Chapter 392: Investigating a Case (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Yuwen Chengde nodded. He turned around, went under the cloth shed, and pointed at the footprints and marks on the ground. “According to the Imperial Boxing Dojo, Instructor Zhang went out to patrol in the middle of the night and didn’t return for an hour. Other instructors went to look for him and found the corpses of two people here. Because there were many people practicing martial arts at night around here, the few students living nearby didn’t notice any special movements. The murderer was quite experienced and wiped away all the traces. Even Sir Shang didn’t see anything…”
Ye Jingtang half-squatted down and carefully examined the ground. He could see that the footprints made during the battle had been all smoothed out by someone’s shoes. He could no longer see the posture and direction of exerting force. He could only determine the approximate position.
There were fine cracks on the walls on both sides of the alley, which should have been caused by a collision. Other than this, there were no other clues.
Daoist Xuanji and the empress dowager were afraid that the officials would recognize them, so they were wearing face scarves. Daoist Xuanji looked around. “Zhang Lie is an old martial arts master. In the past, he taught the spear and staff in the imperial guards and served in the late emperor’s honor guard. His martial arts skills weren’t too high, but his vigilance and reaction when encountering enemies were definitely not bad. To be able to kill him silently without alerting the surrounding students, the murderer’s martial arts skills can’t be underestimated.”
After carefully observing for a while, Ye Jingtang came to the same conclusion as Daoist Xuanji. He stood up and said, “Are the bodies still here?”
Yuwen Chengde said, “They’re in the courtyard. Last time, someone sneaked into the morgue. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ve been sleeping with the corpses for the past two days, afraid that someone will destroy the corpses and wipe out the evidence…”
Ye Jingtang turned around and entered the courtyard. From the corner of his eye, he saw the empress dowager standing timidly at the back. It seemed that she didn’t dare to go in and see the dead.
But when she noticed that he was looking over, she still maintained a calm expression and walked behind Daoist Xuanji.
Ye Jingtang gestured for the empress dowager to stand at the door and then entered the courtyard.
The courtyard was for students to live alone. There were stone chains, sandbags, spears, and other objects by the wall. They were slightly scattered. They must have heard the commotion while training and went out to check on the situation.
Under the eaves of the main house, there were two stretchers. The corpses were covered with white cloth, and two weapons were placed beside them. The student’s weapon was an eyebrow staff, and the instructor’s was a whip staff used as a pointer.
Daoist Xuanji half-squatted down and picked up the wooden whip staff to size it up. There were no marks on it from being hit by an iron weapon, but there were cracks in the middle, as if it had been broken by internal energy.
Ye Jingtang lifted a white cloth and saw a white-haired corpse. There was blood from his mouth and nose and bruises on both of his arms. The fatal wound was on his chest, and round black marks were visible.
Yuwen Chengde gestured at the corpse’s chest. “I can’t tell anything else. I think this fatal wound was caused by the Heart Piercing Staff. Sir Shang guessed that it was a hidden weapon inside the iron tip, but 1 didn’t find any traces of the hidden weapon falling to the ground…”
After Ye Jingtang looked at the corpse beside him again, he stood up and frowned in thought. Then he looked at Shuishui beside him. “What do you think?”
Daoist Xuanji stood up. “The culprit is very skilled in martial arts, and he was careful and deliberately hid his tracks. It’s extremely difficult to deduce the murderer’s origins based on these clues.”
Ye Jingtang nodded, picked up the wooden whip staff from the courtyard, and threw it to Daoist Xuanji. “Practice brings true knowledge. Practice it, and I’ll see if I can deduce the murderer’s movements. Come out and stand here.”
Seeing this, Yuwen Chengde perked up and asked the constables surrounding the alley to retreat farther away.
Daoist Xuanji understood what Ye Jingtang wanted to do. She held the whip staff and pretended to be a victim, putting on the appearance of a strict instructor as she walked into the middle of the alley.
Ye Jingtang looked at the few scratches on the ground. In order to make the empress dowager feel a little involved, he raised his hand and hooked it. “Please come stand here.”
“Hmm?” The empress dowager was watching curiously. Seeing that she had a share, she became interested, walked over obediently, and stood at the door of the courtyard. Ye Jingtang looked around and went to the corner of the side path.
The alley fell silent at this moment. Three figures were standing in various places in the alley.
Daoist Xuanji placed her hands behind her back and held the whip staff. She was standing facing the courtyard and pretending to silently observe the students practicing martial arts.
Ye Jingtang pretended to be a passerby and walked out of the alley silently. When he found Daoist Xuanji standing in the middle of the alley, he stopped.
Daoist Xuanji suddenly noticed that someone had appeared. It was too dark to see who it was, so she spun the whip staff in her hand in front of her and tapped her fingers against the palm of her other hand.
This action seemed to be putting on a strict instructor’s attitude, but in fact, she was preparing to meet the enemy.
When Ye Jingtang saw that the situation wasn’t good, he quickly raised his hand and made the gesture of a spear stab at Daoist Xuanji.
Before Daoist Xuanji could speak, she stopped abruptly and dodged.
Bam!
Ye Jingtang attacked. He exerted strength in his legs at the same time and instantly crossed a distance of thirty feet. He rushed to Daoist Xuanji’s front and blasted out a Black Tiger Scoops the Heart with his left hand.
Daoist Xuanji raised her whip staff with both hands to block, but the wooden staff, which wasn’t very sturdy, didn’t have any blocking effect. It broke with a touch, and Ye Jingtang slapped at Daoist Xuanji’s perfectly curved chest!
Crack!
Ye Jingtang was fully focused on analyzing the movements. When he realized that he had accidentally broken the wooden staff, the Black Tiger Scoops the Heart stopped in front of Daoist Xuanji’s clothes.
This stop was very precise. There wasn’t the slightest bit of force pouring onto Daoist Xuanji’s body. Even her extremely soft clothes weren’t pressed down. It could be said that he had stopped perfectly. Any martial arts expert would probably clap their hands and praise him for his ‘good martial arts skills’..
