Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 186: The mystery of the Three Tiger Gates, the case is complicated
A twisted corpse lay in the corner, its body covered with knife marks, its limbs twisted, and blood dripping.

"Although he had numerous wounds, the fatal one was the one on his neck. The other wounds were merely a cover-up. However, the cuts were simple and clean, with no sign of struggle. Could it be that they were inflicted when he was completely defenseless?"

"There seems to be some traces of poisoning, but this kind of poison should not be enough to completely deprive a congenital warrior of his resistance?"

"Did you hear any sound last night? Nothing at all? That's strange... What kind of acupoint-pressing technique could make a master of the innate realm suffer so much without making a single sound?"

Taoist Master Chongxu examined the wounds on the corpse and described them one by one.

Zuo Lengchan's face was extremely gloomy.

He was elected leader just yesterday.

A murder occurred today.

And judging by the situation, he must have died last night.

If this matter is not handled properly, it will have a huge impact on him as the leader of the alliance.

Not to mention the doubts of others below, the three above will probably push him out to take the blame in order to quell public grievances.

"Can the deceased be identified?"

"It has been confirmed. It is Bai Tianhui from the Three Tigers Gate."

"What? Third brother!"

"Is the third brother dead?!"

Suddenly, two strong men squeezed out from the crowd of onlookers, with expressions of horror on their faces.

It was the people from Sanhumen.

They had heard about the death and came to see the excitement, but the crowd was too large and blocked them from seeing the deceased clearly.

While they were chatting and laughing, they didn't expect that the person who died was their companion.

The melon is eaten at home.

"Third brother! Third brother!"

"Third brother, why did you die? Who killed my third brother?"

The two seemed extremely sad and cried loudly.

Zuo Lengchan watched this scene, thought for a moment, pulled Ding Mian over, and whispered, "Go and invite Lu Xiaofeng over."

Ding Mian said, "Master, Lu Xiaofeng is right behind us."

"Oh?"

Zuo Lengchan turned his head and saw the iconic four eyebrows. He quickly walked over with a smile and said, "Master Lu! Master Lu! I didn't expect something like this to happen here. You are known as a detective. Would you be willing to investigate?"

Lu Xiaofeng was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "That's what I wish for, I dare not ask for it!"

"Okay! Then I'll have to trouble you, Master Lu!"

Zuo Lengchan smiled happily.

In this way, the matter can be directly blamed on Lu Xiaofeng.

If it succeeds, he can also get three-quarters of the credit.

If it fails, then Lu Xiaofeng will naturally take the blame.

Lu Xiaofeng said, "However, I still need the leader to grant me the right to ask anyone for clues."

"Of course!"

Zuo Lengchan said, "Master Lu, please investigate. This incident is extremely serious. No matter who the murderer is, we must find him and show no mercy!"

"The leader is wise!"

Lu Xiaofeng flattered him and then got into the state and began to examine the body.

But the results of his examination were similar to those of Taoist Master Chongxu.

"While being tortured, this person made no sound, nor showed any signs of resistance. This is sufficient to prove that the murderer is far more powerful than him, and has mastered an extremely advanced acupressure technique..."

Bai Tianhui is a real innate warrior.

According to this clue, the other party is at least a master.

"but……"

Lu Xiaofeng pondered, "There are traces of poison on this man's body. If someone he knows poisoned him and then committed the crime, he would naturally be completely unprepared and would be directly poisoned, losing all ability to resist. If that's the case..."

He didn't realize he was looking at the two strong men on the side with sad faces.

With his insight, he could easily see that the sadness expressed by these two people was not real and was false.

"Please, leader, collect this body and let the people disperse. I will investigate."

Lu Xiaofeng called two strong men and went to the room where Bai Tianhui was to investigate.

The two strong men and Bai Tianhui are sworn brothers. The eldest is Xiong Tianlong and the second is Han Tianyun.

"I see the place where the deceased died isn't far from where he lived. Why did you two arrive later than everyone else? And even got stuck in the crowd, so you didn't see the body right away?"

Xiong Tianlong said, "There are four of us from the Three Tiger Gate living here. My second brother and I share a room, and my third brother and the scholar share a room."

"Scholar?"

"Yes, that's my third brother's confidant, a scholar with great wisdom and intelligence, nicknamed 'Scholar'."

"Get him here quickly."

The scholar's name is Zhang Quan. He is truly a scholar. He has some traces of practicing martial arts, but he has not even completed the foundation-building stage.

"When you get up early in the morning and don't see your partner, don't you feel suspicious?"

"The Young Sect Master has always had the habit of practicing in the early morning. I thought he was there."

"Oh? Do you two have this habit?"

Without waiting for the two to answer, Zhang Quan said, "Of course they have it too, but why are these two practicing with the Young Sect Master?"

"Why is this?"

Zhang Quan was waiting for this question and quickly explained the whole story.

The Three Tiger Gates were established several decades ago. They were founded by three sworn brothers: the eldest was Fierce Tiger, the second was Flying Tiger, and the third was White-Faced Tiger.

Among them, the eldest and the second are both masters, but the third is only innate.

However, the third brother has a very high talent in managing the gang. Therefore, although the leader is the boss, the real management power lies in the hands of the third brother.

With the cooperation of the three, the Sanhumen continued to expand.

But later, the boss Xionghu was killed in a battle with the enemy, and the Sanhu Sect was forced to switch from crazy expansion to conservatism.

The new leader was not the second brother Feihu, but the third brother Baimianhu.

Many years later, the three men's children grew up and became sworn brothers again at their father's request.

But the eldest brother's old subordinates and the second brother who is still alive are ready to make a move. Unfortunately, Bai Tianhui, the son of the third brother who holds power, is more talented in martial arts than his two sworn brothers.

Half a year ago, another force next to Sanhumen, the 'Wild Wolf Gang', suddenly launched an offensive against Sanhumen, but was defeated by Sanhumen instead.

Sanhumen took advantage of the situation and annexed it.

Bai Tianhui performed exceptionally well in this incident and was therefore appointed Young Sect Master. This made Xiong Tianlong and Han Tianyun even more jealous.

As Zhang Quan spoke, the faces of the two people beside him grew darker and darker as they listened. When he finished, Xiong Tianlong, furious, slammed the table and said, "Zhang Quan, what do you mean by that? Are you saying that the two of us harmed Third Brother?"

Zhang Quan pretended not to hear anything and clasped his fists towards Lu Xiaofeng, saying, "I heard that the Young Sect Master's body showed signs of poisoning, and that he was killed with almost no chance of resistance. If someone close to him secretly poisoned him, leaving him defenseless and unable to fight, would that be possible?"

"you!"

Xiong Tianlong was furious and opened his hand to grab Zhang Quan, but Lu Xiaofeng quickly stopped him.

Han Tianyun was calmer, and sneered: "If it is as you said, Third Brother will be wary of the two of us, so how could he be caught off guard and poisoned by us?
In comparison, you, who live in the same room with me, are more suspicious.

Let Hero Lu know that Zhang Quan was originally from the Wild Wolf Gang and had temporarily joined my Three Tigers Sect. However, he somehow managed to become my Third Brother's confidant. I'm afraid he's been harboring hatred for a long time and only found this opportunity to poison my Third Brother!"

"Zhang is just a scholar, weak as a chicken, how could he possibly kill the Young Sect Master? You doubt me? You must be crazy!"

"Alright, alright!" Lu Xiaofeng said quickly, "I've roughly understood what happened. There's no need to argue anymore. At this point, it's unlikely that any of you are the murderer. However, from now on, please stay in your rooms and don't move around."

He then left and went to find other people to investigate the clues.

It was afternoon in a blink of an eye.

Lu Xiaofeng returned to his room, sighed helplessly, and said, "It seems that this time, we have really been drawn into the vortex... Li Tanhua, you have really tricked me!"

"what happened?"

Li Xun Huan asked doubtfully, "Is this murder case so complicated?"

“It’s incredibly complicated!”

Lu Xiaofeng briefly explained the affairs of the Three Tigers Sect: "... Zhang Quan was previously the advisor to the Wild Wolf Gang leader, but he betrayed the gang. However, according to my investigation, Zhang Quan should be an undercover agent arranged by the Three Tigers Sect leader, and has been lurking in the Wild Wolf Gang.

The Wild Wolf Gang's initiative to attack the Three Tigers Sect was actually orchestrated by Zhang Quan. Bai Tianhui capitalized on this incident and became the Young Sect Master, while Zhang Quan became his trusted subordinate.

Li Xun Huan nodded. "That is to say, the leader of the Three Tigers Sect had already planned this all along. He wanted to use the Wild Wolf Gang as a stepping stone for his son to ascend to the throne?"

"That's pretty much it."

Lu Xiaofeng said: "The problem is the time... half a year ago!

I found out that Qi Jue Tang was originally just a small and insignificant force. Yi Jue became the new leader after killing the original leader, and he led Qi Jue Tang to continue to grow and develop.

Guess when he entered the Qi Jue Hall?"

"half year ago?"

"That's right!"

Lu Xiaofeng snapped his fingers and said, "Moon Shadow Sect, Quick Knife Sect, Divine Spear Sect, Holy Hand Sect, Pegasus Gang, Iron Blood Hall, plus the Three Tigers Sect and the Seven Absolutes Hall. A total of eight factions have undergone significant changes in the past six months, or even started to emerge or rise in the past six months!"

Li Xun Huan couldn't help but frown. "One or two could be considered coincidences, but these eight...what's so strange about them?"

"I have heard of this."

Lu Xiaofeng said, "After the birthday celebration of Master Zhang of Wudang Mountain, a rumor started circulating in the North that the power that possessed the Huangliang Pill, which could restore youth, would select the leader of a certain faction to join their organization.

Since then, the North has been in turmoil, with new forces constantly emerging and old forces expanding.

These eight companies are probably all related to this rumor."

Li Xun Huan frowned. "How could a mere rumor cause unrest among the various forces in the North and continue to do so until now? More than half a year has passed. Do people still believe this rumor... unless..."

"Unless this is not a rumor!" Lu Xiaofeng asserted excitedly.

Even in ancient times when information transmission was slow, rumors were not completely believable.

There must be matching evidence.

Ordinary people are like this, let alone the warriors who are rampant in the world, or even the leader of a large gang.

If the rumors are false, they will only affect them for a month or two at most.

Half a year?

It's impossible!

The fact is, until the alliance, these eight forces and even more forces in the north were constantly taking action.

This also indirectly proves the authenticity of the rumor.

It's impossible that the leaders of these forces are all fools, believing a rumor without any evidence for half a year, right?

"It's obviously not normal for eight forces to gather here right now. Perhaps the Sun Moon Sect is the next target of this organization!"

"Is that so? That's possible... But, what does this have to do with Bai Tianhui's death?"

"Uh..." Lu Xiaofeng paused: "...Okay, it doesn't matter. This is just an unexpected discovery of mine."

Li Xun Huan was speechless for a moment and said, "If Yi Jue is related to that mysterious organization, then what about Yi Xin? Could it be that my father's death was also caused by this mysterious organization?"

"There's no evidence to prove this."

Li Xun Huan smiled and said, "Brother Lu, although these matters are important, don't forget to find out the cause of Bai Tianhui's death. You are a famous detective. If you can't find it, I'm afraid it will damage your reputation.

"And that Left Alliance Leader... isn't exactly a good person. I'm afraid his motive for asking you to investigate this case isn't entirely pure."

Lu Xiaofeng nodded.

"I've also found some clues about this case. After my questioning, many people said they saw a dark shadow passing by last night."

Li Xun Huan frowned: "Based on what happened last night, this clue seems to be completely useless, right?"

Last night was really lively.

Although Li Xunhuan left the Sun family residence, he encountered more than one man in black who was moving around at night.

Lu Xiaofeng also encountered three or four of them.

This was just the encounter between the two of them.

There are probably many more that they haven't encountered.

With so many men in black moving around at night, it was inevitable that some of them would be discovered.

With just this clue, there is probably some research to be done.

Lu Xiaofeng said: "The above is not the key point. The key point is that several people said they saw a white ghost."

"White?"

"Not bad!"

Lu Xiaofeng nodded: "When a normal person moves around at night, he will definitely wear night clothes, using the black color to blend in with the night and conceal his whereabouts.

But this ghostly figure was white, a color that is extremely conspicuous at night. Furthermore, it was seen by more than one person, which proves it wasn't a lie, or perhaps it was just a mistake.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "According to witnesses, the white ghost figure was elusive, dressed in white, with long hair covering its face, revealing only half of it. It was also extremely pale, and really looked like a ghost!"

Li Xun Huan was stunned. "This description sounds like... one of the ten evil men, the 'half-human, half-ghost' Yin Jiuyou?"

Lu Xiaofeng nodded: "It's very likely him!"

"Eh……"

Li Xun Huan couldn't help but sigh. "With so many men in black showing up last night, I thought it was going to be quite lively. I didn't expect the Sun Moon Sect to also send Yin Jiuyou. I don't know if he was the only one there, or if he was traveling with others."

(End of this chapter)