Chapter 21

Shen Tang didn't understand. They were eating together happily, and he had even taken the initiative to treat her leg after the meal. Why did Lu Xingzhou suddenly cut ties afterward?

Furthermore, she waited for Liu Qingcang to report the matter of the apprentices to the City Lord, but there was no follow-up. She didn't know if Liu Qingcang had realized this tactic was useless and had given up.

Even though the intense conflicts of the past few days seemed to have calmed down and entered a development phase, Shen Tang still sensed that the atmosphere was becoming even more ominous.

The old Huo family residence across the fields had been locked up and desolate for some time due to the murder case and the lack of a leader. In the last two days, members of the main family had returned. Outside the gate, there was a constant stream of carriages and horses, with countless Xiazhou celebrities coming to pay their respects. Every day, there was the sound of music, and it was extremely noisy.

After making inquiries, she learned that the one who returned was the sixth young master of the Huo family, surrounded by a crowd of powerful guards. Shen Tang followed Lu Xingzhou's advice and instructed her disciples to try not to go out recently to avoid inviting trouble.

Shen Tang also noticed that before leaving, Lu Xingzhou had temporarily retracted the array that stole spiritual energy from the Huo residence, seemingly not wanting to alert the other party.

"He suddenly wanted to treat my leg, was it because of this?" Shen Tang asked Dugu Qingli: "Feeling that the spiritual energy couldn't be used, and feeling that the extra rent I paid was a loss?"

Dugu Qingli considered it: "I think he purely wanted to treat you. Before, you were just a tenant, and he didn't want to put in too much effort."

"Then what is it now?"

The word "paramour" that Sheng Yuanyao had mentioned flashed through Dugu Qingli's mind, and she pursed her lips without answering.

You touched each other's legs anyway.

Shen Tang asked again: "Then why did he suddenly leave?"

Dugu Qingli: "Are you a curious baby?"

Shen Tang: "..."

Dugu Qingli was expressionless, feeling a little pleased inside.

Shen Tang glared at her for a while, then asked: "When Sheng Yuanyao was investigating the Huo family murder case, did she ever list Lu Xingzhou as a suspect?"

Dugu Qingli said: "Yes. On the day we first met, Sheng Yuanyao went to Danxia Mountain to investigate whether Lu Xingzhou had an alibi during the murder."

"Later, when the Demon Suppression Division closed the case, they didn't announce it publicly. Do you know what the conclusion was?"

"I asked about it when you had me investigate Lu Xingzhou before. The report submitted by Sheng Yuanyao stated that the murderer was the seventh young master of the Huo family, Huo Shang, who had died ten years ago and returned to take revenge after completing his training."

At this point, the two looked at each other, the same thought popping into their minds, and they said in unison: "He is Huo Shang?!"

Shen Tang whispered to herself: "If it is Huo Shang, it explains where he got that aristocratic temperament. Even if he wasn't favored as a child, he still received education related to a noble family..."

Actually, Sheng Yuanyao still held this suspicion to this day, which is why she had pointedly asked him that day "Isn't it better to be alive?", and later reminded him to avoid the Huo family.

The reason for the suspicion was the same; the education one receives from childhood determines one's temperament, and Lu Xingzhou clearly should not have come from a background of suffering. No one would have thought that he was a student from a modern ivory tower, naturally possessing a gentle, scholarly air. Moreover, Lu Xingzhou was not just a student back then; after graduation, he had always worked in management positions, which gave him even more poise.

All the guesses everyone could make could only lean toward Huo Shang.

Previously, Lu Xingzhou felt that Shen Tang and her group didn't seem like the Profound Heaven Sword Sect. Aside from Dugu Qingli's style being off, Shen Tang's temperament was also a major point of suspicion. The Profound Heaven Sword Sect was a sect of swordsmen, yet Shen Tang was like a young lady of a noble family; this difference in temperament was very obvious.

It shows how similar this pair is, even the suspicions they give to others are the same.

Shen Tang continued to sort it out: "Based on the interlocking schemes he has displayed, if he is Huo Shang, then the Huo family murder was definitely not as simple as killing a few servants to vent anger, but to lure the Huo family members over to kill them... Severing the Huo family head steward's tendons was also to attract the Huo family to bring medicinal treatments. Such medicine is hard to find, but it's easy for the Huo family. This is his most convenient plan; he wants to seize the medicine to treat his leg!"

Dugu Qingli was stunned: "Just the two of them, master and apprentice, dare to plot against the Huo family?"

"This is his dangerous wall... He doesn't want to implicate you and me." Shen Tang leaned back in her chair, looking out the window in a daze: "I finally understand his withdrawal, and why he wanted to treat my leg before leaving. He was afraid that if his plan failed, he could at least leave me a prescription."

Dugu Qingli looked at her: "Your tone... you want to help him?"

Shen Tang said faintly: "You don't?"

Dugu Qingli blurted out that it had nothing to do with her, but for some reason, the words of clarification didn't come out. She only said: "My mission is to protect you, and I don't want you to blindly get involved in trouble."

Shen Tang laughed: "In other words, if it weren't for the mission, you would personally be quite happy to help?"

Dugu Qingli kept a straight face: "The Huo family are not good people, and Master also hates them."

Shen Tang said leisurely: "Actually, whether I help him or not, this trouble has already come to our door. Since Liu Qingcang is hanging out with Huo Yu, he will naturally use Huo Yu's hands to deal with us."

Dugu Qingli nodded: "Yes."

Shen Tang added: "Tell me, how does the Huo family's trouble compare to my trouble?"

Dugu Qingli blurted out: "Not worth mentioning."

Shen Tang's eyes were deep: "Then how could I be afraid of one more trouble that isn't worth mentioning..."

Dugu Qingli pursed her lips and said nothing.

…………

"Master, didn't you originally want to use the Profound Heaven Sword Sect as muscle? Using that mediocre spiritual energy-stealing effect to trick them into renting the house was specifically for this, wasn't it?"

Lu Xingzhou: "..." Can't a sweet potato block your mouth?"

A-Nuo sighed: "But what is this performance of yours now, not wanting to implicate them? Even if you want to clear your name, it's already too late! Even without you, just the fact that Liu Qingcang has a grudge with the Shen Clan Trading Firm, he would still find Huo the Sixth to help deal with Shen Tang."

Lu Xingzhou said gloomily: "Huo the Sixth came for the sake of Huo Shang's matter after all. What is Liu Qingcang? How could his grudge be prioritized by Huo the Sixth... Moreover, Liu Qingcang hates me far more than he hates Shen Tang. If he really wants to incite Huo the Sixth to deal with someone, it would be me first. Now that we've moved out, the first wave of attacks will inevitably fall on us. I will use this to stir up some trouble to occupy Huo the Sixth's attention, so he doesn't focus on Shen Tang."

A-Nuo looked at him strangely: "This completely overturns your previous plan, putting yourself in the line of fire."

"I originally had two plans. First, it wasn't certain that I could trick people into being muscle. Would I wait for fools to come to my door before acting? Second, using others as muscle is ultimately not very good. Others are innocent; this is my own business."

"Go ahead and lie to yourself."

"I say, you little thing, before it was 'sister this, sister that, you're my own sister'..."

"I also called Sister Yu before, didn't I still run off with you?"

"..."

A-Nuo said: "Anyway, if you don't use muscle, and just rely on the two of us, how will you achieve your goal?"

"There are ways, of course." Lu Xingzhou sneered: "I didn't expect that after so many years, with such good resources, Huo the Sixth only has sixth-grade strength. It's truly laughable."

A-Nuo also laughed: "He really is a loser."

Look at Lu Xingzhou's conditions, look at Huo Yu's conditions, and Huo Yu is two years older. Lu Xingzhou managed to cultivate to the seventh grade despite being full of injuries, yet Huo Yu, with such good resources, only has one grade higher strength... I really don't know where he gets the face to put on airs, claiming to be a top noble family.

Even she, A-Nuo, is already fifth-grade. It seems the ability of the dignified Huo family head to raise children is not as good as Lu Xingzhou's.

"However, he has many treasures on hand, and there must be powerful magic treasures, so we cannot be careless." Lu Xingzhou tapped the armrest of his chair lightly: "Besides, the two attendants he brought are both fifth-grade..."

Just hearing this strength is extremely troublesome: two fifth-grade guards, Huo Yu himself is sixth-grade and full of treasures, and the rest of the guard team is not to be trifled with, with plenty of seventh and eighth-graders. Even Liu Qingcang is a fifth-grade martial cultivator, and City Lord Xu Bingkun is also a fifth-grade.

Here we have a pitiful fifth-grade child and a seventh-grade cripple.

This is just one young master coming out, and it already makes one feel like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Yet Lu Xingzhou didn't have much of a heavy expression. He leisurely wheeled his chair out to the corner of the inn street and drew a pattern on the base of the wall.

That night, a man in black appeared like a ghost in the inn room: "Is it you who wants to buy a life from the Impermanence? ...Eh? Judge, why is it you..."

A-Nuo sat on the windowsill eating a sweet potato, her little feet swinging, and waved to him in greeting.

"Ah, Lord A-Nuo, you are here too..."

Lu Xingzhou said: "Don't... I am no longer a Judge. I am here as a client to buy a hit from your Hall."

Man in black: "..."

What to do when the leader becomes a client? The organization's training never covered this...

"What, when others buy a hit to kill me, you all take the job, but when I buy a hit to kill others, you all go mute?"

The man in black said helplessly: "Regarding Liu Qingcang buying a hit to kill you, we didn't know it was you at first. After all, with your name, there are many people with the same name. We really didn't think the traitor Liu Qingcang mentioned, who worked in his Danxia Gang for half a year, would be you. What virtue or ability does Liu Qingcang have? Who does he think he is to have you assisting him... Who could have thought of that..."

"Flattering me now won't get you a promotion."

"It's really not... In any case, if I were the one on the mission, I would have definitely retreated upon seeing it was you..."

"Forget it. I know it happened to be those idiots' people on the mission, which is why they dared to actually make a move on me. When he saw the situation was bad, he even tried to lie to me that it was the Yama King's order, wanting me to spare his life."

"Then..." The man in black wiped his sweat: "My lord... oh no, since Mr. Lu has told me the ins and outs of this failed mission, c-can I report it?"

"No... of course, I'm not ordering you as a Judge, but suggesting it. If my friends find out you actually took a mission to kill me, you will die very miserably."

Eight years of heart and blood—of course, there wouldn't only be opponents and competitors in the Yama Hall. There would also be friends who shared life and death, as well as old subordinates who still respected him like the person before him.

Lu Xingzhou hadn't been that much of a failure in his conduct.

But when Lu Xingzhou said this, the thought that brushed through his heart was... if Yuan Muyu knew, would she kill you?

The man in black sighed: "I understand. Who does Mr. Lu want to kill this time? Liu Qingcang? We will go back and draft a plan, and within three days, we will present his head to you."

"Have I not taught you to do your research before taking a mission and to have a clear idea? Before, you dared to act recklessly without even checking if it was the same name. Now, you don't even know Liu Qingcang is following Huo Yu. You want to kill? What are you going to kill with? Delivering your own head?"

"I..."

The more Lu Xingzhou spoke, the more annoyed he became. He patted the armrest and said: "I've been gone for less than a year, and the rules of the Yama Hall have become so loose? It's simply a mess! How are those people doing their jobs! Yuan..."

He closed his mouth halfway through, his expression unreadable.

Does it really make no difference to you whether I am there or not?