Chapter 79
Chapter 79
The doors of Tongtian Pavilion were tightly shut.
Yaoguang tried several different ways to open them, but the pavilion doors did not budge an inch.
Ren Fengjue reached out and touched the doors. A chill seeped through his skin and into his bones, and he immediately knew these doors were not something human strength could control.
A Shadow Guard hurried forward to report, “My lord, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”
Of all times, he had to come now.
Ren Fengjue could not help letting out a cold laugh. “Perfect timing. I was just worried there was no one to open the doors.”
He immediately turned around and stood with his hands clasped behind his back.
Before long, the Crown Prince, draped in a crane-feather cloak and surrounded by attendants, came upstairs.
The moment he saw Ren Fengjue, Zhao Li’s steps clearly paused. “Young Marquis Ren?”
Ren Fengjue took a slight step forward and inclined his head. “His Highness the Crown Prince.”
There was a probing edge to Zhao Li’s smile. “What sort of wind is blowing tonight, to have brought the famed Vice Minister of Justice all the way here? This truly is a rare sight.”
Ren Fengjue replied, “Speaking of which, whether for public duty or private reasons, this is my first time here.”
“Oh?”
Zhao Li slowly approached, studying him. “That is an interesting remark. May I ask, Young Marquis, what is public duty? And what is private?”
“Naturally, investigating a case is public duty, and drinking wine is private.”
“I am afraid I do not understand.”
Zhao Li feigned confusion. “Does Young Marquis mean there is a case to investigate here?”
“Precisely.”
Ren Fengjue’s answer was firm, and he pointed to the pavilion doors behind him.
“I suspect that the murderer who killed Zheng Daoyuan, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, is hiding inside Tongtian Pavilion.”
Zhao Li laughed despite himself. “Tongtian Pavilion is the private chamber of Bai Qingshuang, the manager of Fu Tower. Is Young Marquis saying that Manager Bai is the murderer who killed Zheng Daoyuan?”
“I cannot say for certain.”
That was what Ren Fengjue said, but his unwavering attitude made it clear that he would investigate no matter what.
Zhao Li’s gaze darkened, though not the slightest displeasure showed on his face. He even smiled as he said to the maid beside him, “In that case, open the pavilion doors and let Young Marquis Ren go in to investigate.”
The maid answered and was about to step forward to open the doors.
However, before she could get close, the pavilion doors suddenly swung open. A figure flew out from inside and crashed heavily to the ground.
Ren Fengjue fixed his eyes on the person and saw that it was Yan Zhengchu. He hurried forward to help him up.
Just then, another mass of white mist flew out from within. It swept around in all directions, then drifted downstairs.
Yan Zhengchu hastily said to Ren Fengjue, “Miss Xia is inside. Go and check on her, quickly!”
As he spoke, he ignored the pain in his body and chased after the white mist.
Seeing this, Ren Fengjue called out, “Yaoguang.”
Yaoguang naturally understood what he meant. She immediately used her qinggong, and with several rises and falls, she caught up to Yan Zhengchu’s figure.
Another clamor broke out downstairs.
No one noticed that Crown Prince Zhao Li, standing by the staircase, had a trace of coldness rising in the depths of his eyes.
Ren Fengjue hurried into Tongtian Pavilion. All around him was dim and shadowed; when he looked ahead, he could barely make anything out.
He immediately called, “Miss Xia!”
No one inside the pavilion answered.
Fragrant gusts stirred the smoke, floating past his nose and before his eyes. The clear, tinkling sound of water reached his ears.
Only there was not the slightest trace of a living person’s presence.
His hearing was excellent. As he listened carefully, panic rose unbidden in his heart.
Suddenly, something seemed to fall into the water with a muffled sound, and ripples began to spread.
Following the sound, Ren Fengjue quickened his pace despite himself.
One step, two steps, three steps.
The sound of water drew closer, but he abruptly stopped in his tracks.
Through the mist, there was actually a bathing pool. When he bent down for a closer look, he saw that the water was a deep crimson, with a faint metallic stench that assaulted his nose. It looked exactly like an entire pool of blood.
He had handled cases for years, visited countless murder scenes, and seen countless corpses.
Which of those places had not been stained with blood?
But this much blood clearly could not have come from just one life.
Could it be…
Ren Fengjue’s breath caught. His mind, always so rational, went briefly blank in that instant.
He even reached instinctively into the pool, as if to pull someone out…
“Miss Xia?”
“Xia Ximo!”
His voice echoed through the pavilion, but still no one answered.
Just then, something seemed to begin rising from beneath the water, slowly floating to the surface.
Ren Fengjue was half startled, half elated. But when he fixed his gaze on it, his expression instantly darkened to the extreme.
It was the figure of a woman.
More precisely, it was a female corpse.
Even more precisely, it was the person he least wanted to see at this moment.
Xia Ximo.
Ren Fengjue quickly pulled her out of the water.
Xia Ximo’s entire body had been soaked in blood. The pomegranate-red cloak she wore now looked even more glaringly scarlet.
Her eyes were tightly shut, her body ice-cold. She had neither breath nor pulse. She was, beyond doubt, already dead.
But Ren Fengjue still clung to a sliver of hope as he held the body tightly in his arms.
Behind him, Yan Zhengchu returned. Manager Bai had vanished after slipping into the crowd.
He was about to step forward and report this when he saw Xia Ximo in Ren Fengjue’s arms.
“This… How could this happen?”
Yan Zhengchu’s heart chilled as well. When he looked again at the blood pool to the side, his expression instantly turned incomparably grave.
Ren Fengjue glanced at him, but in the end, he said nothing.
He gathered the person in his arms and rose, then slowly walked out of Tongtian Pavilion. To Crown Prince Zhao Li, who stood at the entrance, he said, “I’m afraid Your Highness’s evening has been ruined. Not only is Fu Tower suspected of being plagued by evil spirits, a life has now been lost here as well.”
“I must now seal off all of Fu Tower and investigate this matter thoroughly.”
Zhao Li glanced at the woman in his arms and feigned surprise. “How could something like this have happened inside this pavilion…?”
“Young Marquis, you must find the killer and deliver justice for the deceased!”
Ren Fengjue looked at him again, deeply. That gaze was so cold it was almost frightening.
“I will certainly not disappoint Your Highness.”
“Your Highness, this way, please.”
The corners of Zhao Li’s mouth lifted faintly. He led his attendants downstairs with broad strides, then departed in the same grand procession with which he had arrived.
After the Crown Prince and Ren Fengjue descended the stairs, Guan Yue and Yu Lang arrived at the head of several dozen runners. Together with more than a dozen members of the Shadow Guard, they sealed off every major exit in the building and detained all relevant personnel.
The guests crowding around the entrance had been extremely curious at first. But when they saw this scene, they feared being caught up in the matter and drove away one after another.
Within the crowd, inside an utterly inconspicuous carriage…
Mu Zheng had lifted a corner of the curtain and was peering out nervously. When he clearly saw the face of the woman Ren Fengjue was carrying, he let out a great sigh of relief and dropped the curtain.
“Back to the residence.”
After giving the order to the coachman, he immediately took a brocade box from his robes. When he opened it, a luminous pearl the size of a pigeon’s egg lay inside.
At that moment, a wisp of strange, pale smoke slowly seeped in through a gap in the carriage curtain.
Then, without Mu Zheng noticing a thing, it gradually merged with that luminous pearl.