Chapter 352: Chapter 351: Don’t Bully the Widow Like This
Wu Hongzhou is dead!
The number two expert on the surface at the Cuowu Sect, whose strength was only below the Sect Leader Sun Bumie and several elders, yet he is dead.
Naked, he died in the bed of the wife of the Head Instructor at the Central City Martial Mansion.
This humiliation to the Central City Martial Mansion is tantamount to smearing feces on their faces... Marquis Xia Wu’s bones are not yet cold, yet you people from the sect dare come and bully his widow, even driving her to death.
And now Wu Hongzhou is also dead, making the Cuowu Sect another victim.
Otherwise, the Central City Martial Mansion would surely hold the Cuowu Sect accountable, such mistreatment of a widow cannot be ignored.
Because of this...
On the surface, the Imperial Capital remains calm.
But beneath the surface, storms are brewing, and this matter even got Your Majesty alarmed.
After all, the Central City Martial Mansion, as a First Class Martial Mansion, might not match the strength of the Four Great Martial Mansions, but with Tai Zhengyuan having the ambition to challenge their status, his power can’t be underestimated.
If this matter is mishandled, it could lead to conflict between martial mansions and sects...
This is a serious affair.
In the grand hall.
Sun Bumie, the Sect Leader of Cuowu Sect, had an extremely gloomy expression, glaring at Zhu Zhengdao with rage at its peak... Who could have imagined, just by attending a martial exhibition, his most trusted aide would end up dead.
To him, there is no doubt.
It must be that the Divine Soldier Guards bore a grudge against Wu Hongzhou for killing their people before, thus secretly taking revenge.
The power of the Divine Soldier Guards is formidable, and with the advantage of terrain, if caught in their trap, not to mention Wu Hongzhou, even he would find it hard to escape unscathed without external aid.
They must see this as a disgrace, hence when seeing Wu Hongzhou, they had killing intent.
It’s hateful, I’ve sent three hundred disciples to your Divine Soldier Guard, a benefit for both sides, yet you persist in holding on to this trivial grievance...
Sun Bumie cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, our Cuowu Sect responded to your invitation to come for a martial exhibition, yet my Vice Sect Leader died so inexplicably, there must be hidden truth and sinister intentions involved, I plead Your Majesty to deliver justice for our Cuowu Sect!"
While speaking, he kept a fixed stare on Zhu Zhengdao, it was clear, he did not hide his suspicion that Zhu Zhengdao was the murderer!
"Your Majesty."
Tai Zhengyuan stepped forward, saying, "Sun Qingrou was the wife of Marquis Xia Wu, and now that Marquis Xia Wu has heroically sacrificed for our Central City Martial Mansion, his wife was raped and murdered... If this matter cannot be clarified, it might chill the hearts of our Central City Martial Mansion, and even the staff of numerous martial mansions, they do not fear sacrifice, but fear that their families will not even have peace after their death!"
Han Xu Yang rubbed his temples wearily and looked at Zhu Zhengdao, asking, "Zhu Qing, after that incident before, you promised me that the Imperial Capital will not tolerate any martial artists causing trouble, is this your commitment now?"
Zhu Zhengdao was drenched in sweat, unconsciously looking to his side at Han Qingxue.
Han Qingxue stepped forward two steps, handing over a secret scroll, and said, "Father, in fact, since the last incident, Zhu Qing has deeply felt that despite the power of the Divine Soldier Guard, their deployment was insufficient, so he specifically entrusted me to help redeploy them, this is the deployment plan I designed for them, please have a look, Father."
Han Xu Yang signaled an attendant to take it, and began reviewing it seriously.
After reading for a while, he praised, "Indeed, airtight and flawless, Qingxue you are truly clever, but even with this, why did someone still die?"
"I discussed with Zhu Qing and confirmed two possibilities."
Han Qingxue said, "The first is that the other party was so strong as to be invincible, even someone as strong as Wu Hongzhou was defeated in a single clash, without even enough time to cry for help before being killed. But although I don’t understand martial skills, I know that the Vice Sect Leader is the second strongest of the Cuowu Sect, only a hair’s breadth away from Guiyuan, even an Upper Realm Grandmaster could hardly achieve such a thing, and if it were an Upper Realm Grandmaster, they would simply kill without needing to also murder a weak woman."
"What about the second possibility?"
Han Qingxue’s analysis made sense.
No matter how angry or suspicious, Tai Zhengyuan and Sun Bumie both unconsciously began to listen attentively.
"An ambush."
Han Qingxue asserted, "Someone he extremely trusted might have killed him from behind. Although the autopsy report isn’t out yet, we have confirmed that his fatal wound is on his back, in fact, perhaps due to the urgency of the situation back then, many key pieces of evidence were left, but since this is a scandal, it’s not suitable for outsiders to know, so upon hearing the news, I immediately instructed Zhu Qing to seal off the crime scene, not allowing anyone inside."
"You did the right thing, indeed this matter should not be known to anyone other than those involved."
Han Xu Yang thought the sect people seduced the martial mansion’s widow... and both ended up dead, especially with Sun Qingrou said to have still been gurgling when she died...
What the hell kind of a mess is this?
He asked, "When will the autopsy report be out?"
Zhu Zhengdao respectfully knelt on the ground, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, "By my estimation, in about half an hour!"
Han Xu Yang said, "Since it will take another half an hour, share the clues you previously discovered with the officials, they are all pillars of our Great Xia Empire, they must not be estranged by these events... disclose everything."
"Yes."
Zhu Zhengdao began to speak about his findings.
Such as when the body was discovered, the room was tidy, albeit chaotic, yet bore no signs of struggle, but everything appeared to have signs of tearing.
Also, Wu Hongzhou in fact secretly slipped into Sun Qingrou’s room the night before in the middle of the night.
The bodies were discovered in the afternoon of the next day... From this, it can be inferred that the two had long engaged in an illicit relationship.
Hearing this, Tai Zhengyuan couldn’t help but snort coldly.
He naturally knew the nature of Sun Qingrou.
She behaved this way even when Marquis Xia Wu was alive, and now that he was dead, there was nothing he could do about her... he could only let it be, little did he know this would lead to her demise.
"Moreover..."
As he spoke halfway, Zhu Zhengdao hesitated, glancing at Sun Bumie.
Sun Bumie angrily shouted, "What is it, speak! Is there something unspeakable?"
"There truly is something unspeakable."
Zhu Zhengdao said, "We discovered a blood-stained Martial Arts Technique book at the murder scene, it should indeed be the Supreme Martial Skill of the Cuowu Sect, ’Reversing Heaven and Earth’!"
"What?!"
This statement stunned everyone simultaneously!
Sun Bumie’s face went even more ashen, coldly saying, "This is impossible!"
"The pages were soaked in blood, the writing indistinguishable, but based on the paper’s composition, this martial skill has likely existed for a while now."
Zhu Zhengdao said, "The clues obtained so far suggest that the Vice Sect Leader’s death is related to this martial skill, but for specific details, we’ll need to wait for the autopsy report."
Sun Bumie was momentarily stunned, exclaiming, "Where is that martial skill?"
"Here, Sect Leader rest assured, no one else has read it, as the writing has been blurred by blood, some parts are already unclear, you need not worry about the cultivation technique leaking."
"So what if the martial skill is secure, the person is dead, and you tell me it won’t leak? You think I’ll believe that?"
Originally just the Vice Sect Leader’s death, unexpectedly now involves the potential leak of the Cuowu Sect’s Supreme Martial Skill...
Sun Bumie’s fury was even more apparent now.