Chapter 257: Exposure

At this time, the sky had just turned dark, and this residence of Wei Yutian had already been taken over by the soldiers of the Ya Men.

The Back Courtyard, which was usually pitch black once night fell, was now as bright as starlight, with soldiers holding lanterns standing guard at every intersection.

Clerk Qin led Ruan Fengshan to the pavilion beside the Rockery.

On the Stone Table inside the pavilion, there was nothing else, only a pot of clear tea and two tea cups.

Shen Yanliu was in casual clothes, sitting before the Stone Table, pouring tea with his left hand while his right hand was held behind his back.

Ruan Fengshan walked into the pavilion, bowed, and cupped his hands, saying, "Fengshan pays his respects to the Magistrate."

Shen Yanliu remained expressionless, raised a hand toward a seat, and said, "Manager Ruan, please sit!"

Ruan Fengshan sat down opposite Shen Yanliu. Shen Yanliu held a tea cup with his left hand, passed it toward Ruan Fengshan, and smiled, "This is a tea ceremony I recently learned; Manager Ruan, please have a taste and offer your criticisms and corrections."

Ruan Fengshan immediately rose slightly, took the tea cup, and only then sat back down, saying, "How could I dare? How could I dare?"

After sitting down, Ruan Fengshan held the tea with both hands, took a small sip, and praised it as excellent tea.

From the moment Ruan Fengshan walked into this pavilion, Shen Yanliu's pair of eyes had not left Ruan Fengshan's face for a single moment. He watched the subtle changes in Ruan Fengshan's expression closely; at least from the start, he had not seen any flaws.

Since the head of his own Escort Agency was actually a member of the Filthy Blood Sect, he should have been nervous and humble; if he were too calm, that would be problematic instead.

Shen Yanliu said, "It is merely last year's stale tea; it can hardly be called good."

Ruan Fengshan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Is that so? I didn't manage to taste it."

Of course he hadn't tasted it; at this moment, he was sitting on pins and needles, so how could he have the mood to savor tea?

"Manager Ruan, have another cup!" Shen Yanliu smiled.

But this time, Shen Yanliu did not pass the tea cup to him, but merely held it halfway in front of himself. Ruan Fengshan had no choice but to stand up, lean forward slightly, and reach for the tea cup Shen Yanliu was holding.

The moment Ruan Fengshan took the tea cup with both hands, Shen Yanliu's right hand, which had been kept behind his back, suddenly lunged out; that right hand was shockingly wearing a Steel Sleeve Iron Claw.

As soon as Shen Yanliu's right hand lunged out, he clenched his claw into a fist and slammed it toward Ruan Fengshan's chest.

Ruan Fengshan was greatly alarmed, his body retreating violently. His Lightness Skill was quite good; his figure instantly tilted backward like a large bird, flying backward out of the pavilion.

Yet Shen Yanliu followed like a shadow, and in mid-air outside the pavilion, he smashed a fist toward Ruan Fengshan's dantian.

Struck by this punch, Ruan Fengshan immediately bled from his nose and mouth and was knocked onto the grass outside the pavilion. After rolling a few times, just as he steadied himself, Shen Yanliu's hook-like iron claw grabbed toward his head, just like a long eagle pouncing on a rabbit, with no way to avoid it.

"Tainted Blood Remnant, this Magistrate will cripple you!"

Shen Yanliu's eyes were splitting with rage, his True Qi surging, and his iron claw, like a hook, grabbed onto Ruan Fengshan's skull.

The square-cloth cap Ruan Fengshan was wearing exploded instantly, tattered cloth flying everywhere, and his hair bun, under the surge of True Qi, also instantly became chaotic, like a patch of wild grass rising up.

Shen Yanliu's iron claw grabbed into Ruan Fengshan's wild-grass-like hair, as if the next moment he would crush Ruan Fengshan's skull.

But at this very moment, Shen Yanliu's power suddenly dissipated, Ruan Fengshan's hair instantly slumped down, and Shen Yanliu's iron-claw eagle-hook lifted away rapidly. Although Shen Yanliu dissipated his power quickly, his iron-hand's eagle-hook-like fingers still hooked away three pieces of Ruan Fengshan's scalp, each the size of an infant's fist.

Those pieces of scalp were bloody, and each had a long trail of hair hanging from them.

Shen Yanliu surged his True Qi, and those three pieces of scalp crumbled off the iron hooks.

Ruan Fengshan sat on the grass; although his scalp was painful, his eyes were full of lingering fear. He knew he had just walked through the gates of hell.

His dantian was injured, and a faint, hidden pain radiated from it, but Ruan Fengshan knew clearly that his dantian was not destroyed; as long as he rested for a period and recuperated well, he could recover.

Shen Yanliu smiled slightly and used his left hand, which was not wearing the Steel-Sleeve Iron-Hand, to pull up Ruan Fengshan, who was sitting on the grass with an ugly expression.

Ruan Fengshan struggled to stand up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and with reddened eyes, said, "Does the Magistrate want to kill me?"

Shen Yanliu said, "If I truly wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

Shen Yanliu patted Ruan Fengshan's shoulder and said, "Alright! Stop wearing that dead man's face! The head of your Yuanshun Escort Agency is a member of the Filthy Blood Sect, and this person was invited by you personally from the outside. With such a major case, do you think you can get away without shedding a layer of skin?"

Ruan Fengshan said in a hoarse voice, "Magistrate, please see clearly! The Escort Agency lives by the rules of the jianghu; it won't work without someone to hold the fort. I have been trapped in the Inner Breath Realm for many years with no hope of breaking through, so I invited a True Qi Realm expert to be the head of the Escort Agency. This was also for the sake of the agency's business development; who could have guessed that this person was a Filthy Blood Sect member?"

As Ruan Fengshan spoke, he actually began to wipe away tears.

"Enough!" Shen Yanliu said, "Even so, you at least have the crime of negligence; suffering this bit of grievance is nothing, right? Clear out your own Escort Agency internally, especially Luan Jingfu's confidants; clear them out for me thoroughly."

"Yes!" Ruan Fengshan said.

Seeing that Ruan Fengshan's expression had finally recovered somewhat, Shen Yanliu said, "You may go."

Ruan Fengshan bowed, cupped his hands, and left with a stumbling gait.

As soon as Ruan Fengshan left, a figure flashed out from behind the Rockery; it was Shen Yanliu's confidant, Tang Wanhong.

Shen Yanliu called Tang Wanhong over, showed him Wei Yutian's Secret Chamber Mandala, and wanted to discuss with Tang Wanhong how to handle the aftermath of this case and how to exaggerate the results of the investigation. When the two had discussed enough, someone suddenly came to report that Ruan Fengshan had returned to the city.

Shen Yanliu immediately called Clerk Qin and told him to invite Ruan Fengshan here.

The head of the Yuanshun Escort Agency was a member of the Filthy Blood Sect; as the Manager of the Escort Agency, how could Shen Yanliu not be suspicious?

However, after that test just now, Shen Yanliu's doubts were all cleared; he could almost conclude that Ruan Fengshan had no problems.

He had suddenly attacked in the pavilion, smashing a fist into Ruan Fengshan's abdominal dantian. Shen Yanliu had actually controlled his power in that punch; he only wanted to test the depth of Ruan Fengshan's internal martial arts realm, not truly destroy Ruan Fengshan.

If Ruan Fengshan were truly trapped in the Inner Breath Realm, then his dantian would be injured by that punch but not destroyed; it could be recovered with careful recuperation using precious medicinal herbs.

But if, after that punch just now, Ruan Fengshan's dantian had not been injured, that would mean his internal martial arts had long since broken through the shackles of the Inner Breath Realm and advanced to the True Qi Realm.

After that punch, Ruan Fengshan bled from his nose and mouth, clearly indicating his dantian was damaged!

This was the first point!

The second was that grab to the head just now, which was done with full True Qi; if he had been a split second later, he would have crushed Ruan Fengshan's head.

But at this life-and-death moment, Ruan Fengshan did not burst out with the Filthy Blood Divine Art!

From these two points, it could be seen that Ruan Fengshan had no problems.

Ruan Fengshan returned to the Escort Agency with blood flowing from his nose and mouth. As soon as he walked into the room in the Back Courtyard of the Escort Agency, his previously sorrowful expression instantly became cold and hard as frost.

"Shen Yanliu! You son of a bitch! I will kill you sooner or later!"

Ruan Fengshan said, spitting a mouthful of bloody foam onto the ground. If he hadn't swallowed a Medicine Pill when he left the Escort Agency to disperse half of his True Qi, he would have been exposed by Shen Yanliu's punch just now!

Even more dangerous than that punch was that at that life-and-death moment, he had desperately suppressed the Filthy Blood Divine Art within his body, not letting it burst out.

This Filthy Blood Divine Art would operate on its own in many scenarios; in normal life-and-death situations, this automatic operation could save one's life.

But in his situation just now, as long as his mind relaxed even slightly and he failed to suppress the Filthy Blood Divine Art and prevent it from bursting out, he would have been finished!

(End of chapter)