Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 635 - 520: Subduing the Plateau (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1

Chapter 635: Chapter 520: Subduing the Plateau (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1

Yu Hongshang was waiting at the Bashe King’s court long before Li Xuan arrived. After seeing these bodies encapsulated in ice, her face instantly covered in a layer of frost.

"You mean to say they killed themselves in front of you? But, how can you prove it wasn’t you who killed them to silence them?"

She was in a very bad mood. These four corpses meant that since Li Xuan found anomalies with two lamas until now, their nearly a month’s efforts have gone in vain.

The Bashe Queen gritted her teeth. She reckoned she would be suspected. That’s why she was reluctant to hand over these bodies.

She scanned the Dharma Kings perched on the mountain tops and slightly held back her anger, "When they died, their bodies spontaneously combusted. I used the ’Eternal Ice Seal’ spell to freeze their bodies, preventing them from burning to ashes."

Luo Yan was surprised after hearing this, "Could it be someone has the ability to kill with spells in the Bashe King’s court, in front of a dignitary of a heavenly level?"

"They didn’t use spells." The Bashe queen snorted coldly. "I didn’t kill these people. Believe it or not, it’s up to you."

Li Xuan was also skeptical about the truth of the matter, but he didn’t rush to any conclusion. Instead, he flashed to stand before one of the lama’s bodies.

He carefully observed it. Then a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes, "Power of Temporal Order?"

This ice art of the Bashe Queen has actually touched the domain of frozen time-space.

But the Bashe tribe does not specialize in ice spells, they are skilled in water, poison, and power.

The Bashe Queen lifted her chin slightly, her eyes bearing pride, "If I did not possess such power, their bodies would have burnt to ashes in an instant. Whoever sent those men underestimated me."

A cold laugh escaped from Li Xuan, "Then, you definitely should not have kept this quiet."

Though the four bodies were still mostly intact, who knew what could be found after a delay of more than ten days?

The Bashe queen’s face turned cold; she had initially thought this matter could be suppressed.

Furthermore--

"Why blame me? If you had agreed to mate with me earlier, I would have handed them over to you immediately."

Seeing how Marquis Li Xuan had tamed Tubo within a few days, she believed that he was a capable man.

--He was a powerful male. No wonder her brother succumbed to him.

The Bashe Queen licked her lips, feeling a heat spreading through her body.

Li Xuan was speechless after hearing her words. He thought to himself, why was he foolish enough to reason with a snake?

Shaking his head, he started to break through the layer of ice and inspect the body thoroughly.

The body surface of this corpse had been scorched; there were large areas of burns. It was intriguingly nauseating, just like a skinned frog.

But Li Xuan continued to diligently examine each inch of it. He quickly found some blue ice residues in the man’s ear.

He sniffed them and then asked Luo Yan, "Yan, can you recognize what this is?"

Luo Yan peered at it and nodded her head. "This is a special kind of combustible, made mainly of Flamet Ice powder and mixed with ingredients such as sugar. If you use this combustible to cover a person’s body and ignite, once lit, it can be as powerful as a fire spell coming from a spell cultivator at the Twelfth Layer Stage, indeed powerful enough to reduce a strong Wu cultivator’s body to ashes in an instant.

This is definitely a clue; there won’t be more than twenty people in the world who know the formula for this combustible."

Li Xuan immediately put the ice residues into a porcelain bottle for preservation.

Next, he examined from head to toe but didn’t find anything else out of the ordinary. The only exception was the remaining skin of this individual, which made Li Xuan furrow his brows.

Following this, he dissected the man’s internal organs, with a particular focus on the stomach and intestines.

When he looked up again, a peculiar expression showed in his eyes.

"The stomach and intestines are both empty." Luo Yan, who had been watching the whole process, also detected something unusual. She asked with a hint of surprise, "How long had it been since he last ate?"

Jiang Hanyun was puzzled and asked, "Is that unusual? Given his cultivation, he’s already reached the ninth house level. Fasting for one to two months shouldn’t be a problem."

"The issue is, his stomach and intestines have been pierced by gastric acid. Plus--"

Li Xuan pointed to the remaining skin on the surface, "There are signs of corpse decay on his skin that dates back for more than two days. It’s impossible to estimate the precise time now. This means that they were already dead two days before the self-immolation, even before they arrived at the Folun Temple."

The Bashe queen’s face instantly relaxed, "I’ve said it before; I didn’t kill them."

Li Xuan disregarded her, continuing the autopsy. He cut open the man’s limbs to reveal the muscles. He then found out that there were strange gaps inside his muscles, even signs of nibbling.

The eyes of Yu Hongshang, who was watching from the side, grew sharper, "This is Gu Dao."

Those were unmistakably traces of an insect moving inside this person’s flesh.

Without saying a word, Li Xuan cracked open the corpse’s skull and found, as expected, that the cerebellum had been eaten away, replaced by tiny blood-red insect corpses.

Yu Hongshang, Luo Yan, and the others didn’t recognize this kind of Gu, but Yue Qianqian thought for a moment and said seriously, "This should be Silkworm Gu. It used to be prevalent in the southern regions and was controlled by a faction called the "Blood Gu Sect". It is said to be capable of turning powerful cultivators of The Fourth Gate into Gu corpses.

Later, the "Blood Gu Sect" was exterminated by The Court, and the Silkworm Gu hadn’t been seen in the world for a long time. However, recently, the twenty-third ranked "Gumu" on the blacklist, possesses a large number of Gu corpses with cultivation of The Fourth Gate, leading people to speculate that she has acquired the Silkworm Gu."

She paused for a moment and then said, "This person appeared on the blacklist twelve years ago and has never risen in rank since then. Rumor has it that she has thrown her lot in with some powerful family in Capital City and often appears there. Her cultivation is increasing daily, and she has reached the False Heavenly Position."

This level of cultivation far exceeded that of Xia Nanyan, the former No.5 on the blacklist.

However, the blacklist of the Liudao Division was never determined solely by cultivation level, but also by the severity of the person’s crimes and the degree of threat they posed to The Court and the common people.

"Gumu?" Li Xuan squinted his eyes and then put these Silkworm Guses into a porcelain bottle. With a smile at the corner of his mouth, he thought to himself that the clue had been picked up again.

While the people behind the scenes could kill "Gumu" to silence her, the powerful family backing Gumu couldn’t escape.

Having worked for this powerful family for years, Gumu must have left some traces behind.

The Queen of Bashe was very happy. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Now that everything’s clear, you can call off the people surrounding this area, right?"

Li Xuan cast a sideways glance at her, "If you had given these to me at the beginning, you could have completely cleared your suspicion. Now, how do I know if you’ve tampered with these people? So, I will still have to ask the Queen of Bashe to accompany me to Capital City for an explanation."

A special instrument exists at the main hall of Liudao Division that can detect lies from heavenly level experts.

Such an instrument is also held by the inner Jishi Institute and the Xiuyiwei.

"You!"

The Queen of Bashe was visibly irritated, staring hard at Li Xuan, "I will never go to Capital City!"

She thought this was like a lamb marching into a tiger’s den.

"Then I will continue to blockade here. It makes no difference to these Dharma Kings where they cultivate their powers."

Li Xuan spoke with cold indifference and then softened his tone, "If the queen is worried about safety, there is no need. I can guarantee with my life that the Liudao Division and The Court will never frame you for any crimes outside of the Crown Prince’s illness. As long as it is confirmed that the queen is not involved in this matter, The Court will allow you to return. Even if the Queen wishes, I can ask The Court to grant you an official title."

The Queen of Bashe thought to herself, who would believe you! Once I am on the land of the Jin Dynasty, wouldn’t my life depend entirely on your whims?

However, upon hearing this, she looked hard at Li Xuan and said, "Wait a minute. I need to discuss this with my subordinates."

Then, with a wave of her hand, she turned into a puddle of water and dispersed. Her subordinates also left one after another, returning to the Bashe Kingdom.

After she left, Yu Hongshang looked at him doubtfully, "Do you plan to win over Bashe?"

Li Xuan laughed, "The Court could even canonize Wu Zhiqi as the Water Deity of the Huai River, let alone this little Bashe with insignificant sins? The influence of The Court on the plateau is weakening and it needs more forces to balance these Lamas and Tu Division."

His voice turned stern when he said the last sentence, "The ambitious Great Tu Division of Lu River has been expanding its army and getting ready for war for over a decade. If this person rebels again, then the Bashe Kingdom will be of great benefit to The Court in the future."

Since the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, the three expeditions against the Lu River had never truly succeeded. Both parties ended up bloodied and battered, their vitality greatly damaged. They had no choice but to negotiate a truce and have a brief respite.

Yu Hongshang’s eyes lit up, thinking that this was indeed the case. The power of Bashe Kingdom stretched over the entire region of Duogan and reached far into Yunnan.

Just by influencing some tribes not to oppose The Court during the war, the Bashe Kingdom can help relieve a lot of pressure on The Court.

"But will this queen surrender?"

"I don’t know. If she doesn’t, I will continue to blockade this place."

As Li Xuan was talking, he took out another letter and waved it at the girls, "In the meantime, we can go to Wusizang and bring back the Wusizang Xiuyiwei Qianhu and his party for interrogation in Capital City.

The lord of Anburo is a pragmatist. He has sent me a letter saying that he can split off forty thousand households first and let his second son establish a ’Lingsibensai Xuanweishi Division’; however, as his third son is still young, it would not be too late to establish another Xuanwei Division after he comes of age."

Luo Yan sneered, "That’s just a stall tactic!"

Li Xuan just smiled. Of course, he knew this was a stall tactic, but he was helpless for the moment.

The lord of Anburo’s attitude was very respectful, so those Dharma Kings couldn’t support him in further pressing him. Excessive force would only backfire; the key was this person knew Li Xuan was unwilling to talk, so he went directly to the Ministry of Rites and Imperial Clan Court.

However, since the lord of Anburo had bowed his head, he could no longer shelter the ’Wusizang Xiuyiwei Qianhu Office’ which had betrayed The Court.

Just then, the Queen of Bashe reappeared outside the Kingdom, "I can go with you to Capital City but you must swear, Li Xuan, to ensure my safety!"

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