Chapter 337 - Unraveling the Threads

"I'm here on business," Qi Zongbi said, leaning forward in his chair. His brows drew together slightly, his presence sharp and commanding. "Tell me where he is."

"Stormqueller?" Ye Fan's expression turned odd, his gaze lingering on Qi Zongbi's face for a long moment before he finally asked, "What do you want with him? Do you think your life is too safe already? You don't have any of the Ghostbane Association's heaven-rankers protecting you now..."

Qi Zongbi raised an eyebrow.

Ye Fan waved his hand dismissively. "I know the rules—ask less, just do business. I'm just a little curious. You should know, the Storm Listening Pavilion has always been tight-lipped."

Qi Zongbi snorted disdainfully. "Tight-lipped... Anyone in the world can say that, except for your Pavilion. As long as there's business to be done, there’s no secret you won’t sell."

Ye Fan let out a chuckle, but showed no embarrassment at all. He propped his chin up with one hand. "Are you going to tell me or not? If you don't, then you won't get anything out of me."

Qi Zongbi picked up his teacup and took a small sip before exhaling slowly. "You don’t need to provoke me. Even if I don't say anything, you'd find out sooner or later."

Ye Fan spread his hands nonchalantly. "Then I’ll hear it from you."

Qi Zongbi cleared his throat, his gaze dropping to the floor. "It's rather complicated... As you can see, I do lack capable experts to protect me right now. The Imperial Guardians have slipped from my control, that much is obvious. As for the Ghostbane Association..."

"Ghostbane Association was never yours to begin with," Ye Fan interjected.

Qi Zongbi fell silent for a moment, casting Ye Fan a glance before continuing, "You are well-informed as always. Few know that my master reorganized the Ghostbane Association thirty years ago and has since pledged allegiance to the court. The original chiefs of Ghostbane Association were killed or crippled; their positions taken over by my master's subordinates. All internal affairs of Ghostbane Association were relayed to the court through the main sect leader. The court only needed to pull the strings of this puppet to maintain control.

"I was entrusted with overseeing the Ghostbane Association after I took office because of my connection with my master. Over the years, I noticed a troubling pattern—each sect leader secretly appointed by the court was, to some degree, undermined by the four hall chiefs. However, these four hall chiefs were all once my master’s trusted men, so I never delved too deeply into the matter until my junior brother headed east this time..."

"When you realized you could no longer command the Ghostbane Association?" Ye Fan smirked slightly.

Qi Zongbi nodded, his expression heavy. "That's right. At first, I thought it was Yue Dou's doing, since His Majesty entrusted the Ghostbane Association to him. You should know that Yue Dou and I have been at odds for years. During my time overseeing the Ghostbane Association, he tried numerous times to plant his own people within it. However, based on my sources, since taking control, Yue Dou has barely made any moves. Apart from reviewing the monthly reports submitted by the new sect leader, Hua Dongsheng, everything has remained the same as before... It didn't take long for me to piece some things together."

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Ye Fan suddenly clapped his hands. "To rise to the position of External Prime Minister, you are a man of extraordinary intelligence. Just by reversing your reasoning, you've deduced this much. I must commend you. Since you've come this far, I'll give you a piece of information for free."

Qi Zongbi's brows furrowed slightly. "Please, go ahead."

"Hua Dongsheng died two months ago."

Qi Zongbi's pupils constricted sharply, his lips trembling as he spoke. "I wasn't wrong?"

"Who knows?" Ye Fan spread his hands. "After I pieced what I know together, it seems you really weren't wrong—your junior brother wants to kill you."

"Or rather..." Ye Fan lifted his head, gazing toward the door. "He was preparing to get rid of you from the moment he advised you to engage with Northern Qiang. My intelligence in the Northern Qiang region isn't as sharp as it is in the Central Plains, but it would be all too easy for him to leak the Ruen Dynasty's war plans ahead of time. Of course, I don't know the exact workings of it all—I'm not as brilliant as you people."

"That's not it!" Qi Zongbi shook his head. "You got one thing wrong."

"Oh?" Ye Fan tilted his head.

"There was no need to go that far to deal with me. I was completely unguarded against him before. If he wanted to kill me, there were thousands of easier ways. This isn't just about killing me."

Ye Fan's eyes widened abruptly, and with a sharp snap, his folding fan clattered to the floor. "Could it be—?!"

Qi Zongbi let out a sigh.

"What he wants to get rid of... is the Ruen Dynasty."

Ye Fan drew in a sharp breath. "So that means... that means... What a ruthless scheme... He calculated each of your moves too?"

"I'm just one piece of the puzzle," Qi Zongbi said as he picked up the fallen fan and returned it to Ye Fan. "He knew he couldn't destroy the Ruen Dynasty without dealing with me—I am the largest obstacle in his way. His scheme is flawless. He knew I was determined to subdue Northern Qiang, and he also knew that my conflict with the late emperor ran deep. He took advantage of my trust in him and presented me with an irresistible plan, inciting war between the Ruen Dynasty and Northern Qiang.

"Northern Qiang had been forewarned, so they had time to counter our troops. In the eyes of the court, the blame would fall squarely on me. The late emperor would then have the perfect excuse to take my life."

Ye Fan took back the folding fan and tapped it against the table. "Destroying the Ruen Dynasty benefits the Northern Qiang. What does he stand to gain from this?"

"I think I understand his goals." Qi Zongbi licked his dry lips. "He's not just after the Ruen Dynasty—he must have designs on the Northern Qiang as well."

"Taking down two nations with a single scheme?" Ye Fan pursed his lips. "Isn't that a bit too much?"

Qi Zongbi shook his head lightly. "My junior brother is too deeply obsessed. He must believe that if not for the Northern Qiang and the Ruen Dynasty, our master would never have died. All these years, his promise of staying in the pavilion until Northern Qiang is destroyed must have been a ruse to mislead me."

"He must have further plans," Qi Zongbi said with certainty. "Right now, the Northern Qiang are an unstoppable force, so he must have a scheme targeting them as well. I just don't know what it is yet."

Ye Fan raised a hand. "There's one more question."

"Speak freely," Qi Zongbi replied.

Ye Fan pondered for a moment. "According to what you're saying, when the Three Passes fell, the late emperor could have sent a decree for your execution. At that time, you were already as good as dead, but the emperor just happened to pass away. Are you saying he foresaw even that?"

"Not likely." Qi Zongbi shook his head. "My junior brother often said that no matter how flawless a plan is, it can never account for all changes. He probably didn't foresee the late emperor's death. In fact, it was precisely because of the emperor’s passing that I was able to survive—there were too many affairs for the new emperor to handle, and he had no time to deal with me. You must understand, I am the External Prime Minister of a nation; taking my life isn't as simple as issuing an order."

Ye Fan recalled something. "If I remember correctly, not long after the late emperor's passing, your junior brother left the capital and headed east." He glanced at Qi Zongbi subtly as the spoke. "Right after your wife passed away."

At the mention of his deceased wife, Qi Zongbi's expression remained unchanged. He simply responded, "That's right. If not for that, I wouldn’t have suspected my junior brother."

"Oh?" Ye Fan asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

"At the time, I was still in Liangzhou Prefecture," Qi Zongbi said slowly. "He sent someone to inform me that my wife had passed away, claiming that the court had suppressed the news in case I decided to rebel. I didn’t suspect anything until I received my wife's final letter—delivered by an old family servant who had to disguise himself and evade heavy pursuit to get it to me. She had a lot to say but one part stood out... She mentioned that my junior brother had come to our residence, expressing his heartfelt concerns for me."

"It was... it was him..." Ye Fan swallowed hard. "He pressured your wife to kill herself?"

A vein twitched on Qi Zongbi's cheek. His silence answered it all.

After a long pause, Qi Zongbi finally said, "He miscalculated, but it allowed me to finally see everything for what it is. According to his original plan, the late emperor should have summoned me back to the capital to be executed. I was only temporarily beyond his reach because the late emperor passed away. So he devised this move instead—to deepen the rift between me and the court to an irreconcilable degree. In his eyes, even if I wasn't executed then, I wouldn’t be able to escape that fate in the future."

"I understand now." Ye Fan nodded. "So, you're looking for a skilled expert to escort you to the Ghostbane Association’s main stronghold in the East Sea to meet Sikong Yan? Or are you planning to kill him? Let me give you a word of advice—that place is as impregnable as a fortress. No matter how powerful Stormqueller is, if the two of you go there, you won’t be coming back."

"Kill him? Of course not." Qi Zongbi shook his head repeatedly. "Setting aside the fact that he's untouchable in the stronghold, now is simply not the time to kill him. War has already begun, and the Northern Qiang are at the peak of their strength. If something happens to him, who else will trouble the Northern Qiang? I'm going there only to see if I can find out his next moves. I need a bodyguard merely as a precaution. If he truly turns against me, I need someone who can protect me and get me out alive—I can't die yet."

"You're going to die sooner or later."

"At least not now." Qi Zongbi smiled faintly.

Ye Fan chuckled. "The Emperor wants to kill you, Impending Sword wants to kill you, Stormqueller wants to kill you, and even your junior brother wants to kill you. How much longer do you think you can survive?"

Qi Zongbi gave a wry smile and shook his head. "Then I'll try to live a little longer... If I die, I fear there will truly be no one left to stop my junior brother."

Ye Fan fell silent. Based on what he had heard tonight, Qi Zongbi’s fears were likely true.

Ye Fan considered what he learned and asked, "Why him? Stormqueller? You should know that he also wants to kill you after what happened to theChangfeng Escort Agency."

Qi Zongbi lowered his eyelids and spoke slowly. "Of course, I know. But I truly have no one else to turn to. Fu Yiran, who stays by Sikong Yan's side—I have a general idea of his martial prowess. He ranks among the very best in Ghostbane Association. The only one I can think of who could fight him for so long is Stormqueller... And there’s another, even more important reason—one that you may not know, perhaps even Stormqueller himself doesn’t know."

"?" Ye Fan frowned.

"Stormqueller is not actually part of the Ghostbane Association... Did you know that?" Qi Zongbi said slowly.

"Huh?" Ye Fan was stunned. "I don’t understand... What do you mean?"

"Do you know how Stormqueller joined Ghostbane Association?" Qi Zongbi's lips curled slightly, as if he were amused to know something Ye Fan did not.

Ye Fan thought for a moment. "I think he joined after enlisting in the army, but how exactly he got in, I have no idea..."

Qi Zongbi shook his head. "There are only two kinds of people in the Ghostbane Association—those raised from childhood as 'domestic tigers’ and those recruited from the jianghu are ‘wild wolves.’ Some time ago, when Stormqueller caused trouble at the Yingtian Prefecture branch, I specifically investigated him. What I found was strange—he didn’t enter through either of those methods. He was neither a house tiger nor a wild wolf. It was as if he had appeared out of thin air. That raised my suspicions, so I dug deeper, and guess what I found?"

Ye Fan pursed his lips, clearly displeased with Qi Zongbi's teasing.

Qi Zongbi let out a cold laugh. "He was one of the sleeper agents Yue Dou planted in the Ghostbane Association years ago."

"How did that happen?" Ye Fan was dumbfounded. "Why have I never heard of this?"

Qi Zongbi snorted. "How could you have heard of it? Even he probably doesn’t know. Back when Yue Dou and I had our power struggles, Yue Dou sent many people into the Ghostbane Association through the court. Most of them were desperate men with nowhere else to go—Yue Dou offered them a path to survival. To keep me from discovering the scheme, he never even revealed his identity to these people. He was waiting for the right time to use them as secret weapons. Stormqueller was one of them. Ironically, Yue Dou ended up inheriting control over Ghostbane Association before he needed to activate them."

Ye Fan smacked his lips, still processing the layers of intrigue.

"So Stormqueller is the most suitable choice," Qi Zongbi continued. "I have no Imperial Guardian elites to rely on, and the Ghostbane Association is now my enemy. Stormqueller, conveniently, is strong and he is not one of Sikong Yan’s men. There is no one else to consider but him."

Qi Zongbi went on, "As for the Changfeng Escort Agency incident, Stormqueller always believed that it was because of him that the agency was implicated, and for that, he hates me. The truth is, even without Stormqueller, the Changfeng Escort Agency would never have escaped its fate."

"Why is that?" Ye Fan asked, puzzled.

Qi Zongbi recalled, "At the time, Stormqueller had slaughtered the Yingtian Prefecture branch. When I discovered he was one of Yue Dou’s men, of course, I had no intention of letting him go, so I launched a nationwide manhunt. What outsiders didn’t know was that another incident had occurred. Back then, the Ghostbane Association was still under my control, and its leader at the time, Zhu Yin, sent me a message saying that a supreme treasure had been stolen from the main stronghold..."

Ye Fan’s eyes lit up, and he blurted out, "The Transcendence Stone!"

Qi Zongbi glanced at him. "That's right. The Transcendence Stone. I don’t need to explain how valuable it is. At the time, I immediately ordered the Imperial Guardians to conduct a thorough investigation. The last trace of the stone led to the Changfeng Escort Agency, which was transporting it to the residence of a wealthy man in Meizhou, Merchant Zhou. When the Guardians arrived, they found the merchant locked inside a chest after he drowned in his garden pond. They searched the entire estate but found no trace of the Transcendence Stone. After an investigation, they concluded the Changfeng Escort Agency most likely betrayed Merchant Zhou and had swallowed the stone for themselves."

Ye Fan let out a long breath. "I see. So Stormqueller and the Changfeng Escort Agency incident just happened to overlap, and you dealt with both at the same time."

"That's right," Qi Zongbi nodded helplessly. "It was just a coincidence. I never expected Stormqueller to be hiding inside the Changfeng Escort Agency."

Ye Fan pondered for a moment. "Even so, I don’t think that’s a reason for him not to kill you. The Changfeng Escort Agency was good to Stormqueller. Are you sure you still want to seek him out?"

Qi Zongbi’s facial muscles tensed, as if he hesitated for a moment. Then, after a brief pause, he nodded firmly. "Tell me where he is."

Ye Fan sighed inwardly. "Xuanfeng Valley."

***

At the same time, a secret letter passed through multiple hands, traversing the entirety of the Central Plains and crossing the vast wilderness. At last, under the cover of night, it was quietly delivered to the imperial palace of Yuanyang, the capital of the Northern Qiang.

In a secluded corner of the imperial city, there was a compound rarely visited by outsiders.

It was the Qihuang Society.

Not all members of the Qihuang Society were qualified to live here. The society was divided into four ranks: Mingmu, Anshen, Tongluo, and Xuming. Only those of the Xuming rank were granted permanent residence in this place.

And there was one more—Huitian, the members of this elusive rank came and went like a dragon flitting through the clouds.

In the dim woods beneath the night sky, a figure stood with his back against a tree, silent and motionless, blending seamlessly into the darkness.

He carefully unfolded the small slip of paper in his hand. It read, "Dang Gui, Return."