Chapter 15: What is the truth behind the case? What was the governor's role...?

On the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, in a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of Danzhou, a minor official named Qiangsheng was found naked and murdered. His arms were severed, the wounds were smooth, and the severed arms were missing.

On the sixth day of the seventh lunar month, in a residential house on South Street in Danzhou, peddler Chen Ersan was found naked and murdered, his arms severed, and he disappeared.

On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, in an alley on South Street in Danzhou, bookseller Sun Zhiyan was found naked and murdered, his arms severed, and he disappeared.

On the morning of the eighth day of the seventh lunar month, in a residential house on South Street, the body of Li Shun, a coachman of the Prefectural Governor's Office, was discovered. He was completely naked, and his lower body had been cut off at the waist with a clean cut.

On the evening of the ninth day of the seventh lunar month, in a guest room of Mingxi Pavilion in Danzhou, Zhou Yuan, a traveling merchant, was suspended from the roof beam and cut off from the waist down, leaving him completely naked.

Qin Tianshu: "In just five days, Danzhou was placed under martial law, and the yamen transferred the case to the Demon Suppression Pavilion, but there are still no clues."

Qingyu didn't respond to him. Instead, she half-covered herself in the light, leaned against the window, and listened, her eyes fixed on the crowds in the street below.

It was still early autumn, and the lingering summer heat was still present. The sun was getting increasingly intense, and the streets were gradually becoming less crowded, with only a few stalls remaining, hoping to earn a little money.

She didn't speak, but just sighed softly. The deaths were bizarre, with all the body parts missing. It was obvious that the killer intended to do something with these body parts, something evil, nothing more.

Wen Chuan: "How did you find out about this?"

Qin Tianshu paused, his expression calm, "A few days ago, I passed by a bookstall and casually bought a book. I didn't expect that I would leave my purse at the inn that day, and the stall owner let me pay on credit. I didn't expect that he would die the next day."

He smiled again, his tone unusually serious, "It's better to pay back the money you owe someone for books."

Wen Chuan looked at him, but didn't say much, only asking, "Did you find any clues while you were tracking them?"

Qin Tianshu shook his head, spread his hands helplessly, and said, "I went to great lengths and almost found out who the real culprit was last night. Unfortunately, I'm not good at fighting, so she escaped. I tried my best to track her down, but I only saw a small-time swordsman holding a chicken..."

As he spoke, he rested his hand on his forehead and sighed, "Young people are still too impulsive. He was trying to help me, and he was quick. I didn't have time to call for that knife-wielding cultivator before I could even see him."

His act was so pretentious. Qingyu rolled her eyes inwardly. She thought that if Zhang Xuan helped him, it was probably because he couldn't beat the murderer himself and had Zhang Xuan taken the blame.

After thinking for a moment, she asked in a calm tone, "Where exactly did you follow the murderer? And how did Zhang Xuan end up there?"

Qin Tianshu smiled, "It's even more coincidental that we chased and fled, all within the Mingxi Pavilion."

Originally, Mingxi Pavilion was a merchant's property, a place for theatrical performances. Later, as it developed, it seems to have changed owners, gained some connections, and started getting involved in various industries. The name was also changed to Mingxi Pavilion, cleverly referencing the imagery of the moon high in the sky and the boudoir of Xi Shi—now it is a veritable brothel.

Qingyu: "No wonder, such a strong smell of blood could be mixed with the smell of cosmetics. There were no people in the houses next door, so it was indeed difficult for people to smell blood at night."

Qin Tianshu raised an eyebrow. It seemed that these two were not entirely uninterested in these matters; at least, they had visited Mingxi Pavilion this morning.

The scholar opened his fan and sighed, his phoenix eyes filled with regret. Although he was a scholar, he had a sentimental face. He laughed and said, "With such a disaster, what will happen to the girls in Mingxi Pavilion?"

"Why……"

Qingyu paused for a moment, then looked at Qin Tianshu, who was fanning himself with a fan, and said gently, "Calm down, okay?"

I could tell when we first met that he wasn't some sentimental scholar, but just a bookish writer who treated storybooks like sacred texts. Besides, we still don't know how Zhang Xuan got into trouble.

Qin Tianshu: "..."

Wen Chuan interrupted them helplessly: "...The Demon Suppression Pavilion should have sealed off the building this morning. Wouldn't it be strange if the murderer returned to Mingxi Pavilion? Did you discover anything when you fought with the murderer last night?"

Qin Tianshu closed his fan, his tone cold, "It's a woman, and her weapon is strange; it should be a painting."

"A woman? A painting?" Qingyu asked in confusion, exchanging a glance with Wenchuan.

“That’s right. The woman was very strange. She had no spiritual energy at all. The painting was also bizarre. I saw with my own eyes that the deceased’s leg was cut open by the painting and disappeared, leaving only blood spraying out in an instant.”

Qin Tianshu added that he had no clue about the case either, so he could only cast a wide net and use his book cultivation skills to search everywhere. He finally found Mingxi Pavilion last night, but unfortunately, the illusion in his book could not deceive the mysterious woman and she escaped.

To his surprise, the murderer returned to Mingxi Pavilion. Just then, he met Zhang Xuan. In the ensuing chaos, the murderer kidnapped Zhang Xuan and Cai Cai. He recognized the chicken and, knowing he couldn't defeat the murderer, decided to go find Wen Chuan.

Wen Chuan frowned: "Your illusions can't even fool the murderer?"

Qingyu also looked at Qin Tianshu with suspicion. The storyteller was indeed not very strong in combat, but he was good at writing storyteller stories and often used them to create illusions. She almost fell for his tricks back then.

Qin Tianshu gritted his teeth in anger when he met their gazes that seemed to ask, "Why have you become weaker?"

"What do you know? I set up a high-level illusion targeting the mind, which has nothing to do with strength. Who would have thought that the woman had no spiritual energy but a strong will, and the scroll in her hand was so strange, that's how she escaped!"

The illusion smelled so bitter, but the woman's will was so strong that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her mad. She had no spiritual energy, yet she broke his illusion in just a few breaths. Qin Tianshu couldn't help but think, "What a hateful person, yet what a pitiful one."

Qin Tianshu sighed, "Once this illusion is set up, even I can't peek into it at will. I can only know from it that the murderer is a woman, and that she must have suffered a lot in terms of the seven emotions."

Qingyu noticed the fleeting pity in Qin Tianshu's eyes, then chuckled. Humans have always been like this; when they suffer, they desperately try to bring their suffering to others, creating a cycle of cause and effect.

As the sunlight faded and shifted, shadows crept onto the wooden table. Occasionally, a breeze would ripple across the tea surface, causing the reflections in the water to sway. Before we knew it, the three cups of tea on the table had grown cool.

Wen Chuan glanced at the sky; it was almost noon. He stood up and said calmly, "No matter what, let's go check out Mingxi Pavilion first."

...

Mingxi Pavilion.

Since the incident that morning, Mingxi Pavilion has been locked. The people from the Demon Suppression Pavilion have been checking everyone inside, but unfortunately, there are so many random people at the brothel that night, and after a whole day of work, they have achieved very little.

Two monks stood guard at the back door, where no one else was around, growing impatient.

The tall, imposing monk on the left sighed, "This case is truly bizarre. After investigating for several days, all we've found are corpses."

“Who knows,” the man on the right replied, then looked around and mysteriously leaned closer to his companion, whispering, “I heard that Vice Envoy Bai came back last night, first looked at the files, then looked at the scene at Mingxi Pavilion, and didn’t say anything.”

His companion frowned. "What do you mean?"

“Hey,” the short monk on the right was speechless. He was about to say something when he saw the tall man standing straight, and he couldn’t reach his ear.

He frowned, but couldn't resist slapping the tall guy's arm. "Squat down!"

The tall man said "Oh" and squatted down slightly, while the short man whispered, "Vice Envoy Bai is best at detecting spiritual energy, how could he not find anything? If you ask me, this murderer is probably someone important."

"Really? ... Stop talking about it. Who cares who the murderer is? Let's just finish our own business."

The tall guy on the left said that he wasn't very smart, but he knew one thing: if you don't have the ability, you should shut up.

"I know, I know. It's just a pity that Mingxi Pavilion is such a good place. Business will be tough in the future..." The short man on the right echoed twice. He wasn't stupid. The two of them were the most idle and lazy in the Danzhou Demon Suppression Pavilion, but that didn't mean they were the stupidest and unluckiest.

They whispered to each other, and after a few words, one of them winked and joked with his companion about the girls in the brothel. With no one around, the two of them exchanged a few more secretive banter.

As dusk approached, the sky was ablaze with crimson clouds, illuminating this deserted and secluded back door.

The haystacks lined the wall, bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun, their light shimmering faintly, which the short man stared at with boredom.

"Sigh—" He yawned boredly, feeling his eyes watering from the sunset. Suddenly, he thought he could smell the pastries from Haoweiji. They smelled so good.

The short man opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something to the tall man on his left, but when he looked up and turned his head, he narrowed his eyes. Where was the tall man?

He's here!

The short man turned his head, but everything was blurry. He could only make out the figure of a woman. He opened his mouth and uttered two "Ah ah—" sounds. Then, his eyes turned and he saw the tall man sprawled on the ground. He quickly shut his mouth and closed his eyes and collapsed.

"These two are quite interesting," Qingyu kicked the fallen dwarf. "They've got some skill and they're quite perceptive."

If I had known, I wouldn't have been so ruthless; they would have been unconscious for two or three days.

She sighed and looked up. Wen Chuan and Qin Tianshu were walking towards her. "What did you find out?"

Wen Chuan shook his head, "Apart from the people of the Demon Suppression Pavilion, everyone in the pavilion is a mortal, there's nothing special about it."

Qin Tianshu opened his fan and shook it, ducking to avoid the tall man and the short man who had fallen, and hopped out the back door.

Wen Chuan: "..." He followed Qin Tianshu's route and slowly walked out the back door.

As dusk approached, lights were lit inside the pavilion, but it was quieter than usual. If you listened carefully, you could almost hear the girls sobbing.

Qingyu nodded in agreement with Wen Chuan's earlier words. She sighed softly, took a piece of pastry from her bag, and chewed it quietly. She hadn't eaten all day; life as a demon was truly difficult.

Qin Tianshu coughed. It turned out that Qingyu wasn't going into Mingxi Pavilion with them because she was going to buy pastries. Honestly, he was hungry too.

Qingyu looked at him, the girl blinked, smiled, and very considerately wrapped a few pieces of pastry in a handkerchief and gave them to Wenchuan.

Qin Tianshu: "..."

Can this human and the demon really be together? He'll write a story about it someday—a tragic love story spanning three lifetimes between a vicious flower demon and a cold-hearted fisherman.

Wen Chuan smiled, took the pastries, and then handed them to Qin Tianshu, indicating that he should take them first. Qin Tianshu remained expressionless, only munching on his pastries. Very good, the story should be renamed—The Kind Little Fisherman, The Vicious Flower Demon's Unrequited Love.

Qingyu finished a piece of pastry, casually clapped her hands, and then muttered to herself, piecing together the clues: "The identities of the deceased seem unrelated; they are all ordinary mortal men. But the presence of people from the government and the governor's mansion suggests she wasn't afraid of investigation. Just now, these two cultivators said the murderer might be someone of status, having fought someone last night and returning this morning. Mingxi Pavilion is a brothel, and the murderer is a woman—"

Wen Chuan: "You suspect that the murderer is someone from Mingxi Pavilion."

Qin Tianshu interjected appropriately, "Moreover, this woman must have someone supporting her."

The scholar paused, then said, "It's strange, but whenever the murderer appears, I always sense something. Yet, no matter how hard I search, I can't detect her presence."

Qingyu: "Are you sure you can sense it throughout the entire city of Danzhou?"

Qin Tianshu closed his fan and nodded at her and Wen Chuan. The scholar looked as if he had just realized something, "Speaking of which, there's one place I really couldn't find the information about—"

He frowned. Where did it come from?

Qingyu chuckled and said to Qin Tianshu, who was deliberately pausing, "You're so pretentious."

She leisurely took out an unopened bag of Haoweiji pastries from her bag and placed it on the haystack. She exchanged a glance with Wen Chuan, and then they both spoke to Qin Tianshu, who was pretending to be troubled.

"—The Prefectural Governor's Office."

...

Today was exciting.

Chickens are rare to find, but a human corpse is seen in the morning.

Yue

Thankfully, Xuanxuan was there to help me throw up.

Cai Cai was moved, and she watched the fight from Xuan Xuan's arms, too afraid to move.

Gougouda, it's that annoying Shusen! Xuanxuan, run!!!

Xuanxuan! Don't go!!!

Hook up, hook up, hook up!

Where am I?! There are so many monsters! I'm crying uncontrollably!

Xuanxuan, protect me!!! (Pinky promise!!!)

Shusen!!!

You really are the worst, waaaaaah!!!

—CaiCai's Diary: Reunited with ShuSen.

A note from the author:

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