By the ti all the nurous ice sculptures in the courtyard were released one by one, and the follow-up matters were handled properly, Sima Tianyuan and the eunuch hurriedly departed.
This was due to the fact that royal palaces like this have always been enshrouded in a heavy yin energy, a place where malevolent forces accumulate.
It was fine when people still resided here, as mbers of the royal family shouldered the hopes of the masses, blessed with the dragon qi, naturally capable of warding off all evils. But once the palace beca deserted, the yinsha within would lure all sorts of demons and spirits to this place.
Hence, the place had to be kept clean with a sage continuously seated, managing and tidying up.
Also, since the commotion from the Zhao Prison was too great this ti around, Tianyuan Sima and his partner were worried about the disturbance of evil spirits here. Otherwise, these two usually wouldn’t afford to step away, even for a mont.
However, before leaving, Sima Tianyuan heavily patted Li Xuan on the shoulder, expressing his great admiration, "Well done, you’ve really made us proud at the Liudao Division. The people in the Internal Affairs Bureau are always trying to set themselves against us, and this ti you’ve actually slapped them in the face. At least for the next one or two years, they won’t dare to rise up."
He also handed a flying dagger to Li Xuan, "If they still refuse to accept this, you just go ahead and fight it out with them. This protective weapon was bestowed to years ago by the Chief Supervisor. It contains one-tenth of the Chief Supervisor’s ’Thunder Yi of Sword.’ It can only be used twice, indeed. But once it’s invoked, I can guarantee that they won’t be able to bear it."
Upon hearing this, Li Xuan almost burst into laughter. "Why should I take such a precious thing?"
Sima Tianyuan couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh, "This is a good thing, but it’s of no use to anymore. I’ve been planning to give it away before it becos useless. As of now, out of everyone at Zhuque Hall, you’re the one I’m most fond of. That Demoness Zidie, after I chased her ineffectively for half a year, finally fell into your hands. This really did help vent so pent-up anger.
"So, even that demoness had her day? Hahaha! You didn’t see her pitiful appearance in the Zhenyao Tower. Her pipa bone was nailed down and tens of chains were cuffed around her. She’s turned listless and can no longer act arrogantly, like she used to in front of ."
Li Xuan was startled, "But that Zidie Demoness turned herself in. It wasn’t who—"
"But it had sothing to do with you for sure. You, most likely, are her nesis." Sima Tianyuan patted Li Xuan’s shoulder again, "You don’t need to refuse. This is not just because you helped vent my anger, but also because I see sothing in you. Since the Battle of Tumu Fort, nearly half of the strong n in the Great Jin Dynasty fell to Xuanfu. We at the Liudao Division have had to fight the demons and monsters for years, losing countless talents over more than a decade. Now we need young pillars like you to rise and hold up the sky of Liudao Division."
However, Li Xuan had already tucked away the flying dagger adorned with strange silver patterns into his sleeve.
He never had any intention to refuse or decline.
Although this dagger only held one-tenth of the ’Thunder Yi of Sword’ from Fumo Zongguan, it ca from a potential heavenly figure and was nothing to sniff at.
If used properly, it could temporarily boost Li Xuan’s combat power by two or three realms.
Especially since Li Xuan just recently received ’consecration’ from Fumo Zongguan, he could utilize the Thunder Yi to the fullest.
So he carefully tucked the flying dagger into a coiled leather bag in his left sleeve dedicated to storing talismans.
This coiled leather bag was a special artifact, designed to nurture the spirit of talismans and magical instrunts, providing help in preserving the Thunder Yi of the sword inside the dagger.
After Sima Tianyuan left, Luo Yan was still looking at his retreating figure, his gaze slightly cold.
Seeing this, Li Xuan asked out of curiosity, "What’s up, Youjiao Luo?"
"Nothing, I just really dislike that guy." Luo Yan huffed and turned around, heading towards the direction of the prison gate.
Li Xuan was left baffled, only able to guess that there was so old grudge between Youjiao Luo and Sima Tianyuan.
※※※※
After seeing off Sima Tianyuan, Li Xuan began to interrogate all the involved parties. He and Luo Yan took charge of one group each from the five separated individuals.
In addition, Li Xuan had demanded two more teams from Qin Renfeng’s subordinates, mainly to escort the prisoners and help them out.
It’s worth ntioning that, after the Fanyi of Inner Chang were unfrozen, although they no longer dared to make things difficult for a few people, their gaze towards Li Xuan was sowhat skewed, resentful, and had a hint of awe mixed in with their grudge.
Li Xuan didn’t pay them any attention, as he started the interrogation, one by one, using the dossier for reference.
"Where were you at the ti? What were you doing? Can anyone witness for you?"
"Did you sll sothing peculiar that night? What kind of sll was it? Was it pungent? Like this?"
"Did you feel the ground shaking? How severe was it? Was there an explosion inside the imperial treasury?"
"So, you’re saying that the purple butterfly you saw had already flown into the sky, transforming into a giant fiery butterfly?"
These were the basic questions. Only for so key individuals, Li Xuan would ask a few more questions.
Especially the soldiers of the Forbidden Army who were in charge of guarding the treasury, Li Xuan not only asked them in great detail, but also undressed them to see the injuries on their bodies.
— Those marks roughly resembled those seen on the bodies of the two elderly ladies at the Zhendonghou Mansion, with scale-like patterns across their chests. The lower edges of their necks, breasts, and the insides of their thighs also bore signs of burns.
However, due to inadequate treatnt and poor living conditions, these burns had varying degree of deterioration.
According to these people, they had lost consciousness before the robbery took place. By the ti they woke up, the imperial treasury was already engulfed in flas.
It took a total of three and a half shichens before Li Xuan and the others left the Zhao Prison at dusk.
"Finally, it’s over."
The first thing Peng Fulai did after stepping out of the prison was to remove the strip of cloth blocking his nose and take deep breaths of fresh air: "I really can’t stand it. Can’t these people from the Inner Jishi Bureau find a different place to incarcerate these criminals? I suppose they can’t stand it themselves."
This was because the Zhao Prison was semi-underground, the musty sll it contained was much stronger than on the surface. Despite the Jishi Bureau having burned incense in the interrogation room, being inside for too long, one would still feel extrely uncomfortable.
Luo Yan, flipping through the interrogation records of Li Xuan, ntioned, "It seems that the matter of the stone lacquer is almost confird. Back then, many people slled the stone lacquer. However, they were quite far from the imperial treasury, so the sll was faint.
Apart from that, the interrogation from the Sitian Departnt and Huoque Departnt was quite thorough, leaving no stone unturned. There are two doubts. First, all those who were on guard duty have explicit records of having drunk wine delivered by the imperial kitchen. However, according to previous records, the Demoness Zidie does not employ this thod of poisoning."
"Secondly, everyone who lost consciousness had experienced severe headaches for the following two days. The Purple Illusory Fire of Demoness Zidie does not have such side effects."
Li Xuan gave Luo Yan a peculiar look at this point, "These are indeed doubts. But - why do I feel like your intentions are to prove that Demoness Zidie is not the culprit, rather than earnestly investigating the case?"
Luo Yan was taken aback, then chuckled awkwardly: "What I ant to say was, it would be best for us not to focus too much on Demoness Zidie for our investigation."
"I see, the chances of Demoness Zidie being the perpetrator are indeed small." Li Xuan nodded in agreent, "At present, we have three pieces of evidence to go on. First, the origin of the stone lacquer; the amount they used was large. Second, the cook from the palace’s imperial kitchen who has gone missing. This case was initially suspected to be the work of Demoness Zidie, and was thus overlooked. Third, all the guard soldiers experienced symptoms of headache, nausea, and skin itching within the three days following the incident. We can try to ascertain what drug causes these symptoms. One more thing that is bothering —"
Li Xuan looked at the pile of docunts in his hand: "Almost everyone has ntioned that at the mont the fire started, there was a slight tremor in the ground."
"The one who is curious about this is not just you, Mr. Youjiao." Yue Qianqian interjected: "At that ti, the Shuji House did not detect any earthquake within the range of Nanjing. After the event, the Huoque Departnt conducted a large-scale inspection in the inner city palace and nearby residential areas. The range in which this ground tremor was felt is strange, roughly in the shape of an ellipse from the treasury to the Hongwu Gate, while outside the palace, no tremors were felt."
Luo Yan also frowned slightly: "I am also a little concerned about that. However, during the burning of the imperial treasury, there was a violent explosion, which should have been caused by the lamp oil stored in the imperial treasury."
"In any case, we should first investigate based on this clue." Li Xuan, already heading south, said: "Let’s go to the imperial kitchen and then head back."
The imperial kitchen of the Nanjing Palace was no longer considered a royal kitchen; it mostly supplied als to the eunuchs and guards staying within the palace.
After circling around and questioning, Li Xuan left the palace with a hint of disappointnt.
Upon returning to Zhuque Hall, Yue Qianqian was engrossed in the vast collection of books in the book collection building. She pulled out every single book on hallucinogenic drugs and perused each of them.
— There were several thousand books, piled up like a small mountain; it’s going to take a long while to get the results.
Li Xuan and Luo Yan were also busy; they needed to investigate the origin of the stone lacquer.
There are seven known stone lacquer production sites within the Great Jin Dynasty, distributed from north to south. Naturally, Li Xuan and the others could not go there in person. However, the Liudao Division has branches in every county. They just need to send a flying ssage to ask their fellow colleagues to help check.
As long as they can investigate the annual yields and the whereabouts of stone lacquer in each place, they can find traces of clues.
As for the missing cook from the imperial kitchen, Li Xuan had to find a painter to draw a portrait of the man and then issue a wanted notice across south Zhili.
Li Xuan suspected that this wanted notice would be of little use, as the thods of disguise and illusion in this world far surpass those of his previous world’s four notorious arts. But the necessary work still has to be done.
What puzzled him was that before the shift ended at night, Jiang Hanyun has been pacing back and forth at the entrance of his signing room, glancing inside from ti to ti.
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