After fifteen years of cultivation, he finally reached the pinnacle of the first rank!

Chapter 189 The Old Woman
Upon hearing this, Hu Ruian and the others immediately gathered around and looked in the direction Li Musheng was pointing.

After a while, Shen Anran was the first to speak:

"The cat paw prints here are all facing upwards, but none of them are facing downwards, which means that the big cat often climbs the wall from here."

As she spoke, she followed the claw marks upwards and saw a hole hidden in the wooden beam above the small hall.

At that moment, the large cat that had been lying outside the hall suddenly appeared behind everyone and then suddenly meowed.

Wu Shang and his companion, who had been intently listening to Shen Anran and staring at the cat paw prints, were suddenly startled.

They all turned around sharply and glanced at the large black cat behind them, only to see the cat swaggering past them.

Then, the body, about the size of a stray dog, leaped up lightly, and using the cat paw prints on the wall in front of it, it quickly jumped onto the roof beam.

At this moment, the large cat standing on the roof beam turned its head to look at the group of people below, and then meowed.

His expression seemed to say, "Fine, you've discovered my secret."

The next moment, the big cat darted into the dark hole in the roof beam, and soon emerged from the darkness, where the light couldn't reach, carrying a package in its mouth.

Hu Ruian and the others' eyes lit up when they saw this.

However, at this moment, the black cat, carrying the package, suddenly took off on all fours and ran quickly along the roof beam towards the other end of the small hall.

"Stop it."

Wu Shang hurriedly spoke up, but Hu Ruian had already taken action immediately, raising his hand to grab at the top of the hall.

In an instant, a hand formed from martial arts true energy instantly appeared above the big cat, and then swiftly reached out to grab the running big cat.

However, just as the palm of true energy was about to touch the cat's body, it suddenly dissipated and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Hu Ruian's expression immediately changed, and at this moment, Li Musheng, standing beside him, stroked his chin and said:

"Don't rush, let's take a look first. This cat is quite interesting, it doesn't seem to be an ordinary cat."

Upon hearing this, Hu Ruian immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He had initially thought someone else had secretly intervened, but once he learned it was Li Musheng, he was relieved.

Immediately, Hu Ruian watched as the large cat on the roof beam quickly ran to the other side, then leaped down and ran towards the palace gate without looking back.

"Then let's follow this cat and take a look."

Hu Ruian moved swiftly and chased after the big cat. Wu Shang and the others glanced at Li Musheng, who was also following Hu Ruian, and then followed without hesitation.

A large black cat with bright green eyes and a package in its mouth moved swiftly through the dark Tianjin Guard branch office.

Behind it, Hu Ruian and his group maintained a certain distance, following at a comfortable but not too close distance.

After chasing for a while, the big black cat stopped in front of the torture chamber behind the Tianjin Guard, and then easily broke open a window of the torture chamber and went inside.

Hu Ruian arrived in front of the torture chamber in the blink of an eye, and the door, which was locked with a copper lock, was instantly and silently blasted open by his true energy.

He continued to follow the black cat without any hindrance, only to see it slip through an underground iron gate inside the torture chamber.

"This should be the dungeon of the Tianjin Guard. Ordinary prisoners are usually kept in the state prison, and only important prisoners are kept here."

Hu Ruian turned to Li Musheng beside him and explained, then casually waved his hand, and the locked iron gate in front of them was completely blown away.

At this moment, he thought for a moment and said, "That black cat seems to have intentionally led us here, but this dungeon must be filthy. Why don't you wait upstairs for a while, Your Highness, and I'll go down and investigate?"

Upon hearing this, Li Musheng shook his head indifferently, his figure vanished from the spot, and then headed into the dungeon.

Seeing this, Hu Ruian's eyes flickered slightly, and he immediately followed.

The dungeon was completely dark, even more so than outside; it was pitch black.
Moreover, the air inside was damp, the space was cramped, and there was a foul, rotten smell, as well as a suffocating feeling that made it hard to breathe.

However, this is nothing to a martial arts master like Hu Ruian.

At this moment, the big cat stopped in front of the door of a cell at the deepest part of the dungeon.

Its eerie green eyes glanced back at Li Musheng and the others who had followed it, then slowly spat the package it was carrying in its mouth onto the ground, retreated to a corner, squatted down, and meowed.

Upon seeing this, Hu Ruian immediately frowned.

He glanced at the package on the ground, then looked at the cell in front of him.

Meanwhile, Wu Shang and the others had caught up from behind, and the group looked somewhat crowded in the narrow tunnel.

Hu Ruian paid no attention to this, his gaze piercing through the darkness, staring straight at a person lying on the floor inside the cell.

The person was lying on their side with their back to the crowd. Although their face was not clearly visible, their figure suggested that they were an old woman.

His clothes were filthy, his white cloth covered in dust and grime, which had even clumped together.

However, the other person was clearly breathing and seemed to be asleep, so they were obviously not dead.

Hu Ruian glanced at the other person, then flicked his finger to light the oil lamp on the stone wall of the tunnel, and suddenly spoke:

"Are the ghosts and demons appearing among the Tianjin Guards merely your own trickery?"

Hu Ruian's question was direct and to the point. Although he didn't know who was in the cell, he clearly had no intention of beating around the bush.

At this moment, the old woman in the cell seemed to be awakened. She silently sat up from the ground and then slowly turned her head to look out of the cell.

Upon witnessing this scene, Wu Shang and the others' expressions immediately changed.

The main thing is that when the old woman turned her head, her body didn't move, but her head turned 180 degrees, which looked very strange.

Moreover, the other person's face was extremely ugly, not only very old but also covered with pustules and scars, which looked truly terrifying under the dim light.

At this moment, the old woman's cloudy eyes seemed to be scrutinizing Hu Ruian and the others outside the cell.

Finally, her gaze fell on Li Musheng, and she spoke in a hoarse, strained voice:

"Although I am ugly and frightening, I am not a ghost or monster. You have misunderstood me."

At this moment, Li Musheng did not look at the other party, but glanced at the big cat in the corner, and then gestured to Hu Ruian to check the package on the ground.

Without hesitation, Hu Ruian reached out and grabbed the package from the ground, then quickly opened it.

Upon opening, the package contained a palm-sized book covered in dried bloodstains and wrapped in a blood-stained cloth.

Hu Ruian didn't pay any attention, opened the book directly, and glanced at it quickly.

After a moment, he frowned and looked at Li Musheng beside him, saying:
"This is a death list!"

(End of this chapter)