Chapter 42: Confusing and Elusive

An hour later, at the county government office.

County Magistrate Zhang Yuanqing, clad in a pale green official robe, stood respectfully to the side of the main hall, eyes fixed on his nose, nose fixed on his heart.

Zhou He, who acted as if the sky were clear and the wind light; Yang Ting, who never parted with a cigarette; and even the unseemly Yang Dabiao, all seemed like different people now, hands hanging down, backs bent, their very posture betraying a degree of constraint.

Behind the long desk where the county magistrate should have sat, a middle-aged man in a python robe leaned back in a large chair, holding a white porcelain tea cup, leisurely scraping floating tea leaves, while Zhu Wenyuan stood at his side holding a folding fan.

In the main hall, Li Jing, the Academic Administrator of the Imperial Academy; the Imperial Attendant Huangfu Qi; and Ji Shiqing all gathered before Li Zixian, carefully examining his bones, skin, flesh, meridians, and acupoints, even bringing out a Bagua Mirror capable of detecting blood fiends and dark evils.

Facing such an exaggerated lineup second only to the Emperor's personal presence, Li Zixian showed not a trace of a noble young master's demeanor, kneeling on the ground, too afraid to move:

"Your Highness, I am truly wronged. I have absolutely no connection with the demon bandits..."

Although the Dan King was a slave to his daughter, his elegant bearing did not lack dignity, and the aura of pressure between his brows was extremely strong:

"Are these three corpses the ones you ordered buried in the farmland?"

"Yes, but not buried alive. These three owed gambling debts and were working off their debts at the manor..."

"Li Zixian."

Zhu Wenyuan picked up the lease agreement from the table and threw it onto the ground:

"You may fool ordinary constables, but do you dare deceive Your Highness? We have already ordered an investigation of the manor's laborers and tenants, the gambling house managers and gamblers, confirming that after these three failed to repay their debts, they disappeared one after another and no one has seen them since. You think forging a few IOUs is enough to deceive the heavens?"

Li Zixian knew he could not withstand an investigation, but he now dared not admit to the grave crime of burying people alive.

Since the Dan King had personally arrived to question the case, there must be a fair and strict outcome.

Even if he was indeed unrelated to the demon bandits, the crime of burying three commoners alive was enough to sentence him to immediate execution.

With so many people watching, if the Dan King knew the truth and still showed favoritism, what would the people of Danzhou think? What would the imperial censors and remonstrators in Jingcheng think?

You, a Prince acting as the Son of Heaven's shepherd over Danzhou, are you opening the door wide for noble sons and licking the stinky feet of powerful ministers in the capital?

If Li Zixian confessed now, he would likely face the Tiger Head Guillotine; all he could do was grit his teeth, delay time, and wait for operations in Jingcheng. Facing the questioning, he replied:

"These three have been dead for nearly half a year, the IOUs were lost. I feared it would be hard to explain, so my heart was blinded by greed, and I rewrote a few. These three indeed died of illness..."

Zhu Wenyuan pointed to the three skeletons placed outside the main hall:

"Are you saying that the Dan King, the Pavilion, and the various Masters of the Imperial Academy all made a mistake?"

Li Zixian said earnestly, "I do not know the reason, but these three definitely did not die from demon arts."

"Then how do you say they died?"

"Ill... died of illness..."

"What illness?"

"I am not clear. Seeing they were beyond saving, we did not treat them, letting them wait for death..."

Li Zixian spun a web of lies, sweat gradually pouring down like rain.

Ji Shiqing, being a member of the Daoist sect and having traveled in the Southern Border for many years, served as the Wang Fu's 'Evil Consultant'. After careful examination, he stood up and interjected:

"Li Zixian's physique is normal, and he has never come into contact with demon Dao methods. However, these three corpses must have died from the Yuan-Stealing Demon Art."

Huangfu Qi stroked his goat beard, scrutinized the three skeletons, and nodded as well:

"Indeed so. The 'Mummy Case' in Jingcheng is very similar to these three corpses; it might be the work of the same group of demon bandits..."

Seeing many experts speak with certainty, Li Zixian knelt and took two steps forward:

"Your Highness, these corpses must have been tampered with by someone. I swear to heaven..."

"Spouting nonsense, who would believe an oath?"

Huangfu Qi looked displeased and questioned in a deep voice:

"Could it be that the demon bandits are using your family as leverage to force you to keep silent?"

"The demon bandits did not threaten me..."

"Oh?"

Huangfu Qi frowned and continued to press: "Are you saying the demon bandits did not verbally threaten you? Then why did you know but not report, insisting on hiding their whereabouts for them?"

"I... Huh?!"

Li Zixian realized Huangfu Qi was setting a trap, and his face changed instantly:

"No demon bandits threatened me. I have never come into contact with any demon bandits..."

The Dan King had already seen that Li Zixian was counting on the Li family to save him. Since he would admit to nothing at present, he put down his tea cup and waved at Tie Fengzhang.

Tie Fengzhang always acted in a hardline manner. This time, he did not let his subordinates act, but personally fetched the clamping boards and clamped Li Zixian's ten fingers.

Seeing the Dan King prepare to use severe torture, Li Zixian's face turned pale:

"Your Highness, the Li family must have been framed by those demon bandits, just like the Sanhe Tower case. Your Highness! Your... Ah—"

A scream of agony rose from within the main hall.

Xie Jinhuan had been standing outside the main hall as a bystander, watching the entire interrogation, and actually felt a bit puzzled in his heart.

He did not understand demon Dao methods and had not noticed the abnormalities inside the skull at first. It was the Ghost Bride who told him the deceased were killed by the Yuan-Stealing Demon Art, and the method was consistent with the demon Dao lineage of the Corpse-Hiding Cave!

Therefore, the murderer who buried these corpses must be the mastermind or an accomplice of the 'Mad Corpse Flower'.

Judging from Li Zixian's response, the Li family was the one who buried the people, so the mastermind behind it was naturally the Li family.

But Li Zixian's belief that he was wronged did not seem feigned, and the Sanhe Tower incident was even harder to explain. If the demon bandits secretly framed them and tampered with the corpses, such a method was a bit too powerful...

Xie Jinhuan was pondering silently, having not yet figured out the reason, when suddenly he heard a voice from beside him:

"You are Xie Jinhuan?"

"Hm?"

Xie Jinhuan immediately snapped back to reality and turned to look. He saw the gentle and humble Dan King, unable to bear watching someone suffer physical pain, had already walked out of the main hall.

Although Xie Jinhuan had lived in Jingcheng for sixteen years, he had never contacted the top nobility. The Dan King was the highest official he had ever seen. Seeing this, he clasped his hands and bowed:

"I pay my respects to Your Highness."

The Dan King carefully examined Xie Jinhuan's appearance and demeanor, a hint of praise flowing in his eyes:

"Young as you are, your abilities are no small thing. If you hadn't been running about these past few days, the government office would not have uncovered so many leads. You've worked hard."

What hard work? If I hadn't been running about investigating them, you'd have to run about investigating me... Xie Jinhuan thought this in his heart, but on the surface remained quite humble:

"Your Highness overpraises. This commoner merely wished to resolve this trouble as quickly as possible so I could return to Jingcheng to visit relatives; I did not exert great effort. The small merits established these recent days were all due to the good guidance of Wei Shi Yang and Miss Linghu."

Yang Dabiao heard these words and trembled all over, his eyes conveying the thought—Oh! This brother is truly someone to get along with!

Linghu Qingmo, who had been holding down Seeing Mo Mo, who wanted to eat the python dragon on the Demon King's body, also showed a trace of shame at this moment.

"You are indeed humble."

These past two days, the Demon King had often seen Xie Jinhuan's name in the Juan Sect files; because of virtues such as his father's martyrdom in service, his outstanding capabilities, his upright character, and his modesty and lack of ambition, his impression was certainly not bad, so he smiled and said:

"Your father died in the line of duty; as his offspring, you should naturally be cared for by the imperial court. You are already an adult and have devoted yourself to capturing thieves and petitioning for the people; how could the imperial court not give you an opportunity?

"Continue to work hard in the future. Once this case is concluded, I will write a letter to my royal brother, the Emperor, to have him grant you a good position."

?!

The many people following behind, hearing these words, all showed expressions of envy.

After all, the Demon King and the Qian Emperor were brothers who had shared hardships, and the Demon King himself was a powerful regional official holding real authority.

If the Demon King personally recommends talent to the Emperor, the starting position would likely be a real post of the sixth or seventh rank.

Xie Jinhuan is young, capable, upright, and understands human affairs; given another ten or twenty years, it would not be impossible for him to stand in the front three rows before the Taiji Hall.

By then, when coming to Danyang again, only the Demon King would probably dare to stand with his back straight and speak in that gathering.

If he tried to take advantage of Seeing Mo Mo, Seeing Mo Mo would probably not dare to make a sound...

Xie Jinhuan knew the Demon King meant well, but once the case of the 'Evil Qi of Mount Zihui' was truly solved, he and his ghost wife would be ready for the grave; he truly could not accept such overwhelming wealth, so he merely responded with polite formality:

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness. This commoner will surely redouble his efforts in the future."

The Demon King said no more and quietly waited for Li Zixian to confess.

The gazes of all others focused on Xie Jinhuan, some envious, some appreciative.

And Zhou He, the Hundred-Household Commander of the Red Scale Guard standing inside the main hall, hearing these words, while seemingly watching Li Zixian undergo torture, revealed a hint of gloom in his eyes that was not easily noticed...

——

Night fell, inside the riverside villa.

A painting table stood on the riverside terrace, surrounded by no one; in the room behind where he sat in meditation, Tai Shu Dan, dressed in a scholar's robe, sat on the ground, with a puppet before him.

The puppet was covered by a gray cloak; its hands and cheeks were bronze-colored, as if cast from Jin Shi, with complex runes on the skin's surface. The whole figure showed not a shred of life, yet it spoke words at this moment:

"Li Zixian's mouth is very stubborn; he insists the gambler died of illness and denies any connection to the demon bandits. The Demon King is searching all of the Li family's residences and shops. Without unexpected events, the matter can be dragged out until after the Mid-Autumn Festival. You must remember not to let any news slip out again."

The puppet had no consciousness to begin with, and Tai Shu Dan was also unclear why it could speak human words, but regarding this instruction, he still nodded:

"Senior Brother, rest assured; the Mad Corpse Flowers have been gathered in sufficient quantity. We can act on the day after tomorrow during the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival. However, the Peony Pool is no more than twenty li from Danyang City; if the high cultivators in the city are alarmed by the Blood Fiend Qi and rush over, they will arrive in no more than half a ke. Especially Mu Yun Ling..."

The puppet showed no expression, and its speech was word by word, devoid of any emotion:

"You simply carry out your business; at that time, I will find a way to distract these people. Once you succeed, flee immediately and deliver the Blood Demon Hua Yao Dan to Jingcheng."

Tai Shu Dan felt the difficulty of distracting all the high cultivators was somewhat great and wanted to discuss details further, but a sound of breaking wind came from outside the terrace:

Whoosh~

The puppet immediately froze, showing not the slightest movement thereafter.

Tai Shu Dan glanced around and saw his disciple He Can land on the terrace, panting heavily with a look of great surprise, and as soon as he appeared, he flattered:

"Master truly calculated without missing a single detail; the government office has gone entirely after the Li family... Eh? Master, what are you doing?"

The situation arose suddenly; Tai Shu Dan had not yet had time to rise, so he immediately took a handkerchief from his robe and wiped the puppet's shoes:

"Weapons must be maintained regularly; puppets are the same."

"Is that so?"

This was the first time He Can had heard this reasoning, but he did not ask further and continued:

"According to my investigation, the high cultivators at the Wang Fu stared at the bones for a long time but could not find any problem; even Xie Jinhuan had nothing to say."

Tai Shu Dan sat on the cushion: "Those three were indeed killed by demonic arts, but they were not the gamblers buried alive by the Li family; rather, they were corpses brought from elsewhere. The senior brother in the city swapped them by secret method.

"The corpses are real; even the timing matches. The Li family would not remember the bone structure of gamblers, and the ground has just been turned over. How could Xie Jinhuan see any problem?"

He Can had been pondering all along the way exactly how they managed to deceive heaven and pass unnoticed; hearing these words, his eyes could not hide their surprise:

"The senior uncle in the city, what exactly is his identity? The traces were made flawlessly; this skill is simply too amazing."

Tai Shu Dan frowned, his expression displeased:

"Do you not yet understand my way of acting?"

The meaning of these words was to tell He Can—Senior Brother acts after planning and keeps his mouth shut tightly; even to a disciple, he would not easily reveal key information!

But as a disciple, He Can knew his master better than anyone else, so he nodded thoughtfully:

"True. Given Master's character, if he knew the exact identity, he could go to the Wang Fu tomorrow and sell it for a sky-high price. It is only reasonable that the senior uncle did not tell Master."

"?"

(End of this chapter)