Wang Chong smiled brightly and said, "No need!"
He dismounted, casually snapped off a "dead branch," twirled it in a sword flourish, and thrust it straight out. Smoke rose from the dead branch, curling and drifting, while tiny points of flame flickered along its tip.
Li Qingge sighed and said, "One of Wudang Mountain's Seven Routes Divine Sword techniques. It certainly lives up to its reputation."
This female divine constable had hurried over with suspicions about Wang Chong, but this sword move of his was brimming with spirit and vigor, candlelight springing forth with his thrust. He seemed even better than Mo Zhenxing, the youngest, most gifted, and most accomplished swordsman among the Seven True Ones of Wudang. There was truly no way to pursue those suspicions any further. White Chrysanthemum could never possess such superb swordsmanship. If Wang Chong were White Chrysanthemum, at least half the Chrysanthemum-Slaying Alliance would have to die.
Besides, she had already met Su Luoyan, Chu Qiuzi, and the other Six Beauties of Qingcheng. With the discerning eye of one of the Three Great Constables and the only female divine constable of the present day, she could naturally see what place Wang Chong held in Su Luoyan's and Chu Qiuzi's hearts!
To put it rather bluntly, if this Young Master Wang Chong were a lustful scoundrel, all he needed to do was lie down. Why go to the trouble of becoming a rapist?
Li Qingge pondered for a long time before saying, "There are two questionable points in this case. First, this man was definitely not killed by Qin Han. He had two wounds: one inflicted by a heavy-handed strike, the other a sword thrust to a vital spot, but the person who struck had very weak martial arts. The other point is..."
Li Qingge sighed and said, "White Chrysanthemum committed another crime not long ago."
Wang Chong jumped in alarm. There really is another White Chrysanthemum?!
He hastily declared his position. "If this villain is still at large, I'm willing to lend you a hand, Divine Constable Li."
Li Qingge considered for a moment, then said, "Very well!"
Wang Chong truly was not merely being polite. He wanted to catch "White Chrysanthemum" more than anyone.
Most importantly, "White Chrysanthemum had committed another crime recently." He had been behaving himself lately, and Chu Qiuzi could testify to that. The two had practically been inseparable.
Sun Yanqi was not White Chrysanthemum, so there had better be another "White Chrysanthemum." In any case, this rapist could not be Wang Chong!
Li Qingge relaxed a little. Having been ordered to investigate this case, she had examined every file connected to White Chrysanthemum and discovered that this rapist's martial arts were unimaginably formidable. He was proficient in the martial arts of at least six or seven schools. Not only did he know Wudang's sword techniques and the long-lost sinister art of Ice Soul Finger, he also seemed to know the Buddhist Vajra Prajna Palm power!
Although this female divine constable had great confidence in her own martial arts, her years of investigating cases had taught her well that martial arts were not everything. There had been highly skilled, experienced veterans in government service who had capsized in the hands of petty thieves. Wang Chong excelled in both martial arts and swordsmanship, making him an excellent helper.
As for why she trusted neither her fellow martial artists nor her colleagues in government service, that was a long story...
During the first few years of Li Qingge's career, fellow martial artists and government colleagues had badly double-crossed her several times. Ever since then, she had preferred to investigate cases alone.
Wang Chong gave a light cough and asked, "Divine Constable Li, what crime has White Chrysanthemum committed this time?"
"I know little about this rapist. If you could tell me more, Divine Constable Li, I could prepare in advance, lest my unfamiliarity with him leave me vulnerable to an ambush or sneak attack."
Wang Chong was truly intensely curious about the rapist White Chrysanthemum. But while he was in the Chrysanthemum-Slaying Alliance, he had constantly worried about being "exposed" and beaten up by his "brothers" together, so he had not dared ask questions carelessly.
Now Li Qingge had come to his door and asked him to help investigate the case. This was an opportunity delivered straight to him. If he did not ask now, he would burst from holding it in.
Li Qingge said, "People pass along this road from time to time, making it inconvenient. Let us go to where I'm staying, and I'll explain everything to you in detail, Young Master Wang."
Li Qingge led Wang Chong off the main road. They had not gone far before a Daoist temple came into view.
Hearing the noise, a young Daoist nun pushed open the main gate and ran out. At the sight of Li Qingge, she cried out in delighted surprise, "Auntie Li is here!"
Li Qingge smiled and said, "I've brought a friend. Hurry and prepare some tea." The young Daoist nun went off joyfully.
She led Wang Chong inside and said quietly, "Several years ago, I solved a human trafficking case and rescued a hundred and twenty young girls. I had intended to send them home, but after investigating in detail..." The female divine constable let out a soft sigh and said, "Most of those who had sold them were their own elders. Sending them back would only mean their families selling them again, so I set up Daoist temples in various places and sent them there to live on incense offerings."
For a moment, Wang Chong did not know what to say.
Li Qingge had someone settle Yuzao and Wang Dong in, then led Wang Chong to a quiet room. She brought over a stack of case files and said, "All of White Chrysanthemum's cases are here."
Wang Chong opened the files and first skimmed the case index. In the earliest dated file, he saw Mo Yuncong's name.
The case in this file was relatively simple. Mo Yuncong had discovered White Chrysanthemum abducting an innocent young woman and intervened out of righteousness, only to be stabbed to death by White Chrysanthemum using Wudang Swordsmanship. The rapist had used the Candle-Bearing Sword Technique, and the killing move had been the very "Sword Candle Mountain Sea" Wang Chong had used against Qian Luoyi.
Reading this file, Wang Chong's teeth ached with hatred, and he cursed Tie Mingzhu bloody. That girl really had set him up.
White Chrysanthemum's first crime upon making his debut had been killing Mo Yuncong. If Wang Chong had introduced himself to anyone as "Mo Yuncong of Wudang," he would never have escaped the label of rapist.
Fortunately, he had taken the extra precaution of never using Mo Yuncong's name, always giving his real name instead. Only thus had he muddled along until now without showing his "toad's feet."
He could not help asking, "Is Mo Yuncong definitely dead?"
Li Qingge answered, "I examined the corpse, and Wudang sent people to collect his remains. There is absolutely no mistake in this case."
"The woman Mo Yuncong protected was named Xiangxiang! She was a courtesan queen who sold her performances, not her body. She died terribly, with twenty-eight wounds on her body. She endured several days of abuse before dying with hatred in her heart. That beast truly isn't human."
Wang Chong patiently read through the file. Suddenly, he felt a faint chill crawl over him, because when he had transmigrated here, his Candle-Bearing Sword Technique seemed to have been at precisely the level recorded in the file.
Why White Chrysanthemum had used Wudang Swordsmanship to kill Mo Yuncong was also baffling.
He prayed silently for a while, then could not help thinking, If I really am White Chrysanthemum, I'll simply kill myself. If I can be reborn, I'll start a third life. If I can't, that will settle this karma. In any case, I absolutely cannot live freely and comfortably as a rapist.
Wang Chong spent over two hours reading through the remaining files. Every case was horrifying. White Chrysanthemum was not only a rapist but also extremely brutal by nature, killing people every time he committed a crime. He did not necessarily kill the women he violated, but almost every martial artist who encountered him had been silenced, and all had died terribly. He put down the files, pointed to the seventh, twelfth, and sixteenth, and said, "In these three cases, there were survivors besides the women he harmed. Have you questioned those involved, Divine Constable Li?"
Li Qingge said, "I questioned them all. One was a constable from Pine City. One of his arms was cut off, and he fainted at the time, so White Chrysanthemum did not finish him off. Another was Shaolin's Hornless Monk. He was already a great expert of the Innate Realm. White Chrysanthemum exchanged twelve palm strikes with him, with neither gaining the upper hand. Just then, other fellow martial artists happened to arrive to help, frightening the rapist off. In the last case, the survivors were a band of robbers called the River-Spanning Tiger Pack. Although White Chrysanthemum killed several of them, he could not overcome their strength in numbers in the end."
...White Chrysanthemum: Everyone, guess how many people I am...
...Mo Yuncong: I died after all...
Before you continue