Merit-based card draws, quickly become a Heavenly Emperor

Granny Gui's face turned deathly pale. With her other hand, she condensed a cloud of black mist in her palm and slammed it down on Liu Qingyu's face.

Liu Qingyu neither dodged nor avoided the black mist, letting it hit her.

The fog dissipated, but she remained motionless.

"Is that all you've got?"

Granny Gui gritted her teeth, suddenly broke free of her wrist, and rolled off the cart shaft.

The moment her feet touched the ground, she formed a hand seal, and the surrounding light began to distort.

The withered grass and tree shadows by the roadside were all deformed, like crumpled paper.

"Illusion?"

Liu Qingyu floated out of the carriage, hovering in mid-air, her red clothes fluttering. "Showing off one's meager skills before an expert!"

She opened her mouth and let out a howl, and a cold wind carrying resentment surged from her body.

Those distorted illusions collided with the eerie wind and crumbled like a paper wall.

Grandma Gui's forehead veins bulged as she was about to increase her strength when a sudden gust of wind swept over the back of her head.

She jerked her head to the side, and a flash of light grazed her ear, slicing off half of the silver hairpin. Her hair fell down, obscuring half of her face.

Guan Tieyi leaped out of the bushes, his steel blade held horizontally in front of him, blocking her retreat.

Almost simultaneously, Fang Zheng emerged from the other side, wielding a judge's pen, while three ink soldiers approached with knives.

Lu Zhengfeng flanked from behind, the official seal hanging in his palm, its bluish-white light flickering uncertainly.

Three people, three directions, completely blocked off.

Granny Gui's face turned ashen; she knew she had been tricked.

She no longer held back, slamming her hands together on her chest, and a layer of dark red flames erupted from her body, forcing back the ink soldiers and the yin wind.

"Fire control technique?" Lü Zhengfeng sneered, tossing his official seal into the air. "A crooked and heretical method."

The official talisman hung in mid-air, radiating a brilliant blue light, and an invisible ripple spread out from it.

Wherever it passed, the dark red flames on Granny Gui's body were extinguished inch by inch, as if they had been doused with water.

Granny Gui was shocked and desperately tried to activate the fire element within her body, but the blue light was like a large net, firmly covering her.

Her cultivation level was only at the eighth rank, which was inferior to Lü Zhengfeng's to begin with. Moreover, she was now fighting three against one, and she simply couldn't hold on.

Just as the flames were about to be completely extinguished, Granny Gui suddenly bit her tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood mist exploded in the air, turning into a crimson fireball that hurtled straight toward Lü Zhengfeng's face.

Lu Zhengfeng dodged to the side, the fireball grazing his shoulder and blasting a pine tree as thick as a bowl behind him in two.

But this also caused a slight loosening of the official system.

Granny Gui seized the opportunity, and the remaining flames on her body suddenly surged, propelling her like a rocket towards the mass grave by the roadside.

"Chase!" Fang Zheng raised his foot to give chase.

Just then, a beam of green light flew from afar and struck Granny Gui precisely in the back of the head.

She screamed and fell from mid-air, crashing into a grave mound, rolling twice, covered in mud.

A woman dressed in a blue official robe strode over; it was Lu Qingyun.

Her official seal hung above her head, and a blue halo descended, firmly pressing Granny Gui to the ground.

Granny Gui raised her head, glanced at Lu Qingyun, then at Fang Zheng and the other two who had caught up, and with a heart full of despair, she stopped moving.

Fang Zheng stepped forward and cupped his hands in greeting: "Lord Lu, what brings you here?"

Lu Qingyun glanced at him, a slight smile playing on her lips: "You think you can hide this scheme from me?"

She pulled a file from her sleeve, shook it, and said, "Fifteen years ago, Chu Tiankuo sentenced a scholar to death."

It was later proven that the case was a misjudgment, and Chu Tiankuo was severely punished as a result, causing his career to plummet.

I accessed the old case files in the state and discovered that this scholar was raised by his elderly mother, who had always sought justice for him before disappearing without a trace.

The villagers all thought she had died of grief, but it seems that's not entirely true.

Granny Gui's lips twitched violently as she was suppressed by the government, but she couldn't utter a word.

Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow. What Lu Qingyun said was outside his authority, but he had vaguely heard Liu Qingyu mention it before.

This confirms his judgment.

If Granny Gui is indeed the mother of that scholar from back then, then her motive for murder is quite sufficient.

"I'll handle the interrogation of this person."

Lu Qingyun waved his sleeve and said, "My position is higher than yours. There are some methods that you can't use, but I can."

The credit for the results of the investigation will be shared among everyone.

How was it?

Lu Zhengfeng pondered for a moment, looked at Fang Zheng, and then nodded.

"Dissecting doubts with a sharp edge, revealing every detail, intelligence +2."

"Capture the ferocious beast, and the law will not let him escape. Gray skill +20."

After Lu Qingyun left, Fang Zheng glanced at the two lines of text on the system screen, his brow twitched slightly, and a trace of doubt swept through his mind.

Having apprehended the culprit, solved the case, and received merit, the case should logically be considered solved at this point.

However, the amount of gray energy he had accumulated was less than he had expected.

If Granny Gui is truly the culprit who murdered Chu Tiankuo, then the weight of this unsolved case should not be limited to this reward.

Either the real culprits have not yet been fully apprehended, or there is a deeper secret hidden beneath this case.

Without thinking further, he flicked the reins, turned the horse around, and followed the others as they rode towards Yongqing County.

On the way, Fang Zheng focused his mind on the system panel. In a flash, he put the 20 strands of gray skill he had just obtained into the Purifying and Cleansing Card Pool.

After my first 10-pull, the screen went dark, revealing only black cards.

Fang Zheng didn't stop; he immediately pressed the button for the second ten-shot burst.

This time, the shipment was delivered.

【Eloquent and persuasive】(Rare, Grade 9 Gray, Wisdom): A card of mastery. After use, it enhances debating skills, speeds up on-the-spot reactions, makes speech clear and logical, and makes it easier to seize the flaws in the opponent's words.

Fang Zheng nodded inwardly; in officialdom, eloquence was an indispensable skill.

Especially now that he's an inspector, he'll be getting into many more verbal battles with people.

This card will definitely come in very handy.

With a thought, Fang Zheng used all the cards, and a cool sensation ran through his mind.

In addition to his improved professional skills in detective work, the Yuan energy between his brows has become more solid, bringing him one step closer to the perfection of his visualization.

.......

Inside the prison, Fang Zheng and Lü Zhengfeng were reviewing old case files provided by Lu Qingyun.

Just as she said, Chu Tiankuo had wrongly sentenced a scholar to death in his early years. The scholar's mother had been appealing for justice for many years, but later disappeared without a trace.

Lu Zhengfeng shook his head and sighed, "I've also heard about Brother Chu's mistake years ago."

He was a promising young man, just like you, Fang Zheng, who rose to the rank of ninth grader in just a few years after entering officialdom.

His future was ruined after the misjudgment of the case. He was not only exiled to the army, but also separated from his wife and daughter for many years.

He was only able to atone for his sins and re-enter officialdom after making meritorious contributions in the army.

I never imagined that the cause and effect of this matter would continue to this day!

Fang Zheng was also deeply saddened.

"This Granny Gui is quite an extraordinary person!"

It was truly remarkable that she could endure the hatred of her son's murder and remain by Lord Chu's side for nearly ten years.

Moreover, she was already over fifty years old at the time, yet she was still able to secretly cultivate to the eighth rank of the Artifact Control Realm, becoming proficient in illusion techniques and pharmacology.

This person is truly remarkable.

Lü Zhengfeng nodded.

"Now that things are almost clear, it seems that our previous direction of investigation was wrong."

The case of Brother Chu's murder really had nothing to do with the county magistrate.

No wonder the Zhu family father and son were not afraid at all, and no evidence could be found against them.

Lu Qingyun is interrogating Granny Gui, who was arrested and brought back, and all the servants from the Chu family have been imprisoned.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this case will be closed, and the Prefectural Magistrate's Office will likely take the credit.