Shi Muwǎn pursed her lips. She wasn't quite sure yet.
"Bring it here first," she said.
"Yes," Xiao Xiao replied. She didn't dare to delay and quickly went to rummage through things. Meanwhile, Shi Muwǎn told the others to guard the yard strictly. Not even a fly was allowed to get in.
After making all these arrangements and seeing that every yard was on high alert, she closed the door.
Looking at the letter and portrait brought by Xiao Xiao, the figure of the maid from today appeared in her mind.
To be exact, it was the portrait of that maid.
Xiao Xiao stared at the portrait. After a while, she seemed to understand something and her eyes widened in surprise.
"Your Majesty, isn't this the maid from today?"
Shi Muwǎn's expression turned solemn. She nodded and said, "Go and get the paper and brush immediately. I need to write a letter to the Emperor."
"Yes."
They knew the gravity of the situation. All these were done quietly without alerting anyone.
After the letter was sent out, Shi Muwǎn walked into the yard and warned everyone, "You've all been by my side for many years. There might be major events happening soon. Be careful when you do things. Don't make any mistakes. Otherwise, don't blame me for being merciless."
After seeing everyone in the yard disperse, she returned to her room and summoned Fan Zhen.
"Go and call more people. Guard this place well in the coming days."
"Sure, but Your Majesty, why are you suddenly so vigilant against a little maid?"
He had been observing from the shadows and had always felt something was off.
Shi Muwǎn rolled her eyes helplessly and took out the envelope the young Emperor had given her.
"Read this and you'll understand."
After Fan Zhen finished reading the contents of the envelope, he was completely stunned.
"The Western Regions have sinister intentions. They've captured so many court officials. I'm sure this has something to do with that envoy. He couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere. He might not have come for the glass beads either."
His words woke Shi Muwǎn up. Her face turned gloomy after hearing what he said.
He was right. Back then, the Western Regions had almost been annihilated. If their previous king hadn't surrendered in time, the Western Regions might have ceased to exist.
The disaster of near - annihilation was like a catastrophe for the whole clan. There probably wasn't anyone in the world who could bear such humiliation, let alone truly offer their most precious things.
All in all, there must be something wrong with the Western Regions.
After thinking for a while, Shi Muwǎn said with a solemn face, "Send the speculation of Lord Fan to the Emperor as well. Tell the Emperor to be extremely careful. We still don't know what the Western Regions are planning."
Aunt Xiao nodded. She rarely looked at someone with new respect.
After finishing all these, she just quietly waited for the news. If there really was something wrong with the Western Regions, they would surely make a move.
However, Shi Muwǎn wasn't the only one who noticed something was off about those two people.
Cui Qizhou frowned. Looking at the leader of the shadow guards not far from him, he asked, "Why hasn't the man I sent back yet? Normally, he would come to report to me every day. It's been so long and there's still no news. What's going on?"
The leader didn't know what had happened either. He had tried almost all the ways to contact the shadow guard, but he just couldn't find out where the sent shadow guard was. It was as if the man had vanished into thin air.
The deputy leader looked at his master and couldn't help but say, "Master, that shadow guard is always fond of playing. No matter how we train him, he's still like a child. Maybe he's just gone somewhere to play these days and forgot about your task. Don't be too worried, Master."
Hearing this, Cui Qizhou's face turned even darker.
"Do you still remember that I gave him a very important task this time? Can we just brush it off with the excuse of him being fond of playing? There might be some activities in the Western Regions that just haven't been reported. The timing of the envoy's appearance is too coincidental."
The deputy leader lowered his head and couldn't find a word to refute for a long time.
Indeed, no matter how fond of playing someone was, no one had ever dared to slack off on the tasks given by the master.
Just when the three of them were puzzled, a shadow guard stumbled in from outside. It seemed that he was seriously injured.
"Master, there must be something wrong with the people from the Western Regions. I went there to check today and met a maid. She seriously injured me. If I hadn't run fast, I might be a corpse by now."
After saying that, the shadow guard fell to the ground. There was still something in his hand. Cui Qizhou walked around the table and carefully examined what was in his hand. Then, the temperature around him dropped rapidly, almost freezing the others.
However, the man's attention wasn't on this.
The deputy leader also saw what it was and exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this the dagger the master gave us when we first entered the shadow guard camp? Each one has a unique mark. Is this the mark of that missing shadow guard?"
As he spoke, the deputy leader opened the secret compartment of the dagger. Sure enough, two familiar characters appeared in the compartment.
The leader gently stroked the characters with his finger and murmured, "We warned Luo Yu when he first took on the task. It seems that something really happened to him. He usually valued this dagger the master gave him more than his own life."
"I'll go and check it out myself. You continue to send people to search for his whereabouts."
"Yes, Master."
...
The man used his light - body skill and soon reached above Baotuo Temple.
Looking at the yard not far away, he slowly approached. But as soon as he got close, he sensed something was wrong. A strong gust of wind came from behind. He turned around and saw a big hole where he had just been standing. One could imagine what would have happened if he hadn't dodged in time.
His eyes were fixed on the suddenly - appeared maid. He always felt that the person in front of him was a bit familiar. Was she a well - known killer in the martial arts world he had met before?
No, he had fought against all the well - known killers in the martial arts world. The person in front of him, who appeared and disappeared without a trace, must have never fought against him.
It's better to avoid trouble. He thought that this must be a rising star in the martial arts world who had been bribed to protect someone here, so he proposed to bribe her with money.
"I presume you're the maid who's always been by the side of the Western Regions' envoy recently. I've heard that you're quite skilled."
Lin Sun snorted. Even when facing the most difficult man in the Great Liang, she didn't take a single step back.
Indeed, in the legends, this national teacher was unfathomable, both good at literature and martial arts. But to her, those were just empty reputations. It must be because he hadn't met her that such a man had received such high praise.
Yes, that's right. So when this man appeared just now, without receiving Lan Xi's order, she rushed out directly, wanting to compete with this man and clear the obstacles in front of Lan Xi.