Chapter 163: Conspiracy

Night, bright moon, tree shadows, a carriage.

Tap-tap-tap.

The urgent clatter of hooves accompanied by the creaking of wheels.

"This vessel is perfectly suited."

"Excellent, excellent."

"I'm sure Blood Shadow Ancestor will be very satisfied!"

"What nonsense are you all spouting? What vessel? Who is this Blood Shadow Ancestor?"

Qu Chengfeng's consciousness slowly returned, his head heavy and foggy.

His eyelids half-opened.

First he saw the wooden ceiling of the carriage, then the moonlight streaming in from outside.

"Why am I in a carriage?"

"No, I should've been in Chunyan Tower—where's Zhu'er?"

In the next instant, memories surged like a tidal wave.

Qu Chengfeng's eyes snapped wide open.

He remembered.

He remembered everything.

"Whores, damn it—all of them are whores!"

That Zhu'er was a fraud—there was no gambling father, no frail mother, no incompetent younger brother, no stubborn girl.

It was all a lie.

It was a trap set entirely for him!

He had just moved to embrace Zhu'er when a sharp pain stabbed his neck, his vision went black, and he passed out—only to wake up here, in this hellish place.

"Oh? You're awake already?"

"No wonder—he's an Immortal Body. The dosage must've been too low."

Sssst!

The sound of a needle piercing flesh—familiar sensation returned.

Qu Chengfeng felt the world spinning before his eyes.

In his final moment before unconsciousness.

He strained to see the face of the man inside the carriage.

"Xiang Ting!"

"Li Tou'er, what brings you here at this hour?"

Tang Hai was polishing his weapon when Li Rui stormed in, followed by a girl so beautiful she seemed unreal.

Li Rui's face was grim.

"Something's happened—where's Commander Tan?"

Tang Hai pointed to the right: "Over there."

"Bring Commander Tan here. The Tiger Charge unit is heading to Chunyan Tower."

"Chunyan Tower?"

Tang Hai blinked. That was the most expensive brothel in Qinghe County—without question.

"Yes, yes."

Seeing Li Rui's serious expression, he instantly understood this was no ordinary matter—he nodded quickly and ran off to fetch Tan Hu.

Outside Chunyan Tower.

A chestnut stallion reared its front hooves and snorted.

Passersby who saw the horse stared with envy.

"Is that… an officer from Annan Army?"

"Yes—it's the Tiger Charge!"

Some seasoned observers immediately recognized the identity of this group at Chunyan Tower's entrance.

Li Rui dismounted first.

He strode into Chunyan Tower.

It was daytime; aside from the door boy, no guests were present.

As soon as he stepped inside,

a woman with a beautiful face and an exaggerated S-curve figure stepped forward: "Officer Li, what an honor—you came in person?"

Li Rui glanced at the woman.

The madam of Chunyan Tower—a calculating woman.

Last time Wei Ming treated them here, he tried to get a discount—she used her seductive charms to crush him completely; he got no discount, only lost his yang energy.

As a seventh-rank official, Li Rui couldn't avoid Chunyan Tower.

The madam greeted him warmly.

Li Rui kept his face cold, acting as if he didn't know her, and said grimly: "With such a major incident, you dare conceal it? Do you think the Anning Guard means nothing to you?"

The madam was shaken by Li Rui's official aura—her face turned pale.

"My lord, I swear—I reported this to the authorities! The government sent people here this morning!"

"I'm a 'little woman'?"

Li Rui sneered internally. The madam looked young, but she was nearly forty.

Never trust a man's words—especially not a brothel woman's.

Seeing the madam about to burst into tears, Li Rui cut her off: "Lead the way."

The madam immediately stopped.

Sullenly, she led Li Rui upstairs.

As she walked, she muttered: "Officials are the coldest-hearted."

On the way up, she kept glancing behind Li Rui.

"What a beautiful woman!"

As a brothel madam, she naturally noticed beautiful women—her face was flawless, her figure top-tier—but she was too haughty, lacked feminine charm, and needed training.

Yao Xue felt the madam's gaze.

She slightly furrowed her brow.

This was her first time in a brothel.

She barely suppressed the rising fury—she never imagined her junior brother had sneaked out to such a place while she was in deep seclusion, and now he was dead.

She didn't know how to explain this to her master.

In less than a month, both her junior brothers had died.

Moments later,

Li Rui's group arrived at Chunyan Pavilion.

The scene had clearly been inspected by the authorities—the door bore a sealed strip, and the corpse was covered by a coarse, still-bloodstained sackcloth.

"At least they're thorough."

Li Rui didn't even glance at the seal—he reached out and tore it off.

The Anning Guard didn't need the government's permission to act.

Li Rui stepped up to the cloth.

He paused: "Miss Yao, I'm going to lift it."

Yao Xue bit her lip and nodded.

With a sharp tug, the sackcloth was pulled away.

A sea of crimson. Yao Xue turned pale and looked away, unable to bear it.

Li Rui frowned, crouched down, and studied the scene intently.

"Could I really be the Lone Star of the Immortal Inquiry Pavilion?"

In less than a month, he'd seen the corpses of the senior disciple and third disciple of Master Zhang the Daoist—two out of three already handled.

One was reduced to a skeleton; the other had turned to sludge.

Tan Hu said: "Brutal—damn near turned to dust."

There was no corpse left—just a pile of meat pulp, unrecognizable.

No wonder the constables came, saw it, and left in frustration.

How could you investigate this?

Li Rui stared for a long while, then stood, stepped out of the room, and faced the madam standing outside: "Tell me—what exactly happened?"

The madam then recounted, in full detail, how Qu Chengfeng had come to Chunyan Tower seeking the courtesan Baozhu.

=9+shu_ba

"Baozhu."

Li Rui murmured: "Bring her here."

The madam hesitated: "Baozhu is still traumatized—she needs rest. Otherwise tonight—"

Before she could finish, Li Rui cut her off:

"We're conducting official business at Anning Guard—do you intend to obstruct us?"

Seeing this, the madam could only sigh helplessly at her bad luck and ordered a maid to fetch someone.

Not long after.

A woman with smooth, radiant features and a stunningly beautiful face was escorted out by the maid—utterly heartrending to behold.

She bowed gracefully and said:

"Greetings, my lords."

Baozhu's voice was soft and tender, making one instinctively wish to comfort her.

Any man who saw her would find it hard to speak harshly.

No wonder she became the courtesan of Chunyan Pavilion.

Too bad she ran into Li Rui.

"So cloying."

Women in brothels never stopped fighting behind the scenes, but to outsiders they all played the innocent lotus—forced to perform.

Li Rui ignored Baozhu's feigned delicacy: "Speak. Leave nothing out, or I'll take you to the water dungeon for questioning."

At the word "water dungeon," Baozhu's face turned instantly pale.

Water dungeon.

That was where Anning Guard imprisoned serious offenders—once inside, even if you didn't die, you'd never be the same.

"My lord, I've already told the constables everything."

"Say it again!"

Li Rui's gaze sharpened.

Baozhu stepped back nervously, then recounted the whole story in detail.

It was essentially the tale of a naive young man falling for a courtesan.

Li Rui didn't even need to listen.

When he heard Qu Chengfeng wanted to redeem Baozhu's freedom, he was certain the kid had lost his mind.

Men, after all.

Their favorite things were dragging decent women into the mud and trying to reform courtesans.

Qu Chengfeng was young and inexperienced; he dove too deep on his first try—of course he got caught.

A seasoned player in the brothel world knew another saying.

Courtesans have no feelings; actors have no loyalty.

In brothels, women always had gambling fathers, sick mothers, frail younger brothers, and broken selves—standard tricks.

Were they true?

Possibly.

But their ultimate goal was to make you spend more money—not to have you redeem them.

If a fool actually did redeem them, they might not even be happy.

Did she really think this was going to be a Du Shiniang story? True love doesn't exist.

Hearing her junior brother wanted to redeem the woman before him, Yao Xue sighed softly.

Baozhu said a lot.

How they composed poetry beneath the moon, speaking of pure and lofty elegance; how they sipped tea and discussed Daoist mysteries and immortal paths.

If this weren't a brothel, Li Rui might have believed it was a tale of scholar and beauty.

Li Rui had no interest in listening further: "Cut to the point—how did Qu Chengfeng die?"

Baozhu shrank back like a frightened kitten: "Last night I had my menses, so Master Qu stayed alone in his room. This morning, when I came… I came…"

As she spoke, tears poured down her face, her sobs choking her—anyone who heard it was moved.

The madam sighed and took over: "Then we saw all this in the room and reported it to the authorities. The maid Lüshui was present and can testify."

Li Rui fell silent.

Then he gestured to a few of the Benhu Riders behind him: "Bring Old Zhao—he'll examine the corpse."

Liang He said: "Yes!"

He knew Old Zhao, mentioned by Li Rui, was Anning Guard's coroner.

The madam hesitated: "Master Li, it's already like this—can you still examine it?"

"Why not?"

Half an hour later.

The old coroner finally appeared at Chunyan Pavilion.

He'd already heard the situation from Liang He, nodded to Li Rui, and went straight to the corpse.

He rummaged and studied the body thoroughly.

His expression was grave, making observers' scalps tingle.

Even Tan Hu, a hardened man, couldn't bear it and quickly retreated outside.

After about twenty minutes.

The old coroner stepped out of the room: "The deceased is male. He trained in martial arts, but specialized in talisman arts. He was good-looking, around twenty years old, and died from an axe blow."

Li Rui listened.

The Ask Immortal Pavilion was a hidden sect; public information about it was scarce.

The old coroner couldn't possibly know Qu Chengfeng's exact identity, but his description matched Qu Chengfeng closely.

"Killed with an axe."

This might be the only useful clue.

Li Rui pondered, then told Liang He: "Take the corpse back to camp."

"Yes!"

But all of them stared at the pile of remains on the floor, deeply troubled.

Li Rui stepped out of the pavilion first, gazing at the smoke, lost in thought.

(End of Chapter)