Chapter 347: Chapter 233: What Nerve

If it had only been Liu Taofang, or a gathering of young masters from Shu State’s other great Noble Families, Chen Yi might not have given it a second thought.

But the presence of both Liu Taofang and Mr. Lingchuan forced him to be cautious.

After all, the family backgrounds of these two were anything but simple.

Liu Taofang was the son of Liu Hong, the Left Governor of Shu State, and Zhu Lingchuan was the younger brother of Zhu Hao, the Deputy Commander of the Shu State Capital Commandery.

Furthermore, Liu Hong controlled Shu State’s finances and taxes, while Zhu Hao managed its salt and iron industries. It could be said they held immense power and wanted for nothing.

If one also included certain individuals from the Inspectorate Office, it meant that behind these men stood the three most powerful commissions in all of Shu State.

How could Chen Yi not grow suspicious when a group like that gathered to discuss matters related to "corn"?

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Chen Yi slipped silently into the Lin Mansion, following the sound of the middle-aged man’s footsteps.

The night was deep and still, yet this mansion was brightly lit.

From the front courtyard to the back, a guard was posted every ten steps.

The security around the back courtyard was especially tight.

Dozens of guards in short, cyan tunics with long blades at their waists had the back courtyard surrounded, sealing it off completely.

’Does a legitimate businessman need this many guards?’

’Even the Hundred Herbs Hall, which brings in tens of thousands of silver taels a month, only has a little over a hundred guards.’

’And that number is only after including the group of Celestial Sect disciples who were recently granted the status of guards.’

The more he saw, the more certain Chen Yi became that this place was anything but simple.

After scouting the area for a moment,

he used the cover of the shadows to slip past the guards one by one.

With his current Cultivation and Dao Realm, an average Middle Third-Grade Martial Artist would have a hard time detecting his presence.

Especially since he had his Great Success [Martial Arts·Step] to rely on.

Soon, Chen Yi reached the back courtyard and hid in a corner lush with flowers and trees.

He scanned his surroundings, and his eyes began to shimmer with a faint, fluorescent light.

He used his Qi Observation Skill to probe the auras of the people inside the back courtyard’s various rooms.

There were several dozen people in total.

Most were maids with no Martial Arts Cultivation, while a few were the masters of the mansion.

The middle-aged man hadn’t returned to his chambers to rest; instead, he was sitting alone in the study.

Through the window, Chen Yi could faintly make out his silhouette cast by the candlelight. He appeared to be hunched over his desk, writing something.

Just as he was about to move closer, he heard voices from inside the house.

"Lv Liu, bring the ginseng soup. I’ll take it to the master to help him recuperate."

"Yes."

Then, Chen Yi saw a woman of a certain age, still possessing a fading beauty, push open the study door. She wore a silk coat and carried a bowl.

"Master, the night is late and cold. Drink this ginseng soup to regain your strength."

"Just set it down."

"Master, why did Lord Liu’s son, Mr. Lingchuan, and Lord Ye from the Inspectorate Office come here tonight? What has you so worried?"

"A business matter."

"In that case, is there anything my younger brother could help with?"

The middle-aged man stiffened at her words and replied, his tone displeased, "I know you care for your side of the family, but your brother is a hopeless case."

"Last time, I told him to find some trustworthy people to spread a rumor. And what did he do? He hired a bunch of local scoundrels and nearly ruined everything."

"If anyone finds out that I was the one deliberately slandering General Jinghong, then my head, and the heads of everyone in your family, will roll."

"Please forgive him, Master. My younger brother is uneducated and ignorant of the world. He still needs to be tempered."

"Tempered? Haven’t I given him enough chances?"

"Let’s not speak of this anymore. Go and get some rest."

After a moment of silence,

the woman spoke again. "Master, remember to drink the ginseng soup while it’s still hot."

"I know..."

Seeing the woman exit the study, Chen Yi waited for a moment before quietly sneaking over.

’So it’s confirmed. This man, Lin, is one of the "financiers."’

’He was talking about the time they slandered Xiao Jinghong. That must have been the incident with the burning of the Three Towns’ summer grain; it couldn’t be anything else.’

In the span of about three breaths, Chen Yi was outside the study door. He quietly pushed it open a crack and peered inside.

To his surprise, the middle-aged man was slumped motionlessly in his chair.

Chen Yi let out a soft sound of surprise and entered the study. After closing the door, he drew closer and used his Qi Observation Skill to examine the man’s condition.

He saw two streams of black qi coiling within the man’s body.

One stream snaked up from his five viscera to his Forehead Acupoint.

The other descended from above, riddling his internal organs with holes.

To put it bluntly—the man was all but dead.

Chen Yi’s gaze swept across the room and landed on the empty bowl on the desk. He instantly understood: the man had been poisoned.

’Of all the times to kill him, why now?’

Chen Yi frowned and immediately shattered several wolf-hair brushes.

From the shattered remains, he extracted several long, thin bamboo needles and quickly inserted them into major acupoints on the man’s torso.

Then, circulating his True Essence, he began Controlling the Needles with Qi, dispelling most of the potent poison in the man’s body and performing a simple repair of his heart meridian.

After about fifteen minutes of work, he finally managed to revive the man.

’I went through too much trouble to find someone who knows what’s going on. I can’t just let you die.’

Chen Yi muttered to himself, then raised a finger and tapped the man lightly between the eyebrows. "Wake up."

As soon as the words left his lips, the middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes. His face was ashen as he stared at Chen Yi.

A moment later, a look of bitter resentment crossed his pale face. His lips trembled as he rasped, "She... how could she..."

But in his current, ravaged state, he was so weak that his voice was barely a whisper.

Chen Yi, of course, knew who he was talking about. He calmly pulled over a chair, sat down beside him, and said,

"You don’t have much time. You’d better save your strength."

He had indeed brought the man back to life, but that didn’t mean he was healed.

If not for his Great Success Medical Dao, coupled with the fact that the man had only been poisoned for a short time, it would have been impossible to revive him at all.

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