Wuxia: Start with max-level Nine Yang Divine Skill

Chapter 230 Li Fu: "The notorious thief who washed himself is among us." (4k3)

The other women also cast sorrowful, angry, and hopeful glances at Li Fu.

Outside, countless eyes were fixed on him, hoping that Li Fu could catch the audacious villain in the act.

At this moment, everyone's eyes seemed to be focused on Li Fu.

"The fate of Lady Liu was indeed a matter of divine wrath and popular resentment."

I am grateful for your trust and will do my utmost to uncover the truth and capture this villainous thief.

Without saying much, Li Fu began the investigation.

His first suspicion was about the reason for the villain's name—the name "Bath."

It is said that this thief habitually takes a leisurely shower at the scene of his crimes.

In the past, he would sneak into the mansion and kill everyone, so he naturally had time to clean up the mess slowly.

But this time, Zhu Family Village was full of experts and heavily guarded. He should have fled quickly after committing the crime. Why did he dare to stay and even take a bath?

Where does this water come from?

He summoned the maid who was in charge of serving Madam Liu and asked her questions.

The maid was already terrified out of her wits and answered tremblingly.

"Reporting to Your Highness—it is Madam Liu—after dinner, Madam said she felt a little tired and wanted to take a bath to relieve her fatigue, so she asked us to fetch hot water."

This is not surprising, as women have always been more concerned with cleanliness than men, especially in the Jiangnan region compared to the north, where women bathe almost daily.

But when everyone heard this, they were so angry that they trembled all over.

Gong Xiaoshang said angrily, "That villain!"

Could it be that he had been lying in wait all along, watching Madam Liu order water to be fetched, and then waited until the water was ready before suddenly making his move?

Afterwards, you can wash yourself with the hot water that's readily available.

"Truly—truly cunning and vicious to the extreme."

Leaving aside the Heavenly Book reward for mastering the Soul Transfer Technique, this person is indeed someone everyone should kill.

Li Fuzhi frowned, his gaze sharp as lightning, sweeping across every corner of the room.

As the widow of a Beggar Clan elder, Madam Liu should have some martial arts skills. If she were attacked, she should have shown signs of struggle.

The room was tidy, with the tables and chairs in order and the dressing table intact, showing no obvious signs of a fight.

Although there was some mess around the bed, it was mostly caused by the struggle, and there was no damage left by a fierce fight.

"It seems he was subdued at first sight."

Li Fu pondered to himself.

"The killer's martial arts skills far surpassed those of the victim, causing the victim to quickly lose the ability to resist."

This made him frown slightly; the lack of signs of a struggle meant there were even fewer clues to follow.

The women inside the house were also busy, enduring their fear and nausea, carefully checking places unlikely to have disturbed the scene, but to no avail.

Li Fu carefully examined every inch of the floor, furniture, and curtains, leaving no stone unturned.

Soon, his gaze fell on the huge cypress bathtub in the center of the room.

The bucket was full of water. After committing the crime, the thief calmly washed himself here and left. Many people have checked this place but found nothing.

Li Fu's gaze pierced through the sunlight streaming in through the window, landing on the edge of the bathtub and on some extremely tiny suspended particles on the water's surface.

He leaned down, picked up a tiny particle from the edge of the bathtub with his fingertip, and examined it closely.

Those particles were as small as dust, and most people would hardly notice them. If Li Fu hadn't had amazing eyesight and a keen mind, he would never have been able to spot them.

The dust particles floating on the edge of the bathtub and the surface of the water are not a single color; they are faintly yellow, white, pink, and other colors.

Li Fu twirled his fingertips, seemingly lost in thought.

"This—this is—"

"Brother Li, what did you find?"

Gong Xiaoshang and Shen Zhiqing, who had been nervously following him, quickly asked upon seeing this.

"pollen."

Li Fudao.

"pollen?"

Inside the room, Madam Cuiping, Madam Zhu, Zhou Qiutang, and the other women were all taken aback.

Shen Zhiqing frowned: "Officer Li, can this—be considered a clue?"

Li Fu had a sharp eye.

"It is now late autumn. Although it is warm in Jiangnan, it is rare to see large areas of flowers that can produce such a variety of mixed pollen."

He examined his fingertips more closely.

"These pollen grains are like—the murderer in the blooming flowers, his body and hair covered with tiny pollen grains floating in mid-air."

While bathing, some children leaned against the edge of the tub, and some were washed into the water.

He continued his careful search of the rim and inside the tub.

Suddenly, he picked up an even smaller piece from the water, as thin as a cicada's wing, pale brown with a hint of red, irregular in shape, and the size of a broken cicada's wing.

"And what is this?"

Madam Zhu leaned closer to take a look and asked in confusion.

Li Fu placed the tiny fragment, which vaguely resembled the veins of branches and leaves, in his palm and gazed at it carefully.

Although the pollen found was clearly pollen, except for one type of orange-yellow pollen that looked like the pollen of wild chrysanthemums that can be found everywhere.

He didn't know exactly which flower's pollen it was.

However, he recognized this thing.

"These are—dried and broken maple fruits."

"Maple fruit?"

Those martial arts practitioners standing outside heard this and some asked in confusion.

"Do maple trees bear fruit?"

"I've been traveling the world for years and have never heard of maple trees bearing fruit!"

"Yes, we've only ever seen maple leaves turn fiery red, but have we ever seen maple trees bear fruit?"

Li had visited Jingzhou before, where the world-famous Jinghu Lake is located.

The beauty of Mirror Lake is also largely due to the large maple forests along its shores.

The maple trees are ablaze with red, and reflected in the calm, mirror-like lake, Mirror Lake, when viewed from above, resembles a giant, fiery red eye—a truly unique sight.

He only learned this when he saw street stalls selling roasted maple fruits while visiting Mirror Lake.

Li Fu explained.

"Maple trees do bear fruit; they not only produce fruit but also bloom flowers."

However, the flowers generally only bloom in spring, are small and hidden, and their color is almost the same as that of maple leaves. Because they appear as a bright red patch from a distance, they are indistinguishable and few people know about them.

The same applies to fruit.

It is autumn now, the time when maple trees bear fruit. The fruit of the maple tree has a unique shape, resembling insect wings, which allows the maple seeds to be scattered by the wind for miles.

It is also because the fruit and leaves are similar in shape and mixed in with the leaves that, even when viewed up close, they only look like leaves with a unique shape, plus the color is the same.

Most people are unaware that maple trees also bear fruit.

The fruit, shaped like insect wings, was left unpicked and eventually dried up and fell to the ground.

As he spoke, he connected these subtle discoveries.

Multiple mixed pollen, seemingly freshly picked up; fragments of maple-specific winged fruits;

And then—he examined the different types of pollen again. One of them seemed to be a common wild chrysanthemum, while the other, a pale pink one—looked like a hibiscus mutabilis.

He pondered for a moment, recalling the scenery around the competition venue during the day.

"Someone go."

Li Fu instructed the person outside the door, "Go to the Huapo Lake, the venue for the daytime competition, and collect some flowers that are currently in bloom. Try to collect one type of flower for each one you see."

"Go quickly and do as Constable Li orders," Zhu Tinggao hurriedly ordered.

Soon, a servant went to carry out the order and returned shortly with a large bunch of autumn flowers of various colors.

Li Fu compared each of them with the pollen he had discovered.

There were hibiscus, spider flower, globe amaranth—most of which he couldn't name, and he only recognized them after Gong Xiaoshang, Shen Zhiqing and others identified them.

However, this does not affect the comparison.

Most importantly, Li Fu matched the flowers with a type of flower that grows by the water and on the water's surface, which the women identified as water lily.

The name "Water Lily" sounds ordinary, but it is actually an extremely rare flower.

Its pollen perfectly matched a very fine, bright yellow pollen that he found in the bathtub!

"Hibiscus mutabilis, spider flower, globe amaranth, water hyacinth, and wild chrysanthemum and maple."

Li Fu slowly straightened up, his gaze sweeping over everyone in the room, finally landing on the faces outside the door—faces filled with surprise, confusion, or a sense of understanding, all showing astonishment.

"These pollen and these maple wing fruit fragments, I think, can prove one thing: the murderer went to the venue of the daytime competition, namely Flower Slope Lake."

Furthermore, the mixed pollen from various autumn flowers, which could have been absorbed into the bathwater, indicates that the perpetrator had spent a considerable amount of time among the flowers before committing the crime, rather than in a short period.

Zhu Tinggao's expression changed drastically.

"Huapo Lake is a private scenic spot in my Zhu Family Village, and it is not open to the public normally."

During this competition, the village's youths guarded the venue layer by layer, ensuring that no unauthorized personnel could sneak in. Only those who had received invitations and were accompanied by someone were allowed to enter.

Moreover, everyone sitting in the same seats knew each other; they were all relatives and friends, so there was no way anyone could be imposters.

Officer Li, what you mean is—"

Li Fu's gaze was like a cold star. After a slight pause, he uttered a startling conclusion.

"The murderer was at the Huapo Lake venue yesterday."

There's only one possibility: he might have been sitting openly among us as a guest, watching the entire competition, and upon seeing Madam Liu at the event, he was overcome with lust, and then—”

Inside and outside the courtyard, there was an instant deathly silence.

Everyone's expression froze, a mixture of shock, horror, disbelief, and horrification on their faces.

Zhu Kang exclaimed in astonishment, "Officer Li, are you saying—that villain—the notorious thief who washed his clothes—is hiding among us?"

The master thief might be—perhaps one of the outlaws, or perhaps—a seemingly respectable but actually righteous hero.

This deduction is even more chilling than the idea that a villain sneaked into the village to commit the crime!

One stone caused a thousand waves!

After a brief silence, an even greater uproar and commotion erupted.

"What?"

"Is that villain among us?!"

"This—how is this possible!"

Countless surprised, suspicious, and scrutinizing gazes began to sweep across the faces of everyone around him.

Those who were drinking and chatting happily with each other yesterday, calling each other brothers, now seem to be shrouded in a suspicious shadow in the eyes of many people.

Could the notorious thief, the womanizer feared and hated throughout the Jiangnan martial arts world, really be hiding among their own people, who are renowned throughout the martial arts world and have come to witness the ceremony?!

Inside the room, the women, including Madam Cuiping and Shen Zhiqing, who were skilled in martial arts and had strong minds, were able to remain calm, though their faces were pale and they instinctively gripped their weapons or moved closer to each other.

However, women like Kuang Zhenyue's wife, Zhou Qiutang, who were not skilled in martial arts and had a gentle nature, were already terrified, their faces turning pale. They cried out in alarm and retreated, trembling.

Several equally timid ladies huddled together with her, staring in terror at every man outside, as if they might transform into demons at any moment.

Outside, things were in an uproar!

"Who is it? Who on earth is it?!"

"Stay away from me! Don't come near me!"

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you doubt me?"

Exclamations, questions, rebukes, and explanations rang out in a chaotic cacophony.

Outside, the chivalrous heroes who had just been united in their hatred and filled with righteous indignation now resembled frightened birds and beasts, instinctively distancing themselves from those around them, their eyes filled with vigilance, suspicion, and unease.

The once crowded courtyard suddenly became empty, and everyone looked at the familiar faces around them with suspicion. The atmosphere became tense and fraught with fear.

Li Fu's single sentence plunged the Zhu Family Manor, a gathering place for many figures from the Jiangnan martial arts world, into an unprecedented crisis of trust and panic.

Only Li Fu remained calmly standing in place.

As he uttered that earth-shattering conclusion, he had already been subtly scanning every face inside and outside the courtyard, not missing the slightest change in each person's expression.

Shock, horror, bewilderment, fear, anger — and, perhaps, a hint of panic or unease that is being desperately concealed.

He suspected everyone present.

Apart from Zhu Tongzhou, who had shared hardships with him and knew the details of his martial arts skills, he spared no one's face.

Even Zhu Tongzhou's father, Zhu Tinggao, who was the head of the Zhu Family Manor, or the venerable and respected Bibo Sword Elder, Shen Cang.

Even though the old swordsman Bibo is not young, he is still a master of internal energy and cannot be regarded as an ordinary person.

While observing, Li Fu calmly continued his analysis.

"It's not impossible."

The master thief, known for his exceptional martial arts skills, has only recently emerged in Jiangnan. He may very well have been a master in the martial arts world, but his morals have deteriorated, and he has revealed his true colors.

Even though he only mastered martial arts in recent years and was just entering the martial arts world, as long as one is a person in the martial arts world, it is inevitable to deal with people.

With his martial arts skills, even if he only casually reveals a few moves, he will surely gain some fame and a certain status in the martial arts world.

Therefore, any one of us could be a hidden thief.

If the murderer is indeed hiding among these guests, then it makes sense that I didn't notice any sounds of light-footed martial arts used to sneak into the manor last night, such as scaling walls and leaping across rooftops.

The master thief didn't need to sneak into the manor; he could simply walk around as a guest. Even if he was accidentally spotted, his public identity would provide cover.

This analysis makes sense; perhaps the master thief had a seemingly respectable and even admirable identity as a cover, which is why no one has been able to catch him.

This made everyone even more chilled and wary of each other.

Li Fu not only suspected everyone, but also had a particular focus on suspecting certain people. When he spoke, Zi Guang mainly and subtly focused on Ouyang Jin and Kuang Zhenyue.

In yesterday's competition, Kuang Zhenyue's swordsmanship was clearly at its peak and his internal energy had not diminished, but he inexplicably hesitated at the crucial moment, allowing Ouyang Jin to seize the opportunity to counterattack, resulting in a truly strange defeat.

He immediately sensed something was amiss.

Kuang Zhenyue is fierce and impetuous. He has coveted the position of chief of the dock for many years. Five years ago, he lost to Zhu Tinggao by a narrow margin. In the past five years, he must have been enduring hardship and training diligently.

Yesterday's swordsmanship was indeed more ruthless and fierce than it was five years ago, clearly indicating that he had waited five years to achieve his goal.

However, in the end, Kuang Zhenyue lost by a single move.

His defeat left him extremely frustrated and resentful, and his anger was barely contained.

"Any promise of benefits or exchange of power pales in comparison to the position of the chief of the Seven Star Linked Docks, a position that can influence the landscape of the Jiangnan outlaws and bring enormous benefits and prestige."

Given Kuang Zhenyue's character, it's unlikely he would willingly feign defeat in front of everyone, damaging his reputation for the sake of empty fame and fleeting gains.

"Then, there might not be many left."

"If it's not bribery, then it's coercion!"

"Kuang Zhenyue must have some extremely fatal, even more important than his life and fortune, incriminating information that has fallen into Ouyang Jin's hands."

What kind of leverage could it be?

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