Peerless ( Meng Xi Shi )

Since the Wei and Zhou Dynasties, the shadows of the Göktürks had always plagued the Northern Dynasty. Through the generations of Emperors, they had always been considerate in order to sustain the peace of the Northern Dynasty. Yet, wolves would always be wolves, they would not stop hunting just because someone had temporarily satiated their hunger and forget their wild nature. Once the feeding stopped, their natural personality would resurface once more, rolling back their snouts and leaping into the hunt once more.

When the former Northern Zhou reigned, Princess Qianjin had married the Khan Ishbara to sustain peace between the Central Plains and the Göktürk, and both sides were at peace. But ever since Yang Jian became Emperor of Zhou, Princess Qianjin despised him for the treason he caused — the murder of her entire family and her parents — so she convinced her husband to go against the Central Plains. The Khan Ishbara was also no coward, so he promised his wife and commanded his soldiers to assault Sui.

Since two years ago, the war had lasted over a year. Khan Ishbara united all the Khans of various tribes near his kingdom and raised an army of one hundred thousand people, splitting ways as they marched onto the long city. From Mayi, Khan Ishbara ventured into the South. The Sui soldiers fought fiercely, and both won and lost wars. However, as Emperor Yang Jian wanted to preserve his strength in keeping Goguryeo and the Southern Chen from attacking, he was unable to spare all his soldiers to battle with the Göktürks. So he had no choice but to come into good terms with Princess Qianjin while sustaining his relationship with the Southern Chen Imperial Court, he intended to use the strife between all tribes in Göktürk to spilt them apart.

It was because of this situation, Cui Buqu was sent to the outskirts of the city.

By the orders of the Emperor, General Zhangsun Cheng and Yuan Hui from the Court of the Imperial Stud was sent out to the Yellow Dragon Ally and the Yiwu Ally to discuss terms with Khan Ishbara as well as Khan Bagha and Khan Tardu. On the other hand, Cui Buqu was responsible for receiving the Khan Apa's ambassador to convince him not to ally with Khan Ishbara to achieve their goals of separating the tribes of Göktürk.

However, Khan Ishbara's forces were too powerful. Even if Khan Apa agreed to ally with the Sui Empire, they were not brave enough to flaunt it, so they decided to hold a secret meeting in the City of Six Crafts.

More than a month ago, not long after Cui Buqu arrived in the City if Six Crafts, Khan Apa had already sent out an ambassador; however, before the ambassador had reached the city, he ate something spoiled, vomited and died. Qiao Xian and Zhangsun Bodhi, who had followed Cui Buqu to the City of Six Crafts, went to investigate as they felt that the ambassador's death was suspicious, but managed to find no leads. But due to this, it made people feel more wary.

Time were wasted for news to travel back and forth, until a little while ago, when Khan Apa had sent out another ambassador, taking precautions to be all the more secretive. Only after the ambassador reached Qiemo, did they inform the Zuoyue Bureau's scout. According to the information, they would arrive within three to five days.

At first, Cui Buqu was originally bound to his duty and would not have crossed paths with the Jiejian Bureau. However, because of the murder of the Khotan ambassador and the loss of the Jade happened while he was coincidentally in the City of Six Crafts, if he did nothing about it, it would not have been the style of Cui Buqu.

So he scouted for information on Feng Xiao's side, discovered the lead of the plum blossoms and sent news back to Qiao Xian and Zhangsun to investigate, he wanted to get to the jade first and claim the glory of solving the case. Feng Xiao, on the other hand, could not guess that while Cui Buqu had been by his side all along, the Five Tastes restaurant had been the stronghold the Zuoyue Bureau had set up in the City of Six Crafts.

Cui Buqu had intentionally misled Feng Xiao, allowing Zhangsun to set up a pit for Wen Liang while being captured by Feng Xiao at the same time, convincing him that Wen Liang was a pivotal figure in the case.

Out of the of working together, Cui Buqu had only vaguely told him some truths, meticulously picking out the contents of what he wanted to say, merely telling him what he thought he needed to know.

Feng Xiao listened and heaved a long sigh, "Master Daoist Cui, you are obviously beside me, and you have not left for a second, but the fact that you can plot such a huge scheme to mislead me is truly commendable!"

Although they were sitting in a very tight, dark, and smelly place, Cui Buqu's mood was not bad at all; a wicked smile even curled up his lips.

"Did you not also guess that Wen Liang was only a smokescreen?"

Feng Xiao sighed again. "If I am not wrong, Fo Er's target was not supposed to be me, but you."

Since the Khan Apa held the intention to side with the Sui Empire, even if they were not allies, they would still become partners. All across Göktürk, the other countries would become aware and spread the news all around. It was impossible for Khan Ishbara to not hear of these rumours. Fo Er, the number one fighter under the banner of Khan Ishbara, this time, his mission regarding the Central Plains was evident.

He was completely uninterested in the jade but put all his strength into killing Feng Xiao. There could only be one explanation — his misunderstanding that Feng Xiao was the ambassador sent by the Sui Empire to Khan Apa. His given mission was to prevent the meeting, and inorder to do that, clearly, he had to kill Feng Xiao. Once Feng Xiao was dead, it would startle both the Sui Empire and other tribes of Göktürk, warning them of the abilities of Khan Ishbara and not to act hastily.

However, he had never guessed that the ambassador sent to meet with Khan Apa's ambassador was not Feng Xiao, but Cui Buqu.

Second Commander Feng of the Jiejian Bureau was bombastic in his actions, so he was mistaken for the target instead.

Cui Buqu, "Since we are both subjects of the Crown, what is the difference of targeting you or me? If we truly want to discuss it, Second Commander Feng you drugged me with Naihexiang and caused me endless suffering; so, how would this strike be calculated?"

Feng Xiao gave an innocent wave of hand, "If you told me your identity early on, would you have gone through such suffering?"

Cui Buqu, "If I had told you earlier, you would have been even more suspicious of me and thwart me in every way, how then could I get the important leads from you?"

They both glared at each other.

After a while, Feng Xiao finally said, "How would you like to work together?"

Cui Buqu, "These few days, Khan Apa's ambassador would arrive in the City of Six Crafts. You will help me stall Fo Er and other assassins that might come and not let them disrupt this meeting."

Feng Xiao, "Done. Now, about the lead you were saying?"

Cui Buqu went through with him once of Qiao Xian and the others and their discovery of Lady Qin, "Qin Miaoyu is most likely a Goguryeon, and the jade is with her."

Feng Xiao, "How did you find out?"

Cui Buqu, "If she was skilled in martial arts from the beginning, she would have already escaped when she murdered the Khotan ambassador, there is no need to hide within the city. Both my subordinates fought her together, and yet she still managed to escape. This could only mean that her martial arts enhanced greatly within a short amount of time, and she wanted to give it a shot."

Feng Xiao, "The Jade of Heaven's Lake."

Cui Buqu nodded, "Only the jade possesses the legend of being able to greatly amplify a person's martial arts within ten days. Now, since she carries a wound, it would be impossible for her to exit the city during the night. Once you return, gather your people and search the entire city. It should not be difficult to find her."

Feng Xiao pondered over it for a moment, "Considering the level of her skills a few days ago; she would not be able to assassinate Yuchi Jinwu and his company."

Cui Buqu, "However, she took the jade and ran away alone. This proves that her accomplice might also be looking for her. The jade that the Linlang Guild sold, is very likely put out by her accomplice, but not to bait us, the bait is for Qin Miaoyu."

Feng Xiao added, "Since Qin Miaoyu has already discovered that the jade can exceedingly increase a person's martial arts level, she knows that the one she has with her is the real one, and will not take the bait.

With one sentence following after the next, they managed to complete the whole story rapidly.

Not only did they have to find Qin Miaoyu, but also had to search for her accomplice so as to conclude the case altogether.

Feng Xiao, "How about that Gao Ning? What is his background?"

Cui Buqu, "That man might have no connections to the case, perhaps someone did trust Qin Miaoyu and her accomplice fully, so they sent a third person. If you are suspicious, it does no harm to investigate him."

"En." Feng Xiao changed the subject, "Ah, QuQu, since you were under orders to receive the Khan's ambassador, surely your place in the Zuoyue Bureau is not low? Since you already know my identity, shouldn't you also be truthful to me? After all, we are familiars."

Who is familiar with you? Cui Buqu couldn't help giving a cold snort inwardly, admiring Feng-er's face to his fullest.

However, he looked calm and peaceful on the surface, as if he was pondering deeply, "Since we are here now, I will tell you. In reality, my real surname is not Cui, and my real name is not Buqu."

"Oh?" Feng Xiao's interest rose expectantly.

Cui Buqu, "My surname is Zhangsun, name Bodhi, I am a Vice Commander of the Zuoyue Bureau."

In a certain place in the city, Zhangsun Bodhi could not stop himself from sneezing.