Curtain Falls

"Haa..."

Jiang Qinghe let out a long breath and swiftly stripped everyone of all their money and valuables.

He searched Li Mu's room again, then wrapped everything he had taken—including Li Mu's thick-backed curved saber—in a sturdy bundle cloth found beneath the bed. He rolled it up tightly and tied it to his back.

Then he casually took a fire starter from one of the corpses and tossed it onto a pile of gathered curtains and wood shavings.

At once, he turned and left, vanishing into the night once more.

Behind him, tongues of flame swelled in an instant and spread rapidly.

Before long, soaring flames gradually swallowed the Iron Saber Gang's newly established temporary branch hall.

They swallowed the Red Leaf Wine Shop of old, staining the night sky blood-red.

This matter was finally over.

The thorn lodged in Jiang Qinghe's heart had finally been pulled out.

His wariness toward the venomous snake Li Mu was reduced to ashes along with the towering blaze.

The fire that burned away everything did not finally die out until close to dawn.

The Red Leaf Wine Shop of old, now the Iron Saber Gang's temporary branch hall, had become a charred black ruin.

The lingering smoke, carrying a pungent burnt stench and the faint odor of scorched flesh, merged with the gray morning mist.

The scene had been initially sealed off. Several constables from the Magistrate's Manor stood guard, their expressions none too pleasant, their eyes filled with weariness and disgust at the acrid smell.

Clearly, though they were accustomed to the disputes of common folk, the sight before them had still dealt them no small shock.

Captain Zhao stood at the edge of the ruins. One hand rested on the Iron Ruler at his waist, while the other was clasped behind his back. His gaze swept back and forth across the wreckage as he sank into thought.

"Captain!"

Footsteps sounded. A constable hurried to his side, his expression grave.

"All the bodies have been found and counted."

Captain Zhao turned his head slightly, signaling him to continue.

"The two bodies outside the small rear gate were struck precisely in vital points on the head by stones hurled with tremendous force. They died instantly."

"Judging by the method and the traces, the attacker was at least a master who had reached Major Accomplishment in Muscle Tendon Strengthening."

After a pause, he continued.

"One body in the corner by the main house should have been Li Mu himself. Six bodies lay strewn across the corridor, likely the remaining gang members. All were burned beyond recognition and charred to carbon, so their causes of death cannot be determined."

Captain Zhao listened in silence, unable to shake the confusion in his heart.

He had thought the Iron Saber Gang and the Green Wolf Gang's struggle over West Street in Shiping Ward had already drawn to a close.

Yet first, Tu Baichuan, the Iron Saber Gang's former branch leader, had been slaughtered clean along with every shopkeeper and waiter in the Red Leaf Wine Shop while celebrating his birthday.

Then Li Mu, who had only held the branch leader's seat for a few days, and his core followers had all been wiped out in the newly established temporary branch hall, leaving not even whole corpses behind!

Unfortunately, the scene had been burned far too thoroughly.

Other than the two stones embedded in the skulls of the rear-yard guards, almost no clues remained that pointed in any direction.

No distinctive weapon marks, no special hidden weapons, no scraps of cloth left behind...

Even the most crucial clue—the martial arts style of the killer—had been erased by the fire.

"Could the Green Wolf Gang have done this?"

The thought instinctively sprang into Captain Zhao's mind.

Those in the same trade were natural enemies. Fighting over territory, gangs preying on gangs—the motive was the most direct.

But the next moment, he shook his head and drove away this seemingly reasonable speculation.

The underworld of Lin'an County had a clear structure.

The core Anren Ward was directly controlled by the Magistrate's Manor and was relatively orderly.

The outer territories, meanwhile, had been almost entirely divided among the three major gangs.

The vast northwestern region was the Iron Saber Gang's sphere of influence.

The southwestern area was occupied by the Green Wolf Gang.

And the most powerful gang, with the broadest territory, was the Blood Eagle Gang, which occupied nearly the entire east.

All along, though the Iron Saber Gang and the Green Wolf Gang had seen endless minor frictions, they had generally joined forces against the Blood Eagle Gang, standing as equal rivals and maintaining a balance.

On ordinary days, the two gangs might occasionally clash with weapons, leaving a few low-ranking members dead or injured, perhaps even some insignificant incense master. That was still within controllable limits.

But the killing of branch-leader-level figures? That was Completely Different.

It was no different from declaring war outright, from tearing off all pretense and preparing for a major conflict!

Tu Baichuan and Li Mu might have ranked only at the bottom among the Iron Saber Gang's branch leaders in terms of strength.

But if the two gangs slaughtered each other like this and crazily drained themselves dry, the ultimate victor would only be the Blood Eagle Gang in the east, which had been Watching Eagerly all along.

Captain Zhao then considered the enormous Blood Eagle Gang, but quickly rejected that guess as well.

According to reliable intelligence, the Blood Eagle Gang's aged leader seemed to have encountered an insurmountable bottleneck in his Cultivation Level in recent years.

With his Lifespan and potential nearing exhaustion, he was now mobilizing the entire gang to search everywhere for legendary Rare Treasures or secret martial arts manuals, seeking that illusory chance to break through. He should have had no leisure to stir up such trouble.

Who exactly was it? Had the same person done both?

In Lin'an County, martial artists at or above Major Accomplishment in Muscle Tendon Strengthening were few in number.

Every one of them was a known figure with a clear background.

Captain Zhao had a rough ledger in his mind of each of their martial arts styles and ways of doing things.

One by one, he replayed and compared them in his mind.

Their motives, whereabouts, and martial arts characteristics did not match this incident.

Captain Zhao could not help but feel deeply curious.

"Perhaps... some desperate criminal drifted in from another county?"

He pondered privately. It was hardly strange for the occasional powerful master of unknown origins to appear.

But when such people committed crimes, it was either for wealth, for fame, or because they were madmen addicted to killing.

For wealth? How much profit could Li Mu, a newly appointed branch leader, and a small branch hall possibly have?

For fame? Even less likely. The killer had set fire to thoroughly burn the scene and conceal every detail, leaving almost no trace behind.

As for a madman addicted to killing, such people acted wildly and chaotically. They would not have been so precise and efficient, nor would they deliberately cover their tracks.

"Could it be that he had some unknown personal grudge against Tu Baichuan and Li Mu, and was waiting for a chance to retaliate?"

Captain Zhao suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered someone.

In recent days, Qin Wu, hailed as Lin'an County's number one genius, had been defeated by Jiang Qinghe of Wanping Martial Academy.

The latter's displayed talent had caught Elder Ping's eye, and Elder Ping had accepted him as his last disciple.

Upon hearing of this, Captain Zhao had, out of professional habit and a touch of curiosity, casually investigated the man.

He discovered that Jiang Qinghe had been a menial worker overlooked during the massacre at the Red Leaf Wine Shop.

But even after entering the Martial Academy, even if he had soared all the way forward with fierce and rapid progress—

Could he have crossed into Major Accomplishment in Muscle Tendon Strengthening in such a short time?

Impossible! Even the children of the great families within the city had never achieved such a thing. How could it happen in Lin'an County?

Captain Zhao extinguished the thought.

After thinking for a while longer, he still could not make sense of it.

He then turned around, his voice recovering the crisp efficiency and authority proper to a Constable as he ordered his men.

"Alright, stop standing around! Search the scene carefully again. Collect every suspicious fragment and remnant, and bring them all back. Move it!"

After giving the order, Captain Zhao turned and strode away.

His gaze swept over the citizens in the distance, blocked outside the cordon, pointing and whispering among themselves with fear or curiosity on their faces.

Deep in his eyes, a trace of Barely Perceptible weariness and indifference flickered past.

To him, this matter was no more than a curiosity.

Martial world vendettas, gang oppression—as long as the fire did not reach the shops, wealthy households, and residences of officials and gentry in Anren Ward;

As long as it did not escalate into the public slaughter of innocent civilians, gravely shaking the government's authority and igniting boiling public resentment—

Then let them fight.

Whether it was the Iron Saber Gang, the Green Wolf Gang, or the Blood Eagle Gang, these shadows entrenched in Lin'an County—

Let them tear at one another, weaken one another, and rise and perish on their own.

He, and even the entire Magistrate's Manor, were happy to see it.

His duty was only to step out when necessary and clean up an aftermath that had become too ugly.

To preserve the surface order and stability. Nothing more.