Wuxia: Start with max-level Nine Yang Divine Skill

The woman's body in the room had been collected, covered with a white cloth, and temporarily placed aside.

The room was simply furnished and had a faint smell of blood in it.

Li Fu's sharp eyes scanned the room.

What first caught his attention was the wide-open door, an ordinary wooden door with the latch broken in two, the splinter of wood at the break point fresh.

"The door was violently forced open from the outside."

Li Fu squatted down, carefully examined the broken edge, and then touched the door panel.

A clear handprint was clearly imprinted on the door panel near the latch.

The palm print was deeply embedded in the wood, penetrating nearly three-tenths of an inch, and the wood grain at the edges was slightly cracked from the impact.

"Such powerful palm strike!"

Chen Tao gasped. "Breaking the bolt is one thing, but to leave such a deep palm print on the hardwood door—this person's internal strength is truly formidable!"

Li Fu frowned slightly.

He lowered his gaze to the ground.

From the doorway all the way to the bedside, there were faint, dark red spots on the floor, already dried, forming a broken trail of blood.

"Blood?"

Chen Tao and the others also noticed it and squatted down to take a closer look.

"Is it the blood from that woman's injury?"

However, the coroner's preliminary examination revealed that while the woman had bruises, there were no obvious wounds that would bleed.

"It's not her blood," Li Fu said after examining it. "It's the murderer's blood."

"The murderer?"

The constables were taken aback.

"Could it be that the woman resisted and bit the other person?"

"No, look."

Li Fu pointed to the palm print and bloodstains.

"It wouldn't have been necessary to break the door latch with such force."

The deep palm print left behind shows that this person has profound skill. However, with such high martial arts skills, one should not be so crude in the application of force.

He must have suffered a serious injury; his breathing was disordered.

"After he shook open the door bolt with his palm and exerted his strength, it seemed to aggravate his own injuries, causing the wound to reopen and blood to drip down, splattering from the doorway all the way to the bedside."

Combining the peddler's cries with the traces at the scene, he had already sketched out the general situation in his mind.

A skilled fighter, suffering from internal injuries, rushed to the scene, violently breaking down the door and, disregarding his wounds, lunging at the woman inside…

Chen Tao and the others were dumbfounded, feeling that Li Fu's deduction was both reasonable and unbelievable.

"Who...who is this person?"

He was already so badly injured, instead of rushing to treat his wounds and save his life, he was in such a hurry to come here... to commit crimes?

"He's a complete lustful monster, he's got a death wish!"

Li Fu recalled Chen Tao's previous description of the Taoist of Joyful Extremes and had already made up his mind.

"Chen Tao, didn't you say that the Leji Taoist was proficient in unorthodox sexual techniques and skilled in using yin to replenish yang?"

Chen Tao was taken aback, then suddenly realized and exclaimed in surprise.

"Boss, you mean he... he's injured and urgently needs to heal by absorbing the essence of women?"

The woman died with a deathly pallor and no breath. Could it be that he used his evil arts to drain her yin energy to replenish his yang?

"Very likely."

Li Fu nodded, his gaze sweeping across the ground once more.

"Look, the bloodstains only come from the direction we came in, from the doorway to the bedside."

There was no way out.

This suggests that the assailant's injuries may have been brought under control and the bleeding has stopped.

Li Fu paused, his eyes flashing, and continued his in-depth analysis.

"This might also explain why Master Leji broke his promise and did not go to the agreed location to make the deal with Jiao Qi."

He intended to go, but encountered an accident on the way or before, and was injured.

Chen Tao and the others were all taken aback upon hearing this.

Chen Tao blurted out, "Daoist Leji was injured?"

Boss, that Leji Daoist is a notorious evil master in the martial arts world, with extremely high martial arts skills. Who can hurt him?

"Such severe injuries, why the need for hasty healing and restorative treatment?"

Li Fu frowned slightly; this was the key point.

"Yanzhou City is now a melting pot of all sorts of people, with countless experts."

To be able to injure a master of the evil sect like the Taoist of Blissful Extremes, causing him to flee in panic and urgently need to replenish his strength to heal his wounds... the person who made the move must have extremely high martial arts skills.

Perhaps it was a righteous hero who happened to witness his injustice and stepped in to rid the martial arts world of this scourge, or perhaps it was a long-standing enemy who had tracked him down to this place.

or……"

"Leji Daoren somehow obtained information about Liu Jingxing and wanted to sell it to Jiao Qi."

If Liu Jingxing or his accomplices were to find out about this, would they try to ambush and kill Leji Daoren to prevent the information from leaking out?

There are too many possibilities.

Li Fu stopped daydreaming and continued to investigate the scene. He held his breath and focused his senses to the extreme. Suddenly, his nostrils twitched slightly, as if he had sensed something.

"Can you smell anything?" he asked. "There's a very faint sandalwood scent."

They knew their parents must have discovered some unusual clues.

But Chen Tao and the others sniffed hard and shook their heads: "No, boss, we can't smell anything."

Li Fu continued to sniff.

This sandalwood scent is not the kind of subtle, invigorating sandalwood that ordinary households burn daily.

Instead... it has a richer, more robust flavor, like the high-quality blended incense used in temples and Taoist monasteries for worshipping gods or ancestors.

Chen Tao and the others didn't smell it, only Li Fu did, so it wasn't that he was mistaken.

It was because his internal energy cultivation had reached a level unimaginable to ordinary people, and his five senses were far more acute than those of ordinary people.

Even martial arts masters from the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) wouldn't be able to smell it here.

After examining the bedroom and the body, no further clues were found.

After examining the bedroom and the body, no further clues were found.

Li Fu left his bedroom and went to the courtyard, not missing a single corner.

Soon, he found a shallow footprint on the muddy ground near the east wall of the courtyard.

The footprints were blurred at the edges, clearly left hastily when someone used their lightness skill to leap over the wall to enter or exit.

Right at the edge of this footprint, there was a small, still fresh, orange-red petal.

Li Fu picked up a flower petal and examined it closely in his palm.

"Is this... a piece of osmanthus?"

Chen Tao leaned closer to examine it and took a sniff, smelling the fragrance of osmanthus.

"Indeed, it is a red osmanthus among the osmanthus trees."

Li Fu nodded.

"It is autumn, and the osmanthus flowers are in full bloom."

He straightened up and looked out over the courtyard wall.

"The murderer came and went in a hurry, and his body or the soles of his shoes were covered with osmanthus petals from somewhere, leaving traces here."

The osmanthus flower is a vibrant orange-red.

If planted in ordinary gray-white houses or narrow courtyards, the flowers are too eye-catching and make the houses look even more dilapidated and unsuitable.

Only with a spacious gate, a bright and airy courtyard, and the planting of osmanthus trees can the beauty of the garden be truly revealed.

Therefore, ordinary people rarely grow this flower; it is mostly planted in temples, Taoist monasteries, academies, and official residences, symbolizing success in examinations and a distinguished family.

"So, Daoist Leji recently visited a place where osmanthus trees were planted?"

Chen Tao and the others' eyes lit up, but they also felt that the scope seemed too broad.

Moreover, a person might have visited too many places in one or two days, so is this clue still useful?

Could we find the Taoist of Blissful Extremes based on this?

"This 'Leji Daoist' is a brazen womanizer. Did he scout out a place, planning to prey on some young lady, and plant osmanthus trees in the garden of her residence?"

Chen Tao said.

"I just smelled a rich, deep sandalwood scent, that sandalwood scent..."

Li Fu shook his head.

"Leji Daoren is a lecherous thief, a notorious bandit, and a heretic."

The Yanzhou region has now become a hub for people from all walks of life due to the donation of three million taels of silver for disaster relief, including many righteous masters and renowned heroes.

He has ruined the chastity of countless women, and his enemies must be all over the world. Even if he is not afraid, he will definitely avoid trouble if he can avoid it.

"If I were to hide in an ordinary inn or private residence in the city, there would be too many people around, making it very easy to expose my whereabouts and attract the attention of my enemies or the authorities. The risk would be too great."

Li Fu shook his head.

"A lecherous person is often also fond of pleasure and would never stoop to living in a remote mountain village or a cold cave."

He continued, gently twirling a petal between his fingertips.

"Coincidentally, he had one identity—a Taoist priest."

There are many Taoist temples and monasteries throughout the world, and many have the tradition of accepting wandering monks and Taoists from all directions for temporary lodging.

All you need is a Taoist robe, a passable ordination certificate, or the pretense of being a wandering monk, and you can easily check in.

In these places, because of the offerings of incense by believers, the houses and food, even if not luxurious, are often clean and tidy, no worse than ordinary inns.

Moreover, the place is quiet, and many Taoist priests gather there, so it's unlikely that coming and going would arouse suspicion.

He associated the petals with the distinctive sandalwood scent, and his conclusion became increasingly clear.

"Therefore, I suspect that the most likely scenario is that he infiltrated a Taoist temple that was still quite popular, with osmanthus trees and high-quality sandalwood incense, under the guise of a wandering Taoist."

It offers both peace and quiet, and makes it easy to conceal one's identity and wait for the right opportunity to act.

Chen Tao's expression brightened with joy.

"Boss, there's a Songfeng Temple in the north of Yanzhou City. It's a very popular place of worship, and inside the temple is an old osmanthus grove that blooms every autumn, its fragrance carrying for miles!"

Another local constable nearby chimed in, "Yes, yes!"

Songfeng Temple is a quiet place, and the old abbot is kind-hearted. It's a popular lodging for wandering Taoist priests, resulting in a diverse and somewhat chaotic community, and management isn't particularly strict.

Li Fu glanced at the room where the woman lay dead and made a decisive decision.

"There is no time to lose."

"Immediately assemble a group and head to Songfeng Temple to see if this Master Leji is still there."

"yes!"

The constables responded enthusiastically, their spirits soaring.

Li Fu took the lead, followed closely by Chen Tao and the others. The group left the courtyard, mounted their horses, and galloped off towards Songfeng Temple in the north of the city.

……

On an autumn afternoon, the poplar leaves on both sides of the official road were half yellow, rustling in the wind, adding to the desolation.

From the roadside villages, faint cries of anxiety could be heard, mixed with a woman's sobbing voice.

"Senior Sister Ren, Senior Sister Ren—where are you?!"

"Third Junior Sister, Third Junior Sister—!"

"Third Senior Sister, can you hear me!"

Beside the crossroads, at a roadside inn, on the edge of a bamboo grove, seven or eight young people were gathered.

These people were all dressed in white close-fitting clothes, with light blue long robes over them.

The men carried swords on their backs, and the women wore swords; their clothes fluttered in the wind, and their attire was quite different from that of martial arts practitioners in the Central Plains, exuding a cold and aloof air from the borderlands.

The leader was a young man of about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, with slightly dark skin and a handsome appearance.

At this moment, however, his brows were furrowed, his face was ashen, and his eyes were filled with anxiety and frustration as he looked around frantically.

A girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, with a round face and big eyes, was tightly clutching a piece of light blue cloth in her hand. The edges of the cloth were jagged, as if it had been violently torn off.

"Second Senior Brother...this,this is really the fabric from Third Senior Sister's clothes!"

I found it right outside this bamboo grove… Third Senior Sister must… must have met with some misfortune!

A young, round-faced junior brother standing nearby pointed to several faint marks in the bamboo forest and said in a trembling voice.

"Second Brother, look here!"

There are traces of sword energy left by the use of the Frostbite-Defying Bone technique!

This move is a dangerous technique in our Tianshan Swordplay, extremely taxing on internal energy. Unless facing a formidable enemy in a critical situation, Third Senior Sister would never use it lightly!

The young man referred to as the Second Senior Brother was named Kang Jin.

He strode forward, squatted down to examine the marks closely, and then picked up the piece of cloth, his face growing increasingly grim.

The fabric was torn at a smooth edge, as if it had been ripped off in an instant by some extremely sharp claw technique!

"There are few disciples in our Tianshan Sect who can match Third Senior Sister's martial arts skills."

The round-faced junior apprentice, Zhao Zhiyuan, spoke in a trembling voice.

"But... but she even used her Frostbite-Defying Strength, yet... there were no further signs of a struggle on the ground, not even a trace of blood, except for this piece of cloth..."

This means that the Third Senior Sister may have... may not have lasted many moves before... quickly lost and was captured!

Third Senior Sister has been taken away. What does that person want to do?

Hearing his junior brother's panicked and helpless voice, Kang Jin suddenly stood up, even more agitated, his chest heaving violently.

All the disciples of the Tianshan Sect knew that their second senior brother, Kang Jin, had always secretly admired and adored his beautiful third junior sister, Ren Xuan.

At this moment, the fate of her beloved is unknown, she has vanished without a trace, and has left behind such ominous signs.

Kang Jin was in complete disarray, feeling anxious, angry, and filled with an indescribable fear.

"Could they be enemies of our Tianshan Sect?"

One of the disciples guessed.

Kang Jin said irritably, "Our Tianshan Sect lives far beyond the Great Wall and rarely ventures into the interior. What enemies could we possibly have here?"

Looking again at the fragment of clothing, the round-faced junior brother suddenly shuddered, thinking of some bad possibility.

"Second Senior Brother... I... I heard that because of the Heavenly Gang Deadly Blade, it has attracted a lot of evil and heretical people in the martial arts world... Among them is a Taoist named Leji, who is... a terrifying lecherous demon!"

He has a terrible reputation inside the pass, could it be... could it be him?

What if Third Senior Sister...?

"Shut up!" Kang Jin's expression changed drastically. He grabbed his junior brother by the collar, his eyes bloodshot. "If you dare to spout any more nonsense, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

He dared not think of the possibility that his pure, beautiful, and dashing sweetheart would fall into the hands of such lewd people and suffer what kind of humiliation and torment.

The mere thought of it made my heart ache and my blood rush to my head.

"Third Senior Sister—! Where are you—!" Junior Sister Su Ling cried out again, her voice trembling with tears.

The sound echoed through the empty fields.

But no one responded, which made people even more anxious.

Just then, Li Fu led Chen Tao and other constables on horseback, galloping across the main road.

"Second Brother, look!"

A group of people is coming from over there. Judging from their attire... they seem to be constables from the government!

Junior Brother Zhao Zhiyuan, with his sharp eyes, pointed in the direction of the official road and shouted.

The junior sister also looked over and saw Li Fu and the others in bright official robes, riding on horseback. She immediately grasped at a straw and tugged hard at Kang Jin's sleeve.

"Second Brother, they are constables. We can ask them for help!"

Please ask them to help find Third Senior Sister!

Read the full text of Chapter 49, "Catching the Trail," for free (two chapters combined), link: