Martial Saint through Reading

Zhuge Rui’s expression slightly changed as he dodged the arrow without delay, ready to rush into the house to seize someone.

He did not expect that his ever-successful Concealing Technique would be seen through the first time it was used in Qin Capital.

”Thief!”

Dong Zhao thrust his spear, its shaft piercing like thunder.

Zhuge Rui dared not take it head-on and had to explosively retreat.

Four eyes clashed, cold rays shooting back and forth.

Clang!

Sparks flew from the clash of the spear and silver light.

Zhuge Rui’s heart trembled.

In two exchanges, he already confirmed that the armored person before him was definitely not weaker than himself.

If he couldn’t win, he shouldn’t linger in battle.

Retreat!

He turned to escape.

”Thief, stop!” Dong Zhao pursued with his spear.

Cui Ye of the Camp Repair Department arrived late, opened the door, and entered the house, relieved to see Sun Jun still there.

Then, his eyes turned ruthless as he held a short blade, steadily advancing toward Sun Jun.

”Mmm...mmm...” Sun Jun trembled fearfully as he watched the cold glint approaching.

Cui Ye covered Sun Jun’s mouth with one hand and forcefully stabbed with the other.

Squish!

The short blade was stained with blood.

”Mmm...mmm...”

After several consecutive stabs, the room fell into silence.

Cui Ye stood nearby, coldly wiping the short blade and his hands.

”The ledger...” he murmured aloud, ”Could it be that Cui Dong, that fool, kept records?!”

With this thought, he hurriedly jogged toward the center of the stone factory.

...

At the center, a room served as the office of the stone factory.

Before Cui Ye arrived, a shadow had already entered.

Chu Ming hid in the dark, spreading out the Sword Gourd Spirit.

After obtaining two pages of ledgers in the slum area, he used the Tracking Bead to locate this stone factory.

Everything that happened earlier in the factory—Cui Ye interrogating Sun Jun, Cui Dong leading people to the slum area, the conversation between Cui Ye and Dong Zhao, the battle between Dong Zhao and Zhuge Rui—was all under his observation.

He approached a locked cabinet inside and applied a little force.

Click.

The lock opened, revealing three books before his eyes.

Flipping through them, the thick volumes were all ledgers recording all the income and expenditure of the stone factory.

Normal expenses accounted for 30%, the rest being excessive, stamped either by Cui Dong or Cui Ye.

He put away the two ledgers with larger amounts and tore out three pages of large entries from the third book, then returned the book to its place, locked it again, and hid in the dark.

This ledger was already missing two pages, the very ones Sun Jun had secretly kept.

But to convict the Fourth-Grade Camp Repair Bureau, these stone factory ledgers alone wouldn’t be enough. Hiding in the dark was to wait for the target to appear.

Soon, hurried footsteps sounded outside.

Cui Ye, looking flustered, entered the house and began rummaging through cabinets.

Not long after, he found the locked cabinet.

”Keys...keys...”

He began searching chaotically again, unable to find them after a long while.

Hidden in the dark, Chu Ming couldn’t stand it anymore and, taking advantage of Cui Ye’s turn, quietly placed the keys Cui Dong had hidden in the book on the table.

”Cui Dong!”

Cui Ye, sweating from anxiety, turned around and was stunned.

”The keys!”

Immediately, he grabbed the keys to open the lock.

Once opened, Cui Ye hurriedly grabbed the ledger and flipped it open.

”Cui Dong!!” Seeing the ledger’s contents, his anger flared.

He never expected that the gluttonous Cui Dong had indeed kept records!

Though not much, several entries were clearly problematic.

”These pages...” he frowned at the missing five pages.

”Useless!”

Cui Dong cursed silently and moved to the candle to burn the ledger.

The candle flame flickered, catching onto the ledger.

Rustle...

The ledger crackled as it burned, the firelight reflecting on Cui Ye’s grim face.

”This can’t be the only ledger; Cui Dong, you’d better retrieve the rest, or else...”

”...”

Half an hour later.

”Captain Dong, did that person get away?” Cui Ye’s expression was poor.

”He got away,” Dong Zhao stabbed his spear into the ground, face stern, ”So what if he was caught? Doesn’t Lord Cui know who that person might be?”

”Martial Immortal Alliance?” Cui Ye’s tone was low.

”Most likely.”

”What now?”

”Has Lord Cui not cleaned up the mess?” Dong Zhao asked coldly.

”It’s cleaned up...”

”Since it’s cleaned up, what is Lord Cui worried about?” Dong Zhao withdrew his long spear, ”I have other matters to attend to, farewell.”

”...Captain Dong,” Cui Ye hurriedly spoke as Dong Zhao was leaving, ”You didn’t help me this time for old times’ sake, did you?”

Dong Zhao didn’t reply.

”If I’m not mistaken, Captain Dong wants to get rid of that illegitimate son to build ties with Lord Tang, right?”

”Lord Cui,” Dong Zhao’s expression subtly changed, ”Chu Ming is one of His Highness’s men! Be careful of speaking recklessly!”

”Heh, that illegitimate son may have joined the First-Grade Cold Family, but has that family even been registered with the Imperial Court? Does His Majesty know of it?”

”Besides, even if an illegitimate son gains some favor from His Highness, he won’t make it to the stage; disappearing without a sound, who would care?”

”Captain Dong has been a strong Ten Meridian Unlocking practitioner and served for decades as a captain in the Huang Forbidden Army, don’t you want to advance further?”

Cui Ye knew well enough that for a good night’s sleep, the illegitimate son investigating him must be eliminated.

”What does Lord Cui want to propose?” Dong Zhao’s eyes flickered.

”Captain Dong helps me kill someone, and I’ll speak well of you in front of Lord Tang, assisting you in getting promoted to Camp Commander.”

”Deal.”

”...”

The two reached a covert agreement, with Dong Zhao leaving first while Cui Ye anxiously waited at the stone factory.

Not long after Dong Zhao left, Chu Ming, hidden in the shadows, began to move.

He initially intended to tail Cui Ye secretly to see if anything more could be uncovered, but from the looks of it, Cui Ye seemed to be waiting for Cui Dong to return and wouldn’t leave tonight.

He had many other matters to attend to; sticking around here was pointless.