Chapter 25

After Ling Yan and Ling Chuanfeng left, the Kūn Gate Master also began arranging people to first investigate the situation of these few individuals. For him, being able to suppress this matter to the smallest possible scope and handle it would be best; if it blew up, things would be hard to say.

Moreover, these people are only suspects, not truly that foreign demon, so there's no need to use force.

On the other side.

Ling Chuanfeng and Ling Yan returned to their residence and immediately shut the door, refusing to see visitors.

Immediately, Ling Chuanfeng took a deep breath, looking at Ling Yan: "Alright, you go home now; do not step outside the house for three years."

Ling Yan's face turned pale as she pleaded: "Father, I want to stay here and help! My eyes are still useful!"

"It's precisely because of your eyes! If those immortals come, who knows what will happen. You should still follow the original plan: in three years go to the court to meet the Supreme Immortal; if you succeed, that's best; if not, return home to manage household affairs properly. But for now, this is a place of right and wrong where one cannot linger; I, as father, will stay here."

Seeing her father so solemn, Ling Yan felt disappointed in her heart and said: "Alright, father, I'll leave right away."

"Mm, wait for me to return home." Ling Chuanfeng smiled.

Zhong Shifu clasped his fists and followed Ling Yan away; Ling Chuanfeng sat in the room and took a deep breath.

"If that thief has left Lin Shan Cheng, he probably wouldn't go to Huanglong City now, so this route should be safe. Yan'er, you have more hope than I do; you must practice the Eternal Spring Skill I taught you well."

While Ling Chuanfeng spoke, it seemed as if he were arranging his aftereffects, yet he didn't want Ling Yan to hear.

A few days passed.

The Kūn Gate Master successively received some messages, but none were particularly useful.

Looking at the news coming from the Firewind Mountain Forest, the Kūn Gate Master frowned tightly: "That foreign demon actually set up a deception, placing doubles all around Lin Shan Cheng?!"

The letter wrote that some tall ordinary people received a sum of money, saying to let them go out traveling for a while.

Obviously, this is the foreign demon's doing, since no one knows the demon's appearance; they only search by stature, and even though people nearly two meters tall are few in this vast sea of humanity, one can still find quite a few.

In other words, the foreign demon long ago knew that one day it would inevitably bring trouble forcing it to flee this place, so it prepared these people in advance to interfere with their sight.

"A greater possibility is that the death of the previous Wind Guard is deeply related to him. The former Wind Guard went to hunt down the Blood Flow Sect Remnant Faction, mysteriously disappeared, and only after many years of investigation did we occasionally learn he appeared in the Lin Shan Cheng area; that Blood Flow Sect Remnant Faction really seems bold, daring to linger here for twenty years!" The Kūn Gate Master furrowed his brows, evidently taking Yan Buji to be the Blood Flow Sect Remnant Faction pursued back then.

Moreover, the Kūn Gate Master could not imagine that an ordinary teenager could, in just twenty years, achieve mastery of the Blood Essence Skill, with combat power reaching the peak of a Grand Master—this would be unimaginable for any martial artist.

With such a bold and meticulous enemy, it's no wonder he dared to slaughter the Wu Family members and seize the immortals' treasure.

The key is whether he knows how to use the immortals' artifact.

Having taken it, can he still cultivate immortality?

If that were truly the case, the Kūn Gate Master would turn around and leave, directly going to find several immortal servants of the imperial court to take action!

However, even if the other party truly knew how to cultivate immortality, it would be impossible for them to set foot on the immortal path in such a short time, so the opportunity is only this once!

"We must find him!" The Kūn Gate Master also looked over the reports of the few people being investigated in Lin Shan Cheng.

Nothing special.

Only the local magnate Yan Buji kept his doors closed and did not see guests, seemingly having caught a wind chill.

"Huh? Secretly purchasing Qian Dao's perfume and rouge, what use does he have for these brothel goods?" Seeing the densely packed characters on the letter, the Kūn Gate Master flipped to the front to examine Yan Buji's conduct in Lin Shan Cheng.

To be frank, the Kūn Gate Master does not want to observe a person's nature, and for such a merchant this is even more so.

Many people are one way on the surface and another behind the scenes; even if this person secretly colludes with local officials to do some oppression of the populace, he could temporarily overlook it.

The key is that this person's cooperation with the government is also normal cooperation; in business he hasn't used any vicious means to bully peers, and his reputation inside and outside the city is excellent, so why would he buy such things?

Even if his tavern does some things not fitting his trade, there's no need to run so far to buy them, right?

The Kūn Gate Master knows, however, that although the eight Dao cooperate, commodity circulation is limited to stores specially permitted by the imperial court to purchase goods from other Dao.

Precisely because of that, under the circumstance of rare goods being hoarded, other Dao's commodities become hot items that ordinary people cannot obtain.

If it were smuggling, that would indeed be a serious crime; the key is that it could be discovered by oneself, so it appears to be indeed a legal channel via a proxy.

Still, that same saying: why bother?

It's just some rouge; doesn't the Kun Dao have anyone selling it?

"These rouges are all made into aphrodisiacs; could Yan Buji be a philanderer who likes to steal honest women?" The Kūn Gate Master wore a strange expression.

Regardless, we still need to investigate.

After looking for a while, the Kūn Gate Master also came to understand something about this Lin Shan Cheng magnate.

Although recently he frantically sold off his properties to pave the way for his daughter, letting the Juren Zhou Hua of Lingshan Academy take on disciples, this is....

Wait a moment.

The Kūn Gate Master furrowed his brows: "Who exactly is this Zhou Hua? I feel I've heard the name somewhere."

The person beside him said: "Master, Zhou Hua was a juren in the Kun Dao imperial court's provincial examination of the year 3513 of the Huangli calendar, but he frequents the brothel district, spending his days composing lewd lyrics and songs, without an official post."

"Oh, I remember now; the 'Jade Peak Pavilion' that was popular for a time in the capital was written by him."

The person beside him exclaimed in surprise: "Master, you still know the Jade Peak Pavilion?"

This lyric... looking at all the poets of the Kun Dao imperial court nowadays, few can compose it; the lyric cannot be called vulgar, only utterly vulgar. Yet the writing is top-notch, pursued by those brothel singers, becoming a hit for a while.

"Cough! Don't go spreading this nonsense!" The Kūn Gate Master said sternly.

"Yes!"

It seemed that, unintentionally, he had learned some shocking matter.

"If that's the case, you go investigate that Zhou Hua for me."

"Ah? Not go investigate Yan Buji?"

"To find out what Yan Buji uses those powders and rouges for, we naturally need to first investigate the Zhou Hua he favors so much. If it's merely to follow Zhou Hua's preference, proving this matter is irrelevant. Afterwards we can casually probe a bit; if anything is amiss, we continue investigating."

"I understand, Master's insight is profound."

"If Yan Buji is just an ordinary person, that's fine; but if he's really related to that foreign demon, I don't know why he has been hiding in Lin Shan Cheng for so many years." The Kūn Gate Master muttered.