It was challenging enough to look for one treasure of this standard,
where would one find another?
Cui Buqu reached out and rested his hand on top of the jade stone,
feeling a tingle of coldness radiating from his palm.
All three of them present had never seen the real Jade of Heaven's
Lake; therefore, they naturally did not have any means of identifying
it.
Feng Xiao, "What did they say on the Lanling Guild's side?"
Pei Jingzhe, "I have asked people from the Lanling Guild. Yesterday,
an old servant with grey robes came along and gave them the jade
placed in a very common looking chest. He claimed it to be a family
heirloom, but because they were facing dire circumstances, he came
here to pawn it. Usually, the Linlang Guild would not have accepted
these things that had no backing to them. They fear it might be
stolen property; destroying the Linlang Guild's name. However, since
it came at the right time, Wen Liang reconsidered it and decided that
if it was indeed stolen, he could still simply bring it to the auction, so
when the owner recognizes it, they could return it to him; so he
decided to accept the jade."
Cui Buqu, "If they were to decide against auctioning it, what would
they do with it?"
Pei Jingzhe, "According to their rules, they would keep it for a year. If
there was still no one who came to claim it, they would release it to
be auctioned. This time, however, they immediately auctioned it.
Cui Buqu, "Would the Khotan kingdom send another ambassador
here?"
Pei Jingzhe looked at Feng Xiao. With a nod from his Commander,
he told Cui Buqu, "Yes. The Khotan kingdom would send a new
ambassador, and he is already on his way. We have men waiting at
Qiemo to receive them. However, at the very least, it might take the
ambassador three to five days before they could arrive in the City of
Six Crafts."
That would also mean that within these three to five days, no one
would be able to verify whether presently the jade in their possession
was the authentic Jade of Heaven's Lake.
Cui Buqu caressed the jade and said, "Today when you claimed the
jade, at least ten people were glaring at you for a long time. Three of
them were displeased; two of them had killing intentions."
He had even noticed this?, Pei Jingzhe felt a little shocked and could
not help but ask, "Who?"
Cui Buqu proceeded to honestly spill his analysis, "The three who
furrowed their brows in displeasure were: Jinhuan group Leng Dou;
Khotan top millionaire, Zhou Pei; Anlu Zhang Clan's Zhang Yingshui.
The two that held killing intentions: one is a black-clad Göktürkish;
the other is a man wearing grey robes, around twenty-five to twenty-
six, and wearing a bamboo hat. I have never seen these two men
before; therefore, I am unable to determine their identity."
"Göktürks?" Pei Jingzhe reacted sensitively to the word.
On the other hand, Feng Xiao looked amused, "Whether this jade is
the real one or not, once it is in my hands, it would not be surprising
if a handful of people would come to our doorstep."
Cui Buqu, "That is correct."
Pei Jingzhe said in agitation, "Would they be willing to go against the
Jiejian Bureau?"
Cui Buqu laughed in ridicule, "The Jiejian Bureau may have the
Emperor's blessing, even the Three Departments and Six Ministries
would have given you people face; but what are they in the province
of Jianghu? This jade is ethereal; possessing the ability to raise one
from the dead, why is it not worth it for them to fight over?"
Pei Jingzhe's jaw fell wide open. He wanted to retort, but he could
not think of anything to say.
Feng Xiao gave a light laugh.
"The weather is bitter and cold. After standing outside for so long,
why won't you come in and have some tea?"
Is there someone outside?
Pei Jingzhe immediately twitched his ears. His martial arts were not
dreadful, but just now, he did not even realize there was someone
outside.
Suddenly, at this moment, the feather-light voice of a woman, like
glistening water, sounded.
"I only fear that the house is too crowded with there being not
enough space."
There it was!
Pei Jingzhe stood up at that instant.
Feng Xiao simply took the jade's chest and threw it against the
room's door.
Of course, it was not his intention to drill a hole into the door to throw
the chest outside the room. Once the chest hit the door, it bounced
back, and so did the door, opening widely by itself. This was a
technique that only high-level martial artists knew.
The wind followed, flowing into the room from the opening. The
shadow of a yellow-clothed woman instantaneously filled the gazes
of the three of them. The woman was sitting on the roof of the
residence opposite of them, with both her legs hanging down freely.
She looked quite ordinary without a hint of fear or nervousness.
When compared to Feng Xiao, it was like the cloud and the earth.
Once their mouths open, it is impossible to recognize the wrong
person.
"It is rather late in the night; I would feel so shy to disturb you at an
hour like this. However, if Lord Feng would allow me to take a look at
the jade, I will leave once I have caught a glimpse of it."
Pei Jingzhe followed Feng Xiao out of the room and immediately
realized that the yellow-robed woman was not alone. On the top of
the left and right roofs, and under the tree on the left, there were
three others.
One was wearing a white veil, clad in all white from head to toe. It
was impossible to even tell their gender.
Another was tall and had tints of yellow in his hair. With a glance, it
was evident that he was an exotic man.
With so many elite martial artists standing outside, he himself did not
even realize something was wrong. What did that mean?
It meant that if anything happened, he would not be able to serve
Feng Xiao the way he wanted.
Pei Jingzhe felt his body drenched in a cold sweat all of a sudden.
The yellow-robed woman noticed his nervousness and laughed
lightly, "Little Lord, do not be afraid. I am not with them."
Cui Buqu coughed in a low voice before walking out slowly.
Compared to the way those outsiders were dressed, Cui Buqu was
wrapped tightly around his body. The colour of his face looked white
as snow; at once glance, it was easy to tell that he was sick all his
life as if he could not even manage to live past the next few days.
His footsteps were also light, showing that he knew nothing of
martial arts.
Everyone's gazes fell upon him, and then turned away, not thinking
of him much.
Feng Xiao approached confidently without even a trace of being
nervous. Instead, he looked as if he was waiting for this to happen
for a very long time. His eyes glowed excitedly, blinking like a
dazzling array of stars.
"There are two more. Why don't you all come out?"
Everyone present said nothing as if they were waiting for the last two
to emerge from the shadows.
The silence lasted for a long while. Only one shadow came out in
slow steps. From their figure, they looked like two tall women, but
half of their body was still hidden by shadows.
Pei Jingzhe spoke in a low voice, "Who else is there? What good will
hiding yourself do?
The yellow-robed woman said, "That person has left, and if I am not
wrong, it should be one of the assassins from the organization, the
Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai..
As soon as they heard the name, Feng Xiao and Cui Buqu's gaze
shook a little.
Yunhai Thirteen Stories was a recent secret organization in the
Jianghu province. Their profession was murdering people for gold. In
this world, there were bound to be some people whose existence
was a threat to another; so if it was not convenient for them to dirty
their own hands, or if they were in no power to kill them, they would
employ the Yunhai Thirteen Stories.
It was said that Yunhai's business was not bad at all; but they were
growing bolder by day, even daring to assassinate imperial officials.
Last month, within the ministry of justice, one official had fallen dead.
After an investigation by the Jiejian Bureau, it was discovered that
his death was suspicious and related to the murder. So the Yunhai
Thirteen Stories had been on the Jiejien Bureau's tracking records
ever since.
The things did by assassins were mostly illegal; therefore, when they
saw that Feng Xiao was not an amateur and that there were so
many other highly skilled martial artists present, they knew that they
could not take advantage of the situation, so naturally, they hid in the
shadows.
However, merely one had left, five still remained.
Cui Buqu's gaze swept the area, and he coughed twice, but it was
simply to cover his amusement.
It would be interesting to know how that oleander would deal with a
kind of situation such as tonight.