Chapter 27: The Incident Exposed

The security of the Juncheng had clearly become much stricter.

Xu Jin was a disciple of the Dao Academy, holding a Dao Academy waist token, yet he was still questioned about where he came from, where he was going, and what he was doing.

Although he passed smoothly, it made Xu Jin somewhat worried: had the incident been exposed?

No matter where it is, five human lives, even if they are ruffians, are a major case.

Returning to the Dao Academy, Xu Jin followed the gatekeeper's instructions to report to the Middle Academy again.

The Jin Shan Dao Academy covers a large area, stretching from the south of the Juncheng all the way to the foot of the mountain, composed of over a dozen building complexes of varying sizes.

The area within the Juncheng is roughly divided into the Martial Arts Hall, Forging Hall, Medicine Hall, Food and Lodging Area, Star Pointing Academy, and the Star Patrol Guard station.

It is said that inside the mountain, there are also the Beast Taming Hall, Star Performance Tower, etc.

In the entire Dao Academy, except for the Star Pointing Academy which is separate, although other disciples are divided into Inner, Middle, and Outer Academies, it is just that the treatment is different and the learning locations are different; food and lodging are all together.

Various living conditions are several times better than during Star Pointing.

Just take accommodation: the Outer Academy is two people to a room, the Middle Academy is one person to a room, and as for the Inner Academy, it is the most enviable—one person to a small courtyard.

The dormitory Xu Jin was assigned to was Yi-42, the last room in the Middle Academy.

Pushing open the door, dust rushed into his face; it should have been some time since anyone lived there.

The room is not big, a small room three meters long and over two meters wide; the furnishings are very simple: a bed, a bamboo cabinet, a table, and a chair—that is all.

But Xu Jin was very happy.

Finally, he didn't have to sleep in a twenty-person communal dormitory full of smelly feet and farts every day; finally, he had a relatively private space.

Putting down the two reams of toilet paper he bought on the way, he started cleaning and tidying up.

One ream of toilet paper is fifty wen; although it's not expensive, fortunately, his father Xu Dajiang wasn't around.

If he had to spend money just to wipe his butt, he would definitely be beaten by Xu Dajiang.

Half an hour later, Xu Jin, having cleaned and made the bed, lay down on it, feeling wonderful.

Finally comfortable.

The feeling of changing one's living environment after one's own efforts is quite good.

"Brother Jin, Brother Jin."

A shout came from outside the door; it was Qian Xiaohu who had come over, carrying large and small bags in his hands.

"Brother Jin, this is the meat pancake my mom made, and this is the mutton my mom cooked; I brought them specially for you." Qian Xiaohu laughed.

Xu Jin looked at Qian Xiaohu in surprise, "Damn, is your family celebrating the New Year?"

"Of course, my dad heard that I successfully performed Star Pointing, so he threw a big banquet. Relatives and friends all came, and everyone gave generous gifts, so the food is good. Oh, right, this is the silver."

Qian Xiaohu handed Xu Jin a purse containing five taels of silver, "Brother Jin, thank you for helping me. Without your help, I absolutely wouldn't have been able to perform Star Pointing. From now on, you are my own big brother."

"Since you're my own big brother, then what are you doing?" Xu Jin weighed it, kept three-plus taels, and returned the rest.

Qian Xiaohu wanted to say something else, but Xu Jin glared, "Own brothers settle accounts clearly. Do I lack this one-plus tael from you?"

"No, no, no, how could that be?"

"Then cultivate well in the future. Remember, strength is your foundation. Right, you didn't forget to cultivate while going home these two days, did you?"

"No, I haven't missed a single morning or evening lesson. Yue Daqi, Lu Xianbing, and the others have such good talent and are so hardworking; if I don't work hard, that's not being silly, that's being stupid!"

"Eh, did I come at the right time? Are you talking about me?" Lu Xianbing, with a slender figure and wearing a brand-new martial outfit, appeared at the door of Xu Jin's room. Seeing Xu Jin's confusion, he added, "I asked for Brother Xu's room and found my way here."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

Hearing Lu Xianbing call him brother, Xu Jin hurriedly declined.

Lu Xianbing, however, became solemn and bowed solemnly to Xu Jin, "Brother Xu, Brother Jin, if it weren't for your inspiration that day, I wouldn't have had the courage to express my own opinion, let alone successfully resist and fight for a spot in the Inner Academy."

So it was for this matter. There was inevitably a round of modesty. Finally, Lu Xianbing said he had already booked a place at the Xianxia Tower to express his gratitude.

Xu Jin happily agreed; making some connections was also necessary.

The food at Xianxia Tower, even in the Juncheng, was top-notch.

And in this world, game is true game, free-range chicken is true free-range chicken; every dish tastes like what it is.

During the meal, the three of them also got to know each other a bit. Xu Jin and Qian Xiaohu were farming family children, while Lu Xianbing clearly came from a good background, his father being a Prefecture official. But since it was their first meeting, it wasn't easy to ask in detail, though Xu Jin still asked one more question.

"Right, Brother Lu, Xiaohu, I found that the security in the Juncheng was much stricter when I returned today. Did something major happen?" Xu Jin asked casually.

"Yes, yes, yes, the inspection when entering the city today was very strict." Qian Xiaohu said.

Lu Xianbing looked at the two of them and said in a low voice, "Evil cultivators are running rampant, committing seven or eight cases in one night. Last night, two cases occurred within the Juncheng, and the third young master of the Zhao family, the number one wealthy merchant in the Juncheng, was killed, so it's under martial law."

Xu Jin didn't say anything, but Qian Xiaohu said, "Shouldn't evil cultivators hide and conceal themselves? Why are they committing cases every day and everywhere?"

Xu Jin secretly praised Xiaohu for his god-like assist, asking what he was thinking.

"Evil cultivators?"

Lu Xianbing gave a bitter smile, "Of the twenty or thirty cases committed inside and outside the Juncheng these days, it's hard to say how many were actually committed by true evil cultivators."

"Then the Prefecture government office?" Xu Jin asked.

"Jin Shan Prefecture is too big, and manpower has been sent out to track down the true evil cultivators. Most of the Star Patrol Guards from our Dao Academy, the Tianyang Branch, and the Cangming Branch have been sent out. That's why petty thieves have borrowed the name of evil cultivators to commit evil deeds, but the Prefecture government office's manpower is already empty." Lu Xianbing said in a low voice.

Seeing Xu Jin and Qian Xiaohu reveal expressions of awe, Lu Xianbing added, "However, it is said that the scope of the evil cultivators is almost locked down. By then, it will be a matter for the experts of each branch. As long as you stay inside the Dao Academy, basically nothing will happen."

Hearing this, Xu Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

So the martial law in the Juncheng wasn't because his incident last night had been exposed, but because cases had also occurred within the Juncheng last night.

Returning at night, evening lessons could not be missed.

Xu Jin had already bought twenty Blood-Replenishing Pills, ten Root-Solidifying Pills, and twenty Spirit-Awakening Pills at the Medicine Hall today, spending two hundred and ten taels of silver.

He had to break through to the Meal of Mist Second Layer in the shortest possible time to have a certain degree of self-protection.

Warehouse Lane at the West Wharf, in front of the courtyard where Deng Hu lived. A young man wearing short clothes and a blue headband tied around his forehead was waiting anxiously in front of Deng Hu's courtyard gate.

Anyone who hangs out at the wharf knows that those with blue headbands tied around their foreheads are members of the Tianhe Gang, and generally, people don't dare to provoke them when they see them.

At this moment, this young man named Jiang Sheng stepped forward to call the door again, "Brother Hu, Brother Hu, it's me, Jiang Sheng."

Jiang Sheng had come in the morning, but in the morning, Deng Hu's door was bolted from the inside.

Jiang Sheng didn't call the door.

Deng Hu often drank or went out to play with women until midnight, so sleeping until noon was very normal.

But in the afternoon, he generally had to come out to handle business, yet the door was still bolted?

Moreover, he was here to convey the order of the Deng Xiangzhu.

The order wasn't conveyed successfully; Brother Hu was the own nephew of Deng Xiangzhu Deng, so he would be fine, but he himself would be finished.

"Brother Hu, Brother Hu!"

After knocking for a long time and seeing through the door crack that the main hall door was also tightly closed, Jiang Sheng simply gritted his teeth and jumped over the wall.

Just as he entered the courtyard, the stench that rushed into his nose gave Jiang Sheng a big fright.

It was too damn smelly.

The whole courtyard was full of green-headed flies!

Something happened!

When he pushed the door open cautiously, Jiang Sheng immediately crawled to the side of the door and vomited wildly.

The source of the stench was five corpses and unknown liquids, as well as a large number of insects, ants, rats, and flies.

In this midsummer...

While vomiting, Jiang Sheng ran toward the headquarters of the Tianhe Gang.

Tianhe Gang, Tianhe Gang—relying on water to eat, naturally they were by the river, but the hall was inside the Juncheng.

However, he did not find Deng Xiangzhu Deng Longshu at the Tianhe Gang's hall, nor were the other two Incense Masters there, nor was the Gang Leader Zhou Ji.

After asking around, he was told they had gone to the East Wharf.

Jiang Sheng gulped down a few mouthfuls of cold water and ran wildly toward the East Wharf. In the residence of the One-Eyed Wolf Qian Qi, he found Deng Xiangzhu Deng Longshu and Gang Leader Zhou Ji, as well as a floor full of corpses and white and red stuff.

Jiang Sheng vomited again.

"Useless thing!"

Deng Longshu started cursing as soon as he opened his mouth. This kid was his errand boy, usually very clever and observant; why did he come running to embarrass him today?

Although this scene was a bit creepy, he couldn't vomit in front of the Gang Leader, right?

But as soon as Jiang Sheng opened his mouth, Deng Longshu's expression changed, and he instantly grabbed Jiang Sheng by the collar.

"You didn't see wrong, did you?" Deng Hu was his own nephew, and he was the only male in their Deng family generation; he was waiting for him to spread the family line.

"Should... not have." Jiang Sheng was also a bit confused.

"Something happened at the East Wharf, and something happened at the West Wharf. It seems someone is targeting us. Let's go, let's go take a look together." Tianhe Gang Leader Zhou Ji spoke.

A quarter of an hour later, the high-level members of the Tianhe Gang arrived at Deng Hu's residence.

After looking for only a few breaths, Tianhe Gang Leader Zhou Ji said, "They weren't killed inside the house." While speaking, the group came to the courtyard.

Zhou Ji suddenly ran outside the courtyard, his eyes like torches, and quickly found the initial death location of Deng Hu and the other ruffians. Unfortunately, it had been washed, and there were no valuable traces, but Xu Jin had handled it in a hurry, so he still found a few pieces of flesh and bone in the courtyard and picked them up with his fingertips.

"The killer is a cultivator, and the cultivation base is not strong.

The Star Power is quite weak, not exceeding the Meal of Mist Fifth Layer."

After watching for a while and flipping through the corpses of the ruffians, Zhou Ji suddenly said, "There should be two killers. This second person does not possess Star Power and purely used brute force to beat people to death."

"Hmm?" Deng Longshu's expression instantly became ferocious.

"Go, see if anyone lives to the left or right, and ask." Zhou Ji ordered.

Not long after, a few Tianhe Gang members returned.

"Gang Leader, the one closest said they heard movement."

"What movement?"

"Spare my life. Spare my life, Master Xue."

"Surname Xue?" Zhou Ji frowned, "Any other clues?"

"Right, Gang Leader, I came to find Brother Hu to talk about something last night; it was already dusk when I left. When I left, I saw an old man and a young man enter Brother Hu's courtyard." Jiang Sheng said.

An old man and a young man?

Deng Longshu's eyes immediately widened; this matched the Gang Leader's judgment that there were two perpetrators.

"Do you recognize them?"

Jiang Sheng shook his head, "I don't recognize them!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was kicked by Deng Longshu, "Then you said a fart."

"Deng Xiangzhu, as long as I see them again, I will recognize them at a glance!"

"Hmm, then you go stroll around the city these few days; if you find anything, report it immediately."

Tianhe Gang Leader Zhou Ji made a decision and also ordered, "Pack a few pieces of the corpse fragments for me, keep them iced; I have a use for them."

Not long after, Gang Leader Zhou Ji left with the other two Incense Masters, but Deng Xiangzhu Deng Longshu waved his hand and led his subordinates to rush toward the courtyard next to the warehouse.

"Deng Xiangzhu, what are we going there for?" Jiang Sheng asked.

"What are we going there for?"

"To kill that family!"

"Damn it, they heard 'spare my life' and didn't come to save people!

They heard something happened and didn't come to report it; if I don't kill them, who do I kill!"

Not long after, screams rang out from the courtyard next to the warehouse!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 28 =====