That night:
News came from the Imperial Palace:
To arrest the murderer, there had to be irrefutable evidence!
The news first appeared at the Patrol House.
Then it spread through all twelve departments.
Soon after, every aristocratic family and organization in the entire Imperial Capital knew about it.
"What is the King doing?"
"Why did he specifically mention irrefutable evidence this time?"
According to the Patrol House's way of thinking, Chu Qing could be the murderer—or not.
If he was weak and could be casually seized, then he was the murderer.
If he was strong enough that they needed to deploy extraordinary beings or martial artists of the new realm to capture him, then he was not the murderer.
After all, extraordinary beings were not easy to invite.
Capable extraordinary beings were all stationed around the top figures, protecting their safety.
The slightly weaker ones also had missions of their own.
They were busy as dogs every day.
The moment they had any spare time, they went into seclusion to cultivate. They simply would not act against martial artists below the new realm.
After all, it would be humiliating if word got out.
As for martial artists of the new realm... heh.
With the Empire's great calamity descending, martial artists of the new realm bore the greatest pressure.
These people were mysterious and elusive. Even the heads of their own houses often could not find them, much less invite them to act.
In fact, many heads of houses did not even know how many martial artists of the new realm remained in their own Lineage.
Therefore:
The Patrol House had intended to muddle through it.
When the time came, they could simply fabricate some false evidence and fool everyone.
But then:
No one knew whether the King had inhaled too