Chapter 46 The True Culprit

  "Bring in the main offering." Xiao Bu said, turning his head back, because the shadow followed the dragon flag earliest, so it ranked first among several offerings.

  Several warriors from the Miao Dao Pavilion carried Shadow's body into the room and placed it on the ground. Xiao Bu Lian bent down, gently unbuttoning Shadow's clothes to reveal that his chest had been ravaged by the enemy's ferocious attack, leaving a blood hole the size of a washbasin. The edges of the blood hole still had extremely deep scars, vaguely forming a pattern of a seven-pointed star.

  "This is a sword wound." Tóng Fēi said, Wén Xiāng and the others were all experts at killing people, having seen some things many times, they naturally could understand without being taught.

  "There were seven swords in total, all stabbing in at the same time and then pulling out simultaneously." Wen Xiang's face looked extremely ugly: "Seven swords... when did we offend a grandmaster?!"

  Only a Grandmaster can wield three or more Spirit Weapons at the same time. An enemy who can wield seven swords is already an exceptional figure, even among Grandmasters.

  "It's impossible." Xiao Bu regretted shaking his head: "If it were a sect master, he could have killed the Shadow with just one sword. Seven swords at once, proving that he used all his strength!"

  "Then who is it?" Tong Fei asked.

  "Some people have very special talents. I've seen someone who became a high-ranking martial artist and could wield seven long swords at the same time."

  "Gu Qiue? Qī Jué jiàn?!" Wen Xiang suddenly remembered: "He's in Changshan County?"

  "I don't know." Xiao Bu said: "Anyway, I last saw him in Shangjing."

  Su Tang's gaze slowly moved away from Long Qi's corpse, now was the time to decide life and death, he had no time for sorrow: "You say, will it be the hands of the Tie, Bai, Cheng, Mu families?"

  "It's unlikely." Xiao Bu said: "If it were them, they should have made a move long ago and wouldn't have dragged it out until today. And in recent years, Changshan County has been very quiet, everyone is recuperating and living in peace, also hoping that the peaceful times can last longer. Even if something unexpected happens, everyone is very restrained, trying to make big things small and small things nothing."

  "The key to the problem is here, why today?!" Su Tang said thoughtfully: "Thinking about it, there are only two possibilities. One is that they can't bear it anymore, and the Miao Dao Pavilion has put too much pressure on them, so they decided to go all out and fight with the Miao Dao Pavilion, but... these days we've been passively taking a beating, first I encountered an assassination attempt, now it's Long brother... at least recently, we absolutely didn't take the initiative to make enemies, this possibility is very small. The other one, he was originally extremely resentful of the Miao Dao Pavilion, but his own strength was limited, and really causing trouble would not be beneficial to him, so he could only endure for now. But today, he got strong reinforcements, and understood that the balance in Changshan County has been broken, he can freely turn his thoughts into reality."

  "Sir, you're saying... Red Lady?" Mo Xiaobai suddenly woke up and shouted loudly: "I remember now, my man heard from the servant of the Cheng family that the Red Lady was originally searching for relics on Moyun Ridge. After receiving an invitation from the Cheng family, she hastily left Moyun Ridge and rushed to Changshan County."

  "Are you sure?" Su Tang asked.

  "It's definitely true." Mo Xiaobai said: "My people say that the Cheng family is now extremely arrogant, afraid that others don't know about their relationship with Lady Hong, and are proclaiming it everywhere."

  "Is Lady Hong in Changshan County?" Xiao Bu asked in surprise, he still didn't know this news.

  "Yes." Mo Xiaobai nodded and said.

  Xiao Bu Hui's face showed hesitation: "What status does the Cheng family have? What status does Hong Furen have? Would they travel thousands of miles to Changshan County to help the Cheng family? If that were true, then Hong Furen would probably be too busy to rest for even a day. There are many small families dependent on the Xia family that could exhaust her legs, and... she doesn't seem like someone who is willing to help the poor and weak."

  "How do you explain this?" Tong Fei waved the cloth strip in his hand again: "This smell is very special, our Changshan County doesn't have such incense. Although I can't sniff out what kind it is, I know it must be extremely expensive."

  "Perhaps it was left on purpose by the murderer." Xiao Buwu said.

  "On purpose? Why?"

  "The Red Lady wouldn't just bring one piece of clothing, casually pick one out, tear off a strip and throw it at the scene, shifting our attention to her. If we get too excited and offend the Red Lady, she can use her hand to get rid of us. If we have self-awareness and give up the investigation, it's also beneficial for him, at least he can rest easy."

  "Smelling the fragrance, you said the murderer came from Moyun Ridge?" Su Tang asked.

  "Uh-huh." Wen Xiang responded with a single word: "It won't be wrong."

  "This is indeed the red dandelion that only Moyun Ridge has." Xiao Buwu said, "But dandelions can also be fake. Carefully search for similar things on the frame of Hong's car, and you will definitely find them. Then put what you found here, and we will be misled."

  "Where's the shadow?" Su Tang said calmly: "The sword wound can't be fake, right?"

  Xiao Bu Hui's words were stuck, he could find corresponding reasons for other marks, but the sword wound was not allowed to be debated. As a fighter who can drive six or seven spiritual instruments at the same time, it is absolutely a rare existence!

  After a long time, Xiao Bu regretted showing a bitter smile. He realized that it was because he didn't want to have a direct conflict with Hong Furen, so he intentionally thought of other things, proving that he was afraid.

  "Miao Dao Pavilion... it's probably going to disperse..." Xiao Buwu muttered, if nothing came of it, he couldn't get past the hurdle in his heart; friends for over a decade, no matter what, he couldn't let Long Qi die in vain; avenging Long Qi was clearly a futile effort, with no return.

  "It's actually easy to figure out, just send someone to ask around, if there is a person named Gu Qiujue among the followers of Hong Furen, everything will be clear." said Wen Xiang.

  "I'll let him pass right away." Mo Xiaobai hastily said.

  "You all go out first, I want to be alone with Brother Long for a while." Su Tang said softly.

  Wen Xiang and others exchanged a glance, then retreated one after another. Su Tang pulled over a chair and sat down opposite Long Qi, silently staring at him.

  It wasn't long before the candles in the house had burned out, and after a few flickers, they quietly went out, plunging the room into darkness. Su Tang slowly got up and walked to Long Qi's side, covering his eyes with her palm: "Brother Long, Da Zun was right, you are indeed a wise man... but you miscalculated one thing - without enough power, where can peace and happiness come from?"

  Su Tang walked out of the house, Mo Xiaobei was pacing anxiously in the courtyard, obviously waiting impatiently. Wen Xiang and others had not left, disaster was looming, they all had their own thoughts.

  "Bury them together." Su Tang said softly.