Chapter 150: Famous Detective Changhe

Chapter 150: The Great Detective Changhe

Unlike the conventional guardian sword qi one might imagine, the sword qi here was fiercely malevolent, the bloodthirsty aura almost tangible, as if a single touch would invite blood-fiend possession, instantly reminding Sisi of Lu Shaoxiong bound by iron chains in Jingxin Nunnery.

Skeletons and corpses could even be seen on the ground, as if members of the Lu family had once entered and been slain by the sword qi here.

Sisi turned to look back, but the path they had come from was nowhere to be seen; only the old man howling as he followed could be seen, laughing wildly: “How clever! You thought coming in here would let you hide from me? Little do you know, this entrance is one-way—you can’t leave either! I have but a month left to live; death is death, but what about you? Hah… hahaha!”

“Swoosh, swoosh!” Several sword qi streaks shot forth. The old man’s laughter ceased as he swung his sword to deflect them, but instead of charging at the two, he veered off in another direction.

It was like a bizarre play, leaving one utterly bewildered.

“Is this your plan to get him into a fierce fight?” Sisi asked, somewhat dazed. “If we all have to deal with this harsh environment, that old man will surely have an easier time than us. He’ll be fine while we’ll be dead first… and why isn’t he chasing us?”

Zhao Changhe dodged sword qi left and right, speaking urgently: “If your judgment that his lifespan is nearly over is correct, then after a period of intense combat, he’s bound to weaken. We’re all still mortal; a dying man can’t sustain peak combat power forever—that’s impossible. We haven’t even started cultivating immortality yet!”

“So we just need to stall, and this environment will slowly finish him off on its own?”

“Not only that. He’s guarding this place with a purpose; he must be waiting for a signal, a place he has to go, and he can’t afford to delay. Once he’s in, he thinks we can’t get out anyway, so he naturally conserves his strength to deal with the sword qi and head where he needs to go. That’s easy to understand.” Zhao Changhe said hurriedly, “I see you seem to know a bit about geomancy—can you find a relatively safe spot for now… Watch out!”

Longque swiftly cut behind Sisi, blocking a sword qi strike.

Sisi didn’t ask what to do if they couldn’t get out. She ducked low to avoid a sword qi, then suddenly darted to the right, into a passage that seemed even more concentrated with sword qi: “Follow me.”

“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!” Countless sword qi streaks shot through. Sisi quickly rolled on the ground, the sword qi grazing past her body and landing behind.

Behind her, the sound of blades rose sharply as Zhao Changhe swung Longque wildly, taking on the rampant sword qi.

With a “clang,” an especially powerful sword qi pierced through. Zhao Changhe blocked it with his blade, using the force to leap backward and dive into the passage where Sisi was.

Sisi grabbed his belt from behind and gave a hard yank, flinging him forward a distance, then shot forward herself with a “swoosh,” overtaking Zhao Changhe midair from below—her speed far surpassing his own clumsy lightness skill.

Zhao Changhe clanged away several sword qi strikes in midair, both amused and exasperated.

—This girl seemed to be going all out, as if to tell him she was no burden; when it came to dodging and light-footed maneuvers, she was the main force!

And she even knew geomancy.

“This way!” Sisi reached out again, grabbing his belt, and hurled him like a hammer into the side of the passage.

Zhao Changhe: “…”

He only had time to shield his face with Longque as he crashed into the wall with a “clatter.”

Inside, another passage unexpectedly appeared, leading to some unknown place, but the sword qi seemed much weaker.

Both of them panted, staring at each other. Sisi’s mind was full of questions, but she no longer needed to ask—she understood everything now.

This entrance was one-way; once in, there was no way out. Hearing the old man’s words, Sisi pondered for a few breaths and quickly pieced together the whole picture.

Because of the dimensional collapse, the imperial mausoleum was indeed at the bottom of the Sword Pool, hidden in a separate space, but the entrance had shifted elsewhere—to this very place.

That was why the Tang family had searched the Tiger Hill Sword Pool for a hundred years and found nothing. Though the mausoleum was beneath the Sword Pool, the entrance wasn’t there at all; instead, there was a “teleportation array” in the Lu family’s southern city compound leading here… Who would have thought?

Yet this was a one-way entrance; once inside, one could only wander the maze here forever, trapped until death. If one could break through the space from here, the corresponding location would be the Tiger Hill Sword Pool!

The Lu family had found an entrance, but once inside, they could never get out. They lacked the power to break the dimensional space, unable to return to the Lu family or exit the Sword Pool.

So they could only build a stone house outside, scratching at the boundary, trying to comprehend the sword intent of the imperial mausoleum within. But their gains were too shallow, essentially useless—they guarded a treasure mountain with nothing to show for it.

As time passed, perhaps due to the Lu family members charging in one after another to die, or perhaps because they had slaughtered too many workers outside, or maybe simply because of time itself… the reason remained unclear. In any case, something had changed here, causing the baleful aura to grow denser and the sword qi to spill uncontrollably in all directions, already beginning to penetrate beyond the space, no longer confined to this dimensional realm.

The sword marks on the wall the old man had faced while meditating proved this.

Zhao Changhe knew this girl was actually very clever and must have already guessed the whole story, so he said, “I figured it out earlier than you, not because I’m smarter, but because I know Longque better.”

Sisi nodded: “Details?”

“When I saw Lu Shaoxiong, Longque went out of control. I was puzzled because it shouldn’t react that way to baleful aura—in Longque’s eyes, baleful aura is just a lowly, stupid thing. After thinking it over, the only thing in all of Gusu that could stir Longque’s active battle intent was the legendary two words: Sword Emperor. Both a rival to blades and a peerless sovereign—only that could explain Longque’s excited fighting spirit.”

Longque gave a pleased tremor.

Sisi gritted her teeth. Who said Longque only got battle intent from that? How about when it slapped her face?

Zhao Changhe coughed dryly and continued: “So Lu Shaoxiong wasn’t contaminated by killing someone tainted with baleful aura. He was pierced by the sword qi spilling out near his family’s secret grounds. Although the sword qi carried dense baleful aura, it didn’t actually invade his spiritual platform—that’s not how sword qi works. His mad appearance was entirely an act. The broken chains proved his parents never had the heart to lock him tight; the chains were always fake. Why would a fake madman obediently stay bound? It only proves he wasn’t mad at all.”

Sisi said, “So Longque wanted to cut him, and he didn’t know where he slipped up, so he acted even more ferocious to cover it up? But that only revealed the fake chains to you.”

“That’s about it.”

“But why did he pretend to be mad?”

“Since the sword qi here has started leaking outward, the Lu family can’t stay much longer, and they can’t keep the secret forever. The only way is to divert trouble elsewhere—what better scapegoat than the Tang family’s Sword Pool? If they can use this to topple the Tang family, they won’t just take their place in Gusu; they’ll also seize the Sword Pool, fulfilling the Lu family’s century-old wish.”

“So they staged a play: first bribed an ignorant martial artist to pretend to go mad and attack people in the market, then Lu Shaoxiong ‘happened by’ and killed him, creating the illusion of contamination by external baleful aura.” Sisi sighed. “So the first victim died without even knowing why the Lu family’s young master killed him.”

“Right. When I examined the corpse, I found no trace of baleful aura, so I guessed that the baleful aura on Lu Shaoxiong was the original source.” Zhao Changhe said, “The subsequent victims, like Third Young Master Gu, were likely set up too. They came to visit Lu Shaoxiong, and he secretly infected them with baleful aura. Those pleasure-seeking young masters had little resistance; a bit of baleful aura and they soon fell ill. The Lu family used this to create a false impression and lead the other families to attack the Tang family. But their illness wasn’t serious—it would fade quickly—so they had to act within a day or two.”

Sisi said, “But if they wanted to transmit baleful aura to Third Young Master Gu and the others to incite an attack on the Tang family, they could have started days ago. Why wait until after you arrived, for you to solve the case?”

“You’re overthinking it. They never took me seriously. They didn’t plan to rely only on themselves to move against the Tang family; they must have colluded with the Maitreya Sect, waiting for Maitreya to arrive before making their move.” Zhao Changhe said quietly, “If that old man wasn’t bluffing, Maitreya is already at the Tang family’s place now. I hope the Tang family can handle it.”

Sisi let out a breath, her face full of the satisfaction of solving the mystery. She felt that the pleasure of this kind of thing was no less than winning a fight—it was very satisfying.

Even though the situation was more urgent, her tone became lighter: “So what do we do now?”

“That old man knows his time is short; he intended to come in and never leave. They’ve been exploring for a long time and must have found some way to let the baleful aura here spill toward the Tang family’s Sword Pool, in coordination with the Lu family’s current actions. Our task is to stop him. Otherwise, the baleful aura will surge, and Gusu will become a dead zone!” Zhao Changhe glanced outside and said urgently, “By now, he’s been moving through the sword qi for so long; he should be at his last gasp. If I know where he is, I’m confident.”

Sisi revealed a hint of a smile: “That’s simple. I know where he is.”