Chapter 49 Assigning tasks
Time flies so fast, and more than a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
One day in mid-May, Qingshi finished listening to the class of Elder Xu of the Martial Arts Inner Academy. While continuing to think about the course content, he walked out of the teaching area of the Martial Arts Inner Academy when he was suddenly stopped by someone.
"Junior Brother Qingshi, please go slowly."
Qingshi took a look and saw that he was an unknown person. He was wearing martial arts inner court uniforms. He was about twenty-seven or twenty-seven years old. He was tall and heroic, with sharp eyes.
"My name is Teng Shouqian," the visitor said politely, cupping his hands towards Qingshi, "Senior Brother Zheng Fangyi asked me to invite you to come and discuss important matters."
"What does Zheng Fangyi want from me?" Qingshi returned the salute and asked doubtfully.
"It's about the tasks assigned by the college." Teng Shouqian said.
"Assigned tasks by the college?" Qingshi knew that in addition to the tasks publicly announced by the school and accepted by students voluntarily, Qingshi also actively suggested application tasks and assigned tasks by the college, but he had never suggested applying for them and had never been assigned by the college.
"Yes, this time there is an important task assigned by the academy, and you and I are both assigned." Teng Shouqian said, "How about we talk while we are walking."
Tasks assigned by the college could not be refused, so Qingshi had no choice but to follow Teng Shouqian, looking towards the student union.
Teng Shouqian said as he walked. When he walked outside the office of Zheng Fangyi, the president of the Student Union, Qingshi had basically understood the situation of this mission:
During the holidays, Jiang Suhe, a second-year student in the Martial Arts Academy, returned to her hometown of Jianming Mansion in the Hato Mountain Kingdom. This was her first return home in the ten years since she entered the academy. She originally thought that she had entered the highest university in the mainland and that her family, protected by the empire, should be extremely prosperous. How could this happen? It was only when I got home that I realized that was not the case.
Sun Xiong and Sun Ba, two sons of the Sun family, a large family in Jianming Mansion, returned from traveling outside a few years ago. These two brothers were powerful. After they came back to take charge of the family, they quickly wiped out several people in Jianming Mansion who were as powerful as the Sun family. This family and sect became the overlord of the mansion.
The Jiang family, which was originally developing well because of Jiang Suhe, was also suppressed and excluded. The Jiang family was originally very small and did not have much conflict of interest with the Sun family, so they took the initiative to give in. The Sun family did not embarrass the Jiang family too much.
The Jiang family was afraid that it would affect Jiang Suhe's study and cultivation, so they did not tell her. Instead, they told her to study peacefully and not worry about family affairs, and they did not allow her to come back during the holidays.
This time Jiang Suhe missed her family so much that she went back to her hometown without telling her family. After returning home, Jiang Suhe discovered that she had been away from home for ten years. She originally thought that the family had grown a lot, but unexpectedly, contrary to expectations, the family's current power was actually weaker than before. In order to gather resources for her own cultivation, the family's financial resources were already stretched thin.
Jiang Suhe was furious and immediately went to the Jianming Mansion Office to ask the palace owner why he did not take care of his family in accordance with national laws.
Seeing that Jiang Suhe was already a student of Tianlong Academy's martial arts inner courtyard, the master of the mansion did not dare to neglect, and immediately invited the Sun family and the Jiang family to the mansion to discuss matters. At the meeting, the Sun family was willing to share part of the benefits to the Jiang family. Jiang Suhe was not satisfied and wanted to monopolize a place in Jianming Mansion. profits and taxes.
After the discussion failed, the head of the palace submitted the opinions of the two families in writing to the royal family of Hatoyama, asking the two families to wait for the royal family's decision.
As a result, while waiting, Sun Xiong, the eldest brother of the Sun brothers, proposed to Jiang Suhe and asked her to be his concubine.
Although Sun Xiong had been traveling for more than thirty years, he had already married a wife and had several children before he left. He was already over eighty years old. Although for a monk who was already at the low level of Yuan Dan, He is not too old, but his proposal is undoubtedly an extreme insult to a young genius like Jiang Suhe.
Jiang Suhe killed the matchmaker and the Sun family envoy in a rage. Sun Xiong was furious and immediately led his men to kill the Jiang family. After a melee, the aggressive Sun Xiong was beheaded by Jiang Suhe, but the Jiang family also killed and injured a large number of clan members.
Sun Ba, who lived in Sunjiaping outside the city, learned about it and rushed into the city with his people. It is said that his original intention was to stop the fight, but when he saw his eldest brother was killed, he immediately used all the strength of the family to kill him. In the end, Sun Ba killed Jiang Suhe and wiped out the entire Jiang family. clan.
The Sun family bribed the head of the palace with a lot of money, fabricated a lie that was detrimental to the Jiang family, and asked the head of the palace to report it to the king and deal with it.
The master of the palace accepted the bribe but did not speak up for the Sun family and rushed to the capital to report the truth. The king was shocked and quickly sent envoys and palace masters to report to the Tianlong Empire court and explain the reason to Tianlong Academy.
The imperial court dismissed the palace leader, and immediately sent people from the Ministry of Justice to investigate the incident, and then assigned internal guard Xiang An to assist the academy in handling the incident on behalf of the empire.
The college set this task and assigned Zheng Fangyi, Qingshi, and Teng Shouqian to handle it, with Zheng Fanyi taking full responsibility.
Walking into Zheng Fangyi's office, Qingshi asked Zheng Fanyi directly: "Why did the college assign me this task? Was it your arrangement?"
"No," Zheng Fangyi said innocently, "Dean Mo personally named you."
"Dean Mo?" Qingshi said in surprise, but he knew in his heart that he was right. It was his master and senior brother who wanted to train themselves.
"That's right," Zheng Fangyi said with a slight smile, "I heard that Dean Mo approved the exam you took for the Formation Academy last year. Could it be that you and Chen Tianye are going to be brothers?"
"Impossible." Qingshi replied flatly, and it wasn't a lie.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about the mission." Zheng Fangyi handed the official document about the mission from the college to Qingshi, and then said, "You all know the mission situation. The purpose of this mission is to eradicate the Sun family. , we are only responsible for operations, and we don’t need to take care of other preliminary investigations and aftermath. Qingshi is responsible for dealing with the Sun family’s defensive array. Shouqian, your task is to lead a group attack team, and I will lead a key killing team. I will be there tomorrow at Chenshi Gather at the west gate of the college and set off. If you have any questions, ask them now. If you don’t have any questions, go back and prepare."
Zheng Fangyi spoke concisely and to the point. Qingshi and Qingshi had no objections, so they resigned and went back to prepare.
Early on the next morning, Qingshi was well prepared and arrived at the west gate of the college on time. This gate was far away from the teaching area and living area. It was the most remote gate. Large areas inside and outside the gate were filled with various training venues for students to practice. .
After leaving the school gate, I saw a 14 to 50-foot-long spaceship hovering in the air not far from the gate, about two feet high from the ground. There were about ten people standing on one side of the gate, including Zheng Fangyi and Teng Shouqian.
Qingshi walked over and said hello one by one. There were five people in the team led by Teng Shouqian, three men and two women. They were all second-year students in the inner martial arts academy. Qingshi didn't know Qingshi. Teng Shouqian introduced them one by one as Hu Jiaji, Li Sikuan, Wang Ting, Lin Ling and Lu Xiaocheng. .
Zheng Fangyi's team only has two members, both from the Martial Arts High School, and Qingshi also knows them, a girl Yin Yuhuang, a boy Ji Yujia, and Qingshi plus ten people in total. Qingshi arrived last.
After Qingshi arrived, Zheng Fangyi still had no intention of giving the order to set off. Seeing that the hour was approaching, a small airship flew quickly from the east. Three people jumped out of the small boat. The first person said, "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for so long."
Qingshi looked around and saw that this man looked a few years older than Zheng Fangyi. He had a short beard and was wearing a brocade robe and leather armor from the Imperial Guard's Palace. There were two feathers on his helmet.
Zheng Fanyi came forward to greet him politely, and then introduced to Qingshi and Teng Shouqian that this was Xiang An, the second-class guard of the Imperial Household, who had also studied in the inner courtyard of the academy for six years. The other two are his subordinates, brothers Li Yun and Li Xiu, the fifth-class bodyguards.
When a group of thirteen people arrived, Zheng Fangyi ordered them to board the ship. They were all monks, so it was easy to jump onto the ship. They all boarded the ship in no time, but there was a crew of six people on the ship who was responsible for the operation of the ship.
It takes fifteen hours to fly from Chao Ge to Jianming Mansion in Jiu Shan Kingdom. This spaceship was provided by the empire. There were more than thirty cabins on board, and everyone was assigned an independent room.
Some members of the team went back to their cabins, while others were watching the scenery on the deck. Qingshi stayed outside the cabin for a while, chatted with others, and soon went back to his cabins. Before going back to his cabin, he asked Zheng Fangyi to borrow official documents about the case. Copy of report.
The next morning, Qingshi washed up and walked out of the room. He saw Zheng Fanyi and Xiang An talking about something at the bow of the boat. Qingshi walked over to greet them.
When Xiang An saw Qingshi, he remembered something and immediately asked Zheng Fangyi and Qingshi: "I have something unclear and would like to ask for advice. I see that only one of the Qingshi brothers in your team is a disciple of the Alchemy Academy, and the rest are martial arts cultivators. According to intelligence, The main defense of the Sun family is the magic circle, but they are not good at using poison. Brother Qingshi is a third-level alchemy master. If the Sun family wants to use poison, it can be easily solved, but how to deal with the Sun family's magic circle? Could it be Zheng Zheng? Brother, or any other brother, has also studied the formation? Or is our information wrong?"
Generally, for this kind of mission, the staffing is equipped with an alchemist to deal with poisons and an array master to deal with magic circles. When the academy performs this kind of public mission, the team members all wear school uniforms. Xiang An sees that there are no Array Academy students in the team. So I have this question.
"The news is correct," Zheng Fangyi said. "The Sun family has no means to deal with poison. Not to mention Qingshi, there are people in our martial arts academy who are smarter than his family. The formation is indeed the backbone of his family. Brother Qingshi is Mo The dean personally appointed him to deal with his family's defensive array. Brother Xiang should also be a master of arrays, right?"
"Really?" Xiang An was shocked. He really didn't expect that the alchemist in front of him was proficient in magic circles. But since it was said by Zheng Fangyi that it was Mo Sihai who kissed him, how could he be wrong? He immediately praised, "Brother Qingshi is amazing! I only know a little bit about the formation, and I'm not even an array mage. How can I compare with Brother Qingshi?"
After saying the compliment, Xiang An suddenly remembered a legend and quickly asked Qingshi: "By the way, I heard that in your academy's year-end assessment last year, an alchemist crossed the academy to participate in the array master assessment, and finally defeated all the array and Taoist geniuses alone. Is it true that he has obtained the qualification of a fourth-level formation mage? Could it be that he is Brother Qingshi?"
"Brother Xiang is so complimentary," Qingshi said lightly, "It's just a fluke."
"What a miracle! A miracle!" Xiang An praised again.
Qingshi changed the topic.
"Brother Zheng, Brother Xiang," Qingshi said, "I studied the report of Huang Yan, the head of the Jianming Palace, and the report of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Tianlong Dynasty, and found that there are some inconsistencies in the two reports and some doubts, but I don't know what they think. "
"Yes," Zheng Fangyi said, ""There are one or two small inconsistencies in the two reports, but it is certain that Sun Ba will kill Junior Sister Jiang Suhe and the Sun family will destroy the Jiang family. There will be no problem for us to go and eliminate the Sun family. "
Xiang An also agreed.
Qingshi also said: "Senior Brother Zheng is right, the Sun family cannot escape the blame. But I always feel that this matter is a bit strange."
"Brother Qingshi, you might as well tell us what you have discovered." Xiang An said.
"It's not that I found any problems, I just have some doubts that I don't understand clearly," Qingshi said slowly, "Although the Sun family and the Jiang family did not reach an agreement on the distribution of benefits, they also agreed to report it to the leader of the Hatoyama Kingdom for his decision. , How could Sun Xiong propose marriage right now and anger Senior Sister Jiang? This is unreasonable."
"I also have this question," Zheng Fangyi said, "but I think it's because Sun Xiong is used to bullying men and dominating women, and he became lustful after seeing Junior Sister Jiang, so that's why."
"Sun Xiong is a man over eighty years old who has already married and had children. It's okay to rape ordinary girls. But I don't believe that he dares to treat Senior Sister Jiang like this, unless this person is crazy." Qingshi shook his head and said.
"Yes," Xiang An said, "After reading the report, I also felt that Sun Xiong was simply out of his mind because of his lust. Could it be that Brother Qingshi meant that what was stated in the report was untrue?"
"That's not true," Qingshi said, "Both the report of Palace Master Huang and the report of the Criminal Investigation Department mentioned the marriage proposal. It is said that many people in the market at that time witnessed the Sun family's marriage proposal team heading to the Jiang family with great fanfare. It shouldn't be fake. I'm confused as to why Sun Xiong did this. If he was deliberately irritating Senior Sister Jiang, then he should have been prepared in advance, and wouldn't have impulsively killed the Jiang family when he heard that the matchmaker and envoy were killed. The result was that Causing himself to lose his life.”
"So I say Sun Xiong went crazy," Xiang An said. "He was carried away by lust, so he sent someone to propose marriage. Unexpectedly, Jiang Suhe not only refused but also killed his people, so Sun Xiong became angry and killed him. The Jiang family tried to take revenge, but their skills were inferior and they lost their lives. It seems that this is the only reasonable explanation."
"Yes, this explanation makes sense," Qingshi said, "but this explanation assumes that Sun Xiong has gone crazy, and I don't really believe this."
"What Qingshi said makes sense, and I also think it is unlikely that Sun Xiong has gone crazy," Zheng Fangyi said thoughtfully, "Maybe there is some misunderstanding? By the way, you just said that there are inconsistencies between the two reports?"
"Yes," Qingshi said, "Palace Master Huang's report said that Senior Sister Jiang first approached the Sun family to ask for land and other benefits, and the Sun family reported it to the palace master, who then invited the two families to discuss it. However, the report from the Criminal Investigation Division said Senior Sister Jiang directly went to the Palace Master to question why he did not take care of his family in accordance with national laws, and did not go to the Sun family first. It was the Palace Master who summoned the Jiang family and the Sun family for a meeting."
"Yes, Qingshi, you are right," Zheng Fangyi said, "I overlooked this point, but there is a difference. If Junior Sister Jiang directly approached the Sun family to ask for benefits, then she deliberately wanted to be an enemy of the Sun family. But if you are asking the Palace Master to take care of your family in accordance with national laws, it is different. If Jianming Palace wants to benefit the Jiang family, it does not necessarily affect the interests of the Sun family. Palace Master Huang invites the Sun family to discuss the division of interests, that is intentional. We are going to make the Sun and Jiang families hostile."
"It makes sense," Xiang An also said, "but could it be that the investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department was not careful enough and did not find out that the Jiang family had directly approached the Sun family to ask for benefits?"
"It's possible," Qingshi said lightly, "There's also the possibility that Palace Master Huang lied. Speaking of which, I believe the report from the Criminal Investigation Division."
The three of them were silent for a while.
After a while, Xiang An said: "There may be some misunderstanding here, but as Brother Zheng said, the Sun family's guilt is certain, and Brother Qingshi also said that the Sun family's guilt cannot be evaded."
"Of course," Zheng Fangyi said, "but I think this matter should be investigated further."
"That's right," Qingshi said, "Maybe it's just my wild guess that has delayed everyone's time, but if there is anything fishy, I don't want to be used as someone else's killing tool." Qingshi's hint was already obvious.
"Of course," Xiang An said, "Then let's find out. How do Brother Qingshi want to find out?"
"I don't have any good ideas at the moment," Qingshi said, "Let's do this. After breaking through the Sun family, we will temporarily save the lives of Sun Ba and several key figures in the Sun family. Let's interrogate them together. Maybe we can solve these questions."
Both Xiang An and Zheng Fangyi agreed.
