Grudge Breaker

Chapter 305: Underground Network Ghost
"Sir, we found that half of the shoe print on the roof of the medicine hall was most likely from a resentment-breaking master named Lu Chi from the underground network."

"Lü Chi?"

Ding Heran's words made Mo Tingfeng frown. He remembered him.

Although the Si Chen Mansion was named according to the order of the thirty-six celestial beings and the seventy-two earthly demons, and had thirty-six celestial nets and seventy-two earthly nets, with tens of thousands of resentment-breaking masters under its jurisdiction, it was impossible for Mo Tingfeng to recognize every resentment-breaking master, but he was not unfamiliar with Lu Chi.

Lu Chi is the leader of the first team "Di Kui" among the 72 underground network teams led by Ye Wujiu, and he has extensive qualifications.

Ye Wujiu has been the leader of the underground network for only about five hundred years, while Lu Chi has been the leader of the "Earth Leader" for more than seven hundred years. Although he is only a Class C magician, he has achieved many remarkable successes because of his rich experience in dealing with chaotic souls.

In the case of Nian Niang, it was he who discovered the abnormality in the open cave during a routine inspection.

He is also a member of the underground special operations team that entered Pingyang in the Ghost Husband Case. He is deeply trusted by Ye Wujiu and Mo Tingfeng. How could such a person be a traitor?

……

"How did you lock on to him?" Mo Tingfeng's tone was normal and it was impossible to tell his emotions.

Although the robes of the Tianluo and Diwang masters are of different colors, their hakama boots are of the same style, and the patterns on the soles are exactly the same. In addition, most masters of resentment-breaking are of similar height and build, and their foot sizes are similar. It is not easy to identify someone from tens of thousands of masters of resentment-breaking with only half a red mud shoe print.

Moreover, the matter of the traitor in Si Chen Mansion was not suitable for a thorough investigation on a large scale. It was all thanks to Ding Heran and Ye Wujiu who took the time to conduct a secret investigation, which made the matter even more difficult.

Ding Heran presented a list.

"This is the list of the resentment-breaking masters who went to the back mountain to assist on the day of the Princess's banquet in the forest, as registered by the prefecture. There are 120 of them in total."

Mo Tingfeng flipped through it casually, and found that Lu Chi's name was not on it. He smiled slightly. If it was really on it, so obvious, then Ding Heran and Ye Wujiu, the two leaders of the dragnet, would probably not have to do anything.

Ye Wujiu handed over another list.

"There have been murders in the mansion for several days. First, there was the drowned corpse case, and then Du Juan hanged herself in the Venerable's mansion. I am worried that something might go wrong at the banquet in the forest, so I sent two shadow men over in advance to observe secretly and prevent any accidents from happening."

The shadow people that Ye Wujiu mentioned were also grudge-breakers. To be precise, they were from the last team of the underground network, the "Earth Dogs". They were very good at tracking and identifying traces, as well as observing and recording in secret. However, more than half of the grudge-breakers of the Earth Dogs were investigating the connection between the "dark compartment" and the ghost market, and the remaining few were hiding in the core of an important civilian intelligence hub. These two people were temporarily transferred back by Ye Wujiu, and no one in the mansion knew about it.

"The list of resentment-breaking masters given by Ying Ren has three more people than the list in the government. He Ran and I believe that these three people are the key to solving the mystery of the half red mud footprint on the roof of the medicine hall."

Ye Wujiu reported the results of the investigation to Mo Tingfeng in detail——

One of them, from the sixteenth part of Tianluo, "Tian Jie", appeared in the back mountain, hid in the treetops and observed for a stick of incense before leaving. There was no other unusual movement afterwards. It has now been found that this person likes to join in the fun, and on the day of the forest banquet, he was resting and had no business to do, so he sneaked in out of curiosity.

There is another person, who is the master of breaking resentment in the 56th part of the Earth Network, "Earth Hiding", and can perform shallow underground escape techniques.

This person is not sociable and likes to be alone. He is also a quasi-B-level magician with great kung fu skills. Logically speaking, he is a big suspect.

In addition, since he is about the same height as Lu Chi, the footprints on the roof of the pharmacy are most likely from him.

But through investigation, his suspicion was cleared. On the one hand, the footprints were slightly different. Although the two people were of similar height, this person was fatter - the footprints of fat people must have a lighter forefoot indentation, a wider arch indentation, a slightly heavier heel indentation, and the edges of the footprints were obviously complete.

On the contrary, the footprints of a thin person have uneven pressure on the soles of the feet, with more obvious areas of heavy pressure, incomplete edges, higher starting and landing feet, and obvious footsteps - this is completely consistent with the footprints on the roof, indicating that the person on the roof at that time was a thin person.

Then there is motivation.

The reason why this man used the earth escape technique to sneak into the back mountain was because he was ordered to do daily security inspections at the Venerable Mansion during the eldest princess' temporary stay. By chance, he fell in love with a maid who accompanied the eldest princess, and the two of them quickly became passionate. He even secretly followed her to accompany her at the Forest Banquet, even though he knew he was not allowed to enter casually.

The remaining one is Lu Chi.

By obtaining evidence from his other hakama and boots footprints, it was found that the imprints were almost identical to the ones on the roof of the pharmacy, and that Lu Chi was indeed on duty at Si Chen Mansion that day, so he had plenty of time to commit the crime.

"We also discovered one thing. Like the necromancer Ma Zhenchun, Lü Chi is also from Chenmeizaoxiantai. However, after he got married, he and his wife moved to Qingshan Village. Over time, people mistakenly believed that he was born in Qingshan Village."

After Ding Heran finished speaking, he took out a memorial from his bosom, which recorded the cases in Sichen Mansion that Lu Chi had been involved in in recent years. His eyes were quite complicated.

"He was also there when Xi Que was tried in Sikong Mansion. I recalled a detail... At that time, Xi Que took poison and fell to the ground. The resentment-breaking master who went to investigate and said that he was dead was none other than Lü Chi."

"I now have reason to suspect that he knew that Xi Que's death was fake, but he deliberately lied to help him conceal the truth."

"There was also the sinkhole in the Hidden Mist Village. He was also among the resentment-breakers who went to investigate. It's hard to say whether he had already connected with Ma Zhenchun at that time."

"Moreover, at nightfall on the day of the forest banquet, Lu Chi asked for leave and left the house, saying that his wife was ill and needed to go home for three days. I have already visited her, and his wife is not ill, and Lu Chi has not returned home. He is simply fleeing for fear of punishment!"

After Ding Heran finished speaking, he looked indignant and clasped his fists towards Mo Tingfeng.

"Sir, should we immediately announce the arrest of Lu Chi?"

"and many more."

Before Mo Tingfeng could speak, Ye Wujiu stopped Ding Heran. He paused, as if he was very hesitant about what he was about to say.

"I'm not trying to protect my own people, but according to the records of the shadow man, I suspect that Lu Chi deliberately went to the forest banquet - he didn't even reach the open space in the forest, he just stayed in the deserted place in the back mountain for a while and then left." "This action was too deliberate. Rather than being an unintentional mistake, it seems more like he did it on purpose to leave a trace."

Mo Tingfeng nodded in agreement.

"There is insufficient evidence and the motive is a mystery. We should not rush to arrest him right now. Let's wait a little longer."

"If it's not Lu Chi, arresting him would alert the real culprit and let him know that we have become suspicious. If it's Lu Chi, he must have a reason for leaving the mansion this time. If we keep a low profile while searching for him, we may be able to follow the clues and find out who is behind him."

"Also, there are many people in Sichen Mansion, and they are not a monolithic group. We must be more cautious in the future - I suspect there is more than one traitor."

The two men agreed, and just as Ding Heran lifted the sound barrier restriction, he heard an urgent cry of a falcon, which was a secret signal that Tianluo was in an emergency.

"I'll be back soon," before he finished speaking, Ding Heran had disappeared.

Ye Wujiu was just about to go out and call several resentment-breaking masters waiting outside the hall into the meeting hall to discuss the case of Ruan Mianmian's disappearance, but was stopped by Mo Tingfeng.

"How's the wound on your arm?"

"Thank you for your concern, sir. Although the wound cannot be healed, it has not spread. Moreover, because of this solar prominence poison, I seem to occasionally have some reverse sensing of the necromancer's state. For example, an hour ago, I sensed that he was very far away from Si Chen's mansion, and the surroundings were as cold as an ice cellar, as if I was in a piece of ice and snow."

"But I am not sure whether this is true reverse sensing. It needs further verification. If it really exists, it would be a blessing in disguise and would be of great help in arresting the murderer."

Mo Tingfeng nodded and gently patted Ye Wujiu's shoulder to comfort him.

In fact, both of them understood one thing in their hearts, but neither of them pointed it out - the reason why Ye Wujiu was able to sense the whereabouts of the necromancer was not because he had turned from defense to offense and began to gain the upper hand, but on the contrary, it was because the strange rune power was accelerating its penetration and assimilation into Ye Wujiu.

He was no longer in excruciating pain from his wounds precisely because his body's rejection reaction was gradually decreasing.

If Ma Zhenchun cannot be eliminated as soon as possible and the magic circle that controls the necromancer cannot be completely eradicated, Ye Wujiu will become the next Ma Zhenchun, and the countdown to his death is already visible.

Mo Tingfeng was secretly anxious. Not only Ye Wujiu, Ruan Mianmian's disappearance was also related to this rune. There was also the same rune in the damned Heart-Confusing Harp, which was obviously directed at Song Weichen. Thinking of this, he felt frightened for the first time and couldn't calm down. What on earth was this weird and ugly rune? What did the person behind it want!
This damn rune curse must be resolved as soon as possible, time is running out!

……

He was secretly worried when Ding Heran and two resentment-breaking masters entered the meeting hall with frightened looks on their faces.

"Sir, I have something important to report to you!"

The first person to speak was the resentment-breaker from the evidence department. The rune handkerchief stained with Ruan Mianmian's blood that was brought back from the Ruan Mansion was sent to this department for blood traceability. However, the disappearance of the Ruan Mansion's eldest daughter was not a trivial matter, so when the evidence was submitted, the identity of the handkerchief's owner was deliberately concealed.

"Your Excellency, the Evidence Department has found out that the victim of this bloody handkerchief is currently living in... in the residence of the territory lord. His life is not in danger for now."

"The Territory Lord's Mansion?!"

Mo Tingfeng was mentally prepared for the blood handkerchief that someone had cast to conceal his tracks, but he never expected this to be the answer.

Could it be... related to Qin Xueying again?
The incident of the Bewitching Heart Harp was caused by Qin Xueying. Thinking of the identical strange runes on the broken wood of the harp, Mo Tingfeng couldn't help but associate it with her - but it just didn't make sense. If it was really Qin Xueying, wouldn't it be too stupid for her to blatantly hide the missing Ruan Mianmian in her own house?
Moreover, Qin Xueying has always been gentle, sensible, kind and generous. This is definitely not an act. The trouble she caused in Si Chen Mansion this time was caused by the confusing harp that appeared out of nowhere. Now that the harp has been destroyed and her mind has recovered, there is no reason for her to be entangled with the necromancer's affairs.

It's a complete mess.

"If it's in the Territory Lord's Mansion, it's not appropriate to conduct a thorough investigation in a big way. We need to think of a solution."

……

"My Lord, the solution may present itself to you."

Ding Heran had a strange expression on his face and took out a gold-embossed invitation from his arms, which was obviously from the Territory Lord's Mansion.

"Just delivered. The Lord's family banquet will be held in three days."

"Originally, it was to celebrate the solving of the Ghost Husband case, but because the Princess was injured during the spring hunt and it was postponed until now, it is no longer appropriate to call it a celebration banquet, so it has been changed to a family banquet. Please invite you, the White Robe Venerable, and several colleagues such as me and Old Ye, as well as... the zither player Miss Sang Pu to the banquet together."

……

Ding Heran held the invitation in both hands, his expression solemn and strange, and he had no intention of handing it to Mo Tingfeng.

"But compared to this, sir, there is a more urgent emergency that I need to report to you."

He glanced at the other resentment-breaking master behind him, who hurriedly stepped forward and bowed quickly to Mo Tingfeng.

"Your Excellency, I am a subordinate of the Writing Department, and I have been ordered by Uncle Fei to assist Youmei in inspecting the Sanzu River."

"Today, during my patrol this morning, I found the body of a resentment-breaker in a cave near the Sanzu River in the Yumei Territory!"

"The deceased is Lü Chi. The cause of death is unknown. It seems...it seems like suicide."