Shi Zhangqing shuddered and shouted: “This is a frame-up, absolutely not this humble one’s doing!”
“Who do you think is framing you?”
Shi Zhangqing had pondered this question for an hour, and now answered with a strained voice: “There are many in this city who are dissatisfied with the State Preceptor, perhaps they…”
“Perhaps?” Yu Gengqing could no longer hold back his mockery, “The evidence against you is conclusive, yet you still dare to quibble that someone ‘perhaps’ framed you?”
Shi Zhangqing fell to his knees with a thud: “I beg the sovereign, I beg the State Preceptor to investigate thoroughly and clear my name!”
Fu Lingchuan exhaled softly before addressing Feng Miaojun: “What does Your Majesty think about taking him away for rigorous interrogation?” He didn’t believe Shi Zhangqing would assault Yu Linlang either, and there must be some mystery to this affair. But now with both testimonial and physical evidence present, Shi Zhangqing had no way to defend himself, and Fu Lingchuan himself was about to face major trouble.
These days, he had sent people to investigate the assassination site no fewer than seven or eight times, but they hadn’t found any useful clues.
Dawn was approaching.
He turned his head and saw the undisguised hateful gaze from Yu Gengqing, and immediately understood: tomorrow’s court session would certainly be quite lively.
“State Preceptor,” Yu Gengqing spoke coldly, “We shall meet again in two hours!”
Feng Miaojun felt that since defeating the Kingdom of Puling, the royal court hadn’t been this lively for a long time. After the night’s interrogation, Yu Gengqing returned and took only an hour to prepare a new petition, full of emotion and vivid detail, earnestly requesting the royal court to capture the true culprit behind the scenes, showing absolutely no leniency.
Everyone knew Shi Zhangqing was Fu Lingchuan’s subordinate. By making such a commotion, Yu Gengqing was effectively accusing State Preceptor Fu directly.
Wusel was Fu Lingchuan’s territory. Yu Gengqing had been an official for decades and still possessed this political sensitivity. The reason he dared to lodge complaints so boldly was because he was leveraging the current special situation:
The military reduction orders had been continuously implemented for several months, causing resentment among powerful families everywhere. Now the heads of various families had gathered in Wusel, all watching the royal court’s every move with wide eyes. If Fu Lingchuan wanted to secretly harm a scion of a powerful family at this extremely sensitive time, it would be like destroying the bridge after crossing the river—completely out of the question.
At this moment, they were standing on the same side as Yu Gengqing.
Fu Lingchuan certainly wouldn’t passively await his fate. Before Feng Miaojun could speak, he had already said: “This case is still under investigation, and the evidence is unclear. We cannot jump to conclusions. Historian Yu needn’t worry; the royal court will deliver justice for your son.”
“Unclear?” Yu Gengqing sneered, “The culprit has been caught, the wounds on his face match my son’s description exactly, and both testimonial and physical evidence are complete. What other kind of evidence does State Preceptor Fu want to exonerate Shi Zhangqing?” After experiencing the night’s interrogation, he had already thrown caution to the wind and was now directly confronting Fu Lingchuan, no longer speaking euphemistically.
A senior official under Fu Lingchuan stepped forward half a step and rebuked: “Historian Yu, there is a proper order of rank! You must not speak recklessly!”
Yu Gengqing seemed not to hear: “The day my son was attacked, the State Preceptor sent people to investigate. Have you found any clues until now?”
Fu Lingchuan’s face was as calm as water: “Less than an hour after the incident, my fangshi disciples performed tracking magic, but unfortunately, the culprit was cunning and used divine arts to conceal their aura.”
Cultivators investigating cases were certainly different from ordinary government officers. The so-called tracking magic was a special divine art performed at the scene within two hours of the incident. Every passage would leave traces; beyond what could be observed with the naked eye, many hidden clues at the scene could be explored, such as the disturbances left in the air when humans moved through it, which would completely disappear after about an hour; as for scents, they could even linger for more than a month.
This divine art, with the aid of specific powders, could mark the movements of people within the scene and even follow the culprit all the way home, pointing out their retreat path.
Fu Lingchuan had dispatched forces promptly, and the fangshi he sent were highly skilled, but the traces at the scene had been cleaned completely, rendering the divine art ineffective.
Evidently, the opponent was a master at countering tracking, able to eliminate their own traces in a short time, and possessed astonishingly high cultivation.
Yu Gengqing said coldly: “Is that so? In other words, State Preceptor Fu’s pursuit of the culprit has made no progress, and you had to wait for my child to wake up and identify the culprit, yet the State Preceptor refuses to acknowledge it.”
At this moment, Xu Linghai suddenly stepped forward, first respectfully bowing to Feng Miaojun, then speaking loudly: “Report to Your Majesty.”
Amidst this chaotic scene, he was the most courteous one. Feng Miaojun showed an encouraging smile: “Speak, Minister Xu.”
“There were no other witnesses in that alley that day; only Young Master Yu and his servants and the culprit know what happened. Now Young Master Yu and his servant have both identified Shi Zhangqing, who firmly denies it—this is the crux of the matter.” Xu Linghai continued in a deep voice, “Fortunately, the deceased hasn’t passed the seventh day yet, and the struggle was so intense that the culprit had no time to destroy his soul. I have a suggestion: why not use the soul-returning method to summon the wronged soul to identify the culprit?”
Summoning the soul to identify the culprit! Everyone looked at each other, all finding it feasible.
Fu Lingchuan’s long eyebrows furrowed: “The soul-returning art has been lost to this day. Where can we find such a talent on such short notice?”
Yu Gengqing laughed coldly: “Can the State Preceptor not perform it either?”
“If I were to perform it, would Historian Yu feel at ease?”
This question left Yu Gengqing speechless.
Indeed, he was calling Fu Lingchuan the culprit, so how could he expect the culprit to investigate himself? Moreover, even if Fu Lingchuan agreed, who knew if he would manipulate things or simply use some wandering ghosts as substitutes?
Fu Lingchuan ignored his sarcasm: “What you all may not know is that the soul-returning art is an ancient secret method left from antiquity, which didn’t require cultivators to have profound cultivation to use at that time. But after the changes in the heavens and earth, the Six Realms’ control over the souls of living beings became unprecedentedly strict. Even dead souls cannot be arbitrarily captured or manipulated by the living, or the Heavenly Way will punish them. To perform this secret art requires communion with the netherworld; besides profound cultivation, one must also possess strong soul power. Moreover, this servant boy has been dead for five days; he was young when alive with weak soul power, and to prevent his soul from dissipating, he has likely already been taken to the Underworld.”
In other words, knowing the technique itself was useless; one would still need to borrow the soul from the Underworld to identify the culprit.
There were many officials present who were cultivators themselves, and they stepped forward to confirm that what Fu Lingchuan said was not wrong.
Feng Miaojun watched coldly from the sidelines until the commotion in the hall subsided, then said unhurriedly: “Summoning the soul to identify the culprit is one approach. Coincidentally, I do know someone who not only excels in this art but is also within this royal palace.”
Fu Lingchuan asked in a deep voice: “Who is it?” He secretly wondered if she meant him.
But Changle should know that while he could use this spell, he would never do so. Yu Linlang’s assassination attempt pointed directly at him, and he had a premonition that even if the soul-returning art succeeded, the result would certainly be unfavorable to him.
Under everyone’s gaze, Feng Miaojun slowly stood up, and from her red lips came only one word:
“Me.”