30th February, 16th year of the Great Emperor Era.
Jin Long received another letter.
He opened it, and there was a clear message written on it: "I have leverage on the him! Send the Yin token, which can command their Warriors, to Zudas and find me."
Zudas didn't know the importance of the Yin token and who is 'him', but Jin Long understood!
Jin Long's face was filled with surprise. He immediately realized the main issue and the meaning behind this letter.
He was using this as a means to make Jin Long find him. This was his method of breaking the deadlock, trying to create an opportunity to escape.
Jin Long also wished to free Shi Tian from his control, and if Li Gang had leverage on him, then Li Gang was the very person Jin Long had to save in order to protect Shi Tian. It was precisely to save Shi Tian that Jin Long never tried to act rashly or alert the Monarch that he knew Shi Tian's body had been taken over.
He immediately gave a signal, and a peak Rank 4 Warrior appeared from the shadows.
Jin Long said lightly, "Take this. I want you to lead your Warriors and meet Prince Jin Bo privately. Ask him to write down everything about his meeting with General Shi! Make sure that no one realizes you met with the prince!"
Jin Long narrowed his eyes. 'By the time he reaches Beihua Prefecture, General Shi should have already finished his meeting with Prince Jin Bo. It should be safe.'
He also sent someone with a decree to retrieve the House Yin's Head token.
Night of 12th March.
Han Ji returned after his investigation. He was surprised to find other familiar faces there.
They were caravan drivers. It was the caravan Lei usually traveled in, led by a Rank 5 Horse with extremely fast speed and stamina.
Han Ji immediately understood that Senior Lei planned to travel again.
He immediately visited Lei to convey the information he had obtained.
Lei looked at Han Ji and asked lightly, "Do the faces match?"
Han Ji wasn't too surprised now, though he had been shocked when he first saw the portrait. The two girls were the same! The granddaughter of that old lady looked exactly like the one executed by Jin Bo.
He nodded slowly.
Lei said faintly, "We will soon visit Jin Bo!"
14th March, Beihua Prefecture, Afternoon.
Prince Jin Bo personally led Lei to his secluded study room.
The room was modest compared to the grandeur of the throne room, furnished with only a writing desk, a low tea table, and shelves lined with bamboo scrolls. After a brief glance toward the attendants, he dismissed them with a wave.
Lei sat down at the table, and Prince Jin Bo poured a cup of tea. "Such a sudden visit. Did something happen, General Shi?"
Lei nodded. "There is indeed something."
He stared into Jin Bo's eyes as killing intent permeated the room.
Jin Bo frowned as he heard Lei's words. "Bring Chu You over here!"
Jin Bo didn't show any surprise on the surface. However, he was indeed shocked internally, and this time, Lei noticed it.
"Don't try to deceive me! I have done my research. If you had the intention of executing her, you could have done it right after she spoke those traitorous words. But you first sent her to prison for torture. You did that to protect her and find a replacement who could be executed in her place, successfully concealing her true situation!"
Jin Bo knew there was no point in hiding it anymore. "I wonder, how did you figure all this out?"
Lei smiled faintly. "You'll realize soon enough. Bring her to me!"
Jin Bo narrowed his eyes, then called a servant and ordered him to bring Chu You in.
A few minutes later.
Chu You appeared. She was surprised to hear that General Shi had come again and even asked for an audience with her. She realized she had been exposed.
Lei looked at her and smiled faintly. "Not bad, you do have some talent. Unfortunately, the person you were dealing with is not some nobody, but Li Gang. Do you think you can escape his clutches so easily?"
Chu You's pupils dilated as shock filled her heart.
Back then, Li Gang had forced her to follow his arrangements if she didn't wish to see Zudas die. She had been afraid and fearful at first. She even went as far as kneeling publicly and doing anything she could to execute her mission.
But after meeting Jin Bo and witnessing political intrigue with her own eyes, she started adapting to everything. She also realized that it was impossible for Li Gang to harm Zudas. He must have sent him on a certain mission, just like her. He was likely in a desperate position, or else why would he send someone as incompetent as her for this? Wasn't this a pure gamble?
Who takes gambles? Those who have no other options left.
At that time, she realized she didn't have to follow his arrangements at all! Therefore, she had deliberately concealed some important information she was asked to deliver: the method to control General Shi Tian!
Lei looked at her and asked coldly, "Do you know about my son?"
Chu You looked at him, feeling nervous since her entire scheme had been exposed. But she wouldn't admit defeat so easily. For someone like her, who could kneel until her body gave up, how could she be afraid of death?
She feigned ignorance. "I don't know!"
Lei glanced at her coldly. "Do you think your little schemes can evade my eyes? You had a lot of resentment in your heart, which is why you decided to foil his plans just to get back at him. Speak!"
Chu You knew there was no point in hiding it anymore. "Yes, I do know where your son is! His life is in danger, and he could die at any moment, but why should I tell you? I will only tell you once you kill him!"
Lei snorted. "Do you treat me like a child? Speak everything you know! Your grandmother is under my control, did you forget that already? You thought by disclosing her location, you could at least stop Prince Jin Bo from having leverage over you. Meanwhile, I wouldn't know of your existence, allowing you to escape Jin Bo's control while also helping your grandmother reach a safe place, assuming I wouldn't harm her without any prior enmity! But you didn't expect your entire scheme to be exposed!"
Lei released a strong killing intent as he said, word by word, "Tell me everything you know!"
She finally lost her composure. She said with quivering lips, "I was only told that he is still alive. I don't know anything else."
Lei's eyes narrowed. 'As expected, she was bluffing. Li Gang couldn't possibly reveal any crucial information to her that could give away his leverage over me!'
He stood up calmly as many possibilities came to his mind. He instantly realized Li Gang's counterplan and felt a sense of awe!
'So, I never stood a chance from the beginning?'
Lei shook his head. He sighed, believing that thinking any further ahead was useless. 'I wonder, how will you counter Huang? Once he takes over your body, everything else will be useless! Even if you have leverage on him, what's the use when he can control your body and thus take control of every scheme you have made?'
A myriad of emotions welled up in Lei's heart, but finally, his heart turned resolute, as if he had made a major decision.
He bade farewell to Prince Jin Bo and immediately called back all his Warriors who had been given different instructions.
At the same time, Prince Jin Bo also realized something. He had been cheated by Chu You. She had no way of helping him get his revenge. He also could no longer back out of what had happened. Now, even if he didn't want to wade into these muddy waters, he had to. He was being involved by King Jin Long himself, and he couldn't defy a royal decree.
Two days later, when they all reunited, Lei ordered them to search for any possible traces of Ren Ying/Li Gang being alive, by any means possible!
Around the same time, the Warrior sent by Jin Long met up with Prince Jin Bo. Prince Jin Bo wrote everything down in the letter truthfully, without hiding anything. After a few days of interaction, he had realized that things weren't simple. How did Jin Long realize Shi Tian's betrayal? How did the person behind Chu You predict the betrayal and even expect the King to know about it?
He wanted to keep his stance neutral and watch from the sidelines. No one was willing to invest in a chaotic situation where the chances of profit were completely up to luck! He didn't trust Chu You anymore, because he realized she was just a tool for the person behind her, and the purpose for which she was sent had already been achieved.
It should be noted that Li Gang didn't fully trust the memories he had obtained from Lin Fan. That memory appeared in his mind after being filtered, and even though Li Gang suspected it was done by the Soul Emperor, he never fully ruled out the possibility that the Elemental Emperor was protecting him. But why would he protect him? It made no sense, right?
But Li Gang did consider this possibility. There existed a situation where it worked in the Elemental Emperor's favor.
What if the another Emperor was willing to help him? In such a situation, the Elemental Emperor could take the initiative to help him before the others did. Under the disguise of protecting him, he might have filtered all the information in order to deceive and misguide Li Gang.
This was another reason why Li Gang always refrained from absorbing more memories than he strictly needed.
There is another question that everyone must be wondering about.
Why did the Elemental Emperor decide to let the Monarchs take over Li Gang's body, rather than doing it himself?
It would have allowed him to kill Li Gang flawlessly!
Unfortunately, this method had a major flaw! Using this method would leave him trapped in Li Gang's body for a short period of time, and during that time, he would be vulnerable to death! A true death, without reincarnation.
This Body Possession technique was created by He Fan, and Wu Yuan feared there might be a method that could reverse-trap the possessor and get rid of him.
If such a method existed, then He Fan, in order to protect Li Gang, would get Wu Yuan killed. But now that someone else had taken over his body, even if He Fan wished to interfere, Wu Yuan could block him.
So, in a scenario where Li Gang was saved by the Elemental Emperor while using Soul Search on Lin Fan, it was possible that the current rule he knew about parasitizing a body was completely wrong!
He read Lin Fan's memory in order to know the minimum time he had before his death approached. He had to ensure everything was set before that "minimum time" was up, but that didn't mean he trusted that "minimum time." He just needed to know about it so he could verify the facts later!
It was possible that the time he expected it to take for Huang to take over his body was longer than it actually would be. Therefore, Li Gang had to ensure he got rid of Huang as quickly as possible when deciding on his plan.
Now, there was another important factor at play here—one that no one had realized, and even without having any memory of it, Li Gang unknowingly followed it due to psychological cues:
The Law of Isolation!