Legend of Zhan Zhao

Chapter 114 The Truth of the Case
"Close the hidden compartment, let's go outside to talk."

After Zhan Zhao made his deductions about the truth, he glanced around again and had Gu Lin restore the hidden compartment. The two then quietly left the Five Lakes Gate.

After leaving the Rainbow Bridge Wharf, they found a quiet alley. Only then did Zhan Zhao speak, and his first words were surprising: "Sun Tao is not actually one of Luo Shijun's men."

Gu Lin frowned: "He's Luo Shijun's right-hand man. He even dared to lead people to cause trouble at the Six Doors headquarters. How could he have ulterior motives?"

"It was precisely because the two were so closely bound that when the dungeon caught fire that night, and we saw Sun Tao leading the Five Lakes Sect members and patrolmen of dubious authenticity to the main government office, we all assumed it was Luo Shijun's order!"

Zhan Zhao said, "But what if it isn't?"

"no?"

Gu Lin was taken aback, then his expression suddenly changed: "If Sun Tao acted on his own, then which side is he on?"

That night was the final night for the "Zhong Kui Painting".

Han Zhaoye believed the time was ripe to "rescue" Feng Buyu, accuse Gu Da Niangzi of being "Zhong Kui" (a legendary demon slayer), and notify the Liao Kingdom experts who had secretly infiltrated the capital of the Song Dynasty to prepare to break into the prison and rescue the key figures inside.

The Liao Kingdom's top experts emerged and roared as they stormed into the Heavenly Prison.

Then there is no more.

When the city fell, those people must have cursed Han Zhaoye vehemently.

However, due to the perilous situation in the Heavenly Prison, everyone overlooked the fact that the Underground Prison was also under attack and nearly went out of control.

“It was Sun Tao who stormed the dungeon, and judging from the way these fire-fighting equipment were stored, he was well-prepared.”

Zhan Zhao said, "This actually explains a point of doubt: who set fire to the Six Doors dungeon that night? The Six Doors initially mistook it for your junior brother Li Kong, but it was later proven not to be him."

"Now it seems that it was Sun Tao's side that set the fire!"

"But because of this person's close connection with Luo Shijun, no matter what Sun Tao does, outsiders will think that Luo Shijun couldn't swallow his anger and sent this confidant to carry out a counterattack."

"Only Luo Shijun himself knows..."

"He didn't!"

"Luo Shijun did not send Sun Tao to cause trouble at the General Headquarters that night. It was Sun Tao who acted on his own, setting the fire first and then putting it out, just to keep the Six Doors busy and unable to support the Heavenly Prison!"

"What kind of people, with what stance, would have such a need?"

Gu Lin understood: "Sun Tao is Han Zhaoye's man!"

"No! To be more precise, he was a spy for the Liao people!"

"No wonder this guy neither trains any trusted successors at the Five Lakes Sect nor has a wife and children!"

'Such a spy is unqualified.'

Zhan Zhao thought to himself.

Sun Tao's decision not to cultivate a trusted successor was actually a preparation for one day causing chaos in the Five Lakes Gate, which would create considerable disruption to the canal transport system.

Some people choose not to marry or have children because they fear that having a wife and children will expose their status as spies, while others do not want to implicate their relatives. They prefer to live for the moment and frequent brothels.

This is actually the flaw.

If you want to fully integrate, get married, have children, and live like a Song Dynasty person, that's the perfect disguise.

However, those who can remain absolutely rational in critical moments, like Su Wuqing, are few and far between; most people are inevitably like that.

Gu Lin felt that this was the right thing to do; at least his innocent wife and children wouldn't be devastated when they learned the truth.

But he also pondered, "Wasn't Sun Tao's behavior too reckless? How do I plan to explain it to Luo Shijun afterwards?"

"No explanation is needed!"

Zhan Zhao smiled and said, "The Liao people thought they would win a great victory that night, and the Six Doors would be crippled. When the wall falls, everyone pushes it down."

Han Zhaoye was brimming with confidence at that time, believing that his plan had been executed perfectly, and the Liao people also felt that they were in the clear.

Imagine if the imperial prison were breached, important prisoners were rescued, and the capital would descend into chaos.

Meanwhile, the Six Doors and Yunqi Manor clashed, resulting in a bloodbath, and the previous Divine Constable Lu Jiuyuan was unjustly accused.

As Luo Shijun's adversary in the Six Doors, how could he care about anything else? He had no choice but to kick him while he was down.
At that time, Sun Tao will be too busy rewarding his loyal subordinates to investigate why he led his men to storm the dungeon.
But the result was not like that at all.

When Han Zhaoye became Han Laoye, all his helpers were wiped out, and he led the team to collapse.

The actions of Sun Tao, who slipped through the net, seemed very suspicious to Luo Shijun, who was in the know.

"But more than three months have passed, and Sun Tao's identity has still not been exposed..."

Gu Lin said coldly, "Sun Tao turned around and threatened the other party, and received Luo Shijun's protection?"

"good."

Zhan Zhao nodded slightly: "Sun Tao and Luo Shijun are too closely intertwined. If Sun Tao is exposed as a Liao spy during the prison riot, Luo Shijun will be implicated. Moreover, Luo Shijun already has a lot of evidence of his crimes in the hands of this trusted confidant..."

Gu Lin said, "But given Luo Shijun's temperament, he's not the type to be blackmailed by his subordinates..."

The two exchanged a glance and concluded matter-of-factly: "Sun Tao was eliminated by Luo Shijun's scheme!"

In reality, when someone uses a life-or-death secret as leverage, this is often how things end up.

They decided to self-destruct and perish together.

Or one party might kill the witness to silence them.

Even if Sun Tao was a Liaodong spy, he wouldn't be a key figure, far below the level of Han Zhaoye. Luo Shijun was initially frightened, but quickly calmed him down. After three months of calm, he began plotting to eliminate this seemingly trusted right-hand man, who had in reality become a thorn in his side and a mortal enemy.

Gu Lin said, "Senior brother just said that Detective Li judged that Sun Tao died first, and the primary crime scene was not in front of Tianxiang Tower. So where was the original murder site?"

This was the key to the case, and Zhan Zhao already had the answer: "It was the Pang residence!"

"Luo Shijun's original plan was to eliminate Sun Tao, a major threat, at his sister Madam Pang's birthday banquet on the night of the banquet."

"So last night, Luo Shijun came to my room, pretending not to want to be disturbed, and talked with me about Buddhism until midnight. In fact, he was having Dingchen set up the scene."

"Ding Chen wore a disguise mask not only to conceal his face, but also to switch the dead at a crucial moment."

"This was their original plan—first, to spread the word about the eternal youth-preserving effect of the Xiyan Flower, and then to pretend that thieves came to steal the flower and kill their entourage."

"After the attendant removed his disguise, it was Sun Tao."

"I, a monk from the Daxiangguo Temple, will serve as a witness to provide testimony for the two of them."

"But an unexpected turn of events occurred, and the one who actually perished inside the house was Dingchen himself..."

"Therefore, Luo Shijun was extremely shocked at the time and exclaimed in disbelief, 'Impossible!'"

Gu Lin said in a deep voice, "Making Sun Tao die in the Pang residence was also to get Pang Ji to cover it up for him, and he even chose his own sister's birthday as the date. Luo Shijun's actions are truly despicable and shameful!"

Zhan Zhao said, "Luo Shijun's biggest concern is always himself. If he can't get past this hurdle, he's finished."

"Collusion with the Liao Dynasty is something that our dynasty will absolutely not tolerate."

“Pang Ji would be even less likely to support a cousin who has ties to the Liao Kingdom. He would be the first to stand up for the greater good and abandon him decisively.”

Gu Lin asked curiously, "Then who ruined this plan and instead killed Ding Chen?"

"It's hard to say at the moment."

Zhan Zhao already had a guess in his heart, but compared to the basically clear Sun Tao line, he would not make a judgment on the line about Bai Xiaofeng for the time being, and continued: "After Ding Chen died, Luo Shijun was always in a daze, not only frightened by the death of the monk, but also worried about the situation on Sun Tao's side."

"Luo Shijun's heart was finally at ease when the news of Sun Tao's death came."

"Even if the murderer is unknown, Sun Tao is dead after all. As long as the Six Doors doesn't reveal the truth, no outsider would ever suspect that he was the one who wanted to get rid of his right-hand man..."

"not good!"

Gu Lin's expression changed: "So, Constable Li's life is in danger! Luo Shijun is like a frightened bird, and he might kill you at any moment!"

Because of Gu Menglai's relationship with Pei Handeng, Gu Lin still cared about the Six Doors quite a bit, and felt even more guilty towards Li Wuxing.

After all, it was he who personally administered the Soul-Slaying Moon-Howling Water to the other party at Yunqi Manor.

"Peace of mind."

Zhan Zhao said, "When I left, Constable Li was exchanging pleasantries with Luo Shijun."

"Luo Shijun is currently in a dilemma. On the one hand, he is thinking of a fight to the death, but on the other hand, he is reluctant to give up his foundation in the capital."

"When the case progresses slightly against him, he will convince himself that if the Six Doors cannot find out the truth in the first place, but he lets a Grandmaster kill someone, wouldn't that be an admission of guilt?"

Gu Lin breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."

"But we still have to help Constable Li get out of trouble; he can't stay in Tianxiang Tower!"

At this point, Gu Lin subconsciously looked in the direction of the Gu family mansion.

Since there is a Grandmaster-level enemy, the safest approach is for another Grandmaster-level expert to take action.

Unfortunately, the abbot of Daxiangguo Temple was in seclusion healing his injuries, and Madam Gu was also in seclusion recovering her martial arts skills.

A grandmaster can recover her power much faster than an ordinary martial artist, but she had transferred ninety percent of her power to Zhan Zhao, and only three months had passed, so she had not yet fully recovered.

Gu Lin was naturally unwilling to let his mother take any risks, so he frowned.

"Perhaps we should have a showdown with a grandmaster!"

Zhan Zhao, on the other hand, seemed somewhat eager to try.

He silently divided himself into several realms, but he always believed that martial artists could only know their superiority by fighting each other.

If a grandmaster can always defeat a non-grandmaster, then there's no need to fight; just reveal the difference in their levels, and the weaker one can simply commit suicide.

Ultimately, realms are just realms; the individual martial artist is the key.

Whether one is at their peak, whether they have an unhealed injury, or even their mental and emotional state can determine the outcome of a match.

However, while our fighting spirit is rising, we still need to make many arrangements.

"Junior brother, you should return to the temple first and ask Senior Brother Jiewen for some advice!"

As Zhan Zhao spoke, his lips trembled slightly, transmitting his voice in a secret manner.

"it is good!"

Gu Lin narrowed his eyes slightly, said no more, and left in a flash.

When only one person remained in the quiet alley, Zhan Zhao stood with his hands behind his back and spoke again: "Since you have been listening quietly for so long, why not show yourself..."

"Bai Xiaofeng?"

(End of this chapter)