Chapter 81: Speed is the Essence of War

Wu Su stared fixedly at the white-robed Young Master ahead, took several deep breaths, his bloodshot eyes gradually shifting from dread to a desperate, fierce courage; his perpetually hunched body straightened:

"Even if I kill you, your belongings will still be mine..."

Boom—

Before he could finish, a heavy thud echoed from the moonlit courtyard!

Wu Su, fully focused on Xie Jinhuan's movements, flipped his left hand's Yellow Qilin Seal upward the instant the other man struck:

"Kun!"

Hum~

The words had barely fallen when the Yellow Qilin Seal erupted with flowing light throughout its body!

The reclining Qilin seemed to come alive; an invisible ring expanded outward from it, causing the courtyard ground to tremble!

As Xie Jinhuan surged forward, the moment his first step landed, he found the ground beneath him had turned entirely into loose quicksand; instead of gaining leverage, his foot sank, and he pitched forward!

Splash—

Xie Jinhuan reacted with astonishing speed; the Tiangang Double-Bladed Dagger suddenly unsheathed, sweeping downward in a顺势 motion:

Boom—

Under the impact of the qi force, the loose sand and earth instantly exploded outward, revealing a groove two feet deep, until it struck the hard-packed ground beneath!

Then, pressing down with the single blade, he leaped backward as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water!

"Li!"

The moment Wu Su attacked, he had already leaped backward in an attempt to flee!

Seeing the white-robed figure escape the trap in the blink of an eye, the Yellow Qilin Seal in his hand turned into red-hot cast iron; then, from the mouth of a Qilin no larger than a finger, a red line shot forth:

Whoosh~

Boom—

The red line, having traveled no more than three feet from his body, exploded mid-air, transforming into a towering wave of flame that instantly illuminated the entire courtyard!

Xie Jinhuan, suspended in mid-air, faced the fire dragon's breath head-on; before the scorching heatwave could even reach him, a burning pain seared his face!

Yet, regardless of the school, between Ranks 3–4 lay an insurmountable chasm!

Before the scorching flames could engulf his entire body, an invisible gust of strong wind surged around Xie Jinhuan, winding around him like a dragon coiling up a mountain!

Whoosh whoosh~~

Under the tearing force of the qi, the towering wave of flame was instantly sucked into it, transforming into a fire dragon coiling and circling around his body!

?!

Wu Su suddenly saw a martial artist of early-stage Rank 3 manifesting a protective aura of strong wind; his eyes could not hide his shock, and he immediately changed the hand seal again.

But this was clearly too late!

The moment Xie Jinhuan landed on the eaves, his left hand had already reached for the Tiangang Double-Bladed Dagger; then, pointing the single blade forward, his body followed the blade's direction!

Boom—

The crimson fire dragon coiling around him spat forward; the moment it left his body, it exploded again, transforming into a towering wave of fire that surged toward Wu Su and the roof ridge.

Facing the all-encompassing, city-incinerating flames, Wu Su's eyes filled with terror; the Yellow Qilin Seal in his hand turned pitch black, and bone-piercing cold air spread throughout his body; the fire wave, still three feet from his body, simply vanished into thin air, extinguished!

But the unstoppable impact followed closely behind the flames!

Boom—

Xie Jinhuan surged forward, and the surging wave of flame split cleanly in two.

Seen under the moonlight, it was as if a celestial maiden had sliced open a crimson curtain; at the very forefront was a point of grim, silver light!

Wu Su's reaction had been swift enough, but facing the utterly unreasonable explosion of power from a high-rank martial artist, he possessed absolutely no means of counterattack!

Just as the terrifying sharpness broke through the towering flames before his eyes, the white-robed figure appeared three feet away, followed immediately by:

Boom—

The firelight obscured his vision; Wu Su hadn't even seen the figure clearly before his entire chest swelled and exploded under the impact of the heavy double-bladed dagger!

Then his vision began to roll and spin; in a fleeting glimpse, he saw the white-robed figure raise his left hand and seize the Yellow Qilin Seal, which was now glowing with green light,

while the lower half of his waist and legs stood amidst the afterglow of the flames, surrounded entirely by flesh, blood, and shattered bones...

Thump thump thump~

The flames vanished in the blink of an eye; the head hit the ground and bounced forward a few times.

The upper half of the body then toppled forward from the eaves, falling toward the courtyard path.

Splash—

Xie Jinhuan caught the Yellow Qilin Seal, examined it under the stark white moonlight, and flipped it over to inspect the engraved characters:

"The Five Elders of the Five Directions, commanding the Yellow Qilin... This magical artifact is quite powerful. What is its origin?"

Ye Hongshang appeared before him, also looking at it with keen interest:

"It comes with the Five Elements Mystical Arts of searching for gold, breaking earth, smelting metal, quenching, and blowing wind. It should be a magical artifact used by a Smith. Its rank is quite high, but it's not very useful as a weapon."

Smiths and Alchemists are both wealthy; the price of specialized magical artifacts is especially high. The only one Xie Jinhuan had ever seen was the Lin Family's Great Alchemy Cauldron. An item shrunk to this size, small enough to carry on one's person, was unheard of; its price must be no small matter.

Xie Jinhuan recalled Wu Su's reverse vision earlier and asked:

"Searching for gold... Does this mean this object can detect the Zhenglun Sword?"

Ye Hongshang shook his head: "The Zhenglun Sword is a Celestial Artifact. If it could be detected from several li away, why bother slaying demons? The world's top-tier treasures mostly employ 'hiding wealth from the public' disguises. As long as you don't use it, it looks like an ordinary magical artifact. This is why many people can find bargains."

Seeing this, Xie Jinhuan felt much relieved. Although the Yellow Qilin Seal was undoubtedly a Divine Artifact, holding it felt somewhat useless to him.

After all, he was not a Smith; the only function he could use was 'treasure hunting and enemy detection'.

But this function was completely replaced by the Ghost Bride; the Ghost Bride could not only see hidden treasures but could even spot that the Landlady had no hair, making her far more powerful than this thing.

Still, keeping it as a backup cheat code wasn't bad...

Xie Jinhuan considered putting away the Huang Lin Seal, then leaped down into the courtyard to inspect the bundle.

Inside the bundle were several bottles of Hua Yao Dan, a small box of Longyang Flowers, along with silver notes and a cultivation technique booklet.

Xie Jinhuan picked up the silver notes and glanced at them, only to find there were no fewer than three thousand taels in total; his heart couldn't help but feel that this demon bandit was truly sensible, not in vain that he had run about all night investigating...

Just as he was tidying up, the sound of wind breaking echoed from the outer perimeter of the complex.

Whoosh...

Looking up, he saw three Immortal Officials flying in from several directions; Linghu Qingmo also landed on the roof ridge, watching tensely:

"Are you alright?!"

Xie Jinhuan quite wanted to share some things with Seeing Mo Mo, but he must first handle the major problem of the ghost wife exploding the grave; these could only wait until the matter passed twenty days later, so for now he simply said:

"I am fine."

Several patrol Immortal Officials landed around them, scanning left and right, their eyes showing a hint of caution:

"What are your two identities?"

Xie Jinhuan took out the 'Dan' character waist token:

"Xie Jinhuan and Linghu Qingmo of the Danzhou Marriage Office; this person is the mastermind behind the Dry Corpse Case, quickly notify the government office to come over."

"Gurgle!"

Meiqiu is good at nothing, but surrendering is number one; seeing Xie Jinhuan raise his hand, she hurriedly raised her two small wings...

——

Five o'clock in the morning.

The east turned fish-belly white, lights flickered on in Buzheng Street, and one could see some official carriages heading to the Imperial City for duty on the street.

Inside the County government office, the early-rising Feiji directed government office Runners to arrange the meeting room, preparing for the upcoming 'Dry Corpse Case Leadership Group Guidance Meeting', and at this moment was saying:

"Placing chairs and serving tea requires propriety; the County Magistrate sits in the main seat, Jinhuan is a Halberdier of the Wang Fu, so he takes the right chief seat; the Imperial Astronomical Bureau sits in the left chief seat; the Red麟 Guard comes next, then myself..."

"Where should Lord Linghu from Danyang sit? He is a disciple of the Mount Zihui Sect Master and a sworn sister of Princess Changning..."

"Hmm... then let him sit in the second seat on the right; the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and the Red麟 Guard sit on the left..."

County Magistrate Wu Yuanhua, feeling he would be scolded again today, also got up early; seeing this, he scolded:

"With this idle time arranging chairs, you might as well go out earlier to investigate the case and run more errands."

Feiji turned around, ran up close to flatter:

"Lord Wu, up so early? Have you eaten? Shall this subordinate go buy two steamer baskets of buns..."

Wu Yuanhua waved his hand, eyes full of displeasure:

"Prefect Chen is about to strip this robe off my back; how can I have the mood to eat.

"A few days ago I heard Xie Jinhuan hates evil like an enemy, either catching demons or on the way to catch demons; I thought he was truly that diligent."

"Look for yourself; dawn is almost here, and not a single person has come over from Danyang..."

The Mao hour is usually the time the Emperor rises and ministers get up early for court; if a drowsy courtier passes the government office and finds it still sleeping, they will surely get a beating; therefore, the County government office must open on time at the Mao hour, and ambitious officials must naturally arrive at their posts on time.

Feiji is Xie Wen's childhood friend; they have worked together for decades, and one could say he watched Xie Jinhuan be born and grow up; hearing this, he hurriedly spoke up in his favor:

"Jinhuan understands human affairs; he is now a person of the Wang Fu; if he acts too actively, wouldn't it become usurping the host's role, making it seem our County government office doesn't care about the case?"

Wu Yuanhua thought about it and found it true, sighing:

"Being late is nothing; this official just fears the Dan Wang is exaggerating to create momentum for his 'son-in-law', while actually having no great true ability..."

Feiji held the County Magistrate's arm, face full of smiles:

"Not at all! Jinhuan loved learning since childhood and has great ability; it's just that he only arrived yesterday and hasn't had a chance to display it; to make progress, we must wait for Jinhuan to investigate for a few days, right?

"Moreover, the Danyang demon bandits caused chaos, and Jinhuan killed everyone including the bandit leader in six or seven days; this act has already caused the entire Danyang County government office and even the Prefecture Guard to be scolded by the Censorate for incompetence.

"We have investigated this case for eight months; if Jinhuan solves it in three or five days, what will we be scolded as?"

Wu Yuanhua pondered slightly: "Hmm... a useless rice bucket wasting the people's fat and grease! If the Emperor hears of it, he will probably strip everyone in the County government office on the spot and send them to the Southern Border to watch demons bare their teeth."

"Exactly."

Feiji clapped his hands: "The faster the Danyang forces solve it, the more incompetent Lord Wu appears, so this case cannot be rushed."

County Magistrate Wu found this very reasonable and nodded slightly:

"True; in my opinion, this case must still be approached gradually..."

"Report—"

Before the words finished, a sharp explosive sound came from outside!

County Magistrate Wu was startled into a shiver and immediately turned back in anger:

"What funeral wailing at this early hour?! Has another Dry Corpse appeared?"

"No..."

A patrol government office Runner nearly rolled and crawled in from outside, panting with a face full of ecstatic joy:

"The Dry Corpse Case is solved! The murderer has been found!"

"Ah?!"

Upon hearing this, all the clerks in the room stood up, faces showing disbelief.

Feiji's expression froze; he hurriedly stepped forward:

"Don't talk nonsense! How was it solved? Who found the murderer?"

"It was Young Master Xie Jinhuan..."

"Excellent!"

Feiji clapped his hands and turned around:

"Look, look! I told you yesterday that Jinhuan treats us like family; even though he is in the Wang Fu, his heart is in the county government office, treating our matters as his own. Look how proactive he is in handling this..."

"Get out of the way!"

Magistrate Wu waved his hand to push Feiji aside and came to the door to ask:

"Are you sure? The people from Danyang only arrived last night. It isn't even dawn yet; how could they possibly..."

"Absolutely certain!"

The government office Runner was extremely excited, speaking in a rapid-fire stream:

"I heard from the Red Scale Guard that Young Master Jinhuan and the direct disciple of Mount Zihui had nothing to do at night, so they went out for a stroll. They traced from Xiaoyao Cave to the Eastern Market, then from the Eastern Market to the Antique Street, chasing the demon bandit for several li before cornering him and beheading him on the spot!

"I spurred my horse to rush to Antique Street to check the situation, but dozens of people from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and the Red Scale Guard arrived. Even Magistrate Chen, who rose early to attend court, Vice Minister Li of the Ministry of Personnel, and Censor Wang of the Censorate went over to take a look. Only our county government office hasn't had anyone arrive yet.

"This is a case under the responsibility of our Wan'an County government office. Solving it so quickly is definitely a great merit!

"I saw with my own eyes the three my lords gathering together to discuss, mentioning Magistrate Wu's name several times, along with 'Ruizhou, filling the vacancy,' and so on. I reckon they are preparing to promote and heavily employ Magistrate Wu... Eh, eh, eh? Magistrate Wu?"

Magistrate Wu, not knowing why, rolled his eyes back and fainted directly.

Feiji reacted with incredible speed, hoisted Magistrate Wu onto his shoulder, and ran outside:

"Quick, quick, quick, prepare a horse..."

"Huh? Shouldn't we call a Physician?"

"Call a Physician my foot! Ruizhou is in Lingnan, damn it. Even if Magistrate Wu dies right now, he must die at the crime scene..."

(End of this chapter)