To keep outsiders from seeing the contents of a letter is hardly difficult for a doctor skilled in pharmaceuticals. Not just grandmasters like the Valley Master, Redwater, or Marcus Guile—even someone like Simon Sun could do it.
The encrypted letters in the box were written with ink made from special medicinal solutions, all supplied by Poison Doctor Marcus Guile. If these fell into outsider hands, forget reading the intelligence—even surviving the encounter would be in question.
There were two letters in the box. Serena Phoenixfield put on gloves, opened the box, used tweezers to extract the papers, laid them on prepared white sheets, and brushed them with a solution. Soon, blue writing appeared on the white paper.
The first encrypted report was from Jada and Mira Tang. Lately, many unfamiliar faces and spies have appeared in Shandong, all asking about Serena Phoenixfield, as if suspecting she is a Phoenixfield Clan heir.
While clearing out spies in Shandong, they discovered two agents linked to Eastlyn. All signs suggest these two are Prince Nolan’s people. Unsure what to do, Jada and Mira faithfully reported the situation to Serena Phoenixfield for her decision.
This was a serious matter, and secrecy was essential. If the Phoenixfield Clan discovered Prince Nolan had planted watchers among them, they would absolutely turn against him.
"Is it me Prince Nolan doesn’t trust, or is it the Phoenixfield Clan?" Serena’s eyes darkened. After a moment’s silence, she burned the letter to ashes.
The second letter was from the Valley Master—a huge sheet filled with rambling complaints, no real focus at all. Serena Phoenixfield forced herself to read every word, not believing the Valley Master would use special channels and rare medicinal ink just to complain.
Sure enough, at the end the Valley Master finally got to the point: By the way, Serena, I’ve hit a troubling matter recently. Some idiot is using the fact that I owe his ancestor a favor to lure me away from Prince Nolan and into his camp. He swears whatever Prince Nolan gives, he’ll give double. Should I accept?
Also, my junior brother who ran away from home years ago has written. Says he’s run into a pair of perverted master and disciple, and is mentally traumatized. Serena, if you have time, please comfort my junior brother—otherwise he might kill himself or disappear again.
Business and personal matters all tangled together—Serena Phoenixfield thought that although the Valley Master’s letter was full of nonsense, the last two paragraphs revealed powerful information, especially about his junior brother.
The Valley Master didn’t name names, but Serena wasn’t stupid. If she still couldn’t figure out who his junior brother was, she might as well bang her head against a wall.
"So the Valley Master’s junior brother is actually serving as an army doctor—Yuwen Yuanhua really is lucky." Serena’s lips twitched. Thinking of that old doctor’s skills and his style, the more she thought about it, the more he resembled the Valley Master.
As for the ‘perverted master and disciple’... Serena felt deeply aggrieved by the Valley Master’s jab at her and Simon Sun. If he dared call her a pervert, next time she’d show him what real perversion looked like.
"Should I use formalin-soaked eyeballs to please the Valley Master, or maybe some organs or an infant specimen to really surprise him?" Serena swore she’d let the Valley Master see the full range of forensic specimens her senior kept in her office.
After reading, Serena burned the Valley Master’s letter too, then picked up her pen to reply to Jada and Mira Tang.
Serena instructed Jada and Mira to have people watch those two spies. If they only passed messages to Prince Nolan, just pretend not to know and let them operate freely in Shandong. But if they dug into the Phoenixfield Clan, buying or recruiting people there, kill them outright and send the bodies to Ninth Prince Manor.
As for the Valley Master’s letter? No need to reply. He wasn’t really asking her for advice, just using her as a channel to inform Prince Nolan and let him handle it.
"The Valley Master is getting better and better at tattling—he’s growing more devious by the day." Serena sealed the letter, had Xia Wan deliver it to Shandong, then went to find Prince Nolan.
Prince Nolan wasn’t surprised at all by Serena’s arrival. With Xia Wan’s return, she was bound to bring a flood of intelligence, and Serena coming to see Prince Nolan was perfectly natural.
"Looks like you knew I’d come." Prince Nolan’s desk was spotless—Serena Phoenixfield could tell at a glance that he’d already finished his official duties.
"Your people wouldn’t come empty-handed. Things are chaotic outside." In the army camp, if he wanted to investigate, nothing could be hidden from him.
"No matter how chaotic, it’s none of my concern." Most of those restless people outside were targeting Eastlyn—which meant they were targeting Prince Nolan.
Whenever Prince Nolan tried to annex others, those same people saw Eastlyn as a juicy prize and dreamed of taking a bite.
"Those people..." Thinking of all the foreign moves, Prince Nolan couldn’t help but feel a headache. "Hopefully Ghost Hall can distract them. If the Three Kingdoms and Eight Cities really attack Eastlyn at once, even I wouldn’t be able to handle it."
"As long as Lyndaria and Southlyn don’t send troops, Northlyn plus a few cities aren’t a real threat." Serena Phoenixfield knew Prince Nolan had strong control over Lyndaria, so she offered some reassurance.
"Southlyn... shouldn’t send troops for a while." Prince Nolan knew Serena must have received news as well.
"What’s happening in Southlyn?" Serena asked out of concern for Jace Jin, who was in Southlyn. From recent intelligence, things weren’t going smoothly for him there.
As Southlyn’s last remaining prince, Serena didn’t understand why the Southlyn Emperor would suddenly suppress Jace Jin.
"The Southlyn Emperor is keeping things tightly under wraps. Early guesses tie it to succession rights." After all, it was another royal family’s throne—even Prince Nolan’s best spies couldn’t know everything.
"I just hope Jace Jin can handle it." Since it involved the throne, Serena didn’t ask further—this was something they couldn’t interfere in.
As for other countries, Serena was sure that anything she knew, Prince Nolan already knew too. She straightforwardly reported the Valley Master’s situation, but didn’t mention the Shandong spies at all.
"The Valley Master is thoughtful—I understand." Prince Nolan hadn’t expected the Valley Master to use this method to tell him he wouldn’t defect to Liancastle.
Thinking about it, the Valley Master’s choice was influenced by the Nine Provinces Token, but Serena played a big role too. For a medical fanatic like him, he’d never give up a treasure trove like Serena—until he’d wrung out all her secrets, he’d never turn against her.
As for the Valley Master’s junior brother...
"I’m already aware of this. I’m sure the Valley Master’s letter has reached him too. With him in place, we don’t need to make further arrangements for Ghost Hall and Jason Lan." Knowing about Ghost Hall, Prince Nolan had already decided to involve the Valley Master’s junior brother.
With such a useful chess piece right at hand, not using him would be a waste...