Chapter 167 – Xu Qi’an without a breakthrough

Without speaking, Zhang Kaitai took the lead and rushed back to the front hall, Xu Qi’an also wanted to rush with Zhang Jinluo, but not as fast as others.

He arrived at the front hall with great speed just in time to see Zhang Kaitai use his finger instead of his sword to slice the last paper man into two.

And at this moment, the ground was covered with quite a few pieces of shredded paper, and there were nearly ten paper figures in side view. In addition, there were two teenagers lying on the ground, their throats were cut by sharp blades, blood splattered everywhere, and they had already died of gas.

“What’s going on?” Xu Qi’an was alarmed.

“Many paper figures suddenly drilled out of these two people and wanted to kill them, but we stopped them.” The silver gong in charge of guarding the human prisoners replied, but the target of the reply was Zhang Kaitai.

“How are the prisoners?” As Zhang Kaitai asked, his gaze looked toward the brocade-clothed middle-aged man huddled in the corner, protected by several gongs.

He crouched in the corner with his head in his hands and his face facing the wall, making it impossible to see his face.

“Hey, it’s okay.” The gong on the side kicked him, and the middle-aged man fell limply to the ground.

The faces of the crowd changed slightly, the silver gong in charge of the guards darted over with large strides, and after probing the nose and neck, his face was ugly and he clasped his fists in fear:

“My humble servant has failed to protect the guards, please punish me, my lord.”

Zhang Kaitai turned gloomy all of a sudden, his forehead veins blossoming angrily, and after a few seconds of silence, he slowly exhaled, “It’s not your fault.”

He walked over to the body, pinched the collar of the middle-aged man and gave it a gentle shake, and with a piercing sound, the clothes shattered into pieces.

The middle-aged man’s naked body was exposed to the crowd, and he had a bright red mark on his chest.

“This is a sorcerer’s spell killing technique, taking someone’s hair, blood, nails, and other things, supplemented by their birth date, they can kill people invisibly.” Zhang Kaitai shook his head.

It’s not defensible, especially with a system like Wulf’s that only specializes in violence.

“What about the paper man?” Xu Qi’an asked.

Zhang Kaitai squatted by the corpse and pondered for a long time, “These paper people made me think of something, the Witch God Cult’s methods are bizarre and unpredictable, there are spell killing techniques, dream killing, and the ability to manipulate ghosts and corpses.

“These paper figures, to which ghosts are attached, are driven to do the work of the caster.”

How smart Xu Qi’an was, he instantly understood Zhang Kaitai’s meaning in a second and said in shock, “That well in the backyard, it’s… used exclusively by the Sorcerer of the Witch God Cult to raise ghosts.”

It would also explain why it’s a ban and not a complete purification.

“That wizard is likely to be nearby.”

“But it’s gone now, our surprise attack caught him off guard, so he lurked around and cast a spell to kill the man, and with the man dead, he won’t continue to hang around.”

“Zhang Jinluo, can’t this paper man even be sensed by you? I can’t believe I didn’t realize that the paper man was hiding on these teenagers just now.”

“One, a martial artist’s divine sense can only warn them of things that threaten them; two, a paper man is both a thing for ghosts to cling to and a layer of sealing that shields perception; and three, a paper man doesn’t possess strong killing power and is usually used for errands rather than killing the enemy.”

Xu Qi’an suddenly furious, cursed the waste, black and gold long knife sheathed, the powerful blade cut through the hall beams, broken wood and tiles “clattering” smashed down, causing the women and teenagers to hold their heads, screaming again and again.

In the shadows a block away, seeing the distant collapsed roof, the commotion, hidden in the shadows sneered “Hey”, and then fell into silence.

…..

The Ministry of Public Works.

In the master bedroom, the Minister of Public Works, who had never renewed his marriage after his late wife’s death for many years, was sleeping soundly with his concubine in his arms.

A paper figure floated into the yard with the night wind, landed lightly on the ground, and after a few seconds, climbed to his feet and with great difficulty squeezed himself through the doorway.

It carefully avoided the charcoal basin, took raw steps to the edge of the bed, drove up a light wind to float up the bed, and landed on the pillow of the Minister of Public Works.

The paper man staggered to his feet on the pillow, riveted to his feet, and slammed his head into the face of the Minister of Works.

The Minister of Public Works frowned and slowly opened his eyes, and he instantly sobered up after seeing the paper figure on his pillow.

After first observing the concubine and confirming that she was sleeping soundly, he picked up the paper man, got out of bed and came to the table, lit the candles on the table, unfolded the paper man, and squinted his eyes to read the small fly-head words on the paper.

Not long after reading it, the Minister of Public Works’ face changed drastically in vain, and his beard twitched. When he finished reading it, he exhaled a mouthful of turbid air as if relieved, regaining his composure and ease.

After burning the paper man with a candle, the Minister of Works returned to the bed, looked at the sleeping concubine, pondered for a moment, slowly picked up the pillow and covered the concubine’s mouth and nose ….

…..

The following day, the Ministry of Justice.

The early riser, the Minister of Justice, came to the Yamen and made a personal trip down to the jail to inspect the beaters who had been admitted here.

The embezzlement case involved a total of forty-six watchmen, from gold gongs to copper gongs, all of whom were imprisoned at the Ministry of Justice.

Originally, according to the rules, should be three Yamen each part of the custody, separate interrogation. But the Wang Party in the tax silver case and the Sangpo case in succession lost two core members, and Wei Yuan is incompatible, down the well of the work, the Ministry of Justice than the Qi Party’s Secretary of the Da Lisi more enthusiastic.

“People are doing what the heavens are watching, do you think that you can evade the king’s law by keeping silent?” The Minister of Justice sneered and shook his head:

“This official has already inventoried your family assets and drawn up folders, and after His Majesty’s approval, none of you will be able to escape.

Of course, I’m still willing to give you a chance. Who instructed you to embezzle silver and oppress the people? Was it Wei Yuan?”

No one answered him.

Suddenly, someone sneered, “Embezzlement? Lord Shangshu, please tell me, how much silver have I embezzled? I’ve been inducted as a night watchman for more than ten years, and I haven’t embezzled a single copper plate.”

Hmph, and show off your tongue ….. The Minister of Justice followed the voice and walked over, saw the man who was talking, his first glance was not on the man, but the neat and tidy cell was attracted.

The spoils and dead grass on the floor were all swept into the corners, the cobwebs in the corners were gone, the straw mats were still tattered, but neatly fitted to the bunks, and every detail was in order.

The Minister of Justice wondered in his heart, and examined the man who spoke, an old-fashioned looking night watchman, who, despite wearing prison clothes, gave off a clean and tidy freshness, with his hair neatly combed, and his left and right sleeves rolled up in an extremely symmetrical manner.

Looking at this man, looking at this cell, including the Minister of Justice, several officials of the Ministry of Justice, including the Ministry of Justice, an inexplicable sense of relief came ….

“What is this person’s name.” Sun Shangshu stood with his hands folded.

“Li Yuchun.”

“How many silver taels have been embezzled? How many suites in the inner city.”

The official turned over the pamphlet and read it for a moment, half-speaking, and was swept away by Sun Shangshu before speaking in a low voice:

“A modest set of small homes in the inner city, with an elderly mother, a pregnant wife, and money…the Ministry of Justice only seized fifty taels of silver from his home.”

“Fifty taels of silver?” Shangshu Sun was shocked that a silver gong in the hall only had fifty taels of silver for his belongings.

“How did you guys check.” Shangshu Sun felt that it was a sloppy job by the people from the Ministry of Justice.

The official whispered in his ear for a few moments, and after hearing this, Sun Shangshu fell silent, seemingly too lazy to bother with this man who loved cleanliness, and turned away.

In the restored quiet of the dungeon, Jiang Luchong leaned his back against the wall and sighed.

“What’s the plan, Ginger?” The golden gong next door knocked on the wall and asked.

“What can I plan for, after dismissal, I will find another way to make a living. I am not going to be a secret agent, my wife and children are in the capital.” Jiang Lizhong said without any good sense of humor.

“Hey, I’m childless, so I can take a trip to the jianghu, and I’m tired of staying in this part of the capital.” That golden gong said.

“Bullshit.” Jiang Lizhong sneered, “You even said a while ago that you intend to marry and have children and settle down in the capital. I just hate that I didn’t scavenge for money all these years and only took some small profits, otherwise this jail sentence wouldn’t be unjust.”

“Heh, then go fall into the weeds when you get out of jail.”

“Roll.”

The worst that can happen is to be dismissed, at least the threat to life will not be there, high-grade martial artists, as long as they have not committed too many faults, the court will not impose capital punishment.

The destructive power of a high-grade martial artist who had gone berserk could not be underestimated.

“Oy!” Another sigh followed by a long silence.

Leaving the dungeon, the Minister of Justice asked, “How come I didn’t see that little scumbag surnamed Xu.”

“Seems to have escaped.” The official replied.

“Did you put out a BOLO?”

“It’s already been drafted and will be released when the Yamen stamps it.”

Sun Shangshu nodded in satisfaction, “How much silver did that kid embezzle?”

“Yesterday, I sent people to check the Xu Mansion, and only hundreds of damasks and silks were seized, but not much silver.” The official said.

Sun Shangshu gave a “hmmm”: “Those damasks and silks will be put away for now, and when the matter is over, they will be sent to the adults in the government offices.”

“It’s…we didn’t dare confiscate those.” The official whispered.

Sun Shangshu’s gaze sharpened, “Huh?”

The official smiled bitterly and said, “That, that is given by His Majesty, no one dares to take it ah, turn back that Xu Pingzhi sued the imperial complaint ….”

“…. I heard that that guy often goes to the Department of Education?” Sun Shangshu looked for another breakthrough.

“Yes, we sent someone to inquire about the pimps in the Education Department, and the surname Xu has slept with eight flower queens in the Education Department in just two months, and is in love with Floating Fragrance of the Shadow Plum Pavilion.”

“This is not it.” Shangshu Sun was slightly energized, “It turns out that all the silver is spent on women’s bellies, and the confessions of those women in the Department of Education can likewise be used as evidence.”

The official said with great difficulty, “But the women’s confessions were all very uniform ….”

Sun Shangshu looked at him with questioning eyes, and the official said indignantly, “Those women claimed that they admired the talent of the surname Xu and served voluntarily without receiving a penny.”

Sun Shangshu’s body swayed, nearly becoming furious.

“Asshole, if there’s no break, arrange a break for him, if there’s no money, send him money!” Sun Shangshu said in a deep voice:

“This officer will never let this little scumbag go.”

Angrily back to the hall, pour a mouthful of warm tea, the ass is not yet sitting hot, the mandarin hurriedly came in, reported:

“Lord Shangshu, word has come from the palace that His Majesty has summoned an audience.”

Shangshu Sun glanced at the water leak in the corner, at this point in time, the morning court had already passed. His Majesty had summoned him either for something or for a small court meeting.

Why is Your Majesty so diligent? He summons his ministers to deliberate twice in three days. …. The Minister of Justice nodded and said, “Prepare the sedan chair!”

PS: It’s been a long time since I’ve asked for monthly votes, and I’m chasing after you, so throw in a few chapters of monthly votes to keep this book in the top 10 overall monthly votes for the first month. There’s an achievement for that. I’ve been writing for so long, but I haven’t gotten this achievement yet. Please, everyone.