Chapter 504: Clues

"None? Speak clearly, how can there be nothing?" In a nearby hollow, Wu Jinliang, one hand tugging a chain, sternly pointed at Huang Yingying's nose.

A pile of Lord Axun's belongings, already searched through, lay scattered before them. This was the result of Huang Yingying's own search.

Wu Jinliang had, of course, ordered him to search, the goal being to find the 'Death-Defying Incense'.

The problem was that after Huang Yingying had searched several times, he delivered the unfortunate news: the 'Death-Defying Incense' they were looking for was not among the items.

At this point, Huang Yingying was absolutely certain that the brute's entire elaborate scheme was aimed at finding the 'Death-Defying Incense'.

"There really isn't any!" Huang Yingying wailed. "'Death-Defying Incense' is a paste-like substance that produces a peculiar scent when burned—you know what I mean. And here, you've even used spells to examine every single item. There's truly nothing!"

Wu Jinliang was not so easily appeased. He abruptly punched Huang Yingying, sending him sprawling and spitting blood. Stepping on his chest, he casually placed a knife at his throat and sneered, "Old Huang, enough with the excuses. If that's the case, there's no point in keeping you. You know too much. Perhaps in our next lives, we'll have the chance to visit the brothels together again. My treat."

Huang Yingying immediately shrieked in terror, "Master Gao, no, please! I can refine 'Death-Defying Incense'! I'm still useful, very useful!"

Wu Jinliang chuckled, "My apologies, but that ship has sailed. That stuff is useless after this point. Old Huang, rest in peace!" With that, he moved to slit the man's throat.

"Gao, you'll die a miserable death! I knew you had ill intentions! Even as a ghost, I won't let you off..." Huang Yingying, who had been roaring in fury, suddenly fell silent. He froze, his rage dissipating as quickly as it had erupted.

There was no other reason; the knife Wu Jinliang swung didn't sever his neck. It only left a bloody scratch on the crusted, rotting flesh. He withdrew the knife, seemingly sparing him.

Huang Yingying immediately put on a smiling face. "Master Gao, I knew you weren't the type to betray someone once they've served their purpose..."

Before he could finish speaking, his eyes rolled back, and Wu Jinliang knocked him unconscious.

Wu Jinliang, pulling out a mother-child talisman, urgently sent a message to Shi Chun: "Chun, it was all for nothing."

Shi Chun quickly replied, "What's going on?"

Wu Jinliang replied, "Axun's belongings don't have the 'Death-Defying Incense'. What do we do?"

"None?" Shi Chun, who had just carried another stack of books upstairs and was now descending, paused silently against the wall at the second-floor stairwell corner. His brows were slightly furrowed; he knew Wu Jinliang wouldn't give such an answer lightly, so it had to be confirmed.

How could there be none? He didn't know if Axun hadn't kept it on his person or if it was stored somewhere else.

His previous plan had relied on it being on Axun's person. However, by the time he learned the item was with Axun, it was too late—Axun had already been killed. He could only focus on Axun's belongings.

This outcome left him in a very passive position.

To acquire Axun's belongings, he had resorted to some unscrupulous methods and hadn't been too concerned about the aftermath. He was just waiting for Wu Jinliang's message so they could leave; he was already prepared to flee.

Throughout the entire process, he had even prepared himself mentally for a forceful confrontation if things were exposed.

After much thought, he decided he didn't want to easily abandon the current lead. So he messaged Wu Jinliang, asking, "Did Huang Yingying kill two trusted subordinates of a Mount God official?"

Wu Jinliang replied, "Yes, I forced him. If the identities of the deceased are confirmed, Huang Yingying should be past the point of no return. Judging by the strength of the two victims, I'm confident there's no mistake."

Shi Chun then asked, "You said those two followed your underground route and chased you all the way through the earth?"

Wu Jinliang replied, "Yes, there could be no other reason."

Having confirmed the situation, Shi Chun decisively ordered, "You two, come back immediately, as fast as possible. I'll have Chu Jing'ang meet you..."

After quickly giving instructions, he heard footsteps upstairs. Shi Chun swiftly put away the mother-child talisman, assuming a pose as if deep in thought against the wall. He looked up and saw Second Miss Dong Liangyu coming downstairs after finishing her work.

Seeing him standing stiffly at the stairwell corner made Dong Liangyu a little nervous; she thought he was waiting to speak with her.

She realized she was overthinking it as Shi Chun headed downstairs with his head bowed, leaving her feeling somewhat lost.

Shi Chun had no mind to observe her reaction; his thoughts were entirely consumed by one thing: hoping it wasn't too late to fix the situation. The problem was his limited information, as he had no idea about the progress on Li Xianghong's side.

In any case, he was determined not to retreat easily. He would take this gamble, and it all depended on whether Wu Jinliang could return in time. If he couldn't and a serious problem arose, he would fight his way out.

Knowing the urgency of the situation, Wu Jinliang, riding his Wind Scale beast, returned very quickly. On the way, he contacted Chu Jing'ang and handed over Huang Yingying.

Hearing from Chu Jing'ang that the search parties outside the city had all withdrawn, Wu Jinliang, being extremely bold, disregarded caution and flew directly outside the city at dusk.

As soon as he arrived outside the city, he immediately contacted Shi Chun to report his arrival.

Shi Chun breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving the message and immediately contacted Xiao Sheng, who was waiting outside.

Before Wu Jinliang arrived at the study, Hao Ji, passing by, pointed and whispered to passersby outside, spreading a rumor that Fan Wuzhe had been arrested.

Shi Chun, who happened to be at the entrance, heard this and quickly relayed the rumor to Dong Wenshu's family.

Who could eat dinner now? Dong Wenshu immediately took his son out to inquire about the situation on the mountain within the city.

As soon as they left, Wu Jinliang arrived.

The three sisters anxiously awaited news, having no mind to care for anyone else.

Shi Chun took the opportunity to secretly lead Wu Jinliang to the backyard, guiding him into Fan Wuzhe's room. He then instructed Wu Jinliang to lift the floor tiles and escape through the ground.

Before Wu Jinliang left, Shi Chun reiterated, "If the city guards don't come, then fine. But once they trace it here, immediately have Huang Yingying surrender as I instructed."

"Don't worry, you be careful too. I'm off," Wu Jinliang said, then burrowed directly into the ground and departed.

Shi Chun then quickly restored the floor tiles to their original state.

The corpse couldn't remain embedded in the pit wall indefinitely; ultimately, someone had to retrieve the body.

A transaction, akin to a mantis stalking a cicada unaware of the oriole behind, ended in an almost disheartening manner after a period of intense, underlying currents.

On the dim, vast wilderness, Li Xianghong stood on the swaying blades of grass, her back to the scene of body retrieval. Her long hair flowed freely in the wind as she gazed into the distance. She didn't believe this sudden turn of events had ended in collapse; perhaps someone had already achieved their goal, like the person who sent the mother-child talisman...

Lou Xiu, the Grand Overseer of the Imperial Court, stood on the city wall, watching the last faint light disappear from the horizon. He toyed with a mother-child talisman in his hand and muttered to himself, "To be able to know Li Xianghong's secret private movements... who exactly are you?"

The owner of this mother-child talisman had claimed Dong Wenshu knew Huang Yingying's whereabouts, and Fan Wuzhe, in turn, stated that Dong Wenshu had ordered him to make the exchange. So, was Dong Wenshu truly connected to the mastermind?

Regardless, he no longer intended to pursue the matter. This affair was now considered closed. He had already sacrificed Mei You to clear his own name and did not want to be further implicated.

Poyuan returned to the city with Li Xianghong. As soon as they reached the mountain within the city, a female attendant brought Fan Wuzhe over for questioning.

Fan Wuzhe was subjected to torture, severe torture at that.

Fan Wuzhe was tight-lipped, refusing to confess no matter what. If Mei You hadn't entrapped him and gained leverage, he wouldn't have easily agreed to her scheme to harm his own family.

He now even less wanted people to be aware that he was harming his own family, so he gritted his teeth and endured.

However, they were not going to be gentle with him; he couldn't talk his way out of this. "You rode the fine Qilin-steed from the city gate and even dropped items for a transaction along the way. The facts are all there. How can anyone let go when you claim to know nothing?" They immediately tortured him severely.

How many people could withstand such extreme torture? He died and revived several times, and the flesh on his limbs was stripped away. In the end, he couldn't endure it and confessed.

The incident began in Yaoyue City, where Fan Wuzhe's family resided. He had lost control and defiled a city guard's family member. In his panic, he killed her to silence her. Afterwards, he vaguely realized he had been drugged, but once he committed the murder, there was no turning back.

By the time Mei You of Dazhi City apprehended and interrogated him across regions and made a deal with him, supposedly for secrecy, he already suspected that Mei You was the mastermind.

The reason he married Dong Liangyu was to infiltrate Chaoyue Hall and tamper with the taxes, allowing Mei You to gain leverage over the hall. At that point, Dong Wenshu would have no choice but to surrender the ancestral home. It would be a choice between protecting the person or losing both the person and the home—what other choice would there be?

The female attendant presented the mother-child talisman that had controlled Fan Wuzhe to ride to the East Gate for the transaction to Li Xianghong, stating that no mother-child talisman linking to Fan Wuzhe was found on Mei You.

Logically, this seemed unlikely. They had made a surprise arrest of Mei You, who had no prior knowledge and thus no time to hide evidence. Furthermore, according to Fan Wuzhe's testimony, he and Mei You had exchanged messages during this period, meaning the other mother-child talisman should have been on Mei You.

But it truly wasn't found.

So, they used a 'mother-child spell compass' to verify the mother-child talisman on Fan Wuzhe, but they couldn't find the whereabouts of the other half of the talisman. This implied it was either destroyed or had been taken out of Juku Prefecture.

Poyuan, who was listening in, wasn't clear on the exact details. Due to the matter involving his two trusted subordinates, he was highly concerned and began to inquire about the incident's specifics.

After understanding the full story, he looked at the terribly battered Fan Wuzhe and said, "You claim Mei You likely had no chance to destroy evidence, yet the other half of the mother-child talisman wasn't found on her. Something is definitely wrong here. Overall, there are only three possibilities: either this fellow is lying; or someone leaked information about Mei You's arrest in advance, which invalidates your claim of no opportunity to destroy evidence; or the talisman simply wasn't on Mei You at all when the incident occurred."

Li Xianghong looked at Fan Wuzhe, lying on the ground, and said, "He even confessed to that filthy business, so there should be no need for him to lie about this. If someone truly leaked the arrest information in advance, Mei You would know that destroying the mother-child talisman would be useless. What she should do is quickly flee for her life..."

This left only the third possibility. She suddenly froze, as if struck by an idea, then paced over to Fan Wuzhe. Looking down at him, she asked, "Was there a code for the mother-child talisman communication between you and Mei You?"

Fan Wuzhe rolled his weak, bloodshot eyes and weakly said, "Yes."

Li Xianghong asked, "At the time of the incident, when you communicated with Mei You, was there any instance where the code didn't match?"

Fan Wuzhe weakly murmured, "No." Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he forced his eyes open wider.

Everyone else noticed the abnormality. Li Xianghong asked again, "So, was there, or wasn't there?"

Fan Wuzhe gasped heavily. "Once before the incident, once, he forgot to give the code..." With great effort, he recounted how his failure to provide the code in time had resulted in Mei You scolding him.

Poyuan suddenly requested the mother-child talisman used as evidence. He personally crouched in front of Fan Wuzhe and asked, "Before Mei You gave you the mother-child talisman, did you already possess one?"

"No," Fan Wuzhe replied.

Poyuan then showed him the serial number on the side of the mother-child talisman. "When I first received a mother-child talisman, I examined it carefully for a long time. I assume you did too, right? Take a close look. Is this the mother-child talisman Mei You gave you?"

Fan Wuzhe struggled to focus his gaze and examine it closely. After seeing the serial number clearly, his eyes immediately widened again, and he gasped, visibly agitated. "No, no, this isn't mine..."

Poyuan didn't bother asking further; he immediately stood up, revealed the mother-child talisman, and questioned the attendant who had brought it. "Are you certain this is the one found on him?"

The female attendant quickly replied, "My lord, I wasn't the only one present during the confirmation interrogation. The evidence was collected publicly, and everyone watched it being brought here; there can be no mistake."

Everyone immediately understood: someone had swapped out the mother-child talisman on Fan Wuzhe. Judging by Fan Wuzhe's sudden gasping, he clearly understood it himself.

Li Xianghong's face twisted into an expression of displeasure. After staring intently at the mother-child talisman in Poyuan's hand for a moment, she then glared at Fan Wuzhe and said coldly, "You only had one mother-child talisman on you, and you couldn't even tell there was a problem. Dong Wenshu was willing to marry his daughter to you; it seems his sincerity was utterly wasted!"

Poyuan tossed the mother-child talisman back to the attendant and said indifferently, "It's not entirely his fault. Unless specially customized, all mother-child talismans look essentially the same. He had a guilty conscience and wouldn't want anyone to discover he possessed one, so he wouldn't constantly take it out to examine it closely. If discovered, it would only be by accident. The person who swapped it was bold, meticulous, and daring—they must be an experienced wrongdoer, otherwise they wouldn't dare pull off such a trick. You or I would have too many reservations to use such a crude method."

With that, he glanced back at Fan Wuzhe on the ground. "Now, what needs to be done is to find the person who swapped it. You likely wouldn't dare let this item out of your sight; it was on you. To swap it, they definitely had to touch you. You wouldn't be unable to recall when it might have been swapped, would you?"

At this hint, Fan Wuzhe immediately thought of something. He gurgled as if his throat were full of phlegm, "After I saw Mei You, no one touched me. Only this morning, I woke up with a heavy head and wondered if I had slept too deeply last night. If there's a problem, it happened last night..." He then gasped heavily.

Without needing more words, everyone understood what he meant. Poyuan and Li Xianghong exchanged glances.

Just then, someone rushed in to report, "City Lord, Dong Wenshu, the curator of Chaoyue Hall, has arrived and wishes to see you."

Poyuan said, "He arrived at quite a coincidence. He's here to see you? Are you very familiar with that curator?"

Li Xianghong replied, "His ancestor was once a teacher to the demon empress. Chaoyue Hall has many books, and sometimes I discreetly go there to look through them. So, you could say we're old friends."

"Since it's not the first time," Poyuan said with an unequivocal tone, "what's the harm in him looking through books again? If nothing comes of it, everyone in the entire hall will be under suspicion and detained!"