Chapter 201 A lot of doubts
In the dead of night, a figure walked hurriedly through the house and courtyard in the Prince Xian's mansion, heading towards the inner courtyard in a hurry.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

In the silence, someone suddenly knocked on Luo Tianjin's door.

After a while, accompanied by a rustling sound, an unhappy question came quietly from the room: "Who?"

"Master, I am Xie Xuan!" Outside the door, Xie Xuan hurriedly responded in a low voice.

"squeak!"

Before he finished speaking, the door opened. Luo Tianjin, wearing a cloak, looked at Xie Xuan gloomily, but when he saw Xie Xuan's solemn expression, a hint of suspicion flashed in his eyes and asked, "What happened?"

"Palace Master, I just received a message saying..." Xie Xuan hesitated and glanced into the room with an embarrassed look on his face.

Luo Tianjin understood, stepped out of the room, and gently closed the door, urging: "What did you say?"

Xie Xuan straightened his expression, stepped forward, and whispered back: "Chagan and his group were ambushed in Lingqiu Mountain Stream, and all died tragically!"

"what?"

Luo Tianjin was shocked. He wanted to ask what was going on, but before he could say anything, he subconsciously looked back at the room. At this moment, Ling Xiaoxiao was still sleeping soundly. Luo Tianjin dragged Xie Xuan and quickly walked into the courtyard, asking in a hushing voice, "Is the news reliable?"

"It should be reliable!" Xie Xuan pondered, "A passing merchant found their bodies on the plank road, and the local government was alerted last night. The clothes, the carriages and the number of people all match, so I think the news is true. I have just sent someone to Lingqiu Mountain Stream to investigate, and they should be back before noon."

The night wind was blowing gently, and the sky was as dark as ink, and it was chilly. Hearing such news, Luo Tianjin felt a chill on his back. He frowned, thought for a moment, and whispered: "Since the matter has alarmed the government, it must be impossible to conceal it. I believe that tomorrow morning, this news will spread to the world and the whole city will be in turmoil. Chagan and his men came for me, and now they died on the way back. The Mongols will definitely blame us for this."

"That's right." Xie Xuan nodded quickly, "I know very well that this matter is of great importance and cannot be delayed. That's why I came here late at night and disturbed the rest of the Palace Master."

Luo Tianjin waved his hand nonchalantly and asked, "Do you know who did this?"

"I don't know." Xie Xuan smiled bitterly, "The people who ambushed and killed them were obviously well prepared. They came and went like the wind and did not leave any clues."

Hearing this, Luo Tianjin couldn't help but sigh, then looked up at the night sky and asked, "What time is it now?"

"It's the fourth watch!" Xie Xuan said, "It will be dawn soon. We need to come up with a plan to deal with this matter as soon as possible."

"That's right!" Luo Tianjin walked towards the central hall without hesitation, saying as he walked, "First, call Jiang Yiwei, Deng Changchuan, and Murong Bai to discuss matters. Then order the three sect masters and sect leaders to come and wait for orders. Oh, and call Hongxuan as well!"

Luo Tianjin gave an order, and the Xianwang Mansion, which was originally immersed in sleep, suddenly became lively. The disciples who were delivering orders hurriedly ran around the mansion, and Xie Xuan accompanied Luo Tianjin straight to the central hall.

In less than a cup of tea, all the people had gathered in the hall, which was brightly lit as day.

Luo Tianjin looked solemn, the atmosphere in the hall was depressing, and everyone was looking at each other with suspicion.

Xie Xuan followed the order and told everyone what happened in Lingqiu Mountain. Everyone present was shocked and looked surprised.

"This is clearly an attempt to frame us. Who did this?" Su Tang said in a deep voice.

Jiang Yiwei frowned and guessed, "It seems that someone doesn't want us to make friends with the Mongolian court."

Luo Hongxuan pondered and said, "But Chagan and his group all died. They didn't deliberately leave any survivors in our name. It's obvious that they didn't want to cause trouble for us."

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a commotion in the hall, with everyone talking and making their own guesses.

Luo Tianjin looked at everyone with a gloomy look. Suddenly, he found that the seat after Di Mo, Ling Qing, and Chen Yong was empty. Liu Xunyi, who was supposed to be sitting there, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Liu Xunyi?" Luo Tianjin asked, "Didn't I order the three sects' fan holders and sect masters to come? Why can't I see Liu Xunyi?"

With a shout, the hall fell into silence instantly.

"My father showed some mercy to Sect Master Liu before, granting him a pardon and exempting him from any missions until he recovered from his injury." Luo Hongxuan hesitated, "Maybe because of this, no one notified him..."

"No!" Di Mo suddenly stood up and bowed to Luo Tianjin, "I just sent someone to call Liu Xunyi, but... I didn't find him."

"What do you mean?" Xie Xuan frowned and asked thoughtfully, "What do you mean we didn't find him? Where did he go?"

Di Mo replied truthfully: "I don't know! He is not in his room, even the bedding is tidy, obviously he did not come back last night."

"You didn't come home last night?" Di Mo's words made the hall lively again.

Luo Tianjin looked at Xie Xuan gloomily, and both of them had a look of suspicion on their faces. Obviously, they had thought of the same thing.

"I remember that the day before yesterday, Liu Xunyi confronted Chagan in public, and even used rude words and insulted him." Xie Xuan said in a bad tone, "In the Xianwang Mansion, he was the one who was most opposed to us making friends with the Mongols. Now that group of Mongols were ambushed and killed in the Lingqiu mountain stream, and Liu Xunyi did not return all night, and his whereabouts are unknown. This matter is bound to..."

"That makes sense!" Murong Bai said calmly, "Killing people to silence them not only destroys our relationship with the Mongols, but also prevents them from leaving any solid evidence and letting the Mongols bring an army to bear on us. Thinking about it this way, it does seem like his way of doing things. It's just that..."

At this point, Murong Bai's eyes showed a hint of hesitation, and he said thoughtfully: "Liu Xunyi has always been loyal to the Palace Master and obeyed his orders. This time, not only did he disobey orders, but he also caused big trouble for the Xianwang Palace. Did he really do this?"

"Liu Xunyi's motive, timing, and martial arts skills all fit the bill." Jiang Yiwei analyzed, "I can't think of anyone else except him. If it was our enemy, he would have used our names to deliberately leave one or two alive to report back and kill us. Why would we have to root it out and kill us all?"

"Di Mo!" Luo Tianjin waved his hands impatiently, then straightened his expression, stared at the gloomy Di Mo with a sharp gaze, and said coldly, "Liu Xunyi is from your lower three sects, you have to give me an explanation for this matter!"

"Don't worry, Lord!" Di Mo's face flushed, and he immediately pleaded, "Even if Liu Xunyi runs to the ends of the earth, I will catch him back and hand him over to you for the final decision..." "I can't wait that long!" Luo Tianjin interrupted, "I will only give you two hours. No matter what method you use, you must find Liu Xunyi for me. I want him alive or dead!"

"Dad, how do you...plan to deal with Sect Leader Liu?" Luo Hongxuan asked with a worried look on his face.

"If it was really him who did it, then we will punish him according to the family rules and hand over his body to Chifengling for explanation!" Luo Tianjin said in a cold voice with a blank expression, "If it is confirmed that he didn't do it, we will think of other ways to solve this matter."

"Master, this is unfair! This was not done by the Sect Master!"

Suddenly, Xu Heng's urgent shouting came from outside the hall. Hearing this, Di Mo's eyes turned cold, and he flashed out of the hall in an instant. In the blink of an eye, he kicked Xu Heng into the hall and shouted angrily: "How dare you eavesdrop on the meeting in the hall? You are courting death!"

After saying that, Di Mo drew his sword without hesitation, wanting to kill Xu Heng on the spot, but was stopped by Luo Tianjin.

Luo Tianjin stared at Xu Heng suspiciously and asked, "How do you know it wasn't him?"

"First, the Sect Master's foot injury has not healed yet, and he still needs to use crutches to go out and come in daily, so he can't go to Lingqiu Mountain Stream, which is a hundred miles away, to ambush and kill masters like Chagan and Bater." Xu Heng was nervous and trembling, and replied tremblingly, "Second, early yesterday morning, the Sect Master made an appointment with Sect Master Lin to go to Tianxiang Tower to drink together, and said that he would drink heavily and not return until he was drunk. So, not only is the Sect Master not back at the moment, I think Sect Master Lin... is also not in the mansion."

"Su Tang."

Luo Tianjin suddenly turned his gaze to Su Tang, who hurriedly ordered his men to go and investigate. A moment later, a disciple came to report that Lin Fangda was indeed not in the mansion.

"Why do they go out to drink so early in the morning?" Jiang Yiwei asked puzzledly.

"Because..." Xu Heng hesitated and explained hesitantly, "Because the mansion master wanted to accept the Mongolian court's offer of amnesty, this made the sect master very depressed. The night before yesterday, he had talked and drank with Sect Master Lin all night, but he still couldn't get enough, so yesterday morning, he went to Tianxiang Tower to continue drinking..."

"Is this true?" Luo Hongxuan asked in a serious tone.

"Every word is true!" Xu Heng promised solemnly.

"Di Mo." Xie Xuan ordered, "Go to Tianxiang Tower immediately and find out what happened. If they are here, bring them back. If not..."

"No need to say more, just go!" Luo Tianjin hurriedly interrupted Xie Xuan and urged him with a wave of his hand.

Di Mo did not dare to hesitate, and rode out of the house with Ling Qing, Chen Yong and others, heading straight for Tianxiang Tower.

……

At this moment, the sky was already getting light. When Di Mo and his companions dismounted, the door of Tianxiang Tower was still closed, as if it had not yet opened.

"Oh!"

With a loud bang, Chen Yong kicked the door open. Before the panicked waiter could wake up and come forward to greet him, Di Mo had already strode in with his men.

"Gentlemen, what are you doing..."

"Where are Liu Xunyi and Lin Fangda?" Two disciples stepped forward quickly and dragged the confused guy in front of Di Mo. Di Mo asked coldly, "Don't tell me you don't know!"

"Uncle Lin and Uncle Liu are... in the private room on the second floor..." Inside the counter, an old clerk pointed to the second floor tremblingly and pleaded in fear and trepidation, "He is new here and doesn't recognize anyone yet. I hope you gentlemen won't blame me..."

"When did they come?"

"Yesterday morning." The old friend did not dare to lie and answered quickly.

"You never left?"

"They didn't leave." The old man nodded confidently, "They drank more than a dozen bottles of wine yesterday. They were silent early in the morning. They must have been drunk..."

"No movement?" Di Mo's eyes moved, "Then how do you know they are still there?"

"This snoring has never stopped..."

Without waiting for the old friend to finish his words, Di Mo led his men to rush up to the second floor and arrived outside the door in a blink of an eye.

But when Di Mo was about to push open the door, he hesitated. Di Mo looked at the closed door with a complicated expression, and seemed to mutter to himself: "If Liu Xunyi is really not inside, then... it would be a pity..."

After saying that, under the nervous and complicated gazes of Chen Yong and Ling Qing, Di Mo's eyes suddenly became fierce, and then he pushed hard with both hands, and the door opened instantly.

Suddenly, a strong and pungent smell of alcohol hit them in the face, causing the three of them to frown.

Inside the side room, the table was filled with dishes in a mess, with jars of wine rolling around and scattered all over the place.

Lin Fang leaned back in the chair, his arms and legs spread out, snoring loudly.

As for Liu Xunyi, he was lying on the ground on his side, holding an empty wine jar, with his crutches as a pillow, sleeping soundly.

……

　June is coming to an end, and the raincoats are bloody. It is truly an unforgettable month. The road is long, but I hope that the old horse knows the way.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)