Chapter 44: Mediation

"It's your turn." Zhang Siche said indifferently, "You still have one more round after the first round of fighting is over; use it first. Return it to me when it's my turn to go on stage."

He added: "How about it, continue the story?"

Yet in the Northern King's mansion, Xi Wu Chou was about to act for heaven, but was stopped by a neutral voice.

Looking back, it was an acquaintance, precisely the Inspector of this prefecture, Li Zhang.

If it were someone else blocking him, Xi Wu Chou would naturally ignore it, but since it was this Lord Li, who had met him several times in the Divine Capital and now had a good reputation, Xi Wu Chou temporarily pressed his sword against Gao Muzhen's neck.

Li Zhang was also very surprised to see Xi Wu Chou, and after a strange question and Xi Wu Chou's explanation, he understood the whole story.

"Truly... lawless!" Li Zhang glared at Gao Muzhen, but after thinking for a moment, he placed his hand on Xi Wu Chou's arm.

"Hero Xi, although this person deserves to die, it is not appropriate for you to kill him here."

"Why?"

Li Zhang frowned and slowly stated three reasons.

First, Xi Wu Chou had no official position; although he had a reputation as a hero, it was fine to punish some bandits and small officials on weekdays, but now that he wanted to use private lynching on the King's son, it would inevitably bring disaster upon himself.

Second, the Northern King was a person who cared about face; now the King's mansion was grandly holding the ceremony of returning to the clan and had notified many people. If it suddenly spread that this child was a beast who raped and killed a good woman and had been brought to justice by someone, it would hurt the Northern King's face too much.

Third, this matter could be handled more smoothly, that is, first inform the Northern King, let him expel this child from the family on the grounds of bad character, and then the yamen would arrest him, and after the storm passed, he could be quietly executed.

After these words were spoken, Xi Wu Chou naturally had no objections.

He only wanted Gao Muzhen to be brought to justice; he had no grudge against the Northern King. If the Northern King was reasonable and just didn't want to hurt his face, he was willing to cooperate.

Although his temperament was sharp due to his many experiences in the wind and frost, and his appearance was too handsome, often making people feel uneasy unintentionally, in reality, Xi Wu Chou was not without a casual side. Walking in the pugilistic world, as long as there was no fundamental contradiction, he was not always aggressive.

Li Zhang breathed a sigh of relief: "Then please tie up this criminal, Hero Xi; I will go and explain the reason to the old lady myself, and when the Northern King returns, I will also negotiate."

Xi Wu Chou nodded, took Gao Muzhen to the firewood room, and guarded him personally, not leaving, waiting quietly for the result of the negotiation.

It was not until the middle of the night that Li Zhang returned, sweating; it turned out that the situation was not going smoothly. The old lady said this was the only seedling of the Gao family and refused to let go, and had already sent someone to notify the Northern King.

At this time, the matter had been exposed. If he were to kill Gao Muzhen with a sword, it would inevitably make Li Zhang offend the Northern King's mansion, so Xi Wu Chou first followed Li Zhang's words and took the person to the state government prison for custody, still leaving Li Zhang here to wait for the Northern King.

The Northern King had guarded the border for more than ten years and had great prestige; he must not want to suffer damage because of such matters.

However, Li Zhang waited quietly for a long time, but received a message: "The dog is not filial, causing Lord Li trouble; I will definitely discipline him well in the future."

Xi Wu Chou then wanted to simply carry Gao Muzhen to the gate of the King's mansion and kill him, taking responsibility alone, and definitely not implicating Li Zhang.

But now the King's mansion thought Gao Muzhen was in Li Zhang's hands. If something happened, how could he escape the connection? He hurriedly persuaded Xi Wu Chou, saying he would go and persuade him in person again.

Xi Wu Chou then said: "Then let two days be the limit."

After saying that, he took Gao Muzhen and left.

Li Zhang looked at the empty prison cell and couldn't help but regret getting involved in this muddy water.

As for this Li Zhang, he was truly honest and truly enforced the law impartially, but when he was serving in the Six Ministries of the Divine Capital years ago, he received a comment: "Has spirit but no backbone, likes to show off and easily exhausted."

At this moment, the toxicity of the commentator's eyes was revealed. Li Zhang saw Xi Wu Chou use private lynching, and he really wanted to protect Xi Wu Chou and save the trouble of angering the King's mansion, so he took this matter onto his shoulders.

Before the old lady and the Northern King, he only said that he had investigated this case, not revealing Xi Wu Chou's name; firstly, to protect Xi Wu Chou, and secondly, to add a reputation for himself of not fearing the King's mansion and enforcing the law impartially.

However, the Northern King, who was usually mighty, strict, and impartial, was actually willing to shield this child he hadn't seen twice, which was something he hadn't expected.

At this time, he was anxious, not so much because he was afraid he couldn't let the evil person be brought to justice, but rather because he was afraid of the Northern King's anger that would pour out after Xi Wu Chou really killed Gao Muzhen.

And Xi Wu Chou had never had any hesitation, nor would he leave Gao Muzhen to others. Once the two days were up, he would definitely kill Gao Muzhen.

Li Zhang gritted his teeth and had to go and persuade the Northern King again.

As for Xi Wu Chou, he took the person away and lived in the city of Yin for these two days.

He came to this place with two purposes: one was to find a legendary martial art, and the second was that if he couldn't find it, he would build a hut on the spot to make a breakthrough.

He asked about the first purpose everywhere without covering it up, but only he knew about the second purpose for now.

If this news spread, it would definitely cause an uproar.

Xi Wu Chou was thirty-two years old; he had only hung up his Crane and entered the Mystic Gate six years ago. Compared with those true proud sons of heaven, he could be considered a late bloomer.

However, who would have thought that three years ago, he participated in the Feather Scale Trial and ascended to the twenty-third place as soon as he entered the ranking.

He truly became famous throughout the world.

Now three years had passed, and a new Feather Scale Trial was about to be held. Everyone was guessing whether he could enter the top ten, and some even boldly bet on him in the top five, yet who would have thought his gaze was no longer here, but he was preparing to break the Mystic Realm and ascend to the Heavenly Tower, becoming one of the few great figures in the world.

Of course, it was not because of this confidence that he dared to manage the Northern King's mansion; even if his meridian tree had only just been formed, he would still kill this person if he wanted to.

He entered the martial arts world at fourteen, and at nineteen, when his meridian tree was in its fifth life, he killed the "Desert King" He Lan Zhu, who was in the eighth life realm, in the Western Desert. From then on, he entered the Immortal Platform and solved hundreds of cases; at twenty-three, in the case of "The Legacy of the General's Pulse" in a mountain city in the southwest, he faced the 【Luofu】 of the Sun-Swallowing Society and killed a Master head-on with an eighth-life realm, almost single-handedly thwarting that heart-stopping plot.

After returning to the capital, he relied on this merit to become the first "Crane Inspector" of the Immortal Platform who had not yet become a Master, but three years later, he resigned and wandered the world.

Perhaps it was because of too many desperate rebirths in the first half of his life that Xi Wu Chou did not take his own life very seriously, which in turn led to him having no awe for many things.

The Northern King's mansion, with ten thousand border troops, he could clearly realize that this power was enough to easily crush him, but he was still too lazy to cover up his killing of Gao Muzhen.

On the afternoon of the second day, Xi Wu Chou went to the state yamen to inquire and saw Li Zhang sitting in a chair with a relaxed face—the Northern King had let go.

It turned out that the King's mansion had found news of another illegitimate child elsewhere, so this one was left to be dealt with.

"How is this Northern King like a hen, laying eggs wherever he goes?" Xi Wu Chou laughed.

Li Zhang hurriedly covered Xi Wu Chou's mouth and said: "The court will open tomorrow. Once the evidence is gathered, he can be convicted, and then he will be beheaded immediately."

Xi Wu Chou nodded and immediately went to the Kuiju Town to pick up the scholar to come to the court and ask him to see the enemy beheaded with his own eyes. ===== CHAPTER 45 =====