"Hearing you say that, I’ve actually grown interested in this Donglin Continent. As expected of the Shui Clan whose business spans the Four Countries—you people can even dig out things like this."
Shui Yixuan chuckled. "What can I say, I’ve got a pair of worriso parents. When they’re idle they love to wander around. Every ti they get to a new place, if they spot a business opportunity, they expand our trade over there. Because we have so dealings with that Prefecture City on the border between the two continents, finding out these things was only a matter of ti."
When it ca to how to categorize these charges, Shui Yixuan rubbed his chin and offered a cool-headed suggestion.
"Hand everything over to your Father Emperor. He’s swallowed his anger for so many years, all for the sake of you two siblings. Now that his health is getting worse by the day, it’s only right that he personally settle this thorny problem!"
At this mont, Murong Xue suddenly turned to Murong Han. "Brother, you said Mother was hard by poisonous insects—what about Father Emperor? If the Bai Family wanted to control him, they could just use poisonous insects directly. Didn’t you say his health has never been good? Could it be related to being infested with poisonous insects? Have you looked into this?"
Murong Han looked utterly troubled. "That... I can’t say for sure. He was indeed chronically poisoned before, but I don’t know if it had anything to do with the Bai Family. As for poisonous insects, that’s even harder to investigate. After all, none of us are masters at using them."
"If there’s ti, I’ll go take a look." Other people might not be able to do anything, but she had cultivated Demon Art and could at least glimpse so clues. It was just that dispelling poisonous insects was not that easy—because to undo them, you first had to find the one who planted them, then study the two types of poisonous insects together. You couldn’t kill the wrong person, or the consequences would be unbearable.
As for the matter of Consort Hua and the Bai Family, Murong Xue also offered her own suggestion.
"I actually think we can’t act rashly yet. First, we’re not sure whether Father Emperor has been planted with poisonous insects. Second, we still haven’t found the person who planted Mother’s poisonous insects. And the last point—more important than the others—is that the Bai Family is currently in the dark while we’re exposed in the light. Once we present these charges, the Bai Family might look like they’re out in the open, but in reality we have no idea how much power and how many people they still have hidden. So we should use this ti to thoroughly investigate every tangled root of their clan’s power. It won’t be too late to present everything to His Majesty after that!"
"Of course, there’s one more thing. I want Mother Empress to personally witness the fall and collapse of the Bai Family. Only that can be worthy of the forty-six sword wounds on her body and the poisonous insect poison that has lurked in her for over ten years. When the ti cos, we must make a huge scene—the bigger the better. Have these cris printed overnight and scattered through every street and alley, a copy in every hand. I want the people of Lanyue Country, and even the common folk of the other three countries, to know what kind of wolfish ambition this dignified, noble woman has been hiding in private. I want her and her family to be wiped out in a single night, with no chance of ever rising again."
Nobody had any objections to Murong Xue’s words. After all, the shattering of their family had all begun because of Consort Hua, so naturally it should also end with her downfall.
A month later, after the Shui Clan and the Shura Sect joined forces, they finally dug up every last thing about the Bai Family.
During this ti, Murong Xue was running to Murong Yi’s palace every few days, sending over all kinds of dicinal dishes to nurse his body. Unfortunately, they had very limited effect, because after her investigation she discovered that Murong Yi had also been afflicted with poisonous insects—different from Mother’s. As for exactly what kind they were and what would happen when they flared up, they had no idea.
So far, although the Bai Family had been thoroughly investigated, who knew how many poisonous insects they had planted in Lanyue over all these years? You couldn’t even find that out—unless you could dig out the Bai Family’s core figures, it would be far too easy to startle the snake in the grass and end up with all their efforts going to waste.
Murong Yi took the pile of evidence. At first he flipped through it page by page; in the end, with his anger rising, he was skimming through bundle after bundle. The more he read, the more he burned inside. As ti went on, the face of this fifty-year-old Emperor had gone deathly pale. Although he had heard bits and pieces about the Bai Family’s actions over the years and had even tried to interfere before, the losses had been severe every ti. Even the people at his side had grown more and more disloyal. In the end, he could only give up the investigation and play deaf and dumb. Now that the evidence was laid out before him, he felt his own face sting, burning hot.
His voice trembling, he raised his head and asked, "All of this has already been verified?"
At that mont, the great hall had already been cleared of attendants. Murong Yi knew the people around him could not be trusted, so he had shut all outsiders out the mont his son and daughter ca in. Even so, the voices of the three—father, son, and daughter—were still low and suppressed.
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