Chapter 806 : The Yan Country's Crown Prince (3)
"Drink it, and you won't be blamed." Jun Wu Xie's slightly cold voice rang out softly.
Lei Chen was startled as he had really not expected Jun Xie to say that, and completely disregarding his position as a prince. But Lei Chen had only been shocked a very brief moment before he smiled and picked up the cup of wine Jun Xie had pushed over to him and downed it quickly, turning the cup over to show that not a drop was left in it.
"I shall hold little brother Jun to your word. Since I have finished the cup of wine, that will mean little brother Jun will not place any blame on me any longer."
"Naturally." Jun Wu Xie said, turning her eyes away as a strange tinge grew within them.
After hearing Jun Wu Xie's words, Lei Chen was finally relieved and his mood improved tremendously. He chatted and drank happily with Jun Xie and his companions and flask after flask of good wine was brought to the table before being quickly all swept up. After three rounds, time flew and it was already late night, as Lei Chen sat tipsy at the table.
Jun Wu Xie and the others had already gotten themselves roaring drunk and many of them were slumped on the table, unconscious.
Lei Chen stood up unsteadily and shook his head to clear the grogginess.
"Guards! Escort our esteemed guests....." Lei Chen had wanted to send Jun Xie and his companions back to the Immortals' Loft but after thinking about it a moment, he changed his mind and said: "Arrange guest rooms for them to rest in the West Mansion."
Although the tipsiness was already getting to his head, but Lei Chen still had not forgotten to grab at any opportunity to win Jun Xie over.
To the Crown Prince at that current moment, the youths from the Zephyr Academy were just too important.
The guards of the Crown Prince's Residence followed their orders and helped the disciples from the Zephyr Academy to the guest rooms to sleep while Lei Chen, himself succumbing to the effects of alcohol, was helped by the servants to his own chambers to rest.
The Crown Prince's Residence fell silent. Within the quiet of the night, Jun Wu Xie who should have been in her dreams suddenly opened her eyes. Under the darkness, the slightly chilling pair of eyes were clear and did not look the least bit intoxicated.
......
Jun Wu Xie sat up in the bed and stepped onto the ground. The little black cat soundlessly leapt up onto her shoulder as Jun Wu Xie pushed open the door, slowly making her way outside.
The West Mansion of the Crown Prince's Residence was used exclusively for guests who stayed overnight here and in order to not disturb the guests' rest, the only guards there were those that stood by the entrance.
Within the darkness of the night, in the deathly quiet courtyard, a few figures had suddenly appeared.
"Little Xie's elixir is really effective. Even after having drunk so much, I am not feeling the effects of the alcohol in the slightest." Qiao Chu said as he waddled over to Jun Wu Xie. Besides the thick stench of wine coming out from his body, his face looked completely sober as if he had not drunk a single drop of wine.
Hua Yao and the others were already standing around Jun Wu Xie. Earlier before the feast had started, they had all taken the alcohol cancelling elixir that Jun Wu Xie had cultivated and none of them had felt the slightest bit of intoxicating drunkenness from the fine wines that Lei Chen had continually brought to the table. Even if they had continued on for a few more rounds, they would have felt just as awake as they were feeling at that moment.
"The location of Lei Chen's chambers is clear to everyone?" Fan Zhuo asked as he adjusted his clothes. Having been well immersed in medicines and elixirs over the past long years, Fan Zhuo had not touched a single drop of alcohol. Although he was not drunk after all that drinking tonight, the pungent stench emanating from his body had however still caused him to feel some discomfort.
Jun Wu Xie nodded and she put the little black cat on the ground. The little black cat stretched its body when its paws touched the ground and soon after, its strides pulled wide as it quickly and soundlessly leapt away outside.
The night was at its deepest hour and it was the period when sleepiness struck people the hardest. The two guards at the West Mansion's entrance were fighting hard to keep themselves awake.
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Chapter 807 : The Yan Country's Crown Prince (4)
A gust of the night breeze blew past bringing a slight chill. The two guards suddenly felt a heavy sleepiness attacking them and in a blink, they were leaning against their spears as they succumbed to it.
When they were finally sleeping so soundly their head actually lolled slightly to the side, Jun Wu Xie and her companions strode out uninhibited through the doors of the West Mansion.
The land area the Crown Prince's Residence sat on was large and there was a certain distance between the West Mansion and the Crown Prince's sleeping chambers in the East Mansion. Although it was late in the middle of the night, the guards patrolling the interior of the Crown Prince's Residence were not resting. But those patrolling guards had not noticed that a little palm sized black cat had studied their patrol routes and the time they took to complete them. Exactly a minute after a patrol had just passed a long corridor, Jun Wu Xie and the companions quickly slipped past it and proceeded on towards Lei Chen's sleeping chambers.
Lei Chen had drunk quite a lot that night and he was completely unconscious as he lay sleeping in his bed, not moving in the slightest.
After they made the two guards at the entrance sleep, Jun Wu Xie walked unrestricted into Lei Chen's bedchambers. A single candle lit the room and the faint light eased the pitch dark a little.
The moment Qiao Chu passed through the door, he saw Lei Chen lying unmoving on the bed, fallen in a deep sleep, and a evil smile suddenly appeared on his lips.
That night back at the feast, they could see that Lei Chen could hold his liquor quite well and they knew that with Lei Chen's nature, he would not allow himself to get drunk. But on that night, it was no longer up to him. In the cup of wine that Jun Wu Xie had pushed before Lei Chen, Jun Wu Xie had secretly drugged it. No matter how well Lei Chen could hold his liquor, he would not be able to hold up to Jun Wu Xie's drug.
"With him in such a state, how are we going to be able to ask him anything?" Qiao Chu came to stand beside Lei Chen's bed and squatted down, as he poked at Lei Chen's red flushed cheeks with his finger.
He was sleeping really deeply!
Qiao Chu highly doubted that the completely knocked out Lei Chen would be able to adequately answer any of Jun Wu Xie's questions.
They had come all the way here to this place that day not for the free wine and food, but to create an opportunity for them to locate the fourth piece of the map whereby Fei Yan would produce a replica of it before they cut off ties with Lei Chen.
The intricate internal complications of the Yan Country were not of Jun Wu Xie's concern. Her goals have always been crystal clear.
......
"Help him up." Jun Wu Xie said.
Qiao Chu immediately reached out and easily pulled Lei Chen up.
Lei Chen's head was lolled to one side and he did not show any signs of regaining consciousness.
"Pry open his mouth." Jun Wu Xie said after that.
Fei Yan stepped up and opened Lei Chen's mouth, seemingly highly familiar with that action, and Jun Wu Xie immediately dropped an elixir into Lei Chen's mouth.
Qiao Chu helped Lei Chen to a chair at the side of room to sit down and he stepped away to the side, looking excitedly at Lei Chen.
"Little Xie, what did you give him?" Qiao Chu asked curiously as he hopped to come stand beside Jun Wu Xie. In Jun Wu Xie's hands, there would always be some strange and curious elixirs, many of them were elixirs that he had never even known to exist.
"Something to make him talk." Jun Wu Xie said expressionlessly, not really in the mood to satisfy Qiao Chu's inquisitive curiosity.
The rest of the companions tactfully stood on one side and waited patiently, completely handing the entire situation into Jun Wu Xie's hands, knowing that all they had to do was just to wait for the results.
Just shortly after, the unconscious Lei Chen suddenly moved. He slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes. But those eyes were not focused on anything and had no life in them as he just stared numbly straight ahead. There was the slightest expression or emotion on that handsome looking face and at a glance, he looked just like he would as if sleepwalking, and was not awake entirely.
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Chapter 808 : Serendipity (1)
Jun Wu Xie stood before Lei Chen, as she stared at the pair of unseeing pair of eyes.
"What is your name?" Jun Wu Xie asked slowly.
"Lei Chen." Lei Chen answered dully as he opened his mouth, without expression on his face, but the voice was clear and crisp.
Qiao Chu who was standing at the side blinked his eyes in wonder, as he watched Lei Chen's strange demeanor.
"The effects of the elixir is rather amazing! If we encounter such situations next time, we can just get Little Xie to just feed that elixir to the person and we will be able to know all that we want to dig out from the person!" Qiao Chu whispered softly, pushing his shoulder against Hua Yao beside him.
Hua Yao did not take his eyes off Lei Chen as he said in a low voice: "Not everything works on every single person."
Qiao Chu shrugged and did not say anything else.
Under the weak glow of the lone candlelight, Lei Chen sat in the chair quietly and motionless, only answering whatever Jun Wu Xie asked him.
Jun Wu Xie asked him three simple questions in succession, to ascertain that the elixir had already taken effect on Lei Chen. Thereafter, her eyes narrowed and she asked in a cold voice: "Have you ever come in contact with people from the Middle Realm?"
Lei Chen, who had answered the questions without any hesitation suddenly looked like he was stuck, his expressionless face twisting up, like he was struggling.
Jun Wu Xie was a little surprised at the reaction. The elixir that she had given to Lei Chen was a type of drug that would numb the person's consciousness and nervous system. The effects of the drug would only show when large amounts of alcohol was ingested together and this was the first time she had used it since she was reborn although she had used it often when she was still with the organization, and Lei Chen's reaction caused a strange feeling to come into Jun Wu Xie's heart.
Under those circumstances, it was impossible that Lei Chen would show any expression as his brain should have completely been numbed and his nervous system would not be able to transmit any emotions.
......
"He..... why is he not answering anymore?" Qiao Chu was eagerly anticipating for Lei Chen to reveal the truth to them and just when they were getting to the crux of the matter, he had suddenly jammed up and got stuck.
Jun Wu Xie's eyebrow raised up and her eyes were locked on Lei Chen's twisted face.
"Is something wrong?" Fan Zhuo noticed that Jun Wu Xie was not acting normally and he asked immediately.
Jun Wu Xie answered: "Something's not right."
"Not right?"
Jun Wu Xie bit on her lip and said: "Unless he had undergone special training before, if not, at this juncture, he should answer whatever I ask him without a moment's hesitation." In her past life, she had indeed come across a bunch of people who had undergone anti hypnosis training. That group of people had been highly resilient and were immune towards these drugs that manipulated the nervous system, and with just the drugs she used on those people, she had not been able to really hypnotise them fully.
But after having been reborn into this world for so long, she had not seen any records or heard any mention of anything that hinted at the existence of hypnosis in this world. And if it did not exist in this world, how could Lei Chen have possibly undergone any training against it?
Jun Wu Xie thought about it a while and she decided to change her way of approaching it. She opened her mouth and asked: "Did you send a team of men to go to the Heaven's End Cliff previously?"
In that instant that Jun Wu Xie's question left her mouth, the struggle on Lei Chen's face immediately disappeared and his face went back to the dull, lifeless and expressionless look and he quickly answered: "Yes."
"You gave them a map at that time. Where have you kept the original map?" Jun Wu Xie asked.
There is no original. That map was was intercepted from the hand of my father's guard." Lei Chen's expressionless face did not change the slightest as he spoke, but those words made everyone in the room to suddenly freeze in shock.
[The map is not in Lei Chen's hands! ? What is going on here! ?]
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Chapter 809 : Serendipity (2)
Qiao Chu and the others looked quizzically at Lei Chen. If not for Lei Chen's completely expressionless face and his unfocused eyes, they would have really thought that Lei Chen was intentionally not telling them the truth.
"What is happening here? The map is not in Lei Chen's hands? Was he really telling the truth?" Qiao Chu immediately asked as he turned to Jun Wu Xie.
Jun Wu Xie was silent a moment before she proclaimed: "He is telling the truth."
She had earlier felt that Lei Chen's reaction had been rather strange as it was impossible that he could have received any training which would mean he should not have any resistance against the hypnosis drug. But, when she had interrogated him on his relationship with the Middle Realm, he had exhibited obvious signs of struggle and such circumstances would only occur when one had undergone specific training and only when the questions had been extremely important to the person under hypnosis. But there was one more instance that the same situation might occur.....
If the one being interrogated had completely no information about the question source, or he had never ever heard of it before, then the brain of the person hypnotised would result in helpless confusion and he would be unable to answer.
Jun Wu Xie had just been guessing earlier, but she was certain now.
That piece of map, had never been in Lei Chen's hands!
"No wonder Little Black did not find anyone from the Middle Realm in the Crown Prince's Residence the last time." Jun Wu Xie mumbled to herself softly.
"Do you have any copies of the map?"
Lei Chen replied: "That was the only one. I was afraid of being discovered and hence I did not make any copies."
Jun Wu Xie narrowed her eyes. "How did you get that map?" Although the map wasn't in Lei Chen's possession, they had nevertheless gotten more information that the map could very well be intricately linked to the Emperor of the Yan Country and if that turned out to be true, it would be much more difficult to get their hands on the map than when they had thought it was with Lei Chen.
As the ruler of the biggest and mightiest country, the Emperor of the Yan Country had no lack of powerful and highly skilled exponents by his side, nothing like what the previous dumb Emperor of the tiny Qi Kingdom could compare to.
......
Lei Chen answered unhurriedly, his eyes never moving throughout. "That day, I went to offer my greetings to Mother and my fourth brother was also in Mother's palace. I did not want to see him and so I avoided him thinking to enter only after he leaves. Hence, I roamed aimlessly in the Imperial Palace and I happened to see my Father's trusted aide handing a letter to a guard from a hidden corner. Although I could not hear what they said, I could however see that they were exchanging suspicious glances. I proceeded to secretly follow the guard out of the Imperial Palace and subsequently killed him without anyone knowing to snatch the letter from his hands. The map was what I found in that letter."
Lei Chen's tone was flat and completely monotonous. But what he was saying revealed bigger issues at hand.
"Wasn't the Fourth Prince said to be in very good terms with Lei Chen? Why did..... Lei Chen not even want to see him?" Fei Yan rubbed at his chin as he contemplated what he had heard. Lei Chen's words had directly revealed two other issues. One of them was that Lei Chen's relationship with the Fourth Prince was not as amicable as outsiders had thought it was. And the other was even more interesting..... Lei Chen was actually so concerned of the Emperor's matters that he was even willing to commit murder to get that letter. For a Crown Prince whose position and title seemed unshakeable, Lei Chen's actions and methods seemed rather implausible and strange.
"Why am I getting the feeling that Lei Chen's position as the Crown Prince is a little different from what I have imagined?" Rong Ruo asked, with her brows lifted.
Jun Wu Xie looked at Lei Chen. The things Lei Chen said had subsequently revealed some rather startling things and Jun Wu Xie had to completely reassess the guesses she had conjured up within her mind before.
"In that letter, besides the map, was there anything else?"
"No."
"Why had you then sent people to go to the Heaven's End Cliff?"
"I wanted to know, just what Father was seeking to find over there."
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Chapter 810 : Serendipity (3)
Lei Chen had under the influence of the drugs, shared everything he knew to the very last detail towards Jun Wu Xie's questions, revealing everything he possibly could. Based on what she had gathered from Lei Chen's words, Jun Wu Xie was able to deduce that the original copy of the map was highly possible to be in the possession of the Yan Country's Emperor.
"The matter had just gotten a lot harder to do. If the item is in the hands of the Emperor, it would be a lot more difficult if we want to come into contact with him." Fan Zhuo said looking at Jun Wu Xie. "From the way things are now, we might not be able to distance ourselves from Lei Chen for the time being."
Jun Wu Xie nodded, "Only through Lei Chen, would we stand a chance of meeting the Emperor."
The Yan Country's Emperor had not been feeling well in recent years and he had rarely left the Imperial Palace. Without Lei Chen as a link, the only way they would be able to come into contact with the Emperor would be to forcibly break into Imperial Palace. But they were unclear of the situation within the Imperial Palace and suddenly charging in haphazardly might only result in them being ambushed by the expert exponents by the Emperor's side.
Without having complete confidence they could pull it off, Jun Wu Xie would never choose to take that step.
"We can still choose to continue making use of Lei Chen, but Lei Chen is currently being targeted by someone and if we continue to be linked to him, the reputation of the Zephyr Academy would also be....." Hua Yao trailed off as he looked meaningfully at Fan Zhuo.
"I believe that even if the Zephyr Academy's name is maligned now, its name will be cleared one day. Moreover, even if someone was intentionally defaming the Zephyr Academy, so what? As long as we win this year's Spirit Battle Tournament splendidly, everyone can only keep their mouths shut." Fan Zhuo knew that Hua Yao was worried about his concerns for Fan Jin, hence, he was just replying Hua Yao with a gentle smile, appearing unconcerned.
"No need." Jun Wu Xie interjected suddenly.
All the companions turned to look at her.
"Little Xie, did you say there's no need?" Fan Zhuo asked, his eyes filled with puzzlement.
Jun Wu Xie was looking at Lei Chen thoughtfully as she asked the companions: "Do all of you think we would be able to get the map from the Yan Country's Emperor that easily?"
Jun Wu Xie's questions threw them all off guard and they sat there stunned a moment.
......
Except for the map that Fan Zhuo had given them, before they got their hands on the other two pieces of the maps, they had needed to go through a daunting battle with the possessor of the map. The Imperial Palace cannot be compared to the Crown Prince's Residence as it would not allow them to come and go as they pleased like it was with the Crown Prince.
"If the map gets lost, the Twelve Palaces would not let the matter rest that easily." Jun Wu Xie said without expression. To people like Ke Cang Ju and Ning Rui, those maps had been like the biggest opportunity for them, but at the same time, the greatest danger. If the maps handed over to them were carelessly lost, it could be imagined just how furious the people from the Twelve Palaces would be!
Hence, no matter whether it was to fight for more benefits for himself, or whether it was to protect his own life, the Emperor of the Yan Country would definitely protect that map with everything he had.
And if Jun Wu Xie and her companions wanted to take the map away for the Emperor, there was no doubt that it would have to be through a fierce battle.
Jun Wu Xie's gaze swept over Lei Chen's face. If she was able to push Mo Qian Yuan up to ascend the throne, she would not mind doing it once again with Lei Chen. But before that, she needed to know more about the situation within the Yan Country.
On the surface, Lei Chen's position was firmly etched. But judging from the previous instances of someone having intentionally gone against him happening, and the circumstances revealed by Lei Chen himself in the interrogation with the truth serum, it was clear to the companions that the Crown Prince's title and position was less optimistic than it would seem on the surface.
Sensing Jun Wu Xie's undecided stance and demeanor, Qiao Chu gulped loudly as he asked warily: "What you intending to do Little Xie?" Without exactly knowing why, seeing that kind of expression on Jun Wu Xie made him strongly feel that something very terrible was about to occur very soon.
Jun Wu Xie instead shook her head. She gauged the amount of time that had passed before determining that the effects of the drug would be wearing out soon, and they would not be able to continue with the session today.
"Return first."