Zu An didn't hold back and directly asked Tang Tian'er the question.
Tang Tian'er shook her head slightly: "I do know the murderer who killed the seventh-ranked gold medalist, but please forgive me for not being able to tell you. I can only say that it was not our Xiaoyao Tower."
Zuan remained silent, rapidly piecing together the various pieces of information that had been circulating in his mind, and vaguely understood something.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Tang Tian'er couldn't help but feel worried: "Are you blaming me now?"
Upon hearing this, Zuan shook his head: "I'm already very grateful that you could tell me so much, how could I possibly complain about you?"
"Really?" Tang Tian'er asked doubtfully. "You're not angry with me?"
“Of course it’s true. You would never have told so much to anyone else. I’m so grateful to you, how could I blame you?” Zu’an smiled. “You’re in Xiaoyao Tower, so you must have your own concerns. If you can admit that so frankly, it would be ungrateful of me to keep bothering you.”
"I'm glad I can help you," a smile returned to Tang Tian'er's face. "You've come all this way, so I'll take you to Xiaoyao Tower to relax and let you experience what true freedom is."
"I have other things to take care of, let's do it another day," Zuan politely declined.
Tang Tian'er didn't insist on keeping him: "Once you've dealt with this matter, I'll definitely treat you well."
Zu An nodded slightly, bid her farewell, and returned to Yi City, where he summoned Xiao Jianren, Zhang Zitong, and other silver-medal embroidered warriors to the council hall.
"Lord Eleven, have you found anything useful?" Zhang Zitong asked with concern. Her tall figure truly stood out among the group of silver-plated embroidered officials, adding a touch of brightness to the originally somber council hall.
“Indeed, there have been considerable gains,” Zuan replied.
Xiao Jianren, who was secretly admiring Zhang Zitong's long legs, perked up upon hearing this: "I hope Eleventh Lord will give me some guidance!"
Although the emperor issued a three-day ultimatum to the Eleventh Minister, he was a direct subordinate of the Eleventh Minister, so he couldn't escape responsibility if anything happened.
The other embroidered envoys also looked intently at Zu'an.
Zuan glanced around and slowly said, "We've been making a mistake all along. The Prince of Yan's smuggling of military supplies and training of a private army is one case, and the killing of the Seventh Gold Medalist is another. We subconsciously conflated these two cases, which is why the error occurred."
Zhang Zitong couldn't help but raise an objection: "Eleventh Master, Seventh Master has been investigating the Prince of Yan's rebellion. The Prince of Yan has long hated him to the bone and wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible. You didn't just believe them after hearing Zhao Huang and the others cry out for justice, and then there was the trouble today, did you?"
Xiao Jianren's expression turned serious, and he immediately said, "Miss Zhang, you are mistaken. Our Eleventh Lord is never the kind of person who is afraid of trouble. He must have his reasons for saying this."
Zuan nodded secretly, it seemed that the old man hadn't been blinded by beauty yet.
Zhang Zitong was somewhat unconvinced: "Anyway, the Prince of Yan has the most motive and the ability, and there are both witnesses and physical evidence. I don't think there's any problem."
"Putting aside the physical evidence, the witness you mentioned should be Mr. Huo, right? But has Mr. Huo ever admitted to killing Gold Medal Seventh?" Zu An asked.
“He would naturally not admit to something like that. We often encounter people who have clearly committed crimes but still feel they are innocent,” Zhang Zitong said dismissively.
"It's alright, I've already sent someone to bring him over. We can ask him again later." Zu An smiled.
The several silver-plated embroidered-clothes officers in the room all looked solemn. Having handled cases for many years, they sensed something unusual, but couldn't quite put their finger on what the problem was.
Just then, a messenger in embroidered robes rushed in, panicked, to report: "Eleventh Lord, Mr. Huo is dead!"
"Dead?" The many silver-plated embroidered garments in the room all paled.
"How did he die?" Zu'an asked calmly, as if he had expected it.
"It appears to be suicide," the embroidered-robed messenger replied. Professional investigators like them generally possess some coroner's skills, so they can roughly determine the cause of death.
Xiao Jianren frowned and said, "Something's not right. That Mr. Huo doesn't seem like the kind of person who's so bold and courageous."
"They must have been silenced by...???????????????", Zuan said slowly.
Upon hearing this, everyone in the room was taken aback.
"Silence him?" Zhang Zitong asked doubtfully. "He's imprisoned in the Embroidered Uniform Guard prison. Who has the ability to silence him?"
The other silver-plated embroidered garments also echoed this sentiment:
"Yes, could it be that he knew he couldn't escape death, so he might as well end it all and get a quick death?"
"We've been putting him through a lot of torture lately. It's normal that his body, which is weak, can't withstand it since he's a spiritual type."
...
Listening to their conversation, Zu An said calmly, "You're all assuming he is indeed the murderer of the seventh-ranked gold medalist. But what if he isn't? Having cultivated to this level, would he be willing to die?"
Upon hearing his words, everyone's expression changed. If he had truly been silenced, then there was likely a problem within the Embroidered Robe Envoy's ranks. They exchanged glances, secretly becoming wary.
At this moment, Zu'an said, "The reason why we were so prejudiced that Prince Yan and Mr. Huo were the murderers of the seventh gold medalist is because someone was subtly or overtly guiding us to think that way."
Xiao Jianren was taken aback: "That's not right, no one guided us, we found all this out ourselves..."
He suddenly froze halfway through his sentence, then looked at Zhang Zitong beside him with a series of changes in his expression.
The other silver medalists also looked at her. To become a silver medalist in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, one must be one of the best at solving cases within the system. Apart from their cultivation level, the difference between them and gold medalists is not that great.
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