Chapter 124 – Forces Involved in the Sampo Case

The Second Princess lived in the “Shao Yin Palace”, a spacious and elegant garden.

The head guard led Xu Qi’an across the high threshold and around the shadow wall, and in front of him was a compound filled with the colors of a young girl’s childhood.

Swings dangled from grapevine arbors, tattered clay dolls were piled up in the corners, and many strange and bizarre contraptions were stacked up vaguely in the east gazebo.

At the edge of the western flower garden, the second princess Lin An, with a few maids, was kicking an embroidered ball, and the women’s chattering and noisy voices were occasionally mixed with Princess Lin An’s silver bell-like laughter.

“Your Highness, Xu Qi’an is here.” The head guard cupped his fists across the distance and said in a loud voice.

The Second Princess stepped on the embroidered ball and turned back to look over, she stared at Xu Qi’an for a few seconds, the corner of her mouth slightly quirked, and she kicked the embroidered ball away with a forceful kick.

Bang!

The embroidered ball shot up, and Princess Lin An’s skirt, suddenly exploded into a circle, like a blooming flower.

Xu Qi’an, who had eaten a downward spiral at the meeting, was flabbergasted in his heart, and was just about to dodge, when he suddenly held back, and the embroidered ball shot off course, bouncing into the distance with a thud.

“…. Spare you once.” The Second Princess forced herself to salvage her honor, lifting her steps towards the front hall, saying, “Xu Qi’an, you come in with this palace, while the others wait outside.”

In the luxurious and atmospheric front hall, the Second Princess was seated on a large chair, and Xu Qi’an was standing in the hall. The two of them wordlessly scrutinized each other.

The Second Princess attempted to force Xu Qi’an to soften through the added weight of her status as an imperial daughter, using the gaze of her eyes.

She knew that when Huaiqing was young, there was a time when he used to simmer the eagle, and the eagle’s eyes were the sharpest, like knives, and ordinary people couldn’t stare at it for a long time, so in the process of simmering the eagle, it had to be suppressed with a sharper and calmer gaze.

Once the simmering eagle has averted his gaze, he is disqualified from being an eagle master.

Huaiqing’s purpose of simmering the eagle was to exercise sharp eyes, and the second princess had not dared to meet Huaiqing’s eyes for a long time so far.

Unfortunately, her watery peach blossom eyes were really not very lethal, and when she stared straight at people, she instead had a kind of amorous feeling of wanting to talk.

Xu Qi’an surveyed the Second Princess, she had a round face, somewhat similar to Chu Caiwei’s, but the latter was sweet and dark, with large secondary-like eyes.

The second princess, on the other hand, was a small imperial type of beauty with peach blossom eyes that looked at anyone with affection.

“Xu Qi’an, I’ve heard that you are Huaiqing’s loyal dog.” Seeing that her ferocious gaze could not deter Xu Qi’an, the Second Princess snorted and turned to verbal blows.

“Yes, my name is Bakong.” Xu Qi’an said sincerely.

“What’s an octogenarian?”

“It’s the faithful dog.”

“Are you teasing this palace?” Princess Lin An raised her eyebrows.

“Don’t dare.” Xu Qi’an said in an unassuming manner.

Princess Lin’an delicately grunted and said, “This palace will give you a chance, now immediately defect to me and get rid of that woman Huaiqing. Otherwise ….”

You? I’ve already hugged the Princess’s leg and Wei Yuan’s thigh, if I trust you again ….. I’ll become a slave of three?

Xu Qi’an shook his head, “I’m sorry, humble servant has already sworn to be an ox and a horse for the Eldest Princess.”

The Second Princess immediately said, “Then I also want you to work for me as an ox.”

Will you give me grass? Xu Qi’an figured out the situation, the second princess saw that he was appreciated by the Princess, was the horseman beside the Princess, was handsome, could write poems, and spoke well, so she became jealous and wanted to snatch him away from the Princess.

“The Second Princess should not force her hand.” Xu Qi’an sternly refused, one must have the spirit of contract, since he had agreed to work for the Eldest Princess, he could not defect to anyone else.

“If you don’t,” the Second Princess widened her eyes, sneered a little, and threatened, “I’ll scream molestation right now and tell the guards that you tried to molest my palace.”

“I am willing to serve the Second Princess with my liver and brain as an ox.” Xu Qi’an said sincerely.

The second princess was happy all of a sudden, “The one who recognizes the time is a handsome man, you are a talent …. Well, in the future, after noon every day, you will come here to see this palace for this palace’s dispatch.”

“Your Highness, humble servant has an errand to investigate the Sangpo case.” Xu Qi’an sighed.

“…. Also oh,” Princess Lin’an thought about it, “then tomorrow is even, when this palace wants to make you, you come again.”

Xu Qi’an saw that this woman was just fooling around, not really wanting him to do anything, but purely to pick a fight with the Princess.

The threat just now was not much of a kill, the reputation of the princess of the hall, in exchange for his dog life of a small gong, blood loss!

It was precisely because he saw it that he changed his attitude and promised the Second Princess that he would just play with the kids and deal with them casually.

“You stand down.” The Second Princess was in a good mood because things were going well.

“Yes.”

“Wait,” the second princess called out to him, took off the jade pendant on her waist and said, “This is the palace token, you can enter the palace with this, the guards won’t stop you, but only to this palace, you can’t go to the other places.”

….. So generous? You’re afraid of a hammer. Xu Qi’an’s eyes lit up as he took the jade pendant and put it in his arms, “In the future, my humble servant will do his best to serve Your Highness.”

The three family name slaves Xu Qi An left the imperial city before dusk and steered his horse back to the office of the night watchman.

The yamen had already dispersed, leaving only the watchmen and mandarins on duty, and it was much cooler and quieter than in the daytime.

Xu Qi’an had just entered the courthouse when he was greeted by a tall-nosed, broad-faced gong, Zhu Chengzhu’s father, Zhu Yang.

There was no eye contact between the enemies, just a sorrowful mutual scrutiny.

“Zhu Jinluo, how is your son’s injury ah?” Xu Qi’an laughed as he pulled out his waist plate and tied it around his waist with a strong bottom.

Zhu Yang swept his gaze over the gold medals, did not move, and faintly said, “Fate, can’t die. I’m afraid I’ll have to have Lord Xu go ahead.”

Xu Qi’an waved his hand and smiled kindly, “I’ll wait for him on the way, we’ve known each other for a while.”

Zhu Yang stared at him for a few seconds and nodded, “Investigate the case properly.”

“Have a good walk, Jukin Gong.”

Entering the Spring Wind Hall’s side hall, the gongs attached to Li Yuchun, as well as several constables from the government office were still there.

Li Yuchun heard the footsteps and came out of the Chunfeng Hall, saying, “There’s some clues to the death of Magistrate Zhao, well, it may not be the work of the Taoist Sect.”

Xu Qi’an nodded and did not enter the side hall, following Li Yuchun into the Spring Wind Hall.

“This afternoon, Prefect Chen invited the white coats of the Sithian Supervisor to interrogate the jailers and xuxu officials who were on duty during the night, confirming that there was nothing wrong with them, and further confirming that County Magistrate Zhao did indeed die without a sound in his jail cell in the early hours of the morning.”

Li Yuchun poured a cup of tea for Xu Qi’an, who was both a subordinate and a superior, and continued, “The Daoist Yin Spirits can do this, as well as bypass the guards and jailers without a sound. But after checking the information today, I found that there is another system that can do this.”

Xu Qi’an took a sip of tea and listened patiently.

“Sorcerer!” Li Yuchun said.

“Witches?”

“Have you heard of the Wiccan religion?”

“The Witch God I heard you say, chief, an immortal god level figure outside of the grade, the Witch God Cult is a sect founded by the Witch God?”

Li Yuchun let out a “hmmm”, “The Witch God is the common belief of all the countries in the Northeast, and the Witch God Cult has supreme power in the Northeast, just as the Buddhist Sect in the Western Region is to all the countries.”

The Daebung is imperial supremacy, as are the northern tribes.

But the West and the Northeast are theocratic and the sects are the real masters.

“Witches can match the Dao Sect in the realm of Yuan Shen?” Xu Qi’an vainly sought guidance.

“No, there is no system in the Yuan Shen domain that can compare to the Dao Sect.” Li Yuchun shook his head and said, “But Sorcerer Fourth Grade, also known as Dream Sorcerer, can weave dreams and kill people in the dream world.

“Seventy years ago, there was a war between the Northern Demon Race and the Witch God Cult because of their territories. According to the information sent back by the spies of the night watchman, there was a group of demon race soldiers numbering two thousand that died without a sound in the military camp. They didn’t have any wounds on their bodies, and all of them rested on their pillows and went to sleep, but never woke up again.”

Fourth Grade Sorcerer …. How did you get the sorcerer involved again …. This case is too hard.

The Human Sect is now the state religion of the Dafeng, and the Head of the Dao is the State Master, which is already a supreme honor, so what’s the benefit of them helping the Zhenbei King to seek the dynasty and usurp the throne?

It’s no longer possible to move up the ladder. It’s a full level.

Therefore, it is more likely that the Witch God Cult is involved. If the one who killed Magistrate Zhao was a Dream Witch, then the forces behind the Sangpo case: the mastermind behind the scenes (the King of Zhenbei), the Northern Demon Clan, and the Northeastern Witch God Cult!

Xu Qi’an took a sip of tea, unable to hide the exhaustion in his eyes.

“It’s not all for naught, at least now we can initially rule out the Human Clan, and there’s been some progress in the case.” Xu Qi’an said:

“Chief, report this to Lord Wei.”

Li Yuchun nodded, also looking sad, “I always feel that the end of the Gengzi year is the beginning of the great chaos.”

“Let’s just solve the case, don’t eat the life of gutter oil and worry about the country’s society.” Xu Qi’an patted him on the shoulder and left the courthouse.

It was already completely dark when he got home, and he was starving after a long day. He ate the meal that the cook had warmed up, drank the milk that Ling Yue’s sister served up, returned to the small courtyard, and fell asleep.

On the third day, Xu Qi’an rode his horse to the courthouse at dawn, just in time to see across the street, the yellow-skirted Chu Caiwei also riding her horse, clattering along.

She held the horse’s reins in one hand and clutched the greasepaper bag in her arms, half of the white bag exposed, straining to jump out as the horse lurched.

“Are you eating?” Chu Caiwei generously handed over a bun, adding, “Meat.”

Xu Qi’an’s heart was touched no less than hearing that Xu Suoyin only drank a bowl of congee because she was worried about herself. This foodie treats me as one of her own.

Xu Qi’an took the bun and held it in his mouth, smoothly tossing the horse’s reins to the mandarin at the door.

As he ate, he moved inside and asked, “What’s the clue?”

Chu Caiwei said, “I’ve asked, and Senior Brother Song Qing said that excluding some of the palace’s magic weapons and those of the Heavenly Superintendent, in the realm of the capital, the only magic weapons that can shield the Qi Looking Technique are probably those of the Buddhist Sect. Well, it’s not those mortal Buddhist temples, it’s the Green Dragon Temple.”

Green Dragon Temple?

The legacy left behind by that Pagoda Temple …. Xu Qi’an was both surprised and not surprised at the same time.

Sure enough, the Buddhists are not to be separated from this Sampo case.

The Heavenly Superintendent, the Royal Family, the Witch God Sect, the Northern Demon Race, the King of Zhenbei, and the Buddhist Sect …. A small case of Sang Po has involved so many great powers.

PS: Thank you for the alliance of “Slender Stranger Plum Blossom”.

Thanks to everyone who found typos in this chapter, the ones in the previous chapters have been fixed. I’m relying on you guys for this chapter too, I’m too tired to change it myself word by word.

While I can’t copy what the other authors say in this chapter, I can look for other ways to woolgather, haha, resourceful as I am.