Tie Ci jumped down first and waved to those above, but the commoners hesitated, not daring to jump.
Following her down, Dan Ye, whose face had been sour all along, suddenly kicked a man down.
“Real men, are you not even as good as a woman!”
The man cried out as he fell into the charcoal pile, glaring angrily upward. Dan Ye paid no attention, standing at the cave entrance, fingering the lapis lazuli pendant on his earlobe, sweeping the crowd with a sinister gaze. The commoners hurriedly jumped down one by one.
The commoners walked on the charcoal furnace floor, which was covered with broken charcoal that made crunching sounds. People marveled in amazement, increasingly unable to understand what all these things underground were for. Someone suddenly bent down and pulled up an object: “What is this!”
In his hand was a half-section of blackened long object that rang clearly when struck.
Tie Ci said: “Broken sword.”
Everyone looked bewildered.
Later they found several more broken knives and swords.
Tie Ci then led everyone to climb out of the giant furnace and open the air vent. Before everyone understood what she was doing, they saw her drag out several charred corpses from the air vent.
Those bodies were mostly burned beyond recognition, some reduced to small fragments, arranged in a dark mass on the ground. In this gloomy, dark cave, they created an unparalleled visual impact.
The cave filled with a strange odor. Many people turned pale and vomited all over the ground.
“What… what people are these?”
Tie Ci sighed: “Blacksmiths.”
The blacksmith in the crowd turned white as paper. He turned and saw that huge platform.
This time even the hammers had been removed from the platform, leaving the ground clean. Many people were still confused when Tie Ci looked at the blacksmith: “Brother, do you understand now?”
The blacksmith said after a long while: “Was iron being forged underground to make weapons?”
Tie Ci smiled and handed him the gray-black stone she had hidden earlier.
The man examined it for a long time, his face growing even paler: “This is iron ore, but not ordinary iron ore. I’ve been a blacksmith for over ten years and never used this kind, but I’ve seen it at my master’s place. This is the finest grade iron ore in Da Qian legend, called Abyss Iron. Legend says it only forms in places with extreme geography, extremely cold and hot conditions. The iron tools made from it can cut through hair and slice meat like mud. But the forging process is very demanding – not only must it be refined a hundred times, it also requires cold quenching, completing the transition from extreme heat to extreme cold in an instant to make the sword body strong. If this step is missed or not cold enough, the sword will break easily… Years ago my master got a piece of Abyss Iron and treasured it like a gem, forging day and night for a hundred days. But when cold quenching with cold water at the end, the sword broke because it wasn’t cold enough. Later we learned that large amounts of ice must be used as ice molds to encase the sword body…”
By this point, everyone basically understood and gasped in shock.
Tie Ci nodded, not expecting there to be a blacksmith in the group, which saved her some explanation.
The blacksmith looked at the giant furnace and huge platform, murmuring: “It seems there’s an Abyss Iron mine in this mountain. Near Abyss Iron mines there are usually extremely hot and cold environments, so someone used local materials here to forge swords and knives. Such a large forging platform… how many weapons could be made simultaneously…”
While he marveled here, the soldiers sent down by Captain Xie exchanged pale-faced glances. The leader made a gesture and they quietly retreated the way they came.
“Now do you all understand the business beneath Cangshen Tower?” Tie Ci said. “A rare Abyss Iron mine was discovered under Cangshen Tower. Someone used this uniquely advantageous natural terrain to secretly mass-produce weapons. They built giant underground furnaces here, gathered large numbers of craftsmen to work in secret, burning and hammering day and night. Abyss Iron forging is quite special – blades needing warm quenching go to the hot springs, those needing cold quenching go to the ice cave, all completed seamlessly and very conveniently. So at the bottom of the hot springs, there’s a layer of iron filings and charcoal particles. Some fell from weapons, some from craftsmen bathing. And that huge ice pool in the ice cave was an ice mold cast from ice. Forged swords inserted for instant cooling would leave a crack. You’ve all seen the countless dense cracks above that ice pool – how many swords would that be?”
Everyone was amazed. Tie Ci pointed at the giant furnace: “After these people moved everything away, they stuffed all the blacksmiths into the giant furnace to kill and silence them.”
People shuddered collectively, staring numbly as they realized they had just been walking on a pile of corpses.
Immediately some people’s legs went weak, trembling as they supported companions wanting to sit down. Looking around, corpses were everywhere – sitting down meant sitting in vomit and corpse piles, so they could only roll their eyes back and force themselves to keep standing.
But the blacksmith said: “Looking at this platform being so huge, countless people must have worked simultaneously. There should also be ventilation holes here. Wouldn’t the sounds really carry out?”
“Did you see the countless bronze bells on Cangshen Tower? Far more than ordinary pagodas. When wind passes, the bell sounds ring in unison, so even if the iron forging below was intense with sounds carrying out, to the accustomed ears of surrounding commoners, it was just the daily annoying noise of tower bells.”
When Tie Ci first visited Cangshen Tower, she felt those bronze bells were unusually numerous. When testing that monk, he answered that bronze bells were light in weight and didn’t exceed limits. But Tie Ci could see those bells were of standard design and wouldn’t be very light.
Why use so many bronze bells to create noise?
Sound always exists only to cover other sounds.
At that time, from the sound of bronze bells, she imagined sounds similar to this noise, then heard the sound of iron forging.
The commoners remained silent for a long time. People living at the bottom only worried about daily meals and shelter. Looking up to read weather from the sky, looking down to taste soil and guess harvests – their lives were naturally separated by huge chasms from weapons, treason, officials, royalty… Now witnessing this spectacular yet cruel underground business firsthand, they only vaguely sensed something big had happened, but didn’t quite understand what this big event meant or what changes it would bring them.
Only that Zeng family child, unable to forget his sister’s wrongful death, timidly asked: “But what does this… have to do with my sister’s death?”
“Little brother, does your family live at the foot of Fengbo Mountain and make a living gathering medicinal herbs? Did your sister often go up the mountain early in the morning to gather herbs?”
“Yes, how do you know?”
“That day, your sister also went up the mountain before dawn and discovered a cave entrance. Inside that cave was very rare purple pine, extremely beneficial for women, which medicine halls buy at high prices. Your sister followed the mountain cave gathering herbs all the way, inadvertently entering the cave depths, then walked here.”
Tie Ci pointed into the cave. “A villain discovered her. Everyone should have still been sleeping then. That villain originally planned to kill your sister on the spot and stuff her into this giant furnace to destroy the evidence, but seeing your sister’s beauty, he became lustful. He used burning stones from this giant furnace, stuffed them into your sister’s throat, then…” Tie Ci paused, “…fearing discovery by others, he dragged your sister back through the cave all the way out. After your sister died, he threw her in Fengbo Forest, where I later found her.”
When she saw that giant furnace and scattered stones earlier, she had guessed the first girl’s cause of death. When examining that woman’s body that day, the stone in her throat was gray-black.
That day when she followed the hot spring cave out, she discovered purple pine at the cave entrance and found some picking traces, confirming that the woman had mistakenly entered beneath Cangshen Tower from there.
That Zeng family child trembled all over, looking at her with tears streaming down his face, choking: “That person… who is he?”
“We’ll find him,” Tie Ci said gently.
“What about the second woman?” someone asked.
“She was a tofu seller. When I examined her tofu cart, I found only a few pieces of tofu inside. The market hadn’t opened yet – who had she sold tofu to? That could only mean she was stopped by some wealthy household on the way. To sell tofu, she had to go to Sunset Street market, and Cangshen Tower was on the necessary route. While selling tofu, she might have seen something and was stuffed into the ice cave to freeze to death. As for why the body ran out of the ice cave, it should be because the first body was discovered too quickly by us. Fearing people would trace it back to Cangshen Tower, they simply threw out another body to confuse attention, complicate the case, and draw away my focus.”
Criminals often throw out more complex clues to create citywide storms and rumors everywhere, transferring the case’s nature and investigators’ attention to other directions – this was what her master taught her.
The commoners listened with changing expressions. Dan Ye stood behind the crowd, lips turned down but eyes slightly curved.
He had gone into the cave with this woman just to bathe, slide on ice, and tap dance. He had seen everything she saw, but never knew so much could be deduced from these small things.
This woman’s mind was just like that ice pool – full of holes!
“What about the third person…” someone asked.
Someone else asked: “Young Master has said so much that’s very reasonable, but whether it’s privately manufacturing weapons or killing and framing people, it seems currently there’s no great connection to County Magistrate Li.”
As these words were spoken, many people nodded.
Tie Ci knew Li Yao was someone who, though arrogant and sinister in his bones and daring to oppress even the county magistrate, normally paid great attention to his reputation, never bullying townspeople, and even occasionally doing good deeds, maintaining a decent reputation among the people.
That was natural – people with great ambitions wouldn’t let themselves stumble over such small matters.
“Discovering important mineral deposits locally, and even the development, extraction, craftsman employment, material collection, transportation, and even large-scale underground development and use like Cangshen Tower involves enormous scope with considerable commotion. Such great commotion would be absolutely impossible to keep so secret without local snakes providing protection and cover… As for the relationship between killing, framing and him…” Tie Ci suddenly smiled. “Haven’t you all noticed many people are missing from this crowd?”
Only then did the commoners discover that Li Yao and Captain Xie’s people were all gone.
Someone quicker-witted turned pale: “Not good! If this matter really relates to the County Magistrate, now that he knows he’s suspected, might he block the exit?”
At these words, everyone became alarmed. Someone ran out frantically and returned breathlessly after a while: “Blocked! They really blocked the cave entrance!”
Dan Shuang went to check that hot spring cave entrance. Before reaching it, she heard a tremendous crash and all light disappeared.
She ran back, not daring to speak loudly, and whispered in Tie Ci’s ear: “The cave entrance leading up the mountain has also been blocked by huge stones.”
The crowd vaguely guessed she brought bad news and became even more panicked, until Tie Ci clapped her hands.
With her clap, the noisy crowd quieted down and everyone looked up at her.
“Everyone don’t panic. Consider this – since there’s a giant furnace underground, naturally there must be a chimney leading to the surface, right?”
“That’s true, but we looked before and there was no place above that looked like a chimney.”
Dan Shuang also said: “Perhaps the entrance we first used was the ventilation place…”
“That’s impossible. The person in charge here lives in luxury and would never open a chimney under his own feet to endure smoke and fire daily.”
Ventilation systems have requirements. Inside Cangshen Tower wouldn’t work, the cave entrance they just used was blocked so that wouldn’t work either, the hot spring’s other cave entrance was behind the giant furnace cave so that naturally wasn’t it either – so there must be another ventilation exit.
Tie Ci led the commoners searching above the furnace cave, finally discovering a hidden cave entrance directly above the giant furnace. Going out from there, it was still a mountain cave – that hall-like main cave. Tie Ci searched the main cave for traces of previously installed pipes, discovering a corner where broken bricks were piled. There must have been a chimney built connecting the giant furnace cave to an external entrance, then demolished. Following that to find a connecting cave entrance would be it.
The entrance was very narrow, requiring crawling out one by one bent over. Tie Ci wanted Dan Shuang to go first, but Dan Ye got ahead, the wolf lord expressing that he absolutely could not follow behind someone else’s protruding rear.
On the surface, Li Yao watched as runners drilled into the cave, piling bricks and stones to block the entrance at a corner out of people’s sight. Before sealing the final opening, he threw in several burning torches containing poisonous materials, then breathed a long sigh of relief.
The watching commoners had been driven away and stood outside craning their necks, but couldn’t see what was happening inside.
Captain Xie stood to the side watching with a grim expression. Li Yao turned to see his gaze and showed no fear, saying with a half-smile: “Captain can rest assured, I’ve already sent people to block that exit at Fengbo Mountain.”
“This underground network extends in all directions. Are you certain there are no other exits?”
“The matter is grave – all caves were explored initially. There are three exits total. The mechanism inside the tower has been destroyed. This one is now blocked. The hot spring cave was only opened later by someone and is now also blocked. Now they can just wander in the mountain’s belly until they die.”
“We shouldn’t have allowed people to go down initially,” Captain Xie said. “Over ten lives here went down in full view of everyone. How will you explain this later?”
“How to explain…” Li Yao smiled, taking out a brocade pouch from his sleeve, extracting a pill and taking it. Instantly his face turned blue-green and he gasped for breath. He distributed several pills to his subordinates who had followed him into the cave, having them take them too, then handed the pouch to Captain Xie. “Have the garrison brothers who went into the cave take these too.”
Captain Xie frowned at the pouch, vaguely understanding his meaning but unwilling to get too deeply involved, refusing: “No need for this.”
“Captain has always been sensible. Last time Prefect Zhou told me that when the Provincial Inspector comes to Hai You for military and administrative evaluation, he’ll certainly speak well of Captain.”
Captain Xie’s face darkened.
Da Qian’s founding emperor came from military background, taking the empire from his father-in-law, and fearing later generations would follow suit, subsequently emphasized civilian over military control, restraining military generals’ power, gradually forming a “civilian control of military” pattern. All military officers’ command, selection, and disciplinary powers were in civilian hands. Military officers like Captain Xie underwent military and administrative evaluations every five years, examined by Surveillance Commissioners or temporarily appointed Provincial Governors who submitted reports to the Five Military Commissions, determining promotion or demotion. These were all civilian system matters, so naturally local civilian officials had say.
Li Yao’s meaning was obvious – whether good or bad words were spoken depended on Captain Xie’s performance.
Captain Xie’s face was grim. After a long while, he waved his hand and his soldiers also took the medicine.
After taking it, they all showed breathing difficulties, looking as if poisoned. Li Yao smiled: “No problem, it’ll be fine in half an hour.”
He then instructed everyone briefly and led the way, grabbing his throat and stumbling toward the door. His runners behind him shouted: “Not good! Not good!”
Someone opened the closed door and commoners surged in again, just seeing Li Yao and others covering their throats and fleeing in panic, running and shouting: “Not good! There are wild beasts attacking in that underground cave, and poisonous gas too!”
Seeing Li Yao and others’ wretched state, everyone was frightened and retreated. Some with relatives below all cried out and rushed over to see what happened. Those covering their throats said: “It’s dark and treacherous below with dangers everywhere. We barely escaped – if you go down again, it’ll just be one more corpse!”
Everyone saw these people all had blue-green faces with breathing difficulties – symptoms that couldn’t be faked of suffocation and poisoning. They immediately believed and quickly stopped, with some peering inside. This cave entrance wasn’t straight with corners inside. The blocked area was around the corner, completely invisible without going in. Everyone only saw pitch darkness.
Most who entered the cave were alone with no family connections and few close relatives, so naturally no one was willing to risk their lives for further investigation. All backed away. The few with family members panicked and begged Li Yao: “Please County Magistrate, you must find a way to rescue them!”
“Naturally! But it’s a maze down there with all kinds of caves. We can’t rashly go down again and lose lives. We need to discuss a plan and find experienced mountain people to guide us.”
People nodded, then someone angrily said: “It’s all that Mao fellow’s fault for not giving up, insisting on taking so many people down to die. What a plague!”
“Maybe there was no evidence at all. He just somehow knew there were caves here and wanted to escape through them. He deliberately spoke so convincingly and brought so many people into the cave just to gain everyone’s trust. What a pity for all those lives, actually used as stepping stones by this notorious bandit!”
These words were naturally spoken by Li Yao’s planted people. Though obviously full of holes, the commoners lacked wisdom to distinguish and thought it reasonable, nodding frequently. They repeatedly asked Li Yao to save people, and Li Yao naturally swore earnestly to take it seriously, organize personnel, implement quickly, and rescue promptly.
Just as they were speaking heatedly, suddenly there was a rush of urgent hoofbeats outside the courtyard gate. Several riders galloped in like wind, with the lead rider in a light blue robe pale as a shallow sea, his snow-white silk cloak flying like layered tides washing ashore. When he dismounted, everyone felt as if a snow-covered mountain peak had suddenly risen before their eyes.
After landing, everyone realized this person was travel-worn with dusty hem, but his temperament was noble and pure, covered with dust yet unstained. He stood still, looked around once, then asked: “May I ask where is that… Mao Shiba being pursued according to the bounty notice?”
Someone pointed at the cave.
The newcomer lifted his robes to enter the cave, but everyone hurriedly stopped him: “You can’t go down! You can’t go down! There are fierce beasts below, and poisonous gas too. The people who entered the cave earlier all had accidents!”
That person’s gaze tightened as he turned around sharply. Those people pointed at Li Yao and others: “Look, our County Magistrate personally went into the cave and ended up like this!”
Li Yao and others had actually recovered from their symptoms by now, but when that person looked over with a face like snow and slightly cold gaze that made their hearts tremble, Li Yao hurriedly led the group in covering their throats again and pretending to cough.
That person quickly approached, took their pulses, and indeed detected that these people were poisoned. His expression changed slightly as he turned and quickly walked toward the cave entrance again.
This time his attendants stopped him: “Young Master, you cannot!”
Li Yao stared at that person’s back. This person had exceptional grace and bearing rarely seen in the world – his birth was certainly extraordinary. He looked like a friend of Mao Shiba, perhaps some young master from the capital? Why did he have to appear at this time!
He hurriedly stepped forward to persuade: “Young Master, please don’t be hasty. This official has already ordered people to find mountain guides and will arrange rescue shortly. If you act rashly, you might meet the same fate as those before…”
That person turned around sharply, staring at him and asking: “What fate?”
Li Yao felt his throat tighten again under that stare. After hesitating, he said: “The cave is full of poisonous gas. This official was at the back and still suffered such effects. Your friend was standing at the very front…”
That person closed his eyes and said quietly: “Rushing here as fast as possible…” Suddenly he opened his eyes and said coldly: “Do you know what grave error you’ve committed?”
Li Yao felt he had already lowered himself enough, yet this young master gave him no face. Being used to arrogance, he also became angry and said coldly: “What does it concern this official? This person picked flowers and killed people, escaped prison and hurt others, dared to roar in court, used false evidence to coerce and deceive innocent people into following him to their deaths. Even if he were drawn and quartered, subjected to slow slicing or strangulation, he would deserve…”
Suddenly a tremendous crash like thunder drowned out his last two words.
That person’s face grew colder as he listened to Li Yao speak. He was about to open his mouth when this great sound startled him, and he turned around sharply with Li Yao.
They saw that the huge incense burner in front of the main gate had been overturned to the ground, smashing the white stone platform and rolling onward. Wherever it passed, stone slabs cracked and lifted with continuous crackling sounds.
Nearby people cried out and scattered in chaos. Suddenly someone screamed, pointing at where the incense burner had fallen. Everyone held their breath and looked, seeing an arm suddenly emerge from the ground, pressing against the broken stones with a slap.
Then a somewhat disheveled head slowly rose.
This scene was truly somewhat horrifying, with screams ringing out everywhere.
Amid the screams, a person shot out from under the incense burner like a flame suddenly leaping from underground, dazzling everyone’s eyes.
That person shot out and whistled sharply. Then came a distant eagle cry, a black shadow streaked across the sky. Everyone felt darkness overhead and stars before their eyes. The next instant, fierce wind passed overhead, fire-red robe corners swept past their cheeks. In another blink, the red-clothed person had reached Li Yao’s side and without a word, raised his foot and kicked Li Yao head over heels.
This person appeared suddenly and struck suddenly. Li Yao’s people hadn’t reacted yet, only that cloaked person suddenly stepped back.
But the people paid no attention to Li Yao’s side. The cries of alarm quickly turned to cheers, because those townspeople who were supposedly trapped in the cave with more bad luck than good were all crawling out one by one.
The last one out was Tie Ci. Like everyone else, she had crawled out with a face full of dirt. Sitting on the ruins, she first calmly brushed off the dust on herself, then smiled toward Li Yao’s direction: “I heard County Magistrate didn’t finish speaking earlier. Die what? You die or I live?”
Li Yao had fallen to the ground. Seeing her emerge, he looked up sharply as if struck by lightning.
The blue-clothed man saw her and quickly walked forward several steps, then stopped, his eyes showing slight joy.
Tie Ci sighed inwardly, smiled and nodded at him: “Brother Rong.”
Rong Pu immediately understood this meant not to reveal her identity for now, so he nodded with a smile and stepped back.
Tie Ci stood up, looked at the incense burner, and said: “County Magistrate Li must usually stay far from the kitchen in his gentleman’s way, so he couldn’t think that lighting a stove requires a chimney. What place could emit smoke long-term without arousing suspicion? Naturally only an incense burner.”
Li Yao gritted his teeth: “This official doesn’t understand what you’re saying!”
Tie Ci seemed to pace casually for a few steps, circling around the crowd, then suddenly reached out and grabbed someone: “Hey, this brother, you’re not being honorable. Your master hasn’t confessed yet – how can you plan to slip away?”
The person she grabbed was exactly that cloaked man. She casually lifted the cloak, revealing a middle-aged man’s face with hard lines.
“Three lives, and they didn’t add even a few wrinkles to your face. The psychological endurance of villains is just that impressive.”
“What nonsense are you spouting!” The cloaked man tried to shake off Tie Ci’s hand but failed.
The people who had come up were telling those waiting about their underground experiences, making listeners gasp in shock. Hearing the conversation between the two, they immediately gathered around sensitively.
The Zeng family child rushed over, pointing at the cloaked man: “Master Mao, I’ve seen him before. He follows the County Magistrate!”
“I told you underground that we’d know the murderer when we came up.” Tie Ci suddenly threw a punch. “Now let you see his true face!”
She struck without warning, one hand still holding the other’s right hand, so he could only block with his left. With a bang, the two fists met, but Tie Ci suddenly changed from fist to palm, grabbing that person’s wrist and thrusting it before the crowd: “Look at his hand!”
Only then did everyone discover this person’s palm skin was gray-white, looking very thick with faint lines, like made of stone.
“He practices a type of boxing. This boxing requires burying hands in hot ash and hot mud daily. Over time, the skin thickens and becomes impervious to cold and heat.” Tie Ci said to the Zeng family child: “Remember how your sister died? Someone feared she would cry out and casually used burning stones from the charcoal stove to stuff into her throat. When I examined the body, I wondered how scorching hot stones could be stuffed in. Iron tongs? Then your sister’s mouth and lips should have wounds from iron tongs, but there weren’t any, because the person used his hands. His hands aren’t afraid of heat.”
“Your sister’s body had many bruises, but the left side was especially heavy with larger fingerprints, also because this hand, due to practicing martial arts, is slightly larger than the right and slightly stronger.”
The Zeng family child stared fixedly at that strange hand, looking like he wanted to pounce and bite it. Tie Ci pushed his face away: “Don’t dirty your mouth.”
That clenched fist suddenly moved, but Tie Ci was faster. With a twist of her wrist, crack – the man screamed as that hand that had once stuffed burning stones into an innocent woman’s mouth hung limply down.
Someone asked: “What about the second woman…”
“I already explained underground. The tofu-selling woman was stopped at Cangshen Tower to buy tofu. Being quite beautiful, she was taken by someone who abducted her to the tower’s bottom and froze her to death in the ice cave. Afterward, to confuse attention and draw people’s focus away from Cangshen Tower, and also because of boldness and arrogance with protection above and no fear of discovery, this person threw her in an alley.”
“What about the white plum blossoms…” Some people were still obsessed with the most evocative factor in these two cases.
“That was coincidence.” Tie Ci handed the restrained man to Rong Pu. Rong Pu signaled his subordinates to watch him as Tie Ci walked toward the back courtyard. People all followed, Dan Ye dragged Li Yao along, and Captain Xie, who had been standing outside the crowd, also grimly signaled his soldiers to follow.
Reaching the kitchen garden area, several pear trees bloomed with white petals and purple stamens, clear and charming. But the vegetables in the field were wilted. Tie Ci picked some flower petals and handed them to several nearby people, pointing at the tree: “Look carefully.”
Those people took them and examined them carefully, showing puzzled expressions. Someone casually rubbed them and the stamens actually lost color, revealing pale yellow centers.
“These are… white plum blossoms!”
Another person felt the broad leaves and exclaimed: “These are fake leaves!”
“White plum and pear blossoms are very similar, looking alike from a distance, but pear blossoms have purple stamens and broader leaves than plum blossoms. So the white plum came from here.”
“Obviously there’s no ice cellar – how can there still be white plum here?”
“Same as the earlier peach blossoms and hydrangeas – because of underground qi. The peach blossom hydrangea area has hot spring caves below, so the underground qi is hot and they bloom early. Here at the vegetable garden plum blossoms, the ice cave is below, so cold qi seeps into the soil and white plum doesn’t wither for long. But the vegetables grow poorly. Logically Cangshen Tower should have cut down these conspicuous white plum trees, but I heard these flowering trees at Cangshen Tower are quite famous and have spawned many legends. Probably fearing cutting them would attract attention, they kept them and made some disguises.” Tie Ci pointed at the cloaked man. “This guard beside the County Magistrate regularly travels between the county yamen and Cangshen Tower. Sometimes inevitably eating meals in the kitchen, passing these densely grown white plum trees, hat hoods and clothing inevitably pick up some plum petals. The first murdered woman scratched some off and left them under her fingernails, the second accidentally had some fall into her tofu.”
“What about the third…” someone immediately asked. “There seemed to be no white plum around the third body.”
“So it shows white plum isn’t some symbol, just coincidence. The third deceased was unrelated to Cangshen Tower. She was a maid responsible for kitchen purchasing at the county yamen, but occasionally delivered vegetables to the County Magistrate’s home. Could we suppose this maid had some contact with the County Magistrate’s false guard during vegetable delivery, then for some reason was also killed by him? At that time there were already two female murder cases in the city. This person brazenly added a third, but during body disposal encountered Hai Dongqing flying high in the sky. He dropped the body, which was grabbed by Hai Dongqing and dropped when passing over the beggar gathering area, so it suddenly appeared in the small alley.”
Tie Ci guessed that county yamen maid had an affair with the cloaked man and was silenced for inadvertently touching his taboos or discovering something, but out of consideration for the deceased’s reputation, she didn’t plan to state this explicitly.
Li Yao, who had been stepped on by Dan Ye all along, now angrily said: “All your wild guesses and one-sided words! Where’s the evidence?”
“Naturally there is some.” Tie Ci took out a sword tip from her hair ribbon. “Remember the day you came to your residence to arrest me? I exchanged several moves with this guard of yours, then broke off this piece of his sword tip.” She handed the sword tip to that blacksmith. “Look, is this forged from Abyss Iron?”
The blacksmith nodded: “Bright as autumn water, cold qi penetrating to the bone, flowing with faint blue-purple light under sunlight, can be forged extremely thin as paper. Weapons made from Abyss Iron are exactly like this.”
He took out a broken sword – the waste sword retrieved from the giant furnace – and struck it against this sword tip, producing a sound crisp as tearing silk. He said: “The sound of Abyss Iron clashing is different from other weapons, more sharp and crisp. This half sword was picked up from below.”
“This was also the weapon that killed the third woman.” Tie Ci said. “She was grabbed from behind by Hai Dongqing, with wounds bleeding profusely like claw marks, but actually, examining beneath those bird claw wounds, the real fatal injury inside was an extremely narrow wound mark that only a very thin sword could make. At that time, I became suspicious because I inadvertently saw this person’s hand, so I deliberately provoked him to draw his sword, broke off the sword tip, and confirmed the murder weapon.”
Li Yao showed angry realization but kept his mouth tightly shut. Captain Xie sighed quietly outside the crowd: “What a deeply scheming person!”
Tie Ci heard well and immediately called out loudly: “Captain, you don’t praise the person who protects murderers, deceives people, kills and silences witnesses with endless methods, but instead praise me?”
Dan Ye snorted with delight, happily grinding his boot on Li Yao underfoot. Rong Pu smiled slightly.
When he smiled, women in the crowd secretly looked at him, but he only looked at Tie Ci.
Tie Ci looked at no one, pointing toward the County Magistrate’s residence: “Abyss Iron weapons are extremely precious. He’s not from the weapon-forging side but belongs to the supervision and liaison side, so Cangshen Tower would at most give him this one. Abyss Iron is precious – even if broken, he certainly wouldn’t bear to throw it away and would keep it hoping to reforge it. This person should have lodging at County Magistrate Li’s home. Might as well search it.”
Li Yao said coldly: “Who dares search my residence without cause!”
Under his accumulated authority, no runners or people present dared move.
Tie Ci smiled slightly at the county magistrate who had been standing in the crowd.
The county magistrate had been watching somewhat bewildered. Receiving Tie Ci’s gaze, he suddenly shuddered, stepped forward, and shouted: “Someone go inspect the County Magistrate’s residence!”
“You!”
“Let me say again – I am the county magistrate!” The county magistrate stared at those hesitating runners.
The runners finally hurried away with a team.
“A county magistrate’s residence dares call itself a manor.” Tie Ci said lightly. “After calling it a manor for a few days, he thinks he’s become a king. And bystanders actually think they’ve become subjects… How ridiculous.”
The county magistrate lowered his head red-faced. After being suppressed for so long, he couldn’t adapt to his county magistrate identity for a moment.
But unease secretly rose in his heart. This Master Mao really didn’t seem like the powerless offspring of a Horse Supervisor. This family background and skill at controlling – what he was good at managing wasn’t horses at all, but clearly people and officials.
Tie Ci actually didn’t care about the search results. She had provided too much evidence. Not to mention anything else, County Magistrate Li’s man possessing secretly forged weapons from beneath Cangshen Tower, plus the third female corpse’s wounds, were all irrefutable facts.
She just wanted to see if this wine-country county magistrate could still be supported.
After all, the Hai You region was important. If this place could have a county in her hands, it would be beneficial.
Soon the runners indeed brought back a broken sword, along with runners from the Patrol Inspection Office who had originally been excluded by the County Magistrate but now all came.
Tie Ci looked at the county magistrate with slight approval. The county magistrate immediately lowered his head.
He already vaguely sensed something and secretly regretted not listening to his adviser’s suggestion to properly befriend this Master Mao earlier.
Everyone looked at Li Yao, but Li Yao glared angrily at the cloaked man: “Zhang Qiang, you bastard! I took you in out of kindness when you were down and out, yet you dared do such harmful things behind my back!”
Dan Ye clicked his tongue, shook his head, and raised his foot to stomp on his mouth: “Have you no shame? Trying to clear yourself at this time?”
Rong Pu stood beside him and reached out to block his leg: “Wolf… Young Master, please wait.”
“Hmm?” Dan Ye raised his eyebrows at him, fierce light flashing in his slightly curved eyes, full of impatience. “You feel sorry for this disgusting thing?”
“He committed crimes and naturally faces punishment under Da Qian law.” Rong Pu said calmly. “We dare not trouble foreigners to use private punishment.”
Dan Ye’s eyes flew out from under his eyebrows, glimpsing Tie Ci’s approving expression, and immediately felt irritation rise in his heart. His mouth corners twisted as he leaned close to Rong Pu: “Young master, don’t think of stepping on me to curry favor. This one,” he raised his eyebrows toward Tie Ci, “will be my father’s woman in the future. What does she have to do with you?”
Rong Pu’s expression turned cold: “Nonsense! If you insult the Crown Princess again, Da Qian will send envoys to ask your father king if he dares respond!”
“What wouldn’t he dare! Just a puppet Crown Princess!”
“That’s Da Qian’s heir apparent. Do you really think the heir can be easily deposed?” Rong Pu smiled faintly. “Having such mistaken ideas is probably because under your desert king’s tent, wolf cubs are numerous and worthless – honored today, white bones tomorrow.”
“You!” Dan Ye’s eyebrows shot up, and those slightly sweet curved eyes suddenly generated knife-sharp killing intent.
Tie Ci had long noticed the wrong atmosphere between these two and feared Rong Pu would suffer under that madman’s hands, so she beckoned to Rong Pu, signaling him to come to her side. Rong Pu immediately bowed to Dan Ye, retreated to Tie Ci’s side, stood shoulder to shoulder with her, and smiled at Dan Ye.
Dan Ye stared at this smile, grinding his jaw, then suddenly turned his head away irritably.
Chi Xue watched these two coldly and whispered to Dan Shuang: “This is just the beginning and it’s already a battlefield.”
Dan Shuang said coldly: “One green tea, one husky.”
Chi Xue, used to these strange terms, nodded: “Swaying with the wind, barking wildly – both overthinking.”
“Indeed.”
Li Yao suddenly screamed – Dan Ye was angry and couldn’t control his foot, crushing several of his big teeth.
While screaming, Li Yao still struggled: “You can’t say it’s related to me just because he’s my guard! Which of his deeds has anything to do with me! You have no evidence!”
“Dad! Stop deceiving people!” Suddenly a crying shout came from the crowd. Li Yao stared, seeing Miss Li crying as she rushed out and knelt before him with a thud: “Dad! Just admit what you did! You can’t keep harming people!”
“You get away—”
“You had the prison collapsed, and at home you also ordered people to release fumigating incense drugs to frame Master Mao as a flower-picking bandit! I woke up early and saw through the window. The drug that knocked me out is still with my nanny. Dad, stop harming people…”
Li Yao struggled to kick Miss Li: “Unfilial daughter! Unfilial daughter!”
Dan Shuang rushed over to drag away the crying Miss Li, incidentally kicking Li Yao hard in the stomach.
Li Yao screamed for his trusted men to save him while continuously waving his hands and feet. Captain Xie, who had been observing from outside the crowd, suddenly looked stern.
Tie Ci was saying something to Rong Pu and didn’t notice this scene.
Some of Li Yao’s trusted men fought with Rong family guards while others charged toward Tie Ci, but were blocked halfway by Patrol Inspection Office runners. Former colleagues glared at each other angrily – one side saying the other betrayed and didn’t protect the County Magistrate, the other saying the County Magistrate acted against righteousness and was already a criminal – still wanting to harm Master Mao?
Tie Ci hadn’t expected to gain the protection of those Patrol Inspection Office runners in such a short time, and was somewhat surprised.
Captain Xie suddenly strode over and bowed deeply to Tie Ci: “Earlier when Young Master beat the drum to accuse me, I was very angry. Only now do I know the truth. Young Master’s accusation was extremely correct. I failed to judge character and was deceived, nearly committing a grave error. Now I should make amends through merit. Young Master can rest assured – leave this place to us. We’ll certainly capture Li Yao and all his accomplices!”
Tie Ci smiled: “Captain Xie’s return from the wrong path is congratulatory.”
“Young Master has injuries and should rest to one side first. These small matters can be handled by garrison archers.” Captain Xie ordered his subordinates to drive the people outside the courtyard walls again to prevent them from being accidentally injured in the fighting, while signaling Tie Ci to rest beneath the tower.
Tie Ci watched as the crowd was driven outside the courtyard walls, even the county magistrate was expelled. Gradually only the Rong family, herself, garrison soldiers, and Li Yao’s trusted men remained in the courtyard. Li Yao’s people were gradually controlled by the combined forces of Rong family guards and garrison soldiers. She walked with Captain Xie toward the tower, with Captain Xie walking beside her, his long shadow covering her shadow.