About fourteen hours later, Yun Ye finished his Magic Power training just before the final hour ended.
When he reopened the Chat Group, the unread messages had already piled up to 99+.
Yun Ye was somewhat surprised. He browsed through the messages he had missed with interest and found that most of them concerned Su Haoming.
Simply put, ever since Su Haoming returned, the Chang'an Black Tea Case had made tremendous progress.
First was the Missing Bride Case. Just as Su Wuming had predicted, the missing brides' bodies had indeed been buried at specific locations.
With a casual point on the map, the county yamen dug up a full eight corpses. The catchers were immensely impressed, practically regarding him as a god, and no longer resisted his orders as they had before.
At the same time, Lu Lingfeng's investigation into the Ghost Market was exposed, leaving many powerful figures who drank Chang'an Black Tea dissatisfied.
Crown Prince Li Longji and the Princess Royal were locked in a fierce struggle. Unwilling to offend those people over this matter, they shifted the blame onto Lu Lingfeng. Using Yin Shirou's death, they charged him with dereliction of duty and ordered him to remain at home to reflect on his mistakes.
Lu Lingfeng was deeply frustrated, but he could only stay home and drown his sorrows in drink.
Seizing this opportunity, Su Wuming visited again and sounded Lu Lingfeng out regarding the daughter of Pei Jian, Vice Minister of Personnel.
Pei Jian's daughter was named Pei Xijun. She was a talented woman skilled in painting, and she had fallen for General of Valiant Might Xiao Bo Zhao, to whom she was betrothed. But not long ago, General Xiao had unfortunately died in battle in the Western Regions. When news reached the capital city, Miss Pei was devastated. She remained despondent every day, never smiling. This was no secret in the capital city, and Su Wuming had heard of it long ago.
Yet when he visited the Pei residence, he unexpectedly discovered that the man in Miss Pei's painting was not General of Valiant Might Xiao Bo Zhao, but Lu Lingfeng, General of the Guards of the Jinwu Guard.
Su Wuming realized there was a misunderstanding, so he used provocation to test Lu Lingfeng.
Fueled by alcohol and anger, Lu Lingfeng finally revealed the whole truth.
It turned out that he and Xiao Bo Zhao were cousins. Back then, Xiao Bo Zhao had been appointed General of Valiant Might and was leading troops to the Western Regions. Upon hearing the news, Miss Pei decided to hold a farewell banquet for her fiancé. But Xiao Bo Zhao was drinking with courtesans at the time and did not want to leave, so he shamelessly begged his cousin Lu Lingfeng to meet her in his place.
Lu Lingfeng had never thought highly of that cousin. He had originally intended to reveal everything the moment they met, letting Miss Pei see his cousin's true colors.
But who could have expected that he would fall in love with Miss Pei at first sight? Unable to bear seeing her heartbroken, he went along with the mistake and continued the act.
After learning the truth, Su Wuming had a flash of inspiration and used a midnight resurrection charade to clear up the misunderstanding between them.
Lu Lingfeng finally learned that Miss Pei had also fallen for him at first sight, while Miss Pei finally understood that the person she had fallen for was not the supposedly dead Xiao Bo Zhao, but Lu Lingfeng, General of the Guards of the Jinwu Guard.
Their romance could be set aside for now.
In any case, after this incident, the relationship between Su Wuming and Lu Lingfeng improved.
As it happened, Su Wuming had persuaded the Chang'an Catchers and was preparing to lead them on another investigation of the Ghost Market. However, he was an incorruptible official with little salary, making it difficult for him to offer the generous rewards he had promised. Thus, he sought out the well-to-do Lu Lingfeng.
Though Lu Lingfeng was currently confined to his residence, he had no intention of truly standing by and doing nothing.
At Su Wuming's urging, he finally made a decision—since he could not openly mobilize the Jinwu Guard, he would bring only three trusted subordinates and investigate the Ghost Market again with Su Wuming and the Chang'an Catchers!
By the time Yun Ye scrolled to the bottom, he had just caught the live text broadcast of the second investigation into the Ghost Market.
[Su Haoming: They're here, they're here! Elder Brother and the others are here!] [Yun Ye: You mean you're not beside Su Wuming?] [Fan Xian: Oh?] [Fan Xian: Old Yun has finally shown up!] [Fan Xian: How is your cultivation progressing?] [Yun Ye: Still at Qi Cultivation Layer 1, but my Magic Power has increased. I can probably cast four Basic Spells now.] [Su Haoming: Four?!] [Su Haoming: You only stayed half a day longer than me, and you've improved that much?] [Lin Yu: Of course. I told you, this place is a Blessed Land.] [Lin Yu: If Little Ye hadn't wasted so much time on spells, he probably would have improved even more.] [Fan Xian: ...] [Fan Xian: What should I do? I'm already starting to regret it.] [Lin Yu: @Fan Xian, it's fine. You're welcome to change your mind anytime!] [Yun Ye: Stop talking about me. What's going on with Old Su?] [Su Haoming: What else could it be? My elder brother is investigating the Ghost Market for a second time. He brought nineteen catchers from Chang'an County and summoned Lu Lingfeng along with three Jinwu Guards, but he refused to let me come along.] [Su Haoming: I had no choice but to follow secretly and assist them.] [Yun Ye: You weren't discovered?] [Su Haoming: No. I used the Wind Membrane spell.] [Yun Ye: I see!] [Fan Xian: What do you mean, you see?] [Yun Ye: Wind Membrane is a sustained spell. Once cast, it forms a millimeter-thin membrane of wind over the body. It can weaken and block most physical attacks, while also lightening the body and blurring one's outline.] [Su Haoming: The Ghost Market is underground. I arrived ahead of time, and with the dim surroundings, it wasn't difficult to conceal myself.] [Fan Xian: ...Is that really a Basic Spell?] [Su Haoming: Yes and no.] [Su Haoming: More accurately, it's a growth-type spell. At my current level, I can at most deflect attacks to a certain extent. If the opponent has Lu Lingfeng's level of martial ability, breaking through the Wind Membrane would not be a problem.] [Su Haoming: Enough of that. Cousin and the others are about to come ashore.]
Unlike the previous investigation of the Ghost Market, Su Wuming had many men with him this time. Entering through the Secret Tunnel would make them easy targets for an enemy ambush, so they chose to travel by water and enter the Ghost Market through an underground river.
Seven or eight small boats carrying Su Wuming and the other twenty-three people silently docked at the shore.
About thirty meters from the bank, Su Haoming was shrouded in a faint Wind Membrane and concealed within the shadows of the cavern wall, silently watching his cousin and the others' every move.
According to Brother Lin, the mastermind behind the Chang'an Black Tea Case was Yuan Lai, the magistrate of Chang'an County.
Besides Yin Shirou, Yuan Lai had many dead soldiers and assassins under his command, as well as the Four Fiends of Youli, who had once entered the palace to assassinate the Saint.
The Four Fiends of Youli were no ordinary people. They were among the few surviving members of the Youli Clan, and every one of them possessed a Hardening Secret Technique.
During the Yonglong Era, the four of them joined forces to enter the capital city in an attempt to assassinate the emperor. After failing, they fled into Chang'an County. In the end, they were captured alive after being surrounded and attacked by numerous masters throughout Chang'an, then thrown into Chang'an County Prison.
Yuan Lai had already been the magistrate of Chang'an County at the time. Taking advantage of his position, he bewitched the four fiends and turned them into his thugs.
Judging from Brother Lin's description, the Four Fiends' Hardening Secret Technique was truly extraordinary. They could genuinely be called impervious to blades and spears.
In the original story, the four fiends had only appeared in pairs, yet they had already been difficult to handle. If they appeared together, could he truly protect his cousin from them?
Su Haoming was not entirely confident. After giving it some thought, he decided to add another layer of insurance.
[Su Haoming: @Lin Yu, oh right, Brother Lin!] [Su Haoming: After chatting in the group these past two days, I happened to save up a hundred Points. Do you... want to come over and have a look?]
Before you continue