Snake Tiger Valley was located thirty li south of Suishui, where the valley was filled with venomous snakes and fierce beasts, surrounded by steep mountain peaks. Chi Yun from the Nanhu Camp had set bait in Snake Tiger Valley, waiting for the evil villains who had slaughtered fishermen to walk into the trap.
Two evil villains appeared, and Chi Yun revealed a confident smile.
“Close the net!” Chi Yun shouted. Twenty soldiers lying in ambush in the valley surged out, surrounding the two evil villains within the valley. Chi Yun came wielding a pair of golden gleaming iron hammers, looking with certainty at the encircled criminals.
These two criminals had extremely ugly appearances, with monkey-like pointed mouths and narrow cheeks, their hands drooping in front of their chests, their fingernails an eerily emerald green color.
Not just the fingernails… the eyes of the two criminals also flashed with a demonic green light!
Chi Yun felt slightly uneasy and shouted: “Capture them!”
Twenty soldiers swarmed forward. They had thought the evil villains were already trapped like turtles in a jar, but who knew the two sides would engage in an endless struggle. Although the two evil villains were bare-handed, their sharp long fingernails became unexpected deadly weapons. Several careless soldiers were scratched by the nails, wounds penetrating more than an inch deep, blood gushing out profusely.
Chi Yun calmly assessed: “Don’t engage them in close combat, use long weapons to attack the enemy.”
Soon, long spears greeted the evil villains. But the two evil villains were like two spinning tops, constantly spinning in place, always nimbly avoiding the long spears. When the soldiers withdrew their spears, they would suddenly pounce, the deadly weapon fingernails injuring the enemy again.
In the blink of an eye, the time it takes for an incense stick to burn had passed. Not only had Chi Yun’s side failed to capture the evil villains, seven or eight men had been injured. Chi Yun raised his sword-like eyebrows and also joined the battle.
Chi Yun’s twin hammers executed a move called “Dark Clouds Cover the Sun,” striking directly at the heavenly gate of one of the evil villains. The villain suddenly twisted his body, sliding away from the twin hammers like a loach on dry land. Chi Yun followed up, his twin hammers performing a move called “Lightning and Thunder,” striking and stabbing at the villain’s chest in a flash.
This time the villain couldn’t dodge in time and could only slightly turn his body, using his shoulder to bear the twin hammers.
With a crack, it seemed the shoulder bone was shattered. Chi Yun was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly discovered that the evil villain whose shoulder bone had been crushed by the iron hammer had not fallen down, hadn’t even retreated the slightest bit, but instead grabbed one of the iron hammers with both hands and pulled it toward the ground with strange force. This strange force was terrifyingly astonishing—Chi Yun was also pulled toward the villain.
The green light in the villain’s eyes was like ghostly fire, sharp fingernails stabbing directly at Chi Yun’s eyes. Chi Yun had no way to retreat, his heart felt as if it had fallen into an icy cavern.
—Could it be that I, Chi Yun, after traversing battlefields for over ten years, will die today at the hands of two evil bandits? Unwilling, I am unwilling!
The sound of arrows breaking through the air rang in his ears. Some soldiers were pulling bowstrings and shooting arrows. Because the distance was very close, the feathered arrows all hit the criminals. The criminals howled and screamed miserably, abandoning Chi Yun and retreating rapidly.
The evil villains ran out of Snake Tiger Valley before everyone’s eyes and disappeared in an instant.
“Alas!” Chi Yun regretfully smashed his fist on the ground, dust and stones flying. He had never expected that the murderous villains would be so troublesome. This time he had thoroughly lost face before the General.
Chi Yun brushed off the dust on his body, looked at the others, and said weakly: “Return to camp.”
As daylight gradually darkened, Meng Rui wandered aimlessly alone. Unfamiliar faces flashed before his eyes, like dragonflies touching water on the lake of Meng Rui’s heart—after light ripples, they left no trace.
At the fifth watch, sparse and about to cease, one tree green and unfeeling. Intentionally gambling without fate, Yama watches the twin gates.
What exactly was hidden in these four incomprehensible strange lines? Meng Rui asked himself repeatedly, but despite racking his brains, there were still no results.
As he was walking, from the corner of a long street came sounds of sorrowful crying. Meng Rui’s sword-like eyebrows slightly furrowed as he quickly walked over. In front of a civilian house at the corner, a woman in the prime of her youth was holding a baby and crying bitterly. Neighbors and friends who had come upon hearing the sound inquired about what had happened. The woman pressed her face against the baby’s cotton blanket, crying out: “Those evil people took Inoue away. They are cruel and vicious. If Inoue falls into their hands, he definitely won’t survive… What are we orphan and widow supposed to do!”
Inoue! Tengu Ichiro’s sinister smile flashed before Meng Rui’s eyes. Inoue had been captured because he had helped him. Meng Rui looked again at the heartbroken woman. There was already too much separation of flesh and blood in this world—they couldn’t add another case because of this.
The “Death God” on his back gently trembled. Meng Rui was going to find Inoue and bring him back.
Returning to the Four Seas Restaurant, Meng Rui inquired about the situation of Tengu Ichiro and the other Wa Kingdom people. The restaurant manager still remembered Meng Rui and said warmly: “Tengu Ichiro and Aihara Hideo are Wa Kingdom traveling merchants. Every year at this time they come to Suishui to do some tea, silk, and satin business. That Inoue previously did odd jobs on the merchant ship, but later after he got a woman, he didn’t want to return to Wa Kingdom.”
“You must know that common people have no status at all in Wa Kingdom. Someone doing odd jobs is equivalent to a dog raised by the wealthy. If the dog runs away, they even have the right to catch it back and kill it. Alas, they simply don’t treat people as people, these damned beasts!” The manager said through gritted teeth.
“Where is Tengu Ichiro?” Meng Rui’s cold and sharp gaze gradually narrowed.
“I really don’t know. Oh right, his merchant ship is docked at the East City Wharf. No matter where he is, sooner or later he’ll return there.”
“Many thanks.” Meng Rui tossed down an ingot of silver and turned to walk out of the restaurant.
As darkness fell, Meng Rui was just planning to go to the East City Wharf. Suddenly, two human figures flashed through the small alley ahead—from their clothing and silhouettes, they looked like Wa Kingdom people. Meng Rui pondered carefully—they should be Tengu Ichiro and Aihara Hideo.
Meng Rui immediately gave chase. Tengu Ichiro sneakily circled half the city before feeling his way to the exterior wall of a large mansion. Meng Rui originally wanted to reveal himself immediately, but on second thought—these two were acting strangely and suspiciously, definitely doing some shady business. Better to wait, and when both people and evidence were caught together, then capture them in one fell swoop.
Tengu Ichiro and Aihara Hideo muttered for a while, then one after another flipped over into the large mansion. Meng Rui also followed them in.
Not knowing whose mansion this was, the courtyards and pavilion buildings were arranged in rows upon rows. Meng Rui couldn’t find the two men from Tengu, so he exited through a screen door and walked forward along a small corridor. After walking for not very long, he distantly saw what appeared to be a flower pavilion ahead with someone on it.
Could it be Tengu and Aihara? Meng Rui arrived below the flower pavilion. He only heard a shrill and miserable scream as a human figure fell rigidly from the flower pavilion, head first, smashing onto the bluestone slab in front of the flower pavilion. Fresh blood splattered, staining the entire bluestone.
Meng Rui hastily checked the fallen person’s breath—already dead.
Slightly turning the corpse over, Meng Rui was startled. He had actually seen this person before—it was precisely the brocade-robed man who had been hit by bird droppings outside the city. Last time he had seen him, he was hit by bird droppings; this time seeing him again, he had fallen to his death from the flower pavilion. Just as he had said before: such rotten luck.
Yes, truly died from rotten luck!
Meng Rui collected his thoughts and examined the corpse for a couple of glances—falling from the flower pavilion had caused his skull to suffer a severe injury and die. Both hands exposed outside the clothing and the neck had scratching and scraping marks. The deceased wore a dark patterned silk robe and short riding boots. The dark patterned silk robe had palm-sized damage. These were the initial impressions, but there seemed to be a strange scent on the deceased’s body, wafting out from within the strong smell of blood. It couldn’t be called fragrant, nor could it be called foul. For a moment, Meng Rui couldn’t describe it either, as if this scent only existed in people’s imagination.
“Master!”
A house servant rushed to the front of the flower pavilion, looking in shock at the corpse in the pool of blood, then raised his face to look at Meng Rui: “You, you killed our master!”
Meng Rui sighed, then shook his head: “I didn’t kill this person. More words are useless—go report this to the Prefecture Yamen.”
Chapter 3: What a Constable, Named Fang Zheng
Half an hour later, the Prefecture Yamen sent people. During this time, Meng Rui also learned the identity of the deceased. His name was Du Zhongtao, a wealthy sea transport merchant of Suishui City.
The constable sent by the Prefecture Yamen was called Fang Zheng. Fang Zheng gathered Meng Rui, Madam Du, the steward, and others together. Meng Rui truthfully recounted the scene of Du Zhongtao falling from the pavilion. Fang Zheng glared and said: “Where do you come from, and why did you enter the Du Residence at night?”
Meng Rui couldn’t conceal it any longer, so he told Fang Zheng his true identity and at the same time showed his God-Catcher badge.
Fang Zheng looked at it but completely didn’t take it seriously: “No matter what your identity is, whether you’re a God-Catcher or the Heavenly King himself, you must answer my questions.”
Meng Rui looked at Fang Zheng’s serious expression, as if seeing the meticulous Iron Catcher Xuan Yuanshan, and smiled slightly.
“Get straight to the point.”
Fang Zheng continued glaring, so Meng Rui recounted the causes and effects of tracking Tengu Ichiro from beginning to end. Only then did Fang Zheng nod satisfactorily: “So you tracked Tengu Ichiro into the Du Residence and just happened to witness Du Zhongtao falling from the flower pavilion.”
“Precisely.”
“A bit too coincidental.” Fang Zheng’s stern expression made it even more comical.
Meng Rui shrugged his shoulders, indicating this was also a helpless matter.
Fang Zheng “hmm”ed, then turned back to question Madam Du and the steward. After questioning everyone, Fang Zheng arranged to transport the body back to the Yamen’s black room, then grabbed Meng Rui and began chattering away: “Although Du Zhongtao died from falling from the pavilion, there’s quite a bit that’s suspicious about it.”
“Mm.”
“For example, the scratch marks on both hands and the neck, and also the damage on the robe.” Fang Zheng pulled Meng Rui’s hand and continued: “The steward said tonight Du Zhongtao had a huge fight with Madam Du, related to flirting with a woman. Mm, the other party was even a widow.”
“Madam Du is obviously a big vinegar jar. She fought with Du Zhongtao but wasn’t satisfied, so she started physically attacking him. Du Zhongtao couldn’t win the fight and fled, but unexpectedly the big vinegar jar caught up and gave him a push, and he fell to his death.”
Fang Zheng spoke on his own for a while, then suddenly turned back to stare at Meng Rui: “What do you think?”
“Oh, what about what?”
“The analysis and judgment of the case—Madam Du is the murderer.” Fang Zheng kept glaring, staring at Meng Rui.
Meng Rui felt his face burning and couldn’t help scratching his face, saying: “Although you analyzed it in great detail with sound reasoning and evidence. It’s just that when Du Zhongtao fell from the pavilion, I didn’t discover any other people. Moreover, Madam Du only came afterward—she didn’t have time to commit murder.”
Fang Zheng suddenly realized: “That makes sense.”
Then added: “Worthy of being a God-Catcher.”
Meng Rui had the impulse to hit someone. Anyone with even a bit of brain would figure this out. And even more inconceivable, even more unacceptable—up until this very moment, Fang Zheng was still tightly gripping his hand!
“What about the old steward?” Regardless, Fang Zheng continued speaking on his own. “That old fellow’s eyeballs drifted here and there, like an old fox. One look and you know he’s no good. Moreover, he also stole a glance at Madam Du. Mm, there’s definitely something fishy between the two of them.”
“A crime of passion! Madam Du and the old steward joined forces to kill Du Zhongtao.”
“What do you think?”
Meng Rui said with a half-smile: “Based on the old steward’s physical condition, the only person he could probably kill is himself.”
“That makes sense, worthy of being a God-Catcher.”
Fang Zheng’s eyeballs grew wider and wider. Suddenly he moved closer to Meng Rui: “Then the murderer must be you.”
“You entered the Du Residence at night with ill intentions. When you were discovered by Du Zhongtao, you killed him to silence him.” Fang Zheng was very satisfied. “This one is more reliable.”
“What do you think?”
Meng Rui looked at the animated Fang Zheng and asked seriously: “Are you really a constable?”
November 21st, foggy, purple constellation Kui in the north.
Last night he had been pestered by Fang Zheng for a long time. Fortunately, after seeing County Magistrate Kong Pei, Fang Zheng finally shut his mouth. Meng Rui had never imagined there could be such a long-winded person, much less imagined that such a long-winded person could actually also be a constable.
Hour of the Dragon, East City Wharf.
The Great Shi Dynasty had established Maritime Transport Bureaus in important coastal cities to supervise and collect incoming and outgoing sea taxes. The Maritime Transport Bureau reported directly to the Holy City and was not under the jurisdiction of the Prefecture Yamen. Nearly a hundred merchant ships were docked at the East City Wharf. If Meng Rui wanted to find Tengu Ichiro’s merchant ship, he could only seek assistance from the Maritime Transport Bureau.
Fortunately, the Bureau Director quickly found the sea vessel.
This was a huge sea vessel with a red sun flag planted at the bow. The sea wind was fierce and cold. More than ten lifeless-looking crew members were sweeping the deck. Meng Rui recognized Inoue at a glance. Inoue also recognized Meng Rui and hurriedly lowered his head.
Meng Rui jumped onto the sea vessel and stopped Inoue, saying: “Come with me. Your family is waiting for you.”
Inoue’s face showed panic as he shook his head with difficulty: “I can’t leave… Please tell Kiku that she should act as if I don’t exist, let her forget about me.”
“Whatever you have to say, tell her yourself.” Meng Rui pulled up Inoue and started walking. The cabin door suddenly opened, and Tengu Ichiro and Aihara Hideo slowly walked out.
Tengu Ichiro wore his habitual smile: “We meet Your Excellency again. ‘Until we meet again’ came so quickly.”
Aihara Hideo had no pleasant expression. A narrow Japanese samurai sword hung at his waist as he said coldly: “Last time the sword wasn’t handy. This time I’ll let you experience the true Japanese single-blade style.”
“Happy to oblige anytime.” Meng Rui pulled Inoue and continued walking.
“Please halt.” Tengu Ichiro’s face turned sinister. “This is my sea vessel, he is my crew member. Your Excellency forcibly taking my crew member from the ship—isn’t this going too far? Hmph, today no one is leaving!”
Aihara Hideo drew his samurai sword, his eyes revealing fierce and vicious light. Meng Rui released Inoue, turned to face Aihara, and without saying much, only gave a cold “hmph.”
The sea sails were blown by the sea wind, making loud flapping sounds. On the deck, tension filled the air for a moment, with swords drawn and bows bent.
“Ya!” Aihara Hideo suddenly roared loudly. Just as he was about to charge forward, someone suddenly called from the not-too-distant shore: “Has Lord Meng found his friend?”
The speaker was the Maritime Transport Bureau Director. He figured that the signs between Meng Rui and the Wa Kingdom people didn’t look right. If both sides came to blows, regardless of which side suffered casualties, it would be no benefit to him, so he also followed. Standing at the wharf and seeing both sides glaring angrily at each other, only then did he shout loudly.
Tengu Ichiro’s brows furrowed as he signaled Aihara Hideo to put away his samurai sword.
The Director jumped onto the sea vessel and came to Meng Rui’s side: “Lord Meng, once you’ve finished what you wanted to do, let’s leave. The wind on the sea is like knives—be careful not to catch a cold.”
“Many thanks for the Director’s concern.”
The Director hummed and said loudly: “Lord Meng Rui is a God-Catcher of the Great Shi Dynasty. We subordinate officials should naturally show much respect and support.” These words were obviously directed at Tengu Ichiro.
“So it’s the God-Catcher Your Excellency. My apologies, my apologies. Tengu Ichiro just lost composure. Please forgive me, Lord… Meng Rui.” Tengu Ichiro bowed deeply with perfect courtesy.
Meng Rui showed no expression, but in his heart he was disgusted to death by such duplicitous villains like Tengu. He paid him no attention and said to Inoue: “Rest assured and come with me.”
Inoue revealed a conflicted and struggling expression. After a moment, he still shook his head: “The Lord’s kind intentions, Inoue will remember in his heart. But I cannot leave! This way is best for me, for Kiku, and for the child.”
“You?”
“Inoue has already spoken very clearly. Does the God-Catcher Your Excellency wish to force someone against their will?” Tengu Ichiro’s tone rose a few degrees. The Director at the side said: “Since this is the case, why not come back and ask again in a few days?”
With a heavy sigh in his heart, Meng Rui turned and left, the Director following to see him off.
Tengu Ichiro waited until both men had gone some distance, then ordered the others below deck. He then said to Aihara Hideo: “Go investigate this Meng Rui.”
“Hai.” Aihara Hideo nodded heavily. “He’s a God-Catcher… could it be he knows about our affairs?”
“Whether he knows or not, he’s a troublesome fellow.” Tengu Ichiro muttered. “Meng Rui, hmph!”