35: Chapter 35 The Black Lord

Early the next morning, Tu Ziguan climbed over the wall to get in.

Xie Feng heard a commotion over by the wall, followed by the sound of someone landing.

He sat on the threshold of the side courtyard, his blind cane laid horizontally across his knees, facing the direction the sound came from.

"You have a door, yet you climb walls?"

"Your Family's doorman looked at me like I was a thief." Tu Ziguan patted the dust off his hands. "I said I was looking for Young Master Xie, and he asked me if I had a calling card or a formal visiting card. A visiting card? Nobody ever asked me for a visiting card when I entered the Qingyun Sect."

"In my memories, Old Zhou has always been like that."

"Well, he certainly guards the door tightly. I noticed it when I came yesterday; your Family's front courtyard is so empty horses could race across it, and counting the maidservants and pages together, there are no more than ten people. A Family anchored by a Fifth Realm expert, and it's reduced to this?"

In a place like Cangyun City, Xie Tianxiong's cultivation level was more than enough for him to walk sideways.

What was even stranger was Xie Tianxiong's own state. With a Fifth Realm Cultivator's perception and self-control, how could he fail to suppress even his own breathing in front of his son?

"There's something going on inside," Xie Feng said.

"Go on."

"The Xie Residence didn't become like this starting from when I left. It started the year the original owner was moved to the side courtyard."

Tu Ziguan sat down on the other end of the threshold. "How did you figure that out?"

"Nonsense, do you think I figured it out through fortune-telling? It's definitely from the original owner's memories. Before he was moved to the side courtyard, the Xie Residence was still very lively. Branch Family members came and went, and during festivals, banquets were held in the main hall with over a dozen tables. After being moved to the side courtyard, although it was remote, he could still come out for the New Year—"

"So Xie Tianxiong throwing the original owner into the side courtyard and the decline of the Xie Residence happened at the exact same time?"

"Right. In his memories, the New Year celebrations truly grew worse with each passing year."

"You think these two things are connected?"

"How would I know? The timelines just match up. Three years ago, the original owner tested with a single-line Aptitude and was moved to the side courtyard. That same year, the Xie Family's branch relatives stopped visiting, the servants in the estate began to dwindle, and Xie Tianxiong began keeping a low profile and staying indoors. Stacking these three things together, it doesn't look like a coincidence."

Tu Ziguan thought for a moment. "Is your dad's cultivation still there?"

"If it weren't, I would have subjected him to torture and interrogation on the spot."

"That remark is truly 'hilariously unfilial.' Still, as a Fifth Realm expert who lacks neither money nor power, why would he let the Xie Residence decline? Unless..."

"He's doing it on purpose, obviously," Xie Feng took over. "I'm no Sherlock Holmes; I have no idea what he's plotting."

Outside the wall of the side courtyard, birdcalls came from the back garden, stopping after a couple of chirps, as if startled by something.

"Let's drop that for now." Tu Ziguan stood up, pulled a sheet of paper from his bosom, and unfolded it. "Let's talk business. The Penal Hall's letter arrived yesterday and was sent directly to the Cangyun City magistrate's office."

"How did you get it?"

"My Family hasn't declined; I'm still a wealthy local landlord. On my way home last night, I detoured to the magistrate's office and flashed my inner Sect token, and the magistrate personally carried the official letter out." Tu Ziguan shoved the paper into Xie Feng's hands. "I'll read it, you listen."

"Don't read it, I'll do it myself." Xie Feng concentrated his spiritual energy on his fingertips and swept across line by line.

The Penal Hall's official letter was written concisely:

Regarding the Black Pine Forest case, the identities of three of the five followers have been investigated and verified. One is a butcher from the north of Cangyun City with the surname Zheng, one is a peddler from Liushu Village outside the city, and another is a collateral descendant of the Xie Family named Xie Yuan, who ranks as Xie Feng's cousin on the Family tree.

The facial features of the other two were severely damaged and are still being matched.

Appended to the end of the letter was a note:

All five corpses were severely eroded by mycelium, making it impossible to trace any traces through spiritual energy means. Among the remaining bones at the scene was a batch of cattle bones.

Verified by Deacon Sun, the cattle were three years old, and the slaughter time was no more than ten days.

"Our Sect has this much authority? They even play detective?" Xie Feng folded the paper. "And these five followers are all commoners with no cultivation."

"Right, and your cousin is an accomplice too, plus there's someone who knows how to slaughter cattle—the one surnamed Zheng," Tu Ziguan said.

"However, the source of the cattle most likely came from your cousin's hands. A butcher couldn't afford an entire cow. The problem is that in Cangyun City and the surrounding villages and towns, the slaughter of draft cattle requires reporting to the authorities for record-keeping. We need to ask the Cangyun City magistrate's office to assist in checking whether any butcher has reported slaughtering a three-year-old bull recently."

"My head hurts. Watching them investigate cases looks quite dashing, doesn't it?"

"Nonsense, do you think we're some grim reaper elementary schooler? Leave professional matters to professionals."

"So we're starting our investigation from the cattle?" Xie Feng reached out to massage his temples.

"Yep. Butcher Zheng is dead, but the matter of slaughtering cattle couldn't have been done by one person alone. Slaughtering requires assistants, transporting requires manpower, and reporting to the officials requires intermediaries. Among these hands, it's impossible for every step to be clean, right?"

Xie Feng propped his blind cane against the ground and stood up. "To the magistrate's office."

The Cangyun City magistrate's office was located in the east of the city, separated from the Xie Residence by three streets.

By the time the two walked over, the streets were already bustling with activity.

People were selling vegetables, cloth, and food, their shouts rising and falling one after another. Tu Ziguan walked on Xie Feng's left, occasionally glancing to both sides.

"Have you noticed," Tu Ziguan lowered his voice, "all the way out of the Xie Residence, three people turned around and left immediately after seeing you."

"Wouldn't you be scared if you saw a blind man wearing a veil?" Xie Feng said.

"That's true, but scared to *this* extent? That old man selling pears at the alley entrance—you scared him so much that he stopped selling pears the moment he saw you and pushed his cart turning into the alley."

When entering the city yesterday, the reactions of the people on the street who saw him were much the same, as if they were avoiding him.

"The legitimate son of the Xie Family becoming a useless blind man should logically be the laughingstock of the whole city, but how could they be scared like this?"

"Did you offend everyone in the entire city?"

"The original owner was just a youth, who could he have offended? Besides, when I entered the Sect, quite a few people made fun of me, it's not like you didn't hear it."

"Then it means either the Xie Family or your dad didn't do good things."

"The original owner's dad!" Xie Feng's blind cane tapped against the ground. Sometimes, he really wanted to report him to the authorities.

The bailiffs at the entrance of the magistrate's office saw two people walking over from afar—one holding a blind cane, the other with a Qingyun Sect token hanging at his waist—and immediately stood straight. Tu Ziguan flashed the token, and a bailiff turned and ran inside. Before long, a master of records dressed in a green robe trotted out to welcome them.

"Respected Envoys of the Qingyun Sect, please come inside, please come inside. Lord Magistrate is waiting in the inner hall."

The magistrate's surname was Ma. He was in his fifties with a rather large belly. The belt of his official robe was tied tightly, squeezing his stomach into upper and lower halves. He stood at the entrance of the inner hall with a high-piled smile on his face, but his eyes kept glancing at Xie Feng's face.

"Young Master Xie, Young Master Tu. This humble official is Ma Bangde. Last night, upon receiving the Penal Hall's official letter, this humble official had people investigate it overnight. Please sit, the two of you, please sit."

As soon as the two sat down and took a sip of tea, 'puff', they spat it all out.