Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Old Zhong vanished as quickly as a wisp of smoke. Even if Meng Qi exhausted all his strength and used Moves of Wind-god’s Legs to go after him, he wouldn’t be able to catch up to Old Zhong. He didn’t want to do it anyway. He wasn’t a true swordsman like Jiang Zhiwei, who had the courage to challenge the strong and would rather break than bend. Unless necessary, he wouldn’t recklessly challenge such a fearsome person with overwhelming realm and strength.
Considering his current strength, he probably couldn’t defeat the poorest Half-step Exterior Scenery master even if he used a Precious Weapon or employ all sorts of tricks. He might have a chance if he happened to encounter someone who could be restrained by the Buddha’s Lamp. Besides, why should he risk his life to fight Old Zhong who knew the Kung Fu of Heaven and Demon for no particularly important reason?
“Even a lunatic has his romance…” Meng Qi recalled what Old Zhong had whispered. He then turned away to examine each body.
Yao Xingliu seemed like he was about to speak but hesitated. Inexperienced as he was, he was frightened by the many bodies that looked either wretched or strange. Finally, he left the forest of corpses in disappointment and sat near the fire in a daze. Li Chong, after experiencing many ups and downs tonight, became numb and stopped worrying about the dead bodies. He accompanied Meng Qi to examine the bodies to try and please the new arrester.
Unfortunately for them, there were no other clues. Meng Qi shook his head and walked toward the fire. Most of the courtyard had collapsed with cracks appearing everywhere. The entire place looked messy.
He was grateful that they didn’t encounter an Exterior master like the Crying Elder. Youth Yao might be able to survive, but definitely not Old Li…
In a normal fight between Exterior masters, the involved area would be less than 10 percent of the affected area. That was helpful for the concentration of strength. Only someone with special arts like the Crying Elder would enlarge the involved area as much as possible to absorb the greatest amount of ghosts, thus promoting the effectiveness of his moves. Of course, if both sides were well-matched in strength, the mutual containment would make it difficult to precisely control each move. Thus, the involved area would be greatly enlarged. Such a fight might even destroy an entire city and cut off rivers.
The zombie of the Swordsman of Ning Province was probably at the normal level of a primary Exterior master. It was more powerful than Murky’s zombie, who was a bastard without tricks and Precious Weapons. And its affected area was most definitely be far smaller than that of the Crying Elder. Besides, the latter was facing enemies much weaker than himself. He was able to control his moves and concentrate his strength in a very small area to prevent celestial changes over a large area, lest he drew Mr. Cui’s attention.
It was for these two reasons that Li Chong was fortunate enough to survive and Youth Yao was able to draw his sword to help them.
Yang Xingliu asked after a short silence, “Was that the Iron Fist of Nine Great Mountains earlier?”
The influence of the Zhen Wu Sect encompassed the southern part of Hua Province and the northern part of Ning Province, so he was familiar with the Swordsman of Ning Province.
Meng Qi once again felt upset thinking how it was Zhang Yuanshan who had introduced the Swordsman of Ning Province and the Iron Fist of Nine Great Mountains to him and others. “Yes, I suspect that it was the Swordsman of Ning Province.”
“There’s a rumor that those killed by the Life-changing Sect will be resurrected and become ghosts. It seems to be true.” Yao Xingliu’s baby face betrayed his show of experience. “But I don’t think the Swordsman of Ning Province seems truly dead… ”
The Swordsman of Ning Province was neither fully human or a ghost, hanging on only with a sliver of a breath. It wasn’t only Meng Qi who thought that. Even a half-baked Taoist like Youth Yao thought so.
But that didn’t seem right. How could a dead person retain his memories? If the Swordsman of Ning Province was really dead, his soul would be gone and his heart would wither. How could he still have his memories?
Even if he survived to become a zombie or ghost, his memories of his lifetime would be buried at the bottom of his ‘heart’ along with the fragmented imprint of Samsara. It couldn’t be awakened by Meng Qi. Therefore, this proved that the Swordsman of Ning Province didn’t actually die. Instead, he was stuck in a state between life and death with his memories removed and his wisdom restrained. He could be considered a zombie. This might be the distinctive feature of the arts of Life-changing Sect.
“Exactly. All the Exterior masters killed by the Life-changing Sect can become zombies. The sect can control these zombies that maintained most of their original strength. The more Exterior masters they kill, the more powerful they become. This is too alarming. We must take action,” Meng Qi answered righteously as if he was speaking on behalf of the parliament and martial artists community.
Yao Xingliu nodded solemnly. “I’ll report this to my sect.”
It was terrifying to even think how many people had the Life-changing Sect killed over the years!
But the sect moved in the shadows and the appearances of zombies were also altered. They also never leave any survivors. That was why they had never been exposed until this moment.
“I’ll also draw up an official document and send it to Luoyang,” Meng Qi said seriously. “There isn’t much for us to gather here. Let’s return to town.”
Yao Xingliu and Li Chong absolutely agreed with this suggestion.
Yao Xingliu retained his silence all the way. When they entered the town and were about to part ways, he finally spoke via Secret Voice-sending.”You… You’re Su Meng, the Killing Blade, aren’t you?”
The sword and knife pair, the realm of enlightenment, the superior strength, and the surname of Su. Li Chong might be too inexperienced to figure out his identity, but Youth Yao was smart. Naturally, he would realize the truth.
Considering how Youth Yao didn’t run away earlier, Meng Qi felt assured by his personality and ethics. He sighed and said, “Killing Blade.”
It was useless to deny it anyway.
“No wonder… I’ll definitely challenge you next time if I get the chance!” Yao Xingliu then turned away in high spirits.
He had been wondering where did his Senior Brother Zhang found such a friend. If there was a young master that was strong enough to be on the ranking list appeared in Zhenwu, how could a kungfu-infatuated person like him be unaware of it?
It seemed that his senior met him during his journey to the Shaolin Temple. His surname came from his name, Su Meng.
“Old Li, where did Xiao Yue get her impartation of adventure?” Meng Qi had only gone through the brief introduction of Xiao Yue in the confidential file. He didn’t know the details.
Having been an arrester in Yangxia for years, Li Chong knew this without needing to go through any files. “It’s said to be one of the Dongyang God’s cottages.”
“Dongyang God…” Meng Qi had to carefully rack his brain to recall who this person was.
At the start of the medieval times following the end of the ancient times, the Human Sovereign overwhelmed the world with his deterrence. The strong men of the human tribe emerged one after another, with Dongyang God being one of them. Even if he couldn’t be considered the best, he was definitely at the Dharmakaya level. He was said to be related to the Sacred Sovereign and Qi who succeeded the throne after Human Sovereign passed.
“There aren’t any other finds in the cottage?” Meng Qi asked in confusion. How could there only be a practice of sword dance and a Qianyuan Composing Bead?
Li Chong shook his head. “I’m not sure. The cottage seems to open only to those destined for it. Even Xiao Yue failed to find the entrance a second time. Exterior masters from Zhenwu, Huanyuan Zheng, Pingjin Cui and our Six Fan School went to search it but somehow found nothing.”
“I see…” Meng Qi stopped asking. After returning to the Six Fan School, he immediately took out his official seal of Green Ribbon and activated the misty blue light, shocking the arrester on night duty. He found Governor Zheng and asked him to take out the paper and writing brush designed for the formation of On Board for Thousands of Miles.
The On Board for Thousands of Miles formation allowed someone or something to travel thousands of miles in an instant but was limited to special items or masters with similar Exterior magic talents. It cost a lot to just use it once. It was exclusive to the Six Fan School. The arrangement in each Yamen was incomplete for the sake of confidentiality and economization, with the core being the headquarters in Luoyang. This formation could only be activated with a special seal.
“… must order the nearby four provinces and the River East to be on strict guard against Old Zhong and the Swordsman of Ning Province. One is cruel and the other has defective intelligence…” Meng Qi reported everything he had experienced tonight, including the zombie of the Life-changing Sect. He only hid the truth about his Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth, claiming to suffer from counter charge after losing control.
“Is it okay?” Meng Qi passed the official document to Old Li and asked him to sign it. He did this for two reasons. First, he wanted to increase the credibility of the report by making Old Li a part of ti. Second, he wanted to give partial credit to him and Governor Zheng.
Li Chong trembled with excitement. He signed his name after a quick glance, before passing it to Zheng Jushan.
How could Zheng Jushan resist the request of Green-ribbon Arrester Su? Besides, he was satisfied that he was given partial credit. He immediately signed his name.
Meng Qi watched them and smiled happily. It made such a difference being in an organization. All information about his kungfu came from him and he could conceal everything he wanted to be hidden.
After sending out the official document, he said, “Old Zhong’s trail has gone cold so now we must turn our investigation to the Qiu Family. It’s imperative for us to make sure which ship Arrester Cai boarded.”
“Based on the confidential file, the Qiu family had three ships at the dock that night,” Zheng Jushan said respectfully as he went through the confidential file. “Two came from the River East, and one from Yedu.”
“Then it should be one of the two ships from the River East.” Meng Qi made a simple and clear judgment. He knew both Zheng Jushan and Li Chong could make a similar deduction but simply waited for him to say it.
“Green-ribbon Su, you’re wise,” Li Chong instantly complimented him. “That means we only need to check the two ships at night.”
Zheng Jushan frowned. “It’s been more than a month. The Qiu family would likely have removed any traces left. What’s more, one of the ships has gone to the River East loaded with cargo. Why don’t we just arrest some people and interrogate them?”
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just go to the dock and do a case reconstruction,” Meng Qi said, looking like a famous detective. The only thing he lacked was a pipe in his mouth.
Case reconstruction… What was that? Experienced in investigations as they were, Zheng Jushan and Li Chong had never heard this word.
Soon, night fell and the three of them made their way to the dock.
“The sailor saw Arrester Cai get off the Qiu family’s ship before walking here and crashing into him. Now we’re walking the same path that he did,” Meng Qi said, leading Zheng Jushan and Li Chong to act out the role of a sailor.
There were plenty of ships at the Yangxia dock, one towering over another so much that it restricted one’s vision. Following after Meng Qi, Zheng Jushan and Li Chong discovered the clue after taking just a few steps.
“In the sailor’s vision, he could only see one ship of Qiu Family!” Zheng Jushan said in a deep voice. From this position, he saw junks standing in great numbers, mostly covering the spot where the three ships of Qiu family had been moored.
Li Chong finally understood what was case reconstruction. He said in amazement, “The ship came from the River East and is now under repair in the shipyard.”
He had memorized the information inside the confidential file.
“There’s a clue as expected,” Meng Qi said, barely hiding his excitement. He led the two of them to the nearby shipyard in a hurry. Together, they sneaked inside the poorly guarded junk.
The place was clean without any clues. However, he soon found a ship so badly damaged that they hadn’t finished repairing it after more than a month.
“The damage isn’t from a fight…” Zheng Jushan made a conclusion.
Li Chong squatted down and checked the ship. “It’s damaged from the inside. Seems that it has reached an unbearable limit.”
It suddenly occurred to Meng Qi that Arrester Cai had gone to Yangxia from the River East in half a month. “This ship should be the one that sailed speedily back to Yangxia in half a month with the help of external force.”
“It’s possible!” Zheng Jushan and Li Chong instantly thought the unique timing of the case: half a month.
“The Qiu family was in such a hurry. What actually happened?” Zheng Jushan frowned. In the past month, Qiu Fei looked calm and showed no even a hint of anxiety.
Meng Qi paused for a moment. “This case implicates many. You two should return. I’ll question the Qiu family servant guarding the junk.”
“Yes, Green Ribbon.” They didn’t dare to say anything else.
Meng Qi soon caught a servant without being noticed. He asked, projecting his powerful will, “Did you travel here from the River East on this junk?”
“Yes,” the servant answered honestly.
“Did you notice anything unusual?” Meng Qi continued to ask.
The servant answered without hesitation, “We sailed extremely fast at night because we were worried about enemies catching up to us.”
“Enemies?” Meng Qi asked, raising an eyebrow.
The servant said, “Master said there were enemies.”
“Why would there be enemies? Did you hear anything?”Meng Qi asked.
The servant shook his head. “I don’t know. But once when I was on night duty, I fell asleep despite not feeling sleepy. In a daze, I noticed Master fighting the enemies on the river and they mentioned something like Dongyang and the Dongyang Villa…”
The Dongyang Villa… Meng Qi took a deep breath.
