The Rise of Phoenixes

Chapter 211

“Master Lyu and this Qianshi Official clearly are masking their relationship with a tense relationship, but if Master Lyu really cannot stand this man, how could he allowed him to stay in his army for such a long time, tormenting himself?”

Feng Zhiwei did not voice all her speculation. The group of assassins that had hunted them in Longxi Province appeared once more near Mount Wu Ji, by the border of South Sea and Minnan. This mountain was located in the neighboring Long County where Lyu Bo was stations; the assassins had fled to Feng Zhou City because they were hoping that Lyu Bo would protect them. The leader of the assassins was probably this Black Gold, and the others had been deemed expendable and sacrificed to the Judicial Commissioner’s Yamen where they were kill off by the boss.

“Not good!” Zhou Xizhong cried out in terror. “He was in charge of army provisions! We all thought Lyu Bo was righteous because he assigned this important task to a man he hated...”

“I have already sent the Judicial Commissioner’s Bailiffs to block this batch of army rations, and the Yan Family are gathering the private reserves of grain and sending them to Minnan as quickly as possible. I must bother Your Honor to dispatch the local government troops and escort these provisions before compensating the families for the loss of grain.

Zhou Xizhong stared blankly at Feng Zhiwei, his sight blurry around the edges. Every time they met, he felt he was still underestimating this young star; he had never seen such a thoughtful, determined, and courageous man, daring to block army provision and capturing on duty military officials on pure speculation.

To think he had gathered ten thousand commoners on the docks to cause trouble for this Imperial Envoy, how foolish...

Feng Zhiwei paid no mind to Zhou Xizhong shock, her mind already on the distant South, a quiet sigh filling her heart.

Ning Yi, I hope everything is well...

In October of the Thirteenth Year of Chang Xi, the Chang Family suffered a huge defeat. Their most important spy had been discovered at a critical moment! To everyone’s shock, General Lyu Bo had been a Chang Family spy all along and had been in the midst of sabotaging the incomparably important mission of army provisioning for the South Expedition Army. Only Imperial Envoy Wei Zhi had stood between the army and disaster, managing to detect the spy and block the poisoned provisions and replace them in record time.

The official reports revealed that the poisoned army rations had been a mere ten miles from the South Expedition Army Camp when the Judicial Commissioner’s officers had caught them. Without Wei Zhi’s quick actions, the army would have been completely destroyed.

This matter accelerated the Chang Family’s destruction. The rebellious family had been completely confident in their masterful trap, a saboteur they had placed a decade ago, but their secret card had been destroyed in a single stroke.

As news of this matter spread, the Chang Family joined the world in the realization of their inevitable demise.

After Zhou Xizhong reported this matter, the Imperial Court passed down an extremely long proclamation filled entirely with praise for Wei Zhi. His Majesty had never praised anyone in such a manner before, and everyone in the Imperial Court knew that once this sixteen year old Imperial Envoy returned to Dijing, he would rise another level.

Feng Zhiwei cared nothing for anything of this, the only matter on her mind the poison in Ning Yi’s eyes. After Gu Nanyi had captured Black Gold, the leader of the Minnan assassins, he had forced the assassin to track down the poisonous creature.

Young Master Gu secluded himself in a room with the assassin and the boss, and when they exited half a day later, Black Gold had turned into White Gold, all his cold toughness evaporated as he willingly answered any question put to him.

Feng Zhiwei finally figured out what had happened to Chunyu Meng — as expected, he had been saved by the Pen Monkeys. As Chunyu Meng had stayed behind to stall the assassins, he had been saved from the brink of death as the Pen Monkeys leapt out and stayed the Minnan sabre.

According to Minnan legend, the Pen Monkey was not a simple ornamental pet. These creatures were the famed Ancestor of Ten Thousand Poisons, not poisonous themselves, but natural predators of every venomous insect and poisonous beast known to the Minnan shamans. Wherever it went, venomous creatures fled, and since these venomous animals were intimately connected to their trainers and owners, not only could these poison practitioners not harm the Pen Monkeys, they also had to treat them with respect and kindness.

Black Gold had wanted to keep the two Pen Monkeys for himself, and since the Pen Monkeys would rather die than let Chunyu Meng suffer, the assassins had spared Chunyu Meng. He had been treated and carried by the assassins as they traveled until the assassins were found by the Yamen Bailiffs and he escaped.

The poison in Chunyu Meng’s system was Black Gold’s doing. This poison was called “Tongue Poison” and was cultivated with Corpse Qi from ancient tombs; since the poison did not come from a living creature, the Pen Monkeys could do nothing about it.

After she was done interrogating him, Feng Zhiwei handed Black Gold to the white robed man, Zong Chen, though since Feng Zhiwei could not recall a famed physician with the surname Zong, she had her doubts about the trustworthiness of the name.

Three days later, Chunyu Meng slowly recovered his sanity and his sense of smell, but Zong Chen warned that Chunyu Meng’s taste might have been irreparably destroyed. The young man would likely never be able to taste food ever again.

Fortunately Chunyu Meng was a magnanimous man. After waking, he never voiced a complaint about his difficulty, and whenever he ate he devoured his food like a ravening wolf or tiger as if he still had normal taste buds. Though sometimes, he’d end up happily munching down a chunk of ginger as if it were soy-braised pork.

After Chunyu Meng recovered, Zong Chen took his leave, handing Feng Zhiwei a small paper bag containing the cure he had made for Ning Yi’s poison.

Riders were immediately sent off to deliver the medicine to the Minnan camp.

A few days later, Yan Huaishi returned from the South Expedition Army Camp, a happy smile on his face.

He trudged along in faux exhaustion, wiping away imaginary sweat as he heaved himself up to Feng Zhiwei, pushing a finely carved box towards Feng Zhiwei.

“Hey! Someone sent a gift!”

Feng Zhiwei glanced down at the box, her face suddenly flushing underneath her mask. Outwardly unperturbed, she calmly accepted the box and tranquilly replied: “Brother Yan has worked hard, it must have been tiring escorting the army provisions. Go rest.”

Yan Huaishi eyed her knowingly, holding back his smile as he gracefully retreated. As he passed Hua Qiong outside the door, he pulled her aside and warned her, barely able to contain his giggles: “The Master is in a good mood, you don’t need to ask after him lest you ruin his happiness.”

Hua Qiong cocked her head in confusion and Yan Huaishi cheerfully explained: “En, I’ve discovered that Brother Wei loves to act indifferent and calm whenever he is happy. No matter how wise and brilliant, no one can escape the sentiments the youthful heart. This is good, this is how a sixteen year old should behave.”

Hua Qiong eyed him once more, finally unable to hold back her smiling words: “You’re joking. How can there be sentiments between two men?”