142: Same person?

East Lane Street, a wide thoroughfare separating beggars from the city proper, stretched one li east to west and was four zhang wide.

Here, there were gambling dens, secret brothels, watered-down fake liquor, and the Haihe Association, which gathered a few Loose Cultivators to collect protection fees.

Behind the Haihe Association was actually the Huang Family, which used it specifically for gathering intelligence.

The difference was that the Haihe Association was in the south, while Shang Xian's social circle was in the north; the two sides were in completely different circles.

The only connection between them was the Huang Family.

The so-called Cripple Zhang, whose full name was Zhang Jian, was actually one of the leaders of the Haihe Association, likely at the fifth or sixth stage of Mortal Shedding.

After a tour of the Haihe Association's gambling dens, although it was late, the dens were still brightly lit.

"No more bets!"

"Big, big, big!"

"The house wins!"

... The clatter of dice cups and Pai Gow against the wooden tables, the smoke from the charcoal brazier mingling with the stench of sweat, created a chaotic and foul atmosphere.

Zhang Jian was not in the gambling den. After Jiang Hanwen spent two taels of silver to inquire about how to meet him, he proceeded to check house by house along the row of buildings behind the gambling den.

He stopped at the last house, where a man with a full beard was holding a wine jar, cursing wildly in the courtyard.

"A bunch of motherless bastards, what the hell do you know? I'm a romantic, not..."

This was Zhang Jian.

Drunk words are true words, Jiang Hanwen listened for a moment.

It seemed he was being ridiculed by some colleagues, who said he spent money on women, even abandoning his family fortune.

"Hiss~ Damn this ghostly weather, if you're so capable, freeze me to death!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~

A gust of wind swept up snowflakes, which instantly solidified into ice, freezing Zhang Jian's entire body into a block of ice, with only his eyes rolling frantically within it.

Jiang Hanwen slowly walked up to him. The ice around Zhang Jian's mouth dissolved, and he gasped for air, looking at Jiang Hanwen in terror.

"Se... Senior, this is!"

"The eyes you placed in Cangwu Bookstore exposed you. Tell me, who made you plant them? Tell the truth, and I can give you money to leave this place." As he spoke, Jiang Hanwen took out a solid gold brick.

This Zhang Jian was an oddball; he had money, yet at over forty years old, he had no children, no wife, and only loved whoring and gambling. If not for the Haihe Association's president being his cousin, with deep affection between them, he probably wouldn't be living such a carefree life today.

He was a complete rogue with no weaknesses. Compared to coercion, perhaps enticement would be more effective.

Looking at the gold bar, Zhang Jian's eyes instantly lost their fear, replaced by a longing gaze at the gold bar.

"Senior, this is too much. I'm afraid I'll have the life to take it, but not the life to spend it.

I can tell you the information, but you have to let me live, don't you?"

Jiang Hanwen directly tossed the entire gold brick into a distant outhouse, making a dull thud.

"I have no grudge against you; I'm just investigating for someone. Take the money; I'm too lazy to kill anyone."

"Senior, it was Huang Hai who told me to do it. He said it would make Cangwu Bookstore and the Zhuang Family move against the Bai Family together." Zhang Jian looked at the distant outhouse with excitement.

"I'm going to find someone now. If you lie to me, the consequences—"

"Senior, please rest assured. I'll wait for you inside the house. When you've checked, if there's a single false word, you can come and take my head!"

Staring eagerly in the direction of the outhouse, if his hands and feet weren't frozen, Zhang Jian would have pounded his chest in assurance.

"Alright, remember what you just said."

After speaking, Jiang Hanwen unfroze him and turned to leave.

As soon as Jiang Hanwen left, Zhang Jian ran to the outhouse to retrieve the gold brick. It weighed a full twenty catties, which was twenty thousand taels of silver!

After bringing the gold home, he washed and kissed it repeatedly, not at all bothered by the lingering smell, for after all, all money in this world carries a certain stench, doesn't it?

After tiring himself out with his treasure, the alcohol started to take effect.

Zhang Jian slept in his clothes, blew out the lamp, and fell asleep, his breathing quickly turning into snores.

Outside, the raging wind gradually subsided, and the shadow that had been hiding on the rooftop disappeared.

After a full hour, the deeply sleeping Zhang Jian suddenly opened his eyes and leaped from the bed.

Ignoring the gold bricks, he grabbed a book from the table, stuffed it into his bosom, turned and ran, taking three steps in two, and vanished into the vast night.

Fifty meters behind Zhang Jian, another dark figure was also trailing him. What was strange was that the depressions left by the figure's footprints kept recovering, becoming level with the surrounding snow, as if they had never appeared.

In the vast snowy landscape, there was only one set of footprints, winding forward.

Zhang Jian's destination was a small house built halfway up a mountain, with its lights off, standing isolated in the snow.

"Click!"

Zhang Jian excitedly pushed open the door.

The next second.

"Bang!"

A huge fireball exploded from inside the house, throwing him backward.

Whoosh!

In the air, a cold wind howled, extinguishing the fire in an instant.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of fresh blood flew out, splattering on the snow, leaving dark red marks.

"Ah, my face!"

Zhang Jian's face was completely charred black, utterly burned, and he screamed in agony in the snow.

The sound did not spread; it was muffled by the snow, echoing within three meters around him.

Jiang Hanwen emerged from the shadows. The information had come too easily, and the scent of foul play was too strong.

Although Zhang Jian was cautious enough, Jiang Hanwen had never left. What he hadn't expected was that the other party had left a remote method to silence him.

"Zhang Jian, it's clear that the person behind you deceived you and wants to kill you to silence you.

Tell me, who made you give me false information? I can save you." Jiang Hanwen stepped out of the shadows, his brows furrowed.

That explosion just now, if he wasn't mistaken, was a Talismanic Incantation!

Although it was only a first-grade Talisman, at that intensity, there were at least ten of them.

The price of a first-grade Talismanic Incantation ranged from one hundred to one thousand taels. Ten of them were placed here, spending a large sum to silence him while also ensuring the transmission of incorrect information.

The person behind this was very calculating, having decided this outcome early on. This winter, it would likely be impossible to complete the investigation.

His subsequent inquiries would have to be handled with extreme caution.

Zhang Jian was still struggling on the ground, twisting his body desperately.

Jiang Hanwen's hand condensed a green light from the Gathering Life Technique, which dripped onto Zhang Jian's face.

But three breaths later, the body that had just been so stubborn suddenly went still, and even his breathing abruptly stopped.

Jiang Hanwen pried open his mouth, and a thick green Qi overflowed from the gaps between his teeth.

A cluster of snowflakes immediately sealed his mouth, and he was thrown far away.

Poisoned suicide. Even knowing he was deceived, he still chose to carry out the final task. The person behind this has an incredibly strong grasp of human nature; it's not simple at all.

Jiang Hanwen picked up the book Zhang Jian had taken before leaving.

Fortunately, his reaction was quick enough, and his Snow Summoning Technique was strong enough to stop the flames.

Although most of the book was burned, a small piece remained.

The book was very cliché; it wasn't some extremely important Cultivation Technique, but rather a romantic novel about intimate relations between men and women.

Within the muddy yellow pages, a tattered pink silk scarf caught his eye.

Perhaps, this was the item Zhang Jian had to take, even abandoning money.

Jiang Hanwen touched it; the silk was smooth as water, woven from ice silkworm silk, and quite expensive, certainly not something a minor leader could afford to use.

The scarf also had a fruity fragrance, dense and lingering, not the scent of ordinary common perfumes.

A woman of high status, or rather, a very beautiful and wealthy woman, made Zhang Jian choose suicide rather than reveal her secret.

Jiang Hanwen waved his hand, and the snow around Zhang Jian quickly returned to its fluffy state.

Flames surged from his hand, burning Zhang Jian to death, restoring the scene to appear as if he had never been in the snow.

Bloodstains were erased, footprints disappeared, and the tattered book, burned to only a few pages in the fire, scattered across the snow.

Jiang Hanwen tidied up all traces, disguised the scene, and then left the house.

There was a ninety-nine percent chance that the other party would not return to this house, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Jiang Hanwen left no trace of himself.

Talismanic Incantations, in the entire Great Stronghold, were only possessed by the Bai Family.

Jiang Hanwen's suspicion of the Bai Family involuntarily increased.

Whether it was the Huang Hai just mentioned, or the Talismanic Incantations here, Jiang Hanwen had a question mark in his mind.

Until the truth came out, everyone was a suspect.

However, it couldn't be said that the clue was broken this time.

The one thing the other party hadn't accounted for was the ice silkworm silk scarf in his hand.

The category of "woman" was too broad, but if it intersected with Shang Xian's social circle—the pleasure quarter.

Only women from such a place could be both beautiful and wealthy, and also captivating.

Suddenly, Jiang Hanwen remembered someone.

That year, Lei He made a mistake and was deceived by a pipa-playing woman into revealing a list of herb collectors.

The woman's methods were so clever that Lei He was tricked without even touching her hand.

This time, Zhang Jian was so obsessed; could it be the same person?