As soon as Lan Sheng Zhe and the disciples arrived at the place, he smelled a faint smell of blood in the air. He stopped the disciples from knocking and breaking in the house directly. Upon entering, the scene shocked the new young disciples out of their wits.
A dead body lay on the floor, his body contorted in a grotesque manner. Dried blood stained his face, seeping from his closed eyes, nose, ears, and mouth creating a horrific sight.
Lan Sheng Zhe lifted the sleeves of the man, sure enough there was a deep scar from his forearm to his finger, and a black and red mask hanging from his waist.
Another clue to a dead end? The masked cultivator is so conveniently dead, and it looks like he died from qi deviation. Now of course it could be just a fake or a coincidence and not the real masked cultivator.
Lan Sheng Zhe frowned as he pondered, was the Cleansing sect really involved in this matter? It would only make sense to kill the mask cultivator off after achieving their goal to avoid confession. But if it is the Cleansing sect, isn’t it too obvious to leave the body lying just like this inside of the cultivator’s house? Or did they really think Lan Sheng Zhe couldn’t decipher between a real qi deviation and a fake one.
Lan Sheng Zhe got a feeling as if he was being toyed in someone else’s game. This thought made his mood very agitated. Lan Sheng Zhe with furrowed brows dismissed the disciples as he went inside the house to search for other clues.
Inside the house Lan Sheng Zhe did not find any signs of struggle, making it look like it’s actually a death from qi deviation. The house only had one bedroom and one kitchen, the search did not take him too long. As expected, Lan Sheng Zhe found nothing. As Lan sheng Zhe was about to walk out of the kitchen he noticed a footprint on the window sill. And some white powder which can be easily mistaken as dust. Lan Sheng Zhe took out a container and collected the powder.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps of someone in the front yard.
As soon as Lan Sheng Zhe stepped out of the kitchen, 3 flying needles aimed for his vital acupuncture which he dodged with quick steps.
The person who just attacked him stopped his offense upon seeing Lan Sheng Zhe’s face and held the dead body in silence. Lan Sheng Zhe also didn’t pursue any attack. He was a bit taken aback to see the youngest son of the Yan Clan leader.
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Yan Xuan”
Yan Xuan, “Did you kill him?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Did you know him?”
Yan Xuan, “Did you kill him?
Lan Sheng Zhe, “No”
Yan Xuan, “Then you can go”
Lan Sheng Zhe found this a bit comical, Yan Xuan clearly stopped attacking because he knows couldn’t win against Lan Sheng Zhe yet Yan Xuan is acting like he’s holding Lan Sheng Zhe hostage.
The Yan Clan Leader, Yan Xuji, always took his oldest son, Yan Xu Yi, everywhere. Even at Lan Zhi Zhou’s wedding only Yan Xuji only brought Xu Yi with him. It wasn’t out of the ordinary that Yan Xuan was out and about causing trouble.
Lan Sheng Zhe, “If you refuse to cooperate I’d have to take you along with the dead body for investigation”
Yan Xuan with somewhat red eyes looked at Lan Sheng Zhe in anger, “Jiezhi Xiande, don’t cross the lines. I may not be a match for you but my clan hasn’t perished yet. I still have a father, is Yan Clan laughable to you? Am I someone you can detain just because you want?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “The guy you're holding is a criminal, if you…”
Yan Xuan cut him off mid sentence, “What proof do you have? And even if he did something he’s already dead, what else do you want?”. Yan Xuan couldn’t control his tears as he said the last sentence. He decided to pick up the dead body and leave.
How could Lan Sheng Zhe let this brat take away the only evidence leading to the guy behind the scene? He charged to block Yan Xuan, when a sword suddenly blocked his step.
The attack from that person was so fierce, one attack after the other. The fight was a stalemate for a long time. By the time the attacker stopped his offense, Yan Xuan was long gone with the body.
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Cheng Yu!”
Lan Sheng Zhe didn’t stop his offense and soon Cheng Yu’s sword broke into two pieces and Lan Sheng Zhe’s sword was one centimeter away from piercing his heart.
Cheng Yu stood still catching his breath, his one layer of robe which was revealing half of his chest was sticking tightly to his body as sweat dripped down to his chin to his neck to his masculine chest. With a half smile half smirk Cheng Yu raised his hand up in surrender. “Gege, you’re so strong. You even broke my sword”
Usually Lan Sheng Zhe just ignores Cheng Yu’s antics but right now he was having none of it. When he came to think of it, ever since Lan Sheng Zhe entered Yunhuan this annoying guy has been everywhere as if he was deliberately following him. And now he actively disrupted Lan Sheng Zhe’s investigation. He definitely knows something.
Lan Sheng Zhe, “You have 30 seconds to explain yourself before I separate your heart from your body”
Cheng Yu with a calm face, “Sheng Zhe, if you want my heart, you can take it anytime. ”
Lan Sheng Zhe pierced a milli centimeter of the sword right where Zhao Yin’s heart was, a thin streak of blood flowed out.
Seeing that Lan Sheng Zhe was really angry, he stops teasing him. “That guy was only a pawn, killed after use. He meant a lot to little Xuan. Let him take the body ba. You already got the things you need, why bother someone who has already crossed the yellow bridge1In Taoism, the "Yellow Bridge'' refers to the metaphorical path or transition between life and death. It represents the passage from the mortal world to the afterlife or the realm of the spirits. ?”
Although Lan Sheng Zhe is not convinced with this reasoning, the body is gone and he can do nothing about it. But he can do something about this suspicious guy.
Lan Sheng Zhe, “You’re coming with me to Lanhai”
Cheng Yu's eyes lit up, “Gege taking me home?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “You’re coming as a prisoner. You let a potential criminal free with the dead body of another criminal”
Cheng Yu didn’t mind being arrested, he happily let Lan Sheng Zhe bind him with an immortal rope. What he didn’t expect was for Lan Sheng Zhe to chop his neck and knock him out.
…
By the time Cheng Yu opened his eyes he was in a carriage. Cheng Yu stretched his sore neck and discovered he had an extra layer of robe on, touching his chest he realized Lan Sheng Zhe had also treated the small scratch made by his sword. Looked like the angry bird was not so angry anymore. He was still tied with an immortal rope and Lan Sheng Zhe was sitting beside him with his eyes closed. The bustling noise could be heard from the streets. It seems like they are passing by a town.
Cheng Yu, “We could’ve arrived in Lanhai already with your sword, why are we taking a carriage?”
Lan Sheng Zhe with his eyes closed, “I don’t let anyone get on Fenghuang2Fenghuang (凤凰): Lan Sheng Zhe’s sword name”
Cheng Yu, “Tsk.. What’s so special about your sword? I also had one! Powerful and its sharpness unmatched in the entire world. Though I lost it”
Lan Sheng Zhe ignored him and continued to meditate.
Cheng Yu felt bored being ignored by Lan Sheng Zhe so he squeezed out wrist from the binding rope and started to poke Lan Sheng Zhe.
Lan Sheng Zhe, creasing his brows, asked, “What?”
Cheng Yu, “I’m hungry”
Lan Sheng Zhe Stopped the carriage and went out to get food. When he came back what greeted him was an empty carriage. He felt a bit foolish to think the immortal rope was enough to bind the strange guy. But it’s okay, they were already in his territory, the City of Peace. Cheng Yu cannot run far. Lan Sheng Zhe sent out a message to Lan Zhi Zhou’s disciple, Lan Ru Hui, to find the guy name Cheng Yu and keep an eye on him.
Lan Sheng Zhe never took in a disciple but to say he was a second master to Lan Ru Hui would not be an exaggeration. Lan Zhi Zhou rescued Lan Ru Hui from a beast when she was only 2. Her mother had died under the tiger’s attack and she was in her mother’s bosom crying when Lan Zhi Zhou found her. From then on Lan Zhi Zhou raised her like his own daughter and Lan Sheng Zhe was the strict but caring uncle in her life.
After sending out the message to Lan Ru Hui, Lan Sheng Zhe headed straight for Spring Flower Cove, where Li Clan Sect was located. As the name suggests, the place is filled with trees, plants and flowers, which bloom all year in Spring Flower Cove.
City of Peace was right in between Lanhai and Spring Flower Cove. It took about an incense stick of time3Time for incense stick is about 15 minutes for Lan Sheng Zhe to arrive in the Li clan sect leader’s manor to find Li Zhixin.
Li Zhixin was only 20, when his father enthroned him with the responsibility of the sect and left to accompany his mother in the grave. Li Zhixin’s mother was a mortal, when she died, his father vow to follow her after he had raised Li Zhixin old enough to take care of himself and the sect. Li Sect was famous for producing exceptional medicine cultivators and Li Zhixin by far the strongest medicinal cultivator who was born with innate healing ability. Lan Sheng Zhe and Li Zhixin met when Li Zhixin’s father was still alive and had sent him to Lan Sect to learn sword cultivation. Although medicinal cultivators could also fight and their main offense was utilization of poison, it couldn’t beat the sword techniques from Lan Sect.
Li Zhixin was sorting his herbs in his alchemy room when Lan Sheng Zhe arrived, “Zhixin”
Li Zhixin, “Who are you? Do we know each other?”
Lan Sheng Zhe took out the container village chief’s wife gave and the container he collected the white powder from the window sill in the masked cultivator’s house. “I need you to look in to these”
Li Zhixin, “Lan Yang, Lan Yang, You really have a heart of stone. I go all the way to your sect and you leave without showing even a glimpse of your shadow!”
Lan Yang is Lan Sheng Zhe’s birth name and ever since his parents passed away no one ever called him that. “Don’t call me that. You went to attend xiongzhang’s wedding”
Li Zhixin knew he couldn't win against this cold fellow so he gave up sulking. He picked up the two containers, finding one completely empty.
Li Zhixin holding out the empty bottle, “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “There was some kind of pill kept inside, I need you to find the origin of the pill or any clue on it”
Li Zhixin with a dumbfounded face, “Jiezhi Xiande, do I look like a god to you? You want me to find out the origin of the pill from an empty box?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Zhixin, the array was destroyed intentionally. I need to know who did it and what’s their motive. Perhaps it’s the same person who lit Mist Mountain on fire that night.”
Li Zhixin, “You still think it wasn’t Zhao Cheng Yin?”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “I know, it wasn’t him. He could’ve escaped that day but he didn’t. He…”
Even if he was alive, he would choose to live in the lonely burnt mountain.
Lan Sheng Zhe was shocked by this train of thought and immediately thought of Cheng Yu. Only if that could be true. He clearly saw Zhao Cheng Yin engulfed in the fire burning in front of him and all he could do with his injured body was to watch Zhao Cheng Yin walk into his own death.
Seeing Lan Sheng Zhe going back to his depressive state, Li Zhixin pulled him back from the memory of that night. “Okay, okay. Stop pulling that face in front of me all the goddamn time. I’ll see what I can do.”
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Thank you”
Li Zhixin insisted Lan Sheng Zhe stay over but Lan Sheng Zhe didn't go any longer and left. He still needed to report everything back to his shifu and discuss the missing Vault Stone.
