Chapter 687: Complete Hypnosis

The Jindao were completely hypnotized by Zhang Lie's mistmeld clam soulshard.

Like a marionette, he began, "The Jinghun are an intelligent race from the Milky Way, and are considered among the hundred strongest races there—"

Zhang Lie broke him off. "I know all that. What I want to know is whether or not you encountered any of the Jinghun after entering this world."

The court official in charge of interrogation was shocked—even their best efforts hadn't produced any results with the Jindao, but Zhang Lie had gotten them to talk with nothing but words alone.

"Yes," the Jindao replied.

"When?"

"Before the plan was enacted, we met with the Jinghun."

"What did you discuss?"

"The specifics of the plan."

"Do you know where in this world the Jinghun are hiding?"

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Within the capital. It's very likely that they're in the palace."

The official's eyes opened wide, as did the ninth prince's.?The palace? The king of the realm was right here! How could he not have sensed their presence?

The official interrupted, "Where in the capital are the Jinghun located? Where in the palace?"

It would certainly be dangerous for an enemy to be hiding right by the king of the realm. No one but Zhang Lie had considered this possibility; they had underestimated the audacity of the Jinghun clan.

When the Jindao remained silent, the official began to panic. He shook the Jindao violently. "Where are the Jinghun hiding? Tell us!"

On the other hand, Zhang Lie wasn't surprised. He had listened carefully to the second prince's words before the second prince died.

"It looks like the reason the Jinghun are able to safely ensconce themselves in the capital is because they're being protected by some stronger force. If I had to guess—probably a crown prince?"

The official turned, alarmed by Zhang Lie's seditious remarks. "Do you mean that the Jinghun are supported by one of the princes?"

"That's the most likely possibility."

The Jindao nodded. "You're correct. The Jinghun are supporting one of the princes."

"Which one?"

"We don't know either," the Jindao replied.

The official gritted his teeth. "Are you planning on hiding information even at this critical juncture?"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "They can't lie to me at the moment. Presumably, the Jinghun never revealed this information to the Jindao."

The Jindao replied, "It was Warlord Jin Yu's hypothesis that the Jinghun were supporting a prince."

Zhang Lie rubbed his jaw. "It looks like the warlord knows something we don't, doesn't he?"

It wasn't likely that these grunts would be privy to more sensitive information, after all—which made it more of a pity that Zhang Lie had killed this warlord already.

The official turned around. "I'll report this to his majesty immediately!"

Zhang Lie motioned for him to stay. "There's no rush. Let's finish the interrogation first."

Turning back to the Jindao, he asked, "What other forces do the Jindao have on this world?"

"There are none. The others all left before the betrayal."

The ninth prince sighed. "They've thought of everything, haven't they?"

"Give me more specifics about your plan."

"Our goal for helping the second prince was to obtain the primordial starflower, but we found that it would be quite difficult for him to beat the crown prince. Then, the Jinghun suddenly approached us."

The official summoned the guards standing watch to fetch brush and parchment.

The Jindao continued, "The Jinghun revealed that they had a plan and wanted the cooperation of the second prince. Initially, the second prince refused, but he was ultimately unable to resist the Jinghun's temptation."

One of the other Jindao added, "If I recall correctly, the Jinghun said something along the lines of, 'Would you really be satisfied with being a prince, rather than the king, your entire life? Can you really stand the notion of the crown prince stealing your fame and glory? You're half a step from the throne—won't you regret walking away now? You're no worse than the crown prince!'

"Naturally, after these words, the second prince couldn't refuse the Jinghun's offer.

"Using the Qian clan's network, the Jinghun were able to implant their shards on quite a few lifeforms, which they then transported to the hunting grounds. Thanks to the second prince's authority, nobody doubted or reported their actions to the king of the realm.

"Right before the plan was about to be enacted, the Jinghun found us and suggested that we prepare a safeguard."

"Is this when you worked out the idea of burgling the imperial treasury?"

The Jindao nodded. "Both we and the Jinghun clan suspected that the king of the realm wasn't as weak as he appeared. If he truly were that weak, there would be no way to promote the rate of growth of beasts within the hunting grounds."

"So you made use of the second prince?"

The ninth prince smiled wryly as he listened to Zhang Lie's questions. In the end, the second prince, who thought himself a man of wit and cunning, was nothing more than a plaything in the aliens' eyes.

The Jindao nodded. "The Jinghun also seemed to want something from within the imperial treasury, so our goals were aligned. If the second prince were to succeed, we wouldn't have to do anything; if he were to fail, we would burgle the imperial treasury."

Zhang Lie summarized calmly, "The Jinghun were responsible were creating the beast stampede targeting the capital, while the Jindao started a revolt within the palace."

The Jindao nodded. "That's right. The second prince was essentially a backup plan."

In the end, neither of the alien races had looked favorably on the second prince's chances.

There were so many princes that, even if the second prince successfully killed the crown prince, he was unlikely to take down the others as well. The second prince's plan was, in truth, no more than a delusion on his part.

The ninth prince frowned. "But you began to act even before matters at the royal hunt concluded."

Zhang Lie shrugged. "They were likely signaled by the Jinghun."

"Our plan was perfect. The king of the realm would be weakened trying to curb the stampede at the royal hunting grounds. It would take him all his strength to rescue the crown prince, subdue the second prince, and finally quell the threat of the disaster-grade lifeform.

Of course, the best-case scenario would be if the crown prince was killed in the attack, which would have been so heavy a blow to the king of the realm that our chances would have risen dramatically."

Unfortunately for the Jindao, they hadn't planned for Zhang Lie's appearance. The king of the realm was able to focus on the disaster-grade lifeform while Zhang Lie handled the second prince's treachery.

Zhang Lie whistled. "Giving up on a warlord for your plan—well, you certainly took quite the gamble."

"Sacrifice is necessary, because this matter affects our entire clan."

Zhang Lie's interest was immediately roused. "The primordial starflower can save your entire clan?"

Indeed, the Jindao had dedicated two warlords for this mission alone...

"Right, because it might be able to get us a higher-grade limit-breaking potion!"

Upon hearing the words 'limit-breaking potion', Zhang Lie's eyebrows rose all the way to his scalp.