The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 327 Zheng Huaijin (Revised)
"This, this is...!"

Liu Wenbin slowly turned his head.

The bloody footprints extended from inside the mountain gate.

A man, his feet stained with blood, stepped out from inside the mountain gate, passed by him, and went down the mountain along the path.

The nearest footprint was less than a foot from where he slept—he suddenly shivered.

"Something's happened...something's happened!"

The bloody footprints stretched such a long distance; the shoes must have been soaked in a pool of blood. But our sect is right inside the mountain gate; where would so much blood come from!

What exactly happened inside the mountain gate? Why didn't he hear a single sound?
He was in a panic when Cao Hanyan delivered another blow.

"The depth of these bloody footprints seems to vary."

Cao Hanyan turned to Li Miao and said.

“You see, the path from inside the mountain gate to the mountain path gradually becomes shallower, which is normal. But—” Cao Hanyan pointed to Liu Wenbin: “the footprint next to him is exceptionally deep.”

"The owner of these bloody footprints stood here for a while after coming out of the mountain gate. Judging from the direction the footprints were facing, they were pointing right at him."

Cao Hanyan said in a deep voice.

"This person killed someone at the Kongming Sect, pushed open the mountain gate and walked out, then stood beside him for a while, looked at him for a while, and then slowly left without the slightest panic."

"This young man."

Cao Hanyan turned to look at Liu Wenbin.

"You saved your life."

"me……"

Liu Wenbin was already incoherent and didn't know how to answer, stammering as he spoke.

Cao Hanyan sighed, pushed him away, stepped forward, and placed her hand on the mountain gate.

The bolt was not engaged.

As the mountain gate was slowly pushed open, Cao Hanyan frowned as soon as a crack appeared. Once the gate was fully open, a body collapsed from inside, falling face-first into Liu Wenbin's face.

Liu Wenbin was startled. When he saw the man's face clearly, his teeth chattered and his hands trembled uncontrollably.

"Young man, do you know who he is?"

Cao Hanyan turned to Liu Wenbin and asked.

"Elder Long..."

Liu Wenbin answered, his voice trembling.

Upon hearing his answer, Cao Hanyan's brows furrowed deeply. Not only him, but Zheng Yi and Gao Anyu also frowned, and even Li Miao let out a cold laugh.

Cao Hanyan examined the corpse carefully, then looked up and asked, seemingly in disbelief.

"How many people in your Kongming Sect have the surname Long?"

Liu Wenbin replied, his voice trembling.

"One, one... there's only one... it's Long Haifeng, Elder Long... it's him..."

He pointed to the corpse on the ground.

Cao Hanyan pressed for an answer.

"Won't you admit your mistake?"

Liu Wenbin shook his head violently.

"No, no, I, I... I greeted him at noon, and he told me that once inside the mountain gate, one is only allowed to enter and not leave... I, I..."

He suddenly raised his hand to cover his chest.

Cao Hanyan knew he was consumed by anger and his internal energy had gone astray, showing signs of qi deviation. She quickly raised her hand and struck him on the side of the neck, knocking him unconscious.

He helped Liu Wenbin down to the ground, then squatted down and turned the old man's body over.

Li Miao walked over, reached out and grabbed the corpse's wrist, and after a moment let out a cold laugh.

“The meridians are severed, and there has been excessive blood loss,” Cao Hanyan asked hesitantly.

"Could we have the wrong person? When we interrogated those 'Meteorites' before, they said Long Haifeng. Could it be that they misheard, or that they were mentally impaired during the interrogation and gave a random name?"

No, the person is not at fault.

Li Miao threw down the corpse's arm, stood up, and looked the old man's body up and down.

"That Su Mingjun is indeed giving us clues. The name she 'accidentally revealed' was definitely something she deliberately leaked to Xiao Gao through those scoundrels."

“We haven’t made a mistake in choosing this person—although he has been dead for some time, this Elder Long was a genuine Celestial Realm expert in life, and judging from his martial arts foundation, he is undoubtedly a descendant of Penglai.”

Li Miao reached out and pinched the side of the corpse's ear twice. With a hissing sound, he peeled off a piece of skin as thin as a cicada's wing.

Zheng Yi walked over, looked at the face of the corpse that resembled her and Li Miao in three or four parts, and sighed deeply.

"It's really him."

“Zheng Huaijin is Long Haifeng… The clues are real, the person is real, and the location left by my mother is real…”

Li Miao threw the human skin mask on the ground.

"Unfortunately, it's too late."

He looked up at the quiet mountain gate of the Kongming Sect and stepped inside.

"The one who plotted to kill Xue Bangzhu was your fellow disciple from Penglai, the one who killed your mother was from Yingzhou, and now Zheng Huaijin is the third person from Penglai to die—it's as if no one from Penglai can appear in front of me except you."

"Xiao Yizi, go and follow these footprints, see if you can catch them."

Zheng Yi nodded, picked up her sword, and turned to leave.

Gao Anyu glanced at Li Miao, then turned to look at Zheng Yi, who was leaving along the mountain path.

He was a little puzzled as to why Uncle Li would call Aunt Zheng "little sister-in-law". Could it be that Aunt Zheng's older sister was Uncle Li's first wife?

Why did Uncle Li ask Aunt Zheng to chase after him...? Aunt Zheng is a woman and doesn't know martial arts. What if something happens to her?
And what about Xue Bangzhu, Yingzhou Penglai...? What does that mean? Why are they related to Su Mingjun?

Before he could ask any questions, Li Miao strode into the mountain gate. He had no choice but to hurry after him. He exchanged a few words with Cao Hanyan and, after receiving the reply that he would "explain in detail later," he remained silent.

Contrary to Li Miao's expectations, there were no corpses strewn across the Kongming Sect's mountain gate.

Long Haifeng died at the door, and the starting point of the bloody footprints was also at the door. Further inside, the area was clean and tidy, with no other corpses or signs of struggle.

It was as if nothing had happened.

The three continued walking in, and after walking several dozen steps, they could faintly hear voices ahead.

It was neither a wail nor a roar, but an extremely ordinary sound, like the voice of a person talking or walking normally.

Cao Hanyan frowned, stepped forward to Li Miao's side, and was about to speak.

He had just opened his mouth when a series of extremely rapid footsteps suddenly came from ahead. A person came running from the front porch, panting and shouting as he ran.

"Junior Brother Liu, Junior Brother Liu! I'm so sorry, I overslept. I'm coming to relieve you, I'm here, I'm here..."

The sound gradually faded, and finally disappeared along with the stopped footsteps.

"You, you guys..."

The man looked at Li Miao and the other two in astonishment, then turned his gaze to the wide-open mountain gate. Finally, the unconscious Liu Wenbin and the corpse lying on the ground came into his view.

Blood, corpse, Junior Brother Liu.

And there are these three strangers across from us.

The mountain gate was wide open.

A perfectly logical concept instantly formed in his mind.

A wicked thief came to our door—murdered our junior brother Liu who guarded the gate—kicked open the mountain gate—and ran into me—they wanted to kill me!!!
"Help! Someone help me!!!"

A piercing yet powerful cry for help instantly echoed within the gates of the Kongming Sect.

Li Miao raised an eyebrow, a smile of interest spreading across his face, which made Gao Anyu chuckle as well.

Only Cao Hanyan slapped her forehead, shook her head, and sighed.

(End of this chapter)