I Got Together with the Goddess [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 23

Yuan Yi was imprisoned in the Court of State Ceremonies to await interrogation for trespassing into the General’s Manor. Si Xuansu had visited him once, urging him to confess to the conspiracy of rebellion involving the Marquis of Ningyang and the Marquis of Huaiyi. Yuanyi understood clearly that admitting to treason meant certain death, and so he refused to comply.

At night, inside the pitch-black prison, a person suddenly entered carrying a torch. This individual held a set of keys in their other hand, stopped before Yuanyi’s cell, and unlocked the door.

Yuanyi had been meditating to recover his strength; hearing the sound, he opened his eyes. Under the flickering firelight, he recognized the visitor’s face was a henchman who frequently took orders by the side of the Marquis of Ningyang.

“What are you doing here?” Yuanyi frowned. “By the way, when is the Marquis going to rescue me?”

“Rescue?” The man let out a low laugh, as if he had heard a joke. “Daoist, I am here today to send you to Western Paradise. Do you not understand that?”

“Why?” Fear gripped Yuanyi’s heart, though he struggled to maintain a calm expression.

“To silence you,” the man replied.

“Why silence me? Si Xuansu asked me to confess to the rebellion, but I said nothing! The Marquis shouldn’t treat me like this!” Yuan Yi shouted.

“You only haven’t confessed for now. Who can guarantee you never will? More importantly, you are useless now and you know too much. Why should we rescue you? The Marquis no longer has a need for trash like you. I am here to clean house.”

“You think you can kill me?” Yuan Yi stood up with a cold sneer, but as soon as he rose, he staggered.

Seeing this, the man laughed loudly. “Do you think I don’t know? To deal with Si Xuansu, you even used the Great Strength Golden Pill, and yet you were still defeated. You are gravely injured; killing you is as easy as crushing an ant.”

Having said his piece, he wasted no more words. With an eagle-claw strike, he lunged directly at the wound on Yuanyi’s abdomen. Yuanyi dodged frantically, but the assassin pressed on relentlessly. It seemed Yuanyi would be unable to evade the next blow.

He closed his eyes, thinking that Heaven intended for him to die. However, death did not come. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the assassin had been severely injured by a counterforce, thrown against the wooden bars of the cell, looking at him with a face full of terror.

What exactly had happened?

By this time, the others in the prison were alerted. Seeing that he could not complete the mission, the assassin fled.

Having escaped death, Yuanyi took a deep breath and sat on the floor.

At that moment, a paper talisman drifted out from the spot where he had been attacked. It turned into ash and scattered across the ground.

He suddenly remembered that back at the General’s Manor, Jiang Yiqing had spoken a few words to Si Xuansu, then looked at him with a giggle, saying: “Daoist, on this trip you might be targeted by wicked people. Even though you are a villain yourself, it wouldn’t be right to let you die. So, I’ll do you a favor.”

At that time, a talisman had suddenly appeared in her palm and sunk into the space between his eyebrows. He had thought she was using some demonic art to harm him, but now he realized that this very talisman had saved his life at the critical moment.

Yuanyi began to laugh desolately. They wanted him dead. Fine—then they could all go down with him.

The fact that an assassin had dared to enter the Court of State Ceremonies to silence a witness suggested a massive underlying conspiracy. At Si Xuansu’s reminder, the Emperor was alarmed. He ordered the officials of the Court of State Ceremonies and the Ministry of Justice to stand by as he personally presided over the interrogation in the Golden Throne Hall.

The Emperor was highly satisfied with Si Xuansu; she focused on judicial justice and shared the country’s burdens. In contrast, the Marquis of Huaiyi spent his days seeking rare treasures for curry favor. Recently, he had claimed he was excavating a hot spring for the Emperor, only to say the spring had vanished into thin air after the deadline passed.

What kind of nonsense was that? The Emperor felt the Marquis of Huaiyi was becoming increasingly out of line, even daring to deceive the Sovereign.

In the Golden Throne Hall, not only were Si Xuansu and Jiang Yiqing present, but the Marquis of Ningyang and the Marquis of Huaiyi were there as well. The Emperor hadn’t expected everyone to take this matter so seriously, though the two Marquises looked pale and unwell.

“Daoist Yuanyi, I ask you: why did you sneak into the General’s Manor and exchange blows with My Beloved Minister Si?”

“I was acting under orders to kill Si Xuansu and the son-in-law, Jiang, to silence them,” Yuanyi said with an indifferent expression.

This single sentence caused everyone’s nerves to tighten. The Marquis of Ningyang and his wife turned deathly pale, their faces masked with anxiety.

“Under whose orders?” the Emperor asked with a frown.

Yuanyi’s gaze swept across the crowd and pointed his finger directly at the Marquis of Ningyang.

Not only was the Emperor stunned, but everyone except Jiang and Si was shocked.

“Your Majesty, he is framing me!” the Marquis of Ningyang shouted. “This demonic Daoist should be executed immediately!”

The Emperor silenced him and continued to ask, “And who was it that tried to kill you in prison?”

“His henchman,” Yuanyi said, pointing at the Marquis of Ningyang again.

“Why would the Marquis of Ningyang do such a thing?”

“Because the Marquis of Ningyang and the Marquis of Huaiyi intend to rebel. General Si and the son-in-law Jiang learned of this from Daoist Ling Yi. Thus, the Marquis of Ningyang sent me to silence them. When I failed and he saw General Si persuading me to confess, he feared the truth would come out and sent his man to silence me as well.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the hall fell into a dead silence. The Emperor’s icy gaze swept over the faces of the two Marquises; both were trembling with fear.

“Your Majesty, do not listen to his nonsense. Why would I rebel? This is absolute rubbish,” the Marquis of Huaiyi struggled to defend himself, his throat dry.

“The Marquis of Huaiyi wanted to arrange a marriage with the General’s Manor to use the Si family’s military power for rebellion. They began planning this long ago. The Marquis of Huaiyi consumes elixirs daily to become extraordinarily strong, all to seize Your Majesty when you are off guard…”

“Shut up, you demon!” the Marquis of Huaiyi roared.

Simultaneously, several silver needles flashed from the Marquis of Ningyang’s sleeve, flying toward Yuanyi’s back. While others could not see them clearly, Si Xuansu saw them perfectly. She intercepted the needles in mid-air and looked at him. “Marquis, do you intend to perform such cheap tricks in front of His Majesty?”

The Marquis of Ningyang’s face darkened, but he could not lash out.

“Enough!” The Emperor never expected to hear such things from Yuan Yi’s mouth. He declared, “The Ministry of Justice shall investigate this matter thoroughly; not a single clue is to be missed! The Marquis of Huaiyi, the Marquis of Ningyang, and their families are to be taken into custody pending the results.”

He pointed at the two Marquises and said angrily, “If this Daoist dies, you won’t live much longer either. Mark my words.”

The officials had never seen the Emperor so enraged. He swept his sleeves and departed, leaving everyone behind with various expressions of shock.

Who would have thought the highly favored Marquis of Huaiyi was secretly plotting rebellion? Or that the Marquis of Ningyang, so renowned for his reputation, would resort to assassination?

It was truly insane!

On the way back to the General’s Manor, Si Xuansu asked, “Yiqing, was Daoist Yuanyi under your control when he told the truth?”

Jiang Yiqing shook her head. Even though she was a bit surprised.

She had originally intended to use “Truth Powder” from the System Mall to make the Daoist talk, but she hadn’t expected his resentment to be so deep. He didn’t need any powder; he spilled everything before the Emperor on his own.

Hearing this, Si Xuansu became thoughtful. In this world, people scheme against one another without end. The rarest thing of all was to have someone you could trust completely, someone you never had to fear would betray you.

She was lucky to have found such a person.