Peerless Divine Doctor in the City of Flowers
Chapter 236: Ni Yan’s Skills

Chapter 236: Chapter 236: Ni Yan’s Skills

The entire courtyard fell silent in an instant.

The appearance of the saintess signifies the presence of the highest authority.

Even though the villagers had some reservations about Lin Fan and Zhao Jiaqi,

with the saintess’s guarantee, no one dared to speak anymore.

"You guard all the exits; no one inside the courtyard is to leave. Also, investigate any suspicious individuals nearby, especially try to find the person who shouted about the Li Family’s trouble."

The frosty Ni Yan instructed the guards following her.

"Yes!"

More than a dozen guards immediately began to carry out the orders.

Ni Yan then stepped into the dilapidated house.

She did not pay much attention to Lin Xuan and Zhao Jiaqi,

but walked up to the three bodies.

She started to examine their cause of death.

"They were poisoned with arsenic."

Lin Xuan, who stood by, had already discovered the type of poison through his keen sense of smell.

Hearing this, Ni Yan directly removed the silver hairpin from her head.

She precisely stabbed it into the victim’s stomach.

But when she took it out, the silver was still as bright as new.

"Arsenic? But there’s no reaction."

"Miss, who said that arsenic reacts with silver?"

Lin Xuan rubbed his head.

This was definitely a common misunderstanding.

"Because of previous smelting techniques being poor and the processes crude, arsenic that was produced often contained a large amount of sulfides. These sulfides react with silver, forming black silver sulfide that adheres to the surface of the silver needle, turning it black. In other words, the method of testing poison with a silver needle was actually detecting impurities containing sulfur in the arsenic, not the arsenic poison itself. Therefore, the silver needle test is merely a coincidence; with modern techniques, it no longer has this effect."

"I don’t know if the outside world has developed any higher technologies, but if you’ve determined it to be arsenic, then it definitely didn’t come from within Sky Cave Village. After all, our techniques still maintain a certain level of tradition and couldn’t possibly fail to detect it."

After cleaning the silver hairpin, she placed it back on her head.

Ni Yan’s brows were furrowed.

Arsenic is highly toxic but also an excellent preservative and insecticide.

Living in caves for long, there are many poisonous insects.

Therefore, Sky Cave Village uses a lot of sulfur, saltpeter, and arsenic

to deal with deadly poisonous insects.

"That is to say, the poison killing the medicament comes from outside."

Lin Xuan’s eyes lit up.

He hadn’t expected the case to take such a turn.

"And if I’m not wrong, the murderer should be among the crowd that came in later."

Ni Yan had a stern countenance, but her thoughts were extraordinarily clear.

With one statement, Zhao Jiaqi slapped her forehead.

"Right right right, I’ve heard that in many cases, the murderer will return to the crime scene to see if the crime proceeded smoothly."

"So, as long as we confirm which of the ten-plus people who came in recently could have had contact with the outside and obtained the poison, we can know who the murderer is?"

Lin Xuan couldn’t help but marvel at Ni Yan’s way of thinking.

She really should become a striking policewoman.

"No need to search anymore, I know who it is."

Ni Yan showed no sign of emotion on her face,

and instead turned and walked towards the door.

It was rare for anyone here to have contact with the outside world.

Now that the number had been narrowed down to just ten or so individuals,

it became obvious.

Lin Xuan and Zhao Jiaqi, naturally curious, followed her out.

By this time, the ten or so individuals had already been detained by the guards.

They, who had been whispering among themselves, saw the saintess emerge

and hastily stood in an orderly fashion.

"Reporting to the saintess, there were no suspicious individuals outside,"

one of the guards hurried over,

bringing the report from outside.

"I understand."

The Saintess’s face was cold as her gaze swept over the dozen or so people.

Her lofty authority instinctively made them lower their heads.

No one dared to meet the Saintess’s eyes.

"Among you, who has the authority to leave Sky Cave Village?"

Finally, Ni Yan slowly began to ask.

Her question immediately stunned the dozen or so people.

"Saintess, we are all villagers from Sky Cave. No one here has that authority."

"Yes, we were all born and raised in Sky Cave. None of us have the ability to leave."

"We are all fishermen; how could we leave Sky Cave."

The dozen or so villagers all looked at the Saintess with innocent faces.

Although they were descendants of treasure hunters,

it didn’t mean they had the same capabilities.

Like most people living here, they were actually just ordinary people.

It was only that their ancestors had been treasure hunters.

"Are we on the wrong track?"

Zhao Jiaqi propped her cheek with her hand, looking doubtfully at the group.

From the calluses on their hands, it was evident.

They truly were not the sort of people to engage in treasure hunting.

They made their living by fishing within Sky Cave Village.

"Alright, you can go now."

Ni Yan still had a composed expression on her face.

With a wave of her hand, the villagers finally left.

The courtyard was once again empty.

Only a few guards remained.

Zhao Jiaqi wanted to pursue further questioning, but Lin Xuan held her back.

Because he too had realized the subtleties within the situation.

"Qiu Mei, when did you arrive at the scene?"

Ni Yan turned her head and looked towards one of the guards.

"To the Saintess... I didn’t pay much attention, I just saw the Saintess leave the Holy Maiden Hall and followed... however, I remember when I arrived, Xia Ju was already there. At that time, I thought to myself that Xia Ju’s martial arts had improved again to have arrived even before me."

As Qiu Mei spoke, she looked toward another woman on the other side.

She too was one of the guards, clad in white.

"Xia Ju, if I remember correctly, a few months ago you led a group of people out of Sky Cave to search for treasure. Were any of these three among them?"

Ni Yan turned her head to look at Xia Ju.

Her words made Xia Ju’s expression change instantaneously.

"To the Saintess, these three are simply countrymen with the strength in their arms, with no skills in treasure hunting, so they were not the ones I took with me."

Xia Ju hurriedly replied.

"Oh, is that so? Lanyue, what have you found out from your investigation just now?"

Ni Yan did not pay attention to Xia Ju’s response, but turned to another person.

"To the Saintess, according to what I’ve just asked the neighbors, these three brothers are fishermen, and they are very good swimmers. Everyone calls them the ’Water Ghost Brothers.’ A few months ago, they mysteriously disappeared for a full two months. When they returned, they only said they went to the west to explore caves and got lost, surviving on wild fish from an underground river. But since they’ve been back, they haven’t gone into the water and have been spending their days at home drinking and eating meat, constantly talking about striking it rich," Lanyue relayed what she had learned from her inquiries.

For a moment, everyone’s gaze turned toward Xia Ju.

Because the timing of the brothers’ disappearance perfectly matched with the time she left.

At the same time, it also fulfilled all the criteria.

As one of the guards, she had certainly seen Lin Xuan using that sword.

Feeling everyone’s scrutiny,

Xia Ju’s complexion suddenly turned very ugly.

"Saintess, this is not what you think. These three have nothing to do with me..."

Xia Ju hurriedly bowed.

But the next second, she took something from her sleeve.

And with great force, she smashed it against the ground.