Chapter 359

That sword hovered in the air, drifting through a smooth arc like a swimming fish, and aimed its tip at them again. It turned its body lightly, as if the tremor from the just-concluded sword clash made it somewhat uncomfortable.

"Demon... Demon Sword!" Kong Lanting finally spat out these two words in a hoarse voice.

Guan Qianyan looked at this scene in shock, subconsciously shaking her head. Meanwhile, in the surrounding thick fog, more sharp objects of unknown form had already surrounded them, and those traversing disturbances gradually stopped being chaotic, instead seeming to begin to condense into the same thick flow.

Slower, but more obvious ripples slowly pushed open in the fog.

Guan Qianyan looked back at the boy who was gritting his teeth and clutching his wrist with a pale face. In the just-concluded clash, he had undoubtedly injured his tendons and bones; he would likely never be able to produce a sword strike like the one just now again.

And that was only its ordinary sword strike, and it was only an ordinary one among them.

"."

But Zhang Meiqing said that was Ji Feng's method of death.

Gan Zifeng listened to the report of the young man beside his ear. The blood flowing under his eyes began to solidify slowly, and he suddenly felt a vague and inexplicable sense of deviation in his heart.

"Sometimes investigating a case is actually just like this magic trick." The old man with a strange and fierce appearance looked at the stage. "Especially with suspicious or unsolved cases, you always want to peel the cocoon layer by layer, determined to drill through the dead end... in fact, you have already entered the logic he defined."

"." Zhao Cheng opened his mouth twice, and Gan Zifeng looked over; his finger was resting on two identical names, one new and one old.

"That's right... Zhang Shixiong Caiyue grew up under Uncle-Master Dai and has always valued cultivation above everything else since he was little." The blue-clad young girl said with a slight tremor, "He is usually arrogant and wild because he believes that practicing the sword is greater than everything; he practices the sword well, so he is a cut above others... He cannot accept this news now."

". My lord?"

"."

Gan Zifeng had indeed done so at the time, but that corpse had indeed been left for a long time, and there were too many factors that could lead to the same subtle changes. This kind of groundless speculation was not recognized by the Law Enforcement Hall.

"You see, the lifelessness of the dead is relaxation and diffusion, but the loss of the Sword Mind Realm is depth and obsession." Zhang Meiqing pointed at the eyes that had completed the restoration. "The reason they tampered with the eyes is because this point can be seen very easily!"

"We just conducted an investigation under that rock shadow." Zhao Cheng handed over a rather sloppy thin booklet. "We originally set up a concealment array there, and under these circumstances, to still observe the movements of the people inside, we cooperated with the disciples of the Artifact and Array Halls to list six locations and five methods."

Such a table is indeed difficult to find in a hurry, let alone the duty roster from seven years ago, but fortunately, the person involved is right here.

This sword stopped right in front of her throat, as if frozen in the air.

But...

"How is that possible?" Shi Yinglin said blankly. ". This must be a coincidence, Elder Gan, just like me being here now... there must be some misunderstanding."

The man's calm and patient voice had long been a memory swept to the edge, and at this moment, it blurred and surfaced again.

"What?"

Gan Zifeng suddenly remembered the few months he spent lingering beside that Inspector Wuhe.

Blood streaks, extravasation, protrusion, distortion... bit by bit, it was restored to its normal appearance, and finally, a pair of intact eyes settled on the paper.

"Yes!"

Sharpness pressed against her throat, and the young girl felt a cold chill all over her body, but that moment did not arrive.

Everyone present was almost shocked, and Gan Zifeng turned his head suddenly: "Xi Tianji, Jiang Yitong, where are these two people now?"

Gan Zifeng was pursing his lips and looking at the painting in his hand at this moment. These eyes that had diffused after death were so normal, without any so-called "depth and obsession."

The slightly chubby man turned his head back, dressed in the Law Enforcement Hall uniform, looking to be in his twenties, and looked at him blankly: "What is it, Elder?"

"El... Elder." The slightly chubby disciple said somewhat cautiously, "The patrol of the various peaks has always been one person from each peak, one person on duty for one month... I am a disciple of Candle Peak. If we count backward, Zhang Shixiong Ji Feng's month should have been Yuanwu Peak's turn."

"But the 'lifelessness' injured by the Sword Mind Realm is not like this; the pupil size will not change, and external objects can also be reflected in the pupils, but everything in front of the person seems transparent; he has no focus at all."

Gan Zifeng's eyebrows furrowed even tighter, and he stared silently at the corpse under his feet.

"Wait—you." Gan Zifeng frowned and called him to stop.

Gan Zifeng finished drawing these eyes, then turned the brush handle and placed the hairless end on the paper. He redrew every detail caused by the heavy impact of the fall, and those ink lines disappeared one by one as the brush handle passed over them.

Then there was the disturbance of the thick fog being pushed away. The condensed thing was slowly swimming away. Guan Qianyan's gaze followed the direction of the fog flow in a daze, and she slowly raised her head.

Zhao Cheng quickly took paper and pen over. Gan Zifeng took them, refusing the request to do it for him. He knelt on the ground on both knees, pursing his lips and drawing these eyes without saying a word.

". What? My lord."

"So this is the method they used to cover up the truth!" Gan Zifeng remembered the hand that the man had pressed in front of him at the time, which was squeezed until it turned white. "Listen to me, you draw these eyes in detail, then draw another one facing it, removing the blood streaks, gray-white, and flocculation on it... then look at it again."

But now, the corpse in front of him was still very fresh.

Gan Zifeng pursed his lips and his gaze flickered. At this moment, a somewhat dry male voice sounded from the side: "Someone... told him."

Gan Zifeng looked at him.

"But who could tell him?" Zhao Cheng frowned. "There were too many people who could talk to him in a day, and we didn't have surveillance..."

At this time, many Law Enforcement Hall personnel had already arrived, and the investigation began to unfold in a new direction. Zhao Cheng flipped through the booklet, and it wasn't until the last page that he suddenly stopped his finger on a name, revealing a somewhat blank expression.

". You mean the murderer just killed him—"

"Perhaps there is no murderer." Gan Zifeng turned to look at him. "What if he really committed suicide."

The Law Enforcement Hall was still operating to the maximum extent, and the blockade of the entire Xianqiao was already out in the open. The other party had taken the boy's life as easily as taking something from a bag, yet left no traces. This was something that all those who knew about this matter could not accept.

Gan Zifeng's gaze fell on Yan Caiyue's lifeless eyes, and he suddenly felt his whole person floating a bit.

Gan Zifeng slowly raised his head: "He only made his move after he saw me come down."

Is the murderer really on this roster? What exactly did the man from back then miss?

"The investigation is finished." Zhao Cheng walked to Gan Zifeng's side. "Everything has been verified, no one missed any place, and by the time the incident occurred, our blockade was still airtight."

"Actually, if you do this line of work long enough, you get a feeling. Sometimes you get a start, and you feel like you've taken the wrong path... this thing can't be taught either."

The two turned their heads, and Shi Yinglin was standing to the side, stiffly watching Yan Caiyue's corpse.

"Perhaps. But Peak Master, this corpse died from falling off a cliff, and it has been left for almost thirty hours; the blood in the pupils has already solidified... we have no way to distinguish the differences you mentioned."

Gan Zifeng remained silent, his gaze flickering.

No one around disturbed the Elder's contemplation. Gan Zifeng quietly rubbed the paper in his hand, looking at everything in front of him with empty eyes... Suddenly, a figure walked past him, and the old man's eyes stalled in hindsight.

"But now it is already dilated and lifeless."

". No, I am from the Outer Hall, my lord."

Those were countless memories of past experiences emerging one after another, connecting with the reality that was so similar, as if trying to pull him back to seven years ago.

Xi Tianji.

Gan Zifeng looked at this man in a daze and took a deep breath: "That's right, Zhang Meiqing is not from the Law Enforcement Hall, and he wouldn't remember this rule..."

As soon as Gan Zifeng frowned, Zhao Cheng had already spoken: "He was the one who helped record the guests, my lord—you forgot, besides the people we brought, there are usually Law Enforcement Hall people patrolling between the peaks, and today it was this Junior Brother's turn to be on duty. Of course, we kept him outside today and didn't let him in."

A silence.

"His state was very good!" Zhao Cheng was still incredulous. "At that time, the injuries had already been treated; he was lying in the quilt, and although his face was pale, his spirit was very good. We chatted with him for a few sentences, and he even showed us the gifts brought by the disciples of the various peaks... to tell you the truth, I think he was even a bit happy at that time, because living in such a place, I think he had never received so much enthusiastic care."

"We arrived late, and Yan Zhang Shixiong was not like that when we saw him, Elder." Shi Yinglin turned his head in a daze. "We asked him many things, but he didn't say a word, just staring at the roof beam without moving, like a corpse... I thought it was because he hadn't recovered yet."

"."

The two shrank their pupils at the same time, but Kong Lanting's sword this time was even slower than the young girl's. Guan Qianyan gritted her teeth and slashed with her sword, and sure enough, she missed again.

"There is an essential difference. Because when a person enters the Sword Mind Realm, there will be an illusion of falling into a bottomless depth, so the moment they look into the Sword Mind Realm, their pupils are fixed in a state of 'deep gazing.' Such people, even after death, can still see the difference—I will teach you how to distinguish..."

"But that's not it; someone told him the news from the Medical Hall... his meridian tree was ruined."

"At that time, this was still a lucrative job, and it was all done by facade disciples." Seeing that no one was speaking, the disciple continued. "At that time, the number one figure of Yuanwu Peak should have been Zhang Shixiong Jiang Yitong, right?"

"."

"There are no traces of soul-snatching." Gan Zifeng stood up and looked up at the cliff head.

Gan Zifeng had been a Law Enforcement Hall deacon for half his life and was very familiar with this scene. At this moment, just like many times before, he carefully outlined these lifeless eyes on paper stroke by stroke.

Something was wrong.

Not to mention Xi Tianji's identity and motive, he really couldn't beat Ji Feng at all when he was fourteen, let alone defeat him in one strike and then forcibly snatch his soul.

"It seems you are not among the people I brought." Gan Zifeng looked at this somewhat unfamiliar face and said coldly, "Were you transferred here later to support us?"

Is that direction the peak top?

——

Xianqiao Peak.

"He was not soul-snatched." Gan Zifeng whispered.

"Go investigate now!" The old man turned around suddenly. "I want to know immediately how the patrol rotation of the various peaks is arranged! On the day Ji Feng fell off the cliff, who was patrolling Xianqiao Peak!"

"."

The young girl fell into despair. The sword in front had already readjusted its posture. She hadn't thought about what to say to the boy in this last moment, and the sword had already swept over again.

This was indeed a name that was beyond expectation, but also incomparably reasonable.

He came over before noon, after Zhao Cheng and before Shi Yinglin; he had long been assisting with sect affairs, and it was easy for him to get news from the Medical Hall; he was also the most beloved senior brother of the current generation, no matter what he said... Yan Caiyue would definitely trust him one hundred percent.

"If there was a person who had been hiding somewhere on the periphery watching, and only entered the venue after you left... we indeed didn't find any traces of this person." Zhao Cheng said, "Of course, we will search deeper and more carefully next..."

But it didn't happen. At this critical moment, the sword seemed to hear some call; it retreated two feet slowly, then swept away suddenly and returned to the fog.

Zhao Cheng, who was still reporting, was stunned: "Oh... good."

"I know, eyes can't tell the difference." Zhang Meiqing said seriously. "After a person dies, the muscles in the eyes are no longer restrained, causing the pupils to dilate; because they no longer reflect external objects, they look like they are covered with gray dust, which is indeed a normal 'lifelessness'."

Gan Zifeng looked steadily at the corpse under his eyes and suddenly raised his hand: "Don't be in a hurry... get pen and ink, I need a fine brush."

Wrong.

"Then we gave him a warning bead and told him that we would guard the entire cliff, and he could contact us if there was anything unusual..." The young man was clearly more willing to accept that there really was a villain who harmed him. "How could he commit suicide?!"

Zhao Cheng took a deep breath and turned his eyes to whisper: "Elder, back then, Xi Tianji was only fourteen years old."

In this instant, Gan Zifeng really felt that he had completed a reunion with himself across seven years of time—the same place, the same corpse, the same case... the result that should have been swapped.

Guan Qianyan watched this scene, almost suffocating. As long as it moved forward two more inches, it would uncontrollably take her life.

"So we couldn't find traces of an intruder, because it was he himself who held his sword and walked to the edge of the Cloud Terrace, then jumped down." Gan Zifeng's voice was extremely cold. "Didn't you visit him when you came? What did he look like at that time?"

"But after a preliminary investigation, none of them fit."

"And that year was exactly when Jiang Yitong injured Ji Feng." The man continued. "It was inconvenient to visit, so Yuanwu Peak changed him to come over... it really should be a coincidence."

"What's wrong?"

"Sometimes you just have to think normally, think in your own way." The old man laughed hoarsely. "Just like this magic trick—what sound-listening artifact, you think too highly of him, that was just a plant!"

"What?" Zhao Cheng was stunned.

"The name roster hasn't been fully investigated yet!" Gan Zifeng shouted. "See who else is there!"

Zhao Cheng suddenly came back to his senses and went to get the set-aside roster again. Gan Zifeng turned his head and ordered again: "Xu Xun! Don't investigate the periphery, transfer people to Yan Caiyue's courtyard; I want to see how he knew that everyone had left the Cloud Terrace at that moment!"

"." Gan Zifeng narrowed his eyes slowly.

When the files were no longer trustworthy, he could only rely on everything left behind by the man who took the right path back then. It was just that even back then, Zhang Meiqing had flipped through the entire roster and couldn't find those two sufficiently abnormal names.

Zhao Cheng was stunned for a while: "They, they seem to be on duty to guard the back cliff today, so they stayed in the Hall."

——

Below the back cliff, Guan Qianyan and Kong Lanting had just climbed up along the cliff rock.

"We didn't go the wrong way!" The young girl looked at the vast peak top, and the fog finally dissipated here. She let out a heavy sigh of relief: "This is Jia-Nine Pillar!"

(End of Chapter)