Chapter 1633: Traces

The Heavenly Palace envoy spoke bluntly that Xue Zongwu had done all kinds of evil, and Liu Wu could only awkwardly touch his nose: "Yes, yes. This year happened to be the fifty-ninth birthday of my King; at that time, officials from outside returned to the capital, and hundreds of officials gathered in Mang Prefecture, which was very lively, and also caused great trouble for the investigation." "Did you lock onto any suspects?"

"Locked on, couldn't lock on. The murderer who could kill General Xue face-to-face had fierce martial power; the suspects we caught didn't have such figures." Liu Wu said with some shame.

"At that time, were there no powerful martial artists or generals in Mang Prefecture?"

"There were, there were. The Left Sect Leader of the Luodian Nation, Qu Ruhai, was in Mang Prefecture that night. But he forged an alibi, so Mang Prefecture had to let him go. Later, we found out his proof had problems. But later, new witnesses appeared, proving he was in the west of the city that night, not at Little Peach Shanzhuang." Liu Wu smiled bitterly, "He is the Left Sect Leader of the Luodian Nation; without sufficient evidence, we couldn't detain him."

"Left Sect Leader of the Luodian Nation, the Great Emperor of Nine Nether?" Bai Ziqi laughed when he heard this.

The Yao King probably had the same idea as him, so he finally let Qu Ruhai go.

"From the western border of the Yao Nation to Mang Prefecture, the distance is quite long; why did the Great Emperor of Nine Nether take action in Mang Prefecture?" Bai Ziqi pondered, "Before Mang Prefecture, did the murderer try to assassinate him, and did Xue Zongwu notice?"

"General Xue's personal guards said, no." Liu Wu reported truthfully, "But I suspect the murderer had planned to kill him on the road, but didn't have the conditions to implement it."

"How do you say?"

"Most officials traveling east to the capital from the western border would take the Tao River. I asked General Xue's personal guards; General Xue originally intended to go to the Tao River, but temporarily changed his route and took a boat to Mang Prefecture."

Liu Wu became interested: "What was the reason for changing the route?"

"Uh, the Prime Minister of my Court happened to be reported by Regent Qing Yang, and his family lived by the Tao River. Officials passing by had to avoid suspicion, so—"

So everyone could only choose to pass by the Tao River without entering.

"What about the terrain of the Tao River?"

"Trade is developed, there are rivers and lakes."

"Developed trade means large personnel flow, many outsiders; rivers and lakes are convenient for escaping after assassination." Bai Ziqi nodded, "The murderer really might have chosen to take action at the Tao River, but the plan changed temporarily."

"General Xue's personal guards also mentioned that General Xue secretly changed ships before setting sail, even hiding it from most guards. The boat sailed into the river, and they only knew General Xue was not on that boat."

"Hmm, it seems Xue Zongwu also noticed something was wrong." People like Xue Zongwu must have deep suspicion.

"Before General Xue returned to the country, something happened in the tribute land he managed." Liu Wu said, "The accountant manager he sent to the tribute land was robbed and killed by two masked men in black who pretended to be the Great Emperor of Nine Nether, and the account books placed in the government office were also pried away."

This chain was long enough. "What kind of account books?"

"My King sent someone to investigate afterwards; it was the tribute account book, recording the money for the past few years." Liu Wu coughed lightly, "At that time, Regent Qing Yang happened to report corruption, and General Xue was probably a little worried."

Bai Ziqi frowned: "If it was done by the murderer, there was no need to alert the enemy before Xue Zongwu returned to the country. Hmm, who do you suspect did it?"

"This..." Liu Wu didn't dare to speak. Who else, everyone suspected Regent Qing Yang at the time.

"Speak freely, I want to hear your thoughts." Bai Ziqi said sternly, "Rest assured, it won't be passed to six ears."

But Liu Wu still looked troubled.

Seeing his expression, Bai Ziqi understood: "Regent Qing Yang?"

Liu Wu stammered: "This, the humble official didn't say that."

Bai Ziqi smiled: "Good."

Fortunately, at this time, everyone had walked to the first crime scene, and Liu Wu hurriedly pointed forward, easing the awkward atmosphere: "This is the back mountain hall where General Xue and the Great Emperor of Nine Nether fought; it was very grand before it was burned down, and I have been here too."

"You said a dragon-head mark appeared here?"

"Yes. At that time, General Xue had already been murdered, and Elder Qi hadn't gone to chase the Great Emperor of Nine Nether; this bronze beast had a dragon-head pattern on it. Elder Qi was angry and broke the pattern, and as a result—" Liu Wu pointed to the ground under their feet, "The dragon-head pattern appeared on the ground, ten times larger than the original! I asked more than a dozen witnesses in the villa, and everyone swore that this was true."

Bai Ziqi said: "This is the power of ghosts and gods."

Humans don't have this power, especially since the Great Emperor of Nine Nether had already left.

"Many people among the folk say that the Great Emperor of Nine Nether is definitely not human, so we couldn't catch him."

Bai Ziqi sneered: "I only said he could use the power of ghosts and gods, not that he was a ghost or god himself. How many people did the Great Emperor of Nine Nether bring to kill Xue Zongwu?"

"Three."

"Just three?" To chew such a hard bone as Xue Zongwu, the Great Emperor of Nine Nether actually only brought two people to the field? Bai Ziqi was surprised, "How many people were by Xue Zongwu's side at the time?"

"The close guards were left at the rest pavilion outside the villa; he only brought a dozen personal guards into the villa to see his father-in-law. However, several explosions occurred in the villa first, and Elder Qi Yun Sheng went to appease the distinguished guests himself, and also allocated dozens of villa guards to General Xue to chase people. General Xue should have gone to the southwest gate to meet his hundreds of personal guards, but for some reason, he suddenly chased the enemy to the north."

Afterwards, he described the battle process seen by the witnesses.

Bai Ziqi listened with a frown: "The Great Emperor of Nine Nether killed Xue Zongwu in front of hundreds of people?"

"Yes."

"This is a show! But it also shows that the Great Emperor of Nine Nether's cultivation and martial power are far above Xue Zongwu." Bai Ziqi shook his head, "Then this battle is actually nothing to investigate; it

"This is grandstanding! But it also shows that the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities' cultivation and martial prowess far exceed Xue Zongwu's." Bai Ziqi shook his head. "Then there is actually nothing to investigate about this battle; since it was the opponent's meticulously crafted layout, it is very difficult to find any flaws."

"Yes." Liu Wu echoed, "On the fifth day after General Xue was murdered, I rushed over from the capital to investigate, but I couldn't find any truly useful clues here. The killer cleaned up the scene very thoroughly."

Bai Ziqi pondered for a long time: "How did Qi Yunsheng die? You said earlier that after Xue Zongwu was murdered, he was still here scraping off the Black Jiao mark to vent his anger?"

"Yes."

"In other words, the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities had already left by then."

"Yes. Using the fire at the Mountain Hall as a screen, the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities withdrew from the back mountain; the method is unknown."

Bai Ziqi immediately said: "What about Qi Yunsheng's corpse? Has it been properly preserved?"

"Yes, both his and General Xue's remains were sealed with Ice Talismans and kept in the cold cellar of the Xiaotao Shanzhuang; they have not decayed. But it will take some time to retrieve them."

"Then take me to see the location of Qi Yunsheng's death first."

"Yes, please follow me." As Liu Wu led the way, he asked for guidance, "Lord Envoy, do you think there are more clues here regarding Elder Qi?"

"Xue Zongwu was the target of the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities, but Qi Yunsheng was not." Bai Ziqi said in a deep voice, "Judging from the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities' past actions, he is very principled in choosing targets, selecting only those guilty of heinous crimes. Qi Yunsheng does not meet this standard; it is very likely he was not on his assassination list initially. It was only because Qi Yunsheng pursued him relentlessly that he had to kill him to silence him."

Liu Wu agreed: "Yes. Elder Qi organized men on the spot and rushed to pursue him."

"That means Qi Yunsheng had a way to track the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities." Bai Ziqi pointed out, "This kind of unplanned combat and killing is more likely to leave clues. Because the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities' withdrawal was more urgent, there was less time to clean up the battlefield."

Liu Wu first led him to climb to the top of the North Mountain to look at the environment: "At that time, Elder Qi had already led several hundred men to the lakeside, but suddenly another explosion occurred at Xiaotao Shanzhuang, so he turned back and rushed toward North Mountain, wanting to take a shortcut back."

"The shortcut is climbing the mountain and crossing the stream?"

Liu Wu pointed: "Yes, climbing up from the deep valley brings you there."

"Hmm, let's go down."

Beneath the cliff, the vegetation was deep and dense, having long since covered the traces of the day of the battle. The crime scene was in a deep valley in the wilderness, and with more than two months having passed, Bai Ziqi did not think he could find any new clues.

Just walking around a bit, one's head would be covered in spiderwebs, as if wearing a gray-white wig, and one's body and trouser legs would be covered in burrs and cockleburs; it would take a quarter of an hour and still not be clean.

"This is truly a good terrain for an ambush; Qi Yunsheng was too arrogant at the time."

"Elder Qi himself had profound cultivation and brought dozens of General Xue's personal guards to climb the mountain; perhaps he thought that even if he couldn't win, he could escape." Liu Wu pointed to the cliff above, "This stretch of road is not long."

For a cultivator, this distance could be covered in a single stride. If he were Qi Yunsheng, he wouldn't want to take a detour of half an hour either.

Bai Ziqi asked Liu Wu to point out the positions where the corpses were laid out, but the latter showed a look of difficulty. There were dozens of corpses back then; how could he remember the positions? "In the north, south, east, and west directions, do you still remember the furthest place where a corpse was found?"

Liu Wu breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh, I do have an impression of that."

He identified the locations of the corpses that were furthest apart, and Bai Ziqi immediately called people to mark them and release red smoke, then climbed to a high place to look.

Standing high and looking far, red smoke curled up in the deep forest; every place where smoke rose was the location of a corpse.

"Qi Yunsheng died here in the end, right?"

"Yes." It was the giant rock beneath their feet.

"The distance from here to the red smoke in the far south is over thirty zhang, and the distance to the red smoke in the west is the furthest, over one hundred zhang. Furthermore, this is halfway up the mountain, with no path at all; it is rugged and undulating, so walking speed must have been affected." Bai Ziqi pondered, "Qi Yunsheng and his men would have scattered and fled if they couldn't win. If the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities only had three people, how could they catch up to all of them and kill them one by one?"

Looking at the locations where they were murdered, one could say they were scattered everywhere; Bai Ziqi could imagine how chaotic the scene must have been at the time.

However, not a single living soul was left.

Liu Wu said: "Many people died together. Perhaps the Great Emperor of Nine Serenities used some means to gather them together and kill them."

"Cause of death?"

"Sharp blades or spear thrusts, and several of the victims had bruises on their bodies; it looks like they had been bound and had also struggled hard."