Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 152 Why Stay?

Wuzhan left the Meng Mansion and went to the Tingwei Mansion with Jin Xingzi and Miaoxin, and informed Yao Jia of the suspicious coffin yesterday. Yao Jia was overjoyed and immediately selected two hundred jailers to go to the east of the city to search with Wuzhan. He then went to the palace to request His Majesty to send the masters of the Xiandao Academy to help solve the case.

According to the investigation report sent by Wuzhan, the group carrying the coffin stayed at the Fulai Inn in the east of the city last night. When the city gates opened this morning, they bought a carriage and pulled the coffin out of the east gate to bury it. They had been gone for an hour. After Wuzhan got a general idea of ​​the situation, he took his men out of the east gate to chase them.

After walking more than three miles, they found the coffin in a deserted mountain valley. The coffin had not been buried, the carriage and the horses were gone, and there were eight corpses around, all with wide-open eyes, hollowed-out hearts, horrible deaths, and the blood had not yet coagulated, obviously they had died not long ago. This method of killing reminded Wuzhan of a person, Qianshan Old Camel, only he was used to doing this.

The lid of the coffin was open, emitting a suffocating stench of corpse. Without covering his mouth and nose, he looked inside and saw that the corpse was indeed an old man. His skin and flesh had almost rotted away and were emitting thick water.

The depth of the coffin was about half a foot different from the height of the outside. Due to the visual difference, it was difficult to detect without careful observation. Wuzhan ordered the jailer to take out the body and bury it on the spot. Then he opened the bottom and found a dark layer inside. There was nothing else except eight blood-red characters written in bold and eye-catching letters: "Extortion and heavy levies, people resent and heaven is angry".

This sentence was obviously a blatant provocation to the people who came to investigate the case. Wuzhe looked around and thought about an unlikely question, "Could it be that all these incidents were caused by that mob in Xiandaoyuan?"

Not long after, Yao Jia and his men rushed over. When they walked to Wuzhan’s side, they saw the eight bodies and the writing on the bottom of the coffins. He said bitterly, “They did it again!”

Wuzhan said calmly, "According to the recollections of the city gate guards, there were nine people in this group who left the city. Now there are eight bodies. According to the innkeeper, there were eight people in this group who stayed in the inn last night. The other person should be the murderer."

"It seems the jewels have been taken away!"

"I don't think so. If they wanted to take the jewels, why would they risk being discovered by entering and leaving the city? And if they took them from here, what would be the point of putting the body back in the coffin? The purpose of bringing these eight people out is to kill them and silence them. The jewels are probably still in the city. They had already guessed that we would come to investigate, and they left this message for us to see. It's really arrogant."

"If this traitor is found, he will be torn into pieces!" Yao Jia said hatefully.

"Will Your Majesty grant permission to send the experts from Xiandao Academy to help solve the case?"

"Your Majesty is wise and has ordered the monastery to send people to assist us in the investigation. They will arrive at the palace at noon."

Wuzhan asked, "Do you know why they used mercury to build the Lishan Palace?"

"Once the corvée enters Mount Li, they will not come out alive. Apart from the Immortal Daoyuan, only your majesty and General Zhang Han who is in charge of supervising the construction know about it. The entire construction is carried out in secret, and we ministers have no way of knowing. But according to speculation, one theory is that mercury is used to infuse the mechanism to make the Immortal Palace circulate endlessly, and another theory is that it is used to make 'divine weapons'."

"Creating a divine weapon?" Wuzhan asked in disbelief.

"Your Majesty wants to build an invulnerable and invincible army, expand the territory, conquer the four seas, and become the eternal emperor of the world."

"Do you believe that you can build such an army?" Wuzhan asked calmly.

Yao Jia stroked his silver beard and smiled bitterly, "How can I believe this? Those Taoists in the Immortal Dao Academy are just deceiving Your Majesty. Your Majesty is determined to live forever. If anyone tries to dissuade you from doing this, it means that Your Majesty will die. Your Majesty will definitely be furious."

Wuzhan stood with his hands behind his back and said, "I should go to Mount Li if I have the chance to see what the scenery in the Immortal Palace is like."

Yao Jia asked in a deep voice: "Has the censor begun to doubt them?"

Wuzhan smiled faintly and said, "Without sufficient evidence, we cannot make any rash conclusions. Lord Tingwei, let's go back and continue investigating this matter and see how many people from the Xiandao Academy have come."

……

When he returned to the Court of Justice, as expected, the Immortal Dao Academy actually sent Qingyang to investigate the case. When enemies meet, their eyes are red. Wuzhan stood proudly in front of Qingyang and said solemnly: "Why don't you kneel when you see me?"

Qingyang's eyes flashed with coldness, wishing he could eat Wuzhan alive. He sneered and said, "This Taoist priest is a cultivator and does not care about worldly matters."

"Oh, what the Taoist said really makes me confused. Since you are not worldly, why do you care about worldly affairs? I think the Taoist is not unworldly, but ignorant of the ways of the world." "This is called being a whore and wanting to build a chastity archway!" Jin Xingzi sneered from the side.

Miao Xin laughed when she heard this. Although she didn't know what this meant, she found it quite funny to see Qing Yang's face turn pale as a result of this.

Qingyang gritted his teeth in hatred, glaring at Wuzhan with eyes that seemed to spit fire, secretly regretting that he had not been able to kill him in the first place. Now he was being pointed at and scolded. If he had not been concerned about Ying Zheng's favor for Wuzhan, he would have dismembered him on the spot.

He Biliu glared at Jin Xingzi coldly, unable to contain his anger, and cursed, "What kind of bastard are you!" He immediately turned his whole body's true energy around and slapped Wuzhan, wanting to teach Wuzhan a lesson.

Miaoxin saw the situation and quickly stood in front of Wuzhan. With a 'puff' sound, her true Qi exploded and forced Qingyang and Hebilu to take a step back. A chill immediately spread through their bodies. Neither of them had expected that Wuzhan was protected by a master of such a level.

Just as he was surprised, he heard Miaoxin say, "With me here, don't even think about getting close to me!" The voice was clear and pleasant, echoing in the court.

Yao Jia was unaware of the hatred between the two men. He was quite surprised to see that they were so hostile as soon as they met. He quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "We are all for the sake of the Qin Empire. Let's talk it over. Come sit down and have some tea to calm down."

After hearing this, Wuzhan smiled at Qingyang and said, "Master, I haven't seen you for a few days. Your bones are indeed much looser. It's better not to kneel. I won't make things difficult for you." As he said that, he and Yao Jia walked towards the hall, and sat down, one on the left and one on the right. Qingyang and He Bilu sat on the right side of the court, unable to conceal their anger.

Yao Jia shouted outside, "Bring the people from Fulai Inn into the court for interrogation!"

Not long after, the jailer brought the owner of the Fulai Inn, the handyman, the waiter and other fifteen people into the court. Seeing the solemn atmosphere in the court and the cold eyes of the jailers on both sides, these people were so frightened that their legs and feet went weak and they knelt down immediately.

Yao Jia said in a deep voice: "You don't have to panic. As long as you explain clearly what happened before and after the funeral team moved in, I will never punish you. But if you conceal anything, you will be severely punished."

When those people heard this, they were so frightened that they dared not hide anything. The shopkeeper Chen Laifu narrated nervously, "I dare not hide anything. Yesterday, I saw that group of people wearing mourning clothes and carrying a coffin that gave off a bad smell to come to our shop. I thought it was unlucky and did not want to take them in. But when I saw the ten gold coins they put on the counter, I became greedy and cleared four rooms for them to rest. However, the stench from the coffin was too strong, and they would not allow it to be placed outside the room, so I had to put it in an empty room and lock it up as they requested. The other guests could not stand the stench, so I had to cancel their rooms and let them go." We went to another inn, but we were so horrified by the stench that we didn't sleep well that night. At about midnight, we heard a noise in the room where the coffin was stored. I was too timid to open the door to check, so I secretly looked out through the crack in the door and vaguely saw two figures moving in the room, as if they were opening the coffin to take something. I wondered why the group of people would open the coffin in the middle of the night to look for something on a smelly corpse. The more I thought about it, the more scared I became. I didn't dare to breathe. Not long after, I saw the two black figures walking out of the room, one of them carrying a large bag full of things, some of which were glowing faintly. "

When everyone heard this, they were shocked and said, "Jewelry!"

Yao Jia immediately stood up and asked in surprise, "Did you see the faces of those two people clearly?"

Chen Laifu was so scared that he almost vomited his heart out. He quickly said in a trembling voice: "The light in the room was too dim, and I couldn't see clearly. I just felt that... I just felt that the black shadow with the bag on his back seemed to be a hunchback. When the two people walked lightly through the main hall, the other one whispered, 'Old hunchback, you must hide these things.'"

Qingyang and Hebiliu turned pale upon hearing this. Hebiliu shouted angrily, "If you keep talking nonsense, I will smash your head into pieces with one palm!"

Chen Laifu immediately fell to the ground, crying, "Everything I said is true. If I conceal anything, I will die a miserable death!"

Wuzhan looked at He Biliu with a slanting eye and said in a cold voice, "Hunchbacks can be found everywhere in the world. Why do you think it must be the 'Old Camel of Thousand Mountains'? Are you here to help us solve the case, or to intimidate us? Is there no one in the Xiandao Academy, so you sent you to come here to surprise us?"

He felt out of control when Wuzhan said this coldly. This made people suspect that the man was Qianshan Old Camel. He glared at Wuzhan with anger in his chest about to burst out. Qingyang was the same. The long sword behind him kept humming. For some reason, whenever he saw Wuzhan's eyes, he could never calm down and wished he could dig them out.

Yao Jia said sternly: "Go on, I'm here, anyone who dares to act rudely in the Supreme Court will be executed on the spot!" This sentence was obviously meant for He Biliu to hear.

Chen Laifu was lying on the ground, trembling, and stammering, "The hunchbacked shadow replied, 'Don't worry. We went through so much trouble to rob the jewels, how could we not preserve them properly? Once the news has died down, we will do some detailed analysis. No matter how hard they try, they will never think that it was us who did it. I wonder if they will be furious again when they see it tomorrow.' Another shadow said, 'The remnants of the six kingdoms have taken a heavy blame.' I only heard these words clearly, and the two shadows had already opened the door of the store. Then there was a 'clatter' sound, which seemed to be the sound of iron chains, and the two men disappeared."

Yao Jia shouted, "Why didn't you report the case earlier?"

"I wanted to report the case, but when I saw those eight people in the morning, they didn't notice anything was missing. I didn't know what reason to report it, and I was afraid that they would turn around and accuse me of stealing their things. So someone asked me about the group of people, and I only told them where they were, but didn't reveal what I saw last night. I concealed something at that time, and I deserve to die!"

Wuzhan slowly stood up and smiled at He Biliu, saying, "You were right. The Taoist priest is really a master of foresight. He has achieved immediate results as soon as he arrived and solved this huge case. Let the Taoist priest lead the way and let us go together to capture him!"

(End of this chapter)