Secrets of the Chu Family Old House

Lu Tao turned to the left and gave a young man a meaningful look.

The young man nodded slightly, took out a packet of powder from his robes, and sprinkled it over the pile of cleaving knives.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on that pile of cleaving knives.

Yet when the powder fell upon the blades, nothing unusual happened at all.

The young constable turned back and shook his head at Lu Tao.

The tension in Lu Tao's heart eased slightly, but a self-mocking smile tugged at his lips.

A chief constable like him was actually worrying for the murderer, even wanting to cover for the murderer. What a laughable absurdity!

In this world, what was good, and what was evil?

At that moment, the young man inspecting the cleaving knives returned and said, "Liu Da and the others have practiced martial arts for half a year. Yet judging from the traces at the scene, aside from Liu Da putting up a slight resistance, the others did not struggle in the slightest."

"The murderer's blade was so fast that it made one's blood run cold."

"The brothers sent to search the houses found no useful clues either."

Lu Tao neither agreed nor disagreed.

He had come here intending only to go through the motions.

Finding no clues suited him just fine.

The young man walked up to Chu Fan and the others, questioning them one by one.

When he got to Chu Fan, an odd look appeared in his eyes. He looked him up and down before asking, "You're from the Chu Family?"

Before Chu Fan could answer, Zhao Hu hurriedly spoke up. "Reporting to you, sir, he is Chu Fan... This child has been obedient since he was little. After his parents passed away, he survived by fishing, and he often helped the neighbors with chores."

"Liu Da and the others are vicious-hearted. To seize the Chu Family Old House, they beat Xiao Fan several times. This time, they even smashed down his front door and tore up his fishing nets. They were practically leaving him no way to live!"

Chu Fan was speechless inwardly.

Uncle Zhao wanted to make him sound more pitiful, so he could win the constable's sympathy.

But if this went on, it would instead make it seem as though he really was the murderer...

Liu Da and the others had cut off his path to survival, so he had sneaked in here to take revenge. The chain of cause and effect was certainly "complete."

"Oh?"

The young constable was taken aback. "Someone else has set their sights on the Chu Family Old House?"

"Are they truly not afraid of death?"

Someone else?

Not afraid of death?

Would setting one's sights on the Chu Family Old House put one's life at risk?

A flicker of surprise passed through Chu Fan's eyes, and the conversation between that adulterous pair last night suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"The Chu Family Old House is cursed. So many people tried to take it before, but they either died or went mad."

"Even the young master of the Huang Family only dared to set his sights on that house now..."

So even the authorities knew about this?

But why had he never seen the authorities come to investigate his home?

Chu Fan's gaze settled on the young constable, hoping to pry more information from his mouth.

Yet the young constable seemed to avoid him as though avoiding the plague. He skipped right over him and turned to question the others, leaving Chu Fan thoroughly frustrated.

Elsewhere, Lu Tao's expression shifted slightly as he listened to his subordinates speaking with Zhao Hu.

Many years ago, when he had still been a lowly constable, he had followed his master on several murder cases connected to the Chu Family Old House.

In those years, quite a few people had coveted the Chu Family Old House, but in the end, they either died miserably or went insane.

He had once wanted to investigate Chu Fan's parents, but his master had stopped him and given him a fierce scolding.

From the look on his master's face, he not only held Chu Fan's parents in immense respect, but beneath that respect lay a strand of fear that could not be concealed!

From that time onward, he had become somewhat curious about the Chu Family.

But after becoming Chief Constable, he could only follow his master's warning and treat the Chu Family as forbidden ground, avoiding anything related to them whenever possible.

Yet two years ago, Chu Fan's parents had died under strange circumstances.

And now, two years later, someone had once again set their sights on the Chu Family Old House?

Could the deaths of Liu Da and the others be related to the Chu Family?

Lu Tao's gaze fell on Chu Fan.

At that moment, Chu Fan still had childishness in his features. Though his Blood Qi was several times stronger than before he began cultivating, he still looked thin and weak.

He seemed terrified by what was happening before him, keeping his head lowered the entire time.

Lu Tao's eyes narrowed slightly, and the fingers of his left hand formed a hand seal.

In an instant, the surroundings fell into utter silence. Mist rose within his eyes, and everything before him seemed to change color, turning into a dim, gray expanse.

Such vigorous Blood Qi...

Lu Tao's expression changed slightly as he narrowed his eyes.

Under the observation of his Qi Sensing Technique, the Blood Qi of Zhao Hu and the others around Chu Fan was like candles guttering in the wind.

Only Chu Fan's Blood Qi was like flames that burned ever fiercer!

It was infinitely close to Blood Nourishment...

But something still seemed off.

Just now, Zhao Hu had said that Liu Da and the others had beaten Chu Fan several times, smashed his front door, and torn apart the fishing nets he relied upon for survival.

Could useless trash like Liu Da and the others really have beaten Chu Fan?

If his guess was correct, Chu Fan should have been the one who acted.

But what did that have to do with him, Lu Tao?

Some days ago, the Liu Family's only son had been beaten to death in the street by a Fishery Bully. His subordinates had traced it to the Blood Saber Sect, only to be stopped by the County Magistrate.

Now that a few hoodlums had died, the County Magistrate was instead forcing him to investigate thoroughly on the grounds that "too many people died, and the impact was terrible."

Where was there even the slightest shred of justice in this world!

After his subordinates finished questioning everyone, Lu Tao waved his hand and led the constables away.

As he passed Chu Fan, he deliberately—or perhaps unintentionally—turned his head to look at him.

Their eyes met, and Lu Tao actually nodded slightly with a smile.

After he left the courtyard, the yamen runners waiting outside immediately sent people in to wrap the corpses in mats and drag them away.

Chu Fan, Zhao Hu, and the others also retrieved their respective cleaving knives.

"That's it?"

Casting a quick glance at Lu Tao's departing figure, Chu Fan felt a chill run down his spine.

The situation was more or less what he had expected, yet there were still slight differences.

When Lu Tao had observed him just now, it had felt as though thorns were pressing against his back!

At that moment, he had already known that Lu Tao had likely sensed his Qi and Blood Force through some secret art.

He had already begun calculating how to respond.

He had even prepared himself to flee and fight for his life.

Yet he had never expected Lu Tao to say nothing at all, and even smile faintly at him.

There had not been the slightest malice or hostility in that smile.

"Uncle Zhao, how much do you know about Chief Constable Lu?" Chu Fan could not help asking after they left the Liu Family Courtyard.

Zhao Hu rubbed his frost-reddened hands. The white breath he exhaled froze into frost flowers in his beard. "Speaking of Chief Constable Lu, he is one of the few good officials in our Outer City!"

"Four years ago, before he was even Chief Constable, he single-handedly wiped out Black Wind Stronghold. He took a blade himself, yet still brought the hostages back safe and sound."

"Not long ago, the White Tiger Gang abducted women by force. He led men in an ambush and wiped out the White Tiger Gang directly."

"The street thugs and scoundrels turn into mice seeing a cat whenever they see him. Their legs tremble beneath them."

"Whenever the neighborhood talks about him, not one person fails to give a thumbs-up. They all say he is the Upright Official of our Outer City."

"You saw it just now too..."

"He knew Liu Da and the others were beasts, so though he appeared to be investigating the case, he was actually only going through the motions. He had no intention of digging deeper."

As Chu Fan listened, his furrowed brow gradually relaxed.

So Chief Constable Lu was that sort of man.

After a moment of silence, Chu Fan asked again, "Uncle Zhao, why do people say that those who coveted my family's Old House in the past either died or went mad?"

"This..." Zhao Hu looked embarrassed. "I've heard some rumors as well, but I could never make heads or tails of them. Perhaps they are merely hearsay."

Mere hearsay?

When something was abnormal, there had to be something sinister behind it.

Chu Fan did not ask any further.

Braving the heavy snow, he returned home and found the interior even more disordered.

He did not know whether rats would enter this house crying and leave crying.

But Liu Da and the others had searched every nook and cranny before flying into a rage and even smashing down his front door.

The constables had likely done the same.

Perhaps he should find a broker later and sell the house.

Chu Fan raised his head and looked toward the Osmanthus Tree in the courtyard.

Its trunk twisted like a dragon, and its crown spread like a giant open umbrella. It was covered in a thick layer of snow and leaned toward his parents' room.

He had seen this sight countless times in his memories.

But this time...

Remembering what he had heard last night about the house being "cursed," along with the young constable's strange attitude, Chu Fan looked again at the unusually shaped Osmanthus Tree, and a powerful urge to uncover the secrets of the Old House arose within him.

He strode toward his parents' room.

A rusty old lock hung from the door. Like the front gate, it had been smashed open with a large hole.

Through that hole, he could see shattered tables and chairs inside, with Wood Shavings and dust covering the floor.

Chu Fan gripped the hole in the door with both hands and exerted a little force...

Crack!

With a soft sound, he tore the entire door straight off.

Chu Fan slowly walked into the room.

A wave of sorrow rose from the depths of his heart.

Bit by bit, memories connected to this room surged into his mind.

Just then...

A low, strange voice suddenly rang out in his mind, echoing again and again:

"Come!"

"Come!"