Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 135 - 131: Doubts (Seeking Monthly Tickets and Subscriptions)_1

Chapter 135: Chapter 131: Doubts (Seeking Monthly Tickets and Subscriptions)_1

"No grudge, no resentment!"

Marquis Duan Dong of Zhen Dong held his waist longsword, squinted slightly, and looked pale: "There’s no way it’s Zidie. Investigate again! This must be someone setting her up, does the Liudao Division only have these standards?"

The crowd present was immediately taken aback, exchanging puzzled looks with each other.

They were both surprised by the anger in Zhen Dong Marquis’s words and astonished by the certainty in his tone.

Li Xuan also found it odd, feeling that his reaction was somewhat extraordinary.

The rage of Marquis Zhen Dong seems to be misplaced, doesn’t it?

Normally, upon hearing the autopsy results, everyone should be filled with rage towards Demoness Zidie.

But he seemed to have an unusual trust in a river thief who should be hated to the bone by an official family, which was surprising.

"My lord!"

Zhang Xu saluted with an unpleasant look: "The traces of Zidie’s illusion fire are unique in this world! I can’t possibly misjudge."

"Then you are incompetent," Duan Dong snorted lightly, his tone even more blunt: "Does the Liudao Division only have these low-level Lingwu? Get me a more reliable one!"

Lei Yun’s brow deeply furrowed, his eyes displaying anger. But before he could speak, he was interrupted by Sima Tianyuan, who looked thoughtful at Duan Dong: "Marquis Duan, I have seen the bodies of both old ladies, and the traces left on them are indeed unique to ’Purple Illusory Fire.’ If we bring any senior Lingwu from the Liudao Division, I believe there won’t be a second opinion. If you firmly believe that the murderer is not Zidie, may I ask if there is any reason for this?"

"No reason, just intuition." Duan Dong still kept his eyes closed, exhibiting an indifferent attitude: "You need not ask any further, just get a better Lingwu. Our Duan family has no connection with Demoness Zidie, no grudges or grievances—"

Just as Sima Tianyuan and Jiang Hanyun began to feel a headache, a woman’s voice came from the door: "Old man, isn’t that a bit self-deceptive of you? I do believe that the one who killed my mother and old Lady Cui was Demoness Zidie. There’s no other possibility."

Li Xuan glanced over to find that it was the wife of Marquis Zhen Dong.

At this moment, Duan Dong’s pupils contracted slightly, his face turned exceedingly unpleasant: "Madam, please watch your words! Servants, take the madam back to rest."

"Hold on!" Lady Duan’s voice abruptly rose, becoming particularly piercing: "My lord, are you still deceiving yourself now that mother has ended up like this?"

She then scanned the crowd: "Gentlemen Xiaowei, I request that you remove all irrelevant people here. The matter I’m about to discuss is related to the secrets of the Duan mansion and Demoness Zidie. I hope all of you here will swear on the Sanguan Great Emperor, not to disclose my words to others."

Lei Yun’s eyebrows rose slightly, and he immediately began to clear the room.

First the maidservants of Old Madame Duan, then the numerous personnel of the Liudao Division.

Xue Yunrou was a typical outsider, but her curiosity was ignited by gossip about the secrets between Duan Mansion and Demoness Zidie.

Therefore, she sneakily hid behind Princess Changle, and successfully stayed after swearing an oath under Lei Yun’s compulsion.

Li Xuan was also initially in line to be driven away, but Jiang Hanyun protected him. The girl glared at Lei Yun, who then backed down.

He thought that as a key figure in Mingyou City and Jiang Hanyun’s trusted aide, it wouldn’t be out of line for Li Xuan to stay.

When the room was cleared, Lady Duan, who had been staring at Zhen Dong Marquis, raised her head slightly: "The gentlemen of the Liudao Division, if I’m not mistaken, you haven’t been able to uncover Zidie’s identity or past so far, right?"

"No!" Sima Tianyuan admitted with a bitter smile: "I’m ashamed. Not only is Zidie’s illusionistic technique cultivated to the point of transcendence, but her body and space manipulation techniques are also unrivaled in this era, almost matching the heavenly level. We don’t even know what she looks like, let alone her identity. We only know that when she first started out, she mentioned her name, and it seemed to be Xia Nanyan."

Lady Duan shook her head: "Of course you couldn’t find out. This is because someone of high authority covered up her past for her. If it weren’t for today’s event, you wouldn’t ever imagine that the so-called Demoness Zidie was the adopted daughter our lord adopted five years ago after a tragic accident, who used to be called Duan Nanyan."

The courtyard fell silent instantly. Everyone looked at Duan Dong and Lady Duan in shock. Even Sima Tianyuan and the others, seemed to find it hard to believe their eyes.

However, Lady Duan’s following words caught everyone off guard: "But this woman’s surname is indeed Xia, and she is the daughter of the Xunjian Yushi Xia Guangwei from twelve years ago. That year, Xia Guangwei’s corruption case was uncovered, and he was associated with Wang Zhen. He was sentenced to whole family execution!"

"At that time, the Marquis of my family had just inherited his title, serving as the Commanding Officer of Central Capital Garrison. He was ordered to arrest Xia Guangwei’s entire family. But when handling the case, he couldn’t bear to do it, so he secretly hid Xia Guangwei’s wife and daughter. His wife committed suicide out of grief, and his daughter was sent to be raised by the old Madame."

Her voice gradually became harsh: "That’s the grudge our family has against the Demoness Zidie. The death of the Xia family involves my old master. In addition, Cui Chengyou, the Imperial Censor Cui’s elder brother, was also serving as Xunjian Yushi with Xia Guangwei at that time, though their jurisdictions were different. I remember when Xia Guangwei was put into prison, Cui Chengyou also came forward to testify."

The expression on Duan Dong’s face became calm: "Xia Guangwei was falsely accused and unfairly put to death because he offended many salt merchants. I respected his integrity, so I took care of his wife and daughter. The arrest of him was an order from above. Nanyan is also a good child, kind-hearted, she would not do such a crazy thing."

"How naive you are, my lord!" Lady Duan mocked, "This is what you think, but it may not be the case for others. This involves a grievance that resulted in the annihilation of the entire family. Moreover, her second uncle was killed by you during his escape. But you, instead of cutting the grass and root, opted for the story of the wolf from the Zhongshan mountains, keeping your enemies under your own roof."

Duan Dong opened his tiger-like eyes slightly, glancing at Lady Duan. "You have watched Nanyan grow up; you should clearly know what kind of person she is. I had an agreement with Yan in the past. If she wants to take revenge, she could come to me directly, and no one else should be involved."

"I did watch her grow up, but appearances can be deceptive."

Lady Duan contemptuously said, "She was an introvert back then, who knows what she is thinking in her mind? I only know the facts are there; the spirit tambourine from Liudao Division said that the trace of the ’Purple Illusory’ cannot be false. This Nanyan is a wild wolf cub that can’t be tamed."

Sima Tianyuan and others listened with heightened interest.

At the moment when Duan Dong’s brow furrowed into the shape of the character ’river’, and he was about to speak, a sigh came from outside the left wing of the house. "Father, stop arguing with mother for me. You both are deeply in love and should not quarrel because of me."

Li Xuan was slightly startled, thinking that the voice sounded familiar. Then, a flutter of purple fire butterflies flew in from outside the yard, gathering in the middle of the hall. Gradually, it formed the silhouette of a young girl.

The girl appeared to be about sixteen, wearing a purple dress, sparkling under the sunlight, with smoke and clouds lightly gathered around her. Her features were strikingly beautiful. Her eyes were like clear water, expressing spirit. Her skin, incomparably fair and flawless, and her hair, smooth as silk, left an indelible impression on people. Several words like ’demoness,’ ’stunning beauty,’ and ’country-ruining beauty,’ came to mind involuntarily.

Li Xuan was unfamiliar with the girl’s face. But at first glance, he recognized that the girl was undoubtedly the demoness with whom he’d had several "encounters."

Sima Tianyuan’s pupils dilated: "Zidie!"

Almost immediately, he lashed out with his heavy sword towards Zidie, not giving her any chance to react.

But just as he was about to reach her, Sima Tianyuan hesitated for a moment and changed his sword’s edge to its hilt. Despite this, the sword’s strength remained fierce and heavy. It pounded on Zidie’s shoulder, knocking the girl to her knees and making her bleed from the mouth.

Zidie did not attempt to dodge or launch any magic technique, she just stood motionless on the spot and let Sima Tianyuan’s one heavy blow fall on her.

Lei Yun and Jiang Hanyun quickly arrived, forcing a Zhenyuan nail, as long as a finger, into her body. Zidie did not resist.

"Nanyan!" Duke Duan Dong clasped his sword, his voice hoarse. "Why are you doing this?"

After eighteen Zhenyuan nails were driven into Zidie’s body, Lei Yun and Sima Tianyuan were both shocked and felt a strong sense of unreality.

-- The elusive Demoness Zidie, who had kept the Liudao Division busy for half a year, was just captured by them today?

"I came back to prove my innocence."

Zidie looked weakly at the body of old Madame Duan, her face full of grief, eyes filled with sorrow: "I could ignore other things, but I cannot bear being accused of killing my grandmother. What I can bear even less is the murderer getting away with it. Father, you were right, these people from the Liudao Division really are useless, they couldn’t see such a clear frame-up."

"Really useless!" Duke Duan was bleeding from the hand that held the sword. He glared at Sima Tianyuan: "Does the Liudao Division have anything else to say?"

Sima Tianyuan fell silent while Lei Yun also looked slightly moved. Jiang Hanyun stared at Zidie, a hint of appreciation in her eyes.

Even Lady Duan turned pale and looked guiltily embarrassed.

Zhang Xu frowned slightly: "There indeed is evidence of the ’Purple Illusory’. To claim that someone is being framed, there’s no evidence to support."

"There are still doubts!" Li Xuan’s face was cold. He stepped forward under everyone’s surprised gaze: "Lord Duan, I suspect there is something dubious about Old Madame’s death. May I have your permission to inspect Old Madame’s body in detail?"

"You?" Duke Duan glanced at Li Xuan with surprise in his eyes. "Where’s the doubt?"