Li Xuan didn’t give it much thought, after all, it was a ship sold by Wang’s boat company, and it had no connection to them anymore.
He directly marked the document handed over by Yue Qianqian: "This ship obviously has problems; we’ll go take a look at it later!"
Then, Li Xuan hesitated and glanced at Yue Qianqian as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself.
Yue Qianqian surprisingly avoided Li Xuan’s gaze, seeming somewhat shy: "It’s a clue I found myself. If we can’t bring up your Guardian Spirit, Lord Youjiao, it would indeed be hard to explain where this clue came from. But I sorted out some things after thoroughly examining the archive records last night. If they question us, I might be able to explain it reluctantly. However, I may have to appropriate some of your merit, Lord Youjiao."
Li Xuan inexplicably remembered the dream he had last night and the bold yet charming Yue Qianqian on display in it. He couldn’t help swallowing, noticing how alluring Yue Qianqian’s swan-like slender neck looked, especially tempting with its excess whiteness.
What if what Qianqian said to him in the dream was real?
Li Xuan hurriedly shook his head, interrupting his own thoughts: "What are you talking about, Qianqian? I should say that you’re taking on a huge responsibility for me, what does this little merit count for? On the contrary, I feel somewhat guilty. Even though you were gravely wounded yesterday, I’m making you work on this case."
He cared so much about the ship and weapons in Shopkeeper Han’s memory because he suspected that the mastermind behind this arms dealing case could very well be related to the woman in red.
Just then, Luo Yan walked in with a gloomy look: "Lord Youjiao Li, Princess Changle sent someone to deliver a message last night, asking you to visit the palace as soon as possible. Most of the stolen treasures have been recovered, including the item that belonged to the princess. She wants to thank you in person."
Li Xuan immediately became excited, thinking about the item the princess promised him. But he still shook his head and said: "Let’s deal with the princess’s matter later, Qianqian found some clues that could be related to the theft from the imperial treasury. It may also involve the arms dealing case that the court is currently investigating."
Then he looked at Luo Yan curiously: "Why does your face look so pale, Luo? Have you been offended by someone, or does someone owe you money?"
"Forget it." Luo Yan still had a gloomy face: "I had a very strange dream last night. I dreamt about someone who shouldn’t have appeared. It was really weird."
"Was it a spring dream?" asked Zhang Yue, with a mischievous smile.
Luo Yan glared at him coldly, then smiled bitterly: "I thought so at first, but the person in my dream just didn’t cut it."
"Well, I guess that’s your problem, Lord Youjiao Luo." Peng Fulai chuckled: "You actually dreamt about a stone woman; I think the one with the problem is you."
Ever since the battle at Huanglin Temple, he felt a kind of kinship with Luo Yan. After all, they were brothers who had fought shoulder to shoulder, so he didn’t hesitate to joke around.
Somewhere along the dialogue, Yue Qianqian blushed, and Li Xuan’s expression became somewhat odd.
He cleared his throat after a moment of trance: "Make sure you all bring your weapons this time, there might be a big fight. Qianqian, please inform Xiaowei Jiang about this ship. We’ll go there first, and if anything feels wrong and we need to take action, we hope that Xiaowei can come to help as soon as possible."
Li Xuan thought that since these weapons were related to Shopkeeper Han and the people behind him, they can’t be underestimated or careless.
The narrow escape at Huanglin Temple before was a lesson learned.
Luckily, Dasheng Pass was not far from Nanjing, just dozens of miles away, a completely different situation than Yangzhou.
※※※※
Unexpectedly, when they found the ’ghost ship’ in the reeds not far from Dasheng Pass on a ship of the Liudao Division, Li Xuan found not only no people but not even a single ghost on the ship.
"Are you sure there’s nobody on the ship?"
Luo Yan, who was travelling with him, looked at Li Xuan skeptically. But then he saw Li Xuan pointing towards his forehead.
His pupils contracted immediately, noticing a peculiar spirit energy contained in Li Xuan’s forehead.
This was what Taoism called ’Heavenly Eye’ and what Buddhism referred to as ’Heavenly Eyes’. Though he didn’t know what type it was, in this place, Li Xuan was clearly the best at observing the Gate of Fa, even surpassing Yue Qianqian’s Flying Crane Technique.
"Let’s go in!"
He leaped from the deck and crossed the ten-foot water surface, landed on the ’ghost ship’. Li Xuan arrived on the deck almost simultaneously with a flash of thunderbolt.
Luo Yan was somewhat surprised and gave Li Xuan an oblique glance: "Have you broken through to the Second Gate, the Fourth-Floor Territory?"
"I broke through it last night."
Talking about this, Li Xuan was quite proud: "It took me just over a month."
Luo Yan seemed like he wanted to say something but then shook his head: "As long as you’re happy."
Ordinary people would have an energy leakage after breaking through, but Li Xuan was exceptional, his Zhenyuan was thick and collected, unlike someone who had just broken through.
After they opened the cabin door and found it indeed empty of people, they found various weapons piled up in several large chambers.
Li Xuan took a look around and his countenance slightly altered. He pulled out a long sword from the weapon rack and examined it carefully: "This is a seal from the Bingzhang Institute, made in July of the Jingtai second year; it’s the batch that was substituted with inferior ones and sold when the military depot of Dasheng Pass was robbed. Old Peng, Taishan, you guys keep watch on the deck. Qianqian, let’s first examine the scene, and see if we can find any other clues on the ship. Also, send a message to Xiaowei Jiang, alert him about the situation. We can’t handle it alone."
In the Jin Dynasty, all military equipment was crafted by two institutions: the Bingzhang Institute of the Imperial Household Department, and the Armament Bureau of the Ministry of Works.
The weapons that were stolen and sold from the Dasheng Pass arsenal were crafted by the Bingzhang Institute in July of the Jingtai second year.
Li Xuan wasn’t standing idle either. He walked around the larger cabins on the boat, then furrowed his brow.
This was indeed one of the four old boats sold by Wang’s boat company, but the cabins on board were not the same as he had seen in Shopkeeper Han’s memory.
Not only were the dimensions wrong, but the location of the characters "Wang’s boat" was also incorrect.
As Li Xuan stared at the ’X’ sign hit on the word ’Wang Ji’ on the wall, his eyebrows knitted together. Meanwhile, Yue Qianqian, who was searching the cabin in the distance, suddenly changed her expression.
"Master Youjiao, come and see here. Something’s not right," she said.
Li Xuan hurried over at her words and squatted down next to Yue Qianqian. At that moment, he was shocked to realize that Yue Qianqian had used a whispering spell just now.
"What’s the matter?" he asked.
His words had just fallen when his expression underwent a slight change.
Now, under the board lifted by Yue Qianqian, there was indeed about a thousand taels of silver bar on display.
The key point was the words ’Chengyi’ were clearly marked on those silver taels shaped like gold ingots.
Li Xuan’s heart tightened suddenly, as if it had been grasped forcefully; his face was as cold as ice.
In ancient times, wealthy families would melt down the scattered patterned silver into ingots for easy storage. And because of the size of the Earl Chengyi’s estate, they even had a dedicated workshop for melting and casting gold and silver.
The words ’Chengyi’ on these ingots, and the unique water patterns around the two characters, were exclusive trademarks of the Earl Chengyi’s mansion.
Besides, there were also five long knives next to them, all of which had the word ’Chengyi’ clearly marked on the handles. Two pieces of iron armor also had the word ’Chengyi’ on them.
These should be the weapons and armor specifically equipped for the guards by the Earl Chengyi’s mansion.
He took a deeply breath and then asked Yue Qianqian, "Qianqian, are you willing to trust me?"
"I trust!" Yue Qianqian did not hesitate at all, she twirled her hair, "It’s clear, this is an obvious act of framing. Those people wouldn’t just leave the ship and weapons here. Why would they not take the silver away? Especially with such obvious markings."
A wave of relief washed over Li Xuan, "Qianqian, do you have a way to pack them up?"
Without hesitation, Yue Qianqian took out a cloth bag, put the silver and weapons into it, then took out a ’Sumeru seal’, and stuck it on the bag, shrinking it to the size of a fingernail.
"If there are more on the ship, just remove the ’Sumeru seal’ and it will do. But its capacity is only about 3500 kilograms. Also--"
Yue Qianqian looked at Li Xuan with her expressive eyes, "Master Youjiao, you now owe me thirty thousand taels. Including the previous time, a total of ninety thousand taels."
"Why is it ninety thousand? Wasn’t it thirty thousand last time--"
Before Li Xuan could finish his sentence, he saw Yue Qianqian pointing behind him.
Li Xuan suddenly realized, thinking to himself that it was no wonder that the red-dressed female ghost was able to collect the cauldron lid at Huanglin Temple yesterday.
A twitch flashed across his face as he thought to himself that the debt owed to Yue Qianqian was growing, not just money, but also favors.
But this girl, she does have a lot of money--
"Understood, thank you!"
After receiving the bag, Li Xuan hurriedly walked into the other cabins.
He then proceeded to thoroughly search each inch of the space, using his Tao-protecting Eyes without sparing his Yuan Qi.
He found seven hidden compartments buried under the decks throughout the various cabins. All of them contained gold ingots privately minted by the Earl of Chengyi, as well as weapons and armor. The quantities varied from large to small.
And as Li Xuan walked into the last cabin at the stern of the ship, he was taken aback for a moment.
He saw Luo Yan standing there, looking out of the window with his hands behind his back.
Li Xuan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, unsure how to proceed. Then he heard Luo Yan say in a low voice, "It’s under the seventh floorboard. I know, it’s a frame-up. Master Youjiao, you’d better hurry—"
Pointing towards the outside of the ship, Luo Yan continued, "Someone is coming over there, the ship’s bow is flying the official flag of the Inspectorate and the deputy Zuodu Yushi."
Li Xuan felt a slight chill run down his spine. He walked over to the place Luo Yan was hinting at and lifted the wooden board. As expected, he found around twenty gold ingots worth about two hundred taels of patterned silver. There were no armors here, only three long knives.
But by the time he put these items into the bag, the ship began to sway.
From outside came the forceful roar of Zhang Yue, "The Liudao Division is handling a case here! All irrelevant persons, get out!"
At the same time, hurried but heavy footsteps sounded on the deck above.