“Master Su, it’s inappropriate to behave this way in public, isn’t it?”

Su Mo raised his eyelids, merely smiling at him without speaking.

Jiang Cijing said, “If Miss Bai isn’t willing, don’t force her.”

Mu Bai pulled over a stool and sat beside Su Mo’s wheelchair, pretending to massage his shoulders before leaning in to whisper in his ear, “Don’t go too far.”

Su Mo covered his face and coughed twice, placing a piece on the board: “Detective Jiang, you’ve lost.”

With these words, he swept his wide sleeve over the chessboard, causing the black and white pieces to fall into the pottery jar, while the board itself turned to dust, carried away by the wind out the window.

Jiang Cijing curled the corner of his lips and placed a bowl of plain porridge in front of Mu Bai.

Mu Bai found it hard to refuse and simply expressed his thanks. He then asked the waiter for the menu and ordered a bowl of wonton noodles and a plate of stir-fried greens.

He had just taken a couple of sips of the porridge when the sound of hoofbeats came from outside the relay station.

Following the sound, Mu Bai saw several men in black clothes tethering their horses outside before stepping into the shop.

Jiang Cijing’s eyes lit up. He stood and called out to one of them, “Zi Yi, I’m over here.”

Luo Ziyi turned his head and saw him, flipping open his folding fan with a “whoosh” before sitting down beside Jiang Cijing.

“Brother Jiang,” he greeted, his gaze naturally falling upon the two people opposite him.

Catching sight of Su Mo seated in the wheelchair, Luo Ziyi froze for a moment before hesitantly asking, “Your Highness?”

Su Mo lifted his eyes: “Did Luo Wangchuan send you to fetch me?”

Having confirmed that the person before him was indeed the one he sought, Luo Ziyi’s face revealed a trace of delight: “Exactly.”

Jiang Cijing looked at Su Mo, then at Luo Ziyi, somewhat bewildered: “Your Highness the Prince?”

As a divine constable of the Ten Thousand Mirrors Bureau, he had met all the princes of Jialan. The surname “Su” belonged to the imperial family of Wuti. If that were the case, this young master Su before him was actually a prince of the Wuti Kingdom?

Luo Ziyi, knowing that he served the imperial court and fearing any misunderstandings, hurriedly explained: “My master owed the Fifth Prince a favor in his early years. Recently, upon hearing that His Highness was afflicted with a severe illness, unable to move freely, and was even assassinated by a group of masked individuals, he invited the prince to stay at Lingyun Palace for a while.”

After speaking, he leaned close to Jiang Cijing’s ear again: “The Fifth Prince has no clan support in the court, so there’s no need to be overly wary of him.”

These words were meant to tell Jiang Cijing that Su Mo was a carefree prince, posing no threat to Galan, in order to ease his vigilance.

Luo Ziyi’s voice was extremely soft, yet at such close proximity, Mu Bai’s sharp hearing could still catch it, and Su Mo likely heard **most of it as well.

He glanced sideways and saw Su Mo lazily propping his chin up as he gazed out the window, showing little reaction.

Mu Bai thought to himself that these people had greatly underestimated the Fifth Prince.

In the original text, he massacred the Wu Ti royal family, ascended the throne, and posthumously honored his biological mother as Empress Dowager, completing the entire chess game.

So much so that in the end, he was defeated by the male and female protagonists and died with regret in front of his mother’s tomb, which Mu Bai found utterly unreasonable.

He truly couldn’t understand why this great villain, after fighting his whole life, would be so devastated by a single defeat and a few harsh words that he chose to die on the spot, overwhelmed with remorse?

Across the table, Jiang Cijing listened to Luo Ziyi’s explanation and felt deeply hurt: “So, you didn’t come here specifically to pick me up?”

“Ahem, I was sent by Master to fetch His Highness the prince, and I’m picking you up along the way.”

“Just passing by? So I was just a detour?”

“Brother Jiang is so skilled in martial arts. Does he really need someone to escort him over a mere few dozen li?” Luo Ziyi glanced at Mu Bai and asked, “And who might this young lady be?”

Jiang Cijing’s face turned red again: “Ah, Miss Xiaobai, Miss Xiaobai is…”

Mu Bai: “I am Qin Mubai from Qinglian Valley.”

Su Mo withdrew his gaze from the window and explained to Luo Ziyi the identities of Mu Bai and Hua Mei.

Luo Ziyi frowned slightly: “This… Your Highness, it’s not that I’m meddling, but you know my master’s temper. If he were to see these two young ladies, I’m afraid…”

Luo Ziyi’s master is Luo Wangchuan, the leader of Lingyun Palace.

Mu Bai remembered from the Jianghu Courier that this was the name ranked first among swordsmen on the Hero Ranking.

The courier also had an article about Luo Wangchuan’s life, titled something like… “How a Sword Fanatic is Forged”?

The content roughly stated that Luo Wangchuan had spent forty years with his sword every day, rising before dawn to practice swordplay, continuing to train by lamplight after dark, and even sleeping with his treasured sword in bed.

He once had a relationship arranged by a matchmaker, but it didn’t last long before the girl couldn’t stand his obsession with swords being stronger than his passion for a lover, and she left in anger.

Afterwards, Luo Wangchuan remained single all his life. Even after founding Lingyun Palace and mastering the renowned Flowing Wind and Returning Snow Sword technique, he was still a lone soul.

Moreover, he didn’t just resign himself to a solitary life—he dragged the entire Lingyun Palace into his vow of bachelorhood. It was bad enough that only male disciples were accepted, but he went so far as to forbid any romantic relationships within the entire sect.

The reason is: women slow down the speed of drawing a sword.

So Lingyun Palace was jokingly called the Monk Palace, even more ascetic than the masters of Konggu Temple.

Luo Ziyi worried that when the time came, his master would discover the Fifth Prince had brought two girls and mercilessly drive them out.

“It can’t be that bad, right?” Huamei said. “After all, we’re from Qinglian Valley. When Lingyun Palace disciples got injured while wandering outside, they often came to us for help.”

“In ordinary times, Master would have granted it out of respect for Green Lotus Valley. But these past few days coincide with the martial arts tournament between Lingyun Palace and Chaosheng Pavilion. At such a critical juncture, he won’t tolerate even the slightest slip-up. Moreover, recently…”

A young woman has gone missing within the territory of Lingyun Palace.

Luo Ziyi invited Jiang Cijing for this very reason.

After finishing his wonton noodles, Mu Bai bit into a peach and casually asked, “Isn’t Lingyun Palace exclusively for male disciples?”

“That girl isn’t a disciple of Lingyun Palace,” Jiang Cijing replied. “She’s Ziyi’s sweetheart.”

Luo Ziyi coughed.

“Wow,” Hua Mei teased, “You’re really pushing your luck, aren’t you? Daring to have a lover right under your master’s nose—aren’t you afraid he’ll slice you in half with one stroke of his sword?”

Luo Wangchuan’s standards were exacting. Among the hundreds of disciples in Lingyun Palace now, only Luo Ziyi had been accepted as his personal disciple due to his exceptional talent, and only he could address Luo Wangchuan as “Master.”

Luo Ziyi coughed even harder, his face flushing red before he finally managed to say, “That day during my patrol duty, I ran into the young lady Ling in the back mountains. I stopped her and told her this was Lingyun Palace territory and she couldn’t just enter as she pleased. Who would’ve thought she’d show up again the next day… And, well, one thing led to another, and we ended up together.”

“How did she go missing?” Mu Bai asked.

Luo Ziyi seemed somewhat hesitant. He closed his fan, glanced around cautiously, and then whispered, “Actually, I’m not entirely sure if she’s missing…”

Jiang Cijing’s eyebrows shot up in annoyance. “If you’re not sure, why did you call me here?”

“Keep your voice down.” Luo Ziyi quickly held him back. “Although I had a fling with Miss Ling, I have no idea about her background or where she lives.”

“We agreed to meet on the fifteenth of each month at the back mountain, but after that day, Miss Ling never showed up again. I thought she might be sulking with me, or perhaps something had happened at home.”

“Until last month, I found a bundle in the back mountain. Inside were the hairpin and clothes that Miss Ling wore on the day we met—torn to shreds—along with a pair of bloodstained embroidered shoes…”

“I’m afraid something must have happened to her on her way back after meeting me…”

Luo Ziyi lay sprawled across the table, covering his face with his hand: “I don’t know if her family has reported her missing to the authorities yet. If only I had asked where she lived earlier, I wouldn’t have been stuck without a solution for months.”

“Aside from investigating the truth behind her disappearance, the reason I asked Brother Jiang to come is also to request your help in commissioning the Thousand Mirrors Bureau to find Miss Ling’s family. I need to personally visit them to apologize—if it weren’t for me, Miss Ling wouldn’t have…”

“Alright, alright.” Jiang Cijing whispered soothingly, “I will definitely get to the bottom of this for you. Don’t blame yourself too much.”

Mu Bai watched coldly from the side as Luo Ziyi took the handkerchief from Jiang Cijing to wipe the corners of his eyes, then averted his gaze.

He had a strange intuition: Luo Ziyi wasn’t as heartbroken as he appeared.

Mu Bai didn’t expose him on the spot, just silently finished the peach, tossed the pit away, clapped his hands and asked: “Then when do we set off?”

Luo Ziyi froze, raising his face: “You two ladies plan to…”

“We’re going together.” Mu Bai said, “The Jade Tree Villa isn’t far from your place, right? If Lingyun Palace doesn’t welcome us, we’ll go to Jade Tree Villa instead.”

Seeing his determination to accompany them, Luo Ziyi said nothing more.

After the group had breakfast and rested for a while, they set off for Lingyun Palace.

Huamei, for reasons unknown, rode a horse by herself, leaving Mubai and Sumo to share the carriage.

“Hey.” Mubai took the book from Sumo’s hands and tapped his leg with it. “What do you mean by this?”

“Hmm?”

“With so many people watching, you want me to sit on your lap… Even if I’m pretending to be close to you, isn’t this taking the teasing too far?”

Su Mo chuckled: “Officer Jiang won’t admit defeat until he’s cornered. If we don’t take drastic measures, how can we make him give up?”

“But your method is far too improper.”

Su Mo replied offhandedly, “I don’t care about propriety,” as he took the book back from Mu Bai’s hands.

“No.” Mu Bai felt something was off. “Why do I get the feeling you’re up to no good?”

He should have realized it yesterday when Su Mo came up with this stupid idea—His Highness the prince never acts without a purpose. Why would he suddenly be so kind as to offer help? He must have ulterior motives.

“What do you want?”

Su Mo looked up from the book and saw Mu Bai’s wary expression. He couldn’t help but laugh helplessly: “Miss Bai, do I really seem that bad in your eyes?”

“You’re utterly rotten.” Mu Bai snatched his book back again. “If you were cut open, it’d just be a belly full of black water.”

Su Mo seemed to be taken aback by his blunt words, covering his face with his black sleeve—whether he was genuinely coughing or laughing remained unclear.

“Alright then,” he said, lowering the curtain by the window and beckoning Mu Bai over.

Mu Bai hesitated for a moment before leaning his head closer.

Su Mo spoke slowly, “Actually, I once had a dream…”

Mu Bai frowned. How did this suddenly involve dreaming?

Yet after hearing a few words, his back instinctively stiffened—

Su Mo’s description of the dream was exactly the same as the original text Mu Bai had read.

At the end of the dream, he was defeated by Qin Mubai and Jiang Cijing working together and took his own life before his mother’s tomb.

“Many details in the dream matched my experiences, so…” Before Su Mo could finish, he was interrupted by Mu Bai.

He was really curious and couldn’t hold back from asking, “What were you thinking at that time? In your dream, before you took your own life, do you still remember clearly?”

Su Mo: “…”

He looked up at Mu Bai: “Tired.”

“What?”

Su Mo said softly, “A lifetime of scheming is exhausting.”

“In others’ eyes, I lost my mother in childhood and received endless favor from my father. But in truth, he only loved my mother—all his partiality toward me was conditional upon me fulfilling his lifelong wish for him.”

As Mu Bai listened to him, he recalled the original text, remembering some descriptions about Su Mo and his relationship with his parents.

The passage is brief, but it mentions that Su Mo’s father, the emperor, underwent a drastic change in temperament after the death of his mother. He issued a gag order forbidding anyone from mentioning the name of Su Mo’s birth mother.

Despite the checks and balances among various factions in the court, even the emperor could not act entirely as he pleased. However, he remained deeply resentful about the death of Su Mo’s birth mother, and this resentment fell entirely upon the young Su Mo.

The posthumous conferment of the empress title was less Su Mo’s long-cherished wish than it was his father’s. Seizing the throne and posthumously honoring his birth mother as empress were part of a scheme that Emperor Wuti had laid out while still on the throne. Only after the entire game had been played out did Su Mo realize he was the final pawn, left with nothing but emptiness around him.

After listening to him, Mu Bai finally caught on.

It turned out that Su Mo had experienced the book’s ending in his dream. No wonder he specifically requested his own diagnosis and harbored ill intentions towards Jiang Cijing.

“Are you seeking revenge on us because of that dream?”

“What good would revenge against you do for me?”

Su Mo lowered his eyelids and leaned close to Mu Bai’s ear: “I was just teasing you. As for Jiang Cijing…”

Mu Bai’s earlobes warmed as if lightly kissed by something soft, and even the sound he heard carried a hint of lingering tenderness.

“He’ll lose everything he wants.”