Chapter 876 : Face Slap - Ninth Form (6)
As to what exactly happened here, Lei Chen would have guessed it in his heart. But regardless what he thought about the matter, it was still an internal issue that happened within the Yan Country and Lei Chen wouldn't want to see the Thousand Beast City develop any enmity against the Yan Country because of this.
Lei Chen narrowed his eyes and even though his thoughts echoed Imperial Physician Li's, he didn't really want to save the bunch of quack doctors before him. But as the matter would still ultimately affect the relationship between the Yan Country and the Thousand Beast City, he wouldn't stand to gain anything if that relationship soured because of this.
Just as Lei Chen was about to open his mouth to say something, he suddenly saw Jun Wu Xie's cold clear eyes and he froze in that instant.
Jun Wu Xie was obviously telling him not to get involved in the matter.
Lei Chen hesitated a moment before he said: "What Hall Chief Xiong said is right. The incident had indeed occurred due to the lack of our Yan Country's hospitality. I am also wishing that Hall Chief Xiong can find out who is the culprit behind this and let's leave the investigation in Hall Chief Xiong's hands."
Xiong Ba nodded in satisfaction while Imperial Physician Li's face was looking more panicked. He stared at Lei Chen in disbelief, unable to accept the fact that Lei Chen had so easily agreed to Xiong Ba's request.
"Your Highness! Your Highness Crown Prince!" Imperial Physician Li called out in a desperate plea.
Lei Chen refused to even look at him.
The other physicians looked at Xiong Ba's immense frame towering over everyone and they all trembled, knowing that even all of them put together would still not be a match against that giant of a man.
Since Xiong Ba had already made his stand clear and Lei Chen had agreed to it, the matter had become a fact and there was no way out of it anymore, they had no other choice be to surrender themselves to it.
"The crisis suffered on our Young Miss had been averted this time all because of Miss Jun's help. Xiong Ba's brash actions had offended Miss Jun before this and I beg that Miss Jun forgives me. If Miss Jun does not mind it..... I would like to ask for Miss Jun to continue to take care of our Young Miss' condition with Senior Feng." Xiong Ba turned his head to look towards Jun Wu Xie, his eyes immediately turning earnest, his tone sincere and respectful.
Jun Wu Xie swept her gaze over Xiong Ba and was silent a short moment before she said: "I can."
A smile immediately broke on Xiong Ba's face, and he thanked Jun Wu Xie profusely.
Meanwhile, the pale faced Imperial Physician Li was secretly staring at Jun Wu Xie. He really could not understand how something that had even escaped the notice of the highly revered Dive Doctor, Feng Yue Yang had been instead noticed by this little girl? And she had even resolved the ailment so easily.
Jiang Ying Long was ashamed of himself and followed Xiong Ba's instructions to temporarily "invite" all the physicians to stay behind in the inn, to await Xiong Ba's interrogation of all of them.
The entire bunch of physicians in the room who were all just talk retreated out of the room and only the three people from the Thousand Beast City was left in there with Jun Wu Xie and Lei Chen.
With all the superfluous people out of the place, the words that had been kept inside Xiong Ba's chest finally had a chance to be spoken out aloud. "Miss Jun is from the Qi Kingdom, why had you suddenly appeared here in the Yan Country's Imperial Capital? As to the real reason that caused this incident to happen, I believe Miss Jun already has a good idea in her mind. But I do not know what other considerations are on Miss Jun mind that had stopped you from revealing the truth in front of everybody earlier."
From seeing Jun Wu Xie having easily resolved the mystery behind Qu Ling Yue's condition, to watching her calling out to Imperial Physician Li just as he was attempting to escape, Xiong might not be highly intelligent, but he was still able to recognise that this beautiful young girl before him had a highly intelligent, quick and nimble mind in her head.
She would surely have seen through quite a bit of the culprit's schemes.
Jun Wu Xie was not surprised by Xiong Ba's query. She walked over to a chair at the side and sat down, pouring herself a cup of tea before slowly taking a sip from it.
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Chapter 877 : Face Slap - Ninth Form (7)
Then she replied: "The matter has nothing to do with the Qi Kingdom at all. It was only because of the Crown Prince's request that I lent a hand to save Qu Ling Yue. As this incident is a matter between the Yan Country and the Thousand Beast City, the Lin Palace has no intention of getting involved in it. The Qi Kingdom is not prepared to stand against an enemy like the Yan Country."
Qing Yu then said: "I understand Miss Jun's concerns about this and we are highly grateful of the Crown Prince's help in this matter as well!"
Suddenly finding himself on the receiving end of their gratitude, Lei Chen was surprised. He had thought that after the matter had been revealed, the Thousand Beast City would undoubtedly harbour intense hatred against the Yan Country. But things seemed to have turned out slightly differently from what he had thought and he subconsciously turned to look at the side of Jun Wu Xie's face before it finally dawned upon him.
He realised that Jun Wu Xie had agreed to continue to remain behind to tend to Qu Ling Yue's condition had not been for any other reason than to claim the credit for this incident for him!
Her words had been peppered with claims that she had only been willing to lend a hand because of his request. That had covertly and overtly made the Thousand Beast City suddenly owe him a huge favour! No matter how much enmity these men from the Thousand Beast City might hold against the Yan Country, towards this Crown Prince, there would only be gratitude in their hearts!
To win the favour of the Thousand Beast City, Lei Chen had lost count of the amount of effort and thoughts he had put into it over the long years, and he couldn't remember how much attention he had showered upon Qu Ling Yue in that same period, but the results had been highly insignificant. He had never thought, with just a few words from Jun Wu Xie today, she had won for him the aim that he had eluded him for so many years!
That moment, Lei Chen was suddenly almost moved to tears in endless gratitude towards the Young Miss Jun!
If Jun Wu Xie had not been born in the Yan Country's Lin Palace, Lei Chen would have unhesitatingly asked for her to help him.
"There is no need for such thanks. Qu Ling Yue and me are fellow disciples and seeing her in this state had pained me greatly. The fact that her condition has improved is reward enough for me." Lei Chen was no idiot and he knew that he had to grab at this opportunity.
"No matter how this matter turns out in the end, Your Highness will forever be a friend of our Thousand Beast City." Xiong Ba said with a loud guffaw, thumping himself on his chest.
Lei Chen nodded his head vehemently.
After that, Feng Yue Yang and Jun Wu Xie carried out the nursing required for Qu Ling Yue. When Qu Ling Yue's acupoint had been sealed, it had stirred up a great amount of chaos within her body. Although everything had been restored to fall back in order, the condition brought on by her repeated vomiting of blood before that resulted in a deficiency in her blood was still present. But with Divine Doctors like Feng Yue Yang and Jun Wu Xie, handling it, such a simple ailment was well within their skills to have it rectified. After several hours, Qu Ling Yue blood had already greatly recovered and it was expected she would regain consciousness that very night.
Jun Wu Xie and Lei Chen then prepared to bid their farewells to Xiong Ba and the others at that moment.
But just before they left, Lei Chen suddenly hesitated a moment and finally turned to walked towards Xiong Ba. "Hall Chief Xiong. My humble self has a request to make of you."
Xiong Ba said: "Your Highness is too polite. If there is anything we can do for you, Your Highness need only say it."
"Qu Ling Yue's injury had surfaced in the finals of the district Spirit Battle Tournament, and the youth that had been her opponent is currently still imprisoned in the Imperial Capital's prison. It has been revealed that Qu Ling Yue's injury had nothing to do with that youth and I was hoping that Hall Chief Xiong would be able to go say a word in the youth's defence, so they can quickly release him." Lei Chen was still highly worried about Jun Xie who had been thrown in prison, not knowing that the subject of his worries was currently standing less than three steps away from him.
Xiong Ba was slightly surprised and he immediately replied: "I will naturally do that. It has been hard on that youth called Jun Xie to have to suffer such an uncalled for calamity. I will make a trip there first thing in the morning tomorrow. Rest assured Your Highness."
Having gotten Xiong Ba's word, Lei Chen was finally relieved and after bidding their farewells, he left with Jun Wu Xie.
"I would like to offer my utmost gratitude to Miss Jun for your help in this incident this time." Within the horse carriage, Lei Chen was repeatedly offering his thanks to Jun Wu Xie.
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Chapter 878 : Panicked (1)
Jun Wu Xie shook her head and did not say much but only let Lei Chen send her to the Immortals' Loft where they then parted ways.
Lei Chen would never have thought, after this time, when he next saw Jun Wu Xie with her real countenance, the Yan Country had completely changed.
.....
Qu Ling Yue awoke that very night as expected and after regaining consciousness, she got to know everything that happened while she had been in a coma which greatly shocked her. She had no recollection of having suffered any strikes from Jun Xie when she was conscious! The only thing she remembered before she fainted was that she had suddenly felt a stinging pain on the back of her neck and the next thing she knew, she had lost consciousness.
When she got to know that Jun Xie was still locked up in prison, Qu Ling Yue brushed off all concerns that her body had just recovered and insisted on making a trip to the prison that very night to get Jun Xie out of there. She apologised about the matter repeatedly but Jun Xie merely answered perfunctorily and immediately went back to the Immortals' Loft.
And news of the matter quickly spread into the Imperial Palace.
Sitting within the Imperial Study, the Emperor was perusing the memorials and petitions behind his desk when he suddenly saw the figure of Lei Fan rushing in highly panicked. He immediately put down the brush and with a benign smile, he asked: "My son, it's already so late. For what have you come here?"
"Father!" Without another word, Lei Fan fell to his knees before the Emperor.
"What's going on here? Stand up and tell me." The Emperor stood up immediately intending to help Lei Fan up.
Lei Fan's attractive looking face was twisted up with panic. "Qu Ling Yue is awake!"
"What?" The hand that the Emperor had just stretched out stiffened and the benign smile on his face froze.
"News was just received! The people from the Thousand Beast City had arrived in the Imperial Capital today and they had immediately gone straight to the War Banner Academy's allocated inn. No one knows the reason but Eldest Royal Brother had suddenly brought Jun Wu Xie from the Qi Kingdom's Lin Palace there and Jun Wu Xie had fully cured Qu Ling Yue right before the eyes of the emissaries from the Thousand Beast City! She had even told the people from the Thousand Beast City the truth behind Qu Ling Yue's injuries that led her to fall into a coma! The people from the Thousand Beast City have now put Imperial Physician Li and the other physicians under arrest within the inn and are going to interrogate them personally!" Lei Fan said, his face on the verge of tears. When he had first heard the news, he had felt like he had been struck by lightning as well.
"How did it turn out like this? Qi Kingdom? Lin Palace? How did Lei Chen become acquainted with people from the Lin Palace?" The Emperor's mind was in a whirl. He had thought that after the people from the Thousand Beast City arrived, everything will happen according to what he had planned and the Thousand Beast City would not let off Jun Xie who had been imprisoned. And when Jun Xie was being persecuted by the Thousand Beast City, Jun Xie would surely submit to Lei Fan's request. When that time came, he would get people to release the news that Jun Xie shared a close relationship with the Crown Prince and pour the dirty water over the Crown Prince's head where the Thousand Beast City would become highly displeased with the Crown Prince.
When the emotions of the people from the Thousand Beast City would be highly stoked by that time, he would then ask Imperial Physician Li to "cure" Qu Ling Yue and the Yan Country would not have to get into a political dispute with the Thousand Beast City.
Every step of his scheme had been meticulously calculated and if things had gone as he planned, both the Crown Prince and Jun Xie would have had to suffer. But with this unexpected turn in events, it had completely upset his plans!
"Your son doesn't know as well! All I know is that Qu Ling Yue had even gone to the jail earlier and set Jun Xie free! Father! What do we do now?" Although Lei Fan wasn't entirely aware of all of his Father's actions, but he still had a rough idea about it. Now, all those plans had been destroyed and the Thousand Beast City had not only not been displeased with Jun Xie and Lei Chen, but had instead been feeling indebted to Lei Chen because of the fact that the Young Miss from the Lin Palace who had cured Qu Ling Yue had been invited here by Lei Chen.
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Chapter 879 : Panicked (2)
Instead, it was Imperial Physician Li, who had been installed by the Emperor to stay close to Qu Ling Yue, who was in an awkward position at that moment.
Once the people from the Thousand Beast City started their interrogation, the set of old bones on Imperial Physician Li would definitely not be able to stand up to it!
It won't be long before he would reveal the fact that it was the Emperor who had secretly ordered him to do it.
"There is no need for you to panic. I will have this matter resolved." The Emperor said, patting Lei Fan reassuringly on the shoulder, asking him to relax. The Emperor then gave a little bit of instructions on what he should do and sent him back to go rest.
Waiting till after Lei Fan left, the Emperor did not go back into his seat.
A black robed man suddenly appeared within the Imperial Study.
"What is actually happening with that Jun Wu Xie? Are your subordinates all good for nothings? Such a prominent person from the Qi Kingdom had come to the Yan Country's Imperial Capital and all of you knew nothing about it! ?" The Emperor said, glaring at the black robed man angrily.
The black robed man's body stiffened and he gulped silently: "Your subordinate has failed to detect this incident, but in the past few days, your subordinate had not received any news of anyone from the Qi Kingdom coming here into the Imperial Capital. I am thinking this Young Miss of the Qi Kingdom's Lin Palace must have purposely hidden her identity when she came in and that is why no one knew about it."
"Useless scoundrels! You are getting from bad to worse with the tasks handed to you nowadays! Zhao Xun still has not been found till today and you have now even allowed people from the Lin Palace to blatantly come and go as they please in our Yan Country's Imperial Capital!" The Emperor was visibly trembling with rage.
Although the Qi Kingdom was a small country, but they were the one that had the most ferocious strike force, the Rui Lin Army, under the command of the Lin Palace. And now, the Young Miss of the Lin Palace was acting on the same side as Lei Chen, which greatly vexed the Emperor himself.
"Shouldn't you be already on your way to find out for me just what kind of relations the Crown Prince has with Jun Wu Xie! ? See whether they have made any private deals between themselves! ?"
"Yes! Your subordinate shall work on it immediately!"
The Emperor then said: "Wait!"
"What else can I do for Your Majesty?"
The Emperor's eyes narrowed and they suddenly flashed with a vicious glint.
"Go help me get rid of another person."
"Who?"
"Imperial Physician Li."
The black robed man was surprised. Imperial Physician Li was the physician who served at the Emperor's side under his direct command. Within the entire Yan Country, his medical skills were considered to be top notch, and Imperial Physician Li always had the trust of the Emperor.
But now, the Emperor wanted to kill Imperial Physician Li!
"The people from the Thousand Beast City are already suspicious of the circumstances surrounding Qu Ling Yue's injuries and I cannot allow them to hear any definitive testimonies from Imperial Physician Li. Imperial Physician Li might be completely loyal but under the Heavens, only a dead person can keep a secret safe." The Emperor said in a low voice.
"Go get it done, and do not leave any traces again."
"Your subordinate understands!" The black robed man nodded and immediately retreated out of the Imperial Study.
Sitting alone in the Imperial Study, the Emperor gave a heavy sigh. He had somehow felt, after about half of the Spirit Battle Tournament had completed, the atmosphere within the Yan Country's Imperial Capital had felt uncomfortable, like there was something hidden that was disrupting all his laid out plans.
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Back at the Immortals' Loft, Jun Wu Xie had finally been released from prison and Qiao Chu with the others had dragged her to join them for some nonsensical merriment. By the time she got back to her room, it was already late into the night and she was just about to rest when she suddenly received the news Ye Sha had gotten from within the Palace.
"Oh? The Yan Country's Emperor really said that?" Jun Wu Xie asked, her legs overlapped with her elbow on top and her chin resting within her palm. As she was feeling rather sleepy then, her eyes felt that little bit less cold but tinged with a sense of laziness and exhaustion.
"Yes! Does Young Miss want your subordinate to go save Imperial Physician Li?" Ye Sha asked.
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Chapter 880 : Panicked (3)
"Save him? Why?" Jun Wu Xie asked, her eyebrow lifted up.
"Aren't the people from the Thousand Beast City going to interrogate those physicians to gather information from them?" Ya Sha asked, slightly puzzled.
Jun Wu Xie instead waved her hand lazily and said: "If the Emperor wants to seek his own death, why should I try to stop him. Just let him be."
Ye Sha was even more confused.
Jun Wu Xie said patiently: "Even if the people from the Thousand Beast City find out the truth, they will only keep the hatred in their hearts. Their Chieftain should be a smart enough man to not want to have a falling out with the biggest and mightiest country. Moreover, Qu Ling Yue was not really harmed in this incident and they wouldn't carry things too far. Whether they kill Imperial Physician Li would not make much of a difference as the Yan Country's Emperor way of dealing with it is merely burying his head in the sand and by killing Imperial Physician Li, it would be as good as having Imperial Physician Li tell them the truth. Even if Xiong Ba does not get it, when he goes back and reports it to their Chieftain, their Chieftain would realise who was behind the whole thing anyway."
With Jun Wu Xie explaining it all to him, Ye Sha immediately understood Jun Wu Xie's intentions.
"The Yan Country's Emperor wants to win the favour of the Thousand Beast City and all the more I will thwart his wishes. Since he dislikes Lei Chen, I will hand the gratitude from the Thousand Beast City over to Lei Chen." Jun Wu Xie's lips was curled up in a chilling smile. Anyone who schemed against her must always weigh themselves to see if they possess the capability.
"Our Young Miss' ploy is indeed flawless!" Ye Sha was once again impressed by Jun Wu Xie's shrewd mind. Even in a foreign country where everything was unfamiliar, she was still able to use everything she had at her disposal to turn the tables!
"You're dismissed." Jun Wu Xie was feeling rather tired and she needed a good rest.
Ye Sha immediately retreated from the room.
Early the next morning, at the inn that the War Banner Academy occupied, a murder was discovered. The victim was Imperial Physician Li who had always served under the Emperor directly. The magistrate of the Yan Country's Imperial Capital had sent the constabulary to investigate the matter. It was said that Imperial Physician Li had died an aggrieved death and he had been brutally killed. The entire scene was filled with blood splatters all over the place.
Towards Imperial Physician Li's sudden death, Xiong Ba was rather unhappy about it but was helpless against the fact. After that happened, Xiong Ba quickly just asked the rest of the physicians some perfunctory questions and immediately released them even though he had not been able to draw any conclusions from all their testimonies.
It was only one day away from the matches to determine the positions for the top ten ranked in the Spirit Battle Tournament. Because of the incident between Jun Xie and Qu Ling Yue in their district final match, both of them had lost their rights to advance into the top ten ranked. But after Qu Ling Yue regained consciousness, Jun Xie had immediately been cleared of the crime and the two opponents were supposed to have another match but Qu Ling Yue had quickly declared her forfeiture.
Towards Qu Ling Yue's forfeiture, the people did not have have to say about it as those youths who had witnessed with their own eyes the situation on the day Jun Xie and Qu Ling Yue had stood facing each other on that day knew clearly in their hearts that even if the rematch had happened, the winner would undoubtedly be Jun Xie.
Without being branded as one who maimed his opponent, Jun Xie's reputation improved tremendously. All those who had hated him for striking at Qu Ling Yue so viciously had after knowing the truth behind the matter, turned around to feel sorry for Jun Xie, lamenting the fact that he had been thrown behind bars for days for nothing, and had narrowly missed being able to contend for a position in the Spirit Battle Tournament's top ten ranks!
The part of the entire Spirit Battle Tournament that attracted the most attention of all had begun and this year's top ten ranked contest was instead of it being a fight for the prize among many opponents as always, it was instead like a solo performance by the Zephyr Academy.
The Zephyr Academy had a total of six participants in the tournament this year and among the top ten ranks, six of the contestants were all from the Zephyr Academy. It could be said that the tournament this year was a grand slam for the Zephyr Academy! The public opinion swung one only one way, completely pushing out the once equally famous War Banner Academy and the Dragon Slayers Academy from the competition.
Quickly becoming the ubiquitous dark horse that everyone spoke about.