Chapter 32: Acquaintance

The main hall within the Aurora Pavilion was extremely vast; nine vermilion pillars carved with lifelike strange beasts stood tall, supporting an entire painted cloud-palace dome, displaying utmost luxury.

Wind blew in through hollowed-out wooden carved windows; magnificent curtains hung down and fluttered, while the young men standing throughout the hall were all silent and solemn.

Occasionally, someone spoke in a low whisper; falling into Li Musheng's ears, it allowed him to roughly understand some things that had recently happened within the Aurora Pavilion.

"The deaths of those five were likely caused by Northern Shen Qiming Qi; thus it seems, the Aurora Pavilion is not exactly peaceful."

Li Musheng withdrew his gaze from the woman in the main hall, glanced peripherally toward a certain spot, and his mind was deep in thought.

After everyone had arrived, a middle-aged man wearing a black dragon-fish robe and four eunuchs in purple silk long robes walked in quickly.

Behind the five followed a group of small eunuchs and armored soldiers; with a clatter they came to the center of the hall, their footsteps suddenly stopping, the atmosphere solemn and severe.

All the young men cast their gazes in unison, and the atmosphere in the hall momentarily became somewhat solemn.

"Young Masters, you must all know about last night's matter; now we have found clues to the culprit, so please cooperate with the Tianjin Guard in the upcoming investigation."

Zhenfu Shi Yu Jin did not speak any nonsense; as soon as he opened his mouth, he came straight to the point.

Hearing this, everyone in the hall showed various expressions; a young man wearing a Confucian robe was the first to bow with clasped hands toward Yu Jin:

"We owe you a debt of gratitude, my lord; as long as we can drag out that person who committed the crime, we will naturally fully support any arrangement made by the Tianjin Office."

As soon as these words were spoken, several others immediately opened their mouths, one after another speaking sincerely to express their agreement.

Li Musheng scanned the few who were vying to speak; each possessed an extraordinary bearing, clearly from a good background, and also possessed not weak martial arts cultivation.

At the same time, the Grand Eunuch An Quan's gaze crossed over the crowd, looking subtly toward Li Musheng in the corner.

After seeing that face, An Quan's eyes suddenly narrowed slightly, a strange color appearing within them.

At this moment, Yu Jin turned his head, clasped his hands, and said:

"Trouble a few of you Eunuchs to step forward and check the Tianquan acupoints of these Young Masters; however, be extremely careful not to let that Northern Shen Qiming Qi contaminate you."

Hearing this, An Quan imperceptibly withdrew his gaze, nodded slightly with the other three Grand Eunuchs, and then lifted his steps to walk toward the various young men in the hall.

Li Musheng in the corner secretly raised an eyebrow:

"That old eunuch staring at me; he is probably the godfather of that small eunuch."

He suddenly recalled the small Anzi's previous question, only hoping that these people of the Tianjin Guard would not be too stupid and mistake him for the so-called culprit.

And at this time, Li Musheng suddenly discovered that the woman disguised as a man was also looking at him.

And after seeing him, as if she had happily discovered something, she walked directly toward him.

Quickly, the other party stopped in front of Li Musheng, smiled, clasped both hands in a bow, and said:

"I am Li Yuan; I do not know what name this brother goes by?"

Li Musheng sized up the other party once; the face was handsome, but there was blue stubble on the chin and a Adam's apple, and the voice was also a normal male voice.

But he could confirm that the other party was definitely a woman; the aura between men and women is different, and even eunuchs have a very large difference.

Perhaps others could not perceive it, but for Li Musheng, he could clearly sense the difference within.

From this, it could be seen that the other party's disguise technique was extremely superb; not only did she simply change clothes and alter her face, but she could also change certain prominent external features, making it difficult for people to distinguish truth from falsehood.

"Li Musheng."

Li Musheng nodded slightly to the other party, and at the same time lowered his voice, smiling as he asked:

"Is Li Yuan your real name, Miss?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the handsome young man before him was obviously stunned, standing still in place for a while.

However, she did not seem panicked; instead, a strange light appeared in her eyes, and she quietly used True Qi to transmit a voice asking:

"How did you know my true identity?"

Li Musheng shrugged and said:

"Naturally, it can be distinguished at a single glance."

However, after looking at the other party once, he asked with some curiosity:

"You admit so frankly; do you not fear I will expose this matter of yours?"

However, the young man before him did not answer his question; instead, he stared at him with burning eyes and asked:

"Would you do such a thing?"

Li Musheng stroked his chin, deep in thought:

"I am relatively handsome; I admit this point, but am I really that much like a good old man?"

Hearing this, Li Yuanling blinked her eyes, stared seriously at Li Musheng up and down for a good while, and then suddenly her eyebrows and eyes relaxed, revealing a face full of smiles.

"Brother Li is very interesting; you are quite different from the people I have seen."

Speaking thus, she glanced around the main hall before her and said:

"Now the Aurora Pavilion is too dangerous; Brother Li had best stay by my side; I can protect your safety."

This time Li Musheng was truly puzzled, asking with a face full of suspicion:

"Miss, have we known each other before?"

"We did not know each other before, but now we do."

Li Yuanling took a folding fan from her waist, shook it lightly, and the fan opened to reveal a painting of a sunset returning birds; it looked truly carefree and unconstrained:

"Brother Li, I feel that meeting you is truly a case of meeting too late."

Hearing this, Li Musheng showed a look of pondering and nodded slowly.

Riddle-sayers are truly interesting.

However, he could clearly see that the woman disguised as a man before him was probably "acquainted" with him.

But he had never left Shun'an City for over ten years; apart from Cang Yin Yue, how could there be anyone he knew in this Shangyang City?

Therefore, it was highly probable that the other party actually knew this face of his.

As Li Musheng was thinking, a sudden cry of surprise arose within the main hall.

One of the Grand Eunuchs discovered Northern Shen Qiming Qi on a young man; immediately after, several more people were discovered to have the same situation.

In an instant, it caused quite a stir.

The chief eunuch An Quan examined Li Musheng; naturally, he could not find any Northern Qiming Qi within Li Musheng's body.

However, when he checked Li Musheng's meridians and found not a trace of true qi, he was clearly extremely surprised.

Of course, he did not make a scene; he merely looked at Li Musheng with suspicion before returning to the center of the main hall.

The final examination revealed that, including the young man from before, a total of ten people had secretly been infused with Northern Qiming Qi.

This meant that these ten people would likely, just like the previous five, die suddenly in their rooms tonight.

"The culprit who tampered with them must be found quickly, or more people will suffer."

Yu Jin's face grew gloomy; this person dared to kill recklessly under the very nose of the Tianjin Guard, which was a complete provocation against him and the entire Tianjin Guard.

Moreover, among the people of the Aurora Pavilion, there might well be the real Seventh Imperial Prince; if something went wrong, he himself might not even keep his head.

Just then, a guard rushed into the main hall and reported:

"My lord, the Six Fan Gate people have arrived."

(End of this chapter)