Chapter 90: The Black Hand Revealed
Translated by algoo | Proofread by algoo
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Within the Eastern Palace lay a lake of considerable size. The original Eastern Palace had no such lake. It was only after the current Crown Prince was appointed that the court expanded the palace and excavated the lake.
Ordinary people might assume it was merely for aesthetic purposes, but the top aristocratic families of the capital knew the truth: the Eastern Palace lake was built for the Crown Prince’s ability.
The Crown Prince’s ability was water manipulation. This was a secret to the common people. After all, as the heir apparent, the future emperor, his arcane arts ability could not be publicized. Some arcane arts countered others. If the Crown Prince’s ability were known to those with malicious intent, it would make him vulnerable to targeted assassinations.
However, secrets rarely stayed hidden forever. Although the court kept the Crown Prince’s ability confidential, it was no secret among the Great Xia’s elite.
The weather was clear and calm, with no wind. Yet, the Eastern Palace lake was turbulent. A water dragon spiraled out from the lake, smashing a stone tablet on the shore to pieces.
Had that force struck a person, their bones would have been instantly pulverized, leaving no chance of survival.
This was the might of a Heaven-rank arcane art.
A short figure emerged from the lake, walking across the surface to the grassy shore. His clothes and shoes were completely dry, without a trace of water.
A middle-aged man approached and bowed respectfully. “Congratulations, Your Highness. Your strength has increased again. Reaching the Earth rank is just around the corner.”
The Crown Prince waved his hand dismissively. “I know my own talent. After consuming so many Yuan crystals, I’ve barely reached the upper level of the Profound rank. The Earth rank is still far off. I cannot compare to the one from the Zhao family…”
The middle-aged man remained silent, sighing inwardly. The Crown Prince was truly delusional. The talent of the Zhao family’s daughter was top-tier, even on the entire continent. Even the geniuses of the Heaven courtyard at the Arcane Arts Academy couldn’t compare to her, let alone the Crown Prince, whose arcane arts talent was mediocre.
He shouldn’t even entertain the thought of comparing himself to her.
After completing his arcane arts training, the Crown Prince left the lake and went to a palace hall to attend to government affairs. There weren’t many matters requiring his personal attention. Most government affairs were handled by the twenty-four departments. Important matters were discussed in court, while less important and less urgent matters were given to him for practice.
Even so, he reviewed the memorials carefully. This was all experience for his future reign.
A beautiful bird perched on a tree outside the window, chirping occasionally. The Crown Prince, engrossed in the memorials, didn’t notice.
After a while, an elderly man with white hair and beard arrived at the entrance of the hall. Seeing the Crown Prince diligently working, he stroked his beard and nodded in satisfaction before leaving.
The moment the elderly man disappeared, the Crown Prince paused, tossed the memorial aside, and lowered his voice. “How is that matter progressing?”
A eunuch standing by a pillar stepped forward and bowed. “In response to Your Highness, it has been taken care of.”
The Crown Prince tapped his finger lightly on the table, murmuring, “The distant ones have been dealt with, but the closer ones are still dangling before my eyes. There used to be only one, now there are two…”
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The eunuch’s expression turned troubled. “Your Highness, he has close protection from the Secret Investigation Department. There’s no opportunity to strike. As for the other one, her strength is too formidable. Without strength at the upper level of the Earth rank, it would be impossible to complete the task. No assassin would dare accept such a commission…”
The Crown Prince picked up another memorial. “There’s no rush,” he said slowly. “I have patience. I will find an opportunity eventually…”
…
The Lin Residence.
Late at night.
Lin Xiu was still awake. He sat at his desk by the open window. After some time, a dark shadow streaked across the night sky, flying in through the window and landing on his desk.
It was the blue-crowned hanging parrot he had trained.
The look in the Crown Prince’s eyes during their brief encounter at the Grand Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet had deepened Lin Xiu’s suspicions, making the Crown Prince his first target of investigation.
Lin Xiu scattered some grains on the table. The parrot pecked at the grains while chirping.
It had spent the entire day in the Eastern Palace, observing the Crown Prince for Lin Xiu.
The parrot, of course, had never met the Crown Prince before. Lin Xiu had spent two days teaching it the route to the Eastern Palace and how to identify the Crown Prince among the crowd.
It had monitored the Crown Prince all day and now returned to report.
Parrots were intelligent creatures. It could clearly describe everything it had seen in bird language.
The Crown Prince was indeed a water manipulator, also practicing martial arts. The royal family’s education for their princes was rigorous, especially for the Crown Prince, the future emperor. The resources he enjoyed on his cultivation path were probably unmatched, even by geniuses like Lingyin from the Arcane Arts Academy.
The Crown Prince’s day consisted of handling government affairs, cultivating arcane arts and martial arts, eating, and sleeping.
Seemingly nothing unusual. Lin Xiu looked at the parrot and transmitted his thoughts. “What did he say?”
The parrot pecked at a few more grains and then mimicked in a strange tone, “Yuan… crystal… Pro…found… upper… far… off…”
This was why Lin Xiu had chosen to train a parrot instead of using the songbird. While the songbird could also monitor targets, it couldn’t understand human speech.
The parrot couldn’t understand human speech either, but it could imitate. While the pronunciation wasn’t perfect, it didn’t hinder the transmission of information.
These words didn’t reveal much. Lin Xiu could guess that the Crown Prince’s cultivation was at the upper level of the Profound rank, the same as Lingyin and Princess Minghe. But he was older and had access to far greater resources, yet he was still only at the fourth awakening. This suggested his arcane arts talent was quite ordinary.
Of course, as the future emperor, he wasn’t required to have exceptional cultivation talent. The current Emperor didn’t even have an arcane arts ability, but it didn’t prevent him from ruling the kingdom. Countless arcane arts and martial arts experts served him.
Lin Xiu looked at the parrot. “Anything else?”
The parrot paused for a long time, seemingly recalling, then said, “One… and… another… one…”
“One… and… another… one…?” Lin Xiu’s brow furrowed in confusion. He didn’t understand what those words meant. The parrot, not being human, couldn’t comprehend the Crown Prince’s words and could only repeat them in fragmented pieces.
Perhaps it had imitated incorrectly, or perhaps the words were meaningless.
Then the parrot continued in its strange voice, “Se…cret… In…vesti…gation… pro…tect… no… op…por…tunity…”
Hearing the words “Secret Investigation” and “protect,” Lin Xiu’s eyes narrowed.
It was the Crown Prince, indeed.
These words were easy to understand. He had Secret Investigation protection, so assassins couldn’t find an opportunity.
The parrot continued, “The… other… one… too… strong… no… assassin… I… patience… opportunity…”
Lin Xiu seemed to understand. “One… and… another… one…” he murmured.
Combined with these phrases, the meaning of the previous, seemingly nonsensical words became clear.
The Crown Prince clearly had more than one assassination target. Lin Xiu was just one of them. He had Secret Investigation protection, preventing the Crown Prince from sending assassins. The other target was too strong, and no assassin dared to accept the commission…
Furthermore, the Crown Prince hadn’t given up on eliminating them. He was still waiting for the right moment…
By now, it was clear who was behind the two assassination attempts.
What puzzled Lin Xiu was why the Crown Prince hadn’t acted sooner. Why had these two attempts occurred within the past few months?
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And who was the other target?
What did “one… and… another… one…” mean? It seemed to imply that Lin Xiu wasn’t originally a target. The Crown Prince had only recently decided to eliminate him. This meant his motive wasn’t the marriage contract with Zhao Lingjun…
After all, that contract had been established before Lin Xiu was even born.
This seemed to explain Lin Xiu’s first question: why hadn’t the Crown Prince acted sooner? Because the marriage contract wasn’t the reason.
That left only one other possibility.
Could it be that the Crown Prince wanted him dead because his ability was water, and Lin Xiu’s was ice? Was it simply because Lin Xiu’s ability countered his?
Lin Xiu had considered this possibility, but it seemed too absurd. How twisted must someone be to want to kill another person for such a reason?
However, based on this premise, everything seemed to fall into place.
The first assassination attempt had occurred shortly after his ability awakened.
The two attempts weren’t because of the marriage contract with the Zhao family but because of his awakened ability. From the beginning, he had been investigating in the wrong direction.
Not just him, but everyone.
Thinking back, the top aristocratic families in the capital, masters of political maneuvering, couldn’t have been unaware that the Emperor would never allow Zhao Lingjun to marry into their families. Even if Lin Xiu died, it wouldn’t be their turn.
One… and… another… one…
If this was the Crown Prince’s motive, then the phrase made sense. In the entire capital, there were only two people with ice arcane arts.
One was Lin Xiu.
The other was Lingyin.
…
Early the next morning, Zhao Lingyin arrived at the Lin residence. She was here to cultivate with him. Although she had persuaded the Dean to allow Lin Xiu to share her cultivation resources, he couldn’t enter the Heaven courtyard without her.
Lin Xiu hadn’t slept well. On the way to the Arcane Arts Academy, he asked casually, “Lingyin, have you ever experienced anything like an assassination attempt…?”
Zhao Lingyin glanced at him. “Why do you ask?”
Lin Xiu replied, “I just thought of it, that’s all.”
Zhao Lingyin said, “There were a few times when I was younger, but they became less frequent later on…”
Lin Xiu’s expression remained calm, but his heart was turbulent. To attempt to kill someone simply because their ability was countered by yours… that was the act of a twisted, deranged mind. What was even more terrifying was that this person was the Crown Prince of one of the five great empires of the continent, the future Emperor of the Great Xia…
It was utterly absurd.
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