Chapter 79: Town Martial Hall

Woooo~

The morning mist had not yet dispersed, and Li Yuan already felt he could smell blood.

"Several dozen monks, and they just dropped dead—all of them?!"

Looking at a bloodstained cart being pushed out of the Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Temple, Li Yuan felt a chill in his heart.

"Too ruthless—truly wiped out the whole lot!"

The main street was in an uproar—some shrank back in terror, others craned their necks to look.

"Break it up, break it up! The blood's gone cold already—what, you want to dip it in your steamed buns and eat it?"

A government office runner shouted harshly; on the cart being pushed, a pile of over a dozen dog corpses lay in plain sight.

Not a single dog was left alive…

"M-Master Master Kongding is dead too!"

Someone in the crowd cried out, and a great clamor immediately rose.

Of the nine temples in Gao Liu, the Bodhisattva Temple was first.

In the eyes of most common folk, the abbot of the Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Temple was a great figure—omnipresent, all-powerful—even the county magistrate had to seek his counsel at every turn.

But now, lying on the cold, hard cart, his chest and head crushed into a pulp, no one would have been able to recognize him if not for that eye-catching kasaya robe.

Last night this old monk had roared like a lion, struck like a gale, beaten Yu Zhen into a crushing defeat—and now…

Li Yuan glanced at the wound, and the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed:

"This is a hammer kill!"

A hammer kill—and a heavy one at that!

Li Yuan mentally measured the wound on Master Kongding's corpse and reached his conclusion.

The killer's hammer was much larger than his own; this old monk, fierce as a tiger last night, hadn't even taken a single blow before his head burst open like a flower…

"Too vicious!"

Thinking that such a vicious killer was still hiding somewhere in Gao Liu, Li Yuan felt his hair stand on end, and the common folk nearby were all in an uproar.

"Break it up, break it up!"

County Commandant Liu Bin's face was dark as water as he shouted harshly; a group of government office runners spread out to clear the area.

Just as Li Yuan was about to withdraw, he spotted Liu Zheng as well; his heart stirred, and he stepped forward:

"Brother Liu."

"Brother Li is here too?"

Before Liu Zheng could even speak, several government office runners stepped around Li Yuan to shove the other commoners; in no time, most of the gathered crowd had been driven off.

"What a tragedy!"

Liu Zheng shook his head again and again: "The Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Temple's incense offerings are sure to plummet from now on."

When even the Bodhisattva couldn't protect the monks in her own temple, the incense offerings were bound to plummet.

Li Yuan nodded, feeling no sympathy at all.

His second elder brother and sister-in-law burned incense and offered tribute every year—devout enough, by any measure—but these plague-ridden monks felt no gratitude at all and had secretly played dirty tricks.

Their deaths were a great relief to the people.

"Father."

A grim-faced Liu Bin walked over, glanced at Li Yuan, and frowned slightly:

"And you are?"

"Father, this is Li Yuan, a disciple of Master Zhang of the Weapon-Forging Shop."

Liu Zheng made the introduction on his behalf.

"So you're Master Zhang's prized student."

Liu Bin nodded, his expression shifting slightly: "You've come at just the right time…"

"What does my lord mean?"

Li Yuan had already guessed, but pretended not to know.

"Your family's Third Shopkeeper, Old Master Wang Ding, also met a violent end last night…"

Liu Bin pointed at the cart not far off, deliberately ignoring the bloodstained night-travel clothes:

"Then I'll have to trouble this young brother to take him back."

"Third Shopkeeper, he…"

Li Yuan's face showed shock; he reluctantly accepted this grim errand. Stepping closer for a sweep, he found Wang Ding completely empty-handed—even the iron spear he carried was gone.

'Every last one of them a fine hand at rifling corpses.

Casting a sidelong glance at the government office runners from each squad, Li Yuan pushed the cart, but before he'd gone far, he heard another cry of alarm.

"There's another dead body here!"

"How can there be more?!"

Liu Bin's face was already

very ugly.

As the county commandant in charge of public order and catching thieves, he felt as though he could already see an enormous black pot about to be slammed down on his own head.

Small comfort was that no one knew where the county magistrate had gone—the dereliction of duty wasn't his alone.

"Another one's dead…"

Li Yuan pushed the cart along the way, swept a sidelong glance, and couldn't help but freeze.

Another acquaintance!

"Li Ba?"

Li Yuan couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

In a narrow alley strewn with sewage, a sallow-faced middle-aged man lay on his back, reaching up at the wall with unwillingness, a black knife stuck in the ground, fresh blood staining the earth.

"A human-skin mask!"

Li Yuan gave a start, remembering something.

But under the eyes of everyone, he could only watch helplessly as Liu Bin walked past with the coroner.

"That mask is so lifelike — it shouldn't be discovered, right?"

Li Yuan sped up his movements, pushed the cart out of the inner city, and before long, under the constant gaze of passersby, pushed the cart back to the weapons forge.

"Wang Ding?!"

Zhang Ben, who had come on hearing the news, was stunned. He looked carefully several times, still somewhat dazed:

"How — how did they both die?!"

Li Yuan didn't even pretend to ask, because Yu Zhen's mangled corpse was laid out right beside them, covered with a ragged cloth, still reeking of heavy blood.

"This, this… the two of them…"

Looking left, looking right, Zhang Ben for a moment felt very confused.

The second shopkeeper and the third shopkeeper — both dead in a single night?!

"Third shopkeeper, he — he actually…"

"They were both wearing night-travel clothes — could it be that…"

"Who — who killed the shopkeepers?!"

……

Disciples from the front and rear courtyards, blacksmiths and helpers from the forging rooms — all came on hearing the news, and looking at the two shopkeepers' corpses, every one of them was in an uproar.

After that, they all turned to look at Zhang Ben:

"Elder Zhang…"

Cao Yan was absent, the second and third shopkeepers were both dead — in today's weapons forge, Zhang Ben was already the one with the longest tenure.

Zhang Ben frowned, but before he could speak, a voice full of vigor came from outside. Zhao the Captain arrived with his spear, his expression grim:

"Notify the two shopkeepers' families. Everyone else — disperse, and get back to whatever you were doing!"

Zhang Ben frowned slightly, but chimed in with a scolding of his own:

"All of you, disperse!"

……

Li Yuan set down the corpse, turned, and left at once, wasting not a moment.

"Father!"

Faintly, it seemed he could hear Wang Gong's crying.

But he didn't look back. Pushing the empty cart, he ran fast, and before long, under the pretext of returning the cart, he edged his way back inside the cordon.

But the narrow alley was already empty.

Too late…

"Brother Liu, who was that dead man?"

Li Yuan sighed inwardly, and slowed his movements.

Liu Bin had finished watching the show and was about to leave. Hearing Li Yuan's question, he glanced around, then lowered his voice: "That man — he's the murderer!"

"???"

Li Yuan's face was full of bewilderment.

"That man was a notorious bandit, suspected of plotting with Nian Jiu to steal the temple's valuables. When the plot failed, he flew into a rage and slaughtered every master chef in the temple — but was gravely wounded by Master Master Kongding's White Cloud Palm in a single strike…"

Liu Zheng shook his head, his face full of lamentation. Whether Li Yuan believed it or not, he himself believed it first:

"Despicable. Though this man has been executed, that Nian Jiu remains at large to this day…"

"……"

So that's how you want to play it?

Li Yuan cursed inwardly, but could only chime in: "That Nian Jiu is truly hateful. I wonder…"

"On this matter, the government office can't really do much either."

Liu Zheng sighed:

"Over half a year ago, after Nian Jiu committed that bloody case, my father petitioned Fucheng. The prefecture said people from the Zhenwu Hall would return to assist, but—"

"Half a year flashed by, and not a soul showed up…"

Zhenwu Hall?

Looking at the empty narrow alley, Li Yuan set down the cart.

Zhenwu Hall, established at the founding of the Dayun imperial court, was formed by the founding emperor Pang Pang Wenlong by selecting elite experts from the many sects beneath his command.

A violent organ combining assassination, siege warfare, intelligence, decapitation and more — its fame was enormous, and he had heard of it too.

"Have the people from Zhenwu Hall arrived?"

Li Yuan asked.

Regarding this violent organ that claimed to gather the elite of every sect under heaven, he was quite curious.

But also somewhat doubtful.

He couldn't believe that a regional overlord like the Divine Weapon Valley would send its elite disciples to serve the imperial court…

"No."

Liu Zheng yawned. He had just come out of the Spring Breeze Tower, and was now so sleepy he could barely stand. He waved his hand, preparing to go home and sleep.

Li Yuan pressed with another question:

"Brother Liu, how will the murderer be dealt with?"

"The murderer hasn't..."

Liu Zheng's drowsiness surged, and he almost failed to react:

"Oh, you mean that notorious bandit? He's already dead. Most likely, they'll just record it, toss him into the Mass Grave in a couple of days, let the wild dogs eat him. That's a bargain for him!"

"The Mass Grave?"

Watching Liu Zheng depart, Li Yuan glanced at the lifeless Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple, then turned and left.

"Could the ones who killed these monks be from the Divine Weapon Valley?"

On the way back, Li Yuan pondered in his heart; he felt it was highly probable.

"So, last night, the first to touch the Bodhisattva Temple was Li Ba? After he fled with severe injuries, Yu Zhen and Wang Ding followed up. I was the third group. After that, were there experts from the Divine Weapon Valley?"

"Who is this Li Ba? What does he want? He's so useless; he can't possibly be from the Town Martial Hall, can he?"

"What are Wang Ding and the others preparing to do at the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple?"

Chaos!

Li Yuan felt it was a mess just thinking about it, so he simply gave up trying to figure it out. He turned through a few streets and arrived at the Four Seasons Medicine Hall again.

He truly dared not tamper with or eat the medicine on Yu Zhen.

He planned to come here to identify more pills, and also buy a few antidote pills to prepare for the little field mouse.

"Bring two bottles of antidote pills; get a few of every kind that cures various poisons!"

Inside the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple, it was gloomy, and the smell of blood seemed to linger for a long time.

"It was Old Han who did this!"

Glancing at the sunken bluestone floor in the front courtyard, Fang Fang Yunxiu hardly needed to guess; for such a ruthless attack, she had only seen one person: Han Han Chuijun.

A normal person, even a most vicious notorious bandit, would absolutely not go so far as to silence even a dog...

"The Valley Master even said Old Han had cultivated his nature for many years and long ago ceased to enjoy fighting with others. I was almost deceived..."

Looking at the traces all over the temple and the courtyard, Fang Fang Yunxiu's eye twitched repeatedly. After circling once and finding nothing, she was about to leave when she suddenly turned back.

"I remember there was an incense burner in front of the main hall?"

Frowning as she looked, Fang Fang Yunxiu turned and left. Her speed was fast; in no time, she had returned to the Lu Residence.

"Auntie, where did you go?"

In the backyard of the Lu Residence, Lu Lu Bailing was sweating profusely. Seeing Fang Fang Yunxiu with a grim face, she hurriedly stepped forward to greet her.

"Where is your father?"

"Ah?"

Her tone was icy; Lu Lu Bailing was startled and hurriedly replied:

"Father was not at home last night. He should be at the Bodhisattva Temple? He often discusses the Dao with Master Master Kongding all night..."

"He was at the Bodhisattva Temple last night?"

Glancing at Lu Lu Bailing with a blank expression, Fang Fang Yunxiu turned and left.