Disheartened

"The person he wants to get rid of is you!"

The roar in his ears could not wake Nangong Ling from his self-deception.

"He thinks that once you die, every lead will be severed again. He thinks that once you die, he can still remain beyond the reach of the law. He thinks that apart from you, no one knows who he is!"

Nangong Ling shuddered and turned his gaze toward Chu Liuxiang.

He struggled to force a few words out of his mouth.

"...He thinks?"

"Yes, that's only what he thinks. Wuhua is so full of himself that he believes he's done everything perfectly."

The trail through Qiu Lingsu could, at most, lead to Nangong Ling. Even if Wuhua remained implicated under the label of a mysterious figure, that figure could be anyone in the world.

Naturally, he could not have known that, right at the beginning of the case, Chu Liuxiang had already heard a theory from Fang Yunhua that posited him as the mastermind.

And as the case progressed, that theory had gradually been nailed down as the truth.

Even now, Chu Liuxiang had not entirely lost all his leads.

After learning from Qiu Lingsu that Tianfeng Jushiro had already been injured before fighting Ren Ci, he could infer that someone in the southern martial world had severely wounded Tianfeng Jushiro. From there, he could broaden his thinking with the knowledge that Wuhua was the mastermind.

It was then easy to think of Wuhua's teacher, Master Tianfeng, who certainly possessed the strength to do so. Taking that line of thought further, he could surmise that the infant Tianfeng Jushiro entrusted to Ren Ci was not the first.

The first infant had been left with Master Tianfeng.

Only if Wuhua and Nangong Ling were brothers could they have worked together so seamlessly. And because they were brothers, Nangong Ling refused to betray him even now, after losing everything.

Yet it was precisely because they were blood brothers that Chu Liuxiang feared Wuhua's ruthlessness all the more!

By now, Nangong Ling's entire body had swollen. His skin had begun to split, and even his blood vessels had ruptured. Blood was seeping from the corners of his eyes, his nose, and beneath his fingernails!

When he heard Chu Liuxiang speak Wuhua's name, a flicker of panic and worry flashed through his eyes, only to be replaced by overwhelming confidence.

Even the torn corners of his mouth curled into a ghastly smile.

"You can't beat him! You're going to die! You certainly will!!!"

Those words nearly made Chu laugh in fury.

"Nangong Ling! Do you know what you're saying? Wuhua has already poisoned you with Heavenly One Divine Water! He wants you dead! All that talk about dealing with me and Fang Yunhua was bullshit. The person he wants to kill is you!"

Even the invariably gentle and courteous Chu Liuxiang could not stop himself from swearing now.

He did not know there was such a thing as an obsessive devotion to one's older brother. In such people's eyes, their brothers were flawless. So what if Chu Liuxiang completely outclassed him in martial arts? So what if Fang Yunhua could scheme him into losing everything?

His dear big brother was the strongest!

Nangong Ling believed that without wavering. Just as in the original story, where Wuhua had likewise poisoned him with Heavenly One Divine Water, he stubbornly refused to name him even at death's door, endlessly repeating that he did not believe his dear big brother would deal him such a cruel blow.

No one could wake someone who was pretending to sleep.

Especially after losing everything, Nangong Ling was all the more willing to immerse himself in the beautiful dream he had woven.

Clinging to the hope that he would soon see Chu Liuxiang and Fang Yunhua in hell, he actually raised a smile amid the torment of Heavenly One Divine Water, holding it until he finally died.

Chu Liuxiang sat numbly in his chair, no longer knowing how long he had been there.

He could not forgive everything Nangong Ling had done, but in his heart, he still regarded him as a friend. Yet in the end, that friend had spent his last strength bestowing the most vicious curse upon him.

That blow to his heart far exceeded even the visceral shock of watching Wuhua poison Nangong Ling to death from afar.

It left him feeling rather disheartened.

And when he looked at Nangong Ling's corpse, he could not help wondering how Fang Yunhua had foreseen this scene. He could not understand it, but he was profoundly shaken.

Chu Liuxiang understood that, now that he was on the chessboard, leaving would not be so easy.

Or rather, the other man had calculated his temperament perfectly. Like someone with a compulsion to tear away every hangnail on his fingers, now that the case had truly reached its final step, Chu Liuxiang would probably be tormented for the rest of his life if he withdrew.

"Brother Fang, you really are ruthless!"

Fortunately, unlike in the original story, he did not need to wander all over Southern Fujian before confirming the lead involving Master Tianfeng, only managing to identify him in the end through a stroke of luck.

Now he could head straight to Putian Shaolin Temple. As for this case, which he considered the most frustrating and mentally exhausting he had ever investigated, he only hoped to end it as soon as possible!

Then...

Off to Mount Hua!!!

And now, he needed the mount-rental NPC's help again.

Chu Liuxiang: Let me borrow your fine steed!

Black Pearl: Why should I?

Chu Liuxiang: Nangong Ling is dead. His corpse is aboard a pleasure boat on Daming Lake.

Black Pearl: The horse is yours!

It had to be said that this fine steed saved Chu Liuxiang a great deal of time. More importantly, it came with an automatic return function. Tie it up anywhere, and it would chew through the rope itself, then trot merrily off to find its owner, Black Pearl.

It saved both effort and worry.

Upon arriving at Putian Shaolin Temple, Chu Liuxiang did not rush to pay a visit. Instead, he sat for a while in a teahouse in the nearby city.

Among the patrons coming and going, he spotted a familiar figure.

"The White-Clad Divine Ear, Constable Ying?"

Ying Wanli took the initiative to join him at his table.

By rights, one was an officer and the other a thief, so the atmosphere between them should not have been particularly friendly. The thief, in particular, ought to have felt guilty and nervous.

But how could some two-bit punk of the Thief Saint's ilk presume to compare himself to the illustrious Thief Marshal?

As they spoke, it was Chu Liuxiang who held the upper hand.

"Were you waiting for me, Constable Ying? Is this about the White Jade Beauty? I've already handed it over to the Amorous Young Master."

"I know. Word has already spread throughout Capital City."

"Then is it because... he sent you?"

"He?"

Ying Wanli looked at Chu Liuxiang in considerable puzzlement, which made Chu Liuxiang furrow his brow.

Then Ying Wanli stated his purpose outright.

"I received word that Chief Nangong of the Beggar Gang died on Daming Lake several days ago. After his death, someone hacked his corpse apart. I heard that the last person he met was Fragrant Marshal Chu."

"You suspect I killed him?"

Chu Liuxiang naturally knew that Black Pearl had mutilated the corpse. After all, her father, Zhamuhe, the King of the Desert, had fallen victim to Nangong Ling. Chu Liuxiang took a broad-minded view of settling scores and certainly would not say a word out of turn.

For instance, Nangong Ling had ostensibly killed Ren Ci to avenge his father. In the original story, that justification alone had been enough for Nangong Ling to put Chu Liuxiang thoroughly on the spot.

After all, who in this world could condemn a son for avenging his father?

After Nangong Ling died, some Beggar Gang elders had spoken up against the injustice done to him, though they might simply have wanted to preserve the gang's reputation. In the original plot, they had approached Ying Wanli to ask him to uncover the true murderer, but events could no longer take that course now.

"I hope Fragrant Marshal Chu will tell this old man everything Nangong Ling did. Of course, most important are the truth behind Chief Ren's death and Nangong Ling's origins."

At that moment, Chu Liuxiang understood everything. They were using his reputation to lend credibility to the authorities, thereby stamping the label of justice onto Mount Hua's move to take the lead in eliminating the villains headed by Nangong Ling!

They were also using this to pull the Beggar Gang out of the mire and direct the source of every conspiracy toward Japan!

"And you still say he didn't send you!"