Chapter 353: Old Traces

"Later I thought, it was from the second day after he sat in the study for half a day, when he suddenly pushed the door open and called Jingbi in."

Perhaps things started to happen from here.

In her memories long after, Xu Shang noticed those silences with flickering eyes and worries that stopped at the lips. Under the disguise of sorrow, the man seemed to have become a different person. He began to leave early and return late, staying in the study for the whole night... Finally, after one night ended, Xu Shang pushed the door open in the morning, but the man was just returning from outside the courtyard.

There were some traces of fighting on him, but they were very subtle. Xu Shang thought he had gone to Xianqiaofeng again, but the man stopped her concerned words, turning a pair of calm eyes that made the woman hold her breath. Inside was a seriousness she had only seen in her life.

"I'm going out for a trip, A-Shang," the man said softly. "Come back in seven or eight days. You just live your days as usual—keep an eye on Jingbi, don't let him run around everywhere."

". What are you going to do?"

However, there was no answer. The man went straight to the building to take things and left.

This was the last time they saw each other.

"No more news at all?"

"No," the woman said in a daze. "On the fourth day after he left, the seal mark in the Peak Master Seal disappeared... It became an ownerless object."

"."

"I don't know where he died, and the Law Enforcement Hall couldn't find his traces... A living person just disappeared like this without a head or tail."

Seeing Pei Ye was silent for a while: "Does your late husband have any relics of his interactions with this Ji Feng?"

". Yes. But they are just some notes." Xu Shang walked to the bookshelf and pointed to the row of sword scrolls before. "Notes on some sword techniques when teaching. And some letters exchanged after the class ended."

She took down a box, inside which were many letter papers of different sizes.

Seeing Pei Ye nodded and took them down to read one by one.

There were many mentions of Ji Feng in the sword scrolls, such as "Feng's nature is weak, for the sake of practicing 'White Rainbow Chapter' in the future, I won't pick on his reckless mistakes here," etc., which were quite careful.

"Your late husband was truly a good teacher."

". Meiqing went to the Sword Academy when he was young," Xu Shang smiled with her head lowered. "He said he knew how to teach someone to learn sword."

Seeing Pei Ye stared and finished flipping through the scrolls. This part of the content stopped at Ji Feng returning to the mountain to learn sword.

Coming to the box, the content of the letters was much closer.

The woman classified them very finely, with a small bamboo stick separating the letters, engraved with the two characters "Ji Feng." Seeing Pei Ye opened and viewed them one by one. They were still mostly questions and answers about sword principles, but the content became much richer. The youth's pen began to reveal some sensitive thoughts—family, master, fellow disciples, young love... The man was also always patient and gentle in guiding him.

"Ji Feng trusted your late husband very much," Seeing Pei Ye closed a letter and said in a low voice.

". Yes, if there was anything, he liked to talk to him."

Seeing Pei Ye nodded and frowned slightly.

But he didn't speak again, continuing to flip through the letters. Suddenly his fingers paused, having already touched the last section. Behind were all square notes of the same size, the size of a palm, and there was a whole stack of them.

Seeing Pei Ye picked up a few sheets. The content on them was almost identical: "Senior Uncle Zhang, good afternoon. Greetings to Aunt Xu and Zhang Shixiong Jingbi. Following the previous appointment, I will come to disturb you tomorrow afternoon at the Shen hour. September 17th, Feng."

"This child is afraid of disturbing people, so he usually doesn't come by himself. Meiqing would often invite him," Xu Shang said softly beside him. "But even if he was invited the day before, he would always ask Jingbi to deliver a short note before coming."

Seeing Pei Ye flipped through them one by one; they were all similar handwriting. The last few were quite recent, matching the anxious and worried letters before the 【Iron Pine Sword Discussion】 that year, until the very last one, which was still "Senior Uncle Zhang, good afternoon. Respectfully asking for the well-being of Aunt Xu and Zhang Shixiong Jingbi. Sorry to trouble you again, I will wait respectfully at the Xu hour tonight. 30th, 21st, Feng."

Seeing Pei Ye was about to put this note back, but his hand suddenly paused, and he stroked the paper surface twice slowly: "Peak Master Xu, on which day did Ji Feng have the incident?"

". I don't remember," Xu Shang was stunned. "But, Meiqing left on March 27th, and passed away on April 1st."

"Hmm."

". Is there anything wrong?"

Seeing Pei Ye was silent for a moment: "I was thinking that Ji Feng might have relied on him more than your late husband thought."

"."

"So many years of care are not without response. Perhaps he valued the evaluation of that substitute Peak Master more, but he must have opened his heart wider to your late husband," Seeing Pei Ye looked at the letters in the box. "Look, he even carefully asked your late husband for his opinion at the end of the letter about what to give the girl he liked."

"So I think someone who is so trusting and dependent, and also so sensitive and polite," Seeing Pei Ye looked at the woman, "doesn't look like someone who would die decisively without saying goodbye when he had an appointment with your late husband."

"But, that is something that has already happened—"

"Hmm, I'll go to the Law Enforcement Hall to take a look at this case," Seeing Pei Ye kept this short note in his hand. "See you later, Peak Master Xu."

". See you later."

Xu Shang watched the calm and decisive youth leave silently, suddenly feeling as if this was the state of the man in the days before he left, running around everywhere.

——

Behind the Five Peaks, Law Enforcement Hall.

This cliff peak was shrouded in the deep and high shadows of the Five Peaks. It was noon, but the mist was still deep. Seeing Pei Ye passed through a long straight road in the mist and arrived at this "Ancient Kongdong of Six Hundred Years," an ancient building of scriptures guarded by the 【Great Si Mountain】.

Gan Zifeng said that the 【Great Si Mountain】 is generally chosen from the elder Peak Masters of the previous generation who have no relatives and are willing to spend the rest of their lives as companions to the scriptures. From then on, they organize scriptures and swords for Kongdong, maintain the mountain array, and never show their faces again, becoming a ghostly shadow in the ancient building in the deep mountains.

It is said that back then, Grand Uncle-Master Ji requested to be the Mountain Overseer himself, but because he was truly the pillar of the current Kongdong, he could not be relieved of his duties and thus gave up.

Now, the guide had already stopped and bowed at the end of the straight road. Seeing Pei Ye held the Law Enforcement Hall record card and came to the building alone, looking back to find his figure gone. Raising his head, the top of the building was also hidden in the mist.

This should be the largest and tallest building Seeing Pei Ye had ever seen, built against the mountain, as ancient as iron, as if it had grown out of the mountain cliff.

When the Law Enforcement Hall handed him the corresponding record card, they said that entering this building has no such thing as "entourage" or "companionship." Every person who enters should have a completely clear line of coming and going, whether checking, taking, or storing. Checking has a card, taking has a deposit, and storing has an execution—everything is meticulous.

When Seeing Pei Ye pushed the door and walked in, the high and vast hall was indeed solemn and quiet. The legendary 【Great Si Mountain】 did not show his face either. In fact, this was indeed the true secret of Kongdong; many disciples who entered the building did not know there was such a building guard.

But his gaze was indeed shrouding everything. In this building, any abnormal behavior would be faithfully recorded.

According to the guidance of the record card, Seeing Pei Ye went straight to the fourth floor. The Law Enforcement Hall files were placed in the left pavilion. Seeing Pei Ye walked in and looked up to see the vast number of scrolls.

But it was still empty.

Seeing Pei Ye lowered his head and looked at the record card in his hand. It was actually a square note pasted on a folding wooden card, written: "One leaf of lotus heart, nine birds under the pine, twelve feathers micro."

Gan Zifeng explained this square note to him. When storing a volume and entering the building, one gets such a receipt, which can be used to enter the building to check and also indicates the storage location of the volume.

"Lotus heart" refers to the peak name, directly under the 【Lotus Heart Pavilion】 of the Law Enforcement Hall; "one leaf" distinguishes it from other halls belonging to "Lotus Heart." Classics stored on different mountain peaks are placed on different floors. With these four characters, Seeing Pei Ye was able to come to this fourth-floor left pavilion.

"Under the pine" is the name of the hall, "nine birds" is the ninth book wall of the bird character, "feather micro" is the column, and "twelve" is the serial number.

Thus, Seeing Pei Ye squatted down and touched this thin case file.

A case that closed seven years ago... It was indeed in the place where it should be, unnoticed by anyone.

Seeing Pei Ye reached out and took it out, his gaze pausing on the side again.

Just to the right of this volume, there was an abrupt empty space. The volumes to the right were all neatly arranged, only here was a grid left empty. Seeing Pei Ye knew that when there were too many classic books in the scripture pavilion, some would be eliminated, so he withdrew his gaze and flipped through the case file in his hand.

It was just a normal step in investigating a case. The process was clear and simple. The Law Enforcement Hall had verified the corpse, questioned everyone who should be questioned, and even Dai Shangyu had been carefully investigated.

And Seeing Pei Ye had already read many case files. Now he pursed his lips and skipped all the investigation processes, flipping directly to the conclusion of the case.

The conclusion was written on this page, which stated: "Xianqiaofeng disciple Ji Feng, due to sword defeat and heart injury, hugged his sword and fell off the cliff before Yunping. The autopsy showed no wounds, and investigation showed no enemies. This case is concluded. Pass the responsibility to his master Dai Shangyu, and re-discuss the competition between the peaks of 【Iron Pine Sword Discussion】."

Seeing Pei Ye's gaze moved down and fixed on the two lines of words below.

"【Cause of death】: High fall."

"【Time of death】: March 21st, dusk."

Seeing Pei Ye slowly spread his hand. The handwriting on the short note in his hand was still old and clear—"Sorry to trouble you again, I will wait respectfully at the Xu hour tonight. March 21st, Feng."

Flipping to the next page, there was a supplementary record from that year.

"Colorful Wufeng Master Zhang Meiqing requested to re-examine the remains, suspecting abnormalities in the heart and pupils. However, due to the fall from a high cliff, the heart is inevitably shattered; the corpse was stored for three days, and the pupils should have turned gray. No follow-up."

——

"Zhang Meiqing accepted this result at first," Seeing Pei Ye walked quickly on the straight road, leaving the ancient building behind, his speaking speed very fast. "That night he returned to the peak and suffered for a whole night. But the next day, when he sat in the study flipping through past letters, he suddenly saw this short note delivered yesterday noon."

"That was when he realized that Ji Feng had not been waiting for him."

"He didn't have no desire to live, nor was he without attachment to this senior uncle who was like a teacher and friend," Seeing Pei Ye lowered his head and looked at this old note from seven years ago. "He was forcibly deprived of his life."

The black cat tilted its head: "But the Law Enforcement Hall did not recognize it."

"Because there were no clues to grasp," Seeing Pei Ye said. "Zhang Meiqing believed that Ji Feng would definitely not commit suicide after delivering the short note, but the Law Enforcement Hall did not recognize this reason. After Zhang Meiqing got this abnormality, he would definitely follow it and investigate."

"Where to?"

". Xu Shang said, in those few days, he would stay in the study all night."

The black cat narrowed its eyes.

"A person won't be suspicious of things he doesn't understand," Seeing Pei Ye stared at the mist ahead. "The case file says that after Ji Feng fell off the cliff, the corpse was damaged, and the eye sockets were bulging with blood. Zhang Meiqing said such eyes were 'abnormal'... Then he must have seen the appearance of that abnormality."

". What do you mean?"

"Xu Shang said, he had stayed in the Sword Academy."

——————

Colorful Wufeng.

Seeing Pei Ye returned to this study, looking up at the top row.

From their placement, one could see that even when the hostess was missing her late husband and flipping through these books, she rarely touched those boring and profound books on the Dao of implements.

Seeing Pei Ye didn't understand the Dao of implements either, but he wasn't here to study knowledge in this area.

"Notes? He did make them often; next to each volume is the corresponding notebook," Xu Shang said. "However, I don't quite understand them."

Seeing Pei Ye examined them one by one, pulling out all the books and notes involving the chapters on the mind, and some traces immediately became clear.

Even if one didn't understand these profound words, one could see that in a very short period of time, the man had read these chapters in large quantities and intensively.

Other chapters also had notes, but they were calm and careful. Only the handwriting and sketches in these chapters were sloppy and messy, and sometimes the first half of a sentence was in one book, and the second half ran to another volume.

In these books, a term was frequently sketched out.

Heart Amber.

Seeing Pei Ye pursed his lips and stared, turning to flip through those notebooks. The content was still a large number of strange sentences, but fortunately, there were dates this time. He flipped through them one by one. Xu Shang was stunned for a while beside him, and suddenly handed over three volumes: "These few should be relatively new."

Seeing Pei Ye took them, flipped to the last few pages of the corresponding chapters, and pressed his hand here.

They were no longer clearly organized notes; they were filled with a large number of messy records, deductions, and ideas... and there were new things added from time to time.

Xu Shang stared at all of this in shock. She had never imagined that among these dozen or so thick, dry notebooks, there would actually be the final writings left by her late husband.

The two immediately spread out these books in order. Xu Shang took a blank notebook, and the two sat at the table and began to organize them page by page.

With the help of the woman who was familiar with the handwriting, this work proceeded very quickly. Gradually, the man's traces back then were vaguely outlined. The worries of closing the heart in those days, after seven years, were finally displayed before the two one by one.

Xu Shang had already buried her head in her knees, sobbing silently. Seeing Pei Ye leaned on the table with both hands, looking at this notebook, his brow more solemn than ever before.

The first sentence the man wrote here was his first writing after returning from the Scripture Library, and it was also the starting point of his thinking in searching for the real culprit.

First.

"Yes, the nature of 【Heart Amber】 is close to jade rather than a mirror. It is a process that requires entering, and it must never make people lose consciousness at a glance. The reflection of the Heart Amber should be in three situations: the reflector throws himself into it, there is a gap in the state of mind, or there is no resistance."

"If Little Feng really encountered a 'Sword Heart Reflection' with an excessive dosage... he must have been controlled or deceived by someone first."

"Must go to Xianqiaofeng again."

Second.

"Two people."

"One made Little Feng have no precautions, one struck Little Feng with a heavy injury and loss of strength in one blow, leaving no external wounds."

"Although there were many people visiting that day, there was not a single outsider; although Kongdong martial arts are mixed, there is no such skill."

"A spy has mixed into the sect."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 354 =====