CHAPTER 143: CHAPTER 142: THE KEY

Situ Jing walked up to Zhu Yu and saw that her robe in front had been torn by a blade, revealing the golden silk armor inside. He couldn’t help but be shocked, as it seemed to him how critical the situation had been. He couldn’t help but feel fortunate, thankful that the Golden-faced Imperial Censor’s companion had worn such a treasure; otherwise, the person would have already been slashed open and laid dead on the ground.

The other imperial guards only assumed that Lu Qing and Zhu Yu were also among Situ Jing’s personal soldiers, so they didn’t react much at the time. However, those other few imperial guards knew that these two were outsiders.

Although they knew these two must have some background, otherwise their general wouldn’t have arranged for them directly, at the moment they did not notice Zhu Yu on the side. They only saw their brothers seemingly disabled, pressed to the ground in a sorry state, their faces marked with scars, clearly indicating the opponent had acted heavily.

While helping to restrain him, they couldn’t help but look cautiously at the scar-faced man, and then unanimously directed their gaze towards Situ Jing.

"General, this..." One of the older personal soldiers nervously looked at Situ Jing, wondering why things had turned out this way.

He was older than the others and much more rational. Looking at the current situation, he guessed that no one in the camp would dare to attack the general’s personal soldiers without reason. Moreover, the general immediately asked them to help restrain the person upon arrival.

This clearly showed that the person, like the other imperial guards earlier, had encountered a problem!

They were all Situ Jing’s personal attendants, naturally they didn’t believe in the rumors of Evil Spirits haunting the camp.

But as the personal soldiers had always been very cautious with no problems before, now even within the personal soldiers, there was a sudden anomaly, making it hard not to feel a bit tense.

"Tie him up, knock him out if you can, and send him out quickly," Situ Jing said with a heavy face, indicating the others to hurry and not delay as he looked at the personal soldier on the ground who had clearly transformed into another Pang Centurion.

Seeing several people hurriedly tying up the personal soldier whose arms had been dislocated by Lu Qing, Situ Jing then spoke in a businesslike tone to Lu Qing and Zhu Yu, "You two, follow me to the main tent for questioning."

As he spoke, Lu Qing was checking Zhu Yu’s condition on the side. Seeing that aside from her outer robe being cut by a knife, she was unharmed, the fierceness in his eyes diminished. Listening to Situ Jing’s words, he responded respectfully, as a personal soldier should, clasping his hands and following Situ Jing with Zhu Yu.

In the main tent, with no one else around, Situ Jing no longer needed to maintain the demeanor of a general in front of them. After taking a seat, he poured hot tea for the two of them.

"You two were startled tonight. Have some tea and catch your breath. This matter is suspicious, and later I will call someone else in to clarify," he said while pouring tea, his eyes quickly glancing at the golden silk armor exposed at the tear in Zhu Yu’s robe.

Lu Qing glanced at him calmly, took off his own personal soldier’s robe and wrapped it around Zhu Yu, completely covering the torn one underneath.

"I am but a Chief Historian, not adept at martial arts. I usually follow around and have never seen such a scene. Tonight was a bit of a fright, making the General laugh," Lu Qing naturally took his seat again.

Even though he was now only in undergarments, his face still covered with pockmarks and scars, he showed no restraint, radiating an air of effortless nobility and decorum, making one feel nothing amiss.

Situ Jing retracted his gaze and, unruffled, cupped his hands towards Zhu Yu and Lu Qing, "I apologize for the trouble you faced tonight! This was my oversight. I failed to notice that even my personal soldiers had been affected, nearly placing this Lord Chief Historian in peril."

"Since there’s no danger anymore, the General need not worry," Lu Qing shook his head, reminding him, "Tonight’s incident shows that someone couldn’t wait and has become anxious."

"But..." Situ Jing frowned, "Even if the other side is anxious, it might be beneficial to us. However, unfortunately, the timing is off. The Divine Doctor by this Lord’s side still hasn’t composed the appropriate antidote. What shall we do?"

His words were quite tactful, giving face to the Golden-faced Imperial Censor.

After all, Situ Jing didn’t know who exactly the Divine Doctor was, where he came from, or how skilled he was, and could only rely on trust in the Golden-faced Imperial Censor to handle it. Yet now, without obvious progress, he was growing a bit worried.

"The general might need to be more vigilant, suppressing the disdain from below and delaying it a bit longer," Lu Qing didn’t seem worried about whether the antidote could be produced, "The personal soldier’s poison outbreak was quicker and more intense than the others before, seemingly not merely to harm other personal soldiers or imperial guards, but with other intentions."

As he spoke, he looked at Situ Jing, who also grasped some insight from his gaze.

The three of them said nothing more and just paused for a moment before tea. Situ Jing got up and went out, calling people to bring in a few personal soldiers.

When the personal soldiers came over, Lu Qing and Zhu Yu were already standing aside, appearing as if they had just been questioned.

"Does anyone know if He Jiu has interacted with anyone in the past two days, or behaved oddly?" Situ Jing asked.

"General, we have been eating and living with He Jiu these past few days, and even during regular patrols, there’s always a brother paired with him. Except for tonight when he was patrolling with those two and two other imperial guards, he was never alone," a personal soldier replied, glancing at Lu Qing and Zhu Yu as well.

"Does anyone know if he has touched any waist cards in the imperial guard camp prior to this?" Situ Jing knew Lu Qing and Zhu Yu’s identities, so he didn’t suspect them and continued questioning the personal soldier’s implication.

The personal soldiers exchanged glances and shook their heads, "The General instructed us earlier to be careful and vigilant. We always carry our own waist cards, and have never touched any waist cards or command tokens in the Imperial Guard camp."

"General, I recall something!" One personal soldier suddenly remembered, "Before dinner today, He Jiu was called away briefly. He returned just after we had started eating, saying he went on a wasted trip, delivering a key for someone, but when he hurriedly went to deliver it, he couldn’t find anyone.

When he got back and asked, they said there was a mistake and told him to put the key back where it belonged."