In Ying State, it was steep and full of dark shadows of trees in Huoling Valley.

A person in a black coat stood upright on the edge of the cliff, looking at the sky.

There was a large and clear moon over his head.

An owl flew back, fluttering its wings around. When the person in a black coat reached his right arm, the owl dived and dropped on his arm.

On the owl's leg, a note was tied. It read some words, saying the assassination had succeeded.

When the person in a black coat read it, his purple lips that were exposed under the cloak cunningly raised.

Then he waved his hands, smashing the note into pieces.

―

After the rain, the woods were bloody and in chaos.

A seriously wounded warrior of Ying State struggled to raise his hand and point at Gu Di.

"Murderer... You can't..."

Before the man finished saying the words, he had been dead.

Gu Di couldn't make an explanation for himself, so he became very anxious. Widening his eyes and gnashing the teeth, he violently inserted the blade into the drenched and soft earth.

Behind him, Captain Zhu of Honour Guards nervously said to himself.

"Oh, who did that? Could it be that there are bandits in Ying State?"

"The left people of the envoys of Ying State were assaulted. Have the 50 members of Honour Guards done it?"

Silently, the terrifying idea occurred to Gu Di quickly.

He clearly knew it must be a hard way to go to Ying State. Besides, the 50 members of Honour Guards dispatched by Huanan Xin were all acute and fierce. So they were not guards in the Palace, but Imperial Guards from the Court of Patrol of North Town.

Gu Di had thought it might be the 50 people that assaulted them in the woods.

After all, if the envoys of Ying State were attacked on the way of coming back to Ying State, the Ninth Prince must be blamed.

Once people of Ying State attacked him, Huanan Xin could successfully kill his terrific Ninth Uncle by means of people of Ying State.

But then Gu Di himself denied the conclusion.

Huanan Xin was cunning but he was not silly.

The thing was related to Da Yi's dignity, so it was not sensible to attack people of Ying State on their land.

If they couldn't make it perfectly, the thing could easily be the beginning of the conflict. Da Yi and Ying State had been more and more conflicted with each other for the sovereignty of Kunhuang Island and the cases of envoys of Ying State being murdered. And the situation would deteriorate if they couldn’t make it.

Huanan Xin hated his Ninth Uncle indeed, but he would never start a war just to kill him.

So who else did this?

Could it be people of Ying State?

Gu Di squinted his eyes and pondered.

So, the idea didn't completely make no sense.

People of Ying State were violent and greedy. In their mind, they completely thought in order to achieve a goal, abandoning their compatriots was reasonable.

In Da Yi, in order to win the competition and gain Gu Yunxi's The Exquisite Collection of Delicacies, they directly killed Sakata Aki.

So, it must be people of Ying State that distracted their opponents by the scheme and killed their envoys.

Thinking so, Gu Di's mind became clear.

He held a sword, turning around and saying to his members.

"Immediately pack up and start off. We leave this eventful place. You bury the dead warriors of Ying State here and help the seriously wounded people bind up. Put Mrs. Yuancang and the interpreter’s corpses in the sedan and take it. When we arrive in Jingdu, you give it to their Emperor."

Gu Di saw his members all answering and doing tasks one after another.

Then he shifted his eyes acutely, instantly looking at Captain Zhu who was quietly watching him.

Captain Zhu slightly lowered his head, staring at calm Gu Di with his eyes. While Captain Zhu was watching and thinking, Gu Di suddenly looked at him with his dark eyes.

Being a little embarrassed, Captain Zhu smiled and raised a fist salute.

"Your Highness, it seems that you are very familiar with Ying State."

Gu Di became more serious in his eyes, being calm and steady.

"Ha-ha, I am not boasting. Just in terms of knowledge, except for His Majesty, no one can be better than me."

"Ha-ha, of course... Of course..."

Captain Zhu smiled and flattered.

Suddenly, Gu Di reached his hand, directly grasping his wrist.

"Your Highness, what are you doing...?"

Captain Zhu turned to look at Gu Di and appeared puzzled.

"Captain Zhu, you have seen what happened. At that time, we will confront with plenty of trouble in Ying State. Now that you know my ability, I just give you a suggestion."

Captain Zhu was stunned.

"Your Highness, you really make me nervous. You are the master, so my members and I should always be obedient to you."

Gu Di happily nodded, and then he calmly smiled and coldly ordered.

"I don't mind what task His Majesty had given to you, as now you and I have got to confront with the same difficulty. We are in other people's territory, so you and your members must obey my orders."

"If I suffer any loss, you and your members will never be safe and sound and leave there. Do you understand what you should do?"

Being stared at by Gu Di's indifferent eyes as sharp as the blade, Captain Zhu stood still and couldn't cover himself as his heart violently beat.

After taking in a gulp, he nervously smiled.

"Ha-ha, I don't understand what you mean, Your Highness. When we started off, His Majesty only ordered that we should try to protect you. So how could we do anything else? From now on, as long as you take an order, we will never disobey it."

"So good."

Gu Di let Captain Zhu go, waving the sword in the air and putting it in the sheath.

In the moonlight, Captain Zhu clearly saw the purple mark on his wrist. Being astonished and angry, he couldn't vent his anger and just ordered his members in a trembling voice.

"Be quick to do your tasks. Dig and bury!"

...

Jingdu was the political core in Ying State, so it was more prosperous than other cities.

In Gu Di's memory, the streets here were narrow and winding. But there were plenty of trees and flowers, and many square lofts were also tidy and delicate.

As soon as they came into Jingdu, Gu Di felt something abnormal.

As the core of policy and trade, at noon, the streets in Jingdu should be full of people walking and running. It should be noisy now.

But now except for empty streets, they could only see white pavements exposed in the hot sun in late autumn.

Gu Di had originally worried that if Ying Emperor didn't let people formally negotiate with them, just by means of their foreign garments, coffins, and sedan, they must be surrounded and looked at by many people of Ying State.

Within a quarter, they could jam the narrow street.

But now the abnormally quiet street also made Gu Di become confused.

Riding on a horse, he grasped the rein with one hand and held the sword tightly in his waist with the other. Then he seriously and coldly ordered.

"Attention! Watch out! Don't forget the thing last night."

After he finished saying words for a while, a member of Tianyan Faction in front of the group suddenly trembled his upright ears, saying in a lower voice.

"Your Highness, someone is going here. The number of them is not small."

Gu Di raised his narrow eyes and looked over, directly reaching his hand and gesturing.

"Stop."

The winding path seemed to be endless. Some single and depressing songs occurred in front of them.

Gu Di clearly heard that it was just a traditional song about the funeral in Ying State.

Then the glaring sunshine seemed to be suddenly split into a direct crack.

Hundreds of people in black garments held flags and stood in a tidy group, gradually getting close to them.

When they kept an adequate distance from them, they stopped and interrupted the song.

In front of Gu Di, a middle-aged man in a dark garment and straight trousers rode a white horse and looked at him. Gu Di immediately felt depressed.

Gu Di knew his identity, General Kamagawa, who was one of three officials dealing with political affairs. Kamagawa, Yuancang and Hemao cooperated with each other, controlling young and soft Ying Emperor together. Holding a dark manner of "controlling the Emperor and ordering other officials", they commanded the policy and trade of Ying State.

Just as his appearance, Kamagawa was ruthless and fierce.

He and Gu Di looked at each other for a while. Then Kamagawa directly raised his square and long face. As the fat in his mouth slightly moved, he ceaselessly rebuked.

"When did officials of Da Yi go to our country? Why did you spend such a long time in delivering the corpse of General Yuancang?"

"Our two key officials died of unknown reasons in your land. But you should not say sorry and make any compensation to us! You spend a long time delivering the coffins. Could it be that you deliberately let General Yuancang's corpse rot in the way?"

"Died of unknown reasons?"

Without the interpreter's translation, Gu Di could also understand Kamagawa's words. Besides, he could communicate with Kamagawa fluently in Ying language.

Hearing the ugly man complaining, Gu Di felt angry and indignantly rebuked.

"Emperor Renxian in our Da Yi has already sent a letter to your Ying Emperor and told the reason for General Yuancang and Mr. Sakata's death. If Ying Emperor didn't know, how could he reply with a letter and make a destined date of sending the coffins with Da Yi?"

"But you hadn't made any accommodations for us in Shuimen Port and greeted us. I didn't blame you for the impolite manner, but you should ignore General Yuancang's coffin and just question me!"

After Gu Di said the words, all people there were stunned.

General Kamagawa on behalf of Ying State seemed to be unable to speak and was stunned on the white horse, blankly looking at Gu Di and saying nothing.

As for people of Da Yi, Captain Zhu and other 50 Honour Guards were also astonished.

When should the Ninth Prince be able to understand the foreign language?

Besides, when could he speak Ying language so fluently and perfectly?

How confusing it was! It was so confusing!

The instant when Kamagawa was blank, he realized his inelegant manner. He hustled to cover his astonishment and turned to be proud, saying in an extremely disdainful voice.

"And who are you?"

Gu Di indifferently smiled.

"I am Emperor Chengxi's ninth son in Da Yi, Emperor Renxian's Ninth Uncle, Huanan He. My courtesy name is Yanzhi."

In front of Gu Di, Kamagawa's expression changed. He stared at Gu Di for a while, perfunctorily raised a fist salute to express the etiquette.

Gu Di glanced at him and became cold in his eyes.

"General, please take your officials' coffins away. I have finished my task, so I just leave now."

"Wait!"

Kamagawa gloomily raised his lips and swung his hand.

"Several days ago, your Emperor did send us a letter. It read that because of the failure in the cook competition, General Yuancang killed Sakata Aki. As a result, he was killed by Mrs. Yuancang. The excuse is so ridiculous!"

"Anyhow, our people died in your country. You are strong so that you can casually illustrate the thing. But now I must ask Mrs. Yuancang and judge whether your Emperor has told a lie or not."

"Ridiculous! Our Emperor of Da Yi is the incarnation of Dragon God, so he will never tell a lie. How could you casually slander him!"

Although Gu Di hated Huanan Xin, he also pretended to safeguard him in front of people of Ying State.

Despite Gu Di's anger, Kamagawa shouted.

"Mrs. Yuancang, please get off the sedan. You can directly say whether you are threatened or not and express your indignation. I will help you."

Gu Di immediately felt anxious and rebuked.

"You are hypocritical! Last night, you killed her, but now you should pretend to care about her! Hypocrite!"

"What? Who killed her?"

As Kamagawa's face turned to be pale, he directly got off the horse. Walking in front of the first sedan, he lifted the wooden door.

"Ah!"

After screaming, the tall middle-aged man took several steps backward. He was astonished and looked at the still and cold corpse, fiercely frowning.

After a while, he raised his hand and pointed at the sedan, shouting to Gu Di.

"Your Highness, what happened? Unless you give me a reasonable excuse, you can't be alive and leave Jingdu!"