Chapter 121: Sorry, I’m a Constable
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Coo, coo’” The cries of the bird came from outside again.
Ye Jingtang held Luo Ning under the bed and was puzzled. The secret signal of the bird was a reminder that someone was approaching secretly. It wasn’t an official patrolling…
Who could it be?
Ye Jingtang held his breath and waited quietly for a short time before he saw a small gap appearing at the wooden door of the morgue, revealing some light outside. Then a black shadow sneaked in.
As the door closed, there was no more movement, showing that the lightness skills of the person who came were definitely not low.
There was the sound of the wind blowing, and a faint flame lit up from the door of the morgue.
Ye Jingtang held his breath and looked carefully. It was obvious that this person was doing the same thing as him. They were wearing black night clothes, revealing only a pair of sharp eyes. Their face was wrapped in a scarf, and they were carrying a weapon wrapped in black cloth on their back, revealing a foot of the black handle.
Looking at the height of the person in black, it was about the same as the tip of his nose…
?!
Ye Jingtang was stunned. He observed silently and found that the person in black had begun to search through the corpses. Soon, they stopped beside Zhao De’s corpse. A small bottle slipped out of their sleeve silently, and they poured it onto the palm print on the corpse’s chest.
Sizzle!
Wisps of white smoke rose from the corpse’s flesh.
Luo Ning’s and Ye Jingtang’s eyes narrowed at the same time. They understood what this person was doing—ruining the corpse to eliminate evidence! The person was most likely the murderer!
The moment this thought flashed through Luo Ning’s mind, her ears were covered by the little thief. At the same time, a thunderclap sounded behind her.
“Ha—!”
Ye Jingtang’s name came from his loud cries when he was young. This meant that he was born with a strong breath and an excellent physique, showing his talent.
Now that he had grown up, his speaking style had always been calm and tepid, but his talent had clearly not disappeared.
At this moment, he shouted with all his might, as if a clap of thunder had sounded in the silent night!
The moment the sound thundered out, all kinds of commotion appeared in the government office. Even the bird chirped. It was so frightened that its feathers stood on end.
The morgue was a sealed stone room, and the sound inside was several times louder than outside.
Luo Ning, whose ears were covered, felt her head buzz from the impact. Her entire body twitched a few times, and her beautiful eyes widened in horror. She was so shocked that she almost jumped up on the spot.
Even though Luo Ning knew who had shouted, she was still frightened. The black-clothed person’s reaction was self-evident.
The black-clothed person had sneaked into the government office to destroy the evidence. They had already pricked up their ears to listen to any sounds outside and were also affected by the gloomy environment of the morgue.
But a thunderclap suddenly rang out. The black-clothed person holding a flame stick instantly straightened their body and swayed. The bamboo flame stick was crushed as this person fell straight backward. They were actually shocked into a stiff state.
Now!
Clatter!
Ye Jingtang broke through the wooden bed and pounced at the black-clothed person. He held their head with his right hand and grabbed their neck with his left hand, trying to capture this person alive.
But the black-clothed person was by no means an ordinary person. The moment they were restrained, they immediately recovered and splashed the bottle in their right hand behind their head.
Bang!
Ye Jingtang didn’t expect this person to return to their senses so quickly. He knew that the highly corrosive liquid in the bottle would most likely disfigure him if it splashed on his face. He didn’t dare to take it head-on and quickly bent down to dodge. He was afraid that Luo Ning, who was behind him, would be affected, so he pulled the white cloth covering the corpse and swept it upward at the same time.
Swish!
The white cloth swept the splashing liquid toward the stone wall. Some of it splattered on the corpse, immediately melting a few holes and emitting white smoke.
The black-clothed person was able to escape. Knowing that they had been ambushed, they had no intention of fighting and flew toward the door.
Although Luo Ning was almost frightened to tears by Ye Jingtang’s shout, her movements were not slow at all. She bounced up from the ground, unsheathed the soft sword at her waist, and charged toward the small door of the morgue.
Swoosh!
Under the light from the fallen flame stick, the three-foot-long silver blade was like a peacock spreading its tail, directly locking the way out!
Astonishment flashed across the eyes of the black-clothed person in the air. They flicked their wrist, and a red rope popped out of their sleeve.
Swish!
The red rope shot toward a wooden bed on the right side of the room and pierced through it. The black-clothed person yanked with their left hand, and their body flew over.
Ye Jingtang could tell that this person’s martial arts skills were unfathomable. He gave up on the idea of capturing them alive and grabbed the hilt of his saber with his left hand.
Clang!
A cold light flashed in the sealed stone room!
The black-clothed person was still in midair when they noticed the killing intent coming at them. They immediately grabbed the saber hilt behind their shoulder with both hands.
Haa!
Amidst the loud shout, the saber on the black-clothed person’s back was unsheathed. The muscles in their arms instantly tore through their sleeves, and the three-foot-long straight saber slashed down at a terrifying speed.
Clang!
The two blades collided, and sparks erupted in the stone room, as if a bolt of lightning had streaked across the air.
The surging energy contained in the two sabers instantly erupted, directly overturning the two wooden beds beside them.
Holding his saber in his left hand in a reverse grip, Ye Jingtang blocked the opponent’s two-handed blow. His body slid back and knocked over the wooden bed behind him.
The black-clothed person was sent flying and hit the stone wall behind them.
Clatter!
Bain!
The two of them separated by nearly thirty feet at the same time.
Clatter, clatter!
The black-clothed person’s flame stick fell to the ground and burst into bright flames. The morgue fell into dead silence.
Ye Jingtang didn’t attack again. He held his saber with both hands and maintained the posture of thrusting forward with the tip of the saber. His eyes were locked on the black-clothed person’s every move as he asked, “What saber technique is he using?”
Luo Ning, who was blocking the only exit, replied, “Northern Liang’s Piercing
Blade. It’s a battle formation saber technique.”
The black-clothed man leaned against the wall and held his straight saber vertically in front of him with both hands. It was obvious that he was guarding against the second strike of the Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade. There was also surprise in his eyes. “Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade?”
Seeing that the opponent could see through it, Ye Jingtang switched to holding his saber with one hand and changed to the stance of the Heaven Equaling Saber. “Are you from Northern Liang?”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Suddenly, the sound of a gong sounded outside. The officers on duty must have recovered from the shock and were calling for reinforcements.
The black-clothed man glanced at Luo Ning, who was blocking the exit, and then at Ye Jingtang, who was wearing night clothes. “You’re dressed the same as me. Why make things difficult for each other? We won’t be able to escape when soldiers come. Why don’t we go out and fight?”
Ye Jingtang stared at the black-clothed man with all his attention. His left hand shook slightly, and a brass waist token slid out. “I’m a constable!”
?!
When the black-clothed man saw the waist token with the word jing’ engraved on it, astonishment flashed across his eyes. He was probably thinking: You’re a f*cking official. Why are you hiding in the government office’s morgue to scare people like this? Are you sick…
Since he was an official, there was definitely no room for negotiation.
The black-clothed man must have seen that Ye Jingtang had switched to the Heaven Equaling Saber. He shuffled one foot forward and the other backward and placed the straight saber horizontally by his side, the tip of the curved blade pointing forward.
Seeing this, Luo Ning reminded, “This is the opening stance of the Dragon Qi Sword of the Thousand Crane Villa in Tu Province. The Dragon Qi Sword is ghostly and invisible, and it’s difficult to figure out the path of the sword. You don’t have to block it. Just hit the opponent directly. As long as he’s not as fast as you, he will definitely defend.”
?
The two opposing sides fell silent.
Ye Jingtang thought for a moment and aimed his saber at the center of the opponent’s body.
The black-clothed man looked at Luo Ning and felt that this woman seemed to be even more difficult to deal with. For a moment, he didn’t dare to break out rashly.
Luo Ning was blocking the only exit, so she was naturally not in a hurry to attack.
Tread, tread, tread…
There were already footsteps coming from outside. If this stalemate continued, it would be difficult to escape.
The black-clothed man gritted his teeth and swung his left hand to the side.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Three darts tore through the air with a shrill sound, targeting Luo Ning’s upper body.
Ye Jingtang moved at the same time. He raised his saber and slashed forward. In an instant, he brought a strong wind in the morgue and pressed toward the black-clothed man.
At this distance, Ye Jingtang would definitely use the Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade to close in on him. As the black-clothed man threw the darts, he blocked the saber in front of him and jumped back with both feet.
Clang!
As airwaves surged, a deafening explosion sounded in the morgue.
Ye Jingtang’s saber struck the black-clothed man’s straight saber, and an overwhelming force directly poured out.
The black-clothed man was already charging backward with all his might. Under the combined force of the two, he directly turned into a cannonball and smashed into the stone wall.
Boom!
Under the heavy blow, the foot-thick hard stone wall instantly caved in and exploded.
The black-clothed man let out a muffled groan. Although he was seriously injured from the collision, he was still knocked out of the morgue. Before he landed, he flipped his left hand slightly and flicked out a red thread, piercing it in a beam.
Swish!
Ye Jingtang didn’t give him the slightest chance. He attacked with his saber, followed by another slash. The moment the black-clothed man pulled his body up, he slashed at his waist and abdomen.
Clang!
In an instant, the black-clothed man was sent flying again. He shattered the brick wall behind him and fell to the side street outside the government office.
Haa!
Before the black-clothed man landed on the ground, Ye Jingtang had already flown up, spun around, and slashed with all his might.
The moves of the Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade interconnected one after another. The black-clothed man lost his balance from the attack and couldn’t counterattack at all. If he received another saber strike, even escaping would be an extravagant hope.
In the desperate situation, before the black-clothed man fell to the street, his entire body trembled violently. A small bump suddenly bulged on his chest and then…
Boom!
The fabric exploded!
A hole was blown out of the black-clothed man’s clothes, and white powder sprayed out, raising a line of white dust on the path of his fall.
If Ye Jingtang wanted to get close to him, he would definitely have to pass through the dust. Because he wasn’t sure what the white powder was, he immediately retracted his strength, jumped to the side, and covered his mouth and nose with his left hand.
“Be careful.” Luo Ning rushed out of the morgue and saw the white powder being blown over by the night wind. She held her sword in her hand and transformed the three-foot-long blade into a windmill. She blew away the white powder and circled around to flank the opponent.
Plop!
The black-clothed man fell to the street, flipped over, got up, and smashed a few more bottles onto the ground. At some point, a mist of dust filled the sky, covering his figure.
Whoosh!
Under the night breeze, the mist of dust immediately spread toward the government office.
Seeing that the bird was already chasing the opponent in the sky, Ye Jingtang didn’t take the risk of rushing into the mist of dust and pulled Luo Ning to dodge.
Luo Ning was from the Pacifying Heaven Cult. To her, the government was more of a threat than the murderer. She immediately looked behind her cautiously.
The two sides had only fought for a moment before the people in the government office surrounded them. The sound of bows being loaded rang out around them.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Ye Jingtang was wearing night clothes, so the officials couldn’t tell friend from foe at all. Afraid that they would shoot him, he said, “The Black Office’s Ye Jingtang is handling a case. Don’t hurt allies!”
He pulled down his scarf and showed the Prince of Jing Estate’s waist token!
More than ten officials rushed over from the periphery of the government office. They raised their heavy bows and crossbows and circled out of the passageways on both sides. When they discovered the token of the Prince of Jing Estate, they paused for a moment.
Yuwen Chengde, who was standing behind the officials, hurriedly raised his hand. “Stop, stop! Young Master Ye, why are you here?”
Ye Jingtang put away his waist token and explained what he had deduced based on the results, “The Wandering Body Palm is real. I deliberately said that there might be something strange during the day and came here to wait for the murderer to destroy the evidence. I didn’t expect it to really happen. This matter is definitely not simple. There must be a mole in the government office who informed the murderer. Investigate the people present at Bamboo Street today.”
“A mole…”
Many officials looked at each other in confusion.
After a moment of confusion, Yuwen Chengde turned around and said angrily,
“Go investigate. Call everyone who went to Bamboo Street today…”
Ye Jingtang sheathed his saber and saw that some white powder was staining his left sleeve. He frowned slightly and jumped to the horse-drinking trough in the government office behind him to wash his left hand with water.
Whoosh-! Whoosh-!
Luo Ning walked over to Ye Jingtang and raised her finger to tap two acupoints on Ye Jingtang’s left shoulder. Then she immediately lowered her left arm and held his left hand to examine it carefully. “Do you feel anything?”
“I can t even feel my hands with the acupoints sealed. 1 think it’s quicklime.”
Luo Ning said solemnly, “Do you think this is a street fight? Quicklime…”
Ye Jingtang thought for a moment and felt that it was unlikely for something like quicklime to appear in a battle of this level. He was afraid of winning a big prize, so he took a horse from the stable and mounted it. “Just in case, I’m going to look for Imperial Physician Wang first. Are you going?”
“Imperial Physician Wang…”
Luo Ning knew that the old Imperial Physician Wang and his daughter-in-law, Madam Wang, were both famous divine doctors. As long as someone had a breath, they could pull people back from the brink of death.
She wasn’t injured and didn’t need an examination, but she wasn’t afraid that Imperial Physician Wang could see through her. She immediately jumped up and sat behind Ye Jingtang. “In what capacity am I following you? Your subordinate?”
“My unmarried wife.”
Luo Ning opened her mouth, but she couldn’t think of a more reasonable relationship, so she stopped talking.
“Go.” Ye Jingtang squeezed the horse’s belly lightly with his legs and rushed out of the side door of the government office. He arrived at the street and looked around.. Then he turned the horse’s head and ran toward Literary Virtue Bridge…