Chapter 114 If you can't let go of her, you'll be bound by injustice.
Having survived the ordeal at the ferry crossing, the young men from Taihang Road rescued Tingfengzhi and brought him back to the inn. Since then, none of them have had a chance to close their eyes.
After a quick wash and tidying up, Li Liuyun changed into clean white clothes, tucked his token into his pocket, and before leaving, instructed Lian Zhao to keep a close eye on Tingfengzhi's condition. Because Tingfengzhi's meridians were in disarray and surging, there was a risk of him going into qi deviation and his meridians bursting at any time. Now was the most critical moment, so every half hour, he needed to help Tingfengzhi with acupuncture at his acupoints to suppress the disordered and surging qi and blood with internal force and guide it back to normal.
Originally, Li Liuyun had been doing it himself, but he had to go out for a while and probably wouldn't be back for a while, so he had to leave it to Lian Zhao.
"Liu Yun," Wen Yi called out to him, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to the county government office to see Censor Cao."
What are you doing going to see the Censor at this time?
“That Taiyin tortured person,” Li Liuyun once referred to Bai Yuan as, “is bound by the injustice. Last night I saw the array on the execution ground at the ferry crossing, and it was very similar to the array under the foundation of the Northern Qu Ghost Office. Both of them use the injustice as punishment.”
Tingfengzhi once said that Bai Yuan was trapped in the Tai□□ body with a restless wronged soul. The punishment cauldron in Beiqu was cast with the laws and punishments of the government office. Under each punishment inscription was a wrongful conviction, and its purpose was to suppress Bai Yuan.
Li Liuyun said, "This major salt certificate case in Fengling must have been specifically designed to deal with the wrongful conviction she fabricated."
"What?!" Lin Mu was shocked. Yesterday, they were still crowding at the ferry crossing to watch the execution without any suspicion. They thought it was just a salt permit case that had nothing to do with them. They never expected that... someone would deliberately create a wrongful conviction and use the method of wrongfully killing the innocent to deal with the innocent.
Since the incident, they've been completely clueless and haven't thought this through at all.
Lian Zhao: "The person who led us to Fengling had already set up a trap here."
Wen Yi: "Could it be the censor who handled the salt certificate case?"
Yu Heqi: "Could the censor be colluding with the Gu master?"
"It's hard to say." Although Li Liuyun did not stay in the capital for long, he had heard that the censor Cao Qiushi was an upright and incorruptible man with a stubborn and impatient temperament.
When Li Liuyun revealed his identity at the county government office, the censor was puzzled by the scene at the ferry crossing.
Fenglingdu looked as if it had been bombed. The dock was a ruin, with cracked and collapsed paving stones and wooden piers, and potholes everywhere. Even the boats of all sizes that were moored on the shore had capsized. Most shockingly, the sluice gate at the shore had collapsed, and the giant chains of the Lianhe River had broken into several pieces, as if Fenglingdu had been attacked by a massive army!
In addition, the guards stationed at the ferry last night were terrified and kept saying that the corpses of the people who were beheaded and displayed in public had come back to life!
In such a situation, one person might be mistaken, but since all the guards on duty claimed to have seen it with their own eyes, Lord Cao had no choice but to believe them.
It just so happened that the prince, who had been cultivating in the Taihang Mountains, arrived. The answer he received was that the turmoil caused by the wrongful judgment in the salt certificate case was actually caused by Tingfengzhi, the culprit who stirred up Fenglingdu.
Cao Qiushi was momentarily at a loss, unsure whether to be shocked by His Highness's so-called salt permit injustice or to hear that he had single-handedly turned the entire ferry crossing into ruins.
Of course, it's even more unacceptable to him that he turned the salt monopoly case into a miscarriage of justice, resulting in the wrongful killing of innocent people.
Even a prince cannot speak such nonsense!
Cao Qiushi, being upright and having nothing to hide, had been in Hedong for several months and was convinced that the case had been handled without any doubts or omissions. He not only told Li Liuyun about every detail of the case, but also sorted out all the case files and clues he had collected and presented them to him for review.
The entire chain of evidence is very strong, with witness testimonies and physical evidence linked together to form a perfect closed loop.
But because the evidence was so overwhelming, the suspect was caught red-handed during the arrest, leaving no room for denial.
The magistrate of Ruicheng County was certainly not an honest and upright official. During his tenure, he engaged in numerous acts of favoritism, corruption, and abuse of power for personal gain, such as retaining stolen goods and allowing his subordinates to extort money. The censor thoroughly investigated and uncovered all of these cases.
Such a disgraced person was capable of colluding with salt smugglers to illegally issue salt permits. Moreover, the ferry officer stationed at the river has confessed to accepting bribes and releasing the salt smugglers. Censor Cao speaks with absolute certainty: greed is inexhaustible; their appetites will only grow larger. When they are no longer satisfied with meager profits, they will begin to collude with salt smugglers…
Cao Qiushi simply couldn't believe that he had made a wrong judgment after months of secret investigation: "This is absolutely impossible. If Your Highness doesn't trust me, you can report to the Emperor and have this case thoroughly reviewed!"
What right does someone who knows nothing about this case have to point fingers and make irresponsible remarks?
Looking at Cao Qiushi's sharp words, Li Liuyun said without much emotion, "That's natural."
"..." Cao Qiushi felt as if a date pit was stuck in his throat. He wanted to jump up and curse, but because of the other party's status, he held back until his old face turned blue.
This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!
Li Liuyun lowered his head and flipped through the case files, naturally leaving the glaring Lord Cao aside. He pondered to himself that if someone really wanted to fabricate a wrongful conviction, it was possible that Cao Qiushi was misled by the evidence.
Those behind the scenes could easily use the Hedong Salt Monopoly Case to orchestrate a scheme under the guise of an imperial censor. Those truly involved in the case, including the Hedong officials implicated, would naturally help to shift the blame and find scapegoats.
Once the case is closed, the imperial envoy from the capital can be dismissed.
If we follow this line of reasoning, Cao Qiushi, who thought he was conducting a covert investigation, had actually already been exposed, and the evidence he found was only what others wanted him to find.
Li Liuyun couldn't help but recall the masked man from last night who killed Bai Yuan with the Qiu Jue Blade and then left. He tried to chase after him but failed, and people would occasionally shoot arrows from the shadows.
Who exactly is that smiling man?
Why go to such lengths to fabricate false charges, torture, arrest, and kill innocent people in Fengling?
...
The smiling man stood with his hands behind his back on the high cliff of the riverbank, gazing at the low-hanging clouds over Ruicheng. He pondered for a long time, still finding it unbelievable: "How could it be an umbrella?"
It would be hard to believe if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
The smiling man stroked the oil-paper umbrella in his hand, marveling once again at the many wonders of this world.
The man in black crossed his arms, clutching the Autumn Execution Blade: "Now that the biggest problem is solved, when do we leave?"
"Hmm." The smiling man pondered for a moment, then asked, "Did the Yin Sui fall into the hands of the Gu Master?"
"That's right."
Where is the Gu Master now?
Upon hearing the name "Gu Master," the man in black felt utterly disgusted: "That insane, madwoman is incredibly cunning and shrewd. The person I sent to keep an eye on her has disappeared without a trace; she must have discovered him again."
"Falling into the hands of a Gu master would probably be a bad experience."
"Their fate will probably be the same as the two people in Puzhou last time, being fed those disgusting worms in the cellar."
The smiling man said insincerely, "Unfortunately... so you've lost track of them now?"
"Judging from the route, it should be heading towards Shanzhou."
"I underestimated her before." The smiling man originally didn't take this woman seriously, thinking she couldn't cause any trouble at all. She was just bad, and there were plenty of bad people in the world. Being a little bad wasn't a bad thing. Besides, she had brought it upon herself. With her indiscriminate killing, the Gu Master would eventually suffer the consequences. He wouldn't personally deal with such a lowly figure. However, "I didn't expect her to take advantage of the chaos and not only dig up the Gu-attracting snake eggs from the river tomb, but also steal the Yin Sui."
When an insignificant person becomes increasingly capable, it's hard not to pay attention to them.
The shadowy figure said, "She has a group of monstrous creatures around her; dealing with them will be tricky."
The smiling man remained silent for a moment, staring at the exposed rock strata on the riverbank, and murmured, "Wangxiang..."
"Yes, just like that woman, they all emerged from the Taihe body." The man in black was very puzzled. "How did these monstrous creatures become the henchmen of the Gu Master? Could it be that the Gu Master can cast spells on evil spirits and demons?" The three great evil spirits of Yunnan are like Gu witches casting spells on the living to control them. Could it be that this strange Gu technique casts spells on the dead to control ghosts and demons?
The smiling man chuckled softly: "Don't tell me."
The man in black was surprised that he had guessed correctly: "Is that really true?"
"The art of Gu has always been bizarre. Those who practice it are all inhuman, and of course, they eventually suffer a backlash, with each one meeting a more tragic end than the last. Back in the day..." He stopped abruptly when he mentioned the past.
The man in black pressed, "What happened back then?"
The smiling man shook his head and sighed, adopting a melancholic posture, and waved his hand, saying, "Let's not talk about it."
The man in black tightened his grip on the Autumn Execution Blade. He really wanted to stab this old bastard to death on the spot. If he didn't want to talk about it, he shouldn't keep bringing up the past. It's such an annoying habit!
The man in black completely lost his patience and said curtly, "Are you leaving or not?!"
What are they still dawdling around in this godforsaken place for?!
The smiling man said, "I should indeed leave, but I just can't let go of this feeling in my heart."
The man in black had no idea what was wrong with him again, since he hadn't settled down here or had any children: "What is it that you can't let go of?"
The smiling man said, "That umbrella."
The man in black was startled: "What the hell?"
The smiling man kept thinking about the umbrella. He said, "I'm wondering if I should burn it."
The man in black also became alert: "What do you mean?"
The smiling man slapped his forehead and immediately made up his mind: "Yes, let's burn that umbrella so we won't always be so worried about it."
The man in black immediately gave chase: "No, you're just making things up on a whim, what about that umbrella..."
The smiling man suddenly stopped and turned around, and the man in black almost bumped into his mask.
“If there are hidden dangers, we must resolve them promptly, right? We should do things cleanly and efficiently to prevent future troubles.” The masked man smiled, his voice amiable, and asked, “Where was the Death Umbrella again?”
The man in black almost rolled his eyes: "The Hongyun Inn in Ruicheng, guarded by those few young men from the Taihang Mountains..."
Before he could finish speaking, the smiling man had already turned and walked away, not caring whoever was guarding him.
The smiling man moved with lightning speed, and in the blink of an eye, he had descended the cliff.
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