The 1st day of the 1st month of Hongrun Year 33. This should have been a good day to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new, but the common people had become frightened and trembling due to the frequent murder cases, not knowing who the killing demon’s next target would be. An invisible and unspeakable gray haze shrouded Suishui City. The city became much colder and more desolate.
Li Si was at Shanliu Ju. He sometimes watched the A’shan siblings perform magic tricks, and sometimes listened to the blind old man tell a new story called “Sudden Wind Rises.” This story told of the shocking naval battle between the Great World and the barbarian tribes at the Kuopo River at the beginning of the Great World’s establishment—a bloody battle that changed the color of heaven and earth and moved vegetation to emotion. The protagonist of this story was a remnant heir of the previous dynasty who experienced various tribulations in the merciless war—relatives killed, lovers abandoned, and had to endure cold mockery from his own people. Ultimately, the tribulations awakened the fighting spirit in his blood.
Before one segment ended, a sudden commotion arose from the main street.
An old man in hemp shirt fell on the main street. Before the old man were two county yamen catchers. The old man cried out sorrowfully, “I am an innocent man! I’ve never entered the yamen in my entire life, let alone gone to prison! If you keep trying to force me into jail, I… I’ll immediately bash my head and die right here!” The old man hugged a large stone, making as if to bash his head against it.
“Don’t! Don’t do anything foolish.” The slightly older catcher quickly stopped him, then sighed and said, “Old man, we don’t want to do this either. It’s just that the county yamen has ordered: all craftsmen must first be detained in the prison, and will be released after being cleared of suspicion. We are also forced to do this out of helplessness.”
“Complete nonsense! How can the yamen randomly arrest people? What craftsmen? I’m just an old man who makes sugar figurines, and this also requires going to prison? Is there no justice!” Before long, the old man in hemp shirt’s children and grandchildren all arrived. The whole family hugged their heads and wept bitterly. The two catchers were even more at a loss.
“What exactly are they trying to do!” A’shan, who performed magic tricks, looked worried. “Even sugar figurine makers have to eat prison food. Won’t we magic performers have even less way to survive? Will they also come arrest us? Sister, what should we do?”
“Don’t panic.” A’shui comforted her brother. “Under the bright sun, there will always be justice. They won’t be allowed to act recklessly.”
Li Si was also angry and was about to find Xiao Ning to ask for clarification. On the main street, Xiao Ning suddenly appeared, dressed in his catcher’s uniform with a saber at his waist.
Catchers generally wore their sabers on the left waist, but Xiao Ning wore his on the right side. It looked somewhat odd, but this had become his habit. Xiao Ning sent away the catchers who wanted to arrest people, then comforted the old man in hemp shirt to leave before turning to see Li Si.
In the private room at Shanliu Ju.
“Why are catchers randomly arresting people all over the streets?” Li Si asked.
Xiao Ning shook his head. “This is all thanks to the county magistrate’s son.”
“Meng Fanchuan?”
“Yes. This Meng Fanchuan proposed a twisted theory. He said something about how anyone who can carve micro-carved walnuts must be a craftsman with dexterous hands. So he wants to arrest all suspicious craftsmen in the entire city and detain them in prison for investigation, and then they can find the culprit.” After Xiao Ning finished speaking, Li Si didn’t know whether to be angry or laugh. He could only say, “This is truly nonsense!”
“Who says it isn’t? Lord Meng doesn’t know what potion he drank to actually let his son act so recklessly.” Xiao Ning said. “However, Meng Fanchuan is naturally dull-witted. This bad idea couldn’t have been thought up by him. It should be that Gao Ling.”
“When I arrived, I just received news that Gao Ling and Meng Fanchuan went to capture Chu Daqing, the Black Tiger Mountain bandit who had a grudge against Shang Yun.”
At Black Tiger Stronghold on Shuangxing Mountain, Gao Ling walked coldly and directly toward the stronghold interior. Along the way, he took down over twenty bandits. Meng Fanchuan and the catchers tied up the bandits who had no power to resist, one by one. The small fry were all intimidated by Gao Ling’s intense killing aura and gaze. No one dared to step forward. The bandit group made way for Gao Ling.
Gao Ling walked to the front of a large building. On the building’s corridor hung a tiger head with a mouthful of fangs. A burly man around forty years old stood beneath the tiger head, with a fierce expression. “I am Chu Daqing. Are you the one who spoke arrogantly about capturing me and throwing me in prison?!”
“Yes.”
“Heh heh heh heh! Boy, you’re going too far! If you want to capture me, first deal with the blade in my hand!” Chu Daqing swung his hundred-pound tiger-head ring blade, slashing toward Gao Ling’s crown. Just as the tiger-head blade was about to split the arrogant youth’s skull, Chu Daqing’s vision suddenly blurred. A sword shadow as fast as a meteor passed through the tiger-head ring blade and struck his ribs.
“Such… such fast swordwork.” Chu Daqing looked at the expressionless Gao Ling and said resignedly, “Thank you, young hero, for showing mercy. I’ll go to this prison willingly.”
Without using a single soldier, Gao Ling sent the bandit chieftain who had been running rampant for ten years into prison. Meng Xiu kept giving thumbs up in praise of Gao Ling. After Gao Ling came out of the prison, he ran into Li Si and Xiao Ning.
“You arrested people without evidence, causing all the common people in the city to be in constant fear. This is simply adding to the chaos!” Xiao Ning rebuked Meng Fanchuan and Gao Ling. Meng Xiu caught up with an ugly expression and said, “Butou Xiao, Fanchuan and Young Hero Gao’s arrests were all approved by me. Are you criticizing me?”
“This subordinate wouldn’t dare.” Xiao Ning lowered his head.
“No, Lord Meng, he’s right.” Gao Ling suddenly spoke. Meng Xiu looked at Gao Ling in surprise. Gao Ling slowly said, “The culprit’s mind is meticulous and his hands are vicious. He won’t be easily captured by us. And the effect of arresting craftsmen and capturing bandits is negligible. So Butou Xiao is absolutely right. I am adding to the chaos.”
“Young Hero Gao, you…” Meng Xiu was completely confused.
“But even if it’s just adding chaos, I will do it. I want the true culprit behind the scenes to know that this play is not his one-man show. Someone will be watching him closely until he is sent to prison.” After Gao Ling finished speaking, he turned and walked away. When he walked to Li Si’s side, he stopped again and said coldly, “Besides, adding chaos is still better than hiding in a teahouse doing nothing.”
Meng Xiu followed his son and Gao Ling as they left. Xiao Ning looked at Gao Ling’s retreating back and nodded. “Although I know he’s acting recklessly, what he just said isn’t entirely wrong.”
Li Si agreed. “Yes, this is not anyone’s one-man show. Gao Ling doing this may be trying to provoke me. He’s not wrong. One stillness is not as good as one movement, and one movement is not as good as disappearing.”
“Disappearing?”
From that night on, Li Si never left Xiao Ning’s residence again, not even stepping out of the chamber door.
At Suishui County Yamen, Meng Fanchuan found Gao Ling. Gao Ling was pinching a tree branch and practicing sword forms. Gao Ling said, “It’s about time. Release all the craftsmen arrested in the prison, then arrest another batch.”
“Senior Martial Brother, you arrest people without interrogating them, keep them locked up for two days and then release them all. Why is this?” Meng Fanchuan scratched his head and asked.
“Arresting people is to make the culprit believe the county yamen has already thrown itself into disarray, so he’ll relax his vigilance and guard. As for these arrested people, they’re unrelated to the case, so of course they should be released after being detained for a while.” Gao Ling swung the tree branch, producing hissing sounds of cutting through air. “And Chu Daqing—he can also be considered a man of character. Release him too.”
“Yes, Senior Martial Brother.”
“What’s Li Si’s reaction?” Gao Ling asked casually.
“Li Si has locked himself in his chamber for the past two or three days without stepping out, like a young maiden. Very strange.” Meng Fanchuan said. Gao Ling stopped swinging the tree branch. A trace of a smile gathered at the corner of his mouth as he said softly, “If he doesn’t leave his door, the culprit can’t deliver his walnuts, and then no more people will die. Indeed he has some brains. No wonder Qiandie can’t forget him…”
“Senior Martial Brother, you’re thinking of Miss Yan again.”
“No I’m not.” Gao Ling smiled, but it wasn’t hard to see it was a forced smile.
—Qiandie, I will definitely prove I’m no worse than the Great World God-Catcher. Then you’ll understand my painstaking efforts.