Close to midnight, in an random inn, kindom of LuTian.

At this point, kneeling at sword point was not a foreign course of action for him, and so he did so naturally with a laugh: "And what if I was really not involved in the conspiracy?"

Bei Feng did not reply, but the silent cold glare was enough to emphasize that he might accept a shallow range of acceptable explanation the kneeling scholar had to offer.

"Lowly me, Wen LanWan, is not involved," The kneeling scholar sneered and pulled out a jade token, "but I am also BaiHuo." Having revealed his hidden-most alias, he toss the phoenix jade token to the person still holding the sword, and watched lazily as a coarse hand jut out to receive it.

Sure enough, upon careful inspection, it was the pale lilac phoenix jade that Bei Feng had once given to BaiHuo, with intention of performing a secured favor-based transaction back then. The problem now is that, how could he verify that this man was truly the same BaiHuo he was in contact with that time who was masked and very non-descriptive? There was many ways of gathering information, even the most well-hidden one, so it was plausible that the youth in front of him could have been a traitor in midst of BaiHuo's own contacts.

"I have different alias for different clients," Wen LanWan flicked his sleeves and stood up, dusting away the dirt from his garments but dropped his hands when he noticed it has soaked up some amount of blood. He sighed inwardly, at the loss of fine garments he had just traded some silvers for, and looked up at Bei Feng: "So, for Your Majesty, I specifically chose to be white flames¹白(Bai)-white; (Huo)-fire~"

With a sly laugh, Lanwan continued without waiting for a response from Bei Feng: "Your Majesty have sent many people looking for Hundred Flames²百(Bai)-hundred, numerous; a homonym/pun here for 白(Bai), but even if you looked for the White Flame, it can only exist for one person~ Just like how XueNiang can only be there for Bei YueHua"

Bei Feng finally understood why no result had came when he had sent his spies out to gather information on BaiHuo, Lanwan had never used the same alias for each client he does business with! A petty businessman with that kind of sly intelligence was someone to be on high guard with. What was more dangerous was that this was the very same person whose finger could pull strings far into the Imperial Palace.

Bei YueHua was originally taken in by the current Emperor, her two-faced half-brother, as a leverage in case her brother, Bei Feng, were to start a riot and take the throne. She was ill-treated even by her assigned maidservants, and therefore was neglected and mostly unattended to when being bullied by other highly-favored harem members. She had always helplessly complained of this issue to Bei Feng, who couldn't do much either, whenever he visits to check on her well-being from time to time.

This had also roused Wen LanWan's interest, who had liked to seek peerless, but unattainable fragile beauty, and decided to drop in for a small Imperial taste. Unfortunately, the guise he had worn was too good, and he had come off as a meek maidservant who was shunned for lack of ambition by other maids, and unexpectedly gained Bei YueHua's sympathy.

Bei YueHua kept this new maidservant of hers close and shared many grievance. Truly a white lotus among the sea of black-bellied vixen and rotten princesses, Wen LanWan began to use his influence to make life for Bei YueHua a little more smoother. He also happen to lose interest and disappeared, leaving a secret letter to Bei YueHua that she could find him in times of her distress. It was signed by the name of XueNiang³雪(xue)-snow; 娘(niang)-mother, young lady.

It truly wasn't related to his ulterior motives he had been harboring for years, nor it was intentional that Bei YueHua was supposed to confide on Bei Feng on this matter, but what happened was for the best, and Wen LanWan will consider this turn of event as a affirmative sign sent by the heavens for his intentions. Bei Feng kept the matter in the back of his mind, not knowing it would accidentally save his life when time came.

Now that he had owed BaiHuo, who happened to be Wen LanWan, and because of that, he couldn't really complete his mission to wipe out all his surface opponent. It was a great hindrance, but a man should keep his word, especially when that man was initially the one benefited greatly from the exchange. Bei Feng gritted his teeth, but sheathed his sword.

"Then this business is done." Bei Feng could be hot-headed but he knows how to receive his loss gracefully. Otherwise, how could he qualify as just ruler when all this is done? He certainly didn't want to follow his half-brother, Bei Dao's path of violent and unjust reign.

"Not so." The scholar smiled, his eyes blinked as if innocent. "There is a reason why I'm your surface opponent."

"..."

"You see, I am not actually in support of the current emperor. Bei Dao's methods are too crude and he is too impulsive. I'm supposed to strategize the attack on the HongCheng⁴A neighboring kingdom founded on a dessert. 红(hong)-red; 橙(cheng)-orange. And you must already know, the outcome is very unstable, but chaos is certain."

Bei Feng already knew, he had lost sleep over this as well, when he had heard about it. If LuTian wins, Bei Dao will have more power. If HongCheng wins, LuTian will never be the same. Either ways, the paper thin peace would have been broken and there was no way either country would stop warring until the other is thoroughly suppressed.

"It is a country truly like a country heading destruction⁵[1] (idiom) 就是王国于是亡国 (jiu shi wang guo yu shi wang guo):  王国 ("kingdom") and 亡国 ("country/kingdom heading for destruction or that has vanished") are homonyms. 就是 ("precisely / exactly / even / if / just like / in the same way as"). 于是 ("thereupon / as a result / consequently / thus / hence"). So, I propose a transaction this time."

Bei Feng cool eyes pierced Wei LanWan once more but found nothing revealing his intention. Lanwan ignored the shivers that didn't showed, and pushed on, "I promise you, this would work."

Bei Feng wasn't sure what he felt when he saw that playful glint in LanWan's eyes.