After the immortal disappeared

The envoy of the Heavenly Palace bluntly said that Xue Zongwu had done very bad things. Liu Wu could only touch his nose in embarrassment: "Yes, yes. This year coincides with my king's fifty-ninth birthday. During that time, officials from other places rushed back to the capital. Mangzhou Bai The crowd of officials was very lively and caused a lot of trouble for the investigation. "

"Have you identified any suspects?"

"More than 300 people have been arrested before and after, and there are still more than 20 in prison." Liu Wu said with a bit of shame, "It can't be locked. The murderer who can kill General Xue face to face is very powerful. We caught him There is no such person as a suspect.”

"At that time, there were no powerful warriors or generals in Mangzhou?"

"Yes, yes, Luodian Kingdom Zuo Zong Changquruhai was in Mangzhou that night. But he forged an alibi, and Mangzhou had to let him go. Later he went to Tianshui City, and we found out his There was a problem with the proof. But later, new witnesses appeared, proving that he was in the west of the city that night and was not at Xiaotaoshan Villa." Liu Wu smiled bitterly, "He is the head of Zuo Zong of Luodian Kingdom. Without sufficient evidence, we can't detain him. "

"Zong Zuo of Luodian Kingdom, Emperor Jiuyou?" Bai Ziqi smiled when he heard this.

King Yao probably had the same idea as him, so he finally let Qu Ruhai go.

"It's a long journey from the western border of Yao Kingdom to Mangzhou. Why did Emperor Jiuyou start his attack in Mangzhou?" Bai Ziqi pondered, "Has the murderer tried to assassinate before Mangzhou? Did Xue Zongwu notice it?"

"General Xue's bodyguard said, no." Liu Wu told the truth, "But I suspect that the murderer had planned to kill on the road, but there was no condition for it to be carried out."

"How to say?"

"When entering the capital from west to east, most officials will take the Taoshui River. I asked General Xue's soldiers and it turns out that General Xue was indeed going to the Taoshui River, but he temporarily changed to the water route and took a boat to Mangzhou."

Liu Wu became interested: "What's the reason for the change of route?"

"Well, our prime minister happened to be reported by Qingyang Supervisor. His family lives in Taoshui. The officials passing by wanted to avoid suspicion, so-"

So everyone can only choose to cross the Tao River without entering.

"What about the topography of Taoshui?"

"Business and trade are developed, and there are rivers and lakes."

"The development of commerce means that there is a large flow of people and there are many outsiders, so the murderer can mix among them; there are rivers and lakes, which is convenient for escaping after the assassination." Bai Ziqi nodded, "It is really possible that the murderer chose Taoshui to attack, but the temporary plan changed ”

"General Xue's personal guards also mentioned that General Xue secretly changed boats before setting sail, even hiding it from most of the guards. Only when the boat sailed into the river did they know that General Xue was not on that boat."

"Well, it seems that Xue Zongwu also noticed that something is wrong." A person like Xue Zongwu must be very suspicious.

"Before General Xue returned home, something happened in the tribute land he managed." Liu Wu said, "The accountant he sent to the tribute land was robbed and killed by two masked men in black pretending to be Emperor Jiuyou, and was placed in the government office. The account books were also stolen.”

This chain is really long. "What kind of ledger?"

"My king sent someone to check afterwards. It was the tribute account book, which recorded the money from the past few years." Liu Wu coughed lightly, "At that time, Qingyang Supervisor was reporting corruption, and General Xue was probably a little worried. "

Bai Ziqi frowned: "If it is the murderer, there is no need to alert Xue Zongwu before he returns to China. Well, who do you suspect did it?"

"This..." Liu Wu did not dare to say anything. Who else? Everyone at that time suspected it was Qingyang Supervisor.

"But it doesn't matter, I want to hear your thoughts." Bai Ziqi said seriously, "Don't worry, I won't spread the word."

He waved the others back.

But Liu Wu still looked troubled.

Looking at his expression, Bai Ziqi understood clearly: "Qingyang supervises the country?"

Liu Wu hesitated: "This, I never said that in my humble position."

Bai Ziqi smiled: "Okay."

Fortunately, everyone had already reached the scene of the first crime. Liu Wu quickly pointed forward to ease the awkward atmosphere: "This is the back mountain hall where General Xue and Emperor Jiuyou fought. It was very impressive before it was burned down." , I’ve been here too.”

"You said there was a dragon head mark here?"

"Yes. At that time, General Xue had been killed, and before Elder Qi went after Emperor Jiuyou, the dragon head pattern appeared on the bronze beast. In anger, Elder Qi broke the pattern, and the result was——" Liu Wu pointed out Standing at the feet of the two of them, "The dragon's head pattern appeared on the ground, ten times bigger than before! I asked more than ten witnesses in the villa, and all of them swore to God that it was true."

Bai Ziqi said: "This is the power of ghosts and gods."

Human beings do not have this kind of power, especially when Emperor Jiuyou has left.

"Many people among the people say that Emperor Jiuyou is definitely not a human being, that's why we couldn't catch him."

Bai Ziqi laughed: "I only said that he can use the power of ghosts and gods, not that he is the ghosts and gods themselves. How many people did Emperor Jiuyou bring to kill Xue Zongwu?"

"Three."

"Only three?" With such a hard nut like Xue Zongwu, Emperor Jiuyou only brought two people on stage? Bai Ziqi was slightly surprised, "How many people were around Xue Zongwu at that time?"

"The guards were all left in the Xie Ma Pavilion outside the village. He only brought a dozen of his own soldiers into the village to meet his father-in-law. However, there were several explosions in the village first. Elder Qi Yunsheng went to appease the distinguished guests and called another Dozens of Zhuang Guards were sent to General Xue to pursue them. General Xue was supposed to go to the southwest gate to join his hundreds of personal guards, but for some reason, he suddenly went north to pursue the enemy. "

Then, he described the battle process that the witnesses saw.

Bai Ziqi frowned when he heard this: "The Great Emperor Jiuyou killed Xue Zongwu in front of hundreds of people?"

"yes."

"This is a show! But it also shows that Emperor Jiuyou's cultivation and martial arts are far higher than Xue Zongwu." Bai Ziqi shook his head, "Then there is actually nothing to investigate in this battle. Since the opponent has carefully planned it, he wants to find flaws. It’s very difficult.”

"Yes." Liu Wu agreed, "On the fifth day after General Xue was killed, I rushed over from the capital to investigate, but I couldn't find any really useful clues here. The murderer handled the scene very cleanly."

Bai Ziqi pondered for a long time: "How did Qi Yunsheng die? You said before that after Xue Zongwu was killed, he was still here cutting the black dragon mark to vent his anger?"

"yes."

"In other words, Emperor Jiuyou had already left by then."

"Yes. With the fire in the mountain palace blocking the way, Emperor Jiuyou evacuated from the back mountain. The method is unknown."

Bai Ziqi immediately said: "Where is Qi Yunsheng's body? Has it been well preserved?"

"Yes, his and General Xue's bodies were restrained with ice charms and sealed in the cold cellar of Xiaotaoshan Villa. They have not rotted. But it will take some time to bring them out."

"Then take me to see the place where Qi Yunsheng died first."

"Yes, please come this way." Liu Wu led the way and asked for advice, "Master, do you think Elder Qi has more clues here?"

"Xue Zongwu is the target of Emperor Jiuyou, but Qi Yun Sheng is not." Bai Ziqi said solemnly, "Judging from Emperor Jiuyou's past deeds, he is very principled in choosing his targets, and he does not choose the most evil and evil. Qi Yun Sheng is enough. If he didn't meet this standard, he probably wasn't on his assassination list at first. Just because Qi Yunsheng was chasing after him, he had no choice but to kill him."

Liu Wu agreed: "Yes. Elder Qi temporarily organized manpower and rushed to hunt him down."

"That means Qi Yunsheng has a way to track Emperor Jiuyou." Bai Ziqi pointed out, "This kind of unplanned battle killing is easier to leave clues. Because Emperor Jiuyou's evacuation is more urgent, and there is more time to clear the battlefield. few."

Liu Wu first took him to climb to the top of Beishan Mountain to take a look at the environment: "At that time, Elder Qi had already led hundreds of people to chase him to the lake. Suddenly there was another explosion at Xiaotao Mountain Villa, so he turned around and rushed to Beishan Mountain, hoping to take a shortcut back."

"The shortcut is to climb the mountain and cross the stream?"

Liu Wu stretched out his hand and pointed: "Yes, you can reach it just by climbing up from the deep valley."

"Well, let's go down."

The vegetation at the bottom of the cliff is deep and deep, and the traces of the battle have long been covered up. The crime took place in the deep valley of Xiaoye, and more than two months had passed, so Bai Ziqi didn't think he could find any new clues.

As long as I walked around casually, my head would be covered with cobwebs, as if I was wearing a gray wig, and my body and trouser legs would be covered with ghost needles and cockleburs, which I couldn't even clean up after a quarter of an hour.

"This is really a good terrain for an ambush. Qi Yunsheng was too confident at that time."

"Elder Qi himself is highly skilled in cultivation, and he took dozens of General Xue's guards to climb the mountain. Perhaps he thinks that he can't escape even if he can't defeat him." Liu Wu pointed to the cliff above, "This journey is not long."

For practitioners, this point can be reached as soon as they lift their legs. If it were Qi Yunsheng, he wouldn't want to take an extra half hour of detour.

Bai Ziqi asked Liu Wu to point out where the corpses were displayed, and the latter's face showed a slight expression of embarrassment. There were dozens of corpses at that time, how could he remember their locations clearly?

"Do you still remember the farthest places where the corpses are buried in the east, west, south, and north directions?"

Liu Wu secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh, I still have an impression."

He found the furthest places where corpses were buried. Bai Ziqi immediately asked people to mark them, emit red smoke, and then climbed to a high place to take a look.

Standing high and looking into the distance, red smoke curls up in the secluded forest, and every smoke is where the corpse is.

"Qi Yunsheng died here in the end, right?"

"Yes." It was the boulder beneath the two of them.

"The distance from here to the red smoke in the south is more than 30 feet, and the distance to the red smoke in the west is more than 100 feet. And here is on the middle of the mountain. There is no road. It is rugged and undulating, and the walking speed will be affected. ." Bai Ziqi thought, "Qi Yunsheng and his men will flee in all directions if they can't be beaten. If Emperor Jiuyou only has three people, how can he catch up with them and kill them one by one?"

Looking at the place where they were killed, it can be said that it was chaotic. Bai Ziqi could imagine how chaotic the scene was at that time.

However, not a single person was left alive.

Liu Wu said: "Many people died together. Probably Emperor Jiuyou used some means to bring them together and kill them."

"cause of death?"

"They were stabbed with sharp blades or spears, and several of the deceased had bruises on their bodies. It looked like they had been tied up and struggled hard."