Chu Shaoqiang finished writing a letter and put it into an envelope.
Before sealing the envelope, Chu Shaoqiang took out the letter again and carefully checked every word and phrase.
Five days had passed since the incident with Scholar Guo and Tian Dasong, and it was time to give an explanation to the Inner State.
These two had been brought by Chu Shaoqiang to Qiu Luoye’s territory, hoping to earn merits and ascend to Above the Clouds, but unexpectedly, they lost their lives.
Over the past few days, Chu Shaoqiang had been pondering how to extricate himself from any blame, but even now, he hadn’t found a suitable reason.
Chu Shaoqiang was revising the letter when a man with big eyes, a long face, and a pair of wings on his back, resembling a bat, appeared before him.
Chu Shaoqiang knew someone had arrived. This bat-like man was Wang Fuqi, his exclusive messenger for communicating with the Inner State.
"You can go back and rest first. Once the letter is ready, I’ll call for you."
Wang Fuqi bowed and said, "Lord Chu, I’m here to bring you a message. The three lords in charge of the Contract Book have met with disaster."
Chu Shaoqiang wasn’t overly concerned. Although the caretakers of the Contract Book were high-status Inner State People, the matter didn’t really concern him.
But if it didn’t concern him, why had Wang Fuqi made a special trip to bring the news?
"Has Qiu Luoye’s Contract Book been stolen?" For Chu Shaoqiang, that was a critical bargaining chip against Qiu Luoye.
Wang Fuqi shook his head. "The Contract Book wasn’t stolen, but it was destroyed."
"Who did it?" Chu Shaoqiang found it hard to believe. "If the Contract Book is destroyed, the Curse Technique should activate automatically, and Qiu Luoye would surely die. He wouldn’t be seeking death himself, would he?"
Wang Fuqi said, "We still don’t know Qiu Luoye’s situation. Last night, Lord Fan was the first to notice something wrong with Qiu Luoye’s Contract Book. When he touched it, his body suddenly caught fire, and the flames quickly spread all over him. Lord Lu rushed to save Lord Fan, but the flames then enveloped him as well, and both were burned to ash. The remaining lords fled, but Lord Zhong was a bit slow. A spark landed on him, and he too was burned to ash."
Chu Shaoqiang found this hard to believe. He speculated about the cause and effect, asking, "Was someone tampering with things in the Inner State? Or did someone in Puluo State meddle with another piece of the Contract Book, transmitting the method to the Contract Book in the Inner State?"
Wang Fuqi said in a low voice, "Lord Chu, you’ve seen the Inner State’s scriptorium yourself. Not even a fly can usually get in. Who could tamper with it there?"
Chu Shaoqiang laughed lightly. "Fuqi, that’s because you know too little about some things. Incidents have already occurred in the scriptorium, and not long ago at that. I think this matter needs to be investigated starting from the Inner State. I don’t believe it was done by someone from Puluo State. If someone could send such a powerful Technique from Puluo State into the Inner State through the Contract Book, how capable must that person be?"
Wang Fuqi murmured, "Lord Chu, let’s not concern ourselves with that person’s capabilities right now. I’m here to tell you that the Imperial Censorate is blaming this incident on you."
"Blaming me?" Chu Shaoqiang was stunned. "On what grounds?"
"The Imperial Censorate claims it’s due to your incompetence, which led Qiu Luoye to take desperate measures. The charge has already been pinned on you. You’d better think about how you’re going to explain this when you return."
Chu Shaoqiang shook his head. "I can’t return, and there’s no way to explain."
Wang Fuqi was taken aback. "Lord Chu, I just came to pass on a message. If you have other ideas, I really don’t know."
As he spoke, Wang Fuqi made to leave, but Chu Shaoqiang stopped him.
"You don’t understand anything, boy. If I return now, I won’t be able to clear things up at all and will just be waiting for punishment. I might even lose my life."
"So what does Lord Chu intend to do?"
"What do those above want? They want land, the Proper Land! We need to take it back!"
Wang Fuqi nodded. "I’ll go take a look at Qiu Luoye’s territory and see what the current situation is."
"Still going after Qiu Luoye?" Chu Shaoqiang sighed. "There are three thousand Three-Headed Monsters there. How many people would we need to bring to occupy that land? We’d better look elsewhere."
Wang Fuqi said, "But if Qiu Luoye is dead, we should be able to claim it easily."
Chu Shaoqiang shook his head.
「...」
Qiu Luoye, wrapped all over in bandages, was munching on a pumpkin. After finishing one, he promptly picked up another and continued eating.
Ma Wu didn’t quite understand. "Brother Qiu, since when did you start liking vegetables?"
Before Qiu Luoye could answer, Stone chimed in from the side, "Master Qiu has always liked vegetables. Eating meat with you all was just an act. He’s a Big Elephant; he thrives on vegetables..."
BANG!
Old Hu kicked Stone.
Not because of the vegetarian matter, but because of the Big Elephant thing.
Old Hu said angrily, "Seventh Master said that from now on, no one is allowed to call Master Qiu ’Big Elephant’ again! How could you forget so quickly?"
Even though the Contract Book had been destroyed, Li Banfeng no longer wanted Qiu Luoye to be associated with ’Qiu Daxiang.’ Therefore, he forbade anyone from bringing up the nickname ’Big Elephant.’
Qiu Luoye had retrieved his status and stabilized his cultivation level, but how much combat power he had recovered remained unknown.
Qiu Luoye himself was uncertain. All he could do was eat voraciously.
"Pumpkin rinds are good stuff! Eat rinds to grow skin!" Qiu Luoye ate another pumpkin and wiped his mouth. "Where’s Old Qi? I haven’t seen him all day."