Chapter 25: Xiao Lin — Still Alive?

Banxia suddenly startled.

"But Elder Wu's poison had already seeped deep into his lungs and organs..."

"Did you see him die with your own eyes?"

"Zhao Lan burned the entire thatched cottage to the ground..."

"Did you see him die with your own eyes?"

Banxia choked again before finally saying:

"Zhao Lan saw it with his own eyes — Xiao Lin had already breathed his last."

Pei Su suddenly turned to look at Banxia, and after a long silence, said quietly:

"Twenty years ago, he used the same trick to deceive the shadow guards of the Pei Manor..."

The words struck Banxia's mind like a thunderbolt. She gasped:

"Tortoise Breath?!"

Over the past few days, Pei Su had gradually told Banxia about the events of the past, so she naturally knew the truth behind all the schemes from twenty years ago.

"No, wait," Banxia immediately said. "But, Your Highness, even if Tortoise Breath can fake death, it cannot purge poison. How could he—"

Pei Su still wore that subtle smile.

"Then let me ask you, Banxia — twenty years ago, Xiao Lin was also poisoned. He was hit with Soul-Devouring Powder, ranked forty-ninth on the [Hundred Poisons Rankings]. How did he survive?"

Banxia shook her head.

In Xiao Lin's dying words, he had never mentioned how he had purged the poison — he glossed over it in a single vague sentence.

"That was all twenty years ago. The details are long since difficult to trace. Perhaps the Gao clan showed mercy, or perhaps some accident occurred — but the fact that he was struck by Elder Wu's poison mark and left with no way out makes it impossible for this to be a ruse."

"Very well. That is the first suspicious point: how did he survive Soul-Devouring Powder back then? Now, Banxia, think carefully again about Xiao Lin's dying words."

Banxia lowered her head and quickly ran through the memory scenes from the Soul-Searching Array in her mind.

"Looking back at his dying words and behavior, there are quite a few suspicious points."

Pei Su raised the bamboo scroll in his hand and said:

"Xiao Zhongyong claimed his grandfather had been a jianghu man in his early years and had received guidance from Qingxuzi once, which was how he learned Tortoise Breath. But over the past few days I had Elder Wu investigate — his grandfather spent his early years as a merchant in Ganzhou and never once set foot in the jianghu. Ha — that's actually a well-known [joke] in jianghu circles."

Banxia stood there blankly. Even now she couldn't quite grasp what His Highness was driving at.

"So Xiao Lin's Tortoise Breath did not come from Qingxuzi. Who else in this world possesses such a rare technique?"

Pei Su did not answer his own question, but continued:

"Back then, the Pei Manor's astrologer used a celestial omen to divine that Xiao Lin was somewhere in the Bingzhou region. We all assumed he would be hiding somewhere in the jianghu — but he wasn't. He was right here in the provincial capital, Lin'an Commandery."

"I hear he first discovered Butterfly Dream Valley as a hiding place about ten years ago. But before that, he was still hiding in Bingzhou working as a blacksmith. The jianghu would have been far more suitable for concealment, yet he never entered it — or rather, he didn't dare..."

Banxia fell silent, deciding to listen quietly as Pei Su spoke.

"Banxia, think carefully again about Xiao Lin's final words. Don't you find them rather laughable?"

Pei Su let out a cold chuckle.

"He claimed he only woke up one day and rushed back to his ancestral home to find his entire clan slaughtered. How is that possible? He was a court military officer who had spent years in the Imperial Capital — he understood the power struggles at court intimately. Once he was put on the wanted list, how could he have waited years before thinking of his own wife and children?"

Banxia nodded thoughtfully.

"So he must have known his entire household had been massacred, yet still kept his identity hidden and didn't dare make a move?"

"Yes. He is an absolutely self-serving man — ruthless and venomous to the core. The decisiveness with which he initially used Zhao Lan to secure his own survival, and then that palm strike he aimed at me later — ha — that was truly vicious, meant to kill me outright..."

Pei Su raised an eyebrow slightly, a mocking smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"People often say that when a man is about to die, his words become kind. While that may be an absolute statement, one cannot deny that at the brink of death, a person is most likely to drop their guard and speak from the heart.

"Yet this utterly self-serving man, at the moment of his death, spoke those grand words about the common people and the welfare of the realm. Truly laughable — and deeply incongruous..."

Banxia drew a deep breath and said:

"If there were only one or two suspicious points, they might be dismissed. But with so many stacking up together, it does seem rather..."

"There is one more thing, Banxia..." Pei Su said with a smile. "Twenty years ago, after Xiao Lin drew his blade and left, the Son of Heaven's head rolled to the ground, face covered in mud, a most undignified sight..."

Banxia froze. She understood clearly what that implied.

The imperial palace forbidden guards were the Son of Heaven's closest protectors, recipients of the Emperor's boundless grace. How could they possibly watch the Emperor's head roll on the ground, defiled by mud like the filthiest of beggars?

"At the very least, even if the imperial guard commander from the Gao clan had been turned by his family and could bear to watch the Emperor die — he could never have stood by while the Emperor's skull was desecrated by mud."

Banxia seemed to realize something. Indeed, this Xiao Zhongyong seemed far too ruthless and cold-blooded to fit the image of an upright imperial guard officer.

"But, Your Highness, I still cannot figure it out — what other secrets is Xiao Lin hiding?"

"Banxia, from twenty years ago to today, we have laid out all the suspicious points Xiao Lin has revealed on the table. Now we need one thread to string them all together — one hypothesis sufficient to explain every anomaly."

"What is it?"

Pei Su raised the bamboo scroll before his eyes again, reading its contents, and a faint smile crossed his face.

"Now let us look back at the day Deputy Commander Xiao made his name — that night thirty-six years ago, when a band of heretical cult members launched a surprise attack on the Taihe Hall of the imperial palace..."

Banxia's pupils contracted slightly.

The Taihe Hall Night Raid!

This was one of the most shocking mysteries to ever shake the Imperial Capital. In the heart of Great Jin's Imperial Capital — the place where the dragon-qi of all under heaven was most concentrated — jianghu heretics had secretly infiltrated and attempted a night raid on Taihe Hall. Every civil and military official had been outraged.

"His Majesty was furious and ordered the renowned constable Zhuge Qing of the White Jade Hall at the Court of Judicial Review to handle the case. In pursuit of the truth, even methods that upright court officials found contemptible were employed. In the end, only one piece of information was extracted from the captured prisoners — they had come for the Infant Poison Bead."

Banxia had known nothing of this, and simply listened as Pei Su recounted it. Yet now she felt the faint outline of a pattern beginning to take shape.

The Infant Poison Bead — the most lethal cursed artifact in the world. Legend had it that within the bead could be condensed [Blood Infant Heart-Corrosion], ranked fourth on the Hundred Poisons Rankings — an instrument of extreme yin and supreme toxicity. How could such a thing possibly be in the Imperial Capital? How could it possibly be in Taihe Hall?

That was merely a venue for grand ceremonies.

The Infant Poison Bead... poison...

Suddenly, Banxia seemed to connect something, her pupils trembling slightly. She ventured tentatively:

"The Infant Poison Bead... is on Xiao Lin's person?"

Note: ① [Hundred Poisons Rankings]: A list compiled over the ages by all those who work with poisons, recording the hundred most potent and lethal toxins known to the world. The rankings have not changed for over a thousand years and have gradually come to be universally recognized.

② [Joke]: Because Qingxuzi is vastly learned and the techniques he has cultivated encompass countless arts — and because he often leaves Azure Sea Immortal Mountain to wander the world, occasionally offering guidance to those he encounters by chance — jianghu practitioners who have mastered some mysterious technique, when asked about their teacher or how they learned it, will sometimes laugh and say they received guidance from Qingxuzi if they don't wish to answer.

③ [Blood Infant Heart-Corrosion]: Ranked fourth on the Hundred Poisons Rankings; a mortal poison capable of felling immortals. All who hear its name tremble. Legend has it that it was originally refined by an ancient Poison Lord using three thousand blood infants. Those afflicted will have their heart meridians gradually corroded, and at night they will hear the wailing of infants.