wait a minute

Chapter 235
It was not yet noon, and the sun was not as fierce as in midsummer. The streets in the west of the city were full of traffic, and there were men and women wandering around everywhere.

Zhenji Xuanji opened a small umbrella to cover the head of the empress dowager. Because of their mutual appearances, it looked very much like Miss Shuxiang accompanying the head wife to go shopping.

As for Ye Jingtang who followed behind, although he was dressed in a decent manner, he was carrying large and small boxes with both hands and a knife hanging from his waist, so it could be said that he displayed his identity as a bodyguard very well.

The three of them set off from Prince Jing's Mansion to go to the Yuquan Gym. Since the incident had been happening for several days, it was not considered imminent, so they left in no hurry.

The Empress Dowager seldom goes out of the palace. It is estimated that she can experience this kind of unrestrained shopping a few times a year. Even if she tries her best to restrain herself and think about doing business first, her mind is still attracted by the dazzling array of objects on the street.

And Xuanji is very considerate of the Queen Mother, so she didn't even need to ask the Queen Mother, just went here to buy a hairpin and a box of rouge, and finally put them all in Ye Jingtang's hands.

Through the observation of the Empress Dowager, Ye Jingtang can confirm that these things bought will most likely be left in the palace to eat ashes in the end. It is not easy to remember, let alone use them.

But shopping is a process of shopping and shopping. Ye Jingtang seemed to enjoy seeing the Empress Dowager, and did not show any signs of urging her. Occasionally, she would help the Empress Dowager and give some advice.

After walking like this for a long time, the three of them gradually arrived at the Yuquan Gym in the west of the city.

The Yuquan Gym is equivalent to the "Guozijian" for warriors. The gentlemen in it are all masters who have retired from the six gates, black government offices, and military camps. , military strategy, intelligence assassination, etc. are all taught, and students who can graduate successfully are at least starting as military officers.

As the saying goes, "Poor culture and rich martial arts", people who can learn art here are generally not bad. Half of them are the children of generals, and some are young people worthy of vigorous training in the military yamen.

Literati only need a table to study, but martial arts requires venues, equipment and other facilities. The martial arts students who come to study live in the dormitory arranged by the court. When you walk nearby, you can hear various beating sounds of "papapa-ahahah--".

After arriving at the destination, Ye Jingtang walked in front, first asked passers-by to find out where the murder happened, and then took two women, turned from the main street into the alley, and Ye Jingtang asked while walking:

"Is it possible to learn martial arts in the Yuquan Gym without having to ask a teacher?"

Master Xuanji shook his head: "Studying art here, like the Imperial College, is considered a 'disciple of the Son of Heaven', and the teacher's kindness must be remembered by the Holy One.

"Although there are many famous teachers in the Yuquan Gym, you don't have to think about stealing them. You can teach the instructors inside, and they can't teach you."

Ye Jingtang laughed and said: "Threesomes must have my teacher. Kungfu is good or bad, it depends on who has it. Kungfu that I don't know is good kungfu. There is no saying that I can't teach it."

The empress dowager walked beside her, and because she couldn't speak, she looked at the surrounding houses in a dignified manner. After turning a corner, she found a simple shed in the middle of the alley, and there were several policemen standing below, and then said:

"Is it there?"

"should be."

Ye Jingtang took the two of them to the middle of the alley, and after a little observation, it can be seen that the place where the murder happened was in front of a courtyard. There was no obvious damage to the walls, tiles, and gates, and the corpse was also moved away. The line marks the location of the corpse, and there is nothing worth noticing when looking at it.

A cloth shed was set up in the alley to prevent the sudden rain from erasing the few remaining traces. The arresters from Six Doors and Heiya stood inside and whispered:
"There is nothing missing in the house, and the two deceased did not lose anything. I guess someone hired a killer with strong martial arts skills to kill..."

"The one who died was Zhang Lie, the old coach of the Yuquan Gym, and the other was a good seedling sent by the Zhennan Army. Both of them came from clean backgrounds, so it is unlikely that there is any enemy..."

……

Ye Jingtang listened to the conversation and observed the traces on the ground. Before he came to the front, the arresters in the alley turned around, and one of the arresters said in surprise and joy:
"Master Yuwen, Master Ye from Heiya is here..."

The few arresters who gathered around naturally knew that there was a knife chief in Hei Ya, and when they heard this, they immediately showed sincerity and fear, and hurried forward to greet him.

Ye Jingtang signaled that there is no need to mobilize the crowd so much, and looking at the courtyard next to him, he found that Yuwen Chengde, whom he had met in Zhuji Lane before, ran out of it, and Yaoyao cupped his hands and said:

"Your Majesty Ye is here, and the officials are far away to welcome you..."

"You don't have to be so polite. I heard that something happened here, so I came here specially to see what's going on?"

The last time Yuwen Chengde investigated the murder case of a small official from the Ministry of Industry, he saw the inhuman insight and deduction ability of overnight surprise. At this time, he wiped the sweat from his forehead as if he saw a savior:
"Well, there was a homicide case. It wasn't a big deal, but the consequences were serious. The murdered old coach Zhang had taught cudgel techniques in the Yuquan Gym for nearly 30 years, and all military officers and generals serving in the capital had been pointed out. As soon as this matter came out, it was directly reported to the Taiji Hall. The lower officials are in charge of arresting robbers. If this kind of incident happens, if it doesn't work out, it will have to be released to Tiannan..."

Ye Jingtang could see that Yuwen Chengde was in a hurry, so he calmly said:
"I know the severity, let's talk about the case first."

Yuwen Chengde nodded quickly, turned around and came under the cloth shed, indicating several footprints and scratches on the ground:

"According to the Yuquan Gym, the old coach Zhang came out to patrol in the middle of the night according to the precepts, and he didn't return for half an hour. Other coaches came to look for them and found the bodies of the two people here. Because there are many people practicing martial arts at night in the surrounding area, several people living nearby I'm a student and didn't notice anything special. The murderer is quite sophisticated, he erased all the traces, injured the adults, they and the officials, and didn't see anything..."

Ye Jingtang squatted down and carefully inspected the ground. It can be seen that the few footprints stepped on during the fight were all smoothed down with shoes in a calm manner. The posture and direction of the force can no longer be seen, and only the approximate standing position can be determined.

There are slight cracks on the walls on both sides of the roadway, which should have been collided, but there are no other clues.

Master Xuanji and the Empress Dowager put on face scarves for fear that people in the government would recognize them.Xuanji took a closer look:
"Zhang Lie is an old martial artist. He used to teach spear and stick kung fu in the imperial army, and served as a guard of honor for the first emperor. He is not too old, but his alertness and reaction to the enemy are definitely not bad; he can kill the students without disturbing the surrounding students. The murderer's martial arts Not to be underestimated."

After observing carefully for a while, Ye Jingtang came to a conclusion that was almost the same as that of Master Xuanji, so he got up and said:

"Is the body still there?"

Yuwen Chengde said: "It's in the courtyard, the last time I was touched into the morgue, the officer has a long memory, I slept directly with the corpse these two days, I'm afraid that someone will destroy the corpse..."

Ye Jingtang turned around and entered the yard, and from the corner of his eye, he found the Empress Dowager standing cowardly at the back, it seemed that she didn't dare to go in and look at the dead.

But when he found him looking over, the Empress Dowager still acted calmly and walked behind Xuanji.

Ye Jingtang signaled to the Empress Dowager to stand at the door, and then went to the yard.

The yard is for the students to live alone. There are stone locks, sandbags, guns and sticks by the wall, which are a little scattered. They should have heard movement while exercising and went out to check.

Under the eaves of the main room, there were two stretchers, the corpses were covered with a white cloth, and two weapons were placed beside them;

Master Xuanji squatted down, picked up the tendon and wooden whip and looked at it. There was no scar on the top from being hit by an iron tool, but there was a crack in the middle, which seemed to be broken by internal force.

Ye Jingtang lifted the white cloth, revealing a white-haired corpse with bloodstains on the mouth and nose, bruises on both arms, and a fatal wound on the chest, with circular black scars.

Yuwen Chengde pointed to the chest of the corpse:
"I can't see anything else, but this fatal wound, the lower official thinks it was hit by a piercing stick. The Lord Hurt guesses that it is a hidden weapon inside the iron egg, but there are no traces of the hidden weapon being smashed around..."

After Ye Jingtang looked at the corpse next to him, he stood up and frowned in thought, then looked at Shui Shui next to him:
"What do you think?"

Zhenji Xuanji stood up: "The visitor is very skilled in martial arts, and he is cautious and deliberately concealing his whereabouts. It is difficult to deduce the origin of the murderer based on these."

Ye Jingtang nodded, picked up a wooden stick from the yard as a whip, and threw it to Master Xuanji:
"True knowledge comes from practice. Let's practice it. I'll see if I can deduce the murderer's actions. Come out and stand here."

Seeing this, Yuwen Chengde regained his spirits, and quickly told the arresters in the alley to back away.

Master Xuanji understood what Ye Jingtang was going to do, took the whip to play the victim, put on the appearance of a stern instructor, and came to the middle of the alley.

After Ye Jingtang looked at the scratches on the ground, in order to let the empress dowager feel a little bit involved, he raised his hand and ticked:

"Come on, you stand here."

"Ok?"

The Empress Dowager was watching curiously, and seeing that she was also involved, she obediently came over and stood at the gate of the courtyard; Ye Jingtang looked around and came to the corner of the side path.

The alley in Autumn became quiet at this moment, and three figures stood in various parts of the alley.

Master Xuanji stood facing the courtyard, holding the pointer with his hands behind his back, pretending to secretly observe the students practicing martial arts in the courtyard, without making any sound.

Ye Jingtang pretended to be wandering passers-by, and walked out of the alley silently, and found the real Xuanji standing in the middle of the alley, and his figure was a meal.

But Immortal Xuanji suddenly found someone coming out, and it was too dark to see who was there, so he swung the whip in his hand in front of him, making a motion of beating his palm.

slap~
This action seems to be posing as a stern teacher, but it is actually preparing to deal with the enemy.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Ye Jingtang quickly raised his hand and made a gesture of shooting towards Xuanji.

Master Xuanji stopped abruptly before she could speak, and turned to dodge.

bang——

With one move, Ye Jingtang made a move, and with both legs exerting strength at the same time, he crossed a distance of three feet in an instant, rushed in front of the real Xuanji, and blasted out a black tiger heart out with his left hand.

Master Xuanji raised the whip stick with both hands to block, but the broken wooden stick, which was not very strong, did not have the effect of blocking at all, it broke as soon as it was touched, and Ye Jingtang directly slapped Master Xuanji's perfectly curvy chest!
click -

Ye Jingtang concentrated his attention on analyzing the movement, and found that the wooden stick was accidentally broken, so Heihu pulled his heart out and stopped in front of the skirt.

This movement is very precise, no force is poured on Xuanji's body, even the extremely soft skirt is not suppressed, it can be said that the stop is not bad, any martial arts master will probably have to applaud and praise him A word of 'good work'.

But in Xuanji's eyes, this just-right sudden stop changed from 'accidentally missed and slapped her' to 'he took the opportunity to rub her lightly'!
? !
Sensing the extremely gentle heat on the skirt, Xuanji's peach blossom eyes widened a little, and the meaning in his eyes was obviously - you did it on purpose, right?Can you stop early?

However, although she was annoyed, Xuanji did not make any mistakes in her cooperation, and she retreated two steps back as if she had been hit hard, and hit the wall.

bang~
Ye Jingtang was a little confused, pulled back the weapon and kicked out again, pretending to hit Xuanji's heart, and then pulled back, throwing the air weapon backwards, pointing at the curious looking queen mother.

A set of movements is very fast, but the rehearsal is over in an instant.

Ye Jingtang's footsteps and Xuanji's force location are exactly the same as the scene of the crime.

Xuanji should have been knocked down now, but instead of sliding down the wall to act as a corpse, she patted her chest with her sleeves covering her and looked at Ye Jingtang with dangerous eyes.

Ye Jingtang felt that there was still a soft and greasy feeling on his hand, and he was quite embarrassed in his heart. He first raised his hand to apologize, then turned around, and analyzed:
"If nothing else happened, it should have been Coach Zhang patrolling the alley in the middle of the night, standing here watching the students practicing martial arts in the yard, because he didn't want the students to find out, so he didn't reveal anything.

"The murderer also walked silently. When they came out of the small path, the two met unexpectedly. Then the murderer violently shot and killed Coach Zhang almost in the blink of an eye.

"The students practicing martial arts inside heard the movement, ran out to check, and were hit on the temple before turning their heads..."

Someone reproduced the scene and explained it, and many of the arresters naturally understood it, and they all nodded.

However, Yuwen Chengde was still puzzled and said:
"Master Ye, when the murderer shot, he was still more than three feet away from the target. Even Ma Qiang couldn't stab so far..."

"It's a soft weapon."

Ye Jingtang explained: "This is where the power is exerted. If it is a hidden weapon, there will be traces on the body, on the weapon, and on the wall. Since they can't find it, the murderer must have taken the weapon back after he missed it. Can throw it away?" The only weapons that can be retracted at three feet are rope darts, chain hammers, etc. The corpse has blunt force injuries, and the chain hammer is more likely."

"Oh." Yuwen Chengde suddenly realized.

Ye Jingtang thought for a while, then said:
"In addition, for those who dare to use soft darts and chain hammers, the basic skills of triple throwing must be accurate and fast, and they will not get close easily. This person should also be good at punching and kicking. In order to kill quickly and stably, he only missed a direct blow. change tricks.

"Soft weapons are more of a test of internal strength control, but that palm is as strong as a bow and extremely fierce. Not surprisingly, the murderer is a master who is both internal and external, and can be far and near..."

Many policemen listened carefully, and gradually changed from thoughtful to dazed.

Even if Yuwen Chengde had seen it once, he still couldn't understand it at this moment, so he spread his hands slightly:

"Master Ye, just a few footprints that were erased, how did you see so many things?"

Ye Jingtang explained: "It's actually not difficult. People have two hands and two feet, and the place is so big. Think about all the positions and movements that may cause these marks, and then according to the impact effect, reflect The strength of the thrust, the murderer's thoughts, and the most reasonable result can be found..."

"..."

Yuwen Chengde thought the principle was quite simple, but his pig brain might not be able to learn it, so he was still at a loss.

Ye Jingtang talked for a while, and saw that many of the arrests seemed to be listening to heavenly scriptures, so he didn't waste his time talking, and then said:

"That's all I can see. The footprints have been erased, and the height, body shape, genre, etc. are hard to guess. If you want to catch the murderer with this, you can only search for similar masters in the world. The chances are slim."

"Hey, it's better to have a general direction of the investigation than not to know anything just now. I'll go to the case database to check for a master who matches the characteristics of the murderer. If there are new clues, report to the Lord as soon as possible..."

Ye Jingtang couldn't give much advice, so he didn't stay long and prepared to leave.

And the empress dowager was still obediently standing at the door, seeing Ye Jingtang and Xuanji fighting back and forth just now, she thought she was going to do the same with her, and was secretly nervous about how to respond so as not to make a fool of herself.

Realizing that Ye Jingtang was about to leave, she said in a daze:

"Yejingtang, you asked me to stand here without even asking?"

Master Xuanji held up a small umbrella to cover the head of the empress dowager, and responded:
"You acted like a corpse, and you acted well by standing still."

"Ok?"

The empress dowager turned her head and made sure no one was paying attention, then turned to Ye Jingtang, very dissatisfied:
"You asked me to play the corpse?"

Ye Jingtang picked up the big and small bags from the ground, shook his head and said:

"How come, it's just a rehearsal of the situation at that time. The Empress Dowager is an apprentice practicing martial arts. When she heard the movement, she went out to check, and then she disappeared."

"?"

That's not playing a corpse!
The Empress Dowager blinked her eyes, very unhappy about this:
"Yejingong, Bengong also knows martial arts. You can ask Bengong to practice with you with a wooden stick. Let Bengong show his face and die without even raising his hand. Do you despise Bengong's low martial arts?"

"How could it be? It's just that there are too many people in the alley, and they have no eyesight. They are afraid of offending the Empress Dowager."

Immortal Xuanji was offended just now, and now she narrowed her eyes slightly:

"Aren't you worried about offending me? Or do you think it's okay to touch me?"

The empress dowager is not stupid, she felt that this remark meant that a woman was acting coquettishly and losing her temper, so she frowned and reminded:
"You are an elder, so what if you accidentally offend you when the juniors are sparring? It's really taken advantage of. It's because you, an elder, are not good at learning, so you can blame others?"

(→_→)!

Ye Jingtang looked calm, but he really wanted to give the Empress Dowager a thumbs up.

Xuanji, on the other hand, was stunned by the empress dowager and had nothing to say, so she didn't say anything more about it, and walked in front with the empress...
-
On the other side, in an inn two miles away from the Yuquan Gym.

A murder case occurred in the Yuquan gymnasium. In the past few days, patrolling police can be seen everywhere on the streets. The inn and other places are the key areas for the yamen to investigate.

In the wing room on the second floor of the inn, a middle-aged man dressed as a businessman nodded and bowed to dismiss the officials who were doing routine interrogation, and then closed the door.

In the room, sitting a man of medium build, dressed as a master, was at the table holding an abacus to settle accounts.

Apart from a few boxes of groceries imported from Beiliang, there were no other suspicious objects in the house.

The middle-aged businessman listened attentively at the door, and after confirming that the official had gone downstairs, he turned around, regained his aura, took out a copper telescope from the full box, and looked at the Yuquan Gym in the distance from the window:
"I have been inspecting house to house for three days. I must have found no useful clues. It is estimated that in two days, this matter will be over."

Sitting at the table, the master pushed the abacus aside with a rather dissatisfied expression:

"It's obvious that you can make up an excuse to get away with it, but you have to kill people. Do you think that the murder case in the capital is the same as Liangzhou?"

The middle-aged businessman sighed: "If I can get away with it, I will not take the risk. I can tell if I am a master or not by looking at each other. That old coach is not easy. If I don't do it directly, he yells out, the master of the Yuquan Gym! It's all here..."

"Hmph! There's such a big commotion. It would be fine if it was the same as before. Except for Babu Ksitigarbha and the gods in the palace, no one can do anything to me. But I heard that last night, King Jing returned to Beijing. Daoist Xuanji and Ye Jing The hall followed. The two Wu Kui are in the capital, and even the leader of Pingtian may not dare to come. You showed your whereabouts in advance, so what will we do in the future?"

The middle-aged merchant put down his binoculars and sat down across the table:
"We didn't come here to kill Wu Kui, as long as we keep a low profile in the future and don't reveal our whereabouts, it's impossible for these two Wu Kui to find us out of thin air, let's talk about business first.

"Liu Qiansheng has been on the run for 20 years and only showed his face in the capital last month. Hei Ya arrested people and didn't publicize them with much fanfare. He must have recruited An secretly. Since he was recruited, he should teach boxing. I have been in the Yuquan Gym for so many days , I didn't see any trace of Liu Qiansheng inside..."

The man dressed as the master put down the teacup:
"I told you that the Yuquan Gym does not teach boxing. The word 'boxing' means kung fu. And the most powerful instructors in it are only grand masters. Liu Qiansheng is an old martial arts leader. There are not necessarily instructors in the things he teaches. I understand, why would I stay here and teach my disciples..."

"Then other than this place, where else can we go to find Liu Qiansheng? We can't go to Prince Jing's Mansion to look for it. Immortal Xuanji and Ye Jingtang may be somewhere. We'd better stay away within three miles."

"Since teaching boxing, there will always be some rumors in the martial arts, just inquire slowly, and investigate another matter first."

When the master said this, he tapped his finger on the table, thought for a while and said:

"The leader of this trip specially explained that he must find that Beiliang pharmacist and find out the formula of Tianlangzhu. I reckon that pharmacist was escorted back with the boat yesterday..."

The middle-aged merchant was a little puzzled by this: "What the hell is the Tianlangzhu? The gang leader is such a peerless hero, he even let go of his hatred first, and looks for this thing first?"

"When the leader was young, Liu Qiansheng abolished his martial arts. He ran to Beiliang to look for Xuehuhua, and finally found it in a small tribe. He also learned some secrets. It is said that Tianlangzhu was given by God to the master of ten thousand tribes. God’s bead, whoever has it is the one chosen by God, um... It’s almost the same meaning as our Da Wei’s "divine right of kings."

Master took a sip of tea and continued:
"Our Hongshan Gang transports salt and iron to the various tribes in the West Sea all the year round. We have a good relationship with the major tribes, and the people there also obey the gang leader's martial arts. As long as we get the Tianlang Pearl, we may be able to restore the Tianlang Iron Cavalry. Pull it up, when the time comes..."

The middle-aged businessman shook his head and interrupted the words: "The people of the Jianghu are the people of the Jianghu, so don't be so big-hearted. The leader of Pingtian is so powerful that he dare not publicly mention the restoration of Dayan. We are afraid that we will rebel..."

"The Pingtian Sect is in Tiannan, so there is no possibility of gaining momentum; Liangzhou is different, the people are tough and produce war horses, and there are endless retreats in the north. It has been a den of rebels since ancient times... By the way, listen It is said that the new sword chief night surprises the hall, it is us Liangzhou people. People in the world often say "poor culture and rich martial arts". Liangzhou is so poor that it can produce two martial arts chiefs. Fortune tellers in the rivers and lakes say that Zihui star descends to earth, and today's "big luck" It has already fallen in Liangzhou, and our guild leader is the overlord of Liangzhou. If we gain momentum, wouldn’t it just come into being..."

The middle-aged merchant thought it made sense, but after thinking about it, he frowned and said:
"Yejingtang belongs to Liangzhou, and he is also Wu Kui. What if the person with great luck in 'Zihui Xingxia' is Yejingtang?"

"??, shut up if you can't speak!"

"Hi……"

……

----

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(End of this chapter)