The Golden Crow Matriarch

"The Sage Emperor's son?"

Lin Ke was speechless.

Bai Zhantang looked smug. "Well? Didn't you say you were the Minister's son?"

Lin Ke: (ㅍ_ㅍ)

Bai Zhantang: ╮(•́ω•̀)╭

The two promptly exchanged looks of contempt.

Just then, however, a tremendous crash came from outside.

"Boom!!"

Both snapped their heads up, exchanged a glance, then turned to investigate.

"What happened?!" Lin Ke frowned.

It was so sudden!

Why had there suddenly been such a tremendous crash?!

They were right beneath the Sage Emperor's feet!

"No idea!" Bai Zhantang was equally startled.

Before they could get a clear look at the situation, one of the restaurant's only two customers-the young gentleman-caught their attention.

The young gentleman lay on the floor, his face absurdly red, like the scarlet backside of a monkey from Mount Emei.

At the sight of the three of them, he struggled to his feet and staggered toward them, every step visibly arduous.

After just two steps, the young gentleman toppled forward with a thud.

Lin Ke was about to go over and check on him when a ball of fire slowly rose from the top of the young gentleman's head.

That ball of fire looked like a little bird, and it even flapped its wings as though alive!

A firebird!

All three of them were dumbstruck by this bizarre sight.

The rising firebird circled the three of them once, then shot into the clouds with a whoosh, streaking eastward and vanishing in an instant.

Against the night sky, that streak of light was as conspicuous as a shooting star.

The three stood there exchanging bewildered looks, unsure how to react.

Meanwhile, that streak of fire swept eastward, covering a hundred thousand li in an instant and reaching the edge of the Eastern Sea.

Still it did not stop, continuing east until it vanished over a small island.

Shortly after it disappeared, a woman in a deep red coat materialized on the island with a swish.

She looked to be in her thirties, her face full of fury and her sharply slanting eyebrows raised.

She said nothing. The moment she appeared, the space around her twisted, and then she vanished from where she stood.

Whoosh!

When her figure appeared again, she was only a few hundred thousand li from the Imperial Capital!

"A Gentleman Realm cultivator has approached within a hundred thousand li of the Capital. Present your permit and entry papers!"

A commander of the Imperial Capital's gates shouted his rebuke across a hundred thousand li. Vital energy surged skyward from his entire body, while the military formation he formed with the soldiers around him sent towering waves of vital energy into the air.

Had Lin Ke been there, he would have understood that these permits and entry papers were something like passports and visas.

A Gentleman Realm being needed a passport and visa to enter the capital!

But the woman in red ignored him, playing deaf and dumb. Without slowing, she blazed with fire as she rammed straight into that transparent barrier of vital energy.

Rumble...

Muffled booms rolled outward in mighty waves, the sound reaching even the Imperial Capital!

Such was the terrifying might of the Gentleman Realm!

Along with the sound, numerous figures appeared above the Imperial Capital in an instant, scattered across its eastern, western, southern, and northern districts.

Every one of them possessed an astonishing presence, but without exception, they all gazed east.

"What happened? Why is the Golden Crow Matriarch so furious?"

"So that's it. The Ninth Son of the Golden Crow has fallen..."

"Hmph. She failed to keep her fledgling in line, and now that he's dead, she comes here throwing a fit."

"You shouldn't put it that way..."

Each of these people possessed a towering aura, but after a brief conversation, they all vanished.

They had wondered who it was, only to find a mere Gentleman Realm "foreigner" causing trouble.

You were a "foreigner," your son sneaked across the border and played himself to death, and now you, his mother, wanted to pass through customs without a "visa" or "passport"-to force your way through the checkpoint?

Not a chance!

Meanwhile, after the woman in red struck the commander blocking her path, he seemed to receive some telepathic message. Despite his hesitation, he withdrew the blockade.

The woman in red did not pause at all, heading straight for the Imperial Capital with tremendous momentum, crossing thousands upon thousands of li in an instant.

As she advanced, half the sky along her route was dyed red.

It was nighttime, yet the sky glowed as brilliantly as sunset clouds.

But when she came within a thousand li of the Imperial Capital, all the flames, red clouds, and sonic booms vanished.

"Dong!!!"

A soft gong sounded, accompanied by a helpless voice:

"I am Xu Ba'an, night watchman of Great Wei... It is the dead of night. Beware of open flames and candles, and loud disturbances are prohibited. My apologies."

Xu Ba'an, night watchman of Great Wei!

Hearing this, the woman in red reluctantly stopped. "My youngest son is dead. I came only to find his true killer and seek justice!"

Xu Ba'an did not show himself, but his voice reached the woman's ears. "Golden Crow Matriarch, under the Sacred Emperor's Decree, entering or leaving the area within a hundred thousand li of the Imperial Capital requires two documents. Within a thousand li, five documents and one certificate are required. Entry numbers are also restricted, and today should not have any allotted to the avian races."

"I assume you have neither a permit nor entry papers for the Imperial Capital, Matriarch. As for the travel authorization, business papers, and emergency contact papers, you will need to fill those out here... Oh, right. You do have a capital residence certificate, don't you?"

The woman in red stood there, her thoughts unreadable, but she no longer seemed intent on forcing her way through the checkpoint.

After all, the "Capital" lay ahead!

Countless experts, crouching tigers and hidden dragons!

She dared not storm in!

She could not storm in!

As though she had finally thought it through, the woman in red stood in midair, her expression gloomy, and let out a piercing cry: "Please uphold justice for my son!!!"

Once again, Xu Ba'an suppressed most of the sound.

But a little still escaped.

Inside the Tongfu Grand Restaurant.

"Shopkeeper..." After watching the fire fly away, Lin Ke turned and looked around. He would have been better off not looking; the moment he did, his pupils contracted.

"Huh? What do you need... Ah!" Shopkeeper Tong followed Lin Ke's gaze and saw a customer lying facedown on the floor, motionless. The red blood slowly seeping out beneath him was so vividly scarlet.

Fresh blood!

But before the three could react, a scream came from the Song-Listening Entertainment House next door.

"Aaaah!!!!"

"Fuck? What now?" The situation had inexplicably become rather frightening, and Lin Ke immediately recognized that the scream belonged to a woman.

Such a powerful voice, capable of freely switching into a whistle register eight octaves high, generally came from a woman.

Especially a woman who feared cockroaches and had ten thousand giant flying southern cockroaches crawling all over her.

Hearing the woman's scream, the three had no time to attend to the bleeding customer on the floor and hurried outside to check.

After all, whatever else it might be, the Song-Listening Entertainment House was their neighbor. They ought to show some concern.

"What's this?"

When they reached the doorway, Bai Zhantang immediately noticed something wrong.

"My... my hundred-year-old carved marble wall!" Shopkeeper Tong wailed, his plump body trembling uncontrollably.

Still pondering, Lin Ke could not help glancing at Shopkeeper Tong. "It's just ordinary bluestone brick coated with lime powder and white cement."

Shopkeeper Tong's wailing stopped abruptly. He flicked his sleeves and walked outside, not forgetting to tell Lin Ke, "When the people from the government office arrive, keep your mouth shut... I'm getting reimbursed for this wall, no matter what!"

Lin Ke was speechless and could not be bothered to say more.

They immediately went outside together and finally saw the scene beyond.

A person lay on the road in front of the restaurant, with plenty of red and white matter scattered around. They did not know what had happened, but the scene was bloody and gruesome.

Not everyone could immediately stomach such a bloody sight, especially someone who had lived for years in the peaceful society of his previous life.

Feeling nauseated, Lin Ke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to adjust, only to draw a great lungful of bloody stench into his nose.

"Cough, cough, cough..." He coughed several times, while Shopkeeper Tong and Bai Zhantang, frozen with fear beside him, remained completely motionless.

Lin Ke paid them no mind and swiftly scanned his surroundings to see whether he was safe.

A gentleman did not stand beneath a crumbling wall!

But as he looked around, Lin Ke suddenly noticed that the corpse on the ground had no head!

A headless corpse!

He also saw that the person's chest was hollow, and immediately frowned.

No head, no heart.

One had been chopped off, the other gouged out!

He steadied his breathing, then called softly to the side, "Shopkeeper, Shopkeeper!"

Hearing Lin Ke call him, Shopkeeper Tong neither raised his head nor responded, as though frightened witless.

By now, between the initial crash of the shattered wall and the woman's scream from the Song-Listening Entertainment House, quite a commotion had arisen.

The night had been quiet to begin with. Everyone on the street had now heard it, and they all looked this way.

Seeing someone lying outside, Shopkeeper Tong had no time to mourn his losses. He hurried to Lin Ke's side and looked over cautiously.

"Hiss..."

Shopkeeper Tong sucked in a cold breath. After freezing for just a moment, he hurriedly turned and patted Bai Zhantang's face. "Bai Zhantang, Bai Zhantang!"

Bai Zhantang shuddered in fright, then collapsed onto the ground, muttering nonstop, "Someone's dead, someone's dead..."

Huffing and puffing, Shopkeeper Tong approached Bai Zhantang and kicked him back to his senses. "Get up! Go report this to the authorities!"

Bai Zhantang came to himself, immediately nodded to Shopkeeper Tong, then dashed out of the street.

At the entrance, Shopkeeper Tong watched Bai Zhantang's retreating figure and gave an almost imperceptible sigh.

"Shopkeeper, look over there." Just then, Lin Ke raised his hand and pointed down the street.

Shopkeeper Tong's heart lurched. He followed Lin Ke's gaze, and his eyelid twitched.

A huge figure lay across the middle of the road, covered in fur.

It was not human!

"A black bear!"

Someone nearby cried out in alarm.

The black bear lay sprawled on the ground with all four limbs splayed. Its right forepaw was missing, and its facial features were covered in black blood.

There was also a white leather belt around the black bear's waist!

A white leather belt... Lin Ke's eyes flickered.

If he remembered correctly, only the fat man among those three people and the young gentleman in white from earlier had worn white belts.

Taking the situation inside the restaurant into account...

There had been four people in the main hall. Now there were only three, along with a black bear that had collapsed on the ground, while the fat man was gone!

Where had this black bear come from?

The fat man was the black bear!

But where was the bear's paw?

As he pondered, he realized that the shopkeeper had disappeared.

Lin Ke: ???

Did he run off?

Lin Ke sighed. All he could do was return to the restaurant entrance and sit on the threshold to wait.

Suddenly, he looked east. He had heard a tremendous crash.

He froze for a moment. What was that sound?

Rumble...

He hurriedly covered his ears. That single blast had left him feeling dizzy.

It passed after a short while.

"...for my son... justice..."

Lin Ke faintly heard those words.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Imperial Capital, a middle-aged man who had been watching the east withdrew his gaze.

He said calmly, "Investigate! Find the killer within five days!"

"Yes!"