Chapter 189

"Hey, have you heard? Gao Zhen hasn't shown his face for a month."

Wei Ming lowered his voice.

Tan Hu grumbled with dissatisfaction: "This is the Drunken Immortal Tower, and there's no one else here; why are you whispering like a hammer?"

Today.

Wei Ming was the host, treating Li Rui, Tan Hu, and Ge Hong to wine.

Just after drinking two cups, Wei Ming began to chat enthusiastically about things in the military camp, specifically Gao Zhen's affairs.

Gao Zhen hadn't appeared in the military camp for a full month.

Although it was rumored that Gao Zhen went to patrol elsewhere, anyone with a discerning eye knew that something had likely happened.

Gao Zhen was a playboy who didn't need to do anything; where would he get a patrol?

And a Garrison Commander wasn't a Night Scout; a patrol would take at most ten days; how could it take a whole month?

More importantly, Feng Yu and Guan Xinrong were leading troops out of the city every day.

This didn't look like a simple patrol at all.

This matter had long been spreading like wildfire in the military camp.

"I was just thinking that walls have ears."

Wei Ming also knew it was a habit, so he casually found an excuse to scratch his head and laugh awkwardly.

Ge Hong pondered: "Do you think it could be the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao's retaliation? After all, Lord Jiang killed one of the Twelve Blood Disciples."

Once the Twelve Blood Disciples were mentioned.

A sense of relief came over him for no reason.

The Wan Wan Du Gui's head was still hanging on the wall of the Anning Guard, although it had long since dried into a skull.

Jiang Linxian killed the Wan Wan Du Gui, so he could be considered to have avenged himself.

In the future, when he went to his master's grave, he could buy a few less pots of wine.

What Ge Hong said wasn't without reason; so many people died in that battle with the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao, so waiting for an opportunity to retaliate was also a common occurrence.

Li Rui's heart moved, and he said:

"There is that possibility."

"Right? Brother Li thinks so too."

Ge Hong became even more energetic after Li Rui said this: "Those little demon cubs of the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao just need to be taught a lesson; they should be killed!"

Ever since the Wan Wan Du Gui died, he had been particularly attentive to dealing with the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

He intended to kill a few more people from the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao, just to vent his master's hatred.

Wei Ming also nodded:

"They really do need to be taught a lesson."

Come to think of it, it was strange; the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao was very low-key in other places, almost never showing their faces, but they were extremely active in the Anning Prefecture area.

Large-scale attacks had happened several times.

"Could it be that Anning Prefecture has a treasure, or does it have the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao's real father?"

Wei Ming had stayed in Annan Town before, so he felt the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao was a bit too active in Qinghe.

Looking back, it seemed to start from the Immortal Treasure...

Tan Hu, however, didn't care at all: "Screw them; I've always loathed that stinking bug Gao Zhen, so it's best if he's dead. If the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao killed him, I'll set off a string of ten-thousand-shot firecrackers tomorrow to celebrate."

"Makes sense."

Ge Hong and Wei Ming both nodded in unison.

The things Gao Zhen did in the military camp before were truly too unlikable.

Tan Hu was still brooding over the Tang Hai matter.

If Gao Zhen really died, he could truly do something like setting off firecrackers to celebrate.

Li Rui smiled without a word.

Gao Zhen?

Gao Zhen had long been dissolved by him until not even ash remained.

There was no surveillance in this world, and Gao Zhen was a spy planted by the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao in the Anning Guard, intentionally hiding his tracks when he went out that day.

Li Rui had been following behind, seeing everything clearly.

If he wasn't mistaken, Gao Zhen should have gone to search for clues about the Wan Wan Du Gui's death, or perhaps to find the Immortal Qi.

After all, there were three people in the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao, and two had Immortal Qi; there was no reason the strongest, the Wan Wan Du Gui, wouldn't have any.

Doing such things, of course, one couldn't be discovered.

He didn't even need Li Rui to strike and wipe away the clues; Gao Zhen had cut off all the clues himself, which actually saved him a lot of trouble.

If he hadn't run into Li Rui, he would have actually done it very cautiously and perfectly.

It was just a pity that he happened to provoke Li Rui.

"Cao Wei can't find Gao Zhen, so he will definitely report it to Annan Town; perhaps even the Imperial City will know about this matter, and then they will send people to investigate."

"An Imperial Court official died, so they must find out the result."

However, Li Rui didn't have much panic in his heart.

He had that heavy rain to thank for this.

It washed away almost all the traces he had left; even if that Lord Di from his previous life came, he wouldn't be able to find anything.

As for investigating him...

That was even less possible.

He wasn't lacking in witnesses or material evidence.

He, a little old man, hadn't even left the Anning Guard; how could he kill someone?

And he was only a Seventh-Rank martial artist; killing a Sixth-Rank Dragon Gate realm expert was simply a fantasy to outsiders.

No one would suspect him.

In the end, besides his own cautious actions, he had Gao Zhen's crooked heart to thank for digging his own grave.

It's said that the timing, location, and people were all in his favor.

He deserved to die.

Another month passed.

The matter couldn't be hidden in the end.

In desperation.

Cao Wei could only report Gao Zhen's matter to Annan Town; after all, if this matter continued to be hidden, his own guilt would be even greater.

Sure enough.

Regional Commander Xue was furious, then the Gao clan was furious, and finally, His Majesty was furious.

A series of furies resulted in the Ministry of Justice having to personally send people to Qinghe to investigate.

"I heard the people from the Ministry of Justice will arrive in Qinghe in a few days."

Ning Zhongtian said.

But no matter how one looked at it, his face was full of schadenfreude.

Two months had passed, and they still hadn't found Gao Zhen's whereabouts; either he had a miraculous encounter as in the storybooks and was trapped in a secret realm, or he was dead.

The immortals were gone, so the secret realm naturally wouldn't exist, so the result was self-evident—he was definitely dead.

It was just that there was no corpse, so Cao Wei still reported it as missing.

But what Sixth-Rank official would go missing for two months in one go?

Ning Zhongtian felt relieved. "I don't collect people; heaven collects them itself."

He grinned.

Gao Zhen clearly wanted to mess with him; hindered by his status as a Gao clan member, he couldn't strike to kill, but he didn't expect that before he could act, Gao Zhen would die himself.

It was truly the cycle of cause and effect; retribution was swift.

Li Rui and the others listened to Ning Zhongtian's news.

Their expressions were different.

Among them, Li Rui was naturally the most calm, not only because he did things without leaving evidence, but also because he had the Wisdom Eye to warn him; if he were really discovered, he could just run away in advance and dive into the deep mountains.

Of course, that possibility was minimal.

Compared to Gao Zhen's insistence on killing him, the danger could be ignored.

Able to attack and defend; since he had a way out, he naturally had nothing to fear.

=9+Shu_ba

"The people from the Ministry of Justice are coming; if we can avoid seeing them, we will; try to cooperate as much as possible, and don't cause conflict."

Ning Zhongtian called his few confidants over today specifically to warn them about this matter.

Tan Hu was puzzled: "Why? We didn't kill him."

Ning Zhongtian knew Tan Hu would ask this, and these words were specifically for Tan Hu to hear.

It didn't matter if Tan Hu caused trouble in Qinghe; after all, he was the Garrison Commander of the Anning Guard and could smooth things over.

But if he provoked the people from the Ministry of Justice, that would be tricky.

Ning Zhongtian: "Tiger, do you know why almost no one from the Gao clan has been in jail all these years?"

"Why?"

"Because the Gao family's Second Master is the Minister of Justice."

"This time, on the surface, it's the Imperial Court sending people to investigate the case, but in reality, it's the Gao family wanting to get back at us; we had a conflict with Gao Zhen before, so they might use this to make a big fuss."

"Head Ning, I understand."

Tan Hu nodded with unusual seriousness.

He just didn't like using his brain, but that didn't mean he was stupid.

On the contrary.

As long as someone pointed it out, he would understand immediately, being more intelligent than most martial artists.

Li Rui and the others also nodded in unison.

The Ministry of Justice was afraid they were coming with ill intentions this time.

Even if they couldn't solve the case, they would definitely find a few scapegoats to settle the matter.

The Gao family had already lost someone; if they went to jump in their faces at this time, don't blame them for being desperate and grabbing people directly.

Ning Zhongtian stood up: "Alright, don't worry too much; the Ministry of Justice is the Ministry of Justice, and our Annan Army isn't under their jurisdiction, so they won't be too reckless."

After saying this, he was the first to walk out of the main hall.

Li Rui and the others left in the main hall looked at each other.

They also walked out one after another.

Li Rui returned home.

First, he heard the sound of Liu Tiezhu blacksmithing in the backyard; fortunately, the residence was large enough, otherwise he would definitely be punished for disturbing the military.

Then came Liang He's low shout.

What a prosperous scene.

"Master."

Seeing Li Rui, Liang He hurriedly stopped what he was doing and saluted respectfully.

Li Rui didn't see Wang Zhao, so he asked.

"Did Xiao Zhao go to the Horse-Tending Hall?"

"No, he's in the backyard stable."

Li Rui nodded: "Continue practicing."

After saying this, he walked slowly toward the backyard with his hands behind his back.

A moment later.

He saw Wang Zhao standing by the horse trough, muttering something to the Red Dragon Horse.

The scene was very strange.

"Xiao Zhao, what are you doing?"

Seeing Wang Zhao's strange behavior, Li Rui couldn't help but be curious.

Wang Zhao was actually communicating with the Red Dragon Horse, and the man and horse were talking back and forth, chatting enthusiastically.

This was truly eye-opening.

He had raised horses for decades; to say he could communicate with horses was doable.

But to say they were having a direct dialogue was nonsense.

Horses understand human nature because of habit, not because they can truly understand human speech; otherwise, wouldn't they really become spirits?

Wang Zhao was engrossed in talking when he was suddenly startled by Li Rui's words behind him.

Turning his head, he saw Li Rui already standing behind him.

He hurriedly saluted: "Master."

Then he said hesitantly: "Master, I... I seem to be able to understand what Big Red is saying."

Big Red was the name Wang Zhao gave the Red Dragon Horse.

"Understand... understand horse speech?!"

Li Rui was greatly shocked.

He didn't expect Wang Zhao was really communicating with the Red Dragon Horse.

Understand horse language?

A natural-born groom saint body?

He looked at the Red Dragon Horse again; although the Red Dragon Horse had half the bloodline of a demon beast, it definitely couldn't understand human language.

Wang Zhao also felt his words were a bit bizarre, explaining: "I don't know what happened; when I woke up this morning, I heard Big Red calling me to get up. At first, I thought I was dreaming, but it turned out I could really understand."

Wait, woke up this morning, opened his eyes and saw Big Red?

Li Rui was speechless.

It turns out his disciple sleeps in the stable every day; he's treating the Red Dragon Horse like a wife.

Just then.

The Red Dragon Horse, Big Red, cooperated extremely well, snorting, its horse mouth opening and closing, actually looking like a person speaking.

Li Rui's expression became strange.

"Then what is it saying now?"

Wang Zhao blinked:

"It says... everything I said is true."

"..."

(End of chapter)