Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 10, Plum Blossom Silver Needle, Red Leaf Inn
Most of the wanderers were stopped outside the room.

Only a few people can check the situation in the room.

Lu Xiaofeng opened the chest of the corpse and saw five silver needles forming a plum blossom shape.

The five silver needles also had a rather peculiar shape, with a delicate plum blossom carved on the surface.

"Plum Blossom Thief?"

Lu Xiaofeng looked at the man with a panicked expression and asked, "What did you see before?"

The man said, "I... I live here with Brother Li. I just got up for the night and when I came back, I saw a man in black killing Brother Li with a wave of his hand..."

"Hmm? Does that mean the murderer just left?"

"Yes...yes..."

Bai Xiaosheng said, "If that's the case, maybe we can still track down the murderer."

He immediately came to the door and said to everyone, "Everyone, the person who just attacked, regardless of whether he is the Plum Blossom Thief or not, has indeed committed the crime of murder. Now that he has just left, perhaps we can find some clues.

I, Bai Xiaosheng, am here to ask you all to split up into pairs and immediately pursue. Perhaps tonight will be the time to catch the Plum Blossom Thief!

When everyone heard this, they immediately became excited. If they could catch the Plum Blossom Thief, they would become famous in the martial arts world and could even marry Lin Xian'er, the most beautiful woman in the martial arts world.

Who wouldn’t want such a wonderful thing?
They immediately scattered in all directions, trying to give chase.

However, this search did not reveal anything.

Everyone had no choice but to come back and report to Bai Xiaosheng.

Bai Xiaosheng didn't seem to care and just nodded.

Lu Xiaofeng, who was standing aside, suddenly asked, "Has anyone gone outside the manor to search?"

"Yes! I went east, three or four miles away from the manor!"

"I went to the south and searched two or three miles."

"And me, I'm going to the north..."

After listening to their story, Lu Xiaofeng asked, "So, have you seen any clues outside the manor? It's snowing so heavily today, I'm afraid any traces will be revealed on the snow."

"This..." Everyone shook their heads.

Bai Xiaosheng smiled and said, "It seems that Young Master Lu has already noticed it. With such heavy snow today, the person who attacked was frightened and fled, leaving no trace outside the manor. Perhaps it's because his Qinggong skills have reached the point where he can walk on snow without leaving any trace."

Either... he has never left the manor, or he is in this manor, or maybe even among all of us here!

He didn't even run away!"

"What? The Plum Blossom Bandits are among us?"

"It must be Li Xunhuan?"

"Impossible! We all came here together just now, and Li Xunhuan was right in front of me. It can't be him!"

"Could there be other members of this Plum Blossom Bandit?"

"This doesn't necessarily mean it's the Plum Blossom Thief..."

Everyone was talking about it, but they were also wary of each other.

Lu Xiaofeng said, "No matter the true identity of the person who attacked tonight, it's obviously too late to track him down now. Brother, you just said you saw that person attack, so... how can you be sure that he is the Plum Blossom Bandit?"

The man showed an embarrassed expression: "Actually, I'm not sure, but I was in a hurry at the time and shouted like that to attract the attention of others."

Everyone was speechless after hearing this.

I thought you were the Plum Blossom Thief, but I didn't expect you were just shouting nonsense.

Bai Xiaosheng, however, examined the wounds on the corpse. "A fatal strike, a single blow. Such tactics... Although this young man was just shouting nonsense, the possibility that the attacker was one of the Plum Blossom Bandits is indeed quite high."

Lu Xiaofeng asked, "Did the other victims before also have these plum blossom silver needles left on their chests?"

"No. The body we found earlier had only these five bloodstains when it was discovered. I guess the silver needle must have been taken away by the Plum Blossom Thief."

Lu Xiaofeng frowned. "So many people have gathered in this manor to capture the Plum Blossom Bandit. The murderer obviously knows this. And two people are living together in this room. They could be discovered at any time... Why did the murderer have to act at this time? And why did he attack him?"

In the martial arts world, there are different levels of martial arts skills, and the same is true for status.

People like Zhou Ming and Lu Xiaofeng were both given independent courtyards.

However, the two people in this room live in the same ordinary room, which shows that their status is not high.

In fact, it is true.

The two people living in this room were Wang Yuan, a reporter for Jianghu Monthly and the one who survived. The other was Li Zhen, a spy for Red Leaf Inn and the one who died.

These two people are unremarkable, except that their identities are slightly special.

Jianghu Monthly is a newspaper aimed at the entire Jianghu. It is published once a month and records various major events in the Jianghu.

The Plum Blossom Bandit incident is the hottest event in the underworld recently, so it is normal for them to send reporters here.

The owner of Hongye Inn is Mr. Hongye, a well-known intelligence dealer in the world.

It is said that there is nothing in this world that Mr. Hongye doesn't know.

Naturally, its intelligence network is also spread all over the world.

Both of them are in the intelligence field, but the difference is that one will write reports and publicize them to the world, while the other will only look for secrets and keep them secretly. If anyone wants to know, they can only go to Mr. Hongye and buy them at a high price.

Naturally, few people like this are welcomed.

Although Jianghu Monthly and Hongye Inn are well-known, they have countless reporters and spies under their umbrella.

Therefore, these two people seem more ordinary.

So, why did the Plum Blossom Thief risk such danger to kill this person?

Lu Xiaofeng began to search for the body.

He hadn't done this before in order to avoid suspicion. After all, the murderer was most likely someone in the manor, so it was naturally possible that it was him, Lu Xiaofeng.

So before, no one did anything random here.

Now that everyone had returned, Lu Xiaofeng began to search in full view of the public.

He quickly found a compartment in the body and took out a folded paper. When he unfolded it, he found it was a map.

"This is... a map of our manor..."

Long Xiaoyun took a closer look and was immediately shocked.

The map indeed showed the buildings in Xingyun Manor, but most of them had an X drawn on them with a red pen.

Bai Xiaosheng said, "It seems that the deceased's purpose in coming here was not just to uncover the truth about the Plum Blossom Thief, but also to search for something else."

Long Xiaoyun was helpless: "What in my village is worth Hongye Xiaozhan's concern?"

No one thought that Li Zhen had any ulterior motives, and they all thought that it was Hongye Xiaozhan behind him who was secretly directing him.

But the strange thing is that Hongye Inn, as an organization that sells intelligence, has been able to get to this point. It can be said that even if it is broken into ten pieces and just one piece is thrown away, it will be enough to smash Xingyun Villa.

What is there in Xingyun Manor that is worth their attention?
"What people in the martial arts world care about are nothing more than magical weapons and unique martial arts skills...hiss! Could it be that Xingyun Manor also hides the secret manual of Xiao Li's Flying Dagger?!"

"This... is very possible!"

"That's impossible! Could Li Xun Huan actually give all his martial arts skills to...hiss! It's very possible!"

"Yes, after all, he is Li Xunhuan..."

There was a murmur among the crowd.

But there were quite a few innate warriors present, so they could naturally hear it clearly.

Long Xiaoyun's face darkened.

Seeing this, Bai Xiaosheng came out to smooth things over and asked everyone to search the room for other clues.

But this is a room in Xingyun Manor after all, and Li Zhen is just an outsider. Everything related to him will remain with him and will not stay in the room.

Therefore, there are no other clues.

Everyone had no choice but to start studying the map again.

"He had already searched and marked most of the places in Xingyun Manor, except for Lengxiang Cottage, Manor Master Long's current residence, and the Li Family Ancestral Hall. It was obvious that he had not achieved his goal.

Could it be that what he is looking for is in these few remaining places?"

"Could it really be Li Xunhuan's unique flying knife skills? Look at the remaining places. Not to mention the ancestral hall, Lengxiang Cottage is where Li Xunhuan lived before, and the residence of Master Long..."

Li Xun Huan had to explain, "Everyone, although my Li family is known for its literary and martial arts, our martial arts are not famous or powerful. Only my flying knife was taught to me by a senior in the martial arts world, and it is not a family martial art."

Long Xiaoyun also laughed and said, "Look at my hands. Do you see any traces of practicing hidden weapons? I can't possibly have the unique skill of flying knives in my hands and not practice for ten years, right?"

No one could refute it, but at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the crowd: "You didn't practice? Did your wife practice?"

(End of this chapter)