Chapter 573: Prince of Pingshan

The Renheng Restaurant was located just inside the inner city, so it wasn’t far from the government offices. Soon, Li Yiliang led a group of burly men up to the third floor.
These men’s clothing was merely passable, falling short of fine silk and brocade, which surprised the guests a bit when Li Yiliang personally greeted them. Of course, it was only mild surprise—no one suspected they were officials sent by the government to handle murder cases. They assumed they were all warriors. Though Li Yiliang was extremely wealthy, even he had to be polite in front of such skilled fighters.
When the officials entered the private room, the lead detective initially seemed indifferent. After receiving 1,000 taels of silver, he thought about where to have some fun. But when one of the officials examined the wound on the dead man’s neck under his hat and removed it, the detective’s eyes narrowed, his legs trembled suddenly, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.
“I am not worthy! I am not worthy! Detective Wang, please get up.” Li Yiliang, who was standing slightly ahead, was shocked. Thinking Detective Wang was kneeling before him, he quickly bent down to help him up.
“Your… Your Highness…”
Beneath the hat was a face full of authority. This face, Detective Wang had seen before. Years ago, when the Prince of Qingliu was ordered to investigate a major corruption case, Detective Wang, due to his skills in investigating murders, was temporarily called to join him. Though he didn’t contribute much and only saw the Prince of Qingliu from afar, it remained one of the proudest moments of his life.
And by the Prince of Qingliu’s side was this face—someone he could never get close to.
“Your Highness?” Li Yiliang shuddered, turning his head in disbelief. He stared at that imposing, paper-white face, his teeth trembling as he said, “Detective Wang, do you mean… the dead one is your Highness?”
“It’s the Prince of Pingshan! It’s the Prince of Pingshan!” Detective Wang screamed, trying to express his shock.
With another thud, Li Yiliang fell to his knees, trembling violently. He kept repeating, “It’s over… it’s over…” Anyone with sharp hearing could hear him saying those words over and over.
Anyone who heard them would agree with Li Yiliang’s words.
If someone else was killed in the Renheng Restaurant, it would only damage its reputation. But if a prince was assassinated there, even if the restaurant wasn’t involved, it would still be held accountable.

This responsibility, even if handled by a high-ranking official, would surely not be leniently dealt with. After all, it was a prince who died. If Renheng Restaurant was spared, it might arouse suspicions that the officials were corrupt and unjust.
Profiting from a prince’s death would be something even a high-ranking official could not bear.
Moreover, it was the Prince of Pingshan who died.
The Prince of Pingshan, the twelfth prince, was the most powerful among the princes, second only to the third prince. With the death of the Prince of Pingxi, mishandling the situation would undoubtedly lead to a catastrophic disaster.
“As expected!”
Lin Dong understood. He had naturally heard of who the Prince of Pingshan was. He also roughly figured out why Zi Han killed him.
Ling Chenyue, or perhaps the third prince behind him, was willing to spare no effort to cultivate Zi Han, undoubtedly using her to eliminate those princes who had the strength to compete for the throne at critical moments.
The process might be similar to this time: seizing some weakness of the Prince of Pingxi, then luring him out, using poison to disable the guards of Tianwei Pavilion, and killing him. The most crucial part was getting this prince to come out.
A prince, especially one with immense power, would never go out alone just because of some minor weakness. Once the matter involving the Prince of Pingxi became known, it would be even less likely for him to go out. According to Lin Dong’s estimate, the third prince must have many weaknesses in his hands that forced these princes to come out. These weaknesses were likely obtained by Zi Han from the nobles she encountered.
As the top star of Wanxian Pavilion, and with the powerful support of the Prince of Qingliu, all nobles could freely go to Wanxian Pavilion to drink. Naturally, Zi Han had come into contact with many nobles.
Perhaps she would extract information while they were drunk, or use some mystical perfume to make them drowsy and answer all her questions. After finding out the target’s weaknesses, she would find a way to force them to appear, then have Zi Han assassinate them with poison.
Actually, it didn’t have to be the princes’ weaknesses!
Lin Dong suddenly thought of another possibility: seizing a noble’s weakness could also work, forcing them to find reasons to lure the target out, achieving the same result. Of course, the noble’s weakness had to be severe enough to force them to willingly act as a bait. Because while killing the target, this bait had to be killed as well; otherwise, once Tianwei Pavilion intervened, they might trace Zi Han through this noble.
From the previous incident of investigating bandits with Emperor Qianwei, Lin Dong already had a good understanding of Tianwei Pavilion’s investigative capabilities.

There is no case that Tianwei Pavilion cannot solve, but its scouts are not made up of immortals—they are human too, and any case takes some time to resolve. Now that Prince Pingshan has been assassinated, Tianwei Pavilion will undoubtedly get involved. But when Zi Han went to Renheng Restaurant, he wore a loose robe and a hat, making it impossible to tell his age or appearance, and his voice was altered to the point where it was unclear whether he was male or female. Lin Dong even wondered if Zi Han had switched to larger-sized shoes. In his opinion, the investigation should focus on two aspects: the method used to kill Prince Pingshan and the poison in his body. For the first aspect, Zi Han must have been prepared in advance; he likely didn’t use any supernatural skills and may even have changed his fighting style. As long as the Third Prince or Ling Chenyue obtained the poison without anyone else knowing, Tianwei Pavilion’s investigation path would be essentially blocked. No matter how skilled Tianwei Pavilion is, without any clues, it would take a lot of time to find a way to continue the investigation. Emperor Qianwei certainly couldn’t wait that long. Once Emperor Qianwei passed away, even if Tianwei Pavilion identified Zi Han and then traced him to the Third Prince, the Third Prince would already be the emperor of the Great Han Nation, and the case would be closed. “Someone, seal off the entire restaurant immediately! Anyone who reveals the victim’s identity or leaks information will be executed—don’t blame me for not warning you!” In the private room, Detective Wang suddenly shouted. He suddenly realized that Prince Pingshan’s death had nothing to do with him, and if handled properly, it could even be considered an achievement. “Detective Wang, we can’t seal it off… we really can’t…” Li Yiliang tried to stop him but couldn’t get up. He also understood that this matter couldn’t be hidden forever. Lin Dong stood up. What needed to be known had already been learned; he had no interest in continuing the chaos. Before the officials reached the ground floor, Lin Dong went downstairs. On the first floor, the place was still filled with guests, drinking and eating lively. No one knew that if they had stayed a little longer, they wouldn’t have been able to leave. Although their lives weren’t in danger, they would have to be detained for a while. Worse still, if the jailer was bold enough to target prisoners involved in the assassination of Prince Pingxi, they might even have to pay a fine. After leaving Renheng Restaurant, Lin Dong got into a carriage but didn’t order his part-time driver to head to an inn instead heading out of the city. It wasn’t until afternoon that the carriage left the city gates. At Lin Dong’s command, it stopped in a deserted place.

After the guards got off the carriage, Lin Dong untied the reins and slapped the horse’s back. Once the horse galloped away, he slapped the carriage again.
Boom!
The entire carriage exploded instantly, turning into pieces of wood.
“The boss…” The guards didn’t quite understand Lin Dong’s intention.
“To prevent anyone from investigating,” Lin Dong said with a smile.
The guards nodded, not knowing what had happened at Renheng Restaurant, so they were somewhat unconvinced.
But Lin Dong understood it was necessary. Otherwise, after the scouts from Tianwei Pavilion examined the scene and found no clues, they would surely investigate the guests who had entered and left Renheng Restaurant at that time. Although his carriage was ordinary, returning to the inn like this might lead to detection.
Lin Dong wasn’t afraid that Tianwei Pavilion would suspect him—after all, he hadn’t done anything, so Tianwei Pavilion couldn’t do anything to him. Moreover, with Emperor Qianwei about to take action, Tianwei Pavilion would eventually learn of the strength of Linji Inn.
He was only worried that Ling Chenyue would find out that someone from Linji Inn was there. Ling Chenyue knew his strength well and might suspect that he was the person present. Naturally, he would also assume that Lin Dong knew the killer was Zi Han.
If Ling Chenyue found out, Lin Dong wasn’t worried about being killed to silence him. With Linji Inn’s current strength, even Tianwei Pavilion wasn’t too concerned, let alone a Fenglin Restaurant or the Third Prince. But Liu Xiu would be in danger.
Liu Xiu and Linji Inn both rose from Qiufeng Mansion, so it was inevitable to think there was a connection between them. Ling Chenyue and the Third Prince were no exception. If Linji Inn knew their plans, it was likely Liu Xiu also did. By then, they would surely act first on Liu Xiu.
After dealing with the carriage, Lin Dong ordered the guards to return to the inn first, then transformed into a shadow and rushed into the capital city.
Flying along, Lin Dong entered the Qingwang Mansion.
With his mind extended, he quickly located Liu Xiu in a lush little garden.
In the garden, Liu Xiu was admiring flowers with a beautiful woman. Lin Dong hesitated for a moment, letting a little of his aura leak out.
Suddenly, an old man in his sixties appeared beside Liu Xiu.
The old man’s gaze was calm and empty, fixed straight on Lin Dong’s direction.
“Who is there? Come out!”
Liu Xiu obviously noticed the old man who appeared out of nowhere and immediately used his spiritual skill to protect the woman.
“Your Highness!”
The beautiful woman called out softly.
“It’s fine. I’m here,” Liu Xiu said calmly.
Lin Dong stepped forward slowly, holding a Ruyi stool, and said, “It’s me!”

Liu Xiu felt a stir in his heart and glanced at Lin Dong suspiciously. When his eyes fell on the Ruyi stool in his hand, he relaxed and said, “You all step back first.”
“My lord!” The beautiful woman hesitated.
“They’re friends; I have something to discuss with them.”
Liu Xiu gently patted the back of her hand a few times.