Martial Arts Crossover: My Wife is the Top Scholar

Chapter 312 The Murderer, Yu Canghai!
When Yu Canghai was dismembered by the old steward, his body was not thrown into a mass grave, but sent back to Qingcheng.

Fuwei Escort Agency bought a "dog-head" (a type of mortar), stuffed Yu Canghai's mutilated body into it, and sent it back to Qingcheng along with all his disciples.

Although Songfeng Temple was removed from the Qingcheng Sect, Yu Canghai was still the abbot of Songfeng Temple. Xin Yinnong had him buried in the back mountain of Qingcheng, which was a cemetery.

Li Zhaoting is in the burial complex.

Upon finding Yu Canghai's grave, Li Zhaoting blasted it open with a single palm strike, revealing that it wasn't filled with dogs bumping into heads.

What is dog head bumping?
An extremely thin coffin!

The common line in movies and TV dramas, "Although XXX has done many, many bad things, we should still respect the dead and buy him a simple coffin for burial," is just a joke.

The translation is: A stray dog ​​on the roadside can smash a big hole in a coffin by bumping into it.

Given what Yu Canghai did to the Fuwei Escort Agency, giving him a thin coffin would be considered a sign of kindness. At that time, Lin Zhennan hadn't practiced the Evil-Slaying Sword Manual and was just a nice guy.

If it were anyone else, they would either be thrown into a mass grave or left to feed the wolves in the mountains, or at most wrapped in a straw mat.

The Qingcheng Sect was not short of money, and Xin Yinong had his disciples replace Yu Canghai's coffin. However, there were too many corpses sent at the same time, most of which were incomplete and piled up together, making it difficult to piece the corpses back together.

When burying a body, as long as the body has arms and legs, it is considered to have done justice to Yu Canghai.

When one person does something, the whole faction takes the blame.

Xin Yinong was truly a very kind person.

A normal sect would never bury a villain like Yu Canghai in the sect grounds, for fear of defiling the feng shui of their ancestral graves.

Li Zhaoting lifted the coffin lid, revealing decaying flesh and bones inside. He sealed his nostrils, enveloped his palm in a layer of true energy, and examined the wounds on the bones.

Previously, the body was a mangled corpse, making it difficult to piece together the limbs. Now, with only bones remaining, the pieces can be quickly pieced together by aligning the bone damage.

There were seven mutilated corpses in total, namely:

Yu Canghai, Yu Renyan, Hou Renying, Hong Renxiong, Yu Renhao, Luo Renjie, Ji Rentong!
The bodies of the other disciples were intact.

This method of killing is understandable.

Those who aid and abet evil shall be allowed to remain in their original state.

The upper echelons of Songfeng Temple were torn apart by a flurry of swords.

Li Zhaoting opened the coffins one by one and pieced the bodies back together according to the skeletal damage, restoring the bones to their original state. With each piece, Li Zhaoting's brows furrowed.

"Master Li, is there anything unusual?"

Xin Yinnong cursed Yu Canghai in his heart, calling him a bastard who had caused trouble for the sect with his sins, and who still could not find peace.

"All the bodies that were brought back had heads, but their limbs were dismembered, and some limbs were missing. It's not uncommon for limbs to be smashed in fights in the martial arts world."

Li Zhaoting pointed to the skeleton and analyzed the course of the crime.

The Qingcheng disciples trembled with fear.

Xin Yinnong rolled his eyes so hard they almost reached the sky.

In the entire martial arts world, the master who loves dismembering the body the most is you, you evil star. You never leave a complete corpse after killing someone. You pay homage to Zhao Wuji and blast them into dust from head to toe.

Li Zhaoting turned a blind eye to this.

"Since it has a head, it means that it's impossible to mistake its identity during burial, but it's possible to mistake its limbs."

The biggest mistake was made by Yu Canghai.

The claim that Yu Canghai was the head of Songfeng Temple and that his body must be intact is a gross error.

Errors occurred from beginning to end.

Yu Canghai died from being cut in half at the waist. He was severed in the waist by a thin, long, and sharp sword, which can be determined from the damage to his spine. When the bones in the coffin were pieced together, it was found that a large piece was missing.

There is no section from the waist to the lower abdomen.

Below the cavity are two legs.

Neither of its two legs is right.

This one is by Yu Renyan.

This one belongs to Hung Jen-hsiung.

When I reassembled these bones, I found that most of the limbs were intact, at least the lower body limbs were intact, except for Yu Canghai, who only had an upper body. The two legs that were pieced together for him were cut off after death. You can see the bloodstains at the cuts, which clearly indicate that he was dismembered after death.

If I'm not mistaken, you think this is revenge from the Fuwei Escort Agency, leaving their bodies in pieces.

You've overlooked one thing.

If Lin Zhennan really wanted revenge, he could have thrown the body into a latrine, a mass grave, or a ravine to feed wild animals, or even chopped it up with black dog blood.

The massacre of an entire family—any form of revenge is acceptable!
Lin Zhennan's decision to return the body at least indicates that he didn't want to push things too far when the incident occurred.

Why would someone who doesn't want to push things too far do something superfluous? Most importantly, where did Yu Canghai's lower body go? Don't you find that strange? Why are Yu Canghai's postures always so odd?
These are all questions.

This might be the key to solving the case.

To be precise, the murderer must have had a reason for assassinating Lin Zhennan, assassinating Lin Zhennan's old housekeeper, and humiliating them with a rag!
For the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual?

For money?

For revenge?

Which possibility is most likely?

Li Zhaoting held up three fingers.

Xin Yinnong didn't want to play the three-option game and said directly, "Master Li, stop beating around the bush! Just tell us who the murderer is!"

"Tomorrow we will hold a heroes' assembly, where I will publicly identify the murderer and recount the events of the case."

Upon hearing this, Xin Yinong took several steps back.

The Heroes' Gathering that Li Zhaoting attends is guaranteed to have unexpected events; whoever is the organizer will be the one who suffers!

Is it going to be the Qingcheng Sect's turn?

Xin Yinnong looked up at the sky and sighed!
I haven't done anything wrong!

Yup!

Don’t do bad things, don’t be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door!

What can Li Zhaoting do to me!
……

"Huaixiu, help me find someone!"

"who?"

"A local, a dwarf, from a theatrical troupe, proficient in acrobatics and magic tricks, knows martial arts, and is skilled in face-changing!"
He possesses remarkable lightness skills and is proficient in the Qingcheng Shadowless Phantom Leg technique.

They are taciturn, with a gloomy expression, or a manic laugh, and prefer dark and cramped environments.

However, a dark environment made of curtains or silk will produce a strong stress response.

He most likely lives in brothels. His public identity is that of a pimp.

There's also a 30% chance they're hiding in the opera troupe.

There's a 30% chance they're hiding in the Beggars' Sect!

I will have my brothers from the Beggars' Sect help you find it.

This person is very important.

Huaixiu, you only have one day!
I hope to see him in a day.

Li Zhaoting handed a stack of files to Cheng Huaixiu.

Cheng Huaixiu said with a serious expression: "Brother Li, finding people is never an easy task, especially for short dwarfs. They can hide in any dark hole."

"Just try your best to find it."

"You suspect this dwarf is the murderer."

"Ok!"

Who is a dwarf?

"He is Yu Canghai's leg!"

Li Zhaoting took out a paper figure and tore it in half.

"Yu Canghai only has an upper body; his lower body is supported by a dwarf, which makes him appear short."

"How did you know?"

“I have just examined Yu Canghai’s remains. The body only has the upper body, not the lower body. Yu Canghai was cut in half at the waist back then, so he must have died. The dwarf knew he was no match for the old steward, so he hid in the pile of corpses.”

"Lin Zhennan didn't notice?"

"Have you forgotten what we just said? Dwarfs are short and easy to hide in. They can just find a hole and crawl into it to hide. Plus, the battlefield is chaotic, with limbs and broken bodies everywhere. As long as you smear some blood on yourself and pretend it's Yu Canghai's leg, you can fool the detectives."

"Was Lin Zhennan killed by a dwarf?"

"Only the dwarf knows the answer to this question."

Li Zhaoting did not rule out the possibility of a definitive answer.

Cheng Huaixiu did not press the matter further, but instead instructed the Salt Gang brothers to find the person based on the information provided by Li Zhaoting. The dwarf's physical characteristics were too obvious and would be difficult to conceal from the search.

However, this person managed to keep it a secret.

Nobody knows where the dwarf is.

The Salt Gang couldn't be found, the Beggars' Gang couldn't be found, the Qingcheng Sect couldn't be found, and all the dwarfs, big and small, from the nearby prefectures were brought in, but none of them met the requirements. Some people who liked to watch the show wanted to see Li Zhaoting make a fool of himself.

Tomorrow is the day the case will be solved.

There is no murderer. Watch how Li Zhaoting breaks the deadlock!

……

The Heroes' Gathering was convened in a very rushed manner.

To put it bluntly, the disciples who went to Fuzhou to report the death had not yet arrived, and no one from the Lin family came to collect the body. Fortunately, with the power of the Qingcheng Sect and the Salt Gang, it was not difficult to find some respected old martial arts figures to serve as witnesses.

At 3:45 AM, at the Qingcheng Back Mountain Cemetery.

The Qingcheng Sect erected a high platform.

The martial arts elders in charge of witnessing the case—a dozen or so white-bearded, highly respected old men—sat upright on the high platform, waiting to hear Li Zhaoting solve the case.

Corpses were laid out in the cemetery.

Xin Yinnong recited the Purifying Heaven and Earth Mantra several times to signal the start of the meeting and invited Master Li to explain the case.

Li Zhaoting bowed to those around him.

"You probably don't really want to see me."

Coincidentally, I hate social engagements the most.

Let's get straight to the point and get to the details of the case.

The whole thing started because of... me!

More than a year ago, the Holy Maiden Li Shengnan of the Demonic Sect and the Fairy of Jingzhai Cheng Huaixiu fought a decisive battle at Qingcheng Mountain. To prevent collateral damage, I carved sword marks on the way up the mountain. Only those who passed the test of the sword marks were qualified to go up the mountain to watch the battle.

Yu Canghai was blocked by the sword mark.

Despite all their efforts, they could not cross the line.

As the dignified head of Songfeng Temple, Yu Canghai was so enraged that he was not even allowed to watch others fight at his doorstep. He thought of the Lin family's Evil-Repelling Sword Manual, which his master Changqingzi had been longing for, and a wicked thought arose in his mind.

Yu Canghai led his disciples to seize the sword manual.

The Evil-Repelling Sword Manual requires self-castration to practice.

Lin Zhennan, unaware of the secrets, was even less capable than Yu Canghai's disciples. Just as his entire family was about to be wiped out, the old steward, who had adopted the eunuch Lin Yuantu, suddenly intervened.

Songfeng Temple was thus removed from the martial arts world.

This battle left behind two calamities.

Firstly, the old steward could no longer hide it and had to tell Lin Zhennan the secret of the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual. Lin Zhennan was nearly fifty years old and his physical strength was not as good as before.

Rather than clinging to dignity, one should castrate oneself to practice swordsmanship. Once mastered, one can launch a challenge at Qingcheng Mountain.

Secondly, Yu Canghai was actually two people: one was the head of Songfeng Temple with the upper body, and the other was a dwarf with the lower body. Yu Canghai was cut in half at the waist, and the sword edge grazed the dwarf's head by three inches. The dwarf luckily escaped and hid in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge.

What is the best way to get revenge?
Of course, we should incite internal strife within the enemy's ranks!

The dwarf plotted to sow discord between Lin Zhennan and the old housekeeper.

The Evil-Repelling Sword Manual can distort one's mind. Lin Zhennan originally cherished the old steward's kindness, but as his martial arts improved, he inevitably slid towards turning kindness into enmity.

Next up is... a firefight!
I know what you're trying to say!
You're saying I'm making things up!
You're saying that mysterious dwarfs don't exist at all!
The Beggars' Gang, Qingcheng Gang, and Salt Gang joined forces but failed to find the dwarf. Where is the dwarf hiding?
The dwarf is hidden in Qingcheng Mountain.

The dwarf is right here!

Li Zhaoting looked down at the coffin. After piecing together the bodies of Yu Canghai and the others yesterday, he closed the coffin lid again to prevent Yu Canghai's body from being left to rot in the wilderness.

Li Zhaoting waved his hand and overturned the coffin lid.

Inside lay a dwarf dressed in a black robe.

The dwarf lay beneath Yu Canghai's remains.

"Li Zhaoting, since you're so capable, why don't you guess why I didn't run away and why I stayed here!"

"The frosty traces on the broken sleeve are warm, while the twilight chills the peach blossoms being shared."

(End of this chapter)