Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 154: Ironclad Evidence

After Qingyang landed, he quickly sealed the acupuncture points on his thigh to stop the bleeding. His movements were very awkward. He heard Wuzhan say coldly, "I don't know if the Taoist priest has grown old, or if he is exposing his flaws on purpose. He wasn't this useless back then!"

When Qingyang heard this, he felt regret, anger, humiliation, worry and pain all tangled together. He wished he could kill Wuzhan with one palm. Although he had opportunities to get rid of Wuzhan before, Wuzhan escaped or threatened him in the end, or even played tricks on him. He thought he would not live long and did not take it seriously. But he did not know what method this kid used to hold on for so long. When he met him again, he was already a well-known hero of the Qin Dynasty. His Majesty had high hopes for him. It would be very difficult to get rid of him now. Moreover, with this kid's wisdom, he would surely be in the limelight in the court. If he did not find a way to get rid of him in the future, there would be endless troubles. Qingyang began to fear vaguely in his heart.

He Biliu whispered to the old camel, "Since it wasn't you, someone must have framed you. You are so irrational that you must have fallen into someone else's trap. It will be difficult to clear yourself. Stop now and think about what happened last night. Only then can you find out who is behind it!"

Hearing this, the old camel regained his sanity, knowing that what He Biliu said made sense. He put away the chain and said in a deep voice, "Okay, I'll listen to you!"

Upon seeing this, Yao Jia hurriedly gave an order: "Capture the traitor and bring him back to the Supreme Court for interrogation!" The soldiers stepped forward and tried to tie him up with iron chains.

The old camel glared and shouted, "Who of you dares to take me!" The soldiers who approached were immediately scared away.

Wuzhan shouted, "Catch him first, then interrogate him. What are you hesitating about, Taoist He?"

He Biliu had no choice but to remove the old camel's chains and prosthesis, and whispered: "Be patient for now, we will get it back for you later." Only then did the soldiers dare to step forward and carefully tie up the old camel, fearing that the old camel would beat them to death in anger.

Wuzhan winked and Jin Xingzi understood what he meant. He stepped forward and took the chain handed over by the soldier and tightened it. The chain immediately sank into the old camel's flesh, and his bones creaked. The old camel felt pain and glared at Jin Xingzi, but he heard Jin Xingzi smile complacently, "If you feel uncomfortable, I can tighten it more." As soon as he finished speaking, the chain flashed red and emitted burnt smoke. The old camel groaned in pain and broke out in a cold sweat.

He Biliu scolded: "Keep your hands clean, or I will never let you go!"

Jin Xingzi laughed and said, "I haven't washed my hands for a few days. I just don't like to be clean. You are protecting him so much. Are you afraid that he can't bear it and betray you?"

Qingyang endured the pain and shouted, "Why stay? Go and inform Master Xuan, and leave this to me!"

He Bi kept an eye on Jin Xingzi and said fiercely: "Let's wait and see!" After that, there was a whistling sound of wind, and his figure leaped dozens of feet away and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

……

In the court of the Supreme Court, the Imperial Censor Feng Jie and a dozen guards had also arrived. They sat on either side of Yao Jia with Wuzhan. Yao Jia slammed the table and said sternly, "Now that you have been caught with evidence, if you confess the crime and reveal the identity of the rioters, I will deal with you according to the law."

The old camel spat with a "pu" sound, and grinned, "Someone put this in secretly, trying to frame me. I'm not responsible for it!" He was arrogant.

"How dare you! This stolen property was found in the secret room of your house, and you still refuse to admit it. Come, give him twenty strokes of the cane, and I'll see if he confesses."

The jailers on both sides stepped forward and immediately pressed the old camel to the ground. They were about to execute him, but they heard a voice from outside the door, "Your Excellency the Chief Justice, please show mercy!" The voice was like a loud bell, echoing throughout the hall. Yao Jia knew in his heart that Xuan had arrived.

In a moment, Daoxuan had already walked into the courtroom, with an immortal look and bright eyes. Yao Jia hurriedly stood up and said with a smile: "Master, you are here so quickly, please take a seat!"

"If we were late, this old camel's head would have been gone!" He glanced at the old camel pinned to the ground and continued, "This old camel has a bad temper and no respect for the law. He should be taught a lesson, but I guess he was wronged and got angry, so he clashed with you. I hope you can forgive his recklessness."

Yao Jia laughed and said, "Master, you are wrong. How could I bother with him? It's just that the plundering of tribute is a matter of great importance and does not allow for any personal feelings. Otherwise, how can I be worthy of your majesty's grace?" He waved his hand to signal the jailer to help the old camel up.

After Daoxuan sat down, his face was full of solemnity. He stared at the old camel and said, "If you don't cooperate with the investigation of the Lord of the Court of Justice and find out the people who framed you, then you will have to follow the laws of the Qin Dynasty and let the Lord of the Court of Justice deal with you."

The old camel said angrily, "As for those jewels, I, the old camel, don't even look down on them. I'm full and have nothing better to do than to rob them."

Daoxuan asked, "If you don't look down on it, why did the tribute appear in your dark room?"

The old camel calmed down a bit and narrated to Daoxuan: "At midnight last night, I finished my training and was about to rest. Suddenly, a dart flew in through the window. I caught the dart with my quick eyes and hands. I found a note tied to the dart, which said, 'The things are in hand, come and get them quickly.' I didn't understand what it meant, so I quickly chased after it and jumped onto the roof to search. Not long after, I saw a black shadow flying towards the east of the city. I thought that the note must have been sent by him, so I used my Qinggong to chase after him, wanting to catch the man and ask him about it. However, the man's Qinggong was very high, his feet seemed not to touch the ground, and he shuttled freely between the houses, comparable to He Biliu. I tried my best to chase him, all the way to the east of the city, but I couldn't catch him. But the man seemed to want to lead the way, and he always kept in touch with me. He flew a distance away from me, and waved to me when he jumped over the city gate. So I followed him over the city gate and followed him for more than ten miles. I was anxious and called out to him from behind, but he didn't answer. Finally, when it was almost dawn, I realized something was wrong. He seemed to be playing a trick on me, so I shouted angrily: "Damn it, if you don't say anything, I'll go back!" After hearing this, the man not only didn't stop, but instead accelerated his speed and disappeared in the blink of an eye. I looked around but couldn't find any trace of him. Finally, I had to give up and returned to the mansion at dawn. Seeing that there was nothing unusual in the mansion, I lay on the bed to make up for my sleep until they came to my mansion to search and woke me up. I didn't expect that someone had put the lost jewels of the court in the dark room. They must have been the ones who framed me!"

Wuzhan asked: "Where is the note?" "In my sleeve!"

Wuzhan ordered someone to take out the note, took it in his hand and looked at it carefully. He felt that the handwriting was quite familiar. After a moment, he smiled and handed the note to Yao Jia to read. After reading it, Yao Jia looked at the old camel coldly and said, "You are lying. You actually made up such a ridiculous thing to deceive me." Then he shouted, "Bring the witness into the court!"

After a while, the jailer brought two women into the court and made them kneel inside. The old camel saw that these two women were his maids and he often abused them. He knew that Yao Jia must have brought them here for no good reason. He immediately became furious and said angrily, "If you say something wrong, I will skin you alive when we go back!" The two maids were frightened by his words and immediately fell to the ground, trembling all over.

Yao Jia said in a cold voice: "If you disrespect the court again, I will behead you right now without any interrogation." After he finished speaking, there was silence in the hall, and even Daoxuan followed suit and remained silent.

Yao Jia said to the maid, "I will make the decision for you. Just tell me what you saw."

The maid trembled timidly and said, "Yes, sir, at about Chou time today, Lianxiang and I went out to relieve ourselves with lanterns. We ran into our Taoist priest coming back from outside. He scolded us and made us kneel outside for half an hour. He also said that if we step out of the door in the future, he would beat us to death."

The old camel shouted, "When did I see you last night? If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tear your mouths apart!"

The maid was frightened by the old camel and almost fainted. She said in panic, "We were clearly punished for half an hour. How could the Taoist not remember it?"

"Have you confirmed that it's him? There's no difference in the voice?" Daoxuan said coldly.

"We obey the Taoist priest every day, so we will never go wrong!" the maid replied.

"Did you see what he was holding?" Yao Jia asked.

"We only saw the Taoist priest carrying a big bag, and he and Taoist priest He came back together. He wanted to hit us, but Taoist priest He stopped him. He muttered something, and finally let us go."

This statement shocked the whole room. It was completely consistent with what Chen Laifu had said before. He Biliu, who was standing behind Daoxuan, was immediately shocked and angry, "What did you say?"

"Ah..., has Taoist Priest He also forgotten? If you hadn't stopped our Taoist Priest, we would have been beaten to death by him. We are extremely grateful to Taoist Priest He."

Yao Jia said, "We have all the evidence. If you don't confess, you will be severely punished. Someone, come and arrest the suspect."

Daoxuan said, "Sir, wait a minute! The two people they saw must be imposters. They were deliberately made to kneel in the yard and the stolen goods were placed in the old camel's secret room during this time as witnesses."

Feng Jie, who had been silent beside Yao Jia, said word by word: "Master, you are really imaginative. If these evidences cannot prove that they colluded with the remnants and robbed the tribute, then no one will be able to solve the case. Master, you are so partial to these rebels under your command. Do you have any concerns?" He made innuendos and was very imposing.

Daoxuan said coldly: "Master Yushi, what are you talking about? They were framed by someone. Can't I defend them?"

Yao Jia said: "The evidence is clear, how do you want to defend yourself?"

Daoxuan said, "What the old camel said last night overlaps with what the two maids and the innkeeper said. Someone must have lured the old camel away during this time, pretending to be them, and came from the inn to the old camel's house, and then hid the stolen goods in the dark room."

Yao Jia said coldly: "This note is obviously a message to ask him to pick up the stolen goods. He talked nonsense and argued that someone led him away. Just imagine, who would be stupid enough to follow a dark shadow all night without knowing the reason? The incident is very clear. He got the news at midnight last night and went to Fulai Inn. According to the prior arrangement, he and He Biliu took out the jewels in the coffin and brought them back to the mansion. He didn't want to be seen by the maid and wanted to kill her to silence her. Maybe he was afraid of complications, so he was stopped by He Biliu. After hiding the jewels in the dark room, the two left again. Lao Tuo went outside the city and ambushed in a deserted ravine. He Biliu secretly sent someone to buy a carriage and bring the funeral team to the ravine. He and Lao Tuo killed the eight people instantly, and the hearts were all taken away by Lao Tuo. When the censor brought people to search, the man had no time to cover the body, unloaded the carriage, and escaped on horseback. The evidence is as clear as a mountain, and there is no mistake. How can he be an imposter?"

“Hahaha…, hahaha…” Qianshan Laotuo suddenly laughed coldly, which frightened everyone in the hall. They all looked at the old camel, only to see him staring at He Biliu with a dull look, and said coldly: “He Biliu, things have come to this point, there is no point in hiding it anymore, quickly give out the person who contacted you, maybe we can save our lives!”

He Biliu's face turned black, and he asked in surprise: "Old camel, what nonsense are you talking about?"

(End of this chapter)