Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

At midnight, inside the Xuan Tian Cave, Jiang Mohan paced anxiously back and forth.

Upon learning of the incident at Jia Village, the entire Shu Mountain Sword Sect was extremely anxious, especially since Sun Yuwang was the one personally carrying out the order. Dugu Yun immediately dispatched Jiang Mohan and Hao Dayou to find out more about Sun Yuwang's situation.

If Sun Yuwang has indeed defected to the imperial court, then he must be eliminated to maintain the sect's reputation.

At this point, Dugu Yun also began to suspect whether Sun Yuwang had truly defected to the imperial court and become its henchman.

If so, then the reputation of the Shushan Sword Sect will likely be completely ruined because of Sun Yuwang.

Hao Dayou, who usually has a fiery temper, was surprisingly calm at this moment.

Seeing Jiang Mohan pacing back and forth absentmindedly, she couldn't help but speak up to stop him: "Junior Brother Jiang, can you stop wandering around? There's no use in being anxious. We'll wait for Senior Brother Sun to come and explain before making a decision."

Jiang Mohan: "No matter what, I don't believe that Junior Brother Sun would collude with the court to betray us. He must have had his reasons for doing so."

"Ugh."

Hao Dayou sighed helplessly, closed his eyes, and said nothing more.

A quarter of an hour later, Sun Yuwang appeared in Xuantian Cave as scheduled.

Before he could speak, Jiang Mohan grabbed his arm tightly: "Senior Brother Sun, was the matter at the family estate really your doing?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Yuwang nodded helplessly: "Yes."

Upon hearing his admission, Jiang Mohan was immediately heartbroken: "Why did you do this?!"

"I had no choice but to do this; otherwise, I simply couldn't gain their trust!"

Sun Yuwang replied with a pained expression.

"After entering officialdom, I realized that the power of the imperial court is far greater than we imagined. A single misstep can lead to utter defeat."

We have already sacrificed so many like-minded heroes; if we give up now, all their blood will have been shed in vain.

Jiang Mohan and Hao Dayou fell silent.

After a long silence, Hao Dayou finally said, "At least you should have notified us in advance so that we could have moved those righteous men in time."

Sun Yuwang shook his head: "The Jingwei Division has already intervened. I can't even imagine how vast their intelligence network is."

At this point, no action I took would escape their watchful eyes. My personal life was a small matter; if I affected the overall situation, everything would be over!

Jiang Mohan: "But now so many people have died, and you personally carried it out. The martial arts world has begun to have strong doubts about the attitude of our Shu Mountain Sword Sect. What should we do..."

"They didn't die in vain," Sun Yuwang said through gritted teeth. "Because their deaths have made the Jingwei Division lower their guard against me."

We can proceed with the next step of our plan and restore the reputation of our Shushan Sword Sect in one fell swoop!

Hao Dayou's eyes lit up, and he stood up to ask, "Senior Brother Sun, what's your plan now?"

"I have confirmed that the Empress will arrive in Shu on the fifth day of the fourth month for an inspection tour, although they have not specified how she will enter Shu."

However, considering that Fa Xiaozhi recently accelerated the construction progress of the eastern section of the Chongqing-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, I can conclude that the Empress will most likely arrive in Shu by train.

What we need to do is destroy the railway line and kill the Empress in one fell swoop the moment she enters Sichuan.

This is the only chance, and the best opportunity for my Shushan Sword Sect to prove its innocence.

I hope my two senior and junior brothers can assist me in completing this plan.

Upon hearing this, the two men rubbed their hands together and paced back and forth inside the cave.

After a long silence, Jiang Mohan asked, "Tell me, what do you want us to do?"

Sun Yu's eyes turned cold: "I hope you will gather all the righteous warriors and ambush the Empress on the route she will take by train before the fifth day of the fourth month."

They then destroyed the railway, and taking advantage of the train derailment, finished the job in one fell swoop!

"This……"

The two looked at each other, their faces filled with worry.

"My two fellow disciples, I can only entrust this matter to you. Now that I've done these things, my fellow martial artists will certainly no longer trust me."

Only when you are spotless can you possibly rally the righteous to action.

Hao Dayou: "Alright, Senior Brother Sun, I believe you won't betray your fellow disciples, much less betray your friends for personal gain. I will go back and inform our master so we can act together."

Jiang Mohan also said, "The blood of so many righteous people cannot be shed in vain. In order to let the martial world see the light of day again, the Empress must die!"

Only when she dies can the souls of the fallen heroes find peace.

"Thank you for still believing in me. Please accept my bow, Sun Yuwang!"

"Please get up quickly, you mustn't do this."

Hao Dayou and Jiang Mohan quickly helped Sun Yuwang up.

“We are fellow disciples, and we’ve been together for over sixty years. If we don’t believe you, who will?”

"Yes, Junior Brother Sun, we know that you've been under a lot of pressure lately."

You are suffering more than any of us, but don't worry, after the fifth day of the fourth lunar month...

You will be remembered by the martial arts world and by everyone in the world for everything you have done today.

Thank you for your understanding!

Upon hearing this, Sun Yuwang felt much better.

After exchanging some details about the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the three of them went their separate ways.

……

Inside the General's Office, Wu Jie looked at Fang Lin's incredulous expression, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

"Alright, Brother Fang, I was just guessing. Why are you taking it so seriously? Think about the Jia Village incident carefully; Elder Sun really isn't to blame at all."

After all, I've served His Majesty and the Emperor for so long, and I only received the order to mobilize troops the day before the operation. It wasn't until I understood the true purpose of the troop deployment that...

There was no time to inform you. To be honest, we were all tricked by the imperial court, but we could only swallow our anger and couldn't even vent our frustrations.

After listening to Wu Jie's words, Fang Lin immediately realized they made sense: "Then what should we do next?"

Wu Jie: "What to do is none of my business. I am only responsible for raising troops when you need them."

Fang Lin paused, then suddenly asked, "By the way, I heard that the Empress is coming to inspect Shu County. Is there any news about this?"

"Yes, didn't you already know that?"

"Then how do you think the Empress will enter Shu County?"

Wu Jie shook his head: "It's really hard to say. Besides the mountain roads, the only other ways to get in and out of Shu are the railway and waterways that are currently under construction."

The mountain path is rugged and narrow; the Empress would certainly travel with a large entourage and would not take that route.

Fang Lin: "So, in that case, we're left with only two options: railway and waterway?"

"That leaves you with only two options. What, are you planning to assassinate the Empress when she enters Shu? I advise you to think this through carefully. Once you do this, there will be no turning back, whether you succeed or not."

"Our sect has been forced into this predicament by the Empress, and we have no way out but to gamble everything."

Fang Lin looked at Wu Jie: "Old Wu, whether this succeeds or not depends entirely on the army under your command."

Wu Jie nodded upon hearing this: "We are all in the same boat now. If any one of us leaves, the boat will capsize. I have no way out for a long time."

Fang Lin said with a hint of guilt, "Old Wu, I'm really sorry to have dragged you into this."

Wu Jie waved his hand: "Don't mention such things again. Now that we've started, there's no turning back. After it's done, you must support me as the King of Shu."

"Don't worry, the Shushan Sword Sect has always kept its word."

Seeing Fang Lin's confident expression, Wu Jie simply smiled slightly, a smile containing a hidden hint of mockery.