Firmament Sword

Placed side by side, the real and fake military orders were nearly impossible to tell apart!

From the brushwork, the pressure of the strokes, the habits of inking... anyone who didn’t understand calligraphy would certainly believe both orders were written by the same person!

Only a true expert could tell that the handwriting on the order reading ”Attack immediately” lacked a certain unyielding, iron-blooded quality!

Instead, it possessed a sinister delicacy.

When they opened the letters, however, they found a completely different handwriting. This script belonged to a great calligrapher from a previous dynasty, its style wild and unrestrained, full of Spiritual Qi.

Xu Luo and Lianyi recognized it almost at a glance, saying in unison, ”This is Liu Bai’s Cursive Script!”

As they spoke, they exchanged a look. They were almost certain that there was only one person in the current dynasty who could imitate Liu Bai’s Cursive Script so perfectly.

Wei Feng!

Only Prime Minister Wei Feng, a man renowned for his vast knowledge of both past and present and his mastery of a hundred schools of thought, could produce a forgery of Liu Bai’s Cursive Script this convincing!

The contents of the letters were simple, expressing admiration for the Fengyue Tower Master and the hope that she might share a mutual understanding with him and become his confidante.

The several letters all contained similar sentiments, but each was written in a different script.

”This is... Wei Feng courting the Fengyue Tower Master back in the day?” Lianyi said softly, raising an eyebrow. ”And he used different scripts to show off his talents.”

Xu Luo nodded. These letters hardly constituted evidence. Even if they were presented to Wei Feng, he could easily dismiss them with a line like, ’A gentleman is naturally drawn to a fair lady.’

The Cangqiong Kingdom didn’t forbid men from having multiple wives and concubines. Wei Feng’s pursuit of the Fengyue Tower Master wouldn’t be condemned. On the contrary, it would be praised as a romantic tale of a famous scholar and passed around as a delightful story!

”This isn’t the right time to bring out this evidence. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t acted so willfully and done... that, this evidence would have been enough to make Wei Feng suffer serious consequences...”

Lianyi said with self-reproach, ”But right now, His Majesty needs to appease the Wei Family, and he also needs to use them to balance our Xu Family... There’s no way he would move against the Wei Family again at a time like this.”

”Sister, you don’t have to blame yourself. Even without that incident, this letter alone is nowhere near enough to take down Wei Feng,” Xu Luo said. ”He’ll never admit the fake order came from him. As long as he flatly denies it, the Civil Servant Group will protect him at all costs. At that point, even if His Majesty believes us, he’ll still have to consider the bigger picture...”

”It’s infuriating! We know he did it—colluding with the enemy, a traitorous, despicable, and shameless act—but we can’t do anything to him!” Lianyi’s beautiful face was pale with anger.

”Don’t be angry, Sister. After today, I believe the Wei Family will be exceedingly quiet for a long time. They definitely won’t have the energy to focus on us anymore,” Xu Luo said with a smile.

「Afterward, Xu Luo and Lianyi took these items and went straight to the family’s dungeons.」

Tang Yong and Li Yu had been living here for some time. Aside from their lack of freedom, everything else was excellent.

They were treated to good wine and fine food every day. So much so that when Xu Luo saw them again, he noticed they had both gotten a little paler and a little chubbier.

”Second Young Master...” The two men stood up to greet Xu Luo when they saw him.

After many days of contemplation, both Tang Yong and Li Yu had realized that there might have been a huge misunderstanding regarding the incident all those years ago.

Thinking back, if the Grand General’s order had truly been ’Change of plans, hold your position,’ then they, the Death Warriors, had received a fake order and attacked directly...

From the Grand General’s perspective, wouldn’t it look like they, the Death Warriors, had defied military orders and attacked without authorization?

For such a transgression, it wouldn’t have been unjust even if he had them all executed on the spot!

But later, even knowing there were survivors among them, the Grand General had forcefully suppressed the matter.

He himself had shouldered immense responsibility and bore the stain on his reputation to protect the few of them who survived.

And they... for all these years, they had harbored this misunderstanding toward the Grand General. If only they had given that military order to the Grand General sooner, perhaps this whole mess would have been cleared up long ago.

Therefore, over the past few days, the two men had been constantly reflecting in the dungeon. Although Xu Luo never appeared, the two who had experienced it firsthand had more or less figured out the whole story on their own!

Xu Luo didn’t waste words. He simply placed the two military orders in front of them. He didn’t even need to explain that the handwriting on the real order carried a murderous aura while the fake one did not.

With a THUD, Tang Yong and Li Yu both fell to their knees. They wailed loudly, forcefully slapping their own faces as they cried.

”How stupid! We’re truly the most hopeless fools... to have misunderstood the Grand General for so many years! We deserve to die!” Tang Yong, a powerfully built man, slapped his own face until it was swollen, but he still didn’t stop.

Li Yu cried in anguish, ”I’ve failed our brothers who died back then! I’ve failed General Wu! And most of all, I’ve failed the Grand General, who silently shouldered this burden for over a decade... We were so blind...”

”Alright... It’s been many years. The truth is now coming to light, so you two don’t need to blame yourselves so much. You weren’t at fault in this matter,” Xu Luo said in a deep voice, stopping the two brothers from continuing to slap themselves. ”The ones who truly deserve to die are the people who set this trap, the ones who colluded with the enemy and betrayed our kingdom!”

”That’s right, they deserve to die! Second Young Master, tell us, who did this? Was it that dog of a traitor, Wei Feng?”

Tang Yong, his face red and swollen, covered in tears and snot, said, ”Our worthless lives should have been taken ten years ago. If we’re still here today but can’t get revenge, what’s the point of living?”

”Right! Our lives are worthless! Let’s go get revenge on that dog Wei Feng right now! It must be him! That whole damn Civil Servant Group, they should all be killed!” Li Yu roared, his eyes bloodshot.

”You’re being fools!” Xu Luo suddenly bellowed, startling the two frenzied middle-aged men into silence.

Then, he said slowly, ”Who told you your lives are worthless? Your lives are incredibly precious! Do you understand?”

Seeing the two brothers about to say something, Xu Luo held up a hand to stop them. ”I’m not just flattering you. Over a decade ago, you were the top elite of the army! Otherwise, would you have been qualified to become Death Warriors?”

Tang Yong and Li Yu exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with pride.

Li Yu said, ”That’s right. Over a decade ago, we were the army’s top elite. When the Grand General selected the Death Warriors, applicants were as numerous as the clouds, but not just anyone was qualified to become one!”

Xu Luo nodded. ”You’ve both reached the Middle-High Tier Sword Master realm. With the right opportunity, it’s not impossible for you to break through to Great Sword Master, or even reach a higher level!

Though we’ve now identified the enemy and have powerful evidence in hand, this evidence alone is barely enough to clear my father’s name, let alone take down the entire Wei Family!

You two go for revenge... What kind of revenge could you get? The Prime Minister’s Mansion is heavily guarded these days. I’m afraid you’d be shot full of arrows like a pair of porcupines before you even figured out which way his front door opens!”

”Then what should we do, Second Young Master? We’ll listen to whatever you say!” Li Yu suddenly knelt before Xu Luo and declared loudly, ”You kept your word, Second Young Master, and uncovered the truth of that old injustice. We swore back then that if you could clear this up, we would be at your command from now on!

If you don’t find us a hindrance, then from this day forward, our lives belong to you, Second Young Master!”

Tang Yong knelt beside him as well. ”That’s right. We’re all alone in the world now. If you think we can still be of some use, Second Young Master, then let us stay by your side... We can’t go back to the army barracks, anyway... I’d be content just to be able to serve you!”

Xu Luo quickly helped them up. ”It is my good fortune, Xu Luo’s, to have your loyalty. Rest assured, the day will come when the truth of this matter is revealed to the world. But not now. Right now, I need your help with something...”

With that, Xu Luo whispered something into the two brothers’ ears.

After listening, Tang Yong and Li Yu’s faces flushed with excitement, and they both assured Xu Luo they would complete the mission.

「Later, Xu Luo and Lianyi arranged for the two brothers to be escorted out of the city before returning to their room.」

Lianyi’s eyes sparkled with relief as she looked at Xu Luo. ”Young Master, your way of handling things is becoming more and more mature!”

Lianyi had watched the entire affair from beginning to end without uttering a single word. In the end, she had to admit it: her young master had finally become a true man.

To be able to investigate and solve this old, near-cold case in such a short time was something not just anyone could do.

Especially since just six months ago, Xu Luo had been that useless little weakling everyone mocked...

”Sister, you’re the one who deserves the real credit for this. Without you, how could I have done it alone?” Xu Luo said with a casual smile.

”No, it’s because of you that I had a pillar of support. Otherwise, how could I have possibly investigated these things?” Lianyi said softly, then suddenly blinked and asked, ”Who’s prettier, Phoenix or the Seventh Princess?”

”Er...” Xu Luo averted his gaze, looking a little guilty.

”Hee hee... It seems the Young Master has someone special in his heart now!” Lianyi giggled, concealing a faint trace of disappointment in her eyes.

Then she said, ”In that case, I won’t continue investigating this matter. But Qianlong... it should be time to hand it over to you.”

”No, that won’t work,” Xu Luo said, waving his hand. ”The Qianlong force is too sensitive right now. His Majesty can tolerate it being in your hands, Sister, but if it were handed over to me and he found out, he would definitely not be able to sit still.”

Lianyi thought about it and felt that Xu Luo had a point. Although she was also a member of the Xu Family, she was, after all, a girl. Xu Luo was different.

Never mind that Xu Luo was no longer the physically weak youth he once was; even if he were, His Majesty would never tolerate the Qianlong being held by a direct heir of the Xu Family.

”So, what’s next... What do we do now?” Lianyi asked, looking at Xu Luo.

A strange smile appeared on Xu Luo’s lips. ”We wait,” he said. ”And watch the show.”