Chapter 460: Supreme Court

【Flute Horse Sword】 is about the most mysterious branch among the top twelve sword sects. It is clearly listed with Tianshan and Shushan, but has no mountain gate at all. It is said that their number is never more than a hundred, wandering on the northern land, but they have never been cut off for hundreds of years.

This was also Pei Ye'

"This sword hasn't been touched by anyone for many years. If not for the Young Sword Lord pointing it out by name, I wouldn't have easily remembered it." Qiu Jiji turned around with his hands behind his back. "Alright, you can read it here. I'm leaving first."

"Mm-hmm." Pei Ye nodded and opened it, then suddenly frowned and looked up. "Oh, right, Pavilion Master, I'd like to ask you a question."

"Hm?" Qiu Jiji looked back and raised an eyebrow.

"What is your opinion on Confucius's Way of Sovereign and Subject?"

"."

Pei Ye blinked as he watched him.

Qiu Jiji furrowed his brows and walked out the door without saying a word.

He sat upright in the Sword-Storing Tower for the whole morning, roughly reading through the sword manual according to the sword-practicing method taught by Ming Qitian.

To be honest, he really liked Qiu Jiji's eye for picking swords for him at this moment—just like the handwriting and the binding, the writing style of this sword manual was also very "forgetting the words once the meaning is grasped," with plenty of vernacular and no pedantic nitpicking.

For a sword technique that requires precision, this is actually a disaster, but Pei Ye grew up from the old man's teaching of "just practice it blindly," and he was also terrifyingly sharp regarding swords, so it was truly one man's poison is another man's honey.

If given precise and dense wording, he would instead have to scratch his head and look up every word.

It was a pity that the sword manual could not be taken out of the Sword Tower, so Pei Ye closed it, waiting to read it again next time. Then he returned to the courtyard, changed out of this plain and elegant sword-practicing robe, put on his regular robe, picked up his sword, turned the Yan character plaque twice and put it away, picked up the black cat, and walked out of the courtyard gate.

Now, truly, not a single moment of time could be wasted. Having read the sword manual first like this, he could just think about the content on the road.

The Dali Temple was not situated in the Southern Office but stood independently outside the Imperial City. Early in the morning, the Xiuwen Pavilion had sent a carriage to wait outside the courtyard. Pei Ye lifted the curtain and got into the carriage, and the carriage moved steadily toward the west.

Of course, it would be faster for him to step on the eaves himself, but this was an act explicitly prohibited by the laws of the Divine Capital.

In reality, the higher a cultivator's cultivation, the more they are constrained in this great city. Incorporating such a massive city into the same order is a luxury unique to the human world, but it is also the guarantee that people come and go in an orderly fashion and the common folk live and work in peace.

When turning onto the main street, Pei Ye lifted the curtain, picked up the black cat, and threw it out.

West City, Dali Temple.

The solemn and exquisite carved gate, with four beast sculptures crowding out an aura of majesty.

Every decree seal issued by the Great Tang has a unique mystic pattern in the world. Pei Ye verified his Yan character plaque and walked in. First was the front hall, which could be called vast, where countless people involved in cases were sitting on stone stools, waiting for questioning or results. Pei Ye entered wearing his sword, and people naturally gave way. He strode through the front hall and the middle hall, and according to what Xu Chuo told him yesterday, he went straight to the small deliberation courtyard on the left.

The wooden door was closed, and he knocked lightly.

The courtyard seemed to quiet down. A moment later, the door was pulled open, revealing a face that was not unfamiliar.

With a stiff posture, a stern face, and wearing blue robes with a sword, it was precisely that Temple Assistant he had met a few times.

Seeing Pei Ye, the person was also stunned, his eyebrows slightly furrowed as he said, "May I ask..."

"Investigating a case." Pei Ye raised his hand to indicate the plaque. "World-Illuminating Immortal Terrace, Yan character Pei Ye."

Upon hearing this name, the Temple Assistant's pupils suddenly constricted. Pei Ye's expression remained as usual. "Regarding the case of the Wildman entering the prison, your office seems to have no time to reply. The Terrace sent me to get a progress report."

The Temple Assistant was silent for a moment, then raised his hand and cupped his fist. "Dali Temple Assistant, Li Zhao. Please come in, Yan Inspector Pei."

Li Zhao stepped aside from the doorway. "... Are you the one whose name and appearance were used by the criminal last time?"

"It is me." Pei Ye smiled. "I had many dealings with the Immortal Terrace when I was in Shaolong, and we handled many cases together. When I came to the Divine Capital, I took a plaque, and I help out when there's something to do."

Li Zhao nodded and led him toward the hall.

Li Zhao did not speak, and Pei Ye was not in a hurry to ask, tilting his head to look at the flowers and trees in the courtyard, as if he had indeed just come to help ask about it.

Until entering the hall, it felt as if he were suddenly enveloped by silence.

No one in the hall spoke. Pei Ye scanned the room; there were four or five people sitting or standing. Two were sitting with their heads down, writing rapidly, and one was flipping through case files. No one spoke, creating a quite solemn and upright atmosphere.

And the remaining person was quite out of place. He had placed two chairs together, his upper body lying lazily against them, his luxurious boots propped up on the desk, his official robe taken off and hung diagonally on the back of the chair, half of it already on the floor. Its color and pattern were different from everyone else's.

His hair was also not in a proper bun but was loose like a foreigner's. He held a thin jade staff in his hand, squinting as he teased the red snake on the rack, and did not even lift his eyes when the two pushed the door open and entered.

"The case files are right here." Li Zhao came to his desk, lowered his head, and spread them out. "That Wildman is named She Shi. He entered Changan from the north three years ago. All procedures were complete, and it was verified yesterday. There are no problems."

Pei Ye tilted his head to look, his hand resting on the desk. "How did he end up in prison?"

"The charge for entering prison is also normal. He killed a constable of the Prefecture Office. After being caught, he was also carrying other human lives on his back, so he was thrown into the heavy prison."

Pei Ye listened quietly. Having a normal reason for entering prison was not the problem; the two points after entering the Southern Office—the failure of the restraints and the prison cell arrangement—were the keys.

This should be very easy to investigate.

"That night, we checked his prison entry process. We don't know where the restraints were tampered with. We suspect it was planted in his body before entering the Southern Office. The person who did it had very high-level methods, and we haven't locked down the scope yet." Li Zhao lowered his head and leaned on the case files. He didn't flip the page, as if this simple case had long been in his heart. "As for Prison B-7, it was arranged by Warden Xu Jin."

Pei Ye raised his eyebrows slightly as he looked at him.

"He has already been suspended from duty for questioning and is now locked up in the Dali Temple's rear prison."

"No progress?"

"There is. Xu Jin is a very grounded person, and he said it the night before last." Li Zhao pursed his lips and said, "According to the rules, this Wildman should have been arranged in Prison C-9, but Yu Ziliang was at the Southern Office that night and had him changed to Prison B-7."

"After he finished changing it, he reported this matter to me. After I learned of it, I rushed to the prison."

Pei Ye frowned. "Who is Yu Ziliang?"

"It's me." The young man with his legs propped on the table tilted his head lazily and looked over, his ears almost touching his shoulders, a pair of bright eyes as beautiful as a woman's. "I told him to adjust it."

Pei Ye still hadn't reacted, frowning. "Why did you adjust this Wildman?"

"Just to kill someone, that's all." Yu Ziliang said annoyedly, "Your mother has asked how many times already."

He withdrew his legs and stood up, casually throwing his official robe over his neck. "I'm leaving, Li Zhao. I'm going to hunt foxes with the Third Prince in a while."

The jade staff picked up the small snake that looked like red jade, and he walked straight out.

Li Zhao lowered his head as if he hadn't heard, continuing, "There are many intricate parts to this matter. We are currently investigating the Southern Office and are also trying our best to follow the line of the loosened restraints. If your Terrace wants results, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while longer."

Pei Ye nodded. "Alright."