Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 154 - 149: This is a Double Cross_1

Chapter 154: Chapter 149: This is a Double Cross_1

Once the room fell into silence, Luo Yan raised his right hand, and two black whips shot up from the ground like snakes, wrapping around the ankles of the Wu Cultivator sitting to the south.

The whip in his hand had stealthily crept along the ground to the feet of this Wu Cultivator, lying in wait for an unknown period of time.

Li Xuan was the third to act. Thunder light erupted around him, and with a firm stomp, he seemed to teleport and appeared in front of another Wu Cultivator. He said, ’Stop!’ There was no sound, but the effect of Shen Kui Lei Yin and the Great Rectitude was still present, causing the man’s head to become dizzy and temporarily lose consciousness.

Meanwhile, Li Xuan’s fingers touched this person more than twenty times in an instant amidst flashes of lightning. Not until he had ensured that this fifth house level Wu Cultivator was immobilized and completely helpless did he stop utilizing his Zhenyuan.

Peng Fulai and Zhang Yue were not idle either. The latter swiftly punched Shopkeeper Han in the abdomen and seized the ring from his hand. At the same time, Peng Fulai threw out three fly stones and knocked out several servants from Xuanyi House who were standing by.

All these movements were completed within a split second, and less than three breaths later, the noise and spiritual energy in the room returned to normal. Peng Fulai quickly moved several steps and stood at the top of the stairs, vigilantly watching the situation below.

As a Wu Cultivator specializing in hidden weaponry, his eyesight and hearing were exceptionally sharp, making him the ideal person for keeping watch.

Zhang Yue threw the ring to Yue Qianqian. After taking a look at it, she said with a touch of relief: "This is a magical instrument for transmitting messages. It can also provide protection when activated. This old gentleman indeed had reason to be suspicious."

Li Xuan walked back with big strides: "Shopkeeper Han!"

He looked at the old man with a grin: "Can you tell me where our plan had a leak?"

Shopkeeper Han, clutching his belly and half-kneeling on the ground, his old face twisted beyond recognition, scowled at Li Xuan: "You think I haven’t seen the world? Some Taiji on the prairie are indeed rich. But at most, they take a few items from here. Do you think they can monopolize these goods? They can’t afford the price."

Li Xuan realized the issue was with their assumed identities.

He then placed the ’Jinsi Cloisonne Golden Dragon Cup’ in front of the old man and asked in a low voice: "Speak up! Who are these stolen goods from? Where can we find them? Be quick, or else don’t force us to use torture."

"You want me to betray a customer?" Shopkeeper Han smirked coldly, his gaze filled with menace: "Do you know where you are? You dare to resort to violence here? Be clear about this, the master of our house is a great hero in Zhenjiang. You —"

"Slap!"

This light noise came from Luo Yan’s whip, which casually crushed one of Shopkeeper Han’s thumbs.

Shopkeeper Han screamed in utter pain, but Yue Qianqian was quick to make a gesture, silencing him. Although the old man was howling in pain, no sound was heard beyond three feet from him.

Li Xuan’s face twitched. He knew that this was the style of ancient interrogations; this era did not respect the presumption of innocence or kindly treatment of detainees. It would be better for him to forget about modern judicial procedures.

There was no need for them to be polite to Shopkeeper Han, a confirmed hostile figure.

"You’re quite tough." Luo Yan looked indifferently at Shopkeeper Han: "Having guessed that we’re from the Liudao Division, you still dare to name the great hero of Zhenjiang? You better explain everything, or else, I’ll break you down right now."

Eventually recovering, Shopkeeper Han’s face alternated between paleness and flushness: "I won’t lie, these items were really left by someone else for us to sell. I don’t know that woman, but she did show me the token of Demoness Zidie. She also said that if we could sell them, we could go to her and get the remaining goods."

"Demoness Zidie?" Li Xuan raised his brow, "This matter is also related to Demoness Zidie?"

"Exactly. At least a third of the looted goods stolen before by Demoness Zidie were sold through our Xuanyi House."

Despite his bitter expression and under the watchful gazes of Zhang Yue and the others, Shopkeeper Han took out a purple-gold butterfly hairpin from his sleeve.

"We really didn’t want to lose this loyal client, so even though we knew the risks were extremely high, we still didn’t dare to refuse. However, after these goods had arrived at the store, we only showed them to the wealthy merchants from Nanyang. Our master couldn’t cover up the matter involving the royal family. Especially yesterday, when I heard that Zidie was captured, I dared not put them on the shelves anymore. But I didn’t expect it would still attract you people from the Liudao Division."

Luo Yan reached out and took the butterfly hairpin. He held it in his hand, deep in thought. Li Xuan continued to question, "Where did she say we could pick up the remaining goods?"

"Not far from here, at Huanglin Temple on the north bank of the Yangtze River!"

Shopkeeper Han lifted his gaze to meet Li Xuan’s: "But if you really want to find her, you will have to move quickly. That woman said she would only wait for five days at Huanglin Temple on the north bank of the Yangtze River. If there is no news from us within five days, she would change her location and contact Xuanyi House when the time is right. I could tell, she’s a very cautious person, and today is the last day. I remember she came to the store at noon five days ago."

Upon hearing this, the others present looked at each other with serious expressions.

※※※※

About half an hour later, when all the questions had been asked, Zhang Yue gagged Shopkeeper Han with a cloth and tied up his hands and feet.

Peng Fulai didn’t idle either, he had to gather all the stolen goods around here into his Qiankun bag.

This guy is slippery. In addition to the artifacts stolen from the palace, he also stored a large number of ceramics and jade stones inside - these are all top-notch in their categories.

As he was collecting, he began to talk: "The words of this old fellow may not be trustworthy. If it were me, no matter what, I wouldn’t rush to sell the stuff less than half a day after the case happened. I would at least hold onto it for three to five years."

"That’s because your family isn’t lacking money."

Zhang Yue scoffed, "Greed is not something everyone can resist. So many theft cases occur in Jinling Government every year, more than half of the criminals get caught because they can’t hold their horses. Look at yourself now, aren’t you also losing your mind due to greed? Your family is so rich, but you’re still not satisfied, are you?"

"You make a good point." Peng Fulai stopped his hand, rubbed his nine chins, he wore a thoughtful expression: "But what now? Are we going to Huanglin Temple? If we don’t go, this clue might be lost. Since this old fellow mentioned that the person is careful, the incident at Xuanyi House today will definitely alert him. But going there also seems to be too rash."

He specifically pointed out the window, "It’s now less than three quarters away from the Hour of Wu. If we want to make a decision, we have to do it as soon as possible."

"I think whether it’s credible or not, we should check it out." Luo Yan, who replaced Peng Fulai on the watch at the stairwell, crossed his arms and looked at Shopkeeper Han with an unusually icy gaze. "There’s a saying, ’can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs’. We mustn’t lose the clue we’ve hardly found."

Meanwhile, Li Xuan felt extremely troubled, not because of what his buddies were discussing, but because of the Four-legged Gilded Golden Dragon Cauldron in his hand.

At this moment, his red-clothed female ghost was like a child who got candy, refusing to let go no matter what.

No matter how Li Xuan tried to persuade her, swearing that he would definitely get a similar one in the future, she insisted on not withdrawing those blood-colored threads and ribbons.

"Let me do it!"

This time Yue Qianqian took out several purple round jade talismans, and put them on the ’Four-legged Gilded Golden Dragon Cauldron’. "I’m using the Buddhist ’Small Sumeru Seal’, it has similar effects to the Qiankun bag, but it can only work on a single target. However, its price is also quite high. I spent more than 30,000 teals when I bought it from Jiming Temple. Officer Youjiao, you have to compensate me afterward."

Sure enough, the next instant, as the blood-colored thread tightened and pulled, the Golden Dragon Cauldron turned into small grains of dust, forcibly drawn by the red-clothed female ghost into the Song of Righteousness scroll.

The bloody-eyed girl hovering behind him, as if fearing his demands, disappeared immediately.

Li Xuan couldn’t help but break a sweat: "Qianqian, is this okay? After all, this is stolen property from the palace."

The point was the red-clothed female ghost still hadn’t had her fill, her eagerness was continuously being transferred into his mind.

Was this bloody-eyed girl longing for the other part of this ’Four-legged Gilded Golden Dragon Cauldron’?

But since it was one of the items stolen from the palace, taking it away like this could definitely lead to big trouble in the future.

Li Xuan wondered how Yue Qianqian, who usually follows the rules, could make such a mistake? Isn’t this hurting others?

"This is indeed a royal ceremonial object, and its background is also problematic. But calling it a stolen good may not be accurate—"

Yue Qianqian paused, a trace of confusion crossing her eyes: "I’ve seen the palace’s list of stolen items, and this ’Four-legged Gilded Golden Dragon Cauldron’ is not on it."

Li Xuan was slightly taken aback by this, looking over in surprise: "Are you using another name?"

Li Xuan would never doubt Yue Qianqian had made a mistake or missed it, because he’s aware of how meticulous this girl can be when reading.

"Impossible!" Yue Qianqian shook her head confidently: "There were only three cauldrons and two stoves on the list, all made of bronze, the most traditional ceremonial utensils. You must know that the Great Ancestor paid great attention to frugality. Even the use of a few Cloisonne small items in the ceremony for Xiao Mausoleum was extravagant, where would they use this flashy cauldron? Even the entire Liudao Division doesn’t have the record of this Four-legged Gilded Golden Dragon Cauldron. So theoretically, it can’t be considered the stolen good from this theft."

She looked somewhat guiltily at Shopkeeper Han, who was tied up like a dumpling next to her: "So should we say it’s just a black-on-black crime? Or, robbery?"

"What robbery? It’s just black-eating-black! No, it never existed."

Li Xuan felt relieved, since it wasn’t stolen property from the palace and it wasn’t registered as a lost item in the Liudao Division’s records, there was no problem.

Black-eating-black, he doesn’t feel any burden over this.

Then Li Xuan found that Peng Fulai and others were looking at him.

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