Chapter 153: The Greatest Flaw

Han Sanmei bent down to remove the black-clad man's veil, picked up the two razor-thin throwing knives for a moment, and shook his head, saying, "I don't know. What is it, Lord Grand Commandant? Is this person very formidable?"

"At least no less so than Shentu Chi," Ye Xin replied. "I must ask you gentlemen to accompany me and take a look over there."

Ye Xin led Han Sanmei and the others to the other side of the inner courtyard, walking down through an entrance. A row of torches had now been lit within the tunnel, clearly illuminating the surrounding environment.

Wang Fang stooped, scooped up a handful of soil from the ground, and crushed it in his palm. "This should be newly turned earth, with a very strong earthy smell and dampness."

"When was this tunnel dug?" Shen Wangji asked in a deep voice.

"No more than two months ago at most," Wang Fang said. Having held the position of Grand Historian for decades, his knowledge was extremely extensive, and he made this judgment with great confidence.

"Two months..." Deng Zhiguo murmured. Everyone's heart felt heavy. To the various aristocratic families, the Great Wei State was essentially their own domain, with everyone merely pushing Tie Xinsheng forward as their nominal head. The fact that such a mysterious force had managed to infiltrate the Great Wei State and harbor designs on the inner mansion made all of them feel a direct and personal threat.

Stepping out of the tunnel, the scene outside was like a slaughterhouse. Corpses and bloodstains littered the ground, and harrowing screams still echoed from the adjacent side chambers, where Hao Fei and the others were interrogating captives.

Han Sanmei swept his gaze around, his expression changing drastically.

"It seems the Grand Tutor also recognizes whose courtyard this is?" Ye Xin said.

"Wei Juan..." Han Sanmei ground his teeth. "Could this matter be connected to Wei Juan?!"

"If Lord Grand Historian is not mistaken and that tunnel is no more than two months old, then Wei Juan cannot escape responsibility," Ye Xin said calmly. "Without Wei Juan's consent, who would dare undertake major construction projects within the Wei residence? Furthermore, this is no minor project. Where was all the excavated dirt hidden? I can tell that the tunnel suffered from water seepage before; what method did they use to deal with it? I suspect... Wei Juan is not only connected to them, but is fundamentally one of them."

"A fine Wei Juan indeed!" Han Sanmei's pale beard trembled incessantly.

In truth, Ye Xin's heart felt even heavier than Han Sanmei's. If Wei Juan was also one of Ming Jiang's people, then while his previous deductions had been verified by facts, he was still a considerable distance away from the complete truth.

Ever since he heard that Wei Juan's entire army had invaded the Great Zhao State, Ye Xin had anticipated that Wei Juan would definitely fall into a trap, because Xiao Mojie was not so easily defeated. But in reality, they were all people belonging to Ming Jiang!

At that time, Ye Xin did not know of Ming Jiang's existence, and Ming Jiang did not know of Ye Xin's conspiracy, yet both sides were striving toward the exact same goal: the complete destruction of the power belonging to Tie Xinsheng and the seizure of the state treasures.

In fact, Tie Xinsheng had a chance to turn the tables by requesting the Blood Mountain Legion of the Great Yu State to assist in battle. This was the result of a unilateral discussion between Tie Xinsheng and the Great Yu State, of which Wei Juan was completely unaware. Once the Great Zhao State launched its massive invasion and Tie Xinsheng personally led the imperial expedition, combined with the combat strength of the Blood Mountain Legion, the odds of victory would still have rested with Tie Xinsheng.

It was a pity that Ye Xin had been secretly undermining Tie Xinsheng's foundations. Aside from Ye Xin himself, everyone else in the Great Wei State and the Great Yu State had been kept completely in the dark, believing only that circumstances had dictated the course of events, where minor conflicts evolved into major ones until their relationships completely ruptured.

Strictly speaking, Ye Xin and Zong Bieli could be considered predestined opponents. They shared the same goal—to usurp the state treasures of the Great Wei State—and they shared the same fear of the lofty Qingyun Sect.

Therefore, even when victory was well within his grasp, Ye Xin did not dare to act rashly. He needed Tie Xinsheng to hand over the blade himself, needing a righteous and justifiable pretext to shout aloud.

Zong Bieli was the same. With Ming Jiang's strength, he was fully capable of subverting any duchy, but he did not dare expose his trump card or even make a move within the Great Chen State.

Zong Bieli was familiar with the Great Chen State, and naturally, the Great Chen State was equally familiar with him. It was difficult to conceal his every move from the investigations of the Canghai Sect, which was why Zong Bieli had come to the Great Wei State.

Although Zong Bieli did not understand the meaning of the word "logic," his efforts were directed at constructing a chain of entirely reasonable logical steps, making things as flawless as possible to avoid arousing the vigilance of the Qingyun Sect.

If Tie Xinsheng led the imperial expedition in person and died on the battlefield, whether Tie Shudeng or Tie Renhao ascended to the throne, Zong Bieli would have the opportunity to leverage Wei Juan's influence to expand drastically and become the uncrowned king of Nine Tripods City.

The reason he ultimately changed his plan was perhaps because he suddenly sensed that another malicious force was still hidden within the Great Wei State, targeting Tie Xinsheng—that was Ye Xin. Unwilling to work for the benefit of others and have someone else reap the rewards, Zong Bieli decided to wait a little longer.

The Ye family's situation back then had been extremely perilous; Ye Xin could not allow Wei Juan to achieve continuous victories. If the veteran generals of the Tianlang Legion lost their reason for existing, given his own playboy reputation, how could Tie Xinsheng have spared him? Therefore, Ye Xin had continuously leaked Great Wei military secrets to Zhuang Buxiu and Xiao Mojie. Several elite members of the Heavenly Sin Camp had infiltrated Wei Juan's army as early as two years ago. At that time, Wei Juan was recruiting a new army, and with their outstanding strength and courageous combat, they quickly won his favor and remained stationed there to this day.

Precisely because someone was continuously leaking military intelligence, Zong Bieli caught a glimpse of the clues and ultimately decided to terminate the plan. In any case, the strength of the Great Wei State had already suffered severe attrition; if he failed to unearth the hidden party, he would find no peace in sleep.

However, Ye Xin's men were buried far too deeply, leaving Zong Bieli with no clues to follow. At the very least, Ye Xin could be certain that before he raised the banner of rebellion, Zong Bieli had never paid him any serious heed.

Because of this, Ye Xin realized that there was one person he could actually trust: Xiao Mojie! Xiao Mojie knew his true identity and had every reason to guess who had deliberately leaked secrets to the Great Zhao State. If he had reported this secret to Zong Bieli, Zong Bieli would have sought him out long ago.

Yet, Ye Xin had pondered this for a long time without ever figuring out the specific reason. Although Xiao Mojie was also one of Ming Jiang's men, he was clearly not of one heart with Zong Bieli; otherwise, the secret letter he sent a few days ago would not have received a response so quickly.

If Zong Bieli were here and knew that Ye Xin had deduced so much information merely through a preliminary engagement, he would certainly be shocked. Unfortunately, he was far too arrogant; even a disastrous defeat could not shake his composure.

"These are troubled times indeed for the Great Wei State..." Wang Fang murmured. "Lord Grand Commandant, we cannot go on like this!"

"I know," Ye Xin nodded. "Nine Tripods City needs a powerful army."

Han Sanmei and the others exchanged glances. This ought to have been the Grand Tutor's responsibility, but Han Sanmei feared that Ye Xin would reach his hands into the city garrison, so he had desperately tried to stall for time. Today's events, however, told him that he could no longer afford to delay!

"Lord Grand Commandant means..." Han Sanmei muttered, still harboring some reluctance.

"I mean nothing in particular. The city garrison should naturally be under the jurisdiction of the Grand Tutor's Mansion," Ye Xin said. "I merely wished to remind the Grand Tutor that these people dared to attack the inner mansion today, and tomorrow they might very well attack the Nine Tripods of Heaven and Earth. The wolf cavalry I keep by my side numbers only a dozen or so; I simply cannot handle it alone."

Ye Xin had lowered his posture to the absolute minimum, demonstrating that he would never interfere with the city garrison. He had always been this way: striving toward the best possible objective, holding the worst-case expectations, and then waiting for those making the choices to make their move.

* * * *

Returning to the Grand Commandant's Mansion, Ye Xin sat in his armchair, staring blankly at the documents on his desk.

"My lord, you seem somewhat preoccupied," Yue Hu remarked from the side.

"Zong Bieli is far more formidable than I imagined," Ye Xin sighed softly. "I am worried that he will discover our greatest flaw."

"A flaw? I think the brothers have all been doing quite well," Yue Hu asked in surprise. "What flaw is my lord referring to?"

"Timeframes," Ye Xin said.

"My lord, could you make yourself a clearer?" Xue Baiqi wryly smiled. "We are all rather foolish, as my lord well knows."

"You and Hao Fei entered the Ye family two years ago; Xie En became an instructor at the Longteng Martial Arts Academy two years ago; Yue Hu became an executioner two years ago; Old Thirteen entered the palace two years ago; Mo Yan established the Righteous Alliance two years ago; and Yu Dao joined the Tiger Head Army two years ago," Ye Xin slowly recounted. "When I put it this way, you should understand, shouldn't you? Timeframes—that is our greatest flaw! The two of you have already stepped into the light, so there is no need to fear, but Old Thirteen and Yu Dao might encounter danger."

In truth, Ye Xin had always harbored worries in this regard. All of his arrangements had been completed two years ago, after which he simply sat back and waited for them to slowly grow. Looking at the young people around Ye Xin, one particular item in their attribute profiles overlapped repeatedly: two years ago!

At times, Ye Xin even felt a sense of dread. If someone possessed the same habit as him—using a pen to write repeatedly during intense contemplation, outlining their unique attributes over and over in their mind—it would not be difficult to spot this flaw!

It was simply too distinct! It was not that Ye Xin had never thought of changing it, but it was impossible to alter. Their origins and backgrounds from two years ago could not be proven by anyone. To fabricate a logical backstory for all of them would consume an astronomical amount of energy and time, an unbearable burden.

However, two years had slipped by in the blink of an eye, and the elite members of the Heavenly Sin Camp had all been living quite well. No one had suspected them, which gradually caused Ye Xin to think he had been overly anxious. His cautious nature was the result of accumulated life experience and precipitation; the higher-ups of the Great Wei State had no need to live as tiresomely as he did.

Yet this time, they had encountered Zong Bieli, who had somehow managed to open the imperial treasury—clearly possessing the key to it. This involuntarily made him worry for Old Thirteen, yet right now, he had no way to proactively contact Old Thirteen.

"They... couldn't possibly figure it out, could they?" Xue Baiqi's expression changed.

"I hope so," Ye Xin shook his head. "Let us hope that Zong Bieli believes himself to be too successful and possesses a corresponding arrogance. That way, he might grow a bit careless."

"My lord, should I go look for Ghost Mister again?" Hao Fei asked.

"Absolutely not," Ye Xin stated. "Even if he encounters danger, I believe he has countermeasures in place. If you are discovered, it would only be even more detrimental to Old Thirteen." (To be continued.)