Chapter 688 - 212: Interlocking Stratagems, Shen Bai Closes the Net

By now, the Marquis of Ren De was extremely wary of Shen Bai. After all, Zhang Dao Ling, a man of equal standing, had been beheaded at the Vegetable Market. Even the Marquis of Ren De found the news deeply unsettling.

Zhao Feng shook his head. "I shouldn’t linger in this Marquis’s Mansion. You can make excuses for mobilizing your troops, but it will still arouse Shen Bai’s suspicion. I have another purpose: to draw Shen Bai’s attention away from you. During this time, I will visit many different factions, creating the illusion that I’m colluding with them."

"Shen Bai will inevitably turn his gaze toward me."

The Marquis of Ren De heard this and thought it made a good deal of sense.

As for whether Zhao Feng’s plan was safe, that was not something the Marquis of Ren De concerned himself with.

As long as he had a way to leave the Great Zhou Country, the lives and deaths of others were, of course, no concern of his.

Once their discussion was settled, Zhao Feng did not linger in the Marquis Rende’s Mansion any longer and quickly departed.

After leaving the Marquis Rende’s Mansion, he found a random place to stay and took out a sheet of Talisman Paper, which he then lit.

As the Talisman Paper burned, an exquisite barrier immediately formed around him. The barrier expanded, shielding everything within it from the outside world.

Zhao Feng knew that many members of the Observatory were still tailing and watching him, but with this Talisman Paper from the National Preceptor, he was confident he could evade any prying eyes.

Having done all this, Zhao Feng took a Golden Arrow out of a small cloth pouch.

The Golden Arrow was gold all over, as if forged from the precious metal itself, and a sharp Qi constantly pulsed from its surface.

In the Jianghu, he was known as the Cloud-Piercing Arrow. And true to his name, his weapon was not the sword, but the arrow.

An arrow he shot, with the blessing of a special Cultivation Technique, could slay a master of the Celestial Spirit Realm.

Zhao Feng was not skilled in direct combat, but assassination was far more his forte.

’I should leave Shen Bai a little parting gift before I go.’ Zhao Feng thought to himself as he studied the Golden Arrow.

This Golden Arrow of his carried the National Preceptor’s blessing, but not a significant amount of it. After all, the Great Zhou Country had experts of a similar caliber.

However, even with a minor blessing on the Golden Arrow, the combination of the National Preceptor’s power and Zhao Feng’s own skill as the Cloud-Piercing Arrow meant he could shoot this Golden Arrow at Shen Bai from a great distance. It might even be enough to take Shen Bai’s life.

This was the second part of the National Preceptor’s plan. They wanted not only the Marquis of Ren De’s army but also Shen Bai’s life.

After observing it for a while, Zhao Feng hid the Golden Arrow back in its pouch. Then, as if no one was watching, he closed his eyes and began to rest.

...

While this plan was being set in motion on one side, on the other, in a military camp in the Lingyun Dao Border Region, Yang Chuan had shed his armor and changed into the clothes of a commoner. He was now sitting inside a military tent.

"General Chen, things have progressed to this point. You should understand the reasoning behind it."

Yang Chuan looked at the general and said slowly, "If Lord Shen hadn’t saved me with his own hands that time, I’m afraid I would have long since perished at the Yellow Springs. All of it was the Marquis of Ren De’s doing. If a single word of what I’ve said is false, may I be struck by lightning and my body left without a whole corpse."

Across from Yang Chuan sat a middle-aged general. He was frowning, listening to Yang Chuan’s account, before placing the wine bowl in his hand on the table.

"General Yang, I am aware of what happened to the Gale Camp. The Marquis said you were all annihilated by Demonic Forces. To find you all still alive is quite beyond my expectations."

Yang Chuan nodded. "General Chen, this was the Marquis of Ren De’s doing. He has never shown us any affinity; he only sees us as pawns. The lives of the thousand-plus soldiers of the Gale Camp—he threw them away without a second thought. Now, I have received reliable information that he intends to sell us out like pawns to the Great Yue Country in exchange for wealth and glory."

"I am acting under Lord Shen’s orders. I have already persuaded dozens of camps, and they have all agreed to conspire with me. Now it just depends on what you think, General Chen."

There were over a hundred camps in Lingyun Dao. Acting on Shen Bai’s command, Yang Chuan had already turned half of them—all those not run by the Marquis of Ren De’s staunchest confidants.

And now, this was Yang Chuan’s final task.

The remaining camps were manned by the Marquis of Ren De’s personal guard. He didn’t dare make a move against them, fearing he would alert the enemy. It would be a case of trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it.

General Chen tapped his fingers on the table, then slowly stood up. "I feel the same as the other camps. If the Marquis truly intends to sell us out to the Great Yue Country, then we will most certainly rise up in rebellion."

In the past, General Chen might have followed the Marquis of Ren De and defected to the Great Yue Country.

But what happened to Yang Chuan was a vivid reminder that they were all just pawns to the Marquis of Ren De, to be discarded at any moment.

No matter how loyal they were, it wasn’t a blind loyalty.

If the Marquis of Ren De had cared for them as if they were his own sons, they might have been willing to fight to their last breath for him.

But being schemed against like this was a different matter.

General Chen could not bring himself to trade true loyalty for false affection.

Yang Chuan stood and cupped his hands. "A wise decision, General Chen. In that case, I can return and report to Lord Shen."

"Though the Great Zhou Country is in turmoil, His Majesty has never treated us unfairly. He has always given his full support to the soldiers in the army. We absolutely cannot be ungrateful. If the Marquis of Ren De truly intends to do this, we will undoubtedly turn against him," General Chen said with a nod.

Yang Chuan lingered no longer and turned to leave the military camp.

He let out a sigh of relief.

Not long ago, the mission Shen Bai had given him had felt as heavy as a mountain.

But now, he had finally completed this momentous task.

A soldier approached him and asked, "General Yang, are we returning to the Observatory now?"

Yang Chuan nodded. "We’ll go back and report the good news to Lord Shen. Then, we wait for the right moment."

The group departed without further delay, heading for Lingyun Dao.