Inside Heavenly Room Two on the eastern side of the fourth floor of Fortune's Arrival Inn.
The incense burner, tea set, ornaments, and other furnishings had all been knocked to the floor, but little had been broken. A blackening bloodstain soaked the thick brown carpet.
Candlelight appeared in Ding Songyan's eyes as he looked around, but he found no clues.
Fan Chunlin, whose skin was a cold white and whose forehead bore black markings, crouched beside the bloodstain and studied it for a while before saying:
"The Ghost-Wyrm Path assassin probably hid in the screen's shadow, then struck as Qi Lingyi walked toward the bed, killing him in a single blow.
"Apart from these things Qi Lingyi knocked over when he fell, there's no sign of a fight."
"A Law Realm assassin?" Ding Songyan did not know how strong Qi Lingyi was as a Martial Grandmaster who had been forcibly propped up to that level. He could not tell whether Qi Lingyi was stronger or weaker than Old Master Zhen or Ma Hanjiang of the Small Boat Gang, or whether someone a major realm below him could have assassinated him. He could only begin with the higher estimate.
"Probably. Clean and decisive, coming and going like a shadow." Fan Chunlin sighed softly.
Ding Songyan glanced at him.
"Why the sigh?"
It wasn't as though someone you knew had died.
And the killer was a Ghost-Wyrm Path Martial Grandmaster. Surely there's no need to compare yourself to them?
Fan Chunlin glanced at the Martial Prohibition Bureau officer standing by the door, then rose and said:
"Qi Lingyi was a Martial Grandmaster, after all, a Second Rank practitioner of 'Subtlety.' To see him killed in a single blow like this makes me feel a little... a little..."
"Like the fox mourning the