle's direct involvement. Upon hearing that his uncle intended to impose a lockdown within his home, he immediately voiced his displeasure, his face turning sour, "Uncle, although my father has passed away, this is my home; isn't it inappropriate for you to take charge?"

Gong Yuanhao swept his cold gaze toward him and sternly said, "Watch him closely. Without my permission, he's not allowed to leave this courtyard. Without my approval, no one from the third house is allowed to leave or make contact with the outside world; violators will face execution without mercy!"

Even using words like 'execution without mercy', Gong Shaoci retaliated furiously, "Uncle, don't go too far!"

Gong Yuanhao waved his hand dismissively, giving no regard to anyone's sentiments, decisively enforcing his orders. The people he brought quickly dispersed to execute the tasks while he swiftly departed.

Before leaving, he gestured behind him, causing Gong Shaoci, who was clamoring behind him, to be silenced by others, striking fear into the hearts of everyone in the third house.

Gong Yuanhao headed straight to his father, reporting the relevant situation.

"Disappeared while in seclusion..." Gong Xuan snorted.

Gong Yuanhao said, "There's a noteworthy point: Three days ago, when Lei Ying said she would go into seclusion, she addressed the servants outside through her doors and windows. Normally, she would notify Shaoci first, but she didn't. I suspect Lei Ying encountered an incident the moment she announced her seclusion in the room three days ago."

Gong Xuan asked, "During the incident, did any of the forces secretly monitoring the third house show any movement?"

Gong Yuanhao replied, "No unusual reports have been received."

Gong Xuan calmly said, "I'll borrow a Demon Eye Cultivator and some Tracing Experts from the Royal Court for you to use. Regardless of who those four forces are, overturn their operations and capture them, leave none out, pry open their mouths. Resisters will face execution!"

Seeing his father determined to stir turmoil in the Royal Capital, Gong Yuanhao responded without objection, bowing and accepting the order, "Yes."

About half a two-hour later, the sound of violent confrontation erupted around the Gong family's third house, causing the mute Gong Shaoci's anger to freeze, bewildered and glancing about, unsure of what was happening outside the home.

The sporadic sounds of fighting briefly sounded, but the targets were easily subdued by the unexpectedly overwhelming force.

Once the commotion ceased, Gong Yuanhao arrived with another group, directly asking to guide them to Lei Ying's courtyard.

Through meticulous investigation by a group of Tracing Experts, a conclusion was reached: Lei Ying had been missing from her room for over two days.

Having obtained clues, Gong Yuanhao abruptly turned and left, reporting his findings to his father before heading straight to the prison to interrogate the group of captured individuals.

During the interrogation, the Royal Court suddenly sent people to partake in the questioning. An elegantly dressed, slender old man, impeccably clean as if glowing, interrupted the interrogation of the captured personnel, directly revealing, "They're insiders."

Gong Yuanhao's heart trembled, realizing he feared the very occurrence; among the remaining groups, there really were people from the Nanshan Royal Court. Unable to remain silent, he voiced, "What's the meaning of the Royal Court's people monitoring my Gong family?"

The slender old man smiled faintly, "A misunderstanding, found outsiders watching over the Gong family, thus dispatched others to observe." Seeing Gong Yuanhao about to press further, he raised his hand to halt him, "Alright, I heard there are three more groups, just interrogate those three; the Saint King also wishes to know their intent in monitoring the Gong family."

Since the Saint King was mentioned, Gong Yuanhao had to comply.

Frustratingly, midway through the interrogation, East Victory Royal Court, West Bull King Court, and Beiju King Court sent envoys to retrieve their people, unanimously claiming responsibility for their agents and cited reasons as remarkably similar, all stating they noticed people watching the Gong family and feared malicious intent, hence sent observers for prompt warning.

This level of concern made Minister Nanshan smirk continuously as he stated publicly his response, saying his grandson's confidant Lei Ying had been kidnapped, with the culprits certainly among those from East Victory, West Bull, and Beiju; without releasing Lei Ying, he wouldn't release anyone.

Taking advantage amidst the wrangling, he ordered continued torture and interrogation to uncover the truth behind this group's surveillance.

The Heavenly Court personnel didn't participate; he was very curious about what exactly the Four Great Royal Courts intended by watching over his grandson's side.

He commanded someone to fetch Gong Shaoci; he intended to conduct the interrogation himself this time!