That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

Fortunately, this group of forward-thinking individuals was wiped out in time, otherwise martial arts would have turned into cyber martial arts.

Lu Zhao put the blueprints back on the shelf, suddenly feeling a little guilty:

"Isn't it a bit inappropriate for us to pry into other people's secrets so blatantly?"

"The dead have no secrets!"

Xie Yunqi was holding a puppet puppy in his hand, playing with it happily, clearly having thrown morality aside.

Jiang Jingming took the tinder from Aqing and continued walking along the iron frame.

Further ahead was a table with a calligraphy brush lying to the side. A few drops of ink had dripped onto the letter paper, and the inkstone was dry and covered in dust.

Jiang Jingming was more interested in the pile of scattered letters on the table than the puppet blueprints.

He sat down against the table and blew on the tinder in his hand to make it brighter.

The letters that needed to be hidden in the dark room were definitely not the kind of contents that could be read by anyone outside. With this expectation in mind, Jiang Jingming dusted off the envelopes.

"Jia You and his subordinates were all dealt with on the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month. Respectfully submitted, Huai."

This letter should have been written by Shun Huai, the city lord of Fengling City.

Jiang Jingming handed the letter to Lu Zhao to read.

"Who is this Jia You?"

"Jia You...!"

Lu Zhao felt the name looked familiar. He frowned and thought for a long time before clenching his fist and slamming it into his palm.

"He was an advisor to Chief Secretary Wen. A few days ago, he was on official business when his carriage fell off a cliff and he died. We initially thought it was an accident, but we never expected that he died at the hands of the city lord!"

"I see."

Jiang Jingming nodded slightly.

Shun Huai was dealing with an official on behalf of the Shun family, and this official happened to be Wen Changshi's advisor.

It is evident that Wen Changshi, who was demoted to this place, was a somewhat obstructive presence to the Shun family's absolute control over Fengling City.

However, Wen Changshi's background was too powerful, so they could not take direct action against him. Instead, they had to gradually weaken his power by starting with his advisors.

It turned out that what they did was useful; otherwise, Wen Changshi would not have ended up in a situation where he was completely sidelined as soon as Chen Sha arrived. This was entirely because he had been squeezed out by the Shun family before that.

Jiang Jingming beckoned the others to come closer.

"Young lady, stop thinking about playing with your puppet dog for now—you can secretly hide it in your pocket and take it out later, and no one will notice."

"Alright then, alright then!"

Xie Yunqi smiled broadly as he put the puppy in his pocket, then freed his hands to help him sort through the letters.

"There's a brazier here."

Lu Zhao crouched down and went outside, picked up a few scrolls of those meaningless files, lit them with a tinderbox, and then put the chair leg that A Qing had broken off inside to make a makeshift campfire.

The dark room was suddenly lit up, and Jiang Jingming looked up and was taken aback.

Dozens of crossbows were mounted on the ceiling of the dark room, their tips silently pointed at the group, but the mechanisms remained unactivated.

This mechanism was clearly designed to attack unauthorized intruders, yet the large-scale intrusion by the group failed to activate it.

Aqing turned and walked to the other side, her lips slightly pursed.

"The mechanism has been destroyed."

No wonder she didn't sense any danger when she broke down the door.

"This means that someone had already entered this dark room before us."

Jiang Jingming pondered, unconsciously crumpling a corner of the letter.

It definitely wasn't the Divine Capital Guard; they always act openly and aboveboard, and they'd probably just blatantly put a seal on the bookshelf.

Therefore, the only possibility is the murderer.

Unfortunately, if she entered the dark room with a specific purpose, then she has certainly already achieved it.

Regardless of what evidence is being destroyed or what is being taken away.

However, she was clearly not interested in the puppetry techniques that many people craved; the blueprints on the iron frame showed virtually no signs of being tampered with.

"She's alright! Otherwise, we'd be covered in needles."

Xie Yunqi sat on the table, casually swinging his long, slender, white legs.

"..."

Jiang Jingming glanced at her hesitantly, unsure how to comment on the young lady's peculiar thought process.

By the light of the brazier, the group quickly flipped through the remaining letters.

Most of them were correspondence between the former patriarch of the Shun family and his subordinates. Each letter conveyed a cold and terrifying message in the most ordinary tone.

Murder, framing, using someone else to do the dirty work, silencing and wiping out an entire family...

"The list of his crimes is simply endless!"

Miss Xie slammed her hand on the table in a fit of rage:

"If these letters get out, the entire Shun family deserves to be hanged at the city gate as a warning! In this prosperous and peaceful world, how dare they?!"

"Shun Huai, as the lord of a city, is nothing more than a puppet of the Shun family, manipulated at will. He has truly let down the people, and his death cannot absolve him of his guilt!"

Lu Zhao was equally furious.

They truly deserve to be called two upright and righteous members of the Imperial Guard.

Jiang Jingming sat quietly, his fingertips stroking the letter, but he did not join in the two men's anger.

He had long anticipated the Shun family's actions. After all, if they could be so ruthless towards their own blood relatives, they must treat the lives of strangers even more coldly.

But apart from that, Jiang Jingming felt that something was not right.

Since the murderer was at the scene, are the letters placed here simply what the murderer wanted them to see?

Chapter 109 The Beautiful Bad Sister

Aqing did not sit with the others around the brazier to look through the letters.

She moved like a cat lurking in the shadows, patrolling the dark room with extremely light steps.

Finally, her gaze settled on the corner of the desk.

The brazier was originally placed in that location, presumably to make it convenient for Shunxuan to handle some secret letters that were to be read and then burned.

To this old patriarch, those things that were not burned, even though each and every one of them involved human lives, were trivial matters not worth mentioning.

There's more here.

Aqing walked to Jiang Jingming's side, knelt down, and handed him the unburnt letter.

Jiang Jingming took it and unfolded it by the firelight.

The lower half of the letter was burned, leaving only the upper half.

"Its color resembles blood, and its shape is like flesh and bone; I named it Crimson Bone. After cultivating it a hundred times, I finally obtained this flower..."

The second half of the sentence is missing.

"Cenzhou is a wild and uncivilized place, rife with poisonous insects..."

"A corpse cannot serve as a host, there's no need..."

"Poison can be used to create Gu poison, and medicine can also be refined; one is immune to all poisons..."

The last paragraph only shows the year, which is early last year.

Xie Yunqi squatted down beside him and asked curiously:

"That's strange! Why did he wait until now to burn a letter from early last year?"

"Perhaps, he wasn't the one who burned this letter."

Jiang Jingming raised his eyes and looked at Fang Zhiyi, who had been silent since the beginning.

Suddenly, all around became quiet, with only the crackling sound of burning firewood echoing in the dark room.

Aqing's sleeves fell silently, the hidden blade already in her palm, ready to strike at any moment.

Lu Zhao and Xie Yunqi also sensed the unusual atmosphere and held their breath, wondering what would happen next.

"This letter is from last year, and the person who sent it is the one who nurtured the Crimson Bone and named it."

Jiang Jingming spoke slowly, his eyes clear yet unyielding.

"Miss Fang, may I ask which ancient book has the honor of including this flower that was secretly cultivated just last year?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Yunqi was slightly taken aback before realizing what he meant.

If what that person said is true, why would Fang Zhiyi know the name and use of the Crimson Bone Flower?

Unless, Fang Zhiyi has some connection with that person.

……

Under the intense gaze of the four people, Fang Zhiyi's ever-composed expression finally showed a slight crack.

After a while, she sighed, walked to the last empty seat by the brazier, and slowly sat down.

"Sister Fang, please tell me quickly, what exactly happened?"

Xie Yunqi grabbed her sleeve and swayed her back and forth without paying any attention to her.

Fang Zhiyi hugged her knees, rested her chin on them, tilted her head slightly, and looked at Jiang Jingming.

"Okay, I know who wrote this letter."

The firelight cast shimmering shadows beneath her eyelashes, creating soft, beautiful curves.

"who is it?"

Everyone asked in unison.

"Ghost doctor."

Fang Zhiyi gave a somewhat shocking answer in a light and casual tone.

"Ghost doctor?!"

Yes.

Fang Zhiyi nodded firmly, her expression not like she was lying.

Seeing her unusually serious expression, Jiang Jingming pondered for a moment and asked a rather crucial question:

"The Ghost Doctor also has a cooperative relationship with Listening Waterfall Manor? Were the Gu worms and Crimson Bone incident their joint operation?"

"Cooperative relationship..."

Fang Zhiyi thought about it seriously for a moment, then shook her head seriously.

"I wouldn't say. The Ghost Doctor doesn't really have any partners. People in the martial arts world either need his help or hate him so much that they want to kill him. As for the Shun family, it's more like a relationship of mutual exploitation."

"What were the conditions the Shun family gave him in their plan to raise Gu poison?"

"do not know."

Fang Zhiyi shrugged:

"Perhaps it's gold, silver, or some kind of treasure?"

"The Ghost Doctor...would he be short of money?"

Lu Zhao was momentarily dumbfounded.

If he were truly as omnipotent as the rumors suggest, saving a few powerful figures would be enough to ensure he'd never have to worry about money again.

"That being said, it's a pity that the Ghost Doctor isn't a physician who enjoys saving lives."

Fang Zhiyi smiled helplessly:

“Even if some people bring him mountains of gold and silver to beg him to save them, he will refuse—simply because it rained last night and kept him from sleeping well.”

Jiang Jingming listened to her silently, thinking of what she had mentioned before, that the number of people a doctor can save in his lifetime is predetermined by fate.