Chapter 1: Murder Case
“Name?”
“Lu Xingzhou.”
Inside the Demon Suppression Division, Sheng Yuanyao paused her brush, looking up at the man with a peculiar expression. “That name isn’t a good omen. Is it your real name?”
Lu Xingzhou smiled faintly, his voice magnetic and pleasant. “It sounds cultured at first, doesn’t it? There are quite a few people with the same name. In fact, I’ve even seen people name their children things like ‘Shang’ or ‘Wang.’ Why be so serious, Miss?”
Sheng Yuanyao’s eyes flickered, as if the character ‘Shang’ reminded her of something, and she scrutinized Lu Xingzhou again.
The man was dressed in white with a silver sash, his face like jade, gentle and refined. Even Sheng Yuanyao, who was accustomed to the noble Young Masters of the capital, found his handsomeness and demeanor to be top-tier, truly a man as beautiful as jade on the road.
Unfortunately, he was lame and currently sat in a wheelchair.
Sheng Yuanyao’s tenure at the Demon Suppression Division was short, but her discernment was not. She could tell that the man’s leg muscles had atrophied, which was impossible to fake.
He was genuinely lame, and had been for a long time. What a pity.
She composed herself, her expression turning serious again. “Age?”
“Nineteen.”
“Judging by your accent, are you a native of Xia Province?”
“I was indeed born here. When I was eleven or twelve, I moved south with my Family to stay with relatives. I only returned half a year ago.”
“You entered the Huo family old residence yesterday at 1:15 PM. What were you doing there?”
“I am an Alchemist, so I naturally understand how to treat illnesses.” Lu Xingzhou replied calmly, “Old Master Ho of the Huo Family has been experiencing some angina recently. He invited me to treat him. For the past half month, I’ve been going there every day. You can ask around, Miss, and you’ll know.”
“Did you come again today for the same reason?” Sheng Yuanyao stared intently at Lu Xingzhou.
An invisible pressure descended, and Lu Xingzhou’s heart stirred. Sweat quickly beaded on his forehead in response to the pressure, and he said with some difficulty, “Of course. Old Master Ho’s treatment isn’t finished yet; it was scheduled. Why have you brought me to the Demon Suppression Division to ask these inexplicable questions, Miss? What is your intention?”
Sheng Yuanyao withdrew the pressure and said coldly, “Firstly, that was not Old Master Ho. The entire Huo Family has already moved to the capital. Only an Old Butler Ho remains at the old residence.”
Lu Xingzhou was astonished. “I didn’t know that. I didn’t know anyone from the Huo Family before, and seeing his grand manner, I assumed he was the Old Master.”
Sheng Yuanyao stared intently at him. “Secondly, yesterday at the end of the wei-shi (between 1 PM and 3 PM), Old Butler Ho was found dead inside the house.”
Lu Xingzhou immediately shook his head. “His angina was almost cured; he wouldn’t have died suddenly.”
Sheng Yuanyao slapped the table. “Stop pretending you don’t understand!”
“You’re not suggesting he was murdered, are you, Miss?” Lu Xingzhou was unfazed by her intimidation, his expression instead returning to calm. “I entered yesterday at noon and stayed only for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before leaving. By wei-shi, I was already back on the mountain. Whatever you mean, Miss, it has nothing to do with me.”
Sheng Yuanyao continued to stare intently into Lu Xingzhou’s eyes.
She was bluffing Lu Xingzhou, wanting to see his reaction. In reality, Old Butler Ho was only missing; the deceased were the other servants—all the older, more experienced servants at the Huo family old residence were dead, while the teenage servants were all alive. The situation was very strange.
According to the testimonies of the surviving servants, the murder had indeed not occurred when Mr. Lu left. All the deceased had their throats cut by a Sharp Weapon, not poison, so the possibility of a delayed-onset poison could be ruled out.
Sheng Yuanyao glanced at Lu Xingzhou’s legs again. She thought to herself, the vast Huo Residence, covering over ten qing, with victims in the east courtyard and a west wing. To secretly select and kill specific individuals without alerting others, such traceless skill didn’t seem like something the lame man before her could accomplish.
Moreover, that would require a thorough understanding of the Huo Family’s various terrains, which would be difficult for an outsider who only went directly to the main house for treatment.
From Lu Xingzhou’s reaction, he didn’t seem to know what had happened. From all angles, he seemed to have little suspicion. Instead, the missing Old Butler Ho was the most suspicious.
However, this person was, after all, the only outsider who had entered the Huo family old residence on the day of the incident. No matter how slight the suspicion, he could not be completely overlooked and still needed further investigation.
Sheng Yuanyao finally said, “You said you were on the mountain by wei-shi. How can you prove it?”
Lu Xingzhou smiled. “The Medicinal Pill I was Alchemizing before I came out was almost ready to be taken out of the Pill Furnace, so I was in a hurry to return to the mountain. Why don’t you come back to the mountain with me to ask? You can conveniently help me push my wheelchair.”
Sheng Yuanyao would never push it herself. She called two eight-foot-tall subordinates to help push, following behind as they left the Demon Suppression Division.
She was a capital official sent out for experience, coming to Xia Province to gain two years of experience before returning… She hadn’t expected to encounter a major case involving twenty or thirty lives just a few days after taking office. She felt both annoyed and stimulated. Annoyed because the murderer was practically slapping her face; stimulated because she chose this line of work precisely because solving cases was fun!
This was front-row gossip!
The cultivation atmosphere in Great Qian was strong. Xia Province was quite far from the capital, considered a remote mountainous area, yet it was not poor. This was because the area produced a vast array of medicinal materials, making it one of Great Qian’s medicinal material bases. There were many large and small sects, Families, and Gangs here, all established through the sale of medicinal materials.
Some of them were not content with being mere medicine vendors, so they cultivated or hired Alchemists to reside there, refining finished Medicinal Pills for sale. Half a year ago, Lu Xingzhou arrived in Xia Province. For some unknown reason, he was hired as the chief Alchemist by the Danxia Gang on Danxia Mountain, east of the city. Since then, the Danxia Gang, originally just a medicinal material vendor, began to possess Alchemy and medicine-making capabilities, and its development was quite promising.
It goes without saying that most cultivators in the world can perform a few Alchemy techniques, but truly excellent ones are rare and hold a very high status. This Lu Xingzhou is said to be an eighth-rank Alchemist, formally certified by the Elixir Department. This rank is already quite good in a remote area, and at his age, he has even more potential.
Lu Xingzhou was just a nineteen-year-old Young Master. Although Alchemy doesn’t require very high cultivation, it is a profession that heavily relies on experience. It’s already not easy to achieve a rank at such a young age, let alone an eighth-rank.
Danxia Mountain is not far from the Huo family old residence, essentially the neighboring mountain behind the Huo Residence. This was probably why Old Butler Ho invited Lu Xingzhou for treatment. The mountain isn’t very high, mostly slopes, so Lu Xingzhou could go up and down in his wheelchair, though it was quite arduous.
In earlier years, Danxia Mountain was relatively pristine, with dense trees. There was once a dilapidated Daoist temple on the summit. Later, when the Daoist temple was abandoned, the Danxia Gang took over the mountain, building a sizable base and planting medicinal herbs all over, making the air pleasant.
Following Lu Xingzhou into the main Alchemy room of the Danxia Gang, a massive Pill Furnace immediately caught Sheng Yuanyao’s eye. The Pill Furnace was already trembling slightly, and the scent of Medicinal Pill subtly wafted out. Lu Xingzhou’s words earlier weren’t a lie; a newly refined Medicinal Pill was indeed about to emerge from the Pill Furnace.
Sheng Yuanyao’s gaze fell on the Little Daoist by the Pill Furnace. The Little Daoist was about five or six years old, with a chubby, round face, a round Daoist bun, and was as cute as a carved jade doll. At this moment, he seemed not to notice anyone at the door, rubbing his small hands together, carefully taking a stick and poking it under the Pill Furnace, stealthily poking out a few roasted sweet potatoes.
The aroma of roasted sweet potatoes even overpowered the scent of the Medicinal Pill.
Sheng Yuanyao twitched the corner of her mouth.
These sweet potatoes were a new import from distant seas just a few years ago…
A child in charge of the Alchemy fire secretly roasting sweet potatoes with the Pill Furnace fire—if it affected the formation of the Medicinal Pill, wouldn’t Lu Xingzhou beat him to death?
“Ah, Master!” The Little Daoist finally noticed Lu Xingzhou at the door, jumped up, and ran over with a thump-thump, holding up a roasted sweet potato and smiling. “Master, eat sweet potato.”
Sheng Yuanyao felt this was practically a blatant challenge, but Lu Xingzhou merely dotingly ruffled the Little Daoist’s chubby face. “You eat it. I’ll check the Medicinal Pill first.”
“Oh…” The Little Daoist glanced at Sheng Yuanyao, then offered her the sweet potato again. “Pretty big sister, would you like some? It smells so good.”
Sheng Yuanyao smiled and shook her head, indicating she wouldn’t eat. Lu Xingzhou smiled. “Miss, please wait. This Medicinal Pill is about to come out. I need to finish up first. If you wish to question others, please feel free.”
He was not a prisoner after all, and Sheng Yuanyao said nothing, watching him sit cross-legged by the Pill Furnace to adjust the Pill Furnace fire. After a moment of adjustment, he sent a fire-boosting incantation into the bottom of the Pill Furnace.
The furnace fire intensified, a faint glow appeared around the edge of the Pill Furnace lid, and the scent of Medicinal Pill permeated the air.
Sheng Yuanyao watched the Alchemy process with great interest. Even the two Demon Suppression Division subordinates who had accompanied Sheng Yuanyao instinctively held their breath, witnessing the scene of a new Medicinal Pill emerging from the Pill Furnace.
The Pill Furnace lid slowly floated up, and nine Medicinal Pills automatically floated out, gently rotating above the Pill Furnace.
Sheng Yuanyao’s heart pounded. “Eighth-rank Yi Qi Dan (Qi-Boosting Pill), nine pills from one Pill Furnace, all of supreme quality… And this was refined after being away for over an hour, with only a child tending the fire! It appears to be an eighth-rank Medicinal Pill, but an eighth-rank Alchemist absolutely cannot achieve this level. He is not an eighth-rank Alchemist at all; he is a seventh-rank! Very likely even a high-tier seventh-rank!”
If achieving eighth-rank at nineteen was considered full of potential, then what about a high-tier seventh-rank at nineteen?
That was a once-in-a-million talent, the kind that major powers would fight over! Why would such a person hide in this remote Xia Province, working for a low-tier Gang like the Danxia Gang?
Just as she was thinking this, she saw Lu Xingzhou quietly tuck three Medicinal Pills into his sleeve, leaving only six rotating in the air, as if only six had been refined in this batch. The Little Daoist reached out his small hand and stealthily took another one.
Lu Xingzhou glared, and the Little Daoist offered a sheepish smile, then touched each of the remaining five Medicinal Pills.
Sheng Yuanyao watched helplessly as the Little Daoist absorbed some of the medicinal power from the five supreme-grade Medicinal Pills, degrading their efficacy to excellent-grade.
The Little Daoist showed a comfortable expression.
Sheng Yuanyao: “…”
A frivolous voice came from outside the door: “Tsk, refining mere eighth-rank Medicinal Pills, only five excellent-grade pills from one Pill Furnace… Yan’er, is your Danxia Gang’s chief Alchemist only this skilled?”
