Chapter 167: Hidden arrows are hard to guard against

Drunken Immortal Residence, private room.

The food was fragrant, and melodious zither music came to the ears.

This was one of the top three restaurants in Qinghe; Li Rui had been here several times, and his evaluation was that the food was worth ten taels, the zither music a hundred taels; one was eating for the artistic conception.

"Brother Li, Brother Zhao, shall we have a drink?"

Ge Hong took the lead in raising his wine cup.

Li Rui and Platoon Leader Zhao chuckled and drank it in one gulp.

The wine entered the throat like a line of fire.

The burning sensation made Platoon Leader Zhao grimace; he picked up a piece of venison that had been sliced after roasting, and only then did he speak: "Brother Li, Brother Ge, the matter has been investigated clearly."

"Tell us quickly."

Ge Hong had been thinking about this matter, which had made him unable to eat or sleep for these past few days.

Hearing this, he urged impatiently.

If someone really set a trap to harm him, that day would have been quite dangerous; he had almost fallen into the trap.

Platoon Leader Zhao put down his chopsticks and tapped his right index finger on the table: "It was adultery."

Hearing the two words 'adultery'.

Li Rui and Ge Hong both narrowed their eyes slightly.

"I checked; Lady Li Yang started hooking up with Ma San three months ago; many neighbors in the street know about this, it's no secret."

Ge Hong's veins instantly bulged.

Now it could be confirmed that someone wanted to mess with him.

What humiliation, it turned out to be illicit intercourse.

Once he acted to kill Ma San that day, and then Lady Li Yang bit back, with someone pushing the waves behind the scenes, perhaps in the end he would only be forced to resign due to pressure.

Then his future would be completely cold.

"What a vicious heart!"

Not afraid of real blades and guns, these hidden blades hidden in the ordinary are the hardest to guard against.

Platoon Leader Zhao continued: "To prevent alerting the enemy, I haven't interrogated Lady Li Yang yet; the person behind it is not yet known. What do the two brothers think should be done?"

"Many thanks, Brother Zhao."

Worthy of being a professional; doing things is cautious.

Ge Hong cupped his hands.

And then looked at Li Rui: "Brother Li, what do you think?"

Li Rui pondered: "Brother Zhao, handle Ma San according to military law; don't hold back. Whether he can live depends on his own fortune."

One thing is one thing.

Ma San was indeed framed, but having illicit intercourse with the wife of a serving soldier is not tolerated by military law.

Yu Kingdom's military law stipulates that those who go to the border army to serve will have their families treated with preferential treatment.

This includes not committing adultery; even active participation is not allowed, all to stabilize the morale of the front-line army.

In Ma San's situation, thirty military sticks are unavoidable.

"As for Lady Li Yang, a woman, hearing that Ma San is dead, she will definitely contact her superior. We can try to see if we can hook a big fish."

Ge Hong's eyes lit up; baiting the hook to catch a fish!

"Good method."

He had no intention of being lenient with Ma San anyway.

Li Rui's move could not only resolve the hatred in his heart but also follow the vine to find the true culprit behind the scenes.

Killing two birds with one stone!

Having obtained the authorization of Li Rui and Ge Hong.

Ma San's result naturally had no surprises; his buttocks were beaten to a pulp, and he hadn't even persisted to ten sticks before he couldn't catch his breath and kicked the bucket.

Let's put it this way.

Military sticks are not simple sticks; they look like wolf-tooth clubs, covered in sharp spikes.

Let alone thirty sticks, one stick would result in skin and flesh tearing, taking half a life.

This is why there is often the saying of recording the military sticks first and performing meritorious service to atone for crimes.

If they were beaten, they wouldn't even be able to get off the ground, let alone go to the battlefield to kill the enemy.

Ma San died.

This was unexpected for those veteran soldiers who thought they had seen the filth of the world; they didn't expect that Li Rui, this crafty old fox, was actually a righteous person.

Soon.

This news reached Lady Li Yang's ears.

That night.

Lady Li Yang, a woman, hearing that Ma San was dead, was so panicked she couldn't sit still.

She didn't go out all day and walked around the house I don't know how many times.

Waiting until evening, after coaxing her son to sleep, she tiptoed out of the house under the cover of night.

A moment later.

She arrived at the bridgehead under the willow tree one mile away from home; Lady Li Yang called out in a low voice: "My lord... my lord?"

After calling for a long time.

A man wearing a bamboo hat and dressed in black appeared silently behind her at some unknown time.

Lady Li Yang turned around and almost bumped into him, scaring her into exclaiming, and she said somewhat timidly: "My lord, Ma San is dead, but he didn't die at the hands of that Ge fellow."

A few days ago.

This man approached her and told her that as long as she did as he said, she would receive an extremely generous reward.

Enough to eat for several lifetimes.

Lady Li Yang, a woman, hearing that she could get so much money, gritted her teeth and agreed.

Through the man's arrangements, she successfully mixed into the Anning Guard, waited on the road where Ma San trained every day, and then found an opportunity to make a big deal out of it.

Her mission was to have a military officer surnamed Ge kill Ma San.

At first, everything went very smoothly.

She didn't expect that at the critical moment, it was ruined by an old man.

She knew very well what she had done; Ma San wasn't a good thing, but what she wanted wasn't to cry grievances?

What she wanted was silver!

After she returned, she had been restless, fearing that the matter would be exposed.

It wasn't until she heard that Ma San was dead that she couldn't sit still and dared to contact the man.

The man wearing the bamboo hat chuckled: "You did very well; I will give you the reward."

Lady Li Yang was overjoyed.

She didn't expect that even though the matter wasn't accomplished, she could still get the silver.

But the next instant, the smile on her face froze.

A cold glint flashed from the man's fingers.

A silver needle pierced the center of her eyebrows; she didn't even have any struggle, and the deadly poison invaded her heart pulse, and she fell straight to the ground.

"Slut, you didn't do the job well, and you still want a reward?"

"Dream on!"

The man's mouth lifted in a sneer, looking with disdain at the corpse of Lady Li Yang on the ground. Not a drop of blood flowed throughout the whole process.

After the corpse was dragged away, there wouldn't be half a trace left.

Clearly, the man was an old hand at this.

"She seems to have a son at home... can't leave him either!"

A cold glint flashed in the man's eyes.

Since framing Ge Hong didn't work, he had to erase all clues to avoid being followed by Ge Hong.

He was about to drag Lady Li Yang's corpse away.

Suddenly!

A slender blade flashing with cold light slashed diagonally from his right rear.

The man's pupils shrank violently:

"Willow-leaf blade!"

At the same time, a voice sounded from behind: "Damn it, daring to target me, take my blade!"

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The blade momentum was fierce.

The man's cultivation wasn't as good as Ge Hong's, only Eighth-Rank, and half his arm was instantly severed by Ge Hong's willow-leaf blade.

He endured the pain and wanted to jump into the Qinghe River under the bridge to escape.

But he was kicked back by Li Rui, who had jumped down from under the willow tree.

Ge Hong's hands were like eagle claws, capturing the man so he couldn't move; not using the blade was to prevent the man from committing suicide.

"Brother Li, you are truly as wise as a god!"

He grinned, his eyes flashing with excitement.

He just wanted to know who exactly was behind the scenes wanting to mess with him, and why they wanted to mess with him.

No expression could be seen on Li Rui's face.

He did so much, on the surface it looked like he was helping Ge Hong, but in reality, he was helping himself.

A few days ago.

Through his Wisdom Eye, he discovered the smoke suddenly turning red.

At that time, he was already alert and had gone out much less; this morning, hearing Liang He talk about Lady Li Yang's matter, he realized it wasn't simple and immediately rushed over.

Only then did he discover everything that followed.

He suspected that the person setting the trap behind the scenes wasn't just targeting Ge Hong, but also him.

Catching this man.

The red of the smoke also faded a bit, further confirming his conjecture.

"Speak, I can let you die painlessly."

A sneer flashed across the man's mouth.

The next second, his head tilted to the side.

Ge Hong didn't even know what had happened, only to see black blood overflowing from the man's mouth, and only after checking his breath did he discover.

He was dead.

Li Rui chuckled: "He was quite a man, hiding deadly poison in his abdomen, triggered by bone-shrinking technique; it was impossible to guard against."

Ge Hong frowned.

Clearly.

This man was a dead soldier who had been cultivated; otherwise, who would be so ruthless to themselves? Everyone prefers living to dying.

His expression turned ugly: "Brother Li, now the lead is broken, what should we do?"

Li Rui squatted down.

Calmly searching for clues on the man's body.

Ge Hong was puzzled: "Brother Li, this person already had the will to die; I'm afraid he wouldn't leave clues on his body."

He had rich Jianghu experience and knew very well how ruthless such dead soldiers were to themselves.

Li Rui didn't answer.

Only searching carefully in silence; after a good while, he searched out a short dagger from the man's shoe sole.

"Hiding a blade in the shoe sole, that's quite sinister."

Ge Hong raised his eyebrows.

Fortunately, his Wu Gong was far superior to this man's, otherwise, he would have really suffered a loss.

"Brother Li, is there a story behind this dagger?"

Li Rui stood up holding the dagger: "Perhaps, it's not certain yet; let's take the corpses back to the guard station first."

"Take this woman back too?"

"Hmm."

Li Rui nodded; today's matter was done discreetly; taking the corpses away might allow them to win more time before the other party discovered and severed the lead.

The blacksmith shop was bustling with activity.

A middle-aged man was vigorously hammering a piece of red-hot divine iron.

"I'm back."

He turned his head.

And saw a familiar old man.

"Li Ye, you're here!"

Seeing it was Li Rui, the middle-aged man was overjoyed.

Li Rui said with a chuckle: "Last time I left in a hurry, I hadn't even asked your name."

The middle-aged man scratched his head honestly: "My name is Liu Tiezhu."

"Tiezhu, huh... good name."

Liu Tiezhu also knew his name wasn't great, but since it was given by his parents, he didn't intend to change it: "Li Ye, are you here to buy weapons again today?"

Li Rui shook his head.

He took out a dagger from his sleeve: "I want to ask you to help me see where this blade came from."

Liu Tiezhu took the dagger and examined it for a good while.

A look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

"Li Ye, may I put this dagger back into the furnace?"

Li Rui nodded to indicate: "Dispose of it as you wish."

Having obtained Li Rui's consent, Liu Tiezhu excitedly put the dagger into the furnace; before long, the scorching temperature burned the dagger bright red.

Liu Tiezhu hunched his waist, watching with unprecedented seriousness.

A full quarter of an hour passed.

Only then did he straighten up and say firmly: "This dagger used two types of materials; one is Profound Gold Iron, which is very common, and the other is quite special—it's Blood Ice Crystal, which is only produced in South Liang; I've only heard some old masters mention it."

South Liang...

Li Rui narrowed his eyes slightly.

Coincidentally, the Zhuang family was in South Liang, and the County Magistrate in Qinghe was surnamed Zhuang!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 168 =====